Every shortcut around Congress is also a shortcut around the people.
The Constitution separates power because the Framers expected ambition, disagreement, and delay. Those weren’t flaws to eliminate. They were protections against concentrating power in one person.
The moment the Constitution becomes something to work around instead of something to uphold, it stops protecting anyone.
Remind Congress. Over and over. We will not be silent!
Here’s a resource (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to easily contact all of Congress. Be LOUD! 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly!
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
And I get it, it seems like you’re often talking to a wall, but while I don’t think we’ll see many big waves (like a major MAGA Congress member changing their opinions), I think we can cause little ripples. I’m thinking staff members who hear the same thing over and over via voicemail, phone calls, letter after letter, email after email - maybe they’ll be a little more receptive each time they hear from us. Maybe they’ll talk more about our talking points to friends and family, maybeeee they’ll vote differently. As a collective, our volume matters. And, at the end of the day, if we just annoy and overwhelm some staffers working for people hurting the average American, I’m ok with that too 🙃
At this point, those who will listen are already there. Those who have already shut their ears are busy blinding themselves with hot pokers and cutting out their own tongues. Little will budge until November, and only if there's a truly blue tsunami to sweep the self-mutilators and their cult of stupid out the door.
Someone a couple days ago put it well. Republicans are on a high-speed merry-go-round (more like a misery-go-round), addicted to the dizziness and chaotic power of it all. They will not jump off the carousel, not even to save their own lives, it would seem. So we have to push them off. The cult of idiocy may be dying, but even a cult on its deathbed still retains tremendous power to wreck the country. We just cannot let them continue doing so.
There is absolutely nothing we can say to any of the Republican Senators and Congresscritters that will make them stand up to the convicted felon Donald Trump.
They are all hiding from we the people refusing to hold town hall meetings or even talking to an unfriendly press.
The mainstream media will let them hide away while the Trump administration continues to run roughshod over all of us.
I agree. It honestly doesn't appear any of them even much care what we the people have to say. When any of them have been confronted they all follow the same playbook and each one of them say the same thing over and over. It is just mind numbing to me.
Interesting point, GJ. So if the Emperor has no clothes, and you’ve stated that the Emperor has no clothes, in the face of non-acknowledgement that the Emperor has no clothes, you will simply stop stating it? I say, say it LOUD, put it on banners and signs, create Nude Emperor memes, make a song about it that everyone can sing.
Even though “There is absolutely nothing we can say to any of the Republican Senators and Congresscritters that will make them stand up to the convicted felon Donald Trump,” it’s still essential that constituents say it anyway. Silence is heard as acceptance.
Have you not read about the pushback by Thune on repeated occasions about the Save Act and Trump's push to get rid of the filibuster? I'm not a Republican by any stretch but the Senate is showing lack of pushover. Take what positive we can and don't regret it.
How many of the House and Senate silent Republicans have companies producing materiel for the military donating money to their campaigns? It might be a useful attack point if that could somehow be exposed.
We'll see. If Tillis were any more timid, he might be caught scurrying into a dime-sized cubby-hole in a kitchen somewhere, his little tail following him. But maybe the 35,000th letter, phone call or text might do the trick...
Tillis is the real-life Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown. It's clear the fix is in concerning Blanche, Tillis says he wants to get to a "yes" vote, which is appalling. He's been promised a well-paying lobbying position, a cushy job in the administration, or a Republican welfare position in the Heritage Foundation, an organization whose desire to destroy our democracy is no different than the goal of ISIS.
I think for that to happen, and it may, the Democrats need to adopt a clear and unified vision. Unity is the Maga Republican Party strength - and works while the opposition is not unified. The Maga movement is also one based on doing evil, from Epstein, to illegal wars, to healthcare and food, to poor news reporting, to war against allies and the environment, to punishing blue states - the issues are there for the Dems to rally around and with unity, attack...to date the party is too fractured, and their lack of a clear meassage of belief and a clear counter message against Maga, is not landing effective hooks or upper cuts. Maga stupidy may be the tool that brings down evil but that is self inflicted, not something the Dems can crow about.... yet. Dems get your own house in order, that is the best tool for destroying Maga and Project 2025.
It could. Grassley - not. I wrote him today on how the nominees they passed through said they would defend the Constitution in their hearings and once in office, forgot what they said and how they have made him look foolish. I also wrote that silence is agreement, inaction is agreement. If he is really concerned about the loss of Senate power, then Blanche would be a great time to stand up.
Someday when Dems are back in power maybe we can form a committee to count up the number of requests/objections made during this administration. I'll bet it's an all-time record. Whether or not MAGA reps want to acknowledge these complaints, the history books of the future can confirm that the American people did not just "sit back and take it" during these dark times.
“The history books of the future”?? Trump and his supporters have managed to scrub the history books (at least here in Georgia) of slavery, KKK, how the racist whites have behaved toward black slaves and their futures as supposedly free citizens. Just look at what Trump and his MAGA acolytes have done to “whitewash” not just the past, but the present. Even though history can’t REALLY be scrubbed, it can be (and IS being) hidden. I haven’t visited the Smithsonian’s museums in 20 years or so. But Trump and his fellow racists have done their best to erase or control history’s narrative. Everything Trump changes in Washington is either turned into faux gold, or white. (With exception to The Reflection Pool’s scum.) And I’ve been wondering, what’s the deal with the Eisenhower Executive Office Building? That venerable structure was built in the late 1800’s…why does Trump want to throw white paint over it? 🤷🏻♀️
It's, Nice turn of phrase...misery-go-round. Not only here, but world wide as his war with Iran is helping to destroy the world economy and he has worked steadily to destroy the world order established after WWII. Death star, the ball of destruction.
That’s all well and good, Megan, but at the rate this administration is moving by the time those ripples have any effect you’ll be in a full blown fascist dictatorship.
Perhaps; perhaps not. We all want and long for the momentous moments of victory to appear to calm our fears and continue to face great odds or defeat. These great events such as the civil rights moments or Midway and Stalingrad or Normandy in WW2 and so on, were the product and culmination of determined work and organizing leading up to them. These little " ripples" of small action and seemingly fruitless meaning enable the project as a whole to coalesce and become effective. It enables nimbleness to change and become more effective.
Susitrav, I see you are a 3 month subscriber here to the forum. WELCOME! 👋🏼👋🏼As the self-appointed Walmart Greeter here, I am happy--really happy--to see you here. Perhaps you've been reading for free or you had a subscription you let lapse, but you pulled out your credit card and paid. THANK YOU.
I've been hanging around here for a while, and this community has pulled me through when I've been low. We are being firehosed for sure, and I'm gasping for air. New subscribers joining forces here are the oxygen to pull me through the midterms.
Again, thank you. (And btw, 2 daughters are teachers, as are 3 nieces, and I too love to read. Nice to meet you!😀)
You are absolutely right that "our volume matters." Twenty years ago I worked with lobbyists at both the state and federal level on behalf of my professional organization and they always told us that the number of people contacting the legislators matters because every call and every email gets logged and reported in the for or against column. It's less about whether what you say changes anybody's mind but rather that thousands called and/or wrote to say yay or nay.
To quote Eli Weisel, Holocaust survivor and author of the book, Night:
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
Megan, when I look back on the calls and emails I sent to Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell, starting in Trump's first term, I get satisfaction. Especially when I'd end my emails to McConnell with, "P.S. Your Louisville BBQ sucks." Kentuckians, hold on, you know it doesn't, but if he actually read anything, it was that P.S.
Heads Up LFAA. we have a new ICE tactic called "Fusion Centers". One of the first targets is San Diego ICE watcher APRIL WALKER. April is a very hard target & she has already filed a lawsuit with her co-plaintiff the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) last Friday, 7/24/26.
EFF's & April's lawsuit Case No. 3:26-cv-04232 AJB-MSB.
The named Plaintiff's include: The Electronic Privacy Information Center, Nicole Cleland, Jacqueline Ivet & Anna Walker vs. Markwayne Mullen & ICE & U.S. Customs and Border Control.
The initials "MJB" stand for Judge ANTHONY J. BATTAGLIA
The initial "MSB" stand for Magistrate Judge MAJOR S. WILLIAMS
The case before the Judge Battaglia will be generating headlines starting now.
3 days ago — Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed in California allege that the Department of Homeland Security revoked their Global Entry privileges. ...
Jacob Soboroff did a segment on MS NOW covering these Fusion centers. It was on his new program called Connect yesterday (Sunday) morning. It’s truly terrifying. One can probably find this online by now.
"Police fusion centers are intelligence hubs created after 9/11 to share information among local police, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies."
FYI: "EFF defends your privacy and free expression because technology should serve all people, not just the powerful. We're a nonprofit powered by members, and we ... Read more."
Lots of good PRIVACY info at EFF such as the following EFF post:
There is an answer and a solution to the thieving oligarchs. The opposition must tell the truth and attack and fight like hell.
Ken Martin, leader of the DNC, is twiddling his thumbs. Worried about his inability to raise money for the election campaigns for good and honorable candidates. The DNC has 30% of the American voters already. They must attract the next 20% to 30%. The Independent swing voters. And that will not happen if the DNC message continues to be weak.
Here is the battle cry:
"The Trump Family is stealing money from Americans. They are stealing from all of you. The 272 members of the Senate and House work for the Trump Family now. Every GOP member who supports the Trump Family is working hard to keep them in power to keep stealing money from you. They are not hiding. They are "taking scores" by the hundreds of millions and putting the cash in their pockets.$2 Billion taken from MAGA faithful. With $635 Million of that in Donald's pocket. $1.7 Billion attempted raid on the Treasury with hundreds of millions in tax evasion. Partnerships with the Saudi and UAE governments. Selling out our country like traitors.
Independents: If you vote for any Trump endorsed candidate, you are voting against yourself."
The plain truth. Does the DNC have a better campaign pitch than the plain truth? Attack! Attack like Grant and hold on like a bulldog and don't let go until the thieves are forced out of public offices of trust.
END THE WAR! Dollars spent on war are dollars we don't have to put into programs to make housing, healthcare and education more affordable.
ELIMINATE CORRUPTION! Money that is siphoned away from the tax coffers via corruption is money unavailable for housing, healthcare, education. Corruption erodes public trust in the integrity of government and business.
I am an independent voter (No Party Affiliation). While I appreciate the “get out the crooks” message, I also want to hear coherent PLANS for moving our nation forward. Elizabeth Warren did that very well in her presidential run. Comprehensive plans, such as Medicare for All, plans for affordable housing, balancing the budget, restoring reproductive healthcare rights, there is a long list of items to be addressed, not just “lock him up” (though I love that too).
This is also my complaint, Signe. There will be no buy-in if Democrats don’t offer voters a coherent, comprehensive plan for what to do after Republicans are neutralized. This plan must be developed and publicized by a shadow government. So far, we have a few “voices crying in the wilderness,” such as Bernie and Buttigieg, but there’s no organization or power behind them. The DNC is a lost cause.
The DNC should have established a "shadow cabinet" a long time ago. And each member should be all over every form of media there is - protesting and responding to the idiocy of this presidency - providing a response to every sycophants pathetic statements. And "presidential aspirants" should be lined up with responses to every stupid, ignorant, demented (!) comment by 47.
If not the DNC, then some other organization needs to make some noise every hour of every day. It feels like we are like the Golden Retrievers in a cage with Pit Bulls. We need to show some fangs.
Democratic Socialists need to ditch that brand YESTERDAY and find a new banner. Any brand containing “socialist” is toxic to traditional centrists, no matter how accurate it may be.
Totally agree. Bad marketing. Too many stupid and uneducated people in this country hear “Socialist” to describe a faction of the Democratic Party will reflexively associate to “Communist” and recoil, even though they might benefit from many of the policies.
MAGA is already capitalizing on this ill considered designation. So dumb.
lauriemcf, he IS AWOL. Never could a director ask for better messaging being handed right to him; he doesn’t even have to work for it. But no one is using it … Ben Wikler would have far better, especially for this moment.
He’s failing miserably. The DNC is out of touch and corporately focused instead of constituent focused. We need to take over the DNC and make it democratically focused on THE PEOPLE, not corporate money and power.
Not just stealing our money. They are stealing public land. They are stealing our shared history. They are also stealing and commoditizing our personal data. They are stealing our physical health (through weakened health and environmental standards). They are stealing our rights.
They are threatening anyone who objects to this theft with violence.
They are the greatest threat this country has ever faced, by far. And an ineffectual DNC is not far behind.
DeBurgh, I wish I could give a good link, but I strongly encourage everyone to sign up (it's free) for polling data from Navigatorresearch.org
They compile data, and often show how simple changes in phrasing create different outcomes. What particular item we might feel passionate about might not be the most effective message to effect our desired outcome.
I can't stand Trump but anti-Trump isn't going to be enough, that's both my opinion and appears to be what this research is showing.
ANYONE here who is trying (like me) to talk to our MAGA friends/family/neighbors/coworkers needs to pay close attention to what the polls at Navigator are telling us.
The message doesn't have to be "anti-Trump". All the message needs is to say the truth out loud.
1. The Trump Family is using the Office of President to steal public money. Your money. Is raiding the Treasury for $1,776,000,000 a small thing we should just overlook? Are the mulit-billion Trump Family business partnerships with Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates a small thing? If he wasn't President they would never partner with them.
2. The GOP members of Congress are accomplices and accessories in the historic thefts of money from American citizens. They are working for the Trump Family now. They are working against the interests of their constituents and trying to fool them. They owe their jobs to the Trump Family, not their citizens. They are not hiding their allegiance to the Trump Crime Family. Name names.
Yes. Democratic candidates need a few succinct plain-truth talking points to use as they campaign:
1. What steps they'll take to end the destructive Iran war which has consumed tax dollars which should be used here at home.
2. What steps they'll take to end to the president's corruption whereby he enriches family members and cronies at the expense of taxpayers.
3. What steps they'll take to ensure more Epstein files are released and bring his co-pedophiles to account.
4. What steps they'll take toward a bipartisan immigration reform bill which is humane, rational, and enforceable. (Remember: it was immigration that won him the 2016 election and probably the 2024 election.)
As a party Democrats should agree on two or three steps they'll take to achieve each of these aims. Right now they need to prioritize these national interests above culture-wars issues.
All good Democratic Party member points. But what will move Independents to vote for Dem candidates? Or at a minimum, not vote. Perhaps a simpler message:
The Trump Crime Family is stealing from you. Their candidates are helping them steal your money. If you vote for Trump candidates you are voting against yourself.
Kelli has written a dark summary after one of the darkest letters Heather has written. She has made clear the contempt Trump and his puppetmasters hold for the Constitution and the rule of law in matters great (the Iran War) and small (the Arc de Trump).
I still hope that this is the deepest darkness before dawn, the last gasp of desperation of a regime that is now flailing and failing, but the danger remains extreme.
99 days until the day of reckoning.
The House is in recess until August 31. That gives the regime a vacuum to work in without even any pretense of congressional oversight. While SCOTUS is also out of session until October, it can consider motions and emergency applications, including urgent requests handled on the Court’s “shadow docket”. That does not give me much comfort in spite of Elena Kagan's remarks to the 9th Circuit that the court has not been a captive of Trumpian interests over the last term, ruling against him on tariffs and birthright citizenship
We need to use that time to make sure that our own vote will be counted, and to mobilize rage against the regime's corruption and failed promises to get out the vote.
We can promise to make efforts at accountability, and Trump cannot veto impeachments of cabinet and other officials, but it will still take a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict them. The math is not pretty, so we cannot guarantee accountability by impeachment convictions; we can only guarantee exposure. We cannot guarantee legislative reform either without 2/3 majorities in both chambers to override the inevitable Trump vetoes. The ability to defeat Trump nominations plays into Trump's hands because he would resort to acting appointments that don't require Senate approval, which he has already stated are more to his liking.
Here is the unpretty math. There are 65 Senate seats NOT up for election in November. Of those, 31 are held by Republicans and 34 by Democrats; there are no Independents among the non-up seats in the current breakdown. Of the 35 seats up for election, 22 are held by Republicans, 13 by Democrats, and 0 by Independents. To get to 2/3 to convict following impeachment, the opposition has to win 33 of those 35 races. If the opposition holds all of their current seats, they have to flip 20 of the 22 Republican seats.
To reliably control the legislative agenda in the Senate in this geriatric milieu, the opposition needs to have 52 seats, since Fetterman is a wildcard and there needs to be a spare for incapacity or death. Doing the math, we have to flip 5 Republican seats if we don't want a replay of the Manchin/Sinema hostage situations. The states most often surfacing as competitive are the ones you’d expect for a Senate battle map: Texas, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, Alaska, Maine, and Florida. South Carolina, Lindsey Graham's seat, is not on that list, and it includes Ossoff's seat in Georgia.
We have to strengthen the corruption argument by tying it to the money that is being taken out of the average American's pocket, and show how it is being transferred to the oligarchs. That was the Hungarian strategy that overthrew Orban, but that was in a parliamentary system where loss of the majority in the legislature results in an automatic change of leadership and the immediate ability to institute legislative reform. We do not have that luxury in our system of government. An oligarch puppet will be president until 2028.
We have 99 days to make the case. We also have to be honest with the American people about what we can't do.
Perhaps the Democrats do not need for the time being to win large majorities in both chambers of the Congress, just large enough to financially hobble the administration and to launch investigations into its unlawful behaviour. That's what the congressional Republicans fear most as they despair of ever getting Trump to focus on the bread and butter issues.
Russell, you may be right, but I have my doubts. Hearings and investigations are of no interest to voters who are minimally engaged. They are considered a waste of time and resources to moderately engaged voters, who would point to the J6 hearings that produced no meaningful results. For the same reason, hearings are exceedingly frustrating to engaged voters. Getting to say, “I told you so” resolves zero problems.
Dale, we do have many Congressional hearings that go nowhere and are mostly beauty pageants to give some ugly-spirited members a forum in which to preen and scream. These are wasteful, costly, time-consuming. But if they're focused and disciplined and well-run, they can be informative and sometimes lead to reforms.
What you write is true, Donna, but a few worthwhile hearings don’t create a basket I’d put my eggs in. I’d reconsider if the Senate achieved a filibuster-proof Democratic majority, but I’m not that optimistic.
Spot on 🎯 Georgia. They have been building the infrastructure for this shit show for decades, and this next election stands no chance of dismantling it. We are going to be stuck with a lot of it for a long time to come. Maybe we’ll take back the house which will change the focus of congressional hearings, that’s just going to shed light onto the problem, while light will be helpful it will take more than light to tear it apart. I think it’s going to take decades, maybe we’ll get another FDR who can force through massive changes for the good of the nation. What we have now is a malevolent executive determined to destroy anything that would benefit the public, he has people with economic power lining up to support his agenda, which is to make all of them richer at our expense. Their entire focus is on looting the wealth of the nation. 🤬🤬🤬
Georgia: It's even scarier than what Kelli describes. See thecycle-onsubstack.com for Rachel Bitecofer's take on what's happened already and where it could lead.
And an attempt at the destruction of the USA! The rule of law and the Constitution are the bedrocks of our country and if you are against them, you are against the USA and are NOT a real American!
Donald Trump has apparently discovered the Constitution. Not read it, of course. That would require patience, attention, and several words without his name in them. He has discovered it the way a raccoon discovers a locked trash can: as an irritating obstacle that can probably be defeated with enough clawing, hissing, and total lack of shame.
Congress controls taxes? Fine. Declare an emergency. The Supreme Court strikes down the tariffs? Fine. Try another statute, another loophole, another side door, or an unlatched window. Trump’s governing philosophy is burglary with a presidential seal.
This is not a president testing the edges of constitutional power. This is personal rule carried out through emergency declarations, legal trapdoors, and a Republican Congress too frightened to change the locks.
The same trick now applies to war. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare it, but apparently that rule can be reset like the clock on a microwave. Trump started bombing Iran, declared the hostilities over while the hostilities continued, then announced a brand-new military engagement and restarted the War Powers clock. Democracy, now with unlimited rollover minutes.
And because no would-be monarch is complete without oversized architecture, Trump wants a triumphal arch in Washington. Federal law requires congressional approval, which is inconvenient because Congress might ask annoying questions like, “Is this legal?” or “Why are we building a monument to a living president who treats tariffs, wars, and emergencies like items from his personal room-service menu?”
When a reporter asked who the arch was for, Trump pointed to himself and said, “Me.”
At least he finally told the truth.
The tariffs are for him. The emergency powers are for him. The wars are for him. The arch is for him.
He could not do this without his many lawyers constantly finding the loop holes for him. They are good at their job and, of course, have no qualms about doing it.
The most important one is his gambit t9 take control ove4voting by mail. The Biston appeals court has refused to lift a trial court injunction against it. Trumps Justice Department says they will appeal. S9 we are one Supreme Court per curiam order on the shadow docket away from a complete breakdown or constitutional order and the sacking of the republic. An order granting an emergency motion for stay pending appeal. Trump will then proceed to derail the midterm Congressional elections. States that oppose his takeover of the Postal Service and oppose his use of it as a backdoor to gaining control over elections will see their elections hamstrung and their results set aside or ignored. The Congress that convenes if it is able, will refuse to seat Senators and Representatives from such states, they being in the main from tbe opposing party. The result will be a rump Congress like that of Civil War years, or none at all. Trump will govern by "emergency" decree. And he will tariff or solicit tribute to raise money and spend as he wishes in the name of a "United States" no longer in existence .
One Supreme Court administrative order of no precedential significance. As the current majority has worked to achieve. Thus will Congress be rendered like the Russian Duma, irrelevant. And it will have enabled its own dissolution or reduction to a rubber stamp.
This president is a stress test of the Republic. Will it fail or will it hold up ? He is as relentless as a serial killer. He is as pathological in this respect but thoroughly consistent, .methodological, and deliberate. And he is not merely asking someone to stop him before he kills again. He is challenging anyone to do it, but most importantly in the coming weeks, his friends on the Supreme Court.
It'a a great frustration that while we can petition and harangue and bombard Congress with our opinions and demands, there is no counterpart we have to plead with the Supreme Court Justices. From their lofty positions they are impervious to our judgements of them.
Tyler, I have no objection to your referring to Trump in the singular, but it bears remembering that Donald isn’t smart on his own. He knows nothing of the Constitution or the law. He is more interested in his vanity projects, merely taking time to sign off on the schemes presented to him by his henchmen, who sell their plots by reminding him that they will keep him in the White House and out of prison.
Consider it a short hand expression. I am aware that he is not smart enough to think these things up on his own. He has a Corp of schemers. Chief among them is Russell Vought. He dreamed this thing up. He ran it by Miller. Miller said "I like it", and they went and presented it to Trump. They knew he could not resist it, so frustrated and bent on revenge he is. "Beautiful", he said.
I understood, Tyler. I wanted to remind others that Donald is definitely not the mastermind.
I agree that Vought and Miller are certainly calling the shots. More recently, I've been thinking that Scott Bessent is assisting Peter Navarro in misleading Donald on economic matters. Of course, SecTreas is supposed to be independent of the president's influence, but nobody in Donald's regime operates independently – and keeps his/her job. Navarro is the idiot responsible for Donald's tariff abuse, but he's beyond his depth anywhere else. Bessent is just smart enough to be dangerous.
Every president has at one time or another sought ways to get round constitutional restrictions, the only difference is that Trump does it all the time. In my opinion, it just reflects the inadequacy of your sclerotic Constitution and the risks you have run by your undue reverence for the document. You clearly need to rewrite it in modern English. If you did that you could both address some important lacunae in the document, like the failure to include economic and social rights, and also remove the need for pernicious legal doctrines like Originalism and the Unitary Executive. A fairer electoral system might also go a long way towards rescuing your democracy. In short, your guardrails aren't working and you need to fix them.
Russell, "sclerotic" is the perfect word to describe the document at the base of our governance. The Constitution written in 1787 couldn't and didn't anticipate the social, economic, demographic and technological changes which are integral to 21st century life. The cumbersome amendment process was expressly designed to make it difficult for us to change constitutional provisions. Two hundred fifty years ago we were pioneers in nation-building. Now we need to build a new nation on a new foundation. A daunting undertaking that a shallow, impatient, dare we say lazy population may not be up to.
Kelli, you have very magnanimously shared the secret of your early and almost-always top comments. I fear there will be a race among Heather's readers to Facebook to be early commenters, which usually means being among the "top" comments. I hope your posts, which are succinct and on point, remain high on the list.
Reading it on Facebook first gives me time to sit with it. By the time it goes live on Substack, I’ve usually already written out the point I want to make.
Yes, Mike isn’t it great that Kelli has figured out how to commandeer the conversation and set the direction it takes, thus creating openings to promote his own essays?
The thing is, Dale, Kelli's posts are a manageable length when we have hundreds of others to read each morning. It was very transparent of Kelli to share his 'secret,' and I fear we may now see a slew of early comments that in length almost rival Heather's letter (okay, that's an exaggeration). Some longer comments are worth every word, others not so much.
Donna, to my mind, divulging how one games the system doesn’t make one less guilty of gaming the system. I have no problem with the content of Kelli’s comments. I’m annoyed by his scheme to be first, therefore “top,” thereby using HCR’s Substack to promote his own. It reminds me of Donald elbowing other dignitaries at summits, ensuring that HE’s the most visible. I’m sure everyone else is less petty than I.
Dale, You're right that gaming a system isn't something to boast about. But I don't know if Kelli schemes to be first or is just an early reader-writer. It seems to me that early posters do have an advantage, but more power to them if they're awake and functional a 3 am! Before Kelli got to the top there were a few others who were frequently top guns. Anyone who wants to be at the top can play the same game. I see more ego in other posts than in Kelli's.
If all commenters had your degree of pettiness which is UNpettiness in my book, we'd all be better off. :) Cheers for today.
PS: And ego is sometimes okay. I had a classmate who could be rather opinionated and even arrogant. Some didn't like him for this; I was fine with it because in fact he was brilliant. Brilliance excuses some (not all!) ego.
Actually, the Constitution installs protections against concentrating power in one BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT.
That's what all democratic constitutions do.
Then, who makes all decisions inside the executive branch depends on the party that controls it. Clearly, today, it's not Trump at all. He doesn't know the law, he doesn't care about the war in Iran, etc. etc. He cares about money, fame, golfing, and women (not necessarily in this order).
In this case, it's clearly the neofascist tech billionaires and the neofascist Heritage Foundation making up more than half of the senior White House staff who write the executive orders Trump has to sign, and therefore, who make most decisions.
That would not be a problem IF the GOP Congress would still be pro-democracy. But it's neofascist too. As Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, said: from now on, the GOP sees the role of Congress as merely "codifying the executive orders signed by the president".
That is entirely anti-constitutional.
The democratic US Constitution, as HCR explains, gives Congress ALONE the power of the purse, for instance. And it's the people's representatives in Congress that need to negotiate bills.
No one in the GOP is trying to turn the US into an absolutist monarchy. The GOP wants the US to become a neofascist state. That doesn't mean "all power in the hands of one person" (that's an absolutist monarchy, or a dictatorship), it means "all power in the hands of the executive branch of government".
Johnson's comment reflects something Norquist said in the late 90s I believe, "We do not need an idealogue in the White House, Just one who will sign whatever a republican dominated Congress passes."
Ok, now reread what Johnson ACTUALLY said: this time, it's CONGRESS that will sign whatever a neofascist White House passes.
That is the very definition of fascism. The subordination of the legislative and judiciary branches of government to the executive branch.
And what fascism needs as president is an entertainer who's great at shocking people, keeping them constantly distracted for what the ideologues behind the scenes in the White House are doing.
So this is bad, and incomparably worse than what Norquist said. In Norquist's case, it's still Congress that negotiates and passes bills, so it's still a democracy. Not with what Johnson said and does.
The safeguards only work if Congress and the courts enforce them. Instead, Republicans protected him and his judges ruled in his favor. The system didn't fail. The people guarding it chose to surrender.
Agree! Enforcement is necessary as is punishing ones child when they are disobedient. If a parent does not follow through, the child will feel free to do as it pleases until it faces "jail time" or some other method of disipline.
Those "guarding Trump" are as evil as he is...NO RESPECT FOR OUR COUNTRY NOR ITS PEOPLE, JUST UNBRIDLED GREED!!!!
I think even Congress has gotten the message by now (with apparent minimal result other than talk), so perhaps it's time to begin telling our representatives; "Hey, if you're not going to show some actual action, it's time we removed you and elect someone else. Goodbye and "Thank you for your service."
The problem is that Trump doesn't "work around" the Constitution, he simply ignores it and does as he pleases, and the GOP dominated Congress does nothing!
I find the idea of a "strongly worded letter" being the only thing the Dems in Congress do to be risible. We now have Quislings on both sides of the aisle.
We, the USA, have respected the Constitution and its protections. We must uphold it. It is our turn to face the fact that this administration does not honor this sacred document. We can not sidestep this threat! We are the United States of America!!!!
I am for removing anyone from office or the disguised forces from "the outside" who may be pushing for theses "safeguards" to our freedoms to be distorted or completely removed. We must WAKE UP...
Donald Trump does not have the character or respect for this great nation or its citizens to have even been placed on a ballet to lead ANYTHING! Everything he touches fails!
May the powers that are pushing this agenda be eliminated!!!! The sooner these enemies of freedom are found and removed from power and accused of "treason against our country and its citizenry" the better!!!!
Emily, I submit that referring to the Constitution as “sacred” is a major source of our current troubles. It is flawed, written by flawed men who lived two-and-a-half centuries ago. Even they didn’t think they had created a “sacred” document. In their wildest imaginations, they couldn’t fathom that personal firearms would one day fire 50 rounds in a minute, or that tangible currency would become obsolete, or that all the information in the world could be shared without ink and paper, or that Americans wouldn’t even speak English In the same dialect they spoke.
They provided the means to update the Constitution and our legislators have been to cowardly and power-mad to use it. The Constitution isn’t a religious text; it’s an instruction manual.
We are humans...so nothing we do is perfect. However, the greatness of character given to our former patriots, is way ahead of the "thieves and robbers" we have currently destroying our country from the inside out ie PIRATES, HAULING IN THE TREASURE of hardworking people.
We do have the few and the brave, as is usual in such times, who have not been enticed by money and power.
I thank you....those who have fought to preserve our freedoms on the battlefield as well as in government positions of influence, as teachers, as professors, within your places of worship, at your jobs, with family and friends, etc.
in a different direction, the moment someone tries to work around the constitution instead of upholding their oath to that document, they're on the way to being an enemy of the people.
we need to protect ourselves against enemies like that.
Well, since a majority of voting Americans elected them, what's the problem? And who are the plutocrats? There are very few truly wealthy people in the government. Was Kennedy a plutocrat?
I was stunned and sickened that Trump was placed on the ballot! How far our country has fallen along with the criminals who are making money off this Presidency!!!!
Its true that Trump's sons and le than a handful of others have engaged in clear conflicts of interest, but that is not criminal. Who are the criminals you have in mind?
You got that right, sweetie. The worst demon that could be birthed from a diseased birthing canal has come forth from Dante’s Inferno to destroy everything once good in the world. Who? Why the modern version of Genghis Khan himself of course running across the Land of Milk and Honey to plunder and destroy. How did this occur? Joe Biden stumbled on the debate stage and went into a purple haze that’s how. He just wanted one more election to make him the president for the 250th. But Father Time caught up with him. And now a New York Times story reveals that the Democratic Central Committee is deeply in debt and in panic mode. No sheet, Dick Tracy. As JL Graham speaks of the unleashing of a second rate actor in the 1980s who set the stage not for a “shining city upon a hill” to describe America as an exceptional, free, and hopeful beacon for the world but in truth, disaster unleashed. I don’t have anything good to say this morning. Time for coffee and to feed the cats.🐈⬛
You can blame Joe Biden but the real blame lies at the feet of the American voters whose minds are so totally ignorant and depraved, easily manipulated and riddled by hatred of anyone different, that they scared Joe into thinking he needed to repeat his last victory. The American press didn’t help when they focused on his every gaffe.
Time to put the blame on ourselves and work our asses off to fix this mess. Ken Martin, or any other single person, cannot do it. The Democratic Party is broke because the people who say they want to save our democracy are not willing to put their money where their mouth is, nor are they willing to knock on a stranger’s door and spread the word. They sit on their hands and hope someone else will do it.
I am a local organizer in a red state and frustrated as hell trying to just motivate a few people when there should be thousands at each meeting or rally. 😡
One must wax philosophical in times like these. Hell, I don’t have full answers. I want to look at politics as an advertisement. And that’s what it is is. I say cut back on some of the woke issues that simply don’t sell. I have rarely enthusiastically voted for a president but instead took the less bad. I did however travel for Al Gore because I knew he would have been transformative. I always voted for Biden even though I never much liked him. It’s called take you you got.
Cowgrrrl, you are right. "The administration turned to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to impose tariffs in the case of an international financial emergency.” Trump CREATES the emergencies so he can further the Project 2025 agenda.
Paranoia does strange things to the mind. I doubt Trump has ever even read Project 2025. Have you? I haven't and don't know anyone who has out side of think tanks.
I read a summary of Project 2025 and have read selected sections from the original tome. They mean business; they are 100% focused on the destruction of the rights which make up a democracy. I hope being “in a think tank” isn’t a requirement for reading anything… I know several people who have read the whole thing.
I don't see any sign of "destruction of the rights which make u pa democracy." We still have three branches of government, we see the exercise of checks and balances, we have an election coming up. Apart from drama, what is the problem?
I don't see evidence that Trump ever read the thing. Have you ever read the drivel in a party's policy statement for their campaign? No one pays attention to it.
But even on earth (so I hear) that is hardly a thoughtful, adult response to my claims about democracy. If that's all you can do, join me in outer space.
I'm glad you corrected me! And we DO need humor! Although I just went to see the "pro shot" movie of Hadestown, so after that, I *really* need humor! It just never ends well, no matter how much you're hoping ....
Another fact filled and intellectually, in-depth and erudite post by a below average liberal loser. An average is pretty bad already for a liberal.
Pieces of information I’ll give you. Make sure your brain is engaged before you put your mouth in gear. I have a few more, but I’ll give you a little something to cheer you up. Whiner
Well, somehow, Peter forgot his last name. Post disappeared while I was trying to respond so if you see him, have them send it again because I’d love to destroy it. It was something about vaccines
I would love to hear this. This is gonna be good hey Peter just in case you decide to oh I think Dohan or something with his last name.
If he decide to come back, make sure Engage your brain before you put your mouth in gear when you make a reckless comment about vaccines
Pass that along to Mister vaccine would you and I have one more I think
First of all, I’m voice texting take your grammar lesson and stick it up your orthographic orifice. Didn’t your seventh grade teacher teach you that content Was more important than for.m
Didn't your seventh-grade teacher teach you that if you come off as illiterate no one will read your writings? Have you ever heard of proofing your work before hitting "reply"?
How did America fall into this deep, deep sickness with this deeply sick man?
Heather invites this Q, especially with hers today on the consistent record criminal of Donald in total contempt of all U.S. constitutional institutions and the very principles and traditions of our democracy itself.
But let's never mind those obvious sets of challenges (though not in the ways congressional Republicans ever roll over to them). Let's look instead at his record of violence and murder.
He loved Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and Three Percenters leading the violence of Jan. 6, 2021. He has more recently loved the ICE thugs on their lawless, cold-blooded street terror and murder campaigns. Renee Good. Alex Pretti. And continuing.
He loved the bombing of Iran -- such video game explosive power -- even if it included the murder of 168 Iranian schoolgirls at Minab.
He loved his fool Hegseth pushing the repeat murders of poor fishermen off the coast of Venezuela.
Loved his criminal buddy Netanyahu using U.S. arms to kill and destroy on the West Bank and Gaza, similarly as he admired Mohammed bin Salman taking cleavers in dismembering Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi.
Putin still delivers to him frissons of delight.
Yes, the Constitution. Our institutions. Democracy. But the obscenities of repeat murders after repeat murders?
I tend to agree. But I also understand the vindictiveness of the human brain especially during an election cycle. The mentality is often, “I’ll get back at that guy. He did something I didn’t like.” And that voter, who may even be educated, will emotionally reach instead of weighing all pros and cons. Often when I vote, I realize neither candidate is perfect but one is less bad. And then you have a group of young educated white men who upon applying for university jobs of government jobs, found they had to wait for DEI folks first. To some extent this is true. I was never in favor of this thing DEI. It separates us and makes us unnecessarily competitive when we all should be constantly equals. I’m fighting the losing fight here I know. But this is my opinion.
Equity, not equality, is what we need to reach towards. We have suppressed the incredible potential of so many people in this country, for so many centuries, that we need to find ways to achieve equity. Equality will indefinitely keep everyone on an uneven playing fields (perpetuating a caste system)… equity fixes the discrepancies that have existed for generations. We can’t fix our issues with democracy unless we fix the caste system. And the caste system eventually comes for us all (one example being lack of universal healthcare) so it’s a win win. Highly recommend reading Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and listening to/reading Black, Brown, Indigenous voices with an open mind.. just quietly listening.
Thank you, L M, for replying with references to arts.
In the 1970s, with my newly-minted Ph.D. in hand, as another white guy I experienced the prefencing for women and minorities "upon applying for university jobs o[r] government jobs," as Bill Katz says he did, too.
Bill "was never in favor of this thing DEI." I was.
We learn to be more flexible, to open our views, when we learn to become conscious of the wider world of hurts others have experienced -- still experience.
Your citing Isabel Wilkerson and her great book, "Caste," wonderfully illuminates this more valuable perspective.
Phil oh no, I’m sorry you misunderstand me. I am undereducated. I even dropped out of grade school once, lol. The law forced me back. I graduated high school in 3 years after going to summer school for 3 years because I was bored. I dropped out of college and received my education on the road traveling throughout Europe and living in Florence, my city of dreams. In my latter days, I decided to open a store after teaching myself the craft of picture framing. It pays well, you know. I also always wanted to write so I became a writer. I wanted to be a songwriter so I became one and a damn good one at that. I wanted to do stand up comedy and I’m now working on a stage presence. And I have some real funny stories to recite. We can do whatever we want in life. No I’m not a screaming intellectual. But I can hold my own in an argument. I don’t allow others to tell me what to believe. I’m a leader without a following and that is fine with me.
Excellent point and an excellent suggestion for reading, LM.
I am reminded of a descriptive drawing.
Equality: three kids of different height standing at a fence. The tall one can see over, the middle one stands on tiptoe and barely peeks over, and the shortest one cannot see.
Equity: The tall one sees over the fence. The middle one stands on a box leveling his height to the tall one. The shortest one stands on a larger box, the height matching the other two.
I would suggest as to one reason to "How it happened...." is (as a people in the USA)
our respect for good character as well as our appreciation for leaders of study and intelligence and honorable conduct has been exchanged for those with wealth who are good at 'wheeling and dealing'.
This unfortunately has also polluted many churches ie "the bigger the better, a popular Paster," etc...somehow makes them, more superior as Christians. Trump has captured many Christ followers even Franklin Graham. He worked to influence them by holding up a closed Bible. I am guessing he does not read that sacred book, so a CLOSED BIBLE is much more familiar to him.
We have been blinded by a "flashy outside and an empty inside.
This person chosen to serve as President of the United States of America, has shown disrespect towards women most of his life and as usual "gets away with no condemnation".
This person voted in "by the people" has disgraced this country, built by immigrants, by choosing to condemn these wonderful, hardworking people....putting many in prison and putting fear into everyone with brown skin!!!!
Wil we reclaim "common sense" in our future elections or will we create our own destruction????
He clearly takes some weirdly sociopathic pleasure in all the deaths -- he's like an 8 year old playing with toy soldiers. He has no real concept of the human toll because he doesnt' see others as humans equal to him.
And he loves the Proud Boys, et al because they produce violence in His name. He is a coward (he can’t even fire people himself) and watching violent groups is the next best thing.
Lauriemcf, Fred Trump admired Donald’s “killer instinct,” as he called it. Little is known about Donald’s early boyhood, but I wonder if there were no pets in the Trump household because Donald couldn’t be trusted around animals. It could be argued that he contributed to the premature death of his older brother.
Hey Gene, if any of you know Jennifer, Post Lee, the coward, who post some crap on here doesn’t allow you to respond and after she posted probably runs into the house and ask mommy to wipe her ass. Give her her Bankie. Run over to blue sky. Go commiserate in the same urine as your lemming friends
Agreed. Trump, and many other officials in the highest level of our government are sick people. Is the whole country sick as well? No, I think we've had it so good for so long we thought we could afford the luxury of a sick government. We got lazy. It is no accident that sloth takes second place only to pride in the list of seven deadly sins. Fascism is just another way to say government by a prideful few over the slothful many. This condition did not happen quickly, the current iteration is decades in the making - but it will end fairly quickly. Then we will be left with the lazy many and a few energetic souls who can help us rebuild our institutions and refine our culture, or lead us into another round of fascism. Or, and I think this is the best option, we can build an engaged, informed, and alert populace that has the critical thinking skills to recognize a fascist or totalitarian when they see one.
Hey Steve, how about throwing out a factor two. Never mind liberals use opinion everybody else uses fact I would love to see you guys in the courtroom someday.
Well, Your Honor is a sick man OK Phil do you have any factor evidence to back that up? Well some of his decisions don’t agree with mine.
Judge well that doesn’t necessarily qualify him as being sick there Phil. Well, he is sick. Well unless you can provide some fact, I’m gonna have to dismiss your case.
And if you bring me another case like this without evidence or support, I’m gonna kick you out of my courtroom have an ice day
Fascism you’re talking Joe Biden. Who autocratically open the border and let illegals run rampant and kill Americans and rape women by the hundreds and you don’t give a shit
You are living a monster sick, Mr. Abbott, every single one of your disgusting, hateful posts, defines US sick, deranged human beings, with no reason to make any remarks like the ones you’re making none no reason whatsoever
As I mentioned above best president of your lifetime, creating democracy all over the world.
Exactly what I have said about the Palestinian murders but a Jewish woman reminded me of the 1,500 hundred mostly Israelis senselessly killed by Hamas and she is right. We should always practice equal opportunity where it speaks to atrocities although 1,500 don’t exactly make it an equal eye for an eye in speaking to 50,000 to 1,500. How we have fallen so fast I have expressed above which is hard or impossible for most of us to except. I won’t mention his name again.
Phil, you’re right to highlight the callousness of human life. Indeed, it’s beyond callousness pushing towards deliberate delight. We need to know what we’re up against. These coming months we will need to be bold and out front.
Do you want to hear the callousness of human life? It’s mostly by the left while they fade that they care about people. Over 400 Americans have been killed by illegals since Biden took office and over 1000 women have been sexually assaulted raped. Now where’s all your compassion for them. ? That number should be 00000000. Zero zero ZERO. and attached to that there are 4000 American women sexually assaulted every year in this country and if it wasn’t for the liberal suicidal empathy bullshit it would stop in its tracks. If you only would punish the criminal but no cash bail I feel bad for him. He’s in a bad relationship. He didn’t know what he was doing. He’s only 16. Any excuse you can give instead of removing his dick and his balls and cutting off a finger on each hand maybe the ring finger so you’d see him walking down the street and you would stop rape in his track s.
And here is Phil the moron again starting out the morning without complaining at all that Heather is actually using the word Nazi today Heather you should be ashamed of yourself. And your parishioners follow you around like lemmings without nobody protesting your use of the word Nazi, which is absolutely sickening.
And that’s all you do Phil is mouth her words like she is the Oracle of Truth? Heather is nothing more now than a radical liberal activist toting around a bunch of blind Sims who Who bow and genuflect with every word that comes out of her mouth. Thank God you’re only .2% of the Democrat population of the US CONTAGIOUS DISEASE
I do love that you’re a paid subscriber for HCR’s posts. You pay her to come here with your mangled English, poor grammar and laughable rants, I suppose because girls don’t find you attractive.
Been married for 57 years been to 104 countries, 27 Island nations, and all 50 states with my wife. It was a CEO of one of the largest companies in the world.
Why are you mis representing yourself? Every time we get into one of these stupid conversations you’ve got a different life story, so either you’re a bot, or a sad and pathetic person who wishes he was someone else.
And before I was married, I pretty much had my choice. Best athlete in the city, great humor and wit as you can see by my posts. And a 12 years old was tested at 140 IQ
At 40 years old, invited to attend a mentor meeting as a prospective candidate to join
Was a bridge champion despite that how boring is that? So do yourself keep your penis in your pocket.
It’s Apple mangled English so complain to them. And as usual all you liberals have is pointing out bullshit, my God, RICK, your orthography is horrible. No capital letters no commas no periods, dangling participles andending sentences with a preposition.
It’s a crime against The good Lord himself.
CONTENT OVER FORM. save your bullshit answers for some , Liberal lemming. Who can’t put together a coherent sentence without looking it up on AI
And the fact remains that I posted facts, and that you haven’t seen a fact in probably decades I’ve never seen so many losers in one place and one time
Here you are and all your glory but if you ever decide to send any fax my way, I’ll be more than happy to destroy each and everyone you think it’s a fact
I’ve never met a more ignorant person than you, Phil Never met a more ignorant person than you. So many fucking lemmings here that follow each other around like blind idiots Haters extraordinaire
With no reason whatsoever to hate None of you have a fact, anywhere in sight Just disgusting accusations, insults below human dignity and while consumed and hate, you can’t even control yourselves Almost like human vermin
Donald Trump is spreading more democracy than any president in US history
Any spreading more wealth as well. Any spreading more freedom as well
And from people like you spreading more hate. I don’t realize there are one-way flights out of here. In fact what we should do is to trade you for the 7 million soccer fans I could not say enough about the beauty, the freedom, the diversity, the food, the travel, and everything great about America, much different than what they hear and their own media. i’ll put that in your pipe and smoke it or stuff it up your ass your choice. We should trade them for you
Plus, I never use AI. I use four or five different sites and the most effective one for you. Idiots who actually wanna find a fact try this site. http://factually.comYou can take AI and stick it up your Trump hating ass If I use any AI searches at all, it would be Grok before anyone else And I don’t use it. I read something that you refuse to. Do you see a headline you like Phil and you jump on it like a bitch in heat without doing any research at all I don’t know whatever ever got you to hate so badly but it’s really sick Like 1 million rats in one place continuing to reproduce each other
Do you know what phil you’re a fucking idiot you’re beyond a fucking idiot you’re a stupid fucking idiot. And the Kremlin team would include Bama and Biden Who sat there on their vaginas fucking pussies and allowed Putin to take over half of Ukraine while they sat there and did nothing nothing. We just sat there and allowed it to happen and then instead he said the $180 billion it was able to kill another hundred thousand Russians at 100,000 Ukrainian, innocent human beings. That’s your Kremlin team Phil
OK, let’s try some sanity for a change on Kimberly. Let’s see how you can put a thinking cap on and answer this question. I’m gonna put this in caps for emphasis
NAME ME A LAW OR POLICY THAT TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS PUT INTO EFFECT THAT HAS NEGATIVELY AFFECTED YOUR LIFE PERSONALLY. ?’’? NOT one is the answer.
oh my God, the reflecting pond oh my God, the Kennedy Center oh my God, the White House reconstruction that’s been reconstructed four times before him. One by Obama, the God
Name me a our policy that has affected your life negatively or shut up I’ve never seen such a bunch of hating whiners in my life Here let me show you what you look like
Rick Sender: You are an angry person. Are you getting paid for your angry posts? Might have to block you for your name calling & language. Are you just here to vent? Why are you so angry if you have made so much money? Go buy your yacht with all the money you’ve made or get that factory job you always wanted or go join ICE so you can treat people badly. Is that who you are?
He is not upholding his oath to the constitution, which he swore to do.
He is behaving as a dictator while pretending to defend democracy.
He supports foreign authoritarian regimes, interfering in their elections trying to get right wing people voted in.
He acts like a thug, threatening, bribing, people
He is erasing first amendment rights.
He did not lower prices.
He did not stop the war between Russia & Ukraine. (And lied about Ukraine starting the war)
He promotes racism.
He has fired anyone with the authority to check what he is doing.
He does not obey court orders. He pretends to be Christian, but does not have Christian values - he lusts after women, committed adultery & rape, does not believe in helping the poor, & treats non-whites as animals.
Lies about immigrants taking jobs & eating pets.
He pretends to care about national security, but kept classified documents, killed “narcoterrorists” without a trial, did a double tap, and then pardoned a convicted drug lord.
He started an insurrection because he lost an election and has been trying to rewrite the history of that ever since.
So many other things but I don’t have time right now.
And then we have Louise Lichtenstein, and Gerstein a lot of Stein’s that their name should actually end in the word coward. Who come on her and Post inanities insanities and nonsense and then run into the house and ask mommy to wipe their ass or blow their nose for them
Cowards extraordinaire many of you that’s your new nom de guerre
It’s called voice texting what is the matter with you educated derelicts? Have you ever heard the word content before? Some of your liberal morons are so stupid that if you found a capitalization problem or a preposition at the end of a sentence of the Declaration of Independence, you would just toss it aside. I’ve never seen so much ignorance in my life
And then you have shitheads cowards like Ian more dent who comes on here and make some ridiculously crazy lunatic remarks, and then runs back into the house and And ann says hey mommy please wipe my ass Cowards absolute cowards with not a fact in sight
MLM, I visited a museum in Germany in 2016. I was stunned at the similarity between the buildup of the Nazi party then and MAGA in the "now" of 10 years ago. It has only gotten worse.
You lying motherfucking idiot how’s that for an opening? I hope that one day soon you run into a Nazi and he treat you like he treated a Jew, you fucking ignorant, moron.
At first he starves you for a few months and then he tattoos you and then he makes you work your ass off and sleep in freezing weather with no clothes to cover you.. any leads you down to the showers and gases you but case we’re not gonna let you die we’re gonna take it down to the oven to preheat it up and now we’re gonna turn you into a little baby Briquette. We’re gonna watch you and laugh while you ride in pain and I guarantee you you will never use the word Nazi again.
Yep, and who said that you are not the most famous name caller in the liberal wanna be party. Liberal lemon soup. Lol. Let’s see if I can help you with a couple of good memes or messages tonight. And then I’m gonna go back and read your mishmash and I’m sure I have a few more to send for everybody to read in the reading pleasure. It’ll be better than reading Pravda for you guys.
Not seen you answer my question Rick which was within my text
"Its silly to just exchange insults with Rick. Lets try some careful questions:
1) Does Rick accept that the three vaccines the Pfiser, the Moderna and the Astra Zenica worked to save the lives of millions of people from covid 19?"
Our Founders knew a day like this would come, when a lowlife demagogue, aided by the worst impulses and vilest passions of a mob, would rise to power. But nothing in the Federalist Papers anticipated the day when Congress itself would fall under the control a single political party and its reckless cult of idiocy and cruelty. Did Madison envision a moment would arrive when an entire branch of government would just willingly cede all its power away --- and not even to a smart demagogue, but a cretinous, creepy, demented piece of detritus like Trump?
And why would a Supreme Court approve an argument that begins “I have the right to do anything I want to do....I’m the president of the United States..I can do it"? The entire concept is completely un-American to its historical core. In our system, NOBODY has the right to do anything they want to.
Pete Buttigieg often asks those in red states a simple question: we all know the system is broken -- it's obvious, he says. So why do we keep pretending it's not? The American project could be nearing its end, he continues, or we could be standing "at the cusp of a set of changes that make us genuinely proud of what we did in this era." Heather says something similar by reminding us that we are actually poised at the beginning of another progressive era -- a cyclical event that has happened after a small elite overextends its reach of cruelty, suffering, and the aggregation of illegitimate wealth and power.
The question remains. Which vision for America shall we feed? Which one shall we exert all our efforts to bring into being?
What a condescending statement. We gladly place our decision-making in it. That's the whole point. Nobody said a thing about "trust." Without it, it's even more the law of the jungle.
I think this is funny when so many of the billions of people on this planet put their trust into documents that are way older than that and were written by unknown sources with way less pure motivations. Yes, I'm talking about the Bible, the Koran, etc. I wish more people in this country would place more trust in the Constitution and less in the others.
It worked with amendments for 250 years. I wish this site had a dislike icon besides a like icon. I really disliked your statement ! We live with our constitution, we take oaths to our constitution and we rise to defend it.
Joan Grabe, but it hasn't worked for the last 50 of them as events of the past ten clearly indicate . . .
E.g. it never anticipated political parties
Even from the very gitgo our Constitution required a first quick fix of the initial ten amendments, then the thirteenth and the fourteenth (the last of now hangs by the thread of a single Kavanaugh vote)
It hasn't stopped for a moment a current wave of 47th corruption "never before seen in America"
It hasn't prevented Presidential usurpation of the Congressional authority to declare war
It didn't stop the swift outright destruction of USAID at the hands of Elon Musk
It played no role in the rise of America's oligarchs or curbing their role in our politics
Silent on the matter of whether money is speech, it allowed a private organization to capture the SCOTUS nomination process and, with the collusion of the party in charge of the Senate, to send it on its unitary executive savaging of the balance of powers
The current Congress offers few clues that it views its own powers as equal to those of the SCOTUS or the Executive
The amendment process, especially given that we're now fifty states ranging from the mid Pacific, the shores of three oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico of vastly different sizes geographically and population-wise. invite speculation of how democratic we really are as a nation
What has happened to the Fourth Estate over those 250 years?
What have modern communication technologies done to undermine the obligations of the demos in protecting and preserving the Republic?
undsoweiter, usw. usw
I could go on. I Hope you see the point I'm trying to make here . . .
Nowhere in our travail is anyone systematically raising these and several dozen other observations and examples that could be offered. It is not to be found in the moribund affairs of the Party. It is absent from Congressional debate or oversight. It is not in the inept and uncoordinated attempts to raise funds supporting the Party (to do WHAT??) or the discourse over 'whither America' (would 'wither America' be even more disturbing to you???) . . .
That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. Now this it’s come to this Kami is speaking on behalf of the founders. For chrissakes, he can’t even speak for himself. And yet he keeps speaking as a loser Who has lost his way.
Go help your party, pal, falling apart, splintering, and two different divisions, and it’s a pleasure to watch. If your beloved John F Kennedy were alive today he’d be a middle of the road republican right now as far left as the Democrats have slithered
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress. Be LOUD! 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly!
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Oooooooh nothing but loud losers here. Relentless losers, that don’t know good from evil. Go, save your party that’s falling into million splintering pieces
Making enough of you already you can keep talking about getting loud but getting loud is not the answer. Why don’t you try helping your party stop from splintering into 1000 pieces. You have a few sane Democrats left, but very few. Schumer and hakim are gone. Then you have the DSA then you have the Socialists And the Communists at the antisemites and the LBGTQ community and the trans community and BLM and antifa. Decomposing in your front of your very eyes Megan.
Some of your staunchest supporters are leaving, and if John Kennedy was alive today, he’d be ashamed to call himself a democrat, because he be a middle of the road Republican, as far left as the Democrats have gone
The master bater getting himself off in a lonely corner of one somewhere in internet land, imagining that thousands are begging, no, imploring, crying for him to continue...
More of your serial “Sound and fury, signifying nothing". I think many of your posts sound whiny and hateful. And I don’t think I am the only one who thinks so.
Go to come over and DuckDuckGo so I can show you who you are obviously Heather and her web server here have prevented prevented demonstration of fact and accuracy in photos to tell the truth. Come over there. Come over to DuckDuckGo got a great set of photos to show you.
The bottom line: Tempertantrump does not follow laws of the United States nor any International law. He is a lifetime criminal. He does not need a pardon due to Chief John Roberts “pre-pardoning”him. He has already pre - pardoned most Republicans. This is a lawless country. Tempertantrump has always said, “Whose going to stop me?” The entire government must be rebuilt. He has literally destroyed everything he is involved in to obtain self-enrichment.
Let me see, I’ve been looking and looking and looking for my God there’s not a fact in sight it’s just the usual. Unsupported accusations evil insults, while consumed by hate. Let me help you with a couple of memes here.
And you’re so fucking stupid about self-enrichment now we know you’re nothing but a liberal lemming that listens to the next guy, but doesn’t have a clue about what the fuck you’re talking about not even a clue His savings throw off 150 million a year and he’s living free on the government toll right now and he’s got a hotels and golf courses around the world in a social media web site that’s worth 2 billion
He’s 80 years old he could live on the interest until he’s 280 you dumb fuck.
I love to see people consumed and hate because it’s gonna come back to haunt them one day
So am I gonna get a response from you? Authoritarian government, a.k.a. Joe Biden, and you have all the evidence on the facts to prove it unlike you who doesn't know what the fact looks like
No answer the question any of Trump's policies negatively affected you Not a one
Sorry you didn’t think I got back to you in a timely manner. This isn’t a telephone. I don’t sit on Substack all day. In general, I’m not big on one-liners and snarky comments. Having a grandfather die in WWII fighting fascism, I take my Democracy seriously.
So Sandi, I sent you a bunch of posts. I just got back home and I thought I'd hear some responses from you of yeah well I guess I didn't know that. Oh well I guess you're right about that etc. etc. instead deafening silence.
Almost every single policy of this administration is working positively for every American. In fact there was an article the other day that said that Donald Trump has increased the wealth 25% of wage earners more than any president in history.
Now I'm gonna Name me a policy or law that the Trump administration has enacted that Has negatively affected Your life personally ?
Wow, how has your wealth increased by 25%? How did you do that? Please let us all know. Are you making money from these posts? Cause if so, I think I deserve a cut.
It doesn’t matter if I personally have been effected by his policies. I don’t think we should have a trillion dollar defense budget and have no money to feed children.
Low income people, children, & the disabled had huge cuts to healthcare & food assistance. The tariffs are a tax on the American people - companies just pass the cost down. Maybe with your new found wealth you didn’t realize gas and the cost of groceries has risen. Plus more cuts are coming after the midterms - see how they did that? The cuts come after the election so people don’t realize they’re getting screwed.
And yes, it does matter if you were personally affected because these things are not singled out per individual so you would be affected just like everybody else. Lead to a greater or lesser degree depending upon your income
And lastly, you’re asking me if I made money every single individual that was invested in the stock market in a generic broadband portfolio, and not a pacific stock was up substantially in the past year The stock market and the other indices all record-high some 70 times. And then my next post later on, I’m gonna talk about what the Wall Street Journal said recently only people that’s up there and pick their own stocks did not do well instead of investing in a generic broadband stock portfolio. Didn’t Need to be stocks
One more thing you need to understand I’m gonna send you some stats on the Biden ministration and trumps prices have gone up a paltry 3% since then, but they forget how much complaining there was before the election and why Trump was even elected because of Biden severe inflation that caused grocery prices to go up 20% two months into his term because he choked off anything made with petroleum coding drilling selling manufacturing pipe lines, etc. gasoline went up two dollars to over five dollars a gallon under Biden, and the highest it got under Trump It was $4.52 for over a year under Biden and it only got to 452 under Trump for a few weeks and that’s because of the war four then he had lower prices back to his original prices at some states actually had gasoline under two dollars a gallon. check it out yourself
You see now you’re starting to read and listen to your neighborhood lemmings who don’t know shit of what they’re saying they have no freaking idea. Almost every single liberal economist, who predicted inflation, because of the tariffs never arrived
Let me repeat that again never arrived, and even left wing supporters did economist have a greed. They were really wrong about the tariffs including one of your biggest supporters Bill Maher, who did an examination on TV and said you know what I was wrong. Keep in mind they were supposed to close inflation. Inflation was 3% right around 3% until the war started versus Bidens 9%.
Companies figured out how to absorb a little bit of the increase in the cost, and they found better ways and varied ways of doing business, so as not to pass the cost onto the consumers, even from the retail sector. But that’s what liberals believe because they don’t know they just hate Trump so that’s what they hear and that’s what they say but it didn’t happen
They didn’t get huge pets like you think you should actually look it up and get the stats a lot of it was cut because of the fraud and you should look up. For example, how much the frog was in Minnesota… Specifically in Minneapolis…fraud was over $9 billion. With over 100 Arrests AND CONVICTIONS. And it’s so bad in Minnesota, that the federal government has stopped Medicare and learn educational assistance to the entire state of Minnesota as I understand it because of the rampant fraud. It is now being investigated as well in Los Angeles and New York. Billions and billions of dollars and the people have already been arrested and convicted every day do some research and see it for yourself. Nobody is monitoring this morning out of state by state basis and more of it is going to flood then we ever thought imaginable
“They didn’t get huge pets” No, immigrants did NOT eat ANY pets! The Republican governor said as much. Vance admitted it was a lie. Yet, they continued the lie to rally anger in their base against immigrants. This tactic dehumanizes immigrants and plays into the white supremacy ideology. Untrained, angry ICE agents continue to terrorize communities, beat & kick immigrants, kill people, including American citizens. They have been allowed to bypass the judicial system. They have tried to sweep these crimes under the rug. ICE agents have gotten huge amounts of our taxpayer dollars as signing bonuses and salaries - paid better than our trained police officers.
Do we have an immigration problem? Yes. It has been a problem for many, many administrations.
Remember how there was a bipartisan bill to try to fix immigration and then Trump told the Republicans not to vote for their own bill so he could make it an issue in his campaign? He wants his base angry. How to do that? Make them think all their problems were from immigrants. Now they have something to unite against. Of course, not white immigrants - those white Afrikaans are still able to come in.
Racism is a big problem in this country - still. This administration has made it okay to openly show racism. I don’t know where you fall on this, but when you support racists, you support racism.
Go do some research…. I saw a few articles last week indicating when does them from a third-party source that indicated that Trump had increased the welfare of the bottom, 25% of income earners more than any president in history. Now that doesn’t surprise me because a couple of things occurred last year that you may not be aware of income tax returns last year we’re up 11% over the year before some $3000 per person.
That’s because of the no tax on tips no tax on Social Security for the poorest and no tax on overtime
We both realize that’s not going to help Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Dale Donald Trump
Only way to direct wealth increase to the lower portion of our income base is by these types of things that had NEVER been thought of before.
And I also wanted to mention to you because I’ve mentioned to a lot of people here, Sandy it’s hard to credit the lower income people without somehow benefiting the upper class, but those three things actually only benefited the lower income folks
And here’s why it’s almost impossible to help the poorest without at the same time to some degree, helping the more wealthy
The top one percent of income earners pay 40% of the income tax The top 10% of your income earners pay 72 % of The income tax. And the top 25% of income earners pay 87% of income tax. AND THE BOTTOM 50% of income earners pay ONLY 3% OF ALL THE INCOME TAX!!
So the idea that Trump got from a waitress has benefited all the lowest income earners
Oh, and if you wanna authoritarian government, they are Sandi. I want you to think about this very carefully what you said Joe Biden was the most authoritarian president in recent. Arbitrarily and autocratically he opened the southern border and allowed 11 to Illegals in without a vote without asking permission without concern or caring who they were That's authoritarian, not Donald Trump who keeps sending Supreme Court decisions back to the state States and their elected officials can't decide so get your facts straight
Do you really wanna know why I'm so angry because I can't stand American haters I can't stand people that hate America like most of the people on Heather's Substack service. They sit there and critique and insult and accuse without presenting any fact at all they're just consumed in hate and I can't stand that I'm a first generation American and I'm proud of it and Donald Trump is creating democracy all over the world everywhere he goes. He's creating democracy NATO the Middle East he actually has Muslims fighting against Iran, trying to create democracy. He created democracy the beginning of democracy in Venezuela he's trying to do it in Cuba and he's definitely doing it here in the United States sending a lot of decisions that were made by the court the Supreme Court and by a lot of government agencies in Washington and sending it back to the states and the people to decide to vote on how their country is run not by a few elitist in Washington DC. And that's why I'm angry and if you'd like to have some more statistics, I'd be more than happy to provide you but you need to wonder why the hell you ask that question why are you angry? You have nothing to be angry about. You're just another lemming apparently following the group of haters think for yourself get out of your cave change the channel and think for yourself.
Kudos for you if you are reading HCR letters & not just watching Fox News. Your anger seems misplaced. Trying to abolish NATO & making our allies distrust us is not a show of Democracy. Interfering with other country’s elections & and supporting candidates that are authoritarian is not a show of Democracy. Although, Venezuela’s Maduro was arrested, why didn’t the US put Gonzalez or Machado in office-someone the Venezuelans democratically voted in. Perhaps, it was not Democracy, but oil that the US was after. We still haven’t gotten a straight answer as to why the US started a war with Iran-the Iranian people don’t seem any closer to Democracy. The US claimed they got rid of Iran’s nuclear threat months before the bombing. Perhaps the US wants their oil. It was not a well thought out plan - and why would it be when all the qualified people at the Pentagon were fired? And is bombing Iran even consistent with the NSS?
Sending decisions back to the states does not make the US more Democratic. Let’s take the overturning of Roe. Did all the states say, “Hey, let’s vote on this.” No. How is that democratic? The majority believes abortion should be legal. Abortion isn’t mentioned in the Bible and neither is when life begins. The Bible was written over hundreds of years by different people, in a different language, much originally from oral transmission (ever play the telephone game?). Plus, did you know that the “religious right” used to be okay with abortion? Back in the early 70’s, they were not allowed to segregate their schools. They couldn’t be openly racist anymore, so they decided to “unite” the party around abortion. True story-look it up.
If you do not believe in the rule of law and the US Constitution, you are NOT a real American. Period. Full stop. That is the narrative we need to be pushing. They are NOT the real American patriots! WE ARE! They are trying to destroy our country and should be destroyed like any enemy of the USA.
Democrats bring resolutions and propose legislation, but as a minority party, they can't pass them. Sometimes lately they've been able to peel one or two Republicans off the solid Trump toady block, but it's far from guaranteed. So 'doing nothing' is not accurate. Whether it's enough ... who knows? Nothing that leaves Trump in office is enough, but one does not necessarily have the resources to do enough.
I have to further explain my comments frequently… What you are describing is playing by the rules. Trump doesn’t play by the rules. The Democrats need to start thinking outside the box too, if we’re gonna save democracy. Learn from protest movements in the past. Don’t just sit at their desks proposing bills. Protest! Create a permanent protest not a one day protest! THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! DECLARE A GOD DAMN NATIONAL EMERGENCY!
I agree with John Gregory that the Dems have no real power to stall the Trump juggernaut and certainly no legal power to declare a national emergency. I have some trenchant criticisms of your Constitution but abandoning the legal framework altogether would simply play into Trump's 'enemy within' narrative. You are a country of laws and that's the only message that will sustain your democracy against this assault.
Having said that, I also agree that there are some internal problems that the Democratic party could usefully address right now regarding its congressional leadership.
And then we have Louise Lichtenstein once again, posting nonsense, and bullshit, filled with hate and irrational thinking, and then she runs back in the house to mommy.
You have blocked me and I can’t respond Miss Coward, Miss Gene Montanti, the coward. Did my mommy blow your nose or wipe your ass when you ran back in the house because you’re afraid of an answer
By the way, you know that arch is what makes the world go round and the Kennedy center and the reflecting pond and the White House remodeling that will only be used by the next 25 presidents not Trump for safety, security and elegance
all the trash you need to take out was a product of Joe Biden and the 11th to 15 to 20,000,000 illegals that are here raping over 1000 women killing over 100 Americans during his term As a number of charts demonstrate, but you’re worried about the trash he’s left behind
Genie, you are so lost. I don’t even know where to begin
We recently got rid of the trash. It's called Joe Biden, who is the AutoCorrect of the century opening the southern border without asking permission and allowing 11 to 20,000,000 illegals to come and rape our women over 1000 so far kill our citizens over 400 so far and cost us over $1 trillion for all the free goods that Americans are not even entitled to free housing, free food, free clothing, free medical care.
Your Honor RICK center just posted a bunch of total bullshit all of it and I would expect nothing less from him
Judge: OK Gene, would you please explain to the court what the total bullshit is and give a contradictory explanation of the evidence that you have that it’s bullshit.
I’m sorry, Your Honor … I don’t know exactly what the bullshit is. I just know it’s bullshit because that’s what all my friends tell me.
Well, then, Gene, why don’t you get all your facts gathered together and then post them here and then all the court will evaluate them and determine if you’re correct
But you’re honor they’re all bullshit.
Genie, you now have permission to get the f out of my courtroom
I was feeling in the doldrums, so my partner asked me if I'd like to see the documentary, "Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins." Hell yes. There were times during my life when I read all of her columns, other times when, for whatever reason, maybe she wasn't in my daily paper, I only read her infrequently, but man, this documentary made me laugh and made me realize how much I, and how much we, the people, miss her voice. Wish she were still around to speak truth to power in a way that was undeniably funny and right on target.
Tempertantrump does not have immunity if Democrats do not honor it. Democrats must treat Tempertantrump as he treats everyone else. Do not honor Chief John Roberts nor Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch or Kavanaugh.
Another excellent synopsis of the anti-democratic and anti-constitutional movement that is MAGA and Trump summed up in “It’s for me” and “I can do what I want” and either until we the people recognize this and change this either electorally or via rising up as we did 250 years ago, this will not change. That both scares me and enrages me.
Every shortcut around Congress is also a shortcut around the people.
The Constitution separates power because the Framers expected ambition, disagreement, and delay. Those weren’t flaws to eliminate. They were protections against concentrating power in one person.
The moment the Constitution becomes something to work around instead of something to uphold, it stops protecting anyone.
Remind Congress. Over and over. We will not be silent!
Here’s a resource (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to easily contact all of Congress. Be LOUD! 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly!
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
And I get it, it seems like you’re often talking to a wall, but while I don’t think we’ll see many big waves (like a major MAGA Congress member changing their opinions), I think we can cause little ripples. I’m thinking staff members who hear the same thing over and over via voicemail, phone calls, letter after letter, email after email - maybe they’ll be a little more receptive each time they hear from us. Maybe they’ll talk more about our talking points to friends and family, maybeeee they’ll vote differently. As a collective, our volume matters. And, at the end of the day, if we just annoy and overwhelm some staffers working for people hurting the average American, I’m ok with that too 🙃
At this point, those who will listen are already there. Those who have already shut their ears are busy blinding themselves with hot pokers and cutting out their own tongues. Little will budge until November, and only if there's a truly blue tsunami to sweep the self-mutilators and their cult of stupid out the door.
Someone a couple days ago put it well. Republicans are on a high-speed merry-go-round (more like a misery-go-round), addicted to the dizziness and chaotic power of it all. They will not jump off the carousel, not even to save their own lives, it would seem. So we have to push them off. The cult of idiocy may be dying, but even a cult on its deathbed still retains tremendous power to wreck the country. We just cannot let them continue doing so.
However, a blue tsunami of calls and letters to Tillis could move the needle on Blanche.
There is absolutely nothing we can say to any of the Republican Senators and Congresscritters that will make them stand up to the convicted felon Donald Trump.
They are all hiding from we the people refusing to hold town hall meetings or even talking to an unfriendly press.
The mainstream media will let them hide away while the Trump administration continues to run roughshod over all of us.
I agree. It honestly doesn't appear any of them even much care what we the people have to say. When any of them have been confronted they all follow the same playbook and each one of them say the same thing over and over. It is just mind numbing to me.
Interesting point, GJ. So if the Emperor has no clothes, and you’ve stated that the Emperor has no clothes, in the face of non-acknowledgement that the Emperor has no clothes, you will simply stop stating it? I say, say it LOUD, put it on banners and signs, create Nude Emperor memes, make a song about it that everyone can sing.
Even though “There is absolutely nothing we can say to any of the Republican Senators and Congresscritters that will make them stand up to the convicted felon Donald Trump,” it’s still essential that constituents say it anyway. Silence is heard as acceptance.
Have you not read about the pushback by Thune on repeated occasions about the Save Act and Trump's push to get rid of the filibuster? I'm not a Republican by any stretch but the Senate is showing lack of pushover. Take what positive we can and don't regret it.
and how in the hell did a conflicted felon "34 counts of fraud" get on a Presidential ballot???????? WTF
How many of the House and Senate silent Republicans have companies producing materiel for the military donating money to their campaigns? It might be a useful attack point if that could somehow be exposed.
We'll see. If Tillis were any more timid, he might be caught scurrying into a dime-sized cubby-hole in a kitchen somewhere, his little tail following him. But maybe the 35,000th letter, phone call or text might do the trick...
I'm telling you, I hammer him often. Other people I know do. He votes our way more than almost any other of those R criminals.
Thom Tillis 113 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
tel:2022246342
https://www.tillis.senate.gov/email-me
I email Susan Collins multiple times weekly and she, of course, is concerned but my only hope is voting her out in November.
Tillis is the real-life Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown. It's clear the fix is in concerning Blanche, Tillis says he wants to get to a "yes" vote, which is appalling. He's been promised a well-paying lobbying position, a cushy job in the administration, or a Republican welfare position in the Heritage Foundation, an organization whose desire to destroy our democracy is no different than the goal of ISIS.
I think for that to happen, and it may, the Democrats need to adopt a clear and unified vision. Unity is the Maga Republican Party strength - and works while the opposition is not unified. The Maga movement is also one based on doing evil, from Epstein, to illegal wars, to healthcare and food, to poor news reporting, to war against allies and the environment, to punishing blue states - the issues are there for the Dems to rally around and with unity, attack...to date the party is too fractured, and their lack of a clear meassage of belief and a clear counter message against Maga, is not landing effective hooks or upper cuts. Maga stupidy may be the tool that brings down evil but that is self inflicted, not something the Dems can crow about.... yet. Dems get your own house in order, that is the best tool for destroying Maga and Project 2025.
It could. Grassley - not. I wrote him today on how the nominees they passed through said they would defend the Constitution in their hearings and once in office, forgot what they said and how they have made him look foolish. I also wrote that silence is agreement, inaction is agreement. If he is really concerned about the loss of Senate power, then Blanche would be a great time to stand up.
Exactly right.
Again today, I'm off to talk to people about why voting can stop the damage they are experiencing just trying to live.
Thank you Celeste! How do you do this?
Someday when Dems are back in power maybe we can form a committee to count up the number of requests/objections made during this administration. I'll bet it's an all-time record. Whether or not MAGA reps want to acknowledge these complaints, the history books of the future can confirm that the American people did not just "sit back and take it" during these dark times.
“The history books of the future”?? Trump and his supporters have managed to scrub the history books (at least here in Georgia) of slavery, KKK, how the racist whites have behaved toward black slaves and their futures as supposedly free citizens. Just look at what Trump and his MAGA acolytes have done to “whitewash” not just the past, but the present. Even though history can’t REALLY be scrubbed, it can be (and IS being) hidden. I haven’t visited the Smithsonian’s museums in 20 years or so. But Trump and his fellow racists have done their best to erase or control history’s narrative. Everything Trump changes in Washington is either turned into faux gold, or white. (With exception to The Reflection Pool’s scum.) And I’ve been wondering, what’s the deal with the Eisenhower Executive Office Building? That venerable structure was built in the late 1800’s…why does Trump want to throw white paint over it? 🤷🏻♀️
Exactly, help them out with their own centrifugal force.
Have you ever jumped off a spinning carousel? It's kinda fun when you're 9, but at 79 it's pretty dangerous.
You can see the whites of their eyes.
It's, Nice turn of phrase...misery-go-round. Not only here, but world wide as his war with Iran is helping to destroy the world economy and he has worked steadily to destroy the world order established after WWII. Death star, the ball of destruction.
Something about lemmings going over the cliff. . .
A whirlwind of a carousel, with the music going faster and faster, is an excellent analogy. We're all starting to fly off of it now.
It's called brainwashing.
Husband of Ruth writing:
That’s all well and good, Megan, but at the rate this administration is moving by the time those ripples have any effect you’ll be in a full blown fascist dictatorship.
Perhaps; perhaps not. We all want and long for the momentous moments of victory to appear to calm our fears and continue to face great odds or defeat. These great events such as the civil rights moments or Midway and Stalingrad or Normandy in WW2 and so on, were the product and culmination of determined work and organizing leading up to them. These little " ripples" of small action and seemingly fruitless meaning enable the project as a whole to coalesce and become effective. It enables nimbleness to change and become more effective.
Yes, Megan, "annoy and overwhelm" has been my aim! My three Maga reps are pretty much entrenched in their cultish worship 😒🤬
Susitrav, I see you are a 3 month subscriber here to the forum. WELCOME! 👋🏼👋🏼As the self-appointed Walmart Greeter here, I am happy--really happy--to see you here. Perhaps you've been reading for free or you had a subscription you let lapse, but you pulled out your credit card and paid. THANK YOU.
I've been hanging around here for a while, and this community has pulled me through when I've been low. We are being firehosed for sure, and I'm gasping for air. New subscribers joining forces here are the oxygen to pull me through the midterms.
Again, thank you. (And btw, 2 daughters are teachers, as are 3 nieces, and I too love to read. Nice to meet you!😀)
You are absolutely right that "our volume matters." Twenty years ago I worked with lobbyists at both the state and federal level on behalf of my professional organization and they always told us that the number of people contacting the legislators matters because every call and every email gets logged and reported in the for or against column. It's less about whether what you say changes anybody's mind but rather that thousands called and/or wrote to say yay or nay.
To quote Eli Weisel, Holocaust survivor and author of the book, Night:
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
Megan, when I look back on the calls and emails I sent to Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell, starting in Trump's first term, I get satisfaction. Especially when I'd end my emails to McConnell with, "P.S. Your Louisville BBQ sucks." Kentuckians, hold on, you know it doesn't, but if he actually read anything, it was that P.S.
Heads Up LFAA. we have a new ICE tactic called "Fusion Centers". One of the first targets is San Diego ICE watcher APRIL WALKER. April is a very hard target & she has already filed a lawsuit with her co-plaintiff the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) last Friday, 7/24/26.
EFF's & April's lawsuit Case No. 3:26-cv-04232 AJB-MSB.
The named Plaintiff's include: The Electronic Privacy Information Center, Nicole Cleland, Jacqueline Ivet & Anna Walker vs. Markwayne Mullen & ICE & U.S. Customs and Border Control.
The initials "MJB" stand for Judge ANTHONY J. BATTAGLIA
The initial "MSB" stand for Magistrate Judge MAJOR S. WILLIAMS
The case before the Judge Battaglia will be generating headlines starting now.
*****************************************************************************
The pleadings detail ICE's High Tech surveillance system aka "node"that targeted April is at Paragraphs 11-16. of EFF's & April's spot-on pleadings.
Buckle Up but, superior litigation work product has already been displayed by all the Plaintiffs' Team.
I read about this on Sunday. Chilling. Thanks for pointing it out, Councilor.
There is a new book out by Brendan McQuade detailing the Tech.
The LA Times has a super explainer out reprinted Saturday in the San Diego Union on the front page right column.
*************************************
Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com › california › story › federal-la...
3 days ago — Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed in California allege that the Department of Homeland Security revoked their Global Entry privileges. ...
Thank you Bryan.
Thanks. I’ll pursue this.
Jacob Soboroff did a segment on MS NOW covering these Fusion centers. It was on his new program called Connect yesterday (Sunday) morning. It’s truly terrifying. One can probably find this online by now.
"Police fusion centers are intelligence hubs created after 9/11 to share information among local police, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies."
https://www.ms.now/connect/watch/connect-special-report-the-surveillance-ecosystem-built-into-our-government-2508507203526
Could you give some details of her suit, please?
⬆️ Anyone can use April's case number and the words"docket". The federal case was filed down here in San Diego County, CA.
Or go to the EFF website. Electronic Frontier Foundation.
https://www.eff.org
FYI: "EFF defends your privacy and free expression because technology should serve all people, not just the powerful. We're a nonprofit powered by members, and we ... Read more."
Lots of good PRIVACY info at EFF such as the following EFF post:
"Protect Your Privacy with California's DROP Tool
BY HAYLEY TSUKAYAMAJULY 20, 2026."
Disclosure: I am a donor.
*****************************************************************************
Again, the pleadings that detail of ICE's High Tech surveillance system is at Paragraphs 11-16. of April's sharp pleadings. 🎯
Thank you Megan!
Thanks for putting together this resource!
Well said, Megan! Thanks for the resources!
We must keep pushing back, even if it feels challenging and ineffectual, because one voice at a time will add up, the more often that people speak up.
There is an answer and a solution to the thieving oligarchs. The opposition must tell the truth and attack and fight like hell.
Ken Martin, leader of the DNC, is twiddling his thumbs. Worried about his inability to raise money for the election campaigns for good and honorable candidates. The DNC has 30% of the American voters already. They must attract the next 20% to 30%. The Independent swing voters. And that will not happen if the DNC message continues to be weak.
Here is the battle cry:
"The Trump Family is stealing money from Americans. They are stealing from all of you. The 272 members of the Senate and House work for the Trump Family now. Every GOP member who supports the Trump Family is working hard to keep them in power to keep stealing money from you. They are not hiding. They are "taking scores" by the hundreds of millions and putting the cash in their pockets.$2 Billion taken from MAGA faithful. With $635 Million of that in Donald's pocket. $1.7 Billion attempted raid on the Treasury with hundreds of millions in tax evasion. Partnerships with the Saudi and UAE governments. Selling out our country like traitors.
Independents: If you vote for any Trump endorsed candidate, you are voting against yourself."
The plain truth. Does the DNC have a better campaign pitch than the plain truth? Attack! Attack like Grant and hold on like a bulldog and don't let go until the thieves are forced out of public offices of trust.
More verses I want to hear in that battle cry:
END THE WAR! Dollars spent on war are dollars we don't have to put into programs to make housing, healthcare and education more affordable.
ELIMINATE CORRUPTION! Money that is siphoned away from the tax coffers via corruption is money unavailable for housing, healthcare, education. Corruption erodes public trust in the integrity of government and business.
A friend of mine suggested this slogan: CROP HIM OUT!!
If only it was that easy!
T is making everything we do less affordable. The Dems have to drive that point home!
I am an independent voter (No Party Affiliation). While I appreciate the “get out the crooks” message, I also want to hear coherent PLANS for moving our nation forward. Elizabeth Warren did that very well in her presidential run. Comprehensive plans, such as Medicare for All, plans for affordable housing, balancing the budget, restoring reproductive healthcare rights, there is a long list of items to be addressed, not just “lock him up” (though I love that too).
This is also my complaint, Signe. There will be no buy-in if Democrats don’t offer voters a coherent, comprehensive plan for what to do after Republicans are neutralized. This plan must be developed and publicized by a shadow government. So far, we have a few “voices crying in the wilderness,” such as Bernie and Buttigieg, but there’s no organization or power behind them. The DNC is a lost cause.
Signe, YES! I have posted a comment a bit above yours here. You nailed it in your comment.
There is a simpler message that Ronald Reagan famously asked to sweep into power in 1980: 'are you better off today?'.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jmFIXtz62U0
Trump has consistently downplayed the cost-of-living crisis that he has created by his policies - war, tariffs and mass deportation.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/278fDqehjI0
As James Carville famously said in 1992: "it's the economy, stupid."
Russell:
My variation is, "What has the president done for you lately?"
\Vince S
Exactly!
Ken Martin seems completely AWOL. I couldn't pick him out of a crowd. The messaging writes itself -- where is it?
Agreed!
The DNC should have established a "shadow cabinet" a long time ago. And each member should be all over every form of media there is - protesting and responding to the idiocy of this presidency - providing a response to every sycophants pathetic statements. And "presidential aspirants" should be lined up with responses to every stupid, ignorant, demented (!) comment by 47.
If not the DNC, then some other organization needs to make some noise every hour of every day. It feels like we are like the Golden Retrievers in a cage with Pit Bulls. We need to show some fangs.
That's why Democratic Socialists have traction. Maybe that's a bridge too far in some states, but not New York.
Democratic Socialists need to ditch that brand YESTERDAY and find a new banner. Any brand containing “socialist” is toxic to traditional centrists, no matter how accurate it may be.
Totally agree. Bad marketing. Too many stupid and uneducated people in this country hear “Socialist” to describe a faction of the Democratic Party will reflexively associate to “Communist” and recoil, even though they might benefit from many of the policies.
MAGA is already capitalizing on this ill considered designation. So dumb.
Dale, HCR said the same in her podcast a few days ago, regarding the word "socialist".
lauriemcf, he IS AWOL. Never could a director ask for better messaging being handed right to him; he doesn’t even have to work for it. But no one is using it … Ben Wikler would have far better, especially for this moment.
Ben would’ve been great!
Ben Winkler has an excellent new book out: This is the Plan. I highly recommend. And, yes, Ben should be head of the DNC.
He’s failing miserably. The DNC is out of touch and corporately focused instead of constituent focused. We need to take over the DNC and make it democratically focused on THE PEOPLE, not corporate money and power.
Laurie, he’s out of control…or is it what the MSM wants you to think? Although all of the messages I receive are just $ requests, no updates.
I wonder if the D candidates are doing better on their own with fundraising.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/us/politics/ken-martin-dnc-democrats.html?unlocked_article_code=1.01A.TvbW.mJUrdyX-x1GU&smid=nytcore-ios-share
Not just stealing our money. They are stealing public land. They are stealing our shared history. They are also stealing and commoditizing our personal data. They are stealing our physical health (through weakened health and environmental standards). They are stealing our rights.
They are threatening anyone who objects to this theft with violence.
They are the greatest threat this country has ever faced, by far. And an ineffectual DNC is not far behind.
DeBurgh, I wish I could give a good link, but I strongly encourage everyone to sign up (it's free) for polling data from Navigatorresearch.org
They compile data, and often show how simple changes in phrasing create different outcomes. What particular item we might feel passionate about might not be the most effective message to effect our desired outcome.
I can't stand Trump but anti-Trump isn't going to be enough, that's both my opinion and appears to be what this research is showing.
ANYONE here who is trying (like me) to talk to our MAGA friends/family/neighbors/coworkers needs to pay close attention to what the polls at Navigator are telling us.
The message doesn't have to be "anti-Trump". All the message needs is to say the truth out loud.
1. The Trump Family is using the Office of President to steal public money. Your money. Is raiding the Treasury for $1,776,000,000 a small thing we should just overlook? Are the mulit-billion Trump Family business partnerships with Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates a small thing? If he wasn't President they would never partner with them.
2. The GOP members of Congress are accomplices and accessories in the historic thefts of money from American citizens. They are working for the Trump Family now. They are working against the interests of their constituents and trying to fool them. They owe their jobs to the Trump Family, not their citizens. They are not hiding their allegiance to the Trump Crime Family. Name names.
Not an anti-Trump message. Just the truth.
Yes. Democratic candidates need a few succinct plain-truth talking points to use as they campaign:
1. What steps they'll take to end the destructive Iran war which has consumed tax dollars which should be used here at home.
2. What steps they'll take to end to the president's corruption whereby he enriches family members and cronies at the expense of taxpayers.
3. What steps they'll take to ensure more Epstein files are released and bring his co-pedophiles to account.
4. What steps they'll take toward a bipartisan immigration reform bill which is humane, rational, and enforceable. (Remember: it was immigration that won him the 2016 election and probably the 2024 election.)
As a party Democrats should agree on two or three steps they'll take to achieve each of these aims. Right now they need to prioritize these national interests above culture-wars issues.
All good Democratic Party member points. But what will move Independents to vote for Dem candidates? Or at a minimum, not vote. Perhaps a simpler message:
The Trump Crime Family is stealing from you. Their candidates are helping them steal your money. If you vote for Trump candidates you are voting against yourself.
Kelli has written a dark summary after one of the darkest letters Heather has written. She has made clear the contempt Trump and his puppetmasters hold for the Constitution and the rule of law in matters great (the Iran War) and small (the Arc de Trump).
I still hope that this is the deepest darkness before dawn, the last gasp of desperation of a regime that is now flailing and failing, but the danger remains extreme.
99 days until the day of reckoning.
The House is in recess until August 31. That gives the regime a vacuum to work in without even any pretense of congressional oversight. While SCOTUS is also out of session until October, it can consider motions and emergency applications, including urgent requests handled on the Court’s “shadow docket”. That does not give me much comfort in spite of Elena Kagan's remarks to the 9th Circuit that the court has not been a captive of Trumpian interests over the last term, ruling against him on tariffs and birthright citizenship
We need to use that time to make sure that our own vote will be counted, and to mobilize rage against the regime's corruption and failed promises to get out the vote.
We can promise to make efforts at accountability, and Trump cannot veto impeachments of cabinet and other officials, but it will still take a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict them. The math is not pretty, so we cannot guarantee accountability by impeachment convictions; we can only guarantee exposure. We cannot guarantee legislative reform either without 2/3 majorities in both chambers to override the inevitable Trump vetoes. The ability to defeat Trump nominations plays into Trump's hands because he would resort to acting appointments that don't require Senate approval, which he has already stated are more to his liking.
Here is the unpretty math. There are 65 Senate seats NOT up for election in November. Of those, 31 are held by Republicans and 34 by Democrats; there are no Independents among the non-up seats in the current breakdown. Of the 35 seats up for election, 22 are held by Republicans, 13 by Democrats, and 0 by Independents. To get to 2/3 to convict following impeachment, the opposition has to win 33 of those 35 races. If the opposition holds all of their current seats, they have to flip 20 of the 22 Republican seats.
To reliably control the legislative agenda in the Senate in this geriatric milieu, the opposition needs to have 52 seats, since Fetterman is a wildcard and there needs to be a spare for incapacity or death. Doing the math, we have to flip 5 Republican seats if we don't want a replay of the Manchin/Sinema hostage situations. The states most often surfacing as competitive are the ones you’d expect for a Senate battle map: Texas, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, Alaska, Maine, and Florida. South Carolina, Lindsey Graham's seat, is not on that list, and it includes Ossoff's seat in Georgia.
We have to strengthen the corruption argument by tying it to the money that is being taken out of the average American's pocket, and show how it is being transferred to the oligarchs. That was the Hungarian strategy that overthrew Orban, but that was in a parliamentary system where loss of the majority in the legislature results in an automatic change of leadership and the immediate ability to institute legislative reform. We do not have that luxury in our system of government. An oligarch puppet will be president until 2028.
We have 99 days to make the case. We also have to be honest with the American people about what we can't do.
Perhaps the Democrats do not need for the time being to win large majorities in both chambers of the Congress, just large enough to financially hobble the administration and to launch investigations into its unlawful behaviour. That's what the congressional Republicans fear most as they despair of ever getting Trump to focus on the bread and butter issues.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XtlEyMCGPJY
Russell, you may be right, but I have my doubts. Hearings and investigations are of no interest to voters who are minimally engaged. They are considered a waste of time and resources to moderately engaged voters, who would point to the J6 hearings that produced no meaningful results. For the same reason, hearings are exceedingly frustrating to engaged voters. Getting to say, “I told you so” resolves zero problems.
Dale, we do have many Congressional hearings that go nowhere and are mostly beauty pageants to give some ugly-spirited members a forum in which to preen and scream. These are wasteful, costly, time-consuming. But if they're focused and disciplined and well-run, they can be informative and sometimes lead to reforms.
What you write is true, Donna, but a few worthwhile hearings don’t create a basket I’d put my eggs in. I’d reconsider if the Senate achieved a filibuster-proof Democratic majority, but I’m not that optimistic.
What you say, Dale, is sad but true. Or true and sad.
Spot on 🎯 Georgia. They have been building the infrastructure for this shit show for decades, and this next election stands no chance of dismantling it. We are going to be stuck with a lot of it for a long time to come. Maybe we’ll take back the house which will change the focus of congressional hearings, that’s just going to shed light onto the problem, while light will be helpful it will take more than light to tear it apart. I think it’s going to take decades, maybe we’ll get another FDR who can force through massive changes for the good of the nation. What we have now is a malevolent executive determined to destroy anything that would benefit the public, he has people with economic power lining up to support his agenda, which is to make all of them richer at our expense. Their entire focus is on looting the wealth of the nation. 🤬🤬🤬
Georgia: It's even scarier than what Kelli describes. See thecycle-onsubstack.com for Rachel Bitecofer's take on what's happened already and where it could lead.
And an attempt at the destruction of the USA! The rule of law and the Constitution are the bedrocks of our country and if you are against them, you are against the USA and are NOT a real American!
''King Donald and the Unlatched Constitution''
Donald Trump has apparently discovered the Constitution. Not read it, of course. That would require patience, attention, and several words without his name in them. He has discovered it the way a raccoon discovers a locked trash can: as an irritating obstacle that can probably be defeated with enough clawing, hissing, and total lack of shame.
Congress controls taxes? Fine. Declare an emergency. The Supreme Court strikes down the tariffs? Fine. Try another statute, another loophole, another side door, or an unlatched window. Trump’s governing philosophy is burglary with a presidential seal.
This is not a president testing the edges of constitutional power. This is personal rule carried out through emergency declarations, legal trapdoors, and a Republican Congress too frightened to change the locks.
The same trick now applies to war. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare it, but apparently that rule can be reset like the clock on a microwave. Trump started bombing Iran, declared the hostilities over while the hostilities continued, then announced a brand-new military engagement and restarted the War Powers clock. Democracy, now with unlimited rollover minutes.
And because no would-be monarch is complete without oversized architecture, Trump wants a triumphal arch in Washington. Federal law requires congressional approval, which is inconvenient because Congress might ask annoying questions like, “Is this legal?” or “Why are we building a monument to a living president who treats tariffs, wars, and emergencies like items from his personal room-service menu?”
When a reporter asked who the arch was for, Trump pointed to himself and said, “Me.”
At least he finally told the truth.
The tariffs are for him. The emergency powers are for him. The wars are for him. The arch is for him.
America, apparently, is just the gift shop.
He could not do this without his many lawyers constantly finding the loop holes for him. They are good at their job and, of course, have no qualms about doing it.
Courts must do a better job of disciplining attorneys who bring frivolous lawsuits.
The most important one is his gambit t9 take control ove4voting by mail. The Biston appeals court has refused to lift a trial court injunction against it. Trumps Justice Department says they will appeal. S9 we are one Supreme Court per curiam order on the shadow docket away from a complete breakdown or constitutional order and the sacking of the republic. An order granting an emergency motion for stay pending appeal. Trump will then proceed to derail the midterm Congressional elections. States that oppose his takeover of the Postal Service and oppose his use of it as a backdoor to gaining control over elections will see their elections hamstrung and their results set aside or ignored. The Congress that convenes if it is able, will refuse to seat Senators and Representatives from such states, they being in the main from tbe opposing party. The result will be a rump Congress like that of Civil War years, or none at all. Trump will govern by "emergency" decree. And he will tariff or solicit tribute to raise money and spend as he wishes in the name of a "United States" no longer in existence .
One Supreme Court administrative order of no precedential significance. As the current majority has worked to achieve. Thus will Congress be rendered like the Russian Duma, irrelevant. And it will have enabled its own dissolution or reduction to a rubber stamp.
This president is a stress test of the Republic. Will it fail or will it hold up ? He is as relentless as a serial killer. He is as pathological in this respect but thoroughly consistent, .methodological, and deliberate. And he is not merely asking someone to stop him before he kills again. He is challenging anyone to do it, but most importantly in the coming weeks, his friends on the Supreme Court.
It'a a great frustration that while we can petition and harangue and bombard Congress with our opinions and demands, there is no counterpart we have to plead with the Supreme Court Justices. From their lofty positions they are impervious to our judgements of them.
And THAT has to be our first priority following November’s Blue Wave!
Tyler, I have no objection to your referring to Trump in the singular, but it bears remembering that Donald isn’t smart on his own. He knows nothing of the Constitution or the law. He is more interested in his vanity projects, merely taking time to sign off on the schemes presented to him by his henchmen, who sell their plots by reminding him that they will keep him in the White House and out of prison.
Consider it a short hand expression. I am aware that he is not smart enough to think these things up on his own. He has a Corp of schemers. Chief among them is Russell Vought. He dreamed this thing up. He ran it by Miller. Miller said "I like it", and they went and presented it to Trump. They knew he could not resist it, so frustrated and bent on revenge he is. "Beautiful", he said.
I understood, Tyler. I wanted to remind others that Donald is definitely not the mastermind.
I agree that Vought and Miller are certainly calling the shots. More recently, I've been thinking that Scott Bessent is assisting Peter Navarro in misleading Donald on economic matters. Of course, SecTreas is supposed to be independent of the president's influence, but nobody in Donald's regime operates independently – and keeps his/her job. Navarro is the idiot responsible for Donald's tariff abuse, but he's beyond his depth anywhere else. Bessent is just smart enough to be dangerous.
Every president has at one time or another sought ways to get round constitutional restrictions, the only difference is that Trump does it all the time. In my opinion, it just reflects the inadequacy of your sclerotic Constitution and the risks you have run by your undue reverence for the document. You clearly need to rewrite it in modern English. If you did that you could both address some important lacunae in the document, like the failure to include economic and social rights, and also remove the need for pernicious legal doctrines like Originalism and the Unitary Executive. A fairer electoral system might also go a long way towards rescuing your democracy. In short, your guardrails aren't working and you need to fix them.
Russell, "sclerotic" is the perfect word to describe the document at the base of our governance. The Constitution written in 1787 couldn't and didn't anticipate the social, economic, demographic and technological changes which are integral to 21st century life. The cumbersome amendment process was expressly designed to make it difficult for us to change constitutional provisions. Two hundred fifty years ago we were pioneers in nation-building. Now we need to build a new nation on a new foundation. A daunting undertaking that a shallow, impatient, dare we say lazy population may not be up to.
You’re amazing. You can read the full letter and type in your comments exactly the time they are posted. That takes some serious planning
I read it on Facebook first. Heather posts there well before it goes live on Substack, so no real planning.
Kelli, you have very magnanimously shared the secret of your early and almost-always top comments. I fear there will be a race among Heather's readers to Facebook to be early commenters, which usually means being among the "top" comments. I hope your posts, which are succinct and on point, remain high on the list.
I was wondering how you did that.
Reading it on Facebook first gives me time to sit with it. By the time it goes live on Substack, I’ve usually already written out the point I want to make.
Yes, Mike isn’t it great that Kelli has figured out how to commandeer the conversation and set the direction it takes, thus creating openings to promote his own essays?
The thing is, Dale, Kelli's posts are a manageable length when we have hundreds of others to read each morning. It was very transparent of Kelli to share his 'secret,' and I fear we may now see a slew of early comments that in length almost rival Heather's letter (okay, that's an exaggeration). Some longer comments are worth every word, others not so much.
Donna, to my mind, divulging how one games the system doesn’t make one less guilty of gaming the system. I have no problem with the content of Kelli’s comments. I’m annoyed by his scheme to be first, therefore “top,” thereby using HCR’s Substack to promote his own. It reminds me of Donald elbowing other dignitaries at summits, ensuring that HE’s the most visible. I’m sure everyone else is less petty than I.
Dale, You're right that gaming a system isn't something to boast about. But I don't know if Kelli schemes to be first or is just an early reader-writer. It seems to me that early posters do have an advantage, but more power to them if they're awake and functional a 3 am! Before Kelli got to the top there were a few others who were frequently top guns. Anyone who wants to be at the top can play the same game. I see more ego in other posts than in Kelli's.
If all commenters had your degree of pettiness which is UNpettiness in my book, we'd all be better off. :) Cheers for today.
PS: And ego is sometimes okay. I had a classmate who could be rather opinionated and even arrogant. Some didn't like him for this; I was fine with it because in fact he was brilliant. Brilliance excuses some (not all!) ego.
Actually, the Constitution installs protections against concentrating power in one BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT.
That's what all democratic constitutions do.
Then, who makes all decisions inside the executive branch depends on the party that controls it. Clearly, today, it's not Trump at all. He doesn't know the law, he doesn't care about the war in Iran, etc. etc. He cares about money, fame, golfing, and women (not necessarily in this order).
In this case, it's clearly the neofascist tech billionaires and the neofascist Heritage Foundation making up more than half of the senior White House staff who write the executive orders Trump has to sign, and therefore, who make most decisions.
That would not be a problem IF the GOP Congress would still be pro-democracy. But it's neofascist too. As Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, said: from now on, the GOP sees the role of Congress as merely "codifying the executive orders signed by the president".
That is entirely anti-constitutional.
The democratic US Constitution, as HCR explains, gives Congress ALONE the power of the purse, for instance. And it's the people's representatives in Congress that need to negotiate bills.
No one in the GOP is trying to turn the US into an absolutist monarchy. The GOP wants the US to become a neofascist state. That doesn't mean "all power in the hands of one person" (that's an absolutist monarchy, or a dictatorship), it means "all power in the hands of the executive branch of government".
It's a crucial difference.
Johnson's comment reflects something Norquist said in the late 90s I believe, "We do not need an idealogue in the White House, Just one who will sign whatever a republican dominated Congress passes."
Ok, now reread what Johnson ACTUALLY said: this time, it's CONGRESS that will sign whatever a neofascist White House passes.
That is the very definition of fascism. The subordination of the legislative and judiciary branches of government to the executive branch.
And what fascism needs as president is an entertainer who's great at shocking people, keeping them constantly distracted for what the ideologues behind the scenes in the White House are doing.
So this is bad, and incomparably worse than what Norquist said. In Norquist's case, it's still Congress that negotiates and passes bills, so it's still a democracy. Not with what Johnson said and does.
Very astute observation. 100% correct in the noted difference.
The safeguards only work if Congress and the courts enforce them. Instead, Republicans protected him and his judges ruled in his favor. The system didn't fail. The people guarding it chose to surrender.
Harvey Kravetz,
Agree! Enforcement is necessary as is punishing ones child when they are disobedient. If a parent does not follow through, the child will feel free to do as it pleases until it faces "jail time" or some other method of disipline.
Those "guarding Trump" are as evil as he is...NO RESPECT FOR OUR COUNTRY NOR ITS PEOPLE, JUST UNBRIDLED GREED!!!!
I think even Congress has gotten the message by now (with apparent minimal result other than talk), so perhaps it's time to begin telling our representatives; "Hey, if you're not going to show some actual action, it's time we removed you and elect someone else. Goodbye and "Thank you for your service."
Except the wealthy.
The problem is that Trump doesn't "work around" the Constitution, he simply ignores it and does as he pleases, and the GOP dominated Congress does nothing!
I find the idea of a "strongly worded letter" being the only thing the Dems in Congress do to be risible. We now have Quislings on both sides of the aisle.
Kelli Klymenko,
We, the USA, have respected the Constitution and its protections. We must uphold it. It is our turn to face the fact that this administration does not honor this sacred document. We can not sidestep this threat! We are the United States of America!!!!
I am for removing anyone from office or the disguised forces from "the outside" who may be pushing for theses "safeguards" to our freedoms to be distorted or completely removed. We must WAKE UP...
Donald Trump does not have the character or respect for this great nation or its citizens to have even been placed on a ballet to lead ANYTHING! Everything he touches fails!
May the powers that are pushing this agenda be eliminated!!!! The sooner these enemies of freedom are found and removed from power and accused of "treason against our country and its citizenry" the better!!!!
Emily, I submit that referring to the Constitution as “sacred” is a major source of our current troubles. It is flawed, written by flawed men who lived two-and-a-half centuries ago. Even they didn’t think they had created a “sacred” document. In their wildest imaginations, they couldn’t fathom that personal firearms would one day fire 50 rounds in a minute, or that tangible currency would become obsolete, or that all the information in the world could be shared without ink and paper, or that Americans wouldn’t even speak English In the same dialect they spoke.
They provided the means to update the Constitution and our legislators have been to cowardly and power-mad to use it. The Constitution isn’t a religious text; it’s an instruction manual.
Emily Pfaff,
Dale Rowett AR OK VA PA NY,
We are humans...so nothing we do is perfect. However, the greatness of character given to our former patriots, is way ahead of the "thieves and robbers" we have currently destroying our country from the inside out ie PIRATES, HAULING IN THE TREASURE of hardworking people.
We do have the few and the brave, as is usual in such times, who have not been enticed by money and power.
I thank you....those who have fought to preserve our freedoms on the battlefield as well as in government positions of influence, as teachers, as professors, within your places of worship, at your jobs, with family and friends, etc.
in a different direction, the moment someone tries to work around the constitution instead of upholding their oath to that document, they're on the way to being an enemy of the people.
we need to protect ourselves against enemies like that.
Trump IS the emergency.
Trump and the plutocracy unleashed by Reagan and "Republicans" since.
Well, since a majority of voting Americans elected them, what's the problem? And who are the plutocrats? There are very few truly wealthy people in the government. Was Kennedy a plutocrat?
A Kauffmann,
I was stunned and sickened that Trump was placed on the ballot! How far our country has fallen along with the criminals who are making money off this Presidency!!!!
Its true that Trump's sons and le than a handful of others have engaged in clear conflicts of interest, but that is not criminal. Who are the criminals you have in mind?
A Kauffman,
Perhaps my accusation should have been as you stated "involved in clear conflicts of interest."
I did not vote for him. I do not respect him nor his sons/daughter. Their priorities are obvious as reported by the news and not the same as mine.
You have every right to disagree with my opinion garnered from the news and by the simple observation of reported behavior over the years.
Emily Pfaff
A Kauffman,
My comment referred to "OTHERS, those who are making money off this Presidency".
You got that right, sweetie. The worst demon that could be birthed from a diseased birthing canal has come forth from Dante’s Inferno to destroy everything once good in the world. Who? Why the modern version of Genghis Khan himself of course running across the Land of Milk and Honey to plunder and destroy. How did this occur? Joe Biden stumbled on the debate stage and went into a purple haze that’s how. He just wanted one more election to make him the president for the 250th. But Father Time caught up with him. And now a New York Times story reveals that the Democratic Central Committee is deeply in debt and in panic mode. No sheet, Dick Tracy. As JL Graham speaks of the unleashing of a second rate actor in the 1980s who set the stage not for a “shining city upon a hill” to describe America as an exceptional, free, and hopeful beacon for the world but in truth, disaster unleashed. I don’t have anything good to say this morning. Time for coffee and to feed the cats.🐈⬛
You can blame Joe Biden but the real blame lies at the feet of the American voters whose minds are so totally ignorant and depraved, easily manipulated and riddled by hatred of anyone different, that they scared Joe into thinking he needed to repeat his last victory. The American press didn’t help when they focused on his every gaffe.
Time to put the blame on ourselves and work our asses off to fix this mess. Ken Martin, or any other single person, cannot do it. The Democratic Party is broke because the people who say they want to save our democracy are not willing to put their money where their mouth is, nor are they willing to knock on a stranger’s door and spread the word. They sit on their hands and hope someone else will do it.
I am a local organizer in a red state and frustrated as hell trying to just motivate a few people when there should be thousands at each meeting or rally. 😡
One must wax philosophical in times like these. Hell, I don’t have full answers. I want to look at politics as an advertisement. And that’s what it is is. I say cut back on some of the woke issues that simply don’t sell. I have rarely enthusiastically voted for a president but instead took the less bad. I did however travel for Al Gore because I knew he would have been transformative. I always voted for Biden even though I never much liked him. It’s called take you you got.
Coffee and cats ? Good on ya. Having a dog would round it out. I look forward to your post s.
It’s already too rough rough without a dog.
Kitty! Kitties!
Cowgrrrl, you are right. "The administration turned to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to impose tariffs in the case of an international financial emergency.” Trump CREATES the emergencies so he can further the Project 2025 agenda.
Paranoia does strange things to the mind. I doubt Trump has ever even read Project 2025. Have you? I haven't and don't know anyone who has out side of think tanks.
I read a summary of Project 2025 and have read selected sections from the original tome. They mean business; they are 100% focused on the destruction of the rights which make up a democracy. I hope being “in a think tank” isn’t a requirement for reading anything… I know several people who have read the whole thing.
I don't see any sign of "destruction of the rights which make u pa democracy." We still have three branches of government, we see the exercise of checks and balances, we have an election coming up. Apart from drama, what is the problem?
I don't see evidence that Trump ever read the thing. Have you ever read the drivel in a party's policy statement for their campaign? No one pays attention to it.
Oh, I’m sorry; I assumed you lived on Earth.
Sorry if I misled you.
But even on earth (so I hear) that is hardly a thoughtful, adult response to my claims about democracy. If that's all you can do, join me in outer space.
Sure does.
Cowgrrl: Trump AND the people behind him. Russell Vought, Stephen Miller, etc., etc. I'm pretty sure he isn't doing all this stuff all by himself.
Jocelyn, did you mean Stephen Miller? Roger Miller was a great musician, but I don’t think he was interested in ridding the U.S. of people of color. 😊
THANK YOU. Duh. We listened to Roger when we were kids. Fixing it!
Thought about deleting my comment, Jocelyn, but we need whatever scraps of humor we can find in this dark timeline. Have a great day!
I'm glad you corrected me! And we DO need humor! Although I just went to see the "pro shot" movie of Hadestown, so after that, I *really* need humor! It just never ends well, no matter how much you're hoping ....
Then why do you read them?
Huh?
Second that declaration!
Another well-defined, intellectual, and fact filled post by a liberal lemming. It’s getting boring
Gee Rick. Someone just like you!
Pathetic. You must be a lonely little person.
Another fact filled and intellectually, in-depth and erudite post by a below average liberal loser. An average is pretty bad already for a liberal.
Pieces of information I’ll give you. Make sure your brain is engaged before you put your mouth in gear. I have a few more, but I’ll give you a little something to cheer you up. Whiner
Here you are, and all your glory
https://youtube.com/shorts/dxkgZZi1cic?si=214uxOYgAYbJXz39
Your grammar is terrible.
I’m gonna look for one more pass it on to Peter would you?
Well, somehow, Peter forgot his last name. Post disappeared while I was trying to respond so if you see him, have them send it again because I’d love to destroy it. It was something about vaccines
I would love to hear this. This is gonna be good hey Peter just in case you decide to oh I think Dohan or something with his last name.
If he decide to come back, make sure Engage your brain before you put your mouth in gear when you make a reckless comment about vaccines
Pass that along to Mister vaccine would you and I have one more I think
First of all, I’m voice texting take your grammar lesson and stick it up your orthographic orifice. Didn’t your seventh grade teacher teach you that content Was more important than for.m
Just like a liberal a worthless deflection
Didn't your seventh-grade teacher teach you that if you come off as illiterate no one will read your writings? Have you ever heard of proofing your work before hitting "reply"?
How did America fall into this deep, deep sickness with this deeply sick man?
Heather invites this Q, especially with hers today on the consistent record criminal of Donald in total contempt of all U.S. constitutional institutions and the very principles and traditions of our democracy itself.
But let's never mind those obvious sets of challenges (though not in the ways congressional Republicans ever roll over to them). Let's look instead at his record of violence and murder.
He loved Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and Three Percenters leading the violence of Jan. 6, 2021. He has more recently loved the ICE thugs on their lawless, cold-blooded street terror and murder campaigns. Renee Good. Alex Pretti. And continuing.
He loved the bombing of Iran -- such video game explosive power -- even if it included the murder of 168 Iranian schoolgirls at Minab.
He loved his fool Hegseth pushing the repeat murders of poor fishermen off the coast of Venezuela.
Loved his criminal buddy Netanyahu using U.S. arms to kill and destroy on the West Bank and Gaza, similarly as he admired Mohammed bin Salman taking cleavers in dismembering Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi.
Putin still delivers to him frissons of delight.
Yes, the Constitution. Our institutions. Democracy. But the obscenities of repeat murders after repeat murders?
To the how did it happen I would add: how did it happen as quickly as it did?
Any attempt at rebuilding our political system should address that and take the corrective action needed to prevent it going forward.
The U.S. cratered, BobCaster, as the mass of its people no longer read any books.
And of the few who yet do read, virtually none can refer anything apt from them to our public realities.
I tend to agree. But I also understand the vindictiveness of the human brain especially during an election cycle. The mentality is often, “I’ll get back at that guy. He did something I didn’t like.” And that voter, who may even be educated, will emotionally reach instead of weighing all pros and cons. Often when I vote, I realize neither candidate is perfect but one is less bad. And then you have a group of young educated white men who upon applying for university jobs of government jobs, found they had to wait for DEI folks first. To some extent this is true. I was never in favor of this thing DEI. It separates us and makes us unnecessarily competitive when we all should be constantly equals. I’m fighting the losing fight here I know. But this is my opinion.
Equity, not equality, is what we need to reach towards. We have suppressed the incredible potential of so many people in this country, for so many centuries, that we need to find ways to achieve equity. Equality will indefinitely keep everyone on an uneven playing fields (perpetuating a caste system)… equity fixes the discrepancies that have existed for generations. We can’t fix our issues with democracy unless we fix the caste system. And the caste system eventually comes for us all (one example being lack of universal healthcare) so it’s a win win. Highly recommend reading Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and listening to/reading Black, Brown, Indigenous voices with an open mind.. just quietly listening.
Thank you, L M, for replying with references to arts.
In the 1970s, with my newly-minted Ph.D. in hand, as another white guy I experienced the prefencing for women and minorities "upon applying for university jobs o[r] government jobs," as Bill Katz says he did, too.
Bill "was never in favor of this thing DEI." I was.
We learn to be more flexible, to open our views, when we learn to become conscious of the wider world of hurts others have experienced -- still experience.
Your citing Isabel Wilkerson and her great book, "Caste," wonderfully illuminates this more valuable perspective.
Phil oh no, I’m sorry you misunderstand me. I am undereducated. I even dropped out of grade school once, lol. The law forced me back. I graduated high school in 3 years after going to summer school for 3 years because I was bored. I dropped out of college and received my education on the road traveling throughout Europe and living in Florence, my city of dreams. In my latter days, I decided to open a store after teaching myself the craft of picture framing. It pays well, you know. I also always wanted to write so I became a writer. I wanted to be a songwriter so I became one and a damn good one at that. I wanted to do stand up comedy and I’m now working on a stage presence. And I have some real funny stories to recite. We can do whatever we want in life. No I’m not a screaming intellectual. But I can hold my own in an argument. I don’t allow others to tell me what to believe. I’m a leader without a following and that is fine with me.
Excellent point and an excellent suggestion for reading, LM.
I am reminded of a descriptive drawing.
Equality: three kids of different height standing at a fence. The tall one can see over, the middle one stands on tiptoe and barely peeks over, and the shortest one cannot see.
Equity: The tall one sees over the fence. The middle one stands on a box leveling his height to the tall one. The shortest one stands on a larger box, the height matching the other two.
Yes, Ally, got it. Government can help provide good boxes.
But schools can provide the much better-needed reading such as L M specifies here with his/her ref to Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste."
We often push too far until we lose. I want to win. End of story.
"It separates us and makes us unnecessarily competitive when we all should be constantly equals."
Unfortunately we are not all equal, we never have been, This and income inequality is the damn problem.
Sadly, I think that is true. For a nation that is supposed to be a major player on the world scene, we are remarkably isolationist in that regard.
I also think that Bill Katz (below) makes a valid point.
The BobCaster,
I would suggest as to one reason to "How it happened...." is (as a people in the USA)
our respect for good character as well as our appreciation for leaders of study and intelligence and honorable conduct has been exchanged for those with wealth who are good at 'wheeling and dealing'.
This unfortunately has also polluted many churches ie "the bigger the better, a popular Paster," etc...somehow makes them, more superior as Christians. Trump has captured many Christ followers even Franklin Graham. He worked to influence them by holding up a closed Bible. I am guessing he does not read that sacred book, so a CLOSED BIBLE is much more familiar to him.
We have been blinded by a "flashy outside and an empty inside.
This person chosen to serve as President of the United States of America, has shown disrespect towards women most of his life and as usual "gets away with no condemnation".
This person voted in "by the people" has disgraced this country, built by immigrants, by choosing to condemn these wonderful, hardworking people....putting many in prison and putting fear into everyone with brown skin!!!!
Wil we reclaim "common sense" in our future elections or will we create our own destruction????
He clearly takes some weirdly sociopathic pleasure in all the deaths -- he's like an 8 year old playing with toy soldiers. He has no real concept of the human toll because he doesnt' see others as humans equal to him.
And he loves the Proud Boys, et al because they produce violence in His name. He is a coward (he can’t even fire people himself) and watching violent groups is the next best thing.
Lauriemcf, Fred Trump admired Donald’s “killer instinct,” as he called it. Little is known about Donald’s early boyhood, but I wonder if there were no pets in the Trump household because Donald couldn’t be trusted around animals. It could be argued that he contributed to the premature death of his older brother.
interesting
Trump in the past tense is what I love to hear!
Hey Gene, if any of you know Jennifer, Post Lee, the coward, who post some crap on here doesn’t allow you to respond and after she posted probably runs into the house and ask mommy to wipe her ass. Give her her Bankie. Run over to blue sky. Go commiserate in the same urine as your lemming friends
Agreed. Trump, and many other officials in the highest level of our government are sick people. Is the whole country sick as well? No, I think we've had it so good for so long we thought we could afford the luxury of a sick government. We got lazy. It is no accident that sloth takes second place only to pride in the list of seven deadly sins. Fascism is just another way to say government by a prideful few over the slothful many. This condition did not happen quickly, the current iteration is decades in the making - but it will end fairly quickly. Then we will be left with the lazy many and a few energetic souls who can help us rebuild our institutions and refine our culture, or lead us into another round of fascism. Or, and I think this is the best option, we can build an engaged, informed, and alert populace that has the critical thinking skills to recognize a fascist or totalitarian when they see one.
Hey Steve, how about throwing out a factor two. Never mind liberals use opinion everybody else uses fact I would love to see you guys in the courtroom someday.
Well, Your Honor is a sick man OK Phil do you have any factor evidence to back that up? Well some of his decisions don’t agree with mine.
Judge well that doesn’t necessarily qualify him as being sick there Phil. Well, he is sick. Well unless you can provide some fact, I’m gonna have to dismiss your case.
And if you bring me another case like this without evidence or support, I’m gonna kick you out of my courtroom have an ice day
Fascism you’re talking Joe Biden. Who autocratically open the border and let illegals run rampant and kill Americans and rape women by the hundreds and you don’t give a shit
You are living a monster sick, Mr. Abbott, every single one of your disgusting, hateful posts, defines US sick, deranged human beings, with no reason to make any remarks like the ones you’re making none no reason whatsoever
As I mentioned above best president of your lifetime, creating democracy all over the world.
Exactly what I have said about the Palestinian murders but a Jewish woman reminded me of the 1,500 hundred mostly Israelis senselessly killed by Hamas and she is right. We should always practice equal opportunity where it speaks to atrocities although 1,500 don’t exactly make it an equal eye for an eye in speaking to 50,000 to 1,500. How we have fallen so fast I have expressed above which is hard or impossible for most of us to except. I won’t mention his name again.
Phil, you’re right to highlight the callousness of human life. Indeed, it’s beyond callousness pushing towards deliberate delight. We need to know what we’re up against. These coming months we will need to be bold and out front.
Do you want to hear the callousness of human life? It’s mostly by the left while they fade that they care about people. Over 400 Americans have been killed by illegals since Biden took office and over 1000 women have been sexually assaulted raped. Now where’s all your compassion for them. ? That number should be 00000000. Zero zero ZERO. and attached to that there are 4000 American women sexually assaulted every year in this country and if it wasn’t for the liberal suicidal empathy bullshit it would stop in its tracks. If you only would punish the criminal but no cash bail I feel bad for him. He’s in a bad relationship. He didn’t know what he was doing. He’s only 16. Any excuse you can give instead of removing his dick and his balls and cutting off a finger on each hand maybe the ring finger so you’d see him walking down the street and you would stop rape in his track s.
They feign not fade. Sorry.
And here is Phil the moron again starting out the morning without complaining at all that Heather is actually using the word Nazi today Heather you should be ashamed of yourself. And your parishioners follow you around like lemmings without nobody protesting your use of the word Nazi, which is absolutely sickening.
And that’s all you do Phil is mouth her words like she is the Oracle of Truth? Heather is nothing more now than a radical liberal activist toting around a bunch of blind Sims who Who bow and genuflect with every word that comes out of her mouth. Thank God you’re only .2% of the Democrat population of the US CONTAGIOUS DISEASE
I do love that you’re a paid subscriber for HCR’s posts. You pay her to come here with your mangled English, poor grammar and laughable rants, I suppose because girls don’t find you attractive.
Been married for 57 years been to 104 countries, 27 Island nations, and all 50 states with my wife. It was a CEO of one of the largest companies in the world.
Go proselytize yourself
No you weren’t
Well, what I heard is that YOU had never gottenLAID because you thought it said laid, but you went there to get played and you got played INSTEAD.
Why are you mis representing yourself? Every time we get into one of these stupid conversations you’ve got a different life story, so either you’re a bot, or a sad and pathetic person who wishes he was someone else.
I’m exactly who I say I am
Atlantic Canadian, sewer and watermain pipe layer
I cut and sell firewood for extra money
Married for 30 years
Raised a good family.
Nothing to be ashamed of .
Why are you so ashamed?
And before I was married, I pretty much had my choice. Best athlete in the city, great humor and wit as you can see by my posts. And a 12 years old was tested at 140 IQ
At 40 years old, invited to attend a mentor meeting as a prospective candidate to join
Was a bridge champion despite that how boring is that? So do yourself keep your penis in your pocket.
You’ve never been laid in your fuckin life.. stop will ya, for fuck sakes
It’s Apple mangled English so complain to them. And as usual all you liberals have is pointing out bullshit, my God, RICK, your orthography is horrible. No capital letters no commas no periods, dangling participles andending sentences with a preposition.
It’s a crime against The good Lord himself.
CONTENT OVER FORM. save your bullshit answers for some , Liberal lemming. Who can’t put together a coherent sentence without looking it up on AI
And the fact remains that I posted facts, and that you haven’t seen a fact in probably decades I’ve never seen so many losers in one place and one time
https://youtube.com/shorts/dxkgZZi1cic?si=214uxOYgAYbJXz39
Here you are and all your glory but if you ever decide to send any fax my way, I’ll be more than happy to destroy each and everyone you think it’s a fact
I’ve never met a more ignorant person than you, Phil Never met a more ignorant person than you. So many fucking lemmings here that follow each other around like blind idiots Haters extraordinaire
With no reason whatsoever to hate None of you have a fact, anywhere in sight Just disgusting accusations, insults below human dignity and while consumed and hate, you can’t even control yourselves Almost like human vermin
How does mute work again?
Donald Trump is spreading more democracy than any president in US history
Any spreading more wealth as well. Any spreading more freedom as well
And from people like you spreading more hate. I don’t realize there are one-way flights out of here. In fact what we should do is to trade you for the 7 million soccer fans I could not say enough about the beauty, the freedom, the diversity, the food, the travel, and everything great about America, much different than what they hear and their own media. i’ll put that in your pipe and smoke it or stuff it up your ass your choice. We should trade them for you
The wording in your comment is mangled, suggesting you’re posting from Moscow or Macedonia, or Pluto.
This Kremlin team, Kimberly (it's seldom just one person), also heavily uses AI.
Plus, I never use AI. I use four or five different sites and the most effective one for you. Idiots who actually wanna find a fact try this site. http://factually.comYou can take AI and stick it up your Trump hating ass If I use any AI searches at all, it would be Grok before anyone else And I don’t use it. I read something that you refuse to. Do you see a headline you like Phil and you jump on it like a bitch in heat without doing any research at all I don’t know whatever ever got you to hate so badly but it’s really sick Like 1 million rats in one place continuing to reproduce each other
Do you know what phil you’re a fucking idiot you’re beyond a fucking idiot you’re a stupid fucking idiot. And the Kremlin team would include Bama and Biden Who sat there on their vaginas fucking pussies and allowed Putin to take over half of Ukraine while they sat there and did nothing nothing. We just sat there and allowed it to happen and then instead he said the $180 billion it was able to kill another hundred thousand Russians at 100,000 Ukrainian, innocent human beings. That’s your Kremlin team Phil
OK, let’s try some sanity for a change on Kimberly. Let’s see how you can put a thinking cap on and answer this question. I’m gonna put this in caps for emphasis
NAME ME A LAW OR POLICY THAT TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS PUT INTO EFFECT THAT HAS NEGATIVELY AFFECTED YOUR LIFE PERSONALLY. ?’’? NOT one is the answer.
oh my God, the reflecting pond oh my God, the Kennedy Center oh my God, the White House reconstruction that’s been reconstructed four times before him. One by Obama, the God
Name me a our policy that has affected your life negatively or shut up I’ve never seen such a bunch of hating whiners in my life Here let me show you what you look like
https://youtube.com/shorts/dxkgZZi1cic?si=214uxOYgAYbJXz39
Rick Sender: You are an angry person. Are you getting paid for your angry posts? Might have to block you for your name calling & language. Are you just here to vent? Why are you so angry if you have made so much money? Go buy your yacht with all the money you’ve made or get that factory job you always wanted or go join ICE so you can treat people badly. Is that who you are?
He is not upholding his oath to the constitution, which he swore to do.
He is behaving as a dictator while pretending to defend democracy.
He supports foreign authoritarian regimes, interfering in their elections trying to get right wing people voted in.
He acts like a thug, threatening, bribing, people
He is erasing first amendment rights.
He did not lower prices.
He did not stop the war between Russia & Ukraine. (And lied about Ukraine starting the war)
He promotes racism.
He has fired anyone with the authority to check what he is doing.
He does not obey court orders. He pretends to be Christian, but does not have Christian values - he lusts after women, committed adultery & rape, does not believe in helping the poor, & treats non-whites as animals.
Lies about immigrants taking jobs & eating pets.
He pretends to care about national security, but kept classified documents, killed “narcoterrorists” without a trial, did a double tap, and then pardoned a convicted drug lord.
He started an insurrection because he lost an election and has been trying to rewrite the history of that ever since.
So many other things but I don’t have time right now.
And then we have Louise Lichtenstein, and Gerstein a lot of Stein’s that their name should actually end in the word coward. Who come on her and Post inanities insanities and nonsense and then run into the house and ask mommy to wipe their ass or blow their nose for them
Cowards extraordinaire many of you that’s your new nom de guerre
It’s called voice texting what is the matter with you educated derelicts? Have you ever heard the word content before? Some of your liberal morons are so stupid that if you found a capitalization problem or a preposition at the end of a sentence of the Declaration of Independence, you would just toss it aside. I’ve never seen so much ignorance in my life
Then your voice is broken 😂
My voice will never be broken until the day I die. And unless you wake up, you’re gonna die hateful, not the best way to die
Your ignorance and insensitivity are astounding Another liberal that got an education and had no idea what to do with it
What a waste
And then you have shitheads cowards like Ian more dent who comes on here and make some ridiculously crazy lunatic remarks, and then runs back into the house and And ann says hey mommy please wipe my ass Cowards absolute cowards with not a fact in sight
And you’re spreading shit.. with a barn fork and a rake… you don’t even believe what you’re saying, you fuckin idiot..
Mac is back. Lol. Have an ICE DAY. amazing just move one little letter and magic happens
Nazi doctrine was abhorrent in the 1930s. Nazi doctrine is abhorent in the 2020s!
I just visited The Holocaust Museum last week. The similarities to that regime and Trump’s are very scary. Very.
Make no mistake, the regime has started the Holocaust by bullets with the ICE murders.
MLM, I visited a museum in Germany in 2016. I was stunned at the similarity between the buildup of the Nazi party then and MAGA in the "now" of 10 years ago. It has only gotten worse.
Indeed. I agree. It's very scary.
You lying motherfucking idiot how’s that for an opening? I hope that one day soon you run into a Nazi and he treat you like he treated a Jew, you fucking ignorant, moron.
At first he starves you for a few months and then he tattoos you and then he makes you work your ass off and sleep in freezing weather with no clothes to cover you.. any leads you down to the showers and gases you but case we’re not gonna let you die we’re gonna take it down to the oven to preheat it up and now we’re gonna turn you into a little baby Briquette. We’re gonna watch you and laugh while you ride in pain and I guarantee you you will never use the word Nazi again.
I see we've been visited by our desperate, psychotic tooth fairy again....
Yep, and who said that you are not the most famous name caller in the liberal wanna be party. Liberal lemon soup. Lol. Let’s see if I can help you with a couple of good memes or messages tonight. And then I’m gonna go back and read your mishmash and I’m sure I have a few more to send for everybody to read in the reading pleasure. It’ll be better than reading Pravda for you guys.
The conman knows his marks. Rick is clearly a mark.
Avid reader of Pravda are you Sender? You fuckhead..
Its silly to just exchange insults with Rick. Lets try some careful questions:
1) Does Rick accept that the three vaccines the Pfiser, the Moderna and the Astra Zenica worked to save the lives of millions of people from covid 19?
Ian
Not seen you answer my question Rick which was within my text
"Its silly to just exchange insults with Rick. Lets try some careful questions:
1) Does Rick accept that the three vaccines the Pfiser, the Moderna and the Astra Zenica worked to save the lives of millions of people from covid 19?"
Ian
Our Founders knew a day like this would come, when a lowlife demagogue, aided by the worst impulses and vilest passions of a mob, would rise to power. But nothing in the Federalist Papers anticipated the day when Congress itself would fall under the control a single political party and its reckless cult of idiocy and cruelty. Did Madison envision a moment would arrive when an entire branch of government would just willingly cede all its power away --- and not even to a smart demagogue, but a cretinous, creepy, demented piece of detritus like Trump?
And why would a Supreme Court approve an argument that begins “I have the right to do anything I want to do....I’m the president of the United States..I can do it"? The entire concept is completely un-American to its historical core. In our system, NOBODY has the right to do anything they want to.
Pete Buttigieg often asks those in red states a simple question: we all know the system is broken -- it's obvious, he says. So why do we keep pretending it's not? The American project could be nearing its end, he continues, or we could be standing "at the cusp of a set of changes that make us genuinely proud of what we did in this era." Heather says something similar by reminding us that we are actually poised at the beginning of another progressive era -- a cyclical event that has happened after a small elite overextends its reach of cruelty, suffering, and the aggregation of illegitimate wealth and power.
The question remains. Which vision for America shall we feed? Which one shall we exert all our efforts to bring into being?
You really shouldn't place your trust in a 250-year-old document.
What a condescending statement. We gladly place our decision-making in it. That's the whole point. Nobody said a thing about "trust." Without it, it's even more the law of the jungle.
I think this is funny when so many of the billions of people on this planet put their trust into documents that are way older than that and were written by unknown sources with way less pure motivations. Yes, I'm talking about the Bible, the Koran, etc. I wish more people in this country would place more trust in the Constitution and less in the others.
Well said, Sister!
It worked with amendments for 250 years. I wish this site had a dislike icon besides a like icon. I really disliked your statement ! We live with our constitution, we take oaths to our constitution and we rise to defend it.
Joan Grabe, but it hasn't worked for the last 50 of them as events of the past ten clearly indicate . . .
E.g. it never anticipated political parties
Even from the very gitgo our Constitution required a first quick fix of the initial ten amendments, then the thirteenth and the fourteenth (the last of now hangs by the thread of a single Kavanaugh vote)
It hasn't stopped for a moment a current wave of 47th corruption "never before seen in America"
It hasn't prevented Presidential usurpation of the Congressional authority to declare war
It didn't stop the swift outright destruction of USAID at the hands of Elon Musk
It played no role in the rise of America's oligarchs or curbing their role in our politics
Silent on the matter of whether money is speech, it allowed a private organization to capture the SCOTUS nomination process and, with the collusion of the party in charge of the Senate, to send it on its unitary executive savaging of the balance of powers
The current Congress offers few clues that it views its own powers as equal to those of the SCOTUS or the Executive
The amendment process, especially given that we're now fifty states ranging from the mid Pacific, the shores of three oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico of vastly different sizes geographically and population-wise. invite speculation of how democratic we really are as a nation
What has happened to the Fourth Estate over those 250 years?
What have modern communication technologies done to undermine the obligations of the demos in protecting and preserving the Republic?
undsoweiter, usw. usw
I could go on. I Hope you see the point I'm trying to make here . . .
Nowhere in our travail is anyone systematically raising these and several dozen other observations and examples that could be offered. It is not to be found in the moribund affairs of the Party. It is absent from Congressional debate or oversight. It is not in the inept and uncoordinated attempts to raise funds supporting the Party (to do WHAT??) or the discourse over 'whither America' (would 'wither America' be even more disturbing to you???) . . .
Why is that?
Easy for you to say from afar.
That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. Now this it’s come to this Kami is speaking on behalf of the founders. For chrissakes, he can’t even speak for himself. And yet he keeps speaking as a loser Who has lost his way.
Go help your party, pal, falling apart, splintering, and two different divisions, and it’s a pleasure to watch. If your beloved John F Kennedy were alive today he’d be a middle of the road republican right now as far left as the Democrats have slithered
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress. Be LOUD! 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly!
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
Thank you Megan!!
We must be relentless!
Oooooooh nothing but loud losers here. Relentless losers, that don’t know good from evil. Go, save your party that’s falling into million splintering pieces
As always, thank you!
Making enough of you already you can keep talking about getting loud but getting loud is not the answer. Why don’t you try helping your party stop from splintering into 1000 pieces. You have a few sane Democrats left, but very few. Schumer and hakim are gone. Then you have the DSA then you have the Socialists And the Communists at the antisemites and the LBGTQ community and the trans community and BLM and antifa. Decomposing in your front of your very eyes Megan.
Some of your staunchest supporters are leaving, and if John Kennedy was alive today, he’d be ashamed to call himself a democrat, because he be a middle of the road Republican, as far left as the Democrats have gone
More uninformed, misinformed or intentional, blather from the master reactionary.
Some of your posts remind me of a line from Shakespeare’s Macbeth: "Sound and fury, signifying nothing"
The master bater getting himself off in a lonely corner of one somewhere in internet land, imagining that thousands are begging, no, imploring, crying for him to continue...
Sad. 🤧
At least they have something to “bate”.
Just how many people I’m making aware pal over 5500 so far.
And more likes every month People are sick and tired of you hating whiners
https://youtube.com/shorts/dxkgZZi1cic?si=214uxOYgAYbJXz39
More of your serial “Sound and fury, signifying nothing". I think many of your posts sound whiny and hateful. And I don’t think I am the only one who thinks so.
Go to come over and DuckDuckGo so I can show you who you are obviously Heather and her web server here have prevented prevented demonstration of fact and accuracy in photos to tell the truth. Come over there. Come over to DuckDuckGo got a great set of photos to show you.
The bottom line: Tempertantrump does not follow laws of the United States nor any International law. He is a lifetime criminal. He does not need a pardon due to Chief John Roberts “pre-pardoning”him. He has already pre - pardoned most Republicans. This is a lawless country. Tempertantrump has always said, “Whose going to stop me?” The entire government must be rebuilt. He has literally destroyed everything he is involved in to obtain self-enrichment.
Let me see, I’ve been looking and looking and looking for my God there’s not a fact in sight it’s just the usual. Unsupported accusations evil insults, while consumed by hate. Let me help you with a couple of memes here.
And you’re so fucking stupid about self-enrichment now we know you’re nothing but a liberal lemming that listens to the next guy, but doesn’t have a clue about what the fuck you’re talking about not even a clue His savings throw off 150 million a year and he’s living free on the government toll right now and he’s got a hotels and golf courses around the world in a social media web site that’s worth 2 billion
He’s 80 years old he could live on the interest until he’s 280 you dumb fuck.
I love to see people consumed and hate because it’s gonna come back to haunt them one day
Curious why you are so angry? Do you like the thought of an authoritarian government? What policies of the current government do you support?
So am I gonna get a response from you? Authoritarian government, a.k.a. Joe Biden, and you have all the evidence on the facts to prove it unlike you who doesn't know what the fact looks like
No answer the question any of Trump's policies negatively affected you Not a one
Sorry you didn’t think I got back to you in a timely manner. This isn’t a telephone. I don’t sit on Substack all day. In general, I’m not big on one-liners and snarky comments. Having a grandfather die in WWII fighting fascism, I take my Democracy seriously.
So Sandi, I sent you a bunch of posts. I just got back home and I thought I'd hear some responses from you of yeah well I guess I didn't know that. Oh well I guess you're right about that etc. etc. instead deafening silence.
Good then what do you have against Trump?
Almost every single policy of this administration is working positively for every American. In fact there was an article the other day that said that Donald Trump has increased the wealth 25% of wage earners more than any president in history.
Now I'm gonna Name me a policy or law that the Trump administration has enacted that Has negatively affected Your life personally ?
The answer would be none Wake up
Wow, how has your wealth increased by 25%? How did you do that? Please let us all know. Are you making money from these posts? Cause if so, I think I deserve a cut.
It doesn’t matter if I personally have been effected by his policies. I don’t think we should have a trillion dollar defense budget and have no money to feed children.
Low income people, children, & the disabled had huge cuts to healthcare & food assistance. The tariffs are a tax on the American people - companies just pass the cost down. Maybe with your new found wealth you didn’t realize gas and the cost of groceries has risen. Plus more cuts are coming after the midterms - see how they did that? The cuts come after the election so people don’t realize they’re getting screwed.
And yes, it does matter if you were personally affected because these things are not singled out per individual so you would be affected just like everybody else. Lead to a greater or lesser degree depending upon your income
And lastly, you’re asking me if I made money every single individual that was invested in the stock market in a generic broadband portfolio, and not a pacific stock was up substantially in the past year The stock market and the other indices all record-high some 70 times. And then my next post later on, I’m gonna talk about what the Wall Street Journal said recently only people that’s up there and pick their own stocks did not do well instead of investing in a generic broadband stock portfolio. Didn’t Need to be stocks
One more thing you need to understand I’m gonna send you some stats on the Biden ministration and trumps prices have gone up a paltry 3% since then, but they forget how much complaining there was before the election and why Trump was even elected because of Biden severe inflation that caused grocery prices to go up 20% two months into his term because he choked off anything made with petroleum coding drilling selling manufacturing pipe lines, etc. gasoline went up two dollars to over five dollars a gallon under Biden, and the highest it got under Trump It was $4.52 for over a year under Biden and it only got to 452 under Trump for a few weeks and that’s because of the war four then he had lower prices back to his original prices at some states actually had gasoline under two dollars a gallon. check it out yourself
You see now you’re starting to read and listen to your neighborhood lemmings who don’t know shit of what they’re saying they have no freaking idea. Almost every single liberal economist, who predicted inflation, because of the tariffs never arrived
Let me repeat that again never arrived, and even left wing supporters did economist have a greed. They were really wrong about the tariffs including one of your biggest supporters Bill Maher, who did an examination on TV and said you know what I was wrong. Keep in mind they were supposed to close inflation. Inflation was 3% right around 3% until the war started versus Bidens 9%.
Companies figured out how to absorb a little bit of the increase in the cost, and they found better ways and varied ways of doing business, so as not to pass the cost onto the consumers, even from the retail sector. But that’s what liberals believe because they don’t know they just hate Trump so that’s what they hear and that’s what they say but it didn’t happen
They didn’t get huge pets like you think you should actually look it up and get the stats a lot of it was cut because of the fraud and you should look up. For example, how much the frog was in Minnesota… Specifically in Minneapolis…fraud was over $9 billion. With over 100 Arrests AND CONVICTIONS. And it’s so bad in Minnesota, that the federal government has stopped Medicare and learn educational assistance to the entire state of Minnesota as I understand it because of the rampant fraud. It is now being investigated as well in Los Angeles and New York. Billions and billions of dollars and the people have already been arrested and convicted every day do some research and see it for yourself. Nobody is monitoring this morning out of state by state basis and more of it is going to flood then we ever thought imaginable
You are all over the place. Focus on a topic.
“They didn’t get huge pets” No, immigrants did NOT eat ANY pets! The Republican governor said as much. Vance admitted it was a lie. Yet, they continued the lie to rally anger in their base against immigrants. This tactic dehumanizes immigrants and plays into the white supremacy ideology. Untrained, angry ICE agents continue to terrorize communities, beat & kick immigrants, kill people, including American citizens. They have been allowed to bypass the judicial system. They have tried to sweep these crimes under the rug. ICE agents have gotten huge amounts of our taxpayer dollars as signing bonuses and salaries - paid better than our trained police officers.
Do we have an immigration problem? Yes. It has been a problem for many, many administrations.
Remember how there was a bipartisan bill to try to fix immigration and then Trump told the Republicans not to vote for their own bill so he could make it an issue in his campaign? He wants his base angry. How to do that? Make them think all their problems were from immigrants. Now they have something to unite against. Of course, not white immigrants - those white Afrikaans are still able to come in.
Racism is a big problem in this country - still. This administration has made it okay to openly show racism. I don’t know where you fall on this, but when you support racists, you support racism.
Sorry, huge cuts.
Go do some research…. I saw a few articles last week indicating when does them from a third-party source that indicated that Trump had increased the welfare of the bottom, 25% of income earners more than any president in history. Now that doesn’t surprise me because a couple of things occurred last year that you may not be aware of income tax returns last year we’re up 11% over the year before some $3000 per person.
That’s because of the no tax on tips no tax on Social Security for the poorest and no tax on overtime
We both realize that’s not going to help Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Dale Donald Trump
Only way to direct wealth increase to the lower portion of our income base is by these types of things that had NEVER been thought of before.
And I also wanted to mention to you because I’ve mentioned to a lot of people here, Sandy it’s hard to credit the lower income people without somehow benefiting the upper class, but those three things actually only benefited the lower income folks
And here’s why it’s almost impossible to help the poorest without at the same time to some degree, helping the more wealthy
The top one percent of income earners pay 40% of the income tax The top 10% of your income earners pay 72 % of The income tax. And the top 25% of income earners pay 87% of income tax. AND THE BOTTOM 50% of income earners pay ONLY 3% OF ALL THE INCOME TAX!!
So the idea that Trump got from a waitress has benefited all the lowest income earners
Oh, and if you wanna authoritarian government, they are Sandi. I want you to think about this very carefully what you said Joe Biden was the most authoritarian president in recent. Arbitrarily and autocratically he opened the southern border and allowed 11 to Illegals in without a vote without asking permission without concern or caring who they were That's authoritarian, not Donald Trump who keeps sending Supreme Court decisions back to the state States and their elected officials can't decide so get your facts straight
Do you really wanna know why I'm so angry because I can't stand American haters I can't stand people that hate America like most of the people on Heather's Substack service. They sit there and critique and insult and accuse without presenting any fact at all they're just consumed in hate and I can't stand that I'm a first generation American and I'm proud of it and Donald Trump is creating democracy all over the world everywhere he goes. He's creating democracy NATO the Middle East he actually has Muslims fighting against Iran, trying to create democracy. He created democracy the beginning of democracy in Venezuela he's trying to do it in Cuba and he's definitely doing it here in the United States sending a lot of decisions that were made by the court the Supreme Court and by a lot of government agencies in Washington and sending it back to the states and the people to decide to vote on how their country is run not by a few elitist in Washington DC. And that's why I'm angry and if you'd like to have some more statistics, I'd be more than happy to provide you but you need to wonder why the hell you ask that question why are you angry? You have nothing to be angry about. You're just another lemming apparently following the group of haters think for yourself get out of your cave change the channel and think for yourself.
Kudos for you if you are reading HCR letters & not just watching Fox News. Your anger seems misplaced. Trying to abolish NATO & making our allies distrust us is not a show of Democracy. Interfering with other country’s elections & and supporting candidates that are authoritarian is not a show of Democracy. Although, Venezuela’s Maduro was arrested, why didn’t the US put Gonzalez or Machado in office-someone the Venezuelans democratically voted in. Perhaps, it was not Democracy, but oil that the US was after. We still haven’t gotten a straight answer as to why the US started a war with Iran-the Iranian people don’t seem any closer to Democracy. The US claimed they got rid of Iran’s nuclear threat months before the bombing. Perhaps the US wants their oil. It was not a well thought out plan - and why would it be when all the qualified people at the Pentagon were fired? And is bombing Iran even consistent with the NSS?
Sending decisions back to the states does not make the US more Democratic. Let’s take the overturning of Roe. Did all the states say, “Hey, let’s vote on this.” No. How is that democratic? The majority believes abortion should be legal. Abortion isn’t mentioned in the Bible and neither is when life begins. The Bible was written over hundreds of years by different people, in a different language, much originally from oral transmission (ever play the telephone game?). Plus, did you know that the “religious right” used to be okay with abortion? Back in the early 70’s, they were not allowed to segregate their schools. They couldn’t be openly racist anymore, so they decided to “unite” the party around abortion. True story-look it up.
Abortion was specifically made into the issue it is today. Along with guns. As you said "True story-look it up"
If you do not believe in the rule of law and the US Constitution, you are NOT a real American. Period. Full stop. That is the narrative we need to be pushing. They are NOT the real American patriots! WE ARE! They are trying to destroy our country and should be destroyed like any enemy of the USA.
Trump likes to declare emergencies where there are none, so he can ignore the Constitution.
When will the Democratic Party declare a national emergency based on the TRUTH … that Trump is violating the Constitution!?!?!?
They continue to say they are “concerned” (just like Susan Collins likes to) BUT THEY ARE DOING NOTHING!
Democrats bring resolutions and propose legislation, but as a minority party, they can't pass them. Sometimes lately they've been able to peel one or two Republicans off the solid Trump toady block, but it's far from guaranteed. So 'doing nothing' is not accurate. Whether it's enough ... who knows? Nothing that leaves Trump in office is enough, but one does not necessarily have the resources to do enough.
I have to further explain my comments frequently… What you are describing is playing by the rules. Trump doesn’t play by the rules. The Democrats need to start thinking outside the box too, if we’re gonna save democracy. Learn from protest movements in the past. Don’t just sit at their desks proposing bills. Protest! Create a permanent protest not a one day protest! THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! DECLARE A GOD DAMN NATIONAL EMERGENCY!
I agree with John Gregory that the Dems have no real power to stall the Trump juggernaut and certainly no legal power to declare a national emergency. I have some trenchant criticisms of your Constitution but abandoning the legal framework altogether would simply play into Trump's 'enemy within' narrative. You are a country of laws and that's the only message that will sustain your democracy against this assault.
Having said that, I also agree that there are some internal problems that the Democratic party could usefully address right now regarding its congressional leadership.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AzEg89xQ500
That’s your choice. But in a true emergency, people do extraordinary things. We are in a true emergency. And the Dems are only doing ordinary things.
I more agree on this. We should have massive rallies every time this mad man does something.
Go ahead and erect an arch for yourself Mr Trump. We will just take it down along with all the other trash you’ve left behind.
And then we have Louise Lichtenstein once again, posting nonsense, and bullshit, filled with hate and irrational thinking, and then she runs back in the house to mommy.
No, that you stop blocking me go ahead and make your claims.
Name me a law or policy that was enacted by the Trump administration that is negatively affected your life personally!!
But please engage your brain before you put your mouth in gear
You have blocked me and I can’t respond Miss Coward, Miss Gene Montanti, the coward. Did my mommy blow your nose or wipe your ass when you ran back in the house because you’re afraid of an answer
By the way, you know that arch is what makes the world go round and the Kennedy center and the reflecting pond and the White House remodeling that will only be used by the next 25 presidents not Trump for safety, security and elegance
all the trash you need to take out was a product of Joe Biden and the 11th to 15 to 20,000,000 illegals that are here raping over 1000 women killing over 100 Americans during his term As a number of charts demonstrate, but you’re worried about the trash he’s left behind
Genie, you are so lost. I don’t even know where to begin
Again, all bullshit. I don't argue with idiots like you. Ta!
Your Honor, this man is an idiot.
Judge OK, and why do you say that?
Because he says things I don’t agree with
Once again, Gene, you have permission to leave my courtroom immediately. You might want to seek some psychiatric help or maybe some anger management
We recently got rid of the trash. It's called Joe Biden, who is the AutoCorrect of the century opening the southern border without asking permission and allowing 11 to 20,000,000 illegals to come and rape our women over 1000 so far kill our citizens over 400 so far and cost us over $1 trillion for all the free goods that Americans are not even entitled to free housing, free food, free clothing, free medical care.
Total bullshit, all of it. But I would expect nothing else from you.
So let’s discuss this again jean shall we?
Your Honor RICK center just posted a bunch of total bullshit all of it and I would expect nothing less from him
Judge: OK Gene, would you please explain to the court what the total bullshit is and give a contradictory explanation of the evidence that you have that it’s bullshit.
I’m sorry, Your Honor … I don’t know exactly what the bullshit is. I just know it’s bullshit because that’s what all my friends tell me.
Well, then, Gene, why don’t you get all your facts gathered together and then post them here and then all the court will evaluate them and determine if you’re correct
But you’re honor they’re all bullshit.
Genie, you now have permission to get the f out of my courtroom
The Republican Congress members are responsible for letting Trump run amock. They have the power to impeach (together with Democrats) to impeach him.
And that, republicans refusal to do anything to stop him, is something I find unforgivable.
And every.single.one should pay the price in the upcoming election. Every. Single. One.
Yes! And then, we can address whatever shortcomings exist within the Democratic Party. But first things first.
I was feeling in the doldrums, so my partner asked me if I'd like to see the documentary, "Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins." Hell yes. There were times during my life when I read all of her columns, other times when, for whatever reason, maybe she wasn't in my daily paper, I only read her infrequently, but man, this documentary made me laugh and made me realize how much I, and how much we, the people, miss her voice. Wish she were still around to speak truth to power in a way that was undeniably funny and right on target.
Was it in the theater Or on TV?
It’s on Netflix.
Thank you. I'll look for it.
Tempertantrump does not have immunity if Democrats do not honor it. Democrats must treat Tempertantrump as he treats everyone else. Do not honor Chief John Roberts nor Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch or Kavanaugh.
Good point. Dems should act as if Roberts never said he did.
I think we all know what the national emergency really is.
Another excellent synopsis of the anti-democratic and anti-constitutional movement that is MAGA and Trump summed up in “It’s for me” and “I can do what I want” and either until we the people recognize this and change this either electorally or via rising up as we did 250 years ago, this will not change. That both scares me and enrages me.
What in the name of all that is holy is keeping that jiveass motherfucker alive?
There's a really neat corner of hell waiting for him. Go, already.
That's funny. I often wonder what's keeping him alive.
The ancient Greeks believed that the human body was sustained by four humours. I think that Trump must be fuelled entirely by yellow bile.
Obviously, you’re cursed Joel and you’re getting payback for your hate