I've already felt that Trump hates half the US citizens (Democrats). Now he's said it. There is something seriously "broken" in him to feel this and say it. I've never heard anything like this from a US president within my lifetime. I have no words to express the sadness I feel for our country.
I can't help thinking that he hates almost everyone, not just Dems. Nero supposedly fiddled while Rome burned. Is it true that Trump held a rally, expressed the usual thoughts and prayers in the face of a tragedy, and then played golf while Texas flooded? Yes, there are Dems in Texas, but it's hardly a stronghold for Democrats. Being basically indifferent to the lives lost there yesterday, to the lives of the children lost, does not show a lot of love for ordinary people whatever their political preference.
There’s no standard list of sociopath signs, but the signs and symptoms of ASPD (Anti-Social Personality Disorder) include a persistent pattern of disregard for others. For example:
- ignoring social norms and laws, breaking rules at school or work, overstepping social boundaries, stealing, stalking and harassing others, or destroying property
- dishonesty and deceit, including using false identities and manipulating others for personal gain
- difficulty controlling impulses and planning for the future, or acting without considering the consequences
- aggressive or aggravated behavior, including frequent fights or physical conflict with others
- disregard for personal safety, or the safety of others
- difficulty managing responsibilities, including showing up at work, handling tasks, or paying rent and bills
- little to no guilt or remorse, or a tendency to justify actions that negatively affect others
I ask that you not repeat the felon's misinformation campaign. Putting a dash between 45 and 47 is improper punctuation as it implies that he was presidents 45 through 47. I'm sure this was deliberate on his part when he put it on his hats but it should be 45 & 47 or 45, 47, not 45-47.
I wouldn't hold my breath about that OR joke about it.
Threatening the life of a sitting US President is a serious federal offense and I would not put it past the newly constituted FBI under Ka$h Patel to come after you for such a comment no matter how much of a jest might have been intended.
Not that i support such notions but they are enshrined in federal law.
I don't quite understand. I saw a comment that said you modified this post so that it wouldn't considered potentially a threat to the President of the United States. This doesn't seem to be modified at all. I do hope you change it. I was not trying in any way to stifle your sense of dissent or freedom of speech, merely pointing out that there ARE some limits and in particular anything that directly threatens a President of the United States, either immediately or in the future, is against the law. Maybe it shouldn't be, but I wouldn't want the FBI knocking on my door because of a statement like this.
Not a bogus rule. 45 - 47 means 45 to 47. But I'm pretty certain he didn't think of that - his command of the language is minimal. "AND" would have taken up too much space on the article he uses as a label, and if it's not IN CAPS it might pass unnoticed.
A felon is one thing. He is factually a felon. But he has never been found guilty of any crime if murder or treason or anything else that would justify execution. I'm NOT saying that maybe he shouldn't be, just that to allege that he is a capital criminal already is definitely not factual.
I don't think he earnestly believes anything - he's so vain that he thought it would be so. Reducing it to his mental development, he's a sore loser, like an untrained three-year-old bully.
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." Pres. G.W. Bush, White House Correspondents' Dinner, 3-31-2001.
Some are gullible, some are outright racists and some are just stupid.
Richard, many people have the same belief system as death star. They have long resented having sorta to recognize those they see as beneath them. Owning the libs.
I’d forgotten that one. Republicans are good at saying the quiet part out loud. They’re so good at it that the quiet part isn’t quiet anymore — it’s right out in the open.
Musk started a new Party yesterday. It’s called America Party. He touts free speech while he censors and shuts down people on his fascist platform. He says he might start with a few members of Congress. Let’s see which fascists jump on board his money train.
Without a trace of shame; indeed with puerile smug pride for fooling the suckers; for breaking all the rules without penalty. And, we too often let the rich get away with that. Weirdly, some people confuse that with superiority. For most, it doesn't end well, and brings no end of misery for humanity as a whole. The "Garden of Eden" is right here; we never left (provided we accept that it can often be a dangerous place as well as one of beauty and nourishment, and that we gain by means of effort. That an environment of authentic liberty involves focus and awareness, of justifiable but vigilant trust, and the need to watch out for one another.
A free society is one in which you are able to trust, up to a point. Trust that there will be help in disaster. Trust that the streets are reasonably safe to walk. Trust that the food you purchase (again with due caution, as for safe preparation and storage) will not kill you. The demise of kings, real kings, was often plotted by members of their own family. The Medici built walled walkways they could in travel safely. That isn't even real freedom. Billionaires are building underground Bond-villain lairs to hide in when the society they undermine collapses. A gilded cage, no? And it won't scale.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." -- Lincoln
Without a trace of shame; indeed with puerile smug pride for fooling the suckers; for breaking all the rules without penalty. And, we too often let the rich get away with that. Weirdly, some people confuse that with superiority. For most, it doesn't end well, and brings no end of misery for humanity as a whole. The "Garden of Eden" is right here; we never left (provided we accept that it can often be a dangerous place as well as one of beauty and nourishment, and that we gain by means of effort. That an environment of authentic liberty involves focus and awareness, of justifiable but vigilant trust, and the need to watch out for one another.
A free society is one in which you are able to trust, up to a point. Trust that there will be help in disaster. Trust that the streets are reasonably safe to walk. Trust that the food you purchase (again with due caution, as for safe preparation and storage) will not kill you. The demise of kings, real kings, was often plotted by members of their own family. The Medici built walled walkways they could in travel safely. That isn't even real freedom. Billionaires are building underground Bond-villain lairs to hide in when the society they undermine collapses. A gilded cage, no? And it won't scale.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." -- Lincoln
Without a trace of shame; indeed with puerile smug pride for fooling the suckers; for breaking all the rules without penalty. And, we too often let the rich get away with that. Weirdly, some people confuse that with superiority. For most, it doesn't end well, and brings no end of misery for humanity as a whole. The "Garden of Eden" is right here; we never left (provided we accept that it can often be a dangerous place as well as one of beauty and nourishment, and that we gain by means of effort. That an environment of authentic liberty involves focus and awareness, of justifiable but vigilant trust, and the need to watch out for one another.
A free society is one in which you are able to trust, up to a point. Trust that there will be help in disaster. Trust that the streets are reasonably safe to walk. Trust that the food you purchase (again with due caution, as for safe preparation and storage) will not kill you. The demise of kings, real kings, was often plotted by members of their own family. The Medici built walled walkways they could in travel safely. That isn't even real freedom. Billionaires are building underground Bond-villain lairs to hide in when the society they undermine collapses. A gilded cage, no? And it won't scale.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." -- Lincoln
I have no explanation. I do have a memory of trying to send something and seeing no response, which happens here for me sometimes. I refreshed the page and it sent normally, in which case the send box automatically disappears. Something in the processing at this end or Substack end, was not normal. I will delete the extras.
It appears to me that Republicans have deliberately created a cult. I think we all have a capacity to project what we would like to see, or fear to see, over counter-evidence. I know I have done so in the past. Especially with inexperience, we can fall in love with our own cognitive creation. I think a cult exploits that tendency, along with a prohibition against anything that conflicts with the edicts of the cult. It thus drifts off in it's own self-confirming ball of circular thinking. I could be relatively harmless or malign. Some cults, such as "Heaven's Gate", commit mass suicide, others genocide. People need not go into a fully-altered state of cognition to go along with cult thinking. I believe they can support some pretty wacko thinking if their capacity for verification is lazy or just untrained; and in general, I think to err is human. I think people are far less likely to ask crucial questions if they were raised in an authoritarian family system.
Most of the behaviors listed are true of most right wingers. When trump says that someone hates America, he actually thinks that he is America. As far as he is concerned, nobody else matters. Only people who help implement their plans to take permanent control of this country are somewhat safe from being cut loose a from the administration. Who knows if the Supreme Court will decide that the laws on automatic weapons no longer apply. I am convinced that although the administration is claiming that they will not pursue a third term, he will announce that he has decided that he will be president for life.
It would be prudent to arm yourself and stock plenty of ammunition because we are headed for civil war.
I'm glad to see you express the thought that drumpf thinks he is America. That thought has crossed my mind a lot recently. It might be prudent to arm myself and stock plenty of ammunition, but my husband and I are 81 and 80 years old, and neither one of us is up for that, and neither one of us likes guns. Your suggestion might work for younger people, but not for us.
Ah, Greece. One of the countries I love, for among other things, their fighting survival spirit. I wish you the best in Greece, and I wish I was up to moving to some place like that. I've done three cross-country moves in my life, and am at a point where I don't have the energy to go elsewhere, not to mention the fact that I'm getting the excellent medical care I need where I am. Starting over is too much for me now.
I agree, but the shorthand is he may really become a dictator. There has never been in our American history a greater threat to our country, than this man — and the Supreme Court.
My understanding is that people can fit the profile of of ASPD and not be a threat, but others are just plain predatory. Think of the most "evil" people known to history and I think the profile would fit.
Also, all of this because he hates himself to start with. Self aggrandizement notwithstanding, you have to like and be comfortable with yourself to project that to others. Similarly, if you hate others, it is because within you lurks, a hated self-concept.
The press conference by Abbott of Texas and the hideous Puppy Killer Noem yesterday was a travesty -- they spent most of their air time raving about how much Trump loved Texas and cared about the people and how great his (and each other's) leadership was - it was sickening. Ass-kissing Trump in the midst of such an unspeakable tragedy? They are deranged. I wonder if the truth will come out about whether or not the Trump cuts to NOAA were responsible, in part, for the faulty weather forecasting.
Every business will pay 5% off the top to show your gratitude and loyalty. That should rankle even some of the cult. And it will make the greedy bastard billions.
His supporters may feel rankled, but not the cult. He could rip their flesh open with a whip and they would gladly say “Yes, sir, may I have another?” They believe he has been anointed by god to lead us in this time; nothing will change their minds.
I won't believe they are all absolutely over the hill crazy. The bell curve on craziness should put a few on the saner end. But, that said, I've been wrong before.
But.., MLMinET... his fanbase loves his cameos.., they absolutely adore him..., can't you see..? "he's done SO much for US!"
And, our pet-killer Krispi-Noumm, with her bare mid-rif and long curls at the new ICE-cages in FL. Do you think Miller will end up getting screwed? Juss sayin.
Abbott's ass-kissing is another transactional behavior which tRump requires in order to authorize a small amount of federal funds to clean up the damage the flooding caused in Texas. This disaster was completely preventable, this area in Texas has been flooding since the time records were kept. It wasn't a surprise; it was a failure to warn along with the resultant tragic loss of life. Welcome to Hell.
Whewww.., Lauriemcf, those TV interviews of interminable-asskissing remind me of Hanoi Hanna, along with some of N.Korea's kiss-the-leader rants. The only thing those sessions lack is a professional director from Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer. But, they are staged by the Whitehouse goons, instead.
Yeah Laurie.., I wonder if they are summoned to the ovaried-office with the inquisitors present, only to spread-eagle themselves on the carpet..and to be photographed.., For The Record as kept by Ms Susie. Another BDSM session at 1601 Pornhub Close. "How many more" (re: Seals & Croft). The guy is a juke-box!
Mere hours after ramming through their bill, there was a massive flash flood - some might say of "biblical proportions". Coincidence? Probably. But for a group of people allegedly so aligned to the signs and portents of their divine leader, maybe it should give them pause.
Whoaaa Heidi..., nice one! ..the only response to that would be the profanity-laden expression I learn't as a kid in Rumson NJ.. "F nn A" !! Same same.. yerrr gotttdamm right! Yup. No "Christian Nation" BS there.., just Mother Nature letting us mortals know who in hell is actually in charge. So "rock on" you freaking sinners.., "rock on".., listen to the Juke-Box.
Noem blamed antiquated equipment at in the department of NOAA for the warnings failure. So it's all Biden's fault. But does anyone remember seeing funding for upgrading NOAA's equipment or staffing in the BBB????
The National Weather Service gave plenty of warning. I want to know why the on-call Fire Dept and the Police working overnight did not ACT on the information they should have been listening to......this was the fault of Texas authorities, not the Weather Service. They are, indeed, trying to kill off the weather service but they haven't quite done it yet. Those warnings went out.
Hates everyone. No friends. No interests. No curiosity. No literacy. No mercy. No music. No talents. No compassion. No pets. Nothing. In the words of Dickens, just “a greedy, grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner.”
You notice how whenever he holds a “press conference” he talks about how all the people there are great friends? He’s known them for a long time and “they like me.” Every time I hear him say that (although I have to use CC because I can’t stand to listen to his voice) I think to myself: He doesn’t have a single friend. Not one. Never has. Never will.
Daniel, when I read Jan's comment, my thought was exactly what you wrote.
However, in truth, Epstein was just an associate. Donald has had many associates over his lifetime. He fostered these associations because they benefitted him in some way ... procuring underage girls for his sexual gratification or providing shadowy services that caused him to "win" seven swing states, to name a couple.
Although I've observed Donald's life through many avenues, I often fall back on Mary L. Trump's writing because she saw her uncle from inside the family, behind the artifice constructed for the press. Everything she's written confirms that Donald has never had a friend, not even among his family, only associates.
Friendship involves caring; Donald is incapable of that. He's a sociopath.
Friendship involves sharing; Donald doesn't share. He's a sociopath.
I want to add this observation here because I don't know where else to put it.
Although my gaydar doesn't register even the slightest vibration when I see Donald, I can't help thinking he exhibits behaviors associated with "the closet,"
such as repeated attacks against non-hetero persons and excessive philandering.
Scholars on sexuality estimate that 20%, or 1 in 5, of any population are of alternate sexuality. Fred and Mary Ann had five children. Hmm.
Yeah, every one really likes him and thinks that he is a great deal maker. He's the one to solve the issues in Ukraine and Israel. He always has the best record ever and has done more for the country than anyone before him. Everything is in hyperbole. Like Biden had the worse ever inflation rate. Obviously, he never checked that out since the worst was in 1919 (19%). The price of eggs did NOT go down 90%. No eggs in my area went for 70-90 cents a dozen. Gas is not $1.85. Ours has gone up from $2.95 to $3. 20. he must have flunked math.
Glad I'm not the only one who is wearing out the mute button on my remote! He sure tries to sound like an evangelical preacher. Yeah, like the ones who have died in disgrace. Reading what he says is bad enough.
And from that anti-authoritarian classic, It's a Wonderful Life:
PA BAILEY: Oh, he's a sick man. Frustrated and sick. Sick in his mind, sick in his soul, if he has one. Hates everybody that has anything that he can't have. Hates us mostly, I guess.
We need every George Bailey we can get, to keep making the differences he made through his life looking after the community the best ways he could. Makes me more determined than ever to fight the greedy rent seekers that want it all in their favor, no matter how it damages the rest of us.
For whatever reason, “It’s a Wonderful Life” has always been my favorite movie.
Hypothetical situation: You’ve just been told your death is imminent unless you receive an experimental medication costing a million dollars, but all you have is one dollar, so your only chance is to buy a lottery ticket and hope like hell you’ll win. Why? Because every other intervention only treats symptoms, and the disease has evolved and become treatment resistant. Hypothetically, would you buy the “last chance” lottery ticket?
Real situation: I’m saying that civilization’s death is imminent unless we receive an experimental medication that doesn’t cost a penny and instead costs some time, energy, and attention, so your only chance is to read and understand a 3,000-word essay and hope like hell I know what I’m talking about. Why? Because every other intervention only treats symptoms, and the disease has evolved and become treatment resistant. Will you buy this “last chance” lottery ticket?
A “yes” involves keeping your money, clicking on this link, subscribing to my fee-free newsletter, reading the 3,000-word essay, and then asking me questions in the comments:
Reading 3,000 words takes less than 15 minutes for the average reader. Understanding is the hard part. You’ll need to use the comments to provide feedback, and I’ll need to answer your questions in language you can understand.
A “yes” also involves following Bob Dylan’s “don’t criticize what you can’t understand” rule by acknowledging and working together to close the gap between your ability to understand and my ability to explain.
When you understand, one of two things will occur. Either you will criticize my idea in language I will understand, and then I’ll admit I was mistaken, or you will know how to test for the disease. And for those who test positive and want the cure, you’ll know how to eradicate the disease, but the first thing I did was make sure I wasn’t testing positive.
I hope -- I struggle to hope -- that this isn't typical of the 77 million people who voted him. Strange times we live in: ignorance and racism seem preferable as motives to admiration for a “a greedy, grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner.” Wow, did Dickens ever nail that one!
I was reading a list of I.Qs of presidents yesterday. Apparently Trump told the people making the list that his was 146. Some day we will learn the real answer.
OMG Daniel, I had totally forgotten Alfred Adler's name- from nursing school classes in psychology & psychiatry. Thank you for the history lesson! Always helpful to use when explaining our views.
He does like gold. He likes, but looks down on those that suck up to him, and he loves praise. He loves playing victim. He loves making himself look good by his standards; rich, powerful, good-looking (I did say HIS standards). He loves "winning" at golf. And by golly, he loves a parade. How can we use these loves of his to end his reign?
I don't think he liked 'his' parade. The soldiers were waving and looking very friendly, not like the goose-stepping soldiers from Russia or N. Korea. He wants people to be afraid of him. He looked like a pathetic, sad little lump of a boy and his birthday was ruined. Too bad, so sad. Oh, and the few people attending it AND, of course, the squeaky wheels of tanks.
Squeaky wheels were heard because there were no crowds to absorb the sound. And, it was raining on his parade. Wish we had pictures of his actions behind the scenes after the parade!
trump can claim interest in the arts since he appointed himself as CEO of the Kennedy Center. And don't forget the 250 statue park commemorating the countries 250 the anniversary. Some yoyos are still trying to get his face on Mt Rushmore!
I am hoping to get there before they damage it and put in that 250 statute park containing such notables as Andrew Jackson who is infamous for his horrific treatment of the Indians. The Trail of Tears where Indians were removed from their homes. Ironically this park is infringing on Indian territory.
I no longer care how bad trump is. I am much more upset that 40 percent of Americans are just fine with the destruction he and his enablers are bringing.
He may actually hate himself so much he grasps for any hateful acts to 'prove' his self worth to himself and others and grabs so many material things for the same reason. He's a modern day Caligula.
Whatever goes on in the sociopathic brain doesn’t discriminate. Although they can also be misogynistic and/or racist. There are plenty of people I would call dual-diagnosis. Although I used to just call them TFU. You can probably figure that out.
C'mon Alexandra.., only thing he fears is ED and being under-mined by his enablers. All we're being fed are table-scraps. But, now with the passage of the BBB there will be other targets to aim at.
trump giving MAGAs permission to hate democrats should not be taken lightly.
We on the other hand should fight back using reason. When you are attacked by MAGA vitriol, simply ask them why was Lisa Murkowski bribed to vote against the BBB that she was against for in the first place. Ask them to look it up for themselves....
Reason doesn't work with MAGAs...they are no longer rational thinkers. The message has to be delivered with emotional gut punches. I think at this point. that is the only thing that might get through to them...and I don't think the Dems--or anyone else, for that matter--are capable of delivering the necessary forceful emotional impact.
I'm inclined to believe that it will take deep personal tragedy--such as has happened in Texas-- but, Dems have to get in there first to point out that no one but the loss of accurate weather forecasting is responsible for this. It wasn't Biden, it isn't Jewish space lasers, it isn't con trails or anything else Sporky can think up to lie about...it is simple science.
And even then, I doubt these folks will be reachable. Many of the kids were at a Christian camp...I'm sure there will be preachers a-plenty assuring these grieving parents that God wanted these kids in Heaven for purposes of His Own. And they'll probably buy it.
What I can’t figure out is why Trump et al want us all dead.not just doesn’t like us or care about our welfare but wants everyone dead. So does Bobby for that matter.
I think it all comes back around to Trump sitting in a courtroom during the E. Jean Carroll trial. Sitting there listening to accusations of rape - dreaming of getting back into office and burning it all down.
Sadly, we are expendables - with the coming AI not as many workers are needed, so why not let them die? After all, THEY and THEIR kids and elderly won’t be suffering. Ironically, he’s seeking to deport the very workers we are going to need since AI can’t harvest crops, replace roofs or make up hotel rooms, jobs most Americans don’t gravitate to as careers. There are many difficult days ahead.
Trump is a very damaged creature; he has always had Antisocial Personality Disorder with a touch of the NPD (narcissism)...but now his cognitive abilities--such as they were, are degenerating; he's not a healthy individual and there is Alzheimer's Disease in his family....
He never really experienced parental love as a baby or a youngster, so it is unlikely that he understands love at all. With his background of pressing his nose against the glass door of elite New York society, while they ignored his efforts and have never let him in--he has no 'class' or graciousness whatsoever--it is little surprise that he hates himself and even less surprise that he projects that hatred onto all others.
Yeah MLM.., and he wants Gaza "leveled"!!! Christ.., it's already leveled.., all 171 sq miles of it (city of Philadelphia) is just rubble. Like WTF. We have elected a juke-box..., and somebody needs to pull-the-plug or trip the CB. Otherwise we'll just keep dancin to the music.
I don’t think Bobby wants us dead. He may well believe his radical death-dealing agenda. And/or he’s made a lot of money suing vaccine manufacturers so there may be profit in his plan. He’s watched how much money Trump is raking in and wants a piece of the pie. Maybe the flu vaccine manufacturers will slip him a hunk of money to allow them to keep their business going.
Yo.., TL, "Tragedy in Texas"..innocent children in a camp, victims of an inland tsunami. Almost follows in the footsteps of the disaster in the hills on the Eastern US earlier, doesn't it. How about the towns just-leveled by tornado-systems in the MidWest? Mother Nature is not done with us yet, by a long shot. And, if you're someone who needs a "god" to attribute things to.. "Mother Nature" might ought to get ones attention. Along with the NOAA. Huh? yeh.
Are you saying that I am a person who needs a god to blame? That is NOT true, not at all. I blame the short sighted idiocies of our unfortunate elected governments for the last 30 to 40 years. They have had decades to research and believe the science of climate change...but noooo, this country is infested with "End-Times" fake Christians who are whacked out to the nth degree and who elect morons who also dislike science. Thankfully I live on ground that no doubt be oceanfront in another 50 to 75 years--not that I will be around--thank goodness.
"The message has to be delivered with emotional gut punches."
Yes, but only when delivered with honey. First you have to get down to their level and address their personal beef. Here are two examples:
1. I was at a protest and went up with my sign to a paltry dozen trumpsters waving their flags. An older woman shouted out at me, "Not voting for trump is deplorable." My response, "Oh you must be filthy rich and not need Medicare." She then replied, "What do you mean by that?" I walked away but wish I had stayed because I had gotten her attention.
2. My next door neighbor Alex is the only trumpster on our block (he moved to Austin last week to work for SpaceX). Also on our block is Oscar from Columbia who is a contractor and employees undocumented workers. I said, "Alex, you are so fortunate to do all the work on your house yourself and we have to rely on Oscar. I'm really concerned about his help being deported. Alex responded, "Oh they're only deporting the criminals!" I calmly related to him three first-hand accounts of ICE snatchings of documented locals. He stood there with his jaw agape and blinking wildly. He didn't say a word but I can tell you he was processing....
Excellent points. Food for thought. Accurate weather forecasting could have mitigated the loss, which is catastrophic. My family held its 95th family reunion not far from there last weekend. We just dodged it. I watched Noem and Gov. Abbott on TV yesterday. Their gratuitous obsequiousness towards Trump made me ill. I turned off the TV. Trump is the U. S.’s Kim Jung-yun - equally cruel.
I couldn't watch them either. Yes, cutting off funds to the weather service that provides alerts is unconscionable...and it's not even hurricane season yet. I guess this is the kind of thing that MAGAs need to wake up, except most of them don't know that the funding was cut....
True believers care nothing about reason or facts. They have already fixed their minds on the "gospel" of their chosen ideology and nothing is going to move them away from it.
I agree with T L Mills that reason isn't a viable tool with MAGA.
I also agree that Democrats don't have the internal steel to deliver the message with the necessary force. Already, some bleeding hearts are clutching their pearls, back-of-hand to the forehead, complaining that "this is not the time" to remind flood victims that their tragedy is attributable to the cuts to weather service personnel.
But I remind T L that 85% of MAGA are evangelicals. They do not view politics as the source of tragedy. That is the province of "Satan" or of "unconfessed sin" or "God's will."
The 15% who do not profess religious faith are simply brainwashed.
Oh, I get that. But surely those folk DO realize that their medical access, their Medicaid and their SNAP benefits, granny's Social Security and her Medicare benefits DO originate from the government??? if they do not, then they truly are morons.
Yes, but as I wrote yesterday, based on observing my dyed-in-the-wool Republican parents, who were both college-educated, their inconvenience was always the fault of "Democrat socialism" or "the government." They refused to associate hardship with Republican policy or legislation.
Many people are motivated by what is happening to their wallets and switched to trump because they were convinced that the government was behind high egg prices. The question is will these poor MAGAs turn against the government when they will experience food scarcity, rampant homelessness, and dying of diseases that go untreatable?
They're already blaming Biden's VP, aides, etc. for hiding his dementia. trump's people tried to do the same thing with trump but he's ignoring them (because he can) and we are punished by having to listen to his blathering diatribes....
Yeh Dale.. I "feel" for them.., but i can't "reach" them. I do wish that they will be able to meet up with those 14 little-girls some day. They are sure gone for now, so blame Biden. No? Geeezzzusssss.., BLAME something ferr crisssakes. God couldn't do this alone. Ohh, of course.., it's the satan amongst us. That a "he" or a "she" or ??? Nope.., it's Biden.
The reason "Murkowski" caved is a "reason" known only to doofus and his goons and the Senator). Is that paramount to some conspiracy-theory..?..., sure makes one shake their head. And, hows-about all the other "senators"..? What 'moved' them? Some pretty bad ju ju somewhere, don'cha think? I can only wonder. Surely it's not Don's kahrisma. Maybe Kiss MA? Dunno.
Trumpo sold what little soul he ever possessed, long ago. As for Johnson, he pretends to Christianity...but it is quite clear he is scarcely human, let alone any sort of Christian. He is a little treason weasel, a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump, Inc.
K Vander Molen has correctly identified the common denominator, lust for power, between the two men (term loosely used), but their motivations are different.
Donald is a total failure. He failed to win his father's respect because he plunged the family business deep into debt before Fred succumbed to Alzheimer's and died. Even more importantly, Donald failed to usher his family into the ballrooms of New York Aristocracy. If anything, his crass ignorance was the cause of their rejection. Even the apparent "success" of The Apprentice TV show was not of Donald's making. Donald is full of loathing, for himself and resentment of the world in general. He craves the power to force everyone to worship him; if they won't, he wants the power to destroy it all.
Evangelicals cultivate a collective "victim complex." They believe the world hates them. They assume they're hated because of their piety, not recognizing that it's their hypocrisy and anti-social behavior that nonbelievers find obnoxious. Evangelicals believe that they will one day rule the world, as God has promised. They, Mike Johnson among them, are trying to help God make that power a reality.
Trump has no empathy for others; he chronically feels sorry for himself and takes revenge on folks that be blames for cheating on him. Many Republicans have no (Christian or other) empathy toward the non-wealthy; they say those people are lazy—and should not have a vote in running the country.
Sorry MLM. i like your remarks and feel we're on the same side of the room, it's just my 'manner' or writing which gets me mis-understood. However, I do not subscribe to any religious doctrine or book that someone wrote, hence people find it hard to figure "where I'm At". That fact, coupled with my grade-school English and sentence structure always creates unintended conclusions. Like your "?". I used the word "Trucks" to depict opinions. We all have them. They are like assholes, they all stink. But we'd be hard-pressed to operate with out them (opinions). Sorry to drag on.., I'm waiting for low tide to set a mooring to hang a boat on., it's almost time.
He hates Democrats. It feels everybody hates Democrats. Why is it only Democrats who were on the list of the alleged killer of Melissa Hortman and her husband (including my OH#1 rep)? And if Democrats are so feckless, useless, weak and ineffective why are they on an alleged killer's list of targets? Why have Republicans (and others) been engaged for decades in efforts to block or eliminate votes for Democrats (gerrymandering, voter suppression, efforts to overturn 2020 election results etc.)? Why were bomb threats reported only in Democratic precincts in 2024? I agree that he is an equal opportunity hater. But he and his minions are using legal measures and physical threats in addition to statements to foment chaos.
As Belle On The Ranch says, "It's just a thought."
One of the worst things about the indifference to what happened with the flooding is that he doesn't care about even his own people. Kerrville is clearly a conservative area, given that their rep in the house is Chip Roy. I am fortunate to live in a majority blue city - far west Texas, a city that many don't even consider to be part of Texas. Personally, at this point, I'd be fine with letting the Rio Grande change its course again, and land us back in Mexico.
Oh but Betsy, he is sending the Gnome to Texas so she can play dress up. What costume will it be....it should be Cruella DeVille. I also see that the blame game has started in Texas about warnings.
Betsy, alas, Trump has dementia and most likely has no idea what the floods in Texas even mean. He says the lines he has memorized like "thoughts and prayers" but has no connection with those words. He will go to Texas later this week because he is told he has to go, but there will be no real sympathy or empathy because he can't feel those emotions. He will have some kind of speech that his handlers will give him and a few lines they have coached him on, but that's it. For him, it is just another among many photo ops. He will think he did a great job when it will be just one more pathetic public appearance that his Klan/Kult will substitute in their minds different words that show he really cares about them when he will have forgotten them as soon as the helicopter lifts off. Heck, he has no clue what is in that "big beautiful" bill congress handed to him to sign (I wonder what his signature looks like). He can't explain any of the orders he signs and asks (supposedly in fun) to have it explained to the people and Will or George will give a weird overview of the order. It is shameful, but the handlers were so desperate to have someone as president they could manipulate into doing their will they keep up the pretence of Trump's still being able to function; he isn't and they are lying to the American people.
I’d say that Trump is totally unbalanced. Can you suggest one positive attribute that Trump possesses other than toward his family, excluding his wives?
Richard, Donald has no affection for his family members. Donald, Jr. is the equivalent of a good employee, and enjoys limited favor from his father, but it could hardly be called "love."
Eric, less so. Although his desperation to win Donald's approval is almost palpable.
Ivanka managed to elicit a bit of lust from Donald .
Tiffany and Barron are the family's NPCs (non player characters).
His wives were arm candy until they aged a few years. Melania is living up to her contractual obligations to collect those fat paychecks.
Has anyone seen news coverage of trump spending time with his family? Remember the Kennedy’s playing touch football? The Bushes taking a boat out at Kennebunkport? And many other First Family occasions. No…
Well, he lusts after Ivanka.....oh, wait, I guess that's not a 'positive' is it? Remember that photo of a teenage Ivanka sitting on daddy's lap? Beyond creepy.
Perhaps “broken” is the best description. The piece I’m going to link below, reports on an interesting use of AI for analysis with (hopefully) limited bias.
The rule of law is being dismantled by the trump administration with the help of the Supreme Court. Law enforcement, as we know it, will no longer be to safeguard every citizen's personal safety or to pursue criminals; it will only benefit the top one percent. You will have to take charge of your safety, your family's safety, and defend whatever property of value you have.
They were given the power they needed to hijack our country in the 2024 election by people too stupid and lazy to pay attention to Project 2025 or even to remember what a shitshow trumps first term was.
They will do whatever they have to do to retain power permanently.
I think it will take more than a weekend. Maybe a week.
And no fair stocking up before and after the week. A true boycott is painful for everyone. To be effective, it has to be more painful for those being boycotted than those doing the boycotting.
Americans don't have the intestinal fortitude to mount an effective boycott. We've got to have our stuff.
Later, when nobody has the money to buy anything, who will notice?
Highly recommend reading the above article, then staying for a while on Jim’s page. His articles are very well researched, and terrifying. He sees the true evil running rampant behind the scene.
I think it hits a home-run. Unfortunately, he won’t just destroy this country, he could very well destroy the world, given nuclear proliferation. I read somewhere that for cryptocurrency to be valuable, the dollar needs to weaken. I can imagine hyperinflation and death by poverty, or incarceration. Detention camps > concentration camps leading to extermination camps (the final solution).
Gary, thanks for this! If nothing else, just the transcript of the Trump ramble (I can't call it a speech) is worthy of reading. I am so tired of the media sane-washing his comments.
And as I've posted here numerous times, this sounds so much like my late brother in his middle to early-late dementia.
For what it’s worth, Trump bragging that his massive tax cuts to the wealthy will give us a huge business boom and bring in a Golden age should be looked at sharply by everyone. Those are the same exact tax cuts from 2017 and where is this business boom? How could we have been failing under Biden if his tax cuts were truly effective. Now he’s going to kill every business bargain in the works from Biden and the country will be worse off. How desperately will he go after Musk for starting a new Party; the America Party?
Peggy, he scores high on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). “He passes the threshold for a formal diagnosis of clinical psychopathy”, Drs. Greenwood & Norrholm from “The Much More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 50 Psychiatrists and Mental Health experts Warn Anew,” edited by Bandy Lee, MD, MDlV. Dr. Lee writes on substack. He must isolated.
You are only too right! I have made the same observations and the same comment repeatedly. Trump is a dangerously sick, despotic, egocentric man who is taking America to the edge of a ruinous fascist cliff--and all of us with him. And the MAGA GOP has become incomprehensibly brainwashed and gridlocked by their own misinformation. What is happening right now in Texas, with the flooding, damage, and government impotence is just a preview of the legacy Trump and his sycophants are bring to America: cutting scientists, misdirecting federal staffing, funding, and priorities, ignoring environmental imperatives, and skewing all of our resources into the pockets of rich.
Can you imagine what the Republican reaction would have been if Biden said, “I am only going to propose legislation and sign Executive Orders that Democrats like and that benefit states with Democratic majorities. We are ONLY going to build roads and bridges, etc. in Biden-loving states. When we get to the border between Illinois and Iowa, the bridge over the Mississippi from East Dubuque, IL into Dubuque,IA….?? And, none of those computer chip making plants are going to Biden-hating states.” I’m sure FOX and Newsmax and Tucker Carlson, etc. would just clam up and snivel and tremble and shake….
Thank you Peggy, Heather, you all…That the country will soon realize ..is little consolation .
Band together all trodden.
Make the community you need.
Pay careful attention to your health, weight, water source..and find solace in music, learning to live within one’s means now emphasizes the lowered new bar.
The many protest songs will ,relearned , provide a glimpse how was -is now ..again.
We can over come this , and it will now take years. A cycle , history, times ..repeated.
Yes, an unpopular bill but as time will show …we.can.change.
He is a seriously damaged individual, who under other circumstances, would be an object of pity, with people trying to help him. But, since he is wealthy, and conniving, and makes a willing tool used by oligarchs for the the destruction of the Republic, he is instead, a monster who believes he can't be stopped.
...Trump said Democrats had opposed the measure only “because they hate Trump. But I hate them, too. You know that? I really do, I hate them. I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country.”
Here comes the stochastic terrorism again. Watch for the body count to go up.
A cult built around one great divine leader? Check.
Military parades celebrating that great leader? Check.
All real politicians replaced by yay-sayers and cultists? Check.
Minorities designated as subhuman? Check.
Open hate promoted by the government against certain people? Check.
Open racism and hate against LGBTQ-people openly promoted by the government?
Concentration camps? Check.
Sicherheitsstaffel? Check.
But noooo, Trump is nothing like Hitler… Expect that body count to go up, fast. Expect razzias where Dems are rounded up by masked Proud Boys carrying ICE badges.
Had to Google that last one. Right on target. Nazi paramilitary or protection squadron. Now we know why chump didn’t care that he had no majority, just his devoted followers who would cheer if he killed someone on 5th Avenue. He certainly has known how to cater to the most depraved in the society, just like Ronnie knew how to appeal to the racists. I should be surprised that the Republican Party signed on to this but I’m not. Self-righteous, greedy bastards are not, and were not, a rarity in the past fifty years that I have been aware. The signs were there when Everett Dirksen was the last man standing. You nailed it, Dutch Mike. Diagnosis correct, any treatment ideas…
I think you are both referring to the Schutzstaffel (SS), who ran the concentration camps, not Sicherheitstaffel, which means a sort of security team ski racers and others might employ, or personal bodyguards. There was a Nazi Sicherheitspolizei (SP). But I think the SA (Sturm Abteilung) is what you both mean— your basic brownshirt, otherwise unemployable street tough.
Thank you for confirming my posts that pardoned insurrectionists are becoming ICE agents. So instead of shoving people in gas ovens to die we are now feeding them to alligators and pythons? How long before people are being shot in the legs for peacefully protesting?
They are deporting people who have done no more than be undocumented to foreign countries to life in prison, torture, and probably slave labor. And trump supporters love it. I never imagined that such a large percentage of our population are assholes.
He doesn't know anything about this country except the power he can wield and how to steal money from anybody in any way, shape or form. Read that Barron has already made 40 million in crypto. He loves this country in the opposite way JFK ask us to love our country. THANK YOU HEATHER....ALWAYS!!!! 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲😪
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, tRump is nothing but a dumbf*ck who wouldn’t know his ass from his elbow. Apart from all the other obscene and regressive measures in this bill, cutting funds to renewable energies and investing in fossil fuels is NOT going to Make America Great Again. Not for anyone, including oligarchs. David Suzuki this week wrote, “It’s too late. The fight against climate change is lost…and all we can do now is hunker down.” He named Trump’s election as “the dagger in his heart,” in terms of it being “the triumph of capitalism and neoliberalism…” steering us head on into the climate apocalypse. Hence, I have also said before, I don’t know what planet these f*cktards think they are living on, but the thought of tRump, Noem, Johnson and Vance (at the very least) being sucked up by the tornado of their own making, is the only thing putting a smile on my face right now.
The sudden deaths of 51 + people in central Texas — due in no small part to staffing shortages at the National Weather Center, which otherwise would have been working much more closely with local authorities during an intense storm watch — another casualty of DOGE and the fright-wing cable TV crowd’s unrelenting hatred for government services backed by taxes. The price for living in a civilized society they refuse to pay for…
Just nine months ago, in October 2024, in lieu of Hurricane Milton, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was all over the media and on X claiming that Biden and the federal government control the weather.
That RIGHT THERE is the biggest problem that I feared would come from the reelection of this orange *$$hole: that he would be the nail in the coffin of the climate. David Suzuki is right: with their vote, millions of Americans not only damned democracy, but also Earth's climate.
Kazz.., Time for the "tough" to surface and get "going" (some already have) cause the going is going to get tough. I won't be around for the next 30 years, but I've seen this 'play' before. So have others. It's built to fail.., no revolution needed, time to put this juke box into a sound-proof room.
I think you are right, this is what Maga wants. Since the election, the minions I see only want the keep a fight going, zero interest in governing or policy, only wanting whatever rush they were getting from abusive domination, 'drinking lib tears'. They are sick.
Trump — the bride at every funeral, the corpse at every wedding, the baby at every exorcism….the world’s teeniest, tiniest, weeest, pettiest, pissiest of tinpot, fake-gold dictators who needs a B-2 bomber to conceal that little button mushroom from our awareness.
Topped off by Speaker Bobblehead literally getting on the ground to lick his shoes and mouth sweet-sounding horseshit to soothe the Deplorables, while 40% of his own constituents are on Medicaid…
Shakespeare tonight: cowards die many times before their deaths — the valiant taste of death but once.
That does mean we can, too, especially those "of an age" who can put our Vietnam vet hats on. If it's going to come down to what it looks like it's going to come down to, our side is going to have to decide either to keep their aversion to the idea, or to decide not to become inmates in these camps. Which will come down to "by any means necessary." I don't like this, but reality doesn't give a shit what you like or don't like. It just IS.
Tom, I recently purchased two Vietnam Vet hats. Until recently I thought it was sort of "in your face" to wear one of those hats. But I found that I'd begun to say hello to everyone I see who is wearing one of those hats. So I've been wearing one or the other when I go out in public. One is a "boonies" hat and one is a baseball cap. At the No Kings gathering in Kenosha I stopped to say Hi to a man wearing a Vietnam Vet hat -- we both rendered a casual salute, and then we both laughed -- obviously two former enlisted men rendering salutes was symbolic. Shortly after that an older couple passed me and she said "Thankyou for your service" and I returned her smile and said "Thank You!"
I participated in the VA's Agent Orange registry long ago. I was not a grunt, so I never went out walking in the boonies. But I logged over 300 hours in the back of an aircraft, and saw vast swaths of bare vegetation, surrounded by lush green jungle, so it was obvious to anyone with that vantage point that Agent Orange had been applied liberally in many places. I was relieved to learn that they found no trace or evidence of the defoliant in my system.
I have never identified someone who falsely claims to have been in country. I'm curious to hear what they had to say, or how anyone could know whether or not they were telling the truth. How could anyone tell they did not set foot in Viet Nam, unless they freely admitted, when asked, that they were pretending.
Have you ever identified someone who was actually in country, who claimed to have received a CIB, or who wears a CIB, but who was not an 11x? I would regard prevarication about receiving a CIB as worse than pretending to have been in the war. I have infinite respect for anyone who was awarded a CIB.
I was in the combat engineers, therefore no CIB. But we saw as much up close and personal stuff and took casualties. We had clerks who got purple hearts, because everyone had to pull ambush patrols. I get a VA disability, got it before Agent Orange was an accepted diagnosis.
I met lots of people who were outright liars. I heard disability cases for 10 years, other cases like Defense Base Act cases War Hazards Act cases for about 20.
I ran intio guys wearting Vietnam hats who admitted they had never been there.
One of my former law clerks went to work at the VA, and asked me whether the CIB was the dispositive indication ....
I thanked a man in one of those hats at our No Kings and he said he wished he’d never served. Like me, many veterans feel betrayed and that our service was never appreciated.
TC.. yeerr gotttdammed right! Buy ammunition clips and load em up. Know how they click-in. Just WHO do these muther-fu--ers think they are///, wearing all that kevlar shit and ICE jackets...?? Like ANYONE can get that crap and impersonate some figure which we can be fooled by.., thinking it is an actual agent of a ligitimate government WHICH NO LONGER EXISTS!! All I can say is "remember the Bulldozer-Man"!! However, given what you and I already know about life, being smarter than Juke-Box (t-rump) and his goons is not that difficult, it's just annoying as hell..., violence and guns not being the way out.
I dunno Margaret.., I think we're too fat for that. The ICE-cream Team will round your butt up and "detain" you at the drop of a hat, so unless you've already brought your lunch for get it. Virtually all our peace-keep type folks are subscribed to ICE. First responders, local PD's, Marshalls, Sheriffs. Most have been signed on by ICE, so it seems. They believe they are just maintaining law and order and protecting us from "extremists". Are you an extremist? I didn't think so. Better keep your guns locked up, out of sight.
Made me think of Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings when Frodo offers her the Ring: “instead of a Dark Lord, you shall have a Queen before you! Beautiful and terrible as the night! ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAIR!”
With Trump the Drama Queen, you get both apparently. Ugh.
This is what some Republicans have been working toward since the New Deal rescued the American economy from the Great Depression. At least I won’t die of neglect in a nursing home.
Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. About everything ❤️🩹🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, and those in a committee that fits your topic.
I hate to say this but, seeing this budget bill pass, knowing a vast majority of people in the US didn't support it according to polls, I no longer believe calling/emailing/writing members of Congress or the Cabinet does any good. Fox News is still the most viewed TV station for news, which is full of mis- and disinformation. We have far too many news deserts. Maybe Profs. Richardson and Snyder are right -- we need to protest even more! Or, maybe, we need a General Strike!
I understand, and mostly agree. Maybe you’ve seen me say this since I recognize your name -
I don’t think we’ll see many big waves (like a major MAGA Congress member changing their opinions), however I think we can cause little ripples. I’m thinking staff members who hear the same thing over and over via voicemail, phone calls, letter after letter, email after email - maybe they’ll be a little more receptive each time they hear from us. Maybe they’ll talk more about our talking points to friends and family, maybeeee they’ll vote differently. I think we can cause ripples to push news organizations to be more honest and maybe even a bit accusatory about what’s happening. 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 🙃
— but beyond that typical response I have ready to go because people say, “what good will it do,” I’ve signed up for the general strike that’s being organized. I think we need more protests and something big like Hands Across America in 1986
Good point Ally. And we can protest by shopping at local grocery stores instead of the chains or buying produce from a farm stand. Our local fish monger buys from the local fishermen and the local processor. The Fascist Republicans are doing everything they can to starve the underprivileged and disabled people. Our local food bank provides free food to 4% of the people in our county. And they also support meals on wheels which may be overwhelmed or worse, eliminated. The food banks depend on subsidies as well as donations.
There were organized boycotts of businesses. Amazon, Target are just two of them. They were for specific time frames. It feels like they just fell to the side. Short of an armed response, a complete economic boycott may be our only weapon.
And, spot on HCR " ... as soon as Trump took office [the R's started] cutting 890 Billion from Medicaid".
Let's take a closer look at 3 states's Medicaid programs:
TEXAS:
"STAR is a no-cost Medicaid managed care plan that covers children up to age 21, some adults and pregnant women" with health insurance.
CALIFORNIA:
In CA the Medicaid plan is titled "Medi-Cal".
SUNDAY 7/6/25 Morn' Update on CA Mediation-Cal funding. DONE.
California anticipated the Trump-MAGA attacks & will use the MCO Tax, that's the Managed Care Organization Tax (MCO), approved by CA Voters in Proposition 35.
OAKLAHOMA:
"Medicaid is a federal & state program that provides medical benefits to low income individuals who have no or inadequate health insurance.
Just one example to access an OK plan:
"SOONER Select health plan is available through "Aetna Better Health of Oklahoma".
Song Summary:
🎶 Yes, I understand that every life must end, uh huh. 🎶
🎶 As we sit alone, I know someday we must go, uh huh.🎶
🎶 Stay with Me. Let's just breathe. Let's just breathe. 🎶
H/t Willie Nelson & Lukas Nelson of Promise of the Real. Circa 2012
August 1 Medicare cuts under statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act (PAYGO) requires automatic spending cuts to offset any legislation that increases the federal budget deficit.
I got this from Google:
House-passed reconciliation bill: A House-passed bill (H.R. 1) could trigger $535 billion in Medicare cuts over a decade due to PAYGO. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates this bill could cause a $45 billion cut to Medicare in 2026, increasing to $75 billion in 2034.
Senate-passed reconciliation bill: The Senate-passed version of the reconciliation bill, which was signed into law on July 4, 2025, is estimated to increase the deficit by $3.4 trillion over 10 years, potentially leading to even larger Medicare cuts than the House version.
Automatic cuts (sequestration): If the bill is enacted and Congress takes no further action, the deficit increase would trigger mandatory cuts, or sequestration, under PAYGO. These cuts to Medicare could total around $500 billion over 2026–2034. Under PAYGO, most Medicare spending is subject to sequestration, but cuts are limited to 4%.
I absolutely agree! Please see my reply to Megan's reply. Having the logistical advantage of being in the DC area, I agree with Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder that we need to more protests. And, I also think we need to do a General Strike that, realistically, could be planned for September. The timing for that might be perfect if the SMARTLegislation v. Rockland County, NY discovery wraps up as scheduled by then and shows what I think it will -- that DJT "won" as a result of last minute updates to software in voting machines used in 40% of the counties in the US that happened with zero oversight and has some connection to Leonard Leo, the guy who, via The Federalist Society. We won't know until discovery wraps up. Visit SMARTElections.us for more info, including the one mainstream media article about it in Newsweek.
In previous years, the fireworks around us started on the 1st and were in full bloom by the 4th. This year, one neighbor shot off fireworks for about 15 minutes, otherwise crickets. Ironically, it was the nicest weather for fireworks here that I can recall -- upper 60's, clear skies, recent rain and 0-5 mph winds.
Tourism to Acadia National Park is way down. I haven't seen a Canadian plate in weeks when they were prevalent before.
Their timing for passing the big ugly bill was perfect for ruining the morale of the country. And a shout-out to Susan Collins who allowed the bill to come to the floor with her vote and for Lisa Murkowski for selling us all out. They both could have stopped this ugly Fascist bill from moving forward and they didn't.
1. If you live in DC you can visit every Congressional office.
2. Here in Baghdad By the Sea we have boucoups dual citizen Canadian Americans, plus our economy is tourist based and we've lost $billions in tourism, not just from the 3 million Canadians who used to regularly visit, but from many other countries. As a result, no foreign real estate buyers, no market.
3. Today we learned that our local MAGATs are starting a war in Colombia. "The United States and Colombia have recalled their respective ambassadors amid tensions surrounding an alleged plot to oust President Gustavo Petro in which two Florida congressmen were implicated. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he ordered the recall of John T. McNamara, the acting ambassador in Bogotá, on Thursday “following baseless and reprehensible statements from senior Colombian government officials.”
When we intiate revolutions we create immigration. Think Cuba, Venezuela, El Salvador, etc. We should suppoert democracy, the rule of law, and due process. But this administration is anti immigrants -- even some who serverd our interests in their home countries, like Afghanistan, Ukraine.
I've tried to imagine a scenario of where the discovery can lead. There are legitimate groups who have proven what you state, but they can't get traction. And how oh how would we wrest back power from a Party that already has the country in a stranglehold? We are a country of protestors, but we've never had to fight our own government or topple a dictator. He has an angry army--conscripted and not--ready to shoot us where we stand. We have peaceful protestors who won't be able to protest at all without risking our lives. I hope we're up to the task to do what's necessary.
Based on the silent protest I saw in the military parade in DC on the President's birthday and the # of veterans who are mentoring active duty military personnel about their oath to protect and uphold The Constitution, I'm fairly confident this Administration -- especially after cutting so many veterans from Fed jobs and gutting V.A. care -- cannot effectively lead our military. Heck, soldiers didn't even march in front of the stands. Also, veterans and others are reminding or teaching about the Nuremberg trials. And, as HCR reminds us, there are a lot more of us than them!
Like no act of kindness is ever wasted, no act of protest or resistance is ever wasted. We need equal and opposite reactions to every vile word and deed. We need an army of energetic citizens. Would be nice if democrats didn’t lead from the rear.
JD. Do you live close to San Antonio that just elected a Democrat as mayor or were was it, Dallas I think where the school board switched to all Democrats.
In election after election this year, Democrats are kicking ass all over the country. ICE has pissed off Republican sheriff's across the country by designating their counties as not being helpful to ICE. And, of course, this was just another gaslighting job. But, many sheriff's are still angry about it.
In ME, we have two of the best candidates I've ever seen anywhere, running for the Democrat nomination.
Look at what the Democrats accomplished under the first two years of the Biden administration. Of course, the Big Ugly Bill reverses some of that and Trump's little Johnson has repealed some of it, but we need to encourage the BEST candidates to run for EVERY office from the smallest board member to US Senator.
I've also signed up for the General Strike although, because of what I now do for a living, I'm exempt. However, I'm doing what I can to help organize one and encourage others with more capacity than I have to do that. The National Education Association's Representative Assembly meeting is happening now in Portland, OR. I'm hoping they'll use some time while at the RA to plan/organize that since it's 1 of the 5 largest unions left in the US. I've also tagged Randi Weingarten, who's head of the American Federation of Teachers to ask her to lead AFT to do the same. AFT is also 1 of the 5 largest unions in the US.
I am there sometimes too. But I start to crumble emotionally if I feel like the hope is gone. So, I continue on adding to my spreadsheet and sharing it 🤞❤️🩹
Maybe it’s time for secession. I don’t have optimism either that the power and money and cruelty can be overcome by trying to change hearts and minds. The colonists couldn’t convince the monarchy to grant them freedom and democracy. They had to break-away. Are we at that moment? Trump hates Democrats. The president of the United States actually said he hates some of its citizens! I can’t even process that.
I guess I'm turning into a crabby old lady, but when I call and get an aide I tell them to QUIT before their soul is irrevocably lost to Satan, as their rep has sold their soul to the Devil.
I've left that voice mail as well. I'm not entirely kidding.
Bill, there are literally millions of caregivers across the country who cannot work because they can't leave their loved one. Fortunately, many employers know this and allowed people to work remote. But, like the true Fascists they are, the Republicans have forced Federal employees to return to the office, and some other oligarchs have done the same.
The ccmpany I worked for from 4/20 - 4/25 (when I retired) NEVER required me to come into the office. And most of the 900 plus employees don't either or maybe 1 to 2 days a week.
I heard yesterday that there are over 400,000 manufacturing jobs available in the US. Thank goodness Trump has implemented the tariffs to bring back manufacturing. /S
Megan, The General Strike is available on line … not sure now where now? …but I signed up long ago. It needs a lot of us to make a true difference. Plus agree it needs to last at least three days for impact. In the Guardian today a Trump supporter’s wife who has been detained by ice wants to take the vote for the orange slime back asap!
If ice is looking around for us in MA, we are looking around for them as well: Luce hotline.
Thank you Megan for your continuous actions. That is what it takes. Efforts like yours and many others here following HCR. Our lights grow stronger together.
"We need a General Strike." Bingo DC. I've been preaching this since Trump was, um, er, was reeelected. My daughter had to buy a charger at Walmart and I went with her just to see the clueless morons still shopping there. Walmart underpays their workers and doesn't give them enough hours to be forced to provide benefits for them. This bill makes it even worse for rural Walmart workers because rural hospitals will close as well as rural nursing homes. And Walmart has bankrupted tens of thousands of mom and pop stores so many people are forced to shop there. And Amazon is just as bad. Also, Kroger was caught gouging us during the Biden years.
There are lots of civilians and veterans on our side who have guns and have continued to train how to use them, including plenty of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, don't forget, we're dealing with TACO. It's entirely possible we won't need to use that option. Some activists have been training people how to use non-violent tactics for a while now. I've seen that! It's ingenious and inspiring!
Maybe. There are ways -- equipment and training -- to protect ourselves from being attacked or from being seriously injured if we are attacked. We learned how to do that during the George Floyd protests.
It appears that the way they structured the timing of when the painful aspects of the law take effect, they expect to escape accountability and voters will blame the Congress in place rather than today's Congress.
I can see trump playing with tariffs as long as he is President.
It gives him leverage to extort any country that wants to do business with the US. If the tariffs ever do take effect, the increase in inflation will be evident immediately. Maybe trump will delay tariffs until after the midterms too. If Dems take the majority in the midterms and the cuts in the big ugly bill take effect along with tariffs, the right-wingers will blame Democrats for the resulting damage.
DC.., maybe take enjoyment shoving some of what has passed right up your senator's butt. Dump a load in their driveway. Dump two. Does their kid do drugs?
Although my Senators voted against the bill, what I recommend to anyone whose House rep. or Senators voted for it -- like Sen. (R-IA) Joni “We’re all going to die” Ernst and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair (R-IA) Chuck Grassley, who’s 91 years old -- ask them how they plan to access healthcare in their home states when so many hospitals, nursing homes and outpatient practices there have closed? And, if they're planning to stay in DC to use their lifelong Federal Employee Health Benefits insurance plans that they think will insulate them from the crisis they’ve created, they're wrong. No one is entitled to healthcare in the US! It doesn't matter who you are. The last thing you want to do is piss off the nurses and doctors you depend on when it's your turn to need healthcare.
From; "Donald's Vanity Tantrums" published 5 years ago. Everything I wrote is coming to pass. I will likely arm myself for defense since at this time all the guardrails are being undone. I encourage others to lawfully and safely do likewise. And please remember one point; I was absolutely castigated when I dared to suggest the good generals that once held sway to enact a military coup to save the republic because there was no alternative. Authoritarianism is at the gate. A true Civil War is pending. The states do not have to abide by this movement but it will take the force of arms and conscience of the people to stop it. Yes, it's real. And I'm so many obliviously shot off fireworks in the street for what? To scare the hell out of wildlife and anyone frail of mind.
One vote could have stopped the bill. But Lisa Murkowski could have stopped it. Her true colors showed. But I have to say, this is the normal slime of most politicians.
A Fireside Chat
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began a series of informal radio chats to the American public during a turbulent time in the 1930s. The radio back then was to communicating as Twitter is today. Here is an excerpt:
“My fellow Americans, it is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we rebuild our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors. …I do not share these fears.”
Trump demands a quaint, televised, fireside chat to compete with FDR. Here is a sneak preview:
“My friends, Hillary Clinton will never see the inside of the White House again as long as I live.
“You people love me so much that I know you want to keep me as your president for life. The Constitution now allows this extended appointment of the executive branch. Our blessed homeland needs me to lead it. I have authorized The Enabling Act, borrowed from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s proposal to restrict powers of the Reichstag in 1933. His SS troops made legislators give up their civil liberties and transfer state powers to the Reich government. I’m pleased to tell you that the Democrats will sign away their legislative powers while my ICE agents surround the House of Representatives. I have the power to dissolve Congress and allow my Cabinet to pass much needed laws to Make America Great Again. And I pledge to you that all fake impeachment activity to convict me has ended.
“I also pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. And we will remove all undocumented immigrants that are poisoning the blood of our country. And we will remove the portrait of African-born Barack Hussein Obama from the White House wall.
“My first act tomorrow will be to have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Shiftless Adam Schiff picked up for questioning to ascertain their patriotism for the United States.
“I know I’ve been accused of a quid pro quo with Ukraine. There is nothing wrong with finding the truth about liars and cheats like Slow Joe Biden. And there’s nothing wrong asking a nation to help with uncovering wrongdoing by a corrupt man. As your President for Life, I will always tell you the truth. When I make a promise to you, I keep it.
“This concludes the first of my fireside chats. I can’t wait to tell you what I have in store for other scum Trump haters.”
I finally did, Bill. I really didn't want to. I'm not opposed to people arming themselves in a situation like this. I go to the range at least weekly. I hope I never have to fire in anger. I live in a rabidly red area that is full of armed yahoos. They buy into the myth that liberals don't own firearms. Given what I see and hear in my area, I feel that at least here we are sliding toward civil violence.
ICE by any measure is Trump's secret police. Now that they're funded with tens of billions of dollars there's no telling the damage they'll inflict with no oversight — depending on his whims and ever-expanding enemies list. That list, by the way, now numbers in the many millions given that Trump has publicly declared he hates Democrats. And let's see if his ever-compliant Supreme Court sanctions turning undocumented migrants into essentially slave labor. We know they will. Welcome to America.
This isn't about immigrants. It's about a partisan occupation army to control citizens. WTF did you expect after the illegal immigrants have been rounded up and deported? That ICE will be dissolved?
"In fact, Reichlin-Melnick told Democracy Now!, the law will make ICE the largest federal law enforcement agency “in the history of the nation.”
This is NOT a "federal law enforcement agency." It is a PARTISAN POLICE FORCE...essentially a MAGA army to circumvent the Constitution that forbids the ACTUAL federal army from being used to occupy and police citizens in their homes and streets.
Timothy Snyder, Heather, and others aptly worry about the impending concentration camps.
And as that massive funding bill for the police state passed, and Americans celebrated Independence Day, I thought of Dems.
Do they have access to the writers, film makers, musicians, and others well in touch with the American people, the land, and the crises our billionaire classes have long wrought?
For such access, one must care. Care about the land. Care about the hurt from the criminal in the White House and the cruelties he so delights in inflicting.
To care means to see life as personal. If one sees hurt going on, one will question it. But what have our elites learned over the years for their meritocracy? What, other than learn, as Ken Burns says, to be dutiful subject, not fellow citizen. Fellow citizens hunger for writers, film makers, and musicians. They ask good questions. But schools cannot teach that when testing has only authorities ask the question, the rest but to answer A)-B)-C)-or-D).
Ken Burns on the weekend “Face the Nation” interview with John Dickerson said that “The pursuit of happiness is not the acquisition of things in a marketplace of objects but lifelong learning in a marketplace of ideas.” Yet what did schools teach the 77 million who voted for the police state the criminal in the White House now sets up?
The U.S. long had the greatest schools in the world – since the 1862 Justin Morrill land grant act. What can we expect now if schools teach mainly to reduce choices to A)-B)-C)-or-D)?
When kids' test scores go down, corporate profits go up. The Common Core standards and, especially, the use of high stakes standardized testing has created public education policy that's had bipartisan support that's advanced the privatization agenda. I've done public education policy in DC. The best political move to be made would be for the National Education Association, which has its RA happening now, and the American Federation of Teachers -- two of the 5 largest unions in the US -- to organize with others a General Strike starting in September.
In many states and counties it is illegal for public school teachers to strike. If teachers union leaders advocate for a strike, the jurisdiction can void the union’s collective bargaining rights. So-called “wildcat” strikes have sometimes worked to bring about changes, including better funding for schools, but anyone joining such a strike is subject to immediate dismissal.
And very quickly the school districts are then desperate to hire teachers. Good decisions aren't made in fear. Our goal and job is to make the "leaders" who voted for this bill afraid. As Timothy Snyder says, Do not obey in advance. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary actions.
Perhaps, but they also might simply say the public school teachers abrogated their responsibility to teach, so parents can apply for vouchers and send their children to private (likely religious) schools, using tax dollars.
I understand your concern, but speaking as the parent of two high school English teachers, I hate to think of the students learning--which is still impacted from COVID--being hurt any more.
I'd rather see a nation wide total BOYCOTT from shopping--not a single purchase made for one weekend.
Some parents take their kids out of school to take them on vacation. I'm talking about protecting them from living in an authoritarian state in which the Federal government via ICE runs concentration camps and brings back slavery. A BOYCOTT and a General Strike plus unprecedentedly large, peaceful protests -- large enough to scare the "leaders" who voted against the people's interests -- would impart an unforgettable lesson in civics, The Constitution and democracy. Experiential learning is best anyway. Create lesson plans in advance -- have students write Letters to the Editor of the newspapers worldwide, ask other countries to host foreign exchange visits, teach students how to organize -- involve them in age-appropriate ways. It could be the learning opportunity of a lifetime!
No but a lot of Catholic schools teach about social justice and would definitely be on board. Ditto many Jewish, Muslim and Christian schools. Quakers would most definitely be on board.
I know educated people who voted for chump, doctors, PhDs, all levels of brilliant people. They wanted the SC they have now. I wonder how they like it. So far, no complaints but I am out of the loop now, as it were…
The medical professionals servicing small towns and communities should be very worried. You're right, many of them voted for Trump, and will likely be forced to move to urban areas if they want to continue working in a hospital or nursing home.
As you undoubtedly already know, the Corporation that bought most of the hospitals in eastern Maine, Northern Light, is already in bad financial shape. I'm worried that my primary care doc & my gynecologist will leave for greener pastures. Ditto my husband's cardiologist.
Even here in Cleveland, with the renowned Cleveland Clinic, a large portion of their doctors are foreign born, as well as a lot of the support staff. How many of them will want to remain under the uncertain circumstances?
This is true. Rural healthcare tends to be a place where conservative Christian professionals gravitate. It was confusing to me and my more liberal physician colleagues when moving to the mountains. I was naive to think that most educated science based professionals would be skeptical of organized religion and right wing ideology. I was wrong… I fear for my 24 bed critical access hospital. It is a lifeline to our town. Doug Lamalfa will get an earful. I fully plan on telling my patients that vote for that poser “cowboy “ farmer that he voted against their access to healthcare.
I wonder if they believe that they will be better off living under a fascist totalitarian government, or does it have more to do with Psychology than IQ?
They buy the Fox propaganda, had the crap on tv 24/7 because they stayed up and worked almost non stop. IQ doesn’t inoculate people against propaganda, sad to say
Holding aPhD means you are persistent. If you are unable to think logically or base your thinking on facts, you are not either intelligent or certainly not “brilliant “.
"Yet what did schools teach the 77 million who voted for the police state the criminal in the White House now sets up?"
But that is so day-before-yesterday. Totally old skool. I'll just get my education right now, from social media, Fox News, the guy standing in line behind me at the grocery store, etc. And hey! 77 million can't all be idiots, right?
Republicans like to claim that "Tax cuts pay for themselves" but never demonstrate it. If I recall correctly Reagan or his administration claimed that tax cuts and free reign for the rich would so supercharge the economy that lowered tax rates would actually result in more public revenue. It's been over 40 years. At what point is it fair to say "Clearly this isn't working"?
I keep sayin' my main gripe is we pay taxes but super rich don't. Most years We paid more than Trump. Than most major corporations. Tesla reported zero federal income tax in 2024, despite earning $2.3 billion in U.S. income. In 2011, Bezos reportedly paid no federal income taxes, claiming annual investment losses that exceeded his other income. He was even able to claim a child tax credit intended for lower-income families. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaires-ve-paid-0-income-180649570.html
We have a collection problem. Trillions have gone uncollected -- and we pay for them.
Yes it's infuriating and absurd. Some years back, one person was able to purchase a Starbucks latte with "food stamps", and it was divisive national news, yet the screaming injustice of the tax system gets slight attention. The Panama Papers, Pandora Papers, Paradise Papers, got a day or two of mention, but no serious effort I am aware of to prevent that kind of thing. Over about a decade ago a practicing lawyer told me that the IRS was focusing audits on poorer people with irregular employment claiming income credits because they tend to keep poor records because the IRS lacked the budget to engage in court fights with the very rich. Some years ago Warren Buffet said that even without trickery, he paid a smaller portion of his income to taxes than the woman who cleaned out his wastebaskets. That has since only become worse.
We the people really, really need to focus and connect the dots. Follow the money for real, and do the numbers systematically. The cage fights and parades are just circuses to clutter our focus. Imprisonment without due process is hard-core despotism. It wasn't "government" that, going back to Reagan, nominal Republicans hate, it's the "of the people, by the people, for the people" form of it, which they now falsely tar as "communism", it's government by and for the very rich and powerful; the very thing the Constitution was designed to ward against, that they conspire to promote. Visibly, power tends to corrupt. Unaccountable power (and money is a form of power) often leads to absolute sociopathy. What does human history show us about this? Human rights are qualities of living things, and need tending, by selves and also by society, to flourish and persist.
He says he hates Democrats… How many other 57 year-old people are out there ready to impersonate police in order to break into the homes of elected Democrats? Or maybe they’re not 57 but they did hear this president egg them on.! I cannot believe we are living with this regime. It is impossible to keep track, but I appreciate this forum.
Forced labour is an almost inevitable outcome of establishing concentration camps to hold individuals detained on the basis of immigration status (and ethnicity). The devastation of the agricultural workforce alone makes this inevitable, and service industries are likely to follow as beneficiaries of cheap forced labour. And of course, some of the detention centres will be owned or managed by private companies that also profit from forced labour.
Sadly, the model is familiar from Europe before 1946, where forced labour was directed into the industrial demands of wartime Germany--addressing a shortfall of workers created by war and the needs of a wartime economy. What remains to be seen is whether the New American Model also sees the captive workforce as disposable (such as disposing of some captives in South Sudan or El Salvador).
Forced labor was the hallmark of both Lenin’s and Stalin’s Soviet Union long before that. The entire GULAG system was a forced labor archipelago stretching across 11 time zones.
I have written this before in a “comments” on an article somewhere and I think once on Facebook, but I think we need to push this idea to the fore in letters and calls to Congress Critters. The Big Brutal Bill will inevitably cause many thousands of preventable premature deaths from slow starvation, untreated illnesses, and environmental degradation. Causing thousands of preventable premature deaths is usually called mass murder. Therefore, any Congressperson who voted for this bill is. morally speaking, a mass murderer. Let’s call a spade a spade.
That is so, but more to the point, the people who proposed this bill, including Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the so-called Heritage Society, among others, are agents acting against the national interest and clearly in furtherance of crimes against humanity (especially by eliminating USAID and the PEPFAR program (against AIDS around the world). They should be reported to authorities such as the International Criminal Court. Never mind that the U.S. has refused ever to accept the ICC's jurisdiction.
The stink of corruption is strong in this one. Industrial slavery is what we’re heading for, and it is starting with immigrants of all stripes, then it will be all the “undesirables” - blacks, LGBTQ+, Democrats, and then poor white folks. Sounds weirdly familiar.
Struggling to visualize Trump’s concentration camps? Use this interactive StoryMap to see how American citizens of Japanese descent were rounded up and send to camps during World War II. Check the camps location and the harsh living conditions.
I've already felt that Trump hates half the US citizens (Democrats). Now he's said it. There is something seriously "broken" in him to feel this and say it. I've never heard anything like this from a US president within my lifetime. I have no words to express the sadness I feel for our country.
I can't help thinking that he hates almost everyone, not just Dems. Nero supposedly fiddled while Rome burned. Is it true that Trump held a rally, expressed the usual thoughts and prayers in the face of a tragedy, and then played golf while Texas flooded? Yes, there are Dems in Texas, but it's hardly a stronghold for Democrats. Being basically indifferent to the lives lost there yesterday, to the lives of the children lost, does not show a lot of love for ordinary people whatever their political preference.
There’s no standard list of sociopath signs, but the signs and symptoms of ASPD (Anti-Social Personality Disorder) include a persistent pattern of disregard for others. For example:
- ignoring social norms and laws, breaking rules at school or work, overstepping social boundaries, stealing, stalking and harassing others, or destroying property
- dishonesty and deceit, including using false identities and manipulating others for personal gain
- difficulty controlling impulses and planning for the future, or acting without considering the consequences
- aggressive or aggravated behavior, including frequent fights or physical conflict with others
- disregard for personal safety, or the safety of others
- difficulty managing responsibilities, including showing up at work, handling tasks, or paying rent and bills
- little to no guilt or remorse, or a tendency to justify actions that negatively affect others
https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/sociopath#signs
Just sayin'
Sociopaths lie. They lie about everything, even things that don’t matter. Felon 45-47 lies about everything.
I ask that you not repeat the felon's misinformation campaign. Putting a dash between 45 and 47 is improper punctuation as it implies that he was presidents 45 through 47. I'm sure this was deliberate on his part when he put it on his hats but it should be 45 & 47 or 45, 47, not 45-47.
Thank you for pointing this out. Once again I've learned something good from comments.
I always learn from these comments!
45/47/ 2029 when we execute him for treason?
I wouldn't hold my breath about that OR joke about it.
Threatening the life of a sitting US President is a serious federal offense and I would not put it past the newly constituted FBI under Ka$h Patel to come after you for such a comment no matter how much of a jest might have been intended.
Not that i support such notions but they are enshrined in federal law.
Be warned and be cautious.
I don't quite understand. I saw a comment that said you modified this post so that it wouldn't considered potentially a threat to the President of the United States. This doesn't seem to be modified at all. I do hope you change it. I was not trying in any way to stifle your sense of dissent or freedom of speech, merely pointing out that there ARE some limits and in particular anything that directly threatens a President of the United States, either immediately or in the future, is against the law. Maybe it shouldn't be, but I wouldn't want the FBI knocking on my door because of a statement like this.
Jen, I agree with Jon and others - I advise you to delete that.
Scary. "If" is safer. Also, at this point, he can't even be charged with treason.
Thanks for pointing that out. Sure don't want anyone to think he just kept on 'serving'.
Where to start, where to start? Why do you think it was deliberate, or even that Trump himself made the decision?
More to the point, what's your evidence that many people will read it that way or that it will make a difference to any of them?
Having been an editor for (eek) about 45 years, I've dealt with so many writers who are hampered and even hobbled by bogus "rules" like this.
I’ve been an editor since 1979 and I agree with Carol et al. An en dash (or, in this case, a hyphen) is used to indicate a range.
It would be tantamount to claiming that a member of the Bush family served as presidents 41–43, when in fact it was 41 _and_ 43.
Not a bogus rule. 45 - 47 means 45 to 47. But I'm pretty certain he didn't think of that - his command of the language is minimal. "AND" would have taken up too much space on the article he uses as a label, and if it's not IN CAPS it might pass unnoticed.
Are you implying he wasn't a felon 45-47? Also, to me he certainly believed he was the true POTUS 45-47.
A felon is one thing. He is factually a felon. But he has never been found guilty of any crime if murder or treason or anything else that would justify execution. I'm NOT saying that maybe he shouldn't be, just that to allege that he is a capital criminal already is definitely not factual.
I don't think he earnestly believes anything - he's so vain that he thought it would be so. Reducing it to his mental development, he's a sore loser, like an untrained three-year-old bully.
In his small fake mind he did! Actually no doubt he probably thinks he was born a King!
Right, but notice how when Trump says something some people agree with, like "Musk won the election," those people take it as gospel.
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." Pres. G.W. Bush, White House Correspondents' Dinner, 3-31-2001.
Some are gullible, some are outright racists and some are just stupid.
"You can fool some of the people all of the time. Those are the people we need to concentrate on" ~ originally a cartoon in the New Yorker magazine.
Richard, many people have the same belief system as death star. They have long resented having sorta to recognize those they see as beneath them. Owning the libs.
I’d forgotten that one. Republicans are good at saying the quiet part out loud. They’re so good at it that the quiet part isn’t quiet anymore — it’s right out in the open.
Boy O Boy.. Richard..!!! that was a mouthful. Good one.
Amen!
Musk started a new Party yesterday. It’s called America Party. He touts free speech while he censors and shuts down people on his fascist platform. He says he might start with a few members of Congress. Let’s see which fascists jump on board his money train.
I'm going to throw up! Like, he knows anything about freedom & the right to pursue happiness. Oh wait, he just 'buys' it.
Without a trace of shame; indeed with puerile smug pride for fooling the suckers; for breaking all the rules without penalty. And, we too often let the rich get away with that. Weirdly, some people confuse that with superiority. For most, it doesn't end well, and brings no end of misery for humanity as a whole. The "Garden of Eden" is right here; we never left (provided we accept that it can often be a dangerous place as well as one of beauty and nourishment, and that we gain by means of effort. That an environment of authentic liberty involves focus and awareness, of justifiable but vigilant trust, and the need to watch out for one another.
A free society is one in which you are able to trust, up to a point. Trust that there will be help in disaster. Trust that the streets are reasonably safe to walk. Trust that the food you purchase (again with due caution, as for safe preparation and storage) will not kill you. The demise of kings, real kings, was often plotted by members of their own family. The Medici built walled walkways they could in travel safely. That isn't even real freedom. Billionaires are building underground Bond-villain lairs to hide in when the society they undermine collapses. A gilded cage, no? And it won't scale.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." -- Lincoln
Very good J L!
Without a trace of shame; indeed with puerile smug pride for fooling the suckers; for breaking all the rules without penalty. And, we too often let the rich get away with that. Weirdly, some people confuse that with superiority. For most, it doesn't end well, and brings no end of misery for humanity as a whole. The "Garden of Eden" is right here; we never left (provided we accept that it can often be a dangerous place as well as one of beauty and nourishment, and that we gain by means of effort. That an environment of authentic liberty involves focus and awareness, of justifiable but vigilant trust, and the need to watch out for one another.
A free society is one in which you are able to trust, up to a point. Trust that there will be help in disaster. Trust that the streets are reasonably safe to walk. Trust that the food you purchase (again with due caution, as for safe preparation and storage) will not kill you. The demise of kings, real kings, was often plotted by members of their own family. The Medici built walled walkways they could in travel safely. That isn't even real freedom. Billionaires are building underground Bond-villain lairs to hide in when the society they undermine collapses. A gilded cage, no? And it won't scale.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." -- Lincoln
Just curious: why did you post this 14 times?
Without a trace of shame; indeed with puerile smug pride for fooling the suckers; for breaking all the rules without penalty. And, we too often let the rich get away with that. Weirdly, some people confuse that with superiority. For most, it doesn't end well, and brings no end of misery for humanity as a whole. The "Garden of Eden" is right here; we never left (provided we accept that it can often be a dangerous place as well as one of beauty and nourishment, and that we gain by means of effort. That an environment of authentic liberty involves focus and awareness, of justifiable but vigilant trust, and the need to watch out for one another.
A free society is one in which you are able to trust, up to a point. Trust that there will be help in disaster. Trust that the streets are reasonably safe to walk. Trust that the food you purchase (again with due caution, as for safe preparation and storage) will not kill you. The demise of kings, real kings, was often plotted by members of their own family. The Medici built walled walkways they could in travel safely. That isn't even real freedom. Billionaires are building underground Bond-villain lairs to hide in when the society they undermine collapses. A gilded cage, no? And it won't scale.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." -- Lincoln
OK, your send button must have been stuck J L!
I have no explanation. I do have a memory of trying to send something and seeing no response, which happens here for me sometimes. I refreshed the page and it sent normally, in which case the send box automatically disappears. Something in the processing at this end or Substack end, was not normal. I will delete the extras.
Bingo
Just as scary: your sociopathic list includes a lot of supporters.
Is anyone contesting that der Leader is severely mentally ill?
He's a sociopathic narcissist.
Poster "child".
Bottom line: he is a stupid senile malignant narcissist. No empathy, no shame, no love.
What is wrong with ALL the servile followers of this nut-case?
It appears to me that Republicans have deliberately created a cult. I think we all have a capacity to project what we would like to see, or fear to see, over counter-evidence. I know I have done so in the past. Especially with inexperience, we can fall in love with our own cognitive creation. I think a cult exploits that tendency, along with a prohibition against anything that conflicts with the edicts of the cult. It thus drifts off in it's own self-confirming ball of circular thinking. I could be relatively harmless or malign. Some cults, such as "Heaven's Gate", commit mass suicide, others genocide. People need not go into a fully-altered state of cognition to go along with cult thinking. I believe they can support some pretty wacko thinking if their capacity for verification is lazy or just untrained; and in general, I think to err is human. I think people are far less likely to ask crucial questions if they were raised in an authoritarian family system.
Most of the behaviors listed are true of most right wingers. When trump says that someone hates America, he actually thinks that he is America. As far as he is concerned, nobody else matters. Only people who help implement their plans to take permanent control of this country are somewhat safe from being cut loose a from the administration. Who knows if the Supreme Court will decide that the laws on automatic weapons no longer apply. I am convinced that although the administration is claiming that they will not pursue a third term, he will announce that he has decided that he will be president for life.
It would be prudent to arm yourself and stock plenty of ammunition because we are headed for civil war.
I'm glad to see you express the thought that drumpf thinks he is America. That thought has crossed my mind a lot recently. It might be prudent to arm myself and stock plenty of ammunition, but my husband and I are 81 and 80 years old, and neither one of us is up for that, and neither one of us likes guns. Your suggestion might work for younger people, but not for us.
We're ready to shutter up the house and move to Greece. And I don't want to wait too long like the Germans did....
Ah, Greece. One of the countries I love, for among other things, their fighting survival spirit. I wish you the best in Greece, and I wish I was up to moving to some place like that. I've done three cross-country moves in my life, and am at a point where I don't have the energy to go elsewhere, not to mention the fact that I'm getting the excellent medical care I need where I am. Starting over is too much for me now.
Thank you for this detailed explanation, JL.
Sharing
JL, I would say that dementia also has a lot of those actions as part of its portfolio too and I do believe Trump is well into dementia.
It could be. May it's just a lifetime of debauchery, but in film of him as a younger man, he was still a creep, but a lot more lucid.
Seems to me a significant number of those in the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches display signs and symptoms of ASPD.
I agree, but the shorthand is he may really become a dictator. There has never been in our American history a greater threat to our country, than this man — and the Supreme Court.
We call sociopaths evil because that is the only way they process any information.
My understanding is that people can fit the profile of of ASPD and not be a threat, but others are just plain predatory. Think of the most "evil" people known to history and I think the profile would fit.
Also, all of this because he hates himself to start with. Self aggrandizement notwithstanding, you have to like and be comfortable with yourself to project that to others. Similarly, if you hate others, it is because within you lurks, a hated self-concept.
The press conference by Abbott of Texas and the hideous Puppy Killer Noem yesterday was a travesty -- they spent most of their air time raving about how much Trump loved Texas and cared about the people and how great his (and each other's) leadership was - it was sickening. Ass-kissing Trump in the midst of such an unspeakable tragedy? They are deranged. I wonder if the truth will come out about whether or not the Trump cuts to NOAA were responsible, in part, for the faulty weather forecasting.
I wonder when this egregious ass-kissing will no longer be enough for Trump. His emptiness is unfillable and he’ll continue to raise the ante.
So true.
Every business will pay 5% off the top to show your gratitude and loyalty. That should rankle even some of the cult. And it will make the greedy bastard billions.
His supporters may feel rankled, but not the cult. He could rip their flesh open with a whip and they would gladly say “Yes, sir, may I have another?” They believe he has been anointed by god to lead us in this time; nothing will change their minds.
I won't believe they are all absolutely over the hill crazy. The bell curve on craziness should put a few on the saner end. But, that said, I've been wrong before.
But.., MLMinET... his fanbase loves his cameos.., they absolutely adore him..., can't you see..? "he's done SO much for US!"
And, our pet-killer Krispi-Noumm, with her bare mid-rif and long curls at the new ICE-cages in FL. Do you think Miller will end up getting screwed? Juss sayin.
Hope she got bitten by some of the wonderfully nasty mosquitoes. Jungle fever anyone?
Stephen Miller or Jason Miller?
Nonono.. I meant "do you think Nouemm will get screwed by Miller, whose dear wifey is woikin for Eelee. That's what I meant to imply in a nice way.
Abbott's ass-kissing is another transactional behavior which tRump requires in order to authorize a small amount of federal funds to clean up the damage the flooding caused in Texas. This disaster was completely preventable, this area in Texas has been flooding since the time records were kept. It wasn't a surprise; it was a failure to warn along with the resultant tragic loss of life. Welcome to Hell.
Whewww.., Lauriemcf, those TV interviews of interminable-asskissing remind me of Hanoi Hanna, along with some of N.Korea's kiss-the-leader rants. The only thing those sessions lack is a professional director from Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer. But, they are staged by the Whitehouse goons, instead.
Exactly! It's like when all the cabinet members have to prostrate themselves before him and outdo each other with their Trump flattery. Yech.
Yeah Laurie.., I wonder if they are summoned to the ovaried-office with the inquisitors present, only to spread-eagle themselves on the carpet..and to be photographed.., For The Record as kept by Ms Susie. Another BDSM session at 1601 Pornhub Close. "How many more" (re: Seals & Croft). The guy is a juke-box!
Mere hours after ramming through their bill, there was a massive flash flood - some might say of "biblical proportions". Coincidence? Probably. But for a group of people allegedly so aligned to the signs and portents of their divine leader, maybe it should give them pause.
Whoaaa Heidi..., nice one! ..the only response to that would be the profanity-laden expression I learn't as a kid in Rumson NJ.. "F nn A" !! Same same.. yerrr gotttdamm right! Yup. No "Christian Nation" BS there.., just Mother Nature letting us mortals know who in hell is actually in charge. So "rock on" you freaking sinners.., "rock on".., listen to the Juke-Box.
And, of course, tRump had to play golf to 'assure' America that all was well.
Noem blamed antiquated equipment at in the department of NOAA for the warnings failure. So it's all Biden's fault. But does anyone remember seeing funding for upgrading NOAA's equipment or staffing in the BBB????
The National Weather Service gave plenty of warning. I want to know why the on-call Fire Dept and the Police working overnight did not ACT on the information they should have been listening to......this was the fault of Texas authorities, not the Weather Service. They are, indeed, trying to kill off the weather service but they haven't quite done it yet. Those warnings went out.
No one is accusing Noem of speaking the truth!
When did that ever happen?
Maybe go to the Juke-Box and select C-45 I think that's "Little Eva".. that's right... The Loco-Motion.
And cuts to FEMA. I mean, who in their right mind..... ?
VOMIT! Of course money will be sent to TX- it's a repugnant state. While western NC, WA, CA are refused any disaster funds. So, how does this work???
I agree. He hates his own followers just as much. He just fears Democrats more.
Hates everyone. No friends. No interests. No curiosity. No literacy. No mercy. No music. No talents. No compassion. No pets. Nothing. In the words of Dickens, just “a greedy, grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner.”
You notice how whenever he holds a “press conference” he talks about how all the people there are great friends? He’s known them for a long time and “they like me.” Every time I hear him say that (although I have to use CC because I can’t stand to listen to his voice) I think to myself: He doesn’t have a single friend. Not one. Never has. Never will.
Well, he had ONE friend, but then Jeffrey was gonna talk bad about him, so he had him killed.
Daniel, when I read Jan's comment, my thought was exactly what you wrote.
However, in truth, Epstein was just an associate. Donald has had many associates over his lifetime. He fostered these associations because they benefitted him in some way ... procuring underage girls for his sexual gratification or providing shadowy services that caused him to "win" seven swing states, to name a couple.
Although I've observed Donald's life through many avenues, I often fall back on Mary L. Trump's writing because she saw her uncle from inside the family, behind the artifice constructed for the press. Everything she's written confirms that Donald has never had a friend, not even among his family, only associates.
Friendship involves caring; Donald is incapable of that. He's a sociopath.
Friendship involves sharing; Donald doesn't share. He's a sociopath.
And Elon Musk for a while. We all knew that would be short lived, since two narcissists cannot be friends. They both want to be the leader.
I want to add this observation here because I don't know where else to put it.
Although my gaydar doesn't register even the slightest vibration when I see Donald, I can't help thinking he exhibits behaviors associated with "the closet,"
such as repeated attacks against non-hetero persons and excessive philandering.
Scholars on sexuality estimate that 20%, or 1 in 5, of any population are of alternate sexuality. Fred and Mary Ann had five children. Hmm.
Yeah, every one really likes him and thinks that he is a great deal maker. He's the one to solve the issues in Ukraine and Israel. He always has the best record ever and has done more for the country than anyone before him. Everything is in hyperbole. Like Biden had the worse ever inflation rate. Obviously, he never checked that out since the worst was in 1919 (19%). The price of eggs did NOT go down 90%. No eggs in my area went for 70-90 cents a dozen. Gas is not $1.85. Ours has gone up from $2.95 to $3. 20. he must have flunked math.
Glad I'm not the only one who is wearing out the mute button on my remote! He sure tries to sound like an evangelical preacher. Yeah, like the ones who have died in disgrace. Reading what he says is bad enough.
And from that anti-authoritarian classic, It's a Wonderful Life:
PA BAILEY: Oh, he's a sick man. Frustrated and sick. Sick in his mind, sick in his soul, if he has one. Hates everybody that has anything that he can't have. Hates us mostly, I guess.
We need every George Bailey we can get, to keep making the differences he made through his life looking after the community the best ways he could. Makes me more determined than ever to fight the greedy rent seekers that want it all in their favor, no matter how it damages the rest of us.
I couldn't agree more, Jim. The small everyday things count.
For whatever reason, “It’s a Wonderful Life” has always been my favorite movie.
Hypothetical situation: You’ve just been told your death is imminent unless you receive an experimental medication costing a million dollars, but all you have is one dollar, so your only chance is to buy a lottery ticket and hope like hell you’ll win. Why? Because every other intervention only treats symptoms, and the disease has evolved and become treatment resistant. Hypothetically, would you buy the “last chance” lottery ticket?
Real situation: I’m saying that civilization’s death is imminent unless we receive an experimental medication that doesn’t cost a penny and instead costs some time, energy, and attention, so your only chance is to read and understand a 3,000-word essay and hope like hell I know what I’m talking about. Why? Because every other intervention only treats symptoms, and the disease has evolved and become treatment resistant. Will you buy this “last chance” lottery ticket?
A “yes” involves keeping your money, clicking on this link, subscribing to my fee-free newsletter, reading the 3,000-word essay, and then asking me questions in the comments:
https://jamesrcarey.substack.com/p/should-we-be-moral-e11
Reading 3,000 words takes less than 15 minutes for the average reader. Understanding is the hard part. You’ll need to use the comments to provide feedback, and I’ll need to answer your questions in language you can understand.
A “yes” also involves following Bob Dylan’s “don’t criticize what you can’t understand” rule by acknowledging and working together to close the gap between your ability to understand and my ability to explain.
When you understand, one of two things will occur. Either you will criticize my idea in language I will understand, and then I’ll admit I was mistaken, or you will know how to test for the disease. And for those who test positive and want the cure, you’ll know how to eradicate the disease, but the first thing I did was make sure I wasn’t testing positive.
I'll read it James. Need dinner first.
Great lessons in my favorite movie. Sure sounds like the description of our current 'leader.'
I hope -- I struggle to hope -- that this isn't typical of the 77 million people who voted him. Strange times we live in: ignorance and racism seem preferable as motives to admiration for a “a greedy, grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner.” Wow, did Dickens ever nail that one!
I was reading a list of I.Qs of presidents yesterday. Apparently Trump told the people making the list that his was 146. Some day we will learn the real answer.
46?
45-47.
Then he’s not even smart enough to give himself 160 or higher to be considered a genius. Thanks for the chuckle.
Even if true. Having an IQ is pointless if you do not use it.
Just having a high IQ number does not mean you are SMART!
Eva... :)) WGAS! Really. Melania?
Eva, lol. That would put him in the genius category, maybe a member of Mensa.
I’d guess 90, tops.
Bruce Springsteen said it well: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EKpE8CUcB/
I teared up listening to Bruce. Now that's a genius!
Compensating for his small hands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Adler#:~:text=He%20was%20a%20social%20idealist,of%20the%20insights%20of%20psychology.
OMG Daniel, I had totally forgotten Alfred Adler's name- from nursing school classes in psychology & psychiatry. Thank you for the history lesson! Always helpful to use when explaining our views.
and he never laughs, though he mocks readily.
He does like gold. He likes, but looks down on those that suck up to him, and he loves praise. He loves playing victim. He loves making himself look good by his standards; rich, powerful, good-looking (I did say HIS standards). He loves "winning" at golf. And by golly, he loves a parade. How can we use these loves of his to end his reign?
I don't think he liked 'his' parade. The soldiers were waving and looking very friendly, not like the goose-stepping soldiers from Russia or N. Korea. He wants people to be afraid of him. He looked like a pathetic, sad little lump of a boy and his birthday was ruined. Too bad, so sad. Oh, and the few people attending it AND, of course, the squeaky wheels of tanks.
Squeaky wheels were heard because there were no crowds to absorb the sound. And, it was raining on his parade. Wish we had pictures of his actions behind the scenes after the parade!
Move the reviewing stand from the sidelines into the direct path of the squeaky tanks?
It's, thank you for the great Dickens quote.
Yup.., a well defined POS. No?
trump can claim interest in the arts since he appointed himself as CEO of the Kennedy Center. And don't forget the 250 statue park commemorating the countries 250 the anniversary. Some yoyos are still trying to get his face on Mt Rushmore!
I would need help in defacing the whole thing IF he is allowed to send carvers to Mt. Rushmore.
I am hoping to get there before they damage it and put in that 250 statute park containing such notables as Andrew Jackson who is infamous for his horrific treatment of the Indians. The Trail of Tears where Indians were removed from their homes. Ironically this park is infringing on Indian territory.
I thought he was friends with Epstein, Musk, and Lindsey Graham.
I no longer care how bad trump is. I am much more upset that 40 percent of Americans are just fine with the destruction he and his enablers are bringing.
He hates everyone but himself.
He may actually hate himself so much he grasps for any hateful acts to 'prove' his self worth to himself and others and grabs so many material things for the same reason. He's a modern day Caligula.
Whatever goes on in the sociopathic brain doesn’t discriminate. Although they can also be misogynistic and/or racist. There are plenty of people I would call dual-diagnosis. Although I used to just call them TFU. You can probably figure that out.
He basically hates everyone who doesn't cheer him.
Unfortunately, we have a sizable number of people in this country who are all to happy to cheer him and defend (or excuse) his every action.
And the first recourse: If you don't cheer me, you must hate America. L'etat, c'est moi. (Didn't Rudy level that charge at Obama?)
And they merrily back everything this monster does, smug in their self-righteous belief that THEY are the real Americans.
I keep flashing to the song from the end of Robert Altman's masterpiece, NASHVILLE.
"It don't worry me
It don't worry me
You may say that I ain't free
But it don't worry me."
C'mon Alexandra.., only thing he fears is ED and being under-mined by his enablers. All we're being fed are table-scraps. But, now with the passage of the BBB there will be other targets to aim at.
Wonder what tRump thinks of the Diddy trial? Since Diddy was an 'observer', not a participant? Old & wrinkled.
Dems in Texas care, but it’s the blather of the morons that get air time.
trump giving MAGAs permission to hate democrats should not be taken lightly.
We on the other hand should fight back using reason. When you are attacked by MAGA vitriol, simply ask them why was Lisa Murkowski bribed to vote against the BBB that she was against for in the first place. Ask them to look it up for themselves....
Reason doesn't work with MAGAs...they are no longer rational thinkers. The message has to be delivered with emotional gut punches. I think at this point. that is the only thing that might get through to them...and I don't think the Dems--or anyone else, for that matter--are capable of delivering the necessary forceful emotional impact.
I'm inclined to believe that it will take deep personal tragedy--such as has happened in Texas-- but, Dems have to get in there first to point out that no one but the loss of accurate weather forecasting is responsible for this. It wasn't Biden, it isn't Jewish space lasers, it isn't con trails or anything else Sporky can think up to lie about...it is simple science.
And even then, I doubt these folks will be reachable. Many of the kids were at a Christian camp...I'm sure there will be preachers a-plenty assuring these grieving parents that God wanted these kids in Heaven for purposes of His Own. And they'll probably buy it.
What I can’t figure out is why Trump et al want us all dead.not just doesn’t like us or care about our welfare but wants everyone dead. So does Bobby for that matter.
I think it all comes back around to Trump sitting in a courtroom during the E. Jean Carroll trial. Sitting there listening to accusations of rape - dreaming of getting back into office and burning it all down.
He's out for revenge - he's a monkey with a gun.
Or as Charlie Sykes says, a clown with a flamethrower. He’s a clown but still has a flamethrower.
Sadly, we are expendables - with the coming AI not as many workers are needed, so why not let them die? After all, THEY and THEIR kids and elderly won’t be suffering. Ironically, he’s seeking to deport the very workers we are going to need since AI can’t harvest crops, replace roofs or make up hotel rooms, jobs most Americans don’t gravitate to as careers. There are many difficult days ahead.
Trump is a very damaged creature; he has always had Antisocial Personality Disorder with a touch of the NPD (narcissism)...but now his cognitive abilities--such as they were, are degenerating; he's not a healthy individual and there is Alzheimer's Disease in his family....
He never really experienced parental love as a baby or a youngster, so it is unlikely that he understands love at all. With his background of pressing his nose against the glass door of elite New York society, while they ignored his efforts and have never let him in--he has no 'class' or graciousness whatsoever--it is little surprise that he hates himself and even less surprise that he projects that hatred onto all others.
Yeah MLM.., and he wants Gaza "leveled"!!! Christ.., it's already leveled.., all 171 sq miles of it (city of Philadelphia) is just rubble. Like WTF. We have elected a juke-box..., and somebody needs to pull-the-plug or trip the CB. Otherwise we'll just keep dancin to the music.
I don’t think Bobby wants us dead. He may well believe his radical death-dealing agenda. And/or he’s made a lot of money suing vaccine manufacturers so there may be profit in his plan. He’s watched how much money Trump is raking in and wants a piece of the pie. Maybe the flu vaccine manufacturers will slip him a hunk of money to allow them to keep their business going.
Yo.., TL, "Tragedy in Texas"..innocent children in a camp, victims of an inland tsunami. Almost follows in the footsteps of the disaster in the hills on the Eastern US earlier, doesn't it. How about the towns just-leveled by tornado-systems in the MidWest? Mother Nature is not done with us yet, by a long shot. And, if you're someone who needs a "god" to attribute things to.. "Mother Nature" might ought to get ones attention. Along with the NOAA. Huh? yeh.
Are you saying that I am a person who needs a god to blame? That is NOT true, not at all. I blame the short sighted idiocies of our unfortunate elected governments for the last 30 to 40 years. They have had decades to research and believe the science of climate change...but noooo, this country is infested with "End-Times" fake Christians who are whacked out to the nth degree and who elect morons who also dislike science. Thankfully I live on ground that no doubt be oceanfront in another 50 to 75 years--not that I will be around--thank goodness.
TL.., of course not. Sorry for my poor sentence structure.
"The message has to be delivered with emotional gut punches."
Yes, but only when delivered with honey. First you have to get down to their level and address their personal beef. Here are two examples:
1. I was at a protest and went up with my sign to a paltry dozen trumpsters waving their flags. An older woman shouted out at me, "Not voting for trump is deplorable." My response, "Oh you must be filthy rich and not need Medicare." She then replied, "What do you mean by that?" I walked away but wish I had stayed because I had gotten her attention.
2. My next door neighbor Alex is the only trumpster on our block (he moved to Austin last week to work for SpaceX). Also on our block is Oscar from Columbia who is a contractor and employees undocumented workers. I said, "Alex, you are so fortunate to do all the work on your house yourself and we have to rely on Oscar. I'm really concerned about his help being deported. Alex responded, "Oh they're only deporting the criminals!" I calmly related to him three first-hand accounts of ICE snatchings of documented locals. He stood there with his jaw agape and blinking wildly. He didn't say a word but I can tell you he was processing....
Geezzzusss Sophia.., Is he on oxygen? Must be.
Excellent points. Food for thought. Accurate weather forecasting could have mitigated the loss, which is catastrophic. My family held its 95th family reunion not far from there last weekend. We just dodged it. I watched Noem and Gov. Abbott on TV yesterday. Their gratuitous obsequiousness towards Trump made me ill. I turned off the TV. Trump is the U. S.’s Kim Jung-yun - equally cruel.
I couldn't watch them either. Yes, cutting off funds to the weather service that provides alerts is unconscionable...and it's not even hurricane season yet. I guess this is the kind of thing that MAGAs need to wake up, except most of them don't know that the funding was cut....
Or that the head of FEMA didn't know that there's a hurricane season...
Hurricane season runs June-November.
True believers care nothing about reason or facts. They have already fixed their minds on the "gospel" of their chosen ideology and nothing is going to move them away from it.
Jim.., they're some hurtin puppies.
Go back and read my response to T L Mills on this thread about delivering gut punches with honey....
I agree with T L Mills that reason isn't a viable tool with MAGA.
I also agree that Democrats don't have the internal steel to deliver the message with the necessary force. Already, some bleeding hearts are clutching their pearls, back-of-hand to the forehead, complaining that "this is not the time" to remind flood victims that their tragedy is attributable to the cuts to weather service personnel.
But I remind T L that 85% of MAGA are evangelicals. They do not view politics as the source of tragedy. That is the province of "Satan" or of "unconfessed sin" or "God's will."
The 15% who do not profess religious faith are simply brainwashed.
The whole lot of them are unreachable.
Oh, I get that. But surely those folk DO realize that their medical access, their Medicaid and their SNAP benefits, granny's Social Security and her Medicare benefits DO originate from the government??? if they do not, then they truly are morons.
Yes, but as I wrote yesterday, based on observing my dyed-in-the-wool Republican parents, who were both college-educated, their inconvenience was always the fault of "Democrat socialism" or "the government." They refused to associate hardship with Republican policy or legislation.
Many people are motivated by what is happening to their wallets and switched to trump because they were convinced that the government was behind high egg prices. The question is will these poor MAGAs turn against the government when they will experience food scarcity, rampant homelessness, and dying of diseases that go untreatable?
MAGA are perpetually against government. Their handlers simply switch out reasons for them to hate government.
They will just blame Biden.
They're already blaming Biden's VP, aides, etc. for hiding his dementia. trump's people tried to do the same thing with trump but he's ignoring them (because he can) and we are punished by having to listen to his blathering diatribes....
Yeh Dale.. I "feel" for them.., but i can't "reach" them. I do wish that they will be able to meet up with those 14 little-girls some day. They are sure gone for now, so blame Biden. No? Geeezzzusssss.., BLAME something ferr crisssakes. God couldn't do this alone. Ohh, of course.., it's the satan amongst us. That a "he" or a "she" or ??? Nope.., it's Biden.
The reason "Murkowski" caved is a "reason" known only to doofus and his goons and the Senator). Is that paramount to some conspiracy-theory..?..., sure makes one shake their head. And, hows-about all the other "senators"..? What 'moved' them? Some pretty bad ju ju somewhere, don'cha think? I can only wonder. Surely it's not Don's kahrisma. Maybe Kiss MA? Dunno.
A few weeks ago Murkowski copped to being terrified.
Yehhh.., why's zat? Relatives on drugs? Unplanned pregnancy in Somalia? Murder for hire scheme? What?
Just imagine what a dried husk his soul must be. Hard to square Trump's lack of care with Johnson's professed Bible thumping Christianity.
Trumpo sold what little soul he ever possessed, long ago. As for Johnson, he pretends to Christianity...but it is quite clear he is scarcely human, let alone any sort of Christian. He is a little treason weasel, a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump, Inc.
K Vander Molen has correctly identified the common denominator, lust for power, between the two men (term loosely used), but their motivations are different.
Donald is a total failure. He failed to win his father's respect because he plunged the family business deep into debt before Fred succumbed to Alzheimer's and died. Even more importantly, Donald failed to usher his family into the ballrooms of New York Aristocracy. If anything, his crass ignorance was the cause of their rejection. Even the apparent "success" of The Apprentice TV show was not of Donald's making. Donald is full of loathing, for himself and resentment of the world in general. He craves the power to force everyone to worship him; if they won't, he wants the power to destroy it all.
Evangelicals cultivate a collective "victim complex." They believe the world hates them. They assume they're hated because of their piety, not recognizing that it's their hypocrisy and anti-social behavior that nonbelievers find obnoxious. Evangelicals believe that they will one day rule the world, as God has promised. They, Mike Johnson among them, are trying to help God make that power a reality.
But they both are into Power, the common denominator.
God anointed them to carry out His Will. Which just happens to coincide with their own interests. How cool is that?!
Trump has no empathy for others; he chronically feels sorry for himself and takes revenge on folks that be blames for cheating on him. Many Republicans have no (Christian or other) empathy toward the non-wealthy; they say those people are lazy—and should not have a vote in running the country.
More importantly the Rs have no courage. How cowed they are.
Face it MLM.., them R us. We drive trucks too.
?
?
Sorry MLM. i like your remarks and feel we're on the same side of the room, it's just my 'manner' or writing which gets me mis-understood. However, I do not subscribe to any religious doctrine or book that someone wrote, hence people find it hard to figure "where I'm At". That fact, coupled with my grade-school English and sentence structure always creates unintended conclusions. Like your "?". I used the word "Trucks" to depict opinions. We all have them. They are like assholes, they all stink. But we'd be hard-pressed to operate with out them (opinions). Sorry to drag on.., I'm waiting for low tide to set a mooring to hang a boat on., it's almost time.
He hates Democrats. It feels everybody hates Democrats. Why is it only Democrats who were on the list of the alleged killer of Melissa Hortman and her husband (including my OH#1 rep)? And if Democrats are so feckless, useless, weak and ineffective why are they on an alleged killer's list of targets? Why have Republicans (and others) been engaged for decades in efforts to block or eliminate votes for Democrats (gerrymandering, voter suppression, efforts to overturn 2020 election results etc.)? Why were bomb threats reported only in Democratic precincts in 2024? I agree that he is an equal opportunity hater. But he and his minions are using legal measures and physical threats in addition to statements to foment chaos.
As Belle On The Ranch says, "It's just a thought."
I love Belle and her "Roads" channel with Dee and Dana.
Thank you! I will have to check that out.
One of the worst things about the indifference to what happened with the flooding is that he doesn't care about even his own people. Kerrville is clearly a conservative area, given that their rep in the house is Chip Roy. I am fortunate to live in a majority blue city - far west Texas, a city that many don't even consider to be part of Texas. Personally, at this point, I'd be fine with letting the Rio Grande change its course again, and land us back in Mexico.
Oh but Betsy, he is sending the Gnome to Texas so she can play dress up. What costume will it be....it should be Cruella DeVille. I also see that the blame game has started in Texas about warnings.
Betsy, alas, Trump has dementia and most likely has no idea what the floods in Texas even mean. He says the lines he has memorized like "thoughts and prayers" but has no connection with those words. He will go to Texas later this week because he is told he has to go, but there will be no real sympathy or empathy because he can't feel those emotions. He will have some kind of speech that his handlers will give him and a few lines they have coached him on, but that's it. For him, it is just another among many photo ops. He will think he did a great job when it will be just one more pathetic public appearance that his Klan/Kult will substitute in their minds different words that show he really cares about them when he will have forgotten them as soon as the helicopter lifts off. Heck, he has no clue what is in that "big beautiful" bill congress handed to him to sign (I wonder what his signature looks like). He can't explain any of the orders he signs and asks (supposedly in fun) to have it explained to the people and Will or George will give a weird overview of the order. It is shameful, but the handlers were so desperate to have someone as president they could manipulate into doing their will they keep up the pretence of Trump's still being able to function; he isn't and they are lying to the American people.
He was born with a missing organ: A soul.
Eva.., The guy is a f-n jukebox.
His brain is faulty too!
He is seriously unbalanced.
I’d say that Trump is totally unbalanced. Can you suggest one positive attribute that Trump possesses other than toward his family, excluding his wives?
Richard, Donald has no affection for his family members. Donald, Jr. is the equivalent of a good employee, and enjoys limited favor from his father, but it could hardly be called "love."
Eric, less so. Although his desperation to win Donald's approval is almost palpable.
Ivanka managed to elicit a bit of lust from Donald .
Tiffany and Barron are the family's NPCs (non player characters).
His wives were arm candy until they aged a few years. Melania is living up to her contractual obligations to collect those fat paychecks.
"Unbalance" is a euphemism for sick f*ck.
Has anyone seen news coverage of trump spending time with his family? Remember the Kennedy’s playing touch football? The Bushes taking a boat out at Kennebunkport? And many other First Family occasions. No…
To imagine he cares about his family is an absurd fantasy. This man would only own a dog in order to kick it.
Well, he lusts after Ivanka.....oh, wait, I guess that's not a 'positive' is it? Remember that photo of a teenage Ivanka sitting on daddy's lap? Beyond creepy.
Perhaps “broken” is the best description. The piece I’m going to link below, reports on an interesting use of AI for analysis with (hopefully) limited bias.
https://www.mind-war.com/p/i-asked-chatgpt-to-analyze-a-trump
Well, he did bomb Iran with a quick snap. No congressional anything.
The first day of his second term, letting everyone from Jan 6 back on the streets……..heaven only knows what’s coming……
Prepare for the worst.
The rule of law is being dismantled by the trump administration with the help of the Supreme Court. Law enforcement, as we know it, will no longer be to safeguard every citizen's personal safety or to pursue criminals; it will only benefit the top one percent. You will have to take charge of your safety, your family's safety, and defend whatever property of value you have.
They were given the power they needed to hijack our country in the 2024 election by people too stupid and lazy to pay attention to Project 2025 or even to remember what a shitshow trumps first term was.
They will do whatever they have to do to retain power permanently.
Wow.
From, I asked AI: I Asked AI How to Stop Trump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpm4z8cH2_0
Like the HANDS OFF and NO KINGS, I think we need a weekend of absolute TOTAL BOYCOTT of ALL shopping in the US. Nobody buys anything, at all. NOTHING.
It will send a message.
I think it will take more than a weekend. Maybe a week.
And no fair stocking up before and after the week. A true boycott is painful for everyone. To be effective, it has to be more painful for those being boycotted than those doing the boycotting.
Americans don't have the intestinal fortitude to mount an effective boycott. We've got to have our stuff.
Later, when nobody has the money to buy anything, who will notice?
Highly recommend reading the above article, then staying for a while on Jim’s page. His articles are very well researched, and terrifying. He sees the true evil running rampant behind the scene.
I think it hits a home-run. Unfortunately, he won’t just destroy this country, he could very well destroy the world, given nuclear proliferation. I read somewhere that for cryptocurrency to be valuable, the dollar needs to weaken. I can imagine hyperinflation and death by poverty, or incarceration. Detention camps > concentration camps leading to extermination camps (the final solution).
Gary, thanks for this! If nothing else, just the transcript of the Trump ramble (I can't call it a speech) is worthy of reading. I am so tired of the media sane-washing his comments.
And as I've posted here numerous times, this sounds so much like my late brother in his middle to early-late dementia.
OMG
He's a classic narcissist. He loves himself -- not this country. Anyone who doesn't like him or disagrees with him is an enemy, in his view.
I would use the word "warped" rather than broken.
For what it’s worth, Trump bragging that his massive tax cuts to the wealthy will give us a huge business boom and bring in a Golden age should be looked at sharply by everyone. Those are the same exact tax cuts from 2017 and where is this business boom? How could we have been failing under Biden if his tax cuts were truly effective. Now he’s going to kill every business bargain in the works from Biden and the country will be worse off. How desperately will he go after Musk for starting a new Party; the America Party?
Peggy, he scores high on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). “He passes the threshold for a formal diagnosis of clinical psychopathy”, Drs. Greenwood & Norrholm from “The Much More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 50 Psychiatrists and Mental Health experts Warn Anew,” edited by Bandy Lee, MD, MDlV. Dr. Lee writes on substack. He must isolated.
You are only too right! I have made the same observations and the same comment repeatedly. Trump is a dangerously sick, despotic, egocentric man who is taking America to the edge of a ruinous fascist cliff--and all of us with him. And the MAGA GOP has become incomprehensibly brainwashed and gridlocked by their own misinformation. What is happening right now in Texas, with the flooding, damage, and government impotence is just a preview of the legacy Trump and his sycophants are bring to America: cutting scientists, misdirecting federal staffing, funding, and priorities, ignoring environmental imperatives, and skewing all of our resources into the pockets of rich.
Peggy Letourneau.
Can you imagine what the Republican reaction would have been if Biden said, “I am only going to propose legislation and sign Executive Orders that Democrats like and that benefit states with Democratic majorities. We are ONLY going to build roads and bridges, etc. in Biden-loving states. When we get to the border between Illinois and Iowa, the bridge over the Mississippi from East Dubuque, IL into Dubuque,IA….?? And, none of those computer chip making plants are going to Biden-hating states.” I’m sure FOX and Newsmax and Tucker Carlson, etc. would just clam up and snivel and tremble and shake….
Thank you Peggy, Heather, you all…That the country will soon realize ..is little consolation .
Band together all trodden.
Make the community you need.
Pay careful attention to your health, weight, water source..and find solace in music, learning to live within one’s means now emphasizes the lowered new bar.
The many protest songs will ,relearned , provide a glimpse how was -is now ..again.
We can over come this , and it will now take years. A cycle , history, times ..repeated.
Yes, an unpopular bill but as time will show …we.can.change.
And he disdains his own cult.
I think he hates everyone, including himself.
Got no nurturing as a child!
He is a seriously damaged individual, who under other circumstances, would be an object of pity, with people trying to help him. But, since he is wealthy, and conniving, and makes a willing tool used by oligarchs for the the destruction of the Republic, he is instead, a monster who believes he can't be stopped.
...Trump said Democrats had opposed the measure only “because they hate Trump. But I hate them, too. You know that? I really do, I hate them. I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country.”
Here comes the stochastic terrorism again. Watch for the body count to go up.
A small ruling elite? Check.
Keeping the common people poor and docile? Check.
Rewriting history? Check.
A cult built around one great divine leader? Check.
Military parades celebrating that great leader? Check.
All real politicians replaced by yay-sayers and cultists? Check.
Minorities designated as subhuman? Check.
Open hate promoted by the government against certain people? Check.
Open racism and hate against LGBTQ-people openly promoted by the government?
Concentration camps? Check.
Sicherheitsstaffel? Check.
But noooo, Trump is nothing like Hitler… Expect that body count to go up, fast. Expect razzias where Dems are rounded up by masked Proud Boys carrying ICE badges.
Had to Google that last one. Right on target. Nazi paramilitary or protection squadron. Now we know why chump didn’t care that he had no majority, just his devoted followers who would cheer if he killed someone on 5th Avenue. He certainly has known how to cater to the most depraved in the society, just like Ronnie knew how to appeal to the racists. I should be surprised that the Republican Party signed on to this but I’m not. Self-righteous, greedy bastards are not, and were not, a rarity in the past fifty years that I have been aware. The signs were there when Everett Dirksen was the last man standing. You nailed it, Dutch Mike. Diagnosis correct, any treatment ideas…
I think you are both referring to the Schutzstaffel (SS), who ran the concentration camps, not Sicherheitstaffel, which means a sort of security team ski racers and others might employ, or personal bodyguards. There was a Nazi Sicherheitspolizei (SP). But I think the SA (Sturm Abteilung) is what you both mean— your basic brownshirt, otherwise unemployable street tough.
But I’m nerding out here. We all get the point.
You're absolutely right. I stand corrected.
Too difficult for me to follow. 🤔
If you have been paying attention to the GOP in part or for the duration, since 1968, how could anybody be surprised that they would sign on for this?
Thank you for confirming my posts that pardoned insurrectionists are becoming ICE agents. So instead of shoving people in gas ovens to die we are now feeding them to alligators and pythons? How long before people are being shot in the legs for peacefully protesting?
Ask someone who's been hit in the face with a "rubber bullet" or his anywhere else for that matter. No bee sting.
They are deporting people who have done no more than be undocumented to foreign countries to life in prison, torture, and probably slave labor. And trump supporters love it. I never imagined that such a large percentage of our population are assholes.
What about denaturalizing who have citizenship? But stoking up hate towards democrats is beyond the pale....
How about sending 'homegrowns' to El Salvador gulag? He's already floated that one.
If I was the next president I would honestly consider sending Melania there....
I don't think it will be in the legs for long. And not with so-called non-lethal weapons.
He doesn't know anything about this country except the power he can wield and how to steal money from anybody in any way, shape or form. Read that Barron has already made 40 million in crypto. He loves this country in the opposite way JFK ask us to love our country. THANK YOU HEATHER....ALWAYS!!!! 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲😪
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, tRump is nothing but a dumbf*ck who wouldn’t know his ass from his elbow. Apart from all the other obscene and regressive measures in this bill, cutting funds to renewable energies and investing in fossil fuels is NOT going to Make America Great Again. Not for anyone, including oligarchs. David Suzuki this week wrote, “It’s too late. The fight against climate change is lost…and all we can do now is hunker down.” He named Trump’s election as “the dagger in his heart,” in terms of it being “the triumph of capitalism and neoliberalism…” steering us head on into the climate apocalypse. Hence, I have also said before, I don’t know what planet these f*cktards think they are living on, but the thought of tRump, Noem, Johnson and Vance (at the very least) being sucked up by the tornado of their own making, is the only thing putting a smile on my face right now.
https://www.ipolitics.ca/2025/07/02/its-too-late-david-suzuki-says-the-fight-against-climate-change-is-lost/
The sudden deaths of 51 + people in central Texas — due in no small part to staffing shortages at the National Weather Center, which otherwise would have been working much more closely with local authorities during an intense storm watch — another casualty of DOGE and the fright-wing cable TV crowd’s unrelenting hatred for government services backed by taxes. The price for living in a civilized society they refuse to pay for…
Exactly. Do they think that FEMA was not serving them too? Weather does not discriminate.
Just nine months ago, in October 2024, in lieu of Hurricane Milton, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was all over the media and on X claiming that Biden and the federal government control the weather.
She just introduced a bill to make weather manipulation illegal.
THIS.
That RIGHT THERE is the biggest problem that I feared would come from the reelection of this orange *$$hole: that he would be the nail in the coffin of the climate. David Suzuki is right: with their vote, millions of Americans not only damned democracy, but also Earth's climate.
Certainly a picture to dream about. A picture like in The Wizard of Oz…. No kidding, that's just what your description reminded me of…😆😡
There's only two options:
1) They think the rich boys' club can go to Mars with Musk;
2) They think they can live out their lives in underground bunkers while the common people burn in hell.
Kazz.., Time for the "tough" to surface and get "going" (some already have) cause the going is going to get tough. I won't be around for the next 30 years, but I've seen this 'play' before. So have others. It's built to fail.., no revolution needed, time to put this juke box into a sound-proof room.
Yes. That is all the unwashed MAGA masses need, another excuse for attacking the enemy as Trump defines them.
And if they play their cards right and make it a federal offense, their leader will just issue pardons.
I think you are right, this is what Maga wants. Since the election, the minions I see only want the keep a fight going, zero interest in governing or policy, only wanting whatever rush they were getting from abusive domination, 'drinking lib tears'. They are sick.
Trump — the bride at every funeral, the corpse at every wedding, the baby at every exorcism….the world’s teeniest, tiniest, weeest, pettiest, pissiest of tinpot, fake-gold dictators who needs a B-2 bomber to conceal that little button mushroom from our awareness.
Topped off by Speaker Bobblehead literally getting on the ground to lick his shoes and mouth sweet-sounding horseshit to soothe the Deplorables, while 40% of his own constituents are on Medicaid…
Shakespeare tonight: cowards die many times before their deaths — the valiant taste of death but once.
You left off…the turd in every punchbowl.
I wonder if his constituents will vote him back in? He's up for reelection next year.
As long as he's a good boy, the Trump Machine will make sure Louisianans vote "the right way."
And soon anybody will be able to buy a machine gun at Walmart. Good luck.
That does mean we can, too, especially those "of an age" who can put our Vietnam vet hats on. If it's going to come down to what it looks like it's going to come down to, our side is going to have to decide either to keep their aversion to the idea, or to decide not to become inmates in these camps. Which will come down to "by any means necessary." I don't like this, but reality doesn't give a shit what you like or don't like. It just IS.
Tom, I recently purchased two Vietnam Vet hats. Until recently I thought it was sort of "in your face" to wear one of those hats. But I found that I'd begun to say hello to everyone I see who is wearing one of those hats. So I've been wearing one or the other when I go out in public. One is a "boonies" hat and one is a baseball cap. At the No Kings gathering in Kenosha I stopped to say Hi to a man wearing a Vietnam Vet hat -- we both rendered a casual salute, and then we both laughed -- obviously two former enlisted men rendering salutes was symbolic. Shortly after that an older couple passed me and she said "Thankyou for your service" and I returned her smile and said "Thank You!"
I always ask when I see them. I ran into several MAGATs who were not in Vietnam wearing them!
In my home town they have an Agent Orange organization. I checked them out. If I joined I'd be the ONLY one actually exposed.
well, how disheartening is that: cosplaying as a vet?!?
And the MAGA loves them some harassing of Tim Walz "you weren't in a war"
Hah... Daniel.., not many of us left... thank the VA.
When I served many of my patients on the cancer ward were there because of agent orange.
I participated in the VA's Agent Orange registry long ago. I was not a grunt, so I never went out walking in the boonies. But I logged over 300 hours in the back of an aircraft, and saw vast swaths of bare vegetation, surrounded by lush green jungle, so it was obvious to anyone with that vantage point that Agent Orange had been applied liberally in many places. I was relieved to learn that they found no trace or evidence of the defoliant in my system.
Most died.
I have never identified someone who falsely claims to have been in country. I'm curious to hear what they had to say, or how anyone could know whether or not they were telling the truth. How could anyone tell they did not set foot in Viet Nam, unless they freely admitted, when asked, that they were pretending.
Have you ever identified someone who was actually in country, who claimed to have received a CIB, or who wears a CIB, but who was not an 11x? I would regard prevarication about receiving a CIB as worse than pretending to have been in the war. I have infinite respect for anyone who was awarded a CIB.
I was in the combat engineers, therefore no CIB. But we saw as much up close and personal stuff and took casualties. We had clerks who got purple hearts, because everyone had to pull ambush patrols. I get a VA disability, got it before Agent Orange was an accepted diagnosis.
I met lots of people who were outright liars. I heard disability cases for 10 years, other cases like Defense Base Act cases War Hazards Act cases for about 20.
I ran intio guys wearting Vietnam hats who admitted they had never been there.
One of my former law clerks went to work at the VA, and asked me whether the CIB was the dispositive indication ....
I thanked a man in one of those hats at our No Kings and he said he wished he’d never served. Like me, many veterans feel betrayed and that our service was never appreciated.
The options seem to be bad and worse.
Yeh TCinLA, I was there in 68. Don't forget Kent State.
I was there in '69-'70. When I talk about it I say "A couple weeks after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, I landed in Việt Nam".
TC.. yeerr gotttdammed right! Buy ammunition clips and load em up. Know how they click-in. Just WHO do these muther-fu--ers think they are///, wearing all that kevlar shit and ICE jackets...?? Like ANYONE can get that crap and impersonate some figure which we can be fooled by.., thinking it is an actual agent of a ligitimate government WHICH NO LONGER EXISTS!! All I can say is "remember the Bulldozer-Man"!! However, given what you and I already know about life, being smarter than Juke-Box (t-rump) and his goons is not that difficult, it's just annoying as hell..., violence and guns not being the way out.
Martial law if anyone uses one....if he prevents the mid-terms, it's civil war. Or?
REVOLUTION. The issues are similar to those which spirited 1776.
And 14 July 1789.
The storming of the Bastille.
I dunno Margaret.., I think we're too fat for that. The ICE-cream Team will round your butt up and "detain" you at the drop of a hat, so unless you've already brought your lunch for get it. Virtually all our peace-keep type folks are subscribed to ICE. First responders, local PD's, Marshalls, Sheriffs. Most have been signed on by ICE, so it seems. They believe they are just maintaining law and order and protecting us from "extremists". Are you an extremist? I didn't think so. Better keep your guns locked up, out of sight.
Not democrats.
Made me think of Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings when Frodo offers her the Ring: “instead of a Dark Lord, you shall have a Queen before you! Beautiful and terrible as the night! ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAIR!”
With Trump the Drama Queen, you get both apparently. Ugh.
Noem
This is what some Republicans have been working toward since the New Deal rescued the American economy from the Great Depression. At least I won’t die of neglect in a nursing home.
Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. About everything ❤️🩹🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, and those in a committee that fits your topic.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit?usp=drivesdk
I hate to say this but, seeing this budget bill pass, knowing a vast majority of people in the US didn't support it according to polls, I no longer believe calling/emailing/writing members of Congress or the Cabinet does any good. Fox News is still the most viewed TV station for news, which is full of mis- and disinformation. We have far too many news deserts. Maybe Profs. Richardson and Snyder are right -- we need to protest even more! Or, maybe, we need a General Strike!
I understand, and mostly agree. Maybe you’ve seen me say this since I recognize your name -
I don’t think we’ll see many big waves (like a major MAGA Congress member changing their opinions), however I think we can cause little ripples. I’m thinking staff members who hear the same thing over and over via voicemail, phone calls, letter after letter, email after email - maybe they’ll be a little more receptive each time they hear from us. Maybe they’ll talk more about our talking points to friends and family, maybeeee they’ll vote differently. I think we can cause ripples to push news organizations to be more honest and maybe even a bit accusatory about what’s happening. 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 🙃
— but beyond that typical response I have ready to go because people say, “what good will it do,” I’ve signed up for the general strike that’s being organized. I think we need more protests and something big like Hands Across America in 1986
I agree, Megan. Doing nothing is not an option, IMO.
Evening, Lynell!
Agreed! Even the smallest acts of protest, of a single voice saying “no” are important.
Good point Ally. And we can protest by shopping at local grocery stores instead of the chains or buying produce from a farm stand. Our local fish monger buys from the local fishermen and the local processor. The Fascist Republicans are doing everything they can to starve the underprivileged and disabled people. Our local food bank provides free food to 4% of the people in our county. And they also support meals on wheels which may be overwhelmed or worse, eliminated. The food banks depend on subsidies as well as donations.
There were organized boycotts of businesses. Amazon, Target are just two of them. They were for specific time frames. It feels like they just fell to the side. Short of an armed response, a complete economic boycott may be our only weapon.
“Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed $500,000 in additional funding for the Meals on Wheels program provided by Aging Matters in Brevard.
The rejection comes at a time when the Brevard County nonprofit says the safety net for needy seniors is "unraveling."
https://www.cfpublic.org/politics/2025-07-01/desantis-vetoes-additional-support-for-brevards-meals-on-wheels-program
90% of my groceries come from a local coop.
Agreed Lynell & Agreed Ally.
And, spot on HCR " ... as soon as Trump took office [the R's started] cutting 890 Billion from Medicaid".
Let's take a closer look at 3 states's Medicaid programs:
TEXAS:
"STAR is a no-cost Medicaid managed care plan that covers children up to age 21, some adults and pregnant women" with health insurance.
CALIFORNIA:
In CA the Medicaid plan is titled "Medi-Cal".
SUNDAY 7/6/25 Morn' Update on CA Mediation-Cal funding. DONE.
California anticipated the Trump-MAGA attacks & will use the MCO Tax, that's the Managed Care Organization Tax (MCO), approved by CA Voters in Proposition 35.
OAKLAHOMA:
"Medicaid is a federal & state program that provides medical benefits to low income individuals who have no or inadequate health insurance.
Just one example to access an OK plan:
"SOONER Select health plan is available through "Aetna Better Health of Oklahoma".
Song Summary:
🎶 Yes, I understand that every life must end, uh huh. 🎶
🎶 As we sit alone, I know someday we must go, uh huh.🎶
🎶 Stay with Me. Let's just breathe. Let's just breathe. 🎶
H/t Willie Nelson & Lukas Nelson of Promise of the Real. Circa 2012
August 1 Medicare cuts under statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act (PAYGO) requires automatic spending cuts to offset any legislation that increases the federal budget deficit.
I got this from Google:
House-passed reconciliation bill: A House-passed bill (H.R. 1) could trigger $535 billion in Medicare cuts over a decade due to PAYGO. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates this bill could cause a $45 billion cut to Medicare in 2026, increasing to $75 billion in 2034.
Senate-passed reconciliation bill: The Senate-passed version of the reconciliation bill, which was signed into law on July 4, 2025, is estimated to increase the deficit by $3.4 trillion over 10 years, potentially leading to even larger Medicare cuts than the House version.
Automatic cuts (sequestration): If the bill is enacted and Congress takes no further action, the deficit increase would trigger mandatory cuts, or sequestration, under PAYGO. These cuts to Medicare could total around $500 billion over 2026–2034. Under PAYGO, most Medicare spending is subject to sequestration, but cuts are limited to 4%.
Ditto on agreeing with Megan & Lynell.Every action counts…even if just to preserve my/ our sanity.
💪💙
Morning, Ally! I trust your Fourth celebration was a mighty Fourth!
I will not be in the streets for the upcoming protests but plan to be a drive-by honking the horn!
The butterfly effect and all that.
The Monarchs butterflies are coming in on their regularly scheduled flight plans.
I absolutely agree! Please see my reply to Megan's reply. Having the logistical advantage of being in the DC area, I agree with Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder that we need to more protests. And, I also think we need to do a General Strike that, realistically, could be planned for September. The timing for that might be perfect if the SMARTLegislation v. Rockland County, NY discovery wraps up as scheduled by then and shows what I think it will -- that DJT "won" as a result of last minute updates to software in voting machines used in 40% of the counties in the US that happened with zero oversight and has some connection to Leonard Leo, the guy who, via The Federalist Society. We won't know until discovery wraps up. Visit SMARTElections.us for more info, including the one mainstream media article about it in Newsweek.
In previous years, the fireworks around us started on the 1st and were in full bloom by the 4th. This year, one neighbor shot off fireworks for about 15 minutes, otherwise crickets. Ironically, it was the nicest weather for fireworks here that I can recall -- upper 60's, clear skies, recent rain and 0-5 mph winds.
Tourism to Acadia National Park is way down. I haven't seen a Canadian plate in weeks when they were prevalent before.
Their timing for passing the big ugly bill was perfect for ruining the morale of the country. And a shout-out to Susan Collins who allowed the bill to come to the floor with her vote and for Lisa Murkowski for selling us all out. They both could have stopped this ugly Fascist bill from moving forward and they didn't.
1. If you live in DC you can visit every Congressional office.
2. Here in Baghdad By the Sea we have boucoups dual citizen Canadian Americans, plus our economy is tourist based and we've lost $billions in tourism, not just from the 3 million Canadians who used to regularly visit, but from many other countries. As a result, no foreign real estate buyers, no market.
3. Today we learned that our local MAGATs are starting a war in Colombia. "The United States and Colombia have recalled their respective ambassadors amid tensions surrounding an alleged plot to oust President Gustavo Petro in which two Florida congressmen were implicated. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he ordered the recall of John T. McNamara, the acting ambassador in Bogotá, on Thursday “following baseless and reprehensible statements from senior Colombian government officials.”
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/colombia/article310009550.html#storylink=cpy
When we intiate revolutions we create immigration. Think Cuba, Venezuela, El Salvador, etc. We should suppoert democracy, the rule of law, and due process. But this administration is anti immigrants -- even some who serverd our interests in their home countries, like Afghanistan, Ukraine.
I've tried to imagine a scenario of where the discovery can lead. There are legitimate groups who have proven what you state, but they can't get traction. And how oh how would we wrest back power from a Party that already has the country in a stranglehold? We are a country of protestors, but we've never had to fight our own government or topple a dictator. He has an angry army--conscripted and not--ready to shoot us where we stand. We have peaceful protestors who won't be able to protest at all without risking our lives. I hope we're up to the task to do what's necessary.
Based on the silent protest I saw in the military parade in DC on the President's birthday and the # of veterans who are mentoring active duty military personnel about their oath to protect and uphold The Constitution, I'm fairly confident this Administration -- especially after cutting so many veterans from Fed jobs and gutting V.A. care -- cannot effectively lead our military. Heck, soldiers didn't even march in front of the stands. Also, veterans and others are reminding or teaching about the Nuremberg trials. And, as HCR reminds us, there are a lot more of us than them!
Like no act of kindness is ever wasted, no act of protest or resistance is ever wasted. We need equal and opposite reactions to every vile word and deed. We need an army of energetic citizens. Would be nice if democrats didn’t lead from the rear.
JD. Do you live close to San Antonio that just elected a Democrat as mayor or were was it, Dallas I think where the school board switched to all Democrats.
In election after election this year, Democrats are kicking ass all over the country. ICE has pissed off Republican sheriff's across the country by designating their counties as not being helpful to ICE. And, of course, this was just another gaslighting job. But, many sheriff's are still angry about it.
In ME, we have two of the best candidates I've ever seen anywhere, running for the Democrat nomination.
Look at what the Democrats accomplished under the first two years of the Biden administration. Of course, the Big Ugly Bill reverses some of that and Trump's little Johnson has repealed some of it, but we need to encourage the BEST candidates to run for EVERY office from the smallest board member to US Senator.
Absolutely, GJ!! Thank you for highlighting the positive…
Ft Worth, Tarrant County is purple but the cheating is blood red
I've also signed up for the General Strike although, because of what I now do for a living, I'm exempt. However, I'm doing what I can to help organize one and encourage others with more capacity than I have to do that. The National Education Association's Representative Assembly meeting is happening now in Portland, OR. I'm hoping they'll use some time while at the RA to plan/organize that since it's 1 of the 5 largest unions left in the US. I've also tagged Randi Weingarten, who's head of the American Federation of Teachers to ask her to lead AFT to do the same. AFT is also 1 of the 5 largest unions in the US.
Yours is a voice of great optimism, Megan. I don’t feel that right now at all, but I am hoping you are right and I am not.
I am there sometimes too. But I start to crumble emotionally if I feel like the hope is gone. So, I continue on adding to my spreadsheet and sharing it 🤞❤️🩹
Maybe it’s time for secession. I don’t have optimism either that the power and money and cruelty can be overcome by trying to change hearts and minds. The colonists couldn’t convince the monarchy to grant them freedom and democracy. They had to break-away. Are we at that moment? Trump hates Democrats. The president of the United States actually said he hates some of its citizens! I can’t even process that.
Just like the geese in their V formation, when we tire we need to drop to the back for awhile until our turn comes up again.
I guess I'm turning into a crabby old lady, but when I call and get an aide I tell them to QUIT before their soul is irrevocably lost to Satan, as their rep has sold their soul to the Devil.
I've left that voice mail as well. I'm not entirely kidding.
Not really. Keeping their jobs is usually the first and last thing on anyone’s mind.
Bill, there are literally millions of caregivers across the country who cannot work because they can't leave their loved one. Fortunately, many employers know this and allowed people to work remote. But, like the true Fascists they are, the Republicans have forced Federal employees to return to the office, and some other oligarchs have done the same.
The ccmpany I worked for from 4/20 - 4/25 (when I retired) NEVER required me to come into the office. And most of the 900 plus employees don't either or maybe 1 to 2 days a week.
I heard yesterday that there are over 400,000 manufacturing jobs available in the US. Thank goodness Trump has implemented the tariffs to bring back manufacturing. /S
Megan, The General Strike is available on line … not sure now where now? …but I signed up long ago. It needs a lot of us to make a true difference. Plus agree it needs to last at least three days for impact. In the Guardian today a Trump supporter’s wife who has been detained by ice wants to take the vote for the orange slime back asap!
If ice is looking around for us in MA, we are looking around for them as well: Luce hotline.
617-370-5023.
Yeah I signed up as well and put the website on my spreadsheet (far right on the Senator’s tab). We need to act in a bigger, more consistent way.
Thank you Megan for your continuous actions. That is what it takes. Efforts like yours and many others here following HCR. Our lights grow stronger together.
"We need a General Strike." Bingo DC. I've been preaching this since Trump was, um, er, was reeelected. My daughter had to buy a charger at Walmart and I went with her just to see the clueless morons still shopping there. Walmart underpays their workers and doesn't give them enough hours to be forced to provide benefits for them. This bill makes it even worse for rural Walmart workers because rural hospitals will close as well as rural nursing homes. And Walmart has bankrupted tens of thousands of mom and pop stores so many people are forced to shop there. And Amazon is just as bad. Also, Kroger was caught gouging us during the Biden years.
General strike. Huge.
And arm for self defense.
The wrong people already have the guns
Does that mean the right people shouldn’t?
It just means they e got the jump on us, and started practicing and getting ready ,40 years ago. We have to take away their toys.
Maybe we should ask the Ukraines for help.
There are lots of civilians and veterans on our side who have guns and have continued to train how to use them, including plenty of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, don't forget, we're dealing with TACO. It's entirely possible we won't need to use that option. Some activists have been training people how to use non-violent tactics for a while now. I've seen that! It's ingenious and inspiring!
Never too late if you are of that mind, Susan.
I think that MAGA has the misconception that liberals/Democrats don't own guns.
I'm certain that what they think. I beg to differ.
Maybe. There are ways -- equipment and training -- to protect ourselves from being attacked or from being seriously injured if we are attacked. We learned how to do that during the George Floyd protests.
Yes, I agree. It's comendown to sabotage.
It appears that the way they structured the timing of when the painful aspects of the law take effect, they expect to escape accountability and voters will blame the Congress in place rather than today's Congress.
I can see trump playing with tariffs as long as he is President.
It gives him leverage to extort any country that wants to do business with the US. If the tariffs ever do take effect, the increase in inflation will be evident immediately. Maybe trump will delay tariffs until after the midterms too. If Dems take the majority in the midterms and the cuts in the big ugly bill take effect along with tariffs, the right-wingers will blame Democrats for the resulting damage.
VOTE them OUT
DC.., maybe take enjoyment shoving some of what has passed right up your senator's butt. Dump a load in their driveway. Dump two. Does their kid do drugs?
Although my Senators voted against the bill, what I recommend to anyone whose House rep. or Senators voted for it -- like Sen. (R-IA) Joni “We’re all going to die” Ernst and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair (R-IA) Chuck Grassley, who’s 91 years old -- ask them how they plan to access healthcare in their home states when so many hospitals, nursing homes and outpatient practices there have closed? And, if they're planning to stay in DC to use their lifelong Federal Employee Health Benefits insurance plans that they think will insulate them from the crisis they’ve created, they're wrong. No one is entitled to healthcare in the US! It doesn't matter who you are. The last thing you want to do is piss off the nurses and doctors you depend on when it's your turn to need healthcare.
From; "Donald's Vanity Tantrums" published 5 years ago. Everything I wrote is coming to pass. I will likely arm myself for defense since at this time all the guardrails are being undone. I encourage others to lawfully and safely do likewise. And please remember one point; I was absolutely castigated when I dared to suggest the good generals that once held sway to enact a military coup to save the republic because there was no alternative. Authoritarianism is at the gate. A true Civil War is pending. The states do not have to abide by this movement but it will take the force of arms and conscience of the people to stop it. Yes, it's real. And I'm so many obliviously shot off fireworks in the street for what? To scare the hell out of wildlife and anyone frail of mind.
One vote could have stopped the bill. But Lisa Murkowski could have stopped it. Her true colors showed. But I have to say, this is the normal slime of most politicians.
A Fireside Chat
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began a series of informal radio chats to the American public during a turbulent time in the 1930s. The radio back then was to communicating as Twitter is today. Here is an excerpt:
“My fellow Americans, it is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we rebuild our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors. …I do not share these fears.”
Trump demands a quaint, televised, fireside chat to compete with FDR. Here is a sneak preview:
“My friends, Hillary Clinton will never see the inside of the White House again as long as I live.
“You people love me so much that I know you want to keep me as your president for life. The Constitution now allows this extended appointment of the executive branch. Our blessed homeland needs me to lead it. I have authorized The Enabling Act, borrowed from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s proposal to restrict powers of the Reichstag in 1933. His SS troops made legislators give up their civil liberties and transfer state powers to the Reich government. I’m pleased to tell you that the Democrats will sign away their legislative powers while my ICE agents surround the House of Representatives. I have the power to dissolve Congress and allow my Cabinet to pass much needed laws to Make America Great Again. And I pledge to you that all fake impeachment activity to convict me has ended.
“I also pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. And we will remove all undocumented immigrants that are poisoning the blood of our country. And we will remove the portrait of African-born Barack Hussein Obama from the White House wall.
“My first act tomorrow will be to have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Shiftless Adam Schiff picked up for questioning to ascertain their patriotism for the United States.
“I know I’ve been accused of a quid pro quo with Ukraine. There is nothing wrong with finding the truth about liars and cheats like Slow Joe Biden. And there’s nothing wrong asking a nation to help with uncovering wrongdoing by a corrupt man. As your President for Life, I will always tell you the truth. When I make a promise to you, I keep it.
“This concludes the first of my fireside chats. I can’t wait to tell you what I have in store for other scum Trump haters.”
I finally did, Bill. I really didn't want to. I'm not opposed to people arming themselves in a situation like this. I go to the range at least weekly. I hope I never have to fire in anger. I live in a rabidly red area that is full of armed yahoos. They buy into the myth that liberals don't own firearms. Given what I see and hear in my area, I feel that at least here we are sliding toward civil violence.
ICE by any measure is Trump's secret police. Now that they're funded with tens of billions of dollars there's no telling the damage they'll inflict with no oversight — depending on his whims and ever-expanding enemies list. That list, by the way, now numbers in the many millions given that Trump has publicly declared he hates Democrats. And let's see if his ever-compliant Supreme Court sanctions turning undocumented migrants into essentially slave labor. We know they will. Welcome to America.
This isn't about immigrants. It's about a partisan occupation army to control citizens. WTF did you expect after the illegal immigrants have been rounded up and deported? That ICE will be dissolved?
Yep. Gestapo 2.0.
Funded with our tax dollars.
If we all stopped paying taxes what would happen and how soon?
Pretty sure that they would find the resources in the depleted ranks of the IRS to come after us. Priorities.
ICE is Trump’s Brown Shirts.
How soon will we see dictator Trump wearing a military-style cap?
And more medals than Idi Amin.
We are bigger than Germany. Just need to get more pissed off. Ice may very well end up swimming in their own guts.
Is ICE a legal “militia”?
As others have commented, ICE will now be Trump's personal Gestapo.
"In fact, Reichlin-Melnick told Democracy Now!, the law will make ICE the largest federal law enforcement agency “in the history of the nation.”
This is NOT a "federal law enforcement agency." It is a PARTISAN POLICE FORCE...essentially a MAGA army to circumvent the Constitution that forbids the ACTUAL federal army from being used to occupy and police citizens in their homes and streets.
Timothy Snyder, Heather, and others aptly worry about the impending concentration camps.
And as that massive funding bill for the police state passed, and Americans celebrated Independence Day, I thought of Dems.
Do they have access to the writers, film makers, musicians, and others well in touch with the American people, the land, and the crises our billionaire classes have long wrought?
For such access, one must care. Care about the land. Care about the hurt from the criminal in the White House and the cruelties he so delights in inflicting.
To care means to see life as personal. If one sees hurt going on, one will question it. But what have our elites learned over the years for their meritocracy? What, other than learn, as Ken Burns says, to be dutiful subject, not fellow citizen. Fellow citizens hunger for writers, film makers, and musicians. They ask good questions. But schools cannot teach that when testing has only authorities ask the question, the rest but to answer A)-B)-C)-or-D).
Ken Burns on the weekend “Face the Nation” interview with John Dickerson said that “The pursuit of happiness is not the acquisition of things in a marketplace of objects but lifelong learning in a marketplace of ideas.” Yet what did schools teach the 77 million who voted for the police state the criminal in the White House now sets up?
The U.S. long had the greatest schools in the world – since the 1862 Justin Morrill land grant act. What can we expect now if schools teach mainly to reduce choices to A)-B)-C)-or-D)?
When kids' test scores go down, corporate profits go up. The Common Core standards and, especially, the use of high stakes standardized testing has created public education policy that's had bipartisan support that's advanced the privatization agenda. I've done public education policy in DC. The best political move to be made would be for the National Education Association, which has its RA happening now, and the American Federation of Teachers -- two of the 5 largest unions in the US -- to organize with others a General Strike starting in September.
Any union member who thinks that billionaires like Trump and Musk are their salvation should get their head examined. Or for that matter, anyone else.
In many states and counties it is illegal for public school teachers to strike. If teachers union leaders advocate for a strike, the jurisdiction can void the union’s collective bargaining rights. So-called “wildcat” strikes have sometimes worked to bring about changes, including better funding for schools, but anyone joining such a strike is subject to immediate dismissal.
And very quickly the school districts are then desperate to hire teachers. Good decisions aren't made in fear. Our goal and job is to make the "leaders" who voted for this bill afraid. As Timothy Snyder says, Do not obey in advance. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary actions.
Perhaps, but they also might simply say the public school teachers abrogated their responsibility to teach, so parents can apply for vouchers and send their children to private (likely religious) schools, using tax dollars.
I understand your concern, but speaking as the parent of two high school English teachers, I hate to think of the students learning--which is still impacted from COVID--being hurt any more.
I'd rather see a nation wide total BOYCOTT from shopping--not a single purchase made for one weekend.
Some parents take their kids out of school to take them on vacation. I'm talking about protecting them from living in an authoritarian state in which the Federal government via ICE runs concentration camps and brings back slavery. A BOYCOTT and a General Strike plus unprecedentedly large, peaceful protests -- large enough to scare the "leaders" who voted against the people's interests -- would impart an unforgettable lesson in civics, The Constitution and democracy. Experiential learning is best anyway. Create lesson plans in advance -- have students write Letters to the Editor of the newspapers worldwide, ask other countries to host foreign exchange visits, teach students how to organize -- involve them in age-appropriate ways. It could be the learning opportunity of a lifetime!
Are teachers and staff in religious schools unionized? I doubt they will be helpful.
No but a lot of Catholic schools teach about social justice and would definitely be on board. Ditto many Jewish, Muslim and Christian schools. Quakers would most definitely be on board.
I know educated people who voted for chump, doctors, PhDs, all levels of brilliant people. They wanted the SC they have now. I wonder how they like it. So far, no complaints but I am out of the loop now, as it were…
The medical professionals servicing small towns and communities should be very worried. You're right, many of them voted for Trump, and will likely be forced to move to urban areas if they want to continue working in a hospital or nursing home.
As you undoubtedly already know, the Corporation that bought most of the hospitals in eastern Maine, Northern Light, is already in bad financial shape. I'm worried that my primary care doc & my gynecologist will leave for greener pastures. Ditto my husband's cardiologist.
Even here in Cleveland, with the renowned Cleveland Clinic, a large portion of their doctors are foreign born, as well as a lot of the support staff. How many of them will want to remain under the uncertain circumstances?
This is true. Rural healthcare tends to be a place where conservative Christian professionals gravitate. It was confusing to me and my more liberal physician colleagues when moving to the mountains. I was naive to think that most educated science based professionals would be skeptical of organized religion and right wing ideology. I was wrong… I fear for my 24 bed critical access hospital. It is a lifeline to our town. Doug Lamalfa will get an earful. I fully plan on telling my patients that vote for that poser “cowboy “ farmer that he voted against their access to healthcare.
I wonder if they believe that they will be better off living under a fascist totalitarian government, or does it have more to do with Psychology than IQ?
They buy the Fox propaganda, had the crap on tv 24/7 because they stayed up and worked almost non stop. IQ doesn’t inoculate people against propaganda, sad to say
Holding aPhD means you are persistent. If you are unable to think logically or base your thinking on facts, you are not either intelligent or certainly not “brilliant “.
I do know brilliant and three of the four are. Still emotional intelligence ( or lack thereof) rules reason
"Yet what did schools teach the 77 million who voted for the police state the criminal in the White House now sets up?"
But that is so day-before-yesterday. Totally old skool. I'll just get my education right now, from social media, Fox News, the guy standing in line behind me at the grocery store, etc. And hey! 77 million can't all be idiots, right?
Rupert has done a masterful job of selling Fox as “news.” It’s their logo, even as courts said they are entertainment. Does anybody care.
Idiots or totally selfish ( the richest 1%.
IMHO psy ops. Although tricke down economics has been totally debunked, that's what's being imposed.
Rich people don't even believe in it.
Republicans like to claim that "Tax cuts pay for themselves" but never demonstrate it. If I recall correctly Reagan or his administration claimed that tax cuts and free reign for the rich would so supercharge the economy that lowered tax rates would actually result in more public revenue. It's been over 40 years. At what point is it fair to say "Clearly this isn't working"?
I keep sayin' my main gripe is we pay taxes but super rich don't. Most years We paid more than Trump. Than most major corporations. Tesla reported zero federal income tax in 2024, despite earning $2.3 billion in U.S. income. In 2011, Bezos reportedly paid no federal income taxes, claiming annual investment losses that exceeded his other income. He was even able to claim a child tax credit intended for lower-income families. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaires-ve-paid-0-income-180649570.html
We have a collection problem. Trillions have gone uncollected -- and we pay for them.
Yes it's infuriating and absurd. Some years back, one person was able to purchase a Starbucks latte with "food stamps", and it was divisive national news, yet the screaming injustice of the tax system gets slight attention. The Panama Papers, Pandora Papers, Paradise Papers, got a day or two of mention, but no serious effort I am aware of to prevent that kind of thing. Over about a decade ago a practicing lawyer told me that the IRS was focusing audits on poorer people with irregular employment claiming income credits because they tend to keep poor records because the IRS lacked the budget to engage in court fights with the very rich. Some years ago Warren Buffet said that even without trickery, he paid a smaller portion of his income to taxes than the woman who cleaned out his wastebaskets. That has since only become worse.
We the people really, really need to focus and connect the dots. Follow the money for real, and do the numbers systematically. The cage fights and parades are just circuses to clutter our focus. Imprisonment without due process is hard-core despotism. It wasn't "government" that, going back to Reagan, nominal Republicans hate, it's the "of the people, by the people, for the people" form of it, which they now falsely tar as "communism", it's government by and for the very rich and powerful; the very thing the Constitution was designed to ward against, that they conspire to promote. Visibly, power tends to corrupt. Unaccountable power (and money is a form of power) often leads to absolute sociopathy. What does human history show us about this? Human rights are qualities of living things, and need tending, by selves and also by society, to flourish and persist.
Dripping in sarcasm!
I always wondered how the German government was legally turned over to Hitler. Now I know.
Trump proposes Nazi-style detention camps: Follow the money to Private Prison operators and prison labor profiteers
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/03/15/trump-to-set-up-nazi-style-detention-camps-private-prison-operators-prison-labor-profiteers/
MAGA Supreme Court Revives Slavery: Could You Be Enslaved?
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/07/07/supreme-court-revives-slavery-creating-slave-prison-laborers/
Concentration Camps
The way he speaks about himself in the third person is entirely creepy.
He speaks like a king.
"We are not amused," said Queen Victoria...
Are we on the threshold of King Donald the FIrst, Donald I for short?
He says he hates Democrats… How many other 57 year-old people are out there ready to impersonate police in order to break into the homes of elected Democrats? Or maybe they’re not 57 but they did hear this president egg them on.! I cannot believe we are living with this regime. It is impossible to keep track, but I appreciate this forum.
Forced labour is an almost inevitable outcome of establishing concentration camps to hold individuals detained on the basis of immigration status (and ethnicity). The devastation of the agricultural workforce alone makes this inevitable, and service industries are likely to follow as beneficiaries of cheap forced labour. And of course, some of the detention centres will be owned or managed by private companies that also profit from forced labour.
Sadly, the model is familiar from Europe before 1946, where forced labour was directed into the industrial demands of wartime Germany--addressing a shortfall of workers created by war and the needs of a wartime economy. What remains to be seen is whether the New American Model also sees the captive workforce as disposable (such as disposing of some captives in South Sudan or El Salvador).
Forced labor was the hallmark of both Lenin’s and Stalin’s Soviet Union long before that. The entire GULAG system was a forced labor archipelago stretching across 11 time zones.
And the elimination of "undesirables." The so-called "useless eaters," the NPC'S (non-playable characters as Musk put it).
I have written this before in a “comments” on an article somewhere and I think once on Facebook, but I think we need to push this idea to the fore in letters and calls to Congress Critters. The Big Brutal Bill will inevitably cause many thousands of preventable premature deaths from slow starvation, untreated illnesses, and environmental degradation. Causing thousands of preventable premature deaths is usually called mass murder. Therefore, any Congressperson who voted for this bill is. morally speaking, a mass murderer. Let’s call a spade a spade.
That is so, but more to the point, the people who proposed this bill, including Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the so-called Heritage Society, among others, are agents acting against the national interest and clearly in furtherance of crimes against humanity (especially by eliminating USAID and the PEPFAR program (against AIDS around the world). They should be reported to authorities such as the International Criminal Court. Never mind that the U.S. has refused ever to accept the ICC's jurisdiction.
The Hemorrage Society.
He hates Democrats. That's half the country.
Well, I'm a life-long registered Democrat and I hate him.
The stink of corruption is strong in this one. Industrial slavery is what we’re heading for, and it is starting with immigrants of all stripes, then it will be all the “undesirables” - blacks, LGBTQ+, Democrats, and then poor white folks. Sounds weirdly familiar.
Struggling to visualize Trump’s concentration camps? Use this interactive StoryMap to see how American citizens of Japanese descent were rounded up and send to camps during World War II. Check the camps location and the harsh living conditions.
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/05/02/trump-mass-deportation-camps-visualized/
This will be much worse.
Shame on US.