What are the world’s three biggest criminals doing which is the same thing?
Donald is having his private militia terror squads invade American homes without warrant, break into cars to get people by breaking their windows first, spraying irritants directly into citizens’ faces, and committing cold-blooded murder point blank.
Netanyahu has his terror squads break into Palestinians’ homes, throw Palestinians on the ground to harass them, starve them and shoot them in Gaza, and repeatedly display his dehumanized views of all of them.
Putin launches missiles at civilian populations in Ukraine, bombs schools, hospitals, apartment houses, and heating and water plants.
Now all three of them have joined what Donald calls his new Board of Peace, a special new club for all the dictators and thugs of the world who will also pay Donald a billion dollars joining fee.
For Donald, like the Greenland caper, it will draw the most slow-witted of our highest-placed mainstream media off for a bit of time from the Epstein files. For Netanyahu it allows the Kushner and Trump families to make more billions under the ruse of some Gaza real estate deal. And for Putin it buys more time for killing, mass murder, and destruction.
Anything changing other than the veneers by which establishment criminality flourishes?
I think these boards are therapy sessions to air our grievances and get us through another day. But when you think of how insipid and ignorant and destructive an animal he is. I think Melania saw a rich piece of shit to spread her legs for and in return as an illegal immigrant, she got the White House not bad doing for one life to live. And we got a once in a century monster.
Below are the three choruses from the long-winded anthem, “No Kings”. These will be more manageable and easily memorized for use at any Trump protest march/demonstration.
The first three lines of each chorus is identical. Actually, the only word change for each chorus are six key words: Chaos, Autocracy; Xenophobia, Injustice; Fascism, Tyranny.
The chorus order shown below need NOT be followed. Also, any number of the choruses can be used and repeated as needed.
The music for each chorus is identical; the link to the music will be posted on RR Substack, my Substack page, and several other regular Substack contributors. Until then, the lyrics can be chanted.
Anne-Louise, having sung Verdi’s version (“Macbeth”) cannot thank you enough. After all Shakespeare wrote “Storms in the Universe” are reflected in the hearts of men.”
Below are the three choruses from the long-winded anthem, “No Kings”. These will be more manageable and easily memorized for use at any Trump protest march/demonstration.
The first three lines of each chorus is identical. Actually, the only word change for each chorus are six key words: Chaos, Autocracy; Xenophobia, Injustice; Fascism, Tyranny.
The chorus order shown below need NOT be followed. Also, any number of the choruses can be used and repeated as needed.
The music for each chorus is identical; the link to the music will be posted on RR Substack, my Substack page, and several other regular Substack contributors. Until then, the lyrics can be chanted.
Ally, sometimes we take joy in just reading or listening. I have enjoyed all the poetry and song this am. I did see New Yorkers singing an antiTrump song which consisted largely of the f word. As one of my ex-students remarked that it is catchy and i noted that it is easy to learn.
Personally, I'd prefer seeing him reduced to a voiceless, non-mobile hulk, aware of his surroundings but unable to text or speak...completely at the mercy of his attendants (and may many of them be Somalian) Perfect Karmic justice.
"...completely at the mercy of his attendants (and may many of them be Somalian) Perfect Karmic justice." Ya...that's the part that I think is most warranted.
Like the Hector in Breaking Bad paralyzed, unable to speak following a stroke, communicating only by ringing a bell attached to his wheelchair. Let Miller and company listen to that ding, ding, ding until they all go crazy.
Stephanie, I know you may be saying this tongue in cheek; however, we haven't really yet reached that level. In many ways, Trump has eclipsed scatological meanness. Regarding his behavior and speech pathology reasonably well noticed by now, scatolia may well be right around the corner for him. However, that's a habit I wouldn't wish on anybody including him.
Steven Colbert called it the "Bored of Peace." I think of Orwell's "1984," which my book club happens to be reading right now, and I think of
WAR IS PEACE!
According to Wikipedia this is the structure, and who is in it and not in it.
The charter of the board of peace outlines a multi-level structure for the organisation which includes:[40]
Chairman Donald Trump who is a member for life.
The main Board of Peace composed mainly of the leaders of countries. About sixty have been invited.
The Executive Board with a focus on diplomacy and investment. Seven members have been appointed.
The Gaza Executive Board to direct the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza which will administer the territory. Its head is titled the High Representative for Gaza and Nickolay Mladenov has been appointed along with ten other members.
Chairman
Donald Trump is explicitly named in the Charter of the Board of Peace as its inaugural Chairman. The chairman has no term limit and they alone have the authority to nominate their designated successor. Only the Chairman has the ability to invite countries to join the board. The Chairman has the exclusive authority to create, modify, or dissolve subsidiary entities of the Board of Peace. All revisions to the Charter and administrative directives issued by the Board of Peace are subject to approval by the Chairman.[41] Trump's chairmanship of the Board of Peace is independent to him holding the presidency of the United States and he has indicated that he would like to remain chairman for life.
Board of Peace
Countries by status:
Invited Accepted Declined Invitation Withdrawn
Around 60 countries received invitations from U.S. President Donald Trump to join the Board of Peace.[42] The following countries have been invited to participate as founding members. Countries that wish to be permanent members of the Board of Peace must pay US$1 billion into a fund controlled by chairman Donald Trump; otherwise, they will serve a 3-year term.[43]
Participants
The following states have confirmed their participation in the Board of Peace:
Albania[44]
Argentina[45]
Armenia[46][47]
Azerbaijan[48][49]
Bahrain[50]
Belarus[51]
Bulgaria[52]
Egypt[53]
Hungary[54]
Indonesia[55]
Israel[56]
Jordan[57]
Kazakhstan[58]
Kosovo[59]
Kuwait[60]
Mongolia[61]
Morocco[62]
Pakistan[63]
Paraguay[64]
Qatar[57]
Saudi Arabia[57]
Turkey[57]
United Arab Emirates[65]
United States[66]
Uzbekistan[67]
Vietnam[68]
Invitees
The following states and organizations have been invited to participate, but had not respond to the invitation prior to the inaugural meeting on 22 January 2026:
Australia[69]
Austria[70]
Brazil[71][72]
Cambodia[73]
China[74]
Croatia[75]
Cyprus[76]
Czech Republic[77]
Finland[78]
Greece[27]
India[79]
Japan[27]
Netherlands[27]
New Zealand[27]
Oman[27]
Poland[80]
Portugal[27]
Romania[27]
Russia[81]
Singapore[82]
South Korea[27]
Switzerland[83]
Thailand[27]
Ukraine[27]
Vatican City[36]
European Union[27]
The following state was invited to participate, but the invitation was later withdrawn:
Canada[a]
The following states have declined their invitation to participate:
France[86]
Germany[87]
Ireland[88]
Italy[89]
Norway[90]
Slovenia[36]
Spain[91][92]
Sweden[93]
United Kingdom[94][95]
Board of Peace Executive Board
The members of the Board of Peace Executive Board were announced on 17 January 2026. They are:[66]
Nickolay Mladenov – High Representative for Gaza, appointed by the United States
Marco Rubio – United States Secretary of State
Steve Witkoff – United States Special Envoy to the Middle East
Jared Kushner – Donald Trump's son-in-law
Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marc Rowan – CEO of Apollo Global Management
Ajay Banga – President of the World Bank
Robert Gabriel Jr. – American political advisor
Gaza Executive Board
A Gaza Executive Board supports the High Representative for Gaza and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. Its members were announced on 17 January 2026. They are:[66]
Steve Witkoff – United States Special Envoy to the Middle East
Jared Kushner – Donald Trump's son-in-law
Hakan Fidan – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey
Ali al-Thawadi – Minister for Strategic Affairs of Qatar
Hassan Rashad – Director of the General Intelligence Directorate of Egypt
Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marc Rowan – CEO of Apollo Global Management
Reem Al-Hashimy – Minister of State for International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates
Nickolay Mladenov – High Representative for Gaza, appointed by the United States
Yakir Gabay – Israeli businessman
Sigrid Kaag – United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
It really seems like a pay for play real estate development board. That is going to be Gaza first, then Venezuela, then Greenland, and then Canada. Mexico will fall into this as well. Will these countries be militarily required to support Trump's agenda? If so, then my telling people last January that with Trump as president I could see him having the US military join Russia in attacking European countries. I think a wise Europe would prepare for that, and so should wise members of the US military.
Russell John Netto, Just because Musk is brilliant in one small area of human endeavor has led him to think he is brilliant in all areas. This is such an embarrassing YouTube. I wish he would develop even just a small amount of humility and self-examination.
I am highly suspicious that Trump will have this organization develop their own peace prize and he will be awarding it to himself. Then everyone who pays the 1 bil fee to join will be legitimizing his claim to being a peace prize winner. It will be interesting to see who will pay to play.
Loved the thought Linda ❤️. Could you imagine every one of those bastards awarding themselves a Peace Prize? All you need it's a billon dollars and a total lack of decency.
Ricardo, I cannot see that because Trump has to be the best. This is the Rubber Stamp Trump board. I heard that Putin might participate. That will be interesting. I want to know who the 20 countries are that signed up. They had apparently hoped for 35. So, we shall see how Trump goes about getting that other 15 countries. All are buying influence, and the board should be a violation of the US constitution if it isn't. Meanwhile the US left the WHO and owes them hundreds of millions. They can forget it. Trump does not pay his debts or ours. He just makes more debts for us as he is robbing us blind.
DonOLD reminds me of the Monty Python scene in The Holy Grail where the Knight has had both his arms and legs cut off and cries "I'll bite your legs off."
Trump's brain is mush, he's had a stroke, he slurs his speech and talks gibberish. People are hoping he dies today and he thinks he'll survive long enough to run again.
Well, wait a minute. I'm looking forward to their ten point program, a veritable thesis on world governance and lasting peace. But then it may only be a prediction not a promise. Anyway, I think living in a world where there are no more wars or violence is not a sapiens trademark -- anyway......
No doubt there will be some MAGA cretins all too ready to spend their savings on a pool that gambles which nations will join this shite show. With most of MAGA intellect and bank accounts so low and their predilection to gamble their lives away, it wouldn't surprise me to see an enterprising Ponzi scheme manipulator try to make a buck off of this travesty.
I am not thanking anyone but the idiots that voted him in and the guy himself for being a liar. Here is a piece I wrote about an article on Democratic Backsliding.
Holy crap… I read your whole piece you wrote last year, Linda. Very enlightening. For one moment in the 1970s, I voted for John Anderson a republican turned independent thinking he was the best alternative. Although not a bad character, still wasting my vote ona 3rd candidate was a mistake. One big difference between republicans at least the MAGA type and democrats are that MAGAs have one person only; wi through a mix of fabricated lies and some truth and democratics only propose issues that benefit everyone when they should know that most or many people do not understand what is in their best interest.
I think most participating countries don't even have $1B. I suppose Argentina could return 1 of the billions Trump handed to him to get him re-elected. Take note that he has established himself as chairman as Donald Trump, not as POTUS, so his reign would continue beyond his presidency. This is just a fat cat real estate deal to him, which is how he sees the world. Unfortunately he was a failure at that as well.
I think he might follow what the John Birch Society wanted to do, withdraw the United States from the UBN and expel the UN from the US. The whole concept is stupidity, but it’s equally stupid to withdraw from other organizations like the WHO and to allow the desires of Trump to govern our relationships with the world and our internal governance.
I suppose he could refuse to host the United Nations HQ in New York, although I suspect Mamdani might have something to say about that. He has continued whining on this theme 'what has NATO ever done for us?' which he could equally transfer to the UN itself.
He plans to replace the UN with his Peace Board, with him ruling it all. I fully expect him to pull out of the UN officially and perhaps evict them from the US. While a noble ideal, it's a toothless entity at this point in terms of impacting big world events. Perhaps restructuring would be beneficial, but- much like this country- there would be no consensus on direction. We are in a time of monsters.
Where is that money from oil sale in Venezuela? That is “our” money and he should pay with that. Who am I kidding-this is all bullshit and just want to know more about the EPSTEIN FILES
Donald has been very open about his theft from us by telling us he was not going to deposit the money in the US, but in Qatar. So, I will assume that is where it is, but just because he says it is there, does not mean it is. He lies but he also tells us how he screws us too. Which wins out here?
Those joining this so-called Board of Peace have a year to come up with that $!billion joining fee. How many do you think will actually pay that? Maybe a few very wealthy Middle East sycophants. The toadying never ends, just gets more costly.
No need for any doubt about it. That is how he "wins" tournaments at his clubs. He also puts up fake man of the year Time Magazine covers at the clubs for the years Time wasn't stupid enough to actually give him the "honor"
Thanks Terry! Reading your comment lets me know that I need to take a break from reading anything about this sociopathic psychopath, or psychopathic-sociopath. I am starting to feel too demeaned by thinking about him and how sickening he is.
If this is purely a fund-raising effort to rebuild Gaza after its destruction by Israeli-US weapons, Great but unusual. What I can't understand are why the details are obscured.
And will that effort displace all the Palestinians? Or will Netanyahu and Jared build new condos and townhouses with palm trees and fountains for them?
Yes it’s $1 billion to get in — is there an annual fee to remain that he has complete control of.. the ‘board’ of peace should be formerly placed up his ass
By this example, the EU is supposed to pay for keeping Greenland, which would be chaos stirred up to go running. As Trump's former guy Michael Wolff puts it, Trump starts a fire and then wants to watch who is trying to put it out. Greenland is a fire, and he has by no means let go of owning it, he has just backed off to see what he can get out of Europe before taking it.
Notice Europe and Australia did not accept invitations to the Board of Peace, and Trump took back the offer to Canada. So, who is on the board?According to Wikipedia here is the Structure.
The charter of the board of peace outlines a multi-level structure for the organisation which includes:[40]
Chairman Donald Trump who is a member for life.
The main Board of Peace composed mainly of the leaders of countries. About sixty have been invited.
The Executive Board with a focus on diplomacy and investment. Seven members have been appointed.
The Gaza Executive Board to direct the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza which will administer the territory. Its head is titled the High Representative for Gaza and Nickolay Mladenov has been appointed along with ten other members.
Participants
The following states have confirmed their participation in the Board of Peace:
Albania[44]
Argentina[45]
Armenia[46][47]
Azerbaijan[48][49]
Bahrain[50]
Belarus[51]
Bulgaria[52]
Egypt[53]
Hungary[54]
Indonesia[55]
Israel[56]
Jordan[57]
Kazakhstan[58]
Kosovo[59]
Kuwait[60]
Mongolia[61]
Morocco[62]
Pakistan[63]
Paraguay[64]
Qatar[57]
Saudi Arabia[57]
Turkey[57]
United Arab Emirates[65]
United States[66]
Uzbekistan[67]
Vietnam[68]
Invitees
The following states and organizations have been invited to participate, but had not respond to the invitation prior to the inaugural meeting on 22 January 2026:
Australia[69]
Austria[70]
Brazil[71][72]
Cambodia[73]
China[74]
Croatia[75]
Cyprus[76]
Czech Republic[77]
Finland[78]
Greece[27]
India[79]
Japan[27]
Netherlands[27]
New Zealand[27]
Oman[27]
Poland[80]
Portugal[27]
Romania[27]
Russia[81]
Singapore[82]
South Korea[27]
Switzerland[83]
Thailand[27]
Ukraine[27]
Vatican City[36]
European Union[27]
The following state was invited to participate, but the invitation was later withdrawn:
Canada[a]
The following states have declined their invitation to participate:
France[86]
Germany[87]
Ireland[88]
Italy[89]
Norway[90]
Slovenia[36]
Spain[91][92]
Sweden[93]
United Kingdom[94][95]
Board of Peace Executive Board
The members of the Board of Peace Executive Board were announced on 17 January 2026. They are:[66]
Nickolay Mladenov – High Representative for Gaza, appointed by the United States
Marco Rubio – United States Secretary of State
Steve Witkoff – United States Special Envoy to the Middle East
Jared Kushner – Donald Trump's son-in-law
Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marc Rowan – CEO of Apollo Global Management
Ajay Banga – President of the World Bank
Robert Gabriel Jr. – American political advisor
Gaza Executive Board
A Gaza Executive Board supports the High Representative for Gaza and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. Its members were announced on 17 January 2026. They are:[66]
Steve Witkoff – United States Special Envoy to the Middle East
Jared Kushner – Donald Trump's son-in-law
Hakan Fidan – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey
Ali al-Thawadi – Minister for Strategic Affairs of Qatar
Hassan Rashad – Director of the General Intelligence Directorate of Egypt
Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marc Rowan – CEO of Apollo Global Management
Reem Al-Hashimy – Minister of State for International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates
Nickolay Mladenov – High Representative for Gaza, appointed by the United States
Yakir Gabay – Israeli businessman
Sigrid Kaag – United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
Am totally sickened… just disgusted… Building upon the bones of Gaza this is beyond evil…
Using slides showing images of gleaming skyscrapers and apartments, Jared Kushner presented a Trump-backed "master plan" for the rebuilding of Gaza.
Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, said during Thursday's presentation at the World Economic Forum in Davos that postwar Gaza would become "a place that the people … can thrive, have great employment."
"In the Middle East they build cities like this, you know for 2 or 3 million people, they build this in three years," said Kushner, who has no official title but has been part of the US-backed Gaza peace negotiations.
"And so, stuff like this is very doable if we make it happen," he said, speaking immediately after Trump presented his ambitious “Board of Peace” designed to oversee the Gaza truce and Strip's reconstruction.
Kushner spoke of needing investments of at least $25 billion (€21.3 billion) to rebuild Gaza's shattered infrastructure and public services.
"It could be a hope. It could be a destination," he said.
It is sickening and that the UN would sanction this so that money would flow into Gaza. It is like a developers board. The Board of Peace should be the board of Developers
The NJ state police should set up a blood-alcohol test on the roads as members are leaving Bedminister. Even if the driver passes the Breathalyzer test have ICE there to check their papers. I'd be shocked if the didn't catch some illegal middle Easterners or Russians.
J L, It is "1984" by George Orwell. My political book club is reading that right now, and I was just pointing out to a friend that we are seeing that in action.
Yes, "1984" is very much coming alive. If memory serves, Winston Smith's job was to revise history in favor of Big Brother. Isn't that what trump is doing at the Smithsonian? Just today, the National Park Service had to dismantle an exhibit featuring slavery. Now, there was no slavery in America.
Yes, but Winston Smith is not the leader, he is a lower level member of the party. He is more like a grunt in the machine. Also, it appears, and we just started reading this, and I remembered nothing from when I last read it, or not correctly, but he is longing for the life of the proles. The proles are like MAGA though. They are easily appeased with shallow patriotism. Those that are not may be culled from the crowd, but they have a lot more freedom. There baseness is accepted because they are too lowly to worry about.
The words that stand out to me are the party slogans.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
We are seeing all 3 at play. Our freedom is at the expense of the enslavement of Venezuelans, and immigrants, and perhaps Greenlanders. I have heard Greenlanders planning on going to Denmark if the US comes, but they will leave their elders behind in some cases. What will Trump do with them if he comes? The Board of Peace is being lead by someone who is waging war. I read a play on this. Bored of Peace, and Board of Piece as in take a piece of this country, take a piece of that country.
Prior to this we read Yevgeny Zamyatin's book "We" which Orwell was influenced by to write this. I can see the influences. In both books the leadership has told the people, who accept this for the most part that Freedom is not good. In "We" Freedom cannot coexist with Happiness. In "1984" Freedom is Slavery. There are other similarities as well. Both writing forbidden records of their experiences of the world around us. Both longing for what was before this. Both accepting the system they are in, but being open to those who do not.
Zamyatin was an enthusiast of the Russian Revolution. It seems that he was less so of the way that people who took leadership of the country afterwards envisioned implementation. Implementation of ideas is always important. The people who implemented these ideas lost something in the translation that had excited and animated people. They learned brainwashing and other techniques for control. This is not what most of us signed up for in our government. Yet, we see many aspects of it coming into play.
It's mostly just barefaced lies, like Vance denying that he said that ICE agents had absolute immunity and Karoline Leavitt denying that Trump confused Iceland with Greenland at Davos. It never ends.
Substack Inc is launching a "Substack Google TV App" & a "Apple' TV App".
Caveat Emptor.
We will have to determine if Substack Inc revises the existing 2025:Terms of Use (TOU) or their SF lawyers require a contractually binding contract for USERs of their new Platform.
Caution. Yes. Actually, I'd call for a "red alert".
Apparently, "Substack" is going for the big bucks. A couple of thoughts here. Notice that ROKU, the overwhelming leader in streaming platforms is not available (yet). You can bet it comes down to $$. Google and Apple are minor players fighting for streaming share - but can afford to pay Substack $$$$. ROKU holds the cards for now. But big eats little.
I expect ROKU and Substack may experience the "CBS Experience".
Substack is coming under increasing fire for hosting some nasty crap. Do they have Zuckerberg Syndrome?
Watch for the Substack "public offering". CEO Chris Best has hinted. I get he wants a yacht as well.
And guess who is a major investor in Substack?
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): A lead investor in Series A and B rounds, estimated to own 15%–20%.
Marc Andreessen is, of course, another billionaire groveling at Trump's feet, kissing the ring, applauding the fascism.
Follow the money. That's the real American religion.
Let's enjoy Substack while we can. But I am open for suggestions as to a new safe place to be. To read and write.
Bryan, I got the breathless announcement about "Substack TV" in my email inbox, and it confirmed by prediction found at the end of this comment. I thought, "Who asked for this?"
One thing I can say without equivocation about American business: Enough is never enough.
I don't charge my handful of subscribers for following my Substack, so I don't know what cut Substack skims off the top. But apparently, it's not enough.
Mark my words: As Substack's expansion continues, Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie and Jairaj Sethi will want to be the next Mark Zuckerbergs. It's just a matter of time until they adjust Substack's algorithms and start selling advertising.
Orwell just reversed the numbers of the year when he wrote the book - 1948 (though the traditional publishing delays applied...)
There was a well-done movie of the book some years back - which was pretty accurate representation of Orwell's vision, BUT set the action in what the world looked like then - lots of brick buildings and mid-rise bureaucratic offices. By the time the movie came out (maybe about 1984), the world clearly did not look like that at all, so its impact was much reduced.
If they had filmed it on the set of Blade Runner, it would have been much more scary.
Filming it now on the streets of Minneapolis and Chicago might be even worse.
Yes. However, Orwell borrowed from Zamyatin, whose "We" was published in 1921. Both men had an understanding of fascism and the totalitarian state that we are gaining insight into.
Prophetic and he keeps reaching a wide swath of readers with metaphorical language -- a universal reach that endures. Good to remember these attributes when the Redesigns of All that's Been Broken is Transformed.
Orwell remained a democratic socialist all of his life, but he was very critical of communism and the constant rewriting of history. At the time he wrote “1984,” Stalin governed the Soviet Union and was always engaged in rewriting of history. Stalin was extremely paranoid and had already murdered tens of millions of people in the Soviet Union, including many of his former old Bolshevik allies, killing Ukrainians by engineering a famine in Ukraine, and arresting millions, either sentencing them to a bullet in the back of the head or incarceration in a gulag.
Orwell saw that undemocratic governments of the extreme right or left were capable of the sort of behavior he depicted in “1984.” I can see Trump engaging in some of the behavior of Big Brother.
Trump, Bibi, Putin and many others have killed millions through starvation with total immunity.
And Congress refused to end the shutdown even as SNAP benefits ran out for over 40 million Americans. As January 31st approaches what other programs won't be funded by the Fascist Republicans.
Yes. Mass murder. And the shutdown of USAID is a war crime.
There is significant banter that the DEMs and the GOP are all part of a swamp of dark money. That both parties are responsible for the mess we are in.
While I agree that the DEMs have made many mistakes. The biggest being NAFTA and ignoring the plight of the worker. Among many others.
But there is an absolutely big difference between the parties.
DEMs care about life. Care about Housing. Hunger. Education. Healthcare. Survival of the poor and less fortunate.
MAGA GOP devotees DO NOT CARE. About human lives. About the suffering of children. About the misery of their fellow humans. They JUST DON'T CARE. And we keep trying to appeal to their "better selves". But that is a fool's errand. They JUST DON'T CARE.
The solution? Win elections. Legislate for all Americans. Tax the rich to feed the poor. Prosecute the crooks. Pretty straight forward. Criminal justice, social justice and push the hater/bigots back under the rocks where they were hiding.
We have the Constitutional High Ground. We have the Moral High Ground. Not complicated anymore.
Yes. I think this maladministration doesn’t care about the already living and is willing to see many of us die off from medical neglect, lack of food support, and sheer cruelty.
As we are rereading the book, we are seeing more and more parallels, and we are in early days. Just 1/4 of the way through his presidency now. We have a Plutocracy, and things like Citizens United opened the door for that.
The tat in the oval office appears to be resin castings from China that have been "gold-leafed," not spray-painted as some have claimed. But it should noted that modern "gold leaf" isn't real gold; it's ultra-thin anodized aluminum sheets, which cost a fraction of real gold leaf material.
Somewhere in Northern Virginia, a bunch of Vietnamese women are feverishly pasting anodized aluminum sheets on a pile of resin castings for an "interior decorator" who's making a fortune on those cheesy ornaments.
The demented dotard has been told by his babysitters that the castings are solid gold and he believes them.
Expect his "awards" to be made of the same material.
UN Security Council Resolution 2803 (2025) addresses the "Board of Peace" (BoP) in the context of the Gaza conflict. Adopted on November 17, 2025, by a vote of 13-0-2 (abstentions by China and Russia), it endorses the "Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict" and establishes the BoP as a transitional administration.
Key Provisions on Board of Peace
The resolution welcomes the BoP as a transitional administration with international legal personality to set the framework and coordinate funding for Gaza's redevelopment until the Palestinian Authority completes reforms. It authorizes the BoP to establish operational entities for governance, reconstruction, humanitarian aid, and movement facilitation under its oversight.
Mandate and Duration
The BoP oversees an International Stabilization Force (ISF) for demilitarization, security, and Israeli withdrawal linked to milestones, with operations funded by voluntary contributions. The BoP and related presences are authorized until December 31, 2027, subject to Council review, and must report progress every six months
Trump's role as "Chairman Trump," a lifelong member with extensive powers, is explicitly named in the BoP's charter, announced January 15, 2026, and presented at Davos on January 22, 2026. The charter grants the chairman sole authority to invite members, nominate successors, and approve changes, with Trump self-designating for the position.
Relation to UN Resolution
Resolution 2803 welcomed the BoP as a transitional body for Gaza governance under the "Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict," but critics note the final charter expands its scope globally and centralizes power in Trump, diverging from the UN-endorsed Gaza-focused plan. No UN document appoints Trump; the BoP operates independently as a U.S.-led private initiative invoking but not bound by the resolution.
Trump has hallucinated the Board of Peace into his next phase towards world domination after his presidency. It will be total insanity if the UN doesn't step i and stop this craziness. At least they can pull the plug on December 31, 2027. I hope buried in the verbiage of the Security Council Resolution is something sooner. I guess the UN thought this was the only way they could get money for Gaza since Trump was cutting all of the funding for many of the UN agencies.
I cannot believe that France, UK, Greece, Denmark, Latvia, Colombia and Panama voted for this abomination!!!!
The “Board of Peace” is simply Trump’s shabby substitute for any international organization which he cannot personally control. It is also a fig leaf designed to conceal his personal interests and those of his son in law Jared Kushner in making money off turmoil and self-dealing. Donald and his family simply do not understand what conflicts of interest are and Donald sees no reason why he shouldn’t personally profit off being president.
I definitely think it’s probable, but they deliberately decide to ignore conflicts of interest as in their minds, they deserve to get whatever they want.
He has also not given up his desire to spark a civil war here. Those of us who oppose him don’t want a civil war, or any other unnecessary war. Trump DOES want a civil war.
Of course it is. The bigger problem is that it gives Trump alone rights to take or veto any action, as if Trump were king of the world. Just as he is not king or dictator of the United States, he isn’t king or dictator of the world, and it’s an impeachable offense for him to create his own “Board of Peace” and to grant himself the authority to run it solely on his own orders.
Yes, when those Gaza proposals were being drafted I wondered who in the world actually thought anything good could come of it. Not the UN members, for sure... Silly me. They didn't care at all about peace--which is still not a reality. All he wanted was a way to commandeer the development of Gaza--whose name is sure to be changed to honor the chairman of that Board. This is such a travesty--it leaves me spittin' mad. We can only guess at the extortion and threats at work to get those toadies to join. How is he allowed to get away with all this?
He just got himself a $29B slush fund from the “donations” from the members of the board—to go to all his cronies—Erik Prince and Vectis Global for security, GEO Group for detention facilities, Conti Federal, Bechtel Corp. for heavy construction.
A once every six month “report” is the only oversight. No Palestinians have to leave—Trump can just starve them out because he will privatize food distribution and medical care along with everything else so 75% goes to overhead, and probably 30% profit margins.
They went insane because Trump has cut their funding and walked out of the dozens of UN humanitarian initiatives. “Adapt, shrink, or die” was kind of a nice way to get his point across, don’t you think?
It’s really a grift to privatize humanitarian efforts as profit opportunities for his cronies.
(1) If the UN or anyone else is counting on doing private deals with the chairman of that board, do they not remember how his deals work? Do not pay what you promise, force the other party to sue you and settle for pennies on the dollar.
(2) To me what might possibly be the worst thing of all about all the attention this man and his cruelties and his crimes are getting is that the world's true crises and the needs of people aren't being attended to. Gaza, Ukraine, world starvation, homelessness, the climate crisis: imagine a president who focused on these issues. He has two interests: evading jail and personal enrichment.
They voted, but then decided not to join it when Trump took control of it and turned it into a dodgy real estate venture. In fact, it's become radioactive in Europe. Only a handful of far-right politicians have joined it (and not the most prominent). But the Gulf Arabs and Egypt are all taking part (they're all dictatorships.)
They knew what Trump was capable of from NATO and with Ukraine. There is no excuse. The original plan was to have Tony Blair run it. As soon as Trump took over, especially after the “Adapt. shrink or die” threat to the UN, the handwriting was on the wall. Only a tiny money will go to the Palestinians for aid. Much more will go to Trump’s cronies who will get huge contracts and profits for privatizing aid. Same game with privatizing health care and charter schools, and prisons, and detention centers.
The BOP is simultaneously nonsensical and dangerous. The withdrawal from WHO is the big headline if we care about the needless deaths of millions. WHEN the next pandemic hits, innocent Americans will die due to criminal incompetence. Criminal stupidity.
I believe you are right on the withdrawal from WHO needing to get more play. It’s like they think that spending money on healthcare for black and brown people is wasted—as if somehow they think they can isolate themselves from the next pandemic. Maybe someone told Trum pthe golden dome would do that too.
They can’t even stop kids dying from measles again after it was eradicated here.
OMG…they did it….they were successful in their program , have taken their land for develop by the oligarchs and will have the Palestinians, no doubly, making beds and cleaning toilets for tourists. Breaks my heart.
What the hell is wrong with you people he’s trying to create people and countries to come together to oversee a peace in Gaza and you’re against that you people make me sick to my stomach. If Joe Biden was doing this, you’d be on your knees, genuflecting and cheering him.
Hello Phil... Didn't Ted Leiu say today that Venezuela, Minneapolis, and Greenland are Distractions from the Epstein Files?.... DJT has a Feral Intensity for Survival... For DJT, his Survival is the most Important Issue In The Universe...
While they are distractions, and I am glad Heather keeps bringing it up, and so does Zev Shalev and Lev Parnas, and Dean Blundell. Someone posted a gruesome piece about it by Greg Olear, that is hypothetical but very very disturbing. Is he a murderer of young girls?
Apropos Trumpstein, here is the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein -- later withdrawn in response to credible death threats against the plaintiff: https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf Please let us ensure this text is linked early (and therefore prominently) on as many Resistance sites as possible every day until the traitorous regime of ecogenocidal Christonazi pedophiles is no more. (I'll do my best to be responsible for this posting, but I am 85 years old and terminally ill, which means others need be ready to pick up the torch on days I am absent and after I am no more.)
yes to this. The real issue is not whether Trump has 'protected' pedophiles by not reporting what Epstein was doing or by continuing to go to the parties. The real issue is that Trump himself is/was a very active pedophile and participated in sex with girls. That's what the lawsuit alleges in detail - and it's consistent with his actions that he described voluntarily in his Access Hollywood tape years ago - going into dressing rooms of 15- and 16-year old girls in the Miss Teen America contest, kissing the girls against their will and grabbing them by the genitals.
The MAGA folk claim they hate pedophiles. Remember the eloquent Marjorie Taylor Greene saying that all Democrats are pedophiles? (I wonder if she still thinks that, or says it.) No doubt most of them will find that pedophiles are not so bad, once even they (and Fox and Newsmax) can no longer avoid knowing that Trump is one of the most active.
Trump's people were making an effort a few months ago to normalize sex with girls, referencing Romeo and Juliet (Juliet was 13 in the play), biblical texts (from the Old Testament only), and marriage ages in some of the predictable states in the US. They may have given up on that line of defence, or they may be saving it for when the distractions are no longer working.
I’m telling you to save your own life from your hate your needless hate you should read this and this defines you to a T if I haven’t already told you.
A person puts all their faith and energy into a belief, especially publicly and vehemently. He/she exposes their inner self, and to all those around them , is admired, respected, but only because they are surrounded by like thinkers. The TDS syndrome stems from this…the following ….
All of a sudden all the work ,effort,, emotion and belief, get extinguished by this person actually becoming the President of the United States, where you were foaming at the mouth about this individual , who now holds the most important/highest office on the entire planet. BUT FIRST, in order to achieve that, he gets elected by people all around you ,and you had no idea that he was this popular , and so well-liked to deserve even one vote and how could anybody feel that way about this , disgusting, hateful and abhorrent individual… and you are now in disbelief! how could this possibly be that I was so wrong?
It destroys your inner credibility and destroys your personal beliefs and starts to create doubts about yourself, and what you have believed in so fervently. BUT accompanied by your Brain , You cannot that allow that to happen.. so you strike out ,lash out, reach out in pain and anguish, trying to cover up the disbelief in yourself. This person got elected by your neighbors by your friends, by your coworkers , and even by your loved ones in many cases. And this certainly can’t be Alas it is.
And the sad part is this makes perfect sense. Chew on that that for a while, and swallow it …support your president and your country. People change their minds all the time, especially in light of facts right in front of your face about the condition of this country right now. With the exception of a chaos caused by and created Joe Biden, opening the border
Wake up and see who’s being devoured pal. The above comment describes you to a T perfectly descriptive. And one of the strong suits of Democrats is the ability to project Carl Marx used to say the way to sell Marxism is to convince everybody that they’re doing it to themselves his objective in life was to be throne, God, and destroy capitalism. The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion Karl Marx. The meaning of peace is the absence of the opposition to socialism. And Karl Marx is turning over his grave because socialism hasn’t worked anywhere in the world. It creates mediocrity is all it
Jack Smith will be naming names of Republicans that testified against Trump. The American people need to be reminded who these "patriots" are.
And we also need to see the Epstein files list. I'm sure many of them are dead already. Who gives a rip if we sully their names at this point? I'd be shocked if their family members aren't all ready aware they are sexual predators.
At least two SC justices are sexual predators and MAGA's don't seem to care. Release the list.
I have never seen a greater group of hopeless souls in my entire life, waiting for something that will never come, and when it does, and it disappoints you, you’ll be screaming and yelling that something happened something they did illegally they redacted all the files. They redacted all the files they’re hiding things wake up Sandra nothing from the epstein files is going to save your soul. Stop posting here go out on the street go dancing go see a movie. Go have a great dinner. Don’t live your life on. Hope that will never come. It’s fruitless. And it’s sickening that people destroy themselves like this.
Ted Liu is one of the most lost souls on the planet right now. All he has is major TDS and nothing else gets inside that brain other than I’m gonna get Trump. I hate Trump. I can’t stand Trump. He’s got Trump on the brain and it’s really beautiful to see.
All true. The funding for ICE was 3.3 billion before 2024, jumped up to 9.6 plus billion in 2025, and has further jumped to 11.3 billion for 2026 [see our post for January 2026: U.S. National Security Strategy at OneClick2BetterWorld.substack.com]. Our government is in a spending frenzy in order to use all of that ICE money ASAP leading to irresponsible and very dangerous deployment of ICE to American cities.
So let me ask you something, Jim why do we have ice at all? Huh answer that question and I’ll give you the two word answer Joseph Biden. He wreaked havoc on our lives. He took a shit on the American continent by bringing in illegals and allowing them to cross our borders without vetting and without vaccinations and that’s the only reason we have ice in the first place, so please think about this for aHe reeked havoc on our lives. He took a shit on the American continent by bringing in illegals and allowing them to cross our borders without vetting and without vaccinations and that’s the only reason we have ice in the first place, so please think about this for a second Jim, you don’t blame the fireman for trying to put out a fire that he didn’t cause.
Don't forget that for Netanyahu, it keeps him from facing prosecution for corruption charges for which he has already been indicted, and for Trump, facing consequences for crimes for which he has been convicted.
Such a charming tag team, Rich, this trio comprises.
But with teamwork, too, from other Russian oligarchs, the Saudi hacksaw guy Mohammed bin Salman, Donald's bevy of Silicon Valley merchants of hatreds, his evangelical merchants of hatreds, and his and Netanyahu's AIPAC merchants of hatreds.
"[P]eople across Minnesota will stay home from work, school, and shopping areas in an “ICE Out Day” to protest the federal agents in the state. The general strike has the support of businesses, unions, faith organizations, democratic lawmakers, and community activists." How many doors will ICE break down w/ their battering rams? Will they set a record?
Here is the list of countries which have accepted Trump’s invitation to his “Board of Peace.” Note that one thing most have in common is a not stellar record on human rights. Russia/Putin apparently is holding out for his discount coupon. Europe and all the “middle powers” have declined. I just remember wondering about WW 2- did the Axis powers really get together and decide “we’re going to be the bad guys?” Apparently they did.
Nice comments in Minneapolis from the official who put the vice in Vice President. Jack Smith made his cases so he will be under investigation, accused of using the DOJ to attack political opponents. You literally can’t make this stuff up. Vote Blue!
OK, here we go. You’re ready for your insanity. Winter storms are caused by climate change. Heat is caused by climate change ice is caused by climate change snow is caused by climate change. Rain is caused by climate change. Al Gore has just been dismissed as a liar and chief every single thing he had in his inconvenient truth has just been debunked and is now inconvenient lies. I love the one about his polar bears couldn’t find enough ice and that’s why they’re going to be a come extinct when they were 6000 of them when he was talking back in 2002 or so and now there’s over 40,000 I guess they found enough ice huh? Russell what the hell is with you morons Jesus Christ it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen my T-shirt. Makes me happier when I go out with it and it says climate change isn’t affecting me. I don’t watch TV.
You’re missing the whole point now it’s not enough that there’s just your average winter storm sweeping through the country but now the left has to rename them to make them sound more powerful and a very unusual storms. Just a regular winter storm. It’s a polar vortex that has come undone and it’s gonna sweep over the country like never before. BULLSHIT. THEY’RE INVENTING NEW WORDS TO DESCRIBE WINTER STORMS NOW SO THEY CAN SOUND LIKE AN ANOMALY Now they translated New Orleans is gonna have half an inch of ice, which is gonna make going to work impossible Tennesee is gonna have to shut down. The news is almost laughable. It’s so bad and so wrong and so unjustified.
Derek, you have the exact attitude you should and I’m not joking. It’s called learning how to dance in the rain. Instead of whining about it, your attitude is actually perfect. You should go out there and enjoy the winter. That’s why you live where you live because you like it there. And that’s a good decision for you. I’ve never understood why people put up. And having to deal with everything from Traffic. Clothing to inconvenience to needing to shelter indoors because you have no way to get out. Makes no sense to me, but to those who dance in the rain, I’m happy for them.
I will never forget I had a business meeting in in January and we stated a hotel and we needed to rent a car. This is some 25 years and it was like 27 below, including the windchill and this rental agent had to get up from his desk, put on like six layers of clothing, scarves, two hats, a windbreaker boots just to go out and bring a car around to be rented and then come back in undressed completely hang all the clothes back up only to see the next customer come in 10 minutes later and I’m having to do that whole process all over again. I was like what the hell
with a new call to action for us to re-envision America. She keeps coming back to the idea that we are at a point not just of great danger, but of great opportunity to create something better out of the turmoil.
The only way we can be sustained through the battle we are in is if we have a vision of where we want to go. We need to start now by helping our neighbors, by living in concert with our values.
I keep returning to the concept of restoring public integrity to our nation, of excellence in service. It is the essence of who Jack Smith is. It is the antithesis of what Trump’s corruption is now, where every act of his administration is cruel, lawless, and self-serving.
Excellent post! America wants a return to decency, integrity, and compassionate democracy. It is indeed vital that we understand that this is a time of great opportunity – and that we embrace that.
My hope, which increases by the day, is that Trump’s "Complete and total endorsement" of MAGA-Republican candidates will be the "kiss of death" for them in the Midterm Elections.
I now think it more and more likely that Democrats not only flip the House but win back the Senate as well! And more than that: that Democrats win a vast number of additional downballot races on the state and local level.
If we all work together and continue to fight like hell, we can make it so!
Hate to break it to you, but at least 30-40% of Americans don’t want a return to decency, integrity and compassionate democracy. They are perfectly fine with what Rump and his ICE Gestapo goons are doing. “The Confederacy is still alive.”
I pressed "Like" but I don't really like what you said "Dutch M". Trouble is you are right! I know a lot of them (MAGA) personally and not a single one of them has a problem with what Trumpolini and Kristi Noem and all the others are doing. I have grave doubts whether the 26 Midterms will bring the supermajority some Democrats keep expecting. The Democratic party (the Party leaders) doesn't really deserve a super majority in my view (other than to shut down Trumpolini, which is worthwhile). They still don't get it that we are ALL hurting. Both parties need to stop with the polarizing. The Braver Angels are trying to do that from the ground up, but I don't really know whether they are getting any traction either. With such polarity, we ARE (you're right Dutch) back to where the civil war started.
This is no longer a party divide. It is simply a Right v. Wrong divide. It just happens that the two political parties have chosen which side they choose to be on. Clearly the Republican party has chosen the wrong side.
All I can think is that they are ignorant. They do not get real information about what's going on, they didn't see the murder of Renee Good, they didn't see or just lack the ability to understand what Mark Carney had to say in Davos or how pathetic and out of control drumpf is.
Surely they aren't as mentally ill as to not recognize it. Surely they just don't see, they don't see his insane tweets, his hour and a half flailing rants.
If one let's go of the conclusion that they are ignorant, one is left instead with the horrifying alternative: that 30 - 40% of our fellow citizens are depraved, amoral - possibly even evil people. It's too scary a thought to hold, so, rather than drown in fear and sorrow, I cling to the mental life preserver of the ignorance explanation.
34-45% is still a minority of the country. We can overcome this minority if we each pledge to work toward the goal of stopping maga and the billionaires.
I had to explain this to my wife last night when she saw polling numbers; she asked how so many could still support him. I said that statistically, at least 1/3 of the population was still thinking the south had the right ideas.
For the past 10 years his polling has never gone beyond 35%-45%, up or down. 10 yers of the worst corruption and criminality, 10 years of the shredding of the Constitution, 10 years of destroying norms, 10 years of turning this country from basically decent to an indecent, hypocritical, unreliable, tyrannical, backstabbing autocracy, in service to a demented narcissistic moron who fancies himself king of the world. Through all of this he has maintained an average of 40% support from the citizenry of the country. That’s what the rest of us are up against, even long after he’s dead and rotted.
Read Timothy Snyder’s book Bloodlands. It was an aha moment for me. I realize now there are always lots of people only too willing to do the dirty work for the likes of people like Hitler and Stalin. Plenty of people who will for example line people up in front of a pit and shoot every last one. Trump has plenty of these people to call upon too. They are gravitating to him right now. Think about our own country. Plenty of people had no problem and helped kill and displace the native populations and buy and sell people under chattel slavery. Plenty of people were fine with it. Plenty of people are fine with throwing people in mass cells with aluminum foil blankets. And deporting them to countries they have never been. Plenty of people fine with denying due process. Plenty of people who take profits from these actions. Plenty of them. So now all those too willing people are on hand to help Trump and Vought and Miller. We have let all the ghouls in now and they are only too willing.
Agreed. And, according to HCR's column, 81 percent of Republicans- 81!!! - are OK with no due process, breaking into people's homes, businesses, churches, shooting tear gas and pepper spray, killing the odd American and immigrant. 81 percent of Republicans think this is OK.
We need to gain 20 Senate seats and 15 House seats to reach veto-proof majorities. Otherwise, Trump (or potentially Vance if he gains incumbency without election) will just veto everything and stall reform. I truly hope that the blue wave will be big enough to get us there..
A clear majority in the Senate will allow Democrats to block Trump from appointing evermore unqualified judges, and prevent him from replacing Alito and Thomas with young, extremist Supreme Court justices.
Majorities in both chambers of Congress gives Democrats control of the budgetary process, preventing a repeat of what Trump outrageously called his "Big Beautiful Bill".
Control of the House and Senate, and their respective committees, will enable investigations and hearings that cut through the Trump Regime’s lies and highlight its illegal actions. This will act as a brake on Project 2025 and further tarnish Trump and his MAGA brand before the 2028 Elections.
(PS. While I hope and pray, a gain of 20 Senate seats is beyond the realm of possibility.)
I agree that a simple majority can block appointments, which is incredibly important.
If Trump is still president after the midterms, he will do everything he can to be maximally obstructionist, including vetoing appropriations bills. The aim would be to force trades, killing off regulatory agencies for critical functions.
You get subpoena power and investigative authority, but not necessarily the power to convict and remove cabinet officers.
But anything like voting rights legislation would be dead in the water.
We won’t get a big enough blue wave unless Dems make the message clear that veto-proof majorities are what we need to get reform and our democracy back. They should be screaming it from the rooftops already.
I don’t think it will be discouraging to say it out loud. It has to happen one state, one congressional district at a time, which it would anyway. I think it would be motivating—I want my state/district to make that wave a little bit higher… I don’t want my state/district to keep us from change…
And that means, for once, no district can be written off, and we need to see top-notch candidates in EVERY race. Primaries start in March—Am I confident there are terrific candidates in all of the races? No. I am hearing crickets from the DNC. Is anyone hearing a campaign strategy?
“We want integrity and respect for the Constitution back in Congress. We are running candidates who will do that in every district and state in America. With 2/3 majorities in both Houses we can make that happen. We can end the corruption and erosion of our freedoms. The time is now!”
Sounds better than crickets to me… Check out the DNC and DLCC sites below. At least the DLCC has a plan on where to try to pick up seats. The DNC site is definitely less than inspiring.
Hello Georgia.... A key Point of Jack Smith's Testimony today is that the Rule-Of-Law has to Upheld... It can be Eroded... DJT demonstrates this Everyday... Pam Bondi is DJT's Corrupt Tool... Everything That Trump Touches Dies...
Exactly right, Georgia. It baffles me how the Democrats are throwing away the opportunity to present a vision of a better America, one that would directly contrast to the dystopian shambles the current MAGAt administration has made of our country. As ArcticStones writes below, we need a clear statement of return to decency, integrity and compassionate democracy. There is nothing stopping them from showing or at least saying that they stand for something. Is it lack of imagination? Cowardice? Confusion? Maybe just moral fatigue. They caved on DHS funding today rather than shut down the government again. Despite the ongoing horrors being perpetrated by ICE. What were they afraid of? Trump's already got enough money to fund ICE. They caved on health care last December in exchange for a pointless vote. Why donate to a party that no longer stands for anything other than "We're not MAGA"? Yes, I'm fed up.
All the plans and programs in the world, however good they are, need a flag-bearer who can set fire to voters. Someone with charisma and character, in the old sense of personal ethics demonstrated by a history of putting the common good before personal gain. And someone who doesn't tell lies.
Not sure, though I've liked what these two did in the past. I'm looking for a candidate who will stand firm on taxing wealth and supporting a single-payer healthcare system. I want a president who begins undoing the Congressional privileges, as if Congress were an aristocracy.
IKR.. Their top accomplishments date back to the beginning of the Biden administration and that is going to age like milk by 2028.
But hey... this is an organization that is willing to jettison entire generations of young people in order to move more to the right in order to persuade Trump voters to come to them. So they don't have much common sense to begin with.
Their only defining merch is literally just 'we don't like Trump'. Really? No kidding.
A year ago on Bluesky I said that Ken Martin was the wrong choice. And I was shouted down and called a MAGA troll.
Chickens coming home to roost. The dems will take some elections this fall and they will fall all over themselves about how great a job they did and continue to do nothing. The seats they lose they will chalk up to bad candidates instead of the fact that they have effectively conceded to Trump.
And continue to call me a troll. And continue to do nothing.
and I will die wondering what the fuck happened to the American concept of equal rights and justice for all.
You go to the website and the first thing you see is to sign up to be a voter registation fellow???????
And the issues are in alphabetic order so Employment and jobs comes below Democratic accomplishments. Below is the sum total of that section—from the Biden administration!!!!!!
Democrats took on special interests and are lowering costs for working families, making big corporations begin to pay their fair share in taxes, and rebuilding our economy so it works better for the middle class. Under Democratic leadership, the economy has created over 14 million jobs, including over 800,000 American manufacturing jobs, and the unemployment rate is at 3.7%. Democrats have also delivered bipartisan legislation to fix our roads and bridges, ensure better health care for our veterans, and increase our competitiveness with China.
James, another thing that Heather emphasizes in her videos is that the Democrats do not have power at the present, and that plenty are speaking up and also doing what they can. I will trust what Heather says.
Yes, Georgia -- "a new call for action for us to re-envision America."
How about something exactly opposite the regnant bullying criminalities?
Invest in teachers eager to see students essaying to see more of the excellence of others as individuals in fraught contexts. Youth in participating classrooms can read all of each other's first, intro essays, discussing most salient points, then revising to include skills and events noted in fellow students in the room.
Eventually batches of essays can go to a neighboring culture (from urban U.S. to rural, for instance, or from largely one demographic or ethnicity to another), or between countries with fraught histories regarding each other, but students all eager for the world as more openness in English may assist.
Teachers can stress allusions to novels, films, memoirs, and other arts as those teachers most prize.
But the key is teachers caring most for individual growth by students learning to treasure each other, much more personally to quote others in other cultures that may after all also just be human.
That is a broad assumption and simply not true, Jen.
A statement such as that is not supportive of teachers that ARE the instructors of Language Arts, including writing. There are some on here very dismissive of testing in the schools. But writing standards and evaluation are done with pen and paper or supervised word processing. Not with an AI buddy.
Please be sensitive to the profession of teaching and the many thousands of dedicated teachers we are fortunate to have.
A statement such as that is not supportive of teachers that ARE the instructors of Language Arts, including writing. There are some on here very dismissive of testing in the schools. But writing standards and evaluation are done with pen and paper or supervised word processing. Not with an AI buddy.
Please be sensitive to the profession of teaching and the many thousands of dedicated teachers we are fortunate to have.
Our founding documents, in their broadest reading, layout a vision of Tolerance in America and a legal framework for tolerant governance. It describes how "We the People" should govern ourselves. "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." This is NOT the vision of Kings as Trump so aptly demonstrates every day and as pre-Revolutionary King George did as well.
Increasingly, under our current would be "King", the People are pushing back. Among many issues, the latest polling shows that the People favor Tolerance over Intolerance. The 2025 project is failing. Long live Democracy in America!
The damage is still being done--The Heritage 2026 priorities are still in play, focusing on passing model legislation in the states to restrict voting rights and om "family values", and 7 other areas. Check it out.
Here's a glimpse of some of the more obscure aspects of the bipartisan precursors to the ChristoNazification of the nation. (I put this together yesterday as part of a response to a poster who was making false historical claims, but realize now it is valuable to our understanding of the fact Trump is [not] an anomaly, but rather the fulfillment of a process that's been underway since the '30s.)
U.S. ADOPTION OF NAZI WAR CRIMINALS AS ADVISORS AND COMRADES AT ARMS
In the fall of 1944, the United States and its allies launched a secret mission code-named Operation Paperclip. The aim was to find and preserve German weapons, including biological and chemical agents, but American scientific intelligence officers quickly realized the weapons themselves were not enough. https://www.npr.org/2014/02/15/275877755/the-secret-operation-to-bring-nazi-scientists-to-america
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Under Project Paperclip not only rocket scientists were recruited, but convicted war criminals– including doctors who had conducted medical atrocities on concentration camp inmates, such as: experiments with plague vaccines, experiments that force fed chemically altered seawater to starved Dachau concentration camp inmates…American democratic principles were subverted by officials who adopted the Nazi utilitarian philosophy which posits that the ends justify the means..."Nazi attitudes toward research on human subjects were imported and adopted by various U.S. officials."...MKULTRA, the notorious CIA mind control experiments with LSD and other chemical agents, were the brainchild of Nazi Paperclip scientists: https://ahrp.org/legacy-of-nazis-in-america/
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“The CIA and Nazi War Criminals”: National Security Archive ( Founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars to check rising government secrecy) – complete bibliography, with every document hyperlinked (my gift to anyone research-minded enough to track the true origins of the ChristoNazi regime.) https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB146/index.htm
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See also PDF: “Useful Enemies: America’s Open Door Policy for Nazi War Criminals” (Richard Rashke, Delphinium Books: 2015)
I've spent much of my life grappling with ideas of what should have been done with the scientists, spies, and other sort of pardoned Nazis who could become useful citizens for a more just or criminal government, permitted a chance for a new life or forced to help develop technologies for evil purposes, to me, technocrats that could be used for either purpose.
I appreciate what useful service we got from Wernher von Braun, for example because of what he did as a founder the Society of Logistics Engineers to help greatly improve the manufacturing quality standards required for and far beyond the Space programs. We came out on the top of the heap as far as I can see from the Brain Drain that had much of the rest of the worlds best coming to the US or Canada. That's the mostly good side for us and not too bad for the rest of the world when maybe half of those that came here went back to there home countries, or another on their own or pushed out by us when they were excess to our needs, see https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/economics/brain-drain
I do wonder about the balance of good and bad actors that were able to come here (I assume we had far more good coming in than bad). But then I also think about the good and the bad from within our own country. Who would want our southern slave owners or Confederate leaders that weren't pardoned? How many KKK members would other countries willingly accept? Who, today, with native populations would want George Custer or the California leaders that still had bounties for Native Americans. Is it better to try to reform them in place, inflict them on some other country, or treat them like the Soviets did?
I've also had to wrestle with who were the aggressors through the years since my wife's great great grand uncle Elihu Washburne was the Minister to France during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. It seems France decided to attack first when they wanted to reestablish its dominant position in Continental Europe. Sound familiar?
That backfired as a United Germany was created that, in a personal interest of mine, took over he Alsace-Lorraine. A friend of my son's was the daughter of an American soldier and a German wife who lived in the region during the 1960s. All I got (from this very professional investigator was eye rolls), was that it was very complicated from before that switch in control of the region and the ones that followed in and between both world wars. She wouldn't even try to explain it.
What I have come to firm belief in, is that no matter how territory is gained, the bad guys can only hold it by overwhelming, often brutal force. The good guys can only hold it by making the lives of people better off, made so much easier by their willing cooperation with what they see as just and fair.
It shows some of the dissatisfaction with the results as time passed, with many thinking more should have been prosecuted. I look at it as the best that could e done with the "care" or uncomfortable knowledge that if they prosecuted too much, a look back in their countries histories or even current actions against their own citizens, they would be subject to suggestions that they face similar charges.
I do see the value of careful pardons, more careful than those generated after the Civil War and certainly not as total as DJT granted (such that the pipe bomber of January 6 seems to be covered).
every day I think about this -- I think it must be a combination of ignorance, racism, fear, anger and a sense of displacement -- but it's baffling. I don't watch the right wing "news" shows, so I don't know how they frame current events -- but I have a pretty good idea that it just bolsters Trump's narrative.
lauriemcf, I would reverse the order of your combination: sense of displacement, anger, fear, racism and ignorance. In the view of the MAGAt world that I have, the sense of displacement of white males is the largest common ground. Anger is easier than fear, and the racism and ignorance require more cognitive thought that the amygdala provided boost to anger and fear.
My front row seat to this is the bevy of retired cops that used to be my friends, and are now simply my former work cohort. I am utterly and completely disgusted with what they believe. Some of them are less abrasive than others, but they all have this very deep, very fundamental belief that they have been wronged by anything at all representing DEI.
I TRY not to be shocked by this. Heather keeps reminding us that 20-30% of a population typically support a dictator. Much harder to “accept” when it's people we know, share our communities with and we see their vile words on social media, comment sections of newspapers, etc.
Don't lose heart. There's promising news in the poll too - considered towards the end of this Bulwark podcast which discusses a level of ambivalence developing amongst Trump voters - https://youtu.be/Q1C2jK8UqAM?si=04L7priH435E2VEu
I think that they are either so uninformed / uneducated that they can't hear, see or smell the truth or it's a trauma response. They are abuse victims and they see his behavior as powerful, the only kind of power that they can understand. I am starting to believe that we have a hidden epidemic of child abuse and incest that no one wants to talk about. It's why the Epstein Files won't change their minds. They are warped. These are his voters.
I know it's a shock, Talia. It is hard to acknowledge that a third of the country wants to go back to what the south was both before the Civil War and the post Reconstruction era. This is exactly what they want; white, male, Christian, heteronormative, cisgendered dominance.
I have to say that what has given this group life is the advent of Faux Snooze and the unleashing and unrestricted blogs/programs/radio of what used to quaintly be called "right wing sources" and are now a cesspool of Russian propaganda, Christo fascist ideology, and racist ranting.
I watched much of the session today with Jack Smith—boy oh boy, was I impressed with him…that man’s got some cool & collected goin’ on, and is the kind of dedicated public servant that I WANT on the job!!! The other takeaway was that—really???—THIS is what we PAY our Congress critters to do 🤦🏻♀️??? Watching the R’s twist themselves into pretzels trying to, um, metaphorically photoshop what went down on 1/6 and lie about it when many of them were THERE and fearful for their lives. The D’s did their share of grandstanding, but at least I found it factual, based on what I saw unfold on 1/6 with my own eyes. What really chapped my azz was Mr. Smith being asked a question only to be talked over and constantly interrupted. Good grief…the man must have the patience of a saint!
I read Mr. Smith’s original closed-session testimony and watched the subsequent video. The grandstanding yesterday by both parties left me numb and I switched it off. He does have remarkable patience, but it was really tragic watching the Republican members hurl hatred seasoned with lies at him over and over again.
I had read the transcript but didn’t watch the video. I watched it all yesterday and came away in awe of Smith’s refusal to be baited or lose his cool. He had the confidence of one who knows the law is on his side.
I wanted to smack them all, but especially Issa, and then the smirking southern Bubbas. Harriet Hageman was ludicrous. I know Smith was treading carefully, but I wish he could have thrown in a few zingers. I know, I know, it would have been beneath his dignity. Long distance runner, triathlete. This man deserves respect more so than any of his accusers.
I’d really like to know what he was thinking! Probably really good at poker. I heard a fellow interviewed who had worked with him for many years and said that he still does not know Mr. Smith’s political affiliations, but noted his fierce dedication to the rule of law & apparently is a serious triathlete & endurance sports participant, so can see how he would be focused and committed to the task at hand.
I had an exchange with a person who said she saw fear in Jack Smith's eyes. I had watched his testimony and I replied "That is not fear. That is threat recognition and threat assessment, and determining a tactical response. It requires a lot of training and practice to attain that."
Either by accident or a strategy, Netflix released (again) The West Wing series. One of my favorite shows, I had to start watching it again for old times sake. The aerial views of the White House made me sad, seeing the old East Wing. TV set of the Oval Office in it’s old glory & and how Arron Sorkin was a real future teller of how things could go to crap if you don’t fight for rights & the rule of law.
Reality is so backwards right now. So we press on fighting for democracy. Keep speaking up!
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. We deserve better ❤️🩹🤍💙
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
I let myself fall asleep with my 4 year old last night at 9pm. But then woke up at 10:15 to go to my own bed and had a hard time sleeping. Spiraled a little. Our household has been sick all week, I went back to work yesterday and I’ve been extra tired.
Will do more for my mental health to recharge this weekend ❤️🩹
Thank you again, Megan, for all you do towards regaining our democracy and the rule of law! Some days it can feel very discouraging but I keep in mind the words, "Action is the antidote to anxiety." I also read Jess Craven as she gives us hope and actions to take, and I recently shared to her your spreadsheet. Not sure if she has had time to reach out but I hope she starts including it with her Substack newsletter.
Churchill, speaking at his school in 1941, when things looked bad for the Allies: "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense."
Megan, thank you. Your post always boosts my morale.
In the middle of a room filled with tiny pissants engaged in primping, preening, and dissembling before the cameras, Eric Swalwell stood out yesterday, praising Jack Smith and noting for the record that in private, his Republican "colleagues" call Trump crazy, vile, a scumbag. "It's a good thing they're not under oath unlike you" he told Smith. He singled out a brave, strategically focused civil servant out for his courage and integrity, asking him -- despite the threats to his family to the family of his staff -- if he regretted taking the job Attorney General Merrick Garland asked him to do.
HCR has her finger on the pulse; as is often the case.
But I'd like to add the personnel and the history.
Jonathan Ross—the agent who shot Renee Good—is an 18-year ICE veteran, firearms instructor, and active shooter trainer. Three shots, 698 milliseconds, while she turned away. Her last words: "That's fine, dude. I'm not mad at you." His words after: "fucking bitch." When a doctor asked to help: "I don't care."
Ross and his team left the scene. ICE policy requires staying for interviews. No body camera footage released. The vehicle was removed before state investigators could examine it.
The commander of Operation Metro Surge is Gregory Bovino, Border Patrol Commander-at-
Large reporting directly to Noem:
- 3.6:1 use-of-force ratio (Border Patrol average: 2:1)
- Four federal judges have confronted his conduct
- One explicit perjury finding
- His text to agents: "Everybody fucking gets it if they touch you."
When Noem stood at One World Trade Center after Good's death, her podium bore the slogan "One of Ours, All of Yours." Fact-checkers traced it to Lidice or Franco's Spain. The actual origin is 160 years of American white supremacist doctrine: Reconstruction KKK, Wilmington 1898 (60 killed, government overthrown), Tulsa 1921, Rosewood 1923.
Border Patrol was founded in 1924—same year Second Klan membership peaked. Historian Kelly Lytle Hernández documented: "Practically every other member" of El Paso National Guard "was in the Klan... many joined Border Patrol."
Just wanted to add that Jonathon Ross didn't leave the scene right away. He shot Renee Good 3 times and apparently filmed it at the same time. Then called her "fucking bitch" as the car started driving off fast into those parked cars about 30 feet down the street. He walked over to her car without any care or remorse, it's obvious. But he went over to her car and it seemed like he took pictures of her or the inside of the car, not sure. But then he hoofed it back somewhat faster to his car and left. The other agents still at the scene wouldn't let anyone give her medical attention. So criminal, so wrong, so cruel and hateful.
Yes, and that info is telling. He intentionally switched camera angles so he could film her death, and then he walked over to her car. Obviously not hurt, and obviously not rushing to help an injured person, just casually walking over to do something that looks a lot like taking trophy photos on his personal phone.
A recent comment made the point that the long term effects of non-violent protest generate better outcomes than violent protests. Still, I must note that MLK received the death penalty for his non-violent protest, and Renee Nicole Good received the death penalty for her non-violent protest. And, I have to admit that I smiled at this recent photo caption: "Anti-ICE protesters pelt Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino with food while calling him 'Nazi scum' and run him off from a Minneapolis gas station along with his masked goons."
Bovino is particularly disgusting and contemptible in his Nazi trench coat, always surrounded by his squad of heavily armed & armored storm troopers brutalizing and instigating melees with protesters. His bravado and Gestapo tactics are obvious and on display, sometimes seeming to be for filming these confrontational displays of violence, cruelty, and savage attacks against peaceful protesters. It's so painful to watch what's happening in Minneapolis/St. Paul and throughout Minnesota. I feel so bad for everyone experiencing these fascist raids and attacks from ICE and CBP thugs. It's unacceptable, unAmerican, and unbelievable that this has been going on for weeks now. I hope the Minnesotans make a big impression and difference with this "ICE Out" Day of protest and general strike.
The image of that little puke wearing his nazi style overcoat with his shoulder patches is a disgusting look at how sick he is: dressing up to exhibit his fascination with evil.
His wannabe cosplay of a SWAT guy; unmasked and throwing a gas canister which then comes back on him was a joy to watch. That said, he should not be underestimated for what he wants our government to look like.
So did Medgar Evers and Gandhi, among many others. And Jesus, come to think of it. However, "ends justify the means" strategies don't fare so well in the long run: Consider Soviet Russia, Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain, and (of course) Hitler's Germany. The means tend to strongly influence the ends, if they don't actually become them.
I think it would be so invaluable for the world to know something about how you think your mind has become capable of honing so much complex political, historical and ... necessary? arg what are the words...All This,
almost Every day into One Letter
that simultaneously, without a hint of ego, yet with a weight of full responsibility and solid accuracy, and such flow and comprehensibility and depth and subtle irony - oof that last line...
How can we educate other humans to be able to THINK and to winnow and to express themselves this way-the way you do?
A biography would be a start, perhaps. If and when this terrible crisis is over?
Heather's many gifts are no doubt the result of a lifetime of discipline, diligence, focused effort. Plus no doubt great genes for memory, reasoning, articulation. I doubt she spends many hours bingeing video games or knocking back bottles of chardonnay.
also, Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. We need to open that Pandora's box. And it doesn't need to be the gd Congress or the charred nub of the DOJ who do it.
But how to protect the women and men who I'm sure have been afraid their whole lives... sigh
You can't make this stuff up. This is beyond fiction and satire. And the worst is yet to come. Welcome to America 2026. The frightening laughing stock of the world.
I woke to -22 this morning. Despite that, will drive to Minneapolis 30 minutes from my suburban home with like minded individuals. My independent book store and COOP will be closed, along with many businesses across the city and state. Ironically, many schools will be closed as it is considered unsafe for kids to wait at the bus stop in this degree of cold. Organizers of the march have arranged a rally at the Target center after we walk the city mall. Will be interesting to see how many brave the cold. What is happening in this state is not OK and must be stopped.
What are the world’s three biggest criminals doing which is the same thing?
Donald is having his private militia terror squads invade American homes without warrant, break into cars to get people by breaking their windows first, spraying irritants directly into citizens’ faces, and committing cold-blooded murder point blank.
Netanyahu has his terror squads break into Palestinians’ homes, throw Palestinians on the ground to harass them, starve them and shoot them in Gaza, and repeatedly display his dehumanized views of all of them.
Putin launches missiles at civilian populations in Ukraine, bombs schools, hospitals, apartment houses, and heating and water plants.
Now all three of them have joined what Donald calls his new Board of Peace, a special new club for all the dictators and thugs of the world who will also pay Donald a billion dollars joining fee.
For Donald, like the Greenland caper, it will draw the most slow-witted of our highest-placed mainstream media off for a bit of time from the Epstein files. For Netanyahu it allows the Kushner and Trump families to make more billions under the ruse of some Gaza real estate deal. And for Putin it buys more time for killing, mass murder, and destruction.
Anything changing other than the veneers by which establishment criminality flourishes?
Sounds more the The Board of Piece. Piece of Venezuela, Piece of Ukraine, etc., ….
Sounds more like a Piece of Shite.
Pleas of sleeze and prize of lies
Shite enough to summon flies
A scam on which a thug relies
The Board of Peace no honor buys
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble
Our litanies of dire intent
By Morrigan may they be sent
To curse the source of our lament
(So mote it be)
I think these boards are therapy sessions to air our grievances and get us through another day. But when you think of how insipid and ignorant and destructive an animal he is. I think Melania saw a rich piece of shit to spread her legs for and in return as an illegal immigrant, she got the White House not bad doing for one life to live. And we got a once in a century monster.
Choruses taken from the anthem,
“No Kings”
By The People, for The People
Below are the three choruses from the long-winded anthem, “No Kings”. These will be more manageable and easily memorized for use at any Trump protest march/demonstration.
The first three lines of each chorus is identical. Actually, the only word change for each chorus are six key words: Chaos, Autocracy; Xenophobia, Injustice; Fascism, Tyranny.
The chorus order shown below need NOT be followed. Also, any number of the choruses can be used and repeated as needed.
The music for each chorus is identical; the link to the music will be posted on RR Substack, my Substack page, and several other regular Substack contributors. Until then, the lyrics can be chanted.
Chorus 1
No Kings! No kings! No kings!, we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart voices ring aloud,
Chaos will not stand,
Autocracy will not stand!
Chorus 2
“No King! No kings! No kings!” we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart voices ring aloud,
Xenophobia will not stand,
Injustice will not stand!
Chorus 3
“No King! No kings! No kings!” we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart voices ring aloud,
Fascism will not stand,
Tyranny will not stand!
By the pricking of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes.
Anne-Louise, having sung Verdi’s version (“Macbeth”) cannot thank you enough. After all Shakespeare wrote “Storms in the Universe” are reflected in the hearts of men.”
Choruses taken from the anthem,
“No Kings”
By The People, for The People
Below are the three choruses from the long-winded anthem, “No Kings”. These will be more manageable and easily memorized for use at any Trump protest march/demonstration.
The first three lines of each chorus is identical. Actually, the only word change for each chorus are six key words: Chaos, Autocracy; Xenophobia, Injustice; Fascism, Tyranny.
The chorus order shown below need NOT be followed. Also, any number of the choruses can be used and repeated as needed.
The music for each chorus is identical; the link to the music will be posted on RR Substack, my Substack page, and several other regular Substack contributors. Until then, the lyrics can be chanted.
Chorus 1
No Kings! No kings! No kings!, we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart voices ring aloud,
Chaos will not stand,
Autocracy will not stand!
Chorus 2
“No King! No kings! No kings!” we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart voices ring aloud,
Xenophobia will not stand,
Injustice will not stand!
Chorus 3
“No King! No kings! No kings!” we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart voices ring aloud,
Fascism will not stand,
Tyranny will not stand!
I love this ascent into poetry and other literary flourishes!
I've also enjoyed this. Sadly, I racked my brain, but could offer nothing to augment this delightful ascent.
Maybe this will help, Ally: “The Emperor has no clothes!”
Ally, sometimes we take joy in just reading or listening. I have enjoyed all the poetry and song this am. I did see New Yorkers singing an antiTrump song which consisted largely of the f word. As one of my ex-students remarked that it is catchy and i noted that it is easy to learn.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall - Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
trump🐖💩 deserves to rot in hell.
Every morning I hope to see he croaked. Choked on a Big Mac,
A Big Mac is too high rated for Trump. I'd rather he choked on his own vomit after his conviction by the Senate hopefully yet to come.
Personally, I'd prefer seeing him reduced to a voiceless, non-mobile hulk, aware of his surroundings but unable to text or speak...completely at the mercy of his attendants (and may many of them be Somalian) Perfect Karmic justice.
The "voiceless" and "unable to text" parts are especially appealing.
But remember, we'd still be left with Miller, Voght, Vance, Bondi, Hegseth, Patel - did I leave out any other scoundrels?
"...completely at the mercy of his attendants (and may many of them be Somalian) Perfect Karmic justice." Ya...that's the part that I think is most warranted.
Like the Hector in Breaking Bad paralyzed, unable to speak following a stroke, communicating only by ringing a bell attached to his wheelchair. Let Miller and company listen to that ding, ding, ding until they all go crazy.
Riad. That sounds like cause for celebration too. Maybe after he eats the Big Mac he could choke on his own vomit.
A twofer🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣!
and a fish sandwich
You all are getting way too mean and scatological:):):)
Stephanie, I know you may be saying this tongue in cheek; however, we haven't really yet reached that level. In many ways, Trump has eclipsed scatological meanness. Regarding his behavior and speech pathology reasonably well noticed by now, scatolia may well be right around the corner for him. However, that's a habit I wouldn't wish on anybody including him.
Pat, A lot of people get up in the am hoping to see this news.
Or Shite of Peace.
Steven Colbert called it the "Bored of Peace." I think of Orwell's "1984," which my book club happens to be reading right now, and I think of
WAR IS PEACE!
According to Wikipedia this is the structure, and who is in it and not in it.
The charter of the board of peace outlines a multi-level structure for the organisation which includes:[40]
Chairman Donald Trump who is a member for life.
The main Board of Peace composed mainly of the leaders of countries. About sixty have been invited.
The Executive Board with a focus on diplomacy and investment. Seven members have been appointed.
The Gaza Executive Board to direct the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza which will administer the territory. Its head is titled the High Representative for Gaza and Nickolay Mladenov has been appointed along with ten other members.
Chairman
Donald Trump is explicitly named in the Charter of the Board of Peace as its inaugural Chairman. The chairman has no term limit and they alone have the authority to nominate their designated successor. Only the Chairman has the ability to invite countries to join the board. The Chairman has the exclusive authority to create, modify, or dissolve subsidiary entities of the Board of Peace. All revisions to the Charter and administrative directives issued by the Board of Peace are subject to approval by the Chairman.[41] Trump's chairmanship of the Board of Peace is independent to him holding the presidency of the United States and he has indicated that he would like to remain chairman for life.
Board of Peace
Countries by status:
Invited Accepted Declined Invitation Withdrawn
Around 60 countries received invitations from U.S. President Donald Trump to join the Board of Peace.[42] The following countries have been invited to participate as founding members. Countries that wish to be permanent members of the Board of Peace must pay US$1 billion into a fund controlled by chairman Donald Trump; otherwise, they will serve a 3-year term.[43]
Participants
The following states have confirmed their participation in the Board of Peace:
Albania[44]
Argentina[45]
Armenia[46][47]
Azerbaijan[48][49]
Bahrain[50]
Belarus[51]
Bulgaria[52]
Egypt[53]
Hungary[54]
Indonesia[55]
Israel[56]
Jordan[57]
Kazakhstan[58]
Kosovo[59]
Kuwait[60]
Mongolia[61]
Morocco[62]
Pakistan[63]
Paraguay[64]
Qatar[57]
Saudi Arabia[57]
Turkey[57]
United Arab Emirates[65]
United States[66]
Uzbekistan[67]
Vietnam[68]
Invitees
The following states and organizations have been invited to participate, but had not respond to the invitation prior to the inaugural meeting on 22 January 2026:
Australia[69]
Austria[70]
Brazil[71][72]
Cambodia[73]
China[74]
Croatia[75]
Cyprus[76]
Czech Republic[77]
Finland[78]
Greece[27]
India[79]
Japan[27]
Netherlands[27]
New Zealand[27]
Oman[27]
Poland[80]
Portugal[27]
Romania[27]
Russia[81]
Singapore[82]
South Korea[27]
Switzerland[83]
Thailand[27]
Ukraine[27]
Vatican City[36]
European Union[27]
The following state was invited to participate, but the invitation was later withdrawn:
Canada[a]
The following states have declined their invitation to participate:
France[86]
Germany[87]
Ireland[88]
Italy[89]
Norway[90]
Slovenia[36]
Spain[91][92]
Sweden[93]
United Kingdom[94][95]
Board of Peace Executive Board
The members of the Board of Peace Executive Board were announced on 17 January 2026. They are:[66]
Nickolay Mladenov – High Representative for Gaza, appointed by the United States
Marco Rubio – United States Secretary of State
Steve Witkoff – United States Special Envoy to the Middle East
Jared Kushner – Donald Trump's son-in-law
Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marc Rowan – CEO of Apollo Global Management
Ajay Banga – President of the World Bank
Robert Gabriel Jr. – American political advisor
Gaza Executive Board
A Gaza Executive Board supports the High Representative for Gaza and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. Its members were announced on 17 January 2026. They are:[66]
Steve Witkoff – United States Special Envoy to the Middle East
Jared Kushner – Donald Trump's son-in-law
Hakan Fidan – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey
Ali al-Thawadi – Minister for Strategic Affairs of Qatar
Hassan Rashad – Director of the General Intelligence Directorate of Egypt
Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marc Rowan – CEO of Apollo Global Management
Reem Al-Hashimy – Minister of State for International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates
Nickolay Mladenov – High Representative for Gaza, appointed by the United States
Yakir Gabay – Israeli businessman
Sigrid Kaag – United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
It really seems like a pay for play real estate development board. That is going to be Gaza first, then Venezuela, then Greenland, and then Canada. Mexico will fall into this as well. Will these countries be militarily required to support Trump's agenda? If so, then my telling people last January that with Trump as president I could see him having the US military join Russia in attacking European countries. I think a wise Europe would prepare for that, and so should wise members of the US military.
Bryan, I’m kind of hoping your comment was at least partially inspired by the film Glass Onion. If so, well played, my friend.
Board of Piss.
So perfect.
Bored of Peace.
Musk's joke about this fell flat at Davos.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/91o4LLHsl48
Russell John Netto, Just because Musk is brilliant in one small area of human endeavor has led him to think he is brilliant in all areas. This is such an embarrassing YouTube. I wish he would develop even just a small amount of humility and self-examination.
I don't think Musk has the capacity for self-reflection. People give him far more credit than he deserves, because he's wealthy and white.
Musk isn't brilliant. Only thinking makes it so.
Ya... however, his joke was closer to the truth than anyone would have expected. I can only imagine what donald thought of it.
Clever and funny if it weren't so dire....
Good one!
or Bored of Peace
The Board of Peace soon should announce their Inaugural Tournament: "Golfing on Graveyards."
Ahhh...but where to host it first?
I am highly suspicious that Trump will have this organization develop their own peace prize and he will be awarding it to himself. Then everyone who pays the 1 bil fee to join will be legitimizing his claim to being a peace prize winner. It will be interesting to see who will pay to play.
Board of Grift, Graft and Gimme. Nothing more...
Pic/plans of “New Gaza” unveiled at Davos.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7mmpljze7o
Boy, the BBC provides excellent coverage! Thank you for sharing.
And Kushner was in NPR this morning describing his plans for Gaza.
Yeah, what a joke
Loved the thought Linda ❤️. Could you imagine every one of those bastards awarding themselves a Peace Prize? All you need it's a billon dollars and a total lack of decency.
Ricardo, I cannot see that because Trump has to be the best. This is the Rubber Stamp Trump board. I heard that Putin might participate. That will be interesting. I want to know who the 20 countries are that signed up. They had apparently hoped for 35. So, we shall see how Trump goes about getting that other 15 countries. All are buying influence, and the board should be a violation of the US constitution if it isn't. Meanwhile the US left the WHO and owes them hundreds of millions. They can forget it. Trump does not pay his debts or ours. He just makes more debts for us as he is robbing us blind.
No Europeans. Or Australia, I'm happy to report, although "invited".
SHOULD I TRY FOR A FOURTH TERM?”
DonOLD reminds me of the Monty Python scene in The Holy Grail where the Knight has had both his arms and legs cut off and cries "I'll bite your legs off."
Trump's brain is mush, he's had a stroke, he slurs his speech and talks gibberish. People are hoping he dies today and he thinks he'll survive long enough to run again.
Well, wait a minute. I'm looking forward to their ten point program, a veritable thesis on world governance and lasting peace. But then it may only be a prediction not a promise. Anyway, I think living in a world where there are no more wars or violence is not a sapiens trademark -- anyway......
Can you believe that he offered Zelenskiy a place on this board? I imagine him wiping his hands with disgust as he rejects it.
No doubt there will be some MAGA cretins all too ready to spend their savings on a pool that gambles which nations will join this shite show. With most of MAGA intellect and bank accounts so low and their predilection to gamble their lives away, it wouldn't surprise me to see an enterprising Ponzi scheme manipulator try to make a buck off of this travesty.
I would like to create a betting pool on how long his speeches would be. Perhaps that might get more MAGA to pay attention to them.
Let’s never forget to thank Uncle Joe for this fricken mess.
You are singing the Donold Maga tune.
They all love to blame Biden too.
I am not thanking anyone but the idiots that voted him in and the guy himself for being a liar. Here is a piece I wrote about an article on Democratic Backsliding.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/backsliding-democracies-like-ours?r=f0qfn
What?
Holy crap… I read your whole piece you wrote last year, Linda. Very enlightening. For one moment in the 1970s, I voted for John Anderson a republican turned independent thinking he was the best alternative. Although not a bad character, still wasting my vote ona 3rd candidate was a mistake. One big difference between republicans at least the MAGA type and democrats are that MAGAs have one person only; wi through a mix of fabricated lies and some truth and democratics only propose issues that benefit everyone when they should know that most or many people do not understand what is in their best interest.
Cheers.
I think most participating countries don't even have $1B. I suppose Argentina could return 1 of the billions Trump handed to him to get him re-elected. Take note that he has established himself as chairman as Donald Trump, not as POTUS, so his reign would continue beyond his presidency. This is just a fat cat real estate deal to him, which is how he sees the world. Unfortunately he was a failure at that as well.
They would amount to merely parasitic creatures - nothing more.....
Maybe Jeff Bozo and others who've volunteered to pony up for the Trump ballroom will be offered a reduced rate.
I wonder if he plans to take over the U.N. by enlisting oligarchs to buy its governance, just as oligarchs did to take over the U.S.
I think he might follow what the John Birch Society wanted to do, withdraw the United States from the UBN and expel the UN from the US. The whole concept is stupidity, but it’s equally stupid to withdraw from other organizations like the WHO and to allow the desires of Trump to govern our relationships with the world and our internal governance.
I suppose he could refuse to host the United Nations HQ in New York, although I suspect Mamdani might have something to say about that. He has continued whining on this theme 'what has NATO ever done for us?' which he could equally transfer to the UN itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ
(P.S. for Monty Python fans only!).
John Cleese for the win!
True.
He plans to replace the UN with his Peace Board, with him ruling it all. I fully expect him to pull out of the UN officially and perhaps evict them from the US. While a noble ideal, it's a toothless entity at this point in terms of impacting big world events. Perhaps restructuring would be beneficial, but- much like this country- there would be no consensus on direction. We are in a time of monsters.
Where is that money from oil sale in Venezuela? That is “our” money and he should pay with that. Who am I kidding-this is all bullshit and just want to know more about the EPSTEIN FILES
The oil money from Venezuela is in a safe account in Qatar in Trump’s name.
OUR money? Wow, that didn't take long. Last I checked, that money belonged to the citizens of Venezuela.
Don't forget he is stealing OUR money, too. I have no doubt. Where are all those concerned GOP politicians??
Donald has been very open about his theft from us by telling us he was not going to deposit the money in the US, but in Qatar. So, I will assume that is where it is, but just because he says it is there, does not mean it is. He lies but he also tells us how he screws us too. Which wins out here?
Professor Stefan Wolff has described it as "a privatised UN with one shareholder: the US president."
https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-board-of-peace-looks-like-a-privatised-un-with-one-shareholder-the-us-president-273856
Those joining this so-called Board of Peace have a year to come up with that $!billion joining fee. How many do you think will actually pay that? Maybe a few very wealthy Middle East sycophants. The toadying never ends, just gets more costly.
No need for any doubt about it. That is how he "wins" tournaments at his clubs. He also puts up fake man of the year Time Magazine covers at the clubs for the years Time wasn't stupid enough to actually give him the "honor"
Thanks Terry! Reading your comment lets me know that I need to take a break from reading anything about this sociopathic psychopath, or psychopathic-sociopath. I am starting to feel too demeaned by thinking about him and how sickening he is.
If this is purely a fund-raising effort to rebuild Gaza after its destruction by Israeli-US weapons, Great but unusual. What I can't understand are why the details are obscured.
And will that effort displace all the Palestinians? Or will Netanyahu and Jared build new condos and townhouses with palm trees and fountains for them?
Yes it’s $1 billion to get in — is there an annual fee to remain that he has complete control of.. the ‘board’ of peace should be formerly placed up his ass
Yes. Here is a discussion of how Trump operates with a few examples to illustrate it. https://youtube.com/watch?v=RPzcGeiNYvk&si=cxPiFS8oy-rdgPij
By this example, the EU is supposed to pay for keeping Greenland, which would be chaos stirred up to go running. As Trump's former guy Michael Wolff puts it, Trump starts a fire and then wants to watch who is trying to put it out. Greenland is a fire, and he has by no means let go of owning it, he has just backed off to see what he can get out of Europe before taking it.
Then there is this response by Finland President Stubb who points out that the EU is a stable place to invest. https://youtu.be/1UXY-Y0nJjk?si=jDw0gXpe63HY9t3T
Notice Europe and Australia did not accept invitations to the Board of Peace, and Trump took back the offer to Canada. So, who is on the board?According to Wikipedia here is the Structure.
The charter of the board of peace outlines a multi-level structure for the organisation which includes:[40]
Chairman Donald Trump who is a member for life.
The main Board of Peace composed mainly of the leaders of countries. About sixty have been invited.
The Executive Board with a focus on diplomacy and investment. Seven members have been appointed.
The Gaza Executive Board to direct the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza which will administer the territory. Its head is titled the High Representative for Gaza and Nickolay Mladenov has been appointed along with ten other members.
Participants
The following states have confirmed their participation in the Board of Peace:
Albania[44]
Argentina[45]
Armenia[46][47]
Azerbaijan[48][49]
Bahrain[50]
Belarus[51]
Bulgaria[52]
Egypt[53]
Hungary[54]
Indonesia[55]
Israel[56]
Jordan[57]
Kazakhstan[58]
Kosovo[59]
Kuwait[60]
Mongolia[61]
Morocco[62]
Pakistan[63]
Paraguay[64]
Qatar[57]
Saudi Arabia[57]
Turkey[57]
United Arab Emirates[65]
United States[66]
Uzbekistan[67]
Vietnam[68]
Invitees
The following states and organizations have been invited to participate, but had not respond to the invitation prior to the inaugural meeting on 22 January 2026:
Australia[69]
Austria[70]
Brazil[71][72]
Cambodia[73]
China[74]
Croatia[75]
Cyprus[76]
Czech Republic[77]
Finland[78]
Greece[27]
India[79]
Japan[27]
Netherlands[27]
New Zealand[27]
Oman[27]
Poland[80]
Portugal[27]
Romania[27]
Russia[81]
Singapore[82]
South Korea[27]
Switzerland[83]
Thailand[27]
Ukraine[27]
Vatican City[36]
European Union[27]
The following state was invited to participate, but the invitation was later withdrawn:
Canada[a]
The following states have declined their invitation to participate:
France[86]
Germany[87]
Ireland[88]
Italy[89]
Norway[90]
Slovenia[36]
Spain[91][92]
Sweden[93]
United Kingdom[94][95]
Board of Peace Executive Board
The members of the Board of Peace Executive Board were announced on 17 January 2026. They are:[66]
Nickolay Mladenov – High Representative for Gaza, appointed by the United States
Marco Rubio – United States Secretary of State
Steve Witkoff – United States Special Envoy to the Middle East
Jared Kushner – Donald Trump's son-in-law
Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marc Rowan – CEO of Apollo Global Management
Ajay Banga – President of the World Bank
Robert Gabriel Jr. – American political advisor
Gaza Executive Board
A Gaza Executive Board supports the High Representative for Gaza and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. Its members were announced on 17 January 2026. They are:[66]
Steve Witkoff – United States Special Envoy to the Middle East
Jared Kushner – Donald Trump's son-in-law
Hakan Fidan – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey
Ali al-Thawadi – Minister for Strategic Affairs of Qatar
Hassan Rashad – Director of the General Intelligence Directorate of Egypt
Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marc Rowan – CEO of Apollo Global Management
Reem Al-Hashimy – Minister of State for International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates
Nickolay Mladenov – High Representative for Gaza, appointed by the United States
Yakir Gabay – Israeli businessman
Sigrid Kaag – United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
Am totally sickened… just disgusted… Building upon the bones of Gaza this is beyond evil…
Using slides showing images of gleaming skyscrapers and apartments, Jared Kushner presented a Trump-backed "master plan" for the rebuilding of Gaza.
Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, said during Thursday's presentation at the World Economic Forum in Davos that postwar Gaza would become "a place that the people … can thrive, have great employment."
"In the Middle East they build cities like this, you know for 2 or 3 million people, they build this in three years," said Kushner, who has no official title but has been part of the US-backed Gaza peace negotiations.
"And so, stuff like this is very doable if we make it happen," he said, speaking immediately after Trump presented his ambitious “Board of Peace” designed to oversee the Gaza truce and Strip's reconstruction.
Kushner spoke of needing investments of at least $25 billion (€21.3 billion) to rebuild Gaza's shattered infrastructure and public services.
"It could be a hope. It could be a destination," he said.
https://amp.dw.com/en/kushner-presents-master-plan-for-rebuilding-postwar-gaza/a-75614206
It is sickening and that the UN would sanction this so that money would flow into Gaza. It is like a developers board. The Board of Peace should be the board of Developers
Well, if they're competing on who can make the most world peace, how can we argue with that?? Ha Ha Ha
Just remember Stephanie, in Orwell's "1984," WAR IS PEACE!
Right you are Linda!
The NJ state police should set up a blood-alcohol test on the roads as members are leaving Bedminister. Even if the driver passes the Breathalyzer test have ICE there to check their papers. I'd be shocked if the didn't catch some illegal middle Easterners or Russians.
War is Peace. I read that book when I was 12 and thought it over-exaggerated.
J L, It is "1984" by George Orwell. My political book club is reading that right now, and I was just pointing out to a friend that we are seeing that in action.
Yes, "1984" is very much coming alive. If memory serves, Winston Smith's job was to revise history in favor of Big Brother. Isn't that what trump is doing at the Smithsonian? Just today, the National Park Service had to dismantle an exhibit featuring slavery. Now, there was no slavery in America.
Yes, but Winston Smith is not the leader, he is a lower level member of the party. He is more like a grunt in the machine. Also, it appears, and we just started reading this, and I remembered nothing from when I last read it, or not correctly, but he is longing for the life of the proles. The proles are like MAGA though. They are easily appeased with shallow patriotism. Those that are not may be culled from the crowd, but they have a lot more freedom. There baseness is accepted because they are too lowly to worry about.
The words that stand out to me are the party slogans.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
We are seeing all 3 at play. Our freedom is at the expense of the enslavement of Venezuelans, and immigrants, and perhaps Greenlanders. I have heard Greenlanders planning on going to Denmark if the US comes, but they will leave their elders behind in some cases. What will Trump do with them if he comes? The Board of Peace is being lead by someone who is waging war. I read a play on this. Bored of Peace, and Board of Piece as in take a piece of this country, take a piece of that country.
Prior to this we read Yevgeny Zamyatin's book "We" which Orwell was influenced by to write this. I can see the influences. In both books the leadership has told the people, who accept this for the most part that Freedom is not good. In "We" Freedom cannot coexist with Happiness. In "1984" Freedom is Slavery. There are other similarities as well. Both writing forbidden records of their experiences of the world around us. Both longing for what was before this. Both accepting the system they are in, but being open to those who do not.
Zamyatin was an enthusiast of the Russian Revolution. It seems that he was less so of the way that people who took leadership of the country afterwards envisioned implementation. Implementation of ideas is always important. The people who implemented these ideas lost something in the translation that had excited and animated people. They learned brainwashing and other techniques for control. This is not what most of us signed up for in our government. Yet, we see many aspects of it coming into play.
Linda...Thank you for this essay. I truly envy you your political book club.
It's mostly just barefaced lies, like Vance denying that he said that ICE agents had absolute immunity and Karoline Leavitt denying that Trump confused Iceland with Greenland at Davos. It never ends.
Ron DeSantis is doing it in Florida too, and I'm sure it's happening in other Republican-run states.
some of the No Kings protests have seen signs reading "Make Orwell Fiction Again"
FYI "DAG" & Everybody,
Substack Inc is launching a "Substack Google TV App" & a "Apple' TV App".
Caveat Emptor.
We will have to determine if Substack Inc revises the existing 2025:Terms of Use (TOU) or their SF lawyers require a contractually binding contract for USERs of their new Platform.
Caution.
Caution. Yes. Actually, I'd call for a "red alert".
Apparently, "Substack" is going for the big bucks. A couple of thoughts here. Notice that ROKU, the overwhelming leader in streaming platforms is not available (yet). You can bet it comes down to $$. Google and Apple are minor players fighting for streaming share - but can afford to pay Substack $$$$. ROKU holds the cards for now. But big eats little.
I expect ROKU and Substack may experience the "CBS Experience".
Substack is coming under increasing fire for hosting some nasty crap. Do they have Zuckerberg Syndrome?
Watch for the Substack "public offering". CEO Chris Best has hinted. I get he wants a yacht as well.
And guess who is a major investor in Substack?
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): A lead investor in Series A and B rounds, estimated to own 15%–20%.
Marc Andreessen is, of course, another billionaire groveling at Trump's feet, kissing the ring, applauding the fascism.
Follow the money. That's the real American religion.
Let's enjoy Substack while we can. But I am open for suggestions as to a new safe place to be. To read and write.
Bryan Sean, Thanks for the heads up.
Bryan, I got the breathless announcement about "Substack TV" in my email inbox, and it confirmed by prediction found at the end of this comment. I thought, "Who asked for this?"
One thing I can say without equivocation about American business: Enough is never enough.
I don't charge my handful of subscribers for following my Substack, so I don't know what cut Substack skims off the top. But apparently, it's not enough.
Mark my words: As Substack's expansion continues, Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie and Jairaj Sethi will want to be the next Mark Zuckerbergs. It's just a matter of time until they adjust Substack's algorithms and start selling advertising.
1984 was first published in 1949. Orwell was as prophetic as Nostradamus.
Orwell just reversed the numbers of the year when he wrote the book - 1948 (though the traditional publishing delays applied...)
There was a well-done movie of the book some years back - which was pretty accurate representation of Orwell's vision, BUT set the action in what the world looked like then - lots of brick buildings and mid-rise bureaucratic offices. By the time the movie came out (maybe about 1984), the world clearly did not look like that at all, so its impact was much reduced.
If they had filmed it on the set of Blade Runner, it would have been much more scary.
Filming it now on the streets of Minneapolis and Chicago might be even worse.
Yes. However, Orwell borrowed from Zamyatin, whose "We" was published in 1921. Both men had an understanding of fascism and the totalitarian state that we are gaining insight into.
Prophetic and he keeps reaching a wide swath of readers with metaphorical language -- a universal reach that endures. Good to remember these attributes when the Redesigns of All that's Been Broken is Transformed.
Orwell remained a democratic socialist all of his life, but he was very critical of communism and the constant rewriting of history. At the time he wrote “1984,” Stalin governed the Soviet Union and was always engaged in rewriting of history. Stalin was extremely paranoid and had already murdered tens of millions of people in the Soviet Union, including many of his former old Bolshevik allies, killing Ukrainians by engineering a famine in Ukraine, and arresting millions, either sentencing them to a bullet in the back of the head or incarceration in a gulag.
Orwell saw that undemocratic governments of the extreme right or left were capable of the sort of behavior he depicted in “1984.” I can see Trump engaging in some of the behavior of Big Brother.
Trump, Bibi, Putin and many others have killed millions through starvation with total immunity.
And Congress refused to end the shutdown even as SNAP benefits ran out for over 40 million Americans. As January 31st approaches what other programs won't be funded by the Fascist Republicans.
Yes. Mass murder. And the shutdown of USAID is a war crime.
There is significant banter that the DEMs and the GOP are all part of a swamp of dark money. That both parties are responsible for the mess we are in.
While I agree that the DEMs have made many mistakes. The biggest being NAFTA and ignoring the plight of the worker. Among many others.
But there is an absolutely big difference between the parties.
DEMs care about life. Care about Housing. Hunger. Education. Healthcare. Survival of the poor and less fortunate.
MAGA GOP devotees DO NOT CARE. About human lives. About the suffering of children. About the misery of their fellow humans. They JUST DON'T CARE. And we keep trying to appeal to their "better selves". But that is a fool's errand. They JUST DON'T CARE.
The solution? Win elections. Legislate for all Americans. Tax the rich to feed the poor. Prosecute the crooks. Pretty straight forward. Criminal justice, social justice and push the hater/bigots back under the rocks where they were hiding.
We have the Constitutional High Ground. We have the Moral High Ground. Not complicated anymore.
Yes. I think this maladministration doesn’t care about the already living and is willing to see many of us die off from medical neglect, lack of food support, and sheer cruelty.
As well as the direct killings that are happening in their names.
As we are rereading the book, we are seeing more and more parallels, and we are in early days. Just 1/4 of the way through his presidency now. We have a Plutocracy, and things like Citizens United opened the door for that.
And no doubt there will be big, shiny, gold trophies and medals.
Correction: gold plated.
probably with spray paint.
The tat in the oval office appears to be resin castings from China that have been "gold-leafed," not spray-painted as some have claimed. But it should noted that modern "gold leaf" isn't real gold; it's ultra-thin anodized aluminum sheets, which cost a fraction of real gold leaf material.
Somewhere in Northern Virginia, a bunch of Vietnamese women are feverishly pasting anodized aluminum sheets on a pile of resin castings for an "interior decorator" who's making a fortune on those cheesy ornaments.
The demented dotard has been told by his babysitters that the castings are solid gold and he believes them.
Expect his "awards" to be made of the same material.
thank you -- that's fascinating!
Bedminster.
Bedminster, site of Ivana's headstone-less grave. Trump will throw in Bedminster membership to the first ten dictators who sign up for the tournament.
Perhaps Indian burial grounds, like in Poltergeist -- with same end result.
Siberia?
Just for the record:
UN Security Council Resolution 2803 (2025) addresses the "Board of Peace" (BoP) in the context of the Gaza conflict. Adopted on November 17, 2025, by a vote of 13-0-2 (abstentions by China and Russia), it endorses the "Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict" and establishes the BoP as a transitional administration.
Key Provisions on Board of Peace
The resolution welcomes the BoP as a transitional administration with international legal personality to set the framework and coordinate funding for Gaza's redevelopment until the Palestinian Authority completes reforms. It authorizes the BoP to establish operational entities for governance, reconstruction, humanitarian aid, and movement facilitation under its oversight.
Mandate and Duration
The BoP oversees an International Stabilization Force (ISF) for demilitarization, security, and Israeli withdrawal linked to milestones, with operations funded by voluntary contributions. The BoP and related presences are authorized until December 31, 2027, subject to Council review, and must report progress every six months
Trump's role as "Chairman Trump," a lifelong member with extensive powers, is explicitly named in the BoP's charter, announced January 15, 2026, and presented at Davos on January 22, 2026. The charter grants the chairman sole authority to invite members, nominate successors, and approve changes, with Trump self-designating for the position.
Relation to UN Resolution
Resolution 2803 welcomed the BoP as a transitional body for Gaza governance under the "Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict," but critics note the final charter expands its scope globally and centralizes power in Trump, diverging from the UN-endorsed Gaza-focused plan. No UN document appoints Trump; the BoP operates independently as a U.S.-led private initiative invoking but not bound by the resolution.
Trump has hallucinated the Board of Peace into his next phase towards world domination after his presidency. It will be total insanity if the UN doesn't step i and stop this craziness. At least they can pull the plug on December 31, 2027. I hope buried in the verbiage of the Security Council Resolution is something sooner. I guess the UN thought this was the only way they could get money for Gaza since Trump was cutting all of the funding for many of the UN agencies.
I cannot believe that France, UK, Greece, Denmark, Latvia, Colombia and Panama voted for this abomination!!!!
Just saw he pulled us out of WHO.
The “Board of Peace” is simply Trump’s shabby substitute for any international organization which he cannot personally control. It is also a fig leaf designed to conceal his personal interests and those of his son in law Jared Kushner in making money off turmoil and self-dealing. Donald and his family simply do not understand what conflicts of interest are and Donald sees no reason why he shouldn’t personally profit off being president.
I think he knows what all of the above is- he just doesn’t care because he has never been held accountable for his awful behavior-
I agree, and he will never care how bad anything he does is.
Oh, I think they understand conflict of interest very well. They don’t care.
I definitely think it’s probable, but they deliberately decide to ignore conflicts of interest as in their minds, they deserve to get whatever they want.
Kathy, Donald and his family know what conflicts of interest are. That's what lawyers are for.
Few men in the world need to be followed around by so large a platoon of lawyers. Now, he has the entire Department of [In]Justice at his disposal.
His specialty is creating conflicts.
He has also not given up his desire to spark a civil war here. Those of us who oppose him don’t want a civil war, or any other unnecessary war. Trump DOES want a civil war.
Of course it is. The bigger problem is that it gives Trump alone rights to take or veto any action, as if Trump were king of the world. Just as he is not king or dictator of the United States, he isn’t king or dictator of the world, and it’s an impeachable offense for him to create his own “Board of Peace” and to grant himself the authority to run it solely on his own orders.
Yes, when those Gaza proposals were being drafted I wondered who in the world actually thought anything good could come of it. Not the UN members, for sure... Silly me. They didn't care at all about peace--which is still not a reality. All he wanted was a way to commandeer the development of Gaza--whose name is sure to be changed to honor the chairman of that Board. This is such a travesty--it leaves me spittin' mad. We can only guess at the extortion and threats at work to get those toadies to join. How is he allowed to get away with all this?
And thank you for the UN resolution background.
He just got himself a $29B slush fund from the “donations” from the members of the board—to go to all his cronies—Erik Prince and Vectis Global for security, GEO Group for detention facilities, Conti Federal, Bechtel Corp. for heavy construction.
A once every six month “report” is the only oversight. No Palestinians have to leave—Trump can just starve them out because he will privatize food distribution and medical care along with everything else so 75% goes to overhead, and probably 30% profit margins.
If the UN was dumb enough to accept that resolution as drafted, maybe the institution does deserve to die.
They went insane because Trump has cut their funding and walked out of the dozens of UN humanitarian initiatives. “Adapt, shrink, or die” was kind of a nice way to get his point across, don’t you think?
It’s really a grift to privatize humanitarian efforts as profit opportunities for his cronies.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-pledges-2-billion-for-un-humanitarian-aid-as-trump-slashes-funding-and-warns-agencies-to-adapt-shrink-or-die
(1) If the UN or anyone else is counting on doing private deals with the chairman of that board, do they not remember how his deals work? Do not pay what you promise, force the other party to sue you and settle for pennies on the dollar.
(2) To me what might possibly be the worst thing of all about all the attention this man and his cruelties and his crimes are getting is that the world's true crises and the needs of people aren't being attended to. Gaza, Ukraine, world starvation, homelessness, the climate crisis: imagine a president who focused on these issues. He has two interests: evading jail and personal enrichment.
They voted, but then decided not to join it when Trump took control of it and turned it into a dodgy real estate venture. In fact, it's become radioactive in Europe. Only a handful of far-right politicians have joined it (and not the most prominent). But the Gulf Arabs and Egypt are all taking part (they're all dictatorships.)
They knew what Trump was capable of from NATO and with Ukraine. There is no excuse. The original plan was to have Tony Blair run it. As soon as Trump took over, especially after the “Adapt. shrink or die” threat to the UN, the handwriting was on the wall. Only a tiny money will go to the Palestinians for aid. Much more will go to Trump’s cronies who will get huge contracts and profits for privatizing aid. Same game with privatizing health care and charter schools, and prisons, and detention centers.
Fool me once, fool me twice….
Perhaps
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/security-council-resolution-on-president-donald-j-trumps-comprehensive-plan-to-end-the-gaza-conflict-s-res-2803-2025/
Link to the text of the Un Security Council Resolution
The BOP is simultaneously nonsensical and dangerous. The withdrawal from WHO is the big headline if we care about the needless deaths of millions. WHEN the next pandemic hits, innocent Americans will die due to criminal incompetence. Criminal stupidity.
I believe you are right on the withdrawal from WHO needing to get more play. It’s like they think that spending money on healthcare for black and brown people is wasted—as if somehow they think they can isolate themselves from the next pandemic. Maybe someone told Trum pthe golden dome would do that too.
They can’t even stop kids dying from measles again after it was eradicated here.
OMG…they did it….they were successful in their program , have taken their land for develop by the oligarchs and will have the Palestinians, no doubly, making beds and cleaning toilets for tourists. Breaks my heart.
Link?
"what Donald calls his new Board of Peace,"
What a joke.
It's piece of crap JL
What the hell is wrong with you people he’s trying to create people and countries to come together to oversee a peace in Gaza and you’re against that you people make me sick to my stomach. If Joe Biden was doing this, you’d be on your knees, genuflecting and cheering him.
Also called the Bored of Peace, and the Board of Piece. Taking pieces of other countries that is.
Starting with the name.
Who is laughing J L? 🤣
Hello Phil... Didn't Ted Leiu say today that Venezuela, Minneapolis, and Greenland are Distractions from the Epstein Files?.... DJT has a Feral Intensity for Survival... For DJT, his Survival is the most Important Issue In The Universe...
Apache -- "a feral intensity for survival" is a perfect descriptor for Trump.
While they are distractions, and I am glad Heather keeps bringing it up, and so does Zev Shalev and Lev Parnas, and Dean Blundell. Someone posted a gruesome piece about it by Greg Olear, that is hypothetical but very very disturbing. Is he a murderer of young girls?
https://open.substack.com/pub/gregolear/p/infrequently-asked-questions-about-519?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Hasn't worked. More action on the Epstein files today and goodness knows what's brewing with Michael Cohen.
Apropos Trumpstein, here is the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein -- later withdrawn in response to credible death threats against the plaintiff: https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf Please let us ensure this text is linked early (and therefore prominently) on as many Resistance sites as possible every day until the traitorous regime of ecogenocidal Christonazi pedophiles is no more. (I'll do my best to be responsible for this posting, but I am 85 years old and terminally ill, which means others need be ready to pick up the torch on days I am absent and after I am no more.)
yes to this. The real issue is not whether Trump has 'protected' pedophiles by not reporting what Epstein was doing or by continuing to go to the parties. The real issue is that Trump himself is/was a very active pedophile and participated in sex with girls. That's what the lawsuit alleges in detail - and it's consistent with his actions that he described voluntarily in his Access Hollywood tape years ago - going into dressing rooms of 15- and 16-year old girls in the Miss Teen America contest, kissing the girls against their will and grabbing them by the genitals.
The MAGA folk claim they hate pedophiles. Remember the eloquent Marjorie Taylor Greene saying that all Democrats are pedophiles? (I wonder if she still thinks that, or says it.) No doubt most of them will find that pedophiles are not so bad, once even they (and Fox and Newsmax) can no longer avoid knowing that Trump is one of the most active.
Trump's people were making an effort a few months ago to normalize sex with girls, referencing Romeo and Juliet (Juliet was 13 in the play), biblical texts (from the Old Testament only), and marriage ages in some of the predictable states in the US. They may have given up on that line of defence, or they may be saving it for when the distractions are no longer working.
I am sorry to hear this, Loren.
Thank you for the good thoughts.
I’m telling you to save your own life from your hate your needless hate you should read this and this defines you to a T if I haven’t already told you.
A person puts all their faith and energy into a belief, especially publicly and vehemently. He/she exposes their inner self, and to all those around them , is admired, respected, but only because they are surrounded by like thinkers. The TDS syndrome stems from this…the following ….
All of a sudden all the work ,effort,, emotion and belief, get extinguished by this person actually becoming the President of the United States, where you were foaming at the mouth about this individual , who now holds the most important/highest office on the entire planet. BUT FIRST, in order to achieve that, he gets elected by people all around you ,and you had no idea that he was this popular , and so well-liked to deserve even one vote and how could anybody feel that way about this , disgusting, hateful and abhorrent individual… and you are now in disbelief! how could this possibly be that I was so wrong?
It destroys your inner credibility and destroys your personal beliefs and starts to create doubts about yourself, and what you have believed in so fervently. BUT accompanied by your Brain , You cannot that allow that to happen.. so you strike out ,lash out, reach out in pain and anguish, trying to cover up the disbelief in yourself. This person got elected by your neighbors by your friends, by your coworkers , and even by your loved ones in many cases. And this certainly can’t be Alas it is.
And the sad part is this makes perfect sense. Chew on that that for a while, and swallow it …support your president and your country. People change their minds all the time, especially in light of facts right in front of your face about the condition of this country right now. With the exception of a chaos caused by and created Joe Biden, opening the border
Wake up and see who’s being devoured pal. The above comment describes you to a T perfectly descriptive. And one of the strong suits of Democrats is the ability to project Carl Marx used to say the way to sell Marxism is to convince everybody that they’re doing it to themselves his objective in life was to be throne, God, and destroy capitalism. The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion Karl Marx. The meaning of peace is the absence of the opposition to socialism. And Karl Marx is turning over his grave because socialism hasn’t worked anywhere in the world. It creates mediocrity is all it
Jack Smith will be naming names of Republicans that testified against Trump. The American people need to be reminded who these "patriots" are.
And we also need to see the Epstein files list. I'm sure many of them are dead already. Who gives a rip if we sully their names at this point? I'd be shocked if their family members aren't all ready aware they are sexual predators.
At least two SC justices are sexual predators and MAGA's don't seem to care. Release the list.
The DOJ is violating a law by not releasing the Files. So little press noise about this. We need to make it louder.
I have never seen a greater group of hopeless souls in my entire life, waiting for something that will never come, and when it does, and it disappoints you, you’ll be screaming and yelling that something happened something they did illegally they redacted all the files. They redacted all the files they’re hiding things wake up Sandra nothing from the epstein files is going to save your soul. Stop posting here go out on the street go dancing go see a movie. Go have a great dinner. Don’t live your life on. Hope that will never come. It’s fruitless. And it’s sickening that people destroy themselves like this.
Ted Liu is one of the most lost souls on the planet right now. All he has is major TDS and nothing else gets inside that brain other than I’m gonna get Trump. I hate Trump. I can’t stand Trump. He’s got Trump on the brain and it’s really beautiful to see.
All true. The funding for ICE was 3.3 billion before 2024, jumped up to 9.6 plus billion in 2025, and has further jumped to 11.3 billion for 2026 [see our post for January 2026: U.S. National Security Strategy at OneClick2BetterWorld.substack.com]. Our government is in a spending frenzy in order to use all of that ICE money ASAP leading to irresponsible and very dangerous deployment of ICE to American cities.
So let me ask you something, Jim why do we have ice at all? Huh answer that question and I’ll give you the two word answer Joseph Biden. He wreaked havoc on our lives. He took a shit on the American continent by bringing in illegals and allowing them to cross our borders without vetting and without vaccinations and that’s the only reason we have ice in the first place, so please think about this for aHe reeked havoc on our lives. He took a shit on the American continent by bringing in illegals and allowing them to cross our borders without vetting and without vaccinations and that’s the only reason we have ice in the first place, so please think about this for a second Jim, you don’t blame the fireman for trying to put out a fire that he didn’t cause.
Two of the three are also protected from criminal prosecution as long as they remain in office.
Where did Mieles get $1B to join Trump's POS club?
From us.
Yup. The corruption is off the charts.
I cannot imagine leaders of countries would actually GIVE trump a billion dollars to join his peace club. What kind of crazy are they?! Criminals all.
I’m all for recreating our country into one that will never, ever allow another criminal to be president. I know I’m not alone.
Don't forget that for Netanyahu, it keeps him from facing prosecution for corruption charges for which he has already been indicted, and for Trump, facing consequences for crimes for which he has been convicted.
Such a charming tag team, Rich, this trio comprises.
But with teamwork, too, from other Russian oligarchs, the Saudi hacksaw guy Mohammed bin Salman, Donald's bevy of Silicon Valley merchants of hatreds, his evangelical merchants of hatreds, and his and Netanyahu's AIPAC merchants of hatreds.
"[P]eople across Minnesota will stay home from work, school, and shopping areas in an “ICE Out Day” to protest the federal agents in the state. The general strike has the support of businesses, unions, faith organizations, democratic lawmakers, and community activists." How many doors will ICE break down w/ their battering rams? Will they set a record?
Remind anyone of Axis powers?
Here is the list of countries which have accepted Trump’s invitation to his “Board of Peace.” Note that one thing most have in common is a not stellar record on human rights. Russia/Putin apparently is holding out for his discount coupon. Europe and all the “middle powers” have declined. I just remember wondering about WW 2- did the Axis powers really get together and decide “we’re going to be the bad guys?” Apparently they did.
Argentina,
Albania,
Armenia
Azerbaijan,
Bahrain,
Belarus
Bulgaria,
Egypt,
Hungary
Israel
Indonesia
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Morocco
Mongolia
Pakistan
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Phil Balla, well stated.
Yet they're all members of Trump's Board of Peace, the most improbable set of peaceniks one is ever likely to see.
And Trump controls it all -- he decides who can join his He-Man Women (and people of color) Haters club and wields the veto power. Bullshit on toast.
Thank you for all you do to keep us informed during the country’s darkest hours.
Nice comments in Minneapolis from the official who put the vice in Vice President. Jack Smith made his cases so he will be under investigation, accused of using the DOJ to attack political opponents. You literally can’t make this stuff up. Vote Blue!
Gwen, must be really hard for Heather to find a calmer day to take off and rest.
She should sue the scumbag president and his regime for abuse....🤭
A short version of CPR helps me after reading HCR's latest.
Looks like 2/3 of the country is gonna get about 6 feet of global warming on their driveway. Oops
Oh look, the second "most persistent ignoramus" (after his Dear Leader) is back to show us what a moron who thinks he's a genius looks like,
The winter storm is caused by climate change, you idiot.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adq9557
OK, here we go. You’re ready for your insanity. Winter storms are caused by climate change. Heat is caused by climate change ice is caused by climate change snow is caused by climate change. Rain is caused by climate change. Al Gore has just been dismissed as a liar and chief every single thing he had in his inconvenient truth has just been debunked and is now inconvenient lies. I love the one about his polar bears couldn’t find enough ice and that’s why they’re going to be a come extinct when they were 6000 of them when he was talking back in 2002 or so and now there’s over 40,000 I guess they found enough ice huh? Russell what the hell is with you morons Jesus Christ it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen my T-shirt. Makes me happier when I go out with it and it says climate change isn’t affecting me. I don’t watch TV.
Only about a foot to a foot and a half where I am, Rick.
🙄
You’re missing the whole point now it’s not enough that there’s just your average winter storm sweeping through the country but now the left has to rename them to make them sound more powerful and a very unusual storms. Just a regular winter storm. It’s a polar vortex that has come undone and it’s gonna sweep over the country like never before. BULLSHIT. THEY’RE INVENTING NEW WORDS TO DESCRIBE WINTER STORMS NOW SO THEY CAN SOUND LIKE AN ANOMALY Now they translated New Orleans is gonna have half an inch of ice, which is gonna make going to work impossible Tennesee is gonna have to shut down. The news is almost laughable. It’s so bad and so wrong and so unjustified.
I like winter storms, Ric. My snowblower is ready to go!
By the way, what does your snowblower do for ice? When your streets are iced over, does your snowblower help you just curious?
I clean my driveway and the sidewalk in front of my house. I have salt for the ice, and the City’s DPW has huge snow plows with salt spreaders.
My behemoth Troy-Bilt snow blower has Ice Breaking Technology® and a 5.5HP motor.
Derek, you have the exact attitude you should and I’m not joking. It’s called learning how to dance in the rain. Instead of whining about it, your attitude is actually perfect. You should go out there and enjoy the winter. That’s why you live where you live because you like it there. And that’s a good decision for you. I’ve never understood why people put up. And having to deal with everything from Traffic. Clothing to inconvenience to needing to shelter indoors because you have no way to get out. Makes no sense to me, but to those who dance in the rain, I’m happy for them.
I will never forget I had a business meeting in in January and we stated a hotel and we needed to rent a car. This is some 25 years and it was like 27 below, including the windchill and this rental agent had to get up from his desk, put on like six layers of clothing, scarves, two hats, a windbreaker boots just to go out and bring a car around to be rented and then come back in undressed completely hang all the clothes back up only to see the next customer come in 10 minutes later and I’m having to do that whole process all over again. I was like what the hell
Totally agree‼️
Heather ended her Today in Politics Explainer covering today's letter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQiccw_xCq0
with a new call to action for us to re-envision America. She keeps coming back to the idea that we are at a point not just of great danger, but of great opportunity to create something better out of the turmoil.
The only way we can be sustained through the battle we are in is if we have a vision of where we want to go. We need to start now by helping our neighbors, by living in concert with our values.
I keep returning to the concept of restoring public integrity to our nation, of excellence in service. It is the essence of who Jack Smith is. It is the antithesis of what Trump’s corruption is now, where every act of his administration is cruel, lawless, and self-serving.
Excellent post! America wants a return to decency, integrity, and compassionate democracy. It is indeed vital that we understand that this is a time of great opportunity – and that we embrace that.
My hope, which increases by the day, is that Trump’s "Complete and total endorsement" of MAGA-Republican candidates will be the "kiss of death" for them in the Midterm Elections.
I now think it more and more likely that Democrats not only flip the House but win back the Senate as well! And more than that: that Democrats win a vast number of additional downballot races on the state and local level.
If we all work together and continue to fight like hell, we can make it so!
Hate to break it to you, but at least 30-40% of Americans don’t want a return to decency, integrity and compassionate democracy. They are perfectly fine with what Rump and his ICE Gestapo goons are doing. “The Confederacy is still alive.”
I pressed "Like" but I don't really like what you said "Dutch M". Trouble is you are right! I know a lot of them (MAGA) personally and not a single one of them has a problem with what Trumpolini and Kristi Noem and all the others are doing. I have grave doubts whether the 26 Midterms will bring the supermajority some Democrats keep expecting. The Democratic party (the Party leaders) doesn't really deserve a super majority in my view (other than to shut down Trumpolini, which is worthwhile). They still don't get it that we are ALL hurting. Both parties need to stop with the polarizing. The Braver Angels are trying to do that from the ground up, but I don't really know whether they are getting any traction either. With such polarity, we ARE (you're right Dutch) back to where the civil war started.
This is no longer a party divide. It is simply a Right v. Wrong divide. It just happens that the two political parties have chosen which side they choose to be on. Clearly the Republican party has chosen the wrong side.
All I can think is that they are ignorant. They do not get real information about what's going on, they didn't see the murder of Renee Good, they didn't see or just lack the ability to understand what Mark Carney had to say in Davos or how pathetic and out of control drumpf is.
Surely they aren't as mentally ill as to not recognize it. Surely they just don't see, they don't see his insane tweets, his hour and a half flailing rants.
Surely
If one let's go of the conclusion that they are ignorant, one is left instead with the horrifying alternative: that 30 - 40% of our fellow citizens are depraved, amoral - possibly even evil people. It's too scary a thought to hold, so, rather than drown in fear and sorrow, I cling to the mental life preserver of the ignorance explanation.
They did see the murder of Renee Good, they view it as justifiable homicide. There are none so blind...
No wonder nobody trusts this country anymore Duch, when so many millons of "americans" support this regime.
34-45% is still a minority of the country. We can overcome this minority if we each pledge to work toward the goal of stopping maga and the billionaires.
I had to explain this to my wife last night when she saw polling numbers; she asked how so many could still support him. I said that statistically, at least 1/3 of the population was still thinking the south had the right ideas.
For the past 10 years his polling has never gone beyond 35%-45%, up or down. 10 yers of the worst corruption and criminality, 10 years of the shredding of the Constitution, 10 years of destroying norms, 10 years of turning this country from basically decent to an indecent, hypocritical, unreliable, tyrannical, backstabbing autocracy, in service to a demented narcissistic moron who fancies himself king of the world. Through all of this he has maintained an average of 40% support from the citizenry of the country. That’s what the rest of us are up against, even long after he’s dead and rotted.
Exactly so, John. I'm not sure that MAGA could be deprogrammed because that cult simply reflects their core beliefs.
Read Timothy Snyder’s book Bloodlands. It was an aha moment for me. I realize now there are always lots of people only too willing to do the dirty work for the likes of people like Hitler and Stalin. Plenty of people who will for example line people up in front of a pit and shoot every last one. Trump has plenty of these people to call upon too. They are gravitating to him right now. Think about our own country. Plenty of people had no problem and helped kill and displace the native populations and buy and sell people under chattel slavery. Plenty of people were fine with it. Plenty of people are fine with throwing people in mass cells with aluminum foil blankets. And deporting them to countries they have never been. Plenty of people fine with denying due process. Plenty of people who take profits from these actions. Plenty of them. So now all those too willing people are on hand to help Trump and Vought and Miller. We have let all the ghouls in now and they are only too willing.
Agreed. And, according to HCR's column, 81 percent of Republicans- 81!!! - are OK with no due process, breaking into people's homes, businesses, churches, shooting tear gas and pepper spray, killing the odd American and immigrant. 81 percent of Republicans think this is OK.
We need to gain 20 Senate seats and 15 House seats to reach veto-proof majorities. Otherwise, Trump (or potentially Vance if he gains incumbency without election) will just veto everything and stall reform. I truly hope that the blue wave will be big enough to get us there..
A clear majority in the Senate will allow Democrats to block Trump from appointing evermore unqualified judges, and prevent him from replacing Alito and Thomas with young, extremist Supreme Court justices.
Majorities in both chambers of Congress gives Democrats control of the budgetary process, preventing a repeat of what Trump outrageously called his "Big Beautiful Bill".
Control of the House and Senate, and their respective committees, will enable investigations and hearings that cut through the Trump Regime’s lies and highlight its illegal actions. This will act as a brake on Project 2025 and further tarnish Trump and his MAGA brand before the 2028 Elections.
(PS. While I hope and pray, a gain of 20 Senate seats is beyond the realm of possibility.)
I agree that a simple majority can block appointments, which is incredibly important.
If Trump is still president after the midterms, he will do everything he can to be maximally obstructionist, including vetoing appropriations bills. The aim would be to force trades, killing off regulatory agencies for critical functions.
You get subpoena power and investigative authority, but not necessarily the power to convict and remove cabinet officers.
But anything like voting rights legislation would be dead in the water.
We won’t get a big enough blue wave unless Dems make the message clear that veto-proof majorities are what we need to get reform and our democracy back. They should be screaming it from the rooftops already.
I don’t think it will be discouraging to say it out loud. It has to happen one state, one congressional district at a time, which it would anyway. I think it would be motivating—I want my state/district to make that wave a little bit higher… I don’t want my state/district to keep us from change…
And that means, for once, no district can be written off, and we need to see top-notch candidates in EVERY race. Primaries start in March—Am I confident there are terrific candidates in all of the races? No. I am hearing crickets from the DNC. Is anyone hearing a campaign strategy?
“We want integrity and respect for the Constitution back in Congress. We are running candidates who will do that in every district and state in America. With 2/3 majorities in both Houses we can make that happen. We can end the corruption and erosion of our freedoms. The time is now!”
Sounds better than crickets to me… Check out the DNC and DLCC sites below. At least the DLCC has a plan on where to try to pick up seats. The DNC site is definitely less than inspiring.
https://democrats.org/
https://www.dlcc.org/ for dem campaigns within the states
Hello Georgia.... A key Point of Jack Smith's Testimony today is that the Rule-Of-Law has to Upheld... It can be Eroded... DJT demonstrates this Everyday... Pam Bondi is DJT's Corrupt Tool... Everything That Trump Touches Dies...
Exactly right, Georgia. It baffles me how the Democrats are throwing away the opportunity to present a vision of a better America, one that would directly contrast to the dystopian shambles the current MAGAt administration has made of our country. As ArcticStones writes below, we need a clear statement of return to decency, integrity and compassionate democracy. There is nothing stopping them from showing or at least saying that they stand for something. Is it lack of imagination? Cowardice? Confusion? Maybe just moral fatigue. They caved on DHS funding today rather than shut down the government again. Despite the ongoing horrors being perpetrated by ICE. What were they afraid of? Trump's already got enough money to fund ICE. They caved on health care last December in exchange for a pointless vote. Why donate to a party that no longer stands for anything other than "We're not MAGA"? Yes, I'm fed up.
Look at https://democrats.org/
and https://www.dlcc.org/
and tell me what you think about the plans to win big at the midterms.
All the plans and programs in the world, however good they are, need a flag-bearer who can set fire to voters. Someone with charisma and character, in the old sense of personal ethics demonstrated by a history of putting the common good before personal gain. And someone who doesn't tell lies.
Suggestions? Booker? Raskin?
Not sure, though I've liked what these two did in the past. I'm looking for a candidate who will stand firm on taxing wealth and supporting a single-payer healthcare system. I want a president who begins undoing the Congressional privileges, as if Congress were an aristocracy.
Mark Kelly for Pres., Pete Buttigieg for VP, AOC for speaker
Not Booker. He killed any future he had when he came out in support of ICE
I didn’t know that—I will check it out.
IKR.. Their top accomplishments date back to the beginning of the Biden administration and that is going to age like milk by 2028.
But hey... this is an organization that is willing to jettison entire generations of young people in order to move more to the right in order to persuade Trump voters to come to them. So they don't have much common sense to begin with.
Their only defining merch is literally just 'we don't like Trump'. Really? No kidding.
A year ago on Bluesky I said that Ken Martin was the wrong choice. And I was shouted down and called a MAGA troll.
Chickens coming home to roost. The dems will take some elections this fall and they will fall all over themselves about how great a job they did and continue to do nothing. The seats they lose they will chalk up to bad candidates instead of the fact that they have effectively conceded to Trump.
And continue to call me a troll. And continue to do nothing.
and I will die wondering what the fuck happened to the American concept of equal rights and justice for all.
You go to the website and the first thing you see is to sign up to be a voter registation fellow???????
And the issues are in alphabetic order so Employment and jobs comes below Democratic accomplishments. Below is the sum total of that section—from the Biden administration!!!!!!
Democrats took on special interests and are lowering costs for working families, making big corporations begin to pay their fair share in taxes, and rebuilding our economy so it works better for the middle class. Under Democratic leadership, the economy has created over 14 million jobs, including over 800,000 American manufacturing jobs, and the unemployment rate is at 3.7%. Democrats have also delivered bipartisan legislation to fix our roads and bridges, ensure better health care for our veterans, and increase our competitiveness with China.
https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/issues-2024/
This is effing political malpractice. It is effectively political suicide.
James, another thing that Heather emphasizes in her videos is that the Democrats do not have power at the present, and that plenty are speaking up and also doing what they can. I will trust what Heather says.
Yes, Georgia -- "a new call for action for us to re-envision America."
How about something exactly opposite the regnant bullying criminalities?
Invest in teachers eager to see students essaying to see more of the excellence of others as individuals in fraught contexts. Youth in participating classrooms can read all of each other's first, intro essays, discussing most salient points, then revising to include skills and events noted in fellow students in the room.
Eventually batches of essays can go to a neighboring culture (from urban U.S. to rural, for instance, or from largely one demographic or ethnicity to another), or between countries with fraught histories regarding each other, but students all eager for the world as more openness in English may assist.
Teachers can stress allusions to novels, films, memoirs, and other arts as those teachers most prize.
But the key is teachers caring most for individual growth by students learning to treasure each other, much more personally to quote others in other cultures that may after all also just be human.
That is a broad assumption and simply not true, Jen.
A statement such as that is not supportive of teachers that ARE the instructors of Language Arts, including writing. There are some on here very dismissive of testing in the schools. But writing standards and evaluation are done with pen and paper or supervised word processing. Not with an AI buddy.
Please be sensitive to the profession of teaching and the many thousands of dedicated teachers we are fortunate to have.
Salud
🗽
Kids don't write essays any more.
AI does
That is a broad assumption and simply not true.
A statement such as that is not supportive of teachers that ARE the instructors of Language Arts, including writing. There are some on here very dismissive of testing in the schools. But writing standards and evaluation are done with pen and paper or supervised word processing. Not with an AI buddy.
Please be sensitive to the profession of teaching and the many thousands of dedicated teachers we are fortunate to have.
Salud
🗽
Our founding documents, in their broadest reading, layout a vision of Tolerance in America and a legal framework for tolerant governance. It describes how "We the People" should govern ourselves. "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." This is NOT the vision of Kings as Trump so aptly demonstrates every day and as pre-Revolutionary King George did as well.
Increasingly, under our current would be "King", the People are pushing back. Among many issues, the latest polling shows that the People favor Tolerance over Intolerance. The 2025 project is failing. Long live Democracy in America!
The damage is still being done--The Heritage 2026 priorities are still in play, focusing on passing model legislation in the states to restrict voting rights and om "family values", and 7 other areas. Check it out.
https://www.heritage.org/priorities
Georgia, i write on new paradigms here on Substack; Port Dorchester essays 1 through 4.
The real shock for me is that over a third of Americans still approve of Trump and his policies.
Exactly this! How can anyone still approve of the Orange Goblin King and his Gestapo goons if you have even a little bit of conscience left? Oh, wait…
Here's a glimpse of some of the more obscure aspects of the bipartisan precursors to the ChristoNazification of the nation. (I put this together yesterday as part of a response to a poster who was making false historical claims, but realize now it is valuable to our understanding of the fact Trump is [not] an anomaly, but rather the fulfillment of a process that's been underway since the '30s.)
U.S. ADOPTION OF NAZI WAR CRIMINALS AS ADVISORS AND COMRADES AT ARMS
In the fall of 1944, the United States and its allies launched a secret mission code-named Operation Paperclip. The aim was to find and preserve German weapons, including biological and chemical agents, but American scientific intelligence officers quickly realized the weapons themselves were not enough. https://www.npr.org/2014/02/15/275877755/the-secret-operation-to-bring-nazi-scientists-to-america
=========
Under Project Paperclip not only rocket scientists were recruited, but convicted war criminals– including doctors who had conducted medical atrocities on concentration camp inmates, such as: experiments with plague vaccines, experiments that force fed chemically altered seawater to starved Dachau concentration camp inmates…American democratic principles were subverted by officials who adopted the Nazi utilitarian philosophy which posits that the ends justify the means..."Nazi attitudes toward research on human subjects were imported and adopted by various U.S. officials."...MKULTRA, the notorious CIA mind control experiments with LSD and other chemical agents, were the brainchild of Nazi Paperclip scientists: https://ahrp.org/legacy-of-nazis-in-america/
=========
“The CIA and Nazi War Criminals”: National Security Archive ( Founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars to check rising government secrecy) – complete bibliography, with every document hyperlinked (my gift to anyone research-minded enough to track the true origins of the ChristoNazi regime.) https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB146/index.htm
=========
See also PDF: “Useful Enemies: America’s Open Door Policy for Nazi War Criminals” (Richard Rashke, Delphinium Books: 2015)
https://tinyurl.com/4tacsyk3
Thank you for gifting the article.
I've spent much of my life grappling with ideas of what should have been done with the scientists, spies, and other sort of pardoned Nazis who could become useful citizens for a more just or criminal government, permitted a chance for a new life or forced to help develop technologies for evil purposes, to me, technocrats that could be used for either purpose.
I appreciate what useful service we got from Wernher von Braun, for example because of what he did as a founder the Society of Logistics Engineers to help greatly improve the manufacturing quality standards required for and far beyond the Space programs. We came out on the top of the heap as far as I can see from the Brain Drain that had much of the rest of the worlds best coming to the US or Canada. That's the mostly good side for us and not too bad for the rest of the world when maybe half of those that came here went back to there home countries, or another on their own or pushed out by us when they were excess to our needs, see https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/economics/brain-drain
I do wonder about the balance of good and bad actors that were able to come here (I assume we had far more good coming in than bad). But then I also think about the good and the bad from within our own country. Who would want our southern slave owners or Confederate leaders that weren't pardoned? How many KKK members would other countries willingly accept? Who, today, with native populations would want George Custer or the California leaders that still had bounties for Native Americans. Is it better to try to reform them in place, inflict them on some other country, or treat them like the Soviets did?
I've also had to wrestle with who were the aggressors through the years since my wife's great great grand uncle Elihu Washburne was the Minister to France during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. It seems France decided to attack first when they wanted to reestablish its dominant position in Continental Europe. Sound familiar?
That backfired as a United Germany was created that, in a personal interest of mine, took over he Alsace-Lorraine. A friend of my son's was the daughter of an American soldier and a German wife who lived in the region during the 1960s. All I got (from this very professional investigator was eye rolls), was that it was very complicated from before that switch in control of the region and the ones that followed in and between both world wars. She wouldn't even try to explain it.
What I have come to firm belief in, is that no matter how territory is gained, the bad guys can only hold it by overwhelming, often brutal force. The good guys can only hold it by making the lives of people better off, made so much easier by their willing cooperation with what they see as just and fair.
I took a look at the Legacy section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials#
It shows some of the dissatisfaction with the results as time passed, with many thinking more should have been prosecuted. I look at it as the best that could e done with the "care" or uncomfortable knowledge that if they prosecuted too much, a look back in their countries histories or even current actions against their own citizens, they would be subject to suggestions that they face similar charges.
I do see the value of careful pardons, more careful than those generated after the Civil War and certainly not as total as DJT granted (such that the pipe bomber of January 6 seems to be covered).
Thanks, Loren. I appreciate this informaiton.
every day I think about this -- I think it must be a combination of ignorance, racism, fear, anger and a sense of displacement -- but it's baffling. I don't watch the right wing "news" shows, so I don't know how they frame current events -- but I have a pretty good idea that it just bolsters Trump's narrative.
lauriemcf, I would reverse the order of your combination: sense of displacement, anger, fear, racism and ignorance. In the view of the MAGAt world that I have, the sense of displacement of white males is the largest common ground. Anger is easier than fear, and the racism and ignorance require more cognitive thought that the amygdala provided boost to anger and fear.
My front row seat to this is the bevy of retired cops that used to be my friends, and are now simply my former work cohort. I am utterly and completely disgusted with what they believe. Some of them are less abrasive than others, but they all have this very deep, very fundamental belief that they have been wronged by anything at all representing DEI.
Excellent points - I agree!!
I TRY not to be shocked by this. Heather keeps reminding us that 20-30% of a population typically support a dictator. Much harder to “accept” when it's people we know, share our communities with and we see their vile words on social media, comment sections of newspapers, etc.
So. Much. This.
That's the root of the problem Talia. How to resolve this situation by democratic means? It keeps me awake at night.
Don't lose heart. There's promising news in the poll too - considered towards the end of this Bulwark podcast which discusses a level of ambivalence developing amongst Trump voters - https://youtu.be/Q1C2jK8UqAM?si=04L7priH435E2VEu
Talia, ain't it the truth!!
I think that they are either so uninformed / uneducated that they can't hear, see or smell the truth or it's a trauma response. They are abuse victims and they see his behavior as powerful, the only kind of power that they can understand. I am starting to believe that we have a hidden epidemic of child abuse and incest that no one wants to talk about. It's why the Epstein Files won't change their minds. They are warped. These are his voters.
You can’t fix stupid.
The 30% are the die hard trumpers. They won’t ever see the truth or admit they were wrong.
That’s the Base. They’re completely in denial and brainwashed from reality. I know a few…
That was my exact thought, Talia!
I know it's a shock, Talia. It is hard to acknowledge that a third of the country wants to go back to what the south was both before the Civil War and the post Reconstruction era. This is exactly what they want; white, male, Christian, heteronormative, cisgendered dominance.
I have to say that what has given this group life is the advent of Faux Snooze and the unleashing and unrestricted blogs/programs/radio of what used to quaintly be called "right wing sources" and are now a cesspool of Russian propaganda, Christo fascist ideology, and racist ranting.
I watched much of the session today with Jack Smith—boy oh boy, was I impressed with him…that man’s got some cool & collected goin’ on, and is the kind of dedicated public servant that I WANT on the job!!! The other takeaway was that—really???—THIS is what we PAY our Congress critters to do 🤦🏻♀️??? Watching the R’s twist themselves into pretzels trying to, um, metaphorically photoshop what went down on 1/6 and lie about it when many of them were THERE and fearful for their lives. The D’s did their share of grandstanding, but at least I found it factual, based on what I saw unfold on 1/6 with my own eyes. What really chapped my azz was Mr. Smith being asked a question only to be talked over and constantly interrupted. Good grief…the man must have the patience of a saint!
I read Mr. Smith’s original closed-session testimony and watched the subsequent video. The grandstanding yesterday by both parties left me numb and I switched it off. He does have remarkable patience, but it was really tragic watching the Republican members hurl hatred seasoned with lies at him over and over again.
I had read the transcript but didn’t watch the video. I watched it all yesterday and came away in awe of Smith’s refusal to be baited or lose his cool. He had the confidence of one who knows the law is on his side.
Watch for Jack Smith’s rise in the future. What an outstanding professional.
We certainly have not seen the last of him. His truth inspires me.
Salud!
🗽
Salud! He should have been Biden's AG🗽🤛.
I wanted to smack them all, but especially Issa, and then the smirking southern Bubbas. Harriet Hageman was ludicrous. I know Smith was treading carefully, but I wish he could have thrown in a few zingers. I know, I know, it would have been beneath his dignity. Long distance runner, triathlete. This man deserves respect more so than any of his accusers.
Ironman
Patience is precisely what you don't need to deal with this bunch of baboons Barbara. And nobody should be a saint confronting them.
I’d really like to know what he was thinking! Probably really good at poker. I heard a fellow interviewed who had worked with him for many years and said that he still does not know Mr. Smith’s political affiliations, but noted his fierce dedication to the rule of law & apparently is a serious triathlete & endurance sports participant, so can see how he would be focused and committed to the task at hand.
I had an exchange with a person who said she saw fear in Jack Smith's eyes. I had watched his testimony and I replied "That is not fear. That is threat recognition and threat assessment, and determining a tactical response. It requires a lot of training and practice to attain that."
Him thinking Barbara? He acts by primitive reflexes, totally without emphaty and decency. No concerns of any kind, only hid own benefits.
Are you talking about Jack Smith?
Can you imagine if Jack Smith was president. What a different world we would live in.
We wouldn't be here if he'd been Biden's AG. We needed prosecutorial fire and got judicial restraint.
On the money.
Either by accident or a strategy, Netflix released (again) The West Wing series. One of my favorite shows, I had to start watching it again for old times sake. The aerial views of the White House made me sad, seeing the old East Wing. TV set of the Oval Office in it’s old glory & and how Arron Sorkin was a real future teller of how things could go to crap if you don’t fight for rights & the rule of law.
It’s a great show. I watched the whole thing again recently. I needed a break from the horror show they call the news.
Probably due to Robert Reiner's murder.
Reality is so backwards right now. So we press on fighting for democracy. Keep speaking up!
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. We deserve better ❤️🩹🤍💙
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
Backwards, yes. I was going to say it feels like the "upside down."
Upside down is fitting. I was stumbling on words to choose. I think after the vote today I just feel heavy and disappointed.
Stagger breathe, Megan. Take the break when you need to. You've been holding the note for a very long time; you have to breathe.
I let myself fall asleep with my 4 year old last night at 9pm. But then woke up at 10:15 to go to my own bed and had a hard time sleeping. Spiraled a little. Our household has been sick all week, I went back to work yesterday and I’ve been extra tired.
Will do more for my mental health to recharge this weekend ❤️🩹
❤️🩹👐 I'm glad you rested.
Thank you again, Megan, for all you do towards regaining our democracy and the rule of law! Some days it can feel very discouraging but I keep in mind the words, "Action is the antidote to anxiety." I also read Jess Craven as she gives us hope and actions to take, and I recently shared to her your spreadsheet. Not sure if she has had time to reach out but I hope she starts including it with her Substack newsletter.
https://open.substack.com/pub/chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions/p/chop-wood-carry-water-122-2f3?
She included it one week but hasn’t since. I comment it on various social media platforms of hers and she boosts it saying it’s an amazing resource 💜
Thank you!
Sorry, Megan. The resident troll did not engage on your comment, so Phil's got top billing. Sigh.
Churchill, speaking at his school in 1941, when things looked bad for the Allies: "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense."
Megan, thank you. Your post always boosts my morale.
In the middle of a room filled with tiny pissants engaged in primping, preening, and dissembling before the cameras, Eric Swalwell stood out yesterday, praising Jack Smith and noting for the record that in private, his Republican "colleagues" call Trump crazy, vile, a scumbag. "It's a good thing they're not under oath unlike you" he told Smith. He singled out a brave, strategically focused civil servant out for his courage and integrity, asking him -- despite the threats to his family to the family of his staff -- if he regretted taking the job Attorney General Merrick Garland asked him to do.
"No" was Smith's simple response.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpgHTTBNRAs
Eric Swalwell was point on. As Rep. Jayapal.
https://youtu.be/aSEBrxrO4LE?si=XEzfEHIOWxoT_oMv
HCR has her finger on the pulse; as is often the case.
But I'd like to add the personnel and the history.
Jonathan Ross—the agent who shot Renee Good—is an 18-year ICE veteran, firearms instructor, and active shooter trainer. Three shots, 698 milliseconds, while she turned away. Her last words: "That's fine, dude. I'm not mad at you." His words after: "fucking bitch." When a doctor asked to help: "I don't care."
Ross and his team left the scene. ICE policy requires staying for interviews. No body camera footage released. The vehicle was removed before state investigators could examine it.
The commander of Operation Metro Surge is Gregory Bovino, Border Patrol Commander-at-
Large reporting directly to Noem:
- 3.6:1 use-of-force ratio (Border Patrol average: 2:1)
- Four federal judges have confronted his conduct
- One explicit perjury finding
- His text to agents: "Everybody fucking gets it if they touch you."
When Noem stood at One World Trade Center after Good's death, her podium bore the slogan "One of Ours, All of Yours." Fact-checkers traced it to Lidice or Franco's Spain. The actual origin is 160 years of American white supremacist doctrine: Reconstruction KKK, Wilmington 1898 (60 killed, government overthrown), Tulsa 1921, Rosewood 1923.
Border Patrol was founded in 1924—same year Second Klan membership peaked. Historian Kelly Lytle Hernández documented: "Practically every other member" of El Paso National Guard "was in the Klan... many joined Border Patrol."
This isn't aberration. This is continuity.
Bovino's documented record:
https://theramm.substack.com/p/the-hammer-gregory-bovinos-12-month
"One of Ours" history:
https://theramm.substack.com/p/noems-podium-one-of-ours-all-of-yours
Great comment.
Just wanted to add that Jonathon Ross didn't leave the scene right away. He shot Renee Good 3 times and apparently filmed it at the same time. Then called her "fucking bitch" as the car started driving off fast into those parked cars about 30 feet down the street. He walked over to her car without any care or remorse, it's obvious. But he went over to her car and it seemed like he took pictures of her or the inside of the car, not sure. But then he hoofed it back somewhat faster to his car and left. The other agents still at the scene wouldn't let anyone give her medical attention. So criminal, so wrong, so cruel and hateful.
Yes, and that info is telling. He intentionally switched camera angles so he could film her death, and then he walked over to her car. Obviously not hurt, and obviously not rushing to help an injured person, just casually walking over to do something that looks a lot like taking trophy photos on his personal phone.
Spot on.
Well said, Mark.
Of those 2,750 counties Trump "won" in 2020, 2,700 had more resident cows than people.
And yet Trump and MAGA Republicans produce more bullshit than those cows!
Cows voted for trump TC, isn't it obvious?🤭
A recent comment made the point that the long term effects of non-violent protest generate better outcomes than violent protests. Still, I must note that MLK received the death penalty for his non-violent protest, and Renee Nicole Good received the death penalty for her non-violent protest. And, I have to admit that I smiled at this recent photo caption: "Anti-ICE protesters pelt Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino with food while calling him 'Nazi scum' and run him off from a Minneapolis gas station along with his masked goons."
Bovino is particularly disgusting and contemptible in his Nazi trench coat, always surrounded by his squad of heavily armed & armored storm troopers brutalizing and instigating melees with protesters. His bravado and Gestapo tactics are obvious and on display, sometimes seeming to be for filming these confrontational displays of violence, cruelty, and savage attacks against peaceful protesters. It's so painful to watch what's happening in Minneapolis/St. Paul and throughout Minnesota. I feel so bad for everyone experiencing these fascist raids and attacks from ICE and CBP thugs. It's unacceptable, unAmerican, and unbelievable that this has been going on for weeks now. I hope the Minnesotans make a big impression and difference with this "ICE Out" Day of protest and general strike.
The image of that little puke wearing his nazi style overcoat with his shoulder patches is a disgusting look at how sick he is: dressing up to exhibit his fascination with evil.
His wannabe cosplay of a SWAT guy; unmasked and throwing a gas canister which then comes back on him was a joy to watch. That said, he should not be underestimated for what he wants our government to look like.
So did Medgar Evers and Gandhi, among many others. And Jesus, come to think of it. However, "ends justify the means" strategies don't fare so well in the long run: Consider Soviet Russia, Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain, and (of course) Hitler's Germany. The means tend to strongly influence the ends, if they don't actually become them.
I think it would be so invaluable for the world to know something about how you think your mind has become capable of honing so much complex political, historical and ... necessary? arg what are the words...All This,
almost Every day into One Letter
that simultaneously, without a hint of ego, yet with a weight of full responsibility and solid accuracy, and such flow and comprehensibility and depth and subtle irony - oof that last line...
How can we educate other humans to be able to THINK and to winnow and to express themselves this way-the way you do?
A biography would be a start, perhaps. If and when this terrible crisis is over?
It is a precious gift. Thank you.
Heather's many gifts are no doubt the result of a lifetime of discipline, diligence, focused effort. Plus no doubt great genes for memory, reasoning, articulation. I doubt she spends many hours bingeing video games or knocking back bottles of chardonnay.
also, Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. We need to open that Pandora's box. And it doesn't need to be the gd Congress or the charred nub of the DOJ who do it.
But how to protect the women and men who I'm sure have been afraid their whole lives... sigh
So right about Epstein Epstein. All these distractions. Surely damming evidence. Fight for release!
You can't make this stuff up. This is beyond fiction and satire. And the worst is yet to come. Welcome to America 2026. The frightening laughing stock of the world.
It's been only the first year PeMi, three more to go and the poor idiot is talking already about a 4th term?
fortunately for the country and the world, he did not serve what he counts as his second term, following the 2020 election.
It’s entirely possible that he thinks he’s in his 3rd term now. 🤪
At least it feels like that Marcia. 🤢
I woke to -22 this morning. Despite that, will drive to Minneapolis 30 minutes from my suburban home with like minded individuals. My independent book store and COOP will be closed, along with many businesses across the city and state. Ironically, many schools will be closed as it is considered unsafe for kids to wait at the bus stop in this degree of cold. Organizers of the march have arranged a rally at the Target center after we walk the city mall. Will be interesting to see how many brave the cold. What is happening in this state is not OK and must be stopped.
Thank you! We all owe you.