Ms. Richardson is doing the work that the general media is not: combining, summarizing and explaining the details underlying the things that Trump and his minions are doing. Surely there must be some Republicans in Congress who are reading Ms. Richardson's daily letters. If they are and have read this one, it is hard to understand why they are still not willing to finally stand up to this man and remove him from office as they should have done years ago.
David Cay Johnston, who has followed Trump for years, says the best way to stop him is to stand up to him, challenge him. I am coming to understand how a lot of what we see in the media is just acting which will placate his base.
Mary Trump has written that DJT was known as a Cowardly Bully growing up by the Neighborhood Kids... He is Flooding The Zone with Executive Orders... Ever Wonder where those EOs are coming from? I'm speculating that they are coming from the pEOPLE that wrote Project 2025... This is Pre-Planned... Made For Show... DJT can't Manage... Notice how these EOs bypass Congress? DJT on Friday Night fired over 10 Inspector-Generals that could impede his Whims... Then DJT left for Golfing.. Tracking DJT's Golfing: https://trumpgolftrack.com ... The ICE Raids? Made for TV as well... The Navajo Nation has just issued an advisory that Tribal Members carry their Tribal ID since several have been stopped & interrogated by ICE... The Indigenous are Brown People after all... This is State-Sanctioned Terrorism... In 2028, this Country may be in a Heap... AOC, or Someone like her, that can build & lead a Movement, may be absolutely Necessary... Desperate Times, Require Desperate Measures...
Until I read this, I did not know about most of Biden's and Harris's work on immigration in the western hemisphere. This is the best (worst?) example of the failure of both the Biden Administration and the legacy media to publicize its actions to inform the public. It's clear that the US has not had "open borders". The only piece of information that has had anything like wide distribution is that Biden's deportations exceeded Obama's, and both of them were higher than Trump's. But there were no cameras, and no media stories. Again, Trump has trumped up an "issue" to give him an opportunity to break the law because he can.
Biden's Administration shared this with the media. However, most of the main stream media simply ignored anything Biden. I don't know how you get media attention when your speeches aren't 'broadcast or reported on. It's not Biden's fault. Dr. Cox Richardson reported the information correctly.
How about using political donations to create and fund a network that can compete with Fox but in a truthful way. Dems do not know how to do public relations. they whisper into a corner and don't know why nobody is listening or hearing. T blasts the air waves nonstop and once normal people hear something 10 times it sounds like the truth. This has been going on for the last 4 years and is completely irresponsible of Dems to ignore it.
That ship has sailed. So called "liberal" news outlets have been tried and have failed time after time. The reason Fox succeded where those Lefty ones did not? We on the left do not have to listen 24/7 to propaganda that affirms our biases. Rightwingers do. Fox serves up constant justification for their constant misinformation, and their listeners believe that they are hearing the "real truth" and will never believe the MSM because Fox has convinced them that the MSM is some evil trickster. And most of the MSM has kowtowed to owners who are as afraid of Trump as the Congress is.
Democrats/Liberals have many nuanced opinions on many subjects. The reason we read HCR and other thoughtful writers is that we are seeking valid information on many subjects. There is no outlet that will serve up opinions that all of us will agree with. Fox/rightwing media viewers DO act/think in lockstep. That is one of their strengths, and always has been. It may be wrong/stupid/lazy, but they will do that in spite of education, reason, logic or facts. Fox et.al have just found a niche that makes them lots of money and to hell with what it is doing to democracy.
Well, when the media spends most of its ink and air time with panels going on and on about how old Biden is or how black Harris and then the rest of time on whatever word farts that Trump said that day, it is a wonder that they have time to hear anything the Biden administration said. I, for one, heard plenty about this but, but I try to be an informed voter.
I wrote to Jamie Raskin complaining about the dems' inability to message their accomplishments. Recall Obama did not promote or explain his health plan so the republicans distorted it and they captured the attention of the often uninformed Americans.
Not my Representative, here in Baghdad By the Sea.
"Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) is urging President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to spare some migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean from being deported under the new administration’s immigration guidelines.
The South Florida congresswoman asked DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman to continue “protecting” Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans who do not have criminal records and were permitted to enter and work in the U.S. under former President Biden’s “humanitarian parole” program.
“I strongly urge you to ensure that all Cubans paroled in under the CHNV program eligible for or with pending applications for the Cuban Adjustment Act are protected from deportation until their cases are fully resolved,” Salazar wrote in a Friday letter to Huffman.
“Additionally, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians who arrived under the CHNV program, have no criminal record, and have applied for asylum through the proper legal channels, should also be protected until their cases are fully resolved,” she added.
The current administration is providing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials with more latitude to expel migrants who came to the U.S. either via asylum using the CBP One app or the parole program instated by Biden for those fleeing violence in Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua, according to an internal DHS memo that was obtained by The New York Times.
“Although President Biden originally created this new program on dubious legal grounds and brought individuals here without a plan for their future, they were still enrolled under programs offered to them,” Salazar wrote. “Therefore, I believe they should have the ability to see their applications out to rectify their legal status.”
Bill, you are blaming the victim. It is the press that failed. And they are failing today. Every day Trump is committing impeachable offenses and it's treated as if it's just more fluff. Another episode in the soap opera "As the Trump Turns".
I wish that for every silly story about Biden's lack of speaking skill, there was a story about Trump's mental illness. The man is a sociopathic liar of a con man using cruelty are a governing cudgel. EVERYTHING he says is a lie. He just makes shit up in the fly. And the press is walking around like it's just another new administration, blah, blah, blah.
Biden was an imperfect communicator. Harris was too nice. OK. NEXT!? Time for a counter attack. Ya think?!
Here we go again, there was no PR problem. Harris had 78% positive news stories, the elite media, celebrities, and 1 billion in cash. The message was terrible.
You can't put lipstick on a pig. America hated the Biden results. End of story.
Biden was a great manager and a terrible communicator. He got worse near the end. But the Dems didn't realize that the MSM had lost their persuasive power. They allowed Trump to roll over them, and only older people were reading or watching them on TV. 50% of the country got all it's information from some form of social media and most of it was false. The Dems never broke through that bubble and still haven't.
You make an excellent and necessary point about our media. We have gone from the likes of Murrow, Cronkite,Huntley and Brinkley to David Muir and Chuck Todd. It's the need equivalent of replacing John Coltrane with Kenny G.
He does, and I applaud him for persisting, especially now coming into the new year grieving for the loss of his wife, his soulmate. He turned 90 last year, I think, so each essay he writes is precious to me because time is running out. It's amazing to consider how long he was the face of real, fact-based news, traveling to wherever the conflicts were, since my childhood. There's an excellent documentary out on him, released last year.
Yes, he does, but he no longer has a high profile national platform. When Walter Cronkite after the Tet Offensive said that America had been lied to about Vietnam, LBJ actually said, "If we've lost Cronkite, we've lost the country ". We have no one now with that stature. We don't.
No one has picked up on the swarmy WTF presence of so called Dr. Phil he is the psychological counseling PT Barnum of our times. I don’t know how he changed but he did .
Mainstream news is simply another entertainment industry, focusing on the most outrageous and colorful individuals and actions, and ignoring background and substance. Trump is both colorful and outrageous, and totally lacking in substance. The perfect media stooge.
A recent book to read detailing the history and politics of immigration : "Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here", Jonathan Blitzer, 2024. So much info in this book that for sure the media never got. Also a book from 2018 "Bring the War Home", Kathleen Belew, which opened my half-closed eyes to the significance of war to the white power movement and the many paramilitary militias training in our states.
What "elite" media? They did nothing to report on all the Biden administration did,just kept repeating all the trump lies. trump also had "celebrities" and way more than a billion dollars and it came from the billionaires,not the working class. America loved the message, they were tired of the scare tactics and whining, more people vote for Harris and others than voted for trump and you are forgetting what you just read about immigration and what Biden accomplished and the fact that they (republicans and democrats) had hammered out an immigration bill and trump killed it. The fact that you don't want "them " in "your" neighborhood says a lot. SO who is delusional?
First, Media Council Research, 78% of news stories on Harris were positive and 85% of Trump stories were negative. Where exactly were the lies repeated OVER and OVER. I’m calling BULLSHIT.
More people VOTED for Harris than TRUMP? Are you an election denier?
The main stream press/TV/media can announce the successes of the Biden Administration until the cows come home. The people who need to hear those facts will never hear them because they are focused in on Fauxnooz, and will deny anything that is not fed to them by that outlet. The facts about the deportations under Obama and Biden have been out there all along. Trumpers are not hearing the facts. If we really want to save our democracy, the place to start is by getting rid of fake news rightwing liars like Fox.
Before we even attempt another election, we need to figure out how to combat the Murdoch “news” machine. At least half of this country never hears what we hear, and they will never read Dr Richardson. Same with MSNBC and CNN. Those folks still think January 6 was a Patriotic Moment.
The headwind of the firehouse of crap (there's a mixed metaphor) from Faux and many others (Post, Times, USA Today) made the truth impossible to tell...everyone believed Biden wasn't doing anything! Old Joe was amazing!!!
Pete tried...Crickets! 1/4 of the deficit is Donny John's! Crickets, 600,000 extra deaths from COVID? Crickets
How would you have suggested Bideinform the American citizens of all the work his administration accomplished if the legacy media refused to report it?
There was one article in The Atlantic about Biden and Harris's strong and successful diplomacy in Latin America. Outside of that, nada. Major news media just follows the if it bleeds, it leads principle.
I went to try to find the link for the Atlantic article and found many more Atlantic articles that headlined how horrible the border crossings were and how inept Democrats were about it. So, no pass is given to The Atlantic for truth telling after all.
The Atlantic was absolutely correct in their criticisms of Biden's border policies which mostly sucked both when they were letting in lots of people and when the were deporting lots of people.
If you want to stick your head in the sand and ignore the truth, that is your right but the Atlantic is as unbiased and truthful a news source as you will find today.
They also published dozens of articles critical of Trump, both his first term policies and his attempt at insurrection. And they published many articles on Biden's strong domestic policies to help business.
Sorry but I hate it when people make uniformed criticisms just to try to make a point especially when that point is absolutely untruthful. The Atlantic was a strong editorial supporter of Harris presidency and did something they rarely did which was to endorse her. So it is pretty dumb to pick on them.
If you want to pick on the media go pick on the WaPo after Bezos played Trump supplicant during the inauguration. You certainly didn't see Laurene Jobs (Atlantic publisher) there palling around with Trump!
Those of us who have lived a very long time have often experienced the tendency of cowards to compensate by bullying those they estimate will not push back against them. The louder they are , the more they thump their chests , the more you can be sure of their true nature. This is very loud chest thumping .
Chest thumping, theatrics, puppetry ate going to raise unemployment as agents, soldiers, civil service members are discriminated against and relieved of their positions. Our cost of living will sky-rocket from trade wars and limited supply of goods. I can see no benefits to any of these Project 2025 Executive Orders.
I Don't Think That DJT Has A Good Grasp Of Reality At This Point... Seems that DJT never Grew-Up... He acts like a Spoiled, Angry, Vengeful Child that doesn't Play well with others... It is always Submit, or Else...
Power is right. The backing down of Columbia has given Trump and MAGAs a renewed sense of arrogance, entitlement, and "strength." I watched as Mike Johnson gleefully announced Columbia's agreement to abide by Trump's wishes. He could hardly contain his pride that Trump's show of power resulted in capitulation. Just as has been the case, his supporters don't know the actual background details of the situation. They will revel in his braggings, in his sense of superiority, pomposity,, and pretension. This act by Columbia has given rise to his belief that anything he wishes ( actually, anything the Project 2025 platform dictates) is going to happen, making his "show" of strength more obvious.
I had hopes for humanity yesterday when Columbia fought back. Granted, I didn't want to pay more for coffee, and I didn't want the florist industry to suffer, but Trump has shown that anyone who fights back will be "dealt with in the harshest manner." Oh, Columbia.🫣
DJT is a Thug and a Thief. His firing of the Inspectors General is to open the door for widespread fraud on the government by himself and his running dogs.
That's because he doesn't care about how any of his actions affect other people. Trump does it to have a show of his power and stern strength for his base because they are looking for a "Daddy". "Daddy", according to the way his MAGA base thinks, needs to be a (white) male disciplinarian ready to take his belt off and take the misbehaving "family member" out to the woodshed for a good beating--for their own good, of course. The "family" needs discipline to enforce willing obedience. That is the model for the kind of leadership the MAGAts seem to want. Personally, I think it's sick and twisted, but it does seem to explain to a certain extent why the MAGAs follow him.
I believe it is his entire hand-selected administration that can't think out the consequences of their stupid moves. In fact it is very clear that DonOld's puppet masters are calling all the shots, but allowing him to pretend that he is in charge. I wonder how you say "jerk" in Colombian Spanish?
I think that Trump is "calling the shots." In part this is based on the obsequiousness of the oligarchs (Bezos, Zuckerberg, et al.) showing up at the inauguration. Trump throws a piece of red meat to his base and then performs another act to enrich himself, such as firing the Inspectors General so that there is no check on him and his cronies fleecing the U.S. Treasury with fraudulent contracts.
Note that they don't sanction the employers. The Employer Sanctions Act is a part of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that prohibits employers from hiring unauthorized workers. The act was added by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA)
I absolutely agree with you. The media ought to be showing photos of him golfing. He can't govern...can't manage. This was all preplanned by the 2025 folks. It is long overdue for the media to show his true colors - as he rides around in his golf cart.
Personally I think more Dem governors should show up when Donnie the Ignorant visits their state and give him the pantsing that Newsom did to Donnie, by not letting orange scum do his "dominance handshake" and just standing straight while Donnie tips forward on his lifts. Also Karen Bass, who vehemently stood up to Donnie the Ignorant until one of Donnie the Ignorant's officious little suck-ups turned off her mike.
Find out from your local school districts how far they are willing to allow Trump's thugs to go in rounding up brown people? Do they have a policy?
Most of us pay as much in property taxes, the lion's share of which goes to our K-12 schools, as we do for income taxes.
Living in a northern border state, I suspect we are educating as many white undocumented kids as brown kids. And I'm ok with this. What I'm not ok with is rounding up only brown and black kids or Asians and not even questioning the white kids. I have friends that have green cards but sometimes, they are working here illegally while they wait for their renewals.
If they were brown skinned, they would have to wait outside of the US unless they are DACA which is a whole other can of worms.
“Ever Wonder where those EOs are coming from? I'm speculating that they are coming from the pEOPLE that wrote Project 2025... “
Thank you Apache for putting those words together. I’ve been trying to express that thought since the EO storm began. He’s not capable of generating a complete or coherent sentence.
In an interview with a reporter who has covered Miller, he said Miller spent tfg’s four years out of power learning how to manipulate the government legally (as opposed to bumblingly like before), forging alliances & raising $$. He has written most, maybe all, of the EOs. Also he is slavishly devoted to tfg, never challenging him. We all know this is the most important thing to tfg.
Except that many of them are not legal. His wife looks Hispanic to me, what happens when they scoop her up while she’s out shopping. Same thing with Usha Vance. They don’t always dress for the cameras.
I think maybe you missed my point. It wasn’t about wives; it was about Stephen Miller obsessing during the last four years about how to destroy the government. Of course, he’s not the only one.
Maybe AOC is the person to lead boycotts of the companies that contributed to Project 2025? Since the list is long, maybe target several at a time? It's just a thought...
Apache, the metadata on emails/letters sent to federal workers agrees with you. Because they were too careless to scrub the metadata, yesterday it emerged that indeed, the authors of Project 2025 were crafting these documents too. The metadata has since been scrubbed (by yesterday afternoon) and they probably won’t make that mistake again, but now we know. Of course, we all knew this way before the election but imagine the surprise of those Trump voters who find that in fact, when you vote for the Leopards Eating Faces party, your face gets eaten too.
Did you see him throwing out the Sharpies to the crowd! Wow! Hate and fear, shock and awe, or more 'Yuck!' A huckster...selling ass-pimple cream insted of love and honesty..sorry...
I'm really disgusted this morning. It looks like the grant for our summer AmeriCorps position just got killed so one more amazing youth will not get to work with us and work on their career in education. This is microscopic, yet for us very sad! ...and really fucking stupid! Investments in the future!!!
DJT is amazingly Self-Centered, and Short-Sighted... Seems that DJT wants to Gut the USG to 'Pay' for his desired Tax-Cuts... Hold your Temper, DJT will not be around forever... Save your Ammunition, write your Congress Person, bring them into the Loop, Momentum needs to be Built...
Apache, I wondered if anyone would keep a count & cost to taxpayers of tRump's golfing. Thanks for that link. I'm expecting the time away from Washington to increase as he ages.
Last Time Around It Was In Many Millions, 50+ Million?... Since It Was At A Lot Of His Properties, It Was Very Questionable Ethically.... I would think that as DJT ages, he will become more & more an Evil Figure-Head...
Many of the OPM orders are being written by people from Project 2025, who do not bother to change the metadata on the files before sending them to trvmp's minions.
Attacking our allies. Obliging our enemies. Shutting down public health agencies and diplomatic training. Removing trained trusted people from the military and federal agencies because they are not straight white men and trvmp sycophants. Releasing violent criminals from prison. Deporting essential workers in dehumanizing ways. This evil is meant to destroy our country.
Meanwhile, we see the bully cave whenever someone actually stands up to him.
As a former teacher I know this is the way all bullies have to be handled. And I agree that we see everything as a performance for his base, but really he has already said that for H-1B visas there is no going after these people.
Also, the sweeps seem to be largely for people South of the Border and Caribbean, although I know plenty of Europeans who have lived in the US in undocumented status. Even Asians seem to be safe right now, but it would be great if someone were to keep track of all planes flying undocumented people back to their countries, and which countries these are. Also, I am glad my city, Chicago, prepared people for this as best they could.
The fact that most Americans don't understand the term "fascism" means we need to use other terms that will be understood. Right now "immigrants" here are being turned into the Jews of Germany under Hitler. We should be really wary about what is going on. Those supporting and perpetrating this are on the wrong side of history.
The ONE word that sums up this 'group' is NAZI. Not neo-NAZI; that just causes uneducated turn-off. Simply NAZI. Even the most uneducated get a grasp of the term. We must use it anytime we are referring to what used to be Republicans. They are NAZIs, and must be called out as such.
Well said Linda. If people are too busy or lazy to look up the definition of fascism, just say "This ain't reality TV". If that doesn't work, just ask "Can we just stop having corrupt, Nazi loving bigots in the White House?
The last time I was in a car like that was in high school on a Friday night, and my friend and I insisted on getting out. My parents had said if we needed to call for a ride we always could no matter where we were and they would come get us.
So, I have gotten out, because I am in Europe right now. I was home for the holidays to be with family, but my daughter and I flew back here because she is at university and had classes and I am in charge of a project here, but the rest of my family is in the US.
I just talked to my husband tonight who is taking my mom for eye surgery tomorrow. While they are both European citizens with permanent resident status, my mom would not be getting her surgery it if Trump had cancelled Medicare, so I am on pins and needles watching to see how that and Social Security will be handled, because I will have to try to get my 90-year old mother out of the US if it does. It would be horrid.
Still there are no surprises. If you want to get out of the drunk ride, I did write this article last month.
bruce, I have a bunch of MAGAts in my Facebook feed; most of them retired cops and their spouses. It isn't even "not understanding what a "FACT" was", it is taking the utter dis and misinformation from their information sources (never gonna call it "news") and accepting it without thought. They eat it up and demand more because whatever it feeds in their brains (thinking amygdala here) or their hearts (fundamental belief structures, usually founded in whatever Christian religion they follow) touches a place in them that is anathema to me.
How do they feel about the J6 pardons? If they were Capitol Police would they stand aside next time and let the invaders go after others instead of risking their lives for thugs who would only be exempt from prosecution?
What do you expect from people who claim to be Christian but quote The Old Testament, exclusively, and call people who actually try to "Love thy neighbor as thy self," feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and welcome the stranger, libertards?
On the contrary Bruce, I've seen Orange Jesus shoot himself in the foot more than once when confronted by a tough question from an actual journalist. For example, that time in Helsinki in 2017 when he said 'I don't know why it would be (Russia meddling)'. The next day his defense was that he misspoke and meant to say 'wouldn't be'. I'm not the only one who saw that as a very weak lying defense. But I'm sure you're going to ask me if I believe the bigot zombie apocalypse or my lying eyes.
I have one word for the Republican law"makers"--PATHETIC. They are willing to dump their country into the toilet so that they could cling onto their jobs. Willing to seat the worst possible candidates into vitally consequential positions because of trump's threats. Honestly, how could anyone be afraid of a two-year old throwing a tantrum. I am beyond apoplectically disappointed in Senator Joni Ernst, an ex-military officer and sexual assault survivor that caved under her peer's threats. These Republicans, the only available antidote against the gobsmacking deleterious actions of this administration has gone dark and silent and is putting us all in the path of peril....
But did DCJ say how to challenge him? Because it's appalling that any disagreement or division (to wit: yesterday Lyndsey Graham criticized T's dismissal of several inspectors and received threats) is always met with threats of violence or death. The Dems just can't sit around and wait for the next election cycle in two years to speak up.
"Just acting" does nothing to actually oppose Trump's irrational and frequently unconstitutional actions. It takes backbone, courage and a willingness to fall on your sword (lose your House or Senate seat). There appear to be few, if any, members of Congress are willing to take the courageous course. They may be appalled by what they are seeing, but do something? I doubt it!
Judy, love your moniker! I maintain that all it would take is for several to stand up to him and then more would. They are letting their fear of being primaried drive this and i suspect death threats to them and their families.
Trump, the bully, surrounds himself with brown shirts who will do his bidding. This is his strength. So many folks have been threatened and intimated into submission.
yes! You are ugly, mean, stupid, can't hold your water, have poor taste in design (did I say ugly (think bathroom with the boxes and the vinyl curtain with a chandelier) and in the number one danger to the health and wellness of the American people and our great country! The Sewer Circus, full of sharks and electric boats...
Richardson has authored seven books on history and politics. In 2019, Richardson started publishing Letters from an American, a nightly newsletter that chronicles current events in the larger context of American history. Richardson focuses on the health of American democracy. The newsletter accrued over one million subscribers, making her, as of December 2020, the most successful individual author of a paid publication on Substack.
Early life and education
Born in Chicago in 1962 and raised in Maine, Richardson attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire.[1][2] She received her AB, MA, and PhD from Harvard University, where she studied under David Herbert Donald and William Gienapp.[3]
Projects
Richardson interviewing President Joe Biden in February 2022
As a historian, Richardson advocates studying history to learn to distill complex situations into something easier to understand. She does this through her newsletters, books and podcasts.[4]
Newsletter: Letters from an American (2019–present)
In September 2019, Richardson began writing a daily synopsis of political events associated with the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Originally posting late every evening or in the early hours of the next day on her Facebook page, Richardson later moved to add a newsletter format, entitled "Letters from an American", published via Substack.[5][6] The newsletter deals with contemporary events she explains and relates to historical developments, with a focus on the health of American democracy.[7]
As of December 2020, Richardson was "the most successful individual author of a paid publication on... Substack" and on track to bring in a million dollars of revenue a year.[8] The newsletter received a "Best of Boston" award for "2021 Best Pandemic Newsletter" from Boston magazine.[9] By January 2024, the newsletter had about 1.3 million people reading each newsletter.[5] The Nation described her journalistic voice as "sincere, humble, approachable, and jargon-free."[5]
In 2021, Richardson was on the Forbes 50 over 50 list[22] and received the Frances Perkins Center Intelligence and Courage Award.[32][33][34] In 2022, she was recognized as one of the Women of the Year for 2022 by USA Today.[35][7] In 2023, The Guardian described her as the single most-important progressive pundit since Edward P. Morgan from the 1960s.[11] In 2024, the Authors Guild Foundation awarded her The Baldacci Award for Literary Activism for 2024.[36][37] In November 2024, Richardson was awarded the Kidger Award by the New England History Teachers Association at the NCSS Conference in Boston, Massachusetts.[citation needed]
You can see Dr. Richardson on numerous podcasts and forums around the Country.
And HCR has a good following here in the UK too and indeed more widely. I picked up on her Letter in 2021, as the title references its predecessor the wonderful ‘Letter from America’ that the late great Alastair Cook would send over to the UK every week, which was hugely popular here and broadcast by the BBC. He was a Brit who understood the US ( and became a US citizen).
HCR’s Letter is my daily go-to reluable source for what is happening in the US, and I never miss it. Long may she continue to write it.
Imho, the Emporor’s lack of clothes will stradily become more and more apparent. Lets see.
Agree. She is my reliable, go-to source for a facts-based, unbiased report on what is happening. Her weaving in of historical context often helps to calm my fears.
It is good to know that some people in the UK and elsewhere appreciate that the US is more than MAGA. We owe HCR a debt of gratitude for that. MAGA has become the profane voice and physical presence of our country in this world, proud to exalt the emperor by wearing diapers and, somehow, outnumbering the rest of us. I fear that not one MAGA supporter has conceded that this course was never good, that the emperor is not dressed in regal attire, and that they will share the blame for what happens next.
Nice to know her voice is in the UK also. I loved Alistair Cook.
He is already naked to the sane person's eye. Unfortunately, the Oligarchy and MAGA don't care about what condition he is in. They prop him up long enough to read the Project 2025 screeds and then let him go play golf.
Likewise I add , yes stay the resistance , always . To work for the freedoms of all is The Best . Even those who were duped , swayed, and even some of the complicit. Many will , have, and do suffer the wrath. Noble is a word of intent..be like Jimmy 🫶
There are are tremendous amount of people who are banking on this ‘cloth-less emperor the great awakening’. Damage and footholds are being strengthened daily.
This is how they do it, do it. This is how they do it.
The format is historic. America is asleep at the wheel.
While this specific period of time is most critical to establishing credibility ..per se , the decrees will be reeled out en masse , dazzle, confuse, and overwhelm J.Q.Public as intended, as well as countries -set up in advance to hit first- accumulating the false flags of the Bully Pulpit. All the former dress rehearsals taught where the weak spots were.
Meanwhile the spoils fall into #1’s (being China most likely ) hands as the plan for The New World Order gets put in place.
Under ‘The Red Flag’ was prophecy.
Wondering how China and the Soviets see this supposition …🤔
Meanwhile deep in the woods …now having lost the promise of great educational opportunity with broadband ‘s rug pulled out from under them -as will others also go the way of…take care -ie beware -of your forests Appalachian Tree Farmers..
Thank you for this background. I am sad that I only found HCR as a result of her interview on the Contrarian 2 weeks ago ... I am eager to read her books and hopefully catch up on some of her amazing distillations of current events in the broader context of history.
Welcome, Margo. There are a bunch of her Letters to catch up on. Don't be sad, be glad you did find her. Her "Politics Chats" are well worth watching on YouTube!
I had the pleasure of seeing HCR in Portsmouth NH after Democracy Awakening was published. If you ever have the opportunity to see her in person, please do so - she is a treasure!
I was thinking the same thing as I read this piece. How the legacy media did not cover any of what was going on with immigration, and makes me thankful that I am done with them.
I follow the news closely Linda and I don't remember reading or watching anything about those immigration policies carry on by the Biden administration that trump with a big display is taking ownership just by playing bulli. Something that was running smoothly now it's going to be a mess and ,in the case of Colombia it's going to make the Chinese government very happy.
Nicely said ML, but we lost the election and we have a fascist government destroying 250 years of democracy. Nobody, except a few, paid attention to substance and humility, the Biden administration and the Democratic leadership should have known that.
mLM, I don't think you understood my point with is, that they were implementing a policy to solve the illegal immigration by making agreements with countries to we were returning back their citizens, ilegally in the US, very efficiently and very quietly, so quietly that almost nobody knew, including me. At the same time, trump was pounding 24/7 for weeks on the "open border policy of the Biden administration and democrats.". That was a big concern ta significant portion of the voters. I hope I made myself clear although very briefly. Thanks for your question. 😊
True Linda, so much influence that he bought him for hundreds of millions of dollars. Now the Chinese government has a foot inside the American government and most likely, access to national security information. Sooo many good news in only a week.
There is an article in the Boston Globe on this and coverage/analysis on BBC news. I bet CNN and MSNBC have coverage as well. I appreciate HCR but please don’t read in a silo.
I think none of WANTS to silo, but we have all lost complete faith in the MSM. The discussion of how they have failed us has deep roots. We congregate and praise LFAA because it gives us facts, analysis and historical connections other historical news outlets no longer offer.
Don’t worry! I listen to the Lincoln Project podcast too, not mention The Mooch! All great stuff. But I do leave the silo every now and then….and then rush back in.🤣
I hunted yesterday for who…I think it was you, Linda, who said …paraphrasing best I can…’T’s likeness to a 2 year old , self grandeur the first thought ‘ , was so funny, instant chuckle. Then I thought ..please don’t insult the 2 year olds…
‘Hang on ,rough ride ahead ‘…is coming onto clarity fast..
They may be reading but in the alternate reality republicans are living in, the facts they read don’t match their misguided vision of truth, morality and reality so, they most likely dismiss the Letter From An American.
Yesterday, on morning Joe, they highlighted HCR's letter on Lincoln's Lyceum speech. If only as many people followed her as they do the ignorant clowns on Fox News or Newsmax.
Surprisingly, the WSJ has been kinda sorta hard on Trump. but like Bezos, Murdoch will quash anything anti-Trump fairly soon. Plus, The NY Times seems to be a little more critical of Trump. I'm sure many of the media outlets are scrambling for readers after the election debacle.
I heard over the weekend there are thousands of elections in 2025 all across America. Let's move America away from the Nazi's one seat at a time.
Fox is the reason we are in this situation. Viewers are told that fox is the only place they get the truth. Everyone else is lying. They edit and spin every big story to fit the right wing narrative. Many of their viewers have watched for so long that they trust fox completely and hate the people fox tells them to hate. Fox is a cancer and now this country is sick. Our rules and laws may not survive this. On the left, we criticize Fox, but why are we not going after them HARD?
To put an accent on Ally House's comment, Fox isn't really the most dangerous outlet of mis- and disinformation. They've never made a secret of their extreme bias and allergy to the truth. Fox plays almost entirely to Trump and his cult, and nobody else. Fox is not trusted by anyone even remotely connected to reality.
The truly dangerous information outlets are the "trusted media," such as the other broadcast networks and major newspapers, including The Washington Post. These media have a longtime reputation for honesty and only slight bias, left or right. But during the past 10 years, the oligarch-owners have been quietly bending their coverage to favor fascism in general and Trump in particular. Why? Because in the short term, Trump's loud, outrageous behavior is good for audience share, which translates to revenue. In the long term, they believe that currying favor with Trump will protect their tax liabilities.
These media are dangerous because middle-of-the-road consumers are unaware that their trusted sources have taken a side, and they normalizing unconstitutional, lawless behavior.
We are many years too late. Reagan’s Repub vipers smoothed the way for Ailes and Murdoch and they just followed Goebbels playbook. It was all laid out. I watched Rove foist W on Texas with the lying and dirty tricks. Every syllable you write is 109% right
The most critical election of 2025 is the state Supreme Court election in WI on April 1, 2025. Justice Susan Crawford needs support to defeat Elon Musk endorsed MAGA candidate Brad Schimel.
craig, that is why I frequently list the many good YouTube channels and pundits and encourage everyone to subscribe, run their videos and always hit the like button! We need to push those voices way, way up in the computer algorithm!
They never take their eyes off of Fox is so true. I have a job that allows me to go into people's homes. Fox is on 24/7 and they are glued to it. Especially older people who are lonely and unable to use a computer. They have no way of fact checking. These are the people who voted.
It’s not just the old and lonely. In 1996, I had a bff whose husband commanded that Fox be on 24 hrs. They didn ‘t sleep much so made sense I guess. very smart parents and children. All are md’s or phds and still addicted to Rupert. Although one is a dem, which reallly embarrasses the others. I watched the brainwashing up close. Mind boggling to say the least.
Congressional Republicans won't criticize Trump's actions because he will deliberately put them and their families on the "intimidation list" that results in death threats, swatting and online doxxing. Then Trump will pour endless money to primary those people come the next election. They will lose their jobs along with the power, prestige, cushy perks of working in Congress and the opportunity to increase their wealth by insider trading with the advantageous information they get by getting information before the general public does. These are not the caliber of people who take a stand on principle if it's going to cost them. They are Trump's minions. They obey in advance. It is how Trump operates - mob boss style - and he's proud of it.
Professor's letters are not reporting, but "teaching" in class. She is conducting a review of major political events in a historical signfificance. No comparison with writings of other ordinary journalists. We are fortunate to have Professor.
I think that the playbook is coming from Hungary. It really seems to be following Orban's processes. The problem I see is that Hungary is tiny, especially in comparison to the USA. And even though we are already seeing the show trials being set up (Stalin style) to terrorize those of us on the Left, here in the USA if Stephen Himmler (oops: I mean Miller) continues to run this particular sh*tshow, I suspect it will become harder to carry on as they have begun. However, the activities that are going to catastrophically harm HIV prevention in Africa, food and safety programs all over the world, and the environment (things that Hungary has never been able to influence) will have a much larger impact. It might be that some Dems in Congress, because so many of us are screaming at them, will step up but most of them seem moribund, concerned only about preserving their own skins. I put my own senior congressman Emanuel Cleaver, in that category. When he was mayor of KC he was totally unsupportive of the LGBTQ+ community and I think that his very reluctant support of them in the last couple of decades is going to be sloughed off like a snakeskin because it suits him. Which is, of course, shameful but he controls the Dem Party in this part of the state, most of whom are genuflecting to the new administration both in Washington and in Jefferson City. Yep: nauseating.
I agree with your comments 100%, and am thankful that now, for the first time… I have a more complete understanding of the entire Central-American,South American and Caribbean migrations during the coronavirus epidemic. Amazing how they were all working together to resolve this problem, and it gives an entirely new perspective on the crisis that appeared at our southern border. But I am mad. REALLY MAD…. that Biden and the Democratic Party failed MISERABLY to communicate this to the US populace!! It’s not the sole fault of the mainstream media. The Democratic Party needs to improve their communication with the public. They need to realize that it’s fine to “toot your own horn” for circumstances like this. The Trump administration has made an art of controlling the perceptions of the electorate. Democrats need to learn from them and improve their communication skills.
Thank you so much Dr. Richardson for bringing all of these facts and pieces together in such an enlightening manner.
I do think they tried. But most media wasn't listening. Instead, they only look for clickbait to feed the 24/7 news dumpster. And nothing fills that dumpster more quickly than anger.
I'm with you, Robert. I recall once, early on (on one of the Facebook "Politics and History" chats where someone asked (vit the comments) what she preferred to be called. She said, basically (not a direct quote) "I want my undergraduate students to call me 'Professor' or 'Doctor' and they do. I try to get my graduate students to call me 'Heather' and I am only marginally successful.
My take (coming from a career that was "command structure"oriented) is that I will call her Professor because she commands that respect without demanding it.
AH, I cannot tell you how many times every damn year teaching in higher education in prestigious positions (including more than one endowed chair) I was confronted with students who referred to my male colleagues as "Dr." and then called me "Mrs." And they often got offended when I corrected them. I always made a point to tell my students that my preferred address was Dr. but that I could be Dr. Mitchell, Dr. M, or Dr. Mitch if they preferred. In the long run, most of my students chose Dr. M as their preferred address. One of my graduate students decided I needed a "Rap" name and so I became D-LEM (I use my initials as a sign-off on email) for a number of years--but they always called me Dr. Mitchell when talking to people outside their circle. And yet, when I got the ChatGPT- or intern-generated response from my Democratic Congressman, Cleaver, after identifying myself as Dr. Linda Mitchell in their comments section, what was the header? "Ms Mitchell." Some things never change. Also the reply was bullshit. It is quite a process to convince students who have graduated and who keep in touch and want to stay connected to call me by my first name. They actually prefer to call me "Mom" rather than "Linda." I don't mind that. . .
Boy, do I get that! I always called my “up the chain” friends by their first name in private, but “Sarge” or “LT” or Captain in public. Having both the Sheriff and Chief Deputy who, as teens, rode with me as explorers, was a bit challenging…
It is not hard to understand at all when we use our emotional and social intelligence as well as limiting ourselves to the standard intellectual “ intelligence “. You know how children and adolescents use their emotional and social skills.
Also, my one brother worked as a federal border patrol agent in the 1970’s and says there were no “ crises “ then. I wonder how much of our immigration crisis is fueled by the USA ‘s meddling in the governments of our neighbors south of the border.
I agree that the corporate media has been derelict, but what about Biden and his staff and Democratic leadership? Why weren't they telling us through press conferences and TV interviews and social media and podcasts what it was that the Biden Administration was accomplishing. They totally failed to communicate, and this cost them the election.
Yes, where is the push back? Brute force must be answered with an equal and opposite reaction. Too weak too timid. Too worried about losing swing votes or the big donors. Stand up and show some courage.
I am surrounded by republicans in my neighborhood. It has impacted my feelings of safety with conversations, so I don’t have them really. I often feel isolated in my own neighborhood. I do have a few friends with whom I can share my concerns about the felon elect and the road he is taking this country down. I am extremely worried about the lack of political courage in Congress and the Senate. They are complicit in destroying our democracy.
In other words we need to workaround the jellyfish. I agree but it should not be that way. They should be leading the way, taking risks, speaking out and doing things. Get a project 2028 going. Please don’t follow the Garland strategy which was don’t do anything for 22 months about this man. I am really disgusted. Their top priority is protecting their own seat above all else. Thanks a lot.
And brains. But, alas, she uses the wrong pronoun. Misogyny is more rampant than ever, and I think it is being normalized as people resignedly say, “but she's a woman” without realizing they are normalizing rather than resisting, See? I just did it, damnit.
If you mean "from the Democratic Party," there will be NONE from leaders such as Schumer that makes an actual difference. If Schumer had any sense of the moment we're in, he would step down and make Elizabeth Warren minority leader. But I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
Steve, I agree, Schumer is the wrong person as minority leader, or majority, if things go our way in 2026. Warren is an intriguing choice-- she still has fire.
May I suggest that we direct our energy toward going after our opponents rather than our own side ? My veteran dad used to say “ friendly fire leaves you just as dead as enemy fire.” We can’t really afford the casualties.
Robert Hubbell very practically suggests, "If you can’t support Democrats because you are angry or disappointed, you should at least re-direct your ire from Democrats to Trump. I received several lengthy screeds that excoriated Democratic leaders for being ineffective.
If the readers had expended that same amount of energy writing a letter to the editor of a local newspaper or leaving a comment under an article in a major news outlet, everyone would have been better off.
So, if you feel the urge to criticize Democrats, re-direct that energy and emotional investment to criticizing Trump or trying to persuade his supporters that Democrats are the better choice at the ballot box despite all their faults.
We are all suffering from emotional overload and have limited bandwidth to express the conflicting emotions that are making us feel anxious and exhausted. Let’s be strategic in how we allocate our strong emotions. Help Democrats as much as you can. Blame the cause of the problem, not the people who are trying to remediate the problem!"
We really don’t need to be afraid of wishing he were in the ground next to his sainted first wife on the first tee at his Bedminster golf club. (By the bye, anyone else notice that he’s back to scamming us taxpayers by hosting the Senate Republican “retreat” at his Doral golf club? How much do you think he’s charging per head??) I for one have had enough of this gross bully.
We all have. But, it's called suffer and permit. Meaning, we've tolerated his behavior (Suffer) and now e pretty-much allow it to go on (Permit). Our failure (hesitance) to take decisive action, albeit unpleasnt perhaps, has now found us at each others throats. Survival of the fittest is the result of a hard choice. We may have blown it.
"We may have blown it." Maybe. Maybe not. It's always too early to give in. Remember how Shock and Awe looked to be so successful in the early days of the Iraq War. Then came the difficulties of governing. I think it is highly likely to be the same here. The first priority is to take care of ourselves. I'm ready to re-read "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe." It will be a nice diversion. It's funny, and the centerpiece quote is "Don't Panic."
It's Galaxy, but yes, that's a nice diversion and could expand ones ability to think. When are we going to stop having corrupt bigoted Nazi lovers in the White House?
Whoaa...? An automobile accident perhaps? I hope not. Then we'd have to deal with some sycophant pal or relative. Better he blows his own horn. It is Our job is to turn this loss into a gain. Right now we are the problem. We allow these turds to pollute the stream. We have created the bastion from which they operate. Does the Vatican come to mind? That's one. Oh what the heck.., how about religion in general as a 'fort' to help us excuse things we do. So, it looks like the fort is being dismembered. Are ya praying yet... or haven't you stopped. It's late.
I doubt many folks get your reference tonAlan Payton’s novel Cry the Beloved Country which was also made into a musical something about stars. Mr Paton was from South Africa like Athol Fugard and Nadine Gormier?
And to the Catholic Church it’s been sliding down but always had some huge issues that they all tried to keep invisible.
But do remember Hilaire Beloc's cautionary tales - "Always keep a hold on Nurse, for fear of finding, something worse" There are some rather unpleasant characters who would love for Trump to vanish, and to take his place.
We have and abundance of Zelenskyys and Lincolns. They’re currently being throttled by the corporate Democratic old guard, big donors, and self-interested consultants. Schumer, Durbin, Pelosi, Clyburn and their ilk could help by quietly fading away. Soon.
Leaders emerge during a crisis. We merely have the threat of a crisis to some and joyful accomplishments to others. Too early for such a leader to emerge.
Leaders can emerge at any point, but it's complicated. Crisis is a test of leadership. So is heading off a crisis, but that's often less noticeable. That, and clear and present crisis wakes up followers.
100% the democrat’s solution to MAGA losses are “republican light” at best. Bought and paid for by just another brand of billionaire class sprinkled with a bit of “woke” to add some flavor. There are few left in the fight speaking truth to power. That was clear in 2016 when they booted Bernie for the establishment Clinton candidate despite the fact that they knew she was unpopular. It was a turning point that led to what we see today. Bern is too old, his time has passed, and i am not sure who out there can carry the message of the people. 😢 any ideas?
For the same reason that we have now elected ffpotus twice. The "middle third" along the spectrum will never elect a woman president. Ever. Misogyny is far, far too entrenched in our "cult of masculinity" to accept that.
Read Timothy Snyder, Cindy. He has now written and done more than Lincoln did in his early years that is on point. He has been personally engaged. And, maybe if we wake up, his voice will become "ours". The new Lincoln is here, we just have to see him, and he is no theoretical Professor...He puts his body into it.
Snyder does recognize what we are seeing, and unsurprisingly, a number of key leaders rushed into action to break Snyder’s first rule, do not consent in advance.
Yesterday I sent a letter to various Congress people asking them to speak with a common voice. Random comments from random people about random crap TCF is throwing at us is useless. He’s flooding the zone and it’s POINTLESS to try to address everything. Pick a few real issues (like when will food prices go down?) and hit them hard. I also told them to do what the republicans do: have talking points. Keep hammering the same issues, using the same words. It has worked for them all these years, to our detriment.
I had not thought of it this way! Yes, who will be our Zelensky or Zelenskies? We need them!
Call me crazy, but I am beginning to wonder if this presidency is going to blow up, and, if so, I fear it could be pretty dramatic. IF the American people start to see what’s happening and pressure their reps, I think we could see enough Congress members see that we’re losing the country and change their tune. With this second term, Trump’s cabinet and senior advisors would never turn on him, including DOD. So it would get down to Congress and SCOTUS, and with a big majority of the people behind them, I think impeachment and conviction are possible. It might involve a financial crash. It would require lots of demonstrations. But I think his careless and extreme execution of this dismantling of everything might be what causes it it fail. But, to me, continual demonstrations have to be part of this.
Didn't I note recently that Putin and Zelensky both claimed that Trump won in 2020??? Are world leaders going to be forced - or incur serious repercussions - to capitulate, evade truths, and embrace disinformation?
Well, it probably won't be a high-ranking Dem, the party has made that pretty clear. Not one of them is standing up for us. My own two senators in Michigan are already kowtowing to the menace, crossing party lines and voting for the billionaire nominees. Disgusting.
In 2024, Colombia accepted on average more than two U.S. flights of migrants a week. And, as immigration scholar Austin Kocher noted, “everyone on this deportation flight was arrested and detained by the Biden administration.”
Trump will lie and take credit for everything that Biden has accomplished and alienate the rest of the world in the process.
That's because Rethuglicans LIE constantly about a "liberal media" that does NOT exist. Almost all media in the US is now owned by conservative liars. We haven't had a liberal media since about 1976. Plenty of research to back that up too. Fucking sucks.
And, more importantly Fox, Newsmax, Rogan…. That’s the only way his supporters will hear about it. So, yeah, not expecting them to be confronted with the truth
It’s up to us to keep setting the record straight. Never ind to the rest of the world, but to the 52% who voted for this travesty. I’d like us to be much more in their faces!
People Forget that the Key Constituency was the ~37% that did not Vote... Another Problem is that there are only two Viable Parties... The Leadership of both Democrats & Republicans are Old & Out-Of-Touch...
Still reading this excellent piece. I'm wondering if these lost/rejected ballots reflect those who have been counted among the number of persons who supposedly did not vote.
Susan, there are two gross (as in large, not as in disgusting) categories of "folks that did not vote". One is the "it doesn't matter/ I'm not political/I hate them all"
camp. The other is the people that were disenfranchised intentionally. I apologize for posting this link yet again, but it is a heck of a read!
Well, the Biden Briefing room was pretty gotttdamned quiet regarding putting any kind of well-meaning spin on what good things were being done. Too dam little effort was put innto spinning trumps crap into the ditch. The "pulpit" wasn't used. I don't think I ever heard fun being made of trumps hat., "make America great? Huh? Meaning America never ceased to be great.., like WTF was that stupid hat about.. Great Again? What? We impeached that bitch twice. The facts allowing that to happen should have been shown on billboards to counter the 9R) crap. Didn't happen. Nice guys finish last. Arghhh.
Absolutely, why weren't Biden's accomplishments being reported everyday! Instead, all eyes went to the orange buffoon, ALL the time! Even MSNBC. I'm furious with them for that. It makes me suspect that something much bigger is going on. Some shadowy unseen hand...
Again what takes years go build destroyed with the sole purpose to destroy and nothing else. I am fearful this will be a constant daily ritual of this administration.
But are you determined to contribute energy to feed your brain inspiring knowledge and wisdom to help your friends and family to push back with love and confidence?
Why was there no special report on NPR and other mainstream news about the dramatic drops in border crossings due to Biden administration actions? Unconscionable.
“One liners” is operative here-corporate media, with the possible exception of NY Times at its best, doesn’t do deep reporting anymore. Drama, slogans, sensationalism is what gets clicks, views, reposts. Unfortunately, this is exactly the environment in which Trump thrives.
The American public is complicit- rather than expectation of excellence, it instead wants the next shiny thing and votes to be entertained with reality tv.
Biden admin should have made a big show of all the efforts and successes they had regarding illegal immigration. If they had, there would have been coverage! It would have deflated the top reason why so many uninformed and Faux- informed voters voted for the idiot! Especially should have been shouting about all of Harris’ accomplishments in that arena.
NPR/CBB are compromised in ways that are shocking to me. Of course, they will be gone soon. I am pissed about the new series coming up with Newt and his vampire wife. May ditch my donation,
Biden admin should have made a big show of all the efforts and successes they had regarding illegal immigration. If they had, there would have been coverage! It would have deflated the top reason why so many uninformed and Faux- informed voters voted for the idiot! Especially should have been shouting about all of Harris’ accomplishments in that arena.
I note with interest (and regret at what might have been) at the quiet, long, hard, and effective diplomatic work of Vice-President Harris in creating alliances throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to help resolve the refugee issue - basically what Biden asked her to do at the start of his presidency, and which she did not forget about but rather achieved.
Thanks, Fox-poisoned voters for not noticing (and not much thanks to Biden and the Democrats for not trumpeting these achievements from the rooftops for years.)
Part of that article states that there is a belief in MAGAt circles that the "Sovereign Nations" of our Indigenous Peoples make them constitutionally NOT US citizens.
Navajos have already been told by their leadership to always carry their Navajo tribal identification card as proof of citizenship because they’ve been mistaken for Hispanics and some may not have a driver’s license.
Trump’s mass pardons of the January 6 insurrectionists caused the FOP to revoke their endorsement of Trump. Apparently Donald wants his own group of loyal brownshirts.
They already are, and Arizona and New Mexico were Navajo lands. Some moronic MAGAs told the same thing to an Arizona legislator who happens to be Navajo to “go back to where he came from,” and he is in his own land.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, the senators secretly decide what they’re gonna do and then they decide who’s gonna cast what kind of vote to help their district the most. All of this down to “the last senator’ stuff is baloney. We can take comfort in the fact that the majority of the Senators did not give Trump the leader he wanted. I think they have their eye on the ball but are playing it carefully.
Yeah, if Hegseth/Thune/T(argh) had *needed* her vote she'd probably have caved. She has several chapters in Profiles in Cowardice -- yet just showed she's gutsier than 50 of her 52 fellow R senators.
Heather. You are a calm voice of sanity in the middle of this hurricane from hell. Thank you. I read you every day. I live in Carpinteria, CA. In Santa Barbara County 47% of our population is Latino. 44% of them are undocumented. I lived in Mexico for 20 years. I speak Spanish. These people are terrified. Obviously Trump hates California. That is a no brainer. But ICE is rounding up and incarcerating people at neighborhood markets. It’s horrific. I am part of a local resistance group and we are reaching out to those at risk. There are emergency numbers. This is insane.
The bull in the china shop will eventually get gored. None of what Trump is doing is sustainable. Until then, the only question is how many people will be hurt or worse, including in the MAGA cult.
I would rather have Latin American migrants living in my neighborhood than any of those criminals from January 6th. It's unconscionable that they were pardoned after what they did at the Capitol.
I'm not saying anything that is a surprise to anyone here, but we have a president who is setting an exceedingly harmful example of bullying to our young people. Biden and Harris worked with our partners to the south to build stronger relationships. Trump apparently doesn't know what the word "relationships" means. He only understands dominance, but that kind of arrogance doesn't lead to the kinds of partnerships that we need to rely on if we're going to slow the urgency that people feel to leave their country for a better, safer, more productive life for themselves and their children. I know that it's obvious to everyone on this list, but we need to build a world based on cooperation, and as Mariann Edgar Budde reminded us, we need to put mercy and humility at the forefront of our dealings with others. Just in case you haven't see it, here's the link to her sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNfrbAztlcs
The MSM did not report anything about what the Biden administration and VP Harris did to address immigration patterns in the Americas. They said nothing. And they have the temerity to call themselves journalists.
The mainstream media response echoed the Democratic publicity. Biden didn’t believe in tooting his own horn and Kamala was too careful to overshadow Biden.
Heather's today stands out for its litany of complications so many countries face on immigration.
I appreciate this attention to vexing, humanly fraught, and internationally involved problems concerning so many millions of people. But I note it all the more in contrast to the simple-minded crude responses from the convicted criminal Americans elected back to the White House.
It's a theatricality of sheer bombast. He peddles one constant mediocrity after another with the vulgar predictability of the tech billionaires who set their algorithms to sensationalism max.
Heather's very good chronicling the decencies of many world leaders doing their best to keep up with, deal with, pay for, and accommodate the human flotsam and jetsam. But why the huge gulf between international diplomatic decency on one hand, and on the other hand such exorbitant evidence of totally failed U.S. schools, to have so many tens of millions scarfing down the insanities by which the criminal-in-chief regularly indecently, criminally, immorally plays to them.
I posted on Heather’s page on FB the other night, that I’m not handling this well. I had hundreds of responses. All people feeling the same. Honestly, I don’t understand why everyone isn’t as disturbed by what’s going on as I - and many of us - are.
I look at my 10 1/2 and 5 1/2 year old grandsons and wonder if they’ll be forced to put on uniforms and fight for America in a not so distant future.
Time flies - 7 1/2 years will go by in a flash. But this time, our soldiers will be fighting on the wrong side. Will our young men (I’m assuming there will be no women in fighting units) - boys - lose their lives for these monsters?
This is a nightmare, and I want absolutely NOTHING to do with ANYONE who supported this destruction of our democracy and world security. NOTHING.l
I am a cynic, Linda, please excuse. I don't think you will have to wait that long. They will probably be forced into the Trump Youth (TY) corps soon. Merde!
Yes, hard to believe but ... personal friends, law school roommates at UVA, specific issues with Rhode Island’s health care system that apparently
need regulatory flexibility from HHS. (that hasn’t been enough of an issue to shift the state’s senior senator, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), who remains firmly opposed to Kennedy’s nomination.)
Yes, hard to believe, but ...Sanders has not ruled out supporting Gabbard, who was a top House ally in her past political life as an antiestablishment Democrat and nominated him at the Democratic Convention.
"Russell Vought? Never heard of him," said the president despite the fact that Vought was head of his Office of Management and Budget for several years. Oh, and Vought is a primary author of Project 2025. "Project 2025? Never heard of it." What is that nasty burning smell?
In listening to the Senate hearings with Vought, I had the sense of being with Hannah Arendt at the trial of Adolf Eichmann. Here was a man, Russell Vought, who feigned to have no purpose but to channel the directives of Donald Trump. Vought explicitly claimed that the only answer he would give was Trump policy already in the public record. Vought's contempt for Congress was implicit in every word. In answer to questions as to whether Project 2025 had influenced Trump's executive orders, Vought said 'they could not have because Trump had said he had nothing to do with Project 2025.' Vought wrote the Project 2025 chapter on the 'unitary executive' and Trump wants Vought in the position to implement it.
The whole concept of the unitary executive is completely unconstitutional. It violates the separation of powers in the Constitution and ignores the Founders’ belief the President is not above the law.
No soul. No conscience. But does Trump want Vought (I keep thinking "nought") as head of OMB, or does someone else, maybe Leonard Leo, or someone who stays in the shadows?
This is unbelievable! I always wondered if Kamala Harris had done anything after Biden appointed her to deal with the root causes of migration. Clearly, she did. I do fault the administration for not doing a better job of publicizing their accomplishments. We must be more aggressive with communications. I didn't know any of this and I'm pretty active with getting news on line. Thank you, Heather!
Ms. Richardson is doing the work that the general media is not: combining, summarizing and explaining the details underlying the things that Trump and his minions are doing. Surely there must be some Republicans in Congress who are reading Ms. Richardson's daily letters. If they are and have read this one, it is hard to understand why they are still not willing to finally stand up to this man and remove him from office as they should have done years ago.
David Cay Johnston, who has followed Trump for years, says the best way to stop him is to stand up to him, challenge him. I am coming to understand how a lot of what we see in the media is just acting which will placate his base.
Mary Trump has written that DJT was known as a Cowardly Bully growing up by the Neighborhood Kids... He is Flooding The Zone with Executive Orders... Ever Wonder where those EOs are coming from? I'm speculating that they are coming from the pEOPLE that wrote Project 2025... This is Pre-Planned... Made For Show... DJT can't Manage... Notice how these EOs bypass Congress? DJT on Friday Night fired over 10 Inspector-Generals that could impede his Whims... Then DJT left for Golfing.. Tracking DJT's Golfing: https://trumpgolftrack.com ... The ICE Raids? Made for TV as well... The Navajo Nation has just issued an advisory that Tribal Members carry their Tribal ID since several have been stopped & interrogated by ICE... The Indigenous are Brown People after all... This is State-Sanctioned Terrorism... In 2028, this Country may be in a Heap... AOC, or Someone like her, that can build & lead a Movement, may be absolutely Necessary... Desperate Times, Require Desperate Measures...
Until I read this, I did not know about most of Biden's and Harris's work on immigration in the western hemisphere. This is the best (worst?) example of the failure of both the Biden Administration and the legacy media to publicize its actions to inform the public. It's clear that the US has not had "open borders". The only piece of information that has had anything like wide distribution is that Biden's deportations exceeded Obama's, and both of them were higher than Trump's. But there were no cameras, and no media stories. Again, Trump has trumped up an "issue" to give him an opportunity to break the law because he can.
Biden's Administration shared this with the media. However, most of the main stream media simply ignored anything Biden. I don't know how you get media attention when your speeches aren't 'broadcast or reported on. It's not Biden's fault. Dr. Cox Richardson reported the information correctly.
Hum… How about a Fireside Chat once a week.
Instead of negotiating hostage deals?
And use the Occupier of the White House as the wood in the fireplace? Just wondering.
How about using political donations to create and fund a network that can compete with Fox but in a truthful way. Dems do not know how to do public relations. they whisper into a corner and don't know why nobody is listening or hearing. T blasts the air waves nonstop and once normal people hear something 10 times it sounds like the truth. This has been going on for the last 4 years and is completely irresponsible of Dems to ignore it.
That ship has sailed. So called "liberal" news outlets have been tried and have failed time after time. The reason Fox succeded where those Lefty ones did not? We on the left do not have to listen 24/7 to propaganda that affirms our biases. Rightwingers do. Fox serves up constant justification for their constant misinformation, and their listeners believe that they are hearing the "real truth" and will never believe the MSM because Fox has convinced them that the MSM is some evil trickster. And most of the MSM has kowtowed to owners who are as afraid of Trump as the Congress is.
Democrats/Liberals have many nuanced opinions on many subjects. The reason we read HCR and other thoughtful writers is that we are seeking valid information on many subjects. There is no outlet that will serve up opinions that all of us will agree with. Fox/rightwing media viewers DO act/think in lockstep. That is one of their strengths, and always has been. It may be wrong/stupid/lazy, but they will do that in spite of education, reason, logic or facts. Fox et.al have just found a niche that makes them lots of money and to hell with what it is doing to democracy.
You mean most people don’t recognize the truth the way any adult should? Its up to each individual to look for vital information.
You can listen to news on NPR.org on the radio or online. It’s non-commercial news coverage.
There’s also PBS Newshour, another non commercial network.
Well, when the media spends most of its ink and air time with panels going on and on about how old Biden is or how black Harris and then the rest of time on whatever word farts that Trump said that day, it is a wonder that they have time to hear anything the Biden administration said. I, for one, heard plenty about this but, but I try to be an informed voter.
I wrote to Jamie Raskin complaining about the dems' inability to message their accomplishments. Recall Obama did not promote or explain his health plan so the republicans distorted it and they captured the attention of the often uninformed Americans.
Yes. Who knew?
Not my Representative, here in Baghdad By the Sea.
"Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) is urging President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to spare some migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean from being deported under the new administration’s immigration guidelines.
The South Florida congresswoman asked DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman to continue “protecting” Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans who do not have criminal records and were permitted to enter and work in the U.S. under former President Biden’s “humanitarian parole” program.
“I strongly urge you to ensure that all Cubans paroled in under the CHNV program eligible for or with pending applications for the Cuban Adjustment Act are protected from deportation until their cases are fully resolved,” Salazar wrote in a Friday letter to Huffman.
“Additionally, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians who arrived under the CHNV program, have no criminal record, and have applied for asylum through the proper legal channels, should also be protected until their cases are fully resolved,” she added.
The current administration is providing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials with more latitude to expel migrants who came to the U.S. either via asylum using the CBP One app or the parole program instated by Biden for those fleeing violence in Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua, according to an internal DHS memo that was obtained by The New York Times.
“Although President Biden originally created this new program on dubious legal grounds and brought individuals here without a plan for their future, they were still enrolled under programs offered to them,” Salazar wrote. “Therefore, I believe they should have the ability to see their applications out to rectify their legal status.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5106861-florida-republican-urges-trump-to-spare-some-migrants-under-deportation-plan/
______________________
Not reported in the Miami Herald, El Herald, Univision, Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, etc.
I wish Biden had paid more attention to the PR side of his administration. Had he done so, there would be a President Kamala Harris today.
Bill, you are blaming the victim. It is the press that failed. And they are failing today. Every day Trump is committing impeachable offenses and it's treated as if it's just more fluff. Another episode in the soap opera "As the Trump Turns".
I wish that for every silly story about Biden's lack of speaking skill, there was a story about Trump's mental illness. The man is a sociopathic liar of a con man using cruelty are a governing cudgel. EVERYTHING he says is a lie. He just makes shit up in the fly. And the press is walking around like it's just another new administration, blah, blah, blah.
Biden was an imperfect communicator. Harris was too nice. OK. NEXT!? Time for a counter attack. Ya think?!
Let's see, you are the anti-immigration guy, right? The one with all the knowledge about the immigrants swarming across our "open borders"?
Here we go again, there was no PR problem. Harris had 78% positive news stories, the elite media, celebrities, and 1 billion in cash. The message was terrible.
You can't put lipstick on a pig. America hated the Biden results. End of story.
Biden was a great manager and a terrible communicator. He got worse near the end. But the Dems didn't realize that the MSM had lost their persuasive power. They allowed Trump to roll over them, and only older people were reading or watching them on TV. 50% of the country got all it's information from some form of social media and most of it was false. The Dems never broke through that bubble and still haven't.
You make an excellent and necessary point about our media. We have gone from the likes of Murrow, Cronkite,Huntley and Brinkley to David Muir and Chuck Todd. It's the need equivalent of replacing John Coltrane with Kenny G.
Dan Rather still writes.
He does, and I applaud him for persisting, especially now coming into the new year grieving for the loss of his wife, his soulmate. He turned 90 last year, I think, so each essay he writes is precious to me because time is running out. It's amazing to consider how long he was the face of real, fact-based news, traveling to wherever the conflicts were, since my childhood. There's an excellent documentary out on him, released last year.
Yes, he does, but he no longer has a high profile national platform. When Walter Cronkite after the Tet Offensive said that America had been lied to about Vietnam, LBJ actually said, "If we've lost Cronkite, we've lost the country ". We have no one now with that stature. We don't.
And quite well, I might add!
Joel, nicely put.
No one has picked up on the swarmy WTF presence of so called Dr. Phil he is the psychological counseling PT Barnum of our times. I don’t know how he changed but he did .
Wow. Spot on.
Mainstream news is simply another entertainment industry, focusing on the most outrageous and colorful individuals and actions, and ignoring background and substance. Trump is both colorful and outrageous, and totally lacking in substance. The perfect media stooge.
A recent book to read detailing the history and politics of immigration : "Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here", Jonathan Blitzer, 2024. So much info in this book that for sure the media never got. Also a book from 2018 "Bring the War Home", Kathleen Belew, which opened my half-closed eyes to the significance of war to the white power movement and the many paramilitary militias training in our states.
Indeed…. First I am aware…. Gotta wonder WHAT ELSE!!!
Are you delusional? PR Probelm argument again.
They had the elite media, celebrities, and a BILLION Dollars to spend.
America hated the message. Millions of people illegally coming into our country was very clear.
They are gone unless you want them in your neighborhood?
What "elite" media? They did nothing to report on all the Biden administration did,just kept repeating all the trump lies. trump also had "celebrities" and way more than a billion dollars and it came from the billionaires,not the working class. America loved the message, they were tired of the scare tactics and whining, more people vote for Harris and others than voted for trump and you are forgetting what you just read about immigration and what Biden accomplished and the fact that they (republicans and democrats) had hammered out an immigration bill and trump killed it. The fact that you don't want "them " in "your" neighborhood says a lot. SO who is delusional?
You can forget LYING here and not bring receipts.
First, Media Council Research, 78% of news stories on Harris were positive and 85% of Trump stories were negative. Where exactly were the lies repeated OVER and OVER. I’m calling BULLSHIT.
More people VOTED for Harris than TRUMP? Are you an election denier?
77,303,000 Trump
73,500,000 Harris
I’m calling BULLSHIT again.
https://www.mrc.org/tv-hits-trump-85-negative-news-vs-78-positive-press-harris
Psy ops worked.
James, you are a racist moron. Thanks goodness I can block you so we don't have to read your ignorant blathering.
The main stream press/TV/media can announce the successes of the Biden Administration until the cows come home. The people who need to hear those facts will never hear them because they are focused in on Fauxnooz, and will deny anything that is not fed to them by that outlet. The facts about the deportations under Obama and Biden have been out there all along. Trumpers are not hearing the facts. If we really want to save our democracy, the place to start is by getting rid of fake news rightwing liars like Fox.
People want the news as entertainment….we have been made dumb because we can’t face the truth.
Before we even attempt another election, we need to figure out how to combat the Murdoch “news” machine. At least half of this country never hears what we hear, and they will never read Dr Richardson. Same with MSNBC and CNN. Those folks still think January 6 was a Patriotic Moment.
Me either, Celia. Dems need a stronger messaging machine.
Obama and Biden were doing the necessary work, it is ridiculous to say they didn’t have cameras to back their actions. They Were Just Doing Their Job!
It is only this empty suit blowhard that wants to capture everything he’s undoing! The Nazis did this too!
The headwind of the firehouse of crap (there's a mixed metaphor) from Faux and many others (Post, Times, USA Today) made the truth impossible to tell...everyone believed Biden wasn't doing anything! Old Joe was amazing!!!
Pete tried...Crickets! 1/4 of the deficit is Donny John's! Crickets, 600,000 extra deaths from COVID? Crickets
How would you have suggested Bideinform the American citizens of all the work his administration accomplished if the legacy media refused to report it?
There was one article in The Atlantic about Biden and Harris's strong and successful diplomacy in Latin America. Outside of that, nada. Major news media just follows the if it bleeds, it leads principle.
I went to try to find the link for the Atlantic article and found many more Atlantic articles that headlined how horrible the border crossings were and how inept Democrats were about it. So, no pass is given to The Atlantic for truth telling after all.
The Atlantic was absolutely correct in their criticisms of Biden's border policies which mostly sucked both when they were letting in lots of people and when the were deporting lots of people.
If you want to stick your head in the sand and ignore the truth, that is your right but the Atlantic is as unbiased and truthful a news source as you will find today.
They also published dozens of articles critical of Trump, both his first term policies and his attempt at insurrection. And they published many articles on Biden's strong domestic policies to help business.
Sorry but I hate it when people make uniformed criticisms just to try to make a point especially when that point is absolutely untruthful. The Atlantic was a strong editorial supporter of Harris presidency and did something they rarely did which was to endorse her. So it is pretty dumb to pick on them.
If you want to pick on the media go pick on the WaPo after Bezos played Trump supplicant during the inauguration. You certainly didn't see Laurene Jobs (Atlantic publisher) there palling around with Trump!
Those of us who have lived a very long time have often experienced the tendency of cowards to compensate by bullying those they estimate will not push back against them. The louder they are , the more they thump their chests , the more you can be sure of their true nature. This is very loud chest thumping .
Chest thumping, theatrics, puppetry ate going to raise unemployment as agents, soldiers, civil service members are discriminated against and relieved of their positions. Our cost of living will sky-rocket from trade wars and limited supply of goods. I can see no benefits to any of these Project 2025 Executive Orders.
This is his "reality show" now and all he cares about is his impact on others, but all for evil.
I Don't Think That DJT Has A Good Grasp Of Reality At This Point... Seems that DJT never Grew-Up... He acts like a Spoiled, Angry, Vengeful Child that doesn't Play well with others... It is always Submit, or Else...
And now, Trump is an angry child with power.
Power is right. The backing down of Columbia has given Trump and MAGAs a renewed sense of arrogance, entitlement, and "strength." I watched as Mike Johnson gleefully announced Columbia's agreement to abide by Trump's wishes. He could hardly contain his pride that Trump's show of power resulted in capitulation. Just as has been the case, his supporters don't know the actual background details of the situation. They will revel in his braggings, in his sense of superiority, pomposity,, and pretension. This act by Columbia has given rise to his belief that anything he wishes ( actually, anything the Project 2025 platform dictates) is going to happen, making his "show" of strength more obvious.
I had hopes for humanity yesterday when Columbia fought back. Granted, I didn't want to pay more for coffee, and I didn't want the florist industry to suffer, but Trump has shown that anyone who fights back will be "dealt with in the harshest manner." Oh, Columbia.🫣
Power - that's the dangerous part!
And now, we have a "world class" "super bowl" Apprentice s--- show.
DJT is a Thug and a Thief. His firing of the Inspectors General is to open the door for widespread fraud on the government by himself and his running dogs.
And Trump can’t think two steps ahead about the consequences of his moves.
That's because he doesn't care about how any of his actions affect other people. Trump does it to have a show of his power and stern strength for his base because they are looking for a "Daddy". "Daddy", according to the way his MAGA base thinks, needs to be a (white) male disciplinarian ready to take his belt off and take the misbehaving "family member" out to the woodshed for a good beating--for their own good, of course. The "family" needs discipline to enforce willing obedience. That is the model for the kind of leadership the MAGAts seem to want. Personally, I think it's sick and twisted, but it does seem to explain to a certain extent why the MAGAs follow him.
I believe it is his entire hand-selected administration that can't think out the consequences of their stupid moves. In fact it is very clear that DonOld's puppet masters are calling all the shots, but allowing him to pretend that he is in charge. I wonder how you say "jerk" in Colombian Spanish?
Thank You, Mr. Moore for your correct spelling of COLOMBIA. The USian lack of good education and obsession with texting really shows up sometimes.
I think that Trump is "calling the shots." In part this is based on the obsequiousness of the oligarchs (Bezos, Zuckerberg, et al.) showing up at the inauguration. Trump throws a piece of red meat to his base and then performs another act to enrich himself, such as firing the Inspectors General so that there is no check on him and his cronies fleecing the U.S. Treasury with fraudulent contracts.
Trump doesn’t care if the consequences are adverse to anyone else, particularly those of us who see through his charade.
Note that they don't sanction the employers. The Employer Sanctions Act is a part of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that prohibits employers from hiring unauthorized workers. The act was added by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA)
He is a good puppet. Very willing to put on a show.
Good At Putting On A Show... Very Lazy, and Feral....
I didn't say he was good at it. Just a good puppet.
I absolutely agree with you. The media ought to be showing photos of him golfing. He can't govern...can't manage. This was all preplanned by the 2025 folks. It is long overdue for the media to show his true colors - as he rides around in his golf cart.
He’s their figurehead and that was the plan. It’s feral zealots like Stephen Miller, Russ Vought, et al., who are running this sh!tshow.
Personally I think more Dem governors should show up when Donnie the Ignorant visits their state and give him the pantsing that Newsom did to Donnie, by not letting orange scum do his "dominance handshake" and just standing straight while Donnie tips forward on his lifts. Also Karen Bass, who vehemently stood up to Donnie the Ignorant until one of Donnie the Ignorant's officious little suck-ups turned off her mike.
Apache, AOC leading a movement is not a desperate measure to counteract fascism it's common sense.
If we aren’t desperate, we are ignorant
Find out from your local school districts how far they are willing to allow Trump's thugs to go in rounding up brown people? Do they have a policy?
Most of us pay as much in property taxes, the lion's share of which goes to our K-12 schools, as we do for income taxes.
Living in a northern border state, I suspect we are educating as many white undocumented kids as brown kids. And I'm ok with this. What I'm not ok with is rounding up only brown and black kids or Asians and not even questioning the white kids. I have friends that have green cards but sometimes, they are working here illegally while they wait for their renewals.
If they were brown skinned, they would have to wait outside of the US unless they are DACA which is a whole other can of worms.
I hate to say it, but it would not surprise me if some naturalized citizens who happen to be black and brown get caught up in the ICE raids. 😠
It's already happened to members of the Navaho Nation in New Mexico and Arizona.
They wouldn’t accept a veterans identification in their NJ raid. They scooped him up.
Gary, my niece's husband (they married a couple months ago) is DACA. They are worried.
I read that the Oklahoma racist, Ryan Walters, is encouraging them to come in and terrorize his students.
“Ever Wonder where those EOs are coming from? I'm speculating that they are coming from the pEOPLE that wrote Project 2025... “
Thank you Apache for putting those words together. I’ve been trying to express that thought since the EO storm began. He’s not capable of generating a complete or coherent sentence.
In an interview with a reporter who has covered Miller, he said Miller spent tfg’s four years out of power learning how to manipulate the government legally (as opposed to bumblingly like before), forging alliances & raising $$. He has written most, maybe all, of the EOs. Also he is slavishly devoted to tfg, never challenging him. We all know this is the most important thing to tfg.
Except that many of them are not legal. His wife looks Hispanic to me, what happens when they scoop her up while she’s out shopping. Same thing with Usha Vance. They don’t always dress for the cameras.
I think maybe you missed my point. It wasn’t about wives; it was about Stephen Miller obsessing during the last four years about how to destroy the government. Of course, he’s not the only one.
Maybe AOC is the person to lead boycotts of the companies that contributed to Project 2025? Since the list is long, maybe target several at a time? It's just a thought...
Given his time wasted in alla those sand traps, you'd think he'd really wanna keep the name of that body of water Golfo de Mexico...
Apache, the metadata on emails/letters sent to federal workers agrees with you. Because they were too careless to scrub the metadata, yesterday it emerged that indeed, the authors of Project 2025 were crafting these documents too. The metadata has since been scrubbed (by yesterday afternoon) and they probably won’t make that mistake again, but now we know. Of course, we all knew this way before the election but imagine the surprise of those Trump voters who find that in fact, when you vote for the Leopards Eating Faces party, your face gets eaten too.
KR, not nearly soon enough. I am waiting for the bleats of "But I voted for you; I didn't think you meant ME!!"
I’m (unkindly) really looking forward to that day.
Did you see him throwing out the Sharpies to the crowd! Wow! Hate and fear, shock and awe, or more 'Yuck!' A huckster...selling ass-pimple cream insted of love and honesty..sorry...
I'm really disgusted this morning. It looks like the grant for our summer AmeriCorps position just got killed so one more amazing youth will not get to work with us and work on their career in education. This is microscopic, yet for us very sad! ...and really fucking stupid! Investments in the future!!!
DJT is amazingly Self-Centered, and Short-Sighted... Seems that DJT wants to Gut the USG to 'Pay' for his desired Tax-Cuts... Hold your Temper, DJT will not be around forever... Save your Ammunition, write your Congress Person, bring them into the Loop, Momentum needs to be Built...
You're right that the people behind him had those EOs ready for him.
Apache, I wondered if anyone would keep a count & cost to taxpayers of tRump's golfing. Thanks for that link. I'm expecting the time away from Washington to increase as he ages.
Last Time Around It Was In Many Millions, 50+ Million?... Since It Was At A Lot Of His Properties, It Was Very Questionable Ethically.... I would think that as DJT ages, he will become more & more an Evil Figure-Head...
Many of the OPM orders are being written by people from Project 2025, who do not bother to change the metadata on the files before sending them to trvmp's minions.
Attacking our allies. Obliging our enemies. Shutting down public health agencies and diplomatic training. Removing trained trusted people from the military and federal agencies because they are not straight white men and trvmp sycophants. Releasing violent criminals from prison. Deporting essential workers in dehumanizing ways. This evil is meant to destroy our country.
Meanwhile, we see the bully cave whenever someone actually stands up to him.
He probably thinks that golfing is part of his job!
As a former teacher I know this is the way all bullies have to be handled. And I agree that we see everything as a performance for his base, but really he has already said that for H-1B visas there is no going after these people.
Also, the sweeps seem to be largely for people South of the Border and Caribbean, although I know plenty of Europeans who have lived in the US in undocumented status. Even Asians seem to be safe right now, but it would be great if someone were to keep track of all planes flying undocumented people back to their countries, and which countries these are. Also, I am glad my city, Chicago, prepared people for this as best they could.
Here is a discussion of the Musk Sieg Heil salute in The Guardian that is saying something important about this moment in our history. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/26/elon-musk-far-right-antisemitism?utm_term=679631f97a9063a144823d6fd46e3eb7&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUS_email
It ties together with this article about the rise of the Neo-Nazi's and their support of the anti-immigration agenda of the Trump administration. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/26/neo-nazis-trump-extremism?utm_term=679631f97a9063a144823d6fd46e3eb7&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUS_email
The fact that most Americans don't understand the term "fascism" means we need to use other terms that will be understood. Right now "immigrants" here are being turned into the Jews of Germany under Hitler. We should be really wary about what is going on. Those supporting and perpetrating this are on the wrong side of history.
The ONE word that sums up this 'group' is NAZI. Not neo-NAZI; that just causes uneducated turn-off. Simply NAZI. Even the most uneducated get a grasp of the term. We must use it anytime we are referring to what used to be Republicans. They are NAZIs, and must be called out as such.
Agreed. I have been calling the AfD in Germany the New German Nazi Party, and MAGA the New American Nazi Party.
Well said Linda. If people are too busy or lazy to look up the definition of fascism, just say "This ain't reality TV". If that doesn't work, just ask "Can we just stop having corrupt, Nazi loving bigots in the White House?
How about Nazi loving Nazis? NLN. Redundant as it may be, it is what I am seeing. Trump's is the New American Nazi Party.
Yes. Have you ever found yourself in a car with a drunk driver? That’s what this feels like to me.
The last time I was in a car like that was in high school on a Friday night, and my friend and I insisted on getting out. My parents had said if we needed to call for a ride we always could no matter where we were and they would come get us.
So, I have gotten out, because I am in Europe right now. I was home for the holidays to be with family, but my daughter and I flew back here because she is at university and had classes and I am in charge of a project here, but the rest of my family is in the US.
I just talked to my husband tonight who is taking my mom for eye surgery tomorrow. While they are both European citizens with permanent resident status, my mom would not be getting her surgery it if Trump had cancelled Medicare, so I am on pins and needles watching to see how that and Social Security will be handled, because I will have to try to get my 90-year old mother out of the US if it does. It would be horrid.
Still there are no surprises. If you want to get out of the drunk ride, I did write this article last month.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/a-plan-b-for-catastrophe?r=f0qfn
Another cult.
Not a hope in hell! Judy, the MAGAts eat it up. They would not know what to do with the facts. I just had a conversation with one MAGA follower, and he didn't even understand what a "FACT" was. I was called weak and whining, because I tried to get him to understand that his Trump slogans weren't facts. MAGAts demand the "Show" Kayfabe.. https://www.google.com/search?q=kayfabe&oq=kayfabe&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDM2MTdqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
bruce, I have a bunch of MAGAts in my Facebook feed; most of them retired cops and their spouses. It isn't even "not understanding what a "FACT" was", it is taking the utter dis and misinformation from their information sources (never gonna call it "news") and accepting it without thought. They eat it up and demand more because whatever it feeds in their brains (thinking amygdala here) or their hearts (fundamental belief structures, usually founded in whatever Christian religion they follow) touches a place in them that is anathema to me.
How do they feel about the J6 pardons? If they were Capitol Police would they stand aside next time and let the invaders go after others instead of risking their lives for thugs who would only be exempt from prosecution?
They were targeted and it was a peaceful demonstration... I kid you not.
Cult reality
What do you expect from people who claim to be Christian but quote The Old Testament, exclusively, and call people who actually try to "Love thy neighbor as thy self," feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and welcome the stranger, libertards?
On the contrary Bruce, I've seen Orange Jesus shoot himself in the foot more than once when confronted by a tough question from an actual journalist. For example, that time in Helsinki in 2017 when he said 'I don't know why it would be (Russia meddling)'. The next day his defense was that he misspoke and meant to say 'wouldn't be'. I'm not the only one who saw that as a very weak lying defense. But I'm sure you're going to ask me if I believe the bigot zombie apocalypse or my lying eyes.
Trump was always a spam actor.
And a chicken hawk
Do you mean JD that the American people voted for a spam actor?
What do we have to lose?
I have one word for the Republican law"makers"--PATHETIC. They are willing to dump their country into the toilet so that they could cling onto their jobs. Willing to seat the worst possible candidates into vitally consequential positions because of trump's threats. Honestly, how could anyone be afraid of a two-year old throwing a tantrum. I am beyond apoplectically disappointed in Senator Joni Ernst, an ex-military officer and sexual assault survivor that caved under her peer's threats. These Republicans, the only available antidote against the gobsmacking deleterious actions of this administration has gone dark and silent and is putting us all in the path of peril....
But did DCJ say how to challenge him? Because it's appalling that any disagreement or division (to wit: yesterday Lyndsey Graham criticized T's dismissal of several inspectors and received threats) is always met with threats of violence or death. The Dems just can't sit around and wait for the next election cycle in two years to speak up.
"Just acting" does nothing to actually oppose Trump's irrational and frequently unconstitutional actions. It takes backbone, courage and a willingness to fall on your sword (lose your House or Senate seat). There appear to be few, if any, members of Congress are willing to take the courageous course. They may be appalled by what they are seeing, but do something? I doubt it!
Judy, love your moniker! I maintain that all it would take is for several to stand up to him and then more would. They are letting their fear of being primaried drive this and i suspect death threats to them and their families.
Once a bully gets his nose bloodied he will stop bullying his victim. Bullys only pick on those he feels confident won't fight back.
Trump, the bully, surrounds himself with brown shirts who will do his bidding. This is his strength. So many folks have been threatened and intimated into submission.
Like the entire R party.
yes! You are ugly, mean, stupid, can't hold your water, have poor taste in design (did I say ugly (think bathroom with the boxes and the vinyl curtain with a chandelier) and in the number one danger to the health and wellness of the American people and our great country! The Sewer Circus, full of sharks and electric boats...
Dr. Richardson:
Richardson has authored seven books on history and politics. In 2019, Richardson started publishing Letters from an American, a nightly newsletter that chronicles current events in the larger context of American history. Richardson focuses on the health of American democracy. The newsletter accrued over one million subscribers, making her, as of December 2020, the most successful individual author of a paid publication on Substack.
Early life and education
Born in Chicago in 1962 and raised in Maine, Richardson attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire.[1][2] She received her AB, MA, and PhD from Harvard University, where she studied under David Herbert Donald and William Gienapp.[3]
Projects
Richardson interviewing President Joe Biden in February 2022
As a historian, Richardson advocates studying history to learn to distill complex situations into something easier to understand. She does this through her newsletters, books and podcasts.[4]
Newsletter: Letters from an American (2019–present)
In September 2019, Richardson began writing a daily synopsis of political events associated with the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Originally posting late every evening or in the early hours of the next day on her Facebook page, Richardson later moved to add a newsletter format, entitled "Letters from an American", published via Substack.[5][6] The newsletter deals with contemporary events she explains and relates to historical developments, with a focus on the health of American democracy.[7]
As of December 2020, Richardson was "the most successful individual author of a paid publication on... Substack" and on track to bring in a million dollars of revenue a year.[8] The newsletter received a "Best of Boston" award for "2021 Best Pandemic Newsletter" from Boston magazine.[9] By January 2024, the newsletter had about 1.3 million people reading each newsletter.[5] The Nation described her journalistic voice as "sincere, humble, approachable, and jargon-free."[5]
In 2021, Richardson was on the Forbes 50 over 50 list[22] and received the Frances Perkins Center Intelligence and Courage Award.[32][33][34] In 2022, she was recognized as one of the Women of the Year for 2022 by USA Today.[35][7] In 2023, The Guardian described her as the single most-important progressive pundit since Edward P. Morgan from the 1960s.[11] In 2024, the Authors Guild Foundation awarded her The Baldacci Award for Literary Activism for 2024.[36][37] In November 2024, Richardson was awarded the Kidger Award by the New England History Teachers Association at the NCSS Conference in Boston, Massachusetts.[citation needed]
You can see Dr. Richardson on numerous podcasts and forums around the Country.
She has published 7 books.
And HCR has a good following here in the UK too and indeed more widely. I picked up on her Letter in 2021, as the title references its predecessor the wonderful ‘Letter from America’ that the late great Alastair Cook would send over to the UK every week, which was hugely popular here and broadcast by the BBC. He was a Brit who understood the US ( and became a US citizen).
HCR’s Letter is my daily go-to reluable source for what is happening in the US, and I never miss it. Long may she continue to write it.
Imho, the Emporor’s lack of clothes will stradily become more and more apparent. Lets see.
Agree. She is my reliable, go-to source for a facts-based, unbiased report on what is happening. Her weaving in of historical context often helps to calm my fears.
It is good to know that some people in the UK and elsewhere appreciate that the US is more than MAGA. We owe HCR a debt of gratitude for that. MAGA has become the profane voice and physical presence of our country in this world, proud to exalt the emperor by wearing diapers and, somehow, outnumbering the rest of us. I fear that not one MAGA supporter has conceded that this course was never good, that the emperor is not dressed in regal attire, and that they will share the blame for what happens next.
Nice to know her voice is in the UK also. I loved Alistair Cook.
He is already naked to the sane person's eye. Unfortunately, the Oligarchy and MAGA don't care about what condition he is in. They prop him up long enough to read the Project 2025 screeds and then let him go play golf.
Likewise I add , yes stay the resistance , always . To work for the freedoms of all is The Best . Even those who were duped , swayed, and even some of the complicit. Many will , have, and do suffer the wrath. Noble is a word of intent..be like Jimmy 🫶
There are are tremendous amount of people who are banking on this ‘cloth-less emperor the great awakening’. Damage and footholds are being strengthened daily.
This is how they do it, do it. This is how they do it.
The format is historic. America is asleep at the wheel.
While this specific period of time is most critical to establishing credibility ..per se , the decrees will be reeled out en masse , dazzle, confuse, and overwhelm J.Q.Public as intended, as well as countries -set up in advance to hit first- accumulating the false flags of the Bully Pulpit. All the former dress rehearsals taught where the weak spots were.
Meanwhile the spoils fall into #1’s (being China most likely ) hands as the plan for The New World Order gets put in place.
Under ‘The Red Flag’ was prophecy.
Wondering how China and the Soviets see this supposition …🤔
Meanwhile deep in the woods …now having lost the promise of great educational opportunity with broadband ‘s rug pulled out from under them -as will others also go the way of…take care -ie beware -of your forests Appalachian Tree Farmers..
Thank you for this background. I am sad that I only found HCR as a result of her interview on the Contrarian 2 weeks ago ... I am eager to read her books and hopefully catch up on some of her amazing distillations of current events in the broader context of history.
Margo, welcome to the family here!
Welcome, Margo. There are a bunch of her Letters to catch up on. Don't be sad, be glad you did find her. Her "Politics Chats" are well worth watching on YouTube!
Join and you'll have access to ALL the letters
Barbara Mullen,
Thank you for lifting up an American heroine whom we can TRUST with her sharing wisdom, truth and love for this nation. I wish her continued success.
I also appreciate each contribution from her readers.....agree or disagree!
I had the pleasure of seeing HCR in Portsmouth NH after Democracy Awakening was published. If you ever have the opportunity to see her in person, please do so - she is a treasure!
I bet she is amazing in person. I am an unabashed fan of hers and really enjoy her podcasts. She is one of the finest minds in America today.
I was thinking the same thing as I read this piece. How the legacy media did not cover any of what was going on with immigration, and makes me thankful that I am done with them.
I follow the news closely Linda and I don't remember reading or watching anything about those immigration policies carry on by the Biden administration that trump with a big display is taking ownership just by playing bulli. Something that was running smoothly now it's going to be a mess and ,in the case of Colombia it's going to make the Chinese government very happy.
Biden was about substance + humility and tfg is about performance + braggadocio but no substance.
Nicely said ML, but we lost the election and we have a fascist government destroying 250 years of democracy. Nobody, except a few, paid attention to substance and humility, the Biden administration and the Democratic leadership should have known that.
Why should they have known that? ANd if they should, what should they have done?
mLM, I don't think you understood my point with is, that they were implementing a policy to solve the illegal immigration by making agreements with countries to we were returning back their citizens, ilegally in the US, very efficiently and very quietly, so quietly that almost nobody knew, including me. At the same time, trump was pounding 24/7 for weeks on the "open border policy of the Biden administration and democrats.". That was a big concern ta significant portion of the voters. I hope I made myself clear although very briefly. Thanks for your question. 😊
Another thing that is making Xi very happy is that Musk is on their side, and Musk has influence over Trump.
https://www.muskwatch.com/p/how-do-you-explain-trumps-abrupt?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
True Linda, so much influence that he bought him for hundreds of millions of dollars. Now the Chinese government has a foot inside the American government and most likely, access to national security information. Sooo many good news in only a week.
Linda, I refer to them now as "corporate media". They have (in my mind) trashed their "legacy" as they kowtow to the ffpotus.
There is an article in the Boston Globe on this and coverage/analysis on BBC news. I bet CNN and MSNBC have coverage as well. I appreciate HCR but please don’t read in a silo.
I think none of WANTS to silo, but we have all lost complete faith in the MSM. The discussion of how they have failed us has deep roots. We congregate and praise LFAA because it gives us facts, analysis and historical connections other historical news outlets no longer offer.
LFAA - what is that? I watch FOX sometimes for an alternative view. You can watch MSM with a critical eye but you need to watch to understand.
Letters From An American, Dr. Richardson’s nightly post updating us on what to keep an eye on.
Sorry- should have figured that out lol. I subscribe
Linda, Boston Globe and BBC are good adds. But CNN? They are 99% false equivalency. Their talking heads belong on reality TV.
Don’t worry! I listen to the Lincoln Project podcast too, not mention The Mooch! All great stuff. But I do leave the silo every now and then….and then rush back in.🤣
I hunted yesterday for who…I think it was you, Linda, who said …paraphrasing best I can…’T’s likeness to a 2 year old , self grandeur the first thought ‘ , was so funny, instant chuckle. Then I thought ..please don’t insult the 2 year olds…
‘Hang on ,rough ride ahead ‘…is coming onto clarity fast..
Thanks for all you do🫶
They may be reading but in the alternate reality republicans are living in, the facts they read don’t match their misguided vision of truth, morality and reality so, they most likely dismiss the Letter From An American.
They never take their eyes off of Fox
Yesterday, on morning Joe, they highlighted HCR's letter on Lincoln's Lyceum speech. If only as many people followed her as they do the ignorant clowns on Fox News or Newsmax.
Surprisingly, the WSJ has been kinda sorta hard on Trump. but like Bezos, Murdoch will quash anything anti-Trump fairly soon. Plus, The NY Times seems to be a little more critical of Trump. I'm sure many of the media outlets are scrambling for readers after the election debacle.
I heard over the weekend there are thousands of elections in 2025 all across America. Let's move America away from the Nazi's one seat at a time.
Power and money are hard to beat…
Fox is the reason we are in this situation. Viewers are told that fox is the only place they get the truth. Everyone else is lying. They edit and spin every big story to fit the right wing narrative. Many of their viewers have watched for so long that they trust fox completely and hate the people fox tells them to hate. Fox is a cancer and now this country is sick. Our rules and laws may not survive this. On the left, we criticize Fox, but why are we not going after them HARD?
I'd call faux the "root" of the problem; the other "information sources" are exponentially worse that the broadcasts by faux.
To put an accent on Ally House's comment, Fox isn't really the most dangerous outlet of mis- and disinformation. They've never made a secret of their extreme bias and allergy to the truth. Fox plays almost entirely to Trump and his cult, and nobody else. Fox is not trusted by anyone even remotely connected to reality.
The truly dangerous information outlets are the "trusted media," such as the other broadcast networks and major newspapers, including The Washington Post. These media have a longtime reputation for honesty and only slight bias, left or right. But during the past 10 years, the oligarch-owners have been quietly bending their coverage to favor fascism in general and Trump in particular. Why? Because in the short term, Trump's loud, outrageous behavior is good for audience share, which translates to revenue. In the long term, they believe that currying favor with Trump will protect their tax liabilities.
These media are dangerous because middle-of-the-road consumers are unaware that their trusted sources have taken a side, and they normalizing unconstitutional, lawless behavior.
I watched the guardrails disappear. Fox showed our MSM how profitable little “entertainment news” could be.
Chump was just the shinny crazy object. You are right. In the last ten years…
We are many years too late. Reagan’s Repub vipers smoothed the way for Ailes and Murdoch and they just followed Goebbels playbook. It was all laid out. I watched Rove foist W on Texas with the lying and dirty tricks. Every syllable you write is 109% right
The most critical election of 2025 is the state Supreme Court election in WI on April 1, 2025. Justice Susan Crawford needs support to defeat Elon Musk endorsed MAGA candidate Brad Schimel.
https://www.crawfordforwi.com
And there are ways to help. Check out Markers for Democracy and/or Field Team 6.
Saving this to help out a worthy candidate. But, I donated too much in the fall, coffers are about bare
Which is why we need to research and find a way to use the FCC regs against them like the right is doing against MSM.
We’ve had 40 years. Bill Moyers preached your sermon in the 90’s
And Fox now has sister channels just as ugly. YouTube has uncensored conspiracy preachers.
craig, that is why I frequently list the many good YouTube channels and pundits and encourage everyone to subscribe, run their videos and always hit the like button! We need to push those voices way, way up in the computer algorithm!
Rupert metastasized
Yes, Fox is sadly brilliant in the way it can completely brainwash its audience.
Rupert is Goebbels reincarnated
They never take their eyes off of Fox is so true. I have a job that allows me to go into people's homes. Fox is on 24/7 and they are glued to it. Especially older people who are lonely and unable to use a computer. They have no way of fact checking. These are the people who voted.
It’s not just the old and lonely. In 1996, I had a bff whose husband commanded that Fox be on 24 hrs. They didn ‘t sleep much so made sense I guess. very smart parents and children. All are md’s or phds and still addicted to Rupert. Although one is a dem, which reallly embarrasses the others. I watched the brainwashing up close. Mind boggling to say the least.
They are genetically linked to fox.
Cult nuts believe it to the bitter end. Ike or deprogramming can interfere, but not much else.
They would never get to it, anyway people only heed "trusted sources" and anything beyond the Fox-Trump echo chamber is outside the Foxhole.
That is certainly reflective of the alternate reality I see in my MAGAt cop cohort.
Congressional Republicans won't criticize Trump's actions because he will deliberately put them and their families on the "intimidation list" that results in death threats, swatting and online doxxing. Then Trump will pour endless money to primary those people come the next election. They will lose their jobs along with the power, prestige, cushy perks of working in Congress and the opportunity to increase their wealth by insider trading with the advantageous information they get by getting information before the general public does. These are not the caliber of people who take a stand on principle if it's going to cost them. They are Trump's minions. They obey in advance. It is how Trump operates - mob boss style - and he's proud of it.
Professor's letters are not reporting, but "teaching" in class. She is conducting a review of major political events in a historical signfificance. No comparison with writings of other ordinary journalists. We are fortunate to have Professor.
I think that the playbook is coming from Hungary. It really seems to be following Orban's processes. The problem I see is that Hungary is tiny, especially in comparison to the USA. And even though we are already seeing the show trials being set up (Stalin style) to terrorize those of us on the Left, here in the USA if Stephen Himmler (oops: I mean Miller) continues to run this particular sh*tshow, I suspect it will become harder to carry on as they have begun. However, the activities that are going to catastrophically harm HIV prevention in Africa, food and safety programs all over the world, and the environment (things that Hungary has never been able to influence) will have a much larger impact. It might be that some Dems in Congress, because so many of us are screaming at them, will step up but most of them seem moribund, concerned only about preserving their own skins. I put my own senior congressman Emanuel Cleaver, in that category. When he was mayor of KC he was totally unsupportive of the LGBTQ+ community and I think that his very reluctant support of them in the last couple of decades is going to be sloughed off like a snakeskin because it suits him. Which is, of course, shameful but he controls the Dem Party in this part of the state, most of whom are genuflecting to the new administration both in Washington and in Jefferson City. Yep: nauseating.
Mr Hanks,
I agree with your comments 100%, and am thankful that now, for the first time… I have a more complete understanding of the entire Central-American,South American and Caribbean migrations during the coronavirus epidemic. Amazing how they were all working together to resolve this problem, and it gives an entirely new perspective on the crisis that appeared at our southern border. But I am mad. REALLY MAD…. that Biden and the Democratic Party failed MISERABLY to communicate this to the US populace!! It’s not the sole fault of the mainstream media. The Democratic Party needs to improve their communication with the public. They need to realize that it’s fine to “toot your own horn” for circumstances like this. The Trump administration has made an art of controlling the perceptions of the electorate. Democrats need to learn from them and improve their communication skills.
Thank you so much Dr. Richardson for bringing all of these facts and pieces together in such an enlightening manner.
I do think they tried. But most media wasn't listening. Instead, they only look for clickbait to feed the 24/7 news dumpster. And nothing fills that dumpster more quickly than anger.
“Doctor” or “Professor” , please
I'm with you, Robert. I recall once, early on (on one of the Facebook "Politics and History" chats where someone asked (vit the comments) what she preferred to be called. She said, basically (not a direct quote) "I want my undergraduate students to call me 'Professor' or 'Doctor' and they do. I try to get my graduate students to call me 'Heather' and I am only marginally successful.
My take (coming from a career that was "command structure"oriented) is that I will call her Professor because she commands that respect without demanding it.
AH, I cannot tell you how many times every damn year teaching in higher education in prestigious positions (including more than one endowed chair) I was confronted with students who referred to my male colleagues as "Dr." and then called me "Mrs." And they often got offended when I corrected them. I always made a point to tell my students that my preferred address was Dr. but that I could be Dr. Mitchell, Dr. M, or Dr. Mitch if they preferred. In the long run, most of my students chose Dr. M as their preferred address. One of my graduate students decided I needed a "Rap" name and so I became D-LEM (I use my initials as a sign-off on email) for a number of years--but they always called me Dr. Mitchell when talking to people outside their circle. And yet, when I got the ChatGPT- or intern-generated response from my Democratic Congressman, Cleaver, after identifying myself as Dr. Linda Mitchell in their comments section, what was the header? "Ms Mitchell." Some things never change. Also the reply was bullshit. It is quite a process to convince students who have graduated and who keep in touch and want to stay connected to call me by my first name. They actually prefer to call me "Mom" rather than "Linda." I don't mind that. . .
Boy, do I get that! I always called my “up the chain” friends by their first name in private, but “Sarge” or “LT” or Captain in public. Having both the Sheriff and Chief Deputy who, as teens, rode with me as explorers, was a bit challenging…
It's Professor, or Dr. Richardson, Mr. Hanks.
We trust Dr. Richardson to be a font of truth telling and communication which approach the MSM apparently have discarded.
It is not hard to understand at all when we use our emotional and social intelligence as well as limiting ourselves to the standard intellectual “ intelligence “. You know how children and adolescents use their emotional and social skills.
Also, my one brother worked as a federal border patrol agent in the 1970’s and says there were no “ crises “ then. I wonder how much of our immigration crisis is fueled by the USA ‘s meddling in the governments of our neighbors south of the border.
I'm guessing the percentage is pretty high.
Plain & simple: They are cowards and have no loyalty to their constituents , the country or to the constitution.
Crystal C. Watkins,
Agree with your comment. It is the "Merry, Mindless, Monied, Monopolizing land of Trump".
As long as we remain in this place, we are condoning this destructive activity within our nation. Sadly the brainwashed voted him into office.
We and the rest of the free world must DO SOMETHING!!!! (Thank you Michele Obama!)
Professor Richardson does an amazing job at this.
I agree that the corporate media has been derelict, but what about Biden and his staff and Democratic leadership? Why weren't they telling us through press conferences and TV interviews and social media and podcasts what it was that the Biden Administration was accomplishing. They totally failed to communicate, and this cost them the election.
Fear, that’s why
Who will be our Zelenskyy?
Who will be our Lincoln?
Yes, where is the push back? Brute force must be answered with an equal and opposite reaction. Too weak too timid. Too worried about losing swing votes or the big donors. Stand up and show some courage.
There ARE key nonprofits already engaged in legal actions to push back. Support one or more. Organize you friends family and community. 💖
I am surrounded by republicans in my neighborhood. It has impacted my feelings of safety with conversations, so I don’t have them really. I often feel isolated in my own neighborhood. I do have a few friends with whom I can share my concerns about the felon elect and the road he is taking this country down. I am extremely worried about the lack of political courage in Congress and the Senate. They are complicit in destroying our democracy.
I totally agree where is Congress? Why aren’t the democrats messaging??
They are in fear. Paralyzed unable to do anything risky so they do nothing.
Neighbors across the street still have their election yard signs out and will probably never take them down.
You have a community here, and in most instances it is safe.
In other words we need to workaround the jellyfish. I agree but it should not be that way. They should be leading the way, taking risks, speaking out and doing things. Get a project 2028 going. Please don’t follow the Garland strategy which was don’t do anything for 22 months about this man. I am really disgusted. Their top priority is protecting their own seat above all else. Thanks a lot.
And brains. But, alas, she uses the wrong pronoun. Misogyny is more rampant than ever, and I think it is being normalized as people resignedly say, “but she's a woman” without realizing they are normalizing rather than resisting, See? I just did it, damnit.
If you mean "from the Democratic Party," there will be NONE from leaders such as Schumer that makes an actual difference. If Schumer had any sense of the moment we're in, he would step down and make Elizabeth Warren minority leader. But I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
Steve, I agree, Schumer is the wrong person as minority leader, or majority, if things go our way in 2026. Warren is an intriguing choice-- she still has fire.
Warren came here pre election. Speaking of fire: at one juncture she kicked her leg up to emphasize a point.
I have it in video. She’s a natural force. Go for it Elizabeth! Unafraid. Powerful.
Smart. Oh…also no long locks that now scream, ‘I’m a girl’ here… just like everyone who’s afraid to be out of step.
May I suggest that we direct our energy toward going after our opponents rather than our own side ? My veteran dad used to say “ friendly fire leaves you just as dead as enemy fire.” We can’t really afford the casualties.
Riversong, that's an excellently appropriate quote for the circumstances, thank you!
Robert Hubbell very practically suggests, "If you can’t support Democrats because you are angry or disappointed, you should at least re-direct your ire from Democrats to Trump. I received several lengthy screeds that excoriated Democratic leaders for being ineffective.
If the readers had expended that same amount of energy writing a letter to the editor of a local newspaper or leaving a comment under an article in a major news outlet, everyone would have been better off.
So, if you feel the urge to criticize Democrats, re-direct that energy and emotional investment to criticizing Trump or trying to persuade his supporters that Democrats are the better choice at the ballot box despite all their faults.
We are all suffering from emotional overload and have limited bandwidth to express the conflicting emotions that are making us feel anxious and exhausted. Let’s be strategic in how we allocate our strong emotions. Help Democrats as much as you can. Blame the cause of the problem, not the people who are trying to remediate the problem!"
Or our John Wilkes Booth, even.
I'd be very careful about saying things like that publicly.
We really don’t need to be afraid of wishing he were in the ground next to his sainted first wife on the first tee at his Bedminster golf club. (By the bye, anyone else notice that he’s back to scamming us taxpayers by hosting the Senate Republican “retreat” at his Doral golf club? How much do you think he’s charging per head??) I for one have had enough of this gross bully.
We all have. But, it's called suffer and permit. Meaning, we've tolerated his behavior (Suffer) and now e pretty-much allow it to go on (Permit). Our failure (hesitance) to take decisive action, albeit unpleasnt perhaps, has now found us at each others throats. Survival of the fittest is the result of a hard choice. We may have blown it.
"We may have blown it." Maybe. Maybe not. It's always too early to give in. Remember how Shock and Awe looked to be so successful in the early days of the Iraq War. Then came the difficulties of governing. I think it is highly likely to be the same here. The first priority is to take care of ourselves. I'm ready to re-read "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe." It will be a nice diversion. It's funny, and the centerpiece quote is "Don't Panic."
It's Galaxy, but yes, that's a nice diversion and could expand ones ability to think. When are we going to stop having corrupt bigoted Nazi lovers in the White House?
Whoaa...? An automobile accident perhaps? I hope not. Then we'd have to deal with some sycophant pal or relative. Better he blows his own horn. It is Our job is to turn this loss into a gain. Right now we are the problem. We allow these turds to pollute the stream. We have created the bastion from which they operate. Does the Vatican come to mind? That's one. Oh what the heck.., how about religion in general as a 'fort' to help us excuse things we do. So, it looks like the fort is being dismembered. Are ya praying yet... or haven't you stopped. It's late.
Cry, the Beloved Catholic Church.
I doubt many folks get your reference tonAlan Payton’s novel Cry the Beloved Country which was also made into a musical something about stars. Mr Paton was from South Africa like Athol Fugard and Nadine Gormier?
And to the Catholic Church it’s been sliding down but always had some huge issues that they all tried to keep invisible.
Lost in the Stars. Kurt Weill.
Definitely it's not a smart thing to write down. Total agreement Harris.
Ronald McDonald or perhaps Colonel Sanders?
That would be an improvement over trump. More flavor among other things 😋
But do remember Hilaire Beloc's cautionary tales - "Always keep a hold on Nurse, for fear of finding, something worse" There are some rather unpleasant characters who would love for Trump to vanish, and to take his place.
jd vance comes to mind.
Oh, you mean Peter Thiel's puppet?
Yeah. that guy.
That is not an acceptable answer.
Someone's gotta get angry!
My small print is very very small, denying any intent nor condonation... below somewhere.
We have and abundance of Zelenskyys and Lincolns. They’re currently being throttled by the corporate Democratic old guard, big donors, and self-interested consultants. Schumer, Durbin, Pelosi, Clyburn and their ilk could help by quietly fading away. Soon.
Leaders emerge during a crisis. We merely have the threat of a crisis to some and joyful accomplishments to others. Too early for such a leader to emerge.
Leaders can emerge at any point, but it's complicated. Crisis is a test of leadership. So is heading off a crisis, but that's often less noticeable. That, and clear and present crisis wakes up followers.
Jim, do not look to our dem politicians for the new leader.
Well Bruce.., you might have something there. Might just take a Re-publican to be able to gather all those pathetic sheep together. Shear em later.
disagree, read Tim Snyder
But they are emerging already
Tom, don't look for our new Lincoln among the current politicos. They are half the problem.
100% the democrat’s solution to MAGA losses are “republican light” at best. Bought and paid for by just another brand of billionaire class sprinkled with a bit of “woke” to add some flavor. There are few left in the fight speaking truth to power. That was clear in 2016 when they booted Bernie for the establishment Clinton candidate despite the fact that they knew she was unpopular. It was a turning point that led to what we see today. Bern is too old, his time has passed, and i am not sure who out there can carry the message of the people. 😢 any ideas?
Not soon enough Tom.
AOC, if we could accept a young woman.
Other countries have been doing it for decades. Why not the US?
For the same reason that we have now elected ffpotus twice. The "middle third" along the spectrum will never elect a woman president. Ever. Misogyny is far, far too entrenched in our "cult of masculinity" to accept that.
Sadly true.
Read Timothy Snyder, Cindy. He has now written and done more than Lincoln did in his early years that is on point. He has been personally engaged. And, maybe if we wake up, his voice will become "ours". The new Lincoln is here, we just have to see him, and he is no theoretical Professor...He puts his body into it.
Snyder does recognize what we are seeing, and unsurprisingly, a number of key leaders rushed into action to break Snyder’s first rule, do not consent in advance.
NOT many Congressional or Senate Republicans! Oh, they might vote for wars to send our kids to - but they are too intimidated to go against Trump.
Our Seal Team 6? Trump is responsible for many more American deaths thanBin Ladin.
Yesterday I sent a letter to various Congress people asking them to speak with a common voice. Random comments from random people about random crap TCF is throwing at us is useless. He’s flooding the zone and it’s POINTLESS to try to address everything. Pick a few real issues (like when will food prices go down?) and hit them hard. I also told them to do what the republicans do: have talking points. Keep hammering the same issues, using the same words. It has worked for them all these years, to our detriment.
I had not thought of it this way! Yes, who will be our Zelensky or Zelenskies? We need them!
Call me crazy, but I am beginning to wonder if this presidency is going to blow up, and, if so, I fear it could be pretty dramatic. IF the American people start to see what’s happening and pressure their reps, I think we could see enough Congress members see that we’re losing the country and change their tune. With this second term, Trump’s cabinet and senior advisors would never turn on him, including DOD. So it would get down to Congress and SCOTUS, and with a big majority of the people behind them, I think impeachment and conviction are possible. It might involve a financial crash. It would require lots of demonstrations. But I think his careless and extreme execution of this dismantling of everything might be what causes it it fail. But, to me, continual demonstrations have to be part of this.
Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Wes Moore, Greg Palast for openers.
Didn't I note recently that Putin and Zelensky both claimed that Trump won in 2020??? Are world leaders going to be forced - or incur serious repercussions - to capitulate, evade truths, and embrace disinformation?
What will be our equivalent of an invading Russian army at the perimeter of D.C. such that citizens rally behind the flag?
Or our Teddy or Franklin Roosevelt?
Well, it probably won't be a high-ranking Dem, the party has made that pretty clear. Not one of them is standing up for us. My own two senators in Michigan are already kowtowing to the menace, crossing party lines and voting for the billionaire nominees. Disgusting.
What in the world happened there? My senator Murkowski-R crossed party lines the other way.
Excellent way to say precisely what we need in ten words.
In 2024, Colombia accepted on average more than two U.S. flights of migrants a week. And, as immigration scholar Austin Kocher noted, “everyone on this deportation flight was arrested and detained by the Biden administration.”
Trump will lie and take credit for everything that Biden has accomplished and alienate the rest of the world in the process.
Gee.. if only NBC, CBS, and ABC News would report this.
That's because Rethuglicans LIE constantly about a "liberal media" that does NOT exist. Almost all media in the US is now owned by conservative liars. We haven't had a liberal media since about 1976. Plenty of research to back that up too. Fucking sucks.
Indeed it does.
And, more importantly Fox, Newsmax, Rogan…. That’s the only way his supporters will hear about it. So, yeah, not expecting them to be confronted with the truth
sorry didn't see your comment before I reacted. Well said Stacy
My thoughts exactly!!!
Can you believe what they say?
No Anne, are you really surprised by it? I'm not.
I think we've flown past each other without connecting.
and FOX
Pull the right strings!
It’s up to us to keep setting the record straight. Never ind to the rest of the world, but to the 52% who voted for this travesty. I’d like us to be much more in their faces!
It’s not 52%. Trump got 49.7% of the popular vote.
Even that's a stretch. Read the latest from Greg Palast on voter suppression by Rethuglicans for this past election. So damn infuriating!!!
That is the real reason Trump “won,” by disenfranchising people eligible to vote.
People Forget that the Key Constituency was the ~37% that did not Vote... Another Problem is that there are only two Viable Parties... The Leadership of both Democrats & Republicans are Old & Out-Of-Touch...
Project 2025 folks are ruling.
https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
Thanks for the link, Rickey!
Yup.., we just kinds faded awayyy.
Here's the link to Greg Palast's investigative piece. Makes me wish for civil war bigtime.
https://mailchi.mp/gregpalast/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won?e=8edcbd0f0a
Still reading this excellent piece. I'm wondering if these lost/rejected ballots reflect those who have been counted among the number of persons who supposedly did not vote.
Anyway, thanks for this link, Fluffer.
Morning, Lynell! It is an excellent piece indeed!
Morning, Ally!
Whewww!!!. Likei said, we just faded away.... why??? Hardly a peep.
Exactly. A landslide. A backwards landslide.
some good info
https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
No vote, constituted a vote for numbnuts. Thus 52%
The low hanging fruit are the folks that did not vote.
Susan, there are two gross (as in large, not as in disgusting) categories of "folks that did not vote". One is the "it doesn't matter/ I'm not political/I hate them all"
camp. The other is the people that were disenfranchised intentionally. I apologize for posting this link yet again, but it is a heck of a read!
https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
Well, the Biden Briefing room was pretty gotttdamned quiet regarding putting any kind of well-meaning spin on what good things were being done. Too dam little effort was put innto spinning trumps crap into the ditch. The "pulpit" wasn't used. I don't think I ever heard fun being made of trumps hat., "make America great? Huh? Meaning America never ceased to be great.., like WTF was that stupid hat about.. Great Again? What? We impeached that bitch twice. The facts allowing that to happen should have been shown on billboards to counter the 9R) crap. Didn't happen. Nice guys finish last. Arghhh.
You are right. Feels like we were all lined up with politics as usual and it was anything but…. We lacked a megaphone and a carnival barker…
Showed up with badminton racquets to a MMA event.
He can play while Project 2025 rules. Until Vlad has a turn
Absolutely, why weren't Biden's accomplishments being reported everyday! Instead, all eyes went to the orange buffoon, ALL the time! Even MSNBC. I'm furious with them for that. It makes me suspect that something much bigger is going on. Some shadowy unseen hand...
They were boring, trump antics were outrageous, so they got the headlines. Dirty laundry sells.
Haven’t watched MSNBC since.
have to agree. if anything, tRump has mastered the use of all kinds of media.
He’s already alienated many of us.
De
Again what takes years go build destroyed with the sole purpose to destroy and nothing else. I am fearful this will be a constant daily ritual of this administration.
But are you determined to contribute energy to feed your brain inspiring knowledge and wisdom to help your friends and family to push back with love and confidence?
You do your best and you keep showing up. We all have to get through the projected mental fatigue.
They so promised
Why was there no special report on NPR and other mainstream news about the dramatic drops in border crossings due to Biden administration actions? Unconscionable.
It was no secret. It was known. For the MAGAs facts do not exist but are whatever Trump says.
Yes- there were one-liners in many news sources.
I mean in-depth studies of the policies which have changed the course of this country and whose makeup is largely unstudied and unknown.
I predict that history, if it survives, will show how truly insightful and clever were his moves.
For Shame!
“One liners” is operative here-corporate media, with the possible exception of NY Times at its best, doesn’t do deep reporting anymore. Drama, slogans, sensationalism is what gets clicks, views, reposts. Unfortunately, this is exactly the environment in which Trump thrives.
The American public is complicit- rather than expectation of excellence, it instead wants the next shiny thing and votes to be entertained with reality tv.
Like I have said here occasionally "He ain't no Dummy".
Biden admin should have made a big show of all the efforts and successes they had regarding illegal immigration. If they had, there would have been coverage! It would have deflated the top reason why so many uninformed and Faux- informed voters voted for the idiot! Especially should have been shouting about all of Harris’ accomplishments in that arena.
NPR/CBB are compromised in ways that are shocking to me. Of course, they will be gone soon. I am pissed about the new series coming up with Newt and his vampire wife. May ditch my donation,
if you have not listened to The Revolution podcast - you should
So many podcasts, substacks, and so little time and energy. There was a time…
Patricia, indeed!
Biden admin should have made a big show of all the efforts and successes they had regarding illegal immigration. If they had, there would have been coverage! It would have deflated the top reason why so many uninformed and Faux- informed voters voted for the idiot! Especially should have been shouting about all of Harris’ accomplishments in that arena.
I note with interest (and regret at what might have been) at the quiet, long, hard, and effective diplomatic work of Vice-President Harris in creating alliances throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to help resolve the refugee issue - basically what Biden asked her to do at the start of his presidency, and which she did not forget about but rather achieved.
Thanks, Fox-poisoned voters for not noticing (and not much thanks to Biden and the Democrats for not trumpeting these achievements from the rooftops for years.)
I’m sure soon we we’ll be hearing stories of ICE agents telling native Americans to go back where they came from.
Already happened. Arizona has had Navajo citizens questioned.
https://azmirror.com/2025/01/24/reports-of-navajo-people-being-detained-in-immigration-sweeps-sparks-concern-from-tribal-leaders/
Terrible, but not surprising. Brown skin means you’re illegal to these jackboots.
This is absolutely worth a civil war to me.
I think I’m safe. According to my father, my great grandmother was a full blooded Choctaw. That makes me indigenous.
Part of that article states that there is a belief in MAGAt circles that the "Sovereign Nations" of our Indigenous Peoples make them constitutionally NOT US citizens.
Watch for that tidbit to become more spoken.
Navajos have already been told by their leadership to always carry their Navajo tribal identification card as proof of citizenship because they’ve been mistaken for Hispanics and some may not have a driver’s license.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/01/27/us/navajo-detained-ice-indigenous-immigration-trump
Maybe they will get treated like Haitians and be sent to Venezuela.
No way! They will also treat other Native Americans this way, and it’s thoroughly disgusting to treat anyone this way.
Among the first Germans who turned toward Hitler were Police.
Trump’s mass pardons of the January 6 insurrectionists caused the FOP to revoke their endorsement of Trump. Apparently Donald wants his own group of loyal brownshirts.
😳
We’re right on the path as repubs dictate.
It is because cops love them some authoritarians...
They already are, and Arizona and New Mexico were Navajo lands. Some moronic MAGAs told the same thing to an Arizona legislator who happens to be Navajo to “go back to where he came from,” and he is in his own land.
That Legislator should have tried that on an Apache Reservation... Things that get lost on the Reservation, Stay Lost....
And THAT is the real-real way of it......
What &#(%* idiots!
🤣🤣🤣
We got our Maine Senator Susan Collins to vote no on Hegseth and he still got the job! How frustrating is that!
Unfortunately, or fortunately, the senators secretly decide what they’re gonna do and then they decide who’s gonna cast what kind of vote to help their district the most. All of this down to “the last senator’ stuff is baloney. We can take comfort in the fact that the majority of the Senators did not give Trump the leader he wanted. I think they have their eye on the ball but are playing it carefully.
WTF? Another patriot?
She only voted no because she knew he had the votes
On brand.
Yeah, if Hegseth/Thune/T(argh) had *needed* her vote she'd probably have caved. She has several chapters in Profiles in Cowardice -- yet just showed she's gutsier than 50 of her 52 fellow R senators.
Heather. You are a calm voice of sanity in the middle of this hurricane from hell. Thank you. I read you every day. I live in Carpinteria, CA. In Santa Barbara County 47% of our population is Latino. 44% of them are undocumented. I lived in Mexico for 20 years. I speak Spanish. These people are terrified. Obviously Trump hates California. That is a no brainer. But ICE is rounding up and incarcerating people at neighborhood markets. It’s horrific. I am part of a local resistance group and we are reaching out to those at risk. There are emergency numbers. This is insane.
I lived in Texas for 11 years and studied Spanish. I regret not having traveled more, but I was able to help grocery customers who only spoke Spanish.
Ann, thank you for what you're doing. This policy is disgraceful.
The bull in the china shop will eventually get gored. None of what Trump is doing is sustainable. Until then, the only question is how many people will be hurt or worse, including in the MAGA cult.
I will send no thoughts or payers for any J6er on MAGA LEADERS who perish for their participation.
One guy Trump pardoned already was killed during a traffic stop.
Criminals gonna crime.
I would rather have Latin American migrants living in my neighborhood than any of those criminals from January 6th. It's unconscionable that they were pardoned after what they did at the Capitol.
I’m with you..
It was in the millions for those 80 years ago
This is the J6 riot. Cleaning up the mess can only happen when Trump is done destroying our government systems.
I'm not saying anything that is a surprise to anyone here, but we have a president who is setting an exceedingly harmful example of bullying to our young people. Biden and Harris worked with our partners to the south to build stronger relationships. Trump apparently doesn't know what the word "relationships" means. He only understands dominance, but that kind of arrogance doesn't lead to the kinds of partnerships that we need to rely on if we're going to slow the urgency that people feel to leave their country for a better, safer, more productive life for themselves and their children. I know that it's obvious to everyone on this list, but we need to build a world based on cooperation, and as Mariann Edgar Budde reminded us, we need to put mercy and humility at the forefront of our dealings with others. Just in case you haven't see it, here's the link to her sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNfrbAztlcs
The MSM did not report anything about what the Biden administration and VP Harris did to address immigration patterns in the Americas. They said nothing. And they have the temerity to call themselves journalists.
The mainstream media response echoed the Democratic publicity. Biden didn’t believe in tooting his own horn and Kamala was too careful to overshadow Biden.
Agreed. I think she was in a really tough spot because she was still the VP and had a boss.
You are right, no surprises. The fifth-grade bully is now hero to many. What can go wrong. Ask Germany
Thank you for bringing up the bullying dynamic. It's really insidious.
“If we do not have peace, it’s because we’ve forgotten that we belong to one another.” - Mother Theresa
Heather's today stands out for its litany of complications so many countries face on immigration.
I appreciate this attention to vexing, humanly fraught, and internationally involved problems concerning so many millions of people. But I note it all the more in contrast to the simple-minded crude responses from the convicted criminal Americans elected back to the White House.
It's a theatricality of sheer bombast. He peddles one constant mediocrity after another with the vulgar predictability of the tech billionaires who set their algorithms to sensationalism max.
Heather's very good chronicling the decencies of many world leaders doing their best to keep up with, deal with, pay for, and accommodate the human flotsam and jetsam. But why the huge gulf between international diplomatic decency on one hand, and on the other hand such exorbitant evidence of totally failed U.S. schools, to have so many tens of millions scarfing down the insanities by which the criminal-in-chief regularly indecently, criminally, immorally plays to them.
For the sake of history and future generations it should be noted that he’s not very smart. He addressed Colombia as Columbia.
It is known that the orange monster cannot spell, but this faux pas might have been committed by Ms. Leavitt
Ms. Leavitt does not impress either.
Just like Kayleigh McE before her - Must be a well-paying job!
Apparently, lying is lucrative, as is selling one’s soul.
K-Lee..? you mean the little Christian girl that wouldn't lie to us? FH!
Eye roll 🙄
I think Dan Gagne said "he's wiley".
I posted on Heather’s page on FB the other night, that I’m not handling this well. I had hundreds of responses. All people feeling the same. Honestly, I don’t understand why everyone isn’t as disturbed by what’s going on as I - and many of us - are.
I look at my 10 1/2 and 5 1/2 year old grandsons and wonder if they’ll be forced to put on uniforms and fight for America in a not so distant future.
Time flies - 7 1/2 years will go by in a flash. But this time, our soldiers will be fighting on the wrong side. Will our young men (I’m assuming there will be no women in fighting units) - boys - lose their lives for these monsters?
This is a nightmare, and I want absolutely NOTHING to do with ANYONE who supported this destruction of our democracy and world security. NOTHING.l
For what it's worth, with you. And left the country, because I could.
Nothing.
I am a cynic, Linda, please excuse. I don't think you will have to wait that long. They will probably be forced into the Trump Youth (TY) corps soon. Merde!
CALL Senators to VOTE NO ON VOUGHT
Trump's most dangerous nominee.
Find Your Senator.
https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm.
Please watch Democratic Sen.Patty Murray question Vought on impoundment.
.https://youtu.be/Qv_lF0q7rbI?si=MaKNU5Mpb9TeIZzj.
Russell Vought, Director, Office of Management and Budget
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Chair: Rand Paul
202-224-4343
Ranking Member: Gary Peters
(202) 224-6221
Democrat of Concern: John Fetterman
(202) 224-4254
And don't forget:
Schedule of Senate Hearings
Thursday, 30 January Triple Header
1. Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Secretary of Health and Human Services
.https://www.help.senate.gov/.
Chair Bill Cassidy
.https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/contact/.
(202) 224-5824
Ranking Member Bernie Sanders
.https://www.sanders.senate.gov/.
202-224-5141
Committee Member
Susan Collins
(202) 224-2523
*Democrat of Concern: Sheldon Whitehouse
.https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/contact/.
(202) 224-2921
Yes, hard to believe but ... personal friends, law school roommates at UVA, specific issues with Rhode Island’s health care system that apparently
need regulatory flexibility from HHS. (that hasn’t been enough of an issue to shift the state’s senior senator, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), who remains firmly opposed to Kennedy’s nomination.)
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/dems-worry-sen-whitehouse-considering-vote-for-rfk-jr.
2. Intelligence
Tulsi Gabbard
Director of National Intelligence
.https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/.
Chair Tom Cotten
.https://www.cotton.senate.gov/contact.
(202) 224-2353
Ranking Member Mark Warner
.https://www.warner.senate.gov/public/
202-224-2023
Committee Member
Susan Collins
(202) 224-2523
*Democrat of Concern: Bernie Sanders
.https://www.sanders.senate.gov/.
202-224-5141
Yes, hard to believe, but ...Sanders has not ruled out supporting Gabbard, who was a top House ally in her past political life as an antiestablishment Democrat and nominated him at the Democratic Convention.
.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/23/senators-watch-trumps-nominees-come-vote/.
3. Judiciary
Kashyap Patel
Director FBI
.https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/.
Chair Chuck Grassley
.https://www.grassley.senate.gov/.
(202) 224-3744
Ranking Membet Dick Durbin
.https://www.durbin.senate.gov/.
202.224.2152
"Russell Vought? Never heard of him," said the president despite the fact that Vought was head of his Office of Management and Budget for several years. Oh, and Vought is a primary author of Project 2025. "Project 2025? Never heard of it." What is that nasty burning smell?
In listening to the Senate hearings with Vought, I had the sense of being with Hannah Arendt at the trial of Adolf Eichmann. Here was a man, Russell Vought, who feigned to have no purpose but to channel the directives of Donald Trump. Vought explicitly claimed that the only answer he would give was Trump policy already in the public record. Vought's contempt for Congress was implicit in every word. In answer to questions as to whether Project 2025 had influenced Trump's executive orders, Vought said 'they could not have because Trump had said he had nothing to do with Project 2025.' Vought wrote the Project 2025 chapter on the 'unitary executive' and Trump wants Vought in the position to implement it.
The whole concept of the unitary executive is completely unconstitutional. It violates the separation of powers in the Constitution and ignores the Founders’ belief the President is not above the law.
So many have died because of this type of "Himmler" followership.
No soul. No conscience. But does Trump want Vought (I keep thinking "nought") as head of OMB, or does someone else, maybe Leonard Leo, or someone who stays in the shadows?
Exactly, watch for those shadows
Oh yes, Charles Koch bagman, court capture operative, and Opus Dei acolyte Leonard Leo.
Funneling dark money through dubious non-profits to fund anti-democratic entities - FedSoc, Heritage, and a myriad of astro-turf groups.
https://www.propublica.org/article/jd-vance-alex-jones-leonard-leo-teneo-maddow-video
https://www.propublica.org/article/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-leo-supreme-court-supermajority
https://www.propublica.org/article/leonard-leo-teneo-videos-documents
Cabbage pants on fire.
This is unbelievable! I always wondered if Kamala Harris had done anything after Biden appointed her to deal with the root causes of migration. Clearly, she did. I do fault the administration for not doing a better job of publicizing their accomplishments. We must be more aggressive with communications. I didn't know any of this and I'm pretty active with getting news on line. Thank you, Heather!