A grim day for America indeed. One of Thomas Jefferson's favorite authors was Tacitus, the greatest of Roman historians whose theme was how power corrupts the human spirit. One of his most famous lines is: Cupido dominandi cunctis adfectatibus flagrantior est. "Lust for absolute power is more burning than all passions."
A grim day for America indeed. One of Thomas Jefferson's favorite authors was Tacitus, the greatest of Roman historians whose theme was how power corrupts the human spirit. One of his most famous lines is: Cupido dominandi cunctis adfectatibus flagrantior est. "Lust for absolute power is more burning than all passions."
Indeed.
The new Trump administration. To cite another Roman historian, Livy, foedum inceptu, foedum exitu: "Foul at its inceptiuon, foul in outcome".
Nothing good will come out of this administration, Nothing... Drumph is a criminal, nothing but a criminal, and will always be a criminal. We need to oppose everything he does, with all of our strength.
Let's hope the Smith report will be published after all and before inauguration day. If nothing else, more people will be able to read black on white about the criminal that 70+ million voted in as our next president. Shame on them!
This nation's lonely eyes have failed to see him for what he is, or the real and salient prosecusions would have been enacted in the timely manner required. Now expecting him to deliver for democracy is ludicrusly naive.
Not sure I understand. I thought that his passivity in appointing a Special Counsel played a major role in why we are in the situation we now find ourselves. More information, please.
Exactly, kdsherpa. I responded to Ricardo's comment by saying Garland's failure to quickly take action against Trump, along with McConnell, is the reason Trump avoided justice., and that Garland's failure needs to be critically and forensically analyzed by legal scholars
Clearly I misunderstood the post by Anne-Louise Luccarini re Garland, which in a way-too-quick reading I interpreted as her asking for help from Garland. I have opposed every move, or rather failure to move, on the too many legal sanctions Garland could have addressed. I have made no exceptions to Garlands failure to act responsibly--I think he deserves disbarment and any legally available consequences to his betrayal of his position. I have also commented in frequent posts on why he was placed in this position and backed by Biden. My sincerest apologies to Anne-Louise and to you and to all who were tangentially confused by my inexcusable, lazy failure to stay in tune with all the noble efforts put forth.
"They conclude that releasing Smith’s report would not ‘be in the public interest." Indeed! Policy in 2025 will soon be run for the pleasure of Oligarchs and Sociopaths only.
I was driving when Bill Barr's "summary" of the Mueller report was broadcast on NPR - the way he spun that report was to make its conclusions unrecognizable.
When they say the public interest, they mean THEIR interest.
I am astonished where we are in America right now. We already get little to no information. The fact most Americans get their “news” from influencers is one of the scariest things I’ve ever read. Joe Rogan is now trusted to relay information in a clear and truthful manner that has the responsibility of journalism? But on the other hand, we can’t even count on real news outlets to have reporters ask follow up questions or point out blatant lies in real time. Trump just goes on shows, lies without any challenge and they head off to commercial like it’s true.
Bezos has completely discredited his tag line “democracy does in darkness” by stifling editorials supporting candidates and a cartoonist who clearly depicted the state of America. I see zero difference from the oligarchs in Russia and I’m guessing Trumo doesn’t either. That’s what he likes about Putin….the giant successful scam he’s been able to run for two decades. He is literally mirroring Putin’s playbook.
Putin has gotten the nillionaires in all industries to support him (business, finance, media) and in return let’s them do whatever they want as long as they give him gobs of money and let him retain power. And he agrees not to poison or imprison them.
I highly doubt the rank and file Trumo voter signed up for that.
Well, now Meta joins Twitter at eliminating all fact checking so that the 1st amendment free speech now includes lying. It is our constitutional right to lie. I am sure Zuckerberg will make lots of money by eliminating the folks needed to fact check. The rich get richer, eh?
I'll never forget the handshake and look that passed between them, 11 November 2018, in Paris, as Putin arrived and moved past the Trumps to take his allocated place in the front row.
This country is now under fascist rule, manned by the forces that Trump pretends are just his forces. Many with morbid maudlin compunction blame the Republicans and the MAGA cult. What they refuse to acknowledge is that the Democratic Party, by its actions largely begun under the degenerate Bill Clinton, whose moral character shames not Trump's, put millions out of work forever by proudly promoting NAFTA , the beginning of the end for working Americans. The starter to "moving to center." How many MAGA ranks were filled by those former, left-trusting workers disenfranchised by Clinton's sell-out? This country will never be regained by the existing Democratic Party in charge as it now exists. Only a meaningful rebuilding of the Democratic Party completely to exemplify its principles--now only a fabric of pretense by ruling Democrats--will unMAGAfy the voting majority.
They won’t believe it anyway. It will be some deep state conspiracy or something or other. That is one of the greatest harms that the felon-elect has done to this country…everything is fake news. The only thing you can believe is what “he” tells you.
But at least it will exist in the public record. Every awful thing this man has done must be recorded meticulously, at least for whatever future historians write about how we allowed this monster to kill our democracy, slowly, and then all at once.
Yet, they won’t. The perfect storm is upon us. A corrupt, criminal party that exists to destroy the government, that will bring oppression and retribution to the populace meets a weak, spineless party that is so wedded to the now dead “norms” that they look and govern like fools. It’s predator meets prey and I have never felt more disturbed, disappointed and disgusted by this collapsing system known ironically as the United States.
If Dems won't act on our behalf then we must prod them on. I just added my Senators phone numbers to my contact list and am planning on calling them every day. Every.Single. Day. and we all need to do this religiously.
Opposition did not help with the outcome of the election that has brought Trump and his minions back into the power of the once greatest nation in the world.
I am confounded at the response of my Christian friends and relatives (not all but TOO MANY!!!!!) who voted for this manipulative wealthy criminal. Take note of the many "riding in on his coattails"!!! They are just like him....greedy for power and position and the wealth of this nation which they have NOT earned....they do not deserve. The blood of everyday patriots has been shed...bodies broken physically and mentally....from violent service and sacrifice to preserve freedom here and throughout the world!
Hold on!!!! This will be more than a bumpy ride!!!!
"HAPPY THOUGHTS" OF CONQUERING AND CONTROL ARE POURING OUT FROM THE INCREASING NUMBER OF DICTATORS TAKING OVER LEADERSHIP POSITIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.....STARTING OUT WITHIN OUR VERY OWN COMMUNITIES!!!
Beautiful historical references! Always feels like I’m not alone - though my education is patchy my devotion endures - strong and righteous for my little ones, and my oldest too, with fewer opportunities than I have been given. The mother in me believes I must stand strong for OUR COUNTRY.
The pattern of tyranny is ancient, and I think that that should give us pause. We keep fighting kindred battles against the essentially the same enemy, same basic script with new generations of players. What are we missing here? Don't we need to develop a different strategy?
And truth can win out if we stand bravely together. With our hearts and minds focused on TRUTH.
Even if this gets buried in the mash of ‘news’ we can RESURRECT OUR BATTLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS .
I am ‘out of my depth’ clearly. And fired up with indignation as a woman so recently freed (from the kitchen, the babies, etc) to join the conversation.
"That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." - Lincoln
Kings don’t have any more “divine” rights than the lowest of their subjects. We got rid of that divine assumption when we revolted against king George.
Celeste, you are 💯 % right but I could not, yet, figure out how. For some time I trusted our leaders and legislators but I lost faith in them. I know they tried but they were very ineffective and the result is in front of us.
There are degrees of trust, and trust in competence is different from trust in character. All of us are fallible. The thing is that we can only self-govern, do the democracy thing, if we grasp enough of our circumstances, in the moment and along well-informed paths of future probabilities and accept adult responsibilities for building liberty and justice for ALL. WE have to set the overall agenda, and identify (well before election day) fiduciaries (able and trustworthy representatives) to carry it forward. That's mandatory for the kind of society most of us claim to revere.
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…" -- Churchill
J L, I never questioned the character of our legislators in part because each individually is different. I just questing their effectiveness as a group to confront and solve the kind of situation we are facing now. Agree with you regarding the weaknesses and imperfections of the Democratic system which is always evolving as an experiment trying to reach for a "more perfect " form of government. I think that one of the greatest contradiction of the system is that in order to be really Democratic, should allow the existence of the "enemies whiting " and convive and compete with them confident that democracy is a better system and everything would be for the better. But not always. We were run over by a relatively small group of anti Democratic people that at the international level is undermining our foundations and as we speak, replacing it with something very similar to fascism. Once they are established it won't be easy to undone what they have created. I'm not quite sure we'll have elections in two years and much less in four. Unless you call what they do in Russia or Hungary ,"elections". And i don't think our leadership and legislators are aware of this situation and / or would know how to confront this nightmare.
We are backpedaling because of the infiltration of the courts. We must uphold the integrity of the system of laws, FAIR laws, that are applied to all. I believe a terrible injustice was done by the inaction of Merrick Garland in applying our laws without hesitation or fear. This must be reversed. We have an election to win in 2026, correcting the course of Congress is imperative to bolster our system of laws. The integrity of our courts is a must.
A man who lies habitually has no place in any of our several levels of Government! He and his guilty henchmen produced an indelible stain on our Federal Government.
Not even those 2 quotes approach what we are facing already and not because we didn't know what to expect. The fact that is happening to America makes it much worse.
I heard parts of his rantings at his FL residence today. Lies and exaggerations! Dripping faucets, whales, Greenland, Canada, just on and on and on…absolute outrageous lie about only one death at the capital “day of love” and it was a rioter…not a single mention of police. He also spoke in the present tense of being president. Duh!!! Not yet, buddy. I was yelling in the car at the radio! OMG 😱 No one there challenged a word he said.
A grim day for America indeed. One of Thomas Jefferson's favorite authors was Tacitus, the greatest of Roman historians whose theme was how power corrupts the human spirit. One of his most famous lines is: Cupido dominandi cunctis adfectatibus flagrantior est. "Lust for absolute power is more burning than all passions."
Indeed.
The new Trump administration. To cite another Roman historian, Livy, foedum inceptu, foedum exitu: "Foul at its inceptiuon, foul in outcome".
Nothing good will come out of this administration, Nothing... Drumph is a criminal, nothing but a criminal, and will always be a criminal. We need to oppose everything he does, with all of our strength.
Let's hope the Smith report will be published after all and before inauguration day. If nothing else, more people will be able to read black on white about the criminal that 70+ million voted in as our next president. Shame on them!
Merrick Garland, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
“You-who-who”….have thus far deeply let us down…
This nation's lonely eyes have failed to see him for what he is, or the real and salient prosecusions would have been enacted in the timely manner required. Now expecting him to deliver for democracy is ludicrusly naive.
Not sure I understand. I thought that his passivity in appointing a Special Counsel played a major role in why we are in the situation we now find ourselves. More information, please.
Exactly, kdsherpa. I responded to Ricardo's comment by saying Garland's failure to quickly take action against Trump, along with McConnell, is the reason Trump avoided justice., and that Garland's failure needs to be critically and forensically analyzed by legal scholars
Clearly I misunderstood the post by Anne-Louise Luccarini re Garland, which in a way-too-quick reading I interpreted as her asking for help from Garland. I have opposed every move, or rather failure to move, on the too many legal sanctions Garland could have addressed. I have made no exceptions to Garlands failure to act responsibly--I think he deserves disbarment and any legally available consequences to his betrayal of his position. I have also commented in frequent posts on why he was placed in this position and backed by Biden. My sincerest apologies to Anne-Louise and to you and to all who were tangentially confused by my inexcusable, lazy failure to stay in tune with all the noble efforts put forth.
Turned. Too late now.
I have sleeping mask on. Tired of seeing so many horror stories and this is going to be one more.
"They conclude that releasing Smith’s report would not ‘be in the public interest." Indeed! Policy in 2025 will soon be run for the pleasure of Oligarchs and Sociopaths only.
How arrogant of them to believe the American public shouldn’t know, just like with Bill Barr editing the Mueller report.
I was driving when Bill Barr's "summary" of the Mueller report was broadcast on NPR - the way he spun that report was to make its conclusions unrecognizable.
When they say the public interest, they mean THEIR interest.
I am astonished where we are in America right now. We already get little to no information. The fact most Americans get their “news” from influencers is one of the scariest things I’ve ever read. Joe Rogan is now trusted to relay information in a clear and truthful manner that has the responsibility of journalism? But on the other hand, we can’t even count on real news outlets to have reporters ask follow up questions or point out blatant lies in real time. Trump just goes on shows, lies without any challenge and they head off to commercial like it’s true.
Bezos has completely discredited his tag line “democracy does in darkness” by stifling editorials supporting candidates and a cartoonist who clearly depicted the state of America. I see zero difference from the oligarchs in Russia and I’m guessing Trumo doesn’t either. That’s what he likes about Putin….the giant successful scam he’s been able to run for two decades. He is literally mirroring Putin’s playbook.
Putin has gotten the nillionaires in all industries to support him (business, finance, media) and in return let’s them do whatever they want as long as they give him gobs of money and let him retain power. And he agrees not to poison or imprison them.
I highly doubt the rank and file Trumo voter signed up for that.
Well, now Meta joins Twitter at eliminating all fact checking so that the 1st amendment free speech now includes lying. It is our constitutional right to lie. I am sure Zuckerberg will make lots of money by eliminating the folks needed to fact check. The rich get richer, eh?
Dies in darkness
I'll never forget the handshake and look that passed between them, 11 November 2018, in Paris, as Putin arrived and moved past the Trumps to take his allocated place in the front row.
This information must be made public. There is an election in 2026, don't forget. Americans need facts. FACTS.
I doubt the young men who worship the likes of Joe Rogan can and are willing to read.
It will be leaked before they can bury it. We deserve to hear the honest truth.
Justin, praying someone pulls out the finger holding the dam!
I certainly would!
This country is now under fascist rule, manned by the forces that Trump pretends are just his forces. Many with morbid maudlin compunction blame the Republicans and the MAGA cult. What they refuse to acknowledge is that the Democratic Party, by its actions largely begun under the degenerate Bill Clinton, whose moral character shames not Trump's, put millions out of work forever by proudly promoting NAFTA , the beginning of the end for working Americans. The starter to "moving to center." How many MAGA ranks were filled by those former, left-trusting workers disenfranchised by Clinton's sell-out? This country will never be regained by the existing Democratic Party in charge as it now exists. Only a meaningful rebuilding of the Democratic Party completely to exemplify its principles--now only a fabric of pretense by ruling Democrats--will unMAGAfy the voting majority.
They won’t believe it anyway. It will be some deep state conspiracy or something or other. That is one of the greatest harms that the felon-elect has done to this country…everything is fake news. The only thing you can believe is what “he” tells you.
But at least it will exist in the public record. Every awful thing this man has done must be recorded meticulously, at least for whatever future historians write about how we allowed this monster to kill our democracy, slowly, and then all at once.
problem is that the folks who should read it won't
Yes,I agree.Dems need to oppose every single thing that Rs propose just like Rs did to Obama.Every.Single.Thing.
Yet, they won’t. The perfect storm is upon us. A corrupt, criminal party that exists to destroy the government, that will bring oppression and retribution to the populace meets a weak, spineless party that is so wedded to the now dead “norms” that they look and govern like fools. It’s predator meets prey and I have never felt more disturbed, disappointed and disgusted by this collapsing system known ironically as the United States.
If Dems won't act on our behalf then we must prod them on. I just added my Senators phone numbers to my contact list and am planning on calling them every day. Every.Single. Day. and we all need to do this religiously.
I just added my Senators' phone numbers to my Contact List.
They may not have the opportunity.
Craig,
Opposition did not help with the outcome of the election that has brought Trump and his minions back into the power of the once greatest nation in the world.
I am confounded at the response of my Christian friends and relatives (not all but TOO MANY!!!!!) who voted for this manipulative wealthy criminal. Take note of the many "riding in on his coattails"!!! They are just like him....greedy for power and position and the wealth of this nation which they have NOT earned....they do not deserve. The blood of everyday patriots has been shed...bodies broken physically and mentally....from violent service and sacrifice to preserve freedom here and throughout the world!
Hold on!!!! This will be more than a bumpy ride!!!!
"HAPPY THOUGHTS" OF CONQUERING AND CONTROL ARE POURING OUT FROM THE INCREASING NUMBER OF DICTATORS TAKING OVER LEADERSHIP POSITIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.....STARTING OUT WITHIN OUR VERY OWN COMMUNITIES!!!
Beautiful historical references! Always feels like I’m not alone - though my education is patchy my devotion endures - strong and righteous for my little ones, and my oldest too, with fewer opportunities than I have been given. The mother in me believes I must stand strong for OUR COUNTRY.
The pattern of tyranny is ancient, and I think that that should give us pause. We keep fighting kindred battles against the essentially the same enemy, same basic script with new generations of players. What are we missing here? Don't we need to develop a different strategy?
Carol, there's nothing else I can add to your wonderful comment. 😁
And truth can win out if we stand bravely together. With our hearts and minds focused on TRUTH.
Even if this gets buried in the mash of ‘news’ we can RESURRECT OUR BATTLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS .
I am ‘out of my depth’ clearly. And fired up with indignation as a woman so recently freed (from the kitchen, the babies, etc) to join the conversation.
"That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." - Lincoln
Thank you, JL.
Kings don’t have any more “divine” rights than the lowest of their subjects. We got rid of that divine assumption when we revolted against king George.
Some of us did, anyway. Some people only seem happy when they can lord it over others.
And doomed to failure. This magavirus must be squashed and swept into the trash.
Celeste, you are 💯 % right but I could not, yet, figure out how. For some time I trusted our leaders and legislators but I lost faith in them. I know they tried but they were very ineffective and the result is in front of us.
There are degrees of trust, and trust in competence is different from trust in character. All of us are fallible. The thing is that we can only self-govern, do the democracy thing, if we grasp enough of our circumstances, in the moment and along well-informed paths of future probabilities and accept adult responsibilities for building liberty and justice for ALL. WE have to set the overall agenda, and identify (well before election day) fiduciaries (able and trustworthy representatives) to carry it forward. That's mandatory for the kind of society most of us claim to revere.
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…" -- Churchill
J L, I never questioned the character of our legislators in part because each individually is different. I just questing their effectiveness as a group to confront and solve the kind of situation we are facing now. Agree with you regarding the weaknesses and imperfections of the Democratic system which is always evolving as an experiment trying to reach for a "more perfect " form of government. I think that one of the greatest contradiction of the system is that in order to be really Democratic, should allow the existence of the "enemies whiting " and convive and compete with them confident that democracy is a better system and everything would be for the better. But not always. We were run over by a relatively small group of anti Democratic people that at the international level is undermining our foundations and as we speak, replacing it with something very similar to fascism. Once they are established it won't be easy to undone what they have created. I'm not quite sure we'll have elections in two years and much less in four. Unless you call what they do in Russia or Hungary ,"elections". And i don't think our leadership and legislators are aware of this situation and / or would know how to confront this nightmare.
Thanks for your comment 👍
We are backpedaling because of the infiltration of the courts. We must uphold the integrity of the system of laws, FAIR laws, that are applied to all. I believe a terrible injustice was done by the inaction of Merrick Garland in applying our laws without hesitation or fear. This must be reversed. We have an election to win in 2026, correcting the course of Congress is imperative to bolster our system of laws. The integrity of our courts is a must.
Yes Celeste, what happens in 2026 is fundamental for the future of this nation and hopefully democrats had this lesson learned by then. 🤞
A man who lies habitually has no place in any of our several levels of Government! He and his guilty henchmen produced an indelible stain on our Federal Government.
Livy’s quotation fits Trump exactly.
Not even those 2 quotes approach what we are facing already and not because we didn't know what to expect. The fact that is happening to America makes it much worse.
Amen.
I heard parts of his rantings at his FL residence today. Lies and exaggerations! Dripping faucets, whales, Greenland, Canada, just on and on and on…absolute outrageous lie about only one death at the capital “day of love” and it was a rioter…not a single mention of police. He also spoke in the present tense of being president. Duh!!! Not yet, buddy. I was yelling in the car at the radio! OMG 😱 No one there challenged a word he said.
Yep Livy was right.
"Never award power to those who love it too much."
Roman proverb