Every new story seems to carry the same underlying message: public office is now something to be monetized rather than honored. That’s not just blatant corruption. It’s the reshaping of government from a public trust into a private business.
Hello Kazz... I call the new 747, 'Air Fraud One'.... When the Qataris survey the damage that they have suffered in the DJT Iran war, do they think that it was Worth It?...
TCinLA, let's leave the Arabs out of it. Yes, Qatar did gift in total grift style, to Trump and his corrupt mentality. Whatever "Whorehouse" is evident within that plane is fully and totally Trump's creation. Too many Arab governments have their own foibles, to say the least, but to imply this on "Arabs" is a mistake. I'm willing to bet that if one took a poll concerning this grift, one would see a large majority of Arab distaste concerning this act by Qatar.
Well certainly not the Emiratis, who made a generous donation to Trump's crypto business, World Liberty Financial in return for a consignment of advanced computer chips (despite concerns about their links to the Chinese government); or indeed the Saudis, who have Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on their payroll.
The United States of America is not your privately held business. You did not start it, you are simply its manager for up to 4 years, and not a very good one I might add.
As a manager, you are supposed to add value for each of America's shareholders, its citizens, in terms of our health, well being and freedoms. Your job as the lead public servant is to add value to America for ALL Americans, in terms of wealth, health, prosperity and securing our future .
As you know, America existed well before you came along, and you are doing your damnable best to bankrupt OUR nation's wealth into your pocket, and the pockets of your loyal friends.
If America was your startup company, and you hired you to manage America, and you as manager stole from your startup as blatantly as you steal from America, you would fire youself and sue yourself into jail, bankruptcy or both.
In short, you are easily the worst manager America has ever had because you spend your short runway bankrupting America's future, for your personal gain.
America is disgusted with your incessant lies and grifting.....America belongs to all of us not you.
And what proportion of the American electorate supports and follows trump's beliefs? Less than a third.
I don't know about you, Russell - but I continue to believe that the majority of Americans, whatever their beliefs, are righteous people, and try to live a decent life. They are horrified and depressed by the behavior of their supposed "leaders."
A lot of people in the Arab countries are repressed and downtrodden to a degree Americans couldn't begin to comprehend - but still have and practice a faith which, if followed correctly, follows a humane and spiritual path.
By design, Arab governments are corrupt. The design revolves around the power they seek to keep and control. The Saudis, Egyptians, UAE, and certainly, my own birth nation of Syria during the Assad regimes, to name a few, were, or are all corrupt. The Arab populations by and large are manipulated into self subjugation so that they don’t cause trouble. As I said, if one takes an honest poll, one would find the true distaste for the 747 grift within the Arab population.
Nah! That’s a gigantic paint roller needed to taint ‘Arabs’ with the stench from trump! Logic requires one exception to prove your statement false! Likewise all white men are not racist like little stash miller! Namaste
Riad, I think there is a general distaste for Trump's blatant grift all over the world. Especially in the middle east, having dealt with so many Western 'powers' for centuries. His is truly so naked, so raw, so repulsive. Like a spider, we the people, our rights and freedoms are being wrapped in a web being spun tighter and tighter, unable to fight this corruption. Will this democracy see a 251st year? Not without standing up for these rights by all the "little people" they have no regard for.
“The scale is extraordinary. We are not talking about passive appreciation in a diversified mutual fund. We are talking about reported gains and income that run into the billions, much of it through ventures whose value may be tied to Trump’s political power.
That is why this is not just another rich-president story. This is a structural corruption story.
Not corruption in the simple sense of “here is the bribe, here is the act.” Corruption in the deeper sense: the merging of public office and private gain until it becomes impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins.
The real scandal may not be that Trump found a loophole. It may be that the loophole is so large that a president can build a billion-dollar enrichment machine in public and still plausibly say: prove I broke the law.
And it doesn't even matter whether he broke the law ... the SCOTUS says he's immune because he's doing it in public office, and the Project 2025 Republicans won't impeach, despite breathtaking High Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Who are you painting here? The Arabian people or the Arabian governments? Without any distinction it feels like the rights oh so constant 'hate the other' scheme.
Christine, this is an important distinction. Unfortunately, most of us are or have been guilty of ignoring it with respect to a number of nations' people.
It has long been popular to castigate "the Russians," when in fact, everyday Russian folks are the same as everyday Americans, just trying to live their lives in peace. The rotten Russians are those in the Russian government who are there because Russian elections are neither free nor fair.
The same is true for Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans, Palestinians, Israelis and others.
Thanks to Donald, we Americans are about to get a taste of our own medicine.
I want to add that we may claim that U.S. elections are "free and fair," but that isn't really true. Our elections may be free of fraud, but I contend that they are absolutely not fair. When a political party can silence voters by disappearing them through gerrymandering, that is not fair. When the Electoral College can install the election loser in the White House, as happened in 2016, that is not fair.
I love that Apache. I'm going to use with your permission.
And where are the Senate and House Republicans on all of these emoluments Trump and his billionaire donors are stealing from all of us?
The return on investment for buying an election Is a great deal. Musk spent a couple hundred million dollars to get Trump elected and his made hundreds of billions of dollars since Trump took over. Plus, he can do anything he wants including firing thousands of Federal Government employees.
But, we all know none of the other oligarchs would do such a thing.
Hello GJ... You can use the Moniker, 'Air Fraud One'... When all the details come out, it will have cost the USA Tax-Payers over a Billion $$$ for Air-Fraud-One.... Yes, Elon Musk has earned multiples on his Investment in DJT, yet Elon says it is too hard to give to Charity... How About Reconstituting USAID?....
We know Mike Johnson's mission is to provide President Trump and his close associates with a fire-proof protection blanket. To be fair, he's doing an exemplary job of it so far.
CREW has been fighting all of this since the first administration. This goes areas in some ways to the day Senator Mitch McConnell said nothing from the White House will get through. Nothing. Because of the late Senator McCain ACA was passed. And the ACA was based on ex governor ex senator Mitt Romney’s Massachutes plan. He was the son of George Romney who was governor of Michigan. So the view with the Obama administration needs to seen through this lens of ongoing long time moral and ethical decay and now rot. .
And here we sit, day after day, reading, understanding, yet doing relatively nothing to hold him, his family and his cronies to account. The evidence is there, and day by day he grows richer.
Ilene, what do you propose we do? I have been working on several campaigns for 2026 House and Senate races. I have supported protests (although my medical conditions have made it impossible for me to personally join them, sigh). But WHAT ELSE do you think we should do?
There is no way to remove him from office, at least at this moment (and probably until he leaves "normally" on Jan 20, 2029) because right now the GOP controls BOTH the House and Senate and even if we (Dems) win control of both, unless we get 67 Senators (which would almost certainly require at least 15 GOP Senators) to vote for conviction and removal, an impeachment is just a waste of time and political energy. 25th amendment rules are even stricter, requiring 2/3 of both the House and Senate.
So what would you propose we all do? Rather than using guilt trips, you need to own up (as many of us have) to the fact that this country ELECTED this man, and that under our way of government means he gets 4 years in office, other than if you can really get a conviction on impeachment or a 25thA removal for medical reasons, or he decides to leave office himself voluntarily as Nixon did.
I understand your frustration. But saying we are doing "relatively nothing" is nonsense, we are doing everything that we legally can do.
Unless you are proposing some other NON-legal option, which I personally would NEVER support, first because I do not want anyone going to prison (which would be inevitable if anyone decides to try some non-legal means) and second because it is simply wrong and just makes us the bad guys even if we think it is "necessary".
So say it, "enough is enough", and yes it is, but in the end that is just words, and the actions that can be taken are either useless or illegal. We protest, and we object, and we file lawsuits, but other than that, we have to acknowledge that this country made a tragic mistake that under our system of government, we have to live with until the next election. You can hate it (I certainly do) but any other action would be worse.
Thank you Jon. Best I can come up with is attending protests, informing others, calling MoC, and working the polls in Nov. And finding pockets of joy to sustain myself.
Thank you, Jon. I hear the same frustration in your words as I feel every day. The anger is very hard to live with. I've decided that I am being invited to use this time of perpetual disgust to learn patience because most days I don't have much at all. I am, however, bolstered by those on this comment site who act on their desire for a better nation. It is good to have comrades. I try to remember that every single small action is a cup of cold water offered to someone thirsty. And small actions like that, finally, are significant enough to overcome hopelessness because they come from love.
I do all you do, have been since before his first term, and all the way through. Many times, despite verbal support from friends I’ve been the only one attending rallies or sending letters. You say that guilt trips don’t work, well right, mostly they don’t, but there are the occasions when a friend foregoes her mahjong game or sitting by the pool to join me. Maybe you and I get it. I envy what other countries have done to come together in numbers like we saw for the Knicks in New York and the Hurricanes here in Raleigh, my neck of the woods, but instead show up in great numbers to get rid of the government that abuses them and takes their hard money for themselves. It is just too hot right now for most of us to be out there on the streets, but hopefully we will at the very least show up at the polls in November. Maybe Trump will melt while he watches whatever crap show he puts together for what should have been a wonderful 250th celebration. It’s sad.
I totally agree with you about how tragic and sad this all is. Yet I still have hope that this country, which is based on some of the best principles ever used to create a country (and some of the worst as well, sigh) will endure just as Lincoln said, so that "a government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth".
Jon, we're about to commemorate a declaration of independence from the world's then-most-powerful empire, an act that began with unlawful violent uprisings because other ways of seeking redress didn't work. Is this Administration's conduct as much a violation of a population as were the conduct of George III? I believe they are at last that criminal. I'd rather see us engage in some Gandhian Salt March type action than in violence. But it is time for more than what we're doing. Are we as a population any more than feckless?
MLM, I doubt that the Suprettes were promised anything. They didn't need to be promised anything, because they are, as prescribed by the constitutional framers, the most powerful persons in the United States.
SCOTUS sits above the three branches of U.S. government, as John Roberts says, "calling balls and strikes."
The Executive branch can bluster and issue executive orders, its agencies can make rules, but none of that matters if SCOTUS says it's "unconstitutional."
The Legislative branch can make laws until the cows come home, but if SCOTUS says a law is "unconstitutional," the law is null and void.
The Judicial Branch can pass judgment on crimes and disputes, but if SCOTUS decides the decision was "unconstitutional," the verdict is overturned.
Unfortunately, the framers foolishly assumed that presidents would always appoint honest, ethical justices who couldn't be bought. The framers naively presumed that future justices would never cherrypick or twist the plain language of the Constitution.
What we can do is VOTE. No candidate for federal or state office endorsed by Trump will ever get my vote - how do you feel about it? Also, I will not sit out any election as long as I live. I would not be able to look my children and grandchildren in their eyes if I didn’t do everything in my power to leave them the best America I can. Lastly - “Yes, I can”, and I will!
They offloaded this huge airplane on a greedy fool when they could not find a buyer for it. It cost more than even the oil rich men could justify to get the thing off the ground. Trump does not care about that. He thinks that the US Treasury is there for his entertainment and enjoyment.
I'm guessing they will get it all back with US reparations for the damage caused by the ludicrous war with Iran. It won't cost tRump anything it'll just add to the national debt which only matters when Democrats are in power.
Is it ever? For decades this man has duped hundreds..eventually millions into believing or investing in him or his scams. All of those turn to shit, all of the people lose their shirts, Trump makes out like a bandit.
The single, great message throughout Edward Gibbon's classic history of the Roman Empire two hundred plus years ago. Long before it fell outwardly, Rome fell inwardly. The cost of one idiot emperor after another simply proved too great to pay.
The lesson remains clear, obvious and relevant today. Despite it, new idiot emperors keep being born --- even in democracies --- and rise to power with too many people's permission and encouragement along the way. The price paid to reverse the damage is never as great as the price which must one day be paid for letting the reign of idiocy continue.
Nero and Caligula are clearing a place setting for Trump in the history books. Even Warren G. Harding and Trump will be found together in another chapter. Mike Johnson will deserve a footnote for his loyalty and effectiveness in running the great protection system for this presidency.
A great deal of the woes we are suffering through today can be traced to three awful events over the last 16 years: 1) 2010's passage of the Citizens United ruling passing political choosing off to the very rich (code for GOP), 2) Mitch McConnell stealing a Supreme Court nomination form Obama, and 3) Mitch McConnell assuming that the courts would hold Trump accountable and thus washing his hands during the 2nd impeachment.
I bet McConnell knows deep down that he screwed the rest of us without the riches enjoyed by he and his wife.
ICTT, I agree with you; however, I’m beyond disgusted with the SC, which has been open about its ideology above objective jurisprudence to help trump’s ends. It’s not even hiding its support for the end of democracy.
Watching US bankrupt ourselves while Russia wrecks Ukraine is the clearest expression of who we have become. I see Trump in Alaska with the red carpet every day.
But we elected stupidity and it may kill US.
When is the next No Kings rally? The heat may not break soon enough, but we can write postcards to voters and mail them in the interim.
As a Ukrainian American, I know our people. Russia underestimated us from the very beginning. Ukraine is still standing because freedom is worth fighting for, and we don’t surrender it easily. I still believe Ukraine will prevail. Slava Ukraini.
Russia is at the top of the list of those who underestimated Ukraine. According to most recent findings, Russia has endured more than 1.4 million casualties in the last four years -- at least 640,000 dead. Yet Putin cares nothing for his own, while each death in Ukraine is profoundly mourned.
The damage unwise rulers do is always a factor in the decline of great cultures and is not unique to the sprawling Roman Empire. But Gibbon goes well beyond that to elucidate two main forces as THE big drivers of Rome’s ultimate demise: uncontrolled immigration and crippling environmental disasters.
Dramatic climate change beginning around 250CE produced devastating famine and plague. The arrival of a 300 year period of climate instability including a mini ice age caused fires, floods and crop failures. Those natural disasters disrupted communication and aid delivery to affected areas. In short, the empire lacked the ability to effectively respond to generational environmental crises.
Secondly, the empire’s failure to address immigration in a clear, coherent manner allowed marauding forces on several borders and masses fleeing climate catastrophe to join with disgruntled mercenaries and laborers brought into the empire to do the jobs Romans had grown too rich and proud to do themselves. Collectively, the hungry and afflicted “have nots” overwhelmed the privileged “haves.”
So.. The lessons for us include #1, we should protect our planet from self-inflicted environmental degradation that can magnify natural climate fluctuations beyond our ability to respond and adapt. And #2, we should seriously address immigration policy to create a stable, controlled, humane and rational contributor to our greatness as a nation.
As a corollary we should also, as Dwight Eisenhower warned, aggressively control military spending so there is enough treasure to care for our citizens, educate our youth and reward a lifetime of labor in the service of our country and economy with some ease in retirement years.
We shall always have to fight against corrupt forces seeking to create power and wealth for themselves and their cronies but unless we seriously address the two main lessons Edward Gibbon delivers (and also control military spending), we will meet a similar fate as the storied Roman Empire - and sooner rather than later, IMHO.
(This is an edit -- acknowledging the enlarging-sentence edit following your initial post of the first three words only.
But you know, Kazz, history does judge empires by their palaces, particularly golden Versailles, whose treaty in its gaudy post-WWI environs stoked the rancor leading to WWII.
Still, we need to access our humanities, as para below was part of my original.)
People hurt. We could see, feel that hurt if we accessed just some of our resources on elites routinely lying, damaging many: Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America”; Arlie Russell Hochschild’s “Stolen Pride,” Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money,” George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison's "The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism," George Packer’s “The Unwinding,” Diane Ravitch’s “The Language Police,” Sarah Smarsh’s “Bone of the Bone,” Matt Stoller’s “Goliath: The Hundred-year War between Monopoly Power and Democracy,” Sheldon Whitehouse’s “The Scheme.”
Phil, I was referring to the long record of leaders who treated public money as a personal monument fund. Marcos had his palaces. Ceaușescu had his People’s Palace. Mobutu had his palaces in the jungle. The warning sign isn’t just the building itself, it’s what governments choose to fund while public services are left to decay and their people slowly starve.
Not sure it’s a cliché, maybe only half the story. Interesting that you would use the Bourbons for your example of an empire being remembered for their palaces, considering what happened to their monarchy. I would guess that you have never been to Versailles or you would know that it is anything but gaudy. It is a spectacular museum of French history and belongs to the French people. It is also a lovely town.
Yep — people are hurting. And it’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. But I doubt anyone needs to read those books to know why and how they are hurting, no matter how intellectual and informative.
Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America” is one of the best books I ever read. She worked alongside the people she wrote about, not just observing them intellectually. It was a real eyeopener for me. I highly recommend it. Things are so much more worse now.
I read the book as well. She did what so few liberal elites are willing to do by crossing the line and actually living the life of a poor working class person. I've long said that poverty is much more than the lack of money. It's the tax on your time to advocate for and invest in yourself (your rights, your health, your education) or even research the support that can help you. It's the endless run-around you have to do get things done that we all think are easy. It's the lack of access to credit that pushes people into predatory things like payday lending. She brought all that out into the open.
I have been to Versailles and you are correct that it is a spectacular museum today. But that isn't how it started. Under Louis XIV (who enlarged it from a modest retreat into the palace it is today), it was a place for opulent, extravagant excess by the rich and royalty (think Trump but in the 1600s), and the people of France absolutely HATED it.
It wasted France's wealth while leaving the average French citizen penniless. It took several revolutions to turn all of that around which didn't happen until after the reign of Louis XVI and ultimately the people forced the King to abandon Versailles and return to Paris.
In the 1800s, it was finally converted into a museum and ultimately returned to some of its earlier opulence but for the benefit of the people rather than just the royalty.
Yes and Marie Sntoinette played peasant in her pretend peasant village that includes costumes to wear. She was merely a pawn in the great chess game of Europe . It is is lively place to walk around now. The Alles! One needs to read the history if the Four Estates and the role of French colonialism. They were the colonial rulers of Vietnam remember. Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities very need to read and his first paragraph absolutely stunning! It was the best of times , it was the sorts of times……..
My point is that people are just trying to keep their kids fed and a roof over their family’s head and be essential at their job so they won’t be replaced by some dumb AI. All anyone has to do is look at the price of heating oil and groceries and children’s shoes. Those books are fine and have their place but sometimes they are arrogant in their distance from what is actually going on in people’s lives. The facts are that life for American families is a struggle right now and they see those facts in their faces everyday without some ‘erudite' writer telling them.
Mr. Balla is unlikely to respond in any direct way to the observations you've made here, He knows what (he thinks) he knows and nothing changes the rigidity he brings to it. Several of us here have tried from time to time to bring him to account on various matters he has raised respecting the most fanciful construction he advances regularly that standardized testing removed the humanities from American schools. Establishing the veracity of that would be an enormous, hugely expensive, and time consuming undertaking, resources which would be better undertaken by establishing the veracity of his claim that they're gone and spending the time and energy assuring that the humanities are, in fact, part of children's and young adult school experiences and how to go about doing it if they're not.
In the interests of the American people, the new venture, POOPING FOR AMERICA, will organize annual poop festivals at the site of the future presidential Trump library. All an active citizen or immigrant need do is poop in front of said library or indeed, gain entrance and crap on any original documents or photos of Donald J. Trump. No bid contracts will be awarded to any groups that have been wrongs by the current administration.
I beg to differ Phil, repetition isn’t what anaesthetises us - normalisation is.
The phrase survives because the pattern survives. Every time power chooses vanity over responsibility, someone reaches for “Rome burns” because we’re still telling the same story. The tragedy isn’t that the metaphor has become familiar; it’s that the behaviour has.
Also Sarah Kendizor They Knew , the many books of David Kay Johnston, Tim O’ Brian’s work on Trump. Then really worth a read Alice Miller’s book on trauma and the childhood of tyrants. Anne Jacobson’s books and others that detail the history of the Cold War and beyond. Many people have seen but the propaganda whether planned or just random luck like the whole tv scam of The Apprentice has to be fully called out. Chicago and many other cities are dealing with water issues. Actually a problem before the Flint, Michigan horrors began because lead was a known toxic metal . Alice Hamilton MD discovered this. She was the first female faculty member at Harvard but not allowed to eat at the faculty club or be in the commencement procession! Another Hull House hero. We need to create new Hull Houses, the Henry Street House in NYC , and Goodrich Gannet House in Cleveland. Paid for by these folks a kind of reverse Carnegie Library perhaps with Fill in the blank surnames of convicted rich criminals. Another way is with the Julius Rosenberg Schools in the South. Most of these folks are fearful and building safe bunkers and or safe yachts. Where were their parents and or teachers or peers?
Posted himself as a doctor J L. For him to be posted as Jesus, you have to wait at least few mire weeks. Don't be impatient....dementia advances slowly. 🤪
With these people, it's got to be "follow the sleaze." Snails and slugs always leave behind odious trails of slime.
Thanks in particular to investigative reporters like David Fahrenthold from the New York Times (whom the Washington Post lost, along with practically everyone else when Jeff Bezos decided to lick the slime up personally and turn Katharine Graham's newspaper into a National Enquirer Trump-lite rag).
The United States has been financialized. Financialization of the US refers to the growing dominance of the financial sector over the rest of the American economy. Over the past several decades, the economic focus has shifted away from making tangible goods toward buying, selling, and managing financial assets.
Is the same money going around and around? How is that sustainable?
You’re so right, J. Carey — these are the same people who vote NO on providing free school lunches for kids, who vote NO on SNAP benefits and maternal healthcare. Yeah, that’s “Christian” alright [sarcasm].
The young Democratic candidates are winning primaries all over the country by running on the promise to restore integrity and honesty to government. We will see in November if the other side agrees that that is what is necessary.
From the candidates they have nominated so far it would appear that they will stick with corruption and greed. Paxton?? Tuberville etc.?? Really???
The Buffett Indicator shows that Wall Street is worth twice the value of Main Street, which makes no sense at all, especially now that your national debt exceeds your GDP for the first time since the war.
It wasn't long ago that both Democrats and Republcans both freely applied the buzzphrase “engine of America” every time they spoke of small business. Whether it was true or not, one thing that is true is you never hear that phrase anymore. GOP has completely leaned in to the billionaire class. Democratic establishment for the most part has been silent so as not to offend big corporate donors. Once in a while a Democrat on the stump will serve up a vignette but it doesn't lead to meaningful change. With the SCOTUS removing the last guardrails against corporate ownership of our political processtwo days ago, I see no end to this trend, barring a blue tsunami in November and veto-proof majorities.
Chris, it appears that the Democratic establishment has also leaned into the billionaire class, but as you note, quietly. They justify this shift by claiming that the GOP made elections a money game, so they have to court the oligarchs in order to win elections.
American political memory ranges from 3 to 10 years (depending on the topic), so no one remembers that Obama won with small-donor funding.
Given that, is it really possible that mid-term wins would change the minds of Democratic establishment? Color me skeptical.
Dale, I agree that electing Democrats alone won't do it. It has to be the right Democrats, the ones who can't ever be bought. And it is true there are not a lot of them, because of the trappings of power, and the easy button presented by the wheelbarrows of cash offered up by corporate donors. Of course there are strings attached but the reward is you are more likely to keep your job. That's a hard thing for us regular folks to be up against. That said, the voters still matter and our patience is wearing thin with those who just go along to get along. Whether it's stiffening some spines or scaring them into better behavior, we have to play that card and be continually vigilant.
You refer to Obama, and one of the things I lament about his time was that he campaigned as an unapolagoetic progressive, and he employed a 50-state strategy. And it worked marvelously, to the chagrin of the establishment. But as soon as he became president, the establishment got to him. The 50-state strategy went back to being the old system of targeting only known voters and ignoring all the rest. And the policies got watered down even before negotiations began. It really was a missed opportunity.
Agree. Obama's presidency was somewhat disappointing, although I keep two things in mind. 1. No one knows – not even a senator – what the office of president is like until he is actually in it. There are undoubtedly some realities that make it nearly impossible for a president to carry out all the promises he made as a candidate, not least of which was 2. Mitch McConnell's personal mission to defeat Obama in every way possible.
I think abandoning the 50-state strategy was even worse than targeting only "known voters." The most recent elections targeted only "swing-state" voters to leverage the Electoral College. Effectively, a few tens of thousands of voters actually decided the election.
Time for the state AGs to step in en masse and go for state corruption charges against Trump, Kushner, Witkoff, Lutnick, and their sons. There's fraud, theft, bribery, falsifying business records, tax crimes, conspiracy...
I am sure the DOJ will make some specious argument about who has standing and that Trump is covered by immunity, but the others aren't. Trump could always preemptively pardon them all, of course, and since his hubris knows no bounds, he would probably try to pardon himself.
The AGs have to use the DOJ playbook and announce that they are starting an investigation before there are indictments and bang the drum now through 2028. When (and if) Congress comes back in session, Democrats will have to demand investigations. But with Little Mikey Johnson in charge in the House, Mikey might send them all home until after the midterms. After all, Trump only needs the Senate to do the one doable thing on his to-do list--get two new justices confirmed to replace Alito and Thomas while the Senate is still red. I am not sure what his lizard brain would decide about whether that would be a good idea. His last choice, Amy Coney Barrett, is not obeying his commands. Trump knows he has 100% support with the geezers. Maybe he will get them some of the experimental mystery drug he is rumored to be taking. He still has his obsession about getting the SAVE America Act signed into law.
PS. A Trump spokesperson announced that Trump is flying Air Fraud One to Turkey next week. Apparently, someone else thought it was a good idea to announce that Air Fraud One does not have all of the anti-missile capabilities of Air Force One. It does have wood paneling.
Song for that day on DJ Trump's playlist: Wishin' and Hopin', rendition by Natalie Harp, somewhere near the Iranian-Turkish border.
Florida’s AG is using his “autopen accountability” to go after those pardoned by Biden.The recent example was a now stable, employed and sober man previously convicted on drug charges.
Perhaps Attorney General James Uthmeier should focus his “autopen accountability” on Paul Walczak, the Florida-based nursing home executive who was convicted of pocketing employees’ payroll taxes and failing to pay over $10 million in taxes all while enriching himself. Walczak was pardoned by Trump after his mother attended a million-dollar-per-person Mar-A-Lago fundraiser.
Another target for our attorney general could be Salomon Melgen, the Florida eye doctor whose sentence was commuted by Trump after Melgen was convicted of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid of millions, receiving over $100 million in payments and abusing his patients with unnecessary medical care.
Perhaps Uthmeier’s promise of going down the list of pardons to pursue charges against additional Florida residents should focus on those with the financial resources to do the most harm.
Keep calling,writing shouting 📣out the corruption.They are feeling the 🔥!
State charges require STATE crimes. State AGs can't just decide to charge Trump with crimes that are legally under the jurisdiction of the federal DoJ, no matter how much THEY or WE would like them to do that. And right now, even if they did attempt such charges, nothing would happen while Trump stays in office, which right now looks like for the next 2-1/2 years, because he and most of his senior cabinet officials would be exempt from state process while they remain in federal office.
This is probably the one remaining hope for taking action against Trump and his minions AFTER he (and they) leave office (hopefully after Jan 20, 2029), i.e., where appropriate state charges might be valid, they could bring charges and attempt to bring them to trial. There will never be any federal charges brought because, unless Trump just forgets to sign the papers, everyone will be given an advance pardon from any federal charges for their efforts while in office. But again, I expect in most such cases (if any actually happen) the cases will be removed from state court to federal court and then the presidential pardons will effectively block any further action.
And as for Amy Coney Barrett, she has for the MOST part actually supported about 95% of the 6-3 cases which were decided in Trump's favor. Just look back at the Supreme Court decisions and MOST had the three liberal justicies (Sotomayer, Kagan and Brown-Jackson) in dissents. Barrett has found a few occasions to move to the other side, typically along with Roberts and sometimes Kavanaugh or Gorsuch, but pitifully few. Keep in mind that while the firing of Fed board member Lisa Cook was blocked, all the OTHER board firings of federal agencies were upheld 6-3. The "good guys" (us) didn't win many in this last Supreme Court year.
The Trump coin is a classic pump and dump scheme to defraud investors. I am not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure there are state laws against it. A “pump and dump” theory would require proof they promoted the token with misleading statements, hid material facts, or coordinated sales to profit from the price rise. If the token is treated as a security, state securities laws could come into play.
Trump went on a huge rant about Barrett over her rulings thwarting him on birthright citizenship and tariffs. It doesn't help that she is a woman. Jon, haven't you realized yet that 95% agreement is not sufficient for Trump? There are some things Trump NEVER forgets. Any act of perceived disloyalty is on the list.
PS Just saw this post from Popular Information on their analysis of Trump’s pump and dump scheme.
Agreed, Jon. But if we can keep our nation whole for another 2 1/2 years, well, I can wait. When I know a great dessert will follow, I can tolerate a less-than-ideal main course!
It is patently illegal. There are specific laws intended to outlaw lying to givt and accepting gifts, especially from other nations. Congress is complicit in not holding hearings. The federal government officials are violating their oaths. The media us derelict in not reporting the illegality and the fact that the president is devoting significant time to illegal fraud of the government and illegally taking funds and gifts. Plus lying to the public. Where is the outcry.
There is plenty of outcry. We outcry here constantly LOL, day and night, 24/7/365. The problem is simply that without any power (and right now, those in opposition have no power) nothing will change. It is possible that this is the first time in US history, certainly in my lifetime, that something this "over the line" has ever happened. Other countries have dealt with this before and we have been very very VERY lucky. We will also be lucky if we don't end up in a REALLY SERIOUS conflict that costs far more in lives and $$$ than this current "war" in Iran which while wasting a few billion every day has had amazingly MINIMAL impact overall.
You think THIS is bad? It can be SO SO SO much worse. I'm not saying we should be happy, just that we should be thankful that we haven't actually started to look quite like Nazi Germany YET... but there is still time.
Of course I saw it. I was aghast at what happened there and elsewhere as well. Yet, as bad as it was, it is still not comparable to what happened before WWII in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. In Minneapolis and elsewhere, a few people were killed. That is a tragic thing, absolutely, but nothing to compare with pre-war Europe.
I am Jewish, and I have a few relatives who survived the takeover in Nazi Germany and in Poland (and fortunately got to America before they were sent to concentration camps like most of my relatives from Eastern Europe), and from what I heard growing up, that was far worse than what has happened here so far. Several thousand were killed on Kristalnacht alone. And ultimately millions were killed in the death camps.
So, no, it is nowhere near as bad as it was before WWII.
Of course it could get worse (and probably will before this is all over).
America used to worry about foreign influence. Now we apparently ask whether it comes with leather seats, secure communications, and a future parking spot at the presidential library.
President Trump’s new Air Force One, courtesy of Qatar by way of the Pentagon’s constitutional rinse cycle, is a perfect symbol for the age. If the Constitution says a president cannot accept foreign gifts without Congress, no problem. Just hand the keys to the Pentagon, paint it like Trump’s private jet, call it national security, and hope nobody notices the luggage tags.
Meanwhile, the White House ballroom project has entered its royal-remodel phase, with no-bid contracts, taxpayer estimates, and the East Wing treated like an inconvenient wall on a luxury renovation show. “Taxpayer-free,” we were told, which in Trump-speak apparently means taxpayers may only cover several hundred million dollars, but discreetly.
Then come the mining deals, crypto ventures, meme coins, stock trades, family investment stakes, and mysterious loans large enough to make ordinary corruption look quaint. Every scandal arrives wearing the same nametag: Best Interest of the American People.
At some point, satire gets tired and asks for hazard pay.
The trick is not just the corruption. It is the flood. One plane, one ballroom, one coin, one contract, one favor, one filing at a time, until exhaustion starts disguising itself as acceptance.
That is the real con. And America had better stop applauding the magic show before the whole republic disappears inside the hat.
“The White House is not a business opportunity. The presidency is not a license to steal from the American people. The government of the United States doesn’t exist to make Donald Trump rich.
“It belongs to the American people. And after 500 days of corruption, Democrats and Republicans in this body, along with the American people, should start acting like it.” And those on the left of center ideology, in fact, have been acting like it since day one. We've known all too well where this Trrumption was going. What have the right of center folks been doing? Either nothing or cheering him on. As I've said many times before on this thread: "with republicans, it's all about the money." It is especially true now, and frankly, always has been.
Riad, what mystifies me is how anyone can be surprised by this outcome. It was entirely predictable, considering that the U.S. government was formed by "landed gentry" who had a strong interest in protecting their assets and promoting their ability to expand their assets.
With the latest SCOTUS ruling increasing access to unlimited funds, it should be a wake-up call to all of us the need for Campaign Finance Law reform. Congressional Democrats are not immune from this addiction any more than the MAGA Republicans. Honestly, we should demand any candidate for Congress sign a pledge (with teeth) to eliminate Campaign Finance as a requirement for election. Promises are BS.
Dave Dalton, that’s perfect! A Fourth of July present to all of US! HCR is PAUL REVERE! There are many others, but she rides every night so we are constantly warned. When she receives her second Medal of Freedom, Paul Revere should be part of the accompanying statement. Even her professorship is Boston!
Let’s not let this become normal. This “private business” is a criminal enterprise. How can so many Americans (and the Republican Congress and the majority of the Supreme Court) be going along with this grift? Oh wait, many are participating in this grift.
Are theses transactions considered “official duties” as laid out in the Supreme Court decision of immunity for the Executive or can the Trump family pay a price for all this? They keep saying it’s for “national security” or for the “best interest of the US” - the buzzwords that cover their actions, but is it????
Can’t “like” this—it is so depressing to see the country, my country that I have always loved,become a place that is being raped and disfigured by the Trump family AND, of course, NO ONE (except Chris Murphy) calls him (r Trump) out on it😡😡😡😡😡😡)
Trump's corruption is stunning, isn't it? Without limit! Without shame! Without precedent. How did he do it? In part, Trump exploited the misogyny, the racism, the homophobia, the white Christian Nationalism and finally the ignorance of enough Americans to win a close election. Without a doubt, we're now swimming in a cesspool of corruption and cruelty. Time to fund our candidates and work like hell to get them elected. It's the present norm.
After fitting up that plane to make it safe for a U.S. president to fly around in — security, communications, nuclear-war-proof - the country is going to hand it over to Trump when he leaves office. That would put Trump in the dangerous position of being able to travel in the most secure aircraft in the world. Does no one in the government see anything wrong with that?
Yes. I don't know why this is just accepted fact. I think when his presidency is done the plane should belong to the American people, since we paid for it. We can sell it. That would be part of reclaiming some of the money that Trump has stolen from us.
I would suggest that the next Democratic president sell it back to them for the cost to us in exchange for US military bases staying in Qatar, but it seems Trump has made sure they want nothing to do with the US military anymore.
Linda, apparently the way the deal was structured, with the blessing of Congress, the jet becomes Donald's property when he leaves office. A succeeding Democratic president would have to somehow seize it. This could possibly be done through civil forfeiture, whereby law enforcement can seize assets acquired from criminal activity. And certainly Donald has committed enough crimes to justify the basis for civil forfeiture.
But there are two problems: 1. The U.S. electorate would have to elect a Democratic president with the stomach to pursue and prosecute Donald. Does such a Democrat exist? I doubt it. 2. Once seized, the jet has no market value. The Qataris gave it to Donald because they couldn't unload through normal sales channels. Its only value is for scrap.
However, we are running out of strategic reserves. Apparently JD Vance told a talk show host that has close ties to Israel that Trump told them to negotiate the MOU to buy them just long enough for them to refill the US strategic reserves, which were going to run out this month. After that, they want fuel so that they can go fill tanks of military equipment to continue the war. This is what our tax dollars go to support.
And they couldn't find a buyer because it is a POS, and quite likely in bad condition structurally.
For the Loser In Chief to be so smitten with it all they had to do was fix it up a bit - give it a new coat of paint (in a manner of speaking), add some shiny high tech bells and whistles, some wood paneling and stuff- and they've got him going gaga and salivating over it in the "gotta have it" mode.
My only hope is when it disintegrates in flight it does so over open water, and not over populated areas.
Actual verified costs have proven quite elusive on every one of these vanity/grift projects*. Try getting your hands around the actual cost of the East Wing demolition; best I could find was an estimate of “more than $1.6 million” for the demo alone. You have to wonder how much more than $1.6 million!?!
The numbers I've seen for the plane restoration are all over the place. Yet these guys look straight in to the cameras, and with a perfectly straight face, claim this is the most transparent White House ever.
Is it any wonder that so many of us feel deranged by the constant lies and gaslighting?
* of course the cover-ups go far beyond just the vanity/grift projects. Can anyone provide a solid figure for what we’ve spent on the Iran war so far, or how much we've spent carrying out extrajudicial murders of alleged drug runners in the Caribbean and Pacific, or where has the money from pirated Venezuelan or Iranian gas ended up? How about the tariff collections that will never be refunded?
No doubt many of you could add your favorite question to this list.
Would anyone buy that flying monstrosity? Didn't the Qataris try to sell it first, but couldn't find any takers, so they decided to use it to bribe trump. I wonder how much it would be worth to melt it down into scrap metal.
Just for the record, here is the Google AI response:
Q: What is the scrap value of a 747 worth?
"Once stripped of valuable parts, the raw scrap metal of a Boeing 747 airframe is worth roughly $55,000. However, harvesting the whole aircraft yields $3 to $8 million in salvageable components (like engines and landing gear), while teardown costs can range from $300,000 to $1 million."
I.e., compared to the cost, melting it into scrap isn't worth very much. In fact, if you can't get anything out of the parts, it costs more to melt it than it would bring in revenue.
Maybe We The People should just start using it. Of course, my intentions are to move away from highly polluting jets unless I have to. Since I live in Europe right now, and my mom is in the US, I have to use them. I say we can sell it or make money with it. My biggest thought is to sell it back to Qatar, by making stink about it.
The acceptance of the place from Qatar violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution. Straight up, in your face, impeachable offense. No debate, only obvious corruption. The impeachment hearings should have begun the day the plane landed on US soil. Pretty fracking obvious.
This one should be easy. No facts to debate. No lengthy presentations. He accepted a $400 million gift. Done. The Constitution stomped on.
But the "Kaz Affair" is even worse. No wait, the crypto con is worse...actually you know what is worse? The EPSTEIN AFFAIR and TRUMP HISTORY OF ABUSE
Donald J. Trump is credibly accused of rape, assault and threatening to murder. A kid. And that's one of MANY sexual assault accusations. If even just one of these has a shred of truth, he should be boarding that plane for the last time. He can take it to Russia, for all I care. I suspect Putin has his gold plated dacha prepared for him already. He's been such a pal.
As long as all Trump family assets are frozen and then redistributed to Americans who have been suffering under his reign.
How about a special master to distribute the billions to the women he and his buddies assaulted?
Holding this monster accountable by explaining his obvious, irrefutable corruption and cruelty is not hard. He has made it easy. But something is missing: Moral and political will to do the obviously right thing.
As we head into the midterm elections, any Democrat now has an amazing armory full of political weapons. And all they have to say to an audience is:
"My opponent refuses to hold Donald Trump accountable for alleged rape, demonstrated theft and starting an expensive war while you paid higher prices for everything."
Blue tsunami on the way, if we don't choke. If we don't get caught up in hand wringing over "which direction the party will take". We can sort out the "moderate vs progressive" BS once we are in charge.
And simultaneously, the new President, on inauguration day 2029, can sign the bill expanding the Supreme Court to 27 members. (I bow to Robert Hubble's logic).
I base that on the number of regional circuit courts, the DC court, and the Federal court of appeals. One judge per court. I'd also propose a rotational CJ position; 4 year term or thereabouts.
No, because we it belongs to us, and we need to make that clear to any candidates running that we are looking to hear their plan to get us back the grift from the Trumps. They should already have set things in motion the day after they are elected.
I doubt very much that Donald will be: 1. sentient, or 2. alive on that date.
If he survives that long, he won't be headed to Russia. He'll be headed to a care home, likely in Argentina. That's where nazis go to die. The climate is more clement to old people with thin skin and thin blood.
Yes. I see many things with 'that' including but not limited to IMO multiple violations of the Public Records Act.
Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration Tuesday, 6/30/26, seeking a court order requiring officials to preserve & retain records related to investigations into the experienced former CIA Director.
Why Brennan's creative legal tactics matter:
Per Axios & other Platforms IF Brennan is later charged, preserved records could be central to any claim that of unconstitutional political retaliation and/or vindictive prosecution & a Motion to Dismiss promptly to ad to the growing list of failed attacks.
Brennan's pleading allege the "investigation" is part of a broader push to punish trump's political adversaries — especially sophisticated critics like Brennan.
Let’s be honest: the lizard king surrounds himself with reptiles (no offense to actual reptiles). Eventually one of the snakes will turn on him. It doesn’t matter how the plane is outfitted if an insider decides someone else needs to be in charge of the lizard kingdom.
The Qataris had it on the market for sale for years and no one wanted to buy it, but good ol’ #47 fell in love with the gaudy thing and just had to have it.
Bingo…no maga stench court frauds nor elected maga legislators! They are delusional to think the orange convicted sex offender will allow some of his billions, grifted despite the emoluments clause, trickle down to them!
The next president, Democrat or Republican (let's hope it's a Dem!) should DEMAND use of this plane for the SITTING president, not as a reward for one person's corrupt ego!
The greatest danger isn't corruption itself. It's the moment people begin to see it as background noise. Once outrage turns into routine, democracy loses one of its strongest defenses.
Salute to USAF Major Jason Watson who called for the president’s impeachment in a press conference and then walked up the steps of the Capitol with a sign (which only members of Congress are allowed to do there), thereby subjecting himself to arrest, jail, and probable UCMJ prosecution that would end his military career and pension in addition to imprisonment.
I an honorably discharged Regular Army veteran (1959-1962; 16 months in Korea) do indeed salute Major Watson. I do so with the desperate hope his activism represents the mobilization of all USian military personnel who are [not] oath-breakers -- a mobilization best of all under the direction of a shadow government that includes an intelligence and spec-ops capability comparable to Churchill's SOE in WWII: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive#
Even if it’s only one person today, that solitary voice inspires others to action. Here’s hoping Major Watson’s courage takes hold in the hearts of those who have remained on the couch!
Salute to "Sister Letty" who was arrested in the recent surge of ICE arrests.
Everybody, there is LESS 'Sorrow' Today.
"Sister Leticia Unborja an RN more commonly known as Sister Letty was released on 6/28/26 from ICE imprisonment. Sister Letty was captured by ICE walking to Sunday MASS at Our Lady of Sorrows in McClellan, Texas.
Upon release In solidarity with Sister Letty she was greeted & hugged by a sister Sister."
Yes, and I'm with Senator Murphy. But there's so much outrage-sharing that people get overwhelmed and go silent. That's exactly what authoritarians want.
HCR's and Joyce Vance's documenting the endless lawlessness and corruption is essential, but as to the information I take in and put out, I'm trying to live by a 20:80 rule: 20% on how bad things are, 80% on what people are already doing — and what more we can do by turning fury into productive action:
Unfortunately, Sen. Murphy's historically proven, nation-terminating prognosis -- that once corruption becomes normal, it becomes permanent -- has been the USian norm at least since the end of Reconstruction in 1878. That why, in the intervening 148 years, the corruption has not only become overwhelming; it has in fact morphed into absolute omnipotence: the most vastly institutionalized, deeply rooted, inescapably apocalyptic Evil ever to assault our species and our Mother Earth. And unless we mobilize accordingly, it's a war we've not a chance of ever winning.
If indeed there is another Congress, which no one aware of what now obtains can rationally believe is certain.
I raise the question because anyone with a proverbial lick of sense recognizes (1)-that the sole purpose of Trump's newly announced ChristoNazi Midterm Convention is to find a means of aborting the election; that (2)-the Trump Regime has already proven there is no force on this planet with the will to stop it's crimes and conquests; and (3)-that -- with all due respect to Dr. Richardson -- the true microcosm of the Regime is not the toxic swamp Trump so symbolically made of Lincoln's reflecting pool, but the wanton destruction of the East Wing, which like USian democracy and global civilization itself is now gone forever -- with 99.999 percent probability our species is likewise doomed. In fact no greater Evil has [ever] assailed us -- nor has any previous assault so glaringly revealed our chronic probably terminal inability to resist its tyranny.
I has seemed to me that successful social movements focus on some egregious aspect of the elephant in the room and highlight it, and humanize it, in one way or another, until the insulation of normalcy can no longer cover it. I've seen it happen even within my own lifetime.
How many times must it be said? Trumpstein ad nauseam is [not] merely another "bipolar swing." It is the intended, literal, total destruction of the former United States and its conversion into a de facto ChristoNazi Reich.
And as far as any [rational] observer can determine, the ChristoNazi conquest has thus far proven unstoppable.
It’s even worse: many Americans actually cheer trump on _because_ of his massive corruption. They admire him and want to be a rich, pussy-grabbing, egoistic asshole just like him: he’s their idol.
Dutch, I cannot figure out how my former work cohort does not see the constitutional violations and criminal conduct of this ffpotus. They were cops, once. Now they see nothing wrong.
The problem with thinking of these perpe-traitors as "sick" is that it implies their ecogenocidal moral imbecility is somehow not their fault, and by so doing makes it infinitely more difficult to subject them to the preventative justice they deserve.
This, DM, is probably the ultimate dynamic of our undoing: neoliberalism -- literally economic Nazism -- has already reduced us to a nation of Moral Imbeciles, its mechanism a 77-million-voter majority of definitively subhuman creatures for whom unpunished sadism is the ultimate fantasy and whose Ted-Bundy-minded adoration of criminals is genuinely incurable, unquestionably infinite, unspeakably obscene and will in all probability exterminate our species and toxify our Mother Earth to [permanent] lifelessness.
As much as I would like to see it happen otherwise, I'm afraid you're right. For years now, I have been thinking the exact same thing. Neoliberalism is Newtonian-Cartesian thinking to the extreme, reductionistic materialism at its end point: the Earth and all its creatures are just resources to use for the tech bro billionaires. There is no 'other', no 'us', no future. There's just them, in this lifetime, they want it ALL -literally- and they want it NOW. They don't care for anything or anyone else.
DM, I fear most of us are still too naive to acknowledge we are coping with a cabal of plutocrats who know they have been granted genuinely divine omnipotence by their mastery of technology. We need to recognize that they long ago recognized their capacity for Evil could doom our species and our planet. Thus faced with the choice of changing course for human preservation versus abandoning all hope in a "fuck-it-we're-all-dead-anyway" apocalyptic orgy of planet-destroying consumption, they have concluded they are the greatest powers in the universe, are therefore answerable to no one or nothing beyond themselves and thus can pleasure their Ted-Bundy selves with whatever Trumpstein sadism bubbles to the surface of their mental cesspools. Reflect on Trump's assertion of tyrannical moral imbecility; reflect also on the fact that the environmentalists have been pronouncing us a doomed planet since the '70s, while the few remaining humanitarians amongst us claim doomsday became inevitable when we nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Trump, his ilk and his supporters cannot be stopped because -- as subhumans (Homo sapiens inhumanus) -- they are literally incapable of caring about anything beyond themselves. And we are already re-living World War II; albeit without the bombs (yet).
"The President is a thief. He is stealing from you. Your money." The campaign slogans write themselves. On the local level, you add the clause, "And your (R) Senator/Representative approves of this. He/she is complicit in this theft." Then let the MAGAts whine and threaten to sue.
There are laws that make this acceptance of a gift like a Boeing 747 illegal. Oh, the Pentagon received the gift! So it belongs to the American people, right?
So why is our convicted-felon president Trump going to take it with him when he leaves?
These laws on the books mean zero if not enforced!
State secrets are taken with no accountability, a coup is carried out and put into motion by a convict who lied to thousands who trashed our Capitol, and they walk free!
Federal agents under this regime kill Americans on our streets, and no one is arrested!
It is no wonder that people have so little regard for the law, the laws, it seems, mean nothing!
When I joined USAID decades ago, I got an ethics briefing within a week or so of being hired. I was given explicit instructions about not accepting gifts, even the smallest ones, in order to avoid not just a conflict of interest, but even the appearance of a conflict of interest. I wasn't allowed to have a ham sandwich offered me by a potential contractor or grantee -- with or without cheese, mayo or mustard, let alone a sliced tomato and lettuce.
They never said anything about a fully refurbished 747-800 from the Qatari Government, though.
Same when I was an in-house lawyer for Columbia University -- we could not accept being taken out to lunch by a potential outside counsel, much less anything more substantial - and holiday gifts sent to the General Counsel's office were politely returned.
Same when I was at TVA. One of the people i supervised received a plant from a contractor in thanks for the detailed work she’d done on a TVA partnership to restore a building. Unfortunately we were employees of the General Counsel’s office. An attorney was sent to check out the plant and determined its cost ($50, $40?) exceeded the $5 limit on “gifts.” The employee got to pick the charity to whom the plant was given, though.
I had restrictions on such things as a street cop. One local restaurant "got around" that by charging law enforcement $.25 for a $1.50 (it was the 80's) cup of coffee. It was one of those training tests that training officers liked to run; how will the new guy react? To "pass" the test, some stopped ordering coffee and went with (full price) ice tea. I just left $2.00 on the table. I passed. That morphed into "the car ahead paid for your coffee" by the time I retired. Fixed that by paying for the car behind and leaving a large tip.
Our recognition of the necessity of of agreed-upon boundaries of behavior is what ultimately empowers rule of law with the consent of the governed. Without that commitment, law unravels, as it did in Prohibition. Corruption is the nemesis of justice, and we so need to beat it back. We should never have let it get this far.
Dr. Richardson failed to mention why Trump flew to South Dakota today. It was to dedicate the Theodore Roosevelt National Library. National libraries are relatively new so many are being built to honor Presidents who did much for a state. Theodore National Park is in South Dakota.
Trump became the first president to ever speak at the dedication of a presidential library to not quote something that President had said.
And well he wouldn't. One of the most famous quotes Teddy made completely damns Donald Trump.
"No man can be a good citizen who is not a good husband and father, who is not honest with his dealings with other men and women, faithful to his friends and fearless in the presence of his foes, who has not got a sound heart, a sound mind, and a sound body."
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, January 26, 1883
Trump doesn't fit the bill for a single thing Teddy spoke of. If I could put Trump in Teddy's grave and Teddy in the White House, I'd sleep a whole lot better.
Every child who owns a ‘Teddy Bear’ is beholden to President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. So, the quote you mentioned pointing out “…good husband and FATHER…” rings particularly true…and absolutely condemns Donald J. Trump!
POTUS #47 has drawn his children (the ones he doesn’t lust after) into his criminal endeavours to bilk America for all it’s worth.
President Roosevelt might be quite insulted that such a low calibre man was invited to speak at the dedication ceremony…probably BECAUSE Trump likes to be ‘the first’. Yet another ‘ego stroking’ event. 👎
SHAME!
There would be no ‘Donny Bears’ if Trump had been on that historic ‘hunt’. DJT would have blasted the poor little bear cub - tied to a tree for an easy trophy - and then had it stuffed for a footstool!
Teddy Roosevelt was appalled, as a moral person would be, and his kind action - saving the cub - inspired the creation of the ‘first’ Teddy Bear…beloved by everyone who ever received one. 💓
I’d wondered, hoped Heather would pick up criminal Donald’s most typical Donaldism.
She did. But she spent her time on it today looking at his constant weaseling, his lying, contradictions, but still, over and over, insensitivity.
Asked if the American taxpayer footed the bill for the hundreds of millions in renovations on the 747 gift from Qatar’s dictator to our most vulgar criminal, he bragged as to how hot the U.S. stock market has been under his presidency.
Donald has no capacity to feel the worlds of hurt America’s working classes have endured for the past year-and-a-half. For his bottomless dehumanization he resembles best those six justices on the current “unitary executive” bastardization of the Supreme Court who all excelled on all those standardized tests through all their years, all their schools, where the tests ever measured but the humanly empty cleverness of certain forms of IQ.
That weaseling pairs with the human emptiness to underlie the permanence of not only his corruption, but the high court's, and the totality of Republicans in Congress.
My pension fund has done poorly compared to under Biden, so that Trump has affected my bottom line in retirement. I am dreading when the AI bubble bursts. However, I realize I am fortunate to even have a pension to worry about. I just spent half a year battling with medicare on behalf of my mom, and the battle is not over, because they owe us money. It is shocking.
Good luck with Medicare in receiving the money and stay diligent. Had to do this with my dad, he passed in June 2024, my mom received half of the money in March 2025 and the remainder January 2026. What a mess, the dysfunctional healthcare system…
I have. As long as my long distance minutes from Germany don't cost more than the amount I am trying to get back. I am dealing with a lot of pieces right now that prevent me from writing about my mother's situation, and I also have to call two more places before I have answers.
"...Supreme Court who all excelled on all those standardized tests through all their years, all their schools...."
Awash in your own personalized obsessive-compulsive disorder with regard to a single issue like a cuckoo clock. Whatever and whoever those six justices are, it doesn't have diddly-squat to do with "standardized tests."
Every day, you just keep hitting that BIZARRE button like a kid desperate for mommy to pay attention to his outbursts. Yet mommy keeps talking about other things. Always. Funny that...
Trump is clearly unaware that hourly workers may not have a 401K and are untouched by the stock market, whatever it does - he has no concept of (or empathy for) the struggle of people working paycheck to paycheck.
“They want to have all the benefits of our society, without having the responsibilities of our society. People need to understand that the billionaires have become radicalized against democracy, and they’re in the process of using everything they have to try to destroy it. And that’s the battle of our moment. That’s the battle of our time.”~ Gil Duran
“It’s not too late to push back. Public response to data centers works. Many of the governance as a service startups are starting their work in towns and states where you can still have a voice to stop them. The billionaire class wants to turn your home into their playland, completely change how everything is run to funnel more wealth to themselves, create chaos, and then when everything is all f*cked up, walk away with their winnings to their own private enclaves, all under the guise of fixing a broken government. A government that they broke.”~ MPU
###
‘Peter Thiel is funding a plan to build privatized city-states everywhere from Gaza and Venezuela to small towns in California.
The goal is to replace governments with for-profit companies.
We investigated how Thiel's scheme is already reshaping democracy across the world’.
In many ways, more than there is space to recount here, we have allowed commercialism to usurp our culture. I am no enemy of commerce, but we are letting the tail wag the dog.
Oddly, I recently read the classic *A Wrinkle in Time* where the evil is fomented by a “brain” who requires everything to be run on his/its time, space, sameness. Non-conformity is punished harshly. JaKsaa’s post reminds me of that. The broligarchs want to realize their distorted vision with zero understanding of the common wo/man.
Add it to the list. Isn't impeachment for crimeS and misdemeanorS? We don't just have An Impeachable Offense to charge the mad king with; we have pages and pages and pages and we should use them all. It will be helpful to future students of American history to have the depth of his corruption on the record and one place.
Yes, we must have multiple investigations and spread his crimes and corruption on the record. Congress must use its power to investigate and then pass laws to counteract the very idea of a unitary presidency.
It wouldn't be hard to name plethora of crimes worthy of impeachment. If, and that is a big if, Democrats get control of both houses impeachment may be the only thing that will save us.
We urgently need a new Congress. It was always meant to be the First and most important branch of government. While it won’t happen anytime soon, we need a larger Congress maybe 800 or more in the House. There is no good reason why the number has been arbitrarily frozen at 435.
Getting control of both Houses will not be enough. Impeachment conviction (which is the only actual result that would do anything) requires 2/3 of the Senate, i.e., 67 votes to remove an officer who is charged in an impeachment. It is going to take a small miracle for the Dems to even get to 51 votes and take over the Senate (I believe it will be easier to achieve in the House just because all House seats are up for grabs this year, but only 1/3 of the Senate seats are). So even if we have a Senate 51-49 majority, or even a 55-45 majority (a REALLY long shot!) after Jan 3, 2027, it would still require a bunch of GOP Senators to vote to convict.
THAT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN (sadly, but I believe I am speaking reality here).
So it doesn't really matter much as the likelihood of removing Trump is almost zero by my calculations. And even if we did, Vance would replace him. There is no process for impeaching multiple people at one time, so if Trump IS impeached and convicted, Vance becomes President. And THAT could be worse, not better.
Anyway, it doesn't matter because the GOP is going to be so pissed if they lose their Congressional power that there is virtually no way to see Trump ever being removed in an impeachment trial. End of story.
Cryptocurrency was made for criminal payments—Tr*mp's been using his crypto business to rake in bribes for pardons, dropped fraud investigations, monopoly merger approvals and as a cash register for monetizing every Presidential decision possible, even if it puts us/our national security at risk.
But never forget: it is only to thanks to the corrupt MAGA justice majority on the captured Roberts Court giving him total immunity for crimes committed in office that grift and theft on this scale is possible.
At the end of the day, Tr*mp has only two motivations in life:
1) to enrich himself (and ostensibly his family, cronies and billionaire puppet-masters)
2) to keep himself out of prison
EVERYTHING else he does, everything else he says, serves only those ends—whether DOGE-ing our government agencies, eviscerating our legal institutions, and most dangerous of all, rigging our elections and pushing the “SAVE” Tr*mp from the voters act to deny us our freedom to choose our leaders.
Here's a question for HCR and others, and a promotion for same.
Why are Democrats allowing Trump to stay distanced from his terrible cabinet choices like Patel and Kennedy...or Pulte or all the new cast of characters being put up for important roles? Other presidents get challenged for their judgement on their cabinet members. I have heard little messaging directly questioning his judgement for these choices: It's always "this person has no experience" rather than "Trump has terrible judgement and is choosing people with no experience—only loyalty—which endangers each of us." Am I missing some dynamic?
Then, because I happen to be near the top here, I'll once again remind people to please check out my new song, "The Trains Will Run On Time," dedicated to Heather and the other historians helping us all make sense of what's going on. Discussing the echoes of tyranny through history, the song resides on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Fpw6Yzgz1Sg. You can find its home page and several other songs directed at this political mess at www.lyricist.net/trains-will-run. Enjoy and share!
Well, it was Mussolini who "made the trains run on time" (not really, it was a lie). So, true or false, one can dream that in the future, federal prison inmate #"4547" can spend the rest of his life living for free in a federal prison. Now THAT would be taxpayers' money well spent.
Trump is NEVER going to spend even one HOUR let alone the rest of his life in a federal prison. Ever heard of a presidential pardon? Trump will leave office with one firmly in place, either given to him by himself, and/or also given to him by President Vance who will ascend to the office of president on Jan 19, 2029, for one day only for the purpose of giving Trump his pardon.
Hello? On what planet do you think the scenario you just described has been happening? Were you absent the day of Kegsbreath's hearings, when Senator Tammy Duckworth literally yelled "YOU'RE NOT QUALIFIED!" at someone who clearly was not qualified? Do you think any investigative piece Jame Raskin (D-MD), Jason Crow (D-CO) or Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), quoted tonight at length --- could have come from the Republican Party?
I literally do not get this 'let's bash Democrats' attitude in spite of vast evidence that doing so will get you defeat snatched straight from the jaws of victory in November...
I am not clear on the target of your ire; you're partially agreeing with me.
I am saying: I keep hearing that these people are not qualified, even that they are told this to their faces, but more rarely am I hearing "Trump has shit judgement." Remember, he always crowed about his ability to choose the best people.
I'd like to see a billboard, for example, in a swing or red state, with a big checkerboard of people Trump has put in place and under each one, how they failed, e.g., "indicted," "kicked out," "proven illegitimate in court," etc. It could be bannered, "The Best People."
I am not sure that it would make a difference. Trump has left a trail of broken careers of former courtiers whom he has castigated and thrown under a bus. Some of them have written books about his chaotic leadership and yet Trump's base remains more or less intact and loyal.
How people have brought themselves to vote for this awful man three times in a row is surely one of the great questions of our time. He is after all a twice-impeached convicted felon who has lost a defamation case for sexually assaulting a woman.
How To Be A Dissident In The Age Of Authoritarianism
The takedown of democratic governments these days doesn’t occur with a military coup or some forceful takeover, they occur through elections. Recently it’s occurred in Venezuela, Russia, and Hungary. Now it’s occurring here in America. But because the takeover is not sudden and a shock to the system and slowly brings the population/electorate along, it becomes painless, almost cordial in its invitation to a “better life”.
But because it’s slow in the takeover, it means the electorate has off ramps to combat the takeover as we saw in Hungary and Brazil recently. But now in the age of AI and technology, surveillance states have become increasingly threatening.
A couple of days ago Rachel Maddow(https://bit.ly/4gQWTII) talked with Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer who are authors of "On Courage: How to be a dissident in an age of fear”. There are a variety of ways people can throw sand in the gears of authoritarianism to preserve democracy and this book helps with historical references as to how to do such.
For example, dissidents can become witnesses of the authoritarian regime and document state violence(“We will know who you are”…a promise of accountability). The book looks like a real help for the next 2.5y of suffering that WE the People will have to go through.
Several news stories I have seen have mentioned that Trump's newest toy was a 400 million dollar "gift" from Qatar, but nobody seems to know what we payed in order to convert it. Previous estimates have been around a billion.
I have so many questions- if Trump has raked in such astronomical amounts of money, why the need for a loan that is estimated at over 50 million dollars? Is this what the justices of the (mostly corrupt) Supreme Court intended when they essentially told him that they would look the other way no matter his actions? Does his administration have such contempt of us, the American people, that they think they can just explain all of the corruption of this cabinet by using the pat phrase “everything is for the good of the American people “ and we will just nod our heads in stupidity and say “yes, sir, yes, sir”? Does his supporters not feel his contempt when he fleeces them of untold amounts of money with his different doo-dads, most of which seem to be trash- while he laughs as he shovels in the money? The Republicans were relentless in their attacks on President Biden’s family (remember the “Briden crime family “) yet they are absolutely silent as they watch Trump, his family, his cabinet and their friends and families break laws, manipulate the markets, and reward themselves with massive payouts. This is my money, this is your money- I don’t know about you, but nothing was ever handed to me- I worked damn hard for 43 years and don’t give my permission for my money to be spent in this way! What has our national debt exploded to since he took office?
Trump’s avid supporters will never abandon him, even as his economic policies hurt them, because they hate the same people he hates and those people are being punished by him. The Trumpublican platform is simple: Put God back in schools, women back in the kitchen and bedroom, LGBTQ people back in the closet, and people of color back in their “place.”
Or those who needed a “favor” from the wannabe king. Trump has set up various enterprises to cover his grift and bribery undertakings. All as sleazy and crooked as he has always been.
But stupid people don't deserve to be stolen from. That's what the Consumer Protection Bureau was about. And that's why Trump got rid of it first thing.
Emma, that might be a bit unfair. I have boycotted Amazon for over a year, and it’s difficult because now I pay more for everything, while my dollar buys less. I understand why people shop there. I have never had any accounts with Paramount. Many of us are trying, and boycotting appropriately. I don’t think we are “morally bankrupt”; unfortunately, we are increasingly poor and have fewer choices. Not everyone has the bandwith (financially) to make other choices.
It seems many have lost their way, choosing comfort and convenience over ethical concerns. I wonder how bad it has to get before those persons decide to change their behavior.
In some poll or other, U.S. citizens were asked how the Founding Fathers -- do not forget Abigail! -- would react if they saw the United States today. A decisive majority of the repondents stated the Founding Parents would be disappointed. I am not sure whether they would be disappointed with how the Constitution functions or whether they would be disappointed in us.
Many people shop at Amazon because, as was the plan, local businesses have gone away, leaving Amazon the only option to get some needed products.
There are some things that people do not have the option of just “ doing without”.
The lack of enforcement of the laws preventing the conglomerations like paramount and Amazon has/is killing all small business in this country and is holding all of us hostage to their greed.
It has *gotten really bad. A property hedge fund took over the retail space of a mixed-use development site where ilive. The bigger client coming in basically demanded that the smaller renter get busted out of the lease. So it goes.
Every new story seems to carry the same underlying message: public office is now something to be monetized rather than honored. That’s not just blatant corruption. It’s the reshaping of government from a public trust into a private business.
Meanwhile Rome burns.
History has never judged empires by the splendour of their palaces, but by what they allowed to decay while they were building them.
Hello Kazz... I call the new 747, 'Air Fraud One'.... When the Qataris survey the damage that they have suffered in the DJT Iran war, do they think that it was Worth It?...
It's the Flying Arabian Whorehouse.
TCinLA, let's leave the Arabs out of it. Yes, Qatar did gift in total grift style, to Trump and his corrupt mentality. Whatever "Whorehouse" is evident within that plane is fully and totally Trump's creation. Too many Arab governments have their own foibles, to say the least, but to imply this on "Arabs" is a mistake. I'm willing to bet that if one took a poll concerning this grift, one would see a large majority of Arab distaste concerning this act by Qatar.
I'm not Arabian, but I imagine you're right.
A lot of Arab people are deeply religious (in the best possible way) and try to live by their religious beliefs.
Trump, on the other hand. . . .
You write the truth. Thank you L.E.
Well certainly not the Emiratis, who made a generous donation to Trump's crypto business, World Liberty Financial in return for a consignment of advanced computer chips (despite concerns about their links to the Chinese government); or indeed the Saudis, who have Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on their payroll.
Dear Mr President,
The United States of America is not your privately held business. You did not start it, you are simply its manager for up to 4 years, and not a very good one I might add.
As a manager, you are supposed to add value for each of America's shareholders, its citizens, in terms of our health, well being and freedoms. Your job as the lead public servant is to add value to America for ALL Americans, in terms of wealth, health, prosperity and securing our future .
As you know, America existed well before you came along, and you are doing your damnable best to bankrupt OUR nation's wealth into your pocket, and the pockets of your loyal friends.
If America was your startup company, and you hired you to manage America, and you as manager stole from your startup as blatantly as you steal from America, you would fire youself and sue yourself into jail, bankruptcy or both.
In short, you are easily the worst manager America has ever had because you spend your short runway bankrupting America's future, for your personal gain.
America is disgusted with your incessant lies and grifting.....America belongs to all of us not you.
And what proportion of the American electorate supports and follows trump's beliefs? Less than a third.
I don't know about you, Russell - but I continue to believe that the majority of Americans, whatever their beliefs, are righteous people, and try to live a decent life. They are horrified and depressed by the behavior of their supposed "leaders."
A lot of people in the Arab countries are repressed and downtrodden to a degree Americans couldn't begin to comprehend - but still have and practice a faith which, if followed correctly, follows a humane and spiritual path.
By design, Arab governments are corrupt. The design revolves around the power they seek to keep and control. The Saudis, Egyptians, UAE, and certainly, my own birth nation of Syria during the Assad regimes, to name a few, were, or are all corrupt. The Arab populations by and large are manipulated into self subjugation so that they don’t cause trouble. As I said, if one takes an honest poll, one would find the true distaste for the 747 grift within the Arab population.
“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH, RICHER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!”
djt, From truth social
It is what it is.
Arabs gave it to Trump expecting a quid pro quo, they are as complicit in the bribery as he is.
One cannot leave the partners in crime "out of it".
Right ... but name the governments involved, not an entire ethnicity.
Get a grip, Gary: no one is leaving anyone out. Reread my initial post.
Nah! That’s a gigantic paint roller needed to taint ‘Arabs’ with the stench from trump! Logic requires one exception to prove your statement false! Likewise all white men are not racist like little stash miller! Namaste
Riad, I think there is a general distaste for Trump's blatant grift all over the world. Especially in the middle east, having dealt with so many Western 'powers' for centuries. His is truly so naked, so raw, so repulsive. Like a spider, we the people, our rights and freedoms are being wrapped in a web being spun tighter and tighter, unable to fight this corruption. Will this democracy see a 251st year? Not without standing up for these rights by all the "little people" they have no regard for.
Please don’t insult spiders. They have a purpose in nature. tRUMP has no purpose except grift
Riad, we can certainly leave Arabs out of it. It is a flying death star whore house.
If you want more info on the Kazakhstan deal read Michael Sellers:
https://michaeldsellers.substack.com/p/transparent-corruption-the-emerging
Thanks for this informative link!
“The scale is extraordinary. We are not talking about passive appreciation in a diversified mutual fund. We are talking about reported gains and income that run into the billions, much of it through ventures whose value may be tied to Trump’s political power.
That is why this is not just another rich-president story. This is a structural corruption story.
Not corruption in the simple sense of “here is the bribe, here is the act.” Corruption in the deeper sense: the merging of public office and private gain until it becomes impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins.
The real scandal may not be that Trump found a loophole. It may be that the loophole is so large that a president can build a billion-dollar enrichment machine in public and still plausibly say: prove I broke the law.
That is a damning statement about the law.”
And it doesn't even matter whether he broke the law ... the SCOTUS says he's immune because he's doing it in public office, and the Project 2025 Republicans won't impeach, despite breathtaking High Crimes and Misdemeanors.
"Air FAW One" yes !
Or, how about "Air FAUX One"?
Who are you painting here? The Arabian people or the Arabian governments? Without any distinction it feels like the rights oh so constant 'hate the other' scheme.
Christine, this is an important distinction. Unfortunately, most of us are or have been guilty of ignoring it with respect to a number of nations' people.
It has long been popular to castigate "the Russians," when in fact, everyday Russian folks are the same as everyday Americans, just trying to live their lives in peace. The rotten Russians are those in the Russian government who are there because Russian elections are neither free nor fair.
The same is true for Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans, Palestinians, Israelis and others.
Thanks to Donald, we Americans are about to get a taste of our own medicine.
I want to add that we may claim that U.S. elections are "free and fair," but that isn't really true. Our elections may be free of fraud, but I contend that they are absolutely not fair. When a political party can silence voters by disappearing them through gerrymandering, that is not fair. When the Electoral College can install the election loser in the White House, as happened in 2016, that is not fair.
'Unfortunately, most of us are or have been guilty of ignoring it with respect to a number of nations' people.'
Some people try to break that cycle and others continue to use it. Which camp do you fall into?
Exactly!🎯
😆❤️
I love that Apache. I'm going to use with your permission.
And where are the Senate and House Republicans on all of these emoluments Trump and his billionaire donors are stealing from all of us?
The return on investment for buying an election Is a great deal. Musk spent a couple hundred million dollars to get Trump elected and his made hundreds of billions of dollars since Trump took over. Plus, he can do anything he wants including firing thousands of Federal Government employees.
But, we all know none of the other oligarchs would do such a thing.
Hello GJ... You can use the Moniker, 'Air Fraud One'... When all the details come out, it will have cost the USA Tax-Payers over a Billion $$$ for Air-Fraud-One.... Yes, Elon Musk has earned multiples on his Investment in DJT, yet Elon says it is too hard to give to Charity... How About Reconstituting USAID?....
"When all the details come out"
Please God they do - and soon.
A Democratic senate majority is a moral and strategic imperative.
Graham Platner | Democrat for U.S. Senate
.https://www.grahamforsenate.com/.
Former CIA director John Brennan just demonstrated on 6/30/26 how to get "things to come out", preserve & use the admissible evidence on offense.
Thank you. 👍
We know Mike Johnson's mission is to provide President Trump and his close associates with a fire-proof protection blanket. To be fair, he's doing an exemplary job of it so far.
Sorry - nothing “fair” about it!
CREW has been fighting all of this since the first administration. This goes areas in some ways to the day Senator Mitch McConnell said nothing from the White House will get through. Nothing. Because of the late Senator McCain ACA was passed. And the ACA was based on ex governor ex senator Mitt Romney’s Massachutes plan. He was the son of George Romney who was governor of Michigan. So the view with the Obama administration needs to seen through this lens of ongoing long time moral and ethical decay and now rot. .
And here we sit, day after day, reading, understanding, yet doing relatively nothing to hold him, his family and his cronies to account. The evidence is there, and day by day he grows richer.
When and how do we say enough is enough?
Ilene, what do you propose we do? I have been working on several campaigns for 2026 House and Senate races. I have supported protests (although my medical conditions have made it impossible for me to personally join them, sigh). But WHAT ELSE do you think we should do?
There is no way to remove him from office, at least at this moment (and probably until he leaves "normally" on Jan 20, 2029) because right now the GOP controls BOTH the House and Senate and even if we (Dems) win control of both, unless we get 67 Senators (which would almost certainly require at least 15 GOP Senators) to vote for conviction and removal, an impeachment is just a waste of time and political energy. 25th amendment rules are even stricter, requiring 2/3 of both the House and Senate.
So what would you propose we all do? Rather than using guilt trips, you need to own up (as many of us have) to the fact that this country ELECTED this man, and that under our way of government means he gets 4 years in office, other than if you can really get a conviction on impeachment or a 25thA removal for medical reasons, or he decides to leave office himself voluntarily as Nixon did.
I understand your frustration. But saying we are doing "relatively nothing" is nonsense, we are doing everything that we legally can do.
Unless you are proposing some other NON-legal option, which I personally would NEVER support, first because I do not want anyone going to prison (which would be inevitable if anyone decides to try some non-legal means) and second because it is simply wrong and just makes us the bad guys even if we think it is "necessary".
So say it, "enough is enough", and yes it is, but in the end that is just words, and the actions that can be taken are either useless or illegal. We protest, and we object, and we file lawsuits, but other than that, we have to acknowledge that this country made a tragic mistake that under our system of government, we have to live with until the next election. You can hate it (I certainly do) but any other action would be worse.
Thank you Jon. Best I can come up with is attending protests, informing others, calling MoC, and working the polls in Nov. And finding pockets of joy to sustain myself.
Thank you, Jon. I hear the same frustration in your words as I feel every day. The anger is very hard to live with. I've decided that I am being invited to use this time of perpetual disgust to learn patience because most days I don't have much at all. I am, however, bolstered by those on this comment site who act on their desire for a better nation. It is good to have comrades. I try to remember that every single small action is a cup of cold water offered to someone thirsty. And small actions like that, finally, are significant enough to overcome hopelessness because they come from love.
I do all you do, have been since before his first term, and all the way through. Many times, despite verbal support from friends I’ve been the only one attending rallies or sending letters. You say that guilt trips don’t work, well right, mostly they don’t, but there are the occasions when a friend foregoes her mahjong game or sitting by the pool to join me. Maybe you and I get it. I envy what other countries have done to come together in numbers like we saw for the Knicks in New York and the Hurricanes here in Raleigh, my neck of the woods, but instead show up in great numbers to get rid of the government that abuses them and takes their hard money for themselves. It is just too hot right now for most of us to be out there on the streets, but hopefully we will at the very least show up at the polls in November. Maybe Trump will melt while he watches whatever crap show he puts together for what should have been a wonderful 250th celebration. It’s sad.
I totally agree with you about how tragic and sad this all is. Yet I still have hope that this country, which is based on some of the best principles ever used to create a country (and some of the worst as well, sigh) will endure just as Lincoln said, so that "a government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth".
I don't know what else we can do.
Jon, we're about to commemorate a declaration of independence from the world's then-most-powerful empire, an act that began with unlawful violent uprisings because other ways of seeking redress didn't work. Is this Administration's conduct as much a violation of a population as were the conduct of George III? I believe they are at last that criminal. I'd rather see us engage in some Gandhian Salt March type action than in violence. But it is time for more than what we're doing. Are we as a population any more than feckless?
Exquisitely stated although unfortunately true. Damn!
And the Supreme Court has gilded the way for him to cheat and steal from us. Wonder what they’ve been promised.
MLM, I doubt that the Suprettes were promised anything. They didn't need to be promised anything, because they are, as prescribed by the constitutional framers, the most powerful persons in the United States.
SCOTUS sits above the three branches of U.S. government, as John Roberts says, "calling balls and strikes."
The Executive branch can bluster and issue executive orders, its agencies can make rules, but none of that matters if SCOTUS says it's "unconstitutional."
The Legislative branch can make laws until the cows come home, but if SCOTUS says a law is "unconstitutional," the law is null and void.
The Judicial Branch can pass judgment on crimes and disputes, but if SCOTUS decides the decision was "unconstitutional," the verdict is overturned.
Unfortunately, the framers foolishly assumed that presidents would always appoint honest, ethical justices who couldn't be bought. The framers naively presumed that future justices would never cherrypick or twist the plain language of the Constitution.
Or threatened with…
What we can do is VOTE. No candidate for federal or state office endorsed by Trump will ever get my vote - how do you feel about it? Also, I will not sit out any election as long as I live. I would not be able to look my children and grandchildren in their eyes if I didn’t do everything in my power to leave them the best America I can. Lastly - “Yes, I can”, and I will!
They offloaded this huge airplane on a greedy fool when they could not find a buyer for it. It cost more than even the oil rich men could justify to get the thing off the ground. Trump does not care about that. He thinks that the US Treasury is there for his entertainment and enjoyment.
Air Fraud One. Perfect. Need to use that one a lot.
Even the Qataris are welcome to come to America and poop on everything Trump.
I'm guessing they will get it all back with US reparations for the damage caused by the ludicrous war with Iran. It won't cost tRump anything it'll just add to the national debt which only matters when Democrats are in power.
Yesss… air fraud one! May I use it!?
I am not feeling bad for the Qataris.....
Apache, good question.
Is it ever? For decades this man has duped hundreds..eventually millions into believing or investing in him or his scams. All of those turn to shit, all of the people lose their shirts, Trump makes out like a bandit.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
The single, great message throughout Edward Gibbon's classic history of the Roman Empire two hundred plus years ago. Long before it fell outwardly, Rome fell inwardly. The cost of one idiot emperor after another simply proved too great to pay.
The lesson remains clear, obvious and relevant today. Despite it, new idiot emperors keep being born --- even in democracies --- and rise to power with too many people's permission and encouragement along the way. The price paid to reverse the damage is never as great as the price which must one day be paid for letting the reign of idiocy continue.
Lessons only teach if somebody willing to learn
Nero and Caligula are clearing a place setting for Trump in the history books. Even Warren G. Harding and Trump will be found together in another chapter. Mike Johnson will deserve a footnote for his loyalty and effectiveness in running the great protection system for this presidency.
Don't forget Mitch, who paved the way for an extra two Trump appointments to the SCOTUS.
A great deal of the woes we are suffering through today can be traced to three awful events over the last 16 years: 1) 2010's passage of the Citizens United ruling passing political choosing off to the very rich (code for GOP), 2) Mitch McConnell stealing a Supreme Court nomination form Obama, and 3) Mitch McConnell assuming that the courts would hold Trump accountable and thus washing his hands during the 2nd impeachment.
I bet McConnell knows deep down that he screwed the rest of us without the riches enjoyed by he and his wife.
Hear, hear! And may McConnell be called to account in the next life, since it looks as though he's on his way there.
But, like Trump, he doesn’t care.
ICTT, I agree with you; however, I’m beyond disgusted with the SC, which has been open about its ideology above objective jurisprudence to help trump’s ends. It’s not even hiding its support for the end of democracy.
Watching US bankrupt ourselves while Russia wrecks Ukraine is the clearest expression of who we have become. I see Trump in Alaska with the red carpet every day.
But we elected stupidity and it may kill US.
When is the next No Kings rally? The heat may not break soon enough, but we can write postcards to voters and mail them in the interim.
Virginia - Russia is going to lose the war with Ukraine. And they know it. It may take longer here but MAGA too will lose. Keep the faith
As a Ukrainian American, I know our people. Russia underestimated us from the very beginning. Ukraine is still standing because freedom is worth fighting for, and we don’t surrender it easily. I still believe Ukraine will prevail. Slava Ukraini.
Russia is at the top of the list of those who underestimated Ukraine. According to most recent findings, Russia has endured more than 1.4 million casualties in the last four years -- at least 640,000 dead. Yet Putin cares nothing for his own, while each death in Ukraine is profoundly mourned.
The Framers knew this, it is the reason they created a democratic republic.
Sadly, we forewent the republic part, that which was a guard against populism and the rise of ideologues, and are now reaping what was sowed.
The damage unwise rulers do is always a factor in the decline of great cultures and is not unique to the sprawling Roman Empire. But Gibbon goes well beyond that to elucidate two main forces as THE big drivers of Rome’s ultimate demise: uncontrolled immigration and crippling environmental disasters.
Dramatic climate change beginning around 250CE produced devastating famine and plague. The arrival of a 300 year period of climate instability including a mini ice age caused fires, floods and crop failures. Those natural disasters disrupted communication and aid delivery to affected areas. In short, the empire lacked the ability to effectively respond to generational environmental crises.
Secondly, the empire’s failure to address immigration in a clear, coherent manner allowed marauding forces on several borders and masses fleeing climate catastrophe to join with disgruntled mercenaries and laborers brought into the empire to do the jobs Romans had grown too rich and proud to do themselves. Collectively, the hungry and afflicted “have nots” overwhelmed the privileged “haves.”
So.. The lessons for us include #1, we should protect our planet from self-inflicted environmental degradation that can magnify natural climate fluctuations beyond our ability to respond and adapt. And #2, we should seriously address immigration policy to create a stable, controlled, humane and rational contributor to our greatness as a nation.
As a corollary we should also, as Dwight Eisenhower warned, aggressively control military spending so there is enough treasure to care for our citizens, educate our youth and reward a lifetime of labor in the service of our country and economy with some ease in retirement years.
We shall always have to fight against corrupt forces seeking to create power and wealth for themselves and their cronies but unless we seriously address the two main lessons Edward Gibbon delivers (and also control military spending), we will meet a similar fate as the storied Roman Empire - and sooner rather than later, IMHO.
That's a cliché, Kazz.
(This is an edit -- acknowledging the enlarging-sentence edit following your initial post of the first three words only.
But you know, Kazz, history does judge empires by their palaces, particularly golden Versailles, whose treaty in its gaudy post-WWI environs stoked the rancor leading to WWII.
Still, we need to access our humanities, as para below was part of my original.)
People hurt. We could see, feel that hurt if we accessed just some of our resources on elites routinely lying, damaging many: Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America”; Arlie Russell Hochschild’s “Stolen Pride,” Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money,” George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison's "The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism," George Packer’s “The Unwinding,” Diane Ravitch’s “The Language Police,” Sarah Smarsh’s “Bone of the Bone,” Matt Stoller’s “Goliath: The Hundred-year War between Monopoly Power and Democracy,” Sheldon Whitehouse’s “The Scheme.”
Phil, I was referring to the long record of leaders who treated public money as a personal monument fund. Marcos had his palaces. Ceaușescu had his People’s Palace. Mobutu had his palaces in the jungle. The warning sign isn’t just the building itself, it’s what governments choose to fund while public services are left to decay and their people slowly starve.
Thank you, Kazz.
I go a bit blind, I must admit, anytime I see much of any gold anywhere anymore.
Not sure it’s a cliché, maybe only half the story. Interesting that you would use the Bourbons for your example of an empire being remembered for their palaces, considering what happened to their monarchy. I would guess that you have never been to Versailles or you would know that it is anything but gaudy. It is a spectacular museum of French history and belongs to the French people. It is also a lovely town.
Yep — people are hurting. And it’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. But I doubt anyone needs to read those books to know why and how they are hurting, no matter how intellectual and informative.
Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America” is one of the best books I ever read. She worked alongside the people she wrote about, not just observing them intellectually. It was a real eyeopener for me. I highly recommend it. Things are so much more worse now.
Agreed. Ehrenreich’s book is still very relevant today.
I read the book as well. She did what so few liberal elites are willing to do by crossing the line and actually living the life of a poor working class person. I've long said that poverty is much more than the lack of money. It's the tax on your time to advocate for and invest in yourself (your rights, your health, your education) or even research the support that can help you. It's the endless run-around you have to do get things done that we all think are easy. It's the lack of access to credit that pushes people into predatory things like payday lending. She brought all that out into the open.
I have been to Versailles and you are correct that it is a spectacular museum today. But that isn't how it started. Under Louis XIV (who enlarged it from a modest retreat into the palace it is today), it was a place for opulent, extravagant excess by the rich and royalty (think Trump but in the 1600s), and the people of France absolutely HATED it.
It wasted France's wealth while leaving the average French citizen penniless. It took several revolutions to turn all of that around which didn't happen until after the reign of Louis XVI and ultimately the people forced the King to abandon Versailles and return to Paris.
In the 1800s, it was finally converted into a museum and ultimately returned to some of its earlier opulence but for the benefit of the people rather than just the royalty.
Yes and Marie Sntoinette played peasant in her pretend peasant village that includes costumes to wear. She was merely a pawn in the great chess game of Europe . It is is lively place to walk around now. The Alles! One needs to read the history if the Four Estates and the role of French colonialism. They were the colonial rulers of Vietnam remember. Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities very need to read and his first paragraph absolutely stunning! It was the best of times , it was the sorts of times……..
They are much more personal, "93clementine," though also fact-based.
Especially the Ehrenreich, Hochschild, Packer, Ravitch, and Smarsh.
My point is that people are just trying to keep their kids fed and a roof over their family’s head and be essential at their job so they won’t be replaced by some dumb AI. All anyone has to do is look at the price of heating oil and groceries and children’s shoes. Those books are fine and have their place but sometimes they are arrogant in their distance from what is actually going on in people’s lives. The facts are that life for American families is a struggle right now and they see those facts in their faces everyday without some ‘erudite' writer telling them.
Mr. Balla is unlikely to respond in any direct way to the observations you've made here, He knows what (he thinks) he knows and nothing changes the rigidity he brings to it. Several of us here have tried from time to time to bring him to account on various matters he has raised respecting the most fanciful construction he advances regularly that standardized testing removed the humanities from American schools. Establishing the veracity of that would be an enormous, hugely expensive, and time consuming undertaking, resources which would be better undertaken by establishing the veracity of his claim that they're gone and spending the time and energy assuring that the humanities are, in fact, part of children's and young adult school experiences and how to go about doing it if they're not.
And yet they have elected this clown twice as their president.
Totally agree with you, "93clementine" on working people struggling.
Just wish you wouldn't dismiss really humane, decent, personally apt writers as if only "erudite."
In the interests of the American people, the new venture, POOPING FOR AMERICA, will organize annual poop festivals at the site of the future presidential Trump library. All an active citizen or immigrant need do is poop in front of said library or indeed, gain entrance and crap on any original documents or photos of Donald J. Trump. No bid contracts will be awarded to any groups that have been wrongs by the current administration.
So Bill, this is a "pay to play" program with poop? No shit.
What do we get in return or dare I ask?
Volunteers of America don’t pay. It’s a patriotic duty to do your duty.
Isn't there a reason sayings become cliche? Because they're correct and apply to a lot of situations?
Repetition, that's all J. Carey.
They were all true originally, but by repetition became but more fuel to our anesthetization.
I beg to differ Phil, repetition isn’t what anaesthetises us - normalisation is.
The phrase survives because the pattern survives. Every time power chooses vanity over responsibility, someone reaches for “Rome burns” because we’re still telling the same story. The tragedy isn’t that the metaphor has become familiar; it’s that the behaviour has.
Wonderful list, Phil Balla. I own
some of it and am delighted to see that Whitehouse (who I want to see in the White House) is “qualified,” like Obama, with a book!
Don’t forget “How Democracies Die.”
Phil, zooming out, there will be books written on this whole process, "how to turn a democracy to monarch".
Also Sarah Kendizor They Knew , the many books of David Kay Johnston, Tim O’ Brian’s work on Trump. Then really worth a read Alice Miller’s book on trauma and the childhood of tyrants. Anne Jacobson’s books and others that detail the history of the Cold War and beyond. Many people have seen but the propaganda whether planned or just random luck like the whole tv scam of The Apprentice has to be fully called out. Chicago and many other cities are dealing with water issues. Actually a problem before the Flint, Michigan horrors began because lead was a known toxic metal . Alice Hamilton MD discovered this. She was the first female faculty member at Harvard but not allowed to eat at the faculty club or be in the commencement procession! Another Hull House hero. We need to create new Hull Houses, the Henry Street House in NYC , and Goodrich Gannet House in Cleveland. Paid for by these folks a kind of reverse Carnegie Library perhaps with Fill in the blank surnames of convicted rich criminals. Another way is with the Julius Rosenberg Schools in the South. Most of these folks are fearful and building safe bunkers and or safe yachts. Where were their parents and or teachers or peers?
While Trump texts, and posts goofy AI of himself as a king or Jesus.
Posted himself as a doctor J L. For him to be posted as Jesus, you have to wait at least few mire weeks. Don't be impatient....dementia advances slowly. 🤪
Dr. Evil
😉
And has conversations with animatronic Theo Roosevelt! Thought two year olds were the only ones who did that 😏
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the GREATEST ONE OF ALL!"
"Took my love and I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
Till the landslide brought me down"
And just think with the "reflecting pool" there is built-in decay. I guess we could say it was pre-decayed to the tune of $16+million!
Spread of corruption.
More like Spamalot.
Brilliant comment. Thank you
I like that one. May I use it?
Of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy.
Of the criminals, by the criminal, for the family of criminals.
It's getting to the point where officials are starting to think that if you DON'T do this, you're a sucker.
With these people, it's got to be "follow the sleaze." Snails and slugs always leave behind odious trails of slime.
Thanks in particular to investigative reporters like David Fahrenthold from the New York Times (whom the Washington Post lost, along with practically everyone else when Jeff Bezos decided to lick the slime up personally and turn Katharine Graham's newspaper into a National Enquirer Trump-lite rag).
The United States has been financialized. Financialization of the US refers to the growing dominance of the financial sector over the rest of the American economy. Over the past several decades, the economic focus has shifted away from making tangible goods toward buying, selling, and managing financial assets.
Is the same money going around and around? How is that sustainable?
It’s greed, plain and simple, and we can see who chooses that over ethics. The moral compass of the US is broken. Can it be fixed?
"Christian" Nationalists think they can. Unfortunately, in MAGA, they are partnering with factions that broke it, IMO.
You’re so right, J. Carey — these are the same people who vote NO on providing free school lunches for kids, who vote NO on SNAP benefits and maternal healthcare. Yeah, that’s “Christian” alright [sarcasm].
The young Democratic candidates are winning primaries all over the country by running on the promise to restore integrity and honesty to government. We will see in November if the other side agrees that that is what is necessary.
From the candidates they have nominated so far it would appear that they will stick with corruption and greed. Paxton?? Tuberville etc.?? Really???
The Buffett Indicator shows that Wall Street is worth twice the value of Main Street, which makes no sense at all, especially now that your national debt exceeds your GDP for the first time since the war.
https://thebuffettindicator.com/
It wasn't long ago that both Democrats and Republcans both freely applied the buzzphrase “engine of America” every time they spoke of small business. Whether it was true or not, one thing that is true is you never hear that phrase anymore. GOP has completely leaned in to the billionaire class. Democratic establishment for the most part has been silent so as not to offend big corporate donors. Once in a while a Democrat on the stump will serve up a vignette but it doesn't lead to meaningful change. With the SCOTUS removing the last guardrails against corporate ownership of our political processtwo days ago, I see no end to this trend, barring a blue tsunami in November and veto-proof majorities.
Chris, it appears that the Democratic establishment has also leaned into the billionaire class, but as you note, quietly. They justify this shift by claiming that the GOP made elections a money game, so they have to court the oligarchs in order to win elections.
American political memory ranges from 3 to 10 years (depending on the topic), so no one remembers that Obama won with small-donor funding.
Given that, is it really possible that mid-term wins would change the minds of Democratic establishment? Color me skeptical.
Dale, I agree that electing Democrats alone won't do it. It has to be the right Democrats, the ones who can't ever be bought. And it is true there are not a lot of them, because of the trappings of power, and the easy button presented by the wheelbarrows of cash offered up by corporate donors. Of course there are strings attached but the reward is you are more likely to keep your job. That's a hard thing for us regular folks to be up against. That said, the voters still matter and our patience is wearing thin with those who just go along to get along. Whether it's stiffening some spines or scaring them into better behavior, we have to play that card and be continually vigilant.
You refer to Obama, and one of the things I lament about his time was that he campaigned as an unapolagoetic progressive, and he employed a 50-state strategy. And it worked marvelously, to the chagrin of the establishment. But as soon as he became president, the establishment got to him. The 50-state strategy went back to being the old system of targeting only known voters and ignoring all the rest. And the policies got watered down even before negotiations began. It really was a missed opportunity.
Agree. Obama's presidency was somewhat disappointing, although I keep two things in mind. 1. No one knows – not even a senator – what the office of president is like until he is actually in it. There are undoubtedly some realities that make it nearly impossible for a president to carry out all the promises he made as a candidate, not least of which was 2. Mitch McConnell's personal mission to defeat Obama in every way possible.
I think abandoning the 50-state strategy was even worse than targeting only "known voters." The most recent elections targeted only "swing-state" voters to leverage the Electoral College. Effectively, a few tens of thousands of voters actually decided the election.
Time for the state AGs to step in en masse and go for state corruption charges against Trump, Kushner, Witkoff, Lutnick, and their sons. There's fraud, theft, bribery, falsifying business records, tax crimes, conspiracy...
I am sure the DOJ will make some specious argument about who has standing and that Trump is covered by immunity, but the others aren't. Trump could always preemptively pardon them all, of course, and since his hubris knows no bounds, he would probably try to pardon himself.
The AGs have to use the DOJ playbook and announce that they are starting an investigation before there are indictments and bang the drum now through 2028. When (and if) Congress comes back in session, Democrats will have to demand investigations. But with Little Mikey Johnson in charge in the House, Mikey might send them all home until after the midterms. After all, Trump only needs the Senate to do the one doable thing on his to-do list--get two new justices confirmed to replace Alito and Thomas while the Senate is still red. I am not sure what his lizard brain would decide about whether that would be a good idea. His last choice, Amy Coney Barrett, is not obeying his commands. Trump knows he has 100% support with the geezers. Maybe he will get them some of the experimental mystery drug he is rumored to be taking. He still has his obsession about getting the SAVE America Act signed into law.
PS. A Trump spokesperson announced that Trump is flying Air Fraud One to Turkey next week. Apparently, someone else thought it was a good idea to announce that Air Fraud One does not have all of the anti-missile capabilities of Air Force One. It does have wood paneling.
Song for that day on DJ Trump's playlist: Wishin' and Hopin', rendition by Natalie Harp, somewhere near the Iranian-Turkish border.
Florida’s AG is using his “autopen accountability” to go after those pardoned by Biden.The recent example was a now stable, employed and sober man previously convicted on drug charges.
Perhaps Attorney General James Uthmeier should focus his “autopen accountability” on Paul Walczak, the Florida-based nursing home executive who was convicted of pocketing employees’ payroll taxes and failing to pay over $10 million in taxes all while enriching himself. Walczak was pardoned by Trump after his mother attended a million-dollar-per-person Mar-A-Lago fundraiser.
Another target for our attorney general could be Salomon Melgen, the Florida eye doctor whose sentence was commuted by Trump after Melgen was convicted of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid of millions, receiving over $100 million in payments and abusing his patients with unnecessary medical care.
Perhaps Uthmeier’s promise of going down the list of pardons to pursue charges against additional Florida residents should focus on those with the financial resources to do the most harm.
Keep calling,writing shouting 📣out the corruption.They are feeling the 🔥!
Show up.
Stand up.
Speak up!
And with state charges - and hopefully, convictions! - federal pardons don't apply!!
State charges require STATE crimes. State AGs can't just decide to charge Trump with crimes that are legally under the jurisdiction of the federal DoJ, no matter how much THEY or WE would like them to do that. And right now, even if they did attempt such charges, nothing would happen while Trump stays in office, which right now looks like for the next 2-1/2 years, because he and most of his senior cabinet officials would be exempt from state process while they remain in federal office.
This is probably the one remaining hope for taking action against Trump and his minions AFTER he (and they) leave office (hopefully after Jan 20, 2029), i.e., where appropriate state charges might be valid, they could bring charges and attempt to bring them to trial. There will never be any federal charges brought because, unless Trump just forgets to sign the papers, everyone will be given an advance pardon from any federal charges for their efforts while in office. But again, I expect in most such cases (if any actually happen) the cases will be removed from state court to federal court and then the presidential pardons will effectively block any further action.
And as for Amy Coney Barrett, she has for the MOST part actually supported about 95% of the 6-3 cases which were decided in Trump's favor. Just look back at the Supreme Court decisions and MOST had the three liberal justicies (Sotomayer, Kagan and Brown-Jackson) in dissents. Barrett has found a few occasions to move to the other side, typically along with Roberts and sometimes Kavanaugh or Gorsuch, but pitifully few. Keep in mind that while the firing of Fed board member Lisa Cook was blocked, all the OTHER board firings of federal agencies were upheld 6-3. The "good guys" (us) didn't win many in this last Supreme Court year.
The Trump coin is a classic pump and dump scheme to defraud investors. I am not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure there are state laws against it. A “pump and dump” theory would require proof they promoted the token with misleading statements, hid material facts, or coordinated sales to profit from the price rise. If the token is treated as a security, state securities laws could come into play.
Trump went on a huge rant about Barrett over her rulings thwarting him on birthright citizenship and tariffs. It doesn't help that she is a woman. Jon, haven't you realized yet that 95% agreement is not sufficient for Trump? There are some things Trump NEVER forgets. Any act of perceived disloyalty is on the list.
PS Just saw this post from Popular Information on their analysis of Trump’s pump and dump scheme.
https://popular.info/p/pump-and-dump-how-trump-made-636
Agreed, Jon. But if we can keep our nation whole for another 2 1/2 years, well, I can wait. When I know a great dessert will follow, I can tolerate a less-than-ideal main course!
It is patently illegal. There are specific laws intended to outlaw lying to givt and accepting gifts, especially from other nations. Congress is complicit in not holding hearings. The federal government officials are violating their oaths. The media us derelict in not reporting the illegality and the fact that the president is devoting significant time to illegal fraud of the government and illegally taking funds and gifts. Plus lying to the public. Where is the outcry.
There is plenty of outcry. We outcry here constantly LOL, day and night, 24/7/365. The problem is simply that without any power (and right now, those in opposition have no power) nothing will change. It is possible that this is the first time in US history, certainly in my lifetime, that something this "over the line" has ever happened. Other countries have dealt with this before and we have been very very VERY lucky. We will also be lucky if we don't end up in a REALLY SERIOUS conflict that costs far more in lives and $$$ than this current "war" in Iran which while wasting a few billion every day has had amazingly MINIMAL impact overall.
You think THIS is bad? It can be SO SO SO much worse. I'm not saying we should be happy, just that we should be thankful that we haven't actually started to look quite like Nazi Germany YET... but there is still time.
".......haven't actually started to look quite like Nazi Germany....." You didn't see coverage out of Minneapolis this winter?
Of course I saw it. I was aghast at what happened there and elsewhere as well. Yet, as bad as it was, it is still not comparable to what happened before WWII in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. In Minneapolis and elsewhere, a few people were killed. That is a tragic thing, absolutely, but nothing to compare with pre-war Europe.
I am Jewish, and I have a few relatives who survived the takeover in Nazi Germany and in Poland (and fortunately got to America before they were sent to concentration camps like most of my relatives from Eastern Europe), and from what I heard growing up, that was far worse than what has happened here so far. Several thousand were killed on Kristalnacht alone. And ultimately millions were killed in the death camps.
So, no, it is nowhere near as bad as it was before WWII.
Of course it could get worse (and probably will before this is all over).
Jon, for what's it worth, I agree 100%!
There is always power where there are thinking, reasoning people. We need to decide to resist and use that power.
We have a dictator.
Re “We have a dictator”: which is exactly what Trump said (out loud) he would be “On Day One”.
''Air Force One, Now With Gift Receipt''
America used to worry about foreign influence. Now we apparently ask whether it comes with leather seats, secure communications, and a future parking spot at the presidential library.
President Trump’s new Air Force One, courtesy of Qatar by way of the Pentagon’s constitutional rinse cycle, is a perfect symbol for the age. If the Constitution says a president cannot accept foreign gifts without Congress, no problem. Just hand the keys to the Pentagon, paint it like Trump’s private jet, call it national security, and hope nobody notices the luggage tags.
Meanwhile, the White House ballroom project has entered its royal-remodel phase, with no-bid contracts, taxpayer estimates, and the East Wing treated like an inconvenient wall on a luxury renovation show. “Taxpayer-free,” we were told, which in Trump-speak apparently means taxpayers may only cover several hundred million dollars, but discreetly.
Then come the mining deals, crypto ventures, meme coins, stock trades, family investment stakes, and mysterious loans large enough to make ordinary corruption look quaint. Every scandal arrives wearing the same nametag: Best Interest of the American People.
At some point, satire gets tired and asks for hazard pay.
The trick is not just the corruption. It is the flood. One plane, one ballroom, one coin, one contract, one favor, one filing at a time, until exhaustion starts disguising itself as acceptance.
That is the real con. And America had better stop applauding the magic show before the whole republic disappears inside the hat.
It's beyond me how Heather can daily unearth all this horror and still get out of bed in the morning.
And it's being run like one of Trump's businesses as well, which is obviously not great for anyone.
“The White House is not a business opportunity. The presidency is not a license to steal from the American people. The government of the United States doesn’t exist to make Donald Trump rich.
“It belongs to the American people. And after 500 days of corruption, Democrats and Republicans in this body, along with the American people, should start acting like it.” And those on the left of center ideology, in fact, have been acting like it since day one. We've known all too well where this Trrumption was going. What have the right of center folks been doing? Either nothing or cheering him on. As I've said many times before on this thread: "with republicans, it's all about the money." It is especially true now, and frankly, always has been.
Sadly, it is now all of those things and the sooner you come to terms with it, the better.
Resist.
You forgot how it started: staying out of prison. He is quoted in “Regime Change” of saying exactly that.
Riad, what mystifies me is how anyone can be surprised by this outcome. It was entirely predictable, considering that the U.S. government was formed by "landed gentry" who had a strong interest in protecting their assets and promoting their ability to expand their assets.
With the latest SCOTUS ruling increasing access to unlimited funds, it should be a wake-up call to all of us the need for Campaign Finance Law reform. Congressional Democrats are not immune from this addiction any more than the MAGA Republicans. Honestly, we should demand any candidate for Congress sign a pledge (with teeth) to eliminate Campaign Finance as a requirement for election. Promises are BS.
Kelli, as these stories unfold, these LFAA serve both as a day by day linear documentation and as a warning to The People. HCR is Paul Revere
Dave Dalton, that’s perfect! A Fourth of July present to all of US! HCR is PAUL REVERE! There are many others, but she rides every night so we are constantly warned. When she receives her second Medal of Freedom, Paul Revere should be part of the accompanying statement. Even her professorship is Boston!
Let’s not let this become normal. This “private business” is a criminal enterprise. How can so many Americans (and the Republican Congress and the majority of the Supreme Court) be going along with this grift? Oh wait, many are participating in this grift.
Are theses transactions considered “official duties” as laid out in the Supreme Court decision of immunity for the Executive or can the Trump family pay a price for all this? They keep saying it’s for “national security” or for the “best interest of the US” - the buzzwords that cover their actions, but is it????
Can’t “like” this—it is so depressing to see the country, my country that I have always loved,become a place that is being raped and disfigured by the Trump family AND, of course, NO ONE (except Chris Murphy) calls him (r Trump) out on it😡😡😡😡😡😡)
Trump's corruption is stunning, isn't it? Without limit! Without shame! Without precedent. How did he do it? In part, Trump exploited the misogyny, the racism, the homophobia, the white Christian Nationalism and finally the ignorance of enough Americans to win a close election. Without a doubt, we're now swimming in a cesspool of corruption and cruelty. Time to fund our candidates and work like hell to get them elected. It's the present norm.
After fitting up that plane to make it safe for a U.S. president to fly around in — security, communications, nuclear-war-proof - the country is going to hand it over to Trump when he leaves office. That would put Trump in the dangerous position of being able to travel in the most secure aircraft in the world. Does no one in the government see anything wrong with that?
Yes. I don't know why this is just accepted fact. I think when his presidency is done the plane should belong to the American people, since we paid for it. We can sell it. That would be part of reclaiming some of the money that Trump has stolen from us.
Nobody but trump wanted it. The Qataris have been trying to unload it for years. Enter: the dumbest con man ever.
I would suggest that the next Democratic president sell it back to them for the cost to us in exchange for US military bases staying in Qatar, but it seems Trump has made sure they want nothing to do with the US military anymore.
Linda, apparently the way the deal was structured, with the blessing of Congress, the jet becomes Donald's property when he leaves office. A succeeding Democratic president would have to somehow seize it. This could possibly be done through civil forfeiture, whereby law enforcement can seize assets acquired from criminal activity. And certainly Donald has committed enough crimes to justify the basis for civil forfeiture.
But there are two problems: 1. The U.S. electorate would have to elect a Democratic president with the stomach to pursue and prosecute Donald. Does such a Democrat exist? I doubt it. 2. Once seized, the jet has no market value. The Qataris gave it to Donald because they couldn't unload through normal sales channels. Its only value is for scrap.
Who would buy it? The Qataris gave it away because they could not find a buyer. No one wanted it except Trump because it’s too expensive to operate.
It’s now reported we spent $934M to upgrade it.
The whole process is completely nuts!
Trump isn’t paying for jet fuel and maintenance…we are!
However, we are running out of strategic reserves. Apparently JD Vance told a talk show host that has close ties to Israel that Trump told them to negotiate the MOU to buy them just long enough for them to refill the US strategic reserves, which were going to run out this month. After that, they want fuel so that they can go fill tanks of military equipment to continue the war. This is what our tax dollars go to support.
Do you have any idea how long it would take to refill our strategic reserves. A long time!
Why he thinks it’s genius
Exactly!
And they couldn't find a buyer because it is a POS, and quite likely in bad condition structurally.
For the Loser In Chief to be so smitten with it all they had to do was fix it up a bit - give it a new coat of paint (in a manner of speaking), add some shiny high tech bells and whistles, some wood paneling and stuff- and they've got him going gaga and salivating over it in the "gotta have it" mode.
My only hope is when it disintegrates in flight it does so over open water, and not over populated areas.
Actual verified costs have proven quite elusive on every one of these vanity/grift projects*. Try getting your hands around the actual cost of the East Wing demolition; best I could find was an estimate of “more than $1.6 million” for the demo alone. You have to wonder how much more than $1.6 million!?!
The numbers I've seen for the plane restoration are all over the place. Yet these guys look straight in to the cameras, and with a perfectly straight face, claim this is the most transparent White House ever.
Is it any wonder that so many of us feel deranged by the constant lies and gaslighting?
* of course the cover-ups go far beyond just the vanity/grift projects. Can anyone provide a solid figure for what we’ve spent on the Iran war so far, or how much we've spent carrying out extrajudicial murders of alleged drug runners in the Caribbean and Pacific, or where has the money from pirated Venezuelan or Iranian gas ended up? How about the tariff collections that will never be refunded?
No doubt many of you could add your favorite question to this list.
That is the price we should charge them to buy it back before they will be allowed to buy any more US weapons.
Emolument bigly.
Hugely J L! Does the Pentagon accepting it get around that clause?
As long as we do not "sell" it to Donnie...
Would anyone buy that flying monstrosity? Didn't the Qataris try to sell it first, but couldn't find any takers, so they decided to use it to bribe trump. I wonder how much it would be worth to melt it down into scrap metal.
Just for the record, here is the Google AI response:
Q: What is the scrap value of a 747 worth?
"Once stripped of valuable parts, the raw scrap metal of a Boeing 747 airframe is worth roughly $55,000. However, harvesting the whole aircraft yields $3 to $8 million in salvageable components (like engines and landing gear), while teardown costs can range from $300,000 to $1 million."
I.e., compared to the cost, melting it into scrap isn't worth very much. In fact, if you can't get anything out of the parts, it costs more to melt it than it would bring in revenue.
Jamie Raskin says it DOES belong to us. Maybe after it flies him out of DC on Jan. 20, 2029, it needs to have a tire “boot” put on it. ✈️🛩️
Maybe We The People should just start using it. Of course, my intentions are to move away from highly polluting jets unless I have to. Since I live in Europe right now, and my mom is in the US, I have to use them. I say we can sell it or make money with it. My biggest thought is to sell it back to Qatar, by making stink about it.
Yes, but who wants the fucking plane?
I can think of a better ending for the plane and Trump but it’s not legal!
I believe a "smite" might work. Sadly, I am unable to smite.
I suppose they will have to strip out most of the hush-hush stuff if it goes on display, and store it safely in a Mar a Lago bathroom.
It belongs to us. We should by no means let him do keep it.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Where all the good s**t is, right?
The acceptance of the place from Qatar violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution. Straight up, in your face, impeachable offense. No debate, only obvious corruption. The impeachment hearings should have begun the day the plane landed on US soil. Pretty fracking obvious.
This one should be easy. No facts to debate. No lengthy presentations. He accepted a $400 million gift. Done. The Constitution stomped on.
But the "Kaz Affair" is even worse. No wait, the crypto con is worse...actually you know what is worse? The EPSTEIN AFFAIR and TRUMP HISTORY OF ABUSE
Donald J. Trump is credibly accused of rape, assault and threatening to murder. A kid. And that's one of MANY sexual assault accusations. If even just one of these has a shred of truth, he should be boarding that plane for the last time. He can take it to Russia, for all I care. I suspect Putin has his gold plated dacha prepared for him already. He's been such a pal.
As long as all Trump family assets are frozen and then redistributed to Americans who have been suffering under his reign.
How about a special master to distribute the billions to the women he and his buddies assaulted?
Holding this monster accountable by explaining his obvious, irrefutable corruption and cruelty is not hard. He has made it easy. But something is missing: Moral and political will to do the obviously right thing.
As we head into the midterm elections, any Democrat now has an amazing armory full of political weapons. And all they have to say to an audience is:
"My opponent refuses to hold Donald Trump accountable for alleged rape, demonstrated theft and starting an expensive war while you paid higher prices for everything."
Blue tsunami on the way, if we don't choke. If we don't get caught up in hand wringing over "which direction the party will take". We can sort out the "moderate vs progressive" BS once we are in charge.
And simultaneously, the new President, on inauguration day 2029, can sign the bill expanding the Supreme Court to 27 members. (I bow to Robert Hubble's logic).
How about 29? Prime numbers are better.
I like 13 (also prime)
I love the number 13. However, this court is not handling things very quickly. I think they need a lot more people just to get the work done.
I base that on the number of regional circuit courts, the DC court, and the Federal court of appeals. One judge per court. I'd also propose a rotational CJ position; 4 year term or thereabouts.
he'll be able to flee to Russia in it on the 21st January 2029. Ian
No, because we it belongs to us, and we need to make that clear to any candidates running that we are looking to hear their plan to get us back the grift from the Trumps. They should already have set things in motion the day after they are elected.
Dream on, Ian, I wish it were
so.
I doubt very much that Donald will be: 1. sentient, or 2. alive on that date.
If he survives that long, he won't be headed to Russia. He'll be headed to a care home, likely in Argentina. That's where nazis go to die. The climate is more clement to old people with thin skin and thin blood.
Yes. I see many things with 'that' including but not limited to IMO multiple violations of the Public Records Act.
Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration Tuesday, 6/30/26, seeking a court order requiring officials to preserve & retain records related to investigations into the experienced former CIA Director.
Why Brennan's creative legal tactics matter:
Per Axios & other Platforms IF Brennan is later charged, preserved records could be central to any claim that of unconstitutional political retaliation and/or vindictive prosecution & a Motion to Dismiss promptly to ad to the growing list of failed attacks.
Brennan's pleading allege the "investigation" is part of a broader push to punish trump's political adversaries — especially sophisticated critics like Brennan.
Buckle Up.
Let’s be honest: the lizard king surrounds himself with reptiles (no offense to actual reptiles). Eventually one of the snakes will turn on him. It doesn’t matter how the plane is outfitted if an insider decides someone else needs to be in charge of the lizard kingdom.
The Qataris had it on the market for sale for years and no one wanted to buy it, but good ol’ #47 fell in love with the gaudy thing and just had to have it.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2025/05/14/qatar-747-trump/
https://www.newsweek.com/qatar-gift-trump-unsold-plane-2072564
In the not too distant future, there will be books written on this whole process, "how to turn a democracy to monarch, Constance.
Nope. Not anyone in this government.
Bingo…no maga stench court frauds nor elected maga legislators! They are delusional to think the orange convicted sex offender will allow some of his billions, grifted despite the emoluments clause, trickle down to them!
The next president, Democrat or Republican (let's hope it's a Dem!) should DEMAND use of this plane for the SITTING president, not as a reward for one person's corrupt ego!
I’m hoping it’s last flight is to Putin’s Russia as Trump flees to avoid a prison sentence.He could spend his last days hiding in a bunker with Putin.
The greatest danger isn't corruption itself. It's the moment people begin to see it as background noise. Once outrage turns into routine, democracy loses one of its strongest defenses.
Salute to USAF Major Jason Watson who called for the president’s impeachment in a press conference and then walked up the steps of the Capitol with a sign (which only members of Congress are allowed to do there), thereby subjecting himself to arrest, jail, and probable UCMJ prosecution that would end his military career and pension in addition to imprisonment.
His speech:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaQtJxyOzVF/?
Support:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DaRpTLNjbrM/?
I an honorably discharged Regular Army veteran (1959-1962; 16 months in Korea) do indeed salute Major Watson. I do so with the desperate hope his activism represents the mobilization of all USian military personnel who are [not] oath-breakers -- a mobilization best of all under the direction of a shadow government that includes an intelligence and spec-ops capability comparable to Churchill's SOE in WWII: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive#
Even if it’s only one person today, that solitary voice inspires others to action. Here’s hoping Major Watson’s courage takes hold in the hearts of those who have remained on the couch!
Yes. I agree. Honorable speech and action.
Salute to "Sister Letty" who was arrested in the recent surge of ICE arrests.
Everybody, there is LESS 'Sorrow' Today.
"Sister Leticia Unborja an RN more commonly known as Sister Letty was released on 6/28/26 from ICE imprisonment. Sister Letty was captured by ICE walking to Sunday MASS at Our Lady of Sorrows in McClellan, Texas.
Upon release In solidarity with Sister Letty she was greeted & hugged by a sister Sister."
🙏
Excellent news!
I will report the case to JACOB SOBOROFF the Country's top ICE reporter who has a new MS NOW show on the Weekends 7/4 & 7/5.
Per Variety, Jacob Soboroff anchors the weekend program "Connect with Jacob Soboroff" on MS NOW, airing Saturdays & Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET.
The three-hour program, based in Los Angeles, is the first in the network's history to originate from California Jacob's home base.
Support fund for Major Watson:
https://www.spotfund.com/story/329d1bd6-55ac-4fdc-832b-33ca935f934e
Thanks, Ellie. That is courage and integrity on display!
Yes, and I'm with Senator Murphy. But there's so much outrage-sharing that people get overwhelmed and go silent. That's exactly what authoritarians want.
HCR's and Joyce Vance's documenting the endless lawlessness and corruption is essential, but as to the information I take in and put out, I'm trying to live by a 20:80 rule: 20% on how bad things are, 80% on what people are already doing — and what more we can do by turning fury into productive action:
https://the80-20list-prodemocracyresources.netlify.app/
...which has a mobile-friendly toolkit of actions anyone can take to Get Out The Vote and make November's results TOO BIG TO RIG.
Do we KNOW we will win? No. But do sports teams go out on the field yelling, "We are going to lose!"?
Unfortunately, Sen. Murphy's historically proven, nation-terminating prognosis -- that once corruption becomes normal, it becomes permanent -- has been the USian norm at least since the end of Reconstruction in 1878. That why, in the intervening 148 years, the corruption has not only become overwhelming; it has in fact morphed into absolute omnipotence: the most vastly institutionalized, deeply rooted, inescapably apocalyptic Evil ever to assault our species and our Mother Earth. And unless we mobilize accordingly, it's a war we've not a chance of ever winning.
Which is why it can't be turned into background noise. Especially when the next Congress is sworn in.
If indeed there is another Congress, which no one aware of what now obtains can rationally believe is certain.
I raise the question because anyone with a proverbial lick of sense recognizes (1)-that the sole purpose of Trump's newly announced ChristoNazi Midterm Convention is to find a means of aborting the election; that (2)-the Trump Regime has already proven there is no force on this planet with the will to stop it's crimes and conquests; and (3)-that -- with all due respect to Dr. Richardson -- the true microcosm of the Regime is not the toxic swamp Trump so symbolically made of Lincoln's reflecting pool, but the wanton destruction of the East Wing, which like USian democracy and global civilization itself is now gone forever -- with 99.999 percent probability our species is likewise doomed. In fact no greater Evil has [ever] assailed us -- nor has any previous assault so glaringly revealed our chronic probably terminal inability to resist its tyranny.
Loren, your optimism is appreciated. ;)
I has seemed to me that successful social movements focus on some egregious aspect of the elephant in the room and highlight it, and humanize it, in one way or another, until the insulation of normalcy can no longer cover it. I've seen it happen even within my own lifetime.
This. Which they hope to achieve by simply flooding the zone with their exhausting shit, day after day, hour after hour, until we're all numb.
We must never become numb to a criminal who conned one-third the country so he could shit all over it, violating the Emoluments Clause every day.
'It's about the graft, stupid.'
That’s pretty much what Watergate became and by degrees. Immediately Republicans normalized it as business as usual. That’s become a recurring theme.
Normalization is often more dangerous than the original act. Once people stop expecting higher standards, institutions begin to weaken.
Yes. We’re well past the beginning phase of weakening. There’s still an upside. It hasn’t come to a conclusion yet.
This does feel significantly different than our usual bipolar swing.
How many times must it be said? Trumpstein ad nauseam is [not] merely another "bipolar swing." It is the intended, literal, total destruction of the former United States and its conversion into a de facto ChristoNazi Reich.
And as far as any [rational] observer can determine, the ChristoNazi conquest has thus far proven unstoppable.
It’s even worse: many Americans actually cheer trump on _because_ of his massive corruption. They admire him and want to be a rich, pussy-grabbing, egoistic asshole just like him: he’s their idol.
Dutch, I cannot figure out how my former work cohort does not see the constitutional violations and criminal conduct of this ffpotus. They were cops, once. Now they see nothing wrong.
Sick fucks. Pardon my language, but I don't have other words for it.
Profanity is my second language (sarcasm is a close third) No offense taken here.
Good to know ;)
The problem with thinking of these perpe-traitors as "sick" is that it implies their ecogenocidal moral imbecility is somehow not their fault, and by so doing makes it infinitely more difficult to subject them to the preventative justice they deserve.
Dunno. I consider them so sick, they might qualify for involuntary euthanasia.
This, DM, is probably the ultimate dynamic of our undoing: neoliberalism -- literally economic Nazism -- has already reduced us to a nation of Moral Imbeciles, its mechanism a 77-million-voter majority of definitively subhuman creatures for whom unpunished sadism is the ultimate fantasy and whose Ted-Bundy-minded adoration of criminals is genuinely incurable, unquestionably infinite, unspeakably obscene and will in all probability exterminate our species and toxify our Mother Earth to [permanent] lifelessness.
As much as I would like to see it happen otherwise, I'm afraid you're right. For years now, I have been thinking the exact same thing. Neoliberalism is Newtonian-Cartesian thinking to the extreme, reductionistic materialism at its end point: the Earth and all its creatures are just resources to use for the tech bro billionaires. There is no 'other', no 'us', no future. There's just them, in this lifetime, they want it ALL -literally- and they want it NOW. They don't care for anything or anyone else.
DM, I fear most of us are still too naive to acknowledge we are coping with a cabal of plutocrats who know they have been granted genuinely divine omnipotence by their mastery of technology. We need to recognize that they long ago recognized their capacity for Evil could doom our species and our planet. Thus faced with the choice of changing course for human preservation versus abandoning all hope in a "fuck-it-we're-all-dead-anyway" apocalyptic orgy of planet-destroying consumption, they have concluded they are the greatest powers in the universe, are therefore answerable to no one or nothing beyond themselves and thus can pleasure their Ted-Bundy selves with whatever Trumpstein sadism bubbles to the surface of their mental cesspools. Reflect on Trump's assertion of tyrannical moral imbecility; reflect also on the fact that the environmentalists have been pronouncing us a doomed planet since the '70s, while the few remaining humanitarians amongst us claim doomsday became inevitable when we nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Trump, his ilk and his supporters cannot be stopped because -- as subhumans (Homo sapiens inhumanus) -- they are literally incapable of caring about anything beyond themselves. And we are already re-living World War II; albeit without the bombs (yet).
"The President is a thief. He is stealing from you. Your money." The campaign slogans write themselves. On the local level, you add the clause, "And your (R) Senator/Representative approves of this. He/she is complicit in this theft." Then let the MAGAts whine and threaten to sue.
Signs in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District: No to Wittman We Can’t Afford Him
There are laws that make this acceptance of a gift like a Boeing 747 illegal. Oh, the Pentagon received the gift! So it belongs to the American people, right?
So why is our convicted-felon president Trump going to take it with him when he leaves?
These laws on the books mean zero if not enforced!
State secrets are taken with no accountability, a coup is carried out and put into motion by a convict who lied to thousands who trashed our Capitol, and they walk free!
Federal agents under this regime kill Americans on our streets, and no one is arrested!
It is no wonder that people have so little regard for the law, the laws, it seems, mean nothing!
When I joined USAID decades ago, I got an ethics briefing within a week or so of being hired. I was given explicit instructions about not accepting gifts, even the smallest ones, in order to avoid not just a conflict of interest, but even the appearance of a conflict of interest. I wasn't allowed to have a ham sandwich offered me by a potential contractor or grantee -- with or without cheese, mayo or mustard, let alone a sliced tomato and lettuce.
They never said anything about a fully refurbished 747-800 from the Qatari Government, though.
Same when I was an in-house lawyer for Columbia University -- we could not accept being taken out to lunch by a potential outside counsel, much less anything more substantial - and holiday gifts sent to the General Counsel's office were politely returned.
Same when I was at TVA. One of the people i supervised received a plant from a contractor in thanks for the detailed work she’d done on a TVA partnership to restore a building. Unfortunately we were employees of the General Counsel’s office. An attorney was sent to check out the plant and determined its cost ($50, $40?) exceeded the $5 limit on “gifts.” The employee got to pick the charity to whom the plant was given, though.
I had restrictions on such things as a street cop. One local restaurant "got around" that by charging law enforcement $.25 for a $1.50 (it was the 80's) cup of coffee. It was one of those training tests that training officers liked to run; how will the new guy react? To "pass" the test, some stopped ordering coffee and went with (full price) ice tea. I just left $2.00 on the table. I passed. That morphed into "the car ahead paid for your coffee" by the time I retired. Fixed that by paying for the car behind and leaving a large tip.
Our recognition of the necessity of of agreed-upon boundaries of behavior is what ultimately empowers rule of law with the consent of the governed. Without that commitment, law unravels, as it did in Prohibition. Corruption is the nemesis of justice, and we so need to beat it back. We should never have let it get this far.
Dr. Richardson failed to mention why Trump flew to South Dakota today. It was to dedicate the Theodore Roosevelt National Library. National libraries are relatively new so many are being built to honor Presidents who did much for a state. Theodore National Park is in South Dakota.
Trump became the first president to ever speak at the dedication of a presidential library to not quote something that President had said.
And well he wouldn't. One of the most famous quotes Teddy made completely damns Donald Trump.
"No man can be a good citizen who is not a good husband and father, who is not honest with his dealings with other men and women, faithful to his friends and fearless in the presence of his foes, who has not got a sound heart, a sound mind, and a sound body."
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, January 26, 1883
Trump doesn't fit the bill for a single thing Teddy spoke of. If I could put Trump in Teddy's grave and Teddy in the White House, I'd sleep a whole lot better.
So would most of you.
Every child who owns a ‘Teddy Bear’ is beholden to President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. So, the quote you mentioned pointing out “…good husband and FATHER…” rings particularly true…and absolutely condemns Donald J. Trump!
POTUS #47 has drawn his children (the ones he doesn’t lust after) into his criminal endeavours to bilk America for all it’s worth.
President Roosevelt might be quite insulted that such a low calibre man was invited to speak at the dedication ceremony…probably BECAUSE Trump likes to be ‘the first’. Yet another ‘ego stroking’ event. 👎
SHAME!
There would be no ‘Donny Bears’ if Trump had been on that historic ‘hunt’. DJT would have blasted the poor little bear cub - tied to a tree for an easy trophy - and then had it stuffed for a footstool!
Teddy Roosevelt was appalled, as a moral person would be, and his kind action - saving the cub - inspired the creation of the ‘first’ Teddy Bear…beloved by everyone who ever received one. 💓
Nuff said…
I’d wondered, hoped Heather would pick up criminal Donald’s most typical Donaldism.
She did. But she spent her time on it today looking at his constant weaseling, his lying, contradictions, but still, over and over, insensitivity.
Asked if the American taxpayer footed the bill for the hundreds of millions in renovations on the 747 gift from Qatar’s dictator to our most vulgar criminal, he bragged as to how hot the U.S. stock market has been under his presidency.
Donald has no capacity to feel the worlds of hurt America’s working classes have endured for the past year-and-a-half. For his bottomless dehumanization he resembles best those six justices on the current “unitary executive” bastardization of the Supreme Court who all excelled on all those standardized tests through all their years, all their schools, where the tests ever measured but the humanly empty cleverness of certain forms of IQ.
That weaseling pairs with the human emptiness to underlie the permanence of not only his corruption, but the high court's, and the totality of Republicans in Congress.
My pension fund has done poorly compared to under Biden, so that Trump has affected my bottom line in retirement. I am dreading when the AI bubble bursts. However, I realize I am fortunate to even have a pension to worry about. I just spent half a year battling with medicare on behalf of my mom, and the battle is not over, because they owe us money. It is shocking.
Shocking indeed, Linda. They've no human scales applied to them.
Only those scales by which status quo elites in all institutions value only the oh-so-easily-(and-machine-measured) humanly empty cleverness.
So I am learning.
Good luck with Medicare in receiving the money and stay diligent. Had to do this with my dad, he passed in June 2024, my mom received half of the money in March 2025 and the remainder January 2026. What a mess, the dysfunctional healthcare system…
I have. As long as my long distance minutes from Germany don't cost more than the amount I am trying to get back. I am dealing with a lot of pieces right now that prevent me from writing about my mother's situation, and I also have to call two more places before I have answers.
Again, good luck it sounds you are prepared to take them all on…
Thanks for the good wishes, TJ. I need them.
Sending positive vibes for ultimate success.
Thanks, Ally House!
"...Supreme Court who all excelled on all those standardized tests through all their years, all their schools...."
Awash in your own personalized obsessive-compulsive disorder with regard to a single issue like a cuckoo clock. Whatever and whoever those six justices are, it doesn't have diddly-squat to do with "standardized tests."
Every day, you just keep hitting that BIZARRE button like a kid desperate for mommy to pay attention to his outbursts. Yet mommy keeps talking about other things. Always. Funny that...
The strawberries.
Trump is clearly unaware that hourly workers may not have a 401K and are untouched by the stock market, whatever it does - he has no concept of (or empathy for) the struggle of people working paycheck to paycheck.
"But my dreams
They aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That's never free"
‘We Uncovered The Master Plan That Peter Thiel Doesn't Want You To See’ (6/29/26) @moreperfectunion
https://youtu.be/6iLf2h_fo-w?si=mv3izDWvQG28KJXn
“They want to have all the benefits of our society, without having the responsibilities of our society. People need to understand that the billionaires have become radicalized against democracy, and they’re in the process of using everything they have to try to destroy it. And that’s the battle of our moment. That’s the battle of our time.”~ Gil Duran
“It’s not too late to push back. Public response to data centers works. Many of the governance as a service startups are starting their work in towns and states where you can still have a voice to stop them. The billionaire class wants to turn your home into their playland, completely change how everything is run to funnel more wealth to themselves, create chaos, and then when everything is all f*cked up, walk away with their winnings to their own private enclaves, all under the guise of fixing a broken government. A government that they broke.”~ MPU
###
‘Peter Thiel is funding a plan to build privatized city-states everywhere from Gaza and Venezuela to small towns in California.
The goal is to replace governments with for-profit companies.
We investigated how Thiel's scheme is already reshaping democracy across the world’.
MORE PERFECT UNION
JUN 29 2026 | Contribute to @moreperfectunion
Together we can build power for working people
…
MORE PERFECT UNION
Host and Producer: Sean Morrow
Videographers: Derek Knowles, Laura Bustillos
Editor: Joey Yee
Supervising Producer: Brady Welch
Video Production Manager: Isabel Atalaya
Video Production Coordinator: Jodi Clemens
Video Production Fellow: Astrid Dong
Guest Appearance/ Featuring: @gilduran on IG
.
FAFO, Fight Amazon, Fight Oligarchs. https://www.fightamazon.org/
In many ways, more than there is space to recount here, we have allowed commercialism to usurp our culture. I am no enemy of commerce, but we are letting the tail wag the dog.
and yet we sit on this platform; does the irony not grate you?
Oddly, I recently read the classic *A Wrinkle in Time* where the evil is fomented by a “brain” who requires everything to be run on his/its time, space, sameness. Non-conformity is punished harshly. JaKsaa’s post reminds me of that. The broligarchs want to realize their distorted vision with zero understanding of the common wo/man.
He wants to kill the goose that laid his golden egg
Trump has nullified the emoluments provisions of the Constitution. This alone should be another reason to impeach him.
Add it to the list. Isn't impeachment for crimeS and misdemeanorS? We don't just have An Impeachable Offense to charge the mad king with; we have pages and pages and pages and we should use them all. It will be helpful to future students of American history to have the depth of his corruption on the record and one place.
Yes, we must have multiple investigations and spread his crimes and corruption on the record. Congress must use its power to investigate and then pass laws to counteract the very idea of a unitary presidency.
That will not happen until the sycophantic Rethugs are purged from Congress.
Yeah, but first, we have to get a Congress!
It wouldn't be hard to name plethora of crimes worthy of impeachment. If, and that is a big if, Democrats get control of both houses impeachment may be the only thing that will save us.
We urgently need a new Congress. It was always meant to be the First and most important branch of government. While it won’t happen anytime soon, we need a larger Congress maybe 800 or more in the House. There is no good reason why the number has been arbitrarily frozen at 435.
Getting control of both Houses will not be enough. Impeachment conviction (which is the only actual result that would do anything) requires 2/3 of the Senate, i.e., 67 votes to remove an officer who is charged in an impeachment. It is going to take a small miracle for the Dems to even get to 51 votes and take over the Senate (I believe it will be easier to achieve in the House just because all House seats are up for grabs this year, but only 1/3 of the Senate seats are). So even if we have a Senate 51-49 majority, or even a 55-45 majority (a REALLY long shot!) after Jan 3, 2027, it would still require a bunch of GOP Senators to vote to convict.
THAT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN (sadly, but I believe I am speaking reality here).
So it doesn't really matter much as the likelihood of removing Trump is almost zero by my calculations. And even if we did, Vance would replace him. There is no process for impeaching multiple people at one time, so if Trump IS impeached and convicted, Vance becomes President. And THAT could be worse, not better.
Anyway, it doesn't matter because the GOP is going to be so pissed if they lose their Congressional power that there is virtually no way to see Trump ever being removed in an impeachment trial. End of story.
Let me count the ways.
To infinity
Zero ways. :-)
Cryptocurrency was made for criminal payments—Tr*mp's been using his crypto business to rake in bribes for pardons, dropped fraud investigations, monopoly merger approvals and as a cash register for monetizing every Presidential decision possible, even if it puts us/our national security at risk.
But never forget: it is only to thanks to the corrupt MAGA justice majority on the captured Roberts Court giving him total immunity for crimes committed in office that grift and theft on this scale is possible.
At the end of the day, Tr*mp has only two motivations in life:
1) to enrich himself (and ostensibly his family, cronies and billionaire puppet-masters)
2) to keep himself out of prison
EVERYTHING else he does, everything else he says, serves only those ends—whether DOGE-ing our government agencies, eviscerating our legal institutions, and most dangerous of all, rigging our elections and pushing the “SAVE” Tr*mp from the voters act to deny us our freedom to choose our leaders.
Yup, you're right.
Nice work if you can get it, eh?
Here's a question for HCR and others, and a promotion for same.
Why are Democrats allowing Trump to stay distanced from his terrible cabinet choices like Patel and Kennedy...or Pulte or all the new cast of characters being put up for important roles? Other presidents get challenged for their judgement on their cabinet members. I have heard little messaging directly questioning his judgement for these choices: It's always "this person has no experience" rather than "Trump has terrible judgement and is choosing people with no experience—only loyalty—which endangers each of us." Am I missing some dynamic?
Then, because I happen to be near the top here, I'll once again remind people to please check out my new song, "The Trains Will Run On Time," dedicated to Heather and the other historians helping us all make sense of what's going on. Discussing the echoes of tyranny through history, the song resides on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Fpw6Yzgz1Sg. You can find its home page and several other songs directed at this political mess at www.lyricist.net/trains-will-run. Enjoy and share!
Well, it was Mussolini who "made the trains run on time" (not really, it was a lie). So, true or false, one can dream that in the future, federal prison inmate #"4547" can spend the rest of his life living for free in a federal prison. Now THAT would be taxpayers' money well spent.
Trump is NEVER going to spend even one HOUR let alone the rest of his life in a federal prison. Ever heard of a presidential pardon? Trump will leave office with one firmly in place, either given to him by himself, and/or also given to him by President Vance who will ascend to the office of president on Jan 19, 2029, for one day only for the purpose of giving Trump his pardon.
Exactly. Mussolini is key to the song—hence the title—and the video begins by referring to that "trains on time" trope. I hope you'll check it out.
Hello? On what planet do you think the scenario you just described has been happening? Were you absent the day of Kegsbreath's hearings, when Senator Tammy Duckworth literally yelled "YOU'RE NOT QUALIFIED!" at someone who clearly was not qualified? Do you think any investigative piece Jame Raskin (D-MD), Jason Crow (D-CO) or Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), quoted tonight at length --- could have come from the Republican Party?
I literally do not get this 'let's bash Democrats' attitude in spite of vast evidence that doing so will get you defeat snatched straight from the jaws of victory in November...
I am not clear on the target of your ire; you're partially agreeing with me.
I am saying: I keep hearing that these people are not qualified, even that they are told this to their faces, but more rarely am I hearing "Trump has shit judgement." Remember, he always crowed about his ability to choose the best people.
I'd like to see a billboard, for example, in a swing or red state, with a big checkerboard of people Trump has put in place and under each one, how they failed, e.g., "indicted," "kicked out," "proven illegitimate in court," etc. It could be bannered, "The Best People."
I am not sure that it would make a difference. Trump has left a trail of broken careers of former courtiers whom he has castigated and thrown under a bus. Some of them have written books about his chaotic leadership and yet Trump's base remains more or less intact and loyal.
How people have brought themselves to vote for this awful man three times in a row is surely one of the great questions of our time. He is after all a twice-impeached convicted felon who has lost a defamation case for sexually assaulting a woman.
That's all?
(Sorry, that was a feeble attempt at humor on a very serious subject).
I am pretty sure that congressional Democrats opposed all of those appointments.
How To Be A Dissident In The Age Of Authoritarianism
The takedown of democratic governments these days doesn’t occur with a military coup or some forceful takeover, they occur through elections. Recently it’s occurred in Venezuela, Russia, and Hungary. Now it’s occurring here in America. But because the takeover is not sudden and a shock to the system and slowly brings the population/electorate along, it becomes painless, almost cordial in its invitation to a “better life”.
But because it’s slow in the takeover, it means the electorate has off ramps to combat the takeover as we saw in Hungary and Brazil recently. But now in the age of AI and technology, surveillance states have become increasingly threatening.
A couple of days ago Rachel Maddow(https://bit.ly/4gQWTII) talked with Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer who are authors of "On Courage: How to be a dissident in an age of fear”. There are a variety of ways people can throw sand in the gears of authoritarianism to preserve democracy and this book helps with historical references as to how to do such.
For example, dissidents can become witnesses of the authoritarian regime and document state violence(“We will know who you are”…a promise of accountability). The book looks like a real help for the next 2.5y of suffering that WE the People will have to go through.
Several news stories I have seen have mentioned that Trump's newest toy was a 400 million dollar "gift" from Qatar, but nobody seems to know what we payed in order to convert it. Previous estimates have been around a billion.
I have so many questions- if Trump has raked in such astronomical amounts of money, why the need for a loan that is estimated at over 50 million dollars? Is this what the justices of the (mostly corrupt) Supreme Court intended when they essentially told him that they would look the other way no matter his actions? Does his administration have such contempt of us, the American people, that they think they can just explain all of the corruption of this cabinet by using the pat phrase “everything is for the good of the American people “ and we will just nod our heads in stupidity and say “yes, sir, yes, sir”? Does his supporters not feel his contempt when he fleeces them of untold amounts of money with his different doo-dads, most of which seem to be trash- while he laughs as he shovels in the money? The Republicans were relentless in their attacks on President Biden’s family (remember the “Briden crime family “) yet they are absolutely silent as they watch Trump, his family, his cabinet and their friends and families break laws, manipulate the markets, and reward themselves with massive payouts. This is my money, this is your money- I don’t know about you, but nothing was ever handed to me- I worked damn hard for 43 years and don’t give my permission for my money to be spent in this way! What has our national debt exploded to since he took office?
Trump’s avid supporters will never abandon him, even as his economic policies hurt them, because they hate the same people he hates and those people are being punished by him. The Trumpublican platform is simple: Put God back in schools, women back in the kitchen and bedroom, LGBTQ people back in the closet, and people of color back in their “place.”
I would love to shove Trump into a dark closet, lock the door, and throw the key into the ocean!
"Trump also made more than $600 million from meme coins stamped with his face."
But - only from people stupid enough to buy them.
Or those who needed a “favor” from the wannabe king. Trump has set up various enterprises to cover his grift and bribery undertakings. All as sleazy and crooked as he has always been.
But stupid people don't deserve to be stolen from. That's what the Consumer Protection Bureau was about. And that's why Trump got rid of it first thing.
So when does somebody do something? I had braced myself for civil war, but now I await a revolution.
Don't hold your breath. People still shop at amazon and pay paramount. This country is morally bankrupt.
Emma, that might be a bit unfair. I have boycotted Amazon for over a year, and it’s difficult because now I pay more for everything, while my dollar buys less. I understand why people shop there. I have never had any accounts with Paramount. Many of us are trying, and boycotting appropriately. I don’t think we are “morally bankrupt”; unfortunately, we are increasingly poor and have fewer choices. Not everyone has the bandwith (financially) to make other choices.
*Good points. I have become pessimistic. Most people are not morally bankrupt, but the culture really is.
It seems many have lost their way, choosing comfort and convenience over ethical concerns. I wonder how bad it has to get before those persons decide to change their behavior.
In some poll or other, U.S. citizens were asked how the Founding Fathers -- do not forget Abigail! -- would react if they saw the United States today. A decisive majority of the repondents stated the Founding Parents would be disappointed. I am not sure whether they would be disappointed with how the Constitution functions or whether they would be disappointed in us.
I suspect they would be shocked at how off-the-rails we have gone. They might be thinking, “No good deed goes unpunished."
Many people shop at Amazon because, as was the plan, local businesses have gone away, leaving Amazon the only option to get some needed products.
There are some things that people do not have the option of just “ doing without”.
The lack of enforcement of the laws preventing the conglomerations like paramount and Amazon has/is killing all small business in this country and is holding all of us hostage to their greed.
It has *gotten really bad. A property hedge fund took over the retail space of a mixed-use development site where ilive. The bigger client coming in basically demanded that the smaller renter get busted out of the lease. So it goes.
I have a sinking feeling, Emma, that you are right.
One or the other, unless we embrace the naked king
I still can not how much more seriously some European governments are taking the Epstein files than we are.