As a former Custodian of Classified Materials, I am appalled. Stealing, hiding, and refusing to return classified materials should have resulted in hefty fines and years in prison!
As a former Custodian of Classified Materials, I am appalled. Stealing, hiding, and refusing to return classified materials should have resulted in hefty fines and years in prison!
ANYONE ELSE would have been JAILED as soon as the missing docs were discovered. NO EXCEPTIONS! Cheetolini is so massively unqualified and outright dangerous he MUST be prevented from getting access again, by an epic voter turnout in November.
If IтАЩm not mistaken, heтАЩs starting to get classified material as a candidate. There is so much wrong with that picture that my brain breaks when I think of it.
Plus he has put two sketchy characters on the Senate Intelligence committee put there by his acolyte Mike Johnson of New Apstolic Reformation infamy. Again, I see Thomas and Alito and the other 4 on SCOTUS poised to give him the election even if he does not win it. We must make the difference in votes clear by getting the vote out. Vote, vote, vote!
I've been distracted as we lost our last cat and hadn't been able to keep up with the news.
Losing our last cat was hard but not as hard as seeing the Heritage Foundation Project 2025/ Clarence Thomas/Aileen Cannon version of the Harry Houdini surprise gut punch to Democracy and the rule of law.
When I was eleven, I was hospitalized. My mother who hated cats let me take my cat to Hancock point because she felt sorry for me as I still had a fever when we drove the 13 hours to Hancock point. The cat got lose there and was gone two days. Six weeks later back in Wilmington, DE, she had four part coon cat kittens. I kept Emily for many years. Emily disappeared and was gone three weeks. Of course, I being "cats are every thing" person was devastated. She came back with a broken jaw and lived happily ever after on baby food. years and years later, a cat I called Sunshine showed up to live with us, different state. He was nearing 20 years when he vanished. 15 days later, I woke to him sitting in the window. I thought I was dreaming. He didn't wander after that and spent the rest of his life sleeping under my chin at night. You will be in my thoughts.
Ditto to what I wrote to Jim; thank you so much for sharing your amazing cat stories. I'm not really a cat person, but I have recently adopted my second cat. Last one was a feral cat who was with me for 10 years. Miss Kitty who is with me know, lost her "mom" of 10 years who died unexpectedly in March. Her grown children were not able to take her, neither was any of the local shelters. One kindly posted her story in FB. I've seen and passed over many a cat in need of a home. I live in a tiny studio, and thought it was impossible. But something about Miss Kitty's photo grabbed my heart..and I had to call. I got a call back within minutes from the shelter who then gave my info to her family. They called within minutes as well. A friend drove me to meet Miss Kitty and while she was somewhat aloof, she didn't hate me! Her family brought her to me, along with her carrier, litter box and most favorite tower and we've been slowly working things out over the past three weeks. I've started a FB page to tell our story, starting with a slide show I made from photos my friend took from out meeting. Here's the link if you'd like to see it...I'm kind of proud of how it captured her!! https://www.facebook.com/61561322020208/videos/3669820083266941
So sorry about the cat. I'm not going through that again - the last one was the last. Yes, that Aileen Cannon headline was bad to wake up to this morning. The French are getting a lot of mileage out of the size of that ear-covering, incidentally! (They think it's a stage prop).
Interesting about what the French think (I'm a francophile and have spent a lot of time in France. It's my second country.) I'll check out their reaction and it could be correct. I certainly know that the fist pump was an act.
Of course it's a prop. He barely got nicked, if it was even the bullet that hit him and not glass, which has been floated as a possibility, or even a nick he himself induced. The cameras were all on the other side of his head, so we can't really see. We have a story being crafted and there is much to be critical about that would indicate we should not take the bait, hook, line, and sinker. I just fear that we are so far behind this plot, it's already over.
Jim, I am so sorry. I understand. Our dog was bitten by a raccoon this weekend and so has had a surgery and is wearing the cone of shame. He is a very lucky dog indeed and an old dog. We are so happy he is still with us. We have managed to keep up with the news although we have been turning off the national news. The NYT online Morning has the headline: Trump names his successor. And Vance is truly awful. We must not let them prevail in November and vote D up and down the ballot.
Jim, I'm so sorry for your loss. I understand completely. I am coming up on the anniversary of losing my heart cat (we let him go; he was old and sick), and even with two new furry feline beings in my life, I mourn him and miss him.
As we do. Their lives are so short but so very sweet and wonderful. Cannot imagine existing without having animals - unable to "do" horses anymore after losing my boy - but cats & dogs (and right now a bird!!) make life worthwhile. AND need to be cared for which sure does take your mind off health & politics (thank god).
As do all these comments from like minded humans!!
Sympathy for your loss. The closest I feel that there may be a god and Heaven is in my relationships with animals. There is a wonderful book тАЬ Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and other unexplained powers of animals тАЬ by Rupert Sheldrake.
So sorry about your cat - it just takes the light out of your day. Last few years I only have had one cat and it was really hard to lose her - took me months before I could look for another one. There ae so many who truly deserve homes. But it takes time. Hang in there.
It says so much that the former guy is the first to live in the WH and have NO animals as pets - nor, I'm guessing, did any of his offspring ever have any interest in them. But then the lack of empathy encompasses humans and animals, doesnt it?
Certainly telling to me - dont know about anyone else.
He didn't even care much for his own kids with the exception of what they could do for him and his weird lecherous attraction to his daughter. I have never heard him say one word about his grandkids. I find that unspeakable. But then perfectly in character for a man without character.
I'm so sorry about....your cat. While getting out a massive Democratic vote in November is of utmost urgeny, it helps me to also stay in touch with simple human pleasures...like enjoying relationships with out pets. I hope you find them safely and quickly!
Another favorite of mine is the "Amazing Randi" (James Randi), who, unlike Houdini wanted to believe in psychics, was like Houdini in exposing all the fakes he could. Houdini's wife tried to communicate with him through any possible real psychic for 10 years before giving up since everyone tested could be dis-proven.
After James Randi had showed Johnny Carson (himself a magician) how to test Uri Geller (make him use the props Carson provided) Geller failed. I believe Randi had done the spoon bending trick on Carson's show but not revealed how it was done. When Carson later asked Geller how Randi had done it, Geller claimed Randi really had magical powers like he had (to me, on days when he had enough psychic strength which was in short supply the day Carson provided the props).
Sorry, but by lost, I meant died in my arms after making his way to me (like he always did, no matter how bad he felt), early in the morning insisting I needed his lap time as much as he did.
He came to us 12 years ago, obviously having been a well loved lap cat, perhaps left out doors after his primary staff passed away. We had decided Gidget was to be our last cat a dozen years ago but he showed up at our patio door with this attitude that implied "You know you are going to become my new staff, let me in and make a lap." He and Gidget became great friends as he comforted her until she passed in March of 2023. He seemed lost and lonely for a while, but made up for it by quadrupling the time he wanted to spend on our laps, up to 4 hours at a time, frequently "helping" me by pawing at the keyboard as I was at the computer.
The "staff" description certainly fits! My son has four (count em FOUR) cats that all consider him staff! My sort of new gal (here for 2 years now) does believe meal times are deserved WHEN she says so, and shes getting more lappy all the time but still kind of spastic - I do wonder if thats a black cat thing!!
Thank you James тАж you are correct - I am, have always been and will be till the end of my natural [and a spiritual one - if there is such a thing]тАж life!!!
JL, I like to call it a belief that "God is too big for one religion", in whatever form you recognize "supreme being". In my belief system, it is Mother Earth.
My mantra since Vietnam is deep respect for all who act in accordance with the expressed beliefs of their religion or philosophy towards all others as equals
Of course the supremes will try to hand him the election, not a doubt in my mind.
BTW where have the dems been, they seemed to have checked out? I feel this community is trying harder to save democracy than our elected officials. Smh...
I'm not saying don't be critical, but it's way too easy to think others aren't doing their part even when they are. We can only see what we see, and there's a lot we can't see.
What I've chosen to see is a victory in November too big to be overturned.
We are working in Indiana. We have some great candidates....but need a whole lot more...to stand up! State Rep in my district 8 has it on a silver platter this year. People are tired of spending their money and time. He gets money from big donors in Indy from their GOP out of state. It is hard for a Democrat to win. Scary!
It is hard, and it is scary, but for anyone who doesn't want my advice, stop reading this comment.
My advice is to start with a potentially unachievable vision, then establish an achievable target condition that is toward achieving the vision. Then ignore the vision while focusing on the target condition. Then identify an action you can take toward achieving the target condition. Then ignore the target condition while taking the action. Then iterate and learn from your mistakes, or learn that you've learned enough not to make mistakes.
You don't have to do a lot. All you have to do is play for the good team. But politics is not a spectator sport. If you're not intentionally playing for one team, then you're unintentionally playing for the other team.
postcards to voters. Everyone can do it and/or find an organization to do it with. Getting boring with repetition? Just go write. For those of тАЬa certain ageтАЭ: to Montana person middle name тАЬMichellemorganтАЭ. You learn the town names of states and the infinite variety of names people think up for their children. Plus Montana has some surnames too long to get on a postcard address line! Have fun.
WRT "landslide is coming," that is something on which we agree.
You do have to be for something and against something, but you don't have to be for some people and against other people. I'm for the idea that everyone belongs (that is the principle), and against the idea that some people don't belong (that is the alternative). What is unstated but implied are the context-specific rules. A rule is how to adhere to that one principle in a specific context. Easy to say, but hard to do. And yet, it's better than the "easy to say and impossible to do" alternative.
I love the way President Biden challenged Lester Holt about his questioning. "Come on, man!" Why aren't we talking about the 27 lies Trump spewed at the debate? Lester looked embarrassed, and he should have. Somehow, though, I don't think Lester was in charge of what questions he was to ask. I have to remember that it's corporate media that is being run and dictated by 'clickbait.' It's the tail wagging the dog!
Like all the rest of this crap, it is not fair. But Every time a journalist gives President Biden a tough interview and he stands strong (Stephanopoulos & Holt) I see it as a gift. Yeah, it feels amoral or even mean spirited, but Biden is tough and we see it if our eyes and hearts are open. And I just get up everyday with more determination to move forward. Ya know, we can "Fight, fight, fight" too! Don't give up. This fight won't be over when President Biden and VP Kamala Harris win in November. Maybe not for a generation or two. Yet Biden's successes cause me great hope. Together, we will be victorious.
I thought Holt was as rude to Biden as the other interviewer on ABC. I can't remember his name! I just remember Biden talking to the and attempting to answer their stupid questions. Biden was nicer to them than I would have been!
They really should be getting the "White Glove Treatment".
How dare Lester Holt ask any tough questions?
Everyone knows that Democrats deserve preferential treatment. Didn't anyone tell Lester Holt that his party loyalty is in question now. Maybe he should be imprisoned? What do you think?
I send her money and used a dummy email to thank her for taking on trying to Impeach SCOTUS justices Thomas and Alito. I had been writing Dick Durbin, begging him to be on the right side of history. At this point I sent money he could have gotten to her, and I also told him to pass the baton if he is afraid of getting Trump angry. If you want to get energized, at the end of Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat's book Strongmen, where she talks about the modern day development of fascism, she ends with how famous fascists have lost their power. Trump is one of the people in the book. She tells us on page 246, "In March 2015, Berlusconi had proposed to 'transform Forza Italia into the Republican Party.' That same month, Trump set up an exploratory committee for a presidential campaign that accelerated the Republican Party's transformation into a version of Forza Italia. The GOP's authoritarian drift predated Trump. Yet by 2020, the party had become the tool of a personalist leader whose priorities were staying in office to avoid prosecution, maintaining his personality cult, advancing Putin's foreign policy goals, and mainstreaming the far right. Studies conducted by Pippa Norris and other political scientists rank the GOP among the most extremist parties in the West in terms of its rejection of liberal democratic values. In positions on immigration, crusades against racial and gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights, and attitudes toward ethnic and religious minorities have places it close to the platforms of the parties of sitting autocrats like Erdro─Яan and Modi. " She is right on the money and still is. Somehow everyone forgot that it was those policies playing out in the Covid-19 crisis, which terrified everyone. She goes on to say, "With access to nuclear weapons and command of the world's most powerful military, Trump has been a far more dangerous and disruptive leader than Berlusconi. Yet, Berlusconi's decade in power merits attention as a cautionary tales for America, Brazil and other nations under now under antidemocratic assault. The Italian prime minister operated in an open society but gradually eroded support for government accountability, mutual tolerance, respect for freedom of expression, and other bedrock democratic values. By 2009, he had merged his party with the far-right AN to form the People of Freedom coalition, which governed Italy on an anti-immigrant, pro-White Christian platform until his ouster in 2011. Italy may have remained a nominal democracy, but Berlusconi turned government into a vehicle for accumulating more personal wealthy and power on the model of the illiberal leaders he so admired. " Americans have very short attention spans and memories, or we would not be entertaining the idea of a criminal running for office. More global political knowledge and we could be learning from what others have done. What I take heart in is learning as much as I can about the powers at play here, and also to use that knowledge to inform others. I understand from Prof. Kathleen Belew where the Right wing agenda has come from and how they made plans to coalesce with the Christian Nationalists and infiltrate government as apposed to just defying it, after reading her book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Para Military America. I feel we need to take heart in knowing that people have overthrown fascist regimes, but mostly their own policies lead to their ends. So, We the People, need to save our democracy and cannot count on any one politician to do it. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!
A day or so before the Ear Show, hearts rose with the love and support of the crowd in Detroit. Don't fall for this latest devastating attempt at a torpedo. Hasn't worked - the YouTubers are saying, 500 a hit, that nothing will make them abandon Biden.
Yes and start writing postcards to voters even 5 or10 a day. Refresh your printing skills. And to those who say тАЬGod will help USтАЭ please say тАЬGod helps those who help themselves.тАЭ We are on a precipice, pushed by all the powers supposed to protect US.
IтАЩm hoping that the Biden administration redacts the info or refuses to provide it. So I remember correctly that Trump didnтАЩt provide the info to Biden in 2020?
The first book describes how Trump's people failed to show up at required transition briefings, or immediately eliminated any who had spoken on Climate Change.
The second on how he and his sponsors want to change Non-partisan Civil Service positions into politically appointed positions with loyalty oaths to Trump (and maybe the party), instead of the people and Constitution as evolved for nearly 240 years.
Chris Christie told Trump he was required by law to send people to all the agencies to attend briefings and read the material produced to describe what and how the agencies were supposed to work, what they had been doing, etc, so they would have the best starting point even if they changed the goals and procedures (while being advised of legal requirements, also).
"...Tips for Federal Agencies When Creating Transition Briefing Materials
By Dan Hyman, Troy Thomas and Catherine Manfre
With less than two weeks until Election Day, much of the nationтАЩs attention is focused on the presidential campaigns. Behind-the-scenes, however, career civil servants are quietly preparing for a potential transition and a turnover of political appointees.
According to the federal transition law, agencies are required to complete three major tasks prior to Election Day:
Submit updated lists of politically-appointed positions to the Office of Personnel Management for compilation in the 2020 Plum Book.
Create a succession plan for senior leadership positions by September 15.
Compile agency briefing materials by November 1 to assist new administration officials or second-term leadership.
To date, more than 140 agencies have teams of career employees leading this transition work. Since May, the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration have convened leaders from these teams to coordinate transition activities and facilitate the sharing of best practices.
Agencies have met the first two milestones and are working to complete their briefing materials by the November 1 deadline. In their simplest form, the briefing materials are like an тАЬAgency 101тАЭ of the key facts, figures and issues. They enable new leadership to get up to speed quickly so they can hit the ground running.
Four tips to maximize the effectiveness of agency briefing materials
While federal law requires agency transition teams to тАЬcreate briefing materials related to the presidential transition that may be requested by eligible candidates,тАЭ it does not specify what contents should be included. Based on guidance issued by OMB and GSA, as well as best practices from past transitions, the following tips will help agencies maximize the effectiveness of their briefing materials.
Tip one: Provide a baseline understanding of the agency
Recipients of briefing materials тАУ whether they are transition review teams for an incoming first-term administration or newly appointed leadership for a second-term administration тАУ will have varying degrees of familiarity with the agency prior to arriving. Some may have prior experience with the agency (though it is likely dated), while others could be experts in the policy area. These materials must provide readers with the agencyтАЩs full background and current context, including at a minimum:
Organizational charts that include key positions.
Recent budget history and a current budget proposal.
Top issues and challenges.
Congressional oversight committees and issues.
Impact of COVID-19 on the agencyтАЩs priorities and internal operations.
Tip two: Be succinct
Agencies should focus on the top issues and the most relevant data. Recipients of briefing materials are busy individuals who may not have time to read lengthy reports. Many agencies have begun streamlining information to make it more digestible. During the 2016-17 transition, the Department of Defense created a series of one- and two-page papers on the top five to 10 priority issues they believed were most important to newcomers.
Tip three: Include key insights
The best materials go beyond agency statistics and conventional issues to provide insights into the challenges and opportunities facing new leaders. During the 2016-17 transition, the FBI linked its bureauтАЩs locations with a list of threats to national security. They also created a map pinned with color-coded offices according to the year they opened. The visual representation of the bureauтАЩs newest locations generated conversations on where emerging threats were located.
Key insights should include:
The parts of the agencyтАЩs budget that have been most impacted by the pandemic.
Significant changes in workforce demographics, such as the retirement of baby boomers and the number of employees eligible for retirement.
The agencyтАЩs current top priorities.
Tip four: Take advantage of digital formats
Historically, the briefing materials have been produced as reports in thick binders. However, digital versions make it easier to distribute to the intended recipients, especially now when so many federal officials and transition leaders are working remotely..."
is another good start to see which President's provided the most effective preparation of transition briefings and support (Trump's appears to be the worst in modern times, although FDR was also a bit rude to Hoover who did want to cooperate more).
Clarification on this would be valuable. If he lost his security clearance when he left office, he'd need to be cleared again and that's not a guarantee. Also, anyone on his team (Vance) would have to be cleared as well. Biden is as courteous as they come, but at minimum, the process could be pursued very, very slowly.
Thank you Professor for reminding us again the details of the massiveness of this case that was just dismissed and the length of time it has been delayed. We need this reminder of the severity of the act and charges brought and more importantly, justice delayed is justice denied. The Republican nominee and his choice for VP must be stopped, period. And to circumvent our corrupt Handful of SCOTUS judges, we must VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET, no matter where you live in this country. Nothing is more important than that at this time, nothing. And donтАЩt think that the war will be over then, it will just be a very victorious battle. Keeping our тАЬeye on the prizeтАЭ must be imbedded in us, and that prize is DEMOCRACY.
I recall that the Trump administration didnтАЩt extend that courtesy to candidate Biden in 2020. I hope that the Biden administration does the same. Or if they do provide info, redact it a la Bill Barr.
trump is a convicted felon and if Biden doesn't deny him access to classified material he is a damn fool and puts this country and our allies at tremendous risk !! JD Vance is just as bad and if the dems don't use that against trump they have lost all sight that the end game here is to win the election or democracy does its last death spiral.
Not quite true, actually. David Petraeus, for instance gave SCI material to his girlfriend and only got a slap on the wrist. Then there have been Presidents - LBJ and Trump to my knowledge - who compromised classified programs with impunity. Not saying Trump shouldn't be prosecuted, for there's good reason to think he revealed it to foreign leaders; Putin and Orban for examples.
People who are well connected like Petraeus and Scooter Libby get treated more leniently than people like Chelsea Manning, John Kyriakos, or Reality Winner.
True. TrumpтАЩs sin wasnтАЩt that he had classified materials in his possession but that he obstructed their retrieval by NARA. If he had simply returned them when confronted, the matter would have been closed. He didnтАЩt, and the chase was on. And so far, heтАЩs escaping accountability.
Dan, to me, what is presented here, so often appears pretty much "black and white".., but in reality it is not. And, that is why lawyers and judges are able to present objections supported by their learned (Harvard, Yale, et al) points of view. I will stress, it is their "learned" position for which they find support either in the form of previous rulings or people with a certain political bent ($$$$.$$). So, it never fails to piss me off when something as obvious as boxes and boxes and undisclosed boxes and "hidden rooms" and over-sights & mis-steps by "the FBI (etc)" are suddenly rolled out onto the table by "learned" graduates who have passed the bar-exams...., when a slam-dunk case, after months and months of journalistic (tabloid-level) reporting.., suddenly, hahahaa Aileen Canon shoots her load, and the whole thing shits-the-bed! "Classify" this any way you want, but I rest my case!
Some things appear black and white that are not. Other things are. For example, the SCOTUS majority opinion on immunity appears to be wrong in a way that a child should be able to understand, which is to say that I would have flunked John Roberts if I was his 5th grade teacher, let alone allow him to get into law school.
Here's the test. You tell a person you disagree with them, you raise legitimate issues, and they dismiss your conclusion without any attempt to address the issues. That's why I'm convinced I had a better understanding of the "justice" concept as a 5th grader than the chief justice of the most powerful nation on earth.
MadRussian12A. You said it all. Reading HVR today is tough. Especially the ending with vance, this is all such scary shit!
Such a lack of integrity from most of the republicans party and especially Fox (News???) and the people who listen, only to the disinformation on Fox! My heart aches and my stomach churnsЁЯШлЁЯШбЁЯШм
Send $5 to Sherrod Brown, OhioтАЩs Democratic Senator, if you can. He needs it as Trump/Vance will use millions to defeat him. Republicans have all but destroyed the middle class with trickle down
I can never unsee the RU contingent in the Oval Office w/o US representation right after he took office and DJT looking the most comfortable amongst others than we have ever seen with his "US fellow citizens". I quote "fellow citizens" as I'm not sure he is in fellowship with his fellow citizens. I believe in my heart he is in legion with RU as that's where he gets big money and "love" to do whatever he sees fit like Putin.
Not only is it not outrageous: Trump is what Putin calls a тАЬuseful idiot.тАЭ I already had seen the films of him with the Moscow beauty pageant in 2013 asking for Putin to come and see it; then the Steele dossier; but most recently a photograph of him and his first wife in Moscow with the domes behind them. ThatтАЩs when everything clicked: gold, money, Trump/Putin. We are in grave danger if Trump is тАЬelectedтАЭ and even if he isnтАЩt. We have been promised тАЬa bloodbath.тАЭ Are we prepared to win and hold on?
Referring documents as "classified" lulls me to sleep. We "classify" just about everything the government does. The level is what we need to be specific about. There are three main designations: Confidential, Secret, Top Secret (TS). We also stamp those documents with other terms like "NO FORN" for example: The statement of NOFORN (meaning "no foreign nationals") is applied to any information that may not be released to any non-U.S. citizen. NOFORN and distribution statements are often used in conjunction with classified information or alone on Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information. So, instead of handing me (libtard drivel) "boxes & boxes" of classified documents... let's get to the meat. How many documents were marked Secret or Top Secret...? Or, stamped "NO FORN"? Those are the "documents" that #45 needs to be castrated for waving around! Let's not diminish the significance by merely referring to boxes of "classified" material. Let's front page how much was marked Secret, Top Secret, NO FORN!! I don't think the American taxpayer/citizen will be pleased. Front Page that!!
Keeping in mind that I was a deputy sheriff, and as such had no clearances per se, I knew that releasing information from investigations or handing out copies of reports would be at the least a violation of policy and at worst be antithetical to the mission of a police investigation.
Some things you just don't do. Stealing classified documents, regardless of their classification, is among those.
And chump gets a pass for the most egregious example. Plus, his refusal to return documents and try to fool the FBI. Deep dungeon. Cannon is definitely expecting a SC seat.
Yes, she is. I look at her тАЬportraitтАЭ and see nothing but a тАЬgood girlтАЭ who is being told sheтАЩs doing the тАЬrightтАЭ thing. How did she get through law school? Leo took her exams?
Women buying into Repub BS used to be a mystery. But I see how it often happens. My good friend loved a man back in the W bush day. He adored her and was a good man.. however he was a Repub diehard. She declined his proposal saying that she couldnтАЩt marry a Repub. I finally got it. He adored her and any who looked like the two of them. Anybody else was on a different tier. That never would have been ok with her. For many women, that kind of soft racism would not have been a dealbreaker. At a funeral for a distant relative, I listened to the preacher describe a saint of a man. Afterward I told my two grands that what the preacher said was absolutely true, as long as the subject was WASPs. For others, a different man would have been described. The Golden Rule had qualifications. As to women who are the MAGAts, a more detailed and varied look is necessary. I know a few who are the influencers rather than the influenced.
And you have no idea what is in them to make such judgement to yawn over (sorry). Over classification may be an issue. But, under classification and outright contempt of the system to protect National Security is insane, esp. as the wannabe POTUS.
I agree we should focus on the meatier, but the "graymail" exposure in court is what DJT is operating to as the corrupt individual he is as alternate to dismissal. His "declassification" BS lies is part of the graymail and outright contempt of the value of classified material as a threat vs his hammer.
Agree Bill. And, another little detail: The 'need' to know. Even a president might not pass that test. We live in a very finite world. And it's good that we do. There are things worth standing-up for. Standing up will be very important come November. We'll see.
Yes. But first things first. All three branches of government in a landslide. Democrats are the three musketeers (all for one and one for all). Republicans are the three stooges (all for one orange Jesus).
And then the next day when he decided not to join the other delegates at the war graves because a light drizzle endangered the helicopter.(!) He stayed in all day. Doing what?
Let's see here.. Orban is a "FORN" , right? The statement of NOFORN (meaning "no foreign nationals") is applied to any information that may not be released to any non-U.S. citizen. NOFORN and distribution statements are often used in conjunction with classified information or alone on Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information. Has FORN-Orban been shown any of those "classified" papers that are missing? GMAFB.., what do you think? As a vet of 22 years, with a 'military mind'.., I think #45 needs to be de-balled. Whewww!
When I woke up this morning and saw the headline about the case dismissal, that was my first reaction, too. Just couldn't remember Teixeira's name at the time.
As a former U.S. Army Intelligence member with a Top Secret Crypto clearance (the highest), I, too, am appalled by all of this. The rule is solid: nothing is to be revealed to another who does not have the appropriate security clearance, but even if he/she does have the clearance, nothing is to be disclosed to one who does not have the need to know. I suspect that those close associates of Putin who started having "accidents" in late 2022 has something to do with those missing classified documents. I feel certain that the American Intelligence Community knows why they met untimely fates.
Spot on, Richard. I was never in a classification position (local law enforcement) but I knew (and know) the dangers of letting the bad guys know what we've got on them. I had one co-worker do federal time for giving information (very minor information) to a federal inmate.
Thank you for that! I could follow Navalny and Kara-Murza but wasnтАЩt aware of the disappearances you are referring to. Haunting: photographs of the тАШ30тАЩs with the headless bodies in the Kremlin. Then there were the generals who тАЬdisappearedтАЭ leaving Stalin almost unable to take on Hitler for lack of military leadership.
Can someone tell me the difference between Stalin and Putin except in numbers? Is there a difference?
For me, the coincidence between Trump having those classified intelligence documents and those deaths is too coincidental. I truly do believe that Trump has committed treasonous acts.
Read the article and think I found TrumpтАЩs Putin dream. ItтАЩs quite clear in the тАЬsultanate oligarchy.тАЭ I emailed myself the article in the hope of passing it on to тАЬeducatedтАЭ people who donтАЩt understand what Trump and SCOTUS are setting US up for. Time to remind of the following: Putin speaks perfect English (to Trump) and the book entitled тАЬEverything Trump Touches Dies.тАЭ
I am uncleared due to having bipolar disorder. The US national security complex doesn't like to give clearances to people with mental health issues, somewhat understandably. However, our facility security officer recently shared some bullshit that said the government is understanding if you have a mental health disorder. This is utter BS from my own experience.
We are witnessing the absolute corruption of our judicial/political system laid out before our very eyes, in real time. The corruption goes all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. We've got some huge problems to deal with. I fear that we are teetering at the brink. People who are fairly well educated are going around wearing MAGA caps.
Since the documents were seized by the FBI before Jack Smith was appointed, IтАЩd think the argument that a special prosecutor was unconstitutional, however specious I think Judge CannonтАЩs claims here are, wouldnтАЩt stop A case from going forward, even if it stops THIS case. I realize if Darth Rumpus wins, it will be called off.
Good to remember that the Nazi Party started off by contesting municipal, state and federal elections, which led to big business circles financing electoral campaigns, followed by Hitlers unscrupulous tactics turning the voting balance in the Reichstag in the Nazi's favour. Sound familiar? Soon after Hitler gained power, he declared the Nazi Party to be the only political party in Germany, and after crushing the Nazi Party's socially oriented wing, Hitler's word became the supreme and undisputed command. What began as the promise of jobs to the dissatisfied, unemployed masses post WWI ended in...we all know what.
That aside, it stuns me to think that any American, least of all those on the judiciary would want to live in a world where their wives, sisters, daughters and granddaughters are forced into having children, denied the right to life-saving abortion care and, in the future, contraception. Added to this is the imposition of militant Christian 'values' and a gun culture where it's not safe to send your hordes of future kids to school, least of all attend any public event. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. This is not about the promise of jobs.
I've said this before, I say it every chance I get, and I'll say it again here. There are precisely two Christian values. The first is that a person must listen to their heart and their mind, but not follow one or the other when they disagree, and instead resolve the conflict. The second is that people must listen to one another, but not follow one or the other when they disagree, and instead resolve the conflict.
Ref: Matthew 7:12 & 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 6:31 & 10:25-37, John 14:12 & 15:12.
Translation: When you hear "Christian Nationalism," think anti-Christian. In other words, don't confuse real Christians with hypocrites labelling themselves as Christian.
James, I understand your point. But from the outside looking in, you sound just like cops who work with abusive/corrupt officers and do nothing about it, and then whine "but not all cops" when those corrupt officers do something off the charts bad (Derek Chauvin, anyone?)
I understand your point. If I thought your interpretation of my statement was correct, then I would alter my previous statement. But that's not what I'm saying. Personally, I don't think there should be tolerance for corruption of any kind. But my point is that the word "Christian" either means something, or it's just a tool for separating "us" from "them." And that's what so-called Christian Nationalists are doing with it. We can let them get away with it, or we can keep calling their bluff until they crawl back into their dark caves.
Derek Chauvin is a murderer, and George Floyd was his innocent victim, plain and simple.
The problem with Christianity IMHO is the old testament depicting God as an angry, judgmental, genocidal tyrant who saw humanity as wicked and justified his actions as a moral necessity - absolute fodder for Christian Nationalism.
Very different to the teachings of Christ - in essence, love one another.
IMHO, and to clarify my previous statements, the problem is not with Christianity, the problem is with a widely accepted but ultimately unsupportable perception of Christianity.
You're right that the God of the old testament was angry, but Jesus didn't say the old testament was wrong. Instead, he said the widely accepted perception of the old testament was wrong. Specifically, God is not angry because God is angry by nature. Instead, God is never angry when people adhere to the two Christian principles in every context, and then gets angry when people violate either of the two principles in any context.
As I said to someone I thought needed to know, "God asked if you wanted free will, you said yes, and he said okay, but be good or things won't turn out well. and you agreed. Then you chose to be bad, things didn't turn out well, and now you're blaming God?"
But you don't have to be Christian. For example, what science is telling us to do, which is to be skeptical and open minded (with "and" being the operative word), is the same.
My general rule is that we need to do the easy stuff right, and that makes the hard stuff possible. Conversely, if we do the easy stuff wrong, that makes the hard stuff impossible.
But JD Chilcutt, our public education system has become so corrupt and corrosive that objective thinking seems almost quaint. I couldnтАЩt think of a better word today for what the loss of liberal arts education from middle school through undergraduate school means to Americans. Plus we donтАЩt sing together or read novels (reading for fun and information thatтАЩs not about jobs). Then thereтАЩs trickledown, the RepublicansтАЩ trickery to let them get richer and kill unions leading to Citizens United. Greed and racism may kill US yet. Building from the bottom up and the middle out may save US.
Thanks Sioux... Are the Siths behind DJT?... He is definitely on the Dark-Side... He does indeed have the Luck-Of-The-Devil... Where is Yoda when you need him!!!
Disclosure of material with a Top Secret or TS NO FORN designation is a treasonous offense and the FBI, CIA, NSA know #45 is guilty of its disclosure. Such an act is above presidential. Lock him up!
Why doesn't Joe issue an executive order that states that no convicted felon can run for national office? If one can't serve in the military . . . umm, Commander in Chief? There is so much wrong with what is going on and nobody is doing anything officially but hand wringing and " We'll see-ing."
"In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces judicial decisions." тАФAbraham Lincoln.
That was as true in his age as it is in ours. This doesn't depend on what Biden does. It depends on what Biden and the rest of us do.
''This afternoon, in the hall of the RNC convention, attendees chanted, тАЬFight, fight, fight,тАЭ as they punched an arm in the air, in an eerie echo of Germany in the 1930s.''
Gail, should have.....! We live in an alternate universe. tRump is a convicted criminal and has and is getting away with many crimes. Yet his supporters are all in as though reality did not exist. As for the most reprehensible, despicable low-life character ever to exist in the public sphere all truths are presented in their opposite. How can there be that many people many of who are not stupid buy into such insanity? Once again we are witness to people's ability to RATIONALIZE ANYTHING!!
If it was any normal person they'd be rotting in a jail right now under the sheer weight of all those stolen documents. These people simply do not care.
Rightly so. I am terrified at the prospect of pro Putin ticket taking the White House. JD Vance was raised by sociopaths and is now one in his own right.
1) President has completely different authority over classified documents than anyone else. He can declassify anything he wants.
As for Clinton what planet do you live on? She got caught sending classified materials to her yahoo account which is against the law. She had 1000's of emails including top secret government secrets. Those emails were likely hacked. The email server had a basic firewall and was run by someone who didn't have any authority to handle or store classified materials.
1) That is incorrect. He cannot unilaterally declassify everything. (I worked in this field. Did/do you?). Plus, he was no longer the President when he stole the materials.
2) Inaccurate spin. She used a private email for government business (btw, so did Ivanka and Jared). She didnтАЩt тАЬsend them to herself.тАЭ And she suffered the consequencesтАФshe was denied the Presidency (and we got stuck with a buffoon).
I never said he could declassify "everything". You did. However his relationship to classified materials is completely different than Biden or Clinton. The laws in place are civil not criminal for President and classified materials.
Not winning an election is NOT a consequences. That's a joke.
This is why many many of us( patriotic, tax paying, law abiding citizens ) will forever not trust our country to be ours. We are not being asked, we are not being heard. The so called legal system has been neutered by a $$$$$$$$$$$$loving maniacs with no caring for law and or Order! DonтАЩt kid yourselves, this country has no Law and order. Just kings and power egos because those types are hiding their true identity.
As a former Custodian of Classified Materials, I am appalled. Stealing, hiding, and refusing to return classified materials should have resulted in hefty fines and years in prison!
ANYONE ELSE would have been JAILED as soon as the missing docs were discovered. NO EXCEPTIONS! Cheetolini is so massively unqualified and outright dangerous he MUST be prevented from getting access again, by an epic voter turnout in November.
If IтАЩm not mistaken, heтАЩs starting to get classified material as a candidate. There is so much wrong with that picture that my brain breaks when I think of it.
Plus he has put two sketchy characters on the Senate Intelligence committee put there by his acolyte Mike Johnson of New Apstolic Reformation infamy. Again, I see Thomas and Alito and the other 4 on SCOTUS poised to give him the election even if he does not win it. We must make the difference in votes clear by getting the vote out. Vote, vote, vote!
I've been distracted as we lost our last cat and hadn't been able to keep up with the news.
Losing our last cat was hard but not as hard as seeing the Heritage Foundation Project 2025/ Clarence Thomas/Aileen Cannon version of the Harry Houdini surprise gut punch to Democracy and the rule of law.
I hope our Democracy does better than Houdini.
When I was eleven, I was hospitalized. My mother who hated cats let me take my cat to Hancock point because she felt sorry for me as I still had a fever when we drove the 13 hours to Hancock point. The cat got lose there and was gone two days. Six weeks later back in Wilmington, DE, she had four part coon cat kittens. I kept Emily for many years. Emily disappeared and was gone three weeks. Of course, I being "cats are every thing" person was devastated. She came back with a broken jaw and lived happily ever after on baby food. years and years later, a cat I called Sunshine showed up to live with us, different state. He was nearing 20 years when he vanished. 15 days later, I woke to him sitting in the window. I thought I was dreaming. He didn't wander after that and spent the rest of his life sleeping under my chin at night. You will be in my thoughts.
Ditto to what I wrote to Jim; thank you so much for sharing your amazing cat stories. I'm not really a cat person, but I have recently adopted my second cat. Last one was a feral cat who was with me for 10 years. Miss Kitty who is with me know, lost her "mom" of 10 years who died unexpectedly in March. Her grown children were not able to take her, neither was any of the local shelters. One kindly posted her story in FB. I've seen and passed over many a cat in need of a home. I live in a tiny studio, and thought it was impossible. But something about Miss Kitty's photo grabbed my heart..and I had to call. I got a call back within minutes from the shelter who then gave my info to her family. They called within minutes as well. A friend drove me to meet Miss Kitty and while she was somewhat aloof, she didn't hate me! Her family brought her to me, along with her carrier, litter box and most favorite tower and we've been slowly working things out over the past three weeks. I've started a FB page to tell our story, starting with a slide show I made from photos my friend took from out meeting. Here's the link if you'd like to see it...I'm kind of proud of how it captured her!! https://www.facebook.com/61561322020208/videos/3669820083266941
So sorry about the cat. I'm not going through that again - the last one was the last. Yes, that Aileen Cannon headline was bad to wake up to this morning. The French are getting a lot of mileage out of the size of that ear-covering, incidentally! (They think it's a stage prop).
Interesting about what the French think (I'm a francophile and have spent a lot of time in France. It's my second country.) I'll check out their reaction and it could be correct. I certainly know that the fist pump was an act.
I get this from my friends and from the readers' comments in "Le Monde".
So do i
Of course it's a prop. He barely got nicked, if it was even the bullet that hit him and not glass, which has been floated as a possibility, or even a nick he himself induced. The cameras were all on the other side of his head, so we can't really see. We have a story being crafted and there is much to be critical about that would indicate we should not take the bait, hook, line, and sinker. I just fear that we are so far behind this plot, it's already over.
I can't help but share that view. This stage of the plot being to deactivate the Biden campaign.
So do I.
A CNN photographer, purely by chance, got a video of the bullet en route.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/14/politics/video/doug-mills-trump-rally-photo-src-digvid
Magic bullet? I can't see anything in that ring.
I hope so too. I also feel for you about your cat, it always hurts to lose one.
Losing a beloved pet is devastating.
Anticipating loss is about as devastating. For our furry family members and our country.
Jim, I am so sorry. I understand. Our dog was bitten by a raccoon this weekend and so has had a surgery and is wearing the cone of shame. He is a very lucky dog indeed and an old dog. We are so happy he is still with us. We have managed to keep up with the news although we have been turning off the national news. The NYT online Morning has the headline: Trump names his successor. And Vance is truly awful. We must not let them prevail in November and vote D up and down the ballot.
Jim, I'm so sorry for your loss. I understand completely. I am coming up on the anniversary of losing my heart cat (we let him go; he was old and sick), and even with two new furry feline beings in my life, I mourn him and miss him.
As we do. Their lives are so short but so very sweet and wonderful. Cannot imagine existing without having animals - unable to "do" horses anymore after losing my boy - but cats & dogs (and right now a bird!!) make life worthwhile. AND need to be cared for which sure does take your mind off health & politics (thank god).
As do all these comments from like minded humans!!
Sympathy for your loss. The closest I feel that there may be a god and Heaven is in my relationships with animals. There is a wonderful book тАЬ Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and other unexplained powers of animals тАЬ by Rupert Sheldrake.
So sorry about your cat - it just takes the light out of your day. Last few years I only have had one cat and it was really hard to lose her - took me months before I could look for another one. There ae so many who truly deserve homes. But it takes time. Hang in there.
This mess will still be there, sadly!
I just have to add this little snipe.
It says so much that the former guy is the first to live in the WH and have NO animals as pets - nor, I'm guessing, did any of his offspring ever have any interest in them. But then the lack of empathy encompasses humans and animals, doesnt it?
Certainly telling to me - dont know about anyone else.
He didn't even care much for his own kids with the exception of what they could do for him and his weird lecherous attraction to his daughter. I have never heard him say one word about his grandkids. I find that unspeakable. But then perfectly in character for a man without character.
I keep wishing an interviewer would ask him to even name his grandkids.
Dogs don't like him. Cats would puke (or poop) in his shoes. Animals are good judges of character.
Remember the farcical award-giving at the Rose Garden? The dog sat down at a safe distance and licked Pence's hand.
Sure did speak volumes to me tfg had no pets.
Yup - I "listened to those volumes" too!!
They have no room for any need except their own.
Jim, Losing your cat and democracy on the same day is truly sad.
So sorry about your cat. It's so hard.
I'm so sorry about....your cat. While getting out a massive Democratic vote in November is of utmost urgeny, it helps me to also stay in touch with simple human pleasures...like enjoying relationships with out pets. I hope you find them safely and quickly!
Who/dini...
My father saw Harry H. make an elephant disappear on the stage of the Palace.
The true parts of the Harry Houdini legend (and the lost details) that I believe are pretty much at https://www.historyhit.com/how-did-harry-houdini-die/
Another favorite of mine is the "Amazing Randi" (James Randi), who, unlike Houdini wanted to believe in psychics, was like Houdini in exposing all the fakes he could. Houdini's wife tried to communicate with him through any possible real psychic for 10 years before giving up since everyone tested could be dis-proven.
After James Randi had showed Johnny Carson (himself a magician) how to test Uri Geller (make him use the props Carson provided) Geller failed. I believe Randi had done the spoon bending trick on Carson's show but not revealed how it was done. When Carson later asked Geller how Randi had done it, Geller claimed Randi really had magical powers like he had (to me, on days when he had enough psychic strength which was in short supply the day Carson provided the props).
See https://www.sciencealert.com/the-amazing-randi-has-passed-away-leaving-a-legacy-for-generations-of-skeptics
Oddly I remember that spoon-bending episode.
I hope you found your furry family member.
Sorry, but by lost, I meant died in my arms after making his way to me (like he always did, no matter how bad he felt), early in the morning insisting I needed his lap time as much as he did.
He came to us 12 years ago, obviously having been a well loved lap cat, perhaps left out doors after his primary staff passed away. We had decided Gidget was to be our last cat a dozen years ago but he showed up at our patio door with this attitude that implied "You know you are going to become my new staff, let me in and make a lap." He and Gidget became great friends as he comforted her until she passed in March of 2023. He seemed lost and lonely for a while, but made up for it by quadrupling the time he wanted to spend on our laps, up to 4 hours at a time, frequently "helping" me by pawing at the keyboard as I was at the computer.
I'm so sorry for your loss, Jim. I've gone through this process multiple times myself. Hugs to you and your family.
The "staff" description certainly fits! My son has four (count em FOUR) cats that all consider him staff! My sort of new gal (here for 2 years now) does believe meal times are deserved WHEN she says so, and shes getting more lappy all the time but still kind of spastic - I do wonder if thats a black cat thing!!
Coming from a nonbeliever - allow me to say an Amen or three of them to that!!!
He must not have official (electoral) access to our White House and all that it entails тАж again!!!
Your words imply that you are a believer in something that is good, which is democracy. In my book, that makes you are a believer.
Thank you James тАж you are correct - I am, have always been and will be till the end of my natural [and a spiritual one - if there is such a thing]тАж life!!!
JL, I like to call it a belief that "God is too big for one religion", in whatever form you recognize "supreme being". In my belief system, it is Mother Earth.
My mantra since Vietnam is deep respect for all who act in accordance with the expressed beliefs of their religion or philosophy towards all others as equals
Bravo, Jim. If only that mantra was held universally!
Agreed!
Of course the supremes will try to hand him the election, not a doubt in my mind.
BTW where have the dems been, they seemed to have checked out? I feel this community is trying harder to save democracy than our elected officials. Smh...
I'm not saying don't be critical, but it's way too easy to think others aren't doing their part even when they are. We can only see what we see, and there's a lot we can't see.
What I've chosen to see is a victory in November too big to be overturned.
We are working in Indiana. We have some great candidates....but need a whole lot more...to stand up! State Rep in my district 8 has it on a silver platter this year. People are tired of spending their money and time. He gets money from big donors in Indy from their GOP out of state. It is hard for a Democrat to win. Scary!
It is hard, and it is scary, but for anyone who doesn't want my advice, stop reading this comment.
My advice is to start with a potentially unachievable vision, then establish an achievable target condition that is toward achieving the vision. Then ignore the vision while focusing on the target condition. Then identify an action you can take toward achieving the target condition. Then ignore the target condition while taking the action. Then iterate and learn from your mistakes, or learn that you've learned enough not to make mistakes.
You don't have to do a lot. All you have to do is play for the good team. But politics is not a spectator sport. If you're not intentionally playing for one team, then you're unintentionally playing for the other team.
Bravo!!! ThatтАЩs why I keep тАЬsellingтАЭ
postcards to voters. Everyone can do it and/or find an organization to do it with. Getting boring with repetition? Just go write. For those of тАЬa certain ageтАЭ: to Montana person middle name тАЬMichellemorganтАЭ. You learn the town names of states and the infinite variety of names people think up for their children. Plus Montana has some surnames too long to get on a postcard address line! Have fun.
Thank you!
You mean you are either for us for against us?
The election is OVER. The landslide is coming.
WRT "landslide is coming," that is something on which we agree.
You do have to be for something and against something, but you don't have to be for some people and against other people. I'm for the idea that everyone belongs (that is the principle), and against the idea that some people don't belong (that is the alternative). What is unstated but implied are the context-specific rules. A rule is how to adhere to that one principle in a specific context. Easy to say, but hard to do. And yet, it's better than the "easy to say and impossible to do" alternative.
Pres Biden called for a "pause" in the campaign and took a ad down. Don't know how long this will go on.
That's a BIG mistake in my opinion.
Biden/Harris are back today. Lester Holt was not kind. MSM has a lot to answer for.
I love the way President Biden challenged Lester Holt about his questioning. "Come on, man!" Why aren't we talking about the 27 lies Trump spewed at the debate? Lester looked embarrassed, and he should have. Somehow, though, I don't think Lester was in charge of what questions he was to ask. I have to remember that it's corporate media that is being run and dictated by 'clickbait.' It's the tail wagging the dog!
Like all the rest of this crap, it is not fair. But Every time a journalist gives President Biden a tough interview and he stands strong (Stephanopoulos & Holt) I see it as a gift. Yeah, it feels amoral or even mean spirited, but Biden is tough and we see it if our eyes and hearts are open. And I just get up everyday with more determination to move forward. Ya know, we can "Fight, fight, fight" too! Don't give up. This fight won't be over when President Biden and VP Kamala Harris win in November. Maybe not for a generation or two. Yet Biden's successes cause me great hope. Together, we will be victorious.
I thought Holt was as rude to Biden as the other interviewer on ABC. I can't remember his name! I just remember Biden talking to the and attempting to answer their stupid questions. Biden was nicer to them than I would have been!
They really should be getting the "White Glove Treatment".
How dare Lester Holt ask any tough questions?
Everyone knows that Democrats deserve preferential treatment. Didn't anyone tell Lester Holt that his party loyalty is in question now. Maybe he should be imprisoned? What do you think?
Why a mistake? I thought it was the only thing to do at that point.
That crossed my mind
I agree with you. I agree with what Robert Hubbell today. Scroll down to the part which says, Senior Democrats Criticized for Doom and Gloom Leaks to the Press, and see what he quotes AOC as saying. https://open.substack.com/pub/roberthubbell/p/the-education-of-aileen-cannon?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I send her money and used a dummy email to thank her for taking on trying to Impeach SCOTUS justices Thomas and Alito. I had been writing Dick Durbin, begging him to be on the right side of history. At this point I sent money he could have gotten to her, and I also told him to pass the baton if he is afraid of getting Trump angry. If you want to get energized, at the end of Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat's book Strongmen, where she talks about the modern day development of fascism, she ends with how famous fascists have lost their power. Trump is one of the people in the book. She tells us on page 246, "In March 2015, Berlusconi had proposed to 'transform Forza Italia into the Republican Party.' That same month, Trump set up an exploratory committee for a presidential campaign that accelerated the Republican Party's transformation into a version of Forza Italia. The GOP's authoritarian drift predated Trump. Yet by 2020, the party had become the tool of a personalist leader whose priorities were staying in office to avoid prosecution, maintaining his personality cult, advancing Putin's foreign policy goals, and mainstreaming the far right. Studies conducted by Pippa Norris and other political scientists rank the GOP among the most extremist parties in the West in terms of its rejection of liberal democratic values. In positions on immigration, crusades against racial and gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights, and attitudes toward ethnic and religious minorities have places it close to the platforms of the parties of sitting autocrats like Erdro─Яan and Modi. " She is right on the money and still is. Somehow everyone forgot that it was those policies playing out in the Covid-19 crisis, which terrified everyone. She goes on to say, "With access to nuclear weapons and command of the world's most powerful military, Trump has been a far more dangerous and disruptive leader than Berlusconi. Yet, Berlusconi's decade in power merits attention as a cautionary tales for America, Brazil and other nations under now under antidemocratic assault. The Italian prime minister operated in an open society but gradually eroded support for government accountability, mutual tolerance, respect for freedom of expression, and other bedrock democratic values. By 2009, he had merged his party with the far-right AN to form the People of Freedom coalition, which governed Italy on an anti-immigrant, pro-White Christian platform until his ouster in 2011. Italy may have remained a nominal democracy, but Berlusconi turned government into a vehicle for accumulating more personal wealthy and power on the model of the illiberal leaders he so admired. " Americans have very short attention spans and memories, or we would not be entertaining the idea of a criminal running for office. More global political knowledge and we could be learning from what others have done. What I take heart in is learning as much as I can about the powers at play here, and also to use that knowledge to inform others. I understand from Prof. Kathleen Belew where the Right wing agenda has come from and how they made plans to coalesce with the Christian Nationalists and infiltrate government as apposed to just defying it, after reading her book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Para Military America. I feel we need to take heart in knowing that people have overthrown fascist regimes, but mostly their own policies lead to their ends. So, We the People, need to save our democracy and cannot count on any one politician to do it. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!
A day or so before the Ear Show, hearts rose with the love and support of the crowd in Detroit. Don't fall for this latest devastating attempt at a torpedo. Hasn't worked - the YouTubers are saying, 500 a hit, that nothing will make them abandon Biden.
I think our excellent and decent President called off campaigning for a time after the assassination attempt. We must get going double time soon.
Yes and start writing postcards to voters even 5 or10 a day. Refresh your printing skills. And to those who say тАЬGod will help USтАЭ please say тАЬGod helps those who help themselves.тАЭ We are on a precipice, pushed by all the powers supposed to protect US.
IтАЩm hoping that the Biden administration redacts the info or refuses to provide it. So I remember correctly that Trump didnтАЩt provide the info to Biden in 2020?
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Risk
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schedule_F_appointment
The first book describes how Trump's people failed to show up at required transition briefings, or immediately eliminated any who had spoken on Climate Change.
The second on how he and his sponsors want to change Non-partisan Civil Service positions into politically appointed positions with loyalty oaths to Trump (and maybe the party), instead of the people and Constitution as evolved for nearly 240 years.
Chris Christie told Trump he was required by law to send people to all the agencies to attend briefings and read the material produced to describe what and how the agencies were supposed to work, what they had been doing, etc, so they would have the best starting point even if they changed the goals and procedures (while being advised of legal requirements, also).
See https://presidentialtransition.org/blog/creating-transition-briefing-materials/
"...Tips for Federal Agencies When Creating Transition Briefing Materials
By Dan Hyman, Troy Thomas and Catherine Manfre
With less than two weeks until Election Day, much of the nationтАЩs attention is focused on the presidential campaigns. Behind-the-scenes, however, career civil servants are quietly preparing for a potential transition and a turnover of political appointees.
According to the federal transition law, agencies are required to complete three major tasks prior to Election Day:
Submit updated lists of politically-appointed positions to the Office of Personnel Management for compilation in the 2020 Plum Book.
Create a succession plan for senior leadership positions by September 15.
Compile agency briefing materials by November 1 to assist new administration officials or second-term leadership.
To date, more than 140 agencies have teams of career employees leading this transition work. Since May, the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration have convened leaders from these teams to coordinate transition activities and facilitate the sharing of best practices.
Agencies have met the first two milestones and are working to complete their briefing materials by the November 1 deadline. In their simplest form, the briefing materials are like an тАЬAgency 101тАЭ of the key facts, figures and issues. They enable new leadership to get up to speed quickly so they can hit the ground running.
Four tips to maximize the effectiveness of agency briefing materials
While federal law requires agency transition teams to тАЬcreate briefing materials related to the presidential transition that may be requested by eligible candidates,тАЭ it does not specify what contents should be included. Based on guidance issued by OMB and GSA, as well as best practices from past transitions, the following tips will help agencies maximize the effectiveness of their briefing materials.
Tip one: Provide a baseline understanding of the agency
Recipients of briefing materials тАУ whether they are transition review teams for an incoming first-term administration or newly appointed leadership for a second-term administration тАУ will have varying degrees of familiarity with the agency prior to arriving. Some may have prior experience with the agency (though it is likely dated), while others could be experts in the policy area. These materials must provide readers with the agencyтАЩs full background and current context, including at a minimum:
Organizational charts that include key positions.
Recent budget history and a current budget proposal.
Top issues and challenges.
Congressional oversight committees and issues.
Impact of COVID-19 on the agencyтАЩs priorities and internal operations.
Tip two: Be succinct
Agencies should focus on the top issues and the most relevant data. Recipients of briefing materials are busy individuals who may not have time to read lengthy reports. Many agencies have begun streamlining information to make it more digestible. During the 2016-17 transition, the Department of Defense created a series of one- and two-page papers on the top five to 10 priority issues they believed were most important to newcomers.
Tip three: Include key insights
The best materials go beyond agency statistics and conventional issues to provide insights into the challenges and opportunities facing new leaders. During the 2016-17 transition, the FBI linked its bureauтАЩs locations with a list of threats to national security. They also created a map pinned with color-coded offices according to the year they opened. The visual representation of the bureauтАЩs newest locations generated conversations on where emerging threats were located.
Key insights should include:
The parts of the agencyтАЩs budget that have been most impacted by the pandemic.
Significant changes in workforce demographics, such as the retirement of baby boomers and the number of employees eligible for retirement.
The agencyтАЩs current top priorities.
Tip four: Take advantage of digital formats
Historically, the briefing materials have been produced as reports in thick binders. However, digital versions make it easier to distribute to the intended recipients, especially now when so many federal officials and transition leaders are working remotely..."
The wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_transition
is another good start to see which President's provided the most effective preparation of transition briefings and support (Trump's appears to be the worst in modern times, although FDR was also a bit rude to Hoover who did want to cooperate more).
This is disgrace! He is clearly guilty of treason, and giving him access to classified info is the worst decision in the history of bad decisions!
ItтАЩs time to understand тАЬuseful idiotтАЭ which Trump has been since his first trip to Moscow to see the gold domes.
Trump works for Putin. We will be the new Russia owned by Putin!
I don't think he cares about that. His minions might but he found the briefings boring.
But useful, for all kinds of purposes
Clarification on this would be valuable. If he lost his security clearance when he left office, he'd need to be cleared again and that's not a guarantee. Also, anyone on his team (Vance) would have to be cleared as well. Biden is as courteous as they come, but at minimum, the process could be pursued very, very slowly.
This is such a scary point...
Thank you Professor for reminding us again the details of the massiveness of this case that was just dismissed and the length of time it has been delayed. We need this reminder of the severity of the act and charges brought and more importantly, justice delayed is justice denied. The Republican nominee and his choice for VP must be stopped, period. And to circumvent our corrupt Handful of SCOTUS judges, we must VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE TICKET, no matter where you live in this country. Nothing is more important than that at this time, nothing. And donтАЩt think that the war will be over then, it will just be a very victorious battle. Keeping our тАЬeye on the prizeтАЭ must be imbedded in us, and that prize is DEMOCRACY.
I recall that the Trump administration didnтАЩt extend that courtesy to candidate Biden in 2020. I hope that the Biden administration does the same. Or if they do provide info, redact it a la Bill Barr.
trump is a convicted felon and if Biden doesn't deny him access to classified material he is a damn fool and puts this country and our allies at tremendous risk !! JD Vance is just as bad and if the dems don't use that against trump they have lost all sight that the end game here is to win the election or democracy does its last death spiral.
Yes. I totally agree. The Republican cry is Fight, Fight, Fight! Ours must be Vote, Vote, Vote!
тАж and especially in those swing states to truly capture and make a decisive showing in the electoral college vote segment of our vote-process!!!
Register, register, register. Swamp Republicans. Millions of unregistered trend Democratic.
FT 6 has texted well over a million in the past several days. Thanks to a donor, texts to Arizona today and tomorrow. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Thursday is Florida day on FT 6 Textarcade. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ft6arcade24bamk.
Also Florida day on FT 6 phonebank. https://www.fieldteam6.org/actions
Daniel, thanks for sharing FT 6тАЩs efforts.
Daniel, these links are not working.
first one works
Amen!
Cheetolini! Priceless! Worthy of Chaplin's "The Great Dictator"!
Great movie. Nice reference. ЁЯСНЁЯШБ
In this case, my junior high brain spells it "The Great Dicktater".
ЁЯдгЁЯдгЁЯдгThanks Ally. I needed that. Visualized, itтАЩs too priceless. If you could see the organic sweet potatoes on my kitchen counterтАж.
ЁЯдгЁЯдгЁЯдг
Was that the first movie in which Charlie Chaplin had spoken dialog?
Yes
Not quite true, actually. David Petraeus, for instance gave SCI material to his girlfriend and only got a slap on the wrist. Then there have been Presidents - LBJ and Trump to my knowledge - who compromised classified programs with impunity. Not saying Trump shouldn't be prosecuted, for there's good reason to think he revealed it to foreign leaders; Putin and Orban for examples.
People who are well connected like Petraeus and Scooter Libby get treated more leniently than people like Chelsea Manning, John Kyriakos, or Reality Winner.
True. TrumpтАЩs sin wasnтАЩt that he had classified materials in his possession but that he obstructed their retrieval by NARA. If he had simply returned them when confronted, the matter would have been closed. He didnтАЩt, and the chase was on. And so far, heтАЩs escaping accountability.
And those working with him! It is time to clean house!
Cheetolini. A new one! Love it!
You mean like Joe Biden? Or Hillar
Right ? At a bare minimum, the refusal to return and the conspiracy to hide them ! That's black and white - at least as I see it..
Dan, to me, what is presented here, so often appears pretty much "black and white".., but in reality it is not. And, that is why lawyers and judges are able to present objections supported by their learned (Harvard, Yale, et al) points of view. I will stress, it is their "learned" position for which they find support either in the form of previous rulings or people with a certain political bent ($$$$.$$). So, it never fails to piss me off when something as obvious as boxes and boxes and undisclosed boxes and "hidden rooms" and over-sights & mis-steps by "the FBI (etc)" are suddenly rolled out onto the table by "learned" graduates who have passed the bar-exams...., when a slam-dunk case, after months and months of journalistic (tabloid-level) reporting.., suddenly, hahahaa Aileen Canon shoots her load, and the whole thing shits-the-bed! "Classify" this any way you want, but I rest my case!
Some things appear black and white that are not. Other things are. For example, the SCOTUS majority opinion on immunity appears to be wrong in a way that a child should be able to understand, which is to say that I would have flunked John Roberts if I was his 5th grade teacher, let alone allow him to get into law school.
Here's the test. You tell a person you disagree with them, you raise legitimate issues, and they dismiss your conclusion without any attempt to address the issues. That's why I'm convinced I had a better understanding of the "justice" concept as a 5th grader than the chief justice of the most powerful nation on earth.
I agree James. After even a complex thing is factored / broken down to simplicity, it should always pass the "construction paper and crayon test."
MadRussian12A. You said it all. Reading HVR today is tough. Especially the ending with vance, this is all such scary shit!
Such a lack of integrity from most of the republicans party and especially Fox (News???) and the people who listen, only to the disinformation on Fox! My heart aches and my stomach churnsЁЯШлЁЯШбЁЯШм
Send $5 to Sherrod Brown, OhioтАЩs Democratic Senator, if you can. He needs it as Trump/Vance will use millions to defeat him. Republicans have all but destroyed the middle class with trickle down
Schooled in law, but not in National Security.
Those in the business know it takes years to understand the long implications. We worked off the John Walker treasonous actions for years.
That was his strongest case.
DJT corrupts everything that he touches...
тАж and a lot of what he doesnтАЩt or hasnтАЩt touched!
It is like miasma, oozing and seeping everywhere
Treason, anyone?
Or espionage, perhaps?
I can never unsee the RU contingent in the Oval Office w/o US representation right after he took office and DJT looking the most comfortable amongst others than we have ever seen with his "US fellow citizens". I quote "fellow citizens" as I'm not sure he is in fellowship with his fellow citizens. I believe in my heart he is in legion with RU as that's where he gets big money and "love" to do whatever he sees fit like Putin.
That does beg an interesting question, Pensa. I've read some things from Greg Olear that would make that seem not too outrageous to consider.
Not only is it not outrageous: Trump is what Putin calls a тАЬuseful idiot.тАЭ I already had seen the films of him with the Moscow beauty pageant in 2013 asking for Putin to come and see it; then the Steele dossier; but most recently a photograph of him and his first wife in Moscow with the domes behind them. ThatтАЩs when everything clicked: gold, money, Trump/Putin. We are in grave danger if Trump is тАЬelectedтАЭ and even if he isnтАЩt. We have been promised тАЬa bloodbath.тАЭ Are we prepared to win and hold on?
There are STILL missing Top Secret documents.
Referring documents as "classified" lulls me to sleep. We "classify" just about everything the government does. The level is what we need to be specific about. There are three main designations: Confidential, Secret, Top Secret (TS). We also stamp those documents with other terms like "NO FORN" for example: The statement of NOFORN (meaning "no foreign nationals") is applied to any information that may not be released to any non-U.S. citizen. NOFORN and distribution statements are often used in conjunction with classified information or alone on Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information. So, instead of handing me (libtard drivel) "boxes & boxes" of classified documents... let's get to the meat. How many documents were marked Secret or Top Secret...? Or, stamped "NO FORN"? Those are the "documents" that #45 needs to be castrated for waving around! Let's not diminish the significance by merely referring to boxes of "classified" material. Let's front page how much was marked Secret, Top Secret, NO FORN!! I don't think the American taxpayer/citizen will be pleased. Front Page that!!
When I had a secret clearance, the consequences for me were made clear.
Keeping in mind that I was a deputy sheriff, and as such had no clearances per se, I knew that releasing information from investigations or handing out copies of reports would be at the least a violation of policy and at worst be antithetical to the mission of a police investigation.
Some things you just don't do. Stealing classified documents, regardless of their classification, is among those.
And chump gets a pass for the most egregious example. Plus, his refusal to return documents and try to fool the FBI. Deep dungeon. Cannon is definitely expecting a SC seat.
Yes, she is. I look at her тАЬportraitтАЭ and see nothing but a тАЬgood girlтАЭ who is being told sheтАЩs doing the тАЬrightтАЭ thing. How did she get through law school? Leo took her exams?
Women buying into Repub BS used to be a mystery. But I see how it often happens. My good friend loved a man back in the W bush day. He adored her and was a good man.. however he was a Repub diehard. She declined his proposal saying that she couldnтАЩt marry a Repub. I finally got it. He adored her and any who looked like the two of them. Anybody else was on a different tier. That never would have been ok with her. For many women, that kind of soft racism would not have been a dealbreaker. At a funeral for a distant relative, I listened to the preacher describe a saint of a man. Afterward I told my two grands that what the preacher said was absolutely true, as long as the subject was WASPs. For others, a different man would have been described. The Golden Rule had qualifications. As to women who are the MAGAts, a more detailed and varied look is necessary. I know a few who are the influencers rather than the influenced.
And you have no idea what is in them to make such judgement to yawn over (sorry). Over classification may be an issue. But, under classification and outright contempt of the system to protect National Security is insane, esp. as the wannabe POTUS.
I agree we should focus on the meatier, but the "graymail" exposure in court is what DJT is operating to as the corrupt individual he is as alternate to dismissal. His "declassification" BS lies is part of the graymail and outright contempt of the value of classified material as a threat vs his hammer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graymail
Agree Bill. And, another little detail: The 'need' to know. Even a president might not pass that test. We live in a very finite world. And it's good that we do. There are things worth standing-up for. Standing up will be very important come November. We'll see.
I believe they were Top Secret documents that were missing. There has been speculation they went to Putin or Kim Jong Un.
Yes. But first things first. All three branches of government in a landslide. Democrats are the three musketeers (all for one and one for all). Republicans are the three stooges (all for one orange Jesus).
Compare DJT's treatment with that of Reality Winner, or Jack Teixeira... DJT is a Clear, and Present Danger... No Wonder Why Putin Favors DJT...
And these friendly visits to discuss.... matters of state with Orb├аn.
And at least one private meeting with Putin.
We know about Helsinki, and the other thing that sticks in my memory is Paris, the radiant smile, Putin's thumbs-up to him. https://time.com/5451539/putin-trump-thumbs-up-paris-wwi-commemoration/
And then the next day when he decided not to join the other delegates at the war graves because a light drizzle endangered the helicopter.(!) He stayed in all day. Doing what?
VP pick of Vance is fealty to Putin.
Hopefully the choice of Vance will cost the Republicans millions of Slavic votes, given Vance's opposition to the Ukraine.
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/04/23/jd-vances-dismissive-attitude-toward-ukraine-is-an-insult-to-70000-ukrainian-americans-in-ohio/
Let's see here.. Orban is a "FORN" , right? The statement of NOFORN (meaning "no foreign nationals") is applied to any information that may not be released to any non-U.S. citizen. NOFORN and distribution statements are often used in conjunction with classified information or alone on Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information. Has FORN-Orban been shown any of those "classified" papers that are missing? GMAFB.., what do you think? As a vet of 22 years, with a 'military mind'.., I think #45 needs to be de-balled. Whewww!
HeтАЩs working for Putin. Hillary was right. HeтАЩs a Russian asset.
When I woke up this morning and saw the headline about the case dismissal, that was my first reaction, too. Just couldn't remember Teixeira's name at the time.
Please let me know who Teixeira is. The name looks Portuguese (?) which makes no sense.
Yeah James.., he needs to be "de-balled" too.
As a former U.S. Army Intelligence member with a Top Secret Crypto clearance (the highest), I, too, am appalled by all of this. The rule is solid: nothing is to be revealed to another who does not have the appropriate security clearance, but even if he/she does have the clearance, nothing is to be disclosed to one who does not have the need to know. I suspect that those close associates of Putin who started having "accidents" in late 2022 has something to do with those missing classified documents. I feel certain that the American Intelligence Community knows why they met untimely fates.
Spot on, Richard. I was never in a classification position (local law enforcement) but I knew (and know) the dangers of letting the bad guys know what we've got on them. I had one co-worker do federal time for giving information (very minor information) to a federal inmate.
Thank you for that! I could follow Navalny and Kara-Murza but wasnтАЩt aware of the disappearances you are referring to. Haunting: photographs of the тАШ30тАЩs with the headless bodies in the Kremlin. Then there were the generals who тАЬdisappearedтАЭ leaving Stalin almost unable to take on Hitler for lack of military leadership.
Can someone tell me the difference between Stalin and Putin except in numbers? Is there a difference?
Regarding those close to Putin who mysteriously died: https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/how-the-mysterious-deaths-of-23-elite-russians-sparked-a-global-murder-mystery-20221230-p5c9gb.html
For me, the coincidence between Trump having those classified intelligence documents and those deaths is too coincidental. I truly do believe that Trump has committed treasonous acts.
Thank you, Richard.
Read the article and think I found TrumpтАЩs Putin dream. ItтАЩs quite clear in the тАЬsultanate oligarchy.тАЭ I emailed myself the article in the hope of passing it on to тАЬeducatedтАЭ people who donтАЩt understand what Trump and SCOTUS are setting US up for. Time to remind of the following: Putin speaks perfect English (to Trump) and the book entitled тАЬEverything Trump Touches Dies.тАЭ
Jack Smith is appealing, to hopefully get beyond the corruption that is Cannon-Trump.
Laser-beam intelligence, that Jack Smith.
The Eleventh Circuit should reverse and reassign the case to another judge. ThomasтАЩs decision isnтАЩt very good precedent.
The 11th Circuit would reverse but, going the Appellate route effectively continues the de-facto Stay; Stop the Stay.
I do not recall a 'concurrence' that was largely dicta - not related to the merits of the Majority Opinion.
I concur with Andrew Weissmann @AWeissmann & others that Thomas' dicta was some form of improper messaging.
In a sane world
I am uncleared due to having bipolar disorder. The US national security complex doesn't like to give clearances to people with mental health issues, somewhat understandably. However, our facility security officer recently shared some bullshit that said the government is understanding if you have a mental health disorder. This is utter BS from my own experience.
We are witnessing the absolute corruption of our judicial/political system laid out before our very eyes, in real time. The corruption goes all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. We've got some huge problems to deal with. I fear that we are teetering at the brink. People who are fairly well educated are going around wearing MAGA caps.
Racism and greed may be our destruction. And the president is correct about wisdom. That cannot be taught only arrived at by morality and experience.
Yes, an intent to appeal was announced but, appeals gobble up time.
Since the documents were seized by the FBI before Jack Smith was appointed, IтАЩd think the argument that a special prosecutor was unconstitutional, however specious I think Judge CannonтАЩs claims here are, wouldnтАЩt stop A case from going forward, even if it stops THIS case. I realize if Darth Rumpus wins, it will be called off.
Good to remember that the Nazi Party started off by contesting municipal, state and federal elections, which led to big business circles financing electoral campaigns, followed by Hitlers unscrupulous tactics turning the voting balance in the Reichstag in the Nazi's favour. Sound familiar? Soon after Hitler gained power, he declared the Nazi Party to be the only political party in Germany, and after crushing the Nazi Party's socially oriented wing, Hitler's word became the supreme and undisputed command. What began as the promise of jobs to the dissatisfied, unemployed masses post WWI ended in...we all know what.
That aside, it stuns me to think that any American, least of all those on the judiciary would want to live in a world where their wives, sisters, daughters and granddaughters are forced into having children, denied the right to life-saving abortion care and, in the future, contraception. Added to this is the imposition of militant Christian 'values' and a gun culture where it's not safe to send your hordes of future kids to school, least of all attend any public event. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. This is not about the promise of jobs.
I've said this before, I say it every chance I get, and I'll say it again here. There are precisely two Christian values. The first is that a person must listen to their heart and their mind, but not follow one or the other when they disagree, and instead resolve the conflict. The second is that people must listen to one another, but not follow one or the other when they disagree, and instead resolve the conflict.
Ref: Matthew 7:12 & 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 6:31 & 10:25-37, John 14:12 & 15:12.
Translation: When you hear "Christian Nationalism," think anti-Christian. In other words, don't confuse real Christians with hypocrites labelling themselves as Christian.
James, I understand your point. But from the outside looking in, you sound just like cops who work with abusive/corrupt officers and do nothing about it, and then whine "but not all cops" when those corrupt officers do something off the charts bad (Derek Chauvin, anyone?)
I understand your point. If I thought your interpretation of my statement was correct, then I would alter my previous statement. But that's not what I'm saying. Personally, I don't think there should be tolerance for corruption of any kind. But my point is that the word "Christian" either means something, or it's just a tool for separating "us" from "them." And that's what so-called Christian Nationalists are doing with it. We can let them get away with it, or we can keep calling their bluff until they crawl back into their dark caves.
Derek Chauvin is a murderer, and George Floyd was his innocent victim, plain and simple.
The problem with Christianity IMHO is the old testament depicting God as an angry, judgmental, genocidal tyrant who saw humanity as wicked and justified his actions as a moral necessity - absolute fodder for Christian Nationalism.
Very different to the teachings of Christ - in essence, love one another.
IMHO, and to clarify my previous statements, the problem is not with Christianity, the problem is with a widely accepted but ultimately unsupportable perception of Christianity.
You're right that the God of the old testament was angry, but Jesus didn't say the old testament was wrong. Instead, he said the widely accepted perception of the old testament was wrong. Specifically, God is not angry because God is angry by nature. Instead, God is never angry when people adhere to the two Christian principles in every context, and then gets angry when people violate either of the two principles in any context.
As I said to someone I thought needed to know, "God asked if you wanted free will, you said yes, and he said okay, but be good or things won't turn out well. and you agreed. Then you chose to be bad, things didn't turn out well, and now you're blaming God?"
But you don't have to be Christian. For example, what science is telling us to do, which is to be skeptical and open minded (with "and" being the operative word), is the same.
My general rule is that we need to do the easy stuff right, and that makes the hard stuff possible. Conversely, if we do the easy stuff wrong, that makes the hard stuff impossible.
The young donтАЩt know, their parents donтАЩt seem to care, and so many of the grandparents either found тАЬGod,тАЭ greed, or dementia.
But JD Chilcutt, our public education system has become so corrupt and corrosive that objective thinking seems almost quaint. I couldnтАЩt think of a better word today for what the loss of liberal arts education from middle school through undergraduate school means to Americans. Plus we donтАЩt sing together or read novels (reading for fun and information thatтАЩs not about jobs). Then thereтАЩs trickledown, the RepublicansтАЩ trickery to let them get richer and kill unions leading to Citizens United. Greed and racism may kill US yet. Building from the bottom up and the middle out may save US.
As the Buddha said тАЬYou think you have time.тАЭ
JD Chilcut: we may not have time but we can get started if we can have 40 years of Dems.
It doesnтАЩt take 40 years to get started, be nice to catch up though.
Darth Rumpus? Priceless...
Thank you. IтАЩve been binge-watching Star Wars movies as comfort cinema and decided he needs a Sith Lord name.
Thanks Sioux... Are the Siths behind DJT?... He is definitely on the Dark-Side... He does indeed have the Luck-Of-The-Devil... Where is Yoda when you need him!!!
Hmmmm. Yoda in office, he is. Of President, Hmmm?
Sioux, How about Tangerine Palpatine?
And when the helmet was removed..
Disclosure of material with a Top Secret or TS NO FORN designation is a treasonous offense and the FBI, CIA, NSA know #45 is guilty of its disclosure. Such an act is above presidential. Lock him up!
WE SHOULD ALL BE APPALLED. But Trump represents the low bar. If fact the bar is so low you would have to lie on your back to mambo under it.
Why doesn't Joe issue an executive order that states that no convicted felon can run for national office? If one can't serve in the military . . . umm, Commander in Chief? There is so much wrong with what is going on and nobody is doing anything officially but hand wringing and " We'll see-ing."
"In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces judicial decisions." тАФAbraham Lincoln.
That was as true in his age as it is in ours. This doesn't depend on what Biden does. It depends on what Biden and the rest of us do.
Sounds like a good idea, but I don't know if he could do that. Also, it is about timing, timing, timing.
Thanks James for your reply. It's why I asked the question. Abe knew innately what we need to do. But I can't issue executive orders.
This:
''This afternoon, in the hall of the RNC convention, attendees chanted, тАЬFight, fight, fight,тАЭ as they punched an arm in the air, in an eerie echo of Germany in the 1930s.''
Following chump, who follows the fuhrer
Gail, should have.....! We live in an alternate universe. tRump is a convicted criminal and has and is getting away with many crimes. Yet his supporters are all in as though reality did not exist. As for the most reprehensible, despicable low-life character ever to exist in the public sphere all truths are presented in their opposite. How can there be that many people many of who are not stupid buy into such insanity? Once again we are witness to people's ability to RATIONALIZE ANYTHING!!
Technically, he and all of his enablers should be charged with treason.
Gotta wonder what the 2 billion Saudi payment was for. ЁЯзР
If it was any normal person they'd be rotting in a jail right now under the sheer weight of all those stolen documents. These people simply do not care.
Rightly so. I am terrified at the prospect of pro Putin ticket taking the White House. JD Vance was raised by sociopaths and is now one in his own right.
He has the courts!
Yet somehow that reasoning does not apply to President Biden, just as it didnтАЩt apply to Hillary ClintonтАж
See my reply to James. Biden and Pence gave the materials back; Trump didnтАЩt. See the difference? What classified materials did Hillary take?
Give the materials back? Are you serious? Try taking classified materials from your local
military base and see if bringing them back gets you off the hook?
Hell no.
1) President has completely different authority over classified documents than anyone else. He can declassify anything he wants.
As for Clinton what planet do you live on? She got caught sending classified materials to her yahoo account which is against the law. She had 1000's of emails including top secret government secrets. Those emails were likely hacked. The email server had a basic firewall and was run by someone who didn't have any authority to handle or store classified materials.
1) That is incorrect. He cannot unilaterally declassify everything. (I worked in this field. Did/do you?). Plus, he was no longer the President when he stole the materials.
2) Inaccurate spin. She used a private email for government business (btw, so did Ivanka and Jared). She didnтАЩt тАЬsend them to herself.тАЭ And she suffered the consequencesтАФshe was denied the Presidency (and we got stuck with a buffoon).
I never said he could declassify "everything". You did. However his relationship to classified materials is completely different than Biden or Clinton. The laws in place are civil not criminal for President and classified materials.
Not winning an election is NOT a consequences. That's a joke.
And Gail,
This is why many many of us( patriotic, tax paying, law abiding citizens ) will forever not trust our country to be ours. We are not being asked, we are not being heard. The so called legal system has been neutered by a $$$$$$$$$$$$loving maniacs with no caring for law and or Order! DonтАЩt kid yourselves, this country has no Law and order. Just kings and power egos because those types are hiding their true identity.