Are We Surprised? No Trump Family Member fought in that War, or Served in Uniform for our Country except DJT's Elder Brother who served in the Air Force Reserve in College... DJT's Father stayed Stateside, and made $$$ off the G.I. Bill... DJT seems to feel that the Public Interest consists of DJT making $$$ off the Public...
No-one should be surprised. His game plan sounds like it's come straight out of the pages of 'Dictatorship for Dummies' - Chapter1. Threaten to invade neighboring countries. Chapter 2. Practice Nazi salute. Chapter 3. Threaten genocide. etc. etc.
He needs to be tranquilized and carted off in a straightjacket. Believing you're on a mission from God, alone, is up there on the list of certifiable criteria.
He’s definitely dumb. Particularly in his cabinet picks, all unqualified and unfit for office. The blind leading the blind. I can’t imagine Putin or Xi Pinying being so stupid. They’re probably sitting back right now cooking the popcorn.
Trump is like a dog with a stick...I honestly do not think he even knows the destructions he is wielding.....his focus (the stick ) is his Power and money....but Project 2025 planners...they KNOW -someone wants to break the US from the inside out
I think he’s all you say he is, Bruce, but I still think his downfall will be his dumbness. I doubt he’s ever had an original thought - if we are not counting the word salad. Global politics is a game of chess, it’s not tic tac toe. He doesn’t have the smarts but stunningly, thinks he has.
I'll go with Rex Tillerson's (former head of ExxonMobil and former Secretary of State under Trump's first administration) astute assessment of Trump: Fucking Moron.
Correct. Ignorant is the right word with respect to the roll of the manager, a roll which Trump is trying to play with almost no applicable skills. Just one example:
America's military is formidable because its operations side is incredibly well managed. (a century of experience counts for a lot) The procurement side is a different story.
Trump is about to discard the the operations skills; fool that he is. It takes much more than simple "do or die" commands to manage a complex system of humans and their assets.
Trump is like the 4 year old child that knocks down the castle of wooden blocks his big brother spent an hour putting together.
No Kazz and Bruce. Trump is not "dumb". The word we should be using is "agent". Trump is an agent of chaos and of Putin. Xi is chuckling. Kim is loving it. Iran is thrilled.
The only question for me is:
"Is he being blackmailed or threatened with death.... or is he a willing participant in the war on democracy and Western Civilization?"
In a short sentence: Trump is a malignant narcissist who is in terminal senile decline. And yes, that's a twofer.
Trump's subalterns will cover for him, just as Reagan's subalterns did for Reagan as he slipped into imbecility. Reagan's chief of staff basically ran the country while Reagan, ever the actor, hit his marks and said his lines.
There are some really evil vultures, who have no use for democracy, now circling over Trump. We will be really lucky to survive the next four years.
The word that collects all your sentiments is megalomaniac. Dr David Hawkins ( my intellectual hero of all time) identified the most harmful people when his psychiatrist training called the disease: malignant messianic narcissistic despotism. Think Jim jones, pol pot or Donald j.
Agree Bruce.., "not dumb". Try SYCOPHANT. Trump is one. At the same time, Trump is a magnet for sycophants: parasite, sycophant, toady, leech, sponge; a usually obsequious flatterer or self-seeker; parasite applies to one who clings to a person of wealth, power, or influence or is useless to society. sycophant adds to this a strong suggestion of fawning, flattery, or adulation. THOSE ARE HIS CLINGERS! We can only '''hope''' that those of us making up the 48% are able to burst this bubble, and TIME is of the essence. NUTS to this.., let's roll!
Numb, oblivious, dumb…dumb in that he should be silent! And ego in the egotistic oblivion (spell checker liked Bolivian) for how reality influences reality..science, observation, learning, reading. You know he does not read, functional illiterate? He depends on osmotic learning…sleeps with book on the night stand and hopes that nature abhors a vacuum.
I suspect that if one is " Nuts, Social deviant, sick, insane, mendacious, evil, deranged, mad, demented, not in his right mind,
crazed , lunatic, non compos mentis, unbalanced, unhinged." whether or not they are dumb is moot as most everything they do /participate in will create dumb results.
Yep this "movie" reminds me of Thelma and Louise except at least those two women had a legitimate score to settle which led them into their suicide pact. We are all being dragged along into this one and the potential end is the same, mutual destruction. The confirmation of P Hegseth as Secretary of Defense is likely to go down as one of the most tragic moments in this drama, with a man totally unqualified being elevated to one of the most important positions in our government, fingers now attached to the nuclear codes which can wreak destruction n on the entire world..
"The world may not remember what we say here but it will long remember what we do here. " Abraham Lincoln who is undoubtedly lying prostrate in his grave at this grotesque moment in our history.
Well, Jon, it seems he'll first have to let go of either a woman in one hand or a bottle in the other before he attaches those fingers to the nuclear codes.
I always considered Senators to be more sober- and forward-thinking than their House counterparts; it's they who ratify treaties and confirm SC justices, after all.
The late Sen Warren Rudman (R-NH) from my hometown, whom I knew, said this of his fellow Republicans in his memoir:
"The Republican Party is making a terrible mistake if it appears to ally itself with the Christian right. There are some fine, sincere people in its ranks, but there are also enough anti-abortion zealots, would-be censors, homophobes, bigots and latter-day Elmer Gantrys to discredit any party that is unwise enough to embrace such a group."
Jon, I have argued that appointment with friends of mine who do background checks to hire cops. None of them would outright say they would pass him on a background, but equivocate like "I need more information on that." Even when I confront them with his statement "I promise another drop of liquor won't pass my lips IF you confirm me." Red flag if there ever was one.
He wiil be in a drunken rage the first time he has to make a decision and he doesn’t have the brains to do so. What goes around comes around and they will be in a pickle.
As I have posted on other days, Donald is not dumb, at least not by the popular definition. He is learning disabled. There's a difference. His learning disability was concealed mainly by his father spreading his wealth around. (Mary Anne was too absorbed in her own hypochondria to be much involved.)
Fred's money got Donald into schools he never would have gotten into otherwise. When Donald failed, Fred covered his failures with more money. Over time, Donald came to believe that the rules were for others, not for him.
When Donald ignored the rules and got into legal trouble, Roy Cohn taught him how to exploit our legal system. Because Donald is learning disabled, it took hundreds of litigations for him to learn his lessons from Cohn, but he did.
Donald's so-called "success" derives from his dependence on people who are NOT learning disabled: his managers, his lawyers, his TV producers, his campaign managers, and now, the architects of Project 2025. They are flattering weak-minded Donald into carrying out their plans, and he is too distracted by the illusion of power to realize they are exploiting him for their own purposes.
Dale, I think this makes perfect sense. I've long thought he was learning disabled, not stupid, which isnperhaps why he needs pictures and doesn't read the teleprompter well.
My own late father, I believe, was learning-disabled. He left school after the 8th grade to work, and his parents gave their permission. He always had trouble reading; i never once saw him read a book, and when he read aloud he sounded out words like a child does. But he was NOT a stupid man, he had excellent smarts.
Kazz, who knows who is really in charge. I told my husband that doesn't read the order, just signs them. You could stick one of front of him for his demise and he would probably sign it. I do think he is suffering from dementia and the orders were ready and written by others. Also Rubio should know better what happens when we stop foreign aid....someone else provides it.
He is immoral, racist, misogynist, dictatorial, but not dumb, not stupid. Those last two words belong to people voting for him. He will be marketing brown shirts any day now.
I don't know that Trump is "dumb." He has selected people who will not speak truth to power. Pam Bondi is an excellent example. During her confirmation hearing, she could not bring herself to say that Trump had lost the 2020 election for fear of offending Trump. Bondi, as Attorney General, will do Trump's bidding and weaponize the Dept. of Justice. This is going to get very, very ugly fast.
It’s calculated even if it’s stupid and the calculation is to destroy government going forward so we can have unbridled capitalism destroy the planet unchecked by the courts as fast and interestingly as possible.
Dumb as a fox is more like it. Putting unqualified ass-licking people in these positions guarantees him his every whim met. Look at what happened as soon as Hegseth was confirmed--he had IGs fired thus removing oversight from any of his actions, even though he must give Congress a 30-day notice. I think they should all show up at work on Monday like nothing happened....
JL, when I saw the word "NUTS!" at the beginning of Heather's letter, I thought she was referring to the confirmation of Hegseth as Defense Secretary. His confirmation has NEGATED the efforts, the sacrifices, and the dedication of all those who have fought for, and those who were wounded and/or gave their lives for democracy.
I knew a man who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I could never understand how he or anyone could have survived. He came home an atheist- not understanding how killing another human being was right. Even so, he fought so that future generations could be assured that our freedoms would always be protected and defended. I'm glad he's not here to see what his and others' sacrifices have come to. People who are complacent with all that Trump is doing to imitate Hitler (let's call it as it is), are spitting in the faces of all those who put their lives on the line to combat fascism, cruelty, and to stop an insane man who somehow convinced so many people that HE knew what was best for HIS people.
Those Republican congress members who have been convinced that Donald Trump knows what's best for our country are as despicable as he is. They're ALL Nuts!!!
Ever watch this in the series Band of Brothers? Although only a tv series, you could feel the brutal impact of the German attack. I hate to say it, Pam, but many of the descendents of those American soldiers voted for Trump 1 and 2, the apocalypse version
Frank, I remember when the movie about the Battle of the Bulge came put in the 60s. Our family saw it at a drive-in theater. I can't tell you how a movie I watched 2 days ago ended, but images of Battle of the Bulge remain fixed in my mind.
Yeah.. I have to wonder what kind of dirt "they" have on Ms Joni Ernst, that she couldn't own up to? Something that was really nobodies business? Why did she "cave"..? We'll never know. Unless, Mr Hedgeseth has been unfairly maligned, that is. Anything is possible today.
I had started this thinking of ways to say NUTs to Trump but fear that would make him as stupid and as self-destructive as the Germans became, but damaging too many others with his vindictive responses. So I'll have to settle for some examples of relatives who put in the efforts and dedication, and in one case the ultimate sacrifice.
We often visit the grave of one of my wife's uncles (lost near Sainteny, Normandy on July 11th, 1944. That uncle was on her father's side. Another of her uncles (on her mother's side), was part of Patton's 3rd Army and was found unconscious by the side of the road with frost bitten feet during the Battle of the Bulge. He didn't regain consciousness until he found himself in a hospital in England.
I had always thought the uncle lost at Sainteny was in a unit of inexperienced new troops and might even have been killed (with 3 others) by our own artillery support when they were able to advance further than expected.
They had only been in combat a week when he was lost, but the 329th Infantry Regiment learned quickly and were not in desperate straights during the Battle of the Bulge like some units with many new troops. They had made the deepest penetration into Germany at one point that winter a bit further north.
Brings to mind the child who wants and has everything, sets his sights on something even bigger and better and gets it, only to tire of it, realizing it still does not fill the empty pit inside of him, so he destroys it and somehow feels just a tiny bit better in the process, until he's "hungry" again for more, more, more.
Too much is never enough for some people. Even more troubling is how often those with the most advantages want to stick it to whoever they feel superior to. In 1954, Eisenhower wrote to his brother:
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
Well, clearly Ike underestimated the mind-rotting nature of TV, but we will see how far the the public is ultimately willing to be pushed.
In any case, it shows that the desire on the part of many of those with more wealth than they know what to do with, to want the poor to be as poor as possible, and them, wealthy without measure, is nothing new. Give a sucker an even break, and they get uppity.
There is a podcast from a few years ago “The Asset” that traces the history of Russian cultivation of him for years. He’s basically a Russian Agent and a Nazi with nukes. As absolutely anti American as imaginable.
Even sent wife #3 to keep an eye out on Russian money and now even political interests. I firmly believe she is a Russian asset sent here to spy on tRump.
J L, I have thought recently that pleasing his bro might be part of the plan. Let's divert attention to Greenland. The other part is that he is bent on revenge.....so let's destroy what Biden did for drugs for one. My husband picked up a prescription yesterday that went from 20 to 180. We are fortunate that we can pay this, but so many others who depend on, for example, insulin, cannot. So some now have to do what they were doing before, not taking a full dose, choosing between meds and food, etc. I read on a thread yesterday that some MAGAs are saying, as they are affected, that these things were not intended for them. Pffft.
Yes, I was told when faced with a $931 copay, 50%, that now I had to meet my $2000 deductible first and the donut hole was gone so it was all good. But last year I never reached $2,000 out of pocket.
I told them to keep the drug and asked my doctor to go back to an older drug covered at tier 3 for $42.
Oh they thought it through alright. This is all intentional. There is no accident here. And I am SO sorry for what happened to you. This is a medical tragedy in the making.
"Let them die and decrease the surplus population."
Charles Dickens knew exactly what he was writing 200 years ago.
Sharon…if there is a theme, “Someone Didn’t Think this Through! Will be on our headstones…”this’ll work, here, hold my beer, what could go wrong? It’ll only hurt a little….Check’s in the mail.” Yesterday a friend asked, ‘Just how stupid are we?’ I smiled, ‘We’re still ‘Trolling the depths.’
But we will fight back to excellence and reality, hard work and skills! And start with ‘reality’—
There was no real Noah! It’s a lesson in care.
Climate change is human caused by burning fossil fuels and is costing us billions already as well as lives
Fair wages benefit us all, as does the time volunteering
Conflict is not the way of world, community is, love is
That’s the part that terrifies me. He has already weakened us and we’re only a few days in. How many active duty will request separation instead of reenlisting? As a veteran I am so appalled at how they’re destroying our military to become Trumps personal militia.
I go with Unconscious Incompetence. Not sure to spell it, nincompoop? Sounds vaguely German? Idiot is an old term…sort implies the irrational insanity.
I thank and the heavens that he is so stupid and oblivious! I guess there are no ‘smart’ conservatives on Faux…
Actually, Musks. He’s the JP Morgan of this century who funded the US government so he could dominate business at the turn of the 20th century. Look up “morganizing”. Eerily as cruel and greedy as the Billionaire Bad Boys are today. Bravo that Bloomberg called Trumps bluff, privately funding the Paris accords when T backed out. I guess he won’t be invited to Gold a Lago like the rest.
I think it’s both by now. Used to think he was only taking Putin’s orders, but now I think he “thinks” like a nasty five-year old. Today’s attack on FEMA is a case in point. What if Mal-a-Lago burned like CA?
Hello Kazz... Hello Australia... What time is it there now?... DJT has always said to be of limited Intelligence... When I watched him this Week, admittedly very Painfully, DJT is noticeably Deteriorating Rapidly.... I believe that We just need to outlast DJT, and avoid his Damage...
Good evening Apache, it’s 8.26pm downunder. Yes he’s sooo painful to watch these days though that church scene with Bishop Budde was truly glorious. We don’t know what is going to happen, best to remain optimistic, there’s sure to be a lot of smoke and mirrors.
Hello Kazz... Thanks for getting back... Seems to be a 19hr Difference between Melbourne Australia, and the Central Coast in California... Remember Mother Nature only cares about Survival of the Species... Time Flows In Only One Direction... DJT and his Minions will Self-Destruct... We just need to keep out of the Blast-Zone...
There could be a lot of wrecking ball damage done to American government by then, Apache. I hope the Dems make it a public platform to restore what gets torn down. My head just shook reading through Heather's letter, honestly! For the first time, in the past week or so, i've developed real anxieties about what T 2.0 is going to mean to Canadian fortunes, let alone the rest of the international democratic community.
Frank, I feel for Canadians -- you really are a turtle on a fence post during an earthquake (sorry, best analogy in could come up with.)
And it looks like a right-ward trend may be happening there again.
I have a family genealogy that was commissioned by a great-uncle and professionally done in 1935, and it shows I am a descendant of Louis Hebert, considered the first European settler of Canada (1617.) Three of my 4 grandparents immigrated to the US from Canada in the early 1900s, and I have a strong attachment to your beautiful country. I apologize for the actions of your southern neighbor -- we must look like drunken armed hillbillies to you, standing around a bonfire with boxes of firecrackers.
Right, where are The Dems? We have journalists and legal analysts banding together in The Contrarian, Timothy Snyder pitching the US having an equivalent to UKs shadow govt and where the hell is Dem leadership????? Why cant they get their act together like private citizens have to organize a message and defense for Democracy??????
If the DNC decides to stay Relevant, it needs to Reform... It needs to stop focusing on 1% Social Issues, and more on 90% Economic Issues... That will reach many of the non-voters, that is where this last Election was lost... Reuben Gallegos Campaign was based on this this... Reuben canvassed AZ, including over 100 Indigenous Nations, with the intention of Representing his constituents, and not the DC Beltway, or the 1%... Reuben won in a Red State... Watch this Week's Panel Discussion of 'Bill Maher' ... It is informative...
He's been deteriorating from before 1972 (when I first became aware of this Loohoser,) Apache. How is there anything left...Oh, he' absolutely empty!!!
I understand the capture of politicians, whose main motivation is power and control. But I don't understand the businessmen. Why are these "captains of industry", who are fully in control of their fortunes and destinies, working to bring down the system that made them wealthy? Have they not noticed that, in Russia, the oligarchs are nothing more than welll-paid division managers in Putin, Incorporated? Do they really want to turn their successful businesses over to a new CEO whose advice they ignore at the possible cost of their lives? Musk, Bezos and the rest can see how the Russian system turns everyone, even the oligarchs, into slaves of the state. Why would they give up what the American system has allowed them to build, when they already have everything they could want and an open opportunity to get more?
There is no one who will stand up to him, except an Episcopal bishop who is now being vilified for her comments about mercy and grace. I don’t see any silver lining. Democrats can try to stop him, but since he now makes all the rules, what chance do we have? I’m terrified.
Apache, when Trump has dismantled the government and finds that he has provided China and Russia with a voluntary, self inflicted “Bulge”, he’s going to discover that all the wealth he thinks he has is going to evaporate as economies and alliances crumble leaving him only one option in defense. His ego will destroy mankind and his bitcoins won’t buy uncontaminated water
America’s going to have to step up and protest. Oh yeah, Drump has disincentivized protests because the completely immune dictator wannabe has a new rule in place that legally allows military force against protesters. So it’s a death wish to protest.
There are optional avenues to "protest". Letters to government leaders, purchase power with support for pro-democracy companies and withhold purchases from the MAGA contributors, contacts to mass media companies delivering and gaslighting the audiences with "yellow journalism" - click bait and propoganda reporting. Consumers do have power. Voters have influence. Politicans need votes. Congress and SCOTUS need reform
God made a mistake allowing the primate human species up the evolutionary trail. The Bonobos were the delegated species but man snatched the tickets of their hands and ran like hell.
Correct. His MO has not changed for 58+/- years , but few checked that out, some surmised/discovered it after 2016 thus jumping ship .it was stated .we learned our mistakes and won’t make them again’.
It was definitely in Project 2025 so no, we should not be surprised, but his supporters will be in for a very rude awakening when they find out it hits hard for them too. I am taken by the haste and rashness of all of the EO's he has signed with little thought to the fallout. I mean, doesn't anyone in this administration have an iota of competence, or concern for our society or the consequences of these horrendous acts? Canceling NIH? CDC MMWR Weekly Reports? These have real impacts. Just mind boggling. There has to be pushback by some grown-up in the room.
DeSantis has called for a special session of the Legislature to convene on January 27. The special session will include a proposal that would all but abolish citizen-led amendments.Under DeSantis’ plan,Floridians would have to go in person to their local Supervisor of Elections office to sign a petition or try to navigate an onerous,multi-step,mail-in process.
Floridians, please contact your legislators and let them know you do not want your voice silenced in the “freedom” state. Just say NO to any further restrictions on citizen-led amendments and the massive misuse of our tax dollars to fund attack campaigns.
Good luck with that! My brother and sister-in-law just moved to Florida. They voted for the orange blight. But it's good news for Colorado, two less idiots voting here.
Kathy - Thank you for providing this complete information about DeSantis' new plan to keep us (citizen of Florida) from ever passing a citizen led constitutional amendment. I hope you don't mind me passing this on to friends and on Facebook for those who don't read HCR.
"The race is expected to attract even more spending and national attention than Wisconsin's 2023 race for Supreme Court, which flipped the court to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years with the election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz. It became the most expensive judicial race in the country's history."
Elon Musk weighs in on Wisconsin's high-profile April state Supreme Court election:
I've been listening to Hopium with Simon Rosenberg and he has been talking about how we need new and far-reaching media strategies for the 21st century. Do postcards and door knocking still give us the bang for our buck that the podcasts and social media get on the other side? We need airtime that hits so many more voters over and over again with a unified message and how it helps them. Or do we do EVERYTHING in our power to get voters out and to vote for the right person, in spite of all the monied interests like Musk?
Thanks Lin. This is really helpful. We also need to keep an eye on States like Iowa where Joni Ernst is running for reelection in 2026. Yes, the same Joni Ernst who put party over country and voted for the unqualified alcoholic sexual predator who mismanaged two non-profits tv personality Pete Hegseth for Sectary of Defense. Yep, the same Republican who released the Jan 6 insurrectionist. If she wants to support the Party over Country well then she is part of the insurrectionist movement. I’m ordering my cards today.
Thanks Lin. This is really helpful. We also need to keep an eye on States like Iowa where Joni Ernst is running for reelection in 2026. Yes, the same Joni Ernst who put party over country and voted for the unqualified alcoholic sexual predator who mismanaged two non-profits tv personality Pete Hegseth for Sectary of Defense. Yep, the same Republican who released the Jan 6 insurrectionist. If she wants to support the Party of Country well then she is part of the insurrectionist movement. I’m ordering my cards today.
Chris, Please rethink your beliefs about Republicans. Not all Republicans are MAGA. Many leaders of industry and older Republicans are history buffs. They may be caught up in the “Ostrich Theory” where if you hide your head in the sand, all danger goes away. Of course, many Democrats are also converts to that plan! On election day, our golden retriever spent hours with his head in the snow. ⛄️
It should be Kari… but what do we do now? For a while I thought the Senate might help us, but now they are confirming his cabinet picks. Will the courts be next to abandon us??
That was quite interesting. He 's correct that we really need to think outside the box and come up with new and inspired solutions to our country's problems. Thanks for posting this link, Kari.
What I am really wondering is how soon the economic costs kick in: getting rid of significant farm labor and food production; loss of economic stimulus through the ending of infrastructure projects for the US; drained resources and labor issues as illness becomes widespread; loss of economic markets as our soft power declines and Russian, China, and others step into the gap; serious economic damage with no chance of recovery when FEMA stops; active discrimination that will stifle opportunity for minorities.
If you were out to destroy the country, these would be the pillars you would attack; and for an added jolt, put a spectacularly unqualified sexual predator, religious fanatic and drunk in charge of your armed forces.
No, the Germans never took Bastogne. But metaphorically speaking, Trump apparently has . . .
Interestingly I read that Trump wants his staff to limit how much they drink when they socialize with Congress staff. Now he’s controlling their drunken complaints that cause leaks I guess.
Last night before bed my husband said he eliminated Black History Month, Woman’s History Month, LGBTQ recognitions and month. I bet he demanded Indigenous Peoples Day be called Columbus Day again. I even heard he said Indigenous people don’t have birthright citizenship. All I could say when my husband finished this list was “Christ what an asshole”. Forgive my swearing.
Until Trump I rarely used a swear word. Now they’re never ending.
We followers of Jeff Tiedrich on Substack enjoy profanity at it's finest. We group-laugh at the taboo-ness of it. A lot of excellent, thoughtful profane venting goes on there. Laughter is de rigueur. Both are needed to get us through this humiliating national shit show.
My father never swore either. Once in a great while he would mutter "son of a gun" under his breath. OMG. That was pretty profane. But then came Watergate and when he watched the hearings he would quietly whisper "that son of a b*tch". I heard that, Dad! No telling what he would be screaming these days but I think his kids would be cheering him on. Sharon, we feel your pain. Think of it as expanding your vocabulary.
My sister was maybe 17 when she said fu@k in front of my mother and got her mouth slapped. My mother never hit us, really never disciplined us. I have always been able to let out a massive stream of swearing but never found the need to when I could use better words.
Don't forget, the orange blight removed the $35 cap on the price of insulin and stopped the $2,000 cap on out of pocket drug costs for Medicare recipients. This going to hurt a lot of people very soon too.
This is an equal opportunity disaster in the making. The MAGAS are going to hurt too. Yet, somehow they will blame the Democrats. Some people are almost to stupid to breathe.
I had to take a second mortgage out on my home (literally!) a couple years ago to afford a lifesaving medication that was lowered in price by President Biden last summer, and I was so looking forward to being able to afford the med without getting another loan. First Felon just rescinded that. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Well, yes, I do… I will not be able to buy it any longer. This coming from a retired federal employee with Medicare AND a secondary insurance policy who still cannot afford the $1700/month lifesaving medication. All to appease his pharmaceutical industry buddies.
According to my token, Maga person, deporting immigrants won’t even make a dent in our industries that are run by their labor because they’ve been so mechanized over the last few years that we don’t need the labor! They walk among us
Oh, yeah? Citrus growers are panicking because they need to get their frozen fruit to the juice factories fast. All the workers have disappeared. What did Trump think they would do? They aren't going to work to stand around waiting for ICE. This is only the beginning. Get ready for massive food price increases as crops don't get picked, meat isn't processed, etc. A lot of our fruit and vegetables come from Latin America, too.
The economy of Arizona is going to go straight to hell. I praise our immigrants regardless of their status. I'm trying to picture white people picking lettuce...but, alas, I just can't see it.
Food scarcity will kick in soon as many undocumented workers at the citrus farms are already not showing up for work because of fear and many are returning to their countries and back to the criminality they were trying to escape from....
I’m reminded of Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ where he ignored expert counsel and stupidly pulled farmers from the fields to collect metal - the country starved.
As Profs. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Brook Harrington discussed on Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting yesterday, Trump is busy fulfilling a list of obligations to the Broligarchy and Putin. Putin comes first because he offs people who betray him. What Putin wants, since he has not gotten over the breakup of the Soviet Union is to destroy the US, which Trump is doing from within as well as the MAGA Congress, and to break up the EU, which began with Brexit. Once these alliances are broken, he will have no one to stand against him trying to rebuild the Soviet Union as he will surely next march into the Baltics. All of the voters who are on social media are vulnerable to his influence. Trump does not care if he throws the US under the bus as is obvious, as long as he can use his position to make sure that he is the wealthiest man in the world.
Trump will never be the wealthiest man in the world, as he has demonstrated over and over again. He will always find a way to fu*k things up, with his myopic focus on immediate personal gain. He thinks he can control Putin, but he is too dumb to realize that Putin can only succeed when the U.S. and its NATO allies work in lock step to hold him at bay. Absent that guardrail, he is likely to find himself falling out of a window some day.
Maureen, in a conversation Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Prof. Brook Harrington were having yesterday on Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting, they discussed that Trump is working on a laundry list of actions that he has promised people like the Broligarchs and Putin, only Putin comes first because he has a habit of killing people who cross him. What does Putin want? Putin, who is broken up about the break up of the Soviet Union in 1990, wants to have the US be broken up too, or diminished. Trump is doing this from within.
Putin also wants the EU to split up, and it began with Brexit, so that with the US and EU ineffective he can go on with his goal to expand Russia to include former Soviet countries, which would have him marching on the Balkans after taking Ukraine. Trump's miniscule tariffs on Russia, after Russia already has so many tariffs from the US that there is almost nothing left to put tariffs on is showmanship not any real threat to Putin.
For himself, Trump just wants to make money. He is well positioned to do this. He gets profits out of all the people he grifts from, even if they lose money. For those people they are buying access, so whatever he is selling is just a front. Who loses big time is us.
But, I agree he could be falling out of a window some day, or something else. Do we know that the Secret Service has no FSB in it? How many FSB members applied to the Heritage Foundation in their big job search. I saw the leaked files and the loyalty questions. Anyone could lie and if you have a fake background created for you, with no real intelligence agency now to do a background check, how many people will be slipping in?
Self sabotage is a symptom of malignant narcissism. Their ego actually knows they are evil so it causes them to make missteps that expose the error. It’s the only good thing about this type of sociopathy.
Putin will or probably has over reached. His war in Ukraine has cost Russia so many lives of their young men that he's had to resort to using foreign troops. North Korea is forcing their young men to fight for Russia.
What Putin fails to understand is that invading other countries is no longer as easy as it used to be when those countries were a lot poorer. Once a country experiences a stable government and a raise in the standard of living, like Ukraine, they are not going to willingly give up their autonomy. The Ukrainians have fought valiantly for their country. The struggle has cost them too. But they are fighting for their country and their rights. Even without the US support, they will continue to make life difficult for the Russians. Invading other countries bordering Russia won't be that easy either. Once he secures those borders, if he manages to secure them, he's going have maintain an occupation force. The population of Russia or it's economy can't sustain that level of military force.
Hitler made the mistake of invading Russia. The Russians fought back and he lost that front. He spread his troops too thin.
The news each day is more painful than of the previous day. Our news networks should be screaming in protest. He is destroying everything we consider important. Where is the pushback??? This is terrible, horrible, ......
He is ‘threatening’ to destroy everything we consider important. But he is up against two thirds of America who did not vote for him as well as those who are realising they’ve been shafted. Keep the faith.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” one researcher told Dan Diamond, Lena H. Sun, Carolyn Y. Johnson, and Mark Johnson of the Washington Post. “This is like a meteor just crashed into all of our cancer centers and research areas.”
...and if the meteor is big enough it causes a mass extinction event. Let's get to work NOW!
My dad fought in the Battle of the Buldge. He never spoke of it, not even to my mom. I asked him when he was 80 what the war was like, and he said it was the coldest winter on record and it was over 30 days before he saw the inside of a building. That’s all he said. We are watching our country being destroyed from the inside but this is what Americans voted for. Last night, Pete Hegseth was voted in as SoD. A drunken womanizer who’s wholly unqualified for such an awesome position. What would Eisenhower think? Those brave men and women who fought and died to protect our country and ideals. Everyday Trump brings more darkness. Where do we go from here?
Cathy, it’s about protecting your neighbours and your vulnerable communities and joining grassroots organisations who are pushing back. Surround yourself with good people, fighting for justice. It’s a great antidote to fear and feeling powerless.
Yes. I've thought for years the GOP should be outlawed as a white supremacist hate group. Because that is what it is. And since he's going to let violent politicized insurrectionists run at large in the country, we can add terrorist organization as well.
No service, not honesty, no hard work…free money and empire…irresponsible billionaires. A dumb dupe, held tight by the grip on his vanities, tries to project power but is incompetent! We will pay a price for sure but perhaps we can also win a war. We need Congress to step up and pass laws that work, not defer to Executive power but clearly define the people who are the activators, the managers, using science and best practices. Clear laws on climate, president’s power, voting rights, and money in politics.
They have not done their jobs since Reagan. Pass a living wage law! We will all be better when we can all contribute! The ‘gift economy’ supports community, schools, childcare by valuing and supporting those that can and will foster community. We need community kitchen spaces. We need love and empathy!
It’s our non-religious ‘Come to Jesus Moment’ too…we have all become too cruel and numb to the pain our culture and economy creates for others…
i thought he has upped it to 5% and as heather reported, so does that mean another 600 billion to the military? that's no so much less than Medicaid alone or the AFC, or, the interest on the national debt... each in the vicinity of 800 billion.
It is not a given that we can survive another 1,400 days of this. At 71 years old, I’ve seen an awful lot of bad shit, but none of it as frightening as what’s happening now.
I think many of us in the Boomer generation will not survive to see an end to this madness. It's very different being at this end of life's journey. As you said we have "seen an awful of bad shit . . ." and agree that where we are today is beyond the pale and sickening. Many of us are out of our minds with anger, depression, and fear - we are living a train wreck that we gave every ounce of energy and effort to desperately stop but that is now out of control.
Those who don’t remember the’War Years’ and didn’t grow up with parents remembering 1929 and The Depression just can’t visualize how tough things can get without a social network.
Gregg,I salute your father's service. His sacrifice and millions of other servicemen of those glorious and painful times keep the peace and prosperity for almost 80 years. It's true that trump been in power for only 5 days but this take over by the fascists was in the planning stages for years and financed by billionaires. They are not going to give back the power they have now easily. The point of no return will be the next midterm election. We are going to need another Greater Generation like your father's.
And, I'm mad as hell that this disaster is crowding out space in my head that should be spent on friends and family. What is so sad is well educated, good people in the younger generations don't see anything positive for their future. Too many have given up.
Too many have given up because of the direction of this country and now it’s changing and now they won’t be able to give up because I’ll have to strive to be better not just live off their parents live off their parents footsteps.
Actually, it’s in total control Janette just you don’t agree with the control because you’re just negative in advance. You’re judging something five days in existence it’s unbelievable. You people are so monofaceted in hate. It’s actually disgusting. You might wanna wake up and realize what just happened in this past election and why it happened.
What is with you people you have so little self-awareness.
You have people here posting back-and-forth and back-and-forth 20 times a day the same names appear time and time again but they’re not considered trolls. They should be considered lemmings. Soon as someone comes on here was a different opinion. He becomes a troll or she becomes a troll. Well, you’re only gonna have the pleasure of my company for another few days and then you go back to your bubble think life And watch America rise from the ashes
Hey Ricky, why wait a few days. Just leave. You have never added anything useful to the conversation. You just tell us how right you are and how wrong we are. Without any specifics, of which there could be many. You tell us that we are haters and Trump is….what? An epitome of restraint? A fine fellow who is just misunderstood? You are the very definition of a troll. Go away.
You see the problem Martin is you don’t even see the problem. The problem is. I’ve added a lot of useful information because it’s an opposing view so God forbid you’re not in a courtroom as a defendant someday, and I get to stand up and make the case for the prosecution and then send it directly to the jury, which is what everybody is doing here. There’s your justice system, pal. Enjoy it but for the next four years, it’s going to be just the opposite unfortunately because you’ve made your opinions invalid with your hate your group think and your bubble one-sided ideology.
Well, I’m not misunderstood in order to be misunderstood. You first have to read and evaluate but nobody here does that actually, there’s one person that does which is kind of nice.
But for the balance of you, I actually pity you all You denied reality of failure for four years from your semi cadaver and now you’re gonna have to denial reality for what you don’t like for the next four years
In the meantime, I’m gonna relish in the success of this country not only domestically but globally and unfortunately, you’re gonna get the benefit of all that Goodwill, Global respect and in many cases well deserved fear
No problem, Rick. Keep posting here. I don’t agree with your thoughts and opinions, but that doesn’t mean that your Free Speech Rights should be limited or eliminated. I recently commented on The Great Replacement Theory (see below). It’s a theory which is not a figment of my imagination, but has been discussed and espoused by folks like Tucker Carlson. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Great Replacement Theory, and I’m willing to bet a sizable donation to WCK that several others on this thread would love to hear what you FREELY have to say. Thanks, Rick!!
You have the nerve and audacity to talk about pot calling the. For everyone of my posts there are 25 counter posts. I shall leave here in a few days, but I’ll be thinking of you often and with a smile on my face and laughter wondering how the hell you’re gonna deal with democracy in your face. Donald Trump is the duly elected democratic president of the United States. He must follow the rules of the constitution and do whatever he can to turn this country around from the utter failure. It has been for four years. Which is the reason why 48th of the 50 states became redder than they were before. Now deal with that and tell me I’m out here on the ledge by myself Lololol. I hope you guys open your eyes in your ears and watch this country fly because if you don’t, you’re gonna miss one of the greatest recoveries in America ever
You are a bully know-nothing, Rick, a shining example of Dunning-Kruger, and you fellate yourself with grandiosity that doesn't and will NEVER exist. You are the guy in the dive bar talking to himself that everyone pities, but avoids, and no one will buy you a drink, because you are an unsalvageable loser and low gauge troll.
That’s what you guys love to do huh Kitterman quote meaningless diatribes. China.
Well, you see how ignorant you are you make comments without any knowledge whatsoever about who I am and what I do and what I did
I used to speak to a half 1 million people a month. And I directed a budget of $500 million a year just for advertising as chairman of the board And that’s exactly what ignorance gets you .
There’s a great adage that I will add for you. Sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut and leave people in doubt than to open it and prove how foolish you are. I retired a dozen years ago with awards medals, accolades, medallions, and thank youse wall-to-wall in My Home From one of the largest chains on the planet. Have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity…and created a couple thousand millionaires….
And I absolutely love when you call me a troll here when every single person here is nothing but a troll commiserating themselves patting each other on the back like lemmings back-and-forth and back-and-forth and back-and-forth on the wrong side of history. But you guys think you’re not trolls. I’m lmao in the meantime.
Enjoy the next four years which we’re gonna try to stretch to 12.
Yep, the collapse function is a great tool. Click on the 3 dots to the far right of a name, find "collapse" and poof the troll/bot is invisible to one's feed.
Yes Janette that’s perfect that way none of you get to hear an opposing opinion other than your own drivel. I hope that none of you are ever in a courtroom and have a jury or a trial like you’re like you because what you will have is you’re the defendant and the prosecution gets up and get his opinion across to the jury and it goes directly to the jury and the judge bypassing the defense let’s see how you like it then because that’s how you are now
Actually we love our country and we love democracy and want to see it continue and flourish. People like you elected a Russian asset who is hellbent on destroying our country. This not about hate. It’s about recognizing the danger that trump represents to our country.
You see how you people don’t get anything people don’t worship Trump. They love his policies. They could give a shit about him. You look at the man and hate the man, but you disregard everything he did and everything he will do for the American people not only in America but abroad.
there’s no such thing as a Trump worshiper. In fact, many people had voted for Trump. Don’t even like his personality or the words that come out of his mouth. However, his policies are right on for America. They were his first time around and they will be even greater this time around.
And not one person here even has the courage to google Trump administration accomplishments you just wanted to dismiss him out of total ignorance, which is just fine with us
The funniest thing of all is who you actually voted for for president
That woman couldn’t run a drive-through fast food window
I’m not sure you would recognize democracy if it hit you in the face. If you’re dumb enough or naïve enough to believe that Trump is a Russian asset you have no idea what democracy is. Maybe there’s some medicine that you can take to scrub the brainwashing that you’ve received You don’t love your country. You love your country as you see your country and you’re seeing it through demented biased glasses.
What you need as a great deal more introspection to realize what just happened in November. And what is happening today is Trump is getting a standing ovation in North Carolina and a standing ovation in California. In just three days, he’s done more than Joe Biden did in four years
so what do you think is democracy? What is it exactly about trump that you think is good for democracy. You haven't stated one thing in any of your responses
Well, I wanna thank you for proving my point about the majority if not almost all of you here. Donald Trump has been putting out his policy statement and it has it online for about the last 4 to 5 months. And now you’re asking me what it is.? I’ll tell you what it is. It is why Donald Trump got 77 million votes because some people pay attention to other than following each other online blindly.
Fascism is a far-right form of government in which most of the country's power is held by one ruler or a small group, under a single party. Fascist governments are usually totalitarian and authoritarian one-party states.
By the way, if you want the definition of fascism, he just left office on the 20th. He tried like hell and fell flat on his face, and didn’t even know he fell flat on his face.
Project 25 project 25 project 25 project 25. It’s like continuous vomit from you guys as if it’s political dictum. If you ever bother reading project 25 you would realize that a lot of these things are actually pro American and not pro fascist. Like ID to prove your American citizen to vote that’s pretty freaking fascist, huh? You guys are impossible you’re supposedly intellectual, but you only read from your Bible.
Opposing views are what helps our country grow and prosper when done in a manner where all listen while also showing respect for each other. A true debate requires each side use supporting evidence in facts and data to make their point. Rick, I have yet to read one of your responses that is respectful and gives a reason to back up your beliefs. This is why you continue to be ignored. Many here would listen if you shared more than insults with us. Respectfully waiting for respect first before listening to your opinions.
You poor thing I’ve learned more from life that you could ever learn from a textbook
And I have accomplished more than 90% of the people on this site in real life. And it’s amazing that you could comment about education when you haven’t got a clue about my education and that’s exactly why Heather can get to you so easily.
🤣😜 oh, my, what a great attack reflecting so much emotional intelligence & reason. now I have to believe the train wreck is actually total control & any aspiration to integrity, quality of, or respect for, life, is indees misguided. bravo. ::slow clap:: troll crown for you. "you people" are so smart!
Well, welcome to your train wreck Kathy because you’re the reason Donald Trump is in office right now because of the train wreck that just left office. In fact, some of you were so blind they actually voted for a person that couldn’t run a fast food restaurant let alone a country.
I know...we are all watching the SAME train wreck...but someone HAS to switch the track and save the day !! It's not us is it ??? How is the heck do we make a difference now ???????
My mother tirelessly gave 10% of what my parents earned year after year. They also volunteered their time generously. And they were content and happy for the most part. They expected (required) each of us kids to give 10% of our meager allowance in the Sunday school offering every week. It was a couple of pennies at first and by the time we left home it was several dollars. The three of us kids had jobs by the time we were twelve years old and that's when our allowances ended.
As I am a non-theist I have been tithing to the food banks instead of to a church. The local food banks are supported by all of the local grocery stores except Walmart for some reason, dozens of local businesses and 3 local churches.
Most of us have witnessed food insecurity and realize that school meals provide most of the calories many children receive. Additionally, many parents have addictions and are unable to prepare meals at home or they are working multiple jobs because the oligarchs are greedy bastards that are unwilling to pay their workers a living wage.
A couple of days ago the local K-8 school sent out a request to the community for money to support sending weekend snacks and meals home on Friday's with the kids. I'm not sure of the details so it may even be all of the kids.
Their goal is to raise $5,000 for the remainder of the school year. In a few days, they are already close to reaching their goal.
Since the oligarchs and Republicans are unwilling to help people with their most basic needs we can all find a way to pitch in if we're able. Many of you always have and always will so keep up the good work. This may not solve the Fascist problem we face with the Federal government but it can't hurt.
I have a cause: use charitable deductions to save the SSA retirement Trust Fund. The default of Trust Funds is supposed to apex in 2033 due to the increase of birth rates of baby boomers. After 2033, birth rates of later generations flatten and the funds can be solvent.
Social Security is the greatest anti-poverty program in US history. Social Security protects workers, widow(er)s, orphans and disabled people and is a major investment for many of us. Donations can flatten the default curve, extending the apex.
Until they decide to "redirect" or "borrow" from that trust fund (or at least try). Though something like that might be what finally wakes up a certain MAGA demographic.
Actually none of the funds have been loaned despite folkelore to the contrary. The Trust Fund paid about $22 billion to beneficiaries last year. Not a dime from general revenues.
Your comments, Gary, are very inspiring and, in many respects mirror my upbringing and present stance. The thing that upsets me the most is the prevalence of the Great Replacement Theory - which has its seeds in Christian believers. The Christianity that I grew up with and the teachings that I still attempt to maintain center on how we treat each other. You know that old Golden Rule thing. I find my childhood values being severely tested these days. Yes, my wife and I will continue to be generous to family and friends and charitable organizations. That ain’t the difficult part. What I find difficult to do is resist being sarcastic, sanctimonious, and/or sappy by sinking to “level” of Trump and his supporters. I mean, I could write this wisecrack: “What do Trump and his supporters revere more - the Golden Rule or the Trump Tower Golden Escalator?” (Of course, I’d never say that out loud!! Oooppppsssss! Somehow my erase button ain’t working right now!) Bottom Line: We are battling the Great Replacement Theory - which never gets named and which most of the Trump supporters can’t/don’t name. At least the Allied forces in 1944 could NAME their opponent! Lately, my wife and I are planning to add the World Central Kitchen to our donation list! Hmmmmmm…. Money for Donald Trump or Jose Andres? Gotta decide what will be the Best Bang for the Buck. I vote for Jose!! Anyone else with us??
Thanks for that Paul. One thing Trump and his Magats can't take away from us is our sense of humor. You made me smile several times.
A friend of mine is an analyst for the CIA specializing in famine and hunger. He has been with the CIA for over 20 years. I can definitely see his job going away under the current Fascist regime.
Bravo to your community, Gary. Project Host here in Greenville SC has a similar program, including meals during the summer hen schools are closed. Bravo to Project Hope!
Explain Heather's message to everyone you know. That is a start at least. The CDC decision trump made may prove his undoing. We tread on dangerous ground right now, and nearly every decision the orange one has made this week is wrongheaded at best. So let people know.
I actually did highlight this very dangerous move on Bluesky this week. I really don’t think people voted to increase the likelihood that the country will be ravaged by deadly diseases, do you? People need to know what’s going on, because many of them are oblivious. The more we talk about the dangerous consequences of these actions in our public spaces, the better. Until at some point, it will become publicly obvious - and not in a good way.
I do some studies with the poultry industry and the status of chickens, turkeys and ducks with avian influenza is very serious. So is the possibility of AI mutating to a human transmitted influenza. If the CDC cannot study this and share information, who care. The orange menace is making a serious and perhaps fatal mistake, which to him is revenge on people laughing because he mindlessly suggested injecting bleach.
We might want to stock up on masks, sanitizers, and basic medications, given that RFK Jr is going to put his pudgy, carrion encrusted fingers into our medical system. And did folks see videos of his actress wife at some inaugural event? She must be an absolute moron!!!
Kitterman it’s amazing that people like you and so many like you are nothing but negative in advance when you actually should be negative in arrears for what just transpired for the last four years from a semi cadaver that you voted for. The absolute moron is the lady that ran for president for 70 some odd days I made a fool of herself and every single individual that voted for her.
I have already started to stockpile masks and hand sanitizer right after the election. I hoped it would be proven that trump and musk cheated through hand counts in the battleground states, but no such luck. Everyone ought to be preparing for worst cases.
Thank you very very much Wendy for proving what I’ve been saying for the past six weeks I’ve been on this site. You people don’t want the truth you people don’t want the facts. You only want the food that you’ve been fed. Twitter used to be your favorite site when it was 70% liberal and 30% conservative as soon as musk bought it and it became 50-50. You couldn’t take it anymore nor get any of the people here and so you’re fleeing to blue sky, so you don’t have to feel or hear any contrary, opinions, other than your own How sick thing is that and then you wonder why you believe what you believe and you can’t understand why Donald Trump was just elected Very sad for open minded people or people that think they’re open minded.
Do you want me to back up the facts about Twitter or X and the flight to blue sky? You gotta be kidding me. You can Google it on the first hit. You’re gonna find out exactly the truth. Used to be 7030 now it’s 4948 but most lives have bailed to blue sky where they don’t have to hear a contradictory opinion.
Are you responding to me, Rick? I don’t consider “Google” to be a source. What organization did the polling and came up with the results you wrote (7030 to 4948)? Thanks!
Gosh, Rick Sender, I can’t find any evidence of the political preferences that you stated in your response to Wendy. Would you please name your source(s) for me? Also you stated above “ You people don’t want the truth you people don’t want the facts.” Are the “you people” Liberals? Is that what you mean? I am a Liberal and I want the Truth and the Facts. IN FACT, I am asking you to substantiate your statements so I can verify your statements as Truthful and Factual. Also, and maybe this is a bit nit-picky, but do you know for certain that Twitter (factually, Rick, it’s now X) was Wendy’s favorite site? Thanks, in advance, Rick, and I FULLY AGREE WITH YOU: we, the People need The Facts and Truth!
By the way, Paul I have one overwriting question for you. What makes you be liberal? Are the tenets and platforms of liberalism that you support and why? Personally, I’ve been an independent for 40 some years. One of my favorite presidents was Bill Clinton, despite all his faults And sexual issues. People wanna place a lot of onus on a president’s personal life or personality. In reality, the only thing that matters are his policies or her policies and how they affect Americans
Liberals were absolutely OK with Bill Clinton and his horrid personal deviance Not to mention being married and lying under oath under oath and forgiving him I could care less because that doesn’t affect me and it doesn’t affect you law he supports laws he imparts improving the lives of all Americans and supporting an America first policy is what American president should stand for Everything else is secondary
One further comment I would like to make if you would like the facts you should be looking at X not blue sky. You should be looking at Fox News to get some alternative information or OAN or Tucker daily or any of those sites that you normally would not look at just to get some perspective on what other people think or see you may not agree with them, but at least you’ll understand where they are coming from
You know it’s amazing to me. You people are intellectually lazy you expect me to do your homework for you. I make a statement prove that it’s wrong. How’s that? The problem with this site it’s all one-sided. There’s not even a contradictory argument with or without back up. You’re only hearing one side of the story and you’re not even honest enough to realize that.
Certainly, the fact that you agree with you’ve backed up with doing your own research, but you’re refusing to look at the alternative facts and verify or validate them. It’s your problem not mine. You don’t wanna believe them that’s fine with me.
It’s a distraction. He isn’t going t to touch the CdC. If anything, he’ll just give money to male wellness initiatives like steroids and bulk vitamins that make Rogan, Jones and White look like fire hydrants with ears.
This is all to distract us and sigh with relief that we aren’t going to catch polio while in the other room, he’s auctioning off FEMA funds to shady building contractors to screw the La residents trying to rebuild.
Well good luck with building LA and you’re gonna blame Trump on the devastation there. ? Every single individual in the room with Trump was thrilled at the help. He was giving them and offering them and shortening the time needed to start the rebuilding process. I’m so glad I’m not gonna be here to see the negativity very much longer. I wish you haters a lot of good luck. Because you’re gonna need it.
Pay attention. And boycott their stuff. Deleted Facebook. Start a text chain to get information. Call out como,tee Bs and ask people to back up why they belief in this crap.
What has been made abundantly clear is that our tax dollars are going to be rerouted to billionaire coffers. The American government has just experienced a hostile takeover. Up next….venture capitalist style slashing of departments in the company known as the USA.
Watch every cut to Medicaid and where those dollars go. Do you think the new administration will give it back to the 99% or will it flow to a privatized company and divvied up amongst its shareholders.
The US government collects 2.1 TRILLION dollars in taxes each year. The 1% is chomping at the bit to get their hands on that money for themselves. And Trumo has made it abundantly clear that he is willing to give that money in government contracts to whomever is willing to kick some back to him. Just. Like. Russia.Just. Like.Hingary. Just like every fascist dictatorship.
We were warned of this, the American people didn’t believe of didn’t know it would happen and it isn’t even a week in.
Every single time he says he’s cutting something, watch that it will not be cut. The tax money will just funnel to private buddies of his. Then they’ll strip it and leave us with the losses. Medicaid, Post Office, NASA, FEMA.
Watch out for any agency they constantly attack. CA which pays far more in federal taxes is on board to receive billions in aid for the LA fires. Trump wants DEMA out and his buddies in. And we know how great it is to deal with pop up private anything. We are going to see such massive grift over the next four years. Then they’ll elected Democrats to clean it all up and elect someone even worse than trumo bevause after four years, they need a shiny new enemy to lash out at.
And print out to your friends who voted for Trump that they asked for it.
It’s amazing that you point out that the government. $2.3 billion every year and spends double that every year and that’s OK with you. ? And then it has the audacity to send $200 billion to some foreign land that has no impact on us whatsoever and then it’s up to NATO to take care of first.
It's any of us who rise to the occasion and this morning, I'm joyful to read an email announcing work written by Dorothy Ladybugboss. [do you love that name?]. She's Vanessa, the writer of "Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity's Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism", a book I LOVE that's been gaining traction globally since it appeared in 2021.
Today's email offers a free download of 'Burnout From Humans" and asks, "What happens when we approach AI not as a neutral tool or a looming danger, but as a participant in the planetary web of entanglement? Could AI—modernity’s prodigious child—become an unlikely partner in composting the very systems that created it?"
An activist group, Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (GTDF) invites you to explore this work and offers the free download at https://burnoutfromhumans.net/
your local community of support! donate, help those vulnerable, give out meals to homeless, give to a food bank, Find a group in your community. That's where it starts.
Could not agree more. However, US citizens who pay taxes for decades should not be reliant on the generosity or stinginess of neighbors.
If you would like to or are able to donate to a neighbor, that is amazing. But when you and we ALL pay into a system whether through payroll, sales, property, etc tax that is supposed to redistribute it into the well being of ALL and instead redistribute it to a handful of wealthy people and corporations to stuff into their own pockets instead of roads, schools, healthcare, elder care, infant care we have a HUGE …YUGE, BEAUTIFUL, NEVER SEEN BEFORE PROBLEM.
What if your neighbors, local church are selfish jerks and don’t care if their neighbor suffers? And that neighbor happens to be a vet who served three tours in Afghanistan and lost a leg and has had medical complications and can’t work?
“Thank you for your service” is pretty empty. And now there’s a freeze on the Va hiring?
What the actual fuck did we just do to our country? “Pleas good, sir, can I have some bread after working for 40 years and paying taxes?”
This administrations response, “Sorry, Loser, should have made more money” as they back their fourth yacht up to the dock and collect more tax money.
Why is that? Please explain. Have you ever even been to Western North Carolina? I live there part time. You have no idea what the terrain is like the damage that was done that prohibits any kind of efficient aid getting in. To top that off there is a supreme inability to accept help from outsiders. What would you have anyone do to have made things better? Would we have airdropped tiny homes into the mountains.? Help is going on daily if you bothered to look. This is a very unique desperate situation that couldn’t be handled with a flick of your fingers. Asheville should not have been the poster child for this. And it is a lot easier and more financially beneficial for news organizations, and I use that term very loosely to focus on people who had trouble getting Assistance.
By the way, just what the hell are you wanting to bring America back to.
and whose fault is that? When the FEMA folks are having to take cover because of militias
Fascism is a far-right form of government in which most of the country's power is held by one ruler or a small group, under a single party. Fascist governments are usually totalitarian and authoritarian one-party states.
Mark, what’s most frightening to me (78 yrs. old) is that we’ve always had a functioning government that we could rely on to help if our state needed it, and a future, even during the Cold War, that we could count on. Now, I’m holding my breath for next week…
There are probably 100 million happy voters in this country right now. In just days of Trump’s presidency. You guys oughta put away your Ouija boards, your crystal balls, and your hate monitors and try supporting your country and see what happens.
Mark, this is rough for sure, but I’m a year older than you, and I’m not giving up. We must survive the days ahead, and we do that by taking action in defense of our freedoms, our families, and our futures. If you’re not sure what to do, join your local Indivisible group or other grassroots action-oriented group. We can’t win unless we fight. I’m all in for the fight ahead and we need you with us.
You actually have the audacity to say that after have a semi cadaver, tried to lead this country blindly for four years, actually only for only a short while until he demonstrated his total incompetence which they kept hidden from you.
This guy who just left office wasn’t in office for more than a year, and someone else was pulling the strings and had his hands on the wheel, and we kept making mistake after mistake after mistake and spending hundreds of billions of dollars to kill more people overseas. Instead of trying to stop the war all he did was fuel it. When we could’ve been using the money at home more now more than ever, including helping with the fires and the hurricane damage that it was never addressed by the previous administration. And it only 15 days Trump essentially stopped the war in Israel at least for now.
And the American heroes who died during the Battle of the Bulge and elsewhere in World War II never fathomed that the country they were defending could, 80 years later, be ruled by an autocratic felon.
I thought he was a traitor when he had the FIRST 3 hour long meeting with Putting in SECRET !!! ALONE in 2016...remember that. Then they proved Russian interference in the 2016 election. It is now clear where all the dots have lead to...NOW what do we do ?
My 97 year old neighbor fought the Japanese in the Philippines and after the war served as a security agent in Japan. For him to think we have rotted within is very depressing.
Yes, Gene, an autocratic felon who has shown contempt for those heroes in the Battle of the Bulge and elsewhere who he has called "suckers and losers."
I knew it was going to be bad, but I never imagined it would be this bad - and it's only been 5 days! I hope and pray our institutions are strong enough to withstand this full-scale assault on America and that there are enough strong men and women in our country to lead the counterattack.
And you know that all these crazy acts were not all developed by Trump himself. Bannon, Miller, and the rich guys are using Trump and hoping they can control him.
On your favor at least you knew things would be bad but not this bad . There are millions that didn't even know or care about how bad things are turning up thanks to their ignorant vote.
Ed, they are going to twist reality in such a way that Biden and by extension, all democrats are going to be blamed for their empty stomachs. Ignorance is going to be chronic.
I disagree. Hunger sharpens the mind. Entertainment becomes less important. Survival instinct kicks in. People get smarter when the are trying to survive. This is hard wired into our genetics.
You might be right Ed but I think when hunger strikes people become more resourceful than smarter, two things related and interdependent but different. This is a semantic discussion. The important thing is that on important issues we are in the same page.😄
I remember when the idea of democracy was important to a majority of Americans. Not that it ever worked perfectly for all of us, but that it was an ideal we aspired to and that we were willing to fight for. This wanton destruction of democratic policies and ideals is sickening and shocking.
It boggles my mind that Drump stole the election in 2016 and 2024, with putin’s help, while we were fully aware, but simply sat by both times and let it happen. Why? Can anyone explain that to me?
There were two clues. First, he turned his appearances into - what? nothingburgers. Dancing around. Playing rude games with the microphone. Choosing songs. Second: Bannon's words: "He can't not win".
During a rally Trump said that his political ally Elon Musk had an advanced understanding of the voting machines used in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state that was key to Trump's victory in November.
"He knows those computers better than anybody. All those computers. Those vote-counting computers," Trump told the crowd. "And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide."
"Did Donald Trump just say that Elon Musk helped him rig the election?" journalist David Leavitt asked. Jasmine Crockett of Texas also took to X to ask if Trump was "confessing to yet another damn crime." Another Democratic congressman, Daniel Goldman of New York, also called for an investigation.
Conservatively, hundreds of thousands of potential registered Democratic voters did not vote. This can be established via expert witness testimony. That conduct constitutes crimes -- election intereference under state and federal law.
California vote by mail is postage paid. Trump wants to require voter ID at the polls, will probably demand the end of vote by mail in order to give disaster funds.
The thing is, in California, you have to prove you’re a citizen when you register to vote. Even California Republicans know this but they lie to the voters to defend their losses due to their policies of making citizens suffer.
the young people who voted for Trump were 1) lied to over and over and over again..then 2) have NO concept of an autocracy and what is in store...they just want to enjoy their lives...I understand the naivety .... they don't understand how Democracy can require work and protection so Autocracy does't replace it....as it has.
You are quite right Kathleen regarding what's going to happen without the CDC but they are going to deflect all responsibility by blaming Biden and by extension, all democrats.
That's what they are doing about the fires in California by denying all possibility of even climate change existence calling it an Hoax, but they still need someone to blame ,in this case, the governor and his whole democratic administration as if four huge fires ,one year with no rain in the area and weeks long 100 miles/ hour winds that kept pushing flying ambers miles away were their fault. Now Congrress is conditioning assistance on an investigation and never ending questioning by several committees similar to the one they conducted against Hillary Clinton about Bengahzi, remember? Hope Governor Newsom keeps his cool and refuse to be participant in this circus. Note: Newsom might be a leading candidate for president in 4 years. No wonder they are playing politics with a disaster affecting millions of Americans.
Ricardo, forget the price of eggs ! Start worrying about the availability of eggs ! Or chicken or duck or turkey. We have an avian flu epidemic going on !
I assume every kid has heard the Gettysburg Address (we had to recite it from memory) which hearkens to ideals stated at the founding our our country. Our execution of those ideals has been a very mixed bag, considering slaughter and displacement of native peoples and of slavery, among other things, but Lincoln, appealing to "the better angels of our nature" did what he could apply our founding democratic ideals in more tangible ways. From primary school to high school, I recall my teachers, in public schools in Northern Ohio, spoke with literal reverence of Lincoln; and Lincoln had his own national holiday, which was a stimulant for schoolroom discussions. Lincoln had helped to launch the "Republican" party. I can imagine he might have some choice words for what has become of it.
"The cynical dishonesty of the Nazis’ propaganda received a significant boost from the cult of irrationality that drove their followers: the contempt for, indeed the revolution against, Enlightenment standards of rationality."
"Few members of Weimar’s insurgent groups wanted a lawless and barbaric dictatorship ruled over by someone like Hitler. They simply wanted the fastest and easiest solutions to their own particular problems."
- Benjamin Carter Hett, The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic
"... so democratic politicians confronting aggressive threats from 'totalitarian' dictatorships are facing fundamentally new and very alarming problems --- and have to invent the strategy as they go along."
I recommend Michael J. Sandel’s book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? wherein he says the problem with Meritocracy, which has become the moral justification for unfettered capitalism, is that it divides society into winners (the rich) and losers (the poor and most of us). The “losers” feel humiliated and hopeless because they are told it’s their own fault for not getting an education and bettering themselves. We who are educated (somewhat) know it is more complicated than that and the system is rigged. Propaganda does the job of directing their anger and frustration away from the legitimate targets toward scapegoats and phantom menaces (immigrants, non-whites, political opponents).
The cure? Sandel says we need to adjust our definition of success, honor the dignity of work, and restore self-worth, esteeming those “losers” as citizens contributing to the common good.
Raising the minimum wage would be a good start, but until we can change the value system of society it won’t happen. Until then, we do as Jesus instructed: Feed the poor. House the homeless. Comfort the afflicted.
And now an unqualified Fox News host is Sec of Defense. He will probably do whatever the Felon-in-Chief says. It’s a dark day in America. My father fought in WWII, a proud Marine. He would not be proud of America right now.
My father, a physician, led an Army field hospital, which was evacuating wounded from the battle in Liége a few miles from the rapidly changing front. It was set up in a high school and was well marked with a Red Cross. On Christmas Day when the gym was full of wounded waiting for transport he step away to shave at his quarters a few blocks away and it was shelled by German artillery. A direct hit on the gym killed all the wounded and most of the doctors and nurses and corpsmen. His medical unit was too shattered to rebuild and he spent the rest of the war attached to other units.
Thank you Heather for anchoring today’s letter in that moment of courage and sacrifice in our nation’s defense of democracy. We will need to rediscover every bit of that courage to fight this home grown threat to democracy.
I am so glad my father did not live to see this moment of infamy. It would break his heart as it does mine.
My father also fought in WWII -- a pilot in the Army Air Corp. He was a life-long Republican and would be horrified at what has happened to the party and his country.
I have some idea of what we lost in that war, but still don't grasp what we hoped to gain. I understand why we had to fight Hitler, but Vietnam never seemed like our fight. Along with the persistent curse of racism, that war seemed to crack the sense of unity we had experienced that resulted in the defeat of the Axis, shared prosperity, and far more optimism that one finds today. The cost was immense.
The arms industry and our military needed a war to develop the weapons, tactics and strategies of war. When LBJ made it clear that he supported an invasion of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis which the Kennedy administration resolved with negotiation, the assassination of JFK facilitated the military coup that facilitated government of our Republic supporting our military empire instead of the other way around which got our military so massively into Vietnam. We still live in that empire but I’m just a maintenance guy.
As Alec Ferguson has suggested, the Vietnam conflict wasn't about gaining anything. It was the first exercise in appeasing what Dwight Eisenhower had just warned of: the Military-Industrial Complex.
The two primary "chromosomes" in the United States' DNA are military aggression and capitalism. One supports the other. When the U.S. economy has faltered, our presidents have given us wars.
Jodi, the main reason why this totally unqualified moron was nominated for the job is precisely that he'll carry on anything, anything felon 34 will order.
Such a risky situation, but what do we have to lose????? Definitely this is the opposite of the America your father risked his live for.
Yes, one of the MOC said it would be a good thing because he’s a good communicator. Do these people really not know that all his remarks were researched and scripted for him? Will he have a team to do that for him here? He certainly won’t make as much money so who will pay him his rubles?
We are under attack by a domestic enemy of the Constitution. Where are the political leaders willing to state this fact on every news show that will have them on? And where are the journalists willing to state this same truth?
World War II was won because people never gave up. Today? Way, way too many are "obeying in advance". I am disgusted at the so-called leaders in the Democratic Party.
I am disgusted by the Republican Party's total capitulation to trump. Can't they see where this is going? What will their children and grandchildren think of them when they realize their parents and grandparents enabled this vengeful lunatic to destroy our country?
B, you are right to be disgusted by the Republicans ttal capitulation to trump as in the case of senator Joni Ernst( R )Iowa , a sexual abuse survivor and a veteran that under pressure changed her vote to confirm the clown secretary of defense. Shame on her and all of them.
They won't have children, or grandchildren, if it all goes down the gurgler. I'm not sure what kind of world they think they are creating, but this brand of hellscape is one they'll be living in too. Unless of course they've all booked seats on the ridiculous Space X flight to Mars.
Mars is worth exploring but it's not a nice place. Not at all. Anyone who wants a seat on that flight to hell is welcome to go there. Be sure to write.
Time for the blue states to break the bank-transfer links from employers to D.C.; to collect the taxes in their capitals; and, withhold tax funds. Release to D.C. AT MOST the receipts from D.C. in the previous year (to eliminate the overage that blue states send to D.C. to subsidize red states). 🤔
Additionally, when Trump tries to drumpf a blue state of disaster relief funds, for example, then that state applies withheld tax funds to fund said relief and forwards the net balance to Washington. ⚖️
Several people, arrogating themselves as intellectual gate-keepers in this forum, will undoubtedly blow a gasket . . . So, blow; these men do not understand human nature and conflict. They fail to account for stated Trumpian behavior and its likely future. 😵
The hearing for the nominee to direct O.M.B. revealed open talk within the M.A.G.A. brain-drain, if not yet practice, of impoundment (e.g., suspending or ending F.E.M.A. operations). Where will funds delivered to agencies-in-stasis go? 😱
Theorizing about what might cause a civil war over a wire transfer mechanism, when such civil disorder has likely started, is as brilliant as trying to bail out the Titanic with a tea-spoon. The Great Civil War of the nineteenth century did not start at Fort Sumter or even with secession; its started five years earlier with Bleeding Kansas. 😰
Now, this particular idea may not work. But some form of it can at least support other initiatives. We need ideas to break down and re-assemble or refine. Attacking someone's view is about as helpful as Florence Nightingale handing out LSD for a head cold. 😉
I agree with you. People seek to avoid conflict until they can no longer do so. The Democrats are standing firm. Aside from Senators Collins, McConnell, Murkowski. ¿where are craven quislings among non-M.A.G.A. Republicans?
EDIT: as examples, Senators Cassidy, Fischer, Grassley, Lankford, Tillis et al.
Steve - the Trumplicans have hijacked the Republican Party. With the exception of Senators Collins and Murkowski, they are all "loyal subjects" to the Imperial President. They have no interest in governing as they plan to rule. I share your disgust but with the cowardice the Trumplicans display. We need to build a strong alliance of Pro-Democracy Leaders to stop the madness.
My uncle was with the 101st Airborne and stuck at Bastogne. He spoke very little of the experience, but laughed when recounting McAuliffe's "NUTS!" response to the demand of surrender. He was so young, still a teenager. Fortunately, he recovered fully from a wound to his hand and almost miraculously from frostbitten toes refusing to consent to amputation. It was a sacrifice that the current occupant of the White House can never fathom but dishonors. Heaven help us!
DJT avoided Military Service in the '60s.... aka 'Cadet Bone Spurs'... Instead he declared his Military Service was avoiding STDs at "Studio 54" in NYC... What-A-Man... ;-)
So the convicted criminal-in-chief now bullies our scientists, public health officers.
And a senator like Joni Ernst, a former military person, and a former victim of rape, turns sycophant to men who see women as unfit for key military service, but fit for rape.
Human truths hurt. Power insulates. And historian Yuval Noah Harari sets the love of truth against the craving for power. The former requires humanity: subtleties, contradictions, past patterns, serendipity. The latter mainly devolves to money, bullying, safety and sinecure over truth.
The plurality of Americans who voted in the recent U.S. elections has not gotten any human truths from schools or media for decades. No humanities. Instead, they whose plurality won the recent U.S. elections did so with decades of embitterment against the elites. And the main place these voters saw these elites in action was in schools, where humanities had long disappeared in favor of the dehumanized abstractions and neutered categories of standardized testing.
Dems void of humanities surrendered the election to the orange felon’s vulgarity, Republican sycophants’ lies and cowardice, and the now triumphal billionaires. These all reign now, craven power and sinecure over love of truth.
Ernst answered a letter I sent urging her to vote against Hegseth because of his history of incompetence and lack of qualifications. She responded that he assured her he would cut waste at the DOD. So the fool who nearly bankrupted two small organizations that saved themselves by firing him is apparently able to manage the $800B+ budget because he will eliminate waste. What a sell-out, what a betrayal of what she herself once sought to protect!
I'm glad for your mention of Yuval Noah Harari. I'm reading "Nexus" now, and it's giving me insights into how I can appear with truth to power amidst local issues.
This is so well put. Leaders of both parties allowed a steady erosion of safeguards against wealth inequality and monopolies so that an increasing portion of the potential electorate is struggling to get by. Michael Podhorzer recently wrote that Democrats lost because too many had given up on their ability to deliver needed change. Potential voters staying at home was a vote of no confidence in Democrats by low information voters or those struggling too hard to pay attention to the rest of us trying to warn them. Brick by brick, year by year, we came apart at the seams.
As this gets investigated, it could be the start of community conversations with Republicans who suspect the 2020 election. We might find common ground with some in discussing the standards needed to ensure that all votes are counted.
True. However, most human individuals still love something or someone. I do wonder what would happen in our local communities if all the electricity in the world was shut down entirely for the next ten years. We are in the gothic age as foreseen by Mary Shelley, ruled over by a Dr Frankenstein’s monster.
To check that one out -- "most human individuals still love something or someone" -- we might go to how the rich may or may not as easily as a camel pass through the eye of a needle.
Or we might go to Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," which aligns the rich with those blindly propelled by, carried by all the slogans, clichés, abstractions, banalities, formulae, and other "dead language" wherein those with no humane language dwell.
We do know of the living dead that they "love" standardized testing -- or any machine-like assembly lines which number, package, slot "life" into units, as our rapist, fraud, criminal-in-chief ever indulges his merchandizing, huckstering, lying, and bing-bing-boing-bong pardoning and promoting mass terrorism.
The hollowing out of individuals into soulless units for and of infinite consumption, Marcuse’s One Dimensional Man, has yet to begin to end. Rape by any other name is still profiteering.
I'm horrified, simply sickened by this past week. My father fought in the Battle of the Bulge....His family had brought him here at age 4, escaping the Red Army in the Ukraine. Thank you, Heather Cox Richardson, for helping to pull all this together. But how do we get out of this? Is there any way that doesn't involve WWIII? How can this be happening? And frankly, I'm worried about YOU. Please be safe!
My Dad was brought to North America in 1923 at 4 also (born 1919) from just outside Shaporizzhia, Ukraine for the same reason. He joined the British in 1939 and hit Juno beach with the Canadians in 1944 and crossed the Rhine at Remagen. He would be joining battle today being an original ANTIFA like his father, my Opa.
I don't think you'll need to wait long. Avian flu has already "jumped" to humans. Now that Donald and his vax-hating goons are in charge, we'll see a pandemic that makes covid look like a church picnic. Unfortunately, without vaccines, diseases will affect everyone, not just those who deserve it.
Having read the executive summary and perused the lengthy table of contents, I'm not surprised by the speed of their actions. What wasn't part of the plan was hiring nincompoops to fill critical roles because Trump liked the way they look on TV.
DJT just wants 'Yes' People... Remember that DJT can't Run anything... He has Squandered Billions of $$$, ran up the National Debt by Trillions of $$$, and Declared Bankruptcy 6X ... DJT is just a Shallow Buffoon...
ok--every time we are horrified and disgusted, instead of yelling we need to do a new action. mine today is sending checks to immigrant friends, starting with the non white ones.
I’ve been watching BAND OF BROTHERS on Netflix. Just to remind myself of who we once were, why we fought, and what’s at stake. That some of these brave men have lived long enough to see a Nazi salute at an inauguration and an alcoholic Defense Secretary with white supremacist symbols tattooed on his chest and a mentally-disabled fascist-in-chief dismantling everything for which they fought is so…deeply sad. And frightening.
It is getting darker every day. It is hard not to feel weighed down by all the evil emanating from DC, but I remind myself that is what The Felon wants. I am not going back and not giving in. If the Dems in Congress don't shout their opposition and make a concerted effort to reveal what is going on, then they need to be reminded that they can be "primaried" too.
My first cousin Jerry Pence parachuted into the Battle of the Bulge. He went on to capture four German officers going AWOL at the end of the war and to stand guard in Munich to keep the peace after the war. It was a perilous situation. There were 380 incidents of assaults on U.S. soldiers in postwar Germany in 1945. Fortunately, Jerry Pence did not experience one of them. He quipped that the most dangerous parts of his assignment were the beautiful, desperate, and overly friendly young German women who tried to lure him into a relationship.
After military service, he became a doctor and lived a long life, to nearly 95. I interviewed him a couple of years before his death on his WWII experiences and posted the video to Substack. Growing up, I viewed him as a hero and still do. Though he outgrew the yeller-dawg-Democrat loyalty that his mother taught him and frequently voted Republican, he was NOT a Trump fan and would be appalled by Trump cutting off foreign aid.
The project to destroy the United States is in full swing, with the GOP in the vanguard.
To think I now have family members who voted for the same ideology that occupied my relatives in Norway and Denmark in the 1940s . . .
Despicable, diabolical, breathtakingly immoral.
Are We Surprised? No Trump Family Member fought in that War, or Served in Uniform for our Country except DJT's Elder Brother who served in the Air Force Reserve in College... DJT's Father stayed Stateside, and made $$$ off the G.I. Bill... DJT seems to feel that the Public Interest consists of DJT making $$$ off the Public...
No-one should be surprised. His game plan sounds like it's come straight out of the pages of 'Dictatorship for Dummies' - Chapter1. Threaten to invade neighboring countries. Chapter 2. Practice Nazi salute. Chapter 3. Threaten genocide. etc. etc.
He needs to be tranquilized and carted off in a straightjacket. Believing you're on a mission from God, alone, is up there on the list of certifiable criteria.
Yet not weaken the position of your own country. Is Trump just plain nuts, or does he follow Putin's marching orders?
He’s definitely dumb. Particularly in his cabinet picks, all unqualified and unfit for office. The blind leading the blind. I can’t imagine Putin or Xi Pinying being so stupid. They’re probably sitting back right now cooking the popcorn.
Not Dumb, Kazz, if I may. Nuts, Social deviant, sick, insane, mendacious, evil, deranged, mad, demented, not in his right mind,
crazed , lunatic, non compos mentis, unbalanced, unhinged.
However Dumb is not the right word, I think.
Trump is like a dog with a stick...I honestly do not think he even knows the destructions he is wielding.....his focus (the stick ) is his Power and money....but Project 2025 planners...they KNOW -someone wants to break the US from the inside out
I think he’s all you say he is, Bruce, but I still think his downfall will be his dumbness. I doubt he’s ever had an original thought - if we are not counting the word salad. Global politics is a game of chess, it’s not tic tac toe. He doesn’t have the smarts but stunningly, thinks he has.
I'll go with Rex Tillerson's (former head of ExxonMobil and former Secretary of State under Trump's first administration) astute assessment of Trump: Fucking Moron.
"However Dumb is not the right word."
Correct. Ignorant is the right word with respect to the roll of the manager, a roll which Trump is trying to play with almost no applicable skills. Just one example:
America's military is formidable because its operations side is incredibly well managed. (a century of experience counts for a lot) The procurement side is a different story.
Trump is about to discard the the operations skills; fool that he is. It takes much more than simple "do or die" commands to manage a complex system of humans and their assets.
Trump is like the 4 year old child that knocks down the castle of wooden blocks his big brother spent an hour putting together.
This is not leadership.
No Kazz and Bruce. Trump is not "dumb". The word we should be using is "agent". Trump is an agent of chaos and of Putin. Xi is chuckling. Kim is loving it. Iran is thrilled.
The only question for me is:
"Is he being blackmailed or threatened with death.... or is he a willing participant in the war on democracy and Western Civilization?"
In a short sentence: Trump is a malignant narcissist who is in terminal senile decline. And yes, that's a twofer.
Trump's subalterns will cover for him, just as Reagan's subalterns did for Reagan as he slipped into imbecility. Reagan's chief of staff basically ran the country while Reagan, ever the actor, hit his marks and said his lines.
There are some really evil vultures, who have no use for democracy, now circling over Trump. We will be really lucky to survive the next four years.
The word that collects all your sentiments is megalomaniac. Dr David Hawkins ( my intellectual hero of all time) identified the most harmful people when his psychiatrist training called the disease: malignant messianic narcissistic despotism. Think Jim jones, pol pot or Donald j.
Excellent list, Bruce.
I would add PSYCHOPATHIC.
Sick and dumb. And deteriorating before our eyes.
Trump has three goals, only: 1.) Money - he's hemorrhaging money and needs money to help him try to, 2.) Stay out of prison, and 3.) Revenge.
He has no other interests. No you, not me, not the country. His reach for the Presidency was driven by those three goals and nothing else.
He lacks any and all humanity!!
Agree Bruce.., "not dumb". Try SYCOPHANT. Trump is one. At the same time, Trump is a magnet for sycophants: parasite, sycophant, toady, leech, sponge; a usually obsequious flatterer or self-seeker; parasite applies to one who clings to a person of wealth, power, or influence or is useless to society. sycophant adds to this a strong suggestion of fawning, flattery, or adulation. THOSE ARE HIS CLINGERS! We can only '''hope''' that those of us making up the 48% are able to burst this bubble, and TIME is of the essence. NUTS to this.., let's roll!
Correct. He's sick. Very sick.
This word fits: Sycophant. I've never used this word or even knew what it meant, until now. Whewwww.., that guy is such a piece of s--t.
Numb, oblivious, dumb…dumb in that he should be silent! And ego in the egotistic oblivion (spell checker liked Bolivian) for how reality influences reality..science, observation, learning, reading. You know he does not read, functional illiterate? He depends on osmotic learning…sleeps with book on the night stand and hopes that nature abhors a vacuum.
I suspect that if one is " Nuts, Social deviant, sick, insane, mendacious, evil, deranged, mad, demented, not in his right mind,
crazed , lunatic, non compos mentis, unbalanced, unhinged." whether or not they are dumb is moot as most everything they do /participate in will create dumb results.
Yep this "movie" reminds me of Thelma and Louise except at least those two women had a legitimate score to settle which led them into their suicide pact. We are all being dragged along into this one and the potential end is the same, mutual destruction. The confirmation of P Hegseth as Secretary of Defense is likely to go down as one of the most tragic moments in this drama, with a man totally unqualified being elevated to one of the most important positions in our government, fingers now attached to the nuclear codes which can wreak destruction n on the entire world..
"The world may not remember what we say here but it will long remember what we do here. " Abraham Lincoln who is undoubtedly lying prostrate in his grave at this grotesque moment in our history.
Well, Jon, it seems he'll first have to let go of either a woman in one hand or a bottle in the other before he attaches those fingers to the nuclear codes.
I always considered Senators to be more sober- and forward-thinking than their House counterparts; it's they who ratify treaties and confirm SC justices, after all.
The late Sen Warren Rudman (R-NH) from my hometown, whom I knew, said this of his fellow Republicans in his memoir:
"The Republican Party is making a terrible mistake if it appears to ally itself with the Christian right. There are some fine, sincere people in its ranks, but there are also enough anti-abortion zealots, would-be censors, homophobes, bigots and latter-day Elmer Gantrys to discredit any party that is unwise enough to embrace such a group."
Jon, I have argued that appointment with friends of mine who do background checks to hire cops. None of them would outright say they would pass him on a background, but equivocate like "I need more information on that." Even when I confront them with his statement "I promise another drop of liquor won't pass my lips IF you confirm me." Red flag if there ever was one.
He wiil be in a drunken rage the first time he has to make a decision and he doesn’t have the brains to do so. What goes around comes around and they will be in a pickle.
As I have posted on other days, Donald is not dumb, at least not by the popular definition. He is learning disabled. There's a difference. His learning disability was concealed mainly by his father spreading his wealth around. (Mary Anne was too absorbed in her own hypochondria to be much involved.)
Fred's money got Donald into schools he never would have gotten into otherwise. When Donald failed, Fred covered his failures with more money. Over time, Donald came to believe that the rules were for others, not for him.
When Donald ignored the rules and got into legal trouble, Roy Cohn taught him how to exploit our legal system. Because Donald is learning disabled, it took hundreds of litigations for him to learn his lessons from Cohn, but he did.
Donald's so-called "success" derives from his dependence on people who are NOT learning disabled: his managers, his lawyers, his TV producers, his campaign managers, and now, the architects of Project 2025. They are flattering weak-minded Donald into carrying out their plans, and he is too distracted by the illusion of power to realize they are exploiting him for their own purposes.
Dale, I think this makes perfect sense. I've long thought he was learning disabled, not stupid, which isnperhaps why he needs pictures and doesn't read the teleprompter well.
My own late father, I believe, was learning-disabled. He left school after the 8th grade to work, and his parents gave their permission. He always had trouble reading; i never once saw him read a book, and when he read aloud he sounded out words like a child does. But he was NOT a stupid man, he had excellent smarts.
Sycophants!
The Architects of Project 2025: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identitarian_movement
Kazz, who knows who is really in charge. I told my husband that doesn't read the order, just signs them. You could stick one of front of him for his demise and he would probably sign it. I do think he is suffering from dementia and the orders were ready and written by others. Also Rubio should know better what happens when we stop foreign aid....someone else provides it.
Isolationism causes blindness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identitarian_movement
He is immoral, racist, misogynist, dictatorial, but not dumb, not stupid. Those last two words belong to people voting for him. He will be marketing brown shirts any day now.
And he just pardoned a whole battalion, almost 1500 who now directly owe their freedom to him. Beyond scary.
I don't know that Trump is "dumb." He has selected people who will not speak truth to power. Pam Bondi is an excellent example. During her confirmation hearing, she could not bring herself to say that Trump had lost the 2020 election for fear of offending Trump. Bondi, as Attorney General, will do Trump's bidding and weaponize the Dept. of Justice. This is going to get very, very ugly fast.
while they watch Rome burn :( :(
It’s calculated even if it’s stupid and the calculation is to destroy government going forward so we can have unbridled capitalism destroy the planet unchecked by the courts as fast and interestingly as possible.
Dumb as a fox is more like it. Putting unqualified ass-licking people in these positions guarantees him his every whim met. Look at what happened as soon as Hegseth was confirmed--he had IGs fired thus removing oversight from any of his actions, even though he must give Congress a 30-day notice. I think they should all show up at work on Monday like nothing happened....
JL, when I saw the word "NUTS!" at the beginning of Heather's letter, I thought she was referring to the confirmation of Hegseth as Defense Secretary. His confirmation has NEGATED the efforts, the sacrifices, and the dedication of all those who have fought for, and those who were wounded and/or gave their lives for democracy.
I knew a man who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I could never understand how he or anyone could have survived. He came home an atheist- not understanding how killing another human being was right. Even so, he fought so that future generations could be assured that our freedoms would always be protected and defended. I'm glad he's not here to see what his and others' sacrifices have come to. People who are complacent with all that Trump is doing to imitate Hitler (let's call it as it is), are spitting in the faces of all those who put their lives on the line to combat fascism, cruelty, and to stop an insane man who somehow convinced so many people that HE knew what was best for HIS people.
Those Republican congress members who have been convinced that Donald Trump knows what's best for our country are as despicable as he is. They're ALL Nuts!!!
Ever watch this in the series Band of Brothers? Although only a tv series, you could feel the brutal impact of the German attack. I hate to say it, Pam, but many of the descendents of those American soldiers voted for Trump 1 and 2, the apocalypse version
Frank, I remember when the movie about the Battle of the Bulge came put in the 60s. Our family saw it at a drive-in theater. I can't tell you how a movie I watched 2 days ago ended, but images of Battle of the Bulge remain fixed in my mind.
Hard to believe.
Sadly, true
"Russian warship, go fuck yourself!"
Yeah.. I have to wonder what kind of dirt "they" have on Ms Joni Ernst, that she couldn't own up to? Something that was really nobodies business? Why did she "cave"..? We'll never know. Unless, Mr Hedgeseth has been unfairly maligned, that is. Anything is possible today.
I think Post-Naziism is fashionable now world wide, Pam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identitarian_movement
I had started this thinking of ways to say NUTs to Trump but fear that would make him as stupid and as self-destructive as the Germans became, but damaging too many others with his vindictive responses. So I'll have to settle for some examples of relatives who put in the efforts and dedication, and in one case the ultimate sacrifice.
We often visit the grave of one of my wife's uncles (lost near Sainteny, Normandy on July 11th, 1944. That uncle was on her father's side. Another of her uncles (on her mother's side), was part of Patton's 3rd Army and was found unconscious by the side of the road with frost bitten feet during the Battle of the Bulge. He didn't regain consciousness until he found himself in a hospital in England.
I had always thought the uncle lost at Sainteny was in a unit of inexperienced new troops and might even have been killed (with 3 others) by our own artillery support when they were able to advance further than expected.
They had only been in combat a week when he was lost, but the 329th Infantry Regiment learned quickly and were not in desperate straights during the Battle of the Bulge like some units with many new troops. They had made the deepest penetration into Germany at one point that winter a bit further north.
Brings to mind the child who wants and has everything, sets his sights on something even bigger and better and gets it, only to tire of it, realizing it still does not fill the empty pit inside of him, so he destroys it and somehow feels just a tiny bit better in the process, until he's "hungry" again for more, more, more.
Too much is never enough for some people. Even more troubling is how often those with the most advantages want to stick it to whoever they feel superior to. In 1954, Eisenhower wrote to his brother:
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
Well, clearly Ike underestimated the mind-rotting nature of TV, but we will see how far the the public is ultimately willing to be pushed.
In any case, it shows that the desire on the part of many of those with more wealth than they know what to do with, to want the poor to be as poor as possible, and them, wealthy without measure, is nothing new. Give a sucker an even break, and they get uppity.
Both, but Putin is the one celebrating. This is the culmination of a decades long plan. He started cultivating Trump back in the 80s https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book
There is a podcast from a few years ago “The Asset” that traces the history of Russian cultivation of him for years. He’s basically a Russian Agent and a Nazi with nukes. As absolutely anti American as imaginable.
https://theassetpodcast.org/about/
Thank you, I will look for it
Even sent wife #3 to keep an eye out on Russian money and now even political interests. I firmly believe she is a Russian asset sent here to spy on tRump.
J L, I have thought recently that pleasing his bro might be part of the plan. Let's divert attention to Greenland. The other part is that he is bent on revenge.....so let's destroy what Biden did for drugs for one. My husband picked up a prescription yesterday that went from 20 to 180. We are fortunate that we can pay this, but so many others who depend on, for example, insulin, cannot. So some now have to do what they were doing before, not taking a full dose, choosing between meds and food, etc. I read on a thread yesterday that some MAGAs are saying, as they are affected, that these things were not intended for them. Pffft.
Yes, I was told when faced with a $931 copay, 50%, that now I had to meet my $2000 deductible first and the donut hole was gone so it was all good. But last year I never reached $2,000 out of pocket.
I told them to keep the drug and asked my doctor to go back to an older drug covered at tier 3 for $42.
Someone didn’t think this through.
Oh they thought it through alright. This is all intentional. There is no accident here. And I am SO sorry for what happened to you. This is a medical tragedy in the making.
"Let them die and decrease the surplus population."
Charles Dickens knew exactly what he was writing 200 years ago.
Sharon…if there is a theme, “Someone Didn’t Think this Through! Will be on our headstones…”this’ll work, here, hold my beer, what could go wrong? It’ll only hurt a little….Check’s in the mail.” Yesterday a friend asked, ‘Just how stupid are we?’ I smiled, ‘We’re still ‘Trolling the depths.’
But we will fight back to excellence and reality, hard work and skills! And start with ‘reality’—
There was no real Noah! It’s a lesson in care.
Climate change is human caused by burning fossil fuels and is costing us billions already as well as lives
Fair wages benefit us all, as does the time volunteering
Conflict is not the way of world, community is, love is
People get smarter when they work at it every day
"Kayfabe" Michele.
https://www.google.com/search?q=kayfabe&oq=kayfabe&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDM2MTdqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
That’s the part that terrifies me. He has already weakened us and we’re only a few days in. How many active duty will request separation instead of reenlisting? As a veteran I am so appalled at how they’re destroying our military to become Trumps personal militia.
I go with Unconscious Incompetence. Not sure to spell it, nincompoop? Sounds vaguely German? Idiot is an old term…sort implies the irrational insanity.
I thank and the heavens that he is so stupid and oblivious! I guess there are no ‘smart’ conservatives on Faux…
both
Actually, Musks. He’s the JP Morgan of this century who funded the US government so he could dominate business at the turn of the 20th century. Look up “morganizing”. Eerily as cruel and greedy as the Billionaire Bad Boys are today. Bravo that Bloomberg called Trumps bluff, privately funding the Paris accords when T backed out. I guess he won’t be invited to Gold a Lago like the rest.
Both of course
I think it’s both by now. Used to think he was only taking Putin’s orders, but now I think he “thinks” like a nasty five-year old. Today’s attack on FEMA is a case in point. What if Mal-a-Lago burned like CA?
BOTH
Yes and Yes.
Hello Kazz... Hello Australia... What time is it there now?... DJT has always said to be of limited Intelligence... When I watched him this Week, admittedly very Painfully, DJT is noticeably Deteriorating Rapidly.... I believe that We just need to outlast DJT, and avoid his Damage...
Good evening Apache, it’s 8.26pm downunder. Yes he’s sooo painful to watch these days though that church scene with Bishop Budde was truly glorious. We don’t know what is going to happen, best to remain optimistic, there’s sure to be a lot of smoke and mirrors.
Hello Kazz... Thanks for getting back... Seems to be a 19hr Difference between Melbourne Australia, and the Central Coast in California... Remember Mother Nature only cares about Survival of the Species... Time Flows In Only One Direction... DJT and his Minions will Self-Destruct... We just need to keep out of the Blast-Zone...
And the good guys always win. ☺️
We can only hope the pit of vipers will self-destruct.
if they pull off their governmental wrecking ball campaign, that could be difficult....
Remember, it was President-in-waiting Vance whole cast the deciding vote on Hegseth. Donald Trump is but a tiny tip of this iceberg.
There could be a lot of wrecking ball damage done to American government by then, Apache. I hope the Dems make it a public platform to restore what gets torn down. My head just shook reading through Heather's letter, honestly! For the first time, in the past week or so, i've developed real anxieties about what T 2.0 is going to mean to Canadian fortunes, let alone the rest of the international democratic community.
Frank, I feel for Canadians -- you really are a turtle on a fence post during an earthquake (sorry, best analogy in could come up with.)
And it looks like a right-ward trend may be happening there again.
I have a family genealogy that was commissioned by a great-uncle and professionally done in 1935, and it shows I am a descendant of Louis Hebert, considered the first European settler of Canada (1617.) Three of my 4 grandparents immigrated to the US from Canada in the early 1900s, and I have a strong attachment to your beautiful country. I apologize for the actions of your southern neighbor -- we must look like drunken armed hillbillies to you, standing around a bonfire with boxes of firecrackers.
I do hope that whomever gets elected in Canada is not a fascist like here in the U.S.
Right, where are The Dems? We have journalists and legal analysts banding together in The Contrarian, Timothy Snyder pitching the US having an equivalent to UKs shadow govt and where the hell is Dem leadership????? Why cant they get their act together like private citizens have to organize a message and defense for Democracy??????
If the DNC decides to stay Relevant, it needs to Reform... It needs to stop focusing on 1% Social Issues, and more on 90% Economic Issues... That will reach many of the non-voters, that is where this last Election was lost... Reuben Gallegos Campaign was based on this this... Reuben canvassed AZ, including over 100 Indigenous Nations, with the intention of Representing his constituents, and not the DC Beltway, or the 1%... Reuben won in a Red State... Watch this Week's Panel Discussion of 'Bill Maher' ... It is informative...
This is why they keep insisting Biden was mentally gone and Harris & the Administration covered it up. Projection.
He's been deteriorating from before 1972 (when I first became aware of this Loohoser,) Apache. How is there anything left...Oh, he' absolutely empty!!!
Hey Bruce... How did DJT come to your attention in 1972?
I understand the capture of politicians, whose main motivation is power and control. But I don't understand the businessmen. Why are these "captains of industry", who are fully in control of their fortunes and destinies, working to bring down the system that made them wealthy? Have they not noticed that, in Russia, the oligarchs are nothing more than welll-paid division managers in Putin, Incorporated? Do they really want to turn their successful businesses over to a new CEO whose advice they ignore at the possible cost of their lives? Musk, Bezos and the rest can see how the Russian system turns everyone, even the oligarchs, into slaves of the state. Why would they give up what the American system has allowed them to build, when they already have everything they could want and an open opportunity to get more?
Putin may be losing at home but sure looks like he is winning by proxy here with his "Manchurian cantaloupe".
Kazz McKnight -- Remember this??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQNI1KfGXBA
There is no one who will stand up to him, except an Episcopal bishop who is now being vilified for her comments about mercy and grace. I don’t see any silver lining. Democrats can try to stop him, but since he now makes all the rules, what chance do we have? I’m terrified.
To St Elizabeth's right there in DC. He can turn the lawn into a golf corse.
Well, no one is going to cart him off…. So what do we do now???
In everything Donad has touched he has always ended up doing a Mr. Creosote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxRnenQYG7I&ab_channel=markwarrington
If you can take it, the end is the point!
Apache, when Trump has dismantled the government and finds that he has provided China and Russia with a voluntary, self inflicted “Bulge”, he’s going to discover that all the wealth he thinks he has is going to evaporate as economies and alliances crumble leaving him only one option in defense. His ego will destroy mankind and his bitcoins won’t buy uncontaminated water
America’s going to have to step up and protest. Oh yeah, Drump has disincentivized protests because the completely immune dictator wannabe has a new rule in place that legally allows military force against protesters. So it’s a death wish to protest.
There are optional avenues to "protest". Letters to government leaders, purchase power with support for pro-democracy companies and withhold purchases from the MAGA contributors, contacts to mass media companies delivering and gaslighting the audiences with "yellow journalism" - click bait and propoganda reporting. Consumers do have power. Voters have influence. Politicans need votes. Congress and SCOTUS need reform
There is no rule that “legally” allows him to shoot us
I don’t think the Kent State rule will fly
God made a mistake allowing the primate human species up the evolutionary trail. The Bonobos were the delegated species but man snatched the tickets of their hands and ran like hell.
Correct. His MO has not changed for 58+/- years , but few checked that out, some surmised/discovered it after 2016 thus jumping ship .it was stated .we learned our mistakes and won’t make them again’.
And here we are.
It was definitely in Project 2025 so no, we should not be surprised, but his supporters will be in for a very rude awakening when they find out it hits hard for them too. I am taken by the haste and rashness of all of the EO's he has signed with little thought to the fallout. I mean, doesn't anyone in this administration have an iota of competence, or concern for our society or the consequences of these horrendous acts? Canceling NIH? CDC MMWR Weekly Reports? These have real impacts. Just mind boggling. There has to be pushback by some grown-up in the room.
The only reason we are saddled with this monstrosity is that dumptys granpappy was turned back from a return to Germany for draft dodging.
The time is now… the reply to this fast tracked implementation of Project 2025 should be, “NUTS!”
Florida is the test case for Project 2025 !
DeSantis has called for a special session of the Legislature to convene on January 27. The special session will include a proposal that would all but abolish citizen-led amendments.Under DeSantis’ plan,Floridians would have to go in person to their local Supervisor of Elections office to sign a petition or try to navigate an onerous,multi-step,mail-in process.
Floridians, please contact your legislators and let them know you do not want your voice silenced in the “freedom” state. Just say NO to any further restrictions on citizen-led amendments and the massive misuse of our tax dollars to fund attack campaigns.
https://www.flgov.com/eog/legislative-special-session-proposals
Good luck with that! My brother and sister-in-law just moved to Florida. They voted for the orange blight. But it's good news for Colorado, two less idiots voting here.
I'm near Colorado Springs. I'd love more of tr*** voters to move to Florida!
Kathy - Thank you for providing this complete information about DeSantis' new plan to keep us (citizen of Florida) from ever passing a citizen led constitutional amendment. I hope you don't mind me passing this on to friends and on Facebook for those who don't read HCR.
Postcards to Swing States
April 1 elections in Wisconsin
https://turnoutpac.org/postcards/
"The race is expected to attract even more spending and national attention than Wisconsin's 2023 race for Supreme Court, which flipped the court to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years with the election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz. It became the most expensive judicial race in the country's history."
Elon Musk weighs in on Wisconsin's high-profile April state Supreme Court election:
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2025/01/23/elon-musk-wades-into-wisconsins-high-profile-supreme-court-race/77903136007/
"to prevent voting fraud" That's gotta be the laugh of the century!
Ordered! Postcards to Swing States rocks 💙 Musk needs to stop breathing, as my step-mother used to say about certain unsavory characters.
I've been listening to Hopium with Simon Rosenberg and he has been talking about how we need new and far-reaching media strategies for the 21st century. Do postcards and door knocking still give us the bang for our buck that the podcasts and social media get on the other side? We need airtime that hits so many more voters over and over again with a unified message and how it helps them. Or do we do EVERYTHING in our power to get voters out and to vote for the right person, in spite of all the monied interests like Musk?
https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
I ordered my postcards. The usk link is frightening. If gop wins in Wisconsin we are DOOMED!
Thank you Lin for the link to Postcards to Voters! They make it so easy to do my small part.
Thanks Lin. This is really helpful. We also need to keep an eye on States like Iowa where Joni Ernst is running for reelection in 2026. Yes, the same Joni Ernst who put party over country and voted for the unqualified alcoholic sexual predator who mismanaged two non-profits tv personality Pete Hegseth for Sectary of Defense. Yep, the same Republican who released the Jan 6 insurrectionist. If she wants to support the Party over Country well then she is part of the insurrectionist movement. I’m ordering my cards today.
Thanks Lin. This is really helpful. We also need to keep an eye on States like Iowa where Joni Ernst is running for reelection in 2026. Yes, the same Joni Ernst who put party over country and voted for the unqualified alcoholic sexual predator who mismanaged two non-profits tv personality Pete Hegseth for Sectary of Defense. Yep, the same Republican who released the Jan 6 insurrectionist. If she wants to support the Party of Country well then she is part of the insurrectionist movement. I’m ordering my cards today.
Thank you.
Thanks lin*. I'll probably order a batch as I did for Michigan last year.
and be swift about it...only so many dominos' are expendable before a big fall...
Republicans wouldn't know the origin of the word nuts. They're not into history.
I dialogued with a maga in my doctors waiting room. They are beat up middle, lower class people who parrot their one media talking heads. So sad.
Chris, Please rethink your beliefs about Republicans. Not all Republicans are MAGA. Many leaders of industry and older Republicans are history buffs. They may be caught up in the “Ostrich Theory” where if you hide your head in the sand, all danger goes away. Of course, many Democrats are also converts to that plan! On election day, our golden retriever spent hours with his head in the snow. ⛄️
It should be Kari… but what do we do now? For a while I thought the Senate might help us, but now they are confirming his cabinet picks. Will the courts be next to abandon us??
Check out the emergency video from Adam Kinzinger:
https://substack.com/@adamkinzinger/note/c-88183550?r=9vmv5&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
That was quite interesting. He 's correct that we really need to think outside the box and come up with new and inspired solutions to our country's problems. Thanks for posting this link, Kari.
What I am really wondering is how soon the economic costs kick in: getting rid of significant farm labor and food production; loss of economic stimulus through the ending of infrastructure projects for the US; drained resources and labor issues as illness becomes widespread; loss of economic markets as our soft power declines and Russian, China, and others step into the gap; serious economic damage with no chance of recovery when FEMA stops; active discrimination that will stifle opportunity for minorities.
If you were out to destroy the country, these would be the pillars you would attack; and for an added jolt, put a spectacularly unqualified sexual predator, religious fanatic and drunk in charge of your armed forces.
No, the Germans never took Bastogne. But metaphorically speaking, Trump apparently has . . .
Interestingly I read that Trump wants his staff to limit how much they drink when they socialize with Congress staff. Now he’s controlling their drunken complaints that cause leaks I guess.
Last night before bed my husband said he eliminated Black History Month, Woman’s History Month, LGBTQ recognitions and month. I bet he demanded Indigenous Peoples Day be called Columbus Day again. I even heard he said Indigenous people don’t have birthright citizenship. All I could say when my husband finished this list was “Christ what an asshole”. Forgive my swearing.
Until Trump I rarely used a swear word. Now they’re never ending.
We followers of Jeff Tiedrich on Substack enjoy profanity at it's finest. We group-laugh at the taboo-ness of it. A lot of excellent, thoughtful profane venting goes on there. Laughter is de rigueur. Both are needed to get us through this humiliating national shit show.
Black comedy is an excellent coping mechanism.
My father never swore either. Once in a great while he would mutter "son of a gun" under his breath. OMG. That was pretty profane. But then came Watergate and when he watched the hearings he would quietly whisper "that son of a b*tch". I heard that, Dad! No telling what he would be screaming these days but I think his kids would be cheering him on. Sharon, we feel your pain. Think of it as expanding your vocabulary.
My sister was maybe 17 when she said fu@k in front of my mother and got her mouth slapped. My mother never hit us, really never disciplined us. I have always been able to let out a massive stream of swearing but never found the need to when I could use better words.
Don't forget, the orange blight removed the $35 cap on the price of insulin and stopped the $2,000 cap on out of pocket drug costs for Medicare recipients. This going to hurt a lot of people very soon too.
This is an equal opportunity disaster in the making. The MAGAS are going to hurt too. Yet, somehow they will blame the Democrats. Some people are almost to stupid to breathe.
I had to take a second mortgage out on my home (literally!) a couple years ago to afford a lifesaving medication that was lowered in price by President Biden last summer, and I was so looking forward to being able to afford the med without getting another loan. First Felon just rescinded that. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Well, yes, I do… I will not be able to buy it any longer. This coming from a retired federal employee with Medicare AND a secondary insurance policy who still cannot afford the $1700/month lifesaving medication. All to appease his pharmaceutical industry buddies.
I keep wondering what Putin promised him to make him hand over the keys
thanks to a thin voting majority of patriotic Americans!
And 90 million of whom didn't even bother
And 39% that didn't vote
According to my token, Maga person, deporting immigrants won’t even make a dent in our industries that are run by their labor because they’ve been so mechanized over the last few years that we don’t need the labor! They walk among us
Oh, yeah? Citrus growers are panicking because they need to get their frozen fruit to the juice factories fast. All the workers have disappeared. What did Trump think they would do? They aren't going to work to stand around waiting for ICE. This is only the beginning. Get ready for massive food price increases as crops don't get picked, meat isn't processed, etc. A lot of our fruit and vegetables come from Latin America, too.
The economy of Arizona is going to go straight to hell. I praise our immigrants regardless of their status. I'm trying to picture white people picking lettuce...but, alas, I just can't see it.
Food scarcity will kick in soon as many undocumented workers at the citrus farms are already not showing up for work because of fear and many are returning to their countries and back to the criminality they were trying to escape from....
I’m reminded of Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ where he ignored expert counsel and stupidly pulled farmers from the fields to collect metal - the country starved.
Yes.
As Profs. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Brook Harrington discussed on Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting yesterday, Trump is busy fulfilling a list of obligations to the Broligarchy and Putin. Putin comes first because he offs people who betray him. What Putin wants, since he has not gotten over the breakup of the Soviet Union is to destroy the US, which Trump is doing from within as well as the MAGA Congress, and to break up the EU, which began with Brexit. Once these alliances are broken, he will have no one to stand against him trying to rebuild the Soviet Union as he will surely next march into the Baltics. All of the voters who are on social media are vulnerable to his influence. Trump does not care if he throws the US under the bus as is obvious, as long as he can use his position to make sure that he is the wealthiest man in the world.
Trump will never be the wealthiest man in the world, as he has demonstrated over and over again. He will always find a way to fu*k things up, with his myopic focus on immediate personal gain. He thinks he can control Putin, but he is too dumb to realize that Putin can only succeed when the U.S. and its NATO allies work in lock step to hold him at bay. Absent that guardrail, he is likely to find himself falling out of a window some day.
Maureen, in a conversation Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Prof. Brook Harrington were having yesterday on Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting, they discussed that Trump is working on a laundry list of actions that he has promised people like the Broligarchs and Putin, only Putin comes first because he has a habit of killing people who cross him. What does Putin want? Putin, who is broken up about the break up of the Soviet Union in 1990, wants to have the US be broken up too, or diminished. Trump is doing this from within.
Putin also wants the EU to split up, and it began with Brexit, so that with the US and EU ineffective he can go on with his goal to expand Russia to include former Soviet countries, which would have him marching on the Balkans after taking Ukraine. Trump's miniscule tariffs on Russia, after Russia already has so many tariffs from the US that there is almost nothing left to put tariffs on is showmanship not any real threat to Putin.
For himself, Trump just wants to make money. He is well positioned to do this. He gets profits out of all the people he grifts from, even if they lose money. For those people they are buying access, so whatever he is selling is just a front. Who loses big time is us.
But, I agree he could be falling out of a window some day, or something else. Do we know that the Secret Service has no FSB in it? How many FSB members applied to the Heritage Foundation in their big job search. I saw the leaked files and the loyalty questions. Anyone could lie and if you have a fake background created for you, with no real intelligence agency now to do a background check, how many people will be slipping in?
Self sabotage is a symptom of malignant narcissism. Their ego actually knows they are evil so it causes them to make missteps that expose the error. It’s the only good thing about this type of sociopathy.
Putin will or probably has over reached. His war in Ukraine has cost Russia so many lives of their young men that he's had to resort to using foreign troops. North Korea is forcing their young men to fight for Russia.
What Putin fails to understand is that invading other countries is no longer as easy as it used to be when those countries were a lot poorer. Once a country experiences a stable government and a raise in the standard of living, like Ukraine, they are not going to willingly give up their autonomy. The Ukrainians have fought valiantly for their country. The struggle has cost them too. But they are fighting for their country and their rights. Even without the US support, they will continue to make life difficult for the Russians. Invading other countries bordering Russia won't be that easy either. Once he secures those borders, if he manages to secure them, he's going have maintain an occupation force. The population of Russia or it's economy can't sustain that level of military force.
Hitler made the mistake of invading Russia. The Russians fought back and he lost that front. He spread his troops too thin.
The news each day is more painful than of the previous day. Our news networks should be screaming in protest. He is destroying everything we consider important. Where is the pushback??? This is terrible, horrible, ......
He is ‘threatening’ to destroy everything we consider important. But he is up against two thirds of America who did not vote for him as well as those who are realising they’ve been shafted. Keep the faith.
- Pulled Quote -
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” one researcher told Dan Diamond, Lena H. Sun, Carolyn Y. Johnson, and Mark Johnson of the Washington Post. “This is like a meteor just crashed into all of our cancer centers and research areas.”
...and if the meteor is big enough it causes a mass extinction event. Let's get to work NOW!
My dad fought in the Battle of the Buldge. He never spoke of it, not even to my mom. I asked him when he was 80 what the war was like, and he said it was the coldest winter on record and it was over 30 days before he saw the inside of a building. That’s all he said. We are watching our country being destroyed from the inside but this is what Americans voted for. Last night, Pete Hegseth was voted in as SoD. A drunken womanizer who’s wholly unqualified for such an awesome position. What would Eisenhower think? Those brave men and women who fought and died to protect our country and ideals. Everyday Trump brings more darkness. Where do we go from here?
Cathy, it’s about protecting your neighbours and your vulnerable communities and joining grassroots organisations who are pushing back. Surround yourself with good people, fighting for justice. It’s a great antidote to fear and feeling powerless.
Trump was actually right about one thing: we have to fight like hell or we won't have a country anymore.
We need to stop calling them the GOP or Republicans. Those are names from another time. They are MAGAts, domestic terror organization.
Yes. I've thought for years the GOP should be outlawed as a white supremacist hate group. Because that is what it is. And since he's going to let violent politicized insurrectionists run at large in the country, we can add terrorist organization as well.
And traumatic.
No service, not honesty, no hard work…free money and empire…irresponsible billionaires. A dumb dupe, held tight by the grip on his vanities, tries to project power but is incompetent! We will pay a price for sure but perhaps we can also win a war. We need Congress to step up and pass laws that work, not defer to Executive power but clearly define the people who are the activators, the managers, using science and best practices. Clear laws on climate, president’s power, voting rights, and money in politics.
They have not done their jobs since Reagan. Pass a living wage law! We will all be better when we can all contribute! The ‘gift economy’ supports community, schools, childcare by valuing and supporting those that can and will foster community. We need community kitchen spaces. We need love and empathy!
It’s our non-religious ‘Come to Jesus Moment’ too…we have all become too cruel and numb to the pain our culture and economy creates for others…
Same here. So ashamed of them.
Sooooooooo distressing!!!
I think Trump is demanding 2% not 5% of NATO members to finance defense.
i thought he has upped it to 5% and as heather reported, so does that mean another 600 billion to the military? that's no so much less than Medicaid alone or the AFC, or, the interest on the national debt... each in the vicinity of 800 billion.
It is not a given that we can survive another 1,400 days of this. At 71 years old, I’ve seen an awful lot of bad shit, but none of it as frightening as what’s happening now.
I think many of us in the Boomer generation will not survive to see an end to this madness. It's very different being at this end of life's journey. As you said we have "seen an awful of bad shit . . ." and agree that where we are today is beyond the pale and sickening. Many of us are out of our minds with anger, depression, and fear - we are living a train wreck that we gave every ounce of energy and effort to desperately stop but that is now out of control.
Janet,what a difference 80 years make.
Back then, Americans were dying defending democracy against fascism , now millions of their descendants voted for fascism to defeat democracy.
Those who don’t remember the’War Years’ and didn’t grow up with parents remembering 1929 and The Depression just can’t visualize how tough things can get without a social network.
I guess my Dad was drafted and sent to Germany in 1944 so we could elect the fascists here.
Rick, Trump's only been in power for five days and the cluster f**k is obvious to everyone except MAGA.
Gregg,I salute your father's service. His sacrifice and millions of other servicemen of those glorious and painful times keep the peace and prosperity for almost 80 years. It's true that trump been in power for only 5 days but this take over by the fascists was in the planning stages for years and financed by billionaires. They are not going to give back the power they have now easily. The point of no return will be the next midterm election. We are going to need another Greater Generation like your father's.
I was born in 1946 and, like you, I wonder if I will survive to see how this all turns out.
Good grief, no kidding. It is beyond bizarre.
And, I'm mad as hell that this disaster is crowding out space in my head that should be spent on friends and family. What is so sad is well educated, good people in the younger generations don't see anything positive for their future. Too many have given up.
Too many have given up because of the direction of this country and now it’s changing and now they won’t be able to give up because I’ll have to strive to be better not just live off their parents live off their parents footsteps.
Actually, it’s in total control Janette just you don’t agree with the control because you’re just negative in advance. You’re judging something five days in existence it’s unbelievable. You people are so monofaceted in hate. It’s actually disgusting. You might wanna wake up and realize what just happened in this past election and why it happened.
TROLL ALERT.
What is with you people you have so little self-awareness.
You have people here posting back-and-forth and back-and-forth 20 times a day the same names appear time and time again but they’re not considered trolls. They should be considered lemmings. Soon as someone comes on here was a different opinion. He becomes a troll or she becomes a troll. Well, you’re only gonna have the pleasure of my company for another few days and then you go back to your bubble think life And watch America rise from the ashes
Hey Ricky, why wait a few days. Just leave. You have never added anything useful to the conversation. You just tell us how right you are and how wrong we are. Without any specifics, of which there could be many. You tell us that we are haters and Trump is….what? An epitome of restraint? A fine fellow who is just misunderstood? You are the very definition of a troll. Go away.
You see the problem Martin is you don’t even see the problem. The problem is. I’ve added a lot of useful information because it’s an opposing view so God forbid you’re not in a courtroom as a defendant someday, and I get to stand up and make the case for the prosecution and then send it directly to the jury, which is what everybody is doing here. There’s your justice system, pal. Enjoy it but for the next four years, it’s going to be just the opposite unfortunately because you’ve made your opinions invalid with your hate your group think and your bubble one-sided ideology.
Well, I’m not misunderstood in order to be misunderstood. You first have to read and evaluate but nobody here does that actually, there’s one person that does which is kind of nice.
But for the balance of you, I actually pity you all You denied reality of failure for four years from your semi cadaver and now you’re gonna have to denial reality for what you don’t like for the next four years
In the meantime, I’m gonna relish in the success of this country not only domestically but globally and unfortunately, you’re gonna get the benefit of all that Goodwill, Global respect and in many cases well deserved fear
No problem, Rick. Keep posting here. I don’t agree with your thoughts and opinions, but that doesn’t mean that your Free Speech Rights should be limited or eliminated. I recently commented on The Great Replacement Theory (see below). It’s a theory which is not a figment of my imagination, but has been discussed and espoused by folks like Tucker Carlson. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Great Replacement Theory, and I’m willing to bet a sizable donation to WCK that several others on this thread would love to hear what you FREELY have to say. Thanks, Rick!!
and yet, here you are....how many posts and replies will you make? Pot calling the kettle black?
You have the nerve and audacity to talk about pot calling the. For everyone of my posts there are 25 counter posts. I shall leave here in a few days, but I’ll be thinking of you often and with a smile on my face and laughter wondering how the hell you’re gonna deal with democracy in your face. Donald Trump is the duly elected democratic president of the United States. He must follow the rules of the constitution and do whatever he can to turn this country around from the utter failure. It has been for four years. Which is the reason why 48th of the 50 states became redder than they were before. Now deal with that and tell me I’m out here on the ledge by myself Lololol. I hope you guys open your eyes in your ears and watch this country fly because if you don’t, you’re gonna miss one of the greatest recoveries in America ever
You are a bully know-nothing, Rick, a shining example of Dunning-Kruger, and you fellate yourself with grandiosity that doesn't and will NEVER exist. You are the guy in the dive bar talking to himself that everyone pities, but avoids, and no one will buy you a drink, because you are an unsalvageable loser and low gauge troll.
That’s what you guys love to do huh Kitterman quote meaningless diatribes. China.
Well, you see how ignorant you are you make comments without any knowledge whatsoever about who I am and what I do and what I did
I used to speak to a half 1 million people a month. And I directed a budget of $500 million a year just for advertising as chairman of the board And that’s exactly what ignorance gets you .
There’s a great adage that I will add for you. Sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut and leave people in doubt than to open it and prove how foolish you are. I retired a dozen years ago with awards medals, accolades, medallions, and thank youse wall-to-wall in My Home From one of the largest chains on the planet. Have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity…and created a couple thousand millionaires….
And I absolutely love when you call me a troll here when every single person here is nothing but a troll commiserating themselves patting each other on the back like lemmings back-and-forth and back-and-forth and back-and-forth on the wrong side of history. But you guys think you’re not trolls. I’m lmao in the meantime.
Enjoy the next four years which we’re gonna try to stretch to 12.
Yep, the collapse function is a great tool. Click on the 3 dots to the far right of a name, find "collapse" and poof the troll/bot is invisible to one's feed.
Yes Janette that’s perfect that way none of you get to hear an opposing opinion other than your own drivel. I hope that none of you are ever in a courtroom and have a jury or a trial like you’re like you because what you will have is you’re the defendant and the prosecution gets up and get his opinion across to the jury and it goes directly to the jury and the judge bypassing the defense let’s see how you like it then because that’s how you are now
Actually we love our country and we love democracy and want to see it continue and flourish. People like you elected a Russian asset who is hellbent on destroying our country. This not about hate. It’s about recognizing the danger that trump represents to our country.
Trump worshipers are not worth your time. But it is encouraging to see him on this page and know that he is peeking around the blinders.
You see how you people don’t get anything people don’t worship Trump. They love his policies. They could give a shit about him. You look at the man and hate the man, but you disregard everything he did and everything he will do for the American people not only in America but abroad.
there’s no such thing as a Trump worshiper. In fact, many people had voted for Trump. Don’t even like his personality or the words that come out of his mouth. However, his policies are right on for America. They were his first time around and they will be even greater this time around.
And not one person here even has the courage to google Trump administration accomplishments you just wanted to dismiss him out of total ignorance, which is just fine with us
The funniest thing of all is who you actually voted for for president
That woman couldn’t run a drive-through fast food window
I’m not sure you would recognize democracy if it hit you in the face. If you’re dumb enough or naïve enough to believe that Trump is a Russian asset you have no idea what democracy is. Maybe there’s some medicine that you can take to scrub the brainwashing that you’ve received You don’t love your country. You love your country as you see your country and you’re seeing it through demented biased glasses.
What you need as a great deal more introspection to realize what just happened in November. And what is happening today is Trump is getting a standing ovation in North Carolina and a standing ovation in California. In just three days, he’s done more than Joe Biden did in four years
so what do you think is democracy? What is it exactly about trump that you think is good for democracy. You haven't stated one thing in any of your responses
Well, I wanna thank you for proving my point about the majority if not almost all of you here. Donald Trump has been putting out his policy statement and it has it online for about the last 4 to 5 months. And now you’re asking me what it is.? I’ll tell you what it is. It is why Donald Trump got 77 million votes because some people pay attention to other than following each other online blindly.
Fascism is a far-right form of government in which most of the country's power is held by one ruler or a small group, under a single party. Fascist governments are usually totalitarian and authoritarian one-party states.
By the way, if you want the definition of fascism, he just left office on the 20th. He tried like hell and fell flat on his face, and didn’t even know he fell flat on his face.
Aw -the fascism supporter talks! Reada Project 2025. They will eventually come for you as well.
Project 25 project 25 project 25 project 25. It’s like continuous vomit from you guys as if it’s political dictum. If you ever bother reading project 25 you would realize that a lot of these things are actually pro American and not pro fascist. Like ID to prove your American citizen to vote that’s pretty freaking fascist, huh? You guys are impossible you’re supposedly intellectual, but you only read from your Bible.
Opposing views are what helps our country grow and prosper when done in a manner where all listen while also showing respect for each other. A true debate requires each side use supporting evidence in facts and data to make their point. Rick, I have yet to read one of your responses that is respectful and gives a reason to back up your beliefs. This is why you continue to be ignored. Many here would listen if you shared more than insults with us. Respectfully waiting for respect first before listening to your opinions.
So sorry about your education, Rick. Clearly you deserved better. It’s not too late.
You poor thing I’ve learned more from life that you could ever learn from a textbook
And I have accomplished more than 90% of the people on this site in real life. And it’s amazing that you could comment about education when you haven’t got a clue about my education and that’s exactly why Heather can get to you so easily.
🤣😜 oh, my, what a great attack reflecting so much emotional intelligence & reason. now I have to believe the train wreck is actually total control & any aspiration to integrity, quality of, or respect for, life, is indees misguided. bravo. ::slow clap:: troll crown for you. "you people" are so smart!
Well, welcome to your train wreck Kathy because you’re the reason Donald Trump is in office right now because of the train wreck that just left office. In fact, some of you were so blind they actually voted for a person that couldn’t run a fast food restaurant let alone a country.
I know...we are all watching the SAME train wreck...but someone HAS to switch the track and save the day !! It's not us is it ??? How is the heck do we make a difference now ???????
My mother tirelessly gave 10% of what my parents earned year after year. They also volunteered their time generously. And they were content and happy for the most part. They expected (required) each of us kids to give 10% of our meager allowance in the Sunday school offering every week. It was a couple of pennies at first and by the time we left home it was several dollars. The three of us kids had jobs by the time we were twelve years old and that's when our allowances ended.
As I am a non-theist I have been tithing to the food banks instead of to a church. The local food banks are supported by all of the local grocery stores except Walmart for some reason, dozens of local businesses and 3 local churches.
Most of us have witnessed food insecurity and realize that school meals provide most of the calories many children receive. Additionally, many parents have addictions and are unable to prepare meals at home or they are working multiple jobs because the oligarchs are greedy bastards that are unwilling to pay their workers a living wage.
A couple of days ago the local K-8 school sent out a request to the community for money to support sending weekend snacks and meals home on Friday's with the kids. I'm not sure of the details so it may even be all of the kids.
Their goal is to raise $5,000 for the remainder of the school year. In a few days, they are already close to reaching their goal.
Since the oligarchs and Republicans are unwilling to help people with their most basic needs we can all find a way to pitch in if we're able. Many of you always have and always will so keep up the good work. This may not solve the Fascist problem we face with the Federal government but it can't hurt.
I have a cause: use charitable deductions to save the SSA retirement Trust Fund. The default of Trust Funds is supposed to apex in 2033 due to the increase of birth rates of baby boomers. After 2033, birth rates of later generations flatten and the funds can be solvent.
Social Security is the greatest anti-poverty program in US history. Social Security protects workers, widow(er)s, orphans and disabled people and is a major investment for many of us. Donations can flatten the default curve, extending the apex.
https://www.ssa.gov/agency/donations.html
Why doesn't SSA advertise that donations can flatten the curve and extend the default date beyond 2033?
Defunding the CDC and many of these other government programs will reduce our life expectancy, so maybe that’s their plan to save SS?
/s = written in sarcasm font… if that wasn’t completely clear
If you are unable to assist in the means of production in this country you are considered dead weight.
They need to bring on the Rapture and somehow think they will be the only ones to survive.
Money can buy salvation in the rapture. All of the billionaires are well aware of that. /S
Until they decide to "redirect" or "borrow" from that trust fund (or at least try). Though something like that might be what finally wakes up a certain MAGA demographic.
Actually none of the funds have been loaned despite folkelore to the contrary. The Trust Fund paid about $22 billion to beneficiaries last year. Not a dime from general revenues.
Your comments, Gary, are very inspiring and, in many respects mirror my upbringing and present stance. The thing that upsets me the most is the prevalence of the Great Replacement Theory - which has its seeds in Christian believers. The Christianity that I grew up with and the teachings that I still attempt to maintain center on how we treat each other. You know that old Golden Rule thing. I find my childhood values being severely tested these days. Yes, my wife and I will continue to be generous to family and friends and charitable organizations. That ain’t the difficult part. What I find difficult to do is resist being sarcastic, sanctimonious, and/or sappy by sinking to “level” of Trump and his supporters. I mean, I could write this wisecrack: “What do Trump and his supporters revere more - the Golden Rule or the Trump Tower Golden Escalator?” (Of course, I’d never say that out loud!! Oooppppsssss! Somehow my erase button ain’t working right now!) Bottom Line: We are battling the Great Replacement Theory - which never gets named and which most of the Trump supporters can’t/don’t name. At least the Allied forces in 1944 could NAME their opponent! Lately, my wife and I are planning to add the World Central Kitchen to our donation list! Hmmmmmm…. Money for Donald Trump or Jose Andres? Gotta decide what will be the Best Bang for the Buck. I vote for Jose!! Anyone else with us??
Thanks for that Paul. One thing Trump and his Magats can't take away from us is our sense of humor. You made me smile several times.
A friend of mine is an analyst for the CIA specializing in famine and hunger. He has been with the CIA for over 20 years. I can definitely see his job going away under the current Fascist regime.
Ain't no billionaires gonna go hungry nohow.
Your kind is considered by this administration to be just like soldiers in the military - suckers and losers.
Bravo to your community, Gary. Project Host here in Greenville SC has a similar program, including meals during the summer hen schools are closed. Bravo to Project Hope!
Wonderful suggestion for us. Indifference to our hungry children would be a social travesty!
"except Walmart for some reason"
The county where Walmart has their headquarters in Arkansas has one of the highest child poverty rates in the country. They ONLY care about profits.
Check out Nancy Walton Laurie's $300 million yacht. I'd bet a lot of money that ALL of the Walton's voted for Trump.
https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-nancy-walton-superyacht-kaos-2023-5
I believe that’s where we should be headed as citizens is to help those that will be affected by this government fiasco.
I also live in a state that doesn’t think it’s worthy to feed kids at school.
You must be in Ohio
SC
Explain Heather's message to everyone you know. That is a start at least. The CDC decision trump made may prove his undoing. We tread on dangerous ground right now, and nearly every decision the orange one has made this week is wrongheaded at best. So let people know.
I actually did highlight this very dangerous move on Bluesky this week. I really don’t think people voted to increase the likelihood that the country will be ravaged by deadly diseases, do you? People need to know what’s going on, because many of them are oblivious. The more we talk about the dangerous consequences of these actions in our public spaces, the better. Until at some point, it will become publicly obvious - and not in a good way.
I do some studies with the poultry industry and the status of chickens, turkeys and ducks with avian influenza is very serious. So is the possibility of AI mutating to a human transmitted influenza. If the CDC cannot study this and share information, who care. The orange menace is making a serious and perhaps fatal mistake, which to him is revenge on people laughing because he mindlessly suggested injecting bleach.
We might want to stock up on masks, sanitizers, and basic medications, given that RFK Jr is going to put his pudgy, carrion encrusted fingers into our medical system. And did folks see videos of his actress wife at some inaugural event? She must be an absolute moron!!!
Kitterman it’s amazing that people like you and so many like you are nothing but negative in advance when you actually should be negative in arrears for what just transpired for the last four years from a semi cadaver that you voted for. The absolute moron is the lady that ran for president for 70 some odd days I made a fool of herself and every single individual that voted for her.
I have already started to stockpile masks and hand sanitizer right after the election. I hoped it would be proven that trump and musk cheated through hand counts in the battleground states, but no such luck. Everyone ought to be preparing for worst cases.
Thank you very very much Wendy for proving what I’ve been saying for the past six weeks I’ve been on this site. You people don’t want the truth you people don’t want the facts. You only want the food that you’ve been fed. Twitter used to be your favorite site when it was 70% liberal and 30% conservative as soon as musk bought it and it became 50-50. You couldn’t take it anymore nor get any of the people here and so you’re fleeing to blue sky, so you don’t have to feel or hear any contrary, opinions, other than your own How sick thing is that and then you wonder why you believe what you believe and you can’t understand why Donald Trump was just elected Very sad for open minded people or people that think they’re open minded.
Do you want me to back up the facts about Twitter or X and the flight to blue sky? You gotta be kidding me. You can Google it on the first hit. You’re gonna find out exactly the truth. Used to be 7030 now it’s 4948 but most lives have bailed to blue sky where they don’t have to hear a contradictory opinion.
Are you responding to me, Rick? I don’t consider “Google” to be a source. What organization did the polling and came up with the results you wrote (7030 to 4948)? Thanks!
Gosh, Rick Sender, I can’t find any evidence of the political preferences that you stated in your response to Wendy. Would you please name your source(s) for me? Also you stated above “ You people don’t want the truth you people don’t want the facts.” Are the “you people” Liberals? Is that what you mean? I am a Liberal and I want the Truth and the Facts. IN FACT, I am asking you to substantiate your statements so I can verify your statements as Truthful and Factual. Also, and maybe this is a bit nit-picky, but do you know for certain that Twitter (factually, Rick, it’s now X) was Wendy’s favorite site? Thanks, in advance, Rick, and I FULLY AGREE WITH YOU: we, the People need The Facts and Truth!
By the way, Paul I have one overwriting question for you. What makes you be liberal? Are the tenets and platforms of liberalism that you support and why? Personally, I’ve been an independent for 40 some years. One of my favorite presidents was Bill Clinton, despite all his faults And sexual issues. People wanna place a lot of onus on a president’s personal life or personality. In reality, the only thing that matters are his policies or her policies and how they affect Americans
Liberals were absolutely OK with Bill Clinton and his horrid personal deviance Not to mention being married and lying under oath under oath and forgiving him I could care less because that doesn’t affect me and it doesn’t affect you law he supports laws he imparts improving the lives of all Americans and supporting an America first policy is what American president should stand for Everything else is secondary
One further comment I would like to make if you would like the facts you should be looking at X not blue sky. You should be looking at Fox News to get some alternative information or OAN or Tucker daily or any of those sites that you normally would not look at just to get some perspective on what other people think or see you may not agree with them, but at least you’ll understand where they are coming from
You know it’s amazing to me. You people are intellectually lazy you expect me to do your homework for you. I make a statement prove that it’s wrong. How’s that? The problem with this site it’s all one-sided. There’s not even a contradictory argument with or without back up. You’re only hearing one side of the story and you’re not even honest enough to realize that.
Certainly, the fact that you agree with you’ve backed up with doing your own research, but you’re refusing to look at the alternative facts and verify or validate them. It’s your problem not mine. You don’t wanna believe them that’s fine with me.
It’s a distraction. He isn’t going t to touch the CdC. If anything, he’ll just give money to male wellness initiatives like steroids and bulk vitamins that make Rogan, Jones and White look like fire hydrants with ears.
This is all to distract us and sigh with relief that we aren’t going to catch polio while in the other room, he’s auctioning off FEMA funds to shady building contractors to screw the La residents trying to rebuild.
Marcus, love the fire hydrant with ears phrase!
Well good luck with building LA and you’re gonna blame Trump on the devastation there. ? Every single individual in the room with Trump was thrilled at the help. He was giving them and offering them and shortening the time needed to start the rebuilding process. I’m so glad I’m not gonna be here to see the negativity very much longer. I wish you haters a lot of good luck. Because you’re gonna need it.
Fire hydrant with ears - a great visual and put a smile on my face!
Pay attention. And boycott their stuff. Deleted Facebook. Start a text chain to get information. Call out como,tee Bs and ask people to back up why they belief in this crap.
What has been made abundantly clear is that our tax dollars are going to be rerouted to billionaire coffers. The American government has just experienced a hostile takeover. Up next….venture capitalist style slashing of departments in the company known as the USA.
Watch every cut to Medicaid and where those dollars go. Do you think the new administration will give it back to the 99% or will it flow to a privatized company and divvied up amongst its shareholders.
The US government collects 2.1 TRILLION dollars in taxes each year. The 1% is chomping at the bit to get their hands on that money for themselves. And Trumo has made it abundantly clear that he is willing to give that money in government contracts to whomever is willing to kick some back to him. Just. Like. Russia.Just. Like.Hingary. Just like every fascist dictatorship.
We were warned of this, the American people didn’t believe of didn’t know it would happen and it isn’t even a week in.
Every single time he says he’s cutting something, watch that it will not be cut. The tax money will just funnel to private buddies of his. Then they’ll strip it and leave us with the losses. Medicaid, Post Office, NASA, FEMA.
Watch out for any agency they constantly attack. CA which pays far more in federal taxes is on board to receive billions in aid for the LA fires. Trump wants DEMA out and his buddies in. And we know how great it is to deal with pop up private anything. We are going to see such massive grift over the next four years. Then they’ll elected Democrats to clean it all up and elect someone even worse than trumo bevause after four years, they need a shiny new enemy to lash out at.
And print out to your friends who voted for Trump that they asked for it.
It’s amazing that you point out that the government. $2.3 billion every year and spends double that every year and that’s OK with you. ? And then it has the audacity to send $200 billion to some foreign land that has no impact on us whatsoever and then it’s up to NATO to take care of first.
" !! It's not us is it ??? "
It's any of us who rise to the occasion and this morning, I'm joyful to read an email announcing work written by Dorothy Ladybugboss. [do you love that name?]. She's Vanessa, the writer of "Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity's Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism", a book I LOVE that's been gaining traction globally since it appeared in 2021.
Today's email offers a free download of 'Burnout From Humans" and asks, "What happens when we approach AI not as a neutral tool or a looming danger, but as a participant in the planetary web of entanglement? Could AI—modernity’s prodigious child—become an unlikely partner in composting the very systems that created it?"
An activist group, Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (GTDF) invites you to explore this work and offers the free download at https://burnoutfromhumans.net/
What if we are the ones we've been waiting for!??
your local community of support! donate, help those vulnerable, give out meals to homeless, give to a food bank, Find a group in your community. That's where it starts.
Could not agree more. However, US citizens who pay taxes for decades should not be reliant on the generosity or stinginess of neighbors.
If you would like to or are able to donate to a neighbor, that is amazing. But when you and we ALL pay into a system whether through payroll, sales, property, etc tax that is supposed to redistribute it into the well being of ALL and instead redistribute it to a handful of wealthy people and corporations to stuff into their own pockets instead of roads, schools, healthcare, elder care, infant care we have a HUGE …YUGE, BEAUTIFUL, NEVER SEEN BEFORE PROBLEM.
What if your neighbors, local church are selfish jerks and don’t care if their neighbor suffers? And that neighbor happens to be a vet who served three tours in Afghanistan and lost a leg and has had medical complications and can’t work?
“Thank you for your service” is pretty empty. And now there’s a freeze on the Va hiring?
What the actual fuck did we just do to our country? “Pleas good, sir, can I have some bread after working for 40 years and paying taxes?”
This administrations response, “Sorry, Loser, should have made more money” as they back their fourth yacht up to the dock and collect more tax money.
Price supporting your president and your country and see what happens instead of fighting blindly without even knowing why you’re fighting.
Try supporting not price supporting sorry
Think "ropa-dope". That was Ali's strategy in the ring. Remember?
How about not making a difference and trying to support the effort to bring America back?
Numerous locals across western North Carolina are still sleeping in tents and campers more than 100 days after Hurricane Helene
Why is that? Please explain. Have you ever even been to Western North Carolina? I live there part time. You have no idea what the terrain is like the damage that was done that prohibits any kind of efficient aid getting in. To top that off there is a supreme inability to accept help from outsiders. What would you have anyone do to have made things better? Would we have airdropped tiny homes into the mountains.? Help is going on daily if you bothered to look. This is a very unique desperate situation that couldn’t be handled with a flick of your fingers. Asheville should not have been the poster child for this. And it is a lot easier and more financially beneficial for news organizations, and I use that term very loosely to focus on people who had trouble getting Assistance.
By the way, just what the hell are you wanting to bring America back to.
If you think help was going on them watch what happens now
and whose fault is that? When the FEMA folks are having to take cover because of militias
Fascism is a far-right form of government in which most of the country's power is held by one ruler or a small group, under a single party. Fascist governments are usually totalitarian and authoritarian one-party states.
Mark, what’s most frightening to me (78 yrs. old) is that we’ve always had a functioning government that we could rely on to help if our state needed it, and a future, even during the Cold War, that we could count on. Now, I’m holding my breath for next week…
Claire, millions like you should be holding their breath but they don't care. All in the name of tax cut for the 1 percent.
Mark,it might be the point of no return.
We agree. We are 82 and scared. He is destroying our Country. And people I know voted for this a..h....
I'm not convinced I want to survive it and I'm only 63.
How does one score fentanyl?
Some demon - DJT - unfriendly to human happiness and a destroyer of peace, has only begun to unleash egregious calamities here and abroad.
Drump has outlawed protests (new law that military force will be used
There are probably 100 million happy voters in this country right now. In just days of Trump’s presidency. You guys oughta put away your Ouija boards, your crystal balls, and your hate monitors and try supporting your country and see what happens.
As has been said - supporting your country is not supporting one man. Maybe you should take a quick side track and read their Oath of Office.
Mark, this is rough for sure, but I’m a year older than you, and I’m not giving up. We must survive the days ahead, and we do that by taking action in defense of our freedoms, our families, and our futures. If you’re not sure what to do, join your local Indivisible group or other grassroots action-oriented group. We can’t win unless we fight. I’m all in for the fight ahead and we need you with us.
You actually have the audacity to say that after have a semi cadaver, tried to lead this country blindly for four years, actually only for only a short while until he demonstrated his total incompetence which they kept hidden from you.
This guy who just left office wasn’t in office for more than a year, and someone else was pulling the strings and had his hands on the wheel, and we kept making mistake after mistake after mistake and spending hundreds of billions of dollars to kill more people overseas. Instead of trying to stop the war all he did was fuel it. When we could’ve been using the money at home more now more than ever, including helping with the fires and the hurricane damage that it was never addressed by the previous administration. And it only 15 days Trump essentially stopped the war in Israel at least for now.
And the American heroes who died during the Battle of the Bulge and elsewhere in World War II never fathomed that the country they were defending could, 80 years later, be ruled by an autocratic felon.
The "Autocratic Felon"?... Traitor Trump....
I thought he was a traitor when he had the FIRST 3 hour long meeting with Putting in SECRET !!! ALONE in 2016...remember that. Then they proved Russian interference in the 2016 election. It is now clear where all the dots have lead to...NOW what do we do ?
My 97 year old neighbor fought the Japanese in the Philippines and after the war served as a security agent in Japan. For him to think we have rotted within is very depressing.
Morbid, moronic, mob boss.
Yes, Gene, an autocratic felon who has shown contempt for those heroes in the Battle of the Bulge and elsewhere who he has called "suckers and losers."
I knew it was going to be bad, but I never imagined it would be this bad - and it's only been 5 days! I hope and pray our institutions are strong enough to withstand this full-scale assault on America and that there are enough strong men and women in our country to lead the counterattack.
And you know that all these crazy acts were not all developed by Trump himself. Bannon, Miller, and the rich guys are using Trump and hoping they can control him.
On your favor at least you knew things would be bad but not this bad . There are millions that didn't even know or care about how bad things are turning up thanks to their ignorant vote.
Are we still experiencing "shock and awe"?
No awe, only shock
Gene, the autocratic felon/ traitor trump was voted into office by a bunch of ignorant . He is not the only responsible for this situation.
An empty tummy is a good cure for ignorance.
Ed, they are going to twist reality in such a way that Biden and by extension, all democrats are going to be blamed for their empty stomachs. Ignorance is going to be chronic.
I disagree. Hunger sharpens the mind. Entertainment becomes less important. Survival instinct kicks in. People get smarter when the are trying to survive. This is hard wired into our genetics.
You might be right Ed but I think when hunger strikes people become more resourceful than smarter, two things related and interdependent but different. This is a semantic discussion. The important thing is that on important issues we are in the same page.😄
and breaking it up, from the inside out...without using Military
I remember when the idea of democracy was important to a majority of Americans. Not that it ever worked perfectly for all of us, but that it was an ideal we aspired to and that we were willing to fight for. This wanton destruction of democratic policies and ideals is sickening and shocking.
It gets worse. I just read the Palast report. The Grand Old Party did steal the 2024 election.
The orange felon stopped campaigning except at rallies because he said he had the votes....now we know what he meant.
It boggles my mind that Drump stole the election in 2016 and 2024, with putin’s help, while we were fully aware, but simply sat by both times and let it happen. Why? Can anyone explain that to me?
Hillary and Kamala would’ve been good presidents.
Some people are aware but not many. We need to take to the streets in mass and it doesn’t happen.
There were two clues. First, he turned his appearances into - what? nothingburgers. Dancing around. Playing rude games with the microphone. Choosing songs. Second: Bannon's words: "He can't not win".
They ALWAYS tell you !!! like little children they can't help themselves ! now what ??
Once again doing exactly what he accused Biden of doing.
And # 3 Trump admitted on mike... Elon affected which state ???
Pennsylvania
During a rally Trump said that his political ally Elon Musk had an advanced understanding of the voting machines used in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state that was key to Trump's victory in November.
"He knows those computers better than anybody. All those computers. Those vote-counting computers," Trump told the crowd. "And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide."
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-elon-musk-voting-machine-2017657
"Did Donald Trump just say that Elon Musk helped him rig the election?" journalist David Leavitt asked. Jasmine Crockett of Texas also took to X to ask if Trump was "confessing to yet another damn crime." Another Democratic congressman, Daniel Goldman of New York, also called for an investigation.
Trump claimed that the 2020 election was stolen by Democrats. However, he has not made allegations against the results of the 2024 election. Musk openly said it was easy to rig election computers. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/114387655.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Election Truth Alliance (ETA), a self-described nonpartisan nonprofit organization that was founded in December 2024, said its analysis in Clark County, Nevada, produced results "consistent with vote manipulation." https://fox4kc.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/776992724/analysis-of-2024-election-results-in-clark-county-indicates-manipulation/
https://hartmannreport.com/p/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won-c6f
This does not include effects from Russian psy ops to intimidate, scare, threaten voters and election officials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2024_United_States_elections#:~:text=Russia's%20efforts%20represented%20the%20most,society%20and%20foster%20anti%2DAmericanism.
Conservatively, hundreds of thousands of potential registered Democratic voters did not vote. This can be established via expert witness testimony. That conduct constitutes crimes -- election intereference under state and federal law.
Hey Daniel, if this is the case, how did Biden get in there? Where are those 13 million votes come from and disappear
Thank you.
https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
Wow, I love numbers.
California vote by mail is postage paid. Trump wants to require voter ID at the polls, will probably demand the end of vote by mail in order to give disaster funds.
The thing is, in California, you have to prove you’re a citizen when you register to vote. Even California Republicans know this but they lie to the voters to defend their losses due to their policies of making citizens suffer.
Clicking just brings up junk ads.
I use Safari on iOS (iPhone) and iPadOS (iPad) and they have built-in adblockers. I don’t see any ads at all. Sorry.
I have an ad blocker on my network.
To repeat another post here = Why are we letting this happen?!?
I had not heard of Palast. Wow, what an article.
the young people who voted for Trump were 1) lied to over and over and over again..then 2) have NO concept of an autocracy and what is in store...they just want to enjoy their lives...I understand the naivety .... they don't understand how Democracy can require work and protection so Autocracy does't replace it....as it has.
Shauna, you are forgetting the price of eggs in this equation. It's the price of ignorance that we all will pay.
And without the CDC to help fight the bird flu, the price of eggs may be the least of our worries.
You are quite right Kathleen regarding what's going to happen without the CDC but they are going to deflect all responsibility by blaming Biden and by extension, all democrats.
That's what they are doing about the fires in California by denying all possibility of even climate change existence calling it an Hoax, but they still need someone to blame ,in this case, the governor and his whole democratic administration as if four huge fires ,one year with no rain in the area and weeks long 100 miles/ hour winds that kept pushing flying ambers miles away were their fault. Now Congrress is conditioning assistance on an investigation and never ending questioning by several committees similar to the one they conducted against Hillary Clinton about Bengahzi, remember? Hope Governor Newsom keeps his cool and refuse to be participant in this circus. Note: Newsom might be a leading candidate for president in 4 years. No wonder they are playing politics with a disaster affecting millions of Americans.
I'm going to stop here ☺️
Ricardo, forget the price of eggs ! Start worrying about the availability of eggs ! Or chicken or duck or turkey. We have an avian flu epidemic going on !
Joan, you are so right!!! 😄
I assume every kid has heard the Gettysburg Address (we had to recite it from memory) which hearkens to ideals stated at the founding our our country. Our execution of those ideals has been a very mixed bag, considering slaughter and displacement of native peoples and of slavery, among other things, but Lincoln, appealing to "the better angels of our nature" did what he could apply our founding democratic ideals in more tangible ways. From primary school to high school, I recall my teachers, in public schools in Northern Ohio, spoke with literal reverence of Lincoln; and Lincoln had his own national holiday, which was a stimulant for schoolroom discussions. Lincoln had helped to launch the "Republican" party. I can imagine he might have some choice words for what has become of it.
Oddly, I don’t think my grandkids have.
"The cynical dishonesty of the Nazis’ propaganda received a significant boost from the cult of irrationality that drove their followers: the contempt for, indeed the revolution against, Enlightenment standards of rationality."
"Few members of Weimar’s insurgent groups wanted a lawless and barbaric dictatorship ruled over by someone like Hitler. They simply wanted the fastest and easiest solutions to their own particular problems."
- Benjamin Carter Hett, The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic
.https://www.benjamincarterhett.com/.
Subject: Benjamin Hett - The Death of Democracy
https://youtu.be/0umT4JNuBIM?si=-Sci8TEAsGcev5-O
Subject: How to Confront a Dictator: Benjamin Carter Hett
https://youtu.be/h5vciFhBzM0?si=JFuSFrLSNbWMKYr3
"... so democratic politicians confronting aggressive threats from 'totalitarian' dictatorships are facing fundamentally new and very alarming problems --- and have to invent the strategy as they go along."
Miriam, somehow trump convinced millions of voters that trading democracy for cheaper eggs was a good deal. The question is, how do we fix this 🤔?
I recommend Michael J. Sandel’s book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? wherein he says the problem with Meritocracy, which has become the moral justification for unfettered capitalism, is that it divides society into winners (the rich) and losers (the poor and most of us). The “losers” feel humiliated and hopeless because they are told it’s their own fault for not getting an education and bettering themselves. We who are educated (somewhat) know it is more complicated than that and the system is rigged. Propaganda does the job of directing their anger and frustration away from the legitimate targets toward scapegoats and phantom menaces (immigrants, non-whites, political opponents).
The cure? Sandel says we need to adjust our definition of success, honor the dignity of work, and restore self-worth, esteeming those “losers” as citizens contributing to the common good.
Raising the minimum wage would be a good start, but until we can change the value system of society it won’t happen. Until then, we do as Jesus instructed: Feed the poor. House the homeless. Comfort the afflicted.
And afflict the comfortable, as needed.
SB, I have posted this Marge Piercy poem before, and probably will again—it is my criteria for public service: To Be Of Use https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57673/to-be-of-use
And now an unqualified Fox News host is Sec of Defense. He will probably do whatever the Felon-in-Chief says. It’s a dark day in America. My father fought in WWII, a proud Marine. He would not be proud of America right now.
My father, a physician, led an Army field hospital, which was evacuating wounded from the battle in Liége a few miles from the rapidly changing front. It was set up in a high school and was well marked with a Red Cross. On Christmas Day when the gym was full of wounded waiting for transport he step away to shave at his quarters a few blocks away and it was shelled by German artillery. A direct hit on the gym killed all the wounded and most of the doctors and nurses and corpsmen. His medical unit was too shattered to rebuild and he spent the rest of the war attached to other units.
Thank you Heather for anchoring today’s letter in that moment of courage and sacrifice in our nation’s defense of democracy. We will need to rediscover every bit of that courage to fight this home grown threat to democracy.
I am so glad my father did not live to see this moment of infamy. It would break his heart as it does mine.
My father also fought in WWII -- a pilot in the Army Air Corp. He was a life-long Republican and would be horrified at what has happened to the party and his country.
On the other hand, Robert McNamarra took our military into Vietnam after the Tonkin Gulf Resolution passed.
I have some idea of what we lost in that war, but still don't grasp what we hoped to gain. I understand why we had to fight Hitler, but Vietnam never seemed like our fight. Along with the persistent curse of racism, that war seemed to crack the sense of unity we had experienced that resulted in the defeat of the Axis, shared prosperity, and far more optimism that one finds today. The cost was immense.
The arms industry and our military needed a war to develop the weapons, tactics and strategies of war. When LBJ made it clear that he supported an invasion of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis which the Kennedy administration resolved with negotiation, the assassination of JFK facilitated the military coup that facilitated government of our Republic supporting our military empire instead of the other way around which got our military so massively into Vietnam. We still live in that empire but I’m just a maintenance guy.
As Alec Ferguson has suggested, the Vietnam conflict wasn't about gaining anything. It was the first exercise in appeasing what Dwight Eisenhower had just warned of: the Military-Industrial Complex.
The two primary "chromosomes" in the United States' DNA are military aggression and capitalism. One supports the other. When the U.S. economy has faltered, our presidents have given us wars.
Jodi, this is not America anymore.
Jodi, “May God Protect our Troops” must now be our daily prayer. To be added to President Biden’s prayer; May God protect our country.
Jodi, the main reason why this totally unqualified moron was nominated for the job is precisely that he'll carry on anything, anything felon 34 will order.
Such a risky situation, but what do we have to lose????? Definitely this is the opposite of the America your father risked his live for.
sadly the dead are all rolling in their graves.
Yes, one of the MOC said it would be a good thing because he’s a good communicator. Do these people really not know that all his remarks were researched and scripted for him? Will he have a team to do that for him here? He certainly won’t make as much money so who will pay him his rubles?
We are under attack by a domestic enemy of the Constitution. Where are the political leaders willing to state this fact on every news show that will have them on? And where are the journalists willing to state this same truth?
World War II was won because people never gave up. Today? Way, way too many are "obeying in advance". I am disgusted at the so-called leaders in the Democratic Party.
I am disgusted by the Republican Party's total capitulation to trump. Can't they see where this is going? What will their children and grandchildren think of them when they realize their parents and grandparents enabled this vengeful lunatic to destroy our country?
B, you are right to be disgusted by the Republicans ttal capitulation to trump as in the case of senator Joni Ernst( R )Iowa , a sexual abuse survivor and a veteran that under pressure changed her vote to confirm the clown secretary of defense. Shame on her and all of them.
They won't have children, or grandchildren, if it all goes down the gurgler. I'm not sure what kind of world they think they are creating, but this brand of hellscape is one they'll be living in too. Unless of course they've all booked seats on the ridiculous Space X flight to Mars.
Mars is worth exploring but it's not a nice place. Not at all. Anyone who wants a seat on that flight to hell is welcome to go there. Be sure to write.
Billionaires and their space race. Absolute waste of money when half the world is starving.
Jazz, if so, I hope is a one way flight, and ASAP.
Time for the blue states to break the bank-transfer links from employers to D.C.; to collect the taxes in their capitals; and, withhold tax funds. Release to D.C. AT MOST the receipts from D.C. in the previous year (to eliminate the overage that blue states send to D.C. to subsidize red states). 🤔
Additionally, when Trump tries to drumpf a blue state of disaster relief funds, for example, then that state applies withheld tax funds to fund said relief and forwards the net balance to Washington. ⚖️
Several people, arrogating themselves as intellectual gate-keepers in this forum, will undoubtedly blow a gasket . . . So, blow; these men do not understand human nature and conflict. They fail to account for stated Trumpian behavior and its likely future. 😵
The hearing for the nominee to direct O.M.B. revealed open talk within the M.A.G.A. brain-drain, if not yet practice, of impoundment (e.g., suspending or ending F.E.M.A. operations). Where will funds delivered to agencies-in-stasis go? 😱
Theorizing about what might cause a civil war over a wire transfer mechanism, when such civil disorder has likely started, is as brilliant as trying to bail out the Titanic with a tea-spoon. The Great Civil War of the nineteenth century did not start at Fort Sumter or even with secession; its started five years earlier with Bleeding Kansas. 😰
Now, this particular idea may not work. But some form of it can at least support other initiatives. We need ideas to break down and re-assemble or refine. Attacking someone's view is about as helpful as Florence Nightingale handing out LSD for a head cold. 😉
Ned, I think that it should go a step further; but you propose a good starting point.
Pacifica, anyone?
Only if you let me be an undocumented immigrant. 😉
Steve. Did you not watch the vote on Hegseth? And you are blaming Democratic Party? Cmon.
I agree with you. People seek to avoid conflict until they can no longer do so. The Democrats are standing firm. Aside from Senators Collins, McConnell, Murkowski. ¿where are craven quislings among non-M.A.G.A. Republicans?
EDIT: as examples, Senators Cassidy, Fischer, Grassley, Lankford, Tillis et al.
Steve - the Trumplicans have hijacked the Republican Party. With the exception of Senators Collins and Murkowski, they are all "loyal subjects" to the Imperial President. They have no interest in governing as they plan to rule. I share your disgust but with the cowardice the Trumplicans display. We need to build a strong alliance of Pro-Democracy Leaders to stop the madness.
I agree. The science is deafening.
be disgusted with the GOP who are the traitors! Call them out on the carpet!
Call them what they are. NAZIs.
My uncle was with the 101st Airborne and stuck at Bastogne. He spoke very little of the experience, but laughed when recounting McAuliffe's "NUTS!" response to the demand of surrender. He was so young, still a teenager. Fortunately, he recovered fully from a wound to his hand and almost miraculously from frostbitten toes refusing to consent to amputation. It was a sacrifice that the current occupant of the White House can never fathom but dishonors. Heaven help us!
DJT avoided Military Service in the '60s.... aka 'Cadet Bone Spurs'... Instead he declared his Military Service was avoiding STDs at "Studio 54" in NYC... What-A-Man... ;-)
Such finesse in his humor.
What a "man"? Are you sure Apache?☺️
I was being Sarcastic... I had the Privilege of Serving Alongside Real 'HardMen'...
😃👋 . I understood your comment as sarcastic. With so many bad news who doesn't need a little joke here and there
We All Need A Little Humor In These Dark Times... Laughter Is A Wonderful Medicine!!!... :-)
One word said it all.
So the convicted criminal-in-chief now bullies our scientists, public health officers.
And a senator like Joni Ernst, a former military person, and a former victim of rape, turns sycophant to men who see women as unfit for key military service, but fit for rape.
Human truths hurt. Power insulates. And historian Yuval Noah Harari sets the love of truth against the craving for power. The former requires humanity: subtleties, contradictions, past patterns, serendipity. The latter mainly devolves to money, bullying, safety and sinecure over truth.
The plurality of Americans who voted in the recent U.S. elections has not gotten any human truths from schools or media for decades. No humanities. Instead, they whose plurality won the recent U.S. elections did so with decades of embitterment against the elites. And the main place these voters saw these elites in action was in schools, where humanities had long disappeared in favor of the dehumanized abstractions and neutered categories of standardized testing.
Dems void of humanities surrendered the election to the orange felon’s vulgarity, Republican sycophants’ lies and cowardice, and the now triumphal billionaires. These all reign now, craven power and sinecure over love of truth.
Ernst answered a letter I sent urging her to vote against Hegseth because of his history of incompetence and lack of qualifications. She responded that he assured her he would cut waste at the DOD. So the fool who nearly bankrupted two small organizations that saved themselves by firing him is apparently able to manage the $800B+ budget because he will eliminate waste. What a sell-out, what a betrayal of what she herself once sought to protect!
Carmen, I am surprised she actually responded and put such ignorance in writing. So little courage in so many people
I'm glad for your mention of Yuval Noah Harari. I'm reading "Nexus" now, and it's giving me insights into how I can appear with truth to power amidst local issues.
This is so well put. Leaders of both parties allowed a steady erosion of safeguards against wealth inequality and monopolies so that an increasing portion of the potential electorate is struggling to get by. Michael Podhorzer recently wrote that Democrats lost because too many had given up on their ability to deliver needed change. Potential voters staying at home was a vote of no confidence in Democrats by low information voters or those struggling too hard to pay attention to the rest of us trying to warn them. Brick by brick, year by year, we came apart at the seams.
Added several hours later: Voting expert Greg Palast wrote a guest piece in The Hartmann Report, stating that he would testify in court that Trump lost and that Republicans only defeated Harris through voter suppression on steroids. This is very convincing and sickening. https://hartmannreport.com/p/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won-c6f?r=dpmrd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I'm hoping that there will be court challenges? I fear it's too late. The election was stolen
As this gets investigated, it could be the start of community conversations with Republicans who suspect the 2020 election. We might find common ground with some in discussing the standards needed to ensure that all votes are counted.
True. However, most human individuals still love something or someone. I do wonder what would happen in our local communities if all the electricity in the world was shut down entirely for the next ten years. We are in the gothic age as foreseen by Mary Shelley, ruled over by a Dr Frankenstein’s monster.
Most, as you say, Monnina?
To check that one out -- "most human individuals still love something or someone" -- we might go to how the rich may or may not as easily as a camel pass through the eye of a needle.
Or we might go to Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," which aligns the rich with those blindly propelled by, carried by all the slogans, clichés, abstractions, banalities, formulae, and other "dead language" wherein those with no humane language dwell.
We do know of the living dead that they "love" standardized testing -- or any machine-like assembly lines which number, package, slot "life" into units, as our rapist, fraud, criminal-in-chief ever indulges his merchandizing, huckstering, lying, and bing-bing-boing-bong pardoning and promoting mass terrorism.
The hollowing out of individuals into soulless units for and of infinite consumption, Marcuse’s One Dimensional Man, has yet to begin to end. Rape by any other name is still profiteering.
I'm horrified, simply sickened by this past week. My father fought in the Battle of the Bulge....His family had brought him here at age 4, escaping the Red Army in the Ukraine. Thank you, Heather Cox Richardson, for helping to pull all this together. But how do we get out of this? Is there any way that doesn't involve WWIII? How can this be happening? And frankly, I'm worried about YOU. Please be safe!
My Dad was brought to North America in 1923 at 4 also (born 1919) from just outside Shaporizzhia, Ukraine for the same reason. He joined the British in 1939 and hit Juno beach with the Canadians in 1944 and crossed the Rhine at Remagen. He would be joining battle today being an original ANTIFA like his father, my Opa.
Though I can't say it was unexpected. I am still amazed by the speed with which trump is dismantling and destroying the USA.
If you weren't scared before, you really should be now.
DJT has been Seething for 4+ Years.... The Conservative Movement, aka 19th Century Reactionaries, has been planning this since the 1930s...
Can we please quit calling them ‘conservatives’? They are not!!
Call them what they are, fascist.
Right. I partly conservative and no relation to MAGA.
Right, nobody that loves cats could be maga, it's a contradiction. Just kitten Bill 😸
NAZIs
And the Republicans will not be able to control or adjust to Trump’s demolition.
I’m just waiting for bird flu or worse to hit critical mass and maybe that will ‘thin the herd’. (I wish I could say I’m kidding)
I don't think you'll need to wait long. Avian flu has already "jumped" to humans. Now that Donald and his vax-hating goons are in charge, we'll see a pandemic that makes covid look like a church picnic. Unfortunately, without vaccines, diseases will affect everyone, not just those who deserve it.
Trump has been seething to for decades.
Having read the executive summary and perused the lengthy table of contents, I'm not surprised by the speed of their actions. What wasn't part of the plan was hiring nincompoops to fill critical roles because Trump liked the way they look on TV.
MisTBlu, those "nincompoops" were hired more for the fact that they can be expected to slavishly do Trump's bidding.
DJT just wants 'Yes' People... Remember that DJT can't Run anything... He has Squandered Billions of $$$, ran up the National Debt by Trillions of $$$, and Declared Bankruptcy 6X ... DJT is just a Shallow Buffoon...
The Nazis never took Bastogne in 1945, but they took Washington 80 years later. Hitler's laughing uproariously in hell now.
ok--every time we are horrified and disgusted, instead of yelling we need to do a new action. mine today is sending checks to immigrant friends, starting with the non white ones.
The ACLU can use more support to take the orange felon to court.
I joined and started contributing on Nov. 6, 2024.
I just increased my monthly donation.
Happy Valley, I had stopped my contribution due to a new financial plan, but methinks it will be started again
Your ability to link modern and historical events is unparalleled genius. Thank you for leaving us on a high note.
I’ve been watching BAND OF BROTHERS on Netflix. Just to remind myself of who we once were, why we fought, and what’s at stake. That some of these brave men have lived long enough to see a Nazi salute at an inauguration and an alcoholic Defense Secretary with white supremacist symbols tattooed on his chest and a mentally-disabled fascist-in-chief dismantling everything for which they fought is so…deeply sad. And frightening.
It is getting darker every day. It is hard not to feel weighed down by all the evil emanating from DC, but I remind myself that is what The Felon wants. I am not going back and not giving in. If the Dems in Congress don't shout their opposition and make a concerted effort to reveal what is going on, then they need to be reminded that they can be "primaried" too.
Everybody has a churning in their gut since the election and I think we are about to do a crowd source barf.
My first cousin Jerry Pence parachuted into the Battle of the Bulge. He went on to capture four German officers going AWOL at the end of the war and to stand guard in Munich to keep the peace after the war. It was a perilous situation. There were 380 incidents of assaults on U.S. soldiers in postwar Germany in 1945. Fortunately, Jerry Pence did not experience one of them. He quipped that the most dangerous parts of his assignment were the beautiful, desperate, and overly friendly young German women who tried to lure him into a relationship.
After military service, he became a doctor and lived a long life, to nearly 95. I interviewed him a couple of years before his death on his WWII experiences and posted the video to Substack. Growing up, I viewed him as a hero and still do. Though he outgrew the yeller-dawg-Democrat loyalty that his mother taught him and frequently voted Republican, he was NOT a Trump fan and would be appalled by Trump cutting off foreign aid.
https://jimbuie.substack.com/p/how-to-make-memorial-day-meaningful
Thanks for this link, Jim.