Thank you, Heather. I’ve stayed away from most coverage all day but I looked forward to hearing your succinct and truthful report tonight. Thank you, as always, for keeping me sane in the midst of this wild ride. Staying alert for ways to help and ways to resist as this term continues… xo
He became a good artist and poet and I appreciated his book, Prison Writings. He was a political prisoner. I am relieved he will spend his final days at home, with family. Wopila!
I wrote a whole bunch of letters, and have for years. I am sure they did not have any influence but the act of writing, and then seeing him go home, feels mighty good.
He was framed by the FBI. They had no evidence so that frightened a girl to testify who later wanted to rescind but the courts wouldn’t let her.also, the FBI withheld evidence that would have found Peltier not guilty. Don’t believe everything you read.
If President Biden had been smarter, he would have pardoned the J6 people. A speech to explain that these good American people had been badly misled by con man would have really pulled the rug out from Trump's campaign. Joe Biden was a great president but really no good at gamesmanship. President Carter had the same problem. Like they say "Nice guys finish last"
The Contrarian, Jen & Norm, interviewed smarty pants defense attorney, RENATO MARIOTTI on video yesterday on all relevant issues.
There are many legal considerations if you are wondering why President Bidden added additional language to make his federal law intent clear & distinct.
Bryan, I recall pre-election that trump made some odd comment about Musk having a "little secret". And now this about Musk knowing the computers. It sure sounds like admitting to election interference if not outright being stolen. Any thoughts on this?
Their shock and awe technique is working. It all seems so much worse than I thought it would be. But there was one heartening line in Prof. Richardson’s litany of their misfeasance: “... lawyers noted that some of the executive orders were poorly crafted to accomplish what they claimed—an observer called one ‘bizarre legal fanfic not really intended for judicial interpretation’—and LAWSUITS CHALLENGING THEM ARE ALREADY BEING FILED.” (my emphasis) Should that make us feel better, Bryan?
A new target everyday. Heaven forbid, we wake up a single moment until that guy in dead and buried without having to pay attention to that toddler.
I. Guessing the happiest days for the entire Trumo family was when a young Donald was away at military school. The amount of attention that man requires is exhausting and I can turn the Tv off.
I’d feel bad for Melania but she’s getting paid handsomely for her services.
Or his son. She didn’t seem to come here legally - there were questions …and she came here via Jeffrey Epstein. And now she’s worth billions overnight.
How will they run the bribes through her non existent office…
“Be Best” or “Be Bribed”…..and of course, once launched, it became part of the Trump, et al.
Of course Chapbutt Bonespurs envies and hates decent military officers...I freely admit he continues to gather large numbers of Satan-worshippers who flock proudly to perform loudly his anal-linguistic adoration...hail Trump...tongue in, suck out!!
Biden made it clear that all of those pardons were to protect the innocent from retribution by Trump, including endless lawsuits and investigations. He was protecting them, not 'exonerating' them from non-existent crimes.
Why would you need to protect the innocent? That’s a question you’ll be asking yourself for ages. And if you don’t know the answer to that question, you’re about as dishonest with yourself as any human being on the planet Wait till they demonstrate what the Biden’s family bank account and we’re all the money came from Ooooooops
That’s how disgusting you are after Fauci caused how many millions of needless deaths and illnesses not sure how many but more than a couple and you want him to get a pardon amazing.
Ricardo, Several years back author and public intellectual Sarah Kendzior started repeatedly warning us that MAGA not only would tear down democracy but also would crash the economy and sell off its parts. Despite the commitment of virtually everyone on this site who is called to resist the infiltration of authoritarian and divisive agendas into our states and communities, I see no ready solution to the undeserved suffering and harm that increasingly will be inflicted on increasing numbers of people.
Still, as with those who came before us who didn’t retreat from the struggle, neither can we.
If one accepts the reality that the Judaic deity, called YHWH, Jehovah, God and other monikers, is a mythical personage no more existent than Greek, Roman, Norse and other deities, then a far more credible explanation is that Trump's campaign staged the event, with two-fold effect: It captured headlines for at least two news cycles and created the foundation for Trump's continuing claim that he was "ordained by God," a falsehood lapped up by his religious cult followers like kittens at a bowl of milk.
I confess, I have a better conception of the Almighty...and there are more accurate users of rubber-banded projectile throwers...however, T. rumpussy has reached his followers level
In the Old Testament, the Israelites kept begging for an earthly king. Finally God gave in and said “as you wish” and let them have their own stubborn way. King Saul was, in the end, an irascible divisive king but hey-it’s what the people wanted and God let them have it. Point being, Trump may be just like Saul- “anointed by God” because THE PEOPLE are stupid and stubborn, not that he is any way divinely suited. He is just as irascible and divisive as Saul
Richard, I can only say puke to that. It was poor aim and luck that saved death star. Death star takes hubris to a whole new level. We need some Greek gods to come up with an appropriate punishment.
Barbara, your reply never showed up on my phone and I read it by chance. I think you are 💯 %correct. I understand your frustration of not having a plan of action to counteract maga's policies but remembe
r that their leaders been planing this take over and destruction of our democracy for many years, step by step and invested billions of dollars.
For now all we can do is to push back, let the litigation on our part to begin rolling and pressure our leaders and legislators to do the same, forcefully, legally 24/7.
Yes, it was a coronation. But we DO still have a country. Sadly, our lives will be largely influenced by what state we live in. Red state authoritarians are inspired by the Orange Menace. Blue state Governors and AGs are not. In fact, they will provide some protections and legal weaponry. In MA, our gov is a very experienced former AG. She is tough.
Most people didn't vote for Trump. 90 million stayed home. Over the next year, I suspect we can rouse at least 10 or 20% of them to vote in 2026. The pendulum will swing because the damage will be unforgivable.
Bill, here in Oregon our governor received one of the many threatening letters sent out to officials in places which have declared themselves sanctuary areas. Our governor did not flinch. The AG here is also preparing and apparently a whole host of public officials have been discussing strategies for months.
That is a smart move by your CT leadership. I'm afraid the Republicans will withhold funds from New Mexico as retaliation for having a Democratic governor who may stand up to Trump.
Peltier's sentence was commuted. He was not pardoned. This is, of course, startlingly good news, yet he should have been pardoned.
On the other hand, Trump's pardoning of the J6 seditionists is, in some ways, an act of sedition itself.
This is a dark, dark day. Not only has the President of the United States issued blanket pardons on his first day in office ( for the first time in history) but has pardoned people who directly followed his previous unconstitutional commands and exhortations. In so doing, especially when it comes to those Pittsburgh Steeler colored cretins known as the Proud Boys, released a redneck rogues' gallery of his personal Praetorian Guard upon the public and his opponents.
Far and away the most shameful first day in Presidential history
DJT seems to have lost all Ethical Restraint... DJT Meme Coin?... Melania Meme Coin?... Pardoning Violent Convicted Criminals?... Is DJT's Dementia Accelerating?... Move over Caligula, You have got some Real Debauched Competition...
"Beginning tomorrow, the Republicans will have to deal with the fact that the Treasury will hit the debt ceiling and will have to use extraordinary measures to pay the obligations of the United States government."
Plus we have no defense secretary, nor will we have one if Pete Hogsbreath is confirmed.
Pam Bondi is going to have to defend all of the ridiculous EOs that Trump signed, most of which are illegal.
And then there's the emoluments clause which is totally meaningless.
May the guards make the remaining days in prison for the 1/6 insurrections as painful for them as they made for the Capital Police.
General Kelly’s warning of electing a Fascist now is verified. Trumps alter ego Musk even threw a couple of salutes.
But the bitcoin con signals the total greedy corruption that is now the US Government. Even if it’s illegal SCOTUS has developed a protective gloss of Mythical presidential power that places the only office in the universe above the Law.
If any relief at all can be developed it will have to be total and begin with impeachment.
Criminals can be destructive if given Carte Blanch for four years. This we must not allow
So they took down Milley's photo from the Chiefs of Staff??? You can be sure Dems, or a saner GOP(like when, right?) will reinstall that, Karma happens!
"petty, petty" is an understatement, when you think about it.... I wonder if there will be internal countermands... Thing is, T crowd want to clear out all the "disloyal"... be interesting to see how the Joint Chiefs and their chain of command are taking all this, including T's ending "experiments in the military" i gather same sex / trans / women in combat roles.
How long before they realize the jig is up and Trump and the Republicans ain't gonna deliver on making their lives better.
They should already be getting the idea when ......Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, billionaire Scott Bessent, said that extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts was "the single most important economic issue of the day." But he said he did not support raising the federal minimum wage, which has been $7.25 since 2009 although 30 states and dozens of cities have raised the minimum wage in their jurisdictions."
You know the tax cuts that only help the oligarchs..
Yes. And worse than that. As Xi and Putin watch the chaos unfold in the US, what do we think they are planning next? Our soft underbelly is exposed.
We now look weak and rudderless with key leadership positions empty or about to be filled with clueless hacks.
Our "dear leader" has the instincts of a real estate tycoon who was unloved by his parents. His insecurities bleed from his pores. These are the times when our enemies will test us. They know opportunity when they see it.
Watch Putin make new aggressive moves in Europe. His expansionist urges are now encouraged. He wants HIS legacy to be that of a Stalin or Catherine the Great. The Russian Empire is poised to grow.
Watch Xi make real threats against Taiwan - he will get his island - it is what he expects to be the keystone in HIS legacy.
Three men control the fate of human civilization.
One of them is an amateur. A clueless putz.
None of them care how many people suffer. All of them think that they can run ragged over their own people.
Bill, definitely this are the times, times of weakness and chaos, our enemies are going to test us, not directly yet but around their orbit of influence to make us even weaker and to loose the trust of the few allies left. Nobody will trust us, increasing our weakness and then, we alone and still in chaos and economic distress with our underbelly exposed, they will try the coup of grace on us. Hope our military are aware of this scenario. Sorry for this last hope 😔
I bet our military are very(x2) aware. Stay steady. Yes, some of our 'fellow' citizens look mean and clueless to us...so what? Many meanies had no interest in our American politics before their rampage in DC, and yes, they were foolish...many still are. Steady on! Write your congress-person...buck them up...our American experiment needs good sense...read, think, make plans...not just for the near and dear...that, of course! Please think a bit for me, too...as I think a bit of you and yours...we're in this mess together...
neighbors can be strong allies. Get practiced in saying 'hello!'...you can learn a lot, even with a wave...
Bill, excellent post. I was thinking about this last night and this am even before I got up. I think this is what all the nonsense about Greenland is about.
JL, and we who saw through his derangement, will now suffer because of the misguided, hate-filled cultists who turned their lives over to Trump and helped MAKE him all-powerful. I will forever blame the weak-spined Republicans who sold their souls to him. With the offering and collection of those MAGA souls, Trump has been allowed to punish the rest of us who still have our integrity and some sense of decency.
Decency, integrity, truth, fairness, and goodness have been tossed to the ground by Trump, and stomped on by those who lost their souls to him.
I'm wearing black for a while to protest his becoming president of our United States, which will now be our Ununited States.
Pam, thank you for everything you just wrote... I agree with you on all this and more... the cognitive dissonance with which I have suffered through has split my head, my heart, and my spirit for the past four years (and more). I wish I could have the opportunity to have a face to face conversation with hundreds of these sycophants, from Mike Johnson to Joni Ernst, and thousands more. And I even worry about our beloved actor of this letter, and so many others who are not afraid to keep speaking up and writing about the truth!
Cynthia, I have SO wanted to have a convy,ersation with Mike Johnson to ask him how he could claim to be a "Christian" and still support the works of Donald Trump which are downright mean, racist, dishonest, and hate-promoted. Since when are these attrubutes of Christianity? Christian Nationalists are the biggest hypocrites of all. They helped raise a deranged, dangerous man to the highest office in our country, which is now the Ununited States of Donald Trump.
Thanks for your comment. I agree. It's downright scary.
Pam, I am afraid that if I were face to face with little Johnson, I would just want to kick him. And yes, he and all these "Christians" are the ultimate hypocrites.
Especially when he plans to punish the people of California who have suffered devastating losses in wildfires because Trump’s doesn’t like Newsom and Democrats.
There was lots of criticism over how Biden handled Helene and Maui but what they’re doing is so much worse. Where is his Christianity?
My fire watch alarm went off for 5 different fires in the middle of the night. One area is on evacuation orders. The corridor these fires were on goes right up the I-15 through Trump voter country. Will Republicans that represent those areas vote to withhold funding? They have a razor thin majority and still want to run on mob boss rule and threats. Give me what I want or I’ll make you suffer.
Do they ever wonder why California remains a blue state?
We all do, here in Europe we look on aghast. Spain (democratically minded people) openly weeps seeing a fascist dictator and his nazi fanboy installed. Let loose the ... complete it with your most hated thing...
"During the Nazis' ascent to power, some Jewish organizations, such as the Association of German National Jews and The German Vanguard supported nazism until being outlawed in late 1935. Motivated by anticommunism, conservative nationalism, anti-Zionism, and anti-liberalism, these groups had initially believed that Nazi antisemitism was merely rhetorical hyperbole or a tactic to "stir up the masses"" .[1][2][3]
1. Sarah Ann Gordon, Hitler, Germans, and the "Jewish Question", p. 47
2. Schoeps, Hans-Joachim (1970). Bereit für Deutschland: Der Patriotismus deutscher Juden und der Nationalsozialismus (in German). Haude und Spener. p. 106.
lin*, I haven't watched even one second of yesterday's events, but I'm sure images and videos will creep into my feeds. I did read about the salute here and elsewhere. What a disgusting person, who is on his way to a trillion dollars, along with his fellow billionaires Zuck and Bezos who control messaging and content here and abroad.
The main figure in this clip, John Dickinson (played by Donald Madden) "was known as the "Penman of the Revolution" for his twelve Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania ... He either abstained or was absent from the vote on the Declaration of Independence and refused to sign the document after its passage. Nevertheless, Dickinson wrote the first draft of the 1776–1777 Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union and served as a militia officer during the Revolution. He later was elected president of the 1786 Annapolis Convention, which called for the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and as a delegate from Delaware, he signed the United States Constitution. ... President Thomas Jefferson referred to Dickinson as, "(a)mong the first of the advocates for the rights of his country when assailed by Great Britain" and called him "one of the great worthies of the revolution.""
Ah! In that case...Elon, ingest as much Ketamine as possible. You can even salute your Nazi hero all you want...as long as you are on a slow boat back to South Africa.
No, John Roberts told him he is free to do anything he wants—put ppl in danger from pardoning violent criminals, including those who assaulted police officers; hang out with a man who came here illegally and publicly makes the Nazi salute; start wars (literally (invade Mexico) and figuratively (tariffs)); etc., etc. Robert’s said “go for it.”
Apache, i think because his medical test are so above average that out of modesty and careful not to hurt anybody's feeling, he is hiding them from public release. Good heart kind of guy. 😎
Did DJT ever have any ethical restraint? I think not. I do think he's been emboldened to throw out any crazy scheme he wants because he does realize that NOBODY WILL ACT TO RESTRAIN HIM!
James Lee Witt (the best fully empowered and supported FEMA Secretary my emergency responder and disaster planning friends could describe), asked for a year to see if he could straighten out that "Turkey Farm" as Senator Fritz Hollings had described it at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/storm/interviews/witt.html
He had the advantage of succeeding as a Cabinet level agency, so we may never know how others could have done as well after the Republicans threw it under the Department of Homeland Security bus after 9/11
Some of the text from the link above:
"...Sen. Fritz Hollings said it best. … He said FEMA was a political dumping ground, a turkey farm, and the only agency he knew that "could mess up a two-car parade." That was his quote. … [And] that's what I found.
When you briefed Joe Allbaugh [George W. Bush's presidential campaign director in 2000] when he came to take over, what did you tell him?
I told him: "Joe, I'll help you any way I can behind the scene, because if I can help you and you are successful, then I know the people are going to be taken care of, and I know FEMA will be successful. It's extremely important, Joe, that the president maintains that position as a Cabinet-level position."
What did he say?
He said, "He's going to do that."
He didn't.
No. I think his management style was a lot different than mine, because I had an open-door policy. Any employee in the agency or any of the 10 regions could make an appointment to talk to me on Tuesday -- any employee. [Did not] make any difference who you were or what position you had. And it was amazing. On Tuesday, of course, they'd call up and start making appointments..."
Seems perhaps slightly more “legitimate” than the Norwegian Quisling Nazi backed government since we seem to have had more voters signing off on ending democracy as we know it. I do hope it will be even less “powerful” over the people than the Quislings were.
No one else may care but I had a Paper Clip on my backpack in memory of the Norwegian Teachers that all went to prison camps rather than teach the fascist curriculum the Quislings demanded.
This reads like a fairytale. Thanks for posting the link. I knew the word quisling but had no idea where it came from. OTOH I’ve been thinking we need the Yuppies of my youth to lambast what Dumpsters and Maggats are doing grab headlines and galvanize some sort of overt resistance to what’s reigning (pun intentional) down here. If people knew this history I’d say paper clip jewelry could be a thing. Any resistance ideas to show solidarity of opposition with a (Midas) touch of humor more than welcome.
I wonder what the inaugural commemorative tickets are worth in crypto confederate dollars.
I remember some people in Missouri still had piles of confederate money in 1957, convinced it was going to be worth a fortune when the whole country would become a risen confederacy.
Same here, had to resort to New Zealand murder mysteries. No chump, no news of chump, but second hand. Will watch the comics mock him. As long as they are on the air.
I feel the same about my canine roommate, Mackie, short for Macchiato. We've had "the talk." When she crosses the Rainbow Bridge, she is to hold the gate open, because I'm right behind her.
Love those writers. It’s different and the only “murder mystery” show that makes me smile. Well Miss Fisher does too, but Brokenwood has something extra. A cultural bent, maybe. Hope the oligarch’s moving there don’t mess the place up.
I would say that yesterday marked the peak of mankind's achievements, it will be all downhill from now on. Tech advances will be a given, life as we know it today will not be.
I’m reading historical romances. This series is based in Scotland. Unfortunately yesterday I couldn’t focus to read. But I’ll get back to it today hopefully but our Santa Ana Winds have just picked up in north county San Diego. Need to make sure everything is fully charged.
Sort of like when we lived in Houston and had to wait for hurricanes to decide which way to go. This is so much worse, no control, just respond. Hope best for you, with winds and diversions…
Yes, I packed a suitcase this morning and have all my devices plugged in. We have enough clothes to make it through daily life if we keep these ones packed.
I enjoy the nightly comics mocking of him, too, but I also had that same thought: “as long as they are on the air.” I hope it doesn’t come to that but it definitely crossed my mind.
Wish we had planned for the MLK / National Day of Service, we ended up shoveling the ridges of snow from the edges of the sidewalk to the school so dogs could walk on a thin layer of snow without the salt/sand mixture. Doing that at least made me feel I had a bit of grip left on sanity.
''The tone for the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States at noon today was set on Friday, when Trump, who once trashed cryptocurrency as “based on thin air,” launched his own cryptocurrency.''
Of all happenings reported in today's letter, I see a hope in ["Before he left office, Biden posted on social media: Scripture says: “I have been young and now I’m old yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken.”] Trump thinks he is chosen for God. But Biden says God reveals himself in Righteouness" and of course "Love." Professor wrote in her letter yesterday that God in crisis also have chosen "heros" to act for him. In addition, formal and informal instituions, such as polls and public gatherings, may also be put in action. As Mr. Trump and MAGA begin their control of America, I trust Mr. Biden's parting wisdom.
Truthful reporting? Not a word about the circular fire inside the Democratic party? Not a word about how Biden can't raise a nickel from donors for his library because they are so pissed off at him.
Show me the post where Heather acknowledges Biden's mental decline? Or where she walks back the Hitler and facism rhetoric?
This is a propaganda post its not about truth. If it was she would have seen the tsunami coming. The left has been giving America the middle finger for years. The electorate gave it back to them in November.
Blacks, Hispanics, Women, Youth all turned out for Trump in historic fashion.
I am so torn about Facebook. I'm rarely there lately but I do keep up with friends and acquaintances that I otherwise wouldn't. My feed has been blessedly free if the sort of BS that is causing such angst but I also hate that I'm adding to Zuck's subscriber base by which he can set ad rates.
Stick it to the Zuck. I miss people I used to keep up with. But FB banned me, so it’s like I was erased. Some I hear about and others I have lost somewhere along the way. But Zuck is a power-hungry weasel. I hope my data has been deleted and not kept somewhere. Although I’ll have to say that a FB data breach dumped my info on the dark web. So good riddance to Zuck rubbish.
I am coming up on the 40th anniversary of getting fired from a job I was at for 11 years with excellent performance evaluations. It happened after I sent a letter to the state administration about concerns I had about professional and legal issues. I was fired for insubordination when I told my supervisor that I will no subordinate my self to anything illegal, immoral or unethical. My fellow employees voted in a union one week later. Did not benefit me but no regrets here.
I was laid off after asking in a meeting where they bragged about hiring new people and providing them all these trading classes if they would provide those of us who held the company together by threads that same training.
When they told me to get my stuff off the laptop they provided I wiped the whole hard drive, including their stuff. They spent a month calling me and asking me questions about the very stuff they told me they didn’t need me for. I told them my rate was $50 an hour and they left me alone. It was a joy to see them go under the next year.
I remember that Edward Bernays (who had Sigmund Freud as one of his double uncles), inspired Goebbels.
That's bad enough, but I also remember back when I was still a Republican, amazed at the in depth research the Cato Institute could document but then publish conclusions that seemed so out of line with what their more verifiable research would suggest.
The general case I recall was on the oil companies cheating on oil leases, paying for only a fraction of the oil they took, especially from Native Americans. An oil field instrumentation technician (who's truck I repaired the wiring on), told me they had filmed oil tankers making six trips to a refinery when they claimed that one truck had picked up the oil from all six tanks before delivering it to the refinery. He seemed to indicate they stole 3 times as much from the Native Americans as they did from other lease holders. Many years later, I heard they had won a lawsuit proving that, but that may be very much harder to find than it was back then.
N O surprise, a friend from Michigan told me that Cato was a propaganda org, along with ALEC, I started paying attention, but the fix was in, and this was in the 90’s. Damn, I thought Jack Abramoff was the best scammer of the natives. Yea to natives who could win a lawsuit against the oil companies. Their lawyers are the best at fraudulent practices…
I'm not sure what site I'm on (not FB) but I get you violated community standards all the time. I don't even use profanity. It seems that if you give too many details and facts to prove your point, they get upset.
Not enough yet. Fac📖is a habit for many to give up. There are many of my friends there but they do not frequent it. Signalll is a good alternative to “ex”
Most of the right wing garbage I get is from my former work cohort. You would not believe the garbage that they believe. These are people I once respected. Not anymore.
Reading some trumper comments like libotards should stop name calling. I told her I learned from her leader and proceeded to list the terms (and who they applied to), I got censored. I tried again without names although Sleepy and Crooked Joe were acceptable :(
I figure he will fake it anyway s so might as well take what I can. But the crap has so overwhelmed the reasonable stuff that I am no longer sure if it is worth it.
Bluesky is more a replacement for Twitter/X than Facebook. I deleted my Twitter account and use Bluesky mostly for quick access to news, but it’s not really like the community of friends I have on Facebook.
My Facebook is full of horses and cooking with almost zero political content, although yesterday I noticed that I somehow, suddenly, was following DJT against my will. Obviously I’m not anymore but that made me angry. Same thing happened on Twitter with Elon, despite blocking him twice.
I was happily using Bluesky until I needed to reset my password. I was never able to get back in. They're system for resetting your password is insane and despite several attempts at using it then trying to contact them several times I gave up and made a new account using a different e-dress. A couple of days after doing that, and despite very little activity, my account was suspended for spamming despite the fact that my only activity was liking and reposting the posts of others. I tried again to get into my original account but again was faced with the reset code not working despite copying it character for character. I've finally given up. I know they're suffering from growing pains and hope they succeed at fixing the technical issues but it has helped me feel less enchanted with social media altogether.
I feel your frustration and I also discovered that I cannot control who follows me. The best I can offer (and I do care about you and my family of US Citizens) is to start up a Trouble Nation group. Their media platform is far more discrete, safe, and for these reasons it is intentionally cumbersome to navigate…at first…there is healthy support and accessibility from the Red Wine and Blue staff. I am an organizer trying to keep an eye on local politics because we have our work cut out for us protecting what’s left (which is a lot at this stage). Our Governor is communicating well too.
You'll find other ways to stay connected with your family and friends. You really must permanently delete any Zuckerberg related accounts. Among his other despicable actions, he's a Jew who supports a team led by a man who twice made the Nazi salute.
If you are on the fence about quitting Facebook… apparently Zuckerberg automatically signed people up to follow The White House and trump and Melania. People are putting out instructions for how to unfollow, but there’s no guarantee you won’t be signed up again. As for me, I’m done. Advertisers are watching. I hope META loses a lot of revenue.
I was also conflicted about FB but decided in the end to delete my account. Today is day 1 and I do not miss it. It will not be hard to find new communities particularly outside of the internet. Good luck. N
Mine too, most (like 99%) of my FB friends are thoroughly anti-Trump / Maga. Maybe Trump, who is backed by Big Oil, has friends in Alberta, Canada. Smith, the premier, couldn't find a seat in Washington to attend the Inaug so was headed for the Canadian Embassy to take it in. Not sure she managed that! Alberta is more interested in selling oil and gas to the US than joining the rest of Canada's leadership in opposing likely tariffs as Trump still boondoggles American public into thinking, falsely, that foreign sellers pay for the tariffs.
There are days I wish Alberta would secede from the Confederation. Or wake up and smell the climate chaos. Danielle Smith is as exactly the wrong leader as the orange felon is. But her #ucker Convoy mini-MAGAts love her.
Remember Zuck is still mining your data and all guardrails will be gone now. I deleted mine years ago and keep in tough via text and email. It has worked well since 2018.
Have you looked into Bluesky Social? bsky.app It appears to be a decent social platform with a lot less of the malarkey found on FB and the other platforms. Encourage your friends to join you there and give Zuck the middle finger on your way out.
I deleted Facebook 13 years ago when Wisconsin politics turned wicked, and I was disgusted with finding out what some of my relatives and acquaintances truly believed. I have never regretted it. Friends let me know of invitations. And I've kept up with distant friends and relations in other ways. I made sure to get email addresses or phone numbers before I quit. It isn't hard.
I never signed up for Facebook, despite the many climate activists and others that made it almost essential enough to have to do it. Not doing so was limiting but I'm still glad I didn't. I makes me certain now that I never will.
As another Mainer from Standish, I never signed up for FB either. Every time there’s a breach, I don’t have to worry. Today, I don’t need to be concerned about removing myself from this invasion of privacy or support these techies in any small way!
I, also left FB years ago as it turned out to be Junior High all over again. Who needs that?! I thought I had followed all the protocols to cancel and remove my account. Recently I ran into an old acquaintance who “followed me on FB” and noted current content. What? I cannot get on FB to check because “My account has been canceled”. So I am in FB Purgatory evidently, unable to remove my former page, but advertisers still able to put up content.
Facebook accounts are really difficult to delete according to several people who have tried. If you even attempt to see if your account is inactive in the next 30 days or so, it automatically reactivates the account. Anyway, that's what happened to my wife when she canceled her account a few years ago. She ultimately was able to cancel it.
Here’s what I did. It was time consuming but worth it. I deleted all my friends, all my images, and all my posts. Basically I had a blank account. Then I deleted Facebook. There was nothing left for them to mine even though they can get it from the wayback or their stored data. But that’s more work.
I have been going thru mine deleting content and personal info first, because it at least can slow down a perpetrator. Yes it takes time, however, we are already at “wore”
For deleting content there are three tiny circles in a row that are usually at top right corner of every one of your posts. Click that and it should give you an option to delete or to “send to trash” or something similar in wording.
What to do? I did not turn on my TV yesterday except to watch the Ohio State/Notre Dame game. I use my Facebook account primarily for political reasons. So, I'll keep it.
Last evening we skipped all the news and sports to watch a new to me Climate Scientist, David Swain on Adam Conover’s “Debunking L.A. Wildfire Myths with Climate Scientist Dr. Daniel Swain” at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P2O1F_6ikY
He is milder than, Peter Kalmus, (the one I was most concerned about since I knew where he lived in Altadena), and Swain patiently explains the counter arguments to myths and goes at great length to explain the current and growing risk from inattention to the realities of measurable climate change. To me it is a great demonstration of how you can explain the real science and conditions to others, no matter what their preconceived ideas have been.
We also watched
The Tipping Points of Climate Change — and Where We Stand | Johan Rockström | TED
It was presented 5 months ago, before Helene and Milton hurricanes and the latest California fires so things are so much worse even in less than 6 months.
“…Three times higher climate change risks now attributed to our cause of climate change…
...We Earth system scientists and climate scientists are getting seriously nervous. The planet is changing faster than we have expected.
We are, despite years of raising the alarm, now seeing that the planet is actually in a situation where we underestimated risks. Abrupt changes are occurring in a way that is way beyond the realistic expectations in science.
As if this was not enough,
Impacts across the economy. We are seeing that this is now causing impacts across the entire economy.
We're seeing bigger and bigger invoices being sent by the Earth system onto societies across the entire world, in droughts, floods, heat waves, disease patterns, human-reinforced storms, scientifically attributed to human-caused climate change.
Forty degrees Celsius of life-threatening heat across all continents, occurring in 2023.
Fifty-two degrees Celsius hitting the over 1,000 who lost their lives at the Hajj pilgrimage in June in Mecca.
Higher climate change risks.
Three times higher climate change risks now attributed to our cause of climate change.
2023, up to 12,000 deaths, 200 billion US dollars of cost, just in the US, up to 100 billion US dollars.
[not including hurricanes Helene and Milton or the Altadena and Palisades Fires]
Well, the Nazis have come to town! Didn’t give the pleasure of tv ratings to any legacy channel today. Listened to MLK, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech spoken by others as well as the writings of Langston Hughes and Frederick Douglass. One bright light, Heather, the half-staffed flag could not be moved due to the frigid weather. The cords were stiff and icy! Damn, that gave me so much happiness! I felt like Jimmy Carter was actually responsible for that. 🤩👏🏼👏🏼
As of yesterday, my entire extended family is boycotting Amazon, Home Depot and all of the big box stores except Target. We pre-purchased many items like TP, Paper Towels, Flour, etc. If we need to buy something, we are going back to buying what we can from mom and pop and regional stores.
Walmart is going to instant pricing by using electronic shelf prices so they can charge different prices to consumers across the US and to undersell the competition's sale prices almost immediately.
We need to fight back even if it costs us a few bucks extra.
And please don't buy a Tesla or any product Musk sells.
Thanks for this tip. There's a Costco in my city, but I object to paying for the "privilege" of shopping in a retailer's store. I may have to adjust my principles for the greater good.
Many stores Like Albertsons , (Safeway?) have a 2 price tier if you give them your information, Walgreens. If you use a Costco credit card , u do get some $$$ back. Costco treats their employees well. I think it is the lesser of the many many evil corporate greed stores out there
Plus their hotdogs are cheap and delicious 😋. Costco exhausts me, it’s huge! But I really like it. We have a two year supply of TP and paper towels because I went last week haha. Their prices on things like coffee and detergent save you enough to pay for the membership. And the casback is really good.
Costco also makes 14% on their products and insists that their suppliers make no more than 14% also. You pay to take advantage of their choosing superior products and an excellent warranty and return policy.
After many years of refusing to get a Kroger loyalty card, my nose had a talk with my face and convinced us that spite was costing us money, so I caved. My nephew now works for Kroger and seems to be happy, so all is not lost, I suppose.
If this helps, our joint membership for 2 is/was $120, it’s going up this year. Our rebate check was $200, plus we have the Costco Visa that gives us an additional 2% totally 4%. Then dining out gives us 3% on that card. If you don’t make your membership fee back they do something to compensate you but it’s never happened to us.
Do you have Gmail? Use Google Earth? Have a MacBook? Or a PC for that matter. How do we stay in the loop and not buy into the pervasive consumer culture?
The Home Depot Rethuglican has had no interest in Home Depot for many years and he passed away in this past year. Boycotting Home Depot only injures the employees. I compared them to Lowe’s and was better off at Home Depot.
I don't agree Sharon. They price fix depending on their competition in various parts of the US. I have shopped Home Depot in Jacksonville, FL, Fernandina Beach, FL, Ellsworth, ME, Bangor, ME, Orange, CT, Omaha, NE and a few other cities around the US.
One of my good friends is 76 years old and works for Home Depot. He has told me may stories about his 27 years working there. They are not managed and don't really care about their customers.
There are plenty of jobs out there that pay $25/hour for 25 years of service.
Love the poetic justice of the frozen flag pole cords, thank you, President Carter! The combination of flags frozen at half staff and the “Stormy” inaugural weather — the universe was screaming, “Beware, the biggest scam-storm ever is upon you!”
Nazi salutes on day one with Proud Boys claiming back the streets. Pete Hegseth would enhance cooperation between the military and these paramilitary groups against United States citizens, blurring the line between what’s legal and what’s not. This won’t end well unless he’s stoped.
Musk seems to be a Ketamine addict. Probably trying to self medicate for depression, one of its off label uses. From what I've seen of other Ketamine addicts, he won't live too long.
I wondered about his behavior being fueled by Ketamine. Ketamine addicts expose their suppressed and repressed impulses. His Nazi salute is an excellent example.
Did you see the Vox article on the Broligarchs have a new vision… or the Hartmann piece on how Elon got his name? My head is still spinning! These boymen really want to create the metaverse for everyone and develop a new species of automated humans. Are we seriously allowing these guys to game our existence and destroy humanity? This blows my mind!
And the ADL gave Musk an ableist pass saying it was just "awkward." I am autistic and know hundreds of autistic people. NO ONE would give a Nazi salute and claim autism as the reason. DISGUSTING.
So now DJT has his Storm-Troopers, the freed J6 Criminals... Pete Hegseth will form his S.S. ... Elon Musk will be his Joseph Goebbels... Elon Stoned, Seig Heiling?... DJT, off Teleprompter, seems to be deteriorating more rapidly....
Chuck Schumer could have called for a vote in the Senate any time in the past two years.
If 2/3 of the Senate did not free the convicted criminal from disqualification, that would have established his disqualification legal and in effect under the Constitution's Article 14, Section Three. The convicted criminal would not have qualified to let his criminality rule.
The Clarence court couldn't have done anything about their favorite would-be monarch. The Constitution clearly says it's only the Congress that can determine disqualification.
He could have been stopped. Now, criminality rules America. Unchecked. Uncheckable.
I think you are a bit confused here. Yes, impeachment would have disqualified Trump from trunking for office.
But tge Clarence Court COULD have done something. Amendment 14, Section 3 disqualifies Insurrectionists. It is the Supreme Court who claimed Co gress needed to pass legislation on that, but the Constitution says no such thing.
I am glad that you and Heather use the term "paramilitary". They are usually refereed to as "militias", but militia described in the Constitution are nothing of the sort.
' After praising Elon Musk, he told the crowd “He was very effective. He knows those computers better than anybody. Those vote counting computers. And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide. So it was pretty good…. Thank you to Elon.” Is this an admission they cheated in PA to win?
It sounds like it. The same misuse of algos that Cambridge Analytica deployed to trick the British people into voting for Brexit, with the aid of a PR propaganda expert relative of Rupert Murdoch (by marriage), Mathew Freud. Oligarchs are so easily buying corporate media and using it to destroy nation states from within globally. The English journalist Carole Cadwallader took Cambridge Analytica on and they almost succeeded in destroying her. Her continuing work on exposing those in the British ruling class who are responsible for the dodgy Brexit PR campaign and who run with MAGA is worth following.
Oh yes indeed. And in turn Farage had removed his support in the last UK general election from the extremist British Unionist party here in Northern Ireland, the Paisleyite Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), gifting it to an even more extremist British white supremacist and sectarian loyalist, Jim Allister, the leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV). Allister duly won his first ever seat in the British parliament which he took off the late Rev Paisley’s son Ian Og. MAGA, Musk and their corporate oligarchs are funding far right political extremists in every democratic nation state.
I doubt it. For what? Bragging about election fraud? Tenuous at best. And unlikely too. I expect this is just Trump being Trump. Something went well for him (most likely by pure chance or dumb luck) and he expects to get credit for it.
It would certainly be worth a few $$$ and some time to investigate further what exactly trump's words referred to. "Those vote counting computers...." How about some hand-recounting?
Even if it is an admission of cheating, you still have to prove it, and with Congress in the hands of maga and the DOJ in the hands of an election denier ,we don't have a chance Cyn.
Hope our frustration last only two or four years.
Save your energy for battles we can winn. In the meantime please, keeping posting and keep opening peoples minds.
The only bright side to this is that it’s all out in the open now, there for everyone to see, document, and judge. Let’s hope that history takes note of it — just as you are doing here — for the long term.
I have a signed copy of Bill Moyers' first book "Listening to America: A Traveler Rediscovers His Country," so also have a very long time appreciation of his views.
Every time I saw Heather in person there were local or state legislators who took up the calling to help real people. The first event I could attend, I saw one who dove into becoming a problem solver on the Transportation Committee. Later events had others with similar in depth knowledge and concern for local variations of problems and how they fit in state and national concerns. It makes it seem more important than ever to make the local connections to see what all the people think and how they can work out better solutions. For me, without prior experience, that would seem like trying to find ways to learn from the Deliberative Poll like that shown at: https://www.kpbs.org/news/arts-culture/2011/09/26/people-whats-next-california
I bought the Bill Moyers book on his 13,000 mile bus tour, and stopped at the John Steinbeck Center in Salinas, just to get a picture of his GMC camper truck, "Rocinante," (named after Don Quixote's horse) that he took around the country as he described in "Travels with Charlie." You could say I have a "thing" for people that travel around and see how people are doing around the country (it's why I drove OTR 170,000 miles over a year and a half, after 385,000 of us working for aerospace companies were given the chance to explore post Cold War, non-military/aerospace careers). It's not nearly the miles Heather has put in, nor the range of people she gets to interact with but it is an important part of my life.
Those same people who couldn’t vote for a woman gave us Trump the first time and cried about everything they did but still couldn’t vote for a Black woman this time and will continue to cry about everything he does.
Yes, Scott, this time is a wake-up call to everyone, and we don't know the outcomes. Underground in northern winters, roots reach deeply, store nourishment, and prepare for all that will arise later.
"We just learned that in one of the last acts of his presidency, President Biden freed Leonard Peltier -- a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the longest serving Native political prisoner in U.S. history." ~Native Organizers Alliance
Holy moly, Day One has turned out to be even more chaotic than anyone could imagine, and tFfg has enriched himself beyond his wildest dreams with his sh*tcoin crypto scheme.
Thank you, Dr Heather, for your summary of this day. Until now, reading your Substack, I was for the most part living another Monday, avoiding almost all news and social media. But now it's time for us to gather our resources and work together to try to mitigate his lawlessness and protect the vulnerable in our country.
As Joyce says, we're in this together. Stay safe, as I'm somewhat concerned that there may come a day when they will try to shut down Substack and other sources of truth, and/or use lawfare to silence you and our other inspirational truthseekers, historians, and legal experts.
Holy Moly … the specific words out of my mouth after reading this horrendous litany of the first half day into this Presidency. Dr HCR, you started my day with a positive sense of courage. Tonight. Sigh.
I am repeating Alexander Vindman’s, “I will not be intimidated”, over and over, truly with my heart quivering. There has to be a way to stop this instant takeover. Right? Right! Selfish or truthful, this is not how I envisioned spending my retirement years fighting to keep our democracy alive. Here is to all of us. Rolling up our sleeves. Standing strong.
Nothing to worry about Anne-Louise...we got The Gulf of America now. And he got 50 billions (on paper) in few hours. How much money did you make yesterday?
Thanks for your talk this morning and for the letter. The events of the day are truly one wrongful act after another. More than had imagined from the basic news of the day. How could our country come to this. How could someone like this have this much power and lack of any sense of what a government or president is. A tragedy. Thanks for being the best ever of sources and a beacon for the facts and truth
Susan, the spectacle that is unfolding on the world stage isn't a tragedy. It's a farce. A farce of the highest (lowest) order. The jewel of a text attributed to the pardoned felon Rodriguez could have been written by trump himself as a summary of his own life.
Well, if we're out of the WHO, then maybe when the bird flu pandemic comes through, it'll kill all the hayshaking shitkicker MAGAts. A pandemic is evolution's IQ test: are you intelligent enough to take this information and change your behavior in such a way to improve your opportunity for survival? It's pass/fail. Just think, a country with 20 million fewer morons. Sounds like Heaven to me! They don't take vaccines, they don't change their behavior. I'm no longer interested in "understanding" them.
The problem is with us out of the WHO, there goes a source of major funding for them. Without that, research suffers therefore the myriad epidemics of the future stand a good chance of indiscriminate loss of life.
Besides this he signed executive orders to end all pandemic research. Is the point to let Dems die if the bird flu spreads? They have vaccines but not enough.
Dr Richardson, how fast can we impeach a President for misconduct when it gets to a point that his reckless stewardship of our economy, insubordinate with foreign diplomacy, obvious bribery, etc. is causing danger to our countries’s stability?
What can we be ready for to IMPEACH from a grassroots tidal wave to get rid of Trump. We need to start now. Please advise.
Putin, like chump, doesn’t acknowledge opposition. Erase it and it doesn’t exist. Those gnats like Navalny can be swatted and forgotten, so they think…
I think that’s another sign of sociopathy that psychiatrists describe in their studies and research. Sociopaths are almost always magnetically attracted to each other.
We have on full view a convicted criminal now atop the U.S.
He brings bribery -- witness his phalange of billionaires on the dais with him.
He brings corruption -- witness the crypto he's cashing in on -- inviting all to his corruption.
He's showing contempt for even the pretense of law -- see the 1500 thugs all convicted of violence and other predations as they attacked our Capitol -- ransacked it, broke windows, beat police officers trying to protect the place and the public officials so violently interrupted there.
We have a convicted criminal now fully showing the full criminality he intends to inflict on the former republic, now just his satrapy, as his contemptuous Clarence court ruled he's entitled to.
Sadly, tragically and I mean this seriously, Phil, all the humanities education in the world isn't going to fix this. It may actually take a real revolution. And I never thought I would suggest such a thing.
And Phil, he brings a disdain for national security, by allowing people access to highly-classified info without background checks. It was bad enough when Jared got the access.
So happy to hear that, Jane. I need to be reminded too.
I had a nice walk with my son yesterday – don’t see him nearly often enough – and asked him how he was taking the new now. He told me he’s focused on what is in his power to do, what he needed to do in his life. He keeps informed but doesn’t listen to the noise, the crazies. What good does it do, he asked me, it just winds you up.
He jokes that I was around when the Constitution was drafted and should have done a better job.
Excellent and sage advice. I expect increasing erratic irrational behavior and outbursts from Felon 47 (par for the course but will worsen as his health deteriorates). Don't be surprised by the sudden occurrence of unexpected events with shocking twists and turns. We are in a time of great instability in the US and globally.
Expect the unexpected. Stay grounded. Be more conscious of your inner dialog. Do not allow yourselves to be sucked into the vortex of negativity, hostility, violence, irrationality and, yes, lunacy.
This scenario will play out over time. Oligarchs and autocrats never have positive endings.
Excellent advice, R. I make music (if you can call scales, long tones, and technique studies music) every day, and play in three performing groups. I am at a loss at the moment, because of a scheduled knee replacement, I am losing the winter term of both the concert band and symphonic band that I play in, and my tuba chamber group won't start for another month. Maybe I'll go play either solos or duets with a friend at our local hospice house...
That's the thing about the ability - the gift - of being able to make music on an instrument. It is a balm to the soul of both the maker and the receiver, without language or insinuation.
Ally, I’m recovering from a hip replacement in November. This has not been fun! But given that it’s 8° out there mid morning, I picked the right time of year to be stuck at home.
It just is so surreal to read this litany of malicious retribution and brazen self-aggrandizement. I want to split off from this timeline…Dark Matter style.
I cannot in clear conscience click on like. I love you. I love your writing, but hate almost every sentence you wrote. I am so f... ashamed of being American. I have felt angst, despondence; but now I am angry as hell!
Yes, thank you, Heather. I didn’t watch any of the outrage either, but couldn’t escape hearing bits and pieces. What galls me most is that, apparently, other than filing some lawsuits, nothing was done to slow his roll. Didn’t we try the “legal” means of slapping him down the first time? It got nowhere. The sheer outrageousness makes me NUTS!!!
Thank you, Heather. I’ve stayed away from most coverage all day but I looked forward to hearing your succinct and truthful report tonight. Thank you, as always, for keeping me sane in the midst of this wild ride. Staying alert for ways to help and ways to resist as this term continues… xo
And Leonard Peltier’s life sentence was commuted by Joe Biden. Leonard is going home.
Leonard Peltier is Pardoned? Finally... Leonard did a lot less than the J6 Criminals...
Apache, Although Peltier was granted clemency by virtue of his sentence being commuted, he wasn’t pardoned.
Yes, that is correct. He is very ill now but will be home, and with family. That, in itself, is an act of humanity. Thank you President Biden.
Correct as usual Barbara Jo Krieger ✔️
Actually, he did a lot more for his people, and paid a huge price. Peltier, in truth, did nothing wrong.
He became a good artist and poet and I appreciated his book, Prison Writings. He was a political prisoner. I am relieved he will spend his final days at home, with family. Wopila!
he was almost, if not, the very last commutation by Biden.
I wrote a whole bunch of letters, and have for years. I am sure they did not have any influence but the act of writing, and then seeing him go home, feels mighty good.
I think there were many pleas to either pardon or give clemency to Mr. Peltier.
No his sentence was commuted not pardoned.
And if I read the account properly, it wasn't a full commutation. He's under house arrest. Better than nothing, I guess.
The remainder of his sentence was commuted.
A lot less? Is this a joke?
Leonard Peltier killed a TWO COPS in cold blood.
He was framed by the FBI. They had no evidence so that frightened a girl to testify who later wanted to rescind but the courts wouldn’t let her.also, the FBI withheld evidence that would have found Peltier not guilty. Don’t believe everything you read.
If President Biden had been smarter, he would have pardoned the J6 people. A speech to explain that these good American people had been badly misled by con man would have really pulled the rug out from Trump's campaign. Joe Biden was a great president but really no good at gamesmanship. President Carter had the same problem. Like they say "Nice guys finish last"
Hard disagree!
I wish former President Biden had signed a pardon for Alexander Vindman, as he did for Fauci, et. al.
The Contrarian, Jen & Norm, interviewed smarty pants defense attorney, RENATO MARIOTTI on video yesterday on all relevant issues.
There are many legal considerations if you are wondering why President Bidden added additional language to make his federal law intent clear & distinct.
Bryan, I recall pre-election that trump made some odd comment about Musk having a "little secret". And now this about Musk knowing the computers. It sure sounds like admitting to election interference if not outright being stolen. Any thoughts on this?
Not at the moment. I am still reeling from the Afrikaner's two energetic Hitler salutes.
Their shock and awe technique is working. It all seems so much worse than I thought it would be. But there was one heartening line in Prof. Richardson’s litany of their misfeasance: “... lawyers noted that some of the executive orders were poorly crafted to accomplish what they claimed—an observer called one ‘bizarre legal fanfic not really intended for judicial interpretation’—and LAWSUITS CHALLENGING THEM ARE ALREADY BEING FILED.” (my emphasis) Should that make us feel better, Bryan?
How about that!?!?!
Yes, been wondering what starlink can actually do..
I want to hear more about this too. Sounds like enough for an investigation, at least.
Though I agree, unfortunately Trump and his lap dogs will pivot to any available target that he thinks wronged him.
A new target everyday. Heaven forbid, we wake up a single moment until that guy in dead and buried without having to pay attention to that toddler.
I. Guessing the happiest days for the entire Trumo family was when a young Donald was away at military school. The amount of attention that man requires is exhausting and I can turn the Tv off.
I’d feel bad for Melania but she’s getting paid handsomely for her services.
Melania likes all of it.
Except the sleeping with Donald part.
I'm not so sure about that!
She put out her own bitcoin meme that brought in several billion dollars immediately.
Can we actually think strongly, critically and severely at the fact the wife of the incoming FELON made BILLIONS - BILLIONS from what?
The fact it isn’t traceable should frighten us all. Clearly it is all based on bribes.
Billions!
Companies that actually made THINGS, EMPLOY PEOPLE WHO PAY TAXES, RAISE CHILDREN aren’t worth a BILLION. but she is?
Was Ramasammy right? Are we that stupid or that corrupt? If we’re ignorant, we can learn it if our default base is corruption, we’re doomed.
Trump will be dead in less than a decade, if that. He hasn’t been in charge in a long time. Who will we be as a country and under whose direction?
She should grab all she can bag and haul to safer climes...
Possibly the donald could deport her parents.
Her mother has died. Don't know about her father.
Or his son. She didn’t seem to come here legally - there were questions …and she came here via Jeffrey Epstein. And now she’s worth billions overnight.
How will they run the bribes through her non existent office…
“Be Best” or “Be Bribed”…..and of course, once launched, it became part of the Trump, et al.
I have zero concern about how Melania feels. She sold herself to the devil when she married him (pronouns matter).
Isn't that how Trump met her, while she was getting paid handsomely for her services?
Melania has her own agenda. What was with the hat that covered Melania's face during the Inauguration . What is she hiding???
Three more years of BLISS and then 9 more years of Vance try imagining that because that’s about what’s gonna happen.
Fauci did receive a pardon. I don't understand about the Vindmans.
Of course Chapbutt Bonespurs envies and hates decent military officers...I freely admit he continues to gather large numbers of Satan-worshippers who flock proudly to perform loudly his anal-linguistic adoration...hail Trump...tongue in, suck out!!
And think to yourself, Becky why would Fauci need a pardon
Biden made it clear that all of those pardons were to protect the innocent from retribution by Trump, including endless lawsuits and investigations. He was protecting them, not 'exonerating' them from non-existent crimes.
Why would you need to protect the innocent? That’s a question you’ll be asking yourself for ages. And if you don’t know the answer to that question, you’re about as dishonest with yourself as any human being on the planet Wait till they demonstrate what the Biden’s family bank account and we’re all the money came from Ooooooops
Ye
So, you're going to continue piling on Biden...
Yes! And Nancy Pelosi!
YES . Agreed for him and his wife. Vindman is a true hero.
True Hero
And he and his advisors left that brave young woman who was a White house staffer to the brutal attacks she is likely to face.
I was saddened that he didn’t pardon Steven Donzinger.
That’s how disgusting you are after Fauci caused how many millions of needless deaths and illnesses not sure how many but more than a couple and you want him to get a pardon amazing.
He may have and Vindman may have declined it. Also, the pardons don't necessarily protect people from vindictive legal action from Trump.
I don't think so, based on a post I saw from Rachel Vindman—she seemed pretty angry.
That is precisely what I was basing my reply on.
Yes, I was responding to Judy the Lazy Gardener. Vindman definitely did not decline a pardon, because he was never offered one.
Welcome to North Korea. During the Ohio Notre Dame game, Trump came on to spew his propaganda. It was horrifying.
Are the good times really over?
Yup, they are.
At least for four years.
New goal: secure at least D control of the house 2026. 3rd Impeachment for emoluments violation and corruption.
And now we have a country for sale Bill.
Ricardo, Several years back author and public intellectual Sarah Kendzior started repeatedly warning us that MAGA not only would tear down democracy but also would crash the economy and sell off its parts. Despite the commitment of virtually everyone on this site who is called to resist the infiltration of authoritarian and divisive agendas into our states and communities, I see no ready solution to the undeserved suffering and harm that increasingly will be inflicted on increasing numbers of people.
Still, as with those who came before us who didn’t retreat from the struggle, neither can we.
MAGA is KKK - white Protestant nationalism. God intervened to save Trump's life from an assassin's bullet. I suspect that millions will believe that.
Or, as I’ve seen said, God wishes she’d selected someone with better aim. Seems just as plausible.
Thank you. I needed that chuckle this morning.
Bravo, Ken!
If one accepts the reality that the Judaic deity, called YHWH, Jehovah, God and other monikers, is a mythical personage no more existent than Greek, Roman, Norse and other deities, then a far more credible explanation is that Trump's campaign staged the event, with two-fold effect: It captured headlines for at least two news cycles and created the foundation for Trump's continuing claim that he was "ordained by God," a falsehood lapped up by his religious cult followers like kittens at a bowl of milk.
Please do not in any way insult kittens.
And, immediately after that staged attempt I wrote exactly that. Fake! America is sadly sucked in by fakes.
Yeah... where's the scar?
I confess, I have a better conception of the Almighty...and there are more accurate users of rubber-banded projectile throwers...however, T. rumpussy has reached his followers level
closely and well...
Loki definitely exists. Who could believe otherwise?
In the Old Testament, the Israelites kept begging for an earthly king. Finally God gave in and said “as you wish” and let them have their own stubborn way. King Saul was, in the end, an irascible divisive king but hey-it’s what the people wanted and God let them have it. Point being, Trump may be just like Saul- “anointed by God” because THE PEOPLE are stupid and stubborn, not that he is any way divinely suited. He is just as irascible and divisive as Saul
Richard, I can only say puke to that. It was poor aim and luck that saved death star. Death star takes hubris to a whole new level. We need some Greek gods to come up with an appropriate punishment.
Barbara Jo Krieger, again you have summed it up perfectly.
Barbara, your reply never showed up on my phone and I read it by chance. I think you are 💯 %correct. I understand your frustration of not having a plan of action to counteract maga's policies but remembe
r that their leaders been planing this take over and destruction of our democracy for many years, step by step and invested billions of dollars.
For now all we can do is to push back, let the litigation on our part to begin rolling and pressure our leaders and legislators to do the same, forcefully, legally 24/7.
Thanks for your reply and keep posting. 😉
Unfortunately, WE no longer have a country, for many of us, it's just happens to be the place we reside in! A king has been crowned!
Yes, it was a coronation. But we DO still have a country. Sadly, our lives will be largely influenced by what state we live in. Red state authoritarians are inspired by the Orange Menace. Blue state Governors and AGs are not. In fact, they will provide some protections and legal weaponry. In MA, our gov is a very experienced former AG. She is tough.
Most people didn't vote for Trump. 90 million stayed home. Over the next year, I suspect we can rouse at least 10 or 20% of them to vote in 2026. The pendulum will swing because the damage will be unforgivable.
Bill, here in Oregon our governor received one of the many threatening letters sent out to officials in places which have declared themselves sanctuary areas. Our governor did not flinch. The AG here is also preparing and apparently a whole host of public officials have been discussing strategies for months.
Yay Oregon! Katie in Ashland
Here in CT our leadership is girding itself for the possibility that Trump will withhold funds due the state.
But when will the states withhold money from the feds?
That is a smart move by your CT leadership. I'm afraid the Republicans will withhold funds from New Mexico as retaliation for having a Democratic governor who may stand up to Trump.
That has usually been the case, and I hope you are right.
Why can't substance have a frown button?
Or a "really dislike" button?
darn spellcheck... 'Substack', not substance...
why not both? ha ha!
.....along with his court Jester, Elon.
Peltier's sentence was commuted. He was not pardoned. This is, of course, startlingly good news, yet he should have been pardoned.
On the other hand, Trump's pardoning of the J6 seditionists is, in some ways, an act of sedition itself.
This is a dark, dark day. Not only has the President of the United States issued blanket pardons on his first day in office ( for the first time in history) but has pardoned people who directly followed his previous unconstitutional commands and exhortations. In so doing, especially when it comes to those Pittsburgh Steeler colored cretins known as the Proud Boys, released a redneck rogues' gallery of his personal Praetorian Guard upon the public and his opponents.
Far and away the most shameful first day in Presidential history
or last day of an American presidency
Woo-Hoo! I've been signing petitions for his release since 1985.
Thank God
That was my one happy moment of the day.
I shed tears of joy for that!
Better late than never- but better never late
Yeah, and so is the totally honest Biden family there Bill. That was for all you gullible nut bags here.
FANTASTIC. WELCOME HOME LEANORD!
Thank goodness. Finally. I hope the rest of his life is peaceful and filled with love.
Wow!! Good news to wake up to this morning.
DJT seems to have lost all Ethical Restraint... DJT Meme Coin?... Melania Meme Coin?... Pardoning Violent Convicted Criminals?... Is DJT's Dementia Accelerating?... Move over Caligula, You have got some Real Debauched Competition...
Pulled quote -
"Beginning tomorrow, the Republicans will have to deal with the fact that the Treasury will hit the debt ceiling and will have to use extraordinary measures to pay the obligations of the United States government."
Plus we have no defense secretary, nor will we have one if Pete Hogsbreath is confirmed.
Pam Bondi is going to have to defend all of the ridiculous EOs that Trump signed, most of which are illegal.
And then there's the emoluments clause which is totally meaningless.
May the guards make the remaining days in prison for the 1/6 insurrections as painful for them as they made for the Capital Police.
General Kelly’s warning of electing a Fascist now is verified. Trumps alter ego Musk even threw a couple of salutes.
But the bitcoin con signals the total greedy corruption that is now the US Government. Even if it’s illegal SCOTUS has developed a protective gloss of Mythical presidential power that places the only office in the universe above the Law.
If any relief at all can be developed it will have to be total and begin with impeachment.
Criminals can be destructive if given Carte Blanch for four years. This we must not allow
So they took down Milley's photo from the Chiefs of Staff??? You can be sure Dems, or a saner GOP(like when, right?) will reinstall that, Karma happens!
What a petty, petty move. Magical thinking: taking down someone's portrait can erase him.
"petty, petty" is an understatement, when you think about it.... I wonder if there will be internal countermands... Thing is, T crowd want to clear out all the "disloyal"... be interesting to see how the Joint Chiefs and their chain of command are taking all this, including T's ending "experiments in the military" i gather same sex / trans / women in combat roles.
As the oligarchs grow stronger, America grows weaker.
How long before they realize the jig is up and Trump and the Republicans ain't gonna deliver on making their lives better.
They should already be getting the idea when ......Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, billionaire Scott Bessent, said that extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts was "the single most important economic issue of the day." But he said he did not support raising the federal minimum wage, which has been $7.25 since 2009 although 30 states and dozens of cities have raised the minimum wage in their jurisdictions."
You know the tax cuts that only help the oligarchs..
There more outrageous the **** he gets away with, the more powerful he fancies himself to be. It's sick.
The stench coming from this country it's circling the world...what a nightmare.
Yes. And worse than that. As Xi and Putin watch the chaos unfold in the US, what do we think they are planning next? Our soft underbelly is exposed.
We now look weak and rudderless with key leadership positions empty or about to be filled with clueless hacks.
Our "dear leader" has the instincts of a real estate tycoon who was unloved by his parents. His insecurities bleed from his pores. These are the times when our enemies will test us. They know opportunity when they see it.
Watch Putin make new aggressive moves in Europe. His expansionist urges are now encouraged. He wants HIS legacy to be that of a Stalin or Catherine the Great. The Russian Empire is poised to grow.
Watch Xi make real threats against Taiwan - he will get his island - it is what he expects to be the keystone in HIS legacy.
Three men control the fate of human civilization.
One of them is an amateur. A clueless putz.
None of them care how many people suffer. All of them think that they can run ragged over their own people.
One of them is wrong.
Bill, definitely this are the times, times of weakness and chaos, our enemies are going to test us, not directly yet but around their orbit of influence to make us even weaker and to loose the trust of the few allies left. Nobody will trust us, increasing our weakness and then, we alone and still in chaos and economic distress with our underbelly exposed, they will try the coup of grace on us. Hope our military are aware of this scenario. Sorry for this last hope 😔
I bet our military are very(x2) aware. Stay steady. Yes, some of our 'fellow' citizens look mean and clueless to us...so what? Many meanies had no interest in our American politics before their rampage in DC, and yes, they were foolish...many still are. Steady on! Write your congress-person...buck them up...our American experiment needs good sense...read, think, make plans...not just for the near and dear...that, of course! Please think a bit for me, too...as I think a bit of you and yours...we're in this mess together...
neighbors can be strong allies. Get practiced in saying 'hello!'...you can learn a lot, even with a wave...
Bill, excellent post. I was thinking about this last night and this am even before I got up. I think this is what all the nonsense about Greenland is about.
JL, and we who saw through his derangement, will now suffer because of the misguided, hate-filled cultists who turned their lives over to Trump and helped MAKE him all-powerful. I will forever blame the weak-spined Republicans who sold their souls to him. With the offering and collection of those MAGA souls, Trump has been allowed to punish the rest of us who still have our integrity and some sense of decency.
Decency, integrity, truth, fairness, and goodness have been tossed to the ground by Trump, and stomped on by those who lost their souls to him.
I'm wearing black for a while to protest his becoming president of our United States, which will now be our Ununited States.
Where's that vomit bucket??😵🤑
Pam, thank you for everything you just wrote... I agree with you on all this and more... the cognitive dissonance with which I have suffered through has split my head, my heart, and my spirit for the past four years (and more). I wish I could have the opportunity to have a face to face conversation with hundreds of these sycophants, from Mike Johnson to Joni Ernst, and thousands more. And I even worry about our beloved actor of this letter, and so many others who are not afraid to keep speaking up and writing about the truth!
Cynthia, I have SO wanted to have a convy,ersation with Mike Johnson to ask him how he could claim to be a "Christian" and still support the works of Donald Trump which are downright mean, racist, dishonest, and hate-promoted. Since when are these attrubutes of Christianity? Christian Nationalists are the biggest hypocrites of all. They helped raise a deranged, dangerous man to the highest office in our country, which is now the Ununited States of Donald Trump.
Thanks for your comment. I agree. It's downright scary.
Pam, I am afraid that if I were face to face with little Johnson, I would just want to kick him. And yes, he and all these "Christians" are the ultimate hypocrites.
Especially when he plans to punish the people of California who have suffered devastating losses in wildfires because Trump’s doesn’t like Newsom and Democrats.
There was lots of criticism over how Biden handled Helene and Maui but what they’re doing is so much worse. Where is his Christianity?
My fire watch alarm went off for 5 different fires in the middle of the night. One area is on evacuation orders. The corridor these fires were on goes right up the I-15 through Trump voter country. Will Republicans that represent those areas vote to withhold funding? They have a razor thin majority and still want to run on mob boss rule and threats. Give me what I want or I’ll make you suffer.
Do they ever wonder why California remains a blue state?
I Always Wear Black... This Death Train Has Been Coming For A Long Time...
Delusional Hubris... I don't believe that DJT lives in what most People call 'Reality'... You know what comes Next...
We all do, here in Europe we look on aghast. Spain (democratically minded people) openly weeps seeing a fascist dictator and his nazi fanboy installed. Let loose the ... complete it with your most hated thing...
Weeping as well, just cannot understand the stupidity of ttrumpyy policies!
J L, I hear the toga is coming back, at least in DC.
Re: Elon Musk's salute or what Haaretz called "Roman salute" or fascist salute. Nazi Germany was also called Imperial Germany.
The ADL rushed to excuse Musk's "awkward hand gesture" - on X.
Obey-in-Advance much?
Technically this is the ADL donation line but the recording says press 0 to leave a message: 212-885-7700
There is a form on the website to report
antisemitic incidents.
https://www.adl.org/
"During the Nazis' ascent to power, some Jewish organizations, such as the Association of German National Jews and The German Vanguard supported nazism until being outlawed in late 1935. Motivated by anticommunism, conservative nationalism, anti-Zionism, and anti-liberalism, these groups had initially believed that Nazi antisemitism was merely rhetorical hyperbole or a tactic to "stir up the masses"" .[1][2][3]
1. Sarah Ann Gordon, Hitler, Germans, and the "Jewish Question", p. 47
2. Schoeps, Hans-Joachim (1970). Bereit für Deutschland: Der Patriotismus deutscher Juden und der Nationalsozialismus (in German). Haude und Spener. p. 106.
3.https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206254.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_collaboration_with_Nazi_Germany
lin*, I haven't watched even one second of yesterday's events, but I'm sure images and videos will creep into my feeds. I did read about the salute here and elsewhere. What a disgusting person, who is on his way to a trillion dollars, along with his fellow billionaires Zuck and Bezos who control messaging and content here and abroad.
Musk's salute Part 2.
From a favorite movie, 1776.
Wait for it ...
https://youtu.be/LxaAw2viEIQ?si=Mct4tzdBiqSav5DW
The main figure in this clip, John Dickinson (played by Donald Madden) "was known as the "Penman of the Revolution" for his twelve Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania ... He either abstained or was absent from the vote on the Declaration of Independence and refused to sign the document after its passage. Nevertheless, Dickinson wrote the first draft of the 1776–1777 Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union and served as a militia officer during the Revolution. He later was elected president of the 1786 Annapolis Convention, which called for the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and as a delegate from Delaware, he signed the United States Constitution. ... President Thomas Jefferson referred to Dickinson as, "(a)mong the first of the advocates for the rights of his country when assailed by Great Britain" and called him "one of the great worthies of the revolution.""
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dickinson
The more outrageous s*** he gets away with, the more powerful he fancies himself, and the happier his voters are with their choice.
...and yet the price of eggs doesn't go down...don't get distracted by his BS and keep asking about the damn eggs
Caligula won't have a thing on donnie in the end, donnie is a combo of Caligula and Nero and Ted Bundy, but without the smarts...
Perfect description
So much of it was performative bullshit, though. Disgusting.
And clearly Elon needs an intervention to wean him off drugs.
The planet needs an intervention to remove it from the hands of these freaks and weirdos...
Evidently Ketamine increases the risk for strokes and heart attacks, so I think he should triple or quadruple his intake.
Ah! In that case...Elon, ingest as much Ketamine as possible. You can even salute your Nazi hero all you want...as long as you are on a slow boat back to South Africa.
Also it can damage the bladder.
Is it there any way we can help reaching that intake?
I'm ready to volunteer.
No, John Roberts told him he is free to do anything he wants—put ppl in danger from pardoning violent criminals, including those who assaulted police officers; hang out with a man who came here illegally and publicly makes the Nazi salute; start wars (literally (invade Mexico) and figuratively (tariffs)); etc., etc. Robert’s said “go for it.”
Ethical restraint--you can't lose what you never possessed.
'lost all ethical restraint'???? He never had it to lose.
IMPEACH!
"Seems" Apache ?
Ever Notice how his Medical, and Psychiatric Tests are never released?
Apache, i think because his medical test are so above average that out of modesty and careful not to hurt anybody's feeling, he is hiding them from public release. Good heart kind of guy. 😎
Ricardo... I Hope That You Are Joking... ;-) ... Yeah, like his Prized Physiche ... :-(
Absolutely joking!!!
We need a little bit of humor to keep going. Don't worry my friend, my psychiatric evaluation was much better than his. 🤪
He never had ethical restraint.
He never had any ethical restraint to lose!
Did DJT ever have any ethical restraint? I think not. I do think he's been emboldened to throw out any crazy scheme he wants because he does realize that NOBODY WILL ACT TO RESTRAIN HIM!
Is it in Cracker Jack boxes? Every box guarantees a toy.
💯thank you so much! you are doing absolutely essential work particularly on days like today.
After reading Heather's superb letter tonight, I just wanted to vomit in a bucket. Ugh.
Get your bucket ready, then read this:
https://www.the-reframe.com/the-moon-is-down/?ref=the-reframe-newsletter
Not certain which Reich we're in now, but make no mistake: we're in it.
Preschoolers could run the government better than these turkeys.
James Lee Witt (the best fully empowered and supported FEMA Secretary my emergency responder and disaster planning friends could describe), asked for a year to see if he could straighten out that "Turkey Farm" as Senator Fritz Hollings had described it at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/storm/interviews/witt.html
He had the advantage of succeeding as a Cabinet level agency, so we may never know how others could have done as well after the Republicans threw it under the Department of Homeland Security bus after 9/11
Some of the text from the link above:
"...Sen. Fritz Hollings said it best. … He said FEMA was a political dumping ground, a turkey farm, and the only agency he knew that "could mess up a two-car parade." That was his quote. … [And] that's what I found.
When you briefed Joe Allbaugh [George W. Bush's presidential campaign director in 2000] when he came to take over, what did you tell him?
I told him: "Joe, I'll help you any way I can behind the scene, because if I can help you and you are successful, then I know the people are going to be taken care of, and I know FEMA will be successful. It's extremely important, Joe, that the president maintains that position as a Cabinet-level position."
What did he say?
He said, "He's going to do that."
He didn't.
No. I think his management style was a lot different than mine, because I had an open-door policy. Any employee in the agency or any of the 10 regions could make an appointment to talk to me on Tuesday -- any employee. [Did not] make any difference who you were or what position you had. And it was amazing. On Tuesday, of course, they'd call up and start making appointments..."
Only if their parents done gave 'em a proper fetchins up.
Seems perhaps slightly more “legitimate” than the Norwegian Quisling Nazi backed government since we seem to have had more voters signing off on ending democracy as we know it. I do hope it will be even less “powerful” over the people than the Quislings were.
No one else may care but I had a Paper Clip on my backpack in memory of the Norwegian Teachers that all went to prison camps rather than teach the fascist curriculum the Quislings demanded.
See: https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/norwegian-teachers-prevent-nazi-takeover-education-1942
This reads like a fairytale. Thanks for posting the link. I knew the word quisling but had no idea where it came from. OTOH I’ve been thinking we need the Yuppies of my youth to lambast what Dumpsters and Maggats are doing grab headlines and galvanize some sort of overt resistance to what’s reigning (pun intentional) down here. If people knew this history I’d say paper clip jewelry could be a thing. Any resistance ideas to show solidarity of opposition with a (Midas) touch of humor more than welcome.
Same
puke bucket sales 📈
That's exactly how I feel after reading Heather's letter along with a Reuters article saying TCF is withdrawing the US from WHO. 😭
TCF?
The Convicted Felon
I like to use lower case letters...
I feel exactly the same 🥺
Dark times, about to get much darker…
If you do that Kazz, you are going to miss buying pieces of this country.
I wonder what the inaugural commemorative tickets are worth in crypto confederate dollars.
I remember some people in Missouri still had piles of confederate money in 1957, convinced it was going to be worth a fortune when the whole country would become a risen confederacy.
"Save your Confederate money, boys! The South will rise again!"
I appreciate the sarcasm, but my uncle taught me to never touch "Blood Money," which I consider includes confederate money
Same here, had to resort to New Zealand murder mysteries. No chump, no news of chump, but second hand. Will watch the comics mock him. As long as they are on the air.
And I'm reading Victor Methos for diversion; although I'm getting a lot of diversion from the ten cats who have cabin fever in the east.
Only got one left, and she’s my bud, and my reason to keep on keeping on
I feel the same about my canine roommate, Mackie, short for Macchiato. We've had "the talk." When she crosses the Rainbow Bridge, she is to hold the gate open, because I'm right behind her.
Had to endure loss of two this past two years, she is my last “obligation.”
Kitty! Kitties!
“My Life is Murder” or “Brokenwood Mysteries”?
I enjoyed Brokenwood. Clever and wryly funny.
Love, love, love Brokenwood. Slips in funny and scripts are clever.
Seaside Hotel here! Brokenwood is is really great!
Seaside Hotel is wonderful!
Love those writers. It’s different and the only “murder mystery” show that makes me smile. Well Miss Fisher does too, but Brokenwood has something extra. A cultural bent, maybe. Hope the oligarch’s moving there don’t mess the place up.
You just gotta love Miss Phrine!!
Who is the author? I'm always looking for a good diversion. The Louise Penny Inspector Gamache mysteries got me from the election to the new year.
Dystopian sci fi is my escape...
Looking too much like the upcoming future. Gibson is good on stuff like this...
I used to think it was too outrageous, now it seems tame compared to reality
I would say that yesterday marked the peak of mankind's achievements, it will be all downhill from now on. Tech advances will be a given, life as we know it today will not be.
Maybe Elon will go to Mars and leave us alone. Never wanted to see a spaceship explode, but that may change. NASA regrets…or will
I’m reading historical romances. This series is based in Scotland. Unfortunately yesterday I couldn’t focus to read. But I’ll get back to it today hopefully but our Santa Ana Winds have just picked up in north county San Diego. Need to make sure everything is fully charged.
Sort of like when we lived in Houston and had to wait for hurricanes to decide which way to go. This is so much worse, no control, just respond. Hope best for you, with winds and diversions…
Yes, I packed a suitcase this morning and have all my devices plugged in. We have enough clothes to make it through daily life if we keep these ones packed.
A different world …good luck since that’s all I have to give you.
I enjoy the nightly comics mocking of him, too, but I also had that same thought: “as long as they are on the air.” I hope it doesn’t come to that but it definitely crossed my mind.
We will see who will stand up and who will sit on their arses
Ditto, Tammy!
Morning, Lynell! Our TV never went on until we watched a rerun of the Great British Baking Show with dinner last night.
Wish we had planned for the MLK / National Day of Service, we ended up shoveling the ridges of snow from the edges of the sidewalk to the school so dogs could walk on a thin layer of snow without the salt/sand mixture. Doing that at least made me feel I had a bit of grip left on sanity.
Yes.
I thought that staying away from the ceremony would keep my sanity in place but the stench was impossible to ignore.
I feel the same way. And reading Heather’s letter has done nothing to alleviate the stench this time.
Bright light helps a lot.
Trump 2.0 definitely threatens to be WORSE than 1.0 by a stretch.
Afraid so... at least the two kitties on the sofa with me simply ignored it all.
Thanks for rekindling my allergy to cats 🤧
Just joking from Kat mandu.👋
:) Richardo!
- Pulled Quote -
''The tone for the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States at noon today was set on Friday, when Trump, who once trashed cryptocurrency as “based on thin air,” launched his own cryptocurrency.''
Which song title fits best:
"Money for Nothing" – Dire Straits
"Take the Money and Run" – Steve Miller Band
Of all happenings reported in today's letter, I see a hope in ["Before he left office, Biden posted on social media: Scripture says: “I have been young and now I’m old yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken.”] Trump thinks he is chosen for God. But Biden says God reveals himself in Righteouness" and of course "Love." Professor wrote in her letter yesterday that God in crisis also have chosen "heros" to act for him. In addition, formal and informal instituions, such as polls and public gatherings, may also be put in action. As Mr. Trump and MAGA begin their control of America, I trust Mr. Biden's parting wisdom.
Ditto Tammy. Thank you for your "thank you" to Heather. She is our bell weather in this coming storm.
Ditto wha you said !Thank you!
Truthful reporting? Not a word about the circular fire inside the Democratic party? Not a word about how Biden can't raise a nickel from donors for his library because they are so pissed off at him.
Show me the post where Heather acknowledges Biden's mental decline? Or where she walks back the Hitler and facism rhetoric?
This is a propaganda post its not about truth. If it was she would have seen the tsunami coming. The left has been giving America the middle finger for years. The electorate gave it back to them in November.
Blacks, Hispanics, Women, Youth all turned out for Trump in historic fashion.
Me too!
Thank you Dr. Richardson. It is a sad day in America. I deleted my FB and Instagram accounts today. I am very happy to find you here at Substack.
I am so torn about Facebook. I'm rarely there lately but I do keep up with friends and acquaintances that I otherwise wouldn't. My feed has been blessedly free if the sort of BS that is causing such angst but I also hate that I'm adding to Zuck's subscriber base by which he can set ad rates.
Stick it to the Zuck. I miss people I used to keep up with. But FB banned me, so it’s like I was erased. Some I hear about and others I have lost somewhere along the way. But Zuck is a power-hungry weasel. I hope my data has been deleted and not kept somewhere. Although I’ll have to say that a FB data breach dumped my info on the dark web. So good riddance to Zuck rubbish.
But FB banned me,
An honor I'm sure.
They said I violated community standards by saying that repubs used Goebbels rules for propaganda. Well duh
I am coming up on the 40th anniversary of getting fired from a job I was at for 11 years with excellent performance evaluations. It happened after I sent a letter to the state administration about concerns I had about professional and legal issues. I was fired for insubordination when I told my supervisor that I will no subordinate my self to anything illegal, immoral or unethical. My fellow employees voted in a union one week later. Did not benefit me but no regrets here.
I was laid off after asking in a meeting where they bragged about hiring new people and providing them all these trading classes if they would provide those of us who held the company together by threads that same training.
When they told me to get my stuff off the laptop they provided I wiped the whole hard drive, including their stuff. They spent a month calling me and asking me questions about the very stuff they told me they didn’t need me for. I told them my rate was $50 an hour and they left me alone. It was a joy to see them go under the next year.
Wow, couldn’t tolerate being professional and legal. Yea for the union. We all are gonna have to take a stand, sooner or later…
I remember that Edward Bernays (who had Sigmund Freud as one of his double uncles), inspired Goebbels.
That's bad enough, but I also remember back when I was still a Republican, amazed at the in depth research the Cato Institute could document but then publish conclusions that seemed so out of line with what their more verifiable research would suggest.
The general case I recall was on the oil companies cheating on oil leases, paying for only a fraction of the oil they took, especially from Native Americans. An oil field instrumentation technician (who's truck I repaired the wiring on), told me they had filmed oil tankers making six trips to a refinery when they claimed that one truck had picked up the oil from all six tanks before delivering it to the refinery. He seemed to indicate they stole 3 times as much from the Native Americans as they did from other lease holders. Many years later, I heard they had won a lawsuit proving that, but that may be very much harder to find than it was back then.
N O surprise, a friend from Michigan told me that Cato was a propaganda org, along with ALEC, I started paying attention, but the fix was in, and this was in the 90’s. Damn, I thought Jack Abramoff was the best scammer of the natives. Yea to natives who could win a lawsuit against the oil companies. Their lawyers are the best at fraudulent practices…
So much for free speech.
They did not like me calling them what they were.
I'm not sure what site I'm on (not FB) but I get you violated community standards all the time. I don't even use profanity. It seems that if you give too many details and facts to prove your point, they get upset.
They don’t like any vestige of the truth.
Transition to Bluesky
🦋Bluesky has a search function, Directory & other stuff like friends🦋
I did that…but don’t have any friends on it. In fact, being old, most of the ones I had don’t exist anymore.
Jeri check out Rachel Maddow on 🦋. So far, Rachel has 70posts & 498.9K followers. [@maddow.msnbc.com] Bluesky 🦋
Thanks for the tip, Counselor.
<trundles off to Bluesky for a moment>
Will do, thanks
You have plenty of friends on here, Jeri.
And this letters subscribers are my sanity, along with TCinLA, Steady, and a few others
Not enough yet. Fac📖is a habit for many to give up. There are many of my friends there but they do not frequent it. Signalll is a good alternative to “ex”
Hey, I friended you, but I really don't get that platform yet.
Me too, yep, it’s still a mystery, also have been ill so haven’t had time or energy figure things out. Hope progress soon…
The Unbearable Lightness of Being..
I have the same feeling - it’s a way to keep up to date with family and friends, and like you none of the right wing garbage shows up on my page.
Most of the right wing garbage I get is from my former work cohort. You would not believe the garbage that they believe. These are people I once respected. Not anymore.
Reading some trumper comments like libotards should stop name calling. I told her I learned from her leader and proceeded to list the terms (and who they applied to), I got censored. I tried again without names although Sleepy and Crooked Joe were acceptable :(
You can start a family chat group. It works for us
I figure he will fake it anyway s so might as well take what I can. But the crap has so overwhelmed the reasonable stuff that I am no longer sure if it is worth it.
I felt the same way. I'm only on BlueSky now, where I'm keeping a wary eye on developments.
I feel this way too, although I can’t say I’m rarely on FB.
Be sure and delete Facebook if you don't use it. Otherwise they use your data.
Think about transitioning to bluesky.
Bluesky is more a replacement for Twitter/X than Facebook. I deleted my Twitter account and use Bluesky mostly for quick access to news, but it’s not really like the community of friends I have on Facebook.
My Facebook is full of horses and cooking with almost zero political content, although yesterday I noticed that I somehow, suddenly, was following DJT against my will. Obviously I’m not anymore but that made me angry. Same thing happened on Twitter with Elon, despite blocking him twice.
I was happily using Bluesky until I needed to reset my password. I was never able to get back in. They're system for resetting your password is insane and despite several attempts at using it then trying to contact them several times I gave up and made a new account using a different e-dress. A couple of days after doing that, and despite very little activity, my account was suspended for spamming despite the fact that my only activity was liking and reposting the posts of others. I tried again to get into my original account but again was faced with the reset code not working despite copying it character for character. I've finally given up. I know they're suffering from growing pains and hope they succeed at fixing the technical issues but it has helped me feel less enchanted with social media altogether.
I feel your frustration and I also discovered that I cannot control who follows me. The best I can offer (and I do care about you and my family of US Citizens) is to start up a Trouble Nation group. Their media platform is far more discrete, safe, and for these reasons it is intentionally cumbersome to navigate…at first…there is healthy support and accessibility from the Red Wine and Blue staff. I am an organizer trying to keep an eye on local politics because we have our work cut out for us protecting what’s left (which is a lot at this stage). Our Governor is communicating well too.
Try Mastodon
You'll find other ways to stay connected with your family and friends. You really must permanently delete any Zuckerberg related accounts. Among his other despicable actions, he's a Jew who supports a team led by a man who twice made the Nazi salute.
If you are on the fence about quitting Facebook… apparently Zuckerberg automatically signed people up to follow The White House and trump and Melania. People are putting out instructions for how to unfollow, but there’s no guarantee you won’t be signed up again. As for me, I’m done. Advertisers are watching. I hope META loses a lot of revenue.
I was also conflicted about FB but decided in the end to delete my account. Today is day 1 and I do not miss it. It will not be hard to find new communities particularly outside of the internet. Good luck. N
Mine too, most (like 99%) of my FB friends are thoroughly anti-Trump / Maga. Maybe Trump, who is backed by Big Oil, has friends in Alberta, Canada. Smith, the premier, couldn't find a seat in Washington to attend the Inaug so was headed for the Canadian Embassy to take it in. Not sure she managed that! Alberta is more interested in selling oil and gas to the US than joining the rest of Canada's leadership in opposing likely tariffs as Trump still boondoggles American public into thinking, falsely, that foreign sellers pay for the tariffs.
There are days I wish Alberta would secede from the Confederation. Or wake up and smell the climate chaos. Danielle Smith is as exactly the wrong leader as the orange felon is. But her #ucker Convoy mini-MAGAts love her.
I felt the same way! I left and decided to make peace with it.
Remember Zuck is still mining your data and all guardrails will be gone now. I deleted mine years ago and keep in tough via text and email. It has worked well since 2018.
Have you looked into Bluesky Social? bsky.app It appears to be a decent social platform with a lot less of the malarkey found on FB and the other platforms. Encourage your friends to join you there and give Zuck the middle finger on your way out.
My children are all on Facebook. I don’t visit it nearly as much as I used to, but I do dip in occasionally, just to stay in touch.
I deleted Facebook 13 years ago when Wisconsin politics turned wicked, and I was disgusted with finding out what some of my relatives and acquaintances truly believed. I have never regretted it. Friends let me know of invitations. And I've kept up with distant friends and relations in other ways. I made sure to get email addresses or phone numbers before I quit. It isn't hard.
More and more folks ate going to bluesky
I never signed up for Facebook, despite the many climate activists and others that made it almost essential enough to have to do it. Not doing so was limiting but I'm still glad I didn't. I makes me certain now that I never will.
As another Mainer from Standish, I never signed up for FB either. Every time there’s a breach, I don’t have to worry. Today, I don’t need to be concerned about removing myself from this invasion of privacy or support these techies in any small way!
I, also left FB years ago as it turned out to be Junior High all over again. Who needs that?! I thought I had followed all the protocols to cancel and remove my account. Recently I ran into an old acquaintance who “followed me on FB” and noted current content. What? I cannot get on FB to check because “My account has been canceled”. So I am in FB Purgatory evidently, unable to remove my former page, but advertisers still able to put up content.
Same!
Facebook accounts are really difficult to delete according to several people who have tried. If you even attempt to see if your account is inactive in the next 30 days or so, it automatically reactivates the account. Anyway, that's what happened to my wife when she canceled her account a few years ago. She ultimately was able to cancel it.
How?
Here’s what I did. It was time consuming but worth it. I deleted all my friends, all my images, and all my posts. Basically I had a blank account. Then I deleted Facebook. There was nothing left for them to mine even though they can get it from the wayback or their stored data. But that’s more work.
I have been going thru mine deleting content and personal info first, because it at least can slow down a perpetrator. Yes it takes time, however, we are already at “wore”
What specifically did she do?
For deleting content there are three tiny circles in a row that are usually at top right corner of every one of your posts. Click that and it should give you an option to delete or to “send to trash” or something similar in wording.
What to do? I did not turn on my TV yesterday except to watch the Ohio State/Notre Dame game. I use my Facebook account primarily for political reasons. So, I'll keep it.
Last evening we skipped all the news and sports to watch a new to me Climate Scientist, David Swain on Adam Conover’s “Debunking L.A. Wildfire Myths with Climate Scientist Dr. Daniel Swain” at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P2O1F_6ikY
He is milder than, Peter Kalmus, (the one I was most concerned about since I knew where he lived in Altadena), and Swain patiently explains the counter arguments to myths and goes at great length to explain the current and growing risk from inattention to the realities of measurable climate change. To me it is a great demonstration of how you can explain the real science and conditions to others, no matter what their preconceived ideas have been.
We also watched
The Tipping Points of Climate Change — and Where We Stand | Johan Rockström | TED
It was presented 5 months ago, before Helene and Milton hurricanes and the latest California fires so things are so much worse even in less than 6 months.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl6VhCAeEfQ
Mind you this was presented 5 months earlier,
“…Three times higher climate change risks now attributed to our cause of climate change…
...We Earth system scientists and climate scientists are getting seriously nervous. The planet is changing faster than we have expected.
We are, despite years of raising the alarm, now seeing that the planet is actually in a situation where we underestimated risks. Abrupt changes are occurring in a way that is way beyond the realistic expectations in science.
As if this was not enough,
Impacts across the economy. We are seeing that this is now causing impacts across the entire economy.
We're seeing bigger and bigger invoices being sent by the Earth system onto societies across the entire world, in droughts, floods, heat waves, disease patterns, human-reinforced storms, scientifically attributed to human-caused climate change.
Forty degrees Celsius of life-threatening heat across all continents, occurring in 2023.
Fifty-two degrees Celsius hitting the over 1,000 who lost their lives at the Hajj pilgrimage in June in Mecca.
Higher climate change risks.
Three times higher climate change risks now attributed to our cause of climate change.
2023, up to 12,000 deaths, 200 billion US dollars of cost, just in the US, up to 100 billion US dollars.
[not including hurricanes Helene and Milton or the Altadena and Palisades Fires]
Zuckerburg added Trump and Vance to my followers! Break that glass house down!
Well, the Nazis have come to town! Didn’t give the pleasure of tv ratings to any legacy channel today. Listened to MLK, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech spoken by others as well as the writings of Langston Hughes and Frederick Douglass. One bright light, Heather, the half-staffed flag could not be moved due to the frigid weather. The cords were stiff and icy! Damn, that gave me so much happiness! I felt like Jimmy Carter was actually responsible for that. 🤩👏🏼👏🏼
As of yesterday, my entire extended family is boycotting Amazon, Home Depot and all of the big box stores except Target. We pre-purchased many items like TP, Paper Towels, Flour, etc. If we need to buy something, we are going back to buying what we can from mom and pop and regional stores.
Walmart is going to instant pricing by using electronic shelf prices so they can charge different prices to consumers across the US and to undersell the competition's sale prices almost immediately.
We need to fight back even if it costs us a few bucks extra.
And please don't buy a Tesla or any product Musk sells.
FROM what I see Costco is strongly democratic
One of the few that did not kneel to the elimination of DEI.
Thanks for this tip. There's a Costco in my city, but I object to paying for the "privilege" of shopping in a retailer's store. I may have to adjust my principles for the greater good.
Many stores Like Albertsons , (Safeway?) have a 2 price tier if you give them your information, Walgreens. If you use a Costco credit card , u do get some $$$ back. Costco treats their employees well. I think it is the lesser of the many many evil corporate greed stores out there
Plus their hotdogs are cheap and delicious 😋. Costco exhausts me, it’s huge! But I really like it. We have a two year supply of TP and paper towels because I went last week haha. Their prices on things like coffee and detergent save you enough to pay for the membership. And the casback is really good.
Costco also makes 14% on their products and insists that their suppliers make no more than 14% also. You pay to take advantage of their choosing superior products and an excellent warranty and return policy.
After many years of refusing to get a Kroger loyalty card, my nose had a talk with my face and convinced us that spite was costing us money, so I caved. My nephew now works for Kroger and seems to be happy, so all is not lost, I suppose.
If this helps, our joint membership for 2 is/was $120, it’s going up this year. Our rebate check was $200, plus we have the Costco Visa that gives us an additional 2% totally 4%. Then dining out gives us 3% on that card. If you don’t make your membership fee back they do something to compensate you but it’s never happened to us.
Total and unconditionally in agreement Gary. But we need millions like us. Make them feel some pain.
Fantastic! Will pass this along!
Do you have Gmail? Use Google Earth? Have a MacBook? Or a PC for that matter. How do we stay in the loop and not buy into the pervasive consumer culture?
The Home Depot Rethuglican has had no interest in Home Depot for many years and he passed away in this past year. Boycotting Home Depot only injures the employees. I compared them to Lowe’s and was better off at Home Depot.
I don't agree Sharon. They price fix depending on their competition in various parts of the US. I have shopped Home Depot in Jacksonville, FL, Fernandina Beach, FL, Ellsworth, ME, Bangor, ME, Orange, CT, Omaha, NE and a few other cities around the US.
One of my good friends is 76 years old and works for Home Depot. He has told me may stories about his 27 years working there. They are not managed and don't really care about their customers.
There are plenty of jobs out there that pay $25/hour for 25 years of service.
Who doesn’t price fix?
I clapped my hands when I read about the frozen flagpole cords and blew Jimmy Carter a kiss.
RE: the half staff flag …. That was the best thing of the day.
He never received so many warm kisses in his entire life. I'm sure he specially appreciated yours .😃
Love the poetic justice of the frozen flag pole cords, thank you, President Carter! The combination of flags frozen at half staff and the “Stormy” inaugural weather — the universe was screaming, “Beware, the biggest scam-storm ever is upon you!”
As well as the metaphor of leaving his supporters out in the cold
That is so freaking cool....er....cold!!
Right freaking on!!!
The one bright spot of the whole day!
Nazi salutes on day one with Proud Boys claiming back the streets. Pete Hegseth would enhance cooperation between the military and these paramilitary groups against United States citizens, blurring the line between what’s legal and what’s not. This won’t end well unless he’s stoped.
Did anyone see Musk's "centurion" salute? OMG he looked like Joseph freaking Goebbels!
Musk seems to be a Ketamine addict. Probably trying to self medicate for depression, one of its off label uses. From what I've seen of other Ketamine addicts, he won't live too long.
That’s the most reassuring comment I’ve read, even if it is speculative.
I wondered about his behavior being fueled by Ketamine. Ketamine addicts expose their suppressed and repressed impulses. His Nazi salute is an excellent example.
Musk went from a smile and thank you to an angry snarl in seconds.
Goebbels has been the role model all the time. I posted this on FB and T before they Banned me. Call them what they are
Did you see the Vox article on the Broligarchs have a new vision… or the Hartmann piece on how Elon got his name? My head is still spinning! These boymen really want to create the metaverse for everyone and develop a new species of automated humans. Are we seriously allowing these guys to game our existence and destroy humanity? This blows my mind!
Trump and his minions have taken over America. Most folks will not know the truth and will do his bidding. It is a sad, dark time in America.
Wish they would all just take off for Mars!!
The saddest thing was that it was not a surprise.
Saddest thing, MLRGRMI, that Dems so out of touch that the mad so take over.
"Centurion salute," my a**. It was a Nazi salute.
100%
Okay, you got me... just trying to keep it "clean"...
And the ADL gave Musk an ableist pass saying it was just "awkward." I am autistic and know hundreds of autistic people. NO ONE would give a Nazi salute and claim autism as the reason. DISGUSTING.
So now DJT has his Storm-Troopers, the freed J6 Criminals... Pete Hegseth will form his S.S. ... Elon Musk will be his Joseph Goebbels... Elon Stoned, Seig Heiling?... DJT, off Teleprompter, seems to be deteriorating more rapidly....
Deteriorating rapidly but not fast enough Apache . We are not walking towards the abyss, we are running
Chuck Schumer could have called for a vote in the Senate any time in the past two years.
If 2/3 of the Senate did not free the convicted criminal from disqualification, that would have established his disqualification legal and in effect under the Constitution's Article 14, Section Three. The convicted criminal would not have qualified to let his criminality rule.
The Clarence court couldn't have done anything about their favorite would-be monarch. The Constitution clearly says it's only the Congress that can determine disqualification.
He could have been stopped. Now, criminality rules America. Unchecked. Uncheckable.
I think you are a bit confused here. Yes, impeachment would have disqualified Trump from trunking for office.
But tge Clarence Court COULD have done something. Amendment 14, Section 3 disqualifies Insurrectionists. It is the Supreme Court who claimed Co gress needed to pass legislation on that, but the Constitution says no such thing.
* typo corrections:
trunking is error. I meant running.
Use the cool "edit" function over there on the right ... see those3 little dots "..." ---- yeah, that's them.
Too late for that now Phil. You have a lot of frustrated followers.
Count on it.
Please: do not give them ideas!! Do not help them.
Veronica, they don't need ideas, it's all planned already, all they needed was a showman to execute and enrich himself.
Thanks ignorant voters, I wish only you would pay the consequences of your actions but is going to affect all of us, and for many years to come.
He has already indicated that’s the plan. That’s why Pete Hegseth.
I am glad that you and Heather use the term "paramilitary". They are usually refereed to as "militias", but militia described in the Constitution are nothing of the sort.
I call them national (domestic) terrorists.
The Oregon Revised Statutes refer to that conduct as "Unlawful Paramilitary Activity".
https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_166.660
It seems that line has already been erased.
Trump's Imperial Guard.
IMPEACH!
And the Republicans continue to fall into line.
' After praising Elon Musk, he told the crowd “He was very effective. He knows those computers better than anybody. Those vote counting computers. And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide. So it was pretty good…. Thank you to Elon.” Is this an admission they cheated in PA to win?
It sounds like it. The same misuse of algos that Cambridge Analytica deployed to trick the British people into voting for Brexit, with the aid of a PR propaganda expert relative of Rupert Murdoch (by marriage), Mathew Freud. Oligarchs are so easily buying corporate media and using it to destroy nation states from within globally. The English journalist Carole Cadwallader took Cambridge Analytica on and they almost succeeded in destroying her. Her continuing work on exposing those in the British ruling class who are responsible for the dodgy Brexit PR campaign and who run with MAGA is worth following.
You know of course that Musk has now spread his wings over Farage?
Oh yes indeed. And in turn Farage had removed his support in the last UK general election from the extremist British Unionist party here in Northern Ireland, the Paisleyite Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), gifting it to an even more extremist British white supremacist and sectarian loyalist, Jim Allister, the leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV). Allister duly won his first ever seat in the British parliament which he took off the late Rev Paisley’s son Ian Og. MAGA, Musk and their corporate oligarchs are funding far right political extremists in every democratic nation state.
Farage the evil. Was he at the farce
Of course they did, you could tell when he stopped whining about Joe dropping out
Sure sounds like that. Could the Democratic party sue???
I doubt it. For what? Bragging about election fraud? Tenuous at best. And unlikely too. I expect this is just Trump being Trump. Something went well for him (most likely by pure chance or dumb luck) and he expects to get credit for it.
They bought it.
That was so incautious that I wonder if he and Elon...
It would certainly be worth a few $$$ and some time to investigate further what exactly trump's words referred to. "Those vote counting computers...." How about some hand-recounting?
As Stalin said, it matters not who votes, but who counts the votes.
Melania should have known...don't you think?
Saying the quiet part out loud. I don't think he was supposed to say that part. It will slide right off him like all the other crap.
Trump always projects what he is or has done so believe it when he tells us that they rigged the voting machines. I am 💯 sure they did somehow.
Even if it is an admission of cheating, you still have to prove it, and with Congress in the hands of maga and the DOJ in the hands of an election denier ,we don't have a chance Cyn.
Hope our frustration last only two or four years.
Save your energy for battles we can winn. In the meantime please, keeping posting and keep opening peoples minds.
Musk definitely appears to have tampered with the tabulators, the truth will come out, sadly not soon enough. See: https://smartelections.us
Interesting! That also peaked my curiosity. Did he “let the cat out …”
“Those computers…” sounds like “those people.”
The only bright side to this is that it’s all out in the open now, there for everyone to see, document, and judge. Let’s hope that history takes note of it — just as you are doing here — for the long term.
It was obvious years ago
I’ve been woke for decades thanks to Bill Moyers, who saw what was coming down the pike. I got laughed at by Fox fools
I have a signed copy of Bill Moyers' first book "Listening to America: A Traveler Rediscovers His Country," so also have a very long time appreciation of his views.
Every time I saw Heather in person there were local or state legislators who took up the calling to help real people. The first event I could attend, I saw one who dove into becoming a problem solver on the Transportation Committee. Later events had others with similar in depth knowledge and concern for local variations of problems and how they fit in state and national concerns. It makes it seem more important than ever to make the local connections to see what all the people think and how they can work out better solutions. For me, without prior experience, that would seem like trying to find ways to learn from the Deliberative Poll like that shown at: https://www.kpbs.org/news/arts-culture/2011/09/26/people-whats-next-california
I bought the Bill Moyers book on his 13,000 mile bus tour, and stopped at the John Steinbeck Center in Salinas, just to get a picture of his GMC camper truck, "Rocinante," (named after Don Quixote's horse) that he took around the country as he described in "Travels with Charlie." You could say I have a "thing" for people that travel around and see how people are doing around the country (it's why I drove OTR 170,000 miles over a year and a half, after 385,000 of us working for aerospace companies were given the chance to explore post Cold War, non-military/aerospace careers). It's not nearly the miles Heather has put in, nor the range of people she gets to interact with but it is an important part of my life.
Today, inspired to sign up for LFAA by the interview I saw, I'll be re-watching https://billmoyers.com/story/bill-moyers-and-heather-cox-richards-on-her-daily-letters/
and looking at the many other videos at:
https://billmoyers.com/spotlight/listening-to-america/
Yres Scott it's so in the open and they don't care. And it was only the first half of a day.
Scott, How long before CFDT shuts down Substack or attempts to?
30 days.
They will just shut down the truth tellers. My husband said they are owned by right wing.
And the people who did not vote for what ever reason hopefully will have reason to vote in 2 years.
Like there will be an election…
Those same people who couldn’t vote for a woman gave us Trump the first time and cried about everything they did but still couldn’t vote for a Black woman this time and will continue to cry about everything he does.
Yes, Scott, this time is a wake-up call to everyone, and we don't know the outcomes. Underground in northern winters, roots reach deeply, store nourishment, and prepare for all that will arise later.
"We just learned that in one of the last acts of his presidency, President Biden freed Leonard Peltier -- a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the longest serving Native political prisoner in U.S. history." ~Native Organizers Alliance
https://apnews.com/article/leonard-peltier-biden-pardons-eba525b713f2ec739b84aa4426366775
Shoulda been a full pardon, not a commutation of sentence.
Morning, Ally. Sorry for the bad news!
So am I. At least he's free to die where he needs to be.
Thank you for the link, it’s about time!
Holy moly, Day One has turned out to be even more chaotic than anyone could imagine, and tFfg has enriched himself beyond his wildest dreams with his sh*tcoin crypto scheme.
Thank you, Dr Heather, for your summary of this day. Until now, reading your Substack, I was for the most part living another Monday, avoiding almost all news and social media. But now it's time for us to gather our resources and work together to try to mitigate his lawlessness and protect the vulnerable in our country.
As Joyce says, we're in this together. Stay safe, as I'm somewhat concerned that there may come a day when they will try to shut down Substack and other sources of truth, and/or use lawfare to silence you and our other inspirational truthseekers, historians, and legal experts.
Holy Moly … the specific words out of my mouth after reading this horrendous litany of the first half day into this Presidency. Dr HCR, you started my day with a positive sense of courage. Tonight. Sigh.
I am repeating Alexander Vindman’s, “I will not be intimidated”, over and over, truly with my heart quivering. There has to be a way to stop this instant takeover. Right? Right! Selfish or truthful, this is not how I envisioned spending my retirement years fighting to keep our democracy alive. Here is to all of us. Rolling up our sleeves. Standing strong.
Thank you, Heather. Thank you so very much.
Beats assisted living.
Ie. LFAA beats assisted living.
The Guardian is holding a flag above the floodwaters and publishing fact-checking.
Nothing to worry about Anne-Louise...we got The Gulf of America now. And he got 50 billions (on paper) in few hours. How much money did you make yesterday?
My wealth is uncountable! What, me worry?
HEH! HEH! HEH! Good ol' Alfred E.!
Uncountable and untraceable.
Just like mine 😁
The Gulf of WHICH America? North America? South America? Central America? I don't think TCF has thought this one through.
Easy KDM, there's only one America and it's situated between the provinces of Canada and Mexico. Look at the maps in the New Google. Got it ?😁
I subscribe to them as they seem to be the most trustworthy at the moment.
The last bastion of Great Britain.
I guess that's the day we join the dark web.
Thanks for your talk this morning and for the letter. The events of the day are truly one wrongful act after another. More than had imagined from the basic news of the day. How could our country come to this. How could someone like this have this much power and lack of any sense of what a government or president is. A tragedy. Thanks for being the best ever of sources and a beacon for the facts and truth
Susan, the spectacle that is unfolding on the world stage isn't a tragedy. It's a farce. A farce of the highest (lowest) order. The jewel of a text attributed to the pardoned felon Rodriguez could have been written by trump himself as a summary of his own life.
Terry Southern, eat your heart out.
Well, if we're out of the WHO, then maybe when the bird flu pandemic comes through, it'll kill all the hayshaking shitkicker MAGAts. A pandemic is evolution's IQ test: are you intelligent enough to take this information and change your behavior in such a way to improve your opportunity for survival? It's pass/fail. Just think, a country with 20 million fewer morons. Sounds like Heaven to me! They don't take vaccines, they don't change their behavior. I'm no longer interested in "understanding" them.
The problem is with us out of the WHO, there goes a source of major funding for them. Without that, research suffers therefore the myriad epidemics of the future stand a good chance of indiscriminate loss of life.
TC, what makes you think vaccines will be made available for the rest of us?
You would have to join the cult to understand them. Never a cult nut…May they go the way of all cults…
I was just thinking it was the reality check of the last pandemic that sank him last time. I plan to invest in N95's.
20 million would be a good start.
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. What freaking* hubris.
*edited to avoid profanity/vulgarity
TC, for intelligent and caring people, there's no way to understand them. Just stay away from that orde and stay healthy. Thanks for your comment 👍
Besides this he signed executive orders to end all pandemic research. Is the point to let Dems die if the bird flu spreads? They have vaccines but not enough.
MAGA won’t take vaccines. There’s that.
What a pathetic human being 47 is.
No offense meant, but correction: Sub human.
You can't humiliate him. He has no shame.
Well,he is nuts Daniel.
Never had any Daniel
Dr Richardson, how fast can we impeach a President for misconduct when it gets to a point that his reckless stewardship of our economy, insubordinate with foreign diplomacy, obvious bribery, etc. is causing danger to our countries’s stability?
What can we be ready for to IMPEACH from a grassroots tidal wave to get rid of Trump. We need to start now. Please advise.
Sadly there won't be enough votes in a EITHER House OR Senate to impeach or get a conviction. It won't happen.
But it will keep them busy, distract them , force them to defend their positions. Use the same technique , repeat over & over & over, IMPEACH
True.
It was a song about "an impossible dream " remember?
Some of us knew before he had the presidency bought for him…
It won't be long before Trump issues an EO to shut Substack down just like Putin did in Russia when he attacked Ukraine.
How can we respond?
Putin, like chump, doesn’t acknowledge opposition. Erase it and it doesn’t exist. Those gnats like Navalny can be swatted and forgotten, so they think…
Sociopath. Like to the T, he checks every clinical box in the pathology description.
Ted, that applies to his cabinet, and to the people who voted for him. I have to admit however that he broke the book on sociopathy.
He updated it.
Hilarious JD, and the new edition it's sold out 😄
With the updated Bible. Damn, that flim flam man hasn’t missed a trick.
😂
I think that’s another sign of sociopathy that psychiatrists describe in their studies and research. Sociopaths are almost always magnetically attracted to each other.
Now that we have a correct diagnosis Ted, we need to find a cure....yeah..good luck with that.
Maybe JFK Jr can recommend a vaccine....or maybe bleach inhalation?
Here’s the Mayo Clinic’s page on Anti Social disorder:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/antisocial-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353928
You mean 34.
We have on full view a convicted criminal now atop the U.S.
He brings bribery -- witness his phalange of billionaires on the dais with him.
He brings corruption -- witness the crypto he's cashing in on -- inviting all to his corruption.
He's showing contempt for even the pretense of law -- see the 1500 thugs all convicted of violence and other predations as they attacked our Capitol -- ransacked it, broke windows, beat police officers trying to protect the place and the public officials so violently interrupted there.
We have a convicted criminal now fully showing the full criminality he intends to inflict on the former republic, now just his satrapy, as his contemptuous Clarence court ruled he's entitled to.
Sadly, tragically and I mean this seriously, Phil, all the humanities education in the world isn't going to fix this. It may actually take a real revolution. And I never thought I would suggest such a thing.
Yes, Jon. We have a madman on the loose.
And Phil, he brings a disdain for national security, by allowing people access to highly-classified info without background checks. It was bad enough when Jared got the access.
And Jared got $2billion from the Saudis and not because of his competence.
Are we really surprised by any of this?
For four years he’s been telling anyone who would listen what he planned to do, and now he’s doing it.
These are the things I am telling myself each day:
Be informed. Pay attention to the sources you trust – ignore the rest.
Observe what the new administration is doing. Resist being distracted by the fog of inflammatory rhetoric – that’s just what they want.
Resist trashing the press, the Democrats: It plays into their hands.
Do something constructive with your time and energy.
Engage locally, regionally – nationally if you can.
Brace up. Get busy, but pace yourself.
This will be a long engagement, so care for yourself and those around you.
Do yoga three times a week – at least.
Walk, work in the garden, listen to music, write out your thoughts.
Talk with your neighbors – about anything but politics.
Smile: It is a powerful antidote to hate and distrust and just doing it will make you feel better.
This may not be a prescription for everyone, but I’m trying it.
Thank-you! I need to copy and post in multiple locations in my house, car and handbag. Great advice!
So happy to hear that, Jane. I need to be reminded too.
I had a nice walk with my son yesterday – don’t see him nearly often enough – and asked him how he was taking the new now. He told me he’s focused on what is in his power to do, what he needed to do in his life. He keeps informed but doesn’t listen to the noise, the crazies. What good does it do, he asked me, it just winds you up.
He jokes that I was around when the Constitution was drafted and should have done a better job.
Take good care.
Excellent and sage advice. I expect increasing erratic irrational behavior and outbursts from Felon 47 (par for the course but will worsen as his health deteriorates). Don't be surprised by the sudden occurrence of unexpected events with shocking twists and turns. We are in a time of great instability in the US and globally.
Expect the unexpected. Stay grounded. Be more conscious of your inner dialog. Do not allow yourselves to be sucked into the vortex of negativity, hostility, violence, irrationality and, yes, lunacy.
This scenario will play out over time. Oligarchs and autocrats never have positive endings.
Excellent advice, R. I make music (if you can call scales, long tones, and technique studies music) every day, and play in three performing groups. I am at a loss at the moment, because of a scheduled knee replacement, I am losing the winter term of both the concert band and symphonic band that I play in, and my tuba chamber group won't start for another month. Maybe I'll go play either solos or duets with a friend at our local hospice house...
What a wonderful idea!
That's the thing about the ability - the gift - of being able to make music on an instrument. It is a balm to the soul of both the maker and the receiver, without language or insinuation.
Thank you. Although perhaps not the most common of all instruments. I do play tuba/accordion duets with a friend...
Ally, I’m recovering from a hip replacement in November. This has not been fun! But given that it’s 8° out there mid morning, I picked the right time of year to be stuck at home.
It just is so surreal to read this litany of malicious retribution and brazen self-aggrandizement. I want to split off from this timeline…Dark Matter style.
I cannot in clear conscience click on like. I love you. I love your writing, but hate almost every sentence you wrote. I am so f... ashamed of being American. I have felt angst, despondence; but now I am angry as hell!
Right On Veronica, Trump is dragging our Democracy thru the sewer.
The people who dragged our democracy into the sewer are the 76 million Americans who voted for Trump (a convicted
felon).
As well as the 90 million who didn't bother to cast a vote.
And we know them, they are not strangers to us.
And those who did not vote
Don’t let the non-voters off the hook
Yes, thank you, Heather. I didn’t watch any of the outrage either, but couldn’t escape hearing bits and pieces. What galls me most is that, apparently, other than filing some lawsuits, nothing was done to slow his roll. Didn’t we try the “legal” means of slapping him down the first time? It got nowhere. The sheer outrageousness makes me NUTS!!!
You are not crazy. It just feels that way.