As President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris prepare to leave office at noon on Monday and President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President–elect J.D.
What's going to be in the Trump "Library"? Fatso Fatass is the first occupant of the White House to be a complete illiterate. Not to mention a dedicated willing ignoramus.
I think that you are correct, George. Is it merely coincidental that there were about 40 missing classified documents while some of Putin's close acquaintances started dying by "accidents" in the fall of 2022? I can assure you, American Intelligence knows why they fell off balconies, etc. We actually have a traitor in the White House come Monday.
Let's not forget all the other acts of treachery during IQ45's first term. Inviting the Russian ambassador and a Russian spy to the Oval Office, where tRump shared top secret intel on Mossad spy ops in Syria, leading either to the withdrawal of Israeli agents or their death...we'll never know. Then there was publicly siding with Putin when he denied any attempt to meddle in the 2016 election, despite the evidence presented in Mueller's report and the Republican-led Senate Intel Committee. The partner of tRump's campaign chairman, Smooth Paulie Manafort, was a bona fide Russian agent, for God's sake. The tRump transition team tried to get rid of sanctions on Russia put in place by Obama, and at every turn after taking office tRump tried to soften or eliminate sanctions for various Russian misdeeds. IQ45 withdrew US troops from Syria, helping Putin. He praised Putin every 5 minutes for being a "strong" leader. He attacked our NATO allies and continuously referred to withdrawing from or ending the alliance. He spread Russian myths about Ukraine and suggested it was OK for Russia to keep Crimea. Of course, his primary value to Putin has been his constant and continuing attempts to divide and misinform the American people while undermining, weakening and attempting to destroy our key institutions, including having his mob attack our seat of government four years ago. I hope that at some point in the future, while we're all still alive to witness it, the world will learn the truth about FELON47 and Putin, and the financial and other compensation (other than Putin getting him elected in 2016) the Manchurian Cantaloupe has received for betraying his country.
I probably agree with everything you say, but must you conflate DJT's surname with a secondary sex characteristic that's celebrated in sculpture and photography, and that evolved along with the achilles tendon, the nuchal ligament (holds the head steady when we run), body hairlessness, so that our hominid ancestors, both male and female, could run long distances to chase prey animals to exhaustion, thus feeding their fellows?
Harvard's Daniel Lieberman has written extensively about this evolution.
He has been selling them to Russia and China. China has no need to use Tik-Tok when they can go to Mar-a-Lago and shop for secrets from the POTUS in person.
And the traditional letter that President Obama left for Trump when the Obamas left the White House - that was one of the first documents reported missing by the National Archives. Trump undoubtedly sent that to the Swann Gallery in NYC, which sells & auctions valuable ephemera. Trump monetizes everything.
How much money did Trump acquire for those tickets to inauguration that are now unusable and nonrefundable? He simply wants a smaller space to fill because “size” of adoring MAGATS is of extreme importance to him. Recall Obamas inauguration in similar blustery weather? Looked more like a deification, so very impressive, and Obama was Black! 😱
I agree wholeheartedly with your observation about Trump remaining in office until he dies or J.D. Vance along with his cronies Musk and House Speaker Johnson blow the dust off the 25th Amendment and lock Trump away in a nursing home. Then we'll be stuck with MAGA forever. Well, that's a depressing thought.
The Bulwark Substack addresses this concept in detail. There are several false assumptions and a terrifying characterization of all opposed to Trump as the enemy. The concept requires meticulous planning and the assumption that the enemy will be taken by surprise. Republicans are divided themselves over some issues and what the attack is supposed to target. It also assumes a weak enemy that won’t be prepared. Granted, organization is not a Democratic Party strength, but they do share a common enemy. I’m a “lean Democrat “who has some conservative values. Does that make me an enemy? The conceptualization of the first day strategy as shock and awe is not the way a Democracy should operate. We are all Americans, but in Trump’s mind those of us who oppose some of his policies are perceived as enemies, or at least it sounds that way. The other part of the Bulwark article addresses unforeseen consequences. Certainly this happens in war. The first I think of among many is the use of Agent Orange. I’m a Vietnam era veteran, having been commissioned in graduate school as a Clinical Psychologist in 1968. I retired in 1993 after 7 years in the Army, 5 years in the VA, and 13 years in the Air Force. I’ve seen the casualties of Agent Orange but more PTSD casualties. Using a concept taken from war, even in peace, is going to have unintended consequences. More than half of us will suffer, because many who voted for Trump and Republican candidates don’t really understand how his policies will affect them.
Now that’s wisdom coming from someone who has actually experienced things that folks who put their blind faith into someone who has shown a callous disregard for our country and it’s people by continuing to tell and spread misinformation disinformation!
I don’t understand your reply. Maybe because it’s all one long sentence. My “wisdom “ comes from 50 years of experience as a Clinical Psychologist. I know about unintended consequences. I’m really not qualified to formulate strategy. I’m not a participant in anyone’s campaign. I vote on the basis of what I believe about policies and character. I just don’t like the concept of “shock and awe “ as a political strategy. You don’t have to read between the lines to know that I despise Trump and all he stands for.
I thought maybe you were, but I wasn’t sure. I have a tendency to get too wordy myself. When I edit some articles I write, I wind up deleting unnecessary words and breaking down some sentences.
Agreed…. That was my first thought too. The half of us who didn’t vote for Trump are basically Iraq. I’m wondering if LA will get any Federal disaster money.
The current administration under a real American president has already provided the state of California with disaster aide! The question is will the incoming felon regime continue the aide needed by the state without mandates and strings attached to get the funding from a corrupt criminal Mafia Don?
Speaking of orange, I saw a replica of his “official” photo yesterday. Looks a lot like his Fulton Co. mug shot Also, you can see his raccoon eyes, with the white, unbronzed areas clearly visible.
A big empty space seems right but I predict lots of orange and pictures of him. Alternatively, a small room in large-a-largo with a movie playing constantly since all the money will be gone, mysteriously. President Biden, one last directive—no federal money to go to any felon compulsive liar draftdodger’s presidential library. The only true thing he ever said was “YOU KNEW I WAS A SNAKE.” And the Year of the Snake is beginning. 😂🤣Justice matters!🤮💩🤡🎃🐍🤮
You absolutely MUST stop and check this out! The "Grift Shop" tab alone is worth looking into.
JL Thank you thank you thank you!! I don't know where you found that but it is absolutely incredible!
I stopped looking at it just to post the comment and I'm headed back. If there isn't an art gallery in the "library" there should be! I am sure ketchup patterns flung on the wall would be sold, as well as art "inspired" by him (aka feces smeared on the Capitol by J6 artists).
Wow, JL, that’s a work of art — and political resistance. It seems to have been mounted before the 2022 midterms. I wonder if the parody team still updates. I’m thoroughly impressed. Thanks for sharing that.
This is a great effort, but not realistic. To actually build this proposal would require all the millions that Donald has received, leaving nothing for him to pocket. He would never let that happen. At the end of his first squat in the White House, I designed a prototype based on what I knew then. You can see it here:
After four more years of research into Donald's character, and the recent contribution from Mickey Mouse, I've revised my prediction to something more likely:
Brilliant. Send it to anyone with a sense of humor, sense of remorse, sense of dread. I saw that who ever created this is based in Arizona of all places. I guess "hope springs eternal" after all. It may be all we have.
I that that a creative and accurate sense of perspective is essential for resilience and probably for wisdom. I suspect that hope that has substance sees more possibilities and choices, and we still have those for now.
Because the people voted him in. I assume MAGA loves the "shock and awe" name. It makes them feel powerful. It's a cult. The cult leader makes them feel powerful. They want "shock and awe" to do its work against immigrants, inflation, etc. etc.
And we are talking about it here. The general says it's not going to work, and I agree with him. PS, I love all the Dark Ebay stuff. Hahahaha. Humor is one way we are going to win. MAGA doesn't know how to laugh.
Democracy and liberty are quarrelsome by nature, but at the level of universal rights, we hold some truths to be self-evident, or at least. axiomatic to a peaceable society. That's simply foundational to our nation's "better angels", no? It's called solidarity. E Pluribus Unum.
Every copy ever published of 'Mad Magazine' and comics of 'Archie and Jughead'. 😉 No, not 'National Lampoon' -- too many polysyllabic words for the Trumpanzee to understand. 🙄
EDIT: oops l forgot. One hundred thousand copies of 'The Art of the Deal'. 🥳
That is sad to consider. That reminds me of the line from "lt's a Wonderful Life" when Mary (the mother) answers her children's entreaty on whether they should pray for Daddy, she says, hugging, mournfully, the son who asked, "Yes. Pray. Pray very hard." 😰
I still blame the author who knew Trump was a fraud and still basically ghost wrote the book for him. It gave a very strong impression that T was a smart, capable businessman although a bit unorthodox. Fooled me for a while. Lots of people still cling to that fairy tale, partly because of that legitimizing book.
I knew that author in N.Y.C. He got his fifteen minutes of fame with interviews and a couple of features in books on Trump. Irony is that he is -- or was twenty-five years ago -- as nasty as Trump. 😲
The guy who wrote it has been interviewed by MSNBC. The last time I saw him, months ago, he was planning to move overseas if tfg won, as was Michael Cohen. Don’t know if they actually have.
I've seen him interviewed a few times. Tony has said in other interviews that Trump didn't read several chapters he wrote. As you know, he's not a reader.
A Trump presidential library? Pardon me while I clean up the coffee I just snorted out my nose -- I was overcome by derisive laughter while trying to process the cognitive dissonance that the phrase "Trump presidential library" induced. The orange criminal can't spell "library," let alone understand what to do with one.
What will said library have in it, a couple of CIA-prepared comic books and a Sharpie-altered weather map? Maybe a pic of his first inauguration Photoshopped to make the crowd look about 20 times bigger than it actually was?
And let's not kid ourselves that that $250M is going to be set aside for a library. It's gonna disappear into the orange criminal's pocket faster than you can say "Trump campaign promises." The usual gang of oligarchs, suckers and sycophants, and MAGA recipients of government-provided safety-net support that the orange criminal will do his best to cut will be hit up again for more dough when library time rolls around.
Even his own supporters who already suffer greatly under plutocratic purchase of government.
The pattern is not new:
"The slave-breeders and slave-traders, are a small, odious and detested class, among you; and yet in politics, they dictate the course of all of you," - Lincoln
What about the $15 million that he extorted from ABC allegedly his ‘library’ because he was defamed (not really) by George Stephanopoulos calling his a rapist? When, in reality, he’s only an adjudicated rapist.
I think I have an appropriate list of books and Authors for the beginning of the Library, and maybe even the Place of Honor, or "Ehrenplatz" in the Entrance way, next to Donnies ceremonial desk when he retires.
Here is a list of Nazi-approved literature that was ratified or promoted by the Nazi leadership during their regime:
Nazi-Endorsed Works
1. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler in Gold with Donnies signature. $99.99 at Amazon
• This autobiographical manifesto outlined Hitler’s political ideology and became a central text of Nazi ideology. It sold over 12 million copies during the Third Reich. It is said to be the only book that Donnie has ever opened. (I didn't say read, I said "opened")
2. Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts by Alfred Rosenberg
• A key work of Nazi ideology, this book promoted racial theories and anti-Semitic ideas. It sold over 1.3 million copies and was second in importance only to Mein Kampf. Also a #2 favorite of the Identitarian movement.
3. Volk ohne Raum (People Without Space) by Hans Grimm
• Published in 1926, this novel became heavily publicized under the Nazis for its themes of German expansionism and racial superiority. It has been rewritten by Kristi Noem to justify killing of pesky young dogs.
4. Front Experience Literature
• Books glorifying camaraderie and heroism in war were encouraged. Werner Beumelburg was a prominent author in this category. Signed by Donnie..."Stand back and be ready"
5. Worldview Literature
• Works promoting Nazi ideology were prioritized, including those by party members like Alfred Rosenberg.
6. Patriotic and Racially “Pure” Literature
• Books emphasizing German cultural purity and rejecting foreign or “un-German” influences were widely promoted. Only those signed by Martin Stiller, leader of the Identitarian Movement in Europe and proponent of the Great replacement Conspiracy
Also, below is a list of authors who were particularly popular among key Nazi figures:
Authors Central to Nazi Ideology
1. Houston Stewart Chamberlain
• His book Die Grundlagen des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century) was a foundational text for Nazi racial theories and heavily influenced Adolf Hitler.
2. Alfred Rosenberg
• A leading Nazi ideologue, Rosenberg authored Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts (The Myth of the Twentieth Century), which was second in importance only to Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
3. Richard Wagner
• The German composer was Adolf Hitler’s favorite for his operas and writings, which reflected themes of German nationalism and anti-Semitism.
4. Friedrich Nietzsche (Misinterpreted)
• Although Nietzsche himself was critical of anti-Semitism and nationalism, his concept of the Übermensch (superman) was appropriated by the Nazis, especially through the works of Alfred Baeumler.
5. Oswald Spengler
• His book The Decline of the West was admired for its cyclical view of civilizations, though Spengler himself distanced from Nazi racial theories. He is however seen as the "father" of the modern Identitarian Movement.. Musk will have to sign this book.
Personal Favorites of Adolf Hitler
3. Karl May
• Hitler enjoyed May’s adventure novels about the American Wild West during his youth and reportedly recommended them to his generals as inspiration for strategy. All written by a deluded but creative recluse in his bedroom in Eastern Germany. His authoritative writing was never badly influenced by the reality of a visit he never made to any of the places he idealized.
2. Henry Ford
• Ford’s The International Jew was praised by Hitler for its anti-Semitic rhetoric, and Ford’s ideas influenced Nazi propaganda.
3. Thomas Carlyle
• Carlyle’s “Great Man Theory” resonated with Nazi leadership, and Joseph Goebbels often read Carlyle’s biography of Frederick the Great to Hitler during World War II.
Other Influential Authors
5. Lanz von Liebenfels
• His pseudo-scientific racial theories in works like Theozoology had an early influence on Hitler.
2. Ernst Schertel
• Schertel’s occult-themed book Magic: History, Theory, and Practice was found in Hitler’s personal library with marked passages.
These authors either directly contributed to Nazi ideology or were co-opted to reinforce its principles. Their works were often promoted or distributed within the Third Reich as part of the regime’s propaganda efforts, and although Donnie probably has never read any of these, Stephen Miller has, and insists that they be added
Whilst I appreciate the list - Donnie's not a reader. he didn't "read" his way into being a Nazi - it just came naturally. Some are born Nazis, some achieve Nazism, and some have Nazism thrust upon 'em.
Yep, and so many loved the Nazi vibes and signed on, many being the children or descendants of those who fought to defeat the Nazis a generation or two back. I know a couple of these and can feel nothing but contempt
I'm guessing it may even be in his DNA--I believe Donald's grandfather, Friedrich Trump was from Bavaria, as was his wife. Nazism originated in Munich which is in Bavaria.
I’ve heard he’s working with Madame Tussauds in London to prepare Ivanka to be displayed permanently for all the guys in his cabinet to admire forever.
Hmmm... I disagree, Linda. He'll build it on land he owns and charge exorbitant rents to NARA to run it. It's another way for him and the grifting criminal syndicate family to grift.
Not that cold. But cold enough to excuse the bad attendance. Which is why he had it moved inside. I heard Nancy Pelosi will not be there. Then I heard Michele Obama will not. Then it occurred to me,,,you know, any Democrat who attends this inauguration is a fool. Then I thought, you know, that is wrong. Anyone who attends this inauguration is a fool. Biden and Harris should refuse to attend. They should resign today at noon along with Blinken, and leave it to Mike Johnson to preside as President for a Day. Fool that he is. Let the MAGa pundits know what their Shock and Awe assault on their enemies will be met with. An equal and opposite reaction. It’s no joke. Meet insult with insult. Hostility with hostility. Assault with assault. Measure for measure. Learn from history. Never cooperate with those who regard you as an enemy.
Gotta keep pretending that it is a normal transfer of power when it was a bought exercise at best, all dressed up as a “free and fair election.” The pretense goes on.
I listened in 2003 and was beyond appalled. Never thought that a Republican could be more idiotic than W. Both had plenty of support from the rogue “political party.”
JD, pretending that everything was and is normal has gotten us to where we are today.- in the laps of millionaires whose ideas of "normal" are so different than that of the majority of Americans.
I take issue with Merrick Garland's trying to do the right, or normal, thing in prosecuting Donald Trump. He thanked his staff for " disrupting threats from foreign and domestic terrorists, and from authoritarian leaders that threaten the country's security.- by "prosecuting fraud and corruption" and thanked them for working "to pursue justice not politics." What??
Garland was too nice, in my opinion. He was too slow in making Trump take responsibility for all his illegal and immoral acts. He tried to proceed "normally," and as has been found to be true, there is nothing normal about Donald Trump and his MAGA cronies-in-crime.
I'm no one of political importance, and just as every other armchair politician, I have my views. I think my view is reasonable.
We were taught to "play nice" and "be fair." Unfortunately, "playing nice" and "being fait," has landed us with a president who is neither nice or fair.
Agreed! The felon’s entire strategy for his reign of terror is: threats, intimidation, fear, hate, bigotry and the destruction of our democracy through force of any kind, that is, if we the people allow him and his criminal regime to make us subservient to their destructive whelms! Certainly it would be a real welcome desire if the rest of the country would join us in holding their feet to the fire to serve the American people not their billionaire cronies!
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:— "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
The Presidential oath of office doesn't say anything about Trump obeying the Constitution. He violates many parts of the Constitution almost every day and he has only protected or defended a few clauses within the 1st and 2nd amendment.
Tyler, Steve Rothpletz just wrote an opinion piece in The Guardian that says, among other things, that Biden and Harris shouldn't attend, because to do so is to support the felon's desires to run an autocratic/oligarchic government.
I like the honest and really appropriate defiance. The threats of a vile regime is truly unacceptable in our country of law and order, or do we still practice such a noble cause? I don’t believe that MAGA folks do based on their tentacles toward violence if they don’t get there way aka January6, 2021!
It sure will be. Here’s the plan: Muskolini will crash the American economy and proclaim “it’s all for your best interest.” Who profits when a crash occurs? Exactly, the ultra-rich. Musk wants to keep the other 99% of America poor and hungry, because poor and hungry subjects are obedient and unlikely to revolt. Meanwhile, the Convicted Orange Felon will hand Ukraine to Putin: payment for his help skewing the elections and getting the Orange Turd back into the White House. The COF will also pull the US out of NATO (orders from Vlad, sorry) and leave the way into Europe open for Russia. We’ll be fighting World War III here in Europe, though it may be very short: if Vlad uses a nuke on a big European city and threatens to have his Orange puppet push the red button too, it may well be that European leaders surrender within days. Welcome to the Eurasian Empire under Czar Putin.
And this all because too many American voters disliked the idea of a Black woman as president… My goodness. There are no words to express my anger and grief.
Look at Argentina. Half the population is in poverty, but hyperinflation is under control and support for the current regime remains strong. That’s what I see happening in the USA. The true believers will NEVER abandon their “fearless leader.”
It was also because we have a propaganda channel called Fox News, it has all Kremlin talking points, which at least half of America watches. I don’t think even a white man could have won as a Democrat with all of the disinformation. I have family in Europe, I live in NYC, so I am worried nonstop.
Me too. Putin has been instrumental in giving Trump the presidency, and he doesn't do _anything_ for free. Donnyboy has a price to pay to him, and I'm saying it is Ukraine and the US NATO membership.
I’ve been trying to see it more from a spiritual point of view. Obviously some people in our country need to find out what authoritarian fascism oligarchy klepto received. Plutocracy is all about. I don’t like it. I don’t support it. I think it’s a very dangerous road we’re going down, but it seems it’s the only way some people will wake up sadly
I agree wholeheartedly with you. To me, Trump is a symptom (or maybe the culmination) of a disease that has festered for a long time in American culture. He is all the nastiness that has been pushed away for so long: all the racism, the misogyny, the suppressed sexuality, the 'war' between men and women; it's all bursting through the surface of the polished American dream now. Whether it is for good or for ill, that remains to be seen...
I was hoping for Thundersnow, but the orange buffoon can’t handle cold, so he weenied out and moved it indoors. Prolly so that he has an excuse for tiny crowds . .
Sherree, I remember Itzak Perlman and Yo Yo Ma playing their stringed instruments for Obama's Inauguration on a cold day. (It was later said that the sound was pre-recorded, but still -- bare fingers touching those strings.)
I was there that day in 2009 with my kids. It was such an historic moment and FREEZING. But we showed up with ONE MILLION other Americans who braved the frigid temps and difficult navigation on the Mall with strollers and public transit filled to the brim. But so worth to hear those speeches in person, and see Obama sworn in as our president.
The moment of a lifetime! I wouldn't have missed it for anything and wanted my children to see it in person. It was a transformational moment in our history. Looking back, little did I know the impact of electing a man of color would have on our country and politics. I think my children have grown up to be amazing and egalitarian people because of it.
I love that! I brought my voting-age son to hear Obama speak in NH back in early 2008 just before our primary, that's the only time I've seen him. He delivered a very uninspired speech; I'm sure he was exhausted.
My favorite meme from that photo was Bernie, in the chair with mittens on, a music stand with "Dvorak 9: The New World" and a tuba resting on its bell. That is funny because in that 4 movement symphony, three are tacet movements. In the third movement, after 30 measures of rest, there are 3 measures of half notes with a whole note tied to an eighth note. The figure is repeated 104 measures later, minus the whole tied to an 8th.
At 11:59 AM, in the year of our Lord January 20, 2025, the earth stopped rotating. Time came to a stop. The people rejoiced in the streets. Balconies filled with revelers popping corks of rare vintages and toasting the stoppage of time — the point at which the new Assholes about to move forward backward gazed at watches. “It’s time to move the second hand. It’s time to plan the descent into Dante’s Inferno. Get on with it.” But the angels in a phalanx led by the Good Witch of the North instructed Time to remain still for a thousand years.
There was a comment on one of the myriad apologist stories about moving the inauguration indoors. It read "It's so cold in DC that I saw a couple of Republican politicians with their hands in their own pockets."
I just don't like negative words about women and our parts - like calling someone the c word- I just don't do it. Call him a dick instead...a weak, impotent flaccid dick :)
Terry, I don't like it either, but as you provide an example of, men's dangly bits are used as pejorative slang against us. I'll never, ever call a woman (or man) by the c-word but my 43 year-old daughter will on occasion.
Yes, you’re right I have a double standard. The reason I think it’s OK to insult men and their dangling bits is because you guys are still dominant over us women. In fact it’s worse now than it’s been since probably the 60s and 70s. I don’t think I have to tell you all the reasons why, but I will mention a couple. Stripping women’s access to healthcare and abortion is a big one. The r’s wanting to prevent women from traveling. You know they want to take away our right to vote. I have a brother who is a maggat and he told me I have no right to speak not only in his house, but in his state, which, of course is Texas… so yes, I will continue to use men’s dangling bits in a pejorative way. After all some men, a lot of men are raping and assaulting women at record numbers. If you’ve been online, I’m sure you’ve seen how some men attack women who just speak our minds. They can’t handle that we would rather have a bear nearby than one of them. I also see it as sort of like how Black people use the N-word it’s OK for them to use it but not as white people. so I sort of see it that way it’s an act of revolution to insult men and their dangling bits in my opinion. Sorry about that but it’s up to you guys to get other men in line. Do you question or correct other man when they say pejorative things about women? or is locker talk and rape culture OK
Terry, I'm just pointing out a disparity. I fully agree about the patriarchy, of which I'm part of by gender. And honestly, the men I know don't use "locker room talk" or condone rape culture. If I see it online and have the opportunity to respond, I do.
I was raised by parents who taught me to be kind towards girls and women -- my mother in particular taught me to be chivalrous, which I know isn't always well-received these days, so I try to just be kind towards people in general. Except bad drivers.
Thank you Doug! And I like men who are chivalrous. Now that I'm older I can use a little help once in a while. Just recently a guy helped me with a 40 lb bag of bird food and I was grateful. He didn't even work at the store!
Terry, thanks for your thanks, but please don't thank me, thank my late mother who taught each of her 4 children to be kind. It was her hallmark, and we understood the assignment, as they say (or said.)
You might (or not) like a book I just read “The Quiet Damage” by Jesselyn Cook. Recommended to me by my cousin, whose father has not quite gone Q but has fallen into conspiracy theories.
So the inauguration has been taken away from the people. The flags are raised in disrespect to a much loved now deceased President. The oligarchs have assembled.
And people are saying they wanted MAGA-lite. This is like saying you wanted Satan-lite.
I balked at that one - not sure who they are surveying, or where that phrase came from, but MAGA-lite is offensive. Alternative immigration policies - yes - those that actually target problems that need to be addressed in a humane and reasonable way. That in no way could be described as MAGA anything.
On an almost completely different note, my community has banded together to fight some Patriot Mobile backed school board members here in Texas. Our Keller Independent School District school board members were going to vote yesterday to split our school district. It was proposed in a closed meeting and a concerned school board member announced it and expressed concern. Conservatives and liberals alike are outraged! What was going to be a closed meeting vote turned into an overflow school board meeting. And this all began about a week ago! A parody facebook account calling itself Alliance Independent School District, the proposed name of the new school district, rallied the parents and made local news. It came to the attention of Matt Angle from Lone Star Politics, and he said this is going to be an important meeting to watch. Parents basically shut it down! The secret vote was halted and now there’s going to be a complete investigation and study done on the proposal. The community showed up! And spoke up! Finally pushing back on these school board members that don’t have the trust of the voters! All politics is local and last night we proved it.
The creator of the Alliance Independent School District parody post is now selling merchandise. All proceeds go to funding school lunch debt. It would be amazing if we could stop the sad alternate lunch they give to those kid!
Repubs always did have great skill naming things the opposite of what they are. Frank Luntz took that skill to master level, naming laws the opposite of their function during W’s tenure as the presidential pretender.
Hi! Yep I’m still working on the cause! Ha! To see this crack in our school board is hopeful! They’ve banned books, attacked librarians, among other ridiculous nonsense. I thought the Patriot Mobile backed members were becoming invincible. I think they were acting like they couldn’t be touched! But people like me who have paid taxes into our district for 30 years or longer are not taking this one! They were never here for our students or the community.
Thank you for your “ almost completely different note “ as a reminder that we may have common ground with people who we consider “ the enemy “. And that ground may be seeded with decency, integrity and empathy. Also as we watch for common ground with those we consider enemies, we would do well to keep a sharper eye on our “friends “ as that common ground we tread on with them may have spots of quicksand.
We don’t always agree on everything. But we can agree taking vital services we’ve built for our kids should not be stripped away by a few politically motivated people. Now if we can just get Gov Abbutt to fund our schools!
Oh, Denise, I appreciate your posting this! In my ruby red Tennessee the only person I supported who won was the former teacher who was a public school teacher for 35years in a school board race against a moms for liberty candidate! Local!!
Susan, Blue Tennessee (www.BlueTennessee.org) devoted its first Zoom of the new year this week to the subject of opposing vouchers, which Lee has called a special session to reintroduce. Join our efforts.
Mind-boggling how far these zealots are willing to go to get their agendas implemented. Are closed door meetings legal? Is voting allowed in this forum? They always think they can away with stuff and no one is watching. Good for you and your community for paying attention and pushing back! We have been fighting from the top down and can now see that working from the bottom up can be the way to win these fights! Well done!
Of course he’s already looking ahead to when he’ll be retiring in glory and the tech wizards are so busy blowing golden smoke up his considerable rear. I was sickened just hearing how Bondi started her testimony— as if everyone needed to be personally acquainted with her large family assuring us of her future celebrity status. Well at least the weather is cooperating to diminish the crowds. God save us all. Martin Luther King is definitely ready to roll over in his grave.
Really? Last I heard you needed to win an election for that to happen. Tragically, Harris didn't win so "should have" is irrelevant. This falls on the electorate, no one else (not even Trump).
If the electorate is so ignorant as to vote for this man, then sadly we all have to bear that cost.
Unfortunately, that cost may be much higher than anyone bargained for.
You realize that is the same crap that Trump spewed about the 2020 election. I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now.
If you had any proof of this so called "election theft" in enough states (at least THREE of the swing states would need to be proven to have had sufficiently fraudulent elections with enough votes to give Harris the electoral college victory) then you damn well should have filed a lawsuit with your proof so that we wouldst by have to deal with Trump for four more years.
If you have this proof and failed to do that you are a traitor to the country for letting us all fall victim to 4 more years of Trump.
Of course I seriously doubt that you have ANY such proof. You are just whining about losing like so many other peeps on this Substack. It's pretty damn boring to hear constant whines about this election which it is pretty clear Trump won by an actual plurality of the votes this time (unlike when he beat Hillary in 2016 without even winning the popular vote).
In any case its too late now anyway. You can whine all you want about Trump's victory and even make up your own Big Lie that Harris won (she didn't) but you should know that we all hate that Trump won but that doesn't change reality.
Better move on to working on fixing this is 2026. And keep hoping that we will still HAVE elections in 2026.
Believe what you want and so will I… without a doubt musk and his money had an impact…I wouldn’t doubt they were able to manipulate the voting machines. Why are the voting machines even connected to the internet?
I am not sure if you understand how the internet and election machines work but it is extremely difficult for an outside machine to hack into even the easiest basic all purpose computer like a PC let alone one that is protected by advanced communicating technology like a VPN.
A voting machine is connected for the purpose of SENDING results to a central location quickly for early tabulation. It does little if any reception of information FROM the internet. After it does this the individual machine tallies are also collected and physically taken to the central location for cross checking. If the totals don't match recounts are done.
There are all sorts of checks in place to make sure vote totals aren't messed with. They are one of the most secure types of computer used other than national security machines used for cryptology and those used for national defense and law enforcement.
Could someone figure out how to hack a machine or even a set of machines in a county or even a state? Sure i expect that IS Possible.
But hacking enough voting machines across enough counties in enough states to change the result of the Presidential election? That's just preposterous and if you actually believe that, you probably shouldn't have stopped taking your meds.
Sorry, that was cruel but likely true. Conspiracy theories are like comedy routines... a dime a dozen and worth about as much.
The Election Wasn't Stolen.
It Was Lost.
It was a terrible tragedy, but just like hurricanes and wild fires and earth quakes, shit happens.
Agreed, but when you compare it to hurricanes, earthquakes, and wild fires, well, those are not moral or ethical choices (except to the extent that those are now worse by denying human driven climate change, a political and moral choice). Harris lost because the US electorate is dark, malicious, and stupid. And breath-takingly immoral.
It was not a natural disaster. It was moral collapse. There is an enormous difference.
That's what I said. Over and over again. Thank God the weather will be perfect! Just what I prayed for, and I have no intention on watching any of it. Thank you polar vortex.
I think you heard wrong. On Monday, i checked 6 of my favorite hotels in Washington DC for Sunday night and they were all sold out. It's not a huge sample but it is pretty representative including two Choice Hotels, one Holiday Inn and one major Hilton. It is possible of course that today many people canceled but that would be because of the change in plans, not a lack of interest.
And hell i would have gone just to see the Village People!
I guess so! Last time I saw them was in NYC in the early 80s. Loved 'em.
I wonder if Trump signed 'em just so Peter Thiel would feel at home amid a bunch of MAGA and evangelical gay bashers. He has to know their whole shtick is idolization of gay culture... not EXACTLY Trumpian fare!
Sole remaining original member has threatened lawsuits should anyone refer to their music as “a gay anthem”. Anyone up for a rousing chorus of “In the Navy”?
And Lynell, having lived on Capitol Hill, I know how a little snow can "paralyze" the district!! This weather could not have been better timed. At least we will not have to endure his boasting about "largest crowds of any inauguration"!!!
More than that, by going inside, the whiners now have something to whine about during the whine-fest. 🤫 Seriously, the Federal government is clogged with elderly people these days and, so, the precaution of 18°, together with a likely wind-chilling effect and possibly snow, makes the move necessary for, and respectful to, the elderly. 🙏
Ned, I been wishing publicly for weeks about a snow storm hitting Washington on inauguration day. I had it very close.
Now I wish for a sudden change to a beautiful sunny and cool day announced too late to move the circus out again.....since I was granted the first wish....maybe a second one as well....please!!!
P.S., watch the trumper tantrum to follow, if good weather comes, that the Democratic Party is laughing at poor little Donnie. 🙂
Question: now that we are indoors, ¿why not raise the flags outside to full staff? ❤️
Oh, I forgot -- decorum requires at least of smidgeon of back-bone and dear old Speaker Mikey Mouse can not even stand up to Trump on a matter of politeness. 💔
Liz, how did you have the stomach to watch any of those political climbers testimony? It is there any drug to keep you watching ? On a second thought, no, I don't want to know.
I can’t stand how much plastic surgery she’s had, and the long blond wig. It’s off when a woman close to 60 years of age looks like she’s 35 years of age. These women want to look like they’re still of child bearing age, when they’re not. Same with Kristi Noem.
Again, the best way to unnerve Trump is to laugh at him. Do not yell in anger; cackle in unison pointing at him. Perhaps barking out "Village Idiot" with the Y.M.C.A. song playing away. Mock him at every turn; he will implode and leave his policies in disarray.
Governors in blue states should require payrolls to sever the direct deposit mechanisms to the I.R.S. and withhold tax funds. Several Red States governors are diverting funds, at least partly from blue states, toward political purposes outside the intent of the appropriation.
Under what possible legal justification do you think you would find authority for a governor or state legislature to direct private employers to stop depositing federal tax deposits without fear of being put in federal prison?
And what private company would even consider doing it? Federal tax deposits whether you like or hate Trump are still the law of the land. It is a federal crime to NOT make those deposits.
Non violent protest is totally legal. Illegal actions are not and are subject to severe fines and even prison terms.
Ah, nice to read of your cheery disposition. 😉 I figured you would show up without constructive add-ons to build on an idea. 🙂 Well at least some constancies remain. 🥳
Not enough Jon. When they own the megaphone and have a Psychological War Room somewhere working 24/7 and unlimited money, you can protest peacefully all you want. Unfortunately I don't have any alternative to offer at this time but, I think we have a window of opportunity on the midterm election. Since there's no way to replace our leaders and legislators now, at least we have to pressure them to oppose every single intent of maga to get established and let them own the mess they'll create even for their own supporters. Since they control the message, our job would be to counteract their lies and deflection of responsibilities as much as possible and start getting ready for the general election in 4 years.
I agree with everything you suggested. You have a more detailed plan than I do and I appreciate that. It is a totally legal plan and I approve and agree with it 100%. Glad someone is out there thinking.
My argument was against several unlawful suggestions that were made like getting states to withhold federal taxes. That's tantamount to secession and it didn't work so well in the 1800s BEFORE the federal military had jet fighters and tanks and stuff like that. It would work a lot worse today.
Right on target Jon. I think that when people are scared and frustrated they imagine magic cures impossible to implement. Give it time and keep posting. Thanks for your reply 👍
There must be a way for blue states to stop subsidizing red states that hate them. Not to harm them but drive a point home that for all their talk of Xian charity that those of us in cities of sin provide for them. 🙏
As Dr Richardson has written this minority government took years -- more than a decade -- to build at the level of state legislatures to control districting. 😰
Not sure we have the time any more to do what you suggest. Yet, you are right: we have to try conventional means, too. ⚖️
WOWerful insights there, Ricardo. 🤝 You touch upon my forlorn, wretched hope: that the next two years are so bad that the M.A.G.A. spell is broken; the anti-democratic politicoes are voted out; but, NOT SO BAD as to train-wreck the machinery of republican governance. 🤞
P.S., Ricardo, I thank you for your trying to brain-storm ideas with me on ways to to push back. ⚖️
Thing about spit-balling: yes, most ideas (e.g., mine) are hare-brained, but other participants are encouraged to propose and discuss alternatives or to refine hare-brained ideas, eventually, into rare-earth mental minerals. 🤔
In fact, the only good idea I have ever had that was purely my own was to get seconds on dessert. 🥳
Resistance has limited effect. Change to authoritarian regimes, as a set of recent studies show, reveal opposition from, well, the opposition, to be useless against authoritarian regimes in the past three decades or so. Reform must come from the party in power itself, i.e., the GOP.
Get ready to live with this rubbish the rest of your life . . . barring a Black Swan event. No one can predict the future, but one can't ignore the trends either . . . .
Philoctetes ,resistance is of limited effect if you let the authoritarian regime to be established and spread roots. The extreme right had been planing this take over for many years and had invested billions of dollars to reach this moment and I don't know if they have contingency plans for eventually let the midterm election run its normal course for example. We should not wait for as you say, reform coming from inside the ruling party. As I posted earlier and often, we have a narrow window of opportunity in less than two years . Let's brain storm to find a way to at least to winn again Congress and limit the damage and spread of their roots till and if we can compete in next general election.
Keep in mind that none of the countries in the last 30 years that unsuccessfully try to resist authoritarianism had any experience with democracy or at best just months of it. I'm thinking Russia, Hungary and a few others. We have the experience and a majority of people that won't give democracy up without trying something.
I wish I had your positive outlook on this. Unfortunately we do NOT have a majority of people that won't give up democracy. About 1/3 of the voters voted for Harris s and slightly more voted for Trump. But almost 1/3 didn't vote at all. There might be some of those who would still support democracy (say 1/3 of them) but that only amounts to about 45 % of the electorate. I think 55% of the electorate could care less.
I will concede to Jon that actually withholding funds could lead to a civil war. On the other hand, the Xian nationalisms have already seceded in their open efforts to turn our democracy into something like an Islamic 'republic' (sic, sick). And we are helping to fund it. 🤢
Look, I do not want to harm the red states. They need to get the message that many of those G-D awful blue states are aiding them; that they have something to lose. 🙏
To sever the links would drive the message home that the pro-republican majority is not powerless. The A.C.H. links could be restored after a week or two so no harm would be done. Much like a G.O.P. government shut-down, ¿eh? 😉
Even the proclamation that the bank transfer links would be severed might do the trick without occurring. ✌🏽
Why? It would not be secession but a signal of refusal to fund anti-republican authoritarianism. 🤬
In any case, we need to take risks and exercise courage now; we are in the fight of our lives. Risk perversion now may guarantee that we lose our cherished republic. 😱
These Xian nationalists want to destroy and ¿the response is a prissy little protest? Lots of luck with that. 💔
This is it, folks. We now move from "theory" to "reality" ... both in Trump's level of abandonment of the Constitution and journalism's ability to create "a well-informed citizenry" as a check on those times when Trump acts on his worst instinct ("I am your retribution."). While I have no crystal ball about the extent of Trump's shock and awe objective, I can say for sure that mainstream journalism is NOT up to fulfilling the role the Founding Fathers envisioned when the included Freedom of the Press in the Constitution. Here's to the public recognizing "we are on our own" and to people like Anthony Davis (Five Minute News) replacing ABC, NBC and CBS News for those looking to know what's really going on. Watch what Trump does... not what he says. He wants us to lose our minds. We cannot let him do that. People like Anthony Davis can, I believe, help.
Steve, less than half of the homes in the US have cable TV now and the number is decreasing. I get most of my news from Substack and Sirius/XM). Currently, Cable TV subscriptions are in just 68.7 million households in the United States. That’s a decline of 34.57% compared to 105 million cable TV subscribers recorded in 2010.
Until Cable TV allows people to "bundle" the few channels they watch instead of being forced to subscribe to Fox or Newsmax, people will continue to migrate away from cable.
WIth the oligarchs owning the major newspapers their readership is dwindling as well. For a long time Bezos kept his nose out of the WAPO, but he pulled the endorsement of Kamala and Tim and many of the best journalists have left.
The public’s embrace of Trump’s “Fake News” mantra was the beginning of the end for the Fourth Estate. Add in the demise of daily papers, a fractured media landscape, deliberate disinformation campaigns, the rise of largely unedited social media platforms, the birth of “influencers” and, finally, AI and it is virtually impossible for the average citizen to distinguish between fact and fiction.
Thanks for expressing your concern. I am no one special. If I could find Anthony Davis along with other people like ThomHartmann,Dan Rather, and Ruth Ben-Ghiat… and let’s not forget Democracy Now! … and the recently launched The Contrarian…So can others. All it takes is a desire to find people who speak the truth.
I agree that factual information IS available to those who seek it out. But if an individual’s “research” comports with their world view, they will likely look no further to determine if the facts are, in fact, facts.
ABC's surrender early on showed the maga presidency how to control the so called mainstream journalism. Not too many would be up to create a well informed citizenship out of fear, therefore we need to look for alternatives .
But the radical right worried that women’s legal equality to men would protect abortion rights and that, as Catholic bishops of the United States wrote to senators, it would prohibit “discrimination based on ‘sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity,’ and other categories.”← Pulled quote.
When a Catholic woman is called to serve God, no matter how charismatic or dedicated she is, she is not allowed to be a priest. And, of course, God never intended for women to be Bishops or Cardinals or the Pope.
Check out "The Conclave". It's worth a watch especially since so many Catholics have called it heresy. The acting is fantastic.
Exactly Terry! And the Catholic Church is going to be at odds with U.S. evangelical Christians because the evangelicals are going to want to sideline Rome and that won’t be tolerated. Should be interesting. Like a wrestling match right? The Catholic cardinals in their little red beanies and red shoes (women in the convent or the kitchen where they belong) against the born again neo-plantation owners wearing garb evoking genteel southern chivalry—a cross on every lapel—or evoking the old west—a cowboy hat (in both versions carrying guns and their women in the kitchen and bedroom where they belong). Might not be the first round match but these characters will appear I wager.
I've been reading a couple of novels about the Reformation in England back in the day and it's so interesting - Alito would love to cut off some heads or burn some women at the stake I'm sure. He probably did in a previous life...maybe he was Thomas More.
The Biden team is saying goodbye, so it's very likely last, final face time for many.
Face time. Time for social, human contacts with others.
Derek Thompson has a piece in “The Atlantic” on how, for decades (since even before Robert Putnam’s “Bowling Alone”), people of all demographics have been spending less and less face time with others. In his “The Anti-Social Century” (interviewed by Michel Martin on Amanpour and Company), he notes one reason people need more alone time: the smart phone.
It’s always giving novelty, so all are on it more. After jolts of dopamine, cortisol, and hours online with one’s tribe and plenty of passion and anger about things, all are exhausted. So all need more aloneness, social isolation, solitude.
Biggest casualty besides to oneself is to one’s village. Americans may fiercely now belong to (warring) tribes, but no one has any tolerance anymore for what he calls one’s village – one’s neighbors, many of whom come with views other than one’s own.
How to be more social, have more time and energy for the face-to-face? Put down one’s phone more, says Derek Thompson.
I wish though he’d thought of schools, and how humanities in them might nudge us into wider desire and skill sets for seeing, dealing with others.
Like with Cable TV people are leaving these platforms in droves.
When someone trolls us here in HCR's comment section we either block them or ignore them. But Elon and Donald kick dissenters off and allow right wing liars to post. And now so does Facebook.
Perhaps beauty is in the eye of the beholder but to my eye, the last 30 or so years seem to have resulted in the distribution of neighborhoods. Much has been bulldozed and replaced by warehouse-like multi-family boxes that are brightened only by some tacked on colored panels that don't really hide cheapest possible construction methods. Little boxes made of ticky-tacky look like architectural treasures by comparison; let alone ordinary homes and apartments built before mega-development companies.
I imaging these new dwellings are much nicer inside, but common spaces seem like they are becoming a wasteland. Probably not across the board, but much I see looks bleak and less community-minded. Certainly less "organic".
The rich look after themselves. Dehumanized totally for the sake of their moral emptiness, they seek grandeur and glamor in their housing -- so much luxury housing in the U.S. -- but spit on working people having any decent housing, just as they spit on working people or the former middle classes having any health care or decent schools.
And soon, a convicted criminal stands with his fellow nihilist billionaires to gloat over how they've totally taken over.
An excellent book that lays out how this has all come to pass is “Democracy in Chains.” The oligarchs and their pals in power BELIEVE they are born to rule and that the masses are born to serve. It is Feudalism on steroids. Throw in a bit of religious fanaticism, racism, sexism, homophobia…and desperation among the masses…and you get the MAGA Movement.
Hi Phil, Yes, the language of war separates people, breaks them into factions instead of villages. But the influencers may have stepped out of bounds/over the line... Shock and Awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. This makes the warring parties a little clearer... puts all in my village against the power elite. Can we talk about this?
I wonder how many now-commemorative ticket-holders have already traveled to DC, paid for hotel rooms, and rented cars, and how peacefully they will respond to being told there's no room at the Inn.
On top of it all, snow is expected Sunday, 1-3” which could mean 6” lol. DC traffic will be a zoo, on street parking won’t exist. Uber will be $$$$$. Schadenfreude will be served chilled, in a tall glass.
Yes, I agree. I was pointing out the irony of all those cold, angry, MAGAs outside the White House while their leader is giving a speech that they aren't allowed to see . . .
I'm all in favour of moving all presidential inaugurations inside the Capitol. No need for such grand pomp and circumstances as the usual outdoor function. On the felon's library, will it fit in a prison cell?
About Trump's 'shock and awe' plan of issuing immediate executive orders:
“[i]f your plan calls for your side being all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect in execution, and immune to surprise—when you’re working with human beings and you presume your enemy is stupid, weak, and all but inanimate—the plan probably isn’t worth all that much.”
Politicians have a choice - Is it better to be feared than loved? or Is it better to be loved than feared? Romney and McCain and Dole all chose love over fear? Trump chose fear over love. And Trump became President and the others lost.
If Trump’s clown car was smart, they’d have implemented MAGAlite and slowly escalated from there. The ‘unleashing of shock and awe’ on day one and their boasting about greater tax cuts for the Uber Rich at the expense of your average Joe and absolute poor, is going to blow-up in their faces. As I’ve said before, this is a country whose disgruntled citizens can settle a dispute with an AK47 purchased from Walmart. Apparently Musk has over 20 ppl hovering around him in his security detail. Let the shit show begin.
Jazz, the Four Horsemen are actually Six if you add Rupert Murdock, Peter Thiel, Vivek Ramasomething....wait, wait there are more than six already...well let's round the number to around 800 ok?
The language of war separates people, breaks them into factions instead of villages. But the influencers may have stepped out of bounds/over the line... Shock and Awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. This makes the warring parties a little clearer... puts all in my village against the power elite. Can we talk about this?
Your unpacking of Trump’s words Lynn, should be front page news. People need to know their incoming President is not only a shock jock, but if his cabinet picks get through, these kinds of threats could be very real.
The fact they are not front page news is as alarming as the words... are people not seeing this mind shift? Are we going to see death in American streets Monday, so he can prove to his little mind he's a man?
I trust that the military, law enforcement and national guard are good people who know right from wrong - just as high profile journalists are publicly resigning from major news outlets in protest. It’s no doubt going to be a bumpy ride.
I am sure you intended that as s joke but for the record you can't buy an AK47 or for that matter any operating automatic rifle at a Walmart. You can buy BB guns and pellet guns and in some states semi-automatic small caliber rifles and shotguns (for hunting) but I know of no Walmart that has ever sold AK47s or AR15s or anything of that type.
You almost had my eyes bugging out when I saw Trmp and library mentioned in the same thought process Heather. “Library” may as well be Greek to trmp. The only place that money is going is into is the truculent two year old’s back pocket.
Petty Alert: All the women in Trump's circle look modeled after Ivanka. They all have long hair, plumped up lips and pulled up cheeks. Kristy Noem must use the same doctor that Kimberly Gargoyle does. Do they not have mirrors? Ditto Pam Bondi, lawyer Habba, Lara Trump, Melania -- All Barbies -- Puppy Killer Barbie; Can't Dance Worth Shit Barbie; Not really a lawyer Barbie; Doesn't Know The 14th Amendment well enough to opine on birthright citizenship Barbie; I Don't Really Care, Do You Barbie; Coulda been a Senator from Florida Barbie.
What's going to be in the Trump "Library"? Fatso Fatass is the first occupant of the White House to be a complete illiterate. Not to mention a dedicated willing ignoramus.
A place to store all those documents he has been hoarding?
They went to eBay.
But first to Putin and the Saudis.
I think that you are correct, George. Is it merely coincidental that there were about 40 missing classified documents while some of Putin's close acquaintances started dying by "accidents" in the fall of 2022? I can assure you, American Intelligence knows why they fell off balconies, etc. We actually have a traitor in the White House come Monday.
Let's not forget all the other acts of treachery during IQ45's first term. Inviting the Russian ambassador and a Russian spy to the Oval Office, where tRump shared top secret intel on Mossad spy ops in Syria, leading either to the withdrawal of Israeli agents or their death...we'll never know. Then there was publicly siding with Putin when he denied any attempt to meddle in the 2016 election, despite the evidence presented in Mueller's report and the Republican-led Senate Intel Committee. The partner of tRump's campaign chairman, Smooth Paulie Manafort, was a bona fide Russian agent, for God's sake. The tRump transition team tried to get rid of sanctions on Russia put in place by Obama, and at every turn after taking office tRump tried to soften or eliminate sanctions for various Russian misdeeds. IQ45 withdrew US troops from Syria, helping Putin. He praised Putin every 5 minutes for being a "strong" leader. He attacked our NATO allies and continuously referred to withdrawing from or ending the alliance. He spread Russian myths about Ukraine and suggested it was OK for Russia to keep Crimea. Of course, his primary value to Putin has been his constant and continuing attempts to divide and misinform the American people while undermining, weakening and attempting to destroy our key institutions, including having his mob attack our seat of government four years ago. I hope that at some point in the future, while we're all still alive to witness it, the world will learn the truth about FELON47 and Putin, and the financial and other compensation (other than Putin getting him elected in 2016) the Manchurian Cantaloupe has received for betraying his country.
I probably agree with everything you say, but must you conflate DJT's surname with a secondary sex characteristic that's celebrated in sculpture and photography, and that evolved along with the achilles tendon, the nuchal ligament (holds the head steady when we run), body hairlessness, so that our hominid ancestors, both male and female, could run long distances to chase prey animals to exhaustion, thus feeding their fellows?
Harvard's Daniel Lieberman has written extensively about this evolution.
Fair point, particularly since the aesthetics of FELON47's nether regions leave something to be desired.
Chris, I doubt that anyone ever "desired" those regions, but the appeal was probably monetary. It's likely that was disappointing, too.
Ripe tomato? Nascent zucchini?
All disgustingly, desperately true. And now?
Richard, definitely yes. The orange traitor slime won’t have melan in his bedroom; he’ll have his best bud putting
on his private phone.
And possibly China.
He has been selling them to Russia and China. China has no need to use Tik-Tok when they can go to Mar-a-Lago and shop for secrets from the POTUS in person.
The eBay that is exclusive to spies and secret services and private armies
🤣🤣the Dark EBay. 🤣🤣
There really are equivalents.
Or to Putin and Xi
And the traditional letter that President Obama left for Trump when the Obamas left the White House - that was one of the first documents reported missing by the National Archives. Trump undoubtedly sent that to the Swann Gallery in NYC, which sells & auctions valuable ephemera. Trump monetizes everything.
J L, the eBay of the Dark Web.
How much money did Trump acquire for those tickets to inauguration that are now unusable and nonrefundable? He simply wants a smaller space to fill because “size” of adoring MAGATS is of extreme importance to him. Recall Obamas inauguration in similar blustery weather? Looked more like a deification, so very impressive, and Obama was Black! 😱
eBay? I wonder what the Russian equivalent of that would be?
Ebayski?
or they were shared with his fellow dictators.
Massive shelving for unsold copies of The Art of the Deal and the ripoff 9/11 Bible.
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
And the ones the Presidential plumber fished out of the golden WH toilet.
Exactly. For all the documents he won't properly store in 2029.
Stolen i would say...😤
Seems like we all believe he will leave in 2029…I think only if he is dead will he willingly give up his dictatorship…and I wonder about that.
I agree wholeheartedly with your observation about Trump remaining in office until he dies or J.D. Vance along with his cronies Musk and House Speaker Johnson blow the dust off the 25th Amendment and lock Trump away in a nursing home. Then we'll be stuck with MAGA forever. Well, that's a depressing thought.
LMAO. Excellent response
The money is going in to his pocket.
Shock and awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
The Bulwark Substack addresses this concept in detail. There are several false assumptions and a terrifying characterization of all opposed to Trump as the enemy. The concept requires meticulous planning and the assumption that the enemy will be taken by surprise. Republicans are divided themselves over some issues and what the attack is supposed to target. It also assumes a weak enemy that won’t be prepared. Granted, organization is not a Democratic Party strength, but they do share a common enemy. I’m a “lean Democrat “who has some conservative values. Does that make me an enemy? The conceptualization of the first day strategy as shock and awe is not the way a Democracy should operate. We are all Americans, but in Trump’s mind those of us who oppose some of his policies are perceived as enemies, or at least it sounds that way. The other part of the Bulwark article addresses unforeseen consequences. Certainly this happens in war. The first I think of among many is the use of Agent Orange. I’m a Vietnam era veteran, having been commissioned in graduate school as a Clinical Psychologist in 1968. I retired in 1993 after 7 years in the Army, 5 years in the VA, and 13 years in the Air Force. I’ve seen the casualties of Agent Orange but more PTSD casualties. Using a concept taken from war, even in peace, is going to have unintended consequences. More than half of us will suffer, because many who voted for Trump and Republican candidates don’t really understand how his policies will affect them.
Now that’s wisdom coming from someone who has actually experienced things that folks who put their blind faith into someone who has shown a callous disregard for our country and it’s people by continuing to tell and spread misinformation disinformation!
I don’t understand your reply. Maybe because it’s all one long sentence. My “wisdom “ comes from 50 years of experience as a Clinical Psychologist. I know about unintended consequences. I’m really not qualified to formulate strategy. I’m not a participant in anyone’s campaign. I vote on the basis of what I believe about policies and character. I just don’t like the concept of “shock and awe “ as a political strategy. You don’t have to read between the lines to know that I despise Trump and all he stands for.
What I trying to say is that I agree with your commentary. I just got a bit too wordy with my comment. I totally agree with you!
I thought maybe you were, but I wasn’t sure. I have a tendency to get too wordy myself. When I edit some articles I write, I wind up deleting unnecessary words and breaking down some sentences.
The last one to use it (Dubya) incurred the world's horrified ridicule.
Agreed…. That was my first thought too. The half of us who didn’t vote for Trump are basically Iraq. I’m wondering if LA will get any Federal disaster money.
The current administration under a real American president has already provided the state of California with disaster aide! The question is will the incoming felon regime continue the aide needed by the state without mandates and strings attached to get the funding from a corrupt criminal Mafia Don?
Who is the enemy?
To the felon it appears to be everyone who is not pledging loyalty to him.
Absolutely!
Yes.
One way or another.
Every single dollar!!!!
Very efficient, no waste here. Just what the American people voted for !!!!✌️
Here is one prototype:
https://djtrumplibrary.com/
Whoa... Someone put an awful lot of work into that JL.
Speaking of orange, I saw a replica of his “official” photo yesterday. Looks a lot like his Fulton Co. mug shot Also, you can see his raccoon eyes, with the white, unbronzed areas clearly visible.
The fat double chin and scraggy neck are hidden by dipping. That's why he's been modelling the mugshot ever since.
But I think he had a professional apply his makeup for this. It is lighter and more evenly applied than usual. His hair looks less ridiculous, too.
Fearless Leader.
A big empty space seems right but I predict lots of orange and pictures of him. Alternatively, a small room in large-a-largo with a movie playing constantly since all the money will be gone, mysteriously. President Biden, one last directive—no federal money to go to any felon compulsive liar draftdodger’s presidential library. The only true thing he ever said was “YOU KNEW I WAS A SNAKE.” And the Year of the Snake is beginning. 😂🤣Justice matters!🤮💩🤡🎃🐍🤮
This is great. I wish they had captured Trump cozying up to Putin.
I think there will be a wing of Trump's library dedicated to Putin and Trump's special relationship. It is truly unique in Presidential history.
Shock and awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
The knowing smiles exchanged, 11 November 2018, at the Arch of Triumph.
J L -- This. Is. Freaking. Brilliant.
The GRIFT shop...well done!!
OMG LFAA FAMILLY!!!!!
You absolutely MUST stop and check this out! The "Grift Shop" tab alone is worth looking into.
JL Thank you thank you thank you!! I don't know where you found that but it is absolutely incredible!
I stopped looking at it just to post the comment and I'm headed back. If there isn't an art gallery in the "library" there should be! I am sure ketchup patterns flung on the wall would be sold, as well as art "inspired" by him (aka feces smeared on the Capitol by J6 artists).
Loved the Grift Shop. So many choices.
Wow, JL, that’s a work of art — and political resistance. It seems to have been mounted before the 2022 midterms. I wonder if the parody team still updates. I’m thoroughly impressed. Thanks for sharing that.
This is a great effort, but not realistic. To actually build this proposal would require all the millions that Donald has received, leaving nothing for him to pocket. He would never let that happen. At the end of his first squat in the White House, I designed a prototype based on what I knew then. You can see it here:
https://filedn.com/lEUTy4d80EbkwgxG6AL0Rqp/DJTrumpLibrary.jpg
After four more years of research into Donald's character, and the recent contribution from Mickey Mouse, I've revised my prediction to something more likely:
https://filedn.com/lEUTy4d80EbkwgxG6AL0Rqp/TrumpLibrary.jpg
Presidential lie berry! Hahaha ha! Good one!
Version #1 was my best (and audible) laugh of the day. Pretty expensive covfefe though. I thought Trump was going to fix inflation?
Version #2 is, alas, more realistic.
I like the first one better... more true personalty
I hope they left room for a section on the deportation camps and Billionaires’ Row.
They're gonna need a bigger wing.
Whoa! That was fantastic! I can only say: I WISH!!!
Brilliant. Send it to anyone with a sense of humor, sense of remorse, sense of dread. I saw that who ever created this is based in Arizona of all places. I guess "hope springs eternal" after all. It may be all we have.
I that that a creative and accurate sense of perspective is essential for resilience and probably for wisdom. I suspect that hope that has substance sees more possibilities and choices, and we still have those for now.
I hope they left room for a section on the deportation camps and the Billionaires’ Row.
Shock and awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
Because the people voted him in. I assume MAGA loves the "shock and awe" name. It makes them feel powerful. It's a cult. The cult leader makes them feel powerful. They want "shock and awe" to do its work against immigrants, inflation, etc. etc.
And we are talking about it here. The general says it's not going to work, and I agree with him. PS, I love all the Dark Ebay stuff. Hahahaha. Humor is one way we are going to win. MAGA doesn't know how to laugh.
Exactly.
"A house divided against itself, cannot stand."
- A Biblical reference famously cited by Lincoln
Democracy and liberty are quarrelsome by nature, but at the level of universal rights, we hold some truths to be self-evident, or at least. axiomatic to a peaceable society. That's simply foundational to our nation's "better angels", no? It's called solidarity. E Pluribus Unum.
Shock and awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
Love the prototype! Good one! Ha!
Thanks for this JL and to whoever put it together!
Here's photos of his legacy library – no additional funding required:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-indictment-pictures-photos-documents-boxes-mar-a-lago-bathroom/
Every copy ever published of 'Mad Magazine' and comics of 'Archie and Jughead'. 😉 No, not 'National Lampoon' -- too many polysyllabic words for the Trumpanzee to understand. 🙄
EDIT: oops l forgot. One hundred thousand copies of 'The Art of the Deal'. 🥳
You forgot the videos of "Beavis and Butthead."
He likes to be reminded of Jr. and Eric occasionally. . .
Now, I am laughing out loud. Thank you, Lady E.!
Get someone to film that laugh. Over the next four years, you're going to need to be reminded that you once could.
That is sad to consider. That reminds me of the line from "lt's a Wonderful Life" when Mary (the mother) answers her children's entreaty on whether they should pray for Daddy, she says, hugging, mournfully, the son who asked, "Yes. Pray. Pray very hard." 😰
😅
Did they actually print 100,000 copies of "The Art of the Deal?"
And he didn't write it and it's likely he hasn't read it.
I still blame the author who knew Trump was a fraud and still basically ghost wrote the book for him. It gave a very strong impression that T was a smart, capable businessman although a bit unorthodox. Fooled me for a while. Lots of people still cling to that fairy tale, partly because of that legitimizing book.
I knew that author in N.Y.C. He got his fifteen minutes of fame with interviews and a couple of features in books on Trump. Irony is that he is -- or was twenty-five years ago -- as nasty as Trump. 😲
The guy who wrote it has been interviewed by MSNBC. The last time I saw him, months ago, he was planning to move overseas if tfg won, as was Michael Cohen. Don’t know if they actually have.
It's likely he hasn't read it Gary? Really?😄
Trump's ghostwriter says writing "The Art of the Deal" is the greatest regret of his life.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tony-schwartz-trumps-ghostwriter-says-writing-the-art-of-the-deal-is-the-greatest-regret-of-his-life/
I've seen him interviewed a few times. Tony has said in other interviews that Trump didn't read several chapters he wrote. As you know, he's not a reader.
He is basically and empty skull filled with scrambled slogans and a big mouth. Thanks Gary.
An even emptier soul.
Yes! I wonder how many Americans caught this story? It is a very telling one!
Whitehouse staff claimed that they learned to pepper briefs with Trump's name, so that he would read them.
“Trumpanzee” - 😍 it.
Mad was way too sophisticated for the likes of Trump. I suspect even Archie would leave him behind.
Thank you, J.L. 🤝
You and Lady E. have buoyed my flagging spirits. 🤝
A Trump presidential library? Pardon me while I clean up the coffee I just snorted out my nose -- I was overcome by derisive laughter while trying to process the cognitive dissonance that the phrase "Trump presidential library" induced. The orange criminal can't spell "library," let alone understand what to do with one.
What will said library have in it, a couple of CIA-prepared comic books and a Sharpie-altered weather map? Maybe a pic of his first inauguration Photoshopped to make the crowd look about 20 times bigger than it actually was?
And let's not kid ourselves that that $250M is going to be set aside for a library. It's gonna disappear into the orange criminal's pocket faster than you can say "Trump campaign promises." The usual gang of oligarchs, suckers and sycophants, and MAGA recipients of government-provided safety-net support that the orange criminal will do his best to cut will be hit up again for more dough when library time rolls around.
What will Trump's "library" have in it? Framed indictments? Supreme Court decisions granting him dictatorial powers?
I, too, must clean up my keyboard. Scared the cat, too.
I’ve scared my dogs over the years lol-ing loudly and snorting.
Shock and awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
this link posted above from JL says it all. It is PERFECT!
https://djtrumplibrary.com/
Check out JL Graham's link!!!!
He’s putting that fuckin money in his pocket. That pig, and his pig supporters don’t frequent libraries
Shock and awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
Even his own supporters who already suffer greatly under plutocratic purchase of government.
The pattern is not new:
"The slave-breeders and slave-traders, are a small, odious and detested class, among you; and yet in politics, they dictate the course of all of you," - Lincoln
Mike!!! Your comment helps me feel better. So happy to know I’m not alone…
Sorry about using the F word, but these days it just can’t help it
But, but, but…
What about the $15 million that he extorted from ABC allegedly his ‘library’ because he was defamed (not really) by George Stephanopoulos calling his a rapist? When, in reality, he’s only an adjudicated rapist.
Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.
Freedom of the press? Fifteen million? Afflict the afflicted and comfort the (very) comfortable.
I'm hoping to get a look at that rolled-up Forbes Magazine.
I think I have an appropriate list of books and Authors for the beginning of the Library, and maybe even the Place of Honor, or "Ehrenplatz" in the Entrance way, next to Donnies ceremonial desk when he retires.
Here is a list of Nazi-approved literature that was ratified or promoted by the Nazi leadership during their regime:
Nazi-Endorsed Works
1. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler in Gold with Donnies signature. $99.99 at Amazon
• This autobiographical manifesto outlined Hitler’s political ideology and became a central text of Nazi ideology. It sold over 12 million copies during the Third Reich. It is said to be the only book that Donnie has ever opened. (I didn't say read, I said "opened")
2. Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts by Alfred Rosenberg
• A key work of Nazi ideology, this book promoted racial theories and anti-Semitic ideas. It sold over 1.3 million copies and was second in importance only to Mein Kampf. Also a #2 favorite of the Identitarian movement.
3. Volk ohne Raum (People Without Space) by Hans Grimm
• Published in 1926, this novel became heavily publicized under the Nazis for its themes of German expansionism and racial superiority. It has been rewritten by Kristi Noem to justify killing of pesky young dogs.
4. Front Experience Literature
• Books glorifying camaraderie and heroism in war were encouraged. Werner Beumelburg was a prominent author in this category. Signed by Donnie..."Stand back and be ready"
5. Worldview Literature
• Works promoting Nazi ideology were prioritized, including those by party members like Alfred Rosenberg.
6. Patriotic and Racially “Pure” Literature
• Books emphasizing German cultural purity and rejecting foreign or “un-German” influences were widely promoted. Only those signed by Martin Stiller, leader of the Identitarian Movement in Europe and proponent of the Great replacement Conspiracy
Also, below is a list of authors who were particularly popular among key Nazi figures:
Authors Central to Nazi Ideology
1. Houston Stewart Chamberlain
• His book Die Grundlagen des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century) was a foundational text for Nazi racial theories and heavily influenced Adolf Hitler.
2. Alfred Rosenberg
• A leading Nazi ideologue, Rosenberg authored Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts (The Myth of the Twentieth Century), which was second in importance only to Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
3. Richard Wagner
• The German composer was Adolf Hitler’s favorite for his operas and writings, which reflected themes of German nationalism and anti-Semitism.
4. Friedrich Nietzsche (Misinterpreted)
• Although Nietzsche himself was critical of anti-Semitism and nationalism, his concept of the Übermensch (superman) was appropriated by the Nazis, especially through the works of Alfred Baeumler.
5. Oswald Spengler
• His book The Decline of the West was admired for its cyclical view of civilizations, though Spengler himself distanced from Nazi racial theories. He is however seen as the "father" of the modern Identitarian Movement.. Musk will have to sign this book.
Personal Favorites of Adolf Hitler
3. Karl May
• Hitler enjoyed May’s adventure novels about the American Wild West during his youth and reportedly recommended them to his generals as inspiration for strategy. All written by a deluded but creative recluse in his bedroom in Eastern Germany. His authoritative writing was never badly influenced by the reality of a visit he never made to any of the places he idealized.
2. Henry Ford
• Ford’s The International Jew was praised by Hitler for its anti-Semitic rhetoric, and Ford’s ideas influenced Nazi propaganda.
3. Thomas Carlyle
• Carlyle’s “Great Man Theory” resonated with Nazi leadership, and Joseph Goebbels often read Carlyle’s biography of Frederick the Great to Hitler during World War II.
Other Influential Authors
5. Lanz von Liebenfels
• His pseudo-scientific racial theories in works like Theozoology had an early influence on Hitler.
2. Ernst Schertel
• Schertel’s occult-themed book Magic: History, Theory, and Practice was found in Hitler’s personal library with marked passages.
These authors either directly contributed to Nazi ideology or were co-opted to reinforce its principles. Their works were often promoted or distributed within the Third Reich as part of the regime’s propaganda efforts, and although Donnie probably has never read any of these, Stephen Miller has, and insists that they be added
Just a start TC...
Whilst I appreciate the list - Donnie's not a reader. he didn't "read" his way into being a Nazi - it just came naturally. Some are born Nazis, some achieve Nazism, and some have Nazism thrust upon 'em.
Donnie's just a natural born Nazi.
Yep, and so many loved the Nazi vibes and signed on, many being the children or descendants of those who fought to defeat the Nazis a generation or two back. I know a couple of these and can feel nothing but contempt
Yep, natural born killer.
I'm guessing it may even be in his DNA--I believe Donald's grandfather, Friedrich Trump was from Bavaria, as was his wife. Nazism originated in Munich which is in Bavaria.
His father was a member of the KKK.
I’ve heard he’s working with Madame Tussauds in London to prepare Ivanka to be displayed permanently for all the guys in his cabinet to admire forever.
A wax figure of Ivanka sitting on Daddy's knee?
Clothed or not?
For an extra million they'll do a Trump with big hands.
But, but, but, how can they? She probably has too many more plastic surgeries
planned….
Hahahaha, I don't think there will be a Trump Library. The fleecing of America continues.
Hmmm... I disagree, Linda. He'll build it on land he owns and charge exorbitant rents to NARA to run it. It's another way for him and the grifting criminal syndicate family to grift.
My thoughts exactly.
Um….TC….I believe you misspelled First Felon
Several spellings out there ... I prefer the 'FElon34X' spelling H/t to LFAA Community.
Haha! I was thinking exactly the same thing.
that's a lot of money to buy comic books.
Maybe he's mistaking "Manga" for "MAGA".
It looks like January 20 will be a cold day in hell... Thank you for what you do.
Not that cold. But cold enough to excuse the bad attendance. Which is why he had it moved inside. I heard Nancy Pelosi will not be there. Then I heard Michele Obama will not. Then it occurred to me,,,you know, any Democrat who attends this inauguration is a fool. Then I thought, you know, that is wrong. Anyone who attends this inauguration is a fool. Biden and Harris should refuse to attend. They should resign today at noon along with Blinken, and leave it to Mike Johnson to preside as President for a Day. Fool that he is. Let the MAGa pundits know what their Shock and Awe assault on their enemies will be met with. An equal and opposite reaction. It’s no joke. Meet insult with insult. Hostility with hostility. Assault with assault. Measure for measure. Learn from history. Never cooperate with those who regard you as an enemy.
Gotta keep pretending that it is a normal transfer of power when it was a bought exercise at best, all dressed up as a “free and fair election.” The pretense goes on.
Shock and awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. They are not pretending, we are not listening.
I listened in 2003 and was beyond appalled. Never thought that a Republican could be more idiotic than W. Both had plenty of support from the rogue “political party.”
Amen
JD, pretending that everything was and is normal has gotten us to where we are today.- in the laps of millionaires whose ideas of "normal" are so different than that of the majority of Americans.
I take issue with Merrick Garland's trying to do the right, or normal, thing in prosecuting Donald Trump. He thanked his staff for " disrupting threats from foreign and domestic terrorists, and from authoritarian leaders that threaten the country's security.- by "prosecuting fraud and corruption" and thanked them for working "to pursue justice not politics." What??
Garland was too nice, in my opinion. He was too slow in making Trump take responsibility for all his illegal and immoral acts. He tried to proceed "normally," and as has been found to be true, there is nothing normal about Donald Trump and his MAGA cronies-in-crime.
I'm no one of political importance, and just as every other armchair politician, I have my views. I think my view is reasonable.
We were taught to "play nice" and "be fair." Unfortunately, "playing nice" and "being fait," has landed us with a president who is neither nice or fair.
Woe is me.
You are 100% right. It’s pretense and I can do without the charade. They will do it soon enough. I won’t be surprised
So then the flags should be flown back at half staff.
Absolutely and those that refused to do so,should display the flag upside down.
I've been forbidden by SWMBO to either fly the flag upside down, or drape in in black.
Thanks for the info 👍. I wonder why that organization didn't forbid felon 34 for hugging the flag 🙄
Definitely should be upside down!
What's SWMBO?
She Who Must Be Obeyed
Thanks Camilla, Why does she not want us to fly the flag up-side-down or drape it in black?
Because she doesn’t want to be targeted.
"The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie."
-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Is this the first administration that has used rhetoric more appropriate to an occupying army?
YES! Shock and awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
Agreed! The felon’s entire strategy for his reign of terror is: threats, intimidation, fear, hate, bigotry and the destruction of our democracy through force of any kind, that is, if we the people allow him and his criminal regime to make us subservient to their destructive whelms! Certainly it would be a real welcome desire if the rest of the country would join us in holding their feet to the fire to serve the American people not their billionaire cronies!
Someone just suggested: "I would prefer not to." Like Bartleby, I would prefer not to participate in a reign of terror, thank you.
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:— "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
The Presidential oath of office doesn't say anything about Trump obeying the Constitution. He violates many parts of the Constitution almost every day and he has only protected or defended a few clauses within the 1st and 2nd amendment.
The key phrase is "to the best of my ability". Game over. And: "faithfully"? What is he faithful to? Only himself.
See gary,you just give felon 34 a good reason no to obey the Constitution .
Since the oath doesn't even mention it, it wobe very unfair if someone accused him of not doing it and it would be also a witch hunt!!!!
Tyler, Steve Rothpletz just wrote an opinion piece in The Guardian that says, among other things, that Biden and Harris shouldn't attend, because to do so is to support the felon's desires to run an autocratic/oligarchic government.
I hope this is the timely death of "when they fly low, we fly high"
I think they moved it inside to lessen the opportunity for assassination.
Will Melania be attending? Is she not planning to occupy the WH?
I like the honest and really appropriate defiance. The threats of a vile regime is truly unacceptable in our country of law and order, or do we still practice such a noble cause? I don’t believe that MAGA folks do based on their tentacles toward violence if they don’t get there way aka January6, 2021!
It sure will be. Here’s the plan: Muskolini will crash the American economy and proclaim “it’s all for your best interest.” Who profits when a crash occurs? Exactly, the ultra-rich. Musk wants to keep the other 99% of America poor and hungry, because poor and hungry subjects are obedient and unlikely to revolt. Meanwhile, the Convicted Orange Felon will hand Ukraine to Putin: payment for his help skewing the elections and getting the Orange Turd back into the White House. The COF will also pull the US out of NATO (orders from Vlad, sorry) and leave the way into Europe open for Russia. We’ll be fighting World War III here in Europe, though it may be very short: if Vlad uses a nuke on a big European city and threatens to have his Orange puppet push the red button too, it may well be that European leaders surrender within days. Welcome to the Eurasian Empire under Czar Putin.
And this all because too many American voters disliked the idea of a Black woman as president… My goodness. There are no words to express my anger and grief.
We WON'T allow TikTok because of Chinese propaganda and data gathering, but we WILL allow American oligarch propaganda and data gathering. Cool. Cool.
Very perceptive, Becky. And what happens if muskmelon buys TikTok? 😱
Cue Bogart and strawberries.
Dutch, be honest, it was not only about a Black woman president, it was also about the eggs remember? The eggs being so expensive 😫!!!!!
And the idiots believed an Orange Blob who rowed back on reducing the prices directly after he was reelected...
Look at Argentina. Half the population is in poverty, but hyperinflation is under control and support for the current regime remains strong. That’s what I see happening in the USA. The true believers will NEVER abandon their “fearless leader.”
So it is. Once a cultist, always a cultist...
That's rather dark...
It was also because we have a propaganda channel called Fox News, it has all Kremlin talking points, which at least half of America watches. I don’t think even a white man could have won as a Democrat with all of the disinformation. I have family in Europe, I live in NYC, so I am worried nonstop.
Me too. Putin has been instrumental in giving Trump the presidency, and he doesn't do _anything_ for free. Donnyboy has a price to pay to him, and I'm saying it is Ukraine and the US NATO membership.
Yes it is. And I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid it'll take a miracle to avert this.
I’ve been trying to see it more from a spiritual point of view. Obviously some people in our country need to find out what authoritarian fascism oligarchy klepto received. Plutocracy is all about. I don’t like it. I don’t support it. I think it’s a very dangerous road we’re going down, but it seems it’s the only way some people will wake up sadly
I agree wholeheartedly with you. To me, Trump is a symptom (or maybe the culmination) of a disease that has festered for a long time in American culture. He is all the nastiness that has been pushed away for so long: all the racism, the misogyny, the suppressed sexuality, the 'war' between men and women; it's all bursting through the surface of the polished American dream now. Whether it is for good or for ill, that remains to be seen...
Yes as HCR tells us the grab for power and control and nazi sympathizers have a long history in this country.
Yep... The Confederacy never died...
I was hoping for Thundersnow, but the orange buffoon can’t handle cold, so he weenied out and moved it indoors. Prolly so that he has an excuse for tiny crowds . .
Snowflakes and lil’ petunias. Remember Bernie and his mittens?
Loved that picture 🤩
So good-natured. A good sport!!!
😄
Sherree, I remember Itzak Perlman and Yo Yo Ma playing their stringed instruments for Obama's Inauguration on a cold day. (It was later said that the sound was pre-recorded, but still -- bare fingers touching those strings.)
I was there that day in 2009 with my kids. It was such an historic moment and FREEZING. But we showed up with ONE MILLION other Americans who braved the frigid temps and difficult navigation on the Mall with strollers and public transit filled to the brim. But so worth to hear those speeches in person, and see Obama sworn in as our president.
That was clearly a memorable experience for you and your family, K Doyle! How lucky you were!
The moment of a lifetime! I wouldn't have missed it for anything and wanted my children to see it in person. It was a transformational moment in our history. Looking back, little did I know the impact of electing a man of color would have on our country and politics. I think my children have grown up to be amazing and egalitarian people because of it.
I love that! I brought my voting-age son to hear Obama speak in NH back in early 2008 just before our primary, that's the only time I've seen him. He delivered a very uninspired speech; I'm sure he was exhausted.
My favorite meme from that photo was Bernie, in the chair with mittens on, a music stand with "Dvorak 9: The New World" and a tuba resting on its bell. That is funny because in that 4 movement symphony, three are tacet movements. In the third movement, after 30 measures of rest, there are 3 measures of half notes with a whole note tied to an eighth note. The figure is repeated 104 measures later, minus the whole tied to an 8th.
Andy Borowitz used the Bernie photo for a hilarious takedown of the Felon in Chief's aversion to the cold.
I laughed out loud at that Andy Borowitz post today.
😳
Cold makes his bone spurs ache.
🤣
For sure the 800 or so billionaires are a crowd big enough to fill the rotunda up.
Populism on display 👌
Shock and awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
Moving inside is his best excuse for his chicken hearted followers not showing up. He and his MAGA group are cowards all.
Thundersnow would be good but I was hoping for a wildfire!
You beat me to that punchline Dmitri ! Bravo !
At 11:59 AM, in the year of our Lord January 20, 2025, the earth stopped rotating. Time came to a stop. The people rejoiced in the streets. Balconies filled with revelers popping corks of rare vintages and toasting the stoppage of time — the point at which the new Assholes about to move forward backward gazed at watches. “It’s time to move the second hand. It’s time to plan the descent into Dante’s Inferno. Get on with it.” But the angels in a phalanx led by the Good Witch of the North instructed Time to remain still for a thousand years.
But they ran out of time.
It looks like the First Felon is a pussy.
Name a Republican politician that isn't.
There was a comment on one of the myriad apologist stories about moving the inauguration indoors. It read "It's so cold in DC that I saw a couple of Republican politicians with their hands in their own pockets."
I’m repeating that…A LOT!
Right on Gary!
🤣🤣🤣💯
Now now pussies are incredibly strong - that balless creature couldn't push out a baby in a million years.
I was using this def…surely you can agree😋
pus·sy ˈpu̇-sē
plural pussies
slang
: a weak or cowardly man or boy : WIMP
I just don't like negative words about women and our parts - like calling someone the c word- I just don't do it. Call him a dick instead...a weak, impotent flaccid dick :)
Terry, I don't like it either, but as you provide an example of, men's dangly bits are used as pejorative slang against us. I'll never, ever call a woman (or man) by the c-word but my 43 year-old daughter will on occasion.
Yes, you’re right I have a double standard. The reason I think it’s OK to insult men and their dangling bits is because you guys are still dominant over us women. In fact it’s worse now than it’s been since probably the 60s and 70s. I don’t think I have to tell you all the reasons why, but I will mention a couple. Stripping women’s access to healthcare and abortion is a big one. The r’s wanting to prevent women from traveling. You know they want to take away our right to vote. I have a brother who is a maggat and he told me I have no right to speak not only in his house, but in his state, which, of course is Texas… so yes, I will continue to use men’s dangling bits in a pejorative way. After all some men, a lot of men are raping and assaulting women at record numbers. If you’ve been online, I’m sure you’ve seen how some men attack women who just speak our minds. They can’t handle that we would rather have a bear nearby than one of them. I also see it as sort of like how Black people use the N-word it’s OK for them to use it but not as white people. so I sort of see it that way it’s an act of revolution to insult men and their dangling bits in my opinion. Sorry about that but it’s up to you guys to get other men in line. Do you question or correct other man when they say pejorative things about women? or is locker talk and rape culture OK
Terry, I'm just pointing out a disparity. I fully agree about the patriarchy, of which I'm part of by gender. And honestly, the men I know don't use "locker room talk" or condone rape culture. If I see it online and have the opportunity to respond, I do.
I was raised by parents who taught me to be kind towards girls and women -- my mother in particular taught me to be chivalrous, which I know isn't always well-received these days, so I try to just be kind towards people in general. Except bad drivers.
Thank you Doug! And I like men who are chivalrous. Now that I'm older I can use a little help once in a while. Just recently a guy helped me with a 40 lb bag of bird food and I was grateful. He didn't even work at the store!
Terry, thanks for your thanks, but please don't thank me, thank my late mother who taught each of her 4 children to be kind. It was her hallmark, and we understood the assignment, as they say (or said.)
Nice to see you saying such nice words about your Mom! Mom’s get blamed for so much. It’s the hardest job in the world.
He won’t “let” you speak in his HOUSE?? OMG he has it bad.
MLM, then I wouldn't go to his house, nor invite him to mine.
Yeah I'm done with him. I went other TX to visit and he attacked me bc I don't agree with his Q anon BS. Never again.
Terry, good for you to stand up to him. Not enough people have the courage to push back against the BS.
You might (or not) like a book I just read “The Quiet Damage” by Jesselyn Cook. Recommended to me by my cousin, whose father has not quite gone Q but has fallen into conspiracy theories.
Perhaps he's afraid of more than just the cold or a small crowd.
Cold day in Hell for sure...
Outstanding line, Dmitri. Thank you.
So the inauguration has been taken away from the people. The flags are raised in disrespect to a much loved now deceased President. The oligarchs have assembled.
And people are saying they wanted MAGA-lite. This is like saying you wanted Satan-lite.
Satan won't do as much damage as the felon 34, maga and the billionaires team.
FFOTUS - first felon of the united states (per George Conway).
I would add another F.
I love love love your eagle, Becky!
I balked at that one - not sure who they are surveying, or where that phrase came from, but MAGA-lite is offensive. Alternative immigration policies - yes - those that actually target problems that need to be addressed in a humane and reasonable way. That in no way could be described as MAGA anything.
Shock and awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
On an almost completely different note, my community has banded together to fight some Patriot Mobile backed school board members here in Texas. Our Keller Independent School District school board members were going to vote yesterday to split our school district. It was proposed in a closed meeting and a concerned school board member announced it and expressed concern. Conservatives and liberals alike are outraged! What was going to be a closed meeting vote turned into an overflow school board meeting. And this all began about a week ago! A parody facebook account calling itself Alliance Independent School District, the proposed name of the new school district, rallied the parents and made local news. It came to the attention of Matt Angle from Lone Star Politics, and he said this is going to be an important meeting to watch. Parents basically shut it down! The secret vote was halted and now there’s going to be a complete investigation and study done on the proposal. The community showed up! And spoke up! Finally pushing back on these school board members that don’t have the trust of the voters! All politics is local and last night we proved it.
An example for us all. Congratulations.
The creator of the Alliance Independent School District parody post is now selling merchandise. All proceeds go to funding school lunch debt. It would be amazing if we could stop the sad alternate lunch they give to those kid!
Denise H., awesome work! Thanks so much for sharing it!
Is really giving me hope for our community! If we can just keep this momentum when it all comes to a vote!
I think a former relative (yes, there is such a thing) was part of the Keller push. Thanks for your comment. Self-righteous BS is piling high.
I’ve got a few of those former relatives. I call them my “out laws”
Yep, fits.
Remember what Michele Obama said, "when they pile high, we pile low" 😄
JD I love those fancy names as Aliance Independent School District. Who constitute the "alliance" and "Independent" from whom?
Repubs always did have great skill naming things the opposite of what they are. Frank Luntz took that skill to master level, naming laws the opposite of their function during W’s tenure as the presidential pretender.
Like "mothers for freedom" whose job in schools is to ban books.
Exactly what I thought when I saw that. And Texas’ “voter integrity laws.” And people just sign on or yawn…
So when we see or hear about one of those slogans, we know they mean the opposite. They makes it so easy to understand!!!!! Thanks guys 👍
It was Goebbels number I rule for propaganda.
Thanks for this update, Denise. I've missed you here; it is good to know you're still fighting the good fight.
All politics IS local. Spot on.
Hi! Yep I’m still working on the cause! Ha! To see this crack in our school board is hopeful! They’ve banned books, attacked librarians, among other ridiculous nonsense. I thought the Patriot Mobile backed members were becoming invincible. I think they were acting like they couldn’t be touched! But people like me who have paid taxes into our district for 30 years or longer are not taking this one! They were never here for our students or the community.
Thank you for your “ almost completely different note “ as a reminder that we may have common ground with people who we consider “ the enemy “. And that ground may be seeded with decency, integrity and empathy. Also as we watch for common ground with those we consider enemies, we would do well to keep a sharper eye on our “friends “ as that common ground we tread on with them may have spots of quicksand.
We don’t always agree on everything. But we can agree taking vital services we’ve built for our kids should not be stripped away by a few politically motivated people. Now if we can just get Gov Abbutt to fund our schools!
That's life Gjay 15 . We should watch for common ground with our enemies up to a point and remember it's a two way road.
Oh, Denise, I appreciate your posting this! In my ruby red Tennessee the only person I supported who won was the former teacher who was a public school teacher for 35years in a school board race against a moms for liberty candidate! Local!!
Susan, Blue Tennessee (www.BlueTennessee.org) devoted its first Zoom of the new year this week to the subject of opposing vouchers, which Lee has called a special session to reintroduce. Join our efforts.
Mind-boggling how far these zealots are willing to go to get their agendas implemented. Are closed door meetings legal? Is voting allowed in this forum? They always think they can away with stuff and no one is watching. Good for you and your community for paying attention and pushing back! We have been fighting from the top down and can now see that working from the bottom up can be the way to win these fights! Well done!
👏👏 Way to do what Indivisible suggests for these next four years—work in the places one has influence, which are probably (1) locally and (2) state.
Excellent!
Excellent news! Congratulations.
Of course he’s already looking ahead to when he’ll be retiring in glory and the tech wizards are so busy blowing golden smoke up his considerable rear. I was sickened just hearing how Bondi started her testimony— as if everyone needed to be personally acquainted with her large family assuring us of her future celebrity status. Well at least the weather is cooperating to diminish the crowds. God save us all. Martin Luther King is definitely ready to roll over in his grave.
The US could have been swearing in the first Black Woman President on MLK Day.
"could" have AND "should" have.....
The next primary election in California is set for June 2, 2026. That's about 16 months - 2 weeks away.
Really? Last I heard you needed to win an election for that to happen. Tragically, Harris didn't win so "should have" is irrelevant. This falls on the electorate, no one else (not even Trump).
If the electorate is so ignorant as to vote for this man, then sadly we all have to bear that cost.
Unfortunately, that cost may be much higher than anyone bargained for.
it was stolen
Nonsense.
Who do you think stole it?
You realize that is the same crap that Trump spewed about the 2020 election. I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now.
If you had any proof of this so called "election theft" in enough states (at least THREE of the swing states would need to be proven to have had sufficiently fraudulent elections with enough votes to give Harris the electoral college victory) then you damn well should have filed a lawsuit with your proof so that we wouldst by have to deal with Trump for four more years.
If you have this proof and failed to do that you are a traitor to the country for letting us all fall victim to 4 more years of Trump.
Of course I seriously doubt that you have ANY such proof. You are just whining about losing like so many other peeps on this Substack. It's pretty damn boring to hear constant whines about this election which it is pretty clear Trump won by an actual plurality of the votes this time (unlike when he beat Hillary in 2016 without even winning the popular vote).
In any case its too late now anyway. You can whine all you want about Trump's victory and even make up your own Big Lie that Harris won (she didn't) but you should know that we all hate that Trump won but that doesn't change reality.
Better move on to working on fixing this is 2026. And keep hoping that we will still HAVE elections in 2026.
Believe what you want and so will I… without a doubt musk and his money had an impact…I wouldn’t doubt they were able to manipulate the voting machines. Why are the voting machines even connected to the internet?
I am not sure if you understand how the internet and election machines work but it is extremely difficult for an outside machine to hack into even the easiest basic all purpose computer like a PC let alone one that is protected by advanced communicating technology like a VPN.
A voting machine is connected for the purpose of SENDING results to a central location quickly for early tabulation. It does little if any reception of information FROM the internet. After it does this the individual machine tallies are also collected and physically taken to the central location for cross checking. If the totals don't match recounts are done.
There are all sorts of checks in place to make sure vote totals aren't messed with. They are one of the most secure types of computer used other than national security machines used for cryptology and those used for national defense and law enforcement.
Could someone figure out how to hack a machine or even a set of machines in a county or even a state? Sure i expect that IS Possible.
But hacking enough voting machines across enough counties in enough states to change the result of the Presidential election? That's just preposterous and if you actually believe that, you probably shouldn't have stopped taking your meds.
Sorry, that was cruel but likely true. Conspiracy theories are like comedy routines... a dime a dozen and worth about as much.
The Election Wasn't Stolen.
It Was Lost.
It was a terrible tragedy, but just like hurricanes and wild fires and earth quakes, shit happens.
It's the fault of nobody but the voters.
Agreed, but when you compare it to hurricanes, earthquakes, and wild fires, well, those are not moral or ethical choices (except to the extent that those are now worse by denying human driven climate change, a political and moral choice). Harris lost because the US electorate is dark, malicious, and stupid. And breath-takingly immoral.
It was not a natural disaster. It was moral collapse. There is an enormous difference.
I looked up your profile. 🤝
Figures that you are a programmer. 🙂
You have the analytic and inter-personal skills of every programmer I have ever met. 😉
In my Tennessee county, ours are not connected to the internet. Never have been.
Weeping
So much weeping Emily that we'll have a super high tide warning ⚠️
"No crying" in the Big Game.
Thanks for the Kleenex, and, don’t worry: my tears are flowing down but I’ve got my socks pulled up!
Good one Emily, "Everyone's got their socks up, oh yeah".
Oh, that makes my heart hurt.
Instead...Shock and Awe is a WAR strategy... the president is declaring war against the people.
That's what I said. Over and over again. Thank God the weather will be perfect! Just what I prayed for, and I have no intention on watching any of it. Thank you polar vortex.
Maybe they moved it inside due to poor ticket sales - three men and a dog may not look good on prime time news.
no self respecting dog would go - dogs are a sharp judge of character - no dog would go near him
I heard that hotel reservations in the DC area were very low for Sunday and Monday and that's really why Trump moved it inside.
I think you heard wrong. On Monday, i checked 6 of my favorite hotels in Washington DC for Sunday night and they were all sold out. It's not a huge sample but it is pretty representative including two Choice Hotels, one Holiday Inn and one major Hilton. It is possible of course that today many people canceled but that would be because of the change in plans, not a lack of interest.
And hell i would have gone just to see the Village People!
You mean what's left of troupe?
Update: Lead singer, Victor Wiliis, age 73, is the only 'People' alive.
I guess so! Last time I saw them was in NYC in the early 80s. Loved 'em.
I wonder if Trump signed 'em just so Peter Thiel would feel at home amid a bunch of MAGA and evangelical gay bashers. He has to know their whole shtick is idolization of gay culture... not EXACTLY Trumpian fare!
Sole remaining original member has threatened lawsuits should anyone refer to their music as “a gay anthem”. Anyone up for a rousing chorus of “In the Navy”?
Wow that's crazy. Thanks for the info. He can say what he wants but that's what it is or at least was!
A bit Orwellian, yes?
Yes; there are no thought police.
No one is liable for anything when commenting about music as performed much less thought-of & expressed by other human beings.
Many states led by over 3 decades California law have "Anti-SLAPP" laws on their books.
SLAPP? That's bogus lawsuits aimed the " ...rights of free speech or petition in connection with a public issue". California CCP Section 425.16.
A court hearing striking such an Orwellian attacks in CA must be heard in 30 days & and you get ALL your attorney fees back.
😅
Weather Underground projects 21F at 8 AM in DC soaring to 23F around 2 PM. No walking down Pennsylvania Ave nothing but, frost as in Robert Frost.
"All animals will be smothered in their lairs"
Profound. Well said.
Good one, Kazz!
lol !
What makes you doubt it ?
A chill is falling over America...
Also, the road closures are enormous as well as subway access blocking entry to get anywhere near the "festivities."
And Lynell, having lived on Capitol Hill, I know how a little snow can "paralyze" the district!! This weather could not have been better timed. At least we will not have to endure his boasting about "largest crowds of any inauguration"!!!
Morning, Lynell. "Festivities" is well placed within quote marks.
Shock and Awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
I know. South Korea took action immediately against their crocked president and now he's gone. We shall see what happens here!
More than that, by going inside, the whiners now have something to whine about during the whine-fest. 🤫 Seriously, the Federal government is clogged with elderly people these days and, so, the precaution of 18°, together with a likely wind-chilling effect and possibly snow, makes the move necessary for, and respectful to, the elderly. 🙏
As if that was part of Trump's thinking.
¡Hah! ¡Good one!
Ned, I been wishing publicly for weeks about a snow storm hitting Washington on inauguration day. I had it very close.
Now I wish for a sudden change to a beautiful sunny and cool day announced too late to move the circus out again.....since I was granted the first wish....maybe a second one as well....please!!!
Thank you for the giggle in your first paragraph, Ricardo! 🤝
Thank you for the laugh-out-loud for your second paragraph, ¡Ricardo! 🙂
Humor is much needed yet in short supply these days. 😇
P.S., watch the trumper tantrum to follow, if good weather comes, that the Democratic Party is laughing at poor little Donnie. 🙂
Question: now that we are indoors, ¿why not raise the flags outside to full staff? ❤️
Oh, I forgot -- decorum requires at least of smidgeon of back-bone and dear old Speaker Mikey Mouse can not even stand up to Trump on a matter of politeness. 💔
Liz, how did you have the stomach to watch any of those political climbers testimony? It is there any drug to keep you watching ? On a second thought, no, I don't want to know.
I can’t stand how much plastic surgery she’s had, and the long blond wig. It’s off when a woman close to 60 years of age looks like she’s 35 years of age. These women want to look like they’re still of child bearing age, when they’re not. Same with Kristi Noem.
All important. But, Shock and Awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
And her sudden endorsement of Patel in the middle of her testimony was weird.
Again, the best way to unnerve Trump is to laugh at him. Do not yell in anger; cackle in unison pointing at him. Perhaps barking out "Village Idiot" with the Y.M.C.A. song playing away. Mock him at every turn; he will implode and leave his policies in disarray.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7259852498906025984/
Governors in blue states should require payrolls to sever the direct deposit mechanisms to the I.R.S. and withhold tax funds. Several Red States governors are diverting funds, at least partly from blue states, toward political purposes outside the intent of the appropriation.
Previously Congress threatened to withhold infrastructure money from the states if they violated the will of the Federal government.
Brilliant!!
Not brilliant, very stupid.
Under what possible legal justification do you think you would find authority for a governor or state legislature to direct private employers to stop depositing federal tax deposits without fear of being put in federal prison?
And what private company would even consider doing it? Federal tax deposits whether you like or hate Trump are still the law of the land. It is a federal crime to NOT make those deposits.
Non violent protest is totally legal. Illegal actions are not and are subject to severe fines and even prison terms.
Ah, nice to read of your cheery disposition. 😉 I figured you would show up without constructive add-ons to build on an idea. 🙂 Well at least some constancies remain. 🥳
Any better solution Jon?
Solution for what? For Trump? Protest peacefully whenever you can.
Start working on the 2026 election campaign of someone in Congress you like and think should be elected.
There is no "solution" except to replace the people who need to be replaced. Legally. At the ballot box.
Contribute what you can to groups like the ACLU or Democracy Today.
Unless you are ready to go to jail for "the cause"" that's really all you CAN do.
Not enough Jon. When they own the megaphone and have a Psychological War Room somewhere working 24/7 and unlimited money, you can protest peacefully all you want. Unfortunately I don't have any alternative to offer at this time but, I think we have a window of opportunity on the midterm election. Since there's no way to replace our leaders and legislators now, at least we have to pressure them to oppose every single intent of maga to get established and let them own the mess they'll create even for their own supporters. Since they control the message, our job would be to counteract their lies and deflection of responsibilities as much as possible and start getting ready for the general election in 4 years.
I agree with everything you suggested. You have a more detailed plan than I do and I appreciate that. It is a totally legal plan and I approve and agree with it 100%. Glad someone is out there thinking.
My argument was against several unlawful suggestions that were made like getting states to withhold federal taxes. That's tantamount to secession and it didn't work so well in the 1800s BEFORE the federal military had jet fighters and tanks and stuff like that. It would work a lot worse today.
Right on target Jon. I think that when people are scared and frustrated they imagine magic cures impossible to implement. Give it time and keep posting. Thanks for your reply 👍
I looked up your profile. Figures that you are a prgrammer.
Now you are talking, ¡Jon!✌🏽
There must be a way for blue states to stop subsidizing red states that hate them. Not to harm them but drive a point home that for all their talk of Xian charity that those of us in cities of sin provide for them. 🙏
As Dr Richardson has written this minority government took years -- more than a decade -- to build at the level of state legislatures to control districting. 😰
Not sure we have the time any more to do what you suggest. Yet, you are right: we have to try conventional means, too. ⚖️
WOWerful insights there, Ricardo. 🤝 You touch upon my forlorn, wretched hope: that the next two years are so bad that the M.A.G.A. spell is broken; the anti-democratic politicoes are voted out; but, NOT SO BAD as to train-wreck the machinery of republican governance. 🤞
Thanks for your kind comment Ned 😄
You are welcome, Ricardo. 🤝
I appreciate -- no, I need -- humor like yours these days. 🙂
P.S., Ricardo, I thank you for your trying to brain-storm ideas with me on ways to to push back. ⚖️
Thing about spit-balling: yes, most ideas (e.g., mine) are hare-brained, but other participants are encouraged to propose and discuss alternatives or to refine hare-brained ideas, eventually, into rare-earth mental minerals. 🤔
In fact, the only good idea I have ever had that was purely my own was to get seconds on dessert. 🥳
Resistance has limited effect. Change to authoritarian regimes, as a set of recent studies show, reveal opposition from, well, the opposition, to be useless against authoritarian regimes in the past three decades or so. Reform must come from the party in power itself, i.e., the GOP.
Get ready to live with this rubbish the rest of your life . . . barring a Black Swan event. No one can predict the future, but one can't ignore the trends either . . . .
Philoctetes ,resistance is of limited effect if you let the authoritarian regime to be established and spread roots. The extreme right had been planing this take over for many years and had invested billions of dollars to reach this moment and I don't know if they have contingency plans for eventually let the midterm election run its normal course for example. We should not wait for as you say, reform coming from inside the ruling party. As I posted earlier and often, we have a narrow window of opportunity in less than two years . Let's brain storm to find a way to at least to winn again Congress and limit the damage and spread of their roots till and if we can compete in next general election.
Keep in mind that none of the countries in the last 30 years that unsuccessfully try to resist authoritarianism had any experience with democracy or at best just months of it. I'm thinking Russia, Hungary and a few others. We have the experience and a majority of people that won't give democracy up without trying something.
I wish I had your positive outlook on this. Unfortunately we do NOT have a majority of people that won't give up democracy. About 1/3 of the voters voted for Harris s and slightly more voted for Trump. But almost 1/3 didn't vote at all. There might be some of those who would still support democracy (say 1/3 of them) but that only amounts to about 45 % of the electorate. I think 55% of the electorate could care less.
Tragedy though that is.
That is why idea-generation is one of the last refuges I have. The stakes are high. 😢
¿A trump-led authoritarianism with nuclear weapons? 😵
We may have to live with this rubbish but we (i.e., I) intend to go down fighting. 🖕
Hopefully, if a civil war comes I will live up to these brave words.🫣
At sixty-eight and only incidentally trained with firearms, I will not last long. Yet it is my duty should push come to shooting. 😰
I will concede to Jon that actually withholding funds could lead to a civil war. On the other hand, the Xian nationalisms have already seceded in their open efforts to turn our democracy into something like an Islamic 'republic' (sic, sick). And we are helping to fund it. 🤢
Look, I do not want to harm the red states. They need to get the message that many of those G-D awful blue states are aiding them; that they have something to lose. 🙏
To sever the links would drive the message home that the pro-republican majority is not powerless. The A.C.H. links could be restored after a week or two so no harm would be done. Much like a G.O.P. government shut-down, ¿eh? 😉
Even the proclamation that the bank transfer links would be severed might do the trick without occurring. ✌🏽
Why? It would not be secession but a signal of refusal to fund anti-republican authoritarianism. 🤬
In any case, we need to take risks and exercise courage now; we are in the fight of our lives. Risk perversion now may guarantee that we lose our cherished republic. 😱
These Xian nationalists want to destroy and ¿the response is a prissy little protest? Lots of luck with that. 💔
This is it, folks. We now move from "theory" to "reality" ... both in Trump's level of abandonment of the Constitution and journalism's ability to create "a well-informed citizenry" as a check on those times when Trump acts on his worst instinct ("I am your retribution."). While I have no crystal ball about the extent of Trump's shock and awe objective, I can say for sure that mainstream journalism is NOT up to fulfilling the role the Founding Fathers envisioned when the included Freedom of the Press in the Constitution. Here's to the public recognizing "we are on our own" and to people like Anthony Davis (Five Minute News) replacing ABC, NBC and CBS News for those looking to know what's really going on. Watch what Trump does... not what he says. He wants us to lose our minds. We cannot let him do that. People like Anthony Davis can, I believe, help.
https://fiveminute.news/
Steve, less than half of the homes in the US have cable TV now and the number is decreasing. I get most of my news from Substack and Sirius/XM). Currently, Cable TV subscriptions are in just 68.7 million households in the United States. That’s a decline of 34.57% compared to 105 million cable TV subscribers recorded in 2010.
Until Cable TV allows people to "bundle" the few channels they watch instead of being forced to subscribe to Fox or Newsmax, people will continue to migrate away from cable.
https://cordcuttersnews.com/over-4-million-people-have-canceled-cable-tv-in-2024-that-is-22000-cancel-every-day/
WIth the oligarchs owning the major newspapers their readership is dwindling as well. For a long time Bezos kept his nose out of the WAPO, but he pulled the endorsement of Kamala and Tim and many of the best journalists have left.
The public’s embrace of Trump’s “Fake News” mantra was the beginning of the end for the Fourth Estate. Add in the demise of daily papers, a fractured media landscape, deliberate disinformation campaigns, the rise of largely unedited social media platforms, the birth of “influencers” and, finally, AI and it is virtually impossible for the average citizen to distinguish between fact and fiction.
Thanks for expressing your concern. I am no one special. If I could find Anthony Davis along with other people like ThomHartmann,Dan Rather, and Ruth Ben-Ghiat… and let’s not forget Democracy Now! … and the recently launched The Contrarian…So can others. All it takes is a desire to find people who speak the truth.
I agree that factual information IS available to those who seek it out. But if an individual’s “research” comports with their world view, they will likely look no further to determine if the facts are, in fact, facts.
Thanks for the info Steve 👍
ABC's surrender early on showed the maga presidency how to control the so called mainstream journalism. Not too many would be up to create a well informed citizenship out of fear, therefore we need to look for alternatives .
Amen Steve. AND, Shock and Awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
This is so profoundly sad.
But the radical right worried that women’s legal equality to men would protect abortion rights and that, as Catholic bishops of the United States wrote to senators, it would prohibit “discrimination based on ‘sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity,’ and other categories.”← Pulled quote.
When a Catholic woman is called to serve God, no matter how charismatic or dedicated she is, she is not allowed to be a priest. And, of course, God never intended for women to be Bishops or Cardinals or the Pope.
Check out "The Conclave". It's worth a watch especially since so many Catholics have called it heresy. The acting is fantastic.
the catholic church is the biggest crime syndicate on the planet, at least until Monday...
Exactly Terry! And the Catholic Church is going to be at odds with U.S. evangelical Christians because the evangelicals are going to want to sideline Rome and that won’t be tolerated. Should be interesting. Like a wrestling match right? The Catholic cardinals in their little red beanies and red shoes (women in the convent or the kitchen where they belong) against the born again neo-plantation owners wearing garb evoking genteel southern chivalry—a cross on every lapel—or evoking the old west—a cowboy hat (in both versions carrying guns and their women in the kitchen and bedroom where they belong). Might not be the first round match but these characters will appear I wager.
I've been reading a couple of novels about the Reformation in England back in the day and it's so interesting - Alito would love to cut off some heads or burn some women at the stake I'm sure. He probably did in a previous life...maybe he was Thomas More.
Terry, Monday noon you mean right?
Conclave is excellent, the acting so good. Edge of your seat tension that I imagine holds many truths within its fiction.
Indeed! Shock and Awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people., terrifying. Why isn't this what we are talking about?
The Biden team is saying goodbye, so it's very likely last, final face time for many.
Face time. Time for social, human contacts with others.
Derek Thompson has a piece in “The Atlantic” on how, for decades (since even before Robert Putnam’s “Bowling Alone”), people of all demographics have been spending less and less face time with others. In his “The Anti-Social Century” (interviewed by Michel Martin on Amanpour and Company), he notes one reason people need more alone time: the smart phone.
It’s always giving novelty, so all are on it more. After jolts of dopamine, cortisol, and hours online with one’s tribe and plenty of passion and anger about things, all are exhausted. So all need more aloneness, social isolation, solitude.
Biggest casualty besides to oneself is to one’s village. Americans may fiercely now belong to (warring) tribes, but no one has any tolerance anymore for what he calls one’s village – one’s neighbors, many of whom come with views other than one’s own.
How to be more social, have more time and energy for the face-to-face? Put down one’s phone more, says Derek Thompson.
I wish though he’d thought of schools, and how humanities in them might nudge us into wider desire and skill sets for seeing, dealing with others.
This Is A Good Posting.... And What Do The Oligarchs Control?... 'X', FaceBook, and Truth Social... We now live in the Land-Of-Evil-Lotus-Eaters...
Like with Cable TV people are leaving these platforms in droves.
When someone trolls us here in HCR's comment section we either block them or ignore them. But Elon and Donald kick dissenters off and allow right wing liars to post. And now so does Facebook.
So Now The 'Great American Division' Is Taking Place In CyberSpace As Well... Where Is Our 'Neo', Our 'John Conner'?....
Perhaps beauty is in the eye of the beholder but to my eye, the last 30 or so years seem to have resulted in the distribution of neighborhoods. Much has been bulldozed and replaced by warehouse-like multi-family boxes that are brightened only by some tacked on colored panels that don't really hide cheapest possible construction methods. Little boxes made of ticky-tacky look like architectural treasures by comparison; let alone ordinary homes and apartments built before mega-development companies.
I imaging these new dwellings are much nicer inside, but common spaces seem like they are becoming a wasteland. Probably not across the board, but much I see looks bleak and less community-minded. Certainly less "organic".
We suffer, J L, from a general public malaise.
The rich look after themselves. Dehumanized totally for the sake of their moral emptiness, they seek grandeur and glamor in their housing -- so much luxury housing in the U.S. -- but spit on working people having any decent housing, just as they spit on working people or the former middle classes having any health care or decent schools.
And soon, a convicted criminal stands with his fellow nihilist billionaires to gloat over how they've totally taken over.
An excellent book that lays out how this has all come to pass is “Democracy in Chains.” The oligarchs and their pals in power BELIEVE they are born to rule and that the masses are born to serve. It is Feudalism on steroids. Throw in a bit of religious fanaticism, racism, sexism, homophobia…and desperation among the masses…and you get the MAGA Movement.
Hi Phil, Yes, the language of war separates people, breaks them into factions instead of villages. But the influencers may have stepped out of bounds/over the line... Shock and Awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. This makes the warring parties a little clearer... puts all in my village against the power elite. Can we talk about this?
The phones might be smart, we are not Phil.
They seem to think they have.
I wonder how many now-commemorative ticket-holders have already traveled to DC, paid for hotel rooms, and rented cars, and how peacefully they will respond to being told there's no room at the Inn.
Cue the whiny cultist snowflakes . . . Somehow it’s all the Dem’s fault 🤪
On top of it all, snow is expected Sunday, 1-3” which could mean 6” lol. DC traffic will be a zoo, on street parking won’t exist. Uber will be $$$$$. Schadenfreude will be served chilled, in a tall glass.
They deserve to be left out....in the cold.
Don't feel sorry for them.
Yes, I agree. I was pointing out the irony of all those cold, angry, MAGAs outside the White House while their leader is giving a speech that they aren't allowed to see . . .
I'm all in favour of moving all presidential inaugurations inside the Capitol. No need for such grand pomp and circumstances as the usual outdoor function. On the felon's library, will it fit in a prison cell?
Thank you for your letters.
- Pulled Quote -
About Trump's 'shock and awe' plan of issuing immediate executive orders:
“[i]f your plan calls for your side being all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect in execution, and immune to surprise—when you’re working with human beings and you presume your enemy is stupid, weak, and all but inanimate—the plan probably isn’t worth all that much.”
Chaos. Cruelty and darkness...
Epic Hubris.
Thank you, Gen. Hurtling (Ret.)
Politicians have a choice - Is it better to be feared than loved? or Is it better to be loved than feared? Romney and McCain and Dole all chose love over fear? Trump chose fear over love. And Trump became President and the others lost.
If Trump’s clown car was smart, they’d have implemented MAGAlite and slowly escalated from there. The ‘unleashing of shock and awe’ on day one and their boasting about greater tax cuts for the Uber Rich at the expense of your average Joe and absolute poor, is going to blow-up in their faces. As I’ve said before, this is a country whose disgruntled citizens can settle a dispute with an AK47 purchased from Walmart. Apparently Musk has over 20 ppl hovering around him in his security detail. Let the shit show begin.
Another reason for moving indoors to the Capitol Rotunda?
Especially with the gathering of the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse - Trump, Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos.
Jazz, the Four Horsemen are actually Six if you add Rupert Murdock, Peter Thiel, Vivek Ramasomething....wait, wait there are more than six already...well let's round the number to around 800 ok?
Surround it with tubas and bring down the walls of Jericho.
Where do I sign up???
That's right...your a tuba player!!!!
There's supposed to be a bunch of them there. Bless their hearts!!
Nothing like a sousaphone to mock people...
That’s what I thought too…He’s rightfully afraid…
The language of war separates people, breaks them into factions instead of villages. But the influencers may have stepped out of bounds/over the line... Shock and Awe is a WAR strategy... the president declaring war against the people. This makes the warring parties a little clearer... puts all in my village against the power elite. Can we talk about this?
Your unpacking of Trump’s words Lynn, should be front page news. People need to know their incoming President is not only a shock jock, but if his cabinet picks get through, these kinds of threats could be very real.
The fact they are not front page news is as alarming as the words... are people not seeing this mind shift? Are we going to see death in American streets Monday, so he can prove to his little mind he's a man?
I trust that the military, law enforcement and national guard are good people who know right from wrong - just as high profile journalists are publicly resigning from major news outlets in protest. It’s no doubt going to be a bumpy ride.
A lot of people will be shooting themselves in the foot. Figuratively and literally. Deep breath and don't burn the popcorn.
I am sure you intended that as s joke but for the record you can't buy an AK47 or for that matter any operating automatic rifle at a Walmart. You can buy BB guns and pellet guns and in some states semi-automatic small caliber rifles and shotguns (for hunting) but I know of no Walmart that has ever sold AK47s or AR15s or anything of that type.
I should have said ‘virtually’.
Kazz, technically, the weapon is an AR-15; an AK-47 is a Soviet 7.62 weapon, similar to the US made military rifle the M-14.
You almost had my eyes bugging out when I saw Trmp and library mentioned in the same thought process Heather. “Library” may as well be Greek to trmp. The only place that money is going is into is the truculent two year old’s back pocket.
You might need a liebrary to hold all the lies.
His back pocket is already filled up .
Petty Alert: All the women in Trump's circle look modeled after Ivanka. They all have long hair, plumped up lips and pulled up cheeks. Kristy Noem must use the same doctor that Kimberly Gargoyle does. Do they not have mirrors? Ditto Pam Bondi, lawyer Habba, Lara Trump, Melania -- All Barbies -- Puppy Killer Barbie; Can't Dance Worth Shit Barbie; Not really a lawyer Barbie; Doesn't Know The 14th Amendment well enough to opine on birthright citizenship Barbie; I Don't Really Care, Do You Barbie; Coulda been a Senator from Florida Barbie.
Do they ever look in the mirror??? So unattractive!!!
There are “before and afters” out there. 😂
We are so grateful for your dedication. Thank you.