“the president of the united states should not be allowed to personally loot the treasury to the sum of ten billion dollars and that this is not resulting in immediate, unanimous impeachment is a dramatic indictment of what has become of our political system.”
This says a lot about what the "Republican Party" has become.
We should recognize the sexual victimization of terrorized children by the Trumpstein Cult is the immediate predecessor, perhaps even a test run, of the terror the MAGAstapo is now unleashing on anyone who refuses to kowtow to the ChristoNazi theocracy. Thus the vital, know-our-enemy relevance of the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein -- later withdrawn in response to credible death threats against the plaintiff: https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf Please let us ensure this text is linked early (and therefore prominently) on as many Resistance sites as possible every day until the traitorous regime of ecogenocidal ChristoNazi pedophiles is no more. (I'll do my best to be responsible for this posting, but I am 85 years old and terminally ill, which means others need be ready to pick up the torch on days I am absent and after I am no more.)
Me likes MAGAstapo. I’ll use it going forward. Bravo.
We are having a nurses vigil at our state capital in Hartford on Saturday at noon if anyone lives nearby. I’ll be opening with a few songs and a reading of an open letter I recently sent our governor asking him to use our national guard to protect our residents as it was intended from the days of the founding.
Bill, This retired ICU RN wishes she could be there with you all. I have written a letter to the ICU where Alex worked. Sadly, the murders will dim with time, but his parents, friends, co-workers will never forget. Alex will miss out on the treasures of life. Yet the officer who killed him is on paid administrative leave, or doing his deeds in another area. If the administration, reporters, lawyers, judges do not see the wrong in this, our problems will continue, and Americans will continue to be killed. We have a passle of untrained, heartless goons running our country, who have hired like minded, under-educated, untrained ICE goons to do a job that we never voted for or asked for. Heather is a brave, brilliant, historian, who keeps us all in her light of information.
I love all the cyber friends comments....you are all also brilliant, and so informative. Gives me strength and hope.
Heartbreaking too that in addition to Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good , 2 fine, patriotic, brave, white citizens, countless non-white, nameless citizens, have been killed and 'lost'.
Also a tragedy that it took until a white male, legally gun carrying citizen, was murdered to get the attention of 80% of the nation.
Thank the thousands of Minnesotans in the streets and all the video of Alex and Nicole's executions. Without those we'd be talking about the fed chair nominee.
Thank you, Marj, for stating what I’ve been thinking. I appreciate this and agree with you completely. Our country is skewed very oddly. A human life is a human life, no matter what.
Case in point - NPR included an interview this morning with a Minneapolis rapper, Nur-D, who was mobbed by ICE agents. Fortunately, he escaped with his life:
Barbara Ann White, my experience as an Internist was that nurses, especially ICU nurses, are a breed "made of sterner stuff,” meaning they are very strong and determined and have notable emotional and moral strength. They do their work devotedly in spite of not exactly being at the top of the traditional hierarchy in Medicine. I’m pretty sure you know what I'm talking about 🙂. Anyway, because of the above, I have great respect for and know the value of people like you and Alex Pretti and know the magnitude of his loss to the residents of Minneapolis.
And along with ER nurses are exposed to whatever illness/disease the patients come in with, but they do the job anyway. As a volunteer myself I go with other volunteers and their dogs. We always go to the ICU and the ER because the dogs bring needed stress relief and love.
I think that shows in the except below from a Daily Kos story in 2020 about a nurse in s. Dakota whose Tweets went viral.
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In the interview, Doering explained that she really hadn’t expected her tweets to go viral like this and was not blaming the victims of this virus or making a political statement. She was just reporting on some of what she was seeing. She explained she just became so sad thinking about the many patients she has seen who are in such denial and so angry that they are missing out on what is in many cases their final chances to speak with their families before passing away. And because Doering is an adult and a professional, she held CNN’s Alisyn Camerota’s hand to explain to her that she didn’t take the anger of her patients personally. “I think it's just a belief that it's not real and nursing happens to be on the receiving end of that. And that's okay. That's where we're there for. It's just, in the bigger picture, when you try to reason with people, can I call your family, your kids, your wife, your friend, your brother? And they say, no, because I'm going to be fine,” it really hits hard.
She said that since they first started seeing cases of COVID-19 in March, while they have gotten better at treating and alleviating some of the cases, they cannot defeat the surges in the virus and the political bullshit that comes with fighting against basic public health protections like social distancing and wearing masks. Asked about Gov. Kristi Noem’s insistence in pretending that people should not wear masks if it makes them happier to do so, Doering explained that this wasn’t political: “I think it's frustrating as a health care provider, because the last thing that we ask anyone when they seek care is how they voted or if they're a Democrat or a Republican. The last thing we ever think about is that. What we think about is how can I help you?
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That's what Christianity, or Buddhism, or just plain decency is supposed to be. That's a fully emotionally mature adult, and frankly I doubt that I have enough of that in me to endure abuse by fools and meet it care and empathy.
I felt the most concern for the Doctors, Nurses, and other Healthcare workers who knew the risks to themselves and their families better than anyone, and stayed on through so much more exposure from those that refused to at least mask up to protect those around them.
And BTW, nurse Doering was indeed making a profound political statement, but because it transcends narcissistic partisanship, it doesn't seem like it. It's "outside of the box".
JL, If you can find that article or interview, I'd love a link to it. You'll understand 'why' when you read my comments in this thread. Both my daughters survived their professions through the whole covid nightmares, and both still exercise the same professions. They are "so" much stronger than I could ever hope to be. I ask them "WHY, why do you keep doing this" ! Their answers; "Somebody 'has' to do this.' I can take it." ??? !!! * I am ever in gobsmacked awe of my daughters !
Yes…I recommend Heather to everyone and always tell people to pay so they can access the comments. I have learned so much from the people who are paying attention here. So grateful!!!
Rhonda, I pass the letter on, so those who cannot afford a subscription can see it and maybe forward it on. I am also grateful for most of the posters here and i too have learned a lot.
Barbara, this retired cop will write your name on my sign.
I don't think they put these goons on admin leave, but who knows? The two very public OIS* of Good and Pretti have not been investigated to anything approaching a "reasonable standard". I also firmly believe that they are not up to the standard of care for their officers (but then, there is no standard of training for the mercenary troops.)
Thank you for sending your note to the VA where Alex worked. It means more than you can possibly imagine. (I had a friend murdered in the line of duty; I know from first hand experience how much that note means.)
These goons are not so much untrained as they are uncivilized. Noem,Trump and company know exactly who they have sent out to terrorize and attempt to bring “compliance”from American citizens.
They have no idea how much we value our democracy,and the magnificent people of Minneapolis have had to teach these bastards that lesson.
It's not that they are untrained. They are being encouraged and commanded to break the law, trample the Constitution, and terrorize everyone who opposes Trump's corrupt and cruel administration.
I call Trump the Ayatollah Trump and the people that work in leadership roles for him are the Mullahs. Mulluhs are people like Noem, Witkoff, Kushner, Kennedy, Gabbard, Bovino, Vance, Miller, Vought, Hegseth, etc...
GENERAL STRIKE TODAY - Make Bezos, the Walton trustifarians and the oligarchs feel the pain. It kills me not to go out to get coffee etc., but not as much as those that call in sick today. It would be interesting if the air traffic controllers had a sick out day today especially if it was in ATL, LGA, BOS, JFK, IAD, DFW, ORD and MIA. Sean Duffy is doing a terrible job running as transportation secretary, but his incompetence is overshadowed by so many others in the administration.
Yes. Duffy is another Mullah. I hope the General Strike goes well. I am drinking coffee in my home right now. I make it myself. My husband drinks his morning espresso at our local bakery in Germany. Bakeries are a must of every neighborhood and even mentioned in real estate ads here in Bread is life Germany.
When I was in Denmark a few years ago, I stopped for gas at a Circle K. They had pastries inside and I couldn't resist. They were amazing, and this was just a gas station convenience store.
The next day when I stopped for gas in Freeport, ME coincidentally I was fueling up at a Circle K. Remembering the amazing Danish pastry I bought one. OMG, it was at least a day old, dry and flavorless.
And yes, I did go into real bakeries in Denmark, Sweden and Norway and they were all fantastic.
Brot ist das Leben!💙. Love that! As a retired pastor, the theological implications of that statement warm my heart on this chilly morning. As things progress with this Nazi regime, bread may become more important in USA culture as more food deserts spring up.
When we visited Germany and Belgium about 15 years ago, I fell in love with the almond croissants you could buy at the train station (among other places). I haven't found anything like them in the U.S.!
Generically a mullah is just a religious teacher. Trouble appears when church and state are conflated. It corrupts both. The US Founders knew that, but the urge remains.
I think you're right. I don't go to Dunkin' and the closest Starbucks is 40 miles away. At least the place I go to pays their workers $17 an hour to start. I have no idea if they offer any benefits.
Dunkin's CEO has been bitching about having to pay his workers $15 an hour when he makes just under $5,000/hr. Perhaps a little tone deaf?
I had a talk with a woman at my workout place yesterday, she said how can you get along without Amazon? We were talking about a product she had gotten from there. I said its easy, haven't use them in months, shop local and stand up for your values, its easy.
Pam, it is easy if you don't live in a rural area where people are often stuck using Amazon. I know lots of people, however, who use them, when they have other options.
GJ, of all the horrors Trump has inflicted upon us, what is heartbreaking to me TODAY is to read the comments below yours and see how many of the very GOOD, very active, very concerned people here simply CANNOT stop shopping for a SINGLE DAY. People who I read daily and know that they claim to be fighting right along with me.
This is making me feel hopeless, not kidding.
I went down about a dozen comments and I can't take this. I'm getting off the forum now. 😭
If anyone reading this wants to send me a comment defending themselves, please don't. This is akin to discovering your boyfriend is cheating on you.
My daughter's cat stays with us during the days while she's at work. Once out of her carrier, she immediately runs to her food bowl and starts pestering me to feed her. I can't say no to the dang cat, so I will just say, "You should have planned ahead Bill." 😎
I had to check and make sure of this. Costco has taken a stance against T policies, is suing him regarding tariffs, as many other things. So, I do believe it is okay to reward Costco for standing up to T.
Regimes that operate above the law in one domain (refusing to release Epstein files despite court orders) operate above the law in all domains (ICE violating 100+ court orders in Minnesota). The common thread is impunity, not ideology.
Make the case on facts: Trump promised full Epstein disclosure, then refused. ICE was ordered to follow warrants, then didn’t. Same contempt for legal constraints, different targets. That argument persuades.
Focus fire on their pattern: promise accountability, deliver impunity, repeat.
FBI took former CNN anchor Don Lemon into custody last night. Charges unknown. Grand jury empaneled yesterday.
The alleged crime? Protesting ICE inside a St. Paul church where an ICE official was discovered serving as pastor.
Federal appellate court declined to sign arrest warrants last week, one judge said probable cause existed, two disagreed. DOJ response: arrest him anyway.
The charge they’re pursuing: interfering with churchgoers’ constitutional right to practice religion.
Read that again. The regime claims protesters interfered with religious freedom by protesting ICE inside a church. The same regime running ICE raids inside churches across America.
This is the tell. When the state arrests journalists for protesting state violence, you’re not in a democracy testing its limits, you’re watching authoritarianism consolidate.
Argentina arrested journalists for “subversive activity.” Videla’s dictatorship claimed it was protecting Western Christian civilization. 30,000 disappeared. Journalists were primary targets.
DOJ controls prosecution. FBI executes arrests. No charges filed yet, but Lemon’s in custody.
The legal mechanics don’t matter when the system operates outside law. Courts said no warrant. DOJ arrested anyway.
Authorization is ownership. Trump created this mechanism. Bondi unleashed it. The kills, and now the arrests, belong to them.
This is what collapse looks like when it’s your country.
Apparently they didn’t really go in ‘as protesters’ per se.
They were quiet & respectful & only when the religious leader spoke up was he taken to task re: what he said … I wd need to reread that account - there’s so much ‘breaking news’ to skim over these daze!
Not just court order to release the Epstein files, but an actual law, passed with a near unanimous vote of both Houses and signed into law by none other than the Orange Pustule himself.
Bad enough for him and the DOJ to defy court orders, but an actual law? How does this work, exactly?
You’re right, this is worse than defying court orders.
When regimes ignore court orders, they claim judicial overreach. When they ignore laws they signed, they’re announcing law itself is optional.
How this works: Impunity.
Sign the law for optics. Refuse enforcement. Dare anyone to stop you. Who enforces laws against the person controlling enforcement?
Argentina’s dictatorship ignored laws constantly. Constitution still existed, courts still sat. The regime just operated outside that framework until everyone accepted it as normal.
The fascists who make up the majority of the SCOTUS gave Agent Orange a free pass to do whatever he wants to whomever he wants. No more guardrails! "The worst of the worst" criminals in the country are now protected by Dear Leader....or are they?
The Trumpstein Files must really be horrific. Arresting Don Lemon under those circumstances is proof. How many more diversions/distractions are we going to have to suffer through. We can't give up, slow down contacting representatives or peacefully protesting until this entire regime is erased. Boycott today, please. It’s one day.
Ayatollah Trump and his Mullahs do not want the Epstein Files exposed because in them he has done deeds that could get him the death penalty in certain states. That ones he likes the most. He is better off being tried in Washington, DC, which no longer has the death penalty than in his Mar-a-lago state of Florida which does.
Loren Bliss: I totally agree with you and subscribe to your comment. You state it so very well.
In your link, one of the Trumpstein victims was 13 and subject to horrific abuse.
The only think that gives me pause is your terminal illness.
I am so very sorry.
I am very glad you have reached the grand age of 85.
I am not too very far behind you in age at 78.
I wish you strength, I wish you the happiness of shared life with loved ones, if recovery were possible, I would wish that for you with all of my heart.
We meet only on social media, but we are kindred spirits.
It’s a relay race, Loren, many of us sharing and passing along the freedom torch to move democracy forward…we tire, we rest or perhaps drop to the side, yet someone takes the torch from our hands and carries on…moving forward.
Also, I guess that the R’s in Congress are OK with all the norms & laws being broken right and left (they’ve made nary a peep about it)…so I assume that means when the D’s win the House and Senate again they will be OK with a new admin carrying on such methods—not that Dem’s would, but it’s a thought!
It seems ironic that American Democracy may be saved by Jeff Epstein's record keeping / extortion pedo files long after his apparent suicide ( AKA murder ordered by patient #1).
Everything trump says is a lie formulated to deceive and divert attention away from his lifetime of his perverse / unethical behavior.
Trump's diversions and lies get worse every day, yet we can't blame it all on just his dementia.
Trump's so-called dementia is in reality Trump's meaness, pettiness, and stupidity working out loud. Trump has not changed since a child. He has always lied, cheated, and bullied. He just has a cadre of liars and revenge seeking mean-girls and bully-boys to do his work.
I'd heard about the shortage of staff and resources for the 9th IMT (International Military Trials) Einsatzgruppen, which seemingly was being considered to be dropped until they discovered the trove of extensive records that could be used to convict them with minimal effort for the 2 million murders of prisoners they were accused of (1.3 million Jews, 250,000 Romani, and 500,000 others)..
They tried to destroy the evidence by digging up mass burial sites and cremating the bodies of the earlier victims but couldn't begin to hide enough evidence of that sort, which makes me shudder to think that what it made it easy enough to convict them was their own meticulous records that they failed to destroy.
This administration wants all sorts of records and history destroyed, though they do want as much private data and personal data as they can use to further their crimes. I do hope we can use the fullest range of data they have stolen to build the strongest cases possible against them.
World War II had a profound impact on the ability of women lawyers to find employment—if only temporarily. As young male associates left for war, women filled those roles. Some major New York law firms like Cahill Gordon, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett hired women to handle the legal work left behind by male associates who had joined the Armed Forces.18 But as men returned home, they returned to their jobs. Some women left to hang their own shingles, while others stayed at firms in lesser roles, like legal secretaries and librarians, or were relegated trusts and estates, work that was considered less masculine than other types of law.
The US government, like many law firms, also recruited women to fill some of the gaps left by men who joined the military. Cecelia Goetz, a 1940 graduate of NYU Law, joined the Solicitor’s Office in the Department of Justice because she could not find employment in the private or judicial sector, despite being the first female editor-in-chief of a major American law journal.19 Goetz was also considered “much too attractive” to be a good lawyer.20 Because of her talent, Goetz became the first woman to ever be offered a supervisory role in the department, which she turned down to apply for the prosecution team at the IMT.21
Goetz’s application was rejected because she was a woman, and she was told that there were no adequate facilities for her, despite there being adequate facilities for the female nurses, secretaries, and clerks in the American Zone. Goetz finally appealed to Taylor, who, fortunately for her, saw Goetz’s potential and pushed for her appointment in 1946. Fite later noted that Taylor was “ahead of his time [in] recruiting female prosecutors,”22 recognizing the need for legal talent, regardless of where it came from. However, the women he recruited still faced barriers in their contributions to the trials. Taylor had to sign a disability waiver for Goetz and the four other nonlawyer women he employed in 1946; their disability was that they were women.23 Goetz later became the only woman to read an opening statement at the Krupp Trial, the trial at Nuremberg that focused on the Krupp Group’s armament of the German military and its use of forced labor, in 1947..."
If you read that court filing against Epstein and Trump by Jane Doe, when she was 13, you will understand why trump needs as much distraction as possible. The crimes should put HIM in prison.
Loren, my knee-jerk response (or maybe it's vestiges of my evangelical upbringing) says, "Yes! The Chair!"
But then my logic and sense of justice takes over. The victims who survived have lived lifetimes with the pain that resulted from the abuses.
Why should the perpetrator(s) be treated to a quick zap (or injection), then be permanently released from the consequences of their abuses.
Real justice prescribes that the perpetrators' suffering is equal to that of their victims. Life imprisonment without parole is the just sentence. Preferably with a "lonely" cellmate.
We Americans seem to be fascinated by Mafia boss characters. We love, deplore and fear them all at the same time. Take Vito Corleone played by Marlon Brando and Tony Soprano played by Jame Gandolfini as examples. Charming but tyrannical characters, baked into the mythology of American male dominance. It's entertaining in movies or TV shows. Not so much in real life.
Now we have a media obsessed POTUS acting like the Mafia boss of the world. Blowing up small boats, kidnapping leaders of sovereign states, terrorizing liberal cities with a secret militias, threatening to seize control of other sovereign nations, enlisting the support of the fascist advisors. Denying truth and civil rights. Demanding absolute loyalty It's hard for me to catch my breath writing this list!
In the case of the first two actors, it's easy to willingly suspend our disbelief and enjoy their performance because we know they're just acting.
In the case of POTUS, we can't pretend he's okay in real life. He is a terrifying Mafia boss having the dominating time if his life while he pushes his secret police to beat, harass and murder Americans who resist his inhumanity.
But now he's failing. Failing because Americans actually love their freedoms, love their self governance and will not comply with a national shake down by a delusional monster.
How do we restore America to its traditions of respect, diversity and civil rights? Take down the Trump mob one wise guy at a time. Start with Heir Miller, then the Botox Queen Ms Noem and TV war monger, Hegseth. By working our way up to Trump, we'll defang and dethrone our monster in chief.
Merrill, I do not think that the "...traditions of respect, diversity, and civil rights" are any sort of America's past. Remember that the diversity and civil rights components applied to other than white men via amending the constitution. People are dismayed at the "only 39%" of the US population that approves of ffpotus is so high; that is the residual of the southern beliefs of white superiority, the belief of the founders that only men could run things, and that a white, male dominated, Christian, heteronormative, cisgendered dominated society is the "one, true way."
This country was founded, by white men, on the theft of land and genocide of the Indigenous population, and enriched on the backs of kidnapped enslaved Black people. There is no "tradition" there; there was a passing nod in that direction that has been quickly challenged and is in the process of being dismantled.
The white men who came from Europe around 1600 A.D., were thieves, enslavers, genocidal maniacs, and lovers of greed and wealth. They did NOT create this country. It already existed and they brought their evil ways to it, all to subjugate those who were "not like them."
Even though my ancestor, George Soule, who came on the Mayflower as an indentured servant to Edward Winslow, had to "work for his freedom," he lived and married and had 9 children. The other indentured servant to Mr. Winslow, Elias Story, perished in the first year, along with Mr. Winslow's wife.
It is a heartbreaking shame the Native Americans foolishly trusted these evil white men and should have let them starve. Or turn them into slaves. Alas, we see the Native Americans had a moral code much greater than these "learned" European men (with their white, male, Christian, heteronormative, cisgendered dominating society rules.) And they damn near killed everyone else. How effin' righteous.
Merrill, with Donald, it's not an act. He grew up in a household managed by a Bratva associate and maintained the relationships when he took over the family business. He really is a mob boss. What he didn't learn from his father and his business associates, he learned from Roy Cohn.
Loren, I’d been thinking about sharing a couple of songs with you…hope it’s OK. I keep coming back to them again and again. They are by singer/songwriter Marc Scibilia: “More To This” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cb6bbcJcys (have been listening to it for many months) and his very recent “No One Knows My Name” that I just found (makes me think that Alex Pretti probably would have been one, a quiet helper…only now he his known far and wide for his humanity) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06yoYFKzVQ ☮️
Thank you, Barbara (though I know this was intended for Loren). I was not aware of Marc Scibilia’s insightful music. Well chosen and very relevant. I’ll be sure to follow him now.
My concern is that the administration is not only creating diversions but encouraging the existing ones like sports and entertainment, which are the modern equivalent of bread and circuses. Even informed pundits, while one moment showing deep concern over horrid events and conditions, then will chuckle over this or that triviality as if to say, "but of course eventually this will all get straightened out".
The list of his and his family and friend's grift from this office is legendary. It is horrendous. I have a friend gathering evidence of it, and I hear the NYT is keeping track of it too, but maybe only partially. Lev Shalev seems to be looking at the corruption in the regime from many angles. Ayatollah Trump and his Mullahs are robbing us blind.
Trump has repeatedly used starvation as a weapon against US citizens. This is one of the worst forms of torture. Spoiler alert: In the movie Nuremberg they show a newsreel which many of us have seen of the emaciated concentration camp victims and the piles of dead bodies being bulldozed into trenches. Trump, Miller, Bovino, Noem, Kegsbreth, Bondi feel nothing when they watch these atrocities. In fact, they are committing these atrocities while the MAGAnazis in the Senate and House are more than happy to superfund their actions.
In plain sight. Catch me if you can. I like Barbara Keating's above image of a relay. Some days, all I can do is shovel out my car and undo the damage I did to my body by shoveling out my car -- good to know the ways that others keep organizing, resisting, exposing, uplifting, and cheering the current torch carriers. As monks walk for peace in snowstorms . . .
Shoveling snow is cathartic - it gives me time to think and work out all the murderous thoughts that come to mind as I watch all this unfold. Though I don't know how to exorcise the demons of this Fulton County raid that appears to be a precursor for rigging the November elections. We are under fire now, literally and figuratively. The government is no longer "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And shoveling snow hasn't given me the answer to the question of how we get it back. Without bloodshed.
There still were folks that slipped through and Operstion Paperclip didn’t help but did help our government . Gaps and cracks. However I have been impressed by Germany’s continue plunge into history and restorative justice. And the stumbling stones are just amazing memory art. Ireland finally has statues memorializing the 1840’s years of the famine. There was a great silence but still interesting history. There is also the acknowledgment for this that helped in tge holocaust like Meip Geis and Corrie Ten Boom and even Samuel Beckett was in the resistance. More countries should do that. And so important to process because we see that Israel has created great problems and not processing inter generational trauma is part of this. I hope when all of this is over we are all able to do our stumbling stones, statues and memorials, orchards, and art. The i will need this.
I can see the Trump administration attacking our American citizens and completely upending our families in many areas.
His plan of destruction and control must be stopped...the sooner the better!!!!
All persons of every race are precious and valuable and have contributed to the betterment of our nation!!!!
We must wake up and act!!! We cannot just point our fingers at what is happening to the good, hardworking citizens of our country, the cleansing of our libraries, the huge unneeded military-like forces being pushed into our cities, children taken and placed in prisons and having their lives turned upside down!!! This is not the America I was taught to love, honor and respect.
These are actions, I never thought to see in our country...only in countries filled with chaos and or controlled by self-serving dictators who ruined their country's economy and destroyed the education system with "brainwashing"!!!!
Children are being removed from their homes and opportunities for an education and removed from the safety and stability of home and school!!!
These actions are nothing short of barbaric....in the United States of America!!!!
Yes Joan. In plain sight with no one attempting to catch him right now. I think it will come. Our car is in Chicago buried under snow, but it does not matter because we are not using it. We have snow here in Bremen too, but the city clears the walk in front of our house, so we just need to keep a path to our door and mailbox clear. Not a problem.
After Hurricane Sandy, I flew into Hartford and went to Enterprise to pick up my rental for the week on-site in New Haven. It was October 31, 2012.
The airport had power, but none of the businesses between the airport and Enterprise did. In fact, most of Windsor Locks was without power including Enterprise.
I walked in to the rental office and the rental counter was covered with candles. The agents were writing out contracts and taking credit card info to be run through when the power returned. Sometime that week they called me to say they had run my credit card.
I was impressed that they actually trusted their customers enough to rent us vehicles without up front payment.
Our DPW is slowly getting it done. The worst offenders were the private plow drivers who left snow they'd plowed from driveways on sidewalks - tall enough to block the view at the corners so you couldn't see oncoming traffic when trying to pull out. Takes an end-loader to fix that mess. And we've only got one in town.
Here in Bremen They are required to clear my sidewalk because I have a bus stop in front for a bus that does not run very often, and does not run on the weekends. It is electric so I don't mind, and the perk is that they clear our sidewalk. The streets and bike paths are also cleared, but the pedestrian walks are not, except in front of businesses that have cleared them. So people are walking in the bike paths, which is ridiculous. Don't tell me they could not have cleared both.
Craig, as you have just read, Trump has not been paying US taxes while living here, why would he leave? The others get away with paying no taxes either. Unlike in other countries where they have to pay a wealth tax, here we only tax income. Would he go to China where he already pays more tax? Would he go to Europe where he is now hated and would pay more tax? Would he go to a country where the majority of people are not White? NO! So, where is he gonna go? Russia (good place to end up falling out of a window), or Hungary? What if the government changes? He is an international war criminal and sooner or later that will be noted. All it will take is one or two military defeats.
Probably Venezuela, eastern Europe (Belarus), or Someplace else he can live under Putins umbrella. Assuming he doesn't succeed in overthrowing tge US government as seems likely.
Putin does not like Trump, and can take him out as easily in one of those countries as in Russia directly. Once out of power Trump serves no useful purpose for Putin. Or Melania for that matter. Both will dump him.
Putin could take Trump out tomorrow if he wanted too, he appreciates what his Russian billions bought him just fine, and he's perfectly content to lose a few ships in order to prop up his puppet who is setting fire to nato and handing him everything he wants in surrendering Europe. If putin wanted to be rid of trump he's just have russia today post the pee tape on YouTube, or any of the dozens of copies of epsteins tapes you can ge sure putin has.
Speaking of Melania. Her new movie is a huge bust. There are stories of 1 person sitting in an otherwise empty theater. Hopefully, it is pulled from theaters today. Melania personally pocketed $28 million from Netflix so don't feel sorry for her.
Too bad somebody already bought Epstein island, that would be the perfect place for him to continue rotting towards his bitter end. With all the billions he has grifted, he could afford to buy his own island.
Putin would not take Trump! In my opinion, Putin is mocking Trump's actions in private. Trump is just trying to impress Putin as if he is a "brother in crime".....Please....they are creatures far-a-part in power of will and action and discipline....for example, just look at their opposing physical conditions.
Putin is disciplined...he is cold as ice. If anyone pretends to follow Putin's directive or tries to use Putin, we will soon hear of a plane crash or prison camp in the coldest place in Russia and his enemy turned into an ice cube.
There are people working under the Trump administration who hold this cold hearted attitude. I think most people with a functioning brain can see who these persons are. Just stop pretending you will be safe!
Their desire for power and control is coming to our cities and towns and within our schools (example: book bans, our citizens being shot!)
Linda, Donald does seem to have an affinity for the Qataris and Saudis. I'm sure they could work out a mutually beneficial financial arrangement. Oh, wait ... they already have.
... I hope they do. I hope every one of the cuts and runs to Saudi Arabia to live the lives they think they deserve.
They don't pay any freaking taxes Craig... haven't you been paying attention? They haven't had to pay taxes since 2017.
We won't need nearly as much money in taxes after they are gone because we won't be paying the billions and billions in corporate welfare to their soul sucking corporations.
IMHO America would be a much better place without a single Billionaire. They can pay their fair share or they can go. That's up to them. I don't think any of us will miss them. They don't even have their yachts built here.
"Charles Littlejohn pleaded guilty in 2023 to leaking the president’s tax returns to the New York Times and received five years in prison. In 2020, the New York Times reported that Trump – despite his purported wealth – only paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and no taxes for most of the previous 15 years. At the time, Trump claimed that the story was 'totally fake news.' "
While, also, protecting all those rapists of underage girls.
Though, too, Linda, I balk at the "blind" in "robbing us blind."
The blinding came, by design, via the juggernaut of standardized testing leaving tens of millions blind to what the wizards of offshoring were doing to our working classes.
And also leaving far too many of our putatively educated classes blind to what the soulless such as Donald, Jeffrey, and Ghislaine were doing fairly openly for many years to so many underage girls.
If these men could rise so as they did in the meritocracy, the privileged elites, they must be fine, no problems, right?
Standardized testing aside, a high school English teacher friend of mine with close to 30 years under her belt relayed to me that educators in her district are being reprimanded if current events are discussed in the classroom and at least one that voiced an opinion on their personal Facebook page was suspended. I find this depressing as a person that grew up in a bigoted home; the educators that shaped my life allowed me to see the ‘bigger picture’ by providing my classmates and I with open dialogue on world events.
Article I read yesterday in one of the big papers was about a high school teacher in OK who refused to follow the book ban and they not only fired her but had the state pull her teacher's license.
I'm not sure how we ever come back from this. Which, of course, is the point. They don't want to 'waste money' on public education.
A recent issue of The Atlantic has an excellent article about Jan 6th and the days leading up to it and following it. The article traces individuals - including a retired NYPD cop - who got swept into believing that the election was rigged and that they were the true patriots saving democracy. And how they sunk deeper and deeper into extreme right media sources. Fascinating and horrifying.
It is vital we continue to remain focused on how people enter a cult, to say nothing about how they get out of one.
There’s hundreds of people here who keep themselves entertained by posting nothing but doomsday scenarios, long-winded screeds against Trump, Epstein, etc., but VERY few interested in how we can begin to undo the damage this cult has left behind.
This is short-sighted, if not blind, for MAGA is actually beginning to disintegrate. There are already hundreds of pieces to pick up, with staggering amounts in the future left in front of us. Millions of disassociated, bewildered followers are now feeling something they haven’t felt before — betrayal. How these people find their way back to psychological wellness isn’t just important for them, but for us. This is something we have to do a better job figuring out.
I would agree with that. Anger about where we are is a necessary first step, but only that. Anger has to be turned into defensive AND offensive action. Yes we need to put a stop to the current madness, but also have to manifest a better future.
I have zero interest in reconciliation with those who led the MAGA movement - I want them all brought to justice someday and very publicly punished, for all the pain, suffering and death they have caused.
But while we address these wrongs,we also need to author a new future that centers justice for all and once and for all casts off the original sins of this nation (slavery and genocide) that continue to harmfully influence our political system. Will any of this happen overnight once Democrats regain power? No. Our system is not built for instant gratification. But the struggle is worth it for the justice that may someday become a reality. We may all be gone by then, but it's not about us. It's about what we leave behind for others to carry forward.
Adam Kinzinger is the only person I know of who interviewed the two convicted January 6 MAGAs who refused the vile pardon Trump gave all of them last year. I made myself watch both interviews despite my loathing for what they did. What emerged were stories of pathos, loneliness, rejection, substance abuse and psychiatric unmooring. These were the people who had the courage to walk away -- despite the personal cost they paid. More stories like this are bound to surface.
Ayatollah Trump claims a mandate from God. His Mullahs say he has this too. So, they are just coattail riders.
Just don't think the issue is so much public education here as parent education. Who is raising these Mullahs? We know who raised the Ayatollah Trump and it is not good.
Trump does have a mandate from God … but it’s on the flip side of the equation & will require Divine intervention. God will need to lance the carbuncle that is Trump & give emerg anti-sepsis treatment to the entire system thereafter if the body is to survive.
I heard yesterday but haven’t seen it elsewhere yet that G Maxwell has said why was she the only accomplice convicted when there were at least 25 men. Anyone seen that?
The infrastructure stays operational during this two-week “negotiation.” Homan is still in Minneapolis. The 3,000 agents remain deployed. The secret memos authorizing warrantless entry stay in effect.
This is classic authoritarian recalibration: soften rhetoric, accept minor procedural constraints you’ll ignore anyway, wait for pressure to decrease.
What actually worked in Minneapolis? Organized resistance that made operations too expensive to sustain. Not court orders, those were violated 100 times. Not body cameras, we have footage of both killings and the regime still lied. Protesters in the streets imposing costs.
Democrats leveraging funding is good. But if they think procedural reforms constrain a regime willing to execute citizens on camera and lie about it afterward, they’re negotiating as if institutions still matter.
Deborah, I think I'm not wrong in stating that many perverts like Jeffrey Epstein enjoy making video recordings of their activities to play and enjoy later. Such a wealthy man could afford to have the camera installations concealed. He may have recorded the activities of his guests, with or without their consent.
A trove of such recordings would be valuable to the owner for blackmail purposes. They would be valuable evidence, too, if they were recovered by law enforcement after the death of the original owner.
I seriously doubt that the DOJ would ever let that out if it did exist. It will always remain speculation. Sadly that is my opinion based on what we are seeing.
We Americans seem to be fascinated by Mafia boss characters. We love, deplore and fear them all at the same time. Take Vito Corleone played by Marlon Brando and Tony Soprano played by Jame Gandolfini as examples. Charming but tyrannical characters, baked into the mythology of American male dominance. It's entertaining in movies or TV shows. Not so much in real life.
Now we have a media obsessed POTUS acting like the Mafia boss of the world. Blowing up small boats, kidnapping leaders of sovereign states, terrorizing liberal cities with a secret militias, threatening to seize control of other sovereign nations, enlisting the support of the fascist advisors. Denying truth and civil rights. Demanding absolute loyalty It's hard for me to catch my breath writing this list!
In the case of the first two actors, it's easy to willingly suspend our disbelief and enjoy their performance because we know they're just acting.
In the case of POTUS, we can't pretend he's okay in real life. He is a terrifying Mafia boss having the dominating time if his life while he pushes his secret police to beat, harass and murder Americans who resist his inhumanity.
But now he's failing. Failing because Americans actually love their freedoms, love their self governance and will not comply with a national shake down by a delusional monster.
How do we restore America to its traditions of respect, diversity and civil rights? Take down the Trump mob one wise guy at a time. Start with Heir Miller, then the Botox Queen Ms Noem and TV war monger, Hegseth. By working our way up to Trump, we'll defang and dethrone our monster in chief.
It’s unrealistic to expect our country to be restored to what we have experienced in the past. What has happened cannot be unseen or forgotten. The rest of the world is watching and trust is lost for generations. We can only hope to work towards a new future, learn from our mistakes and evolve our experiment. The big things are obvious: restraining the executive, reforming the scotus, campaign finance reform, and accountability to all those who’ve perpetrated this on our country. Without accountability to them, it will happen again. None of this sounds easy from where we are.
Well, maybe. But just removing the underlings, Trump will just replace them with another MAGA. Same thing for the SCOTUS members, except there, the new justice has to go through congressional approval. If we get a sufficient majority in Congress, then impeachment at the top, simultaneously removes the cabinet and VP if what I have read is true. Lots of ifs.
Very well noted. Also note this. According to Hearher, reports are thst ICE was given in the BBB all the money it needs to operate through 2029. That is why 7 Democrats said 'What the hell. Let them have some more". According to Heather reports are that the revised Senate bill would give ICE enough money to remain in business ess for two weeks while a longer term supplemental appropriation is worked out.
Query, how can these statements both be true? And what do you suppose we shoukd make of them ? Other than that ICE has overspent it 10 times increased budget for the current fiscal year prior to the end of the second quarter, which is coming up ??
That has been reported. Kristin Noem has over spent her budget. If yiu can believe that. She has not underestimated the cost of maintaining an army in the field. She has ignored it. And so has everyone else in her office. And Army lodged at Hilton Hotels Hampton Inns all over the country.
Too bad none of us had the foresight to invest in that.
The Republican Party has been totally usurped by the MAGA Party.
MAGA red caps will be relics of the same cruel and prejudiced minds as the shameful KKK white hoods in the history of our country.
People of good conscience will rue the day that they or their forebears were ideologically aligned with MAGA.
WWJD?…the Christian version of the universal, underlying question for ALL people…my answer:
People of good conscience, nurtured in a loving family, anywhere on this awesome globe we call home, would probably not be caught dead in either a white hood or a red cap.
Trump is the Ayatollah Trump, the leaders working for him are the Mullahs, and the MAGAs are the radical terrorists. ICE and CBP are the Republican Guard. That is what life is becoming like in the USA.
MAGAmullahs..another great ( TY, Linda) ..the list of name game,political songs, disregards ..I’m writing them down . Comedian fodder.😉 though no laughing matter…MATTERS .
Yes, ‘the law (of love) will be written in their hearts and minds’, not lettering on a ball so or bumper stickers. (Romans 2:14-16) ‘A law unto themselves’.
Some substack commenters have noticed far fewer 🔻red hats around, and the few people wearing them seem embarrassed!
That is a huge and apparently immovable number. I can't fathom why, after all that's happened. But then, look at what Jesse Watters and Megan Kelly have said recently -- "Arrest Obama"? "I have no sympathy for Alex Pretti" Jeez.
Is there one functioning brain between the two of them? Jesse Waters and Meagan Kelly are a couple of partisan hacks posing as news casters. Their form of journalism is NOT journalism or news;it is yellow propaganda, lies and half-truths at best.
That number has remained constant throughout our history. It is reflective of the beliefs of the southern enslavers and the percentage of our population who believe that Christian men should dominate the family.
Yes, the ‘domination’ thing is misogyny, not Christianity.
Scripturally, the husband is to play a headship role, the wife is to be loved & respected ‘as he wd his own body’ - meant to be a win-win relationship with sort of a ‘division of labor/ areas of influence’.
Despite cultural changes over time the basic premise of mutual love & respect remains.
“In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies … Nevertheless, each one of you must love his wife as he does himself; on the other hand, the wife should have deep respect for her husband. Eph. 5:28-33
Betty, Focus on power because of their greed. That is the only reason they care about power. To be greedy, to steal and to not have to suffer the consequences of being criminal. Power to take and take and take and take until it is all gone, something they cannot yet imagine. They do not look at the lives of the people in totalitarian regimes. The Ayatollah Trump is endlessly creative when it comes to figuring out how to part people with their money. My friend says that Trump created the "Board of Peace" in order to set himself up for when he is no longer in the White House. Of course, when he is no longer in, no one is going to want to be on that board any more so I'm not so sure. I see it as a grifting opportunity for now.
Yes, it's the grift. Donald's an old man with a boy's mind (which he's still losing). Like a boy, he idolizes rich and powerful men: his father, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, to name a few. But as a boy, he is both intimidated by and competitive with these idols.
Because he's stupid, he remained deeply in debt for nearly all of his adult life. Presumably, he's paid off his debts to the Russians by monetizing the U.S. presidency during his first term. With lessons learned from that experience, he's now monetizing the office to "catch up" with his idols. His goal is to have more money than Elon.
The billion-dollar admission fee to the "Board of Peace" is just a grift, as are all his lawsuits. It's all fraud to make him richer than Elon.
Senator Warren spoke at the National Press Club on the future of the Democratic Party, and she is of the opinion that a non-progressive Democratic Party will be a failure in elections for 2026, 2028, and beyond. It has to decide whether or not it kowtows to wealthy donors or works for the people, and the current leadership (Schumer and Jeffries) are not going to be the winning team, as they waffle too much, trying to woo the big donors. For both parties, it's still a case of 'follow the money'.
I agree. Senator Murphy was interviewed by the Contrarian and shared the 3 demands for ICE reform that may have support of all Ds. Underwhelming. One if the demands - judicial warrants - sounds good but if limited to entry into the home, is really a nothing. Most of these snatch and grab, ask questions later, occur outside of the home. And judicial warrants do nothing to protect Renee Good or Alex Pretti.
Time for a progressive party and full transparency about source of political contributions and PAC money.
So Donald John Trump now wants to loot the U,S. Treasury for $10 billion, claiming that he was damaged by the release of his personal financial information. Let's cut to the chase: the U.S. is now under the control of a criminal, modern version of the KKK, now known as MAGA. The so-called Christians believe that the U.S. is a "Christian nation" and are working diligently to replace the democratic process with a Christian autocracy. They don't know what they don't know because of amathia, i.e., blindness to actual facts. The definition of amathia is sometimes "intelligent stupidity," and "willful blindness." I see it as a blind spot, the mind that dwells inside the brain so committed to a point of view that it cannot handle a set of contrary facts rationally. Mixed in with the religious belief is racism. This mix of religious fervor and racism was researched and published by two Univ, of Kansas professors and published in the peer-reviewed journal, "Critical Sociology," in Feb. 2018 entitled, "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, And Why?" Also helpful in understanding this phenomenon is Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland" about the rise of the KKK in the Midwest in the 1920's and HCR's book, "How the South Won the Civil War."
Footnote: The Trump Administration has just arrested journalist Don Lemon after Lemon reported on a protest in a Minnesota church, recording anti-immigration enforcement protesters who disrupted the church service, a clear violation of Lemon's First Amendment rights.
The collapse of Trump’s governance model and the danger that follows''
A presidency built on spectacle, grievance, and disruption is beginning to collapse under its own weight. As Trump’s governing pillars crack, persuasion gives way to coercion, and the integrity of the 2026 midterms comes into focus as the final battleground.
___________________________________
“When persuasion fails, and governance collapses, the vote itself becomes the obstacle. That is the danger now coming into focus.”
Donald Trump sold the presidency as a performance of power. He promised dominance instead of deliberation, disruption instead of governance, and grievance instead of policy. For a time, that model worked politically. It generated attention, loyalty, and fear. But governing is not campaigning, and spectacle cannot substitute for results forever. The pillars of Trump’s presidency are cracking in public, and as they fail, only one option remains.
Trump’s governance model depends on showmanship. Threats replace strategy. Declarations replace planning. Television moments replace measurable outcomes. This approach thrives on immediacy, not endurance. It creates the illusion of motion without progress. Over time, voters notice that nothing actually gets built, fixed, or stabilized. Deals collapse. Deadlines pass. Promises quietly vanish. The performance continues, but the substance never arrives.
Grievance politics was the fuel that powered this engine. Trump positioned himself as the avatar of resentment, a champion for those who felt ignored, disrespected, or displaced. That anger was directed outward toward immigrants, journalists, judges, educators, protesters, and entire cities. It worked because it felt emotionally satisfying. But grievance has a shelf life. Anger does not lower grocery prices or stabilize housing. When daily life remains difficult, resentment starts to feel like misdirection.
The culture war, once a reliable mobilizer, now shows signs of exhaustion. The same enemies are recycled. The same moral panics are repackaged. What once felt transgressive now feels stale. Politics becomes an endless loop of outrage without resolution, and even loyal supporters begin to feel the fatigue.
Institutional disruption was sold as strength but produced fragility. Courts, elections, civil servants, inspectors general, and independent agencies were treated as enemies. Oversight was framed as sabotage. Loyalty replaced competence. Institutions exist to make power durable. When they are weakened, the presidency becomes erratic and ineffective. A government at war with its own systems cannot govern a complex society.
Foreign policy exposed this hollow strength most clearly. Trump promised to dominate allies and intimidate adversaries. Instead, alliances frayed, credibility eroded, and authoritarian leaders learned that chaos could be exploited. Loud ultimatums were followed by quiet retreats. Treaties were abandoned without replacements. The image of dominance cracked under the pressure of reality.
Even the economic story is unraveling. Trump branded himself as a master dealmaker for working people. What materialized were tax cuts tilted toward corporations and the wealthy, paired with instability and rising insecurity for everyone else. Populist language masked conventional elite outcomes. The gap between promise and lived experience keeps widening.
This erosion leaves Trumpism with a shrinking set of options. When governance fails and persuasion weakens, power must be preserved by other means. That is where elections enter the picture.
Efforts to undermine democratic outcomes are no longer theoretical. They are already underway. Election denial has been normalized within the movement, turning losses into alleged fraud by default. State-level efforts to restrict ballot access, shorten voting windows, purge voter rolls, and criminalize routine election administration are advancing under the banner of “integrity.” Loyalists who reject the legitimacy of prior results are being positioned inside election offices and oversight roles. Legal pressure campaigns against election workers have driven experienced professionals out, creating vulnerability through attrition.
The goal is not to win broad consent. It is to control the machinery when consent cannot be obtained.
This is the final logic of a failing strongman model. When performance no longer persuades, and grievance no longer mobilizes, democracy itself becomes the obstacle. The only remaining move is to discredit, distort, or override the vote.
This matters beyond Trump. His presidency tested the idea that a democracy could be governed through permanent conflict, humiliation, and spectacle. The results are now visible. Chaos does not produce stability. Division does not produce prosperity. Institutions cannot be attacked without consequence.
Trump’s presidency is failing not because it lacks aggression or volume. It is failing because its strategy cannot produce durable outcomes. Showmanship excites but does not sustain. Grievance mobilizes but does not build. Disruption shocks but does not govern.
Pillars rarely collapse all at once. They crack, lean, and weaken until the structure they support can no longer stand. When that moment arrives, the temptation is not reform, but force. That is the danger now in view.
I read every word! Thank you for the details and clarity of our situation ie living within a Trump Presidency and his "thug leadership in Washington, DC"!
It is destructive for every American and for each one who longed and hoped to become an American...because they believed that we were different from nations with dictators. Many of our fellow citizens, who have been placed in powerful positions, have chosen to use these "honored positions of responsibility" for their own power and financial gain....to literally rob their fellow hard working citizens of financial security.
We need to work together to help one another. It is only when we achieve this service to our fellow men and women, that we can become a successful people!
Everyone should have the opportunity to work. Everyone should be able to receive basic health care....and an education that will prepare them to be able to find a job, especially the most vulnerable.
We are a more successful nation when we realize that no one should be left behind or pushed aside. This does not exclude our responsibility to follow laws, to make our own best efforts.
Excellent, humble, informed leadership is necessary for a nation and its people to be healthy. At this time in our history, though I see and am grateful for those decent, sacrificial and informed persons who are providing leadership, the enemy is fighting with all their might to destroy us.
We cannot let anything go! We cannot soften the actions of murdering the persons in the boats leaving South America. Stop dehumanizing this horror!!! Someone lost a son, a father, a husband! Stop trying to dehumanize us as living citizens who are watching these horrors!!! Will we be next if we choose not to vote for members of this criminal regime pretending to be "Republican leaders" in Washington, DC!!!!
Can you actually look at yourselves and pretend you are leaders for all the people in America ie " "the home of the free...BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE????"
It could also be that they realise this shitfest is going down like a lead balloon, time to fill the treasure chests and flee like the pirates they are...
Nice to see you batting lead-off, J. L.! 🫱🏻🫲🏽 WRITTEN in RESPONSE to JOYCE VANCE's COLUMN on the GEORGIA ELECTION RAID.💔
"What stuns me most is that so many people are willing to be so corrupt not only with money, but also with power. Yes, our Constitution needs some fixing; how that will occur is beyond me. ¿Do all of these trumpers, so many people, really mistrust other citizens and disdain republican principles so much?"😥
Yes Ned. There are persons who believe that it is okay to get away with corruption, as long as it does not affect them!! Corrupt justifications are made by many so that they repel a heart or the conscience or the character to be concerned. I do not understand persons who can do this???? I guess they see our President getting away with illegal actions, as well as others within our government and decide that they can do the same????
Your are dead-right, Elaine. The behavior is demoralizing. I am old fashioned in that I believe in a human soul. While I would like to think that there is a bit of a sinner in best of us and a bit of the saint in the worst, I have modified that belief; now I believe that there are people so evil, who have done so much wrong-doing that their souls are extinguished. For those of us who are flawed, such scandalous behavior becomes tempting.
These are unprecedented times. Be LOUD. We deserve better 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Somewhere along the way the relationship between the voter and our elected representatives got turned around. We ended up supporting them financially while they ignored us. Now the voters are waking up and the politicians know it. This is our moment. When we call Congress do these things:
Tell-don't ask. We are their employer.
Be specific. State the issue clearly.
Show strength.
Know their re-election date. Let them know we will vote them out.
Barbara, I think the problem is our support is pocket change to them. Easy to ignore. They do listen to the people who really support them financially! That is not us…
Our vote is our ultimate power. And we need to let them know it. I am including myself in this when I say that for too long the voters have been too docile. We can rise up and let these spoiled, entitled politicians know we will end their jobs.
As Dr. Richardson recommended, we have reached out to elected Republicans who currently have the power to turn recent harmful policies around - our choice is to phone. We have so far phoned our state Senators and Representatives, both Democrats and Republicans, and then we phoned one Republican Senator in each of the red states in America to ask them to please rollback, reduce and freeze funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection. Our messages included the facts regarding the poorly trained lawless agents who repeatedly violate the first, second and fourth amendments, and how these U.S. government funded terrorists are harming American protesters and observers, even to the point of murder, while profiling protesters as domestic terrorists. More specifically we asked them to end roving patrols, to tighten the rules governing the use of warrants, to establish uniform codes of conduct and accountability, and to require agents be unmasked with active body cameras and name tags. We also included a plea to please do what they can to disempower Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller so they can do no more harm [OneClick2BetterWorld.substack.com].
Right, and got nowhere. My NC Senator Tillis has already said no to “no masks” because it would lead to agents being doxed. Really! Like let’s not unmask the KKK!
The only thing Tillis has cared about is Chairman Powell and the Fed because of the impact on Tillis net worth.
Thanks. You folks have done a great job! Lots of good information. BTW. There is another NO KINGS protest planned for March 28. I happened to catch the announcement. I very much appreciate the ongoing work Indivisible does in their respective communities. There are a lot of protest activities happening all the time. 50501 is also continually active.
Sorry, but saying “please” and “asking” and “including a plea to please do what they can” - I’m afraid - all signals an obedient child, a humble servant, a helpless subordinate! Our politicians need to know now more than ever that the citizenry must be considered in everything and indeed reckoned with. There are ways to speak respectfully and responsibly with *strength, intelligence, authority and agency* that just might get you listened to. … although it’s likely real Fascists won’t care how you phrase it.
Senate Democrats are scoring a serious victory by separating five big budget bills from DHS/ICE, and allowing a mere two-week Continuing Resolution for the latter while budget negotiations proceed. Moreover, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has managed to keep Democrats, even Fetterman, fully united.
Question: Is it desirable for Democrats – and, if so, achievable – to next further separate out FEMA, the Coast Guard, THS, etc, and approve these separate from ICE and CBP? In other words, if Trump & the GOP refuse to make meaningful concession, then approve ONLY the non-controversial parts of the DHS budget...
It’s not only desirable but absolutely necessary. Lost in all of the horror and chaos is the fact that we taxpayers are literally paying for our own demise by funding ICE. Under this dictatorship, it has become a standing paramilitary army, growing by the day, with no restraints (all branches of legitimate armed forces operate under strict codes) and for all intents and purposes, complete immunity from prosecution for any crimes committed. ICE may at one time have been doable, but under this regime, it is being used for all the wrong reasons, not the least of which is to seed the ground for a complete takeover of the country by force in establishing a fascist government. Not only should ICE not get any more money, it should be abolished as it has completely gone off the rails from its original mission. “Immigration reform” under this regime is nothing more than a cover to destroy our democratic republic. Benjamin Franklin is spinning.
And we are also funding his FBI raid on Fulton County, his family’s suing the IRS, his palace-jet, the destruction of the east wing, his retaliation-grievance campaigns, possibly Senator Graham’s bill for $500,000 to sue the government, his weekly trips to his personal properties to golf, the Pardoned January 6th thugs who want restitution from the government, and continued tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires!
It's so important that ICE, DHS and Border Patrol be abolished. I've been through the border in San Antonio Texas and San Diego CA, we already have check points and immigration offices on many cities of the Mexican Border. There's never been a bigger reason than commerce to have these check points, etc. It drive me crazy that we, as Americans, have to add to border paranoia the distrust of foreigners. It's an excuse to be racist on the southern border. And you just don't hear that shit about the Canadian border. I sure do want us to grow up and stop acting like spoiled monsters about who looks different than the white people
What do you think? We get to chose. Then we let them know what we want.
I tend to think the business of clumping so many things in one bill is one way of taking the opposition hostage. Why not clear the brush around the controversial part. Lets keep our good funding like Coast Guard, FEMA etc. Stop the funding manipulations!
This one they had the necessary Republican votes for. I doubt they have the votes for the others, though in principle there is no earthly reason for bundling it all together other than to obey their leader about “one big” bill. Some here posting think Democrats can do whatever they please and it will somehow happen, just like that. It likely won’t. Numbers matter.
Ordinarily I would agree. But first thing T did was fire woman head of Coast guard. Then effectively neuter FEMA by putting it under Noem control. And so on. Are these agencies so corrupted that it wouldn’t matter if they were shut down?
And as I understand it - the president has to grant each state emergency funding to green light FEMA's aid to the state. He is not doing so in blue states. So I have to pay 1500. a year for flood ins and will receive no financial help when the big one hits us. A nor'easter with flooding is forecasted for Sunday.
I've been doing that too but it's not consistent. I'm taking care of my Mom, she has the big D in advanced stages and she's been so good this week about understanding the time I have to work on my calls to Senators and rep's. So kudos to Mum for her bright light of understanding!
My NC Senator Thom Tillis(R) has called Noem an amateur - for both the unprofessional conduct of the Border Patrol in Minneapolis and for the slowdown in delivering promised FEMA relief to the Helene-damaged area of our state. He calls for her ouster. He is increasingly unafraid to stand up to Trump. He has gained good marks here for his Helene efforts. I live in Helene territory.
If you want a topic for your call or email today, that would be a good one, especially if you have Republican reps. "Senator Tillis has called Noem an amateur and says she needs to be replaced. I agree."
They will know exactly what you are talking about.
You show them that we are paying attention. That is crucial.
I'm curious: are people calling not only their own reps but also others, e.g., Thune or Johnson? I'd like to give them a piece of my mind, but I'm too chicken.
I use one of their own in state addresses (listed on my spreadsheet to help with this) on the address line because technically it doesn't say "my" address. I also don't want to misrepresent myself any more than that, so in my messages I typically put (at the bottom) that while I'm not a constituent, I am reaching out because (insert name) does represent me on the (insert committee that fits the topic my message is about).
Another thing I do is call after hours. I don't leave my name or address/zip code so my voice doesn't go towards a count, but the more they hear from us, the better.
I also send faxes using faxzero.com (5 free/day). I don't send a lot of letters, but when I do I put the same “while I’m not a constituent” blurb I do in my emails.
Whenever I have called or tried to email a Rep not my own, I get asked for my zip code and then a message about not being in that district. How do you get around that? I have sent plenty of postcards and letters.
My first round of emails from the contact me links had a lot bounce back saying I wasn't a constituent so it either didn't get sent or basically wouldn't be read. So I changed the way I sent messages.
I use one of their own in state addresses (listed on my spreadsheet to help with this) on the address line because technically it doesn't say "my" address. I also don't want to misrepresent myself any more than that, so in my messages I typically put (at the bottom) that while I'm not a constituent, I am reaching out because (insert name) does represent me on the (insert committee that fits the topic my message is about).
Another thing I do is call after hours. I don't leave my name or address/zip code so my voice doesn't go towards a count, but the more they hear from us, the better.
I also send faxes using faxzero.com (5 free/day). I don't send a lot of letters, but when I do I put the same “while I’m not a constituent” blurb I do in my emails.
"...there was no point in taking a stand against renewed extra funding."
It is this constant waffling the Democrats do that is so harmful. Stop always hedging. Take a stand all the way. Funding is funding. To even fund DHS for two weeks is horrendous.
The Republicans are very aware they can wear Democrats down.
The failure of Schumer and Jeffries to hold their respective caucus' together is glaring.
They are NOT waffling. Did you understand what just happened in the Senate yesterday? And those 6 Democratic votes in the House were taken before Alex Pretti’s murder, not after.
Things are changing very quickly. Memes and tropes are a poor substitute for not paying closer attention to events as they transpire.
Splitting off the DHS funding from the other funding is waffling. Doing that gives away all of the Democrats'bargaining power. Otherwise, Schumer just negotiated a two-week period to negotiate changes to DHS funding in return for what exactly????
Isn't that essentially what happened with the ACA? Democrats caved on the shutdown for a promise of a vote in the Senate?
Is Schumer's memory really that short????
PS Somewhere down below on the leftmost line is my list of 26 things that should be demanded before the vote on the WHOLE funding package.
Did you see anybody else trying to do that? Did you actually see any other legislator put down demands for basic changes in the behavior of ICE?
Every Senate Democrat — and several Republicans — are forcing the Administration down a path it never had any intention of following before. All while being in the minority. All while a dysfunctional House remains out of session on the eve of a government shutdown.
Exactly what is “waffling” when you’re in the minority but vote as a single bloc AND manage to get enough Republicans to back you to stop something from happening that wouid have proceeded without a hitch otherwise. Please explain it to mere mortals like myself.
Please tell us exactly WHAT you think Democrats, who are in the minority in both chambers of Congress, should achieve? And please detail HOW we can achieve that given our numerical constraints in the Senate and in the House.
What and how much depends on how much pressure there is pushing against the administration. That’s why you go in with a long list, more than you reasonably hope to get. Before you go in you have an agreement in the caucus on the top priorities that you want to achieve, and what you are most ready to give up. I would want to see the process take a couple of weeks to get bigger protests and to give protesters time to weigh in and contact their members of Congress. Johnson rigged this to rush the votes so there wouldn’t be time for adequate consideration before a shutdown. We can’t let him play that card.
There are several sources of pressure—not funding the government, the size of the crowds demonstrating against ICE/CPB, the pressure on individual members of Congress from their constituents, and pressure from outside the US, like countries withdrawing from FIFA and Germany warning its citizens contemplating visiting the US. There has to be time to build that up.
I would ask for the resignations first because Trump will always blame someone else first and throw them under the bus, Noem first because a replacement requires Senate confirmation. Then no additional money for ICE/CBP. Then the things that align with regular law enforcement practices, body cams, no masks, visible ID, and something harder, a clear definition of what ICE/CBP is allowed to do, a boundary between local law enforcement and ICE/CBP tasks. I would push for close coordination with local law enforcement providing crowd control and local SWAT teams for detaining the undocumented career criminals. The goal is to demilitarize ICE/CBP and transfer funds out of their budget to local law enforcement.
Then I would pause and go for a consultation with the caucus. and see what should come next. Every day along the way I would have a different member of the Democratic negotiating team brief the press on rogress and priorities.
I couldn’t agree more. Senate Democrats have just scored a huge victory!
Do I wish it was more? Of course I do! But anyone who dismisses this "waffling" is seriously overestimating the power that the minority party can exert.
I am positively surprised by the substantial and meaningful demands from Democrats, as well as by Chuck Schumer’s ability to keep Senate Democrats fully united. I have repeatedly criticized him before – but not on this.
Did they waffle or did they just score a huge victory... ? I think they might have done both. I don't think we'll know for another two weeks who gets the victory lap. Until we see in detail the Democrats' demands for the DHS, then the White House concessions, conclusions are premature. The Democrats haven't had a great record for standing firm, but then they haven't had the leverage which they now have. They'd better win consequential concessions or they will be seen to have waffled.
Donna, I agree. It’s all about what the actual concessions are. Right now the list of demands is pretty pathetic and unlikely to change what’s happening on the streets. No protection for protestors. No off limits for schools and churches much less workplaces. Can still pepper spray and use rubber bullets. And so on.
And of course ICE doesn’t need the additional 63 billion on top of its already bloated budget.
So to those commentators saying that Ds are in the minority and what can you expect, I say I can expect WAY more.
Sen. Blumenthal proposed a set of changes which were promising but so far I've seen little reporting of it. If the Dems squandered the advantage they hold, it will be to their shame.
The proposals don’t tell me much unless I can tie them to ICE activities that should stop. Pepper spray and assault of observers. Breaking car windows. Entry into churches and schools. And do, so much more. I need specifics.
ICTT, perhaps those 6 Dem voters had not seen the videos.
The videos of the murders of Good and Pretti have been the undeniable evidence that has created the tipping point in this dark time when MAGA has seen themselves at the mercy of such forces as represented today by ICE and CBP.
May it be so! (hands in prayer to SOME higher power emoji and thanks be to that universal power!…you can tell I am a Unitarian at heart!)…and thanks to those on the frontline with their cameras!
But taken after the murder of Renee Good. I know a waffle when I see it.
BTW as to those Rs voting with Ds. Scott, Lee, Tuberville, Budd. Senator Murphy says these right wing MAGA just like to vote no on spending bills because they would like to tear down the federal government. Schumer did not negotiate R support.
The ultimate irony of this latest nonsense in Georgia is that if evidence of election rigging did exist (which it does not, as has been proven MULTIPLE times), Trump has already violated the Constitution by being “elected” President three times. Any judge would rule he must resign at once.
And even if they “find” something now (5 years plus beyond the statute of limitations), no halfway competent judge would accept such “evidence” because it’s clearly tainted. (Of course they will do their best to locate a less-than-halfway competent judge, but it’s doubtful they can).
The danger is great, but so is the obvious: a demented Trump, stuck forever in his imaginary Groundhog Day in 2020, is spinning completely out of control. His coalition frays, his desperation mounts, his opposition strengthens, his failures pile up, like the mounds of ice and snow all over Washington right now, his people have clearly started gnawing each others’ tails off.
He will try to keep frightening us all to death in the immediate term (how about a wee little invasion of Iran?) but none of this is what “success” looks like.
Donold just can't let anything go, so petty, obsessive, vengeful, insane...The projection is astounding but so infuriating and obvious. Every accusation is an admission. His phone calls to Raffensperger are in the permanent record, and so are Lindsay Graham's. Those 2 and many other MAGA bozos tried to steal the 2020 election. Apparently they don't think we were paying attention or remember what conniving, lying thieves they are.
Now they're entangling themselves in another web of deceit, ransacking the Fulton County Elections warehouse with his well heeled FBI and special ops DNI stealthy Gabbard. Taking boxes from the warehouse to who knows where, jeopardizing records, contaminating the certification of a 5 year old election. So horrifying, obviously illegal and ridiculous at the same time.
Dear WFH—posting our views only on “acceptable” social media magnifies the sound of our own echo chamber furthering political silos, but does little to educate and communicate with people more broadly. It is important to comment on platforms where right leaning people at least see that there is an alternate view. I often will post a response on FB to people who i know that post untruths or other propaganda with the title “a view from the other side”, which always respectfully tries to briefly lay out a counter narrative with appropriate sources. Though often the response to my post is to not believe my post, they always read it and sometimes the response is “yes, who knows, but it’s great we have the love of our families”, which we share. That is a positive step.
It’s the destruction of the Fairness Doctrine by Reagan that helped create silos and propaganda channels like Fox in the first place, and we should do everything possible to not perpetuate shutting out alternate views. (As a refresher, President Ronald Reagan's administration eliminated the Fairness Doctrine, a long-standing FCC policy that required broadcasters to present balanced coverage of controversial issues of public importance. The doctrine was abolished in 1987, a move that fundamentally altered the American media landscape, particularly for radio and television.)
I agree. We have to show up where the people are. Many have never gotten beyond Facebook. X and Tik Tok have slipped down the RW rabbit hole, so how do we (hastily) set up infrastructures for truly independent and accessible, social media and internet platforms that are not so imbedded in the TechBro fascist coup??? And then reach the populace with it? It’s risky but we have to go where people are.
Given on-going 42 day violations of the Epstein Disclosure Act the DOJ has released:
*1800 'images'
*2000'videos'
* Allegedly a "complete", total of three (3) million 'pages'. However, the DOJ disclosure does NOT contain the 2019 SDNY evidence against Maxwell buried under a Court seal.
On an interview of Rep Ro Khana, minutes ago, h is still looking for "FBI 302 Forms" to identify other abusers & "Prosecution Memos" to get to the bottom of why certain men were NOT prosecuted.
Maximum support for the Victims & their Families!
*****
Friday, 1/30/26, on STRIKE
Jen Psaki interviewed U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, who visited 5year old LIAM CONEJO RAMOS & his father yesterday. The pair, Father & Son are alive if not well in a southwest Texas detention center along with scores of others. NONE of those detained are criminals. Full Stop.
Young Liam wants to go back to Minnesota & be with young mates & his familiar support.
Jen Psaki, a veteran White House communicator for several Presidents started to cry last night reporting Liam's status. That's not breaking down that's empathy
I am not crying; I am on National Strike today, Friday January 30, 2026.
This needs to be elevated so more are aware of it. Poor Liam and all the other children in these concentration camps are slowly wilting away. It’s well known conditions at this abhorrent places are lacking in hygiene and medical care but consider for a moment the environment itself - crowded, noisy, terrible lighting and being without the places like school or classmates - and how all combined is too much for their sweet, innocent little souls to overcome.
Are Schumer and the Senate Democrats giving away the store again????
This is one of the few pressure points Democrats have on the administration, and, according to the NY Times, all Schumer has negotiated is a 2-week window to negotiate unspecified “guardrails” for ICE.
How did this work out on ACA subsidies for the American people????
Call your Senators and Representatives and tell them to vote NO!
THE COUNTRY DEMANDS AN END TO THESE IMMORAL GESTAPO TACTICS.
Schumer cannot be the one to negotiate this.
Here is my list of what needs to be done to restore faith in immigration control in this country, given the human rights violations that ICE and CBP have committed in the past year. Legislation addressing DACA and long-term residents without legal status should be handled separately.
We won’t get it all, but Democrats have to make clear to the American people all the things that are wrong with how these agencies work now.
NO 5 SPENDING BILLS and a government shutdown until:
Current ICE/CBP Funding is to be used for settlements for those killed/died in custody or due to ICE/CBP actions and those whose rights were violated, and for renovation of detention centers so they are brought to humane standards, including onsite medical staff and emergency care.
Investigations of all deaths and injuries in ICE/CBP custody will be done by local authorities.
24/7 access to social workers and translators to deal with family/children issues at detention centers
All US citizen children are to be assigned immediate legal representation.
24/7 access to immigration lawyers and translators at detention centers
Review of all contracts with private suppliers of detention services to ensure they meet minimum standards and agree to random inspections.
Return of Congressional oversight procedures and standards as of 12/31/2024
No CBP signing bonuses
All ICE/CBP hired since 1/20/2025 must go through standard vetting procedures as of 12/31/2024 and must pass before they can be returned to duty
No shortened CBP training—a return to 12/31/2024 training standards and retraining of all CBP agents hired since 1/1/2025
No military fatigues
Mandatory body cams are on during any contact with the public and potential or current immigrant detainees.
Mandatory identification is worn, including visible ID numbers and nametags
No masks
Mandatory vehicle roof identification
No stops/searches without a return to 12/31/2024 standards of probable cause.
Current ICE/CPB funding is to be used to pay for trained local police presence to assist in the apprehension of immigrants with criminal records for deportation
All CPB operations are to be coordinated with local authorities
No assault rifles unless on raids with coordinated local police presence.
No pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, watercannon. Crowd control is to be the responsibility of local police and paid for with current ICE/CPB funds
Democrats have to make it clear to the American people how far off the rails the current administration’s Gestapo tactics are.
Renee Good and Alex Pretti and a long list of others have died or been brutalized over the last year under these inhumane tactics. We can’t dishonor them by not fighting for major reform of the system.
Good list. I suggest you add the following: Hire and train a sufficient number of immigration judges and staff to clear the backlog of immigration cases within the next two years and thereafter staff the immigration court system so every case can be heard and decided within 60 days.
Great addition! I am not sure I even know how they fit into the process at this point. Maybe a lot of that ICE/CBP money can go to implementing that suggestion.
My thinking is that trying to claw back the funds will never fly with Trump and the diehard MAGA types, but using it up so it isn’t available to the storm troopers on strategies to improve immigration processes could get through.
Senator Murphy on the Contrarian said that the good immigration judges have been fired and the bad immigration judges are denying cases according to instructions from T rather than according to law. So more judges would have to include protection for judicial independence.
Thanks for putting together this list of demands. Could you explain further about the last few points and coordinating with local police? Shouldn’t it be something like “DHS is required to notify local police about time/location of operations so local police can observe federal agents and provide crowd control”. I worry about the “coordination” aspect of these points as some local agencies may end up assisting or it may be seen that way to the public.
Also, if we are asking for body cameras, the recordings need to be stored outside executive branch. If the executive branch is storing the recordings, they will be altered and used against victims.
I watched a video by The Left Hook recorded Wednesday I believe. It was an immigration lawyer (Jessica Zweng) speaking to the fact that immigration is essentially isolated to the executive branch. There needs to be more cross over between branches, particularly in terms of access to the judicial branch.
You are right, it needs to be clearer. Thanks for the catch!
My intention was that crowd control and showing up with force to detain undocumented career criminal immigrants are law enforcement functions and need to remain with the local police, who are trained to do it.
We are in deep trouble now because ICE/CBP and local law enforcement have overlapping mandates, and as we've seen, ICE/CBP training is clearly not up to the task if constitutional rights are to be respected. Clearly, local police in some cities won't be up to the task either, but that is a local issue and might be addressed if some of the ICE/CBP funds are drawn down (see below).
The ICE/CBP mandate should be kept as narrow as possible, and the boundaries and limits of their authority should be made as clear as possible. Right now, they think they can do anything, and they have immunity.
Another factor is that the funds appropriated under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act must be spent down, and one way to do that is to use them to improve local policing by paying for police presence to accompany ICE/CBP agents during checks beyond routine ones.
The point you made about needing an independent copy of the original body-cam recordings is really important. The AI-altered image that the White House put out of the black woman lawyer crying was extremely disturbing, for how realistic it was, and how both petty and bold it was to do.
While local law enforcement is certainly not a standardized body, it is (mostly) not a mercenary force, which the current iteration of ICE seems to be (and distinct from Customs and Boarder Protection and Department of Homeland Security Police) which are different entities and much better trained. ICE used to be in that category as well, until they became the mercenary force they have become in the past year or so, with the signing bonuses and other bribes.
Your trashing of the Democrats for their obvious treachery, Georgia, is both apt and long overdue; they diddle about brandishing fictitious protests that are proven utterly meaningless by the fact they do absolutely nothing -- say again NOTHING -- to stop the ChristoNazi conquerors' reign of ever-escalating terror. The Democrats' cloak of plausible deniability is at last wearing thin; what are their change-nothing protests but revelation of their clandestine function as the ChristoNazis' Fifth Column?
Which prompts the one question I have for and about Dr. Richardson: why does she continue to treat as truth the Democrats' excuses for their collaboration with the enemy -- "Seven Democrats joined the Republican majority in backing it to continue funding for other important agencies..." -- rather then expose these statements for the Plutocracy-serving Big Lies they so obviously are.
I salute you, Georgia, for having the courage to speak the truth. Thank you.
Thank you for the compliment. The above was what I wrote to my senators, Andy Kim and Cory Booker, so it is more polemical than usual. Luckily, they don't have a cap on character count, or at least I haven't hit it yet. My Republican representative, Tom Kean Jr., has a 2000-character cap. Small thoughts required....
In one of her recent politics chats, I was struck by something Heather said. She said, in essence, that as a historian, she could not be political; she had to be factual. I would add something to that — her job as a historian is to juxtapose facts.
It is up to the reader to draw the conclusions and the inferences, the intentions of the actors.
Heather's writing is compelling and lucid because of the juxtapositions she puts before us, and the clarity of the connections between them.
But she never tells us what to think. Like all great teachers, she shows us great respect in that.
Importantly, we are left to make the logical conclusions for ourselves.
I think that is the key to learning and deep understanding.
Georgia, you hit on a very critical point with the presence that HCR has in the various media she employs: Letters From an American are written for some historian, who in the future may be asking herself "what the hell happened there"* when researching this period in American history. Her other platforms (History chats, podcasts, lectures, etc.) give us the tools to use in our resistance.
* A nod to her Saturday chats with 18th century historian Joann Freeman titled "What the Hell Just Happened?"
I love the What the Heck Just Happened series too. They both get to laugh. You are right, they serve different purposes and somewhat different audiences. It’s just exhausting trying to keep up.
You go to have a cup of coffee and come back and Don Lemon has been arrested. And Alex Pretti is back to being labeled a domestic terrorist and Tulsi Gabbard is in Georgia with the FBI. That last one took about 8 hours of research to come up with two possible related explanations, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a third to use a what the heck “cuckoo for cocoa puffs” explanation.
In general, Georgia, I am as favorably impressed by and supportive of Dr. Richardson -- awed by her, actually -- as anyone here. And had she written the passage I quoted above in my critical comment only slightly differently -- my editing in parentheses -- I would have neither complaint nor question: "(The) Seven Democrats (who) joined the Republican majority in backing it (claimed they did so) to continue funding for other important agencies..." (Yes my journalism career includes tenure as a rim-rat [aka copy-reader], also as a city editor, news editor and editor-in-chief.)
Senate Democrats — together with several Republicans — just forced a major capitulation in the budget process last night involving DHS — or hadn’t you bothered noticing?
Memes and tropes that sound good and pleasing are a poor substitute for not paying closer attention to rapidly changing events.
I notice a great deal, and I research a lot before I write here. I also try to show respect in my replies to the people who reply to what I write even when I disagree. I try to respond to what was said, the points in the argument they are trying to make.
Sometimes that is harder to do than at other times.
Ah, Georgia, I see immediately below we have revealed another proof of the continued relevance of Lev Bronstein's axiom from 1905: "In every gathering of three revolutionaries, there is at least one agent of the Okhrana." As was Tsarist Russia, so is ChristoNazi theocracy.
Loren: I think the comment you are refering to came from someone who actually liked my previous comment. Sometimes it is hard to tell which comment people are responding to with the way threads work here and the reordering by number of likes.
Regardless, never fear. I can hold my own in a debate. Even before I have my first coffee of the day.
Look at where the 2 attacks are coming from. This is way too common here. No serious input just a lot of stalking and meanness. Please report this guy.
Thanks Barbara. I appreciate your comments as well. They move the conversation forward and stay focused on the big ideas.
Sometimes Heather in her politics chat stops her self in mid sentence to keep from dropping down a personal “rabbit hole” because it intriged her and she knows a lot about it but it is not central to the point at hand.
You help everyone steer clear of the rabbit holes. Thank you for that.
Heather discussed this on her podcast today – how criminal Donald knows his knaves cannot win in 2026, so he must up his cheating. Gerrymander more. Seizures of voter rolls (though these belong to the states, not Donald’s feds). And use of his secret police armies to intimidate.
To be clear ICE and CBP are public agencies, paid for by public money. But for their thuggery and cruelty they now answer only to Donald’s worst goons.
Putin is happy.
The rich and celebrities who raped Donald’s, Jeffrey’s, and Ghislaine’s underage girls are happy – all now forever protected.
The Epstein files will never surface. Instead, more militarized private army intimidation and cruelty. More concentration camps, deaths there, and what Heather notes as the ominously many disappearances from there.
More corrupting of the 2026 elections.
More extortions, bribes, and pardons-for-pay for Donald.
There seems to be a cult of violence is every land in every age that is drawn to rule by gratuitous coercion and violence. And then there are those who just want to get along. It seems to be our society's more intractable and most devastating problem.
We never get to stop fighting a "war" to end all wars, or fully enjoy liberty and justice for all. I know that maintaining those rights inherently requires a ceaseless and daunting effort, and human perfection is always out of reach and perhaps not even logically possible, but fighting the same @#$% battles again and again is getting so OLD.
Heather laughed when this point came up on her podcast today, J L.
The things Donald is doing now exactly replicate what the former enslavers of the Old South began institutionalizing in the Reconstruction era. Same corruptions. Same shutting off of voting rights to all non-whites. Same privileging of the elite property classes.
HERE'S HOW THE CHRISTONAZIS ARE STEALING OUR ELECTIONS
(A Thom Hartmann Exclusive)
To enlarge upon Dr. Richardson's warning about stolen elections, here is vital information from Thom Hartmann about how the thievery is accomplished, including credible statistical evidence showing how the ChristoNazis' purging of Blacks, Hispanics and white progressives from the 2024 voter rolls put Trump in the White House. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-q1lWsnlhg&t=5s (Election discussion starts at 9:09)
(It should be noted that Hartman, formerly infamous for kowtowing to the Democrats, now seems ready to recognize them as probable collaborators in the ChristoNazi conquest.)
I'm not onboard with your all-out pessimism, Phil, but you have perfectly stated the situation and clearly stated the future before us... if we don't stop Trump decisively, and soon. I cling to the belief that we will. We're at an early inflection point in expressing and acting on our outrage. That's my hope and prediction. We'll see. What a time to be alive.
There is a growing sense of alarm and frustration as I watch this demented old man seemingly lose his grip on reality. It's not just about the outcome of the 2020 election; it genuinely appears that his cognitive faculties are slipping away. The situation feels dire enough that impeachment seems like a necessary step, yet I can’t help but notice the glaring lack of courage within the Republican Party when it comes to challenging Trump.
It seems as though no one is willing to confront him, why is that? The answer, unfortunately, appears simple: they're terrified of jeopardizing their own positions and losing their jobs. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens across the country face job losses every day, struggling to make ends meet while those in power prioritize their careers over the well-being of the people they represent.
This disconnect between our leaders and those they’re supposed to serve is infuriating and disheartening, leaving not just me but countless others, who read Dr. Richardson, feeling sick with worry for our nation’s future. If we don’t take decisive action soon, if we don’t hit some kind of reset button, the damage may become irreparable, assuming it isn’t already too late to turn things around.
I believe that “It is all about Control”. MAGA has also shown that it will accept whatever Trump does. The Epstein files with the April, 2016 case of Katie Johnson v. Trump & Epstein alleged that both Trump and Epstein raped a 13 year old girl in Epstein’s NY house in 1994, but MAGA will eve accept that when it becomes widely accepted as true. Trump has tested his limits. He does not believe that anyone can stop him.
The point is that MAGA is fraying. What you call MAGA is beginning to come apart at the seams.
You can keep preaching to the already converted, or you can get busy trying to widen those cracks of failure. The sound of the shattering is really getting quite loud.
1. There should be no agreement to fund anything! No essential services are that essential. Not my social security. Not the military. None.
2. No election has been stolen. There is no trove off documents showing any such conspiracy.
3. All of Trump’s lawsuits are bogus attempts at extortion. The man is a racketeer pure and simple. He should be stopped permanently and with prejudice.
The most harrowing pivot point in this narrative is not the street violence or the legislative gridlock but the systemic weaponisation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to institutionalise Trump's grievance.
The DNI's role is fundamentally about truth-seeking through data. By tasking Tulsi Gabbard with "chasing down allegations" that have been dismissed by over 60 courts, the executive branch is effectively declaring that facts are subordinate to Trump's ego. Using it to "bolster executive orders" on voting turns the intelligence agency into a political weapon.
Between the $10 billion IRS lawsuit and the DNI's new mandate, the state is being treated as a private law firm and personal bank for the executive. And if the system fails to impeach a leader for attempting to "personally loot the treasury" then it has already lost its moral compass.
Meanwhile, the US is positioning significant military assests in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean, presumably in an attempt to intimidate or perhaps strike directly at Iran. Anything to keep the Trump/Epstein Pedo Files off the front page.
This is worse than anything we could have imagined. It’s 1984 combined with The Handmaid’s Tale with the Godfather thrown in. And Lindsey Graham needs to be impeached. Can a Senator be impeached ? This is the Mafia.
“the president of the united states should not be allowed to personally loot the treasury to the sum of ten billion dollars and that this is not resulting in immediate, unanimous impeachment is a dramatic indictment of what has become of our political system.”
This says a lot about what the "Republican Party" has become.
We should recognize the sexual victimization of terrorized children by the Trumpstein Cult is the immediate predecessor, perhaps even a test run, of the terror the MAGAstapo is now unleashing on anyone who refuses to kowtow to the ChristoNazi theocracy. Thus the vital, know-our-enemy relevance of the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein -- later withdrawn in response to credible death threats against the plaintiff: https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf Please let us ensure this text is linked early (and therefore prominently) on as many Resistance sites as possible every day until the traitorous regime of ecogenocidal ChristoNazi pedophiles is no more. (I'll do my best to be responsible for this posting, but I am 85 years old and terminally ill, which means others need be ready to pick up the torch on days I am absent and after I am no more.)
Me likes MAGAstapo. I’ll use it going forward. Bravo.
We are having a nurses vigil at our state capital in Hartford on Saturday at noon if anyone lives nearby. I’ll be opening with a few songs and a reading of an open letter I recently sent our governor asking him to use our national guard to protect our residents as it was intended from the days of the founding.
Bill, This retired ICU RN wishes she could be there with you all. I have written a letter to the ICU where Alex worked. Sadly, the murders will dim with time, but his parents, friends, co-workers will never forget. Alex will miss out on the treasures of life. Yet the officer who killed him is on paid administrative leave, or doing his deeds in another area. If the administration, reporters, lawyers, judges do not see the wrong in this, our problems will continue, and Americans will continue to be killed. We have a passle of untrained, heartless goons running our country, who have hired like minded, under-educated, untrained ICE goons to do a job that we never voted for or asked for. Heather is a brave, brilliant, historian, who keeps us all in her light of information.
I love all the cyber friends comments....you are all also brilliant, and so informative. Gives me strength and hope.
Heartbreaking too that in addition to Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good , 2 fine, patriotic, brave, white citizens, countless non-white, nameless citizens, have been killed and 'lost'.
Also a tragedy that it took until a white male, legally gun carrying citizen, was murdered to get the attention of 80% of the nation.
Thank the thousands of Minnesotans in the streets and all the video of Alex and Nicole's executions. Without those we'd be talking about the fed chair nominee.
** I am Minnesota
Thank you, Marj, for stating what I’ve been thinking. I appreciate this and agree with you completely. Our country is skewed very oddly. A human life is a human life, no matter what.
Case in point - NPR included an interview this morning with a Minneapolis rapper, Nur-D, who was mobbed by ICE agents. Fortunately, he escaped with his life:
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/30/nx-s1-5689922/minnesota-based-rapper-talks-about-being-detained-by-federal-troops-at-protest-site
So much this, Marj.
Barbara Ann White, my experience as an Internist was that nurses, especially ICU nurses, are a breed "made of sterner stuff,” meaning they are very strong and determined and have notable emotional and moral strength. They do their work devotedly in spite of not exactly being at the top of the traditional hierarchy in Medicine. I’m pretty sure you know what I'm talking about 🙂. Anyway, because of the above, I have great respect for and know the value of people like you and Alex Pretti and know the magnitude of his loss to the residents of Minneapolis.
And along with ER nurses are exposed to whatever illness/disease the patients come in with, but they do the job anyway. As a volunteer myself I go with other volunteers and their dogs. We always go to the ICU and the ER because the dogs bring needed stress relief and love.
👍👍👍
Agree. Professionally and personally, I got to know a lot of ER nurses, and thankfully have not had to get to know any ICU nurses on a personal level.
Had the Sheriffin' thing not worked out, I was going to go for ER nurse.
I think that shows in the except below from a Daily Kos story in 2020 about a nurse in s. Dakota whose Tweets went viral.
+++++
In the interview, Doering explained that she really hadn’t expected her tweets to go viral like this and was not blaming the victims of this virus or making a political statement. She was just reporting on some of what she was seeing. She explained she just became so sad thinking about the many patients she has seen who are in such denial and so angry that they are missing out on what is in many cases their final chances to speak with their families before passing away. And because Doering is an adult and a professional, she held CNN’s Alisyn Camerota’s hand to explain to her that she didn’t take the anger of her patients personally. “I think it's just a belief that it's not real and nursing happens to be on the receiving end of that. And that's okay. That's where we're there for. It's just, in the bigger picture, when you try to reason with people, can I call your family, your kids, your wife, your friend, your brother? And they say, no, because I'm going to be fine,” it really hits hard.
She said that since they first started seeing cases of COVID-19 in March, while they have gotten better at treating and alleviating some of the cases, they cannot defeat the surges in the virus and the political bullshit that comes with fighting against basic public health protections like social distancing and wearing masks. Asked about Gov. Kristi Noem’s insistence in pretending that people should not wear masks if it makes them happier to do so, Doering explained that this wasn’t political: “I think it's frustrating as a health care provider, because the last thing that we ask anyone when they seek care is how they voted or if they're a Democrat or a Republican. The last thing we ever think about is that. What we think about is how can I help you?
+++++
That's what Christianity, or Buddhism, or just plain decency is supposed to be. That's a fully emotionally mature adult, and frankly I doubt that I have enough of that in me to endure abuse by fools and meet it care and empathy.
I felt the most concern for the Doctors, Nurses, and other Healthcare workers who knew the risks to themselves and their families better than anyone, and stayed on through so much more exposure from those that refused to at least mask up to protect those around them.
And BTW, nurse Doering was indeed making a profound political statement, but because it transcends narcissistic partisanship, it doesn't seem like it. It's "outside of the box".
JL, If you can find that article or interview, I'd love a link to it. You'll understand 'why' when you read my comments in this thread. Both my daughters survived their professions through the whole covid nightmares, and both still exercise the same professions. They are "so" much stronger than I could ever hope to be. I ask them "WHY, why do you keep doing this" ! Their answers; "Somebody 'has' to do this.' I can take it." ??? !!! * I am ever in gobsmacked awe of my daughters !
Yes…I recommend Heather to everyone and always tell people to pay so they can access the comments. I have learned so much from the people who are paying attention here. So grateful!!!
Rhonda, I pass the letter on, so those who cannot afford a subscription can see it and maybe forward it on. I am also grateful for most of the posters here and i too have learned a lot.
Jumping on the "LFAA community" bandwagon here. It has been a delight meeting people for real that were drawn by this community.
Ditto; I'm also in awe of the community here.
Barbara, this retired cop will write your name on my sign.
I don't think they put these goons on admin leave, but who knows? The two very public OIS* of Good and Pretti have not been investigated to anything approaching a "reasonable standard". I also firmly believe that they are not up to the standard of care for their officers (but then, there is no standard of training for the mercenary troops.)
Thank you for sending your note to the VA where Alex worked. It means more than you can possibly imagine. (I had a friend murdered in the line of duty; I know from first hand experience how much that note means.)
These goons are not so much untrained as they are uncivilized. Noem,Trump and company know exactly who they have sent out to terrorize and attempt to bring “compliance”from American citizens.
They have no idea how much we value our democracy,and the magnificent people of Minneapolis have had to teach these bastards that lesson.
It's not that they are untrained. They are being encouraged and commanded to break the law, trample the Constitution, and terrorize everyone who opposes Trump's corrupt and cruel administration.
Brava sister ! See my comments in this string.
I call Trump the Ayatollah Trump and the people that work in leadership roles for him are the Mullahs. Mulluhs are people like Noem, Witkoff, Kushner, Kennedy, Gabbard, Bovino, Vance, Miller, Vought, Hegseth, etc...
GENERAL STRIKE TODAY - Make Bezos, the Walton trustifarians and the oligarchs feel the pain. It kills me not to go out to get coffee etc., but not as much as those that call in sick today. It would be interesting if the air traffic controllers had a sick out day today especially if it was in ATL, LGA, BOS, JFK, IAD, DFW, ORD and MIA. Sean Duffy is doing a terrible job running as transportation secretary, but his incompetence is overshadowed by so many others in the administration.
Yes. Duffy is another Mullah. I hope the General Strike goes well. I am drinking coffee in my home right now. I make it myself. My husband drinks his morning espresso at our local bakery in Germany. Bakeries are a must of every neighborhood and even mentioned in real estate ads here in Bread is life Germany.
When I was in Denmark a few years ago, I stopped for gas at a Circle K. They had pastries inside and I couldn't resist. They were amazing, and this was just a gas station convenience store.
The next day when I stopped for gas in Freeport, ME coincidentally I was fueling up at a Circle K. Remembering the amazing Danish pastry I bought one. OMG, it was at least a day old, dry and flavorless.
And yes, I did go into real bakeries in Denmark, Sweden and Norway and they were all fantastic.
Brot ist das Leben!💙. Love that! As a retired pastor, the theological implications of that statement warm my heart on this chilly morning. As things progress with this Nazi regime, bread may become more important in USA culture as more food deserts spring up.
Okay, you convinced me. Got an extra room? (I’ll pick up after myself—and I’m from a few miles south of South Chicago…) 😚
When we visited Germany and Belgium about 15 years ago, I fell in love with the almond croissants you could buy at the train station (among other places). I haven't found anything like them in the U.S.!
Generically a mullah is just a religious teacher. Trouble appears when church and state are conflated. It corrupts both. The US Founders knew that, but the urge remains.
I don't think going out for coffee to a locally-owned non-chain coffee shop would be a problem; that's where we're going. Not to Starbucks or Dunkin.
COSTCO, pays well, and their CEO is paid far less than most CEOs these days.
I think you're right. I don't go to Dunkin' and the closest Starbucks is 40 miles away. At least the place I go to pays their workers $17 an hour to start. I have no idea if they offer any benefits.
Dunkin's CEO has been bitching about having to pay his workers $15 an hour when he makes just under $5,000/hr. Perhaps a little tone deaf?
https://inthesetimes.com/article/dunkin-donuts-ceo-who-earns-10-million-claims-to-be-outraged-by-15-minimum
Incompetence is thy name. Question, is there ANYONE in the entire administration who is competent?
A truly rhetorical question regarding this corrupt, sycophantic kakistocracy ....
No...these are people given over to the gluttony of power -- I hope they have persistent hemorrhoids...
There is some competence...Russell Vought, Steven Miller, but it is an evil competence!
Zero. Zilch. Nada. Not even close.
I had a talk with a woman at my workout place yesterday, she said how can you get along without Amazon? We were talking about a product she had gotten from there. I said its easy, haven't use them in months, shop local and stand up for your values, its easy.
Pam, it is easy if you don't live in a rural area where people are often stuck using Amazon. I know lots of people, however, who use them, when they have other options.
There is an new website www.resistandunsubscribe.com from Scott Galloway. He lists sites that with hurt the oligarchy, tech and AI companies the most.
I do the same. There aren't a whole lot of brick and mortar shopping options where I live, but that's OK. I do order online from Costco!
GJ, of all the horrors Trump has inflicted upon us, what is heartbreaking to me TODAY is to read the comments below yours and see how many of the very GOOD, very active, very concerned people here simply CANNOT stop shopping for a SINGLE DAY. People who I read daily and know that they claim to be fighting right along with me.
This is making me feel hopeless, not kidding.
I went down about a dozen comments and I can't take this. I'm getting off the forum now. 😭
If anyone reading this wants to send me a comment defending themselves, please don't. This is akin to discovering your boyfriend is cheating on you.
Sorry but I have to buy chicken thighs at Costco for my catfood. Do you want to explain to my cats why they can’t eat tomorrow? Come on over.
My daughter's cat stays with us during the days while she's at work. Once out of her carrier, she immediately runs to her food bowl and starts pestering me to feed her. I can't say no to the dang cat, so I will just say, "You should have planned ahead Bill." 😎
I had to check and make sure of this. Costco has taken a stance against T policies, is suing him regarding tariffs, as many other things. So, I do believe it is okay to reward Costco for standing up to T.
Cats win always!
at least you use Costco, a fine company
your cats won't die not eating for one day.
But not until Dave and I fly out of Dulles next weekend on our way to Buenos Aires, please....
That’s my new sign I painted yesterday.
Yes.... the damned dregs of humanity mistreating our once magnificent heritage.
Bill, thank you and your colleagues for doing this. Obviously, his life was a blessing for so many.
No I’m just helping out I’m not a nurse.
With you in spirit, Bill. This is beautiful to hear.
Bill Katz,
HOW AWECOME! GO NURSES!!!
Bravo! Here's a song you may want to add to your vigil. Bruce Springsteen is a national treasure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDaPdpwA4Iw
To my vigil. I’m just helping out.
What actually connects these issues:
Regimes that operate above the law in one domain (refusing to release Epstein files despite court orders) operate above the law in all domains (ICE violating 100+ court orders in Minnesota). The common thread is impunity, not ideology.
Make the case on facts: Trump promised full Epstein disclosure, then refused. ICE was ordered to follow warrants, then didn’t. Same contempt for legal constraints, different targets. That argument persuades.
Focus fire on their pattern: promise accountability, deliver impunity, repeat.
That’s what breaks through. Keep fighting.
- Johan
The Regime Just Arrested Don Lemon
FBI took former CNN anchor Don Lemon into custody last night. Charges unknown. Grand jury empaneled yesterday.
The alleged crime? Protesting ICE inside a St. Paul church where an ICE official was discovered serving as pastor.
Federal appellate court declined to sign arrest warrants last week, one judge said probable cause existed, two disagreed. DOJ response: arrest him anyway.
The charge they’re pursuing: interfering with churchgoers’ constitutional right to practice religion.
Read that again. The regime claims protesters interfered with religious freedom by protesting ICE inside a church. The same regime running ICE raids inside churches across America.
This is the tell. When the state arrests journalists for protesting state violence, you’re not in a democracy testing its limits, you’re watching authoritarianism consolidate.
Argentina arrested journalists for “subversive activity.” Videla’s dictatorship claimed it was protecting Western Christian civilization. 30,000 disappeared. Journalists were primary targets.
DOJ controls prosecution. FBI executes arrests. No charges filed yet, but Lemon’s in custody.
The legal mechanics don’t matter when the system operates outside law. Courts said no warrant. DOJ arrested anyway.
Authorization is ownership. Trump created this mechanism. Bondi unleashed it. The kills, and now the arrests, belong to them.
This is what collapse looks like when it’s your country.
- Johan
Oh, good grief. Laws mean nothing any longer.
WTF?!? 😠
FREE DON LEMON!
Except the protestors should not have gone into a church no matter the reason.
Apparently they didn’t really go in ‘as protesters’ per se.
They were quiet & respectful & only when the religious leader spoke up was he taken to task re: what he said … I wd need to reread that account - there’s so much ‘breaking news’ to skim over these daze!
And create chaos...then "solve" the problem that was created while switching to chaos elsewhere. All the time breaking the law.
Actually, I think it's below the law, down at the level of snake shite and cesspool leakage. (Jes' sayin)
We used to say below whale shite, ain't nothing lower than whale poop
Jim, that's how I always heard the expression. I have no doubt that's what Donald eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Karo-lyin' Leavitt calls those cetacean turds Big Macs.
Possibly catfish poop. (along with the other bottom feeders)
Not just court order to release the Epstein files, but an actual law, passed with a near unanimous vote of both Houses and signed into law by none other than the Orange Pustule himself.
Bad enough for him and the DOJ to defy court orders, but an actual law? How does this work, exactly?
You’re right, this is worse than defying court orders.
When regimes ignore court orders, they claim judicial overreach. When they ignore laws they signed, they’re announcing law itself is optional.
How this works: Impunity.
Sign the law for optics. Refuse enforcement. Dare anyone to stop you. Who enforces laws against the person controlling enforcement?
Argentina’s dictatorship ignored laws constantly. Constitution still existed, courts still sat. The regime just operated outside that framework until everyone accepted it as normal.
Minnesota proved it: ICE violated 100+ court orders, judge documented it, regime shrugged.
Now Trump ignores his own law on Epstein files. Bondi demands compliance while admitting they won’t honor agreements.
It’s all a farce. All of it.
The forms exist. The procedure continues. But law only works when someone with power chooses to enforce it.
Right now, no one will.
It works until it stops working, until the cost of ignoring law exceeds the cost of following it.
Cost is currently zero. That’s the only number that matters.
- Johan
The Trump Regime should be called the Republican Regime. The Repubs put him in office and continue to encourage his lawlessness.
Hence: "RepubliKlan" and "RepubliKlans" also GOPorkers and (not to risk offense to the Familia Sus), Grotesquely Odious Politicians.
The fascists who make up the majority of the SCOTUS gave Agent Orange a free pass to do whatever he wants to whomever he wants. No more guardrails! "The worst of the worst" criminals in the country are now protected by Dear Leader....or are they?
The Trumpstein Files must really be horrific. Arresting Don Lemon under those circumstances is proof. How many more diversions/distractions are we going to have to suffer through. We can't give up, slow down contacting representatives or peacefully protesting until this entire regime is erased. Boycott today, please. It’s one day.
Ayatollah Trump and his Mullahs do not want the Epstein Files exposed because in them he has done deeds that could get him the death penalty in certain states. That ones he likes the most. He is better off being tried in Washington, DC, which no longer has the death penalty than in his Mar-a-lago state of Florida which does.
Is Bezos in the Epstein Files.
Mary, it seems to me that he was happy to spend more than $80 million to prevent us from knowing.
And given his choice for a bride, I'd wager that he has "unique" sexual proclivities.
Not his whole name. It’s Ayatollah Pedophile Donald Trump. That’s what it says on my new sign. So it must be true.
Liked for use of the term MAGAstapo,,, which I had not seen before
Loren Bliss: I totally agree with you and subscribe to your comment. You state it so very well.
In your link, one of the Trumpstein victims was 13 and subject to horrific abuse.
The only think that gives me pause is your terminal illness.
I am so very sorry.
I am very glad you have reached the grand age of 85.
I am not too very far behind you in age at 78.
I wish you strength, I wish you the happiness of shared life with loved ones, if recovery were possible, I would wish that for you with all of my heart.
We meet only on social media, but we are kindred spirits.
Armand, this community is like that. I've exchanged messages with Loren, and hope that his final chapter here is a comfort.
Thank you.
"Trumpstein victims". I like that.
It’s a relay race, Loren, many of us sharing and passing along the freedom torch to move democracy forward…we tire, we rest or perhaps drop to the side, yet someone takes the torch from our hands and carries on…moving forward.
Also, I guess that the R’s in Congress are OK with all the norms & laws being broken right and left (they’ve made nary a peep about it)…so I assume that means when the D’s win the House and Senate again they will be OK with a new admin carrying on such methods—not that Dem’s would, but it’s a thought!
https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/minneapolis-organizing-ice-watch-lessons?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
It seems ironic that American Democracy may be saved by Jeff Epstein's record keeping / extortion pedo files long after his apparent suicide ( AKA murder ordered by patient #1).
Everything trump says is a lie formulated to deceive and divert attention away from his lifetime of his perverse / unethical behavior.
Trump's diversions and lies get worse every day, yet we can't blame it all on just his dementia.
We the people must prevail
Thank you Heather
Trump's so-called dementia is in reality Trump's meaness, pettiness, and stupidity working out loud. Trump has not changed since a child. He has always lied, cheated, and bullied. He just has a cadre of liars and revenge seeking mean-girls and bully-boys to do his work.
I'd heard about the shortage of staff and resources for the 9th IMT (International Military Trials) Einsatzgruppen, which seemingly was being considered to be dropped until they discovered the trove of extensive records that could be used to convict them with minimal effort for the 2 million murders of prisoners they were accused of (1.3 million Jews, 250,000 Romani, and 500,000 others)..
They tried to destroy the evidence by digging up mass burial sites and cremating the bodies of the earlier victims but couldn't begin to hide enough evidence of that sort, which makes me shudder to think that what it made it easy enough to convict them was their own meticulous records that they failed to destroy.
This administration wants all sorts of records and history destroyed, though they do want as much private data and personal data as they can use to further their crimes. I do hope we can use the fullest range of data they have stolen to build the strongest cases possible against them.
It has only been a day since I found some additional data on Nuremberg Trials, leading to some additional new to me material. This mornings find, related to the shortage of time, short deadlines, and staff resources, is at https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/women-prosecutors-nuremberg-trials
"...The Subsequent Trials, 1946–49
World War II had a profound impact on the ability of women lawyers to find employment—if only temporarily. As young male associates left for war, women filled those roles. Some major New York law firms like Cahill Gordon, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett hired women to handle the legal work left behind by male associates who had joined the Armed Forces.18 But as men returned home, they returned to their jobs. Some women left to hang their own shingles, while others stayed at firms in lesser roles, like legal secretaries and librarians, or were relegated trusts and estates, work that was considered less masculine than other types of law.
The US government, like many law firms, also recruited women to fill some of the gaps left by men who joined the military. Cecelia Goetz, a 1940 graduate of NYU Law, joined the Solicitor’s Office in the Department of Justice because she could not find employment in the private or judicial sector, despite being the first female editor-in-chief of a major American law journal.19 Goetz was also considered “much too attractive” to be a good lawyer.20 Because of her talent, Goetz became the first woman to ever be offered a supervisory role in the department, which she turned down to apply for the prosecution team at the IMT.21
Goetz’s application was rejected because she was a woman, and she was told that there were no adequate facilities for her, despite there being adequate facilities for the female nurses, secretaries, and clerks in the American Zone. Goetz finally appealed to Taylor, who, fortunately for her, saw Goetz’s potential and pushed for her appointment in 1946. Fite later noted that Taylor was “ahead of his time [in] recruiting female prosecutors,”22 recognizing the need for legal talent, regardless of where it came from. However, the women he recruited still faced barriers in their contributions to the trials. Taylor had to sign a disability waiver for Goetz and the four other nonlawyer women he employed in 1946; their disability was that they were women.23 Goetz later became the only woman to read an opening statement at the Krupp Trial, the trial at Nuremberg that focused on the Krupp Group’s armament of the German military and its use of forced labor, in 1947..."
If you read that court filing against Epstein and Trump by Jane Doe, when she was 13, you will understand why trump needs as much distraction as possible. The crimes should put HIM in prison.
If the snuff-film rumors prove true, in the Chair.
Loren, my knee-jerk response (or maybe it's vestiges of my evangelical upbringing) says, "Yes! The Chair!"
But then my logic and sense of justice takes over. The victims who survived have lived lifetimes with the pain that resulted from the abuses.
Why should the perpetrator(s) be treated to a quick zap (or injection), then be permanently released from the consequences of their abuses.
Real justice prescribes that the perpetrators' suffering is equal to that of their victims. Life imprisonment without parole is the just sentence. Preferably with a "lonely" cellmate.
It's true. And I have to say, 'traitorous regime of ecogenocidal ChristoNazi pedophiles" is a very well done noun phrase. All the best to you!
Thank you.
Loren Bliss,
You cannot be replaced.... so continue as long as possible our fight for truth and freedom EVERYWHERE!
You are a "powerhouse"....a great patriot!!!!
Quite frankly, we are each "terminally ill". Our souls are all wrapped up as unique creations until "our shell" is no more.
YOU ARE MUCH APPRECIATED AND NEEDED IN THIS BATTLE WE CONTINUE FOR FREEDOM!!!!
Thank you.
We Americans seem to be fascinated by Mafia boss characters. We love, deplore and fear them all at the same time. Take Vito Corleone played by Marlon Brando and Tony Soprano played by Jame Gandolfini as examples. Charming but tyrannical characters, baked into the mythology of American male dominance. It's entertaining in movies or TV shows. Not so much in real life.
Now we have a media obsessed POTUS acting like the Mafia boss of the world. Blowing up small boats, kidnapping leaders of sovereign states, terrorizing liberal cities with a secret militias, threatening to seize control of other sovereign nations, enlisting the support of the fascist advisors. Denying truth and civil rights. Demanding absolute loyalty It's hard for me to catch my breath writing this list!
In the case of the first two actors, it's easy to willingly suspend our disbelief and enjoy their performance because we know they're just acting.
In the case of POTUS, we can't pretend he's okay in real life. He is a terrifying Mafia boss having the dominating time if his life while he pushes his secret police to beat, harass and murder Americans who resist his inhumanity.
But now he's failing. Failing because Americans actually love their freedoms, love their self governance and will not comply with a national shake down by a delusional monster.
How do we restore America to its traditions of respect, diversity and civil rights? Take down the Trump mob one wise guy at a time. Start with Heir Miller, then the Botox Queen Ms Noem and TV war monger, Hegseth. By working our way up to Trump, we'll defang and dethrone our monster in chief.
Merrill, I do not think that the "...traditions of respect, diversity, and civil rights" are any sort of America's past. Remember that the diversity and civil rights components applied to other than white men via amending the constitution. People are dismayed at the "only 39%" of the US population that approves of ffpotus is so high; that is the residual of the southern beliefs of white superiority, the belief of the founders that only men could run things, and that a white, male dominated, Christian, heteronormative, cisgendered dominated society is the "one, true way."
This country was founded, by white men, on the theft of land and genocide of the Indigenous population, and enriched on the backs of kidnapped enslaved Black people. There is no "tradition" there; there was a passing nod in that direction that has been quickly challenged and is in the process of being dismantled.
The white men who came from Europe around 1600 A.D., were thieves, enslavers, genocidal maniacs, and lovers of greed and wealth. They did NOT create this country. It already existed and they brought their evil ways to it, all to subjugate those who were "not like them."
Even though my ancestor, George Soule, who came on the Mayflower as an indentured servant to Edward Winslow, had to "work for his freedom," he lived and married and had 9 children. The other indentured servant to Mr. Winslow, Elias Story, perished in the first year, along with Mr. Winslow's wife.
It is a heartbreaking shame the Native Americans foolishly trusted these evil white men and should have let them starve. Or turn them into slaves. Alas, we see the Native Americans had a moral code much greater than these "learned" European men (with their white, male, Christian, heteronormative, cisgendered dominating society rules.) And they damn near killed everyone else. How effin' righteous.
Nicely said, Linda. Fabulous assessment.
The LAW always lags what is MORAL.
Also, unlike the fictional depiction of those historical mob bosses, the current one is neither charming nor likeable.
Merrill, with Donald, it's not an act. He grew up in a household managed by a Bratva associate and maintained the relationships when he took over the family business. He really is a mob boss. What he didn't learn from his father and his business associates, he learned from Roy Cohn.
Loren, I’d been thinking about sharing a couple of songs with you…hope it’s OK. I keep coming back to them again and again. They are by singer/songwriter Marc Scibilia: “More To This” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cb6bbcJcys (have been listening to it for many months) and his very recent “No One Knows My Name” that I just found (makes me think that Alex Pretti probably would have been one, a quiet helper…only now he his known far and wide for his humanity) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06yoYFKzVQ ☮️
Thak you for this very talented artist's music. Really touching.
Please do, Barbara; actually I have something for you, too.
Thank you, Barbara (though I know this was intended for Loren). I was not aware of Marc Scibilia’s insightful music. Well chosen and very relevant. I’ll be sure to follow him now.
My concern is that the administration is not only creating diversions but encouraging the existing ones like sports and entertainment, which are the modern equivalent of bread and circuses. Even informed pundits, while one moment showing deep concern over horrid events and conditions, then will chuckle over this or that triviality as if to say, "but of course eventually this will all get straightened out".
Indeed. To me, the most damning offense of the mainstream media is its pretense all is normal.
Loren, I am going to use that "most damning offense" line.
Now, to figure out something that is as clear and succinct as that to describe the miasma that is "conservative" "news".
Loren Bliss: I just discovered this and want to do my little bit to spread the word about your Media published work:
https://lorenbliss-outsideagitatorsnotebook.blogspot.com/
God bless you Loren! We need more like you who show such courage! YOU ROCK!
Thank you.
THANK YOU LOREN!!
📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢
Today is DAY 42 past the release day required by law.
The list of his and his family and friend's grift from this office is legendary. It is horrendous. I have a friend gathering evidence of it, and I hear the NYT is keeping track of it too, but maybe only partially. Lev Shalev seems to be looking at the corruption in the regime from many angles. Ayatollah Trump and his Mullahs are robbing us blind.
I know. Even suing the IRS for 10 billion. Unheard of. He should be tried as a traitor and be dispatched accordingly.
Trump has repeatedly used starvation as a weapon against US citizens. This is one of the worst forms of torture. Spoiler alert: In the movie Nuremberg they show a newsreel which many of us have seen of the emaciated concentration camp victims and the piles of dead bodies being bulldozed into trenches. Trump, Miller, Bovino, Noem, Kegsbreth, Bondi feel nothing when they watch these atrocities. In fact, they are committing these atrocities while the MAGAnazis in the Senate and House are more than happy to superfund their actions.
Yes. The Ayatollah Trump and his traitorous Mullahs should be removed.
I wish chutzpah was illegal and we could sue him for 30 billion dollars. The total disregard and loss of life and these bs lawsuits are getting to me.
In plain sight. Catch me if you can. I like Barbara Keating's above image of a relay. Some days, all I can do is shovel out my car and undo the damage I did to my body by shoveling out my car -- good to know the ways that others keep organizing, resisting, exposing, uplifting, and cheering the current torch carriers. As monks walk for peace in snowstorms . . .
Shoveling snow is cathartic - it gives me time to think and work out all the murderous thoughts that come to mind as I watch all this unfold. Though I don't know how to exorcise the demons of this Fulton County raid that appears to be a precursor for rigging the November elections. We are under fire now, literally and figuratively. The government is no longer "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And shoveling snow hasn't given me the answer to the question of how we get it back. Without bloodshed.
I just listened to this conversation, "Is it time for a constitutional do-over? A conversation with constitutional law professor, Kim Wehle." On Glenn Kirshner's Substack, https://glennkirschner.substack.com/p/is-it-time-for-a-constitutional-do?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=3415166&post_id=186248500&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&r=oa2tr&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email. They suggest we look at and learn from Germany's that puts Human Dignity up front.
There still were folks that slipped through and Operstion Paperclip didn’t help but did help our government . Gaps and cracks. However I have been impressed by Germany’s continue plunge into history and restorative justice. And the stumbling stones are just amazing memory art. Ireland finally has statues memorializing the 1840’s years of the famine. There was a great silence but still interesting history. There is also the acknowledgment for this that helped in tge holocaust like Meip Geis and Corrie Ten Boom and even Samuel Beckett was in the resistance. More countries should do that. And so important to process because we see that Israel has created great problems and not processing inter generational trauma is part of this. I hope when all of this is over we are all able to do our stumbling stones, statues and memorials, orchards, and art. The i will need this.
Mary OMalley,
I can see the Trump administration attacking our American citizens and completely upending our families in many areas.
His plan of destruction and control must be stopped...the sooner the better!!!!
All persons of every race are precious and valuable and have contributed to the betterment of our nation!!!!
We must wake up and act!!! We cannot just point our fingers at what is happening to the good, hardworking citizens of our country, the cleansing of our libraries, the huge unneeded military-like forces being pushed into our cities, children taken and placed in prisons and having their lives turned upside down!!! This is not the America I was taught to love, honor and respect.
These are actions, I never thought to see in our country...only in countries filled with chaos and or controlled by self-serving dictators who ruined their country's economy and destroyed the education system with "brainwashing"!!!!
Children are being removed from their homes and opportunities for an education and removed from the safety and stability of home and school!!!
These actions are nothing short of barbaric....in the United States of America!!!!
Human dignity, what a quaint thought.
James Vander Poel,
Our elected leaders must lead!!!! I am very grateful for the few and the brave who have fought and continue to do so.
We need to support those who need us and also take actions that are meaningful to oppose those in leadership who are working to destroy our freedoms!
Please take care of yourself as you care for your home during these cold and snowy days!
There's an old saying, "When the people lead, the leaders will follow." Take heart, the cracks in the veneer are widening.
Indeed, all things related to Snow are great for working out those ‘murderous thoughts’! (I love snow).
Pure & ‘from above’, giving us a good workout physically, spiritually & philosophically.
Yes Joan. In plain sight with no one attempting to catch him right now. I think it will come. Our car is in Chicago buried under snow, but it does not matter because we are not using it. We have snow here in Bremen too, but the city clears the walk in front of our house, so we just need to keep a path to our door and mailbox clear. Not a problem.
I have gone on a war path with my mayor for not issuing orders to plow to the curb. It’s a bloody mess here in Hartford.
After Hurricane Sandy, I flew into Hartford and went to Enterprise to pick up my rental for the week on-site in New Haven. It was October 31, 2012.
The airport had power, but none of the businesses between the airport and Enterprise did. In fact, most of Windsor Locks was without power including Enterprise.
I walked in to the rental office and the rental counter was covered with candles. The agents were writing out contracts and taking credit card info to be run through when the power returned. Sometime that week they called me to say they had run my credit card.
I was impressed that they actually trusted their customers enough to rent us vehicles without up front payment.
Our DPW is slowly getting it done. The worst offenders were the private plow drivers who left snow they'd plowed from driveways on sidewalks - tall enough to block the view at the corners so you couldn't see oncoming traffic when trying to pull out. Takes an end-loader to fix that mess. And we've only got one in town.
Here in Bremen They are required to clear my sidewalk because I have a bus stop in front for a bus that does not run very often, and does not run on the weekends. It is electric so I don't mind, and the perk is that they clear our sidewalk. The streets and bike paths are also cleared, but the pedestrian walks are not, except in front of businesses that have cleared them. So people are walking in the bike paths, which is ridiculous. Don't tell me they could not have cleared both.
I feel the same way. It’s like snowballs keep hitting me in the face.
There are cracks in the veneer. We just have to keep picking at them and peeling them back to expose the rot within.
I think that the Trumps and several Rich folks will leave the US to avoid taxes. Taxes will need to go us to repair the Trump money squandering.
Craig, as you have just read, Trump has not been paying US taxes while living here, why would he leave? The others get away with paying no taxes either. Unlike in other countries where they have to pay a wealth tax, here we only tax income. Would he go to China where he already pays more tax? Would he go to Europe where he is now hated and would pay more tax? Would he go to a country where the majority of people are not White? NO! So, where is he gonna go? Russia (good place to end up falling out of a window), or Hungary? What if the government changes? He is an international war criminal and sooner or later that will be noted. All it will take is one or two military defeats.
Probably Venezuela, eastern Europe (Belarus), or Someplace else he can live under Putins umbrella. Assuming he doesn't succeed in overthrowing tge US government as seems likely.
Putin does not like Trump, and can take him out as easily in one of those countries as in Russia directly. Once out of power Trump serves no useful purpose for Putin. Or Melania for that matter. Both will dump him.
Putin could take Trump out tomorrow if he wanted too, he appreciates what his Russian billions bought him just fine, and he's perfectly content to lose a few ships in order to prop up his puppet who is setting fire to nato and handing him everything he wants in surrendering Europe. If putin wanted to be rid of trump he's just have russia today post the pee tape on YouTube, or any of the dozens of copies of epsteins tapes you can ge sure putin has.
Trump now has a large framed photo of himself & Putin hanging in the W.H., above a photo of himself & granddaughter.
— where’s my barf emoji?
Speaking of Melania. Her new movie is a huge bust. There are stories of 1 person sitting in an otherwise empty theater. Hopefully, it is pulled from theaters today. Melania personally pocketed $28 million from Netflix so don't feel sorry for her.
Too bad somebody already bought Epstein island, that would be the perfect place for him to continue rotting towards his bitter end. With all the billions he has grifted, he could afford to buy his own island.
Wandyrer,
Putin would not take Trump! In my opinion, Putin is mocking Trump's actions in private. Trump is just trying to impress Putin as if he is a "brother in crime".....Please....they are creatures far-a-part in power of will and action and discipline....for example, just look at their opposing physical conditions.
Putin is disciplined...he is cold as ice. If anyone pretends to follow Putin's directive or tries to use Putin, we will soon hear of a plane crash or prison camp in the coldest place in Russia and his enemy turned into an ice cube.
There are people working under the Trump administration who hold this cold hearted attitude. I think most people with a functioning brain can see who these persons are. Just stop pretending you will be safe!
Their desire for power and control is coming to our cities and towns and within our schools (example: book bans, our citizens being shot!)
Argentina, of course. He bought himself $40bn worth of sanctuary.
Cue 'The Boys From Brazil'. Yes, I know it's a different country.
Linda, Donald does seem to have an affinity for the Qataris and Saudis. I'm sure they could work out a mutually beneficial financial arrangement. Oh, wait ... they already have.
... I hope they do. I hope every one of the cuts and runs to Saudi Arabia to live the lives they think they deserve.
They don't pay any freaking taxes Craig... haven't you been paying attention? They haven't had to pay taxes since 2017.
We won't need nearly as much money in taxes after they are gone because we won't be paying the billions and billions in corporate welfare to their soul sucking corporations.
IMHO America would be a much better place without a single Billionaire. They can pay their fair share or they can go. That's up to them. I don't think any of us will miss them. They don't even have their yachts built here.
"Charles Littlejohn pleaded guilty in 2023 to leaking the president’s tax returns to the New York Times and received five years in prison. In 2020, the New York Times reported that Trump – despite his purported wealth – only paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and no taxes for most of the previous 15 years. At the time, Trump claimed that the story was 'totally fake news.' "
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-abc-news-karen-travers-insult-b2911201.html
If only…
". . . are robbing us blind." Yes, Linda.
While, also, protecting all those rapists of underage girls.
Though, too, Linda, I balk at the "blind" in "robbing us blind."
The blinding came, by design, via the juggernaut of standardized testing leaving tens of millions blind to what the wizards of offshoring were doing to our working classes.
And also leaving far too many of our putatively educated classes blind to what the soulless such as Donald, Jeffrey, and Ghislaine were doing fairly openly for many years to so many underage girls.
If these men could rise so as they did in the meritocracy, the privileged elites, they must be fine, no problems, right?
Standardized testing aside, a high school English teacher friend of mine with close to 30 years under her belt relayed to me that educators in her district are being reprimanded if current events are discussed in the classroom and at least one that voiced an opinion on their personal Facebook page was suspended. I find this depressing as a person that grew up in a bigoted home; the educators that shaped my life allowed me to see the ‘bigger picture’ by providing my classmates and I with open dialogue on world events.
Article I read yesterday in one of the big papers was about a high school teacher in OK who refused to follow the book ban and they not only fired her but had the state pull her teacher's license.
I'm not sure how we ever come back from this. Which, of course, is the point. They don't want to 'waste money' on public education.
The entire regime is nothing but wasteful, and robbing us blind all the while
A recent issue of The Atlantic has an excellent article about Jan 6th and the days leading up to it and following it. The article traces individuals - including a retired NYPD cop - who got swept into believing that the election was rigged and that they were the true patriots saving democracy. And how they sunk deeper and deeper into extreme right media sources. Fascinating and horrifying.
It is vital we continue to remain focused on how people enter a cult, to say nothing about how they get out of one.
There’s hundreds of people here who keep themselves entertained by posting nothing but doomsday scenarios, long-winded screeds against Trump, Epstein, etc., but VERY few interested in how we can begin to undo the damage this cult has left behind.
This is short-sighted, if not blind, for MAGA is actually beginning to disintegrate. There are already hundreds of pieces to pick up, with staggering amounts in the future left in front of us. Millions of disassociated, bewildered followers are now feeling something they haven’t felt before — betrayal. How these people find their way back to psychological wellness isn’t just important for them, but for us. This is something we have to do a better job figuring out.
I would agree with that. Anger about where we are is a necessary first step, but only that. Anger has to be turned into defensive AND offensive action. Yes we need to put a stop to the current madness, but also have to manifest a better future.
I have zero interest in reconciliation with those who led the MAGA movement - I want them all brought to justice someday and very publicly punished, for all the pain, suffering and death they have caused.
But while we address these wrongs,we also need to author a new future that centers justice for all and once and for all casts off the original sins of this nation (slavery and genocide) that continue to harmfully influence our political system. Will any of this happen overnight once Democrats regain power? No. Our system is not built for instant gratification. But the struggle is worth it for the justice that may someday become a reality. We may all be gone by then, but it's not about us. It's about what we leave behind for others to carry forward.
Adam Kinzinger is the only person I know of who interviewed the two convicted January 6 MAGAs who refused the vile pardon Trump gave all of them last year. I made myself watch both interviews despite my loathing for what they did. What emerged were stories of pathos, loneliness, rejection, substance abuse and psychiatric unmooring. These were the people who had the courage to walk away -- despite the personal cost they paid. More stories like this are bound to surface.
I very much agree. We have to figure out how to bring them back to facts, science and reality
Ayatollah Trump claims a mandate from God. His Mullahs say he has this too. So, they are just coattail riders.
Just don't think the issue is so much public education here as parent education. Who is raising these Mullahs? We know who raised the Ayatollah Trump and it is not good.
Trump does have a mandate from God … but it’s on the flip side of the equation & will require Divine intervention. God will need to lance the carbuncle that is Trump & give emerg anti-sepsis treatment to the entire system thereafter if the body is to survive.
Jay Jay, I think we will have to do the lancing ourselves. Down with the Ayatollah Trump.
I heard yesterday but haven’t seen it elsewhere yet that G Maxwell has said why was she the only accomplice convicted when there were at least 25 men. Anyone seen that?
No, but it makes sense on 2 counts - 1. she was his closest enabler & participant 2. The Old Boy’s club has circled the wagons.
We can add Lindsey Graham, the audacity of wamtin $500,000 because Jack Smith subpoenaed phone records. Crooks, self-interested do-nothings!
Vivian, the only thing we need to know about Lindsey Graham is his name is in the Epstein files.
Modern Republican to the core: They can sure dish it out, but the sure, sure, can't take it.
That is why I call this entire “presidency” a smash and grab operation. It's been that from day one.
The infrastructure stays operational during this two-week “negotiation.” Homan is still in Minneapolis. The 3,000 agents remain deployed. The secret memos authorizing warrantless entry stay in effect.
This is classic authoritarian recalibration: soften rhetoric, accept minor procedural constraints you’ll ignore anyway, wait for pressure to decrease.
What actually worked in Minneapolis? Organized resistance that made operations too expensive to sustain. Not court orders, those were violated 100 times. Not body cameras, we have footage of both killings and the regime still lied. Protesters in the streets imposing costs.
Democrats leveraging funding is good. But if they think procedural reforms constrain a regime willing to execute citizens on camera and lie about it afterward, they’re negotiating as if institutions still matter.
The regime already showed they don’t.
- Johan
….and Lindsey Graham! WTF!
The kompromat Trump has on him must be a doozy. And the stupid thing is that we all likely already know what it is - unless he’s a pedophile too.
Do you suppose he is mentioned in the Epstein files?
No, I don’t. He’s a homosexual, so that wasn’t really Epstein’s thing.
Young boys were also abused
He is a compromised puppet
Miss Linsey is in the Epstein files!
He’s embarrassed he was caught.
Deborah, I think I'm not wrong in stating that many perverts like Jeffrey Epstein enjoy making video recordings of their activities to play and enjoy later. Such a wealthy man could afford to have the camera installations concealed. He may have recorded the activities of his guests, with or without their consent.
A trove of such recordings would be valuable to the owner for blackmail purposes. They would be valuable evidence, too, if they were recovered by law enforcement after the death of the original owner.
I seriously doubt that the DOJ would ever let that out if it did exist. It will always remain speculation. Sadly that is my opinion based on what we are seeing.
Agreed!
We Americans seem to be fascinated by Mafia boss characters. We love, deplore and fear them all at the same time. Take Vito Corleone played by Marlon Brando and Tony Soprano played by Jame Gandolfini as examples. Charming but tyrannical characters, baked into the mythology of American male dominance. It's entertaining in movies or TV shows. Not so much in real life.
Now we have a media obsessed POTUS acting like the Mafia boss of the world. Blowing up small boats, kidnapping leaders of sovereign states, terrorizing liberal cities with a secret militias, threatening to seize control of other sovereign nations, enlisting the support of the fascist advisors. Denying truth and civil rights. Demanding absolute loyalty It's hard for me to catch my breath writing this list!
In the case of the first two actors, it's easy to willingly suspend our disbelief and enjoy their performance because we know they're just acting.
In the case of POTUS, we can't pretend he's okay in real life. He is a terrifying Mafia boss having the dominating time if his life while he pushes his secret police to beat, harass and murder Americans who resist his inhumanity.
But now he's failing. Failing because Americans actually love their freedoms, love their self governance and will not comply with a national shake down by a delusional monster.
How do we restore America to its traditions of respect, diversity and civil rights? Take down the Trump mob one wise guy at a time. Start with Heir Miller, then the Botox Queen Ms Noem and TV war monger, Hegseth. By working our way up to Trump, we'll defang and dethrone our monster in chief.
It’s unrealistic to expect our country to be restored to what we have experienced in the past. What has happened cannot be unseen or forgotten. The rest of the world is watching and trust is lost for generations. We can only hope to work towards a new future, learn from our mistakes and evolve our experiment. The big things are obvious: restraining the executive, reforming the scotus, campaign finance reform, and accountability to all those who’ve perpetrated this on our country. Without accountability to them, it will happen again. None of this sounds easy from where we are.
Well, maybe. But just removing the underlings, Trump will just replace them with another MAGA. Same thing for the SCOTUS members, except there, the new justice has to go through congressional approval. If we get a sufficient majority in Congress, then impeachment at the top, simultaneously removes the cabinet and VP if what I have read is true. Lots of ifs.
Very well noted. Also note this. According to Hearher, reports are thst ICE was given in the BBB all the money it needs to operate through 2029. That is why 7 Democrats said 'What the hell. Let them have some more". According to Heather reports are that the revised Senate bill would give ICE enough money to remain in business ess for two weeks while a longer term supplemental appropriation is worked out.
Query, how can these statements both be true? And what do you suppose we shoukd make of them ? Other than that ICE has overspent it 10 times increased budget for the current fiscal year prior to the end of the second quarter, which is coming up ??
That has been reported. Kristin Noem has over spent her budget. If yiu can believe that. She has not underestimated the cost of maintaining an army in the field. She has ignored it. And so has everyone else in her office. And Army lodged at Hilton Hotels Hampton Inns all over the country.
Too bad none of us had the foresight to invest in that.
The Republican Party has been totally usurped by the MAGA Party.
MAGA red caps will be relics of the same cruel and prejudiced minds as the shameful KKK white hoods in the history of our country.
People of good conscience will rue the day that they or their forebears were ideologically aligned with MAGA.
WWJD?…the Christian version of the universal, underlying question for ALL people…my answer:
People of good conscience, nurtured in a loving family, anywhere on this awesome globe we call home, would probably not be caught dead in either a white hood or a red cap.
Trump is the Ayatollah Trump, the leaders working for him are the Mullahs, and the MAGAs are the radical terrorists. ICE and CBP are the Republican Guard. That is what life is becoming like in the USA.
MAGAmullahs..another great ( TY, Linda) ..the list of name game,political songs, disregards ..I’m writing them down . Comedian fodder.😉 though no laughing matter…MATTERS .
If Republicans ever become adults, what will they do with all the MAGA cultists who need an idol as their leader?
Yes, ‘the law (of love) will be written in their hearts and minds’, not lettering on a ball so or bumper stickers. (Romans 2:14-16) ‘A law unto themselves’.
Some substack commenters have noticed far fewer 🔻red hats around, and the few people wearing them seem embarrassed!
‘em bare assed …are in for the finale..curtain coming down…remember their names
Can’t say it better than this poster! WHAT have we become?
There is STILL 37% of us who are 100% behind this clown, robbing us all blind while he LIES to us ALL!
That is a huge and apparently immovable number. I can't fathom why, after all that's happened. But then, look at what Jesse Watters and Megan Kelly have said recently -- "Arrest Obama"? "I have no sympathy for Alex Pretti" Jeez.
Arrest Obama for wearing a tan suit, remember?
That tan suit he looked FABULOUS in BTW!
I had not heard those quotes. Trying for click bate…BOTH of them!
Is there one functioning brain between the two of them? Jesse Waters and Meagan Kelly are a couple of partisan hacks posing as news casters. Their form of journalism is NOT journalism or news;it is yellow propaganda, lies and half-truths at best.
That number has remained constant throughout our history. It is reflective of the beliefs of the southern enslavers and the percentage of our population who believe that Christian men should dominate the family.
It’s still shocking to realize how out of touch so many remain!
Yes, the ‘domination’ thing is misogyny, not Christianity.
Scripturally, the husband is to play a headship role, the wife is to be loved & respected ‘as he wd his own body’ - meant to be a win-win relationship with sort of a ‘division of labor/ areas of influence’.
Despite cultural changes over time the basic premise of mutual love & respect remains.
“In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies … Nevertheless, each one of you must love his wife as he does himself; on the other hand, the wife should have deep respect for her husband. Eph. 5:28-33
This Kathryn is the real head-scratcher.
Which is the overriding focus of this regime -- power or greed? Or are they equal?
Betty, Focus on power because of their greed. That is the only reason they care about power. To be greedy, to steal and to not have to suffer the consequences of being criminal. Power to take and take and take and take until it is all gone, something they cannot yet imagine. They do not look at the lives of the people in totalitarian regimes. The Ayatollah Trump is endlessly creative when it comes to figuring out how to part people with their money. My friend says that Trump created the "Board of Peace" in order to set himself up for when he is no longer in the White House. Of course, when he is no longer in, no one is going to want to be on that board any more so I'm not so sure. I see it as a grifting opportunity for now.
Yes, it's the grift. Donald's an old man with a boy's mind (which he's still losing). Like a boy, he idolizes rich and powerful men: his father, Jeffrey Epstein, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, to name a few. But as a boy, he is both intimidated by and competitive with these idols.
Because he's stupid, he remained deeply in debt for nearly all of his adult life. Presumably, he's paid off his debts to the Russians by monetizing the U.S. presidency during his first term. With lessons learned from that experience, he's now monetizing the office to "catch up" with his idols. His goal is to have more money than Elon.
The billion-dollar admission fee to the "Board of Peace" is just a grift, as are all his lawsuits. It's all fraud to make him richer than Elon.
Equal
I feel equal.
“Public outrage over the violence of federal agents has given Senate Democrats a powerful lever”
Gosh, and it took all these terrible deeds to get a modicum of unity. One can only imagine the levers they will have in future years.
We voters need a new progressive party, IMHO
Senator Warren spoke at the National Press Club on the future of the Democratic Party, and she is of the opinion that a non-progressive Democratic Party will be a failure in elections for 2026, 2028, and beyond. It has to decide whether or not it kowtows to wealthy donors or works for the people, and the current leadership (Schumer and Jeffries) are not going to be the winning team, as they waffle too much, trying to woo the big donors. For both parties, it's still a case of 'follow the money'.
I agree. Senator Murphy was interviewed by the Contrarian and shared the 3 demands for ICE reform that may have support of all Ds. Underwhelming. One if the demands - judicial warrants - sounds good but if limited to entry into the home, is really a nothing. Most of these snatch and grab, ask questions later, occur outside of the home. And judicial warrants do nothing to protect Renee Good or Alex Pretti.
Time for a progressive party and full transparency about source of political contributions and PAC money.
Pirates, Pedophiles & Murderers, oh my!
Republican Party=Utter Clown Show
So Donald John Trump now wants to loot the U,S. Treasury for $10 billion, claiming that he was damaged by the release of his personal financial information. Let's cut to the chase: the U.S. is now under the control of a criminal, modern version of the KKK, now known as MAGA. The so-called Christians believe that the U.S. is a "Christian nation" and are working diligently to replace the democratic process with a Christian autocracy. They don't know what they don't know because of amathia, i.e., blindness to actual facts. The definition of amathia is sometimes "intelligent stupidity," and "willful blindness." I see it as a blind spot, the mind that dwells inside the brain so committed to a point of view that it cannot handle a set of contrary facts rationally. Mixed in with the religious belief is racism. This mix of religious fervor and racism was researched and published by two Univ, of Kansas professors and published in the peer-reviewed journal, "Critical Sociology," in Feb. 2018 entitled, "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, And Why?" Also helpful in understanding this phenomenon is Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland" about the rise of the KKK in the Midwest in the 1920's and HCR's book, "How the South Won the Civil War."
Footnote: The Trump Administration has just arrested journalist Don Lemon after Lemon reported on a protest in a Minnesota church, recording anti-immigration enforcement protesters who disrupted the church service, a clear violation of Lemon's First Amendment rights.
''When the Pillars Crack
The collapse of Trump’s governance model and the danger that follows''
A presidency built on spectacle, grievance, and disruption is beginning to collapse under its own weight. As Trump’s governing pillars crack, persuasion gives way to coercion, and the integrity of the 2026 midterms comes into focus as the final battleground.
___________________________________
“When persuasion fails, and governance collapses, the vote itself becomes the obstacle. That is the danger now coming into focus.”
Donald Trump sold the presidency as a performance of power. He promised dominance instead of deliberation, disruption instead of governance, and grievance instead of policy. For a time, that model worked politically. It generated attention, loyalty, and fear. But governing is not campaigning, and spectacle cannot substitute for results forever. The pillars of Trump’s presidency are cracking in public, and as they fail, only one option remains.
Trump’s governance model depends on showmanship. Threats replace strategy. Declarations replace planning. Television moments replace measurable outcomes. This approach thrives on immediacy, not endurance. It creates the illusion of motion without progress. Over time, voters notice that nothing actually gets built, fixed, or stabilized. Deals collapse. Deadlines pass. Promises quietly vanish. The performance continues, but the substance never arrives.
Grievance politics was the fuel that powered this engine. Trump positioned himself as the avatar of resentment, a champion for those who felt ignored, disrespected, or displaced. That anger was directed outward toward immigrants, journalists, judges, educators, protesters, and entire cities. It worked because it felt emotionally satisfying. But grievance has a shelf life. Anger does not lower grocery prices or stabilize housing. When daily life remains difficult, resentment starts to feel like misdirection.
The culture war, once a reliable mobilizer, now shows signs of exhaustion. The same enemies are recycled. The same moral panics are repackaged. What once felt transgressive now feels stale. Politics becomes an endless loop of outrage without resolution, and even loyal supporters begin to feel the fatigue.
Institutional disruption was sold as strength but produced fragility. Courts, elections, civil servants, inspectors general, and independent agencies were treated as enemies. Oversight was framed as sabotage. Loyalty replaced competence. Institutions exist to make power durable. When they are weakened, the presidency becomes erratic and ineffective. A government at war with its own systems cannot govern a complex society.
Foreign policy exposed this hollow strength most clearly. Trump promised to dominate allies and intimidate adversaries. Instead, alliances frayed, credibility eroded, and authoritarian leaders learned that chaos could be exploited. Loud ultimatums were followed by quiet retreats. Treaties were abandoned without replacements. The image of dominance cracked under the pressure of reality.
Even the economic story is unraveling. Trump branded himself as a master dealmaker for working people. What materialized were tax cuts tilted toward corporations and the wealthy, paired with instability and rising insecurity for everyone else. Populist language masked conventional elite outcomes. The gap between promise and lived experience keeps widening.
This erosion leaves Trumpism with a shrinking set of options. When governance fails and persuasion weakens, power must be preserved by other means. That is where elections enter the picture.
Efforts to undermine democratic outcomes are no longer theoretical. They are already underway. Election denial has been normalized within the movement, turning losses into alleged fraud by default. State-level efforts to restrict ballot access, shorten voting windows, purge voter rolls, and criminalize routine election administration are advancing under the banner of “integrity.” Loyalists who reject the legitimacy of prior results are being positioned inside election offices and oversight roles. Legal pressure campaigns against election workers have driven experienced professionals out, creating vulnerability through attrition.
The goal is not to win broad consent. It is to control the machinery when consent cannot be obtained.
This is the final logic of a failing strongman model. When performance no longer persuades, and grievance no longer mobilizes, democracy itself becomes the obstacle. The only remaining move is to discredit, distort, or override the vote.
This matters beyond Trump. His presidency tested the idea that a democracy could be governed through permanent conflict, humiliation, and spectacle. The results are now visible. Chaos does not produce stability. Division does not produce prosperity. Institutions cannot be attacked without consequence.
Trump’s presidency is failing not because it lacks aggression or volume. It is failing because its strategy cannot produce durable outcomes. Showmanship excites but does not sustain. Grievance mobilizes but does not build. Disruption shocks but does not govern.
Pillars rarely collapse all at once. They crack, lean, and weaken until the structure they support can no longer stand. When that moment arrives, the temptation is not reform, but force. That is the danger now in view.
https://essayx.substack.com/p/when-the-pillars-crack
Michael Corthell,
I read every word! Thank you for the details and clarity of our situation ie living within a Trump Presidency and his "thug leadership in Washington, DC"!
It is destructive for every American and for each one who longed and hoped to become an American...because they believed that we were different from nations with dictators. Many of our fellow citizens, who have been placed in powerful positions, have chosen to use these "honored positions of responsibility" for their own power and financial gain....to literally rob their fellow hard working citizens of financial security.
We need to work together to help one another. It is only when we achieve this service to our fellow men and women, that we can become a successful people!
Everyone should have the opportunity to work. Everyone should be able to receive basic health care....and an education that will prepare them to be able to find a job, especially the most vulnerable.
We are a more successful nation when we realize that no one should be left behind or pushed aside. This does not exclude our responsibility to follow laws, to make our own best efforts.
Excellent, humble, informed leadership is necessary for a nation and its people to be healthy. At this time in our history, though I see and am grateful for those decent, sacrificial and informed persons who are providing leadership, the enemy is fighting with all their might to destroy us.
We cannot let anything go! We cannot soften the actions of murdering the persons in the boats leaving South America. Stop dehumanizing this horror!!! Someone lost a son, a father, a husband! Stop trying to dehumanize us as living citizens who are watching these horrors!!! Will we be next if we choose not to vote for members of this criminal regime pretending to be "Republican leaders" in Washington, DC!!!!
Can you actually look at yourselves and pretend you are leaders for all the people in America ie " "the home of the free...BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE????"
Wise, wise words. Thank you. And, Emily, you sent me back to read carefully what I had skimmed too quickly. Thank you, too.
It could also be that they realise this shitfest is going down like a lead balloon, time to fill the treasure chests and flee like the pirates they are...
They’re checking all the boxes of rape, pillage and plunder.
Nice to see you batting lead-off, J. L.! 🫱🏻🫲🏽 WRITTEN in RESPONSE to JOYCE VANCE's COLUMN on the GEORGIA ELECTION RAID.💔
"What stuns me most is that so many people are willing to be so corrupt not only with money, but also with power. Yes, our Constitution needs some fixing; how that will occur is beyond me. ¿Do all of these trumpers, so many people, really mistrust other citizens and disdain republican principles so much?"😥
Ned McDoodle,
Yes Ned. There are persons who believe that it is okay to get away with corruption, as long as it does not affect them!! Corrupt justifications are made by many so that they repel a heart or the conscience or the character to be concerned. I do not understand persons who can do this???? I guess they see our President getting away with illegal actions, as well as others within our government and decide that they can do the same????
Your are dead-right, Elaine. The behavior is demoralizing. I am old fashioned in that I believe in a human soul. While I would like to think that there is a bit of a sinner in best of us and a bit of the saint in the worst, I have modified that belief; now I believe that there are people so evil, who have done so much wrong-doing that their souls are extinguished. For those of us who are flawed, such scandalous behavior becomes tempting.
What once was the ‘Republican’ party should now be referred to as NANP, “The New American Nazi Party”.
Just so!
These are unprecedented times. Be LOUD. We deserve better 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
Somewhere along the way the relationship between the voter and our elected representatives got turned around. We ended up supporting them financially while they ignored us. Now the voters are waking up and the politicians know it. This is our moment. When we call Congress do these things:
Tell-don't ask. We are their employer.
Be specific. State the issue clearly.
Show strength.
Know their re-election date. Let them know we will vote them out.
There are more of us than them. And we will win.
Barbara, I think the problem is our support is pocket change to them. Easy to ignore. They do listen to the people who really support them financially! That is not us…
Our vote is our ultimate power. And we need to let them know it. I am including myself in this when I say that for too long the voters have been too docile. We can rise up and let these spoiled, entitled politicians know we will end their jobs.
As Dr. Richardson recommended, we have reached out to elected Republicans who currently have the power to turn recent harmful policies around - our choice is to phone. We have so far phoned our state Senators and Representatives, both Democrats and Republicans, and then we phoned one Republican Senator in each of the red states in America to ask them to please rollback, reduce and freeze funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection. Our messages included the facts regarding the poorly trained lawless agents who repeatedly violate the first, second and fourth amendments, and how these U.S. government funded terrorists are harming American protesters and observers, even to the point of murder, while profiling protesters as domestic terrorists. More specifically we asked them to end roving patrols, to tighten the rules governing the use of warrants, to establish uniform codes of conduct and accountability, and to require agents be unmasked with active body cameras and name tags. We also included a plea to please do what they can to disempower Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller so they can do no more harm [OneClick2BetterWorld.substack.com].
Right, and got nowhere. My NC Senator Tillis has already said no to “no masks” because it would lead to agents being doxed. Really! Like let’s not unmask the KKK!
The only thing Tillis has cared about is Chairman Powell and the Fed because of the impact on Tillis net worth.
This takes time. We keep on until they either fold or get voted out of office.
I agree, Wendy, but I also appreciate that he called Noem an amateur and wants her dismissed.
And caring about the Fed is crucial, even if it is selfish. We will all be in deep trouble if Trump succeeds in controlling the Fed.
I have come to realize more than ever that talk is cheap. These politicians are long on talking but extremely short on actions.
I agree. I care about the Fed.
But unlike you I don’t give Tillis points for statements like Noem is an amateur when Tillis has no intention of doing anything about Noem.
For me he falls into the camp of “saw the wrong” but turned his back. So I lump him in with all the other Rs.
Yes.
Funny, police and FBI seemed to do just fine without masks for decades.
Your link won't open.
Thank you for your work.
Barbara thanks for letting us know. The link is fixed!
Thanks. You folks have done a great job! Lots of good information. BTW. There is another NO KINGS protest planned for March 28. I happened to catch the announcement. I very much appreciate the ongoing work Indivisible does in their respective communities. There are a lot of protest activities happening all the time. 50501 is also continually active.
Again-thank you for your work.
We are signed up!
Sorry, but saying “please” and “asking” and “including a plea to please do what they can” - I’m afraid - all signals an obedient child, a humble servant, a helpless subordinate! Our politicians need to know now more than ever that the citizenry must be considered in everything and indeed reckoned with. There are ways to speak respectfully and responsibly with *strength, intelligence, authority and agency* that just might get you listened to. … although it’s likely real Fascists won’t care how you phrase it.
In any case, don’t sound like a beggar.
We used strength, intelligence, authority and agency in our messages to Republican Senators and Representatives.
Senate Democrats are scoring a serious victory by separating five big budget bills from DHS/ICE, and allowing a mere two-week Continuing Resolution for the latter while budget negotiations proceed. Moreover, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has managed to keep Democrats, even Fetterman, fully united.
Question: Is it desirable for Democrats – and, if so, achievable – to next further separate out FEMA, the Coast Guard, THS, etc, and approve these separate from ICE and CBP? In other words, if Trump & the GOP refuse to make meaningful concession, then approve ONLY the non-controversial parts of the DHS budget...
It’s not only desirable but absolutely necessary. Lost in all of the horror and chaos is the fact that we taxpayers are literally paying for our own demise by funding ICE. Under this dictatorship, it has become a standing paramilitary army, growing by the day, with no restraints (all branches of legitimate armed forces operate under strict codes) and for all intents and purposes, complete immunity from prosecution for any crimes committed. ICE may at one time have been doable, but under this regime, it is being used for all the wrong reasons, not the least of which is to seed the ground for a complete takeover of the country by force in establishing a fascist government. Not only should ICE not get any more money, it should be abolished as it has completely gone off the rails from its original mission. “Immigration reform” under this regime is nothing more than a cover to destroy our democratic republic. Benjamin Franklin is spinning.
And we are also funding his FBI raid on Fulton County, his family’s suing the IRS, his palace-jet, the destruction of the east wing, his retaliation-grievance campaigns, possibly Senator Graham’s bill for $500,000 to sue the government, his weekly trips to his personal properties to golf, the Pardoned January 6th thugs who want restitution from the government, and continued tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires!
It's so important that ICE, DHS and Border Patrol be abolished. I've been through the border in San Antonio Texas and San Diego CA, we already have check points and immigration offices on many cities of the Mexican Border. There's never been a bigger reason than commerce to have these check points, etc. It drive me crazy that we, as Americans, have to add to border paranoia the distrust of foreigners. It's an excuse to be racist on the southern border. And you just don't hear that shit about the Canadian border. I sure do want us to grow up and stop acting like spoiled monsters about who looks different than the white people
I agree with you wholeheartedly
What do you think? We get to chose. Then we let them know what we want.
I tend to think the business of clumping so many things in one bill is one way of taking the opposition hostage. Why not clear the brush around the controversial part. Lets keep our good funding like Coast Guard, FEMA etc. Stop the funding manipulations!
This one they had the necessary Republican votes for. I doubt they have the votes for the others, though in principle there is no earthly reason for bundling it all together other than to obey their leader about “one big” bill. Some here posting think Democrats can do whatever they please and it will somehow happen, just like that. It likely won’t. Numbers matter.
No, I believe the Senate needs 60 votes for Cloture. That can only happen with a bipartisan vote.
I fully agree with the rest of your comment!
Yes, 60 indeed. Which means 13 more are needed if all Ds vote as a single bloc.
Ah, I was reading your first two sentences differently.
Ordinarily I would agree. But first thing T did was fire woman head of Coast guard. Then effectively neuter FEMA by putting it under Noem control. And so on. Are these agencies so corrupted that it wouldn’t matter if they were shut down?
And as I understand it - the president has to grant each state emergency funding to green light FEMA's aid to the state. He is not doing so in blue states. So I have to pay 1500. a year for flood ins and will receive no financial help when the big one hits us. A nor'easter with flooding is forecasted for Sunday.
I am so sorry. But that does nothing to get you the financial help you deserve.
Bravo, Megan. Thank you for info and a possible way to protest.
Reading this document tonight BUMPED my head off my body!!
🤯😵💫‼️😳🤯😵
Don’t Lose Your Outrage!!
Thank You, Megan.
I've been doing that too but it's not consistent. I'm taking care of my Mom, she has the big D in advanced stages and she's been so good this week about understanding the time I have to work on my calls to Senators and rep's. So kudos to Mum for her bright light of understanding!
Yes kudos to your mom - and you!
My NC Senator Thom Tillis(R) has called Noem an amateur - for both the unprofessional conduct of the Border Patrol in Minneapolis and for the slowdown in delivering promised FEMA relief to the Helene-damaged area of our state. He calls for her ouster. He is increasingly unafraid to stand up to Trump. He has gained good marks here for his Helene efforts. I live in Helene territory.
If you want a topic for your call or email today, that would be a good one, especially if you have Republican reps. "Senator Tillis has called Noem an amateur and says she needs to be replaced. I agree."
They will know exactly what you are talking about.
You show them that we are paying attention. That is crucial.
Thank you, Megan.
thank you!
Thank you for sharing this
Thank you, Megan.
I'm curious: are people calling not only their own reps but also others, e.g., Thune or Johnson? I'd like to give them a piece of my mind, but I'm too chicken.
I use one of their own in state addresses (listed on my spreadsheet to help with this) on the address line because technically it doesn't say "my" address. I also don't want to misrepresent myself any more than that, so in my messages I typically put (at the bottom) that while I'm not a constituent, I am reaching out because (insert name) does represent me on the (insert committee that fits the topic my message is about).
Another thing I do is call after hours. I don't leave my name or address/zip code so my voice doesn't go towards a count, but the more they hear from us, the better.
I also send faxes using faxzero.com (5 free/day). I don't send a lot of letters, but when I do I put the same “while I’m not a constituent” blurb I do in my emails.
Whenever I have called or tried to email a Rep not my own, I get asked for my zip code and then a message about not being in that district. How do you get around that? I have sent plenty of postcards and letters.
My first round of emails from the contact me links had a lot bounce back saying I wasn't a constituent so it either didn't get sent or basically wouldn't be read. So I changed the way I sent messages.
I use one of their own in state addresses (listed on my spreadsheet to help with this) on the address line because technically it doesn't say "my" address. I also don't want to misrepresent myself any more than that, so in my messages I typically put (at the bottom) that while I'm not a constituent, I am reaching out because (insert name) does represent me on the (insert committee that fits the topic my message is about).
Another thing I do is call after hours. I don't leave my name or address/zip code so my voice doesn't go towards a count, but the more they hear from us, the better.
I also send faxes using faxzero.com (5 free/day). I don't send a lot of letters, but when I do I put the same “while I’m not a constituent” blurb I do in my emails.
"...there was no point in taking a stand against renewed extra funding."
It is this constant waffling the Democrats do that is so harmful. Stop always hedging. Take a stand all the way. Funding is funding. To even fund DHS for two weeks is horrendous.
The Republicans are very aware they can wear Democrats down.
The failure of Schumer and Jeffries to hold their respective caucus' together is glaring.
They are NOT waffling. Did you understand what just happened in the Senate yesterday? And those 6 Democratic votes in the House were taken before Alex Pretti’s murder, not after.
Things are changing very quickly. Memes and tropes are a poor substitute for not paying closer attention to events as they transpire.
Splitting off the DHS funding from the other funding is waffling. Doing that gives away all of the Democrats'bargaining power. Otherwise, Schumer just negotiated a two-week period to negotiate changes to DHS funding in return for what exactly????
Isn't that essentially what happened with the ACA? Democrats caved on the shutdown for a promise of a vote in the Senate?
Is Schumer's memory really that short????
PS Somewhere down below on the leftmost line is my list of 26 things that should be demanded before the vote on the WHOLE funding package.
Did you see anybody else trying to do that? Did you actually see any other legislator put down demands for basic changes in the behavior of ICE?
Every Senate Democrat — and several Republicans — are forcing the Administration down a path it never had any intention of following before. All while being in the minority. All while a dysfunctional House remains out of session on the eve of a government shutdown.
Not bad for “waffling.”
Exactly what is going to force the administration down that path if the rest of the funding is passed?
Explain it to Barbara and me, please.
Exactly what is “waffling” when you’re in the minority but vote as a single bloc AND manage to get enough Republicans to back you to stop something from happening that wouid have proceeded without a hitch otherwise. Please explain it to mere mortals like myself.
Please tell us exactly WHAT you think Democrats, who are in the minority in both chambers of Congress, should achieve? And please detail HOW we can achieve that given our numerical constraints in the Senate and in the House.
What and how much depends on how much pressure there is pushing against the administration. That’s why you go in with a long list, more than you reasonably hope to get. Before you go in you have an agreement in the caucus on the top priorities that you want to achieve, and what you are most ready to give up. I would want to see the process take a couple of weeks to get bigger protests and to give protesters time to weigh in and contact their members of Congress. Johnson rigged this to rush the votes so there wouldn’t be time for adequate consideration before a shutdown. We can’t let him play that card.
There are several sources of pressure—not funding the government, the size of the crowds demonstrating against ICE/CPB, the pressure on individual members of Congress from their constituents, and pressure from outside the US, like countries withdrawing from FIFA and Germany warning its citizens contemplating visiting the US. There has to be time to build that up.
I would ask for the resignations first because Trump will always blame someone else first and throw them under the bus, Noem first because a replacement requires Senate confirmation. Then no additional money for ICE/CBP. Then the things that align with regular law enforcement practices, body cams, no masks, visible ID, and something harder, a clear definition of what ICE/CBP is allowed to do, a boundary between local law enforcement and ICE/CBP tasks. I would push for close coordination with local law enforcement providing crowd control and local SWAT teams for detaining the undocumented career criminals. The goal is to demilitarize ICE/CBP and transfer funds out of their budget to local law enforcement.
Then I would pause and go for a consultation with the caucus. and see what should come next. Every day along the way I would have a different member of the Democratic negotiating team brief the press on rogress and priorities.
What are your thoughts?
I couldn’t agree more. Senate Democrats have just scored a huge victory!
Do I wish it was more? Of course I do! But anyone who dismisses this "waffling" is seriously overestimating the power that the minority party can exert.
I am positively surprised by the substantial and meaningful demands from Democrats, as well as by Chuck Schumer’s ability to keep Senate Democrats fully united. I have repeatedly criticized him before – but not on this.
Did they waffle or did they just score a huge victory... ? I think they might have done both. I don't think we'll know for another two weeks who gets the victory lap. Until we see in detail the Democrats' demands for the DHS, then the White House concessions, conclusions are premature. The Democrats haven't had a great record for standing firm, but then they haven't had the leverage which they now have. They'd better win consequential concessions or they will be seen to have waffled.
Donna, I agree. It’s all about what the actual concessions are. Right now the list of demands is pretty pathetic and unlikely to change what’s happening on the streets. No protection for protestors. No off limits for schools and churches much less workplaces. Can still pepper spray and use rubber bullets. And so on.
And of course ICE doesn’t need the additional 63 billion on top of its already bloated budget.
So to those commentators saying that Ds are in the minority and what can you expect, I say I can expect WAY more.
Sen. Blumenthal proposed a set of changes which were promising but so far I've seen little reporting of it. If the Dems squandered the advantage they hold, it will be to their shame.
Their shame but our terror.
The proposals don’t tell me much unless I can tie them to ICE activities that should stop. Pepper spray and assault of observers. Breaking car windows. Entry into churches and schools. And do, so much more. I need specifics.
ICTT, perhaps those 6 Dem voters had not seen the videos.
The videos of the murders of Good and Pretti have been the undeniable evidence that has created the tipping point in this dark time when MAGA has seen themselves at the mercy of such forces as represented today by ICE and CBP.
May it be so! (hands in prayer to SOME higher power emoji and thanks be to that universal power!…you can tell I am a Unitarian at heart!)…and thanks to those on the frontline with their cameras!
The votes were taken BEFORE Pretti’s murder. Doubtful the same scenario would unfold right now.
But taken after the murder of Renee Good. I know a waffle when I see it.
BTW as to those Rs voting with Ds. Scott, Lee, Tuberville, Budd. Senator Murphy says these right wing MAGA just like to vote no on spending bills because they would like to tear down the federal government. Schumer did not negotiate R support.
I think it's time to freeze the Trump family's assets until a proper investigation can be conducted. Don't you?
Send in the DNI.
The ultimate irony of this latest nonsense in Georgia is that if evidence of election rigging did exist (which it does not, as has been proven MULTIPLE times), Trump has already violated the Constitution by being “elected” President three times. Any judge would rule he must resign at once.
And even if they “find” something now (5 years plus beyond the statute of limitations), no halfway competent judge would accept such “evidence” because it’s clearly tainted. (Of course they will do their best to locate a less-than-halfway competent judge, but it’s doubtful they can).
The danger is great, but so is the obvious: a demented Trump, stuck forever in his imaginary Groundhog Day in 2020, is spinning completely out of control. His coalition frays, his desperation mounts, his opposition strengthens, his failures pile up, like the mounds of ice and snow all over Washington right now, his people have clearly started gnawing each others’ tails off.
He will try to keep frightening us all to death in the immediate term (how about a wee little invasion of Iran?) but none of this is what “success” looks like.
Donold just can't let anything go, so petty, obsessive, vengeful, insane...The projection is astounding but so infuriating and obvious. Every accusation is an admission. His phone calls to Raffensperger are in the permanent record, and so are Lindsay Graham's. Those 2 and many other MAGA bozos tried to steal the 2020 election. Apparently they don't think we were paying attention or remember what conniving, lying thieves they are.
Now they're entangling themselves in another web of deceit, ransacking the Fulton County Elections warehouse with his well heeled FBI and special ops DNI stealthy Gabbard. Taking boxes from the warehouse to who knows where, jeopardizing records, contaminating the certification of a 5 year old election. So horrifying, obviously illegal and ridiculous at the same time.
Excellent assessment, horahi.
Why are they after these ballots? Will they use information gathered to throw out votes in the coming midterms?
Why would you want to continue using FB, Instagram, X?
When you boycott Target, Amazon and others for their affiliation with "the administration ", why not target social media as well?
To stop all this insanity, WE, the people need to be consistent in our efforts and with our words.
Protest every day, stop consuming the capitalistic life. Shut down restricted social media and let's all be like Minnesota. Standing proud and strong.
Dear WFH—posting our views only on “acceptable” social media magnifies the sound of our own echo chamber furthering political silos, but does little to educate and communicate with people more broadly. It is important to comment on platforms where right leaning people at least see that there is an alternate view. I often will post a response on FB to people who i know that post untruths or other propaganda with the title “a view from the other side”, which always respectfully tries to briefly lay out a counter narrative with appropriate sources. Though often the response to my post is to not believe my post, they always read it and sometimes the response is “yes, who knows, but it’s great we have the love of our families”, which we share. That is a positive step.
It’s the destruction of the Fairness Doctrine by Reagan that helped create silos and propaganda channels like Fox in the first place, and we should do everything possible to not perpetuate shutting out alternate views. (As a refresher, President Ronald Reagan's administration eliminated the Fairness Doctrine, a long-standing FCC policy that required broadcasters to present balanced coverage of controversial issues of public importance. The doctrine was abolished in 1987, a move that fundamentally altered the American media landscape, particularly for radio and television.)
I agree. We have to show up where the people are. Many have never gotten beyond Facebook. X and Tik Tok have slipped down the RW rabbit hole, so how do we (hastily) set up infrastructures for truly independent and accessible, social media and internet platforms that are not so imbedded in the TechBro fascist coup??? And then reach the populace with it? It’s risky but we have to go where people are.
Here for the forces of Liberation is a legal, non-violent weapon said to have proven extremely effective in the battles of Portland: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n0kd!,w_568,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcb28deee-afca-41b1-ba93-aa5111f4cf3b_1170x841.jpeg (With thanks and a salute to Adrienne.)
That looks like a n AI image, but an amusing idea. 😜
Make Government Constitutional Again
BREAKING: The ultimate Friday News Dump:
Given on-going 42 day violations of the Epstein Disclosure Act the DOJ has released:
*1800 'images'
*2000'videos'
* Allegedly a "complete", total of three (3) million 'pages'. However, the DOJ disclosure does NOT contain the 2019 SDNY evidence against Maxwell buried under a Court seal.
On an interview of Rep Ro Khana, minutes ago, h is still looking for "FBI 302 Forms" to identify other abusers & "Prosecution Memos" to get to the bottom of why certain men were NOT prosecuted.
Maximum support for the Victims & their Families!
*****
Friday, 1/30/26, on STRIKE
Jen Psaki interviewed U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, who visited 5year old LIAM CONEJO RAMOS & his father yesterday. The pair, Father & Son are alive if not well in a southwest Texas detention center along with scores of others. NONE of those detained are criminals. Full Stop.
Young Liam wants to go back to Minnesota & be with young mates & his familiar support.
Jen Psaki, a veteran White House communicator for several Presidents started to cry last night reporting Liam's status. That's not breaking down that's empathy
I am not crying; I am on National Strike today, Friday January 30, 2026.
Justice for Renee, Alex, Liam & his Father.
******
This needs to be elevated so more are aware of it. Poor Liam and all the other children in these concentration camps are slowly wilting away. It’s well known conditions at this abhorrent places are lacking in hygiene and medical care but consider for a moment the environment itself - crowded, noisy, terrible lighting and being without the places like school or classmates - and how all combined is too much for their sweet, innocent little souls to overcome.
Need more Mamas.❤️
Traumatized for life!
National Strike and a protest at Burbank city hall. TGIF 😈
Make America Constitutional Again
Make Article I (Congress) Relevant & Effectual Again
Unfortunately all of this is completely Constitutional. As long as SCOTUS says it is, then it is.
Are Schumer and the Senate Democrats giving away the store again????
This is one of the few pressure points Democrats have on the administration, and, according to the NY Times, all Schumer has negotiated is a 2-week window to negotiate unspecified “guardrails” for ICE.
How did this work out on ACA subsidies for the American people????
Call your Senators and Representatives and tell them to vote NO!
THE COUNTRY DEMANDS AN END TO THESE IMMORAL GESTAPO TACTICS.
Schumer cannot be the one to negotiate this.
Here is my list of what needs to be done to restore faith in immigration control in this country, given the human rights violations that ICE and CBP have committed in the past year. Legislation addressing DACA and long-term residents without legal status should be handled separately.
We won’t get it all, but Democrats have to make clear to the American people all the things that are wrong with how these agencies work now.
NO 5 SPENDING BILLS and a government shutdown until:
******************************************************************************************************
Noem resigns
Bovino resigns
Homan resigns
NO ICE—the agency is disbanded
No searches without judicial warrants
No additional funding for CPB
Current ICE/CBP Funding is to be used for settlements for those killed/died in custody or due to ICE/CBP actions and those whose rights were violated, and for renovation of detention centers so they are brought to humane standards, including onsite medical staff and emergency care.
Investigations of all deaths and injuries in ICE/CBP custody will be done by local authorities.
24/7 access to social workers and translators to deal with family/children issues at detention centers
All US citizen children are to be assigned immediate legal representation.
24/7 access to immigration lawyers and translators at detention centers
Review of all contracts with private suppliers of detention services to ensure they meet minimum standards and agree to random inspections.
Return of Congressional oversight procedures and standards as of 12/31/2024
No CBP signing bonuses
All ICE/CBP hired since 1/20/2025 must go through standard vetting procedures as of 12/31/2024 and must pass before they can be returned to duty
No shortened CBP training—a return to 12/31/2024 training standards and retraining of all CBP agents hired since 1/1/2025
No military fatigues
Mandatory body cams are on during any contact with the public and potential or current immigrant detainees.
Mandatory identification is worn, including visible ID numbers and nametags
No masks
Mandatory vehicle roof identification
No stops/searches without a return to 12/31/2024 standards of probable cause.
Current ICE/CPB funding is to be used to pay for trained local police presence to assist in the apprehension of immigrants with criminal records for deportation
All CPB operations are to be coordinated with local authorities
No assault rifles unless on raids with coordinated local police presence.
No pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, watercannon. Crowd control is to be the responsibility of local police and paid for with current ICE/CPB funds
*****************************************************************************************************
Democrats have to make it clear to the American people how far off the rails the current administration’s Gestapo tactics are.
Renee Good and Alex Pretti and a long list of others have died or been brutalized over the last year under these inhumane tactics. We can’t dishonor them by not fighting for major reform of the system.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/29/us/trump-news?unlocked_article_code=1.IFA.vsTS.RsYIrXSfcA8z&smid=url-share
Good list. I suggest you add the following: Hire and train a sufficient number of immigration judges and staff to clear the backlog of immigration cases within the next two years and thereafter staff the immigration court system so every case can be heard and decided within 60 days.
Great addition! I am not sure I even know how they fit into the process at this point. Maybe a lot of that ICE/CBP money can go to implementing that suggestion.
My thinking is that trying to claw back the funds will never fly with Trump and the diehard MAGA types, but using it up so it isn’t available to the storm troopers on strategies to improve immigration processes could get through.
Senator Murphy on the Contrarian said that the good immigration judges have been fired and the bad immigration judges are denying cases according to instructions from T rather than according to law. So more judges would have to include protection for judicial independence.
I also worry this will be a repeat of the ACA.
Thanks for putting together this list of demands. Could you explain further about the last few points and coordinating with local police? Shouldn’t it be something like “DHS is required to notify local police about time/location of operations so local police can observe federal agents and provide crowd control”. I worry about the “coordination” aspect of these points as some local agencies may end up assisting or it may be seen that way to the public.
Also, if we are asking for body cameras, the recordings need to be stored outside executive branch. If the executive branch is storing the recordings, they will be altered and used against victims.
I watched a video by The Left Hook recorded Wednesday I believe. It was an immigration lawyer (Jessica Zweng) speaking to the fact that immigration is essentially isolated to the executive branch. There needs to be more cross over between branches, particularly in terms of access to the judicial branch.
You are right, it needs to be clearer. Thanks for the catch!
My intention was that crowd control and showing up with force to detain undocumented career criminal immigrants are law enforcement functions and need to remain with the local police, who are trained to do it.
We are in deep trouble now because ICE/CBP and local law enforcement have overlapping mandates, and as we've seen, ICE/CBP training is clearly not up to the task if constitutional rights are to be respected. Clearly, local police in some cities won't be up to the task either, but that is a local issue and might be addressed if some of the ICE/CBP funds are drawn down (see below).
The ICE/CBP mandate should be kept as narrow as possible, and the boundaries and limits of their authority should be made as clear as possible. Right now, they think they can do anything, and they have immunity.
Another factor is that the funds appropriated under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act must be spent down, and one way to do that is to use them to improve local policing by paying for police presence to accompany ICE/CBP agents during checks beyond routine ones.
The point you made about needing an independent copy of the original body-cam recordings is really important. The AI-altered image that the White House put out of the black woman lawyer crying was extremely disturbing, for how realistic it was, and how both petty and bold it was to do.
https://thelefthook.substack.com/p/the-violence-is-the-point-how-ice
thanks for the heads up on the Jessica Zweng video. Listening to it now.
While local law enforcement is certainly not a standardized body, it is (mostly) not a mercenary force, which the current iteration of ICE seems to be (and distinct from Customs and Boarder Protection and Department of Homeland Security Police) which are different entities and much better trained. ICE used to be in that category as well, until they became the mercenary force they have become in the past year or so, with the signing bonuses and other bribes.
Your trashing of the Democrats for their obvious treachery, Georgia, is both apt and long overdue; they diddle about brandishing fictitious protests that are proven utterly meaningless by the fact they do absolutely nothing -- say again NOTHING -- to stop the ChristoNazi conquerors' reign of ever-escalating terror. The Democrats' cloak of plausible deniability is at last wearing thin; what are their change-nothing protests but revelation of their clandestine function as the ChristoNazis' Fifth Column?
Which prompts the one question I have for and about Dr. Richardson: why does she continue to treat as truth the Democrats' excuses for their collaboration with the enemy -- "Seven Democrats joined the Republican majority in backing it to continue funding for other important agencies..." -- rather then expose these statements for the Plutocracy-serving Big Lies they so obviously are.
I salute you, Georgia, for having the courage to speak the truth. Thank you.
Thank you for the compliment. The above was what I wrote to my senators, Andy Kim and Cory Booker, so it is more polemical than usual. Luckily, they don't have a cap on character count, or at least I haven't hit it yet. My Republican representative, Tom Kean Jr., has a 2000-character cap. Small thoughts required....
In one of her recent politics chats, I was struck by something Heather said. She said, in essence, that as a historian, she could not be political; she had to be factual. I would add something to that — her job as a historian is to juxtapose facts.
It is up to the reader to draw the conclusions and the inferences, the intentions of the actors.
Heather's writing is compelling and lucid because of the juxtapositions she puts before us, and the clarity of the connections between them.
But she never tells us what to think. Like all great teachers, she shows us great respect in that.
Importantly, we are left to make the logical conclusions for ourselves.
I think that is the key to learning and deep understanding.
Georgia, you hit on a very critical point with the presence that HCR has in the various media she employs: Letters From an American are written for some historian, who in the future may be asking herself "what the hell happened there"* when researching this period in American history. Her other platforms (History chats, podcasts, lectures, etc.) give us the tools to use in our resistance.
* A nod to her Saturday chats with 18th century historian Joann Freeman titled "What the Hell Just Happened?"
I love the What the Heck Just Happened series too. They both get to laugh. You are right, they serve different purposes and somewhat different audiences. It’s just exhausting trying to keep up.
You go to have a cup of coffee and come back and Don Lemon has been arrested. And Alex Pretti is back to being labeled a domestic terrorist and Tulsi Gabbard is in Georgia with the FBI. That last one took about 8 hours of research to come up with two possible related explanations, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a third to use a what the heck “cuckoo for cocoa puffs” explanation.
In general, Georgia, I am as favorably impressed by and supportive of Dr. Richardson -- awed by her, actually -- as anyone here. And had she written the passage I quoted above in my critical comment only slightly differently -- my editing in parentheses -- I would have neither complaint nor question: "(The) Seven Democrats (who) joined the Republican majority in backing it (claimed they did so) to continue funding for other important agencies..." (Yes my journalism career includes tenure as a rim-rat [aka copy-reader], also as a city editor, news editor and editor-in-chief.)
I enjoyed following this conversation. I am neither a copy reader, editor, or much of a proof reader, and admire those with that skill set.
Senate Democrats — together with several Republicans — just forced a major capitulation in the budget process last night involving DHS — or hadn’t you bothered noticing?
Memes and tropes that sound good and pleasing are a poor substitute for not paying closer attention to rapidly changing events.
ICTT:
I notice a great deal, and I research a lot before I write here. I also try to show respect in my replies to the people who reply to what I write even when I disagree. I try to respond to what was said, the points in the argument they are trying to make.
Sometimes that is harder to do than at other times.
Ah, Georgia, I see immediately below we have revealed another proof of the continued relevance of Lev Bronstein's axiom from 1905: "In every gathering of three revolutionaries, there is at least one agent of the Okhrana." As was Tsarist Russia, so is ChristoNazi theocracy.
Loren: I think the comment you are refering to came from someone who actually liked my previous comment. Sometimes it is hard to tell which comment people are responding to with the way threads work here and the reordering by number of likes.
Regardless, never fear. I can hold my own in a debate. Even before I have my first coffee of the day.
????
nursery grade people, children with sweets who think they are cool... professional chunterers... both loren and georgie seem rather egocentric.
Really, how condescending of you you pretentious-sounding nonentity.
Seriously??? Can we please stay civil here?
Look at where the 2 attacks are coming from. This is way too common here. No serious input just a lot of stalking and meanness. Please report this guy.
I reported your comment. And I blocked you.
I blocked him too. No need for anyone to be nasty!
Have a great weekend!
...and blocked ya back. Ö
makes no difference to me wannabe intellectual.
This is really good work Georgia! Thanks so much for this. I appreciate the amount of time and dedication you put into this.
Thanks Barbara. I appreciate your comments as well. They move the conversation forward and stay focused on the big ideas.
Sometimes Heather in her politics chat stops her self in mid sentence to keep from dropping down a personal “rabbit hole” because it intriged her and she knows a lot about it but it is not central to the point at hand.
You help everyone steer clear of the rabbit holes. Thank you for that.
Mobster despots must intimidate.
Heather discussed this on her podcast today – how criminal Donald knows his knaves cannot win in 2026, so he must up his cheating. Gerrymander more. Seizures of voter rolls (though these belong to the states, not Donald’s feds). And use of his secret police armies to intimidate.
To be clear ICE and CBP are public agencies, paid for by public money. But for their thuggery and cruelty they now answer only to Donald’s worst goons.
Putin is happy.
The rich and celebrities who raped Donald’s, Jeffrey’s, and Ghislaine’s underage girls are happy – all now forever protected.
The Epstein files will never surface. Instead, more militarized private army intimidation and cruelty. More concentration camps, deaths there, and what Heather notes as the ominously many disappearances from there.
More corrupting of the 2026 elections.
More extortions, bribes, and pardons-for-pay for Donald.
There seems to be a cult of violence is every land in every age that is drawn to rule by gratuitous coercion and violence. And then there are those who just want to get along. It seems to be our society's more intractable and most devastating problem.
We never get to stop fighting a "war" to end all wars, or fully enjoy liberty and justice for all. I know that maintaining those rights inherently requires a ceaseless and daunting effort, and human perfection is always out of reach and perhaps not even logically possible, but fighting the same @#$% battles again and again is getting so OLD.
Heather laughed when this point came up on her podcast today, J L.
The things Donald is doing now exactly replicate what the former enslavers of the Old South began institutionalizing in the Reconstruction era. Same corruptions. Same shutting off of voting rights to all non-whites. Same privileging of the elite property classes.
HERE'S HOW THE CHRISTONAZIS ARE STEALING OUR ELECTIONS
(A Thom Hartmann Exclusive)
To enlarge upon Dr. Richardson's warning about stolen elections, here is vital information from Thom Hartmann about how the thievery is accomplished, including credible statistical evidence showing how the ChristoNazis' purging of Blacks, Hispanics and white progressives from the 2024 voter rolls put Trump in the White House. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-q1lWsnlhg&t=5s (Election discussion starts at 9:09)
(It should be noted that Hartman, formerly infamous for kowtowing to the Democrats, now seems ready to recognize them as probable collaborators in the ChristoNazi conquest.)
One thing I'm sure of is that we need to call corruption by it's proper name. In every case.
I'm not onboard with your all-out pessimism, Phil, but you have perfectly stated the situation and clearly stated the future before us... if we don't stop Trump decisively, and soon. I cling to the belief that we will. We're at an early inflection point in expressing and acting on our outrage. That's my hope and prediction. We'll see. What a time to be alive.
There is a growing sense of alarm and frustration as I watch this demented old man seemingly lose his grip on reality. It's not just about the outcome of the 2020 election; it genuinely appears that his cognitive faculties are slipping away. The situation feels dire enough that impeachment seems like a necessary step, yet I can’t help but notice the glaring lack of courage within the Republican Party when it comes to challenging Trump.
It seems as though no one is willing to confront him, why is that? The answer, unfortunately, appears simple: they're terrified of jeopardizing their own positions and losing their jobs. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens across the country face job losses every day, struggling to make ends meet while those in power prioritize their careers over the well-being of the people they represent.
This disconnect between our leaders and those they’re supposed to serve is infuriating and disheartening, leaving not just me but countless others, who read Dr. Richardson, feeling sick with worry for our nation’s future. If we don’t take decisive action soon, if we don’t hit some kind of reset button, the damage may become irreparable, assuming it isn’t already too late to turn things around.
Let’s call Trump’s statements “false” or a “lie” rather than “debunked”.
I believe that “It is all about Control”. MAGA has also shown that it will accept whatever Trump does. The Epstein files with the April, 2016 case of Katie Johnson v. Trump & Epstein alleged that both Trump and Epstein raped a 13 year old girl in Epstein’s NY house in 1994, but MAGA will eve accept that when it becomes widely accepted as true. Trump has tested his limits. He does not believe that anyone can stop him.
The point is that MAGA is fraying. What you call MAGA is beginning to come apart at the seams.
You can keep preaching to the already converted, or you can get busy trying to widen those cracks of failure. The sound of the shattering is really getting quite loud.
That, Mr. Eaton, is because the ChristoNazi triumph is the fulfillment of a multi-generation, bi-partisan scheme more than a century in the making. To discover the carefully hidden poisonous roots of Trump's "Unified Reich," go here: https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/january-25-2026?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=205274486
I remember reading that originally. Are you still in Washington State?
Yes. I'm re-posting it for the same reason I'm re-posting the lawsuit. It's vital information too few people have.
1. There should be no agreement to fund anything! No essential services are that essential. Not my social security. Not the military. None.
2. No election has been stolen. There is no trove off documents showing any such conspiracy.
3. All of Trump’s lawsuits are bogus attempts at extortion. The man is a racketeer pure and simple. He should be stopped permanently and with prejudice.
I "liked" you for items (1) and (3). However, there is (overwhelming) evidence the 2024 election was stolen from us: see the Thom Hartmann link above.
Ah, cherrypicking and not even maga... tut, tut.
The most harrowing pivot point in this narrative is not the street violence or the legislative gridlock but the systemic weaponisation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to institutionalise Trump's grievance.
The DNI's role is fundamentally about truth-seeking through data. By tasking Tulsi Gabbard with "chasing down allegations" that have been dismissed by over 60 courts, the executive branch is effectively declaring that facts are subordinate to Trump's ego. Using it to "bolster executive orders" on voting turns the intelligence agency into a political weapon.
Between the $10 billion IRS lawsuit and the DNI's new mandate, the state is being treated as a private law firm and personal bank for the executive. And if the system fails to impeach a leader for attempting to "personally loot the treasury" then it has already lost its moral compass.
Meanwhile, the US is positioning significant military assests in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean, presumably in an attempt to intimidate or perhaps strike directly at Iran. Anything to keep the Trump/Epstein Pedo Files off the front page.
Yup. Sing it Jesse!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KYbb_e6NHWU&pp=0gcJCTMBo7VqN5tD
This is worse than anything we could have imagined. It’s 1984 combined with The Handmaid’s Tale with the Godfather thrown in. And Lindsey Graham needs to be impeached. Can a Senator be impeached ? This is the Mafia.