A constitutional limit that can be reset whenever the president decides to ignore it is not a limit at all.
Congress was given the power to decide whether America goes to war for a reason. Yet the president starts the war, claims the power to decide when hostilities have ended, decides when they have begun again, and then claims another 60 days of unilateral power.
The Constitution can’t enforce itself. Every limit on presidential power ultimately depends on the institutions entrusted with defending it being willing to do so.
And Donald Trump is systematically discovering which limits have no one left willing to defend them.
This is because the Constitution IS NO LONGER IN CONTROL of the US government. Trump is in control. And by definition that means dictatorship has come to America.
Worse than dictatorship: ecogenocidal destruction. As I said yesterday: Trump is not only the destroyer of the United States; he is literally the personification of the Apocalypse, the end of the world.
“Apocalyptic”, the same word my nephew said when Trump was re-elected. Noem Chomsky predicted something similar, that in a second term he would take everyone down with him based this on his psychopathology, the malignant narcissist, some Machiavellian tendencies and complete lack of empathy.
Hello Mike... Meanwhile on the other-side of the Arabian Peninsula... The Saudis have launched Air-Strikes against the Houthis who can close the exit from the Red Sea... This will close off about a further 10% of the World's Oil Supply... Seems that the Law-Of-UnIntended Consequences was Triggered by Netanyahu's War-Of-Political Survival, aka the 2026 Iran War...
There is no way to fix stupid. Hegseth fired all of the military officers who had any strategic or critical-thinking skills. Stupidity mixed with lack of experience is a sure-fire formula for disaster. They never engaged in a "what-if" exercise.
A very dangerous man to anything good or positive. I cannot believe this is the country I was born in. All the evil is rising to the top. The lack of empathy is the worst. trump is a very evil man, as are the people around him.
My oldest half-brother -- my father's first-born son and the founding public affairs chief of the Environmental Protection Agency -- said just before he died in 2017 that Trump is the end of the world. (The half-brother, Donald Bliss Jr., was one of the many fired by Ronnie the Nazi in his 1981 purge of all the EPA's effective people.)
Please add ignorance. The only flashes of interest in his head seem to be gold and cheating. No history, no civics, no math except $. Sorry, forgot the slash in the pool lining.
Hear, hear! As Marx, Engels and Lenin spent their lives attempting to warn us, the Infinite Evil that is capitalism taints everything it touches with its ecogenocidal poisons.
This is a difficult statement to follow and I am not sure that Marx, Engels, and Lenin spent their lives that way. They wrote a lot about their own political, economic theories. Plus, capitalism is also difficult. If you boil it down to greed, get as much as you can, you are free to do what you want, then it's simply a corrupt system. Nothing hard to understand about that.
I'm doing a rewatch of the show High Maintenance and last night saw the season 2 premiere in which everyone awakens to discover something very terrible had happened, and although they never mention him by name, they're obviously referring to tRump having won in 2016.
People were acting like it was the end of the world, and this was before he even took office for the first time. Bad as that first term was, this second time around proves how very prescient the show was. (Incidentally, HBO had control of the show by then and I highly doubt they'd dare go there today.)
So it is. It seems that mankind's greatest fault is listening to malignant sociopathic narcissists. If people would stop doing that, all wars would end immediately.
As promised, Gloria; as soon as I am able. My day has become a bit clogged by preparations for an inspection -- such unspeakably humiliating intrusions are amongst the ways capitalism rubs our elderly noses in fecal matter should we be destitute enough to require subsidized housing -- and to top it off, I just discovered my year-old Shark vacuum cleaner has already died of planned obsolescence. I've already figured out how to repair it -- one of the occupations not on my regular resume is boat engineer (a 96-foot seiner) -- but it's already stealing the time I was planning to use for updating the material to be PM'd. With apologies, I'm guessing late tonight if not tomorrow.
The sad and more often than not frustrating thing about trump and his complete lack of constitutional knowledge is Congress, especially the republicans in Congress can stop this at any time. They can and should stop him from doing any more damage to this country, however doesn't appear any of them want to. I wonder if any of them have considered or even thought about should trump continue on with his revenge presidency the end result may be there may no longer be a country for them to represent.
Their silence makes them complicit. If we make it out the other side of this with some sort of democracy, these co conspirators must be brought to justice.
I couldn't agree more. Every single one of them should be held accountable for allowing this to continue and some of them being active participants in this as well.
It's a great dream. It is truly unfortunate our only recourse is voting them out and there are too many republicans who vote for the person with and R next to their name regardless their position for office.
The older I grow the more pessimistic I become. Academically, my roots were in history, philosophy, and political science. I served as a Fed, a university administrator, a professor, and retired at 60 only to become a two-decade public-advocate volunteer before the Maine state legislature. For three years now post pandemic I have closely followed the unraveling of America.
So far as I have been able to learn, NO ONE has applied a long range frame to the threats to the American Experiment. The founders took twelve years to get from the Declaration to the Constitution. Our experiment is in serious decay; while Trump has exacerbated it, he didn't cause all of it. How long will it take to start, undertake, and complete the requisite reforms?
Consider, for a moment, just the short range political calendar. Midterms in less than four months. Oversight hearings for 17 months thereafter to document Trump's failings to leave time to inform the 2028 elections. Choosing candidates capable of the federal reconstruction required. And only then, January 2029, can that reconstruction begin. Always IF Dems win it all . . . Do ANY of the non-stop blitzkrieg-gagging fundraising messages choking our e-mails recognize or even hint at this reality?
My lonely, nearly fulltime review of the past 3 years has yet to unearth ANY serious systematic exposition within the Democratic Party of where the faults of the American experiment are, how some of them took decades and decades to become apparent, what remedies might begin to look like, what courses of action might be undertaken to conceptualize them. The brief comments above and below this post begin to hint at this. Which is why I posted this here. Working alone I've identified almost forty shortcomings which must be addressed. Some date back to the founders themselves, who while far more well-educated than most of our current leaders, can be forgiven, three examples, for failing to anticipate political parties, or the present threat of oligarchs to a free society, or the impact on the human brain (and therefore our politics) of cell phones, social media, or limiting messages to 140 characters.
I have crafted an imperfect attempt beginning such thinking. I will post it from my Substack by the end of the week as soon as my son teaches me how to do that.
A fine comment, Hendrik, and one that should be getting a lot more traction because it comes from someone who is actually doing something positive and practical. There are many Constitutionalists, former DOJ, retired military, etc. who in their protests have outlined correctives, but the deadwood "leadership," especially in the Democratic Party over the last 25 years or more (with a few exceptions), has seemed to care more about keeping their sinecure jobs rather than governing for the people.
I believe the current crop of younger campaigners are focusing on the immediate need to get into office first, because very little can be reformed from the outside, as we've seen so far.
I look forward to reading it Hendrik. I too get upset at the constant money requests without any substance as to why, other than the fact that we must win in all elections! I have yet to see some ideas with meat on them from the Dems. If they were working for me, most of them would be looking for new jobs! How do they continue being able to represent the people I wonder!
Your view speaks to me. In the 250 years from the original document, changes in human life and technology have created gigantic loopholes in our Democracy. These loopholes have been attacked numerous times since 1776.
Currently, the destruction from within the institutions created to protect us, have been dismantled.
Thank you, sir; I salute you. Though my core belief is the ruling combination of patriarchy and its weaponization of Aryan male supremacy, Christian misogyny and capitalist sociopathy make our broken nation irreparable, I will do whatever I am able to support your effort, for only out of such contemplatively purposeful militance might emerge the miracle we need to save us all.
Biden took bolder steps away from "Reaganomics" than presidents past, and it was working; but Democrats is general have been reticent in recent decades to make 'too big a thing" out of plutocratic corruption, and many Democrats have chastised Democrats who do. I see corruption as abuses of power; financial, political, use of force, or all three at once, as we are seeing now.
It has been said that if you don't sufficiently stand for something, you will fall for anything. I think there is truth in that. Nixon abused the powers with which he was entrusted but did not control the whole of the Republican Party, while Reagan and his plutocratic backers did. That was a clear departure from the road to fulfilling the stated goals of our founding contractual documents, and governance of, by and for the people, which is what B-actor Reagan was promoted to smear. There always have and always will be people who try to bribe and extort their way to domineering absolute power; and "Liberty and Justice for All" depends in large part on resisting them.
The really scary thing is that both Reagan and Nixon knew more than Trump about how government is run and what the Constitution says and means.....and they were both disasters.
Yes Ligia, There should be a committee of constitutional lawyers discussing just what further amendments to the constitution are required. The Voting Act of 1965 should perhaps be added to the constitution?. About time some hard legal work was engaged with to lead to a First Draft. Ian
Our ultimate necessity is a shadow government, preferably sanctuaried in London, Berlin or Paris, and with supportive spooks from all three nations (though the Brits have long been the world champs at that sort of work).
It can happen and is happening. If trump manages to take the midterms by cheating and violence, we're done. We have to fight dirty, since that's how trump roles.
We have to fight smart, that for sure, but forsaking conscience or rule of law won't save us. Successful social movements keep the truth in our faces until it's too hard to ignore it. Anger is OK, but there is a form of anger that is truthful, steady, and emotionally adult, that is focused and powerful, as compared to rage. Enraged people often sabotage their own interests, and we are unlike to rescue honesty with fraud.
I’ve said this before: Trump is the regime’s useful idiot. Left to his own devices, the guy couldn’t organise a f*ck in a brothel. The real story isn’t one guy. It’s the network of ideologues, billionaires, political operatives and institutions willing to use him because he serves their purposes.
Authoritarian movements do not depend on a single personality. They rely on enablers—people who convince themselves they’ll be the ones pulling the strings. To call Trump the Anti-Christ or declare this the Apocalypse gives him, and them, way too much credit. Democracies have survived demagogues before. Authoritarian projects can last for years, even decades, but history is littered with regimes that believed themselves permanent until they weren’t.
Excellent point and one I have been making since the first Trump presidency. Don’t look at Trump the idiot, look at who is pulling the strings. Until we can get rid of the controllers in the background, it won’t matter who is sitting in the “high chair”, they will still be doing the bidding of those in charge.
I really think they fluked it with Trump. No-one else could have whipped that motley crew of misfits into storming the Capital like he did on Jan 6th. Those dumb f*cks know a cult leader when they see one.
One need look no farther than those sitting onstage at tRump’s 2nd inauguration or who hosts SCOTUS justices for vacations and buys them houses! ‘Tain’t just one, ’tis a whole class of billionaires. We are officially an oligarchy.
We should never forget that Trump, his efforts to legitimize white-male-supremacist racist and misogynistic genocide, the resultant ChristoNazi conquest and its MAGAstapo terrorism is the triumph of a multi-generation, bi-partisan scheme more than a century in the making, To learn of the carefully hidden roots of the crisis, the documentation of which include a PBS film about the enormous support for Hitler here in the '30s and additional, meticulously footnoted documentation of the plutocracy's support for Nazism, go here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-25-2026?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=205274486
Kazz, my first laugh of the am...your line about organizing a f*ck in a brothel. Yes, I agree that the cabal is using him, almost keeping him put together with duct tape. Then there is that Harper creature who I am sure writes a lot of those late night posts. When he joins Lindsey, I want it to happen in public so they can't pull a Mitch.
Despots seem to wear out their welcome eventually, but they often take many innocents down with them, and the evil that they do often lives long after them. Their malice somehow resonates with some of the worser devils of our nature, generations hence. Whether in a bloody war, or a tipping point in aggregated public priorities (we have seen both) despots are disempowered when enough of the public gets their priorities straight, and persistently fights to keep them there. The prize must hold the eyes.
There may still be hope this November. It could be that Trump's actions that are causing extreme fiscal hardship for tens of millions of American families will ensure a blue tsunami at election time, assuming that Trump hasn't found a way to cheat or negate the votes. Why is Congress a do-nothing Congress? Mike Johnson is a Christian Nationalist, as are others, including my own congressman. They favor a Christian theocracy. It's that simple. They have no intention of honoring their oath to the Constitution.
The "fix" is a well-calculated inference: claim that the elections are rigged; fire the members of the election oversight committee, try to get the voter roles from the states, and more. Your thoughts to explain Trump's actions?
I just wrote essentially the same comment. We are living in a dictatorship. No law, no rules, not norms. Trump, "I can do whatever I want, I am the president of the United States."
Harvey, it’s much more than a simple dictatorship, it’s government of the people, by the billionaires, for the billionaires. tRump has simply been a useful narcissist and bully.
We have a group in Congress who could do something to stop this out-of-control, mentally deranged tyrant but are choosing for whatever reason to do nothing.The American people are in imminent danger from the actions of this man and this cult/party.Where will this all end?
I keep asking myself how this destruction of our country has occurred after only a year and half into this presidency. Millions of Americans have protested but the administration ignores them. Another death occurred as a result of a gestapo approved by Congress. Heartbreaking.
The US has not formally declared war on any country since the Second World War, yet over the intervening period hardly a week has passed without US military forces conducting operations in other countries, with or without the consent of their governments. That has been the reality of American power.
Yep. Born in the crucible of war. Gives “Begin as you mean to go on” new significance. There are indeed many wonderful things about the US, and may wonderful people. But as a social entity, if the USA were an individual they’d be diagnosed as violently paranoid schizophrenic.
Yes. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan...and all years-long "military actions". All wars, by any other name. The role the U.S. played as "leader" of the allied forces after World War II persists in the administration's mentality. In reality, its role in today's world is the opposite of what it was after WWII. All the brave U.S. troops and their local allies in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq etc who died in those wars will not be forgotten by their families and friends. They must not. Neither those who fought fascism and dictatorships all over the world. The time is coming at the polls for people to reclaim their power to stop tRump and his family's thefts, ICE and its murders and cruelty. Let's do it! RESIST!!!!
Marj, I would suggest that it happened when U.S. citizens allowed themselves to be distracted with religious interests waved in front of their faces while the oligarchs amassed economic power behind their backs.
It started with the 1954 addition of the innocuous "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by "In God We Trust" made mandatory on U.S. currency in 1955. Then there was the brouhaha in 1963 when Madalyn Murray O'Hair prevailed against mandatory Bible-reading and recitation of "The Lord's Prayer" in public schools. A few years later, Republican operatives created the new "Christian moral objection" to abortion, which became a unitary voting issue in the 1970s, which gave way to the marriage equality issue in the 1990s.
While Americans chose sides, squabbled and created private schools to protect their pet religious beliefs, oligarchs quietly remade secular government to transfer money and power to themselves.
We will start unwinding it all by voting for people who care about people, justice, rule of law and the Constitution (which may require amendments...). A lot of work to do and we will do it together! RESIST!!!!
I beg to differ on that. You're not seeing the faces and places of resistance and getting out the vote last year and this is unfair to those who are acting and not pontificating. I've had enough of 'oh woe is me! Talk.
"Every limit on presidential power ultimately depends on the institutions entrusted with defending it being willing to do so." That would be SCOTUS, and that is why the Koch brothers and their oligarchic allies went after capturing it first. They gave the oligarchs the power, with Citizens United, to corrupt the political process, and guarantee a Republican Congress that would accede to a dictatorial puppet's wishes. That is the way history is currently being written.
But I think there is another underlying issue, a failure of imagination and vigilance on the part of the Democratic opposition. The relevant tale is the frog in the pot of slowly heating water that fails to react to the growing danger. This could not have happened if there wasn't a tacit assumption that because there were "guard rails," we didn't need to heed the warning of "A republic, if you can keep it." Our belief in American exceptionalism blinded us to the early cracks in those guardrails. Of course, hindsight is always 20-20, but as we try to dig out of this mess, we need to be clearsighted about how we got here.
The Democratic National Committee could start by saying the truth out loud. I'm baffled why they are holding back. Are they afraid they will offend the 20% of the hard core fooled? They should be targeting the 20% of Independents who didn't vote in 2024. The Lincoln Project has the messaging straight: "The Trump Family is stealing from us and the GOP Congress is working for them. Not for their constituents." Now, wasn't that an easy truth to express?
The Dems lack clarity and conviction - some members of the party articulate purpose but the party is not. The MAGA Republican Party has clarity and conviction - but it has become evil. Evil can be stopped but it takes a backbone, clarity and conviction. The circle game.
The Dems lack more than clarity and conviction. They fail to observe that a parasitic, amoral, dishonorable criminal, thief conman got back into the White House. Biden's most important task was to force Trump's lifetime exit from public power. And he failed. Just as the DNC is failing now. Flopping around and flailing against the world's third biggest parasite.
How do you remove a blood sucking tick from your flesh? First, you must observe there is one. How do you remove officials from public office who work tirelessly and loyally for the tick? First, you must observe that they are working for the parasite and not the citizens who elected them. And you say this out loud and name names.
DeBurgh, if I may borrow from the Cowboy Culture, of which Americans are so proud ...
The difference between the two parties is thus:
Republicans first circle their wagons and decide which road they are taking, then they form a wagon train and roll forward, letting nothing stop them or force them off the trail.
Democrats drive their wagons individually, not choosing a lead wagon. They wave to each other from a distance and point in the general direction they'd like to go. Some take the trail but most venture into the sagebrush and tumbleweeds. Lame horses and broken axles plague them. Some race ahead of the Republicans, but with no wagons behind them for support, they get shot in the back.
While Democrats roam the prairie with dreams of a beautiful destination, Republicans take the country where no one wants to go because they drive in a single train.
When Lincoln took office his main task was keeping the Union together. He clearly understood that the slave owning powers in the South were traitors to the Founding Fathers' vision for the nation. He hired Gen George McClellan to head up his army to fight Gen Lee. But McClellan, like Trump, was a narcissist and a coward. McClellan wasted time marching his soldiers around in circles. Much like the Democratic Party today.
Grant, in the West, believed the confederates were traitors and that slavery was morally wrong. He acted on his beliefs and he ATTACKED the rebels, on all sides. And held on like a bulldog until victory over the traitors was achieved.
Today we have a amoral parasite in the White House who is feeding on us. And he will do anything and everything to hold on to his host. Lies. Persuasion. Threats. Violence. Distraction. Bad faith laws. His GOP Congress works for him and his Family now.
So, will the Democrats continue to flounder like McClellan? Or put the bit in their teeth and attack, like Grant, and remove the giant orange bloodsucking tick from our White House?
For a day or two read every Dem pitch for money. Then ask yourself what they reveal about what they think of you, your intelligence, what they reveal about the emotions they're playing you with (or is it plying), what long-range plan it fits into, how it coordinates with other pitches you're receiving. Does that look like an organized effort, coherent, carefully thought through, coordinated ??? See Hinds abd Klymenko below and Georgia above. . .
The Dems lack more than clarity and conviction. They fail to observe that a parasitic, amoral, dishonorable, criminal, thief, conman got back into the White House. Biden's most important task was to force Trump's lifetime exit from public power. And he failed. Just as the DNC is failing now. Flopping around and flailing against the world's third biggest parasite.
How do you remove a blood sucking tick from your flesh? First, you must observe there is one. How do you remove officials from public office who work tirelessly and loyally for the tick? First, you must observe that they are working for the parasite and not the citizens who elected them. And you say this out loud and name names.
Biden and the current Dem leadership did fail. And they are failing again now. They treat Trump and his Family as though they are valid and legitimate public servants. Deserving of their respect. This is a mistake.
The Trump Family is a parasitic criminal enterprise. This is an obvious truth the parasite is broadcasting daily by its words and deeds. The DNC fails to observe and describe what's really happening.
You don't remove a tick from your flesh by begging it to stop. Or complaining when it doesn't stop. You remove this tick by telling the truth about it. And attacking on all sides with coordination and intelligence and courage and grit.
The mealy mouth message of the DNC is embarrassing. Attack! Impeach. Convict. Remove. Prosecute. Claw back the stolen money. And every GOP Senator and Representative who sold out their sacred honor to these thieves must be expelled from their offices of public trust. Get after it!
Georgia, yes. I think that failure of imagination is an enormous part of how we got here. We treated constitutional guardrails as though they were permanent structures rather than institutions that require people willing to defend them. American exceptionalism convinced far too many people that it couldn’t happen here, even as the evidence that it was happening accumulated around us. Thank you for adding this.
Too bad we removed civics classes - with accurate info for students- from our school systems. Now of course there will be no decent school systems left. If this is not a case of keeping the masses dumb and sick, I don't know what is!
What is sad is the Debbie Downer attitude of many of you who refuse to see the court actions that have done the hard work of resistance. If you are going to join the GOP in claiming they won, you are no help to yourselves or the ones of us taking actions. What a totally s sad old group you are.
Carol Fletez: There are lower court judges that are trying to hold the line on the rule of law, but SOCTUS ALWAYS gets the final say if they choose or not choose to hear an appeal. Republicans know which circuits have the really conservative judges who will make the outrageous and expansive arguments and rulings to get them in front of SCOTUS for approval. None of us “Debbie Downers” you are pissing on are unappreciative of the lower court justices who are defending the Constitution. We are realists, not idle daydreamers, who understand that until the composition of SCOTUS is changed, either through expansion, or death, or incapacity, there will be no return to the rule of law.
What actions are you taking that will change the status quo at the national level at this moment in time? Always happy to hear something worth trying. I, personally, will be writing to my opposition candidate for the House and my opposition Senators to support expansion of SCOTUS and addingcreating additional circuits when there is an opposition president to make the nominations and the opposition has control of the Senate and can control the nomination process.
Just like YOU and the others here we only have ONE VOTE. My resistance with INDIVISIBLE, and other organizations supporting with my DOLLARS in one way and that will in the long run reach the top. By supporting monetarily every national senatorial candidate that is working to rise to the top. My state has no Senator in the balance this term so I am working with post card activities and calling, writing others in states with critical senate/House votes. I also back local candidates who are the backbone of the survival and support of local elections in those states. We need concerted support from the towns, counties, states all the way to the CONGRESS and back the expansion of the SCOTUS to the max of the number of CIrcuit courts. Go read Robert Hubbell for more on that expansion as well. You cannot affect the national without the support in the localities, the states all the way to the top. Is that enough? Not sure what you mean by opposition candidates? Blue wave 2026 and 2028. And do not ask me who I would vote for in 2028. We are not there yet! Thanks for answering but most of the comments on here sound like people posturing to me and never mention actions they are taking at all. I am 80 and I am niot about to give up yet!
We also thought that offices as lofty and powerful as senator or president would be reserved for people with integrity, grit, and patriotism. The last 20 years have proven that this ain't so.
Citizens United and our partisan Supreme Court have shifted the foundation. I am praying not irreparably.
Exactly, Remember when the liberals seemed sure that the courts would protect us? Their reliance on the courts was an exact target of the Lewis Powell Memo. The Kochs and the members of the John Birch Society that became the Federalists, Heritage and the ALEC have been constructing this coup for decades along with using the white christian nationalists.
Many Americans still believe our institutions and guard rails will protect us. They have no idea at all what’s happening. It turns out that whether we’re talking about norms, values, rules, standards, statutes, emoluments clauses, Constitutional rights, ethical practices or outright laws—it comes down to the individuals in positions of power and authority to exercise the requisite integrity to defend the republic against tyranny and fascism. The institutions are merely ideas and cannot defend themselves.
Which means that the stodgy old Democrats who kept doing the same things in the face of an extraordinary assault on our democracy need to go also. These young candidates are a breath of the fresh air that is needed now if we are going to resurrect democracy in this country.
Do you really think that Trump’s minions won’t contest the decision? They are already spewing the reflexive “radical activist judge” rhetoric.
Judge Kathleen Williams may have referred the decision on sanctions to the Florida Bar Association, with an extremely compelling decision. Blanche isn’t going to leave this one alone. Trump won’t let him. Her ruling is appealable to the 11th circuit.
It ain’t over until it’s over. And that will depend on the Appeals Court ruling and whether SCOTUS whether it likes the Appeals court ruling and won’t grant cert, or whether it will hear it and come up with a unitary executive theory canned response to grant Trump the power to do whatever he wants.
YES there is always the right to appeal and it wastes yet more of our taxpayer dollars on TRUMP et alia, but we can hold out HOPE and support the positive actions of judges who DO UPHOLD the law and celebrate them instead of always assuming taking it all the way to SCOTUS and give up before the appeal has even been lodged. I think judges are not going to go with the unitary executive theory at all, at least not those who follow the basis of the Constitution which supports the three separate parts of our government. AND the duty to hold them separate and ACT accordingly. Blanche is going to be a HARD sell in the CONGRESS not likely to approve him as AG and if it comes to a tie and VANCE throws the deciding vote it will be one more of the black marks against him and future in any political persuasion. McConnell would have to be there to vote, and Graham is effectively OUT even with his sister in his place. A vote for him by any GOP will be another black mark on their report card for those fighting to keep their seats. If he is approved he will be the worst AG since Bill Barr, toadie in chief to Trump before. And to top it all so much more evidence of the failing mind of the president...go listen to his supposed Eulogy on fox 'news'!
Very well stated. The Trump Family has rigged the government for their personal gain by controlling the FBI, DOJ, Treasury, Congress, Military and the Supreme Court. Like a family of parasites, they are sucking money from us. They are using intimidation, threats, deception, distraction and bribes to avoid prosecution. And tampering with the elections so their feeding from the host will continue. Parasites don't care about laws or morality. Remember, Donald violated the Constitution when he staged a coup after he lost the 2020 election. To keep his hold on the host (us, American citizens) he will break any law, stoop to any depravity. His bought enablers in Congress will not stop him or hold him to account for his crimes.
The Democratic National Committee needs to announce, clearly and consistently, that the GOP members of the Senate and House (name names) are now working for the personal benefit of the Trump Family. Not for their constituents. This truth is proven by their daily actions and fealty to the Family. (Why isn't the DNC saying this out loud?)
''Donald Trump’s America: War, Tolls, and a Family Rewards Program''
Donald Trump has apparently decided that the Strait of Hormuz should operate as a military outpost, international toll road, and Trump family business opportunity.
Under his latest brainstorm, the United States will blockade Iran, patrol the strait, protect international shipping, and demand reimbursement equal to 20 percent of the cargo passing through. Nothing says “freedom of navigation” like seizing a fifth of the merchandise.
Trump has declared America the “Guardian of the Hormuz Strait,” which sounds less like foreign policy and more like a title he awarded himself after purchasing a plastic sword at Medieval Times. A blockade is generally considered an act of war, but in Trump’s imagination, it is also an exciting new revenue stream.
Congress, meanwhile, remains a quaint historical society that occasionally gathers to admire the Constitution. The administration now claims Trump can restart the War Powers Act’s 60-day clock whenever he resumes bombing. Presidential war powers apparently operate like a free trial subscription. When the trial expires, briefly declare peace, restart the attacks, and enjoy another 60 days of complimentary authoritarianism.
Fortunately, the Trump family may be prospering during this unfortunate outbreak of national insecurity. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have invested in defense technology companies that have received billions of dollars in government business. Pure coincidence, naturally. The administration expands a war, the Pentagon spends more money, and the boys discover that patriotism offers surprisingly competitive returns.
Back home, ICE continues demonstrating why an agency with enormous funding and limited accountability should terrify everyone. In Maine, an agent shot and killed 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero, who was reportedly authorized to work in the United States. Representative Chellie Pingree later said he was not even the person agents intended to arrest. Susan Collins, who recently voted to give immigration enforcement another $70 billion, promptly called for an impartial investigation. Apparently, accountability begins immediately after the check clears.
Then there was Trump’s attempted $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund, accompanied by possible legal immunity for Trump, his family, his businesses, and his associates. A federal judge concluded that the underlying lawsuit had been manufactured to provide judicial legitimacy to a scheme with no viable legal basis.
So there you have the modern Republican platform: privatize the profits, socialize the wars, militarize immigration enforcement, ignore Congress, and send the bill to the public.
America First, provided “America” means the Trump family.
This president hit the ground running the day of his second inauguration. Will the Democratic House leaders be ready to do that if they do take over the leadership of the House and/or Senate?
Just me, but I am beginning to seriously wonder if the Civil War actually ended and had now spread nationwide. I see analogies to what HCR writes of the post-Civil War era in government.
Trump has been testing the Constitution and the laws since he got in office 2016 and has learned that he can keep going, getting bolder, more outrageous. So far he has been blatantly showing us he can go quite far until we catch up to him, if we do at all. Our Republic, the aggregate, in aggregate, has caught a very bad cold. That we just notice or don't notice and do little or nothing, or not enough, that we can't keep up with this, may very well make this fatal. "Getting and spending we lay waste our powers" (William Wordsworth"...until we lose them.
Joan Sebastian Guerrero was murdered by the United States Government on the streets of America. He is the 11th person murdered by ICE. This is your lead ma'am. Not the Constitution.
Let's pause for a moment and remember the life of this man.
Lying, cheating, that is all you ever do…this is the real brand of the cabal. And they make a boatload of money doing it! Who are the helpers here is breaking the law! Well certainly the keys components are then conservatives on the Supline court, all the workers in the White House and aided and abetted by the entire GOP! They are the Gophers for his whims and dalliances. At each step they are stomping on the framework of laws and the guardrails therein. At the money the clown wheels are coming off…but unto there is real jail time, real consequences like losing your law license, they will get away with it!
And the first real step in charging the Trump Clan with fraud and malfeasance. They are stealing our money and we want it back!
Didn't you read the part where an 11th person has been murdered by ICE?!? And you lead with ruminations about the Constitution followed by more ruminations about the Constitution?
Systematically yes, and pathologically…testing the limits…sounds like something sex offenders do, among other prominent criminal behaviors. Whether the delusional disorder remains in his head or is now collective..?
Senator Collins called for a "full investigation". But, you cannot do that when the crime scene was destroyed and the 26year old's murder victim's BLOOD was left on the Street. Someone wrote in white chalking in block letters: "THIS IS HIS BLOOD"
The all day Main demonstrations in Maine found it's way to Collins' Office chanting: ........
VOTE HER OUT! VOTE HER OUT! VOTE HER OUT! VOTE HEROUT! VOTE HER OUT!
And I saw barely bupkis coverage of that appalling march in the national press. There would have been a time that would have shocked the nation. I support their right to march under the first amendment (despite their deplorable views) but it should have elicited horror and the strongest criticism of their racist, anti-semitic and misogynistic views.
When Congress funds an army of American occupation at the size of a major army of a developed nation, I'm sure they can recruit plenty. The Epstein class has no shortage of funds to spend on a police state. One of the first places they went to recruit was the January 6 list of pardoned convicted felons.
Per google AI search: "A major crime investigation is unfolding in Biddeford, Maine, following a fatal shooting involving a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. A 26-year-old Colombian motorist was shot and killed after federal agents [in unmarked vehicles] attempted to stop his vehicle."
"The incident, which occurred around 7 a.m. has prompted a heavy police and FBI presence, as well as local protests.Track breaking details and official statements as they are released via local coverage on WMTW News 8 or the Maine State Police."
The ME Secretary of State has ordered the DMV to ignore all requests from the US Government for temporary ME plates. If they had ME plates they had them illegally. No surprise if they did.
These incidents of federal murders and reactions by the public will soon be reasons for activating the insurrection act and stop the midterm elections. This is guaranteed.
I knew this and similar events would materialize under Trump which is why I once called for the once good generals now sidelined, to enact a military coup in order to save America. I was ridiculed of course. Yes there are times when an illegal act is necessary to save a much worse illegal act. Now we are fucked.
Bill, the "Military" has already been compromised. This is not to be stopped by a military coup. If we.., as "citizens" cannot remove him from office.., "we" might as well continue to 'deal with it'.
I understand. Oftentimes there are no perfect solutions. We are living in truly historic times. Not since southern states succeeded have we had this occur. It’s as if those confederates have taken over the government. Now what do we do. We don’t have sufficient arms to overthrow the rogue government. The scene is that Trumps stormtrooper ice agents provoke massive street demonstrations some of which become violent. Then the Insurrection Act is invoked. And those soldiers will exclaim “I just followed orders.” I only stated a n option once that is no longer available. One can argue that a bad president is worse than inaction. It’s all arguable. Sometimes there are no good options but maybe from a perspective, a less bad one. Considering all the untold harm Trump has done to this nation so far, ie, destroying all human programs for people, international aid programs, universities educating the best and the brightest, environmental desecration and so on, permanent loss of leadership in the world, our allies being shunned and our enemies being congratulated, oh please, the good generals would have returned our government to the people. Now it’s all in question.
I struggle with what to do. I attend the protests. I file comments in the regulatory proceedings. I call my representatives. But they are flooding us with a tidal wave of foul acts that average people, even standing together, may not withstand. I am thinking now of the food-born pathogens that are spreading since the FDA stopped inspecting for them, and the arrival of screw-worm since the preventative measures were eliminated, but also the destruction of public lands, the endangered species act, the thugs in our streets, the fear for our neighbors, the destruction of our scientific research, schools, universities and health care system. This feels like deliberate sabotage of all that is good in the USA. This feels like ethnic cleansing.
I am afraid to withhold money by not paying taxes. But I can try to starve the beast by reducing my taxable income. By spending less and being very targeted in which venders I support. I can reduce reliance on commerce by building a shadow network within my neighborhood - tool sharing, trading skills and labor, a community garden. I rack my brains on more ways to separate from this craziness, but be ready to rebuild when they are gone.
The future is not preordained. Anything could happen, and between the consequences of the Iran war, communities standing against data centers and ICE, and the likely reaction if they use the Insurrection Act, this regime could topple. We need to be prepared to build a better, more just future.
DHS posted a meme referencing the video game Halo to its official X account with the slogan -- quote -- "Destroy the Flood."
The only people who are going to be attracted by these adverts are either deadbeats who can't get a job or racist psychos. DHS has removed upper age requirements and reduced the training programme by half to boost recruitment. They are also offering student loan forgiveness. Some of their recruits have criminal backgrounds or have failed drug tests. Is it any wonder so many of them are trigger-happy?
There are a lot of them unfortunately. You will find them in every society. Think Nazi Germany, think Khmer Rouge, Assad's Syria... and the US has unfortunately been filled with them in the last 20 years. And both parties are complicit in that.
The racist-psychopaths — those incapable of empathy for people of a different race — have been a major part of our history. The behavior and policies from which their prejudices flowed were — and continue to be — brought to bear on Native Americans and every immigrant whose race and nationality was, and is, new to these shores. Perhaps this most recent tidal wave of hatred will awaken a profound, corrective activism.
It really helps when they are told they will be making $100K to start and will have total immunity and impunity to anything they do. And like the Orange Julius, they are encouraged to lie and destroy evidence. And the Republicans, refuse to make them show their ugly mugs or to wear name tags. Heck, they don't even have to wear cameras.
Have an ice day. You know how it happens because psychopaths put themselves in harms way when protest against police authority and police doing their job. These things will happen. And they didn’t happen under Obama for two reasons he was able to turn 75% of the 3 million people. He deported back at the border without due process and you didn’t hear a peep from any of you Gloria look it up it’s a fact. There were no sanctuary cities where people would protect the illegal criminals. There wasn’t any doxxing or swatting of ice agents. And people didn’t put posters of ice agents faces on the telephone poles and pole, posters light poles all around the ice agents homes at threatened their families.
I have written two LTEEs to the Bangor Daily News with facts and no profanity or vileness about Susan Collins. They didn't publish either one. The Maine Monitor reported a list of 97 donors to various campaign PACs in her name. No mention of this list in the BDN. One of the PACs - ONE NATION that has sent out numerous mailings explains in support of Collins, explains on their website that they fully support Donald Trump's agenda and support only candidates that do as well. It used to take one click to get to that statement. The last time I looked for it, it was either removed, tempered or moved somewhere else.
Graham Platner may be gone but on July 25th there is a convention to select his replacement. I was asked by Nirav Shah's campaign to be one of the delegates, but there is a requirement in the rules that delegates must be registered Democrats. I am registered "unaffiliated".
Shah is an epidemiologist and a lawyer, but can he beat Susan Collins? He did a phenomenal job with the Covid-19 response in Maine and lost the Democratic Primary for Governor by less than 1000 votes.
Susan Collins refuses to meet with her constituents except in small groups. She prefers to go to classrooms of elementary school kids and then she votes to take away their meals with the rest of her Republican Senators.
GJ , I’m not surprised that the BDN didn’t publish your letters! I grew up in that area & even delivered the BDN as a kid. It’s a conservative newspaper! Collins has a lot of support in that part of Maine. I like Shah but I think Bellows or Jackson are better candidates. I’ll be going to the Cumberland County caucus this wkend to vote for delegates from this county. I don’t agree that independents & unaffiliated voters should be left out of the process. We must defeat Collins!!!!
Another ICE murder yesterday here in ME - remember the name Joan Sebastian Guerrero! 100’s marched & demonstrated in front of Collins office in Biddeford! May he & the others get justice & ICE officers be prosecuted!
Caroline, do you know if there will be street protests? I have a very important medical appt today that I can't miss, but I'd go tomorrow. (I'm in NH, 2+ hrs away from Biddeford.)
Doug, I don’t know of any specific events yet. People are protesting now in front of the ICE concentration facility in Scarborough. Things are evolving in real time. Check in with Maine Public radio and Portland Press Herald apps or websites. Indivisible Greater Portland Maine has info on activities. Sorry can’t be more specific.
I believe we saw enough captured that "murder" could be charged for the death of these two husbands, fathers, hard working men who were providing for their families. If we as Americans do not stand up for these men and against the murderers who took the lives of two hardworking family men, who will we stand up for!!!!
We cannot NOT deny the truth that was clearly shown before us as we watched these innocent men killed by men with no humanity. They shot those husbands, the fathers of children, hard working providers of families, as if they were less than human!!!!
They must be prosecuted!!!! Even with a just prosecution, their wives and children will be without the love and presence and the hope of survival ie shelter, food, clean water, clothing an education.
This was an unwarranted slaughter of good hardworking family men!!!! Even if justice is applied in its fullness, theses wives and children are LEFT are left without hardworking fathers, without the support of loving hardworking husbands!!!!
In my opinion when Heather starts talking about facts, she wouldn’t be able to translate any assessment of Trump’s actions/facts if it’s sat on her face
In yet another strike against America, Trump today arbitrarily removed 90% of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Three million acres just disappeared from federal protection in a single penstroke, ready to be handed over to private coal and uranium companies.
Joe Biden had stopped and reversed Trump's first seizure of land from Bears Ears, together with the sale of over 70,000 new oil and gas leases -- a monument created by President Obama under the 1906 Antiquities Act, used for more than a century to protect public land from private exploitation. A pact negotiated with the support and involvement of five sovereign tribal nations created an expanded National Monument in 2022, jointly administered by the tribes and the federal government. The decision protected an area sacred to all five -- land containing not just untouched archaeological sites, but previously unknown dinosaur fossil finds dating from both the Jurassic and Triassic eras.
In June, the Babylon Fire consumed 100,000 acres of the Monument, casting smoke that filled the skies over southeastern Utah. The Administration didn't dispatch a single firefighter to put it out. Instead, it sent the entire Utah Republican Congressional delegation, and its rapacious Governor, to make certain the land got handed over to uranium companies instead.
They expect the five nations to sue. They are hoping for the Supreme Court to rule against the 1906 Antiquities Act in its entirety, thus removing the one instrument used by Presidents since Teddy Roosevelt to designate Bureau of Land Management territory for the protection of Native history, and create a new series of 'wild, wild West' land-grabs not seen since the violation and usurpation of native treaties during the late 1800s.
That is heartbreaking. My sister was once an archeologist for the Forest Service in Utah - her job was to look for and protect indigenous sites -- rock drawings, burial grounds, etc. to be sure that land could not be forested or otherwise changed and that the sites were protected. It's incredible landscape. The dismissal of its importance in favor of mining and oil is disgusting.
The ability to do that was in one of the earliest of Trump 47's executive orders, guaranteeing the payback to his oligarch backers. Promises made, promises kept. I think you are absolutely correct that they are looking to tee up a Supreme Court ruling to overturn laws protecting public land. The next SCOTUS term is going to be the oligarchs playing beat the clock to get as many rulings in their favor to transfer the resource wealth of the nation to themselves while Alito and Thomas are still on the bench and before SCOTUS gets expanded if the opposition gains control.
Hello Dutch Mike... 'Nature' to DJT, is a Trump Branded Golf Course.... According to Mary Trump, DJT never learned to ride a Bicycle... Ever seen DJT on a Horse?... Golf Carts don't count....
Apache, that is an interesting tidbit about Donold never learning to ride a bicycle. And no I can’t imagine him on a horse. He doesn’t like animals and they don’t like him at all…repelled by his odious nature…most animals have a keen sense these things and of his evil intentions, sociopathic behavior and cruelty.
This is so important, ICTT. And so little publicised. The attack on Public Lands is a stealthy and nearly silent transfer of OUR land to the Oligarch Group, mainly mining and oil extraction but also some ranch landowners for commercial meat grazing at the expense of ecology and history. Thank you for highlighting.
Support SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance) cuz they'll need the $ to fight this in court. This Canadian loves GSENM and Bears Ears. It's my favourite part of the US but sadly wontbe back until your authoritarian govt is out. And yeah During trump 1.0 I wrote, called your senators and donated to try to stop it back then. Sadly I have to do it all over again
Support SUWA please.
These are sacred ancestral lands to your indigenous people. Protect it.
These are not ICE agents. These are ICE soldiers! They are waging war on people in USA.
The Posse Comitatus Act (1878) is federal law that prohibits willful use of federal military to execute civilian laws unless expressly authorised by Constitution or act of Congress.
The Senate majority has shrunk from 53 to 51, at least the voting majority. McConnell is a vegetable (no offense to vegetables) so he can't vote and Lindsey's sister needs to be sworn-in before she can vote. I'm sure she'll be a Republican rubber stamp, but Lindsey was already in a tough race, so whoever becomes the Republican candidate better not piss-off the voters in SC.
Not soldiers but paramilitary units that need to disbanded for their lawlessness, brutality, and incitement of violence, causing trauma, injuries and murdering too many innocent people already.
No, they need to be identified! So that We The People will know who to prosecute once we remove the Nazis from Our Government! We have a lot of work ahead of us!
Every one of us has a voice, we need to use it to hopefully prevent another murder 💔
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress. Be LOUD! 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly!
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
A 56 page order by Judge has shot down Trump's collusive false dealing meaning Trump trying settle with Trump to settle for money & immunity. aka Trump vs Trump. NO way. Judge KMW made sure that is NOT happening with the amicus help of 35 retired Judges.
Todd Blanche & others exposed & vulnerable to legal action. The Attorneys have been referred to state disbarment proceedings including TODD BLANCHE. See, Case: No: 1:26-cv-20609-Judge KMW.
Thank you, Megan. You are greatly appreciated for consistently informing this community of your very useful resource for contacting Congress members and others. Take care of yourself, and stay safe. 💖
Doesn’t mean we go silent. Silence is complicity. I don’t think we’ll see many big waves (like a major MAGA Congress member changing their opinions), however I think we can cause little ripples. I’m thinking staff members who hear the same thing over and over via voicemail, phone calls, letter after letter, email after email - maybe they’ll be a little more receptive each time they hear from us. Maybe they’ll talk more about our talking points to friends and family, maybeeee they’ll vote differently. As a collective, our volume matters. And, at the end of the day, if we just annoy and overwhelm some staffers working for people hurting the average American, I’m ok with that too 🙃
Such a pity most of this information never makes it to FoxNews or other conservative media orgs. Maybe it wouldn’t make a difference. But maybe it would.
If Fox can build the viewership far beyond what CNN has, they win and the winning is financial. However with the propaganda that proliferates, the net effect is to fortify a growing portion of the population to believe falsehoods and turn them into power. It strangles the concept of free thought.
Fox News. It popped up on my screen this morning when I was looking for reactions to Lindsay Graham's death. "Mr President, sincere condolences. What did you feel?" 15 minutes later he was still on one of his circular harangues about himself and his deeds. Every few minutes she tried to stem the tide, he just talked over her and continued. The commenters berated her for trying to talk over the President of the United States. I don't know how long it continued because I clicked them away.
I wonder how you keep your sanity and ability to reason and write comments after watching Fox. I know so many unable to think and function in society after such terrible experience. Be aware next time you handle the remote control....please. 😉
The only way to watch Faux News is with the volume turned off. The reason for watching is to make note of their advertisers, boycott said advertisers, and write to them to tell them why you will no longer buy their products/services. I did it. If a million people did it, perhaps there would be change.
Charging 20% for ships to pass is not an open Strait, playing around with war authorization is not to respect it, shooting people over a thousand miles apart for the same worded excuse doesn’t pass the smell test, and confirming a dishonest personal flunkee as Attorney General of the US disrespects the office. Congress, the administration, and the President have some explaining to do. Contact your representatives and vote Blue!
We can't allow him to keep doing this. I don't trust Congress to stop him even after midterms, so I'm building support for a Constitutional Amendment called No Confidence that will cut his term short, among other things.
Sure, it's a long shot. I prefer a long shot where I can take action right now over waiting for November and hoping someone else takes care of it.
You can't use a Constitutional Amendment (or any legal tool / technique) to stop someone who has refused to follow the law his entire life (ie a life-long criminal). Only a nationwide NONSTOP protest that grows every day and represents the kind of response that America demonstrated when fighting WWII has a chance of stoping this.
I mean, you're absolutely right about what it's going to take. Right now I'm trying to raise exactly that kind of nonstop protest—just one with political teeth.
You're also right that an amendment on its own obviously won't stop anyone who has already refused to obey the Constitution. However, the world where we've ratified No Confidence is one where citizens of at least 38 states have turned out in front of their state houses day after day, demanding to be heard, and their state legislators have listened.
In that sense, the text of the Amendment itself is almost irrelevant; it is the mobilization of the American public that will retake control of our government, and the cross-state consensus we'll have demonstrated. The backdrop of ratification, with its 75% supermajority requirement, gives an indisputable goalpost for "how much of America needs to agree before we throw him out".
The lawlessness of this regime extends to every aspect of government, whether it's waging war or indiscriminate killings with no body cams operating to show the truth or illegitimate lawsuits filed by the Department of "Justice" or the amassing of wealth by the Trump family. I'm not sure how it will all end, but I'm guessing that the turnout in the November elections will be so overwhelmingly blue that the Congress will be able to start to rein in the lawbreakers. One of my senators, Ed Markey (D, MA) has called publicly for Trump's impeachment, so maybe this time, it's going to happen.
“If you are like most people I hear from, you carry a question now that you don’t say out loud at dinner, because saying it feels like betraying something. The question is: how does this end? ➡️
The Man Who Counts Collapses~
Peter Turchin was born in 1957 in a closed Soviet science city, the son of a dissident computer scientist. He was twenty years old and studying biology at Moscow State University when the government exiled his family from the Soviet Union for his father’s activism. He rebuilt his life in America, took a doctorate in zoology, and spent two decades doing something that had nothing to do with politics: building mathematical models of animal populations. Beetle outbreaks. Lemming crashes. The booms and busts of living systems, captured in equations that actually worked.*
Then, around the turn of the century, he asked the question that changed his life and may yet change how you see yours. If populations of animals rise and fall according to discoverable laws, do human societies?”
💥 Social trust is built by hand, by people like you 💥
*** Click link to read the full article in Substack ***
‘He Predicted America’s Crisis Sixteen Years Ago, to the Year. His Database Says It Ends Three Ways. American Has Survived One of Them Before’
Thank you. That post gives me a small ray of hope, that we can fix this damaged society without the violence I have seen on the horizon for some years now. We face some hard times ahead.
Definitely worth reading. I wonder what the maths say about firearms where some 1/3 of the adult population has at least one and all estimates are that the nation has more privately owned guns than people.
Power may justify almost anything in the moment, but institutions exist to ask whether it should. When war, immigration, and justice all begin to bypass the same constitutional guardrails, the real question is no longer about one policy—it is about what kind of republic remains afterward.
War without warrant. Murder of immigrants without judicial investigation. Double-dealing thievery out in the open. The legislative majority remains silent. SCOTUS offers nothing except impeachment/ conviction. The nightmare worsens. The center does not hold. Anarchy is loosed upon us.
> Williams was “extremely troubled” by the testimony of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, which was “at best, misleading and, at worst, disingenuous.”
I think "at worst" here is a great deal worse than "disingenuous".
French Revolution 2.0, 21st Century American Style
WE the People have the chance to take back our country and demand that immigration enforcement has to stop. And the wealthy have to pay their fair share. As Thom Hartmann points out in every revolution, the People rise up and protest the inequalities within the societal system in which they participate. Whether it's the inequality with $$ or it's about taxation without representation/vote, the script boils down to what WE the People expect of the governance they entrust to representatives they elect.
The current governance that was elected lied to stay out of jail and now the lies are obvious as well as the morally bankrupt, misogynistic, lawless, and racist characteristics that make WE the People nauseated and intolerant of such governance. Yes policy gambits are good on the campaign trail but there has to be in these days emotional anger and revulsion as to what's happening politically.
With the known past tax codes that properly taxed the wealthy and terrible immigration policy, WE the People are fed up with the bloated arrogance of such scum, wishing to control their financial destinies and want them to help pay off our financial national debt, lest WE fall into a debt trap WE face. This November WE the People have a choice and it's not a difficult one....WE just have to be angry.
A constitutional limit that can be reset whenever the president decides to ignore it is not a limit at all.
Congress was given the power to decide whether America goes to war for a reason. Yet the president starts the war, claims the power to decide when hostilities have ended, decides when they have begun again, and then claims another 60 days of unilateral power.
The Constitution can’t enforce itself. Every limit on presidential power ultimately depends on the institutions entrusted with defending it being willing to do so.
And Donald Trump is systematically discovering which limits have no one left willing to defend them.
This is because the Constitution IS NO LONGER IN CONTROL of the US government. Trump is in control. And by definition that means dictatorship has come to America.
Worse than dictatorship: ecogenocidal destruction. As I said yesterday: Trump is not only the destroyer of the United States; he is literally the personification of the Apocalypse, the end of the world.
“Apocalyptic”, the same word my nephew said when Trump was re-elected. Noem Chomsky predicted something similar, that in a second term he would take everyone down with him based this on his psychopathology, the malignant narcissist, some Machiavellian tendencies and complete lack of empathy.
Hello Mike... Meanwhile on the other-side of the Arabian Peninsula... The Saudis have launched Air-Strikes against the Houthis who can close the exit from the Red Sea... This will close off about a further 10% of the World's Oil Supply... Seems that the Law-Of-UnIntended Consequences was Triggered by Netanyahu's War-Of-Political Survival, aka the 2026 Iran War...
There is no way to fix stupid. Hegseth fired all of the military officers who had any strategic or critical-thinking skills. Stupidity mixed with lack of experience is a sure-fire formula for disaster. They never engaged in a "what-if" exercise.
Stupid from our standpoint. From theirs, integral to their plan: getting rid of anyone that would say no to Trump's orders.
There are no diplomats to negotiate in good faith with any country. We are an island of undesirables in charge of our lives.
2 wars of choice by 3 war criminals. All white elderly men. Time for a woman already. As a Mainer post-Platner but never pro-Platner.
A very dangerous man to anything good or positive. I cannot believe this is the country I was born in. All the evil is rising to the top. The lack of empathy is the worst. trump is a very evil man, as are the people around him.
My oldest half-brother -- my father's first-born son and the founding public affairs chief of the Environmental Protection Agency -- said just before he died in 2017 that Trump is the end of the world. (The half-brother, Donald Bliss Jr., was one of the many fired by Ronnie the Nazi in his 1981 purge of all the EPA's effective people.)
I said yesterday that Trump et al are playing Jenga with the US and world. Pull out this safety support and see what happens.
Truly, they and the ENTIRE GOP have no shame whatsoever!
Please add ignorance. The only flashes of interest in his head seem to be gold and cheating. No history, no civics, no math except $. Sorry, forgot the slash in the pool lining.
Machiavelli would like a word.
yes, and Noem Chomsky was hanging out with Epstein when he was saying those things, so how much did he care?
Disappointing, I agree, but let's spell Chomsky's first name, Noam, correctly.
Hear, hear! As Marx, Engels and Lenin spent their lives attempting to warn us, the Infinite Evil that is capitalism taints everything it touches with its ecogenocidal poisons.
This is a difficult statement to follow and I am not sure that Marx, Engels, and Lenin spent their lives that way. They wrote a lot about their own political, economic theories. Plus, capitalism is also difficult. If you boil it down to greed, get as much as you can, you are free to do what you want, then it's simply a corrupt system. Nothing hard to understand about that.
Yes. He really is the Anti-Christ.
I think that’s, Peter Thiel. At least that’s how he’s depicted in South Park.
They are legion
There is no such entity except in fiction, but in that allegorical fiction, Trump does check all the boxes.
I'm doing a rewatch of the show High Maintenance and last night saw the season 2 premiere in which everyone awakens to discover something very terrible had happened, and although they never mention him by name, they're obviously referring to tRump having won in 2016.
People were acting like it was the end of the world, and this was before he even took office for the first time. Bad as that first term was, this second time around proves how very prescient the show was. (Incidentally, HBO had control of the show by then and I highly doubt they'd dare go there today.)
Probably not. trumpty would have them sued or shot by ICE.
More likely the latter.
ICE = Proud Boys on steroids.
Bigots with a badge.
With a hefty paycheck in their pocket.
Trump and Putin are destroying the world. Trump works for Putin.
And Bibi.
And Sheila, Putin may be responsible for the death of L. Graham as he flew back to US from Ukraine.
So it is. It seems that mankind's greatest fault is listening to malignant sociopathic narcissists. If people would stop doing that, all wars would end immediately.
Please PM as you offered to me, Loren. Thanks
As promised, Gloria; as soon as I am able. My day has become a bit clogged by preparations for an inspection -- such unspeakably humiliating intrusions are amongst the ways capitalism rubs our elderly noses in fecal matter should we be destitute enough to require subsidized housing -- and to top it off, I just discovered my year-old Shark vacuum cleaner has already died of planned obsolescence. I've already figured out how to repair it -- one of the occupations not on my regular resume is boat engineer (a 96-foot seiner) -- but it's already stealing the time I was planning to use for updating the material to be PM'd. With apologies, I'm guessing late tonight if not tomorrow.
The sad and more often than not frustrating thing about trump and his complete lack of constitutional knowledge is Congress, especially the republicans in Congress can stop this at any time. They can and should stop him from doing any more damage to this country, however doesn't appear any of them want to. I wonder if any of them have considered or even thought about should trump continue on with his revenge presidency the end result may be there may no longer be a country for them to represent.
Their silence makes them complicit. If we make it out the other side of this with some sort of democracy, these co conspirators must be brought to justice.
I couldn't agree more. Every single one of them should be held accountable for allowing this to continue and some of them being active participants in this as well.
Boom! Klutt, you nailed it. The path forward. Hold every member of congress to account.
Now, how to do that?
Can We the People sue every member of Congress for their complicity in this theft of our Country, and by the way, the for the theft of our money?
I’m dreaming.
Does anyone else feel like our hands are bound?
This is what keep them on trump’s side: It’s the consequences when this party is over. It’s one of the reasons at any rate.
It's a great dream. It is truly unfortunate our only recourse is voting them out and there are too many republicans who vote for the person with and R next to their name regardless their position for office.
Then, We The People, must ensure that this constitution has some extra guardrails against this kind of an autocratic regime.
"Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people." - John Adams
The older I grow the more pessimistic I become. Academically, my roots were in history, philosophy, and political science. I served as a Fed, a university administrator, a professor, and retired at 60 only to become a two-decade public-advocate volunteer before the Maine state legislature. For three years now post pandemic I have closely followed the unraveling of America.
So far as I have been able to learn, NO ONE has applied a long range frame to the threats to the American Experiment. The founders took twelve years to get from the Declaration to the Constitution. Our experiment is in serious decay; while Trump has exacerbated it, he didn't cause all of it. How long will it take to start, undertake, and complete the requisite reforms?
Consider, for a moment, just the short range political calendar. Midterms in less than four months. Oversight hearings for 17 months thereafter to document Trump's failings to leave time to inform the 2028 elections. Choosing candidates capable of the federal reconstruction required. And only then, January 2029, can that reconstruction begin. Always IF Dems win it all . . . Do ANY of the non-stop blitzkrieg-gagging fundraising messages choking our e-mails recognize or even hint at this reality?
My lonely, nearly fulltime review of the past 3 years has yet to unearth ANY serious systematic exposition within the Democratic Party of where the faults of the American experiment are, how some of them took decades and decades to become apparent, what remedies might begin to look like, what courses of action might be undertaken to conceptualize them. The brief comments above and below this post begin to hint at this. Which is why I posted this here. Working alone I've identified almost forty shortcomings which must be addressed. Some date back to the founders themselves, who while far more well-educated than most of our current leaders, can be forgiven, three examples, for failing to anticipate political parties, or the present threat of oligarchs to a free society, or the impact on the human brain (and therefore our politics) of cell phones, social media, or limiting messages to 140 characters.
I have crafted an imperfect attempt beginning such thinking. I will post it from my Substack by the end of the week as soon as my son teaches me how to do that.
A fine comment, Hendrik, and one that should be getting a lot more traction because it comes from someone who is actually doing something positive and practical. There are many Constitutionalists, former DOJ, retired military, etc. who in their protests have outlined correctives, but the deadwood "leadership," especially in the Democratic Party over the last 25 years or more (with a few exceptions), has seemed to care more about keeping their sinecure jobs rather than governing for the people.
I believe the current crop of younger campaigners are focusing on the immediate need to get into office first, because very little can be reformed from the outside, as we've seen so far.
I look forward to reading it Hendrik. I too get upset at the constant money requests without any substance as to why, other than the fact that we must win in all elections! I have yet to see some ideas with meat on them from the Dems. If they were working for me, most of them would be looking for new jobs! How do they continue being able to represent the people I wonder!
Your view speaks to me. In the 250 years from the original document, changes in human life and technology have created gigantic loopholes in our Democracy. These loopholes have been attacked numerous times since 1776.
Currently, the destruction from within the institutions created to protect us, have been dismantled.
Thank you, sir; I salute you. Though my core belief is the ruling combination of patriarchy and its weaponization of Aryan male supremacy, Christian misogyny and capitalist sociopathy make our broken nation irreparable, I will do whatever I am able to support your effort, for only out of such contemplatively purposeful militance might emerge the miracle we need to save us all.
The Biden administration didn't do much of that I am afraid.
Biden took bolder steps away from "Reaganomics" than presidents past, and it was working; but Democrats is general have been reticent in recent decades to make 'too big a thing" out of plutocratic corruption, and many Democrats have chastised Democrats who do. I see corruption as abuses of power; financial, political, use of force, or all three at once, as we are seeing now.
It has been said that if you don't sufficiently stand for something, you will fall for anything. I think there is truth in that. Nixon abused the powers with which he was entrusted but did not control the whole of the Republican Party, while Reagan and his plutocratic backers did. That was a clear departure from the road to fulfilling the stated goals of our founding contractual documents, and governance of, by and for the people, which is what B-actor Reagan was promoted to smear. There always have and always will be people who try to bribe and extort their way to domineering absolute power; and "Liberty and Justice for All" depends in large part on resisting them.
The really scary thing is that both Reagan and Nixon knew more than Trump about how government is run and what the Constitution says and means.....and they were both disasters.
Yes Ligia, There should be a committee of constitutional lawyers discussing just what further amendments to the constitution are required. The Voting Act of 1965 should perhaps be added to the constitution?. About time some hard legal work was engaged with to lead to a First Draft. Ian
Indeed Ian! How I wish and hope....
Our ultimate necessity is a shadow government, preferably sanctuaried in London, Berlin or Paris, and with supportive spooks from all three nations (though the Brits have long been the world champs at that sort of work).
And yet, even today, Americans are still quite sure “it can’t happen here.”
Mind blowing, isn't it gw?
It can happen and is happening. If trump manages to take the midterms by cheating and violence, we're done. We have to fight dirty, since that's how trump roles.
We have to fight smart, that for sure, but forsaking conscience or rule of law won't save us. Successful social movements keep the truth in our faces until it's too hard to ignore it. Anger is OK, but there is a form of anger that is truthful, steady, and emotionally adult, that is focused and powerful, as compared to rage. Enraged people often sabotage their own interests, and we are unlike to rescue honesty with fraud.
American Exceptionalism Bull shit
And Master Race.
I’ve said this before: Trump is the regime’s useful idiot. Left to his own devices, the guy couldn’t organise a f*ck in a brothel. The real story isn’t one guy. It’s the network of ideologues, billionaires, political operatives and institutions willing to use him because he serves their purposes.
Authoritarian movements do not depend on a single personality. They rely on enablers—people who convince themselves they’ll be the ones pulling the strings. To call Trump the Anti-Christ or declare this the Apocalypse gives him, and them, way too much credit. Democracies have survived demagogues before. Authoritarian projects can last for years, even decades, but history is littered with regimes that believed themselves permanent until they weren’t.
Excellent point and one I have been making since the first Trump presidency. Don’t look at Trump the idiot, look at who is pulling the strings. Until we can get rid of the controllers in the background, it won’t matter who is sitting in the “high chair”, they will still be doing the bidding of those in charge.
I really think they fluked it with Trump. No-one else could have whipped that motley crew of misfits into storming the Capital like he did on Jan 6th. Those dumb f*cks know a cult leader when they see one.
One need look no farther than those sitting onstage at tRump’s 2nd inauguration or who hosts SCOTUS justices for vacations and buys them houses! ‘Tain’t just one, ’tis a whole class of billionaires. We are officially an oligarchy.
We should never forget that Trump, his efforts to legitimize white-male-supremacist racist and misogynistic genocide, the resultant ChristoNazi conquest and its MAGAstapo terrorism is the triumph of a multi-generation, bi-partisan scheme more than a century in the making, To learn of the carefully hidden roots of the crisis, the documentation of which include a PBS film about the enormous support for Hitler here in the '30s and additional, meticulously footnoted documentation of the plutocracy's support for Nazism, go here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-25-2026?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=205274486
Kazz, my first laugh of the am...your line about organizing a f*ck in a brothel. Yes, I agree that the cabal is using him, almost keeping him put together with duct tape. Then there is that Harper creature who I am sure writes a lot of those late night posts. When he joins Lindsey, I want it to happen in public so they can't pull a Mitch.
With Stephen, spawn of Satan, Miller pulling many of those strings.
Sad, but all too true.
Despots seem to wear out their welcome eventually, but they often take many innocents down with them, and the evil that they do often lives long after them. Their malice somehow resonates with some of the worser devils of our nature, generations hence. Whether in a bloody war, or a tipping point in aggregated public priorities (we have seen both) despots are disempowered when enough of the public gets their priorities straight, and persistently fights to keep them there. The prize must hold the eyes.
There may still be hope this November. It could be that Trump's actions that are causing extreme fiscal hardship for tens of millions of American families will ensure a blue tsunami at election time, assuming that Trump hasn't found a way to cheat or negate the votes. Why is Congress a do-nothing Congress? Mike Johnson is a Christian Nationalist, as are others, including my own congressman. They favor a Christian theocracy. It's that simple. They have no intention of honoring their oath to the Constitution.
Big assumption. The fix is on.
The "fix" is a well-calculated inference: claim that the elections are rigged; fire the members of the election oversight committee, try to get the voter roles from the states, and more. Your thoughts to explain Trump's actions?
I just wrote essentially the same comment. We are living in a dictatorship. No law, no rules, not norms. Trump, "I can do whatever I want, I am the president of the United States."
Harvey, it’s much more than a simple dictatorship, it’s government of the people, by the billionaires, for the billionaires. tRump has simply been a useful narcissist and bully.
Aided and abetted by the sniveling, spineless, pedophile protecting Republican Party without which none of this is possible.
We have a group in Congress who could do something to stop this out-of-control, mentally deranged tyrant but are choosing for whatever reason to do nothing.The American people are in imminent danger from the actions of this man and this cult/party.Where will this all end?
I keep asking myself how this destruction of our country has occurred after only a year and half into this presidency. Millions of Americans have protested but the administration ignores them. Another death occurred as a result of a gestapo approved by Congress. Heartbreaking.
We the People hate to admit this BUT it is astounding that a truly demented man is running/ruining our once wonderful country🤬🤬🤬
The US has not formally declared war on any country since the Second World War, yet over the intervening period hardly a week has passed without US military forces conducting operations in other countries, with or without the consent of their governments. That has been the reality of American power.
Military Industrial Complex will always manufacture grievances to be solved by armaments. $$$$$$$$
Does anyone remember Eisenhower’s warning? It used to come up fairly often. Then racism became more important as a bogeyman.
I think maybe they realized that fascism was a great, reliable way to distract us from looking at the grifting of the Military Industrial Complex.
Yup, and the nepotism continues, the tRvmp boys and their investments in military companies.
Husband of Ruth writing:
The US has rarely been at peace since its inception in 1776.
Husband of Ruth, I have repeated this fact numerous times and the repetition has been met with profound indifference.
There are quite a few reasons to be proud of the U.S., but our steadfast culture of violence isn't one of them.
Today's Letter describes how violence permeates every cell of our national body.
Husband of Ruth writing:
Yep. Born in the crucible of war. Gives “Begin as you mean to go on” new significance. There are indeed many wonderful things about the US, and may wonderful people. But as a social entity, if the USA were an individual they’d be diagnosed as violently paranoid schizophrenic.
HoR, your reply made me smile (wryly) because of its verisimilitude.
Yes. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan...and all years-long "military actions". All wars, by any other name. The role the U.S. played as "leader" of the allied forces after World War II persists in the administration's mentality. In reality, its role in today's world is the opposite of what it was after WWII. All the brave U.S. troops and their local allies in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq etc who died in those wars will not be forgotten by their families and friends. They must not. Neither those who fought fascism and dictatorships all over the world. The time is coming at the polls for people to reclaim their power to stop tRump and his family's thefts, ICE and its murders and cruelty. Let's do it! RESIST!!!!
How will we ever unwind it all? How will we wrestle all the government contracts away from his family and friends?
How could we give one elon musk, kushner etc so much power?
Marj, I would suggest that it happened when U.S. citizens allowed themselves to be distracted with religious interests waved in front of their faces while the oligarchs amassed economic power behind their backs.
It started with the 1954 addition of the innocuous "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by "In God We Trust" made mandatory on U.S. currency in 1955. Then there was the brouhaha in 1963 when Madalyn Murray O'Hair prevailed against mandatory Bible-reading and recitation of "The Lord's Prayer" in public schools. A few years later, Republican operatives created the new "Christian moral objection" to abortion, which became a unitary voting issue in the 1970s, which gave way to the marriage equality issue in the 1990s.
While Americans chose sides, squabbled and created private schools to protect their pet religious beliefs, oligarchs quietly remade secular government to transfer money and power to themselves.
Christian-morals is an oxymoron. — I learned that the hard way, growing up in a fundamentalist xian cult called the Plymouth brethren.
Hence, the quotation marks.
We will start unwinding it all by voting for people who care about people, justice, rule of law and the Constitution (which may require amendments...). A lot of work to do and we will do it together! RESIST!!!!
Will there even be an election in November?
And those actions have destroyed the country’s moral spirit.
I beg to differ on that. You're not seeing the faces and places of resistance and getting out the vote last year and this is unfair to those who are acting and not pontificating. I've had enough of 'oh woe is me! Talk.
A detailed calendar list checking your claim would be useful. Ian
"Every limit on presidential power ultimately depends on the institutions entrusted with defending it being willing to do so." That would be SCOTUS, and that is why the Koch brothers and their oligarchic allies went after capturing it first. They gave the oligarchs the power, with Citizens United, to corrupt the political process, and guarantee a Republican Congress that would accede to a dictatorial puppet's wishes. That is the way history is currently being written.
But I think there is another underlying issue, a failure of imagination and vigilance on the part of the Democratic opposition. The relevant tale is the frog in the pot of slowly heating water that fails to react to the growing danger. This could not have happened if there wasn't a tacit assumption that because there were "guard rails," we didn't need to heed the warning of "A republic, if you can keep it." Our belief in American exceptionalism blinded us to the early cracks in those guardrails. Of course, hindsight is always 20-20, but as we try to dig out of this mess, we need to be clearsighted about how we got here.
The Democratic National Committee could start by saying the truth out loud. I'm baffled why they are holding back. Are they afraid they will offend the 20% of the hard core fooled? They should be targeting the 20% of Independents who didn't vote in 2024. The Lincoln Project has the messaging straight: "The Trump Family is stealing from us and the GOP Congress is working for them. Not for their constituents." Now, wasn't that an easy truth to express?
The Dems lack clarity and conviction - some members of the party articulate purpose but the party is not. The MAGA Republican Party has clarity and conviction - but it has become evil. Evil can be stopped but it takes a backbone, clarity and conviction. The circle game.
The Dems lack more than clarity and conviction. They fail to observe that a parasitic, amoral, dishonorable criminal, thief conman got back into the White House. Biden's most important task was to force Trump's lifetime exit from public power. And he failed. Just as the DNC is failing now. Flopping around and flailing against the world's third biggest parasite.
How do you remove a blood sucking tick from your flesh? First, you must observe there is one. How do you remove officials from public office who work tirelessly and loyally for the tick? First, you must observe that they are working for the parasite and not the citizens who elected them. And you say this out loud and name names.
DeBurgh, if I may borrow from the Cowboy Culture, of which Americans are so proud ...
The difference between the two parties is thus:
Republicans first circle their wagons and decide which road they are taking, then they form a wagon train and roll forward, letting nothing stop them or force them off the trail.
Democrats drive their wagons individually, not choosing a lead wagon. They wave to each other from a distance and point in the general direction they'd like to go. Some take the trail but most venture into the sagebrush and tumbleweeds. Lame horses and broken axles plague them. Some race ahead of the Republicans, but with no wagons behind them for support, they get shot in the back.
While Democrats roam the prairie with dreams of a beautiful destination, Republicans take the country where no one wants to go because they drive in a single train.
Here's another American historical comparison.
When Lincoln took office his main task was keeping the Union together. He clearly understood that the slave owning powers in the South were traitors to the Founding Fathers' vision for the nation. He hired Gen George McClellan to head up his army to fight Gen Lee. But McClellan, like Trump, was a narcissist and a coward. McClellan wasted time marching his soldiers around in circles. Much like the Democratic Party today.
Grant, in the West, believed the confederates were traitors and that slavery was morally wrong. He acted on his beliefs and he ATTACKED the rebels, on all sides. And held on like a bulldog until victory over the traitors was achieved.
Today we have a amoral parasite in the White House who is feeding on us. And he will do anything and everything to hold on to his host. Lies. Persuasion. Threats. Violence. Distraction. Bad faith laws. His GOP Congress works for him and his Family now.
So, will the Democrats continue to flounder like McClellan? Or put the bit in their teeth and attack, like Grant, and remove the giant orange bloodsucking tick from our White House?
For a day or two read every Dem pitch for money. Then ask yourself what they reveal about what they think of you, your intelligence, what they reveal about the emotions they're playing you with (or is it plying), what long-range plan it fits into, how it coordinates with other pitches you're receiving. Does that look like an organized effort, coherent, carefully thought through, coordinated ??? See Hinds abd Klymenko below and Georgia above. . .
The Dems lack more than clarity and conviction. They fail to observe that a parasitic, amoral, dishonorable, criminal, thief, conman got back into the White House. Biden's most important task was to force Trump's lifetime exit from public power. And he failed. Just as the DNC is failing now. Flopping around and flailing against the world's third biggest parasite.
How do you remove a blood sucking tick from your flesh? First, you must observe there is one. How do you remove officials from public office who work tirelessly and loyally for the tick? First, you must observe that they are working for the parasite and not the citizens who elected them. And you say this out loud and name names.
Biden did not fail. The media failed to follow and cover what Biden was accomplishing.
Biden and the current Dem leadership did fail. And they are failing again now. They treat Trump and his Family as though they are valid and legitimate public servants. Deserving of their respect. This is a mistake.
The Trump Family is a parasitic criminal enterprise. This is an obvious truth the parasite is broadcasting daily by its words and deeds. The DNC fails to observe and describe what's really happening.
You don't remove a tick from your flesh by begging it to stop. Or complaining when it doesn't stop. You remove this tick by telling the truth about it. And attacking on all sides with coordination and intelligence and courage and grit.
The mealy mouth message of the DNC is embarrassing. Attack! Impeach. Convict. Remove. Prosecute. Claw back the stolen money. And every GOP Senator and Representative who sold out their sacred honor to these thieves must be expelled from their offices of public trust. Get after it!
Georgia, yes. I think that failure of imagination is an enormous part of how we got here. We treated constitutional guardrails as though they were permanent structures rather than institutions that require people willing to defend them. American exceptionalism convinced far too many people that it couldn’t happen here, even as the evidence that it was happening accumulated around us. Thank you for adding this.
Too bad we removed civics classes - with accurate info for students- from our school systems. Now of course there will be no decent school systems left. If this is not a case of keeping the masses dumb and sick, I don't know what is!
What is sad is the Debbie Downer attitude of many of you who refuse to see the court actions that have done the hard work of resistance. If you are going to join the GOP in claiming they won, you are no help to yourselves or the ones of us taking actions. What a totally s sad old group you are.
Carol Fletez: There are lower court judges that are trying to hold the line on the rule of law, but SOCTUS ALWAYS gets the final say if they choose or not choose to hear an appeal. Republicans know which circuits have the really conservative judges who will make the outrageous and expansive arguments and rulings to get them in front of SCOTUS for approval. None of us “Debbie Downers” you are pissing on are unappreciative of the lower court justices who are defending the Constitution. We are realists, not idle daydreamers, who understand that until the composition of SCOTUS is changed, either through expansion, or death, or incapacity, there will be no return to the rule of law.
What actions are you taking that will change the status quo at the national level at this moment in time? Always happy to hear something worth trying. I, personally, will be writing to my opposition candidate for the House and my opposition Senators to support expansion of SCOTUS and addingcreating additional circuits when there is an opposition president to make the nominations and the opposition has control of the Senate and can control the nomination process.
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/07/todd-blanche-doj-war-against-journalism/687908/?gift=Cru8KUGv-OeOqVScbOj1_E0YcAgb75k_KMOnH9_avqE&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
The Atlantic evaluation of the potential for Todd Blanche is part of my being informed on the vote.
Just like YOU and the others here we only have ONE VOTE. My resistance with INDIVISIBLE, and other organizations supporting with my DOLLARS in one way and that will in the long run reach the top. By supporting monetarily every national senatorial candidate that is working to rise to the top. My state has no Senator in the balance this term so I am working with post card activities and calling, writing others in states with critical senate/House votes. I also back local candidates who are the backbone of the survival and support of local elections in those states. We need concerted support from the towns, counties, states all the way to the CONGRESS and back the expansion of the SCOTUS to the max of the number of CIrcuit courts. Go read Robert Hubbell for more on that expansion as well. You cannot affect the national without the support in the localities, the states all the way to the top. Is that enough? Not sure what you mean by opposition candidates? Blue wave 2026 and 2028. And do not ask me who I would vote for in 2028. We are not there yet! Thanks for answering but most of the comments on here sound like people posturing to me and never mention actions they are taking at all. I am 80 and I am niot about to give up yet!
We also thought that offices as lofty and powerful as senator or president would be reserved for people with integrity, grit, and patriotism. The last 20 years have proven that this ain't so.
Citizens United and our partisan Supreme Court have shifted the foundation. I am praying not irreparably.
Exactly, Remember when the liberals seemed sure that the courts would protect us? Their reliance on the courts was an exact target of the Lewis Powell Memo. The Kochs and the members of the John Birch Society that became the Federalists, Heritage and the ALEC have been constructing this coup for decades along with using the white christian nationalists.
If one more person mentions guard rails to me I will scream.
Yeah, I think we've been off-roading for a while, bouncing through the woods with some flat tires. Someone call the guys with real trucks please!?!
City people.
I wonder how many virgins they promised Blanco..
Many Americans still believe our institutions and guard rails will protect us. They have no idea at all what’s happening. It turns out that whether we’re talking about norms, values, rules, standards, statutes, emoluments clauses, Constitutional rights, ethical practices or outright laws—it comes down to the individuals in positions of power and authority to exercise the requisite integrity to defend the republic against tyranny and fascism. The institutions are merely ideas and cannot defend themselves.
Which means that the stodgy old Democrats who kept doing the same things in the face of an extraordinary assault on our democracy need to go also. These young candidates are a breath of the fresh air that is needed now if we are going to resurrect democracy in this country.
AND what of the Court decision in Florida? It matters a lot
Do you really think that Trump’s minions won’t contest the decision? They are already spewing the reflexive “radical activist judge” rhetoric.
Judge Kathleen Williams may have referred the decision on sanctions to the Florida Bar Association, with an extremely compelling decision. Blanche isn’t going to leave this one alone. Trump won’t let him. Her ruling is appealable to the 11th circuit.
It ain’t over until it’s over. And that will depend on the Appeals Court ruling and whether SCOTUS whether it likes the Appeals court ruling and won’t grant cert, or whether it will hear it and come up with a unitary executive theory canned response to grant Trump the power to do whatever he wants.
YES there is always the right to appeal and it wastes yet more of our taxpayer dollars on TRUMP et alia, but we can hold out HOPE and support the positive actions of judges who DO UPHOLD the law and celebrate them instead of always assuming taking it all the way to SCOTUS and give up before the appeal has even been lodged. I think judges are not going to go with the unitary executive theory at all, at least not those who follow the basis of the Constitution which supports the three separate parts of our government. AND the duty to hold them separate and ACT accordingly. Blanche is going to be a HARD sell in the CONGRESS not likely to approve him as AG and if it comes to a tie and VANCE throws the deciding vote it will be one more of the black marks against him and future in any political persuasion. McConnell would have to be there to vote, and Graham is effectively OUT even with his sister in his place. A vote for him by any GOP will be another black mark on their report card for those fighting to keep their seats. If he is approved he will be the worst AG since Bill Barr, toadie in chief to Trump before. And to top it all so much more evidence of the failing mind of the president...go listen to his supposed Eulogy on fox 'news'!
No one = Republicans who control both Houses of Congress will defend their constitutional duties.
Republicans = Those destroying the republic.
While all the costs of these lawsuits are billed to the taxpayers!
Can we sue Trump for the lawsuit to get that money back? Not just his administration, but him personally?
I hope that some people are looking into it; after all he has cost the US taxpayers a lot of money; which could cover so many things the public needs.
Did you bother to read the decision in Florida about the IRS claim he made? I guess not. Sad
Very well stated. The Trump Family has rigged the government for their personal gain by controlling the FBI, DOJ, Treasury, Congress, Military and the Supreme Court. Like a family of parasites, they are sucking money from us. They are using intimidation, threats, deception, distraction and bribes to avoid prosecution. And tampering with the elections so their feeding from the host will continue. Parasites don't care about laws or morality. Remember, Donald violated the Constitution when he staged a coup after he lost the 2020 election. To keep his hold on the host (us, American citizens) he will break any law, stoop to any depravity. His bought enablers in Congress will not stop him or hold him to account for his crimes.
The Democratic National Committee needs to announce, clearly and consistently, that the GOP members of the Senate and House (name names) are now working for the personal benefit of the Trump Family. Not for their constituents. This truth is proven by their daily actions and fealty to the Family. (Why isn't the DNC saying this out loud?)
''Donald Trump’s America: War, Tolls, and a Family Rewards Program''
Donald Trump has apparently decided that the Strait of Hormuz should operate as a military outpost, international toll road, and Trump family business opportunity.
Under his latest brainstorm, the United States will blockade Iran, patrol the strait, protect international shipping, and demand reimbursement equal to 20 percent of the cargo passing through. Nothing says “freedom of navigation” like seizing a fifth of the merchandise.
Trump has declared America the “Guardian of the Hormuz Strait,” which sounds less like foreign policy and more like a title he awarded himself after purchasing a plastic sword at Medieval Times. A blockade is generally considered an act of war, but in Trump’s imagination, it is also an exciting new revenue stream.
Congress, meanwhile, remains a quaint historical society that occasionally gathers to admire the Constitution. The administration now claims Trump can restart the War Powers Act’s 60-day clock whenever he resumes bombing. Presidential war powers apparently operate like a free trial subscription. When the trial expires, briefly declare peace, restart the attacks, and enjoy another 60 days of complimentary authoritarianism.
Fortunately, the Trump family may be prospering during this unfortunate outbreak of national insecurity. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have invested in defense technology companies that have received billions of dollars in government business. Pure coincidence, naturally. The administration expands a war, the Pentagon spends more money, and the boys discover that patriotism offers surprisingly competitive returns.
Back home, ICE continues demonstrating why an agency with enormous funding and limited accountability should terrify everyone. In Maine, an agent shot and killed 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero, who was reportedly authorized to work in the United States. Representative Chellie Pingree later said he was not even the person agents intended to arrest. Susan Collins, who recently voted to give immigration enforcement another $70 billion, promptly called for an impartial investigation. Apparently, accountability begins immediately after the check clears.
Then there was Trump’s attempted $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund, accompanied by possible legal immunity for Trump, his family, his businesses, and his associates. A federal judge concluded that the underlying lawsuit had been manufactured to provide judicial legitimacy to a scheme with no viable legal basis.
So there you have the modern Republican platform: privatize the profits, socialize the wars, militarize immigration enforcement, ignore Congress, and send the bill to the public.
America First, provided “America” means the Trump family.
Joan Sebastian Guerrero
He must of loved getting the (free) prize in the box of Cracker Jacks.
This president hit the ground running the day of his second inauguration. Will the Democratic House leaders be ready to do that if they do take over the leadership of the House and/or Senate?
exactly. On day 1 impeachment has to start
Just me, but I am beginning to seriously wonder if the Civil War actually ended and had now spread nationwide. I see analogies to what HCR writes of the post-Civil War era in government.
That's not an accident. That is what Leonard Leo and company designed Project 2025 on. We are literally repeating the worst parts of our own history.
The Constitution can’t enforce itself. So breaking the laws are easy, no consequences.
Trump has been testing the Constitution and the laws since he got in office 2016 and has learned that he can keep going, getting bolder, more outrageous. So far he has been blatantly showing us he can go quite far until we catch up to him, if we do at all. Our Republic, the aggregate, in aggregate, has caught a very bad cold. That we just notice or don't notice and do little or nothing, or not enough, that we can't keep up with this, may very well make this fatal. "Getting and spending we lay waste our powers" (William Wordsworth"...until we lose them.
Joan Sebastian Guerrero was murdered by the United States Government on the streets of America. He is the 11th person murdered by ICE. This is your lead ma'am. Not the Constitution.
Let's pause for a moment and remember the life of this man.
Reposted and shared.
Lying, cheating, that is all you ever do…this is the real brand of the cabal. And they make a boatload of money doing it! Who are the helpers here is breaking the law! Well certainly the keys components are then conservatives on the Supline court, all the workers in the White House and aided and abetted by the entire GOP! They are the Gophers for his whims and dalliances. At each step they are stomping on the framework of laws and the guardrails therein. At the money the clown wheels are coming off…but unto there is real jail time, real consequences like losing your law license, they will get away with it!
And the first real step in charging the Trump Clan with fraud and malfeasance. They are stealing our money and we want it back!
Didn't you read the part where an 11th person has been murdered by ICE?!? And you lead with ruminations about the Constitution followed by more ruminations about the Constitution?
What the hell everyone.
Systematically yes, and pathologically…testing the limits…sounds like something sex offenders do, among other prominent criminal behaviors. Whether the delusional disorder remains in his head or is now collective..?
Senator Collins called for a "full investigation". But, you cannot do that when the crime scene was destroyed and the 26year old's murder victim's BLOOD was left on the Street. Someone wrote in white chalking in block letters: "THIS IS HIS BLOOD"
The all day Main demonstrations in Maine found it's way to Collins' Office chanting: ........
VOTE HER OUT! VOTE HER OUT! VOTE HER OUT! VOTE HEROUT! VOTE HER OUT!
This must stop. How is ICE finding so many psychopaths to employ?
"How is ICE finding so many psychopaths to employ," you ask, Gloria? I submit: Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, J6ers, et cetera.
I was horrified and appalled the Proud Boys were brazenly, (although cowardly masked), part of the USA 250 'celebrations'.
And I saw barely bupkis coverage of that appalling march in the national press. There would have been a time that would have shocked the nation. I support their right to march under the first amendment (despite their deplorable views) but it should have elicited horror and the strongest criticism of their racist, anti-semitic and misogynistic views.
Absolutely!
And “Christian soldiers” hoping for Armageddon.
When Congress funds an army of American occupation at the size of a major army of a developed nation, I'm sure they can recruit plenty. The Epstein class has no shortage of funds to spend on a police state. One of the first places they went to recruit was the January 6 list of pardoned convicted felons.
EPSTEIN was a lifelong DEMOCRAT and supporter of the DEMOCRATIC party.
Per google AI search: "A major crime investigation is unfolding in Biddeford, Maine, following a fatal shooting involving a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. A 26-year-old Colombian motorist was shot and killed after federal agents [in unmarked vehicles] attempted to stop his vehicle."
"The incident, which occurred around 7 a.m. has prompted a heavy police and FBI presence, as well as local protests.Track breaking details and official statements as they are released via local coverage on WMTW News 8 or the Maine State Police."
**********************************************************************************
Morning Joe Update 7/14, 7 AM EST:
ICE shot into to another car. The Victim suffered a severe gun shot in the head. ICE shot through the side door AGAIN.
The Victim was a family man & delivery driver & his wife & daughters were near.
ICE admits the delivery driver was NOT their target!
***************************************************
Update:
*******
Any policy changes, must be enforceable, preserve the Crime scenes & include the U.S. Border Patrol. JDinCA
The ME Secretary of State has ordered the DMV to ignore all requests from the US Government for temporary ME plates. If they had ME plates they had them illegally. No surprise if they did.
Important to nail down your Comment into admissible evidence including ALL ICE vehicles near the scene of the spoiliated crime scene.
These incidents of federal murders and reactions by the public will soon be reasons for activating the insurrection act and stop the midterm elections. This is guaranteed.
I knew this and similar events would materialize under Trump which is why I once called for the once good generals now sidelined, to enact a military coup in order to save America. I was ridiculed of course. Yes there are times when an illegal act is necessary to save a much worse illegal act. Now we are fucked.
There is no doubt this will soon play out.
Bill, the "Military" has already been compromised. This is not to be stopped by a military coup. If we.., as "citizens" cannot remove him from office.., "we" might as well continue to 'deal with it'.
I understand. Oftentimes there are no perfect solutions. We are living in truly historic times. Not since southern states succeeded have we had this occur. It’s as if those confederates have taken over the government. Now what do we do. We don’t have sufficient arms to overthrow the rogue government. The scene is that Trumps stormtrooper ice agents provoke massive street demonstrations some of which become violent. Then the Insurrection Act is invoked. And those soldiers will exclaim “I just followed orders.” I only stated a n option once that is no longer available. One can argue that a bad president is worse than inaction. It’s all arguable. Sometimes there are no good options but maybe from a perspective, a less bad one. Considering all the untold harm Trump has done to this nation so far, ie, destroying all human programs for people, international aid programs, universities educating the best and the brightest, environmental desecration and so on, permanent loss of leadership in the world, our allies being shunned and our enemies being congratulated, oh please, the good generals would have returned our government to the people. Now it’s all in question.
I struggle with what to do. I attend the protests. I file comments in the regulatory proceedings. I call my representatives. But they are flooding us with a tidal wave of foul acts that average people, even standing together, may not withstand. I am thinking now of the food-born pathogens that are spreading since the FDA stopped inspecting for them, and the arrival of screw-worm since the preventative measures were eliminated, but also the destruction of public lands, the endangered species act, the thugs in our streets, the fear for our neighbors, the destruction of our scientific research, schools, universities and health care system. This feels like deliberate sabotage of all that is good in the USA. This feels like ethnic cleansing.
I am afraid to withhold money by not paying taxes. But I can try to starve the beast by reducing my taxable income. By spending less and being very targeted in which venders I support. I can reduce reliance on commerce by building a shadow network within my neighborhood - tool sharing, trading skills and labor, a community garden. I rack my brains on more ways to separate from this craziness, but be ready to rebuild when they are gone.
The future is not preordained. Anything could happen, and between the consequences of the Iran war, communities standing against data centers and ICE, and the likely reaction if they use the Insurrection Act, this regime could topple. We need to be prepared to build a better, more just future.
Bill, the southern states did not ‘succeed’ at all; in fact they failed. But they did attempt to secede.
Psychopaths Я Us
Just take a look at their adverts.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice-recruitment-ads-spotify-streaming-b2846634.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDtcT-zqPsg
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FFjFArJaUBE
DHS posted a meme referencing the video game Halo to its official X account with the slogan -- quote -- "Destroy the Flood."
The only people who are going to be attracted by these adverts are either deadbeats who can't get a job or racist psychos. DHS has removed upper age requirements and reduced the training programme by half to boost recruitment. They are also offering student loan forgiveness. Some of their recruits have criminal backgrounds or have failed drug tests. Is it any wonder so many of them are trigger-happy?
There are a lot of them unfortunately. You will find them in every society. Think Nazi Germany, think Khmer Rouge, Assad's Syria... and the US has unfortunately been filled with them in the last 20 years. And both parties are complicit in that.
The racist-psychopaths — those incapable of empathy for people of a different race — have been a major part of our history. The behavior and policies from which their prejudices flowed were — and continue to be — brought to bear on Native Americans and every immigrant whose race and nationality was, and is, new to these shores. Perhaps this most recent tidal wave of hatred will awaken a profound, corrective activism.
One can only hope! But I am not counting on it.
You will find them on every street. My J6 neighbor has been quiet. Too quiet.
Really scary to see who actually lives amongst us, isn’t t it?
It really helps when they are told they will be making $100K to start and will have total immunity and impunity to anything they do. And like the Orange Julius, they are encouraged to lie and destroy evidence. And the Republicans, refuse to make them show their ugly mugs or to wear name tags. Heck, they don't even have to wear cameras.
Vote her out -- hell yes.
When the President offers immunity and compensation for your actions, they come out of the wordwork.
Many of these “ agents “ are pathetic and desperate for an income and relevance.
cuz sadly there are that many of them in the general population
I heard they were offering 50k sign up bonuses. True? Dunno.
I read that they receive the bonuses only after completion of entire term of contract. Am uncertain if this is accurate.
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Have an ice day. You know how it happens because psychopaths put themselves in harms way when protest against police authority and police doing their job. These things will happen. And they didn’t happen under Obama for two reasons he was able to turn 75% of the 3 million people. He deported back at the border without due process and you didn’t hear a peep from any of you Gloria look it up it’s a fact. There were no sanctuary cities where people would protect the illegal criminals. There wasn’t any doxxing or swatting of ice agents. And people didn’t put posters of ice agents faces on the telephone poles and pole, posters light poles all around the ice agents homes at threatened their families.
I have written two LTEEs to the Bangor Daily News with facts and no profanity or vileness about Susan Collins. They didn't publish either one. The Maine Monitor reported a list of 97 donors to various campaign PACs in her name. No mention of this list in the BDN. One of the PACs - ONE NATION that has sent out numerous mailings explains in support of Collins, explains on their website that they fully support Donald Trump's agenda and support only candidates that do as well. It used to take one click to get to that statement. The last time I looked for it, it was either removed, tempered or moved somewhere else.
Graham Platner may be gone but on July 25th there is a convention to select his replacement. I was asked by Nirav Shah's campaign to be one of the delegates, but there is a requirement in the rules that delegates must be registered Democrats. I am registered "unaffiliated".
Shah is an epidemiologist and a lawyer, but can he beat Susan Collins? He did a phenomenal job with the Covid-19 response in Maine and lost the Democratic Primary for Governor by less than 1000 votes.
Susan Collins refuses to meet with her constituents except in small groups. She prefers to go to classrooms of elementary school kids and then she votes to take away their meals with the rest of her Republican Senators.
GJ , I’m not surprised that the BDN didn’t publish your letters! I grew up in that area & even delivered the BDN as a kid. It’s a conservative newspaper! Collins has a lot of support in that part of Maine. I like Shah but I think Bellows or Jackson are better candidates. I’ll be going to the Cumberland County caucus this wkend to vote for delegates from this county. I don’t agree that independents & unaffiliated voters should be left out of the process. We must defeat Collins!!!!
Another ICE murder yesterday here in ME - remember the name Joan Sebastian Guerrero! 100’s marched & demonstrated in front of Collins office in Biddeford! May he & the others get justice & ICE officers be prosecuted!
Caroline, do you know if there will be street protests? I have a very important medical appt today that I can't miss, but I'd go tomorrow. (I'm in NH, 2+ hrs away from Biddeford.)
Doug, I don’t know of any specific events yet. People are protesting now in front of the ICE concentration facility in Scarborough. Things are evolving in real time. Check in with Maine Public radio and Portland Press Herald apps or websites. Indivisible Greater Portland Maine has info on activities. Sorry can’t be more specific.
Agree Bellows or Jackson are better candidates.
She called for the investigation while she was taping it for her social media! Behind the curtain she has been a loyal Trumpee!
"I was trying to stop."
Reminds me of the “I can’t breathe” 😔
And "I am not mad" from Rene Good
Bryan Sean Mckown,
I believe we saw enough captured that "murder" could be charged for the death of these two husbands, fathers, hard working men who were providing for their families. If we as Americans do not stand up for these men and against the murderers who took the lives of two hardworking family men, who will we stand up for!!!!
We cannot NOT deny the truth that was clearly shown before us as we watched these innocent men killed by men with no humanity. They shot those husbands, the fathers of children, hard working providers of families, as if they were less than human!!!!
They must be prosecuted!!!! Even with a just prosecution, their wives and children will be without the love and presence and the hope of survival ie shelter, food, clean water, clothing an education.
This was an unwarranted slaughter of good hardworking family men!!!! Even if justice is applied in its fullness, theses wives and children are LEFT are left without hardworking fathers, without the support of loving hardworking husbands!!!!
In my opinion when Heather starts talking about facts, she wouldn’t be able to translate any assessment of Trump’s actions/facts if it’s sat on her face
In yet another strike against America, Trump today arbitrarily removed 90% of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Three million acres just disappeared from federal protection in a single penstroke, ready to be handed over to private coal and uranium companies.
Joe Biden had stopped and reversed Trump's first seizure of land from Bears Ears, together with the sale of over 70,000 new oil and gas leases -- a monument created by President Obama under the 1906 Antiquities Act, used for more than a century to protect public land from private exploitation. A pact negotiated with the support and involvement of five sovereign tribal nations created an expanded National Monument in 2022, jointly administered by the tribes and the federal government. The decision protected an area sacred to all five -- land containing not just untouched archaeological sites, but previously unknown dinosaur fossil finds dating from both the Jurassic and Triassic eras.
In June, the Babylon Fire consumed 100,000 acres of the Monument, casting smoke that filled the skies over southeastern Utah. The Administration didn't dispatch a single firefighter to put it out. Instead, it sent the entire Utah Republican Congressional delegation, and its rapacious Governor, to make certain the land got handed over to uranium companies instead.
They expect the five nations to sue. They are hoping for the Supreme Court to rule against the 1906 Antiquities Act in its entirety, thus removing the one instrument used by Presidents since Teddy Roosevelt to designate Bureau of Land Management territory for the protection of Native history, and create a new series of 'wild, wild West' land-grabs not seen since the violation and usurpation of native treaties during the late 1800s.
That is heartbreaking. My sister was once an archeologist for the Forest Service in Utah - her job was to look for and protect indigenous sites -- rock drawings, burial grounds, etc. to be sure that land could not be forested or otherwise changed and that the sites were protected. It's incredible landscape. The dismissal of its importance in favor of mining and oil is disgusting.
The ability to do that was in one of the earliest of Trump 47's executive orders, guaranteeing the payback to his oligarch backers. Promises made, promises kept. I think you are absolutely correct that they are looking to tee up a Supreme Court ruling to overturn laws protecting public land. The next SCOTUS term is going to be the oligarchs playing beat the clock to get as many rulings in their favor to transfer the resource wealth of the nation to themselves while Alito and Thomas are still on the bench and before SCOTUS gets expanded if the opposition gains control.
trumpty-dumpty absolutely loves destroying Nature.
He loves destroying things. It's the one thing he's good at.
Hello Dutch Mike... 'Nature' to DJT, is a Trump Branded Golf Course.... According to Mary Trump, DJT never learned to ride a Bicycle... Ever seen DJT on a Horse?... Golf Carts don't count....
Apache, that is an interesting tidbit about Donold never learning to ride a bicycle. And no I can’t imagine him on a horse. He doesn’t like animals and they don’t like him at all…repelled by his odious nature…most animals have a keen sense these things and of his evil intentions, sociopathic behavior and cruelty.
This is so important, ICTT. And so little publicised. The attack on Public Lands is a stealthy and nearly silent transfer of OUR land to the Oligarch Group, mainly mining and oil extraction but also some ranch landowners for commercial meat grazing at the expense of ecology and history. Thank you for highlighting.
Horrific. Thanks for info, I had not been aware of previously.
Support SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance) cuz they'll need the $ to fight this in court. This Canadian loves GSENM and Bears Ears. It's my favourite part of the US but sadly wontbe back until your authoritarian govt is out. And yeah During trump 1.0 I wrote, called your senators and donated to try to stop it back then. Sadly I have to do it all over again
Support SUWA please.
These are sacred ancestral lands to your indigenous people. Protect it.
These are not ICE agents. These are ICE soldiers! They are waging war on people in USA.
The Posse Comitatus Act (1878) is federal law that prohibits willful use of federal military to execute civilian laws unless expressly authorised by Constitution or act of Congress.
Well, Congress?
What Congress? Emulating Hitler but with far greater stealth, the ChristoNazis have killed Congress as dead as Hitler killed the Reichstag.
The Senate majority has shrunk from 53 to 51, at least the voting majority. McConnell is a vegetable (no offense to vegetables) so he can't vote and Lindsey's sister needs to be sworn-in before she can vote. I'm sure she'll be a Republican rubber stamp, but Lindsey was already in a tough race, so whoever becomes the Republican candidate better not piss-off the voters in SC.
Exactly a piece that I wrote in my book — a prediction.
Not soldiers but paramilitary units that need to disbanded for their lawlessness, brutality, and incitement of violence, causing trauma, injuries and murdering too many innocent people already.
Abolish ICE!
No, they need to be identified! So that We The People will know who to prosecute once we remove the Nazis from Our Government! We have a lot of work ahead of us!
Sure-- identify them, then abolish the band of thugs.
I believe it's up to the citizens of this country now.
Trump's Posse! (Vigilantes).
Every one of us has a voice, we need to use it to hopefully prevent another murder 💔
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress. Be LOUD! 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly!
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
Thank you once again Megan.
A 56 page order by Judge has shot down Trump's collusive false dealing meaning Trump trying settle with Trump to settle for money & immunity. aka Trump vs Trump. NO way. Judge KMW made sure that is NOT happening with the amicus help of 35 retired Judges.
Todd Blanche & others exposed & vulnerable to legal action. The Attorneys have been referred to state disbarment proceedings including TODD BLANCHE. See, Case: No: 1:26-cv-20609-Judge KMW.
JDinCA at 6:28 PM EST.
As to Blanche, starting today, contact your Senate reps and tell them to oppose Blanche to be AG.
https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?Class=1
Thanks, Lynell. Don't wait! Do it now!
Morning, Lynnell! Thanks for the remonder,
Hello Bryan... Is it a Rule that Lawyers for DJT wind up getting their own Lawyers?...
Thanks for the report, counsellor!
Thank you, Megan. You are greatly appreciated for consistently informing this community of your very useful resource for contacting Congress members and others. Take care of yourself, and stay safe. 💖
Thank you Megan - this tool is a treasure - as are you!
Congress doesn’t care.
Doesn’t mean we go silent. Silence is complicity. I don’t think we’ll see many big waves (like a major MAGA Congress member changing their opinions), however I think we can cause little ripples. I’m thinking staff members who hear the same thing over and over via voicemail, phone calls, letter after letter, email after email - maybe they’ll be a little more receptive each time they hear from us. Maybe they’ll talk more about our talking points to friends and family, maybeeee they’ll vote differently. As a collective, our volume matters. And, at the end of the day, if we just annoy and overwhelm some staffers working for people hurting the average American, I’m ok with that too 🙃
Well said as usual, Megan. Thank you for being so tireless.
Thank you Megan!
Such a pity most of this information never makes it to FoxNews or other conservative media orgs. Maybe it wouldn’t make a difference. But maybe it would.
You have to believe it would. Otherwise, why censor it?
! ! !
You mean Fox Entertainment.
Fox Complicity Bill.
If Fox can build the viewership far beyond what CNN has, they win and the winning is financial. However with the propaganda that proliferates, the net effect is to fortify a growing portion of the population to believe falsehoods and turn them into power. It strangles the concept of free thought.
The painful true about your statement Bill is "the growing portion of the population...." 🫣
Fox News. It popped up on my screen this morning when I was looking for reactions to Lindsay Graham's death. "Mr President, sincere condolences. What did you feel?" 15 minutes later he was still on one of his circular harangues about himself and his deeds. Every few minutes she tried to stem the tide, he just talked over her and continued. The commenters berated her for trying to talk over the President of the United States. I don't know how long it continued because I clicked them away.
I wonder how you keep your sanity and ability to reason and write comments after watching Fox. I know so many unable to think and function in society after such terrible experience. Be aware next time you handle the remote control....please. 😉
The only way to watch Faux News is with the volume turned off. The reason for watching is to make note of their advertisers, boycott said advertisers, and write to them to tell them why you will no longer buy their products/services. I did it. If a million people did it, perhaps there would be change.
Noble cause Signe. Worth the risk. Thanks for your service 😁
Charging 20% for ships to pass is not an open Strait, playing around with war authorization is not to respect it, shooting people over a thousand miles apart for the same worded excuse doesn’t pass the smell test, and confirming a dishonest personal flunkee as Attorney General of the US disrespects the office. Congress, the administration, and the President have some explaining to do. Contact your representatives and vote Blue!
Well said, Janis. Here is the Congressional phone directory
(202) 224-3121. Remind Republican senators and reps they have blood on their hands as does the evil greedy demented leader they continue to support.
We can't allow him to keep doing this. I don't trust Congress to stop him even after midterms, so I'm building support for a Constitutional Amendment called No Confidence that will cut his term short, among other things.
Sure, it's a long shot. I prefer a long shot where I can take action right now over waiting for November and hoping someone else takes care of it.
You can't use a Constitutional Amendment (or any legal tool / technique) to stop someone who has refused to follow the law his entire life (ie a life-long criminal). Only a nationwide NONSTOP protest that grows every day and represents the kind of response that America demonstrated when fighting WWII has a chance of stoping this.
I mean, you're absolutely right about what it's going to take. Right now I'm trying to raise exactly that kind of nonstop protest—just one with political teeth.
You're also right that an amendment on its own obviously won't stop anyone who has already refused to obey the Constitution. However, the world where we've ratified No Confidence is one where citizens of at least 38 states have turned out in front of their state houses day after day, demanding to be heard, and their state legislators have listened.
In that sense, the text of the Amendment itself is almost irrelevant; it is the mobilization of the American public that will retake control of our government, and the cross-state consensus we'll have demonstrated. The backdrop of ratification, with its 75% supermajority requirement, gives an indisputable goalpost for "how much of America needs to agree before we throw him out".
Thank you Danielle.
You are so welcome, Marj! We're all in this together. ❤️
I'm sure you are correct, Steve. But Danielle is working to leave no stone unturned. I support her try!
The lawlessness of this regime extends to every aspect of government, whether it's waging war or indiscriminate killings with no body cams operating to show the truth or illegitimate lawsuits filed by the Department of "Justice" or the amassing of wealth by the Trump family. I'm not sure how it will all end, but I'm guessing that the turnout in the November elections will be so overwhelmingly blue that the Congress will be able to start to rein in the lawbreakers. One of my senators, Ed Markey (D, MA) has called publicly for Trump's impeachment, so maybe this time, it's going to happen.
Impeachment AND conviction, Betsy!
Right; impeachment without conviction is meaningless, as we have seen before.
“If you are like most people I hear from, you carry a question now that you don’t say out loud at dinner, because saying it feels like betraying something. The question is: how does this end? ➡️
The Man Who Counts Collapses~
Peter Turchin was born in 1957 in a closed Soviet science city, the son of a dissident computer scientist. He was twenty years old and studying biology at Moscow State University when the government exiled his family from the Soviet Union for his father’s activism. He rebuilt his life in America, took a doctorate in zoology, and spent two decades doing something that had nothing to do with politics: building mathematical models of animal populations. Beetle outbreaks. Lemming crashes. The booms and busts of living systems, captured in equations that actually worked.*
Then, around the turn of the century, he asked the question that changed his life and may yet change how you see yours. If populations of animals rise and fall according to discoverable laws, do human societies?”
💥 Social trust is built by hand, by people like you 💥
*** Click link to read the full article in Substack ***
‘He Predicted America’s Crisis Sixteen Years Ago, to the Year. His Database Says It Ends Three Ways. American Has Survived One of Them Before’
ST’S SUBSTACK
JUL 06 2026 | Substack
https://stbadhon.substack.com/p/a-scientist-fed-10000-years-of-history?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios
.
Thank you. That post gives me a small ray of hope, that we can fix this damaged society without the violence I have seen on the horizon for some years now. We face some hard times ahead.
Very interesting read. Thank you for sharing. :)
Definitely worth reading. I wonder what the maths say about firearms where some 1/3 of the adult population has at least one and all estimates are that the nation has more privately owned guns than people.
I'm so tired of US taxpayers' hard earned contributions being used for such sick uses.
trump AND his GOP maga regime....
LOVE LOVE LOVE AI and promote it ALL the time.
Well, Google (AI) "The Most Corrupt President in American History".
Then, Google (AI)"The Most Corrupt Supreme Court Justice in American History".
EVEN trump's Beloved AI KNOWS WHO and WHAT we ARE fighting against NOW!!
WE ARE NOT INTIMIDATED!!
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER!!
WE WILL NEVER STOP FIGHTING BACK!!
SAVE AMERICA and DEMOCRACY!!!
VOTE ALL GOP maga MURDEROUS PEDOPHILE PROTECTORS OUT!!
Power may justify almost anything in the moment, but institutions exist to ask whether it should. When war, immigration, and justice all begin to bypass the same constitutional guardrails, the real question is no longer about one policy—it is about what kind of republic remains afterward.
War without warrant. Murder of immigrants without judicial investigation. Double-dealing thievery out in the open. The legislative majority remains silent. SCOTUS offers nothing except impeachment/ conviction. The nightmare worsens. The center does not hold. Anarchy is loosed upon us.
> Williams was “extremely troubled” by the testimony of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, which was “at best, misleading and, at worst, disingenuous.”
I think "at worst" here is a great deal worse than "disingenuous".
That's legal-speak for "they lied."
French Revolution 2.0, 21st Century American Style
WE the People have the chance to take back our country and demand that immigration enforcement has to stop. And the wealthy have to pay their fair share. As Thom Hartmann points out in every revolution, the People rise up and protest the inequalities within the societal system in which they participate. Whether it's the inequality with $$ or it's about taxation without representation/vote, the script boils down to what WE the People expect of the governance they entrust to representatives they elect.
The current governance that was elected lied to stay out of jail and now the lies are obvious as well as the morally bankrupt, misogynistic, lawless, and racist characteristics that make WE the People nauseated and intolerant of such governance. Yes policy gambits are good on the campaign trail but there has to be in these days emotional anger and revulsion as to what's happening politically.
With the known past tax codes that properly taxed the wealthy and terrible immigration policy, WE the People are fed up with the bloated arrogance of such scum, wishing to control their financial destinies and want them to help pay off our financial national debt, lest WE fall into a debt trap WE face. This November WE the People have a choice and it's not a difficult one....WE just have to be angry.