On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved “[t]hat six companies of expert riflemen, be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia; that each company consist of a captain, three lieutenants, four serjeants, four corporals, a drummer or trumpeter, and sixty-eight privates…[and that] each company, as soon as completed, shall march and join the army near Boston, to be there employed as light infantry, under the command of the chief Officer in that army.”
But let us be clear that the true message was that all Eurocentric white men were forever free. Most southern founding leaders owned slaves and refused to relinquish their property in their lifetimes. A slave in the service of George and Martha Washington named Ona Judge ran away and the Washingtons relentlessly pursued her but never reenslaved Ona.
One of my favourite recountings of Harriet Tubman was the day she herded chickens right down the main street of the town where the soldiers were ‘on the lookout for her’. They cheered and hooted as the chickens got away from her and she did prat falls in the dirt which made her hunters double over with laughter.
Fearless, master of disguise, smarter than the best of them, Harriet proved that ‘Where there’s a will…there’s a courageous way’.
We’d best not forget that, and depend on our BRAINS to see justice done…the goon squad controlled…and the Tyrant King sent packing…eventually.
In the meantime, EDUCATION and READING are tools to defeat the Project 2025 agenda.
I just wonder what Harriet Tubman would think of the situation in America right now?
My guess is that she would ‘hatch a plan’ to rid the nation of the ‘Orange Race’…but with a humane, clever solution.
There is no need for the brutal methods of POTUS #47, but he has been getting more and more aggressive for 80 years…whatchagonnado!?
We have reached bottom. I don’t know if this means a turnaround. Massive money still can make dumb folks dumber. That cell device has turned humanity into embezzles. I like to think that we can pull out. And I will not fear doing all I can to defeat this manace.
Thank you for further info regarding Ona Judge. I am thankful that her life was recorded in history. It saddens me to think of so many good hard working persons whose lives have been "disappeared". Hopefully many have been recorded and shared from family to family.
I’ve often joked that I would want to purchase a large house to be made into a group home for us older folks and I would want two Black women in the house so they could out vote me on domestic issues if they choose.
No. The true message is not that all Eurocentric white men were forever free. The true message is that every human being is free. Distorting the true message does not make the distorted message true.
A reason southern elite joined the revolution was because the British articulated a policy of freeing and perhaps arming southern slaves. A case of keeping slaves as their property. Irony.
Think Charles Grassley. He is 92 and has been in the Senate since 1980, 46 years. There should be a retirement age for Congress and maybe an age after which a person cannot run. Ex: If Congress had a retirement age of 75, if a person would turn 75 during the term of office, then that candidate couldn’t run.
Senators represent their constituents and are there for decades only if their constituents elect them again and again.
Why would you want to impose an age limit when clearly his constituents want him - as is the case for many other people serving in Congress?
You're confounding fascism (= a political regime in which the legislative and judicial branches of government are subordinated to the executive branch) with having representatives doing a good enough job to be sent back again and again by "we the people".
Retirement ages don't make any sense. What you propose is ageism. That's a form of discrimination that is incompatible with a real democracy.
BUT retirement ages give younger people the opportunity to become members of Congress and reflect the values of more of the constituents over time. I doubt that Grassley remotely represents the younger than 45 people in their state.
But Grassley is only one person. AND HE CAN BE VOTED OUT BY THE “YOUNGER VOTERS” IF THEY CHOOSE TO VOTE!
If you want wisdom in government, age and experience need to be there too. Ask Jon Ossoff how he has learned so much and if he thinks Senator Warnock should be unabled to run again.
Warnock is only 56. That is hardly within the age range anyone has ever proposed as a retirement age for Congress or Senate. Typically the age is 70 or 75. Warnock in 20 years will NOT be the same man he is today.
I am personally 75 and I doubt that I would be a great Congress person now given some mobility issues, etc. And I think I am in full command of my faculties. Chuck Grassley isn't at all, and obviously his constituents seem too stupid to figure that out.
Well, each time an older person retires another (younger or not) can take over. Since when is that a good argument to force people to no longer work with those leaders who have the most experience?
I agree, but hopefully we would also agree that 75 (or maybe 80 if we want to be really "liberal" about it) is plenty of time for someone to be a Representative or Senator if they start at say around 50 or so, and to be helpful as a mentor. 25 years isn't enough?
Thank you. My favorite suggestion for president will turn 73 in ‘28. Don’t any of these ageists know or have wise older friends or acquaintances? Or know any history? This is America where we get to choose our leaders, so they don’t always turn out as we wish or they wish we would. Senator Warnock’s book will be a good guide for all of US no matter what our orientation.
If someone has a good education and leads a life of service, based on strong moral values, then age comes with the advantage of more wisdom and more experience. And who wouldn't want that, especially in our leaders?
Ageism is a label that doesn’t apply here. It’s an appeal our fondness of the wisdom of the elder. I spend tremendous amounts of time with the elderly as a hospital doctor. They are valid citizens , and have great insight and wisdom. However a 75 yo doctor has no business doing my job. The long hours and relentless stress and decision making is exhausting as i am closing in on 60 years. I have worked with docs at the end of their careers closing in on 70 and they just can’t perform at the level required. ( in academic settings some folks last longer as there are younger docs doing the heavy lifting) I still appreciate those docs as people, but see how they are over their head in the drivers seat of an ED. How can we expect a person too old to lead a department in a hospital to do the work of leading the free world?
I suggest term limits not age limits... we have seen great minds at work from those in their 70's and sloth ridden minds of people in their 20's and 30's, and 40's...etc
It's absurd. It's "we the people" who elect them, and the more terms they do, the more experience they get, so (at least in theory) the better they can serve us.
Term limits only make sense if there are no elections (and only for certain jobs, where experience doesn't matter).
No, here I agree with Virgina and EUWDTB... term limits for Congress is NOT a great idea, in fact it is a terrible idea. If a constituency elects someone at age 40, and that person turns out to be excellent, WHY should they be forced to retire at 52 or 56? That's crazy! You want that person to be in office at least for a reasonable period of time when you get a good one (and they don't come along all that often). Term limits are good for the President for a simple reason: the President is elected by the entire country and it is a "rare" office which only one person can ever hold. Holding it for a long time (as Roosevelt did) starts to make them look more like a "king". That's WHY we have Presidential term limits and it was a good idea. But in Congress, there are a 100 senators and 435 reps (should be more) and so extended terms for a few doesn't effect the entire country in the same way that extended terms for a President do.
People are stupid EUWDTB. They re-elect people like Strom Thurmond until he died at age 100. He was a racist and served only the white people of his state. They wheeled him into the Senate chamber in a hospital bed.
They also re-elected Jim Bunning who was nutty as a fruit cake and had no clue what was happening.
And they reelected Orrin Hatch from Utah who couldn't find his way around the Capitol for the last several years in office.
I would rather have a 15 year old with all of their faculties than an 80 year old with dementia or Alzheimer's.
No, its a recognition that at an advanced age, even in today's society with modern medical miracles, people have difficulty staying alert (look at the pictures of Trump sleeping during meetings) and doing their jobs. Not EVERYONE of course, but enough that a reasonably conservative age limit isn't all that hard to imagine. I wished many times that Diane Feinstein would retire from the Senate but she refused and ended up dying in office at the age of 90 when she was barely able to function. Her staff protected her by doing most of her work (which is one of the problems, the staff is protecting their jobs, and that leads to the kind of "circle the wagons" that occurred during Feinstein's later years).
Its true not EVERYONE is like that. Pelosi stayed alert and functioning through her later terms in Congress, as has Bernie Sanders. But the loss of a few Congresscritters and Senators is better than having others who are close to non-functional, and influenced by non-elected staff members.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
I would recommend term limits. That after two or three terms an elected officeholder is forced out so complacency among voters won't let him stay, and will require "fresh ideas". BUT, after the successors term should the prior officeholder run AND the voters elect him he should have the opportunity to serve again
Thank you! I agree that no one should EVER be forced out because of age. It has to be a case by case basis. AND at this perilous time we must make sure that any new candidate is guaranteed to hold on to the seat!!!
All the comments here don’t seem to consider how difficult it is to unseat an incumbent, especially with so much money in politics. It’s an uphill battle.
Like the private sector, the older generation should be working on succession planning, passing their experience onto the next generation. The younger generation can combine that mentorship with fresh ideas and their own knowledge about our current societal challenges.
Think Mitch McConnell who has recently been hospitalized. He has been a major contributor to “the best government money can buy.” Plus, he was leader of the Senate when he cowardly said, “Let the courts handle it” rather than voting to convict Trump of his impeachment charges.
Actually when he said that, he had just lost his job as leader of the Senate. In 2021, both House (Pelosi) and Senate (Schumer) were held by the Democrats, for 2 years, before the 2022 elections when the GOP took back the House.
In 1976-77 I lived next door to Tom Harkin in Ames. My roommates and I chatted and had beers with Tom. He was very impressive and remained a strong supporter of all Iowans until he retired.
Years later I was working at Lutheran Mutual in Waverly with Grassley's son. We went for beers at the Cornstalk and the Senator joined us. He seemed like a moral leader at that time as well.
I agree, he is not the same man now that he was back then.
I disagree with term limits for Congress (both houses). Age limits yes, to avoid senile senators and reps, but term limits hurt young people who get into politics early and are good at it. They should stay as long as they can get elected UP TO A REASONABLE RETIREMENT AGE (like 75 or so). After that, I think the downside of age is worse than the upside of experience.
The concept that incumbents, mostly in gerrymandered districts, keep their positions because the voters continue to support them doesn't make sense anymore particularly after Citizens United. Money is what keeps them in office and the people with the money have different goals than most voters. That said, agreed, all the eligible voters who choose not to vote are also a big part of the problem.
Amen. If you're going to have a minimum age limit to be a Senator, Congressman or President, then there should also be a maximum. I'm for age limits for SCOTUS as well only make it 65 or 18 years whichever comes first.
I'm close on the courts with you. Personally I prefer 75 as the "age limit" (or until your term ends after you are 75). The term limit for the SCOTUS should be based on how many justices there are and should rotate so that each President gets a shot at nominated a few justices. Currently with 9 judges, 18 years seems like a good number, but I think we need more justices on the Supreme Court (that doesn't take a Constitutional amendment either, just a law). If we expanded the court to 15, then groups of 3 new judges could be nominated every 4 years, for a 20 year term which would also be a reasonable limit. A President could renominate someone for an additional 20 year term but it would be up to Congress to confirm that and they could vote "no". That would be a good "check and balance".
Yeah, I agree with the retirement age. I am not in favor of a "term limit" though, I think the people in each state should have the right to decide if someone is working well for them. 75 does seem like a good age at which one should be expected to retire, or at the end of the term during which they become 75. That, of course, would require a Consitutional Amendment, and even something as "simple" as a retirement age for Congresscritters that should get universal support is likely to founder in our current political state.
Washington was a terrific leader of the military and the country. And he had just as many terrible traits as most actual men, i.e., among others he was a slaveholder.
Yes, we have, and we have also achieved horrible things, that were NOT in the cause of freedom and liberty for anyone, especially Americans. Our government is not much different from other governments. We have had a better experience with democracy than most, but we have also shown (ala Trump) that we are willing to give that up in a flash if the right bright shiny object attracts are eye, no matter how corrupt they might be.
Sitting here on Flag Day. How many who served and many died underneath that flag witnessed this weekend the Lincoln memorial and the White House being used as a backdrop for a penny arcade side show. This side show didn’t hurt anybody but the characters in it have destroyed so much.. rage is to simple a word to use when watching what went on this weekend.
Hi Charles, you are braver than I. I chose to avoid the embarrassment he has brought to our once great nation. His destruction to the rose garden and east wing is a disgrace. A ballroom we don’t need, and no president ever asked for, until trump. Our nation was not perfect, we had serious problems, he and the current Republican Party have not resolved one. I think of how all this money could be put to better use, healthcare, education, affordable housing, and utilities.
Where are the men and women like George Washington in the 21 century? Why has the fourth estate and universities acquiesced to this charlatan?
When will we “The People” say enough. At 80 I’m doing what I can, why are there only a few hundred people at a rally? When will we be angry enough to take to the streets?
Sorry for the rant, but my heart like so many of you is broken, but my spirit is not.
Thank you Heather for todays reminder of how hard we fought for what is being quickly taken away.
Also at 80, I echo what you and others are saying and have the same thoughts. Why does it seem that we who are older voice the greatest concern. The young are so busy with their lives, perhaps, that their time is minimal. And perhaps we who are older and aware realize how badly the country has deteriorated from what we knew and experienced and now expect of better government. Our country has always been fractious seemingly, but now feels worse than what we can recall. The era of Viet Nam protest might have seemed similarly explosive as well as the Black Power era. What seems different and worse to me is the Trump era government and current Republican power structure both in Washington and the red states. The ignorance, greed, in your face corruption, meanness, shameless authoritarian determination to dictate how we the citizens may live, and unwillingness to deviate, negotiate, or modify their most heinous and suppressive intents. In my lifetime, at least, I do not recall this level of evil in the cadre with this much power.
I agree with your comment about the young being busy....being honest, when I was still working (I'm retired now) I had little time to pay much attention to politics. Like many of us I voted but, win or lose, there was the idea that no matter what, we (almost always) ended up with a president who did at least care about we the people. It wasn't until Trump appeared as a candidate that I actually made time to pay attention and began to realize the actual power of my vote and the power of my attention and my actions. I can't blame our youth for not paying attention in the earlier stages of this travesty but I certainly am expecting that they take notice and act now!
Pat, a young woman who lives a few houses down helps me in the garden. I was delighted to discover that she is well aware of what is going on and is studying to be a social worker, a career which the regime has decided is not professional. She understands exactly why this has happened.
A ballroom, moreover, it grows more and more likely you won't get given the legal and financial complications. Still, I guess when they're using the Situation Room to discuss the Epstein files cover-up, it boggles the mind to think what they would doing in the ballroom.
And why is it that the Seniors of this country seem to be the only ones who are sounding the alarm? There seems to be no concern shown by the younger Americans? Am I wrong?
Not going to make excuses for the younger people who may not be out in force with the older and seniors of this nation in protest. While attending another protest yesterday saw more younger ones in the crowd. In a small town of 10,000 there were close to 250 people, that’s 2.5% of the population. Talking to these younger ones, what have found is they don’t realize the power of protesting and demonstrating in person. They don’t have under their belt the movements of the Civil Rights, Vietnam war, Women’s Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights, etc.
They’ve grown up for over 10 years under the blankets of a MAGA movement and tRump. Therefore those in their 20’s were just ten years of age or just in their teens, or younger. They’ve witnessed George Floyd’s murder in 2020 and some saw the outrage and some minimal changes but now in 2025 and 2026 see ICE agents on the streets basically doing the same thing with no repercussions.
Get the outrage of us in our “golden years” out in protest but we have the muscle memory of what we did when we were younger and the affects of protesting that maybe lasted for a little longer and the change that came about from those protests. Yet we are now seeing all that work down-sliding into this black hole of decades and even centuries before where those rights were fought for and now trying to be taken away.
Yesterday explained to a group of young women and men that it wasn’t until 1974 that any woman on her own could get a damn credit card. That’s just 52 years that this law has been in place and it took at minimal three to four years to even get that in protesting. The look on all their faces was astonishing and one pulled out their phone and googled it. See our role in protesting as a way to teach and guide these younger ones that it takes time, patience and due diligence to make the changes necessary for a democracy to work. Guided by the people and for the people, it’s not handed to you without working for it and keeping it.
Yes, TJ I had the same experience while teaching a college class. I was shocked that the young people in that class were oblivious to how women had to fight for the rights they take for granted. They haven’t lived our history, more importantly, why are they not being taught?
Have found that education glosses over too much in all subjects. History is one of them as I’ve been told they only get the “highlights” in my mind was thinking who determined the “highlights” that are just even glossed over… Education is the only asset that follows you wherever you go and can always be shared and not stolen from you.
In fact read recently that there are volunteers taking our documents that are written in cursive and rewriting in print so that the youngest of generations can read them all. They are unable to read cursive, nor of course write it but just taught to use cursive to sign their name..
Oh, I think they are concerned but view the current situation as a boomer shit show run by geriatrics to be endured. And I don't blame them for feeling that way. We shouldn't blame the victims for our generation's shortcomings.
How dare you assume that anyone younger than a Boomer is obsessed with “their screens”! We are simply trying to live at this point without going bankrupt! We did not vote for Reagan who started this nonsense when we were still in middle school and high school. We aren’t the generation that had started out protesting Vietnam and promoting racial harmony in our 20’s only to turn 30 and vote in the actor who convinced you that welfare queens were your enemy. Take your self-righteousness and stuff it. We graduated college during the “greed is good” era and promptly lost our jobs to offshoring. Then we lost pensions so that corporations could use our retirement accounts as a game in the stock market disguised as 401k’s. Then we lost healthcare as our full-time employment was turned into to “consultant work” just as healthcare became “for profit”. Most of you are now living in retirement-something that is quickly becoming unaffordable for those who came after you. We are the “sandwich generation” taking care of our elderly parents as well as our college graduate children who now face unemployment due to trillionaires playing with the future of work as they shove AI slop down our throats.
Take a seat in your comfortable retirement home while the rest of us go to work just to afford rent and groceries.
for sure you have a lot to resent about the way the country has gone over your lifetimes, but standing up to the way it has taken a radical turn for the worse under the incompetent (mentally and professionally) and corrupt Trump does not take that long. Every voice counts.
Talk about self righteousness!! I agree with you about what has happened, but to all of us including those not so comfortable in old age or who did not make it to that. If you are blaming as you say with a sweep of a broad brush that those people who were out protesting in their 20's and thirties were the ones who voted in "that actor" you are wrong. I could say, also without specific evidence, but certainty, they did not. The YOU is your fake resentful take. We were divided and have been and this screed divides even more. Where were and are you when you, a voter, "sandwiched", unemployed or facing that, trying to send your kids to college and trying to afford groceries? This is so divisive and unproductive. Those of us who are older who have also faced the same (taking care of elder parents, sending kids to college) and paid attention and VOTED for years who were NOT the so called "sandwichers" are in this. It's called LIFE!!. Those who came after us- were so spoiled.
This is a broad brush distortion. You were not betrayed by those of us who protested Viet Nam. Those people did not turn on you. Reagan and the Republicans thereafter did.
A list of grievances is as though you have just woken up. You make a case in which you are "simply trying to live without going bankrupt". Where was the organization of protest as all this was happening? We had to wait for Trump to threaten it all! A democracy, if we would keep it, means more involvement than simply trying to survive. Is yours just "the getting and spending" generation? We were and are divided and partisan especially since Reagan when Republicans began to rig the system for fear of the growing majority of black and brown voters. The elections were close electorally. Between 50 and 60% only turned out to vote in recent years!!! Were the rest too busy? Blaming both sides? There is some blame there too.
Since the beginning, less and less have turned out to vote. Complacency set in. Propaganda from the "trickle down side", the side that is good at this ("Fox Republicans" who are now going to own more media) won the day with those too busy to pay attention. Remember Trump said he loves the uneducated.
No cell phone then when those who protested Viet Nam helped bring in Jimmy Carter, one of our most moral presidents. We also helped bring Clinton and Obama. But the Democrats also moved more to the center; they triangulated to do that. They went along to get along.
In hindsight there is enough to learn from, and always 20/20.
Hi Donna, please don’t blame an entire generation for this mess. Many of us still hold the same beliefs we held in our twenties.
No one handed me a college degree, I worked my way to my B.A. At time’s, carrying four college classes an A average, and working two jobs with two children. God Bless my widowed mother, I was living with her part of the time. My ex-husband could well afford to pay the child support, but chose not to, and the courts did nothing, in those days. I taught Special Ed, paid my student loans off, and up until my health got in the way was volunteering in my daughter’s classroom.
I didn’t vote for Reagan, I always voted as an independent, many of my middle class friends did the same.
I don’t live in a retirement home, I can’t afford one. My husband and I live in a house that’s just about paid off. And like many Americans are struggling to keep up. We could sell our house, but my mortgage is cheaper than rent. Furthermore, I would like to leave my daughter something. My son was killed in 1998 by a drunk driver on his was home from work.
I understand, what you are saying Donna, I’m watching my daughter and son-in-law, both college educated, struggle to make ends meet.
I love my grandchildren and wonder what kind of world they are inheriting.
Younger Americans are consumed by the necessities of rent, groceries, utilities, insurance and work, to come out....oh, and their phone screens....we, the elders, need to make it clear what is not tolerable and only the red states representatives have the power to change our direction.....
Grassly of Iowa is showing no concern and he is a senior senator who has definitely sold his soul. I don’t have much faith in a better future at my age, 89. Seems money I donate to the Democratic Party goes down a bottomless pit. What should be my stance now at my age? Should I turn inward and try to focus on only my survival ? Right now this is a serious dilemma for me!
But instead I'll say that perhaps it's where you are located.
In my area there are many young people who are very involved. Mostly LGBTQ+ but also POC. Because they understand that they are the most at risk under the current regime. My kids haven't missed a No Kings Protest, Pride March or Union Rally.
But they grew up on my rabid belief in "Liberty and Justice for All' and they still remember the knock down, drag out fights that I used to have with their grandfather (a man that enjoyed the benefits of having a union job but voted against them at every possible moment due to his job with a defense contractor)
Some of their friends don't protest. They were raised by 'conservative' parents in oppressively evangelical churches. They mostly despise their parents and left the church as soon as they could.. but they are still afraid of what will happen if their extended family finds out that they do not believe in MAGA. Why do they care? Because a full 20% if them still live at home. No one can afford apartments, let alone houses, in today's real estate market. The price of not being homeless is to pretend that they support the regime.
Other's don't protest because they don't live at home. They have families of their own. Which means that they are working at least 2 jobs and try to stay out of politics because life sucks big time and there has been nothing good coming out of DC in their entire adult life. It's not that they don't care. It's that they try like heck to NOT care because the anxiety they are under is already pretty overwhelming. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. They are trying to feed their kids. They can't afford to be on the streets every weekend and take the risk of being fired if they make the evening news... or the company Facebook page.
Renee Good and Alex Pretti were both under 40. Now they are both dead.
I am much less likely to be shot at a protest than my sons or my daughters. I'm not a 'threat' to the ICE agents. If my strapping 30 yo plumber son yells at the authorities they are going to target him. His 62 yo arthritic mother with the purple hair? They are going to call her 'batshit' and/or 'cat lady' (and they would be right) but they are much less likely to pull a firearm.
No one here has the right to be passing judgement on 'the kids'. They have their reasons for doing what they are doing. Be it resources or mental health people have to make their own decisions. And just because you 'can't see them' doesn't mean that they aren't doing their share.
I'm so bloody sick of these generational culture wars. Get over yourself.
I’m glad to hear at least some young people are active in politics. That’s certainly not what I’ve seen in my limited experience but good to know it’s happening somewhere.
Kathryn, I just posted about the young woman working for me in the garden. She is also quite responsible about getting here and letting me know if there is a problem. Also I read about any number of young people who are protesting and working to make things better in their schools. The local online news ran a story about each of the senior class presidents who are doing good work.
Well, having reached senior status myself, I can only say that I have a sense that sounding the alarm doesn't carry the risks it did when I was younger. I mean what the hell! I mean, what are "they" going to do to me at this point?
Most of the younger crowd will ignore or dismiss what I have to say, or patiently patronize me, as I did when I was younger.
But some, a few, might actually give it some serious consideration.
By testing's standards, many possess most superbly all the neutered rationality to focus on group and category belonging, all the simpleton conceits of linear-only causality.
All young adults (young voters) have known is Frump’s low-life, low-intelligent, destructive ways, a party voted in by uninformed constituents, and a party in Congress that has not only allowed -but supported-this destruction. As a senior citizen, I grew up with a belief in our great experiment and pride in my country. Our youth have not had this. My heart breaks too. But I have hope ….
At 79 I largely agree. It has taken decades of neoliberalism to get us to the current sorry state of affairs. With the accompanying rise of the billionaire class oligarchs that we have allowed to buy politicians, load the judiciary with conservative and religious ideologues, degrade the educational system, gut the middle class, and take over mass media, we have dug ourselves into a very deep hole that will be difficult to fill in.
What is different in today’s political landscape from all that has gone before is that one party has been completely taken over by forces that are trying to end democracy and establish a White Christian nationalist dictatorship. Even with the worst of presidents in my memory there was still a presumption that both parties would respect the results of fair elections and the rule of law. When the law was broken there were consequences, as with Nixon. That is no longer the case due to a corrupt and partisan Supreme Court that has granted imperial power to the presidency via immunity for official acts.
The GOP has long put billionaires first to the detriment of the working class and families. Neoliberal economic policies from both parties since Reagan have gutted the middle class and increased poverty while maintaining the upward flow of wealth to the rich and their global corporations. Supply-side economics has always been a scam and it is well past time for demand--side investments in people, education, infrastructure, and preservation of the environment.
We need another New Deal or Progressive Era. All our problems are fixable and affordable. It is just a matter of priorities. As long as we allow the oligarchs to own the government, courts, media, and politicians their priorities will be advanced rather than ours. Nothing will get fixed until we get rid of big money in politics, have real electoral reform to counter election subversion, and demand that our representatives prioritize the common good over the care and feeding of the billionaire class.
I couldn't bear to watch, and how they have corrupted The People's House.
Chesterton Fences - don't remove a fence until/unless you know/understand why it was put up in the beginning.
There's still the Epstein Files redacting the abusers' names instead of protecting the victim-survivors.
And Diplomacy is not achieved by "Tweet."
By doing Netanyahu's bidding, 47 has essentially caused and lost a war, and torched our alliances. Thus, removing the USA from world leadership and tipping the balance to China. We need to defeat fascism AGAIN, for white supremacy is behind the increasing level of domestic terrorism.
One man, Washington can walk away from power with humility, while another man, 250 years later grabs as much power and money as he can. In honor of flag day and our nation wouldn’t it be a powerful gesture to fly our flag at half mast to mourn the loss of our democracy on Saturday, July 4th.
If I could figure out how to display my flag on it's 5' pole at half staff without having it look sloppy, I would do that. If I had a boat with a mast, I would surely fly it at half mast.
Upside down seems to be my best bet for my short poled flag. I doubt my wife will let me fly a flag these days; her disgust knows no bounds.
Thank you Ally. The Right does not own our American flag. It represents all of us and our wonderful diversity, history and Democracy. Our flag was never meant to divide us.
Ally, i note the post below about the flag belonging to all of us. After 9/11 we had a small flag from the newspaper in our window to remember those who died. Right on cue, one of our younger friends criticized it and I explained to her why it was there. It is too bad that the wing nuts have co-opted it.
Margaux, with respect and appreciation of your sentiment, I want to point out that the flag is flown at half-staff out of respect and mourning the death of government officials or military personnel. (Note: Unsurprisingly, it was inappropriate for the flag to be displayed at half-staff after the death of Charlie Kirk, who was not a government official or employee.)
Our democracy is not lost – yet. Our democracy is in distress, at risk of being lost. The more appropriate display of the flag is upside-down, the international distress call.
St. Charlie Kirk was a hypocritical fraud. At best a circus sideshow huckster, a cheap discount store, dime-a-dozen martyr, cloaked in the cast off raiments of those who came before him. Living proof that there are suckers born every minute. And most of them are eligible to vote.
Dale, you are right about flying the flag half mast. But when Charlie Kirk was mourned nationwide the moral ground and tradition was lost. Nor do I disagree about flying our flag upside down. It is also a good option. Again we are in agreement that our democracy is not lost, yet. Historians have commented that trump has moved the needle about 60% into Project 2025. My sincere wish is we will have decisive victories in the midterms.
My husband is a Marine Corp Veteran. We flew an American flag on the front porch for years.
Then Trump.
So we only flew the flag on patriotic holidays.
At this point however, the flag is gathering dust in the attic. With my grandfather's 48 star flag that was supposed to have been destroyed. (As a keepsake for my oldest son who studied history in college but quickly realized he was never going to find a job with a history degree in Maine. So now he's a plumber.)
Why? 'cause I figure one of two things is going to happen. Either the United States are going to un-unite or if we can somehow save this mess in the fall then I'm hoping the we will give the US territories statehood if they want it. (I'm hoping of course that we become the kind of country they would want to join)
But I'm not celebrating July 4th or the 250th. I remember the bicentennial and how much fun that was as a kid. We wore costumes, had parades and campaigned for the ERA.
It freaking kills me that 50 years later it still hasn't passed. So I already wasn't thrilled with 'America'. But America under Trump? I would celebrate this disgusting heat wave first.
Doreen, I have grown to hate the fourth because we have a bunch of selfish individuals who shoot off fireworks all night including the ones which are illegal here in Oregon. And this often goes on for days before and days after. We look after our dog and swear.
Yes, it is Flag Day at least for another 8 minute, Pacific. Accordingly I gathered with friends to watch a private showing of "Flags of Our Fathers" directed by Clint Eastwood.
The Director use the character voice of a of son of one of those Fathers: "I finally came to the conclusion that ... : Maybe there's no such thing as heroes. Maybe there are just people like my dad. I finally came to understand why they were so uncomfortable being called heroes. Heroes are something we create, something we need... They may have fought for their country but they died for their friends."
The film has a rare companion piece, Letters from Iwo Jima which a resonating prelude to tonight's Letter From An American.
My job requires me to work on Sundays. At the end of the day, I send an email to my co workers describing the events of the shift. To make it more bearable to read, i often put little sayings or pictures pertaining to the day (such as a picture of Yoda in May-the-fourth). Yesterday (Flag Day), I used a picture of the Pride Flag :)
That's a nice touch, Steve. When I used to write shift briefings so that the other two shifts would know what happened on our watch (overnights; 11-7 on 8 hour shifts and 8-6 on 10 hour shifts) I would usually try and find a humorous statement from someone regarding the shift. My time doing that (late 90's/early 00's) predates the use of a lot of pictures. One which was frequently used was "well, that didn't work out like we thought it would".
Last week my nephew who is a cop in Omaha, rescued a 4 year old boy from a burning house. Being a cop and not a fireman, he doesn't often have the opportunity to save someone. The boy was in the basement and my nephew kicked out one of the basement windows and was able to lure the boy from the top of the basement steps to the window. He then pulled the boy to safety.
As a retired deputy, I suspect you have saved many lives over the years and have tens of thousands of firemen and officers of the law as well as those in the medical profession.
Do you have any harrowing rescue stories to share?
Hopefully the ratings were in the toilet, such trash has become common in our media. The result of Fox entertainment metastasizing to all aspects of our media, especially news
JD, I did take pleasure in the miserable conditions and one fighter got escorted out by the secret service. Didn't watch, but saw bits of news glorying in how bad the weather and bugs were.
One thing’s for sure — it would never have occurred to General Washington to turn the President’s home into a gladiatorial shit-spectacle involving dirt bikes, half-naked, shaved, steroided bar-room rowdies performing some weird version of human cockfighting for the enjoyment of sick old creeps who get off on violence, but can’t get it up anymore.
The "half-naked, shaved, steroided bar-room rowdies" goes for the women clad in flag-adorned costumes. The MAGAs irreverence for the flag that they have claimed as theirs and theirs alone violated the rules of how the flag should not be desecrated.
This from Robert Hubbell this morning -
"...the events of Sunday would not be complete without some recognition of the depths to which Trump’s insecurity and vanity have plunged the once dignified Office of the President.
First, Trump has left a tarp in place in front of the Kennedy Center to conceal the memorial’s official name after his name was removed, per court order. See CNN, Kennedy Center exterior remains covered after Trump’s name is removed. What a petulant little baby! What his fragile ego prevents him from understanding is that keeping the name covered makes him look weaker and smaller with each passing day.
Second, Trump’s grotesque mixed martial arts display on the south lawn of the White House was an embarrassment to everyone who participated—including attendee Mark Zuckerberg, whose own insecurity rivals that of Trump. See HuffPo, Trump Celebrates ‘America 250,’ Birthday With Bizarre UFC Spectacle...."
GJ, Norm Eisen at The Contrarian, indicated that the legal team has anticipated Donald's shenanigan regarding the tarp cover-up, and will be addressing that in court promptly.
Dale, The tarp says is the death star is a petulant baby stomping around because someone took away one of his fav toys. Hard to believe and this waste of air is occupying the WH. I have run out of words.
Maybe Jeff Tiedrich can help. "Whiny piss-baby is in his Oval Bordello, power-loading his diaper because an adult told him 'no'," or something to that effect.
Honorable people who act in accordance with their sense of duty, rather than give into to self-indulgence, are indeed fools n the eyes of the avaricious schemers and immoral opportunists.
But perhaps not on those who look to understand the past to understand the present, and to educate our educated guesses with respect to event's yet to come.
Flag Day recalls a moment when the American colonies were anything but unified, yet still chose to act as one political body in the face of collapse. The creation of the Continental Army was not born from comfort or agreement, but from necessity, discipline, and the recognition that independence would fail without shared sacrifice and coordinated action. That decision turned scattered resistance into a national project.
The same spirit is needed now, not in military form, but in civic life. The United States today is pulled by deep political division, institutional distrust, and a growing tendency to treat fellow citizens as opponents rather than partners in a shared experiment. When that happens, democratic systems weaken from within, not through sudden rupture but through steady erosion of trust and responsibility.
What the founding generation understood, imperfectly but clearly, is that self-government depends on more than rights. It depends on participation, restraint, and a willingness to accept outcomes you did not choose because the process itself is what holds the country together.
To honor that legacy today is not to romanticize the past, but to recover a basic civic seriousness. The same commitment to shared purpose that once made a fragile union possible is still required if that union is to endure.
"...basic civic seriousness." That is what is lacking as I watch my former work cohort spew what ever they have been told is the "horror of the day" by their propaganda and dis/misinformation sources. It is all about demeaning the "other side" and crowing about perceived victories.
Annabel, I seriously doubt, even for a minute, that the likes of tRump even looked up at the rotunda of the US Capital and imagined what courage our first president must have had. His thoughts are with a half-baked President Andrew Jackson and the ruthless dictates that he employed during his tenure as President. It's no wonder that tRump regards Jackson as one whom he should emulate. His penchant for hiring friends and financial contributors over those who are more qualified is right in line with what Jackson did. And as for the "Trail of Tears" malicious endeavor, well... don't get me started. tRump would love to match a "Trail of Tears" lethality against immigrants, LGBTQ+ folks, and others who are not ancestral white European if he knew he could get away with it.
Worse yet ... a lesson that has probably not been taught to thousands of young children in schools where General Washington's selfless act would be consider an act of 'wokeness'
BTW ... I hope to see a similar letter in October for the anniversary of when the Continental Congress established the Continental Navy (Smile Face Emoji)
Where are our Congressman who believe in public service? Where are our generals who took an oath to our constitution? Where are the judges who know the law and what justice is?
We have to find thes5 people and votee them into office. It's upto you and me.
I watched the Sing Out performance not shown in standard media and it was good and young and old involved. You all have to check the stats must people in our children’s age are not buying houses until 40. There is a backlog or logjam with housing . So many vital aspect of societal life have been lost or squandered and these fools are in the barnyard like Jim ( Jim Copps Tales for Children) Copps Barnyard Society. I would like to see action somehow combined with the get out the vote efforts.
If you don't add that, you suggest EXACTLY what that horrible spectacle wanted you to believe: the installation of neofascism in the US is the work of one single man.
In real life, that man is an actor, playing TV shows to distract us while he empowers the GOP to do exactly what it wants, namely installing fascism. It's also exactly what it is doing.
Annabel, just last night I finished watching a short miniseries produced by Netflix titled "Washington." It is a high-quality production that depicts everything described in HCR's Letter, along with clips from interviews with other historians, Colin Powell and Bill Clinton. I recommend it to you and all of HCR's readers.
Before this miniseries, I watched one titled "Thomas Jefferson" produced by Netflix in a similar format. I recommend that one, too.
Next up, "FDR," also on Netflix.
Note: Netflix is the only streaming service that supports Democrats.
I just get so frustrated with the few shows here and few shows there viewing matrix we are involved in. I never used to watch YT now I do. Also Substack does it all now. I miss PBS Wonderworks!
This concept of serving and then leaving is as far from the "ethics" of this president as the distance from Earth to Mars. Trump would think of it as inconceivable.
good reminder about the influence of Von Stueben's training to get the army in shape and the $$$$ and materiel from France. Had it not been for both would what we know as the United States actually exist? Possibly the entire North America would have been British rule larger Britain. We'll never know but I'm glad HCR mentioned it.
Thank you, Professor. And it became America. The opposite is happening now, but it will turn around. Our constitution is stronger than one man or multiple ones. It will be tested, but it will not be torn. I truly believe that. ☮️❤️🌻
Wow, you guys are fossils too… still using a keyboard, huh? Wow. Ouch. And funny. When you thought your wife installed automatic lighting in the middle of the night when you went to the bathroom, only need to find out you were peeing in the fridge.
A future plunge into despotism is not impossible, but I think there may be a good deal more residual momentum in rule of law and trust in sanity than might seem from so many counter-examples.
And it’s been reported to California now charges 70% more than the average customer in the United States pays for electricity. They just posted their per kilowatt hour charge and it’s $.34 per kWh. I have relatives in nevada that pay $.13. And you wonder why people are fleeing in California and that’s just a petty tiny part of the problem.
Beddie bye time Ricky! But we all must acknowledge that you join with us ($$$$$$$$$j in financially rewarding Professor Cox Richardson, to keep these History Essays going. You must, eh! Good for you! 👍
I am glad to see that Trump has not poisoned your entire soul, and also that in the country where a true patriot - preserved in oil paint - stepped away from honours and wealth, having won something better > his country’s FREEDOM…
…someone like YOU has equal rights with all of us, Heather, Jon, ICTT, Phil, and our resident poets to speak our minds, from our hearts, and comiserate.
Absolutely she’s entitled to her $$$ Because she’s got a couple million Remoras that have been duped into half truths or no truths like today. It’s very possible that the world has seen the greatest peace deal that has ever been made that could save billions of lives
And what did she talk about? Omg. You’re a real slow learner, Jean
If at all ….by the way, you haven’t been listening And you certainly don’t read real well… I could givea shit about names like Trump or Obama or Bush. THEY MEAN NOTHING The only thing that means anything are the laws and the policies that affect everyone in the United States and are all over the world.
If Joe Biden had made this deal, I’d be standing and applauding.
BUT YOU FUCKING PEOPLE ARE SO HATEFUL THAT YOU PROBABLY AREN’T GOING TO CELEBRATE THE MOST GLORIOUS DAY IN OUR HISTORY IN WASHINGTON DC ON JULY 4 AND WHY?
Because you’re pissing away 245 years. Due to your overwhelming hate And I love Lovett because I’m gonna be there with 40 or 50 of my friends. Of which about a third of them or Democrats Most of them are independence we have about 10 that are Republicans
We’re celebrating the incredible success of Of America while you and your friend sit here and piss on it For no other reason, then hate and you hate doesn’t even have a purpose. It doesn’t have a reason it doesn’t have a cause and it does no one good especially the people that do the hating.
Do you really believe that rubbish, Rick? Explain to us all what a UFC fight has to do with the 250th anniversary of your dysfunctional country.
As for the Iran agreement, let's wait and see shall we? Israel has already bombed Beirut and is refusing to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has agreed to sign anything. The agreement with Iran doesn't appear to restrict it's nuclear ambitions as you suggest, only making them the subject of further negotiations over a period of 60 days; and there's still no clarity on whether Iran will retain some control over the Strait of Hormuz. So far, Trump has got nothing tangible after 107 days of hostilities.
WOW - Poor Rick just said “It’s very possible that the world has seen the greatest peace deal that has ever been made….” I’d like to say that calling Trump’s “Deal” - announced on June 14, 2026 - is POSSIBLY the greatest peace of all time is a very sad comment. We all have become very aware of P Rick’s shitcomings (oopppsssiiieee - I must be voice-texting! I meant - I think - shortcomings.)
It is very sad that our fellow citizens, like P Rick can misread what is really going on in today’s world. P Rick, who by the wisdom of our founders (who had their flaws including slaveholding) has the right to speak his mind. I am very pleased and impressed as I read that P Rick wrote “If Joe Biden had made this deal, I’d be standing and applauding.” WOW! That’s remarkable! I will also stand and applaud when Trump reinstates the JCPOA that he withdrew from in 2018. He won’t even have to recognize the effort that Obama made during the original negotiations and signing of the JCPOA in 2015. I can only hope/imagine P Rick applauding Obama in 2015 and hissing and pissing and booing Trump in 2018. Does disagreeing with a Government’s Decision automatically make “YOU FUCKING PEOPLE ARE SO HATEFUL”???
If you lived 100 more years…. you will never see anything that looks like the JCPOA, which was written on CHARMIN years ago….
This is not a deal that’s simply deals with Iran. But you’ve always been quite myopic and Small minded… this eventually, what’s the deal with the entire Middle East cohabitating in peace.
And if you got off your ignorant ass, you might realize that the reason that he won recently attacked Israel what’s to stop any other Middle East country from joining the Abraham accord as potentially Saudi Arabia was about to do.
I would love to see your grandchildren to stand over your grave, 50 years from now, and urinate on it for hating so much, and for not being able to see the peace in the Middle East was finally achieved in part, because of the efforts of the United States of America, no matter who the leader was…
A bit prematurely Restless Huh russell? Now you’re actually criticizing UFC fight?
You have nothing better to do with your life? How terribly sad
Never followed it never will. I don’t give a shit either way… why do you waste time having all those soccer matches in the UK? Do they mean anything? Why do they even have them Russell?
I’d rather talk about how America KICKED YOUR ASS a little while ago and got its independence…. go away, Russell now you are nothing but flotsam and jetsam and seaweed… there’s a couple hundred foot wave coming right at you… you best be getting out of the way. And stay in your little corner of the world…
I was asking you what the UFC fight had to do with the 250th anniersary and you haven't answered that question. We don't have football matches to celebrate national occasions, never mind vulgar gladitorial contests at Buckingham Palace. Only a stupid and corrupt country would behave like that.
Hey, P Rick - has Trump abolished Iran’s nuclear ambitions and toppled its theocratic leadership? Has there been “regime change?” Iran’s frozen assets - thawed out? Yes or No.
Well, there’s 500 million in the Middle East alone. Now add the residents of Western Europe. Where Iranian Missiles and rockets of Iran could’ve reached with a nuke.
And left unchecked who knows how far the missiles would have reached?
You know at one time I thought you intelligent.
But between climate change and Iran, and your misguided thoughts about Donald Trump and his presidency. Those days are long gone.
Iran doesn't have any nuclear missiles, Rick, you jackass. It only started enriching uranium far beyond civilian uses after Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA.
Jean , I’m only here by mistake… I have never been involved with any social media whatsoever of any kind whatsoever WHATSOEVER.
I never did any social media. I never did Facebook. I never did LinkedIn. I never did Twitter. I never did Snapchat and I’m having to think of names because I don’t even know them. I’ve never done any of them. I’ve always been a private citizen to myself, trying to enforce the laws of this country and be a good citizen.
I received an email from one of my friends describing to me some of the posts on Heather’s Substack and I actually thought he was lying and bullshitting me so before I even subscribed I went on here as a guest somehow I don’t even remember how and I started watching and I said nothing for three months nothing.
And then I became enraged At seeing the incredible bias at seeing Heather telling the story from her point of view, which is certainly her prerogative, but not giving you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth I’ve always watched a number of different networks, including CNN CBS, NBC and Fox And I’ve looked at both purposefully to see if I could gather a coherent story from measuring the two stories or four stories together and evaluating the truth once I went in online and dug Deep And I got pretty frustrated with the fact that even and especially on days where Donald Trump did something really good on behalf of the American people on behalf of the poor As an example that Heather didn’t even cover it that day she deflected to something else and I just went. This is really sad and so I wanted to become an awareness factor that’s all.
But I got challenged by people who were what I called liberal dermatologists. They just scratched the surface of an issue, as you probably heard me say once before they see a headline and they jump on it like a dog in heat without really investigating it, contradicting it, evaluating it, just jump, jumping on it and posting it here without even looking in depth at what they were posting
That’s it that’s the whole story I’m an independent voter and have been since I’m 30 years old when I decided that each party had its own agenda and that I wanted to have my own agenda and so I could evaluate it better from the center evaluate each perspective on the left and on the right and then make up my own mind
Private citizens cannot enforce the laws, not even in America. Whatever have you been doing?
Will you finally stop protesting your independence when all you do here is blow Trump's trumpet (that's not a double entendre, Rick). When have you ever posted critical analyses of the news? You don't even read the news, only what you see on Fox News which hardly counts. You basically just come here to rant and insult people. You're a jackass.
Hey, P Rick - has Trump abolished Iran’s nuclear ambitions and toppled its theocratic leadership? Has there been “regime change?” Iran’s frozen assets - thawed out? Yes or No.
Look it up Russell I’m not your research assistant. Half 1 million recently… most people left California than any other state. Lots of poor People no longer afford to live there and lots of rich. some of the richest people in the world so they don’t have to pay the exorbitant costs and taxes. Not to mention major corporations, leaving. But only California at the entire length of the liberal Coast. Don’t be lazy Russell look it up
Climate change has come to California and hit them hard with whiplash weather (you can look that up yourself) and that's why people are leaving. It's coming to you as well. Trump thinks that it's just a hoax, but it really isn't, Rick.
Goodbye Russell holy shit goodbye Russell. Do you think I’m even gonna touch the subject of hocus-pocus You poor thing you’re gonna die with climate change on the brain and nothing will have changed between now and then
Yeah, you know what Americans are fleeing all the liberals Hollywood stars Richard Gere’s of the world, Jane Fonda of the world
The Rosie O’Donnell’s of the world. And people that are sick of listening to the whining pussies that make up the liberals in this country, whining, whining, whining, whining, whining, that’s all you’re doing is whining Oh and prognosticating the future, which is your specialty
People are leaving California, New York and Illinois for all the red states because the taxes are lower. The crime is less the freedom is greater. And the cost of living is awesome compared to California
And you talk about climate change, so here’s what happened in California with climate change California now charges 70% more for its electricity than every other state on average My friends in Nevada pay $.15 a kilowatt hour and the rate in California is $.34 per kilowatt hour You wanna know how much they pay in gasoline tax in California how about property tax in California? How about sales tax in California? How about crime in California? How about homelessness in California? It’s just a place that everybody wants to live these days. If you’re a liberal and you can’t admit it, that’s where you live Good luck to you, Russell
Mike, I don't know what planet you're living on but it ain't earth tonight. I'm gonna show you what it's all about. I'm gonna make a post and then repeated the number of times through throughout the website
But one of the comments it was just made on TV from the athletes who have watched TV abroad and Made an assessment Of America
Foreigners are loving America more than Democrats. That's the comment.
They just interviewed about 100 patrons to all the soccer games world soccer comment is America makes our country look like shit I wonder what it's like to walk through a First world country people from england were saying that
What are the best comment comments was made out on the street the foreigners are loving America more than Democrats.
I cannot recall from 76 years ago what I learned about those troublesome years of our nation's beginnings, but this was a fine essay on what superior motivations were in existence at this crucial stage of our country's history. Excellent choice of subject matter, Heather, on this our problematic 250th year. May we all emerge from the darkness surrounding us presently. Thank you...
Good of Heather to contrast Washington's modesty with the dolt having his UFC bout today.
Better, too, that she doesn't need to remind us of the fatuous nonsense of rapist Donald, criminal Donald spending all or taxpayer millions on this tribute to himself.
But we can rest assured how amazing it's been watching Heather watch the otherwise continuous lies that have taken over America.
Criminal Donald milked those lies but did something more, both for his tens of millions of followers, and for legacy media making billions turning those lies into legend in spellbound fascination over their decade-long run.
This might remind some of the 1962 John Ford film, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.” We remember it for its final scene, when the James Stewart character realizes his entire career was based on a lie. Telling the truth then to a young reporter, the latter’s editor rejects it, explaining why he will not print the truth, in one of Hollywood’s most immortal lines: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Is this what has made Heather so tireless in her litany of Donald’s vomitous career? She knows the emptiness and the danger built into most western legends. She’s often returned to how lone figure cowboys and range riders present the myth of their saving new, western (white) communities as if no government were ever really needed, thank you.
Criminal Donald’s been destroying our government, destroying our oldest international democratic alliances. Might so many have continued in thrall to this legend spun out over a decade, if the neon-lit price of gas and diesel didn’t so contradict it at every gas station across the land?
Well stated lesson for future generations of Americans who might now take a more sober and incisive look at our past and present... C U on the next N K gathering. And/or 4 July.
"the myth of their saving new, western (white) communities as if no government were ever really needed, thank you."
I never saw the movie but heard the "Liberty Valence" theme on the radio. I vaguely recall something about "when the final showdown came to pass, the law book was no good."
"the fatuous nonsense of rapist Donald, criminal Donald spending all or taxpayer millions on this tribute to himself." Ready...fire...aim?
Trump is not a rapist and you know that. He is a vulgar, crude womanizer but last I checked that is legal in all 50 states. As for the ridiculous UFC match, that is paid for by donors and the UFC entity.
Hate + carelessness + lack of emotional self control + indifference to facts = your comment.
Well, he was found liable for conduct meeting the criteria for rape if it had been brought in a timely manner. Perhaps not a convicted rapist, but a man who has engaged in and adjudicated for conduct constituting rape.
He collected around $16 million for the false claim of rape by Stephanopolis. ABC posted a statement of regret for having claimed it. The Carroll suit was as iffy as they get. She never reported it at the time, could not remember the date or year. All that aside, it was not rape and he was not convicted of anything. It was a civil case.
Trump is a bumbling, crude, vulgar man. But not a rapist. The only plausible claim of rape against a president was Broaddrick's allegation against Clinton.
As you said in March " On a fixed income, I cannot afford subscriptions to the variety of news sources that would give me information outside information silos." So be careful if you cannot get access to correct information.
I am a ‘polite’ Canadian, but also a member of the “Me Too” movement which gives me the right to ask you:
Since you think your Healthcare is so good (at least for those who can afford it 🤨),then why are you trying to deny that Donald Trump’s CONVICTION of ‘sexual assault’ was somehow a bad verdict by American courts. Besides that, the young girls testifying in the Epstein case KNOW they were ‘raped’, and Trump is trying…like a cat endeavouring to hide its poop on a marble floor…to drag the investigation out, which is not the actions of an innocent person!
Sorry to say, but Phil is correct in asking for JUSTICE re the Epstein Files, and here’s hoping the US Legal System is on a par with your estimation of American Healthcare. (I’m SURE the workers are caring, but…paperwork!)
We understand your frustration…understand ours!
The 😾-grabber is not the POTUS Americans deserve. Please don’t blindly excuse his really worst actions (war/assault/insider trading/egomania). I would add ‘killing’, but do not want to debate that with you.
Some of us recognize a kind of ‘mass hypnosis’ re POTUS #47’s ability. I think you are smarter than to believe that.
Anyway, the invitation is still out to vacation in 🇨🇦, but please try to view our Prime Minister’s speech that he made in Dublin. It is the opinion of most Canadians…even those of a different political stripe, because we have been insulted by Mr. Trump and therefore feel you have A PROBLEM in him!
And 250 years after that day, a man unfit to clean the boots of the lowest soldier in that army brought several thousand grunting morons, most of them the kind of Ammurikins one crosses the street to avoid, degraded and defiled the people's house with a display of Roman barbarism that besmirched all those 250 years, turning them into nothing in an hour - the way a reputation is lost. It will be a very long time before this is once again a country whose people can look those ancestors in the eye.
Some of the damage can be fixed quickly — in theory at least— but other parts may be lost for a very long time and still others might never come back. So much of what we once took for granted, now shattered, came about through voluntary, informal behavior once upheld by all sides as a matter of course.
The destruction of trust feels the worst — trust that a sitting President would never seek to enrich himself on orders of magnitude that would make Midas blush or put his own name on public buildings dedicated to others, that those he would spare through pardon actually deserved mercy, that Congress would never turn from an executive check into an organ-grinder’s monkey, that our highest Court would never hide its rubber-stamping the con of a deranged criminal and moron by means of unsigned, single-sentence rulings filed via something called an “emergency docket.”
How do we ever manage to put that kind of toothpaste back in the tube?
Toothpaste makes good boot polish! We will need ‘boots’ if History is telling us something. Did you see the 🇨🇦 P.M.’s speech in Dublin? (Where Trump wasn’t invited!!!) it is offered in one of the COMMENTS (within the first 150 of this burgeoning set of remarks.
He is not my personal political party’s leader (of 3 choices) but a very smart and good man, and we are proud of his integrity and for STANDING UP TO TRUMP (in essence told DJT to ‘GO POUND SAND’!) 😉
Anne Applebaum has spent decades studying how democracies collapse, how authoritarian systems rise, and why the warning signs are often ignored until it’s too late. She reveals why America is entering a dangerous new phase, and what happens next!
Anne Applebaum is a staff writer at The Atlantic and has hosted its Autocracy in America podcast.
Thank you for this link. I love Ms. Applebaum and look forward to listening to her wise, if sometimes frightening, thoughts on the United States today.
And now we are faced with a man who never was a soldier, but commanded an American army to go to war on a whim, and who tried to stay in power in a failed coup, but was elected again, and has told us he intends to stay in power forever.
How far we have fallen as a nation in not responding, united, to the "Intolerable Acts" in our own time.
Washington acted with public integrity when he resigned his commission. We are living in an age where the expectation of it has been lost. At best, if remembered at all, it is seen as quaint, when, in fact, we cannot have a government that protects our rights and freedoms, and works toward the common good, without it.
From Robert Reich's substack this morning on the same theme discussing Musk and Trump:
"The question, then, is why have two such loathsome men come to dominate America and much of the rest of the world at this point in history? Is there something about American capitalism or culture in the 21st century that has given both such extraordinary power?
Part of the answer, it seems to me, is a loss of our sense of common good — a decline of the role of public honor and public shame, and a disintegration of public morality — which has allowed, even encouraged, these two dangerous men to acquire such untrammeled wealth and power"
First, we have to remind people about what public integrity and morality means, especially in the political arena. Then we need to demand it from candidates for elective office and career civil servants. We have to write laws and punishments that codify abuse of the public trust and the consequences.
A case in point--the Republican SuperPACs that are representing themselves to be supporting liberal/progressive causes while sending out attack ads aimed at damaging the leading blue candidates to suppress voter turnout. While there are fraud laws that apply when money is collected but spent excessively on "overhead" rather than campaign activities, there are no laws against misrepresenting ideology. You can find out who is actually funding the superPACs by examining FEC filings, but they are often not revealed until after elections.
Reform advocates have flagged this gap and proposed changes. Proposals like the Political Accountability and Transparency Act would strengthen disclosure and donor‑identification rules in ads (e.g., requiring “top donors” to be listed in ads themselves) and tighten coordination rules, but they do not ban ideological mislabeling. Some members of Congress have introduced bills to abolish Super PACs altogether,but they have not gained much traction.
In other words, the direction of reform is mostly: more transparency on donor identities and better enforcement of coordination and fraud rules—not policing whether a group’s branding matches its true ideological funding sources.
You need to get big money and lobbying out of politics altogether, perhaps moving eventually to publicly-funded elections. You spend so much time on your elections that there's hardly any time for governance. It seems perverse to cite China as a an example of a country that takes a properly long-term view of the major challenges that we all face in the coming years but look at how they are approaching the development of Artificial Intelligence. They actually have a policy to regulate AI for a start. They are building out the grid so their datacenters will be up and running soon after they're built, not lying quiet like American ones because of the lack of available electricity.
While people like Musk are selling to investors a whimsical narrative about datacenters in space while the actual datacenters in the US are being built in locations stricken by drought, the Chinese have actually built a wind-powered datacenter underwater off the coast of Shanghai using the seawater as a natural cooling system. Musk says that he sees the future of the human race as establishing colonies on Mars and to my mind the sooner he and the rest of his bonkers billionaire chums set off, the better for the rest of us.
The Chinese are also building AI models that are more efficient in terms of “compute” required, so they don’t need as many processors to get a “good enough to do the job” level of precision. They are trained on more relevant, smaller databases—it is the same spirit that Ukraine used in the development of drone tech—The US keeps going for the super “push the limits of tech” solution—huge missiles, the Gold Dome—when cheap drones can do the job for factors of 10 less money. The breakthrough is in reformulating what the problem is. If it is hard to kill a missile once it is airborne, like Russi’s Oreshnik, then the most effective solution is to kill it while it is still on the ground.
David Mack got the essence of Trump back in 2017 https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/vroom-vroom The page is kinda been spoiled by being retrofitted with a scattering of sleazy ads, but it bitingly illustrates that Trump is a thoroughly spoiled rich-kid playboy. He has the cash to run well-funded grits, and he is making out like a bandit, but wherever he dabbles, he is fundamentally a puerile playboy. Even at the age of 80.
Washington’s example is a powerful one standing in sharp contrast to the current rogue who sent a violent mob to overthrow the government so he could retain power. I always liked this take on GW’s resignation from the army: King George III asked American-born artist Benjamin West what Washington planned to do after winning the Revolutionary War, and West replied that Washington would likely return to his farm. The King responded, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”
"who sent a violent mob to overthrow the government so he could retain power." If you read through the evidence you'll find that is not true. He was, to be sure, happy to have protest, but there is not serious evidence to suggest he planned the riot or meant for it to occur. There is, true, evidence that he was at best indifferent to it once it occurred. Also, there is no evidence that the rioters planned to "overthrow the government." They were too dumb and disorganized to even fantasize about that. They hoped they could interfere with the vote, and even then, were too dumb to achieve that.
FYI: bumper stickers are a bad source of information.
(2) A few days ago Heather was interviewed by WBUR, “the voice of Boston”: “Heather Cox Richardson interviewed by Meghna Chakrabarti at the 2026 WBUR Bash - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ5_n4mTTa8
(3****‼️) Heather hits a bases loaded home run in her “American Conversations” interview of University of Michigan Law Professor Barbara McQuade about the criminality of the Trump administration and her new book “The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of Mob-Style Government”: “Barbara McQuade | American Conversations - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ5_n4mTTa8
Professor McQuade draws on her prosecutorial experience, analogies to “The Godfather” and the Hungarian Revolution to explain the corruption of the Trump Administration and how to overcome it. We need Barbara McQuade or her doppelgänger as the next Attorney General. Her book makes a great America’s 250th Birthday Celebration gift for your Republican friends or book club.
(4) An interview by Heather of State of Iowa Representative and gold-medal-winning wheelchair basketball player who is running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat and fighting for “We the People”. “Representative Joshua Turek | American Conversations - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sJ-JDb4tjY
(5) And: If you have MAGA friends or acquaintances who are convinced that immigrants are stealing “heritage” American jobs and freeloading on government handouts, here is the truth explained in easily understood factual language by a prominent professor of economics at the University of Michigan, Justin Wolfers: “Justin Wolfers on lmmigrants stealing jobs”. https://platypuseconomics.substack.com/p/trump-officials-accidentally-revealed?r=1d2cea&utm_medium=ios It is terrific.
Here is a paragraph from Justin Wolfers article Fred mentions -
"In many ways, you can think of immigration like a potluck dinner. Yes, a new attendee will probably eat some of your food. But they also brought a dish to share. When an immigrant arrives, it’s not just one more worker chasing one fixed job. It’s one more person joining and expanding a country’s entire web of economic life."
Many of the Indian programmers, here on H-1B visas have been denied renewal of their visas. These are professionals, engineers, doctors, scientists, programmers, etc. Several of the talented Indian programmers I worked with have moved back to India where they are contracted to US Fortune 500 companies to work remote. How is this helping our economy?
“Donald Trump: turned 80, booked cage fights for the lawn, posted, and isn’t scheduled to so much as shake the hand of the most impressive leader in the western world.”
Read original full article in 🍁Substack link below🍁
“The old guard isn’t going out in a blaze of war or a clatter of coup. It’s going out the single most humiliating way a malignant narcissist possibly can: in a group chat that quietly, deliberately, never added him.”
🇨🇦 ‘Together, we are powerful’: Carney at Trinity College Dublin, 13 June 2026 (via YouTube) 🇨🇦
“Now here’s the bit that should have a certain leathery birthday boy lying awake tonight, mouth-breathing into his gold pillowcase.
Carney isn’t fighting Trump. He isn’t arguing with him. He isn’t even acknowledging the silly old prick draws breath. As of right now there’s no bilateral meeting scheduled between the two of them at the G7. None. Zero. Carney flew to Paris for Macron, to Dublin for Martin, and he’ll roll into Évian to break bread with every serious human in the building, and the man who keeps braying about swallowing Canada whole as the “51st state” didn’t even make the dance card.
That isn’t a snub. A snub means you still give enough of a toss to be rude. This is so much worse. This is detachment.
Goodbye to the bronzer-dipped birthday clown and his lawn full of sweaty cages.
Hello to the world leaders with a working set of neurons firing between the ears.”~ Maizy & Gman
‘ADULTS BUILT A NEW WORLD ORDER THIS WEEKEND, WHILE TRUMP SPENT HIS HOSTING CAGE FIGHTS’
🌎 The 52nd G7 Summit was moved to begin on Monday, June 15th, and runs through Wednesday, June 17, 2026. The summit was pushed back by one day to avoid conflicting with President Trump's birthday celebrations at the White House. The meeting is taking place in Évian-les-Bains, France 🌎
I'm only sorry that the Summit organizers saw fit to accommodate his birthday farce. This only feeds the myth that he's "more equal" than other G-7 leaders, when instead they should have followed IFLA's playbook and "detached" from him.
It will as usual be touch and go whether Trump stays for the whole of the G7 summit or pisses off after the first day. Every day he spends at these international conferences is a day wasted that could be spent on idle dissipation or self-enrichment.
Russell, I think he will embarrass the U.S. by falling asleep in session. His babysitters will see it and create an "urgent need" for him to return to the U.S.
I hope Carney shows him the 'detachment' he deserves! As all other leaders should. No special treatment, no deference beyond basic politeness, no obsequiousness. No happy birthday recognition. No premature gratitude for the Iran ceasefire that will probably break before the first glass is raised in Évian-les-Bains. "He" will no doubt monopolize the conversation, congratulating himself with undeserved praise for an agreement whose terms we don't even know yet.
If it were anyone other that the current US president I'd agree that we can afford to humor him. If I had more confidence that he'll do a big "Whew!" and stay out of Cuba, it might be worth him to let him have a moment in the sun. I don't have that degree of confidence yet, Jean. Even more chilling, we don't even know we'll have a real ceasefire. Israel has already said No, it won't leave Lebanon. I doubt Iran will let that go.
The act of giving power back is what makes the holding of it legitimate in the first place. A representative who cannot imagine returning to private life has already confused the office with the person. The people who send someone to govern (or fight) in their name are not transferring their sovereignty — they are lending it, for a term, for a purpose. When the term ends or the purpose is fulfilled, the power goes back. That is the whole architecture.
Trump doesn't have a private life. He is estranged from his wife; he apparently has no affection for his family; and he spends most of his day on social media, railing at the world or just re-posting nonsense he has seen elsewhere. My limited knowledge of his pre-political life is that he has always been like this, living the life of a reality TV star.
What an immensely important phrase, David. A sentiment now almost completely disappeared from American political life. Which elected officials, which candidates prioritize serving their constituents and the common good over serving their own interests?
A message completely lost on the miscreants currently occupying the White House.
Not to mention many of those who currently sit in the Houses of Congress.
But let us be clear that the true message was that all Eurocentric white men were forever free. Most southern founding leaders owned slaves and refused to relinquish their property in their lifetimes. A slave in the service of George and Martha Washington named Ona Judge ran away and the Washingtons relentlessly pursued her but never reenslaved Ona.
She ended up living in Portsmouth, NH, where she married and had children. She is mentioned in the Black History Trail there.
“Never Caught” by Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve, 2017. A book that I just now finished and couldn’t put down.
Just added to my reading list
me too, THX Billl!
I appreciate you sharing this info. Best book reviews and recommendations are from kindred spirits.
Hi Bill,
One of my favourite recountings of Harriet Tubman was the day she herded chickens right down the main street of the town where the soldiers were ‘on the lookout for her’. They cheered and hooted as the chickens got away from her and she did prat falls in the dirt which made her hunters double over with laughter.
Fearless, master of disguise, smarter than the best of them, Harriet proved that ‘Where there’s a will…there’s a courageous way’.
We’d best not forget that, and depend on our BRAINS to see justice done…the goon squad controlled…and the Tyrant King sent packing…eventually.
In the meantime, EDUCATION and READING are tools to defeat the Project 2025 agenda.
I just wonder what Harriet Tubman would think of the situation in America right now?
My guess is that she would ‘hatch a plan’ to rid the nation of the ‘Orange Race’…but with a humane, clever solution.
There is no need for the brutal methods of POTUS #47, but he has been getting more and more aggressive for 80 years…whatchagonnado!?
VOTE smart! That’s what!
Jean,
We have reached bottom. I don’t know if this means a turnaround. Massive money still can make dumb folks dumber. That cell device has turned humanity into embezzles. I like to think that we can pull out. And I will not fear doing all I can to defeat this manace.
Steve Abbott,
Thank you for further info regarding Ona Judge. I am thankful that her life was recorded in history. It saddens me to think of so many good hard working persons whose lives have been "disappeared". Hopefully many have been recorded and shared from family to family.
A beautiful mural of her was very recently unveiled on the Black Heritage Trail in Portsmouth
I’ve often joked that I would want to purchase a large house to be made into a group home for us older folks and I would want two Black women in the house so they could out vote me on domestic issues if they choose.
The link is to “The life of Ona Judge - her escape from slavery.”
Thank you!
https://share.google/oN8CjaZSR0FzQhaZh
No. The true message is not that all Eurocentric white men were forever free. The true message is that every human being is free. Distorting the true message does not make the distorted message true.
Thank you. It IS the message.
The fact that it was distorted doesn’t change anything.
A reason southern elite joined the revolution was because the British articulated a policy of freeing and perhaps arming southern slaves. A case of keeping slaves as their property. Irony.
And they were much closer to the British!
Think Charles Grassley. He is 92 and has been in the Senate since 1980, 46 years. There should be a retirement age for Congress and maybe an age after which a person cannot run. Ex: If Congress had a retirement age of 75, if a person would turn 75 during the term of office, then that candidate couldn’t run.
Senators represent their constituents and are there for decades only if their constituents elect them again and again.
Why would you want to impose an age limit when clearly his constituents want him - as is the case for many other people serving in Congress?
You're confounding fascism (= a political regime in which the legislative and judicial branches of government are subordinated to the executive branch) with having representatives doing a good enough job to be sent back again and again by "we the people".
Retirement ages don't make any sense. What you propose is ageism. That's a form of discrimination that is incompatible with a real democracy.
BUT retirement ages give younger people the opportunity to become members of Congress and reflect the values of more of the constituents over time. I doubt that Grassley remotely represents the younger than 45 people in their state.
But Grassley is only one person. AND HE CAN BE VOTED OUT BY THE “YOUNGER VOTERS” IF THEY CHOOSE TO VOTE!
If you want wisdom in government, age and experience need to be there too. Ask Jon Ossoff how he has learned so much and if he thinks Senator Warnock should be unabled to run again.
Warnock is only 56. That is hardly within the age range anyone has ever proposed as a retirement age for Congress or Senate. Typically the age is 70 or 75. Warnock in 20 years will NOT be the same man he is today.
I am personally 75 and I doubt that I would be a great Congress person now given some mobility issues, etc. And I think I am in full command of my faculties. Chuck Grassley isn't at all, and obviously his constituents seem too stupid to figure that out.
Well, each time an older person retires another (younger or not) can take over. Since when is that a good argument to force people to no longer work with those leaders who have the most experience?
I agree, but hopefully we would also agree that 75 (or maybe 80 if we want to be really "liberal" about it) is plenty of time for someone to be a Representative or Senator if they start at say around 50 or so, and to be helpful as a mentor. 25 years isn't enough?
Thank you. My favorite suggestion for president will turn 73 in ‘28. Don’t any of these ageists know or have wise older friends or acquaintances? Or know any history? This is America where we get to choose our leaders, so they don’t always turn out as we wish or they wish we would. Senator Warnock’s book will be a good guide for all of US no matter what our orientation.
Exactly.
If someone has a good education and leads a life of service, based on strong moral values, then age comes with the advantage of more wisdom and more experience. And who wouldn't want that, especially in our leaders?
Ageism is a label that doesn’t apply here. It’s an appeal our fondness of the wisdom of the elder. I spend tremendous amounts of time with the elderly as a hospital doctor. They are valid citizens , and have great insight and wisdom. However a 75 yo doctor has no business doing my job. The long hours and relentless stress and decision making is exhausting as i am closing in on 60 years. I have worked with docs at the end of their careers closing in on 70 and they just can’t perform at the level required. ( in academic settings some folks last longer as there are younger docs doing the heavy lifting) I still appreciate those docs as people, but see how they are over their head in the drivers seat of an ED. How can we expect a person too old to lead a department in a hospital to do the work of leading the free world?
It’s not ageism, it’s just reality.
I suggest term limits not age limits... we have seen great minds at work from those in their 70's and sloth ridden minds of people in their 20's and 30's, and 40's...etc
It's absurd. It's "we the people" who elect them, and the more terms they do, the more experience they get, so (at least in theory) the better they can serve us.
Term limits only make sense if there are no elections (and only for certain jobs, where experience doesn't matter).
No, here I agree with Virgina and EUWDTB... term limits for Congress is NOT a great idea, in fact it is a terrible idea. If a constituency elects someone at age 40, and that person turns out to be excellent, WHY should they be forced to retire at 52 or 56? That's crazy! You want that person to be in office at least for a reasonable period of time when you get a good one (and they don't come along all that often). Term limits are good for the President for a simple reason: the President is elected by the entire country and it is a "rare" office which only one person can ever hold. Holding it for a long time (as Roosevelt did) starts to make them look more like a "king". That's WHY we have Presidential term limits and it was a good idea. But in Congress, there are a 100 senators and 435 reps (should be more) and so extended terms for a few doesn't effect the entire country in the same way that extended terms for a President do.
People are stupid EUWDTB. They re-elect people like Strom Thurmond until he died at age 100. He was a racist and served only the white people of his state. They wheeled him into the Senate chamber in a hospital bed.
They also re-elected Jim Bunning who was nutty as a fruit cake and had no clue what was happening.
And they reelected Orrin Hatch from Utah who couldn't find his way around the Capitol for the last several years in office.
I would rather have a 15 year old with all of their faculties than an 80 year old with dementia or Alzheimer's.
There are rumors, as yet unsubstantiated, that Thurmond is still getting votes.
🤣
"Generalissimo Franco is STILL dead!" --- Chevy Chase, SNL
No, its a recognition that at an advanced age, even in today's society with modern medical miracles, people have difficulty staying alert (look at the pictures of Trump sleeping during meetings) and doing their jobs. Not EVERYONE of course, but enough that a reasonably conservative age limit isn't all that hard to imagine. I wished many times that Diane Feinstein would retire from the Senate but she refused and ended up dying in office at the age of 90 when she was barely able to function. Her staff protected her by doing most of her work (which is one of the problems, the staff is protecting their jobs, and that leads to the kind of "circle the wagons" that occurred during Feinstein's later years).
Its true not EVERYONE is like that. Pelosi stayed alert and functioning through her later terms in Congress, as has Bernie Sanders. But the loss of a few Congresscritters and Senators is better than having others who are close to non-functional, and influenced by non-elected staff members.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
I would recommend term limits. That after two or three terms an elected officeholder is forced out so complacency among voters won't let him stay, and will require "fresh ideas". BUT, after the successors term should the prior officeholder run AND the voters elect him he should have the opportunity to serve again
Thank you! I agree that no one should EVER be forced out because of age. It has to be a case by case basis. AND at this perilous time we must make sure that any new candidate is guaranteed to hold on to the seat!!!
All the comments here don’t seem to consider how difficult it is to unseat an incumbent, especially with so much money in politics. It’s an uphill battle.
Like the private sector, the older generation should be working on succession planning, passing their experience onto the next generation. The younger generation can combine that mentorship with fresh ideas and their own knowledge about our current societal challenges.
Just because people are elected, doesn’t mean they are the best people for the job!
Think Mitch McConnell who has recently been hospitalized. He has been a major contributor to “the best government money can buy.” Plus, he was leader of the Senate when he cowardly said, “Let the courts handle it” rather than voting to convict Trump of his impeachment charges.
Actually when he said that, he had just lost his job as leader of the Senate. In 2021, both House (Pelosi) and Senate (Schumer) were held by the Democrats, for 2 years, before the 2022 elections when the GOP took back the House.
Appointed positions are different. Judges, Supreme Court justices need term limits
As a 89 year old resident of Iowa it is a real puzzle to me what has happened to Senator Grassley. Once upon a time he seemed a moral leader. No more!
In 1976-77 I lived next door to Tom Harkin in Ames. My roommates and I chatted and had beers with Tom. He was very impressive and remained a strong supporter of all Iowans until he retired.
Years later I was working at Lutheran Mutual in Waverly with Grassley's son. We went for beers at the Cornstalk and the Senator joined us. He seemed like a moral leader at that time as well.
I agree, he is not the same man now that he was back then.
I think Grassley was there when Washington resigned his commission. 😉
or have term limits
I disagree with term limits for Congress (both houses). Age limits yes, to avoid senile senators and reps, but term limits hurt young people who get into politics early and are good at it. They should stay as long as they can get elected UP TO A REASONABLE RETIREMENT AGE (like 75 or so). After that, I think the downside of age is worse than the upside of experience.
The concept that incumbents, mostly in gerrymandered districts, keep their positions because the voters continue to support them doesn't make sense anymore particularly after Citizens United. Money is what keeps them in office and the people with the money have different goals than most voters. That said, agreed, all the eligible voters who choose not to vote are also a big part of the problem.
Amen. If you're going to have a minimum age limit to be a Senator, Congressman or President, then there should also be a maximum. I'm for age limits for SCOTUS as well only make it 65 or 18 years whichever comes first.
I'm close on the courts with you. Personally I prefer 75 as the "age limit" (or until your term ends after you are 75). The term limit for the SCOTUS should be based on how many justices there are and should rotate so that each President gets a shot at nominated a few justices. Currently with 9 judges, 18 years seems like a good number, but I think we need more justices on the Supreme Court (that doesn't take a Constitutional amendment either, just a law). If we expanded the court to 15, then groups of 3 new judges could be nominated every 4 years, for a 20 year term which would also be a reasonable limit. A President could renominate someone for an additional 20 year term but it would be up to Congress to confirm that and they could vote "no". That would be a good "check and balance".
Yeah, I agree with the retirement age. I am not in favor of a "term limit" though, I think the people in each state should have the right to decide if someone is working well for them. 75 does seem like a good age at which one should be expected to retire, or at the end of the term during which they become 75. That, of course, would require a Consitutional Amendment, and even something as "simple" as a retirement age for Congresscritters that should get universal support is likely to founder in our current political state.
"Washington noted that their victory against such a formidable power was “little short of a standing Miracle.”
It's important to remember that it was not an army for conquering others, but for defending freedom and liberty.
And no one in the world was betting on us winning. But we did.
And throughout history, we have achieved great things, especially in those causes of freedom and liberty for all peoples.
Hmmm? Like a Department of Defense, not War?
Washington was a true soldier and patriot and not cosplaying one complete with a hair and makeup team and a bunch of “fluffers”.
He won wars, didn’t start them and leave chaos on the wake.
Washington was a terrific leader of the military and the country. And he had just as many terrible traits as most actual men, i.e., among others he was a slaveholder.
Yes, we have, and we have also achieved horrible things, that were NOT in the cause of freedom and liberty for anyone, especially Americans. Our government is not much different from other governments. We have had a better experience with democracy than most, but we have also shown (ala Trump) that we are willing to give that up in a flash if the right bright shiny object attracts are eye, no matter how corrupt they might be.
It is those in Congress who are the most worrisome: their silence, kowtowing, cowardice.
Especially them, a herd that has multiplied out of control
Sitting here on Flag Day. How many who served and many died underneath that flag witnessed this weekend the Lincoln memorial and the White House being used as a backdrop for a penny arcade side show. This side show didn’t hurt anybody but the characters in it have destroyed so much.. rage is to simple a word to use when watching what went on this weekend.
Hi Charles, you are braver than I. I chose to avoid the embarrassment he has brought to our once great nation. His destruction to the rose garden and east wing is a disgrace. A ballroom we don’t need, and no president ever asked for, until trump. Our nation was not perfect, we had serious problems, he and the current Republican Party have not resolved one. I think of how all this money could be put to better use, healthcare, education, affordable housing, and utilities.
Where are the men and women like George Washington in the 21 century? Why has the fourth estate and universities acquiesced to this charlatan?
When will we “The People” say enough. At 80 I’m doing what I can, why are there only a few hundred people at a rally? When will we be angry enough to take to the streets?
Sorry for the rant, but my heart like so many of you is broken, but my spirit is not.
Thank you Heather for todays reminder of how hard we fought for what is being quickly taken away.
Also at 80, I echo what you and others are saying and have the same thoughts. Why does it seem that we who are older voice the greatest concern. The young are so busy with their lives, perhaps, that their time is minimal. And perhaps we who are older and aware realize how badly the country has deteriorated from what we knew and experienced and now expect of better government. Our country has always been fractious seemingly, but now feels worse than what we can recall. The era of Viet Nam protest might have seemed similarly explosive as well as the Black Power era. What seems different and worse to me is the Trump era government and current Republican power structure both in Washington and the red states. The ignorance, greed, in your face corruption, meanness, shameless authoritarian determination to dictate how we the citizens may live, and unwillingness to deviate, negotiate, or modify their most heinous and suppressive intents. In my lifetime, at least, I do not recall this level of evil in the cadre with this much power.
I agree with your comment about the young being busy....being honest, when I was still working (I'm retired now) I had little time to pay much attention to politics. Like many of us I voted but, win or lose, there was the idea that no matter what, we (almost always) ended up with a president who did at least care about we the people. It wasn't until Trump appeared as a candidate that I actually made time to pay attention and began to realize the actual power of my vote and the power of my attention and my actions. I can't blame our youth for not paying attention in the earlier stages of this travesty but I certainly am expecting that they take notice and act now!
Pat, a young woman who lives a few houses down helps me in the garden. I was delighted to discover that she is well aware of what is going on and is studying to be a social worker, a career which the regime has decided is not professional. She understands exactly why this has happened.
A ballroom, moreover, it grows more and more likely you won't get given the legal and financial complications. Still, I guess when they're using the Situation Room to discuss the Epstein files cover-up, it boggles the mind to think what they would doing in the ballroom.
And why is it that the Seniors of this country seem to be the only ones who are sounding the alarm? There seems to be no concern shown by the younger Americans? Am I wrong?
Not going to make excuses for the younger people who may not be out in force with the older and seniors of this nation in protest. While attending another protest yesterday saw more younger ones in the crowd. In a small town of 10,000 there were close to 250 people, that’s 2.5% of the population. Talking to these younger ones, what have found is they don’t realize the power of protesting and demonstrating in person. They don’t have under their belt the movements of the Civil Rights, Vietnam war, Women’s Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights, etc.
They’ve grown up for over 10 years under the blankets of a MAGA movement and tRump. Therefore those in their 20’s were just ten years of age or just in their teens, or younger. They’ve witnessed George Floyd’s murder in 2020 and some saw the outrage and some minimal changes but now in 2025 and 2026 see ICE agents on the streets basically doing the same thing with no repercussions.
Get the outrage of us in our “golden years” out in protest but we have the muscle memory of what we did when we were younger and the affects of protesting that maybe lasted for a little longer and the change that came about from those protests. Yet we are now seeing all that work down-sliding into this black hole of decades and even centuries before where those rights were fought for and now trying to be taken away.
Yesterday explained to a group of young women and men that it wasn’t until 1974 that any woman on her own could get a damn credit card. That’s just 52 years that this law has been in place and it took at minimal three to four years to even get that in protesting. The look on all their faces was astonishing and one pulled out their phone and googled it. See our role in protesting as a way to teach and guide these younger ones that it takes time, patience and due diligence to make the changes necessary for a democracy to work. Guided by the people and for the people, it’s not handed to you without working for it and keeping it.
Thank you for educating those young women and men. They don't have our perspective, and it's up to us to provide it.
Yes, TJ I had the same experience while teaching a college class. I was shocked that the young people in that class were oblivious to how women had to fight for the rights they take for granted. They haven’t lived our history, more importantly, why are they not being taught?
Have found that education glosses over too much in all subjects. History is one of them as I’ve been told they only get the “highlights” in my mind was thinking who determined the “highlights” that are just even glossed over… Education is the only asset that follows you wherever you go and can always be shared and not stolen from you.
In fact read recently that there are volunteers taking our documents that are written in cursive and rewriting in print so that the youngest of generations can read them all. They are unable to read cursive, nor of course write it but just taught to use cursive to sign their name..
Oh, I think they are concerned but view the current situation as a boomer shit show run by geriatrics to be endured. And I don't blame them for feeling that way. We shouldn't blame the victims for our generation's shortcomings.
How dare you assume that anyone younger than a Boomer is obsessed with “their screens”! We are simply trying to live at this point without going bankrupt! We did not vote for Reagan who started this nonsense when we were still in middle school and high school. We aren’t the generation that had started out protesting Vietnam and promoting racial harmony in our 20’s only to turn 30 and vote in the actor who convinced you that welfare queens were your enemy. Take your self-righteousness and stuff it. We graduated college during the “greed is good” era and promptly lost our jobs to offshoring. Then we lost pensions so that corporations could use our retirement accounts as a game in the stock market disguised as 401k’s. Then we lost healthcare as our full-time employment was turned into to “consultant work” just as healthcare became “for profit”. Most of you are now living in retirement-something that is quickly becoming unaffordable for those who came after you. We are the “sandwich generation” taking care of our elderly parents as well as our college graduate children who now face unemployment due to trillionaires playing with the future of work as they shove AI slop down our throats.
Take a seat in your comfortable retirement home while the rest of us go to work just to afford rent and groceries.
for sure you have a lot to resent about the way the country has gone over your lifetimes, but standing up to the way it has taken a radical turn for the worse under the incompetent (mentally and professionally) and corrupt Trump does not take that long. Every voice counts.
Talk about self righteousness!! I agree with you about what has happened, but to all of us including those not so comfortable in old age or who did not make it to that. If you are blaming as you say with a sweep of a broad brush that those people who were out protesting in their 20's and thirties were the ones who voted in "that actor" you are wrong. I could say, also without specific evidence, but certainty, they did not. The YOU is your fake resentful take. We were divided and have been and this screed divides even more. Where were and are you when you, a voter, "sandwiched", unemployed or facing that, trying to send your kids to college and trying to afford groceries? This is so divisive and unproductive. Those of us who are older who have also faced the same (taking care of elder parents, sending kids to college) and paid attention and VOTED for years who were NOT the so called "sandwichers" are in this. It's called LIFE!!. Those who came after us- were so spoiled.
This is a broad brush distortion. You were not betrayed by those of us who protested Viet Nam. Those people did not turn on you. Reagan and the Republicans thereafter did.
A list of grievances is as though you have just woken up. You make a case in which you are "simply trying to live without going bankrupt". Where was the organization of protest as all this was happening? We had to wait for Trump to threaten it all! A democracy, if we would keep it, means more involvement than simply trying to survive. Is yours just "the getting and spending" generation? We were and are divided and partisan especially since Reagan when Republicans began to rig the system for fear of the growing majority of black and brown voters. The elections were close electorally. Between 50 and 60% only turned out to vote in recent years!!! Were the rest too busy? Blaming both sides? There is some blame there too.
Since the beginning, less and less have turned out to vote. Complacency set in. Propaganda from the "trickle down side", the side that is good at this ("Fox Republicans" who are now going to own more media) won the day with those too busy to pay attention. Remember Trump said he loves the uneducated.
No cell phone then when those who protested Viet Nam helped bring in Jimmy Carter, one of our most moral presidents. We also helped bring Clinton and Obama. But the Democrats also moved more to the center; they triangulated to do that. They went along to get along.
In hindsight there is enough to learn from, and always 20/20.
Hi Donna, please don’t blame an entire generation for this mess. Many of us still hold the same beliefs we held in our twenties.
No one handed me a college degree, I worked my way to my B.A. At time’s, carrying four college classes an A average, and working two jobs with two children. God Bless my widowed mother, I was living with her part of the time. My ex-husband could well afford to pay the child support, but chose not to, and the courts did nothing, in those days. I taught Special Ed, paid my student loans off, and up until my health got in the way was volunteering in my daughter’s classroom.
I didn’t vote for Reagan, I always voted as an independent, many of my middle class friends did the same.
I don’t live in a retirement home, I can’t afford one. My husband and I live in a house that’s just about paid off. And like many Americans are struggling to keep up. We could sell our house, but my mortgage is cheaper than rent. Furthermore, I would like to leave my daughter something. My son was killed in 1998 by a drunk driver on his was home from work.
I understand, what you are saying Donna, I’m watching my daughter and son-in-law, both college educated, struggle to make ends meet.
I love my grandchildren and wonder what kind of world they are inheriting.
Donna, you make some excellent points that all of us, young, old, or in between, should be aware of. Thank you.
Younger Americans are consumed by the necessities of rent, groceries, utilities, insurance and work, to come out....oh, and their phone screens....we, the elders, need to make it clear what is not tolerable and only the red states representatives have the power to change our direction.....
There are many young people. I have been with them at demonstrations. Are you demonstrating? Or looking at pictures?
Grassly of Iowa is showing no concern and he is a senior senator who has definitely sold his soul. I don’t have much faith in a better future at my age, 89. Seems money I donate to the Democratic Party goes down a bottomless pit. What should be my stance now at my age? Should I turn inward and try to focus on only my survival ? Right now this is a serious dilemma for me!
I want to just say you are "wrong".
But instead I'll say that perhaps it's where you are located.
In my area there are many young people who are very involved. Mostly LGBTQ+ but also POC. Because they understand that they are the most at risk under the current regime. My kids haven't missed a No Kings Protest, Pride March or Union Rally.
But they grew up on my rabid belief in "Liberty and Justice for All' and they still remember the knock down, drag out fights that I used to have with their grandfather (a man that enjoyed the benefits of having a union job but voted against them at every possible moment due to his job with a defense contractor)
Some of their friends don't protest. They were raised by 'conservative' parents in oppressively evangelical churches. They mostly despise their parents and left the church as soon as they could.. but they are still afraid of what will happen if their extended family finds out that they do not believe in MAGA. Why do they care? Because a full 20% if them still live at home. No one can afford apartments, let alone houses, in today's real estate market. The price of not being homeless is to pretend that they support the regime.
Other's don't protest because they don't live at home. They have families of their own. Which means that they are working at least 2 jobs and try to stay out of politics because life sucks big time and there has been nothing good coming out of DC in their entire adult life. It's not that they don't care. It's that they try like heck to NOT care because the anxiety they are under is already pretty overwhelming. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. They are trying to feed their kids. They can't afford to be on the streets every weekend and take the risk of being fired if they make the evening news... or the company Facebook page.
Renee Good and Alex Pretti were both under 40. Now they are both dead.
I am much less likely to be shot at a protest than my sons or my daughters. I'm not a 'threat' to the ICE agents. If my strapping 30 yo plumber son yells at the authorities they are going to target him. His 62 yo arthritic mother with the purple hair? They are going to call her 'batshit' and/or 'cat lady' (and they would be right) but they are much less likely to pull a firearm.
No one here has the right to be passing judgement on 'the kids'. They have their reasons for doing what they are doing. Be it resources or mental health people have to make their own decisions. And just because you 'can't see them' doesn't mean that they aren't doing their share.
I'm so bloody sick of these generational culture wars. Get over yourself.
I’m glad to hear at least some young people are active in politics. That’s certainly not what I’ve seen in my limited experience but good to know it’s happening somewhere.
Kathryn, I just posted about the young woman working for me in the garden. She is also quite responsible about getting here and letting me know if there is a problem. Also I read about any number of young people who are protesting and working to make things better in their schools. The local online news ran a story about each of the senior class presidents who are doing good work.
Well, having reached senior status myself, I can only say that I have a sense that sounding the alarm doesn't carry the risks it did when I was younger. I mean what the hell! I mean, what are "they" going to do to me at this point?
Most of the younger crowd will ignore or dismiss what I have to say, or patiently patronize me, as I did when I was younger.
But some, a few, might actually give it some serious consideration.
Somewhat. They are too busy sticking their low intelligence noses in their devices.
Not sure, Bill, it's "low intelligence."
By testing's standards, many possess most superbly all the neutered rationality to focus on group and category belonging, all the simpleton conceits of linear-only causality.
All young adults (young voters) have known is Frump’s low-life, low-intelligent, destructive ways, a party voted in by uninformed constituents, and a party in Congress that has not only allowed -but supported-this destruction. As a senior citizen, I grew up with a belief in our great experiment and pride in my country. Our youth have not had this. My heart breaks too. But I have hope ….
Phyllis D I agree with everything you said. Thank you for your caring and activism
At 79 I largely agree. It has taken decades of neoliberalism to get us to the current sorry state of affairs. With the accompanying rise of the billionaire class oligarchs that we have allowed to buy politicians, load the judiciary with conservative and religious ideologues, degrade the educational system, gut the middle class, and take over mass media, we have dug ourselves into a very deep hole that will be difficult to fill in.
What is different in today’s political landscape from all that has gone before is that one party has been completely taken over by forces that are trying to end democracy and establish a White Christian nationalist dictatorship. Even with the worst of presidents in my memory there was still a presumption that both parties would respect the results of fair elections and the rule of law. When the law was broken there were consequences, as with Nixon. That is no longer the case due to a corrupt and partisan Supreme Court that has granted imperial power to the presidency via immunity for official acts.
The GOP has long put billionaires first to the detriment of the working class and families. Neoliberal economic policies from both parties since Reagan have gutted the middle class and increased poverty while maintaining the upward flow of wealth to the rich and their global corporations. Supply-side economics has always been a scam and it is well past time for demand--side investments in people, education, infrastructure, and preservation of the environment.
We need another New Deal or Progressive Era. All our problems are fixable and affordable. It is just a matter of priorities. As long as we allow the oligarchs to own the government, courts, media, and politicians their priorities will be advanced rather than ours. Nothing will get fixed until we get rid of big money in politics, have real electoral reform to counter election subversion, and demand that our representatives prioritize the common good over the care and feeding of the billionaire class.
I couldn't bear to watch, and how they have corrupted The People's House.
Chesterton Fences - don't remove a fence until/unless you know/understand why it was put up in the beginning.
There's still the Epstein Files redacting the abusers' names instead of protecting the victim-survivors.
And Diplomacy is not achieved by "Tweet."
By doing Netanyahu's bidding, 47 has essentially caused and lost a war, and torched our alliances. Thus, removing the USA from world leadership and tipping the balance to China. We need to defeat fascism AGAIN, for white supremacy is behind the increasing level of domestic terrorism.
I couldn't watch it either, Beverly. Netanyahu and Putin pull our presidential puppet's strings. We must carry on.
One man, Washington can walk away from power with humility, while another man, 250 years later grabs as much power and money as he can. In honor of flag day and our nation wouldn’t it be a powerful gesture to fly our flag at half mast to mourn the loss of our democracy on Saturday, July 4th.
If I could figure out how to display my flag on it's 5' pole at half staff without having it look sloppy, I would do that. If I had a boat with a mast, I would surely fly it at half mast.
Upside down seems to be my best bet for my short poled flag. I doubt my wife will let me fly a flag these days; her disgust knows no bounds.
Thank you Ally. The Right does not own our American flag. It represents all of us and our wonderful diversity, history and Democracy. Our flag was never meant to divide us.
Ally, i note the post below about the flag belonging to all of us. After 9/11 we had a small flag from the newspaper in our window to remember those who died. Right on cue, one of our younger friends criticized it and I explained to her why it was there. It is too bad that the wing nuts have co-opted it.
Margaux, with respect and appreciation of your sentiment, I want to point out that the flag is flown at half-staff out of respect and mourning the death of government officials or military personnel. (Note: Unsurprisingly, it was inappropriate for the flag to be displayed at half-staff after the death of Charlie Kirk, who was not a government official or employee.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-mast
Our democracy is not lost – yet. Our democracy is in distress, at risk of being lost. The more appropriate display of the flag is upside-down, the international distress call.
St. Charlie Kirk was a hypocritical fraud. At best a circus sideshow huckster, a cheap discount store, dime-a-dozen martyr, cloaked in the cast off raiments of those who came before him. Living proof that there are suckers born every minute. And most of them are eligible to vote.
Dale, you are right about flying the flag half mast. But when Charlie Kirk was mourned nationwide the moral ground and tradition was lost. Nor do I disagree about flying our flag upside down. It is also a good option. Again we are in agreement that our democracy is not lost, yet. Historians have commented that trump has moved the needle about 60% into Project 2025. My sincere wish is we will have decisive victories in the midterms.
Our perhaps fly our flag up side down - EMERGENCY!
How will Americans celebrate July 4th this year? Can you really celebrate freedom from tyranny? That would be an utter joke if you did
My husband is a Marine Corp Veteran. We flew an American flag on the front porch for years.
Then Trump.
So we only flew the flag on patriotic holidays.
At this point however, the flag is gathering dust in the attic. With my grandfather's 48 star flag that was supposed to have been destroyed. (As a keepsake for my oldest son who studied history in college but quickly realized he was never going to find a job with a history degree in Maine. So now he's a plumber.)
Why? 'cause I figure one of two things is going to happen. Either the United States are going to un-unite or if we can somehow save this mess in the fall then I'm hoping the we will give the US territories statehood if they want it. (I'm hoping of course that we become the kind of country they would want to join)
But I'm not celebrating July 4th or the 250th. I remember the bicentennial and how much fun that was as a kid. We wore costumes, had parades and campaigned for the ERA.
It freaking kills me that 50 years later it still hasn't passed. So I already wasn't thrilled with 'America'. But America under Trump? I would celebrate this disgusting heat wave first.
Doreen, I have grown to hate the fourth because we have a bunch of selfish individuals who shoot off fireworks all night including the ones which are illegal here in Oregon. And this often goes on for days before and days after. We look after our dog and swear.
Yes, it is Flag Day at least for another 8 minute, Pacific. Accordingly I gathered with friends to watch a private showing of "Flags of Our Fathers" directed by Clint Eastwood.
The Director use the character voice of a of son of one of those Fathers: "I finally came to the conclusion that ... : Maybe there's no such thing as heroes. Maybe there are just people like my dad. I finally came to understand why they were so uncomfortable being called heroes. Heroes are something we create, something we need... They may have fought for their country but they died for their friends."
The film has a rare companion piece, Letters from Iwo Jima which a resonating prelude to tonight's Letter From An American.
My job requires me to work on Sundays. At the end of the day, I send an email to my co workers describing the events of the shift. To make it more bearable to read, i often put little sayings or pictures pertaining to the day (such as a picture of Yoda in May-the-fourth). Yesterday (Flag Day), I used a picture of the Pride Flag :)
That's a nice touch, Steve. When I used to write shift briefings so that the other two shifts would know what happened on our watch (overnights; 11-7 on 8 hour shifts and 8-6 on 10 hour shifts) I would usually try and find a humorous statement from someone regarding the shift. My time doing that (late 90's/early 00's) predates the use of a lot of pictures. One which was frequently used was "well, that didn't work out like we thought it would".
Last week my nephew who is a cop in Omaha, rescued a 4 year old boy from a burning house. Being a cop and not a fireman, he doesn't often have the opportunity to save someone. The boy was in the basement and my nephew kicked out one of the basement windows and was able to lure the boy from the top of the basement steps to the window. He then pulled the boy to safety.
As a retired deputy, I suspect you have saved many lives over the years and have tens of thousands of firemen and officers of the law as well as those in the medical profession.
Do you have any harrowing rescue stories to share?
The glorification and normalization of violence is symbolic of a declining culture.
Hopefully the ratings were in the toilet, such trash has become common in our media. The result of Fox entertainment metastasizing to all aspects of our media, especially news
JD, I did take pleasure in the miserable conditions and one fighter got escorted out by the secret service. Didn't watch, but saw bits of news glorying in how bad the weather and bugs were.
Those were my sentiments exactly and HCR did not even mention Flag Day. Trump's name is Desecration Don.
Were they also celebrating President Obama appreciation day.
It proved an unmissable opportunity for the Trumps to coin some cash.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/insight/eric-trump-denies-rigged-ufc-fight-messages-as-scrutiny-grows/gm-GM4D0392F2?gemSnapshotKey=GM4D0392F2-snapshot-1&uxmode=ruby&ctsrc=dgst&ocid=edgdhpruby&pc=U531&cvid=6a2f94289fad444bb9f32b5e05169045&ei=74
One thing’s for sure — it would never have occurred to General Washington to turn the President’s home into a gladiatorial shit-spectacle involving dirt bikes, half-naked, shaved, steroided bar-room rowdies performing some weird version of human cockfighting for the enjoyment of sick old creeps who get off on violence, but can’t get it up anymore.
Tell us what you really think ICTT. 😎
The "half-naked, shaved, steroided bar-room rowdies" goes for the women clad in flag-adorned costumes. The MAGAs irreverence for the flag that they have claimed as theirs and theirs alone violated the rules of how the flag should not be desecrated.
This from Robert Hubbell this morning -
"...the events of Sunday would not be complete without some recognition of the depths to which Trump’s insecurity and vanity have plunged the once dignified Office of the President.
First, Trump has left a tarp in place in front of the Kennedy Center to conceal the memorial’s official name after his name was removed, per court order. See CNN, Kennedy Center exterior remains covered after Trump’s name is removed. What a petulant little baby! What his fragile ego prevents him from understanding is that keeping the name covered makes him look weaker and smaller with each passing day.
Second, Trump’s grotesque mixed martial arts display on the south lawn of the White House was an embarrassment to everyone who participated—including attendee Mark Zuckerberg, whose own insecurity rivals that of Trump. See HuffPo, Trump Celebrates ‘America 250,’ Birthday With Bizarre UFC Spectacle...."
GJ, Norm Eisen at The Contrarian, indicated that the legal team has anticipated Donald's shenanigan regarding the tarp cover-up, and will be addressing that in court promptly.
Good for them. I love their mission of bring the Trump administration to justice.
Thank you Jennifer and Norm for all you do.
Dale, The tarp says is the death star is a petulant baby stomping around because someone took away one of his fav toys. Hard to believe and this waste of air is occupying the WH. I have run out of words.
Maybe Jeff Tiedrich can help. "Whiny piss-baby is in his Oval Bordello, power-loading his diaper because an adult told him 'no'," or something to that effect.
LOL. Thanks, Dale.
why aren't New Yorkers tearing down that damn tarp!
The Uutimate Fight Club. The ultimate metaphor for Trump's view of his presidency; all scripted theatrics, no substance.
His birthday stunt definitely puts the decrepit crown on his foul, decaying reign of terror and humiliation in America.
Nailed it
Best description I have seen, ICCT. Thank you.
It's, once again my first smile of the day. Great description.
the circus at the WH is how the world sees America now..so actually it's very fitting on how trump has destroyed your country
And no doubt the trump regime secretly considers Washington a fool for giving up power.
Honorable people who act in accordance with their sense of duty, rather than give into to self-indulgence, are indeed fools n the eyes of the avaricious schemers and immoral opportunists.
Nicely said, R.
You can count on it.
Hmmm. Or they might have come up with a conspiracy theory to make it make sense to them. They're good at that.
no doubt!!
But perhaps not on those who look to understand the past to understand the present, and to educate our educated guesses with respect to event's yet to come.
Flag Day recalls a moment when the American colonies were anything but unified, yet still chose to act as one political body in the face of collapse. The creation of the Continental Army was not born from comfort or agreement, but from necessity, discipline, and the recognition that independence would fail without shared sacrifice and coordinated action. That decision turned scattered resistance into a national project.
The same spirit is needed now, not in military form, but in civic life. The United States today is pulled by deep political division, institutional distrust, and a growing tendency to treat fellow citizens as opponents rather than partners in a shared experiment. When that happens, democratic systems weaken from within, not through sudden rupture but through steady erosion of trust and responsibility.
What the founding generation understood, imperfectly but clearly, is that self-government depends on more than rights. It depends on participation, restraint, and a willingness to accept outcomes you did not choose because the process itself is what holds the country together.
To honor that legacy today is not to romanticize the past, but to recover a basic civic seriousness. The same commitment to shared purpose that once made a fragile union possible is still required if that union is to endure.
"...basic civic seriousness." That is what is lacking as I watch my former work cohort spew what ever they have been told is the "horror of the day" by their propaganda and dis/misinformation sources. It is all about demeaning the "other side" and crowing about perceived victories.
I restacked a Substack Post I copied a couple of weeks ago regarding why people support Trump.
https://garyloft.substack.com/p/why-does-anyone-still-support-trump
Annabel, I seriously doubt, even for a minute, that the likes of tRump even looked up at the rotunda of the US Capital and imagined what courage our first president must have had. His thoughts are with a half-baked President Andrew Jackson and the ruthless dictates that he employed during his tenure as President. It's no wonder that tRump regards Jackson as one whom he should emulate. His penchant for hiring friends and financial contributors over those who are more qualified is right in line with what Jackson did. And as for the "Trail of Tears" malicious endeavor, well... don't get me started. tRump would love to match a "Trail of Tears" lethality against immigrants, LGBTQ+ folks, and others who are not ancestral white European if he knew he could get away with it.
Worse yet ... a lesson that has probably not been taught to thousands of young children in schools where General Washington's selfless act would be consider an act of 'wokeness'
BTW ... I hope to see a similar letter in October for the anniversary of when the Continental Congress established the Continental Navy (Smile Face Emoji)
I'm not sure so sure. Trump's cabinet meetings seem almost as grim an ordeal as the winter at Valley Forge.
only for spectators. Those participating are volunteers and are invariably well fed (though those shoes!!)
Where are our Congressman who believe in public service? Where are our generals who took an oath to our constitution? Where are the judges who know the law and what justice is?
We have to find thes5 people and votee them into office. It's upto you and me.
I watched the Sing Out performance not shown in standard media and it was good and young and old involved. You all have to check the stats must people in our children’s age are not buying houses until 40. There is a backlog or logjam with housing . So many vital aspect of societal life have been lost or squandered and these fools are in the barnyard like Jim ( Jim Copps Tales for Children) Copps Barnyard Society. I would like to see action somehow combined with the get out the vote efforts.
And controlling Congress today.
If you don't add that, you suggest EXACTLY what that horrible spectacle wanted you to believe: the installation of neofascism in the US is the work of one single man.
In real life, that man is an actor, playing TV shows to distract us while he empowers the GOP to do exactly what it wants, namely installing fascism. It's also exactly what it is doing.
Annabel, just last night I finished watching a short miniseries produced by Netflix titled "Washington." It is a high-quality production that depicts everything described in HCR's Letter, along with clips from interviews with other historians, Colin Powell and Bill Clinton. I recommend it to you and all of HCR's readers.
Before this miniseries, I watched one titled "Thomas Jefferson" produced by Netflix in a similar format. I recommend that one, too.
Next up, "FDR," also on Netflix.
Note: Netflix is the only streaming service that supports Democrats.
I just get so frustrated with the few shows here and few shows there viewing matrix we are involved in. I never used to watch YT now I do. Also Substack does it all now. I miss PBS Wonderworks!
This concept of serving and then leaving is as far from the "ethics" of this president as the distance from Earth to Mars. Trump would think of it as inconceivable.
good reminder about the influence of Von Stueben's training to get the army in shape and the $$$$ and materiel from France. Had it not been for both would what we know as the United States actually exist? Possibly the entire North America would have been British rule larger Britain. We'll never know but I'm glad HCR mentioned it.
I don’t think it’s lost on them. They are actively hostile to the idea.
Thank you, Professor. And it became America. The opposite is happening now, but it will turn around. Our constitution is stronger than one man or multiple ones. It will be tested, but it will not be torn. I truly believe that. ☮️❤️🌻
From your keyboard straight to God’s ears. May it be so.
Wow, you guys are fossils too… still using a keyboard, huh? Wow. Ouch. And funny. When you thought your wife installed automatic lighting in the middle of the night when you went to the bathroom, only need to find out you were peeing in the fridge.
OK, who gave the asshole an upvote? Cmon, out yourself! 😁
Hahahah. Seriously!
Yeah. don’t be like that ! you too could be right someday … don’t stop trying.
A future plunge into despotism is not impossible, but I think there may be a good deal more residual momentum in rule of law and trust in sanity than might seem from so many counter-examples.
he can and will do further damage...cuz no one has stopped him yet!!!
I so hope your correct Mike.❤️
Repent for the end is near.
Gilead seems like the nation we are becoming.
I so hope you are right, Mike
I sincerely hope you’re right, Mike.
And it’s been reported to California now charges 70% more than the average customer in the United States pays for electricity. They just posted their per kilowatt hour charge and it’s $.34 per kWh. I have relatives in nevada that pay $.13. And you wonder why people are fleeing in California and that’s just a petty tiny part of the problem.
Beddie bye time Ricky! But we all must acknowledge that you join with us ($$$$$$$$$j in financially rewarding Professor Cox Richardson, to keep these History Essays going. You must, eh! Good for you! 👍
I am glad to see that Trump has not poisoned your entire soul, and also that in the country where a true patriot - preserved in oil paint - stepped away from honours and wealth, having won something better > his country’s FREEDOM…
…someone like YOU has equal rights with all of us, Heather, Jon, ICTT, Phil, and our resident poets to speak our minds, from our hearts, and comiserate.
THAT, my friend, is DEMOCRACY!
You are right! you have the absolute right to be wrong As do the people you mentioned.
Absolutely she’s entitled to her $$$ Because she’s got a couple million Remoras that have been duped into half truths or no truths like today. It’s very possible that the world has seen the greatest peace deal that has ever been made that could save billions of lives
And what did she talk about? Omg. You’re a real slow learner, Jean
If at all ….by the way, you haven’t been listening And you certainly don’t read real well… I could givea shit about names like Trump or Obama or Bush. THEY MEAN NOTHING The only thing that means anything are the laws and the policies that affect everyone in the United States and are all over the world.
If Joe Biden had made this deal, I’d be standing and applauding.
BUT YOU FUCKING PEOPLE ARE SO HATEFUL THAT YOU PROBABLY AREN’T GOING TO CELEBRATE THE MOST GLORIOUS DAY IN OUR HISTORY IN WASHINGTON DC ON JULY 4 AND WHY?
Because you’re pissing away 245 years. Due to your overwhelming hate And I love Lovett because I’m gonna be there with 40 or 50 of my friends. Of which about a third of them or Democrats Most of them are independence we have about 10 that are Republicans
We’re celebrating the incredible success of Of America while you and your friend sit here and piss on it For no other reason, then hate and you hate doesn’t even have a purpose. It doesn’t have a reason it doesn’t have a cause and it does no one good especially the people that do the hating.
Billions of lives is it now he's saving? Blimey! It was only hundreds of millions a few months ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaTGerjm2XE
Do you really believe that rubbish, Rick? Explain to us all what a UFC fight has to do with the 250th anniversary of your dysfunctional country.
As for the Iran agreement, let's wait and see shall we? Israel has already bombed Beirut and is refusing to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has agreed to sign anything. The agreement with Iran doesn't appear to restrict it's nuclear ambitions as you suggest, only making them the subject of further negotiations over a period of 60 days; and there's still no clarity on whether Iran will retain some control over the Strait of Hormuz. So far, Trump has got nothing tangible after 107 days of hostilities.
WOW - Poor Rick just said “It’s very possible that the world has seen the greatest peace deal that has ever been made….” I’d like to say that calling Trump’s “Deal” - announced on June 14, 2026 - is POSSIBLY the greatest peace of all time is a very sad comment. We all have become very aware of P Rick’s shitcomings (oopppsssiiieee - I must be voice-texting! I meant - I think - shortcomings.)
It is very sad that our fellow citizens, like P Rick can misread what is really going on in today’s world. P Rick, who by the wisdom of our founders (who had their flaws including slaveholding) has the right to speak his mind. I am very pleased and impressed as I read that P Rick wrote “If Joe Biden had made this deal, I’d be standing and applauding.” WOW! That’s remarkable! I will also stand and applaud when Trump reinstates the JCPOA that he withdrew from in 2018. He won’t even have to recognize the effort that Obama made during the original negotiations and signing of the JCPOA in 2015. I can only hope/imagine P Rick applauding Obama in 2015 and hissing and pissing and booing Trump in 2018. Does disagreeing with a Government’s Decision automatically make “YOU FUCKING PEOPLE ARE SO HATEFUL”???
If you lived 100 more years…. you will never see anything that looks like the JCPOA, which was written on CHARMIN years ago….
This is not a deal that’s simply deals with Iran. But you’ve always been quite myopic and Small minded… this eventually, what’s the deal with the entire Middle East cohabitating in peace.
And if you got off your ignorant ass, you might realize that the reason that he won recently attacked Israel what’s to stop any other Middle East country from joining the Abraham accord as potentially Saudi Arabia was about to do.
I would love to see your grandchildren to stand over your grave, 50 years from now, and urinate on it for hating so much, and for not being able to see the peace in the Middle East was finally achieved in part, because of the efforts of the United States of America, no matter who the leader was…
A bit prematurely Restless Huh russell? Now you’re actually criticizing UFC fight?
You have nothing better to do with your life? How terribly sad
Never followed it never will. I don’t give a shit either way… why do you waste time having all those soccer matches in the UK? Do they mean anything? Why do they even have them Russell?
I’d rather talk about how America KICKED YOUR ASS a little while ago and got its independence…. go away, Russell now you are nothing but flotsam and jetsam and seaweed… there’s a couple hundred foot wave coming right at you… you best be getting out of the way. And stay in your little corner of the world…
I was asking you what the UFC fight had to do with the 250th anniersary and you haven't answered that question. We don't have football matches to celebrate national occasions, never mind vulgar gladitorial contests at Buckingham Palace. Only a stupid and corrupt country would behave like that.
Hey, P Rick - has Trump abolished Iran’s nuclear ambitions and toppled its theocratic leadership? Has there been “regime change?” Iran’s frozen assets - thawed out? Yes or No.
Well, there’s 500 million in the Middle East alone. Now add the residents of Western Europe. Where Iranian Missiles and rockets of Iran could’ve reached with a nuke.
And left unchecked who knows how far the missiles would have reached?
You know at one time I thought you intelligent.
But between climate change and Iran, and your misguided thoughts about Donald Trump and his presidency. Those days are long gone.
Iran doesn't have any nuclear missiles, Rick, you jackass. It only started enriching uranium far beyond civilian uses after Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA.
You don't see the link to the Battle of Lexington and Concord?
Thanks AGAIN for having the comaraderie to subscribe.
Jean , I’m only here by mistake… I have never been involved with any social media whatsoever of any kind whatsoever WHATSOEVER.
I never did any social media. I never did Facebook. I never did LinkedIn. I never did Twitter. I never did Snapchat and I’m having to think of names because I don’t even know them. I’ve never done any of them. I’ve always been a private citizen to myself, trying to enforce the laws of this country and be a good citizen.
I received an email from one of my friends describing to me some of the posts on Heather’s Substack and I actually thought he was lying and bullshitting me so before I even subscribed I went on here as a guest somehow I don’t even remember how and I started watching and I said nothing for three months nothing.
And then I became enraged At seeing the incredible bias at seeing Heather telling the story from her point of view, which is certainly her prerogative, but not giving you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth I’ve always watched a number of different networks, including CNN CBS, NBC and Fox And I’ve looked at both purposefully to see if I could gather a coherent story from measuring the two stories or four stories together and evaluating the truth once I went in online and dug Deep And I got pretty frustrated with the fact that even and especially on days where Donald Trump did something really good on behalf of the American people on behalf of the poor As an example that Heather didn’t even cover it that day she deflected to something else and I just went. This is really sad and so I wanted to become an awareness factor that’s all.
But I got challenged by people who were what I called liberal dermatologists. They just scratched the surface of an issue, as you probably heard me say once before they see a headline and they jump on it like a dog in heat without really investigating it, contradicting it, evaluating it, just jump, jumping on it and posting it here without even looking in depth at what they were posting
That’s it that’s the whole story I’m an independent voter and have been since I’m 30 years old when I decided that each party had its own agenda and that I wanted to have my own agenda and so I could evaluate it better from the center evaluate each perspective on the left and on the right and then make up my own mind
Private citizens cannot enforce the laws, not even in America. Whatever have you been doing?
Will you finally stop protesting your independence when all you do here is blow Trump's trumpet (that's not a double entendre, Rick). When have you ever posted critical analyses of the news? You don't even read the news, only what you see on Fox News which hardly counts. You basically just come here to rant and insult people. You're a jackass.
To quote someone Donald Trump is not worthy of touching the hem of his garment:
“Methinks the gentleman protesteth too much…!”
We ALL make mistakes, Rick…(Nov 2024!) but you have the power to correct yours.
👋
Hey, P Rick - has Trump abolished Iran’s nuclear ambitions and toppled its theocratic leadership? Has there been “regime change?” Iran’s frozen assets - thawed out? Yes or No.
Fleeing 'in' California? Fleeing where in California?
Look it up Russell I’m not your research assistant. Half 1 million recently… most people left California than any other state. Lots of poor People no longer afford to live there and lots of rich. some of the richest people in the world so they don’t have to pay the exorbitant costs and taxes. Not to mention major corporations, leaving. But only California at the entire length of the liberal Coast. Don’t be lazy Russell look it up
Americans are fleeing the US. Here, I've looked it up for you.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/americans-queueing-up-renounce-citizenship-dictatorship
Climate change has come to California and hit them hard with whiplash weather (you can look that up yourself) and that's why people are leaving. It's coming to you as well. Trump thinks that it's just a hoax, but it really isn't, Rick.
Goodbye Russell holy shit goodbye Russell. Do you think I’m even gonna touch the subject of hocus-pocus You poor thing you’re gonna die with climate change on the brain and nothing will have changed between now and then
Yeah, you know what Americans are fleeing all the liberals Hollywood stars Richard Gere’s of the world, Jane Fonda of the world
The Rosie O’Donnell’s of the world. And people that are sick of listening to the whining pussies that make up the liberals in this country, whining, whining, whining, whining, whining, that’s all you’re doing is whining Oh and prognosticating the future, which is your specialty
People are leaving California, New York and Illinois for all the red states because the taxes are lower. The crime is less the freedom is greater. And the cost of living is awesome compared to California
And you talk about climate change, so here’s what happened in California with climate change California now charges 70% more for its electricity than every other state on average My friends in Nevada pay $.15 a kilowatt hour and the rate in California is $.34 per kilowatt hour You wanna know how much they pay in gasoline tax in California how about property tax in California? How about sales tax in California? How about crime in California? How about homelessness in California? It’s just a place that everybody wants to live these days. If you’re a liberal and you can’t admit it, that’s where you live Good luck to you, Russell
Gas prices fall below $4 a gallon, GasBuddy says
Mike, I don't know what planet you're living on but it ain't earth tonight. I'm gonna show you what it's all about. I'm gonna make a post and then repeated the number of times through throughout the website
But one of the comments it was just made on TV from the athletes who have watched TV abroad and Made an assessment Of America
Foreigners are loving America more than Democrats. That's the comment.
They just interviewed about 100 patrons to all the soccer games world soccer comment is America makes our country look like shit I wonder what it's like to walk through a First world country people from england were saying that
What are the best comment comments was made out on the street the foreigners are loving America more than Democrats.
The great notion of public service over possession of power is a cornerstone of democracy.
Bill, you just wrote a Constitutional proverb!
not according to your MAGA Members of Congress .
Umm, I personally don’t have any MAGA members of Congress. Others do. How are things going with your West Coast?
;-)
I cannot recall from 76 years ago what I learned about those troublesome years of our nation's beginnings, but this was a fine essay on what superior motivations were in existence at this crucial stage of our country's history. Excellent choice of subject matter, Heather, on this our problematic 250th year. May we all emerge from the darkness surrounding us presently. Thank you...
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Good of Heather to contrast Washington's modesty with the dolt having his UFC bout today.
Better, too, that she doesn't need to remind us of the fatuous nonsense of rapist Donald, criminal Donald spending all or taxpayer millions on this tribute to himself.
But we can rest assured how amazing it's been watching Heather watch the otherwise continuous lies that have taken over America.
Criminal Donald milked those lies but did something more, both for his tens of millions of followers, and for legacy media making billions turning those lies into legend in spellbound fascination over their decade-long run.
This might remind some of the 1962 John Ford film, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.” We remember it for its final scene, when the James Stewart character realizes his entire career was based on a lie. Telling the truth then to a young reporter, the latter’s editor rejects it, explaining why he will not print the truth, in one of Hollywood’s most immortal lines: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Is this what has made Heather so tireless in her litany of Donald’s vomitous career? She knows the emptiness and the danger built into most western legends. She’s often returned to how lone figure cowboys and range riders present the myth of their saving new, western (white) communities as if no government were ever really needed, thank you.
Criminal Donald’s been destroying our government, destroying our oldest international democratic alliances. Might so many have continued in thrall to this legend spun out over a decade, if the neon-lit price of gas and diesel didn’t so contradict it at every gas station across the land?
Well stated lesson for future generations of Americans who might now take a more sober and incisive look at our past and present... C U on the next N K gathering. And/or 4 July.
"the myth of their saving new, western (white) communities as if no government were ever really needed, thank you."
I never saw the movie but heard the "Liberty Valence" theme on the radio. I vaguely recall something about "when the final showdown came to pass, the law book was no good."
Richardson's comment today was an excellent one about a moment in history. And you need to rant about Trump?
"the fatuous nonsense of rapist Donald, criminal Donald spending all or taxpayer millions on this tribute to himself." Ready...fire...aim?
Trump is not a rapist and you know that. He is a vulgar, crude womanizer but last I checked that is legal in all 50 states. As for the ridiculous UFC match, that is paid for by donors and the UFC entity.
Hate + carelessness + lack of emotional self control + indifference to facts = your comment.
Well, he was found liable for conduct meeting the criteria for rape if it had been brought in a timely manner. Perhaps not a convicted rapist, but a man who has engaged in and adjudicated for conduct constituting rape.
He collected around $16 million for the false claim of rape by Stephanopolis. ABC posted a statement of regret for having claimed it. The Carroll suit was as iffy as they get. She never reported it at the time, could not remember the date or year. All that aside, it was not rape and he was not convicted of anything. It was a civil case.
Trump is a bumbling, crude, vulgar man. But not a rapist. The only plausible claim of rape against a president was Broaddrick's allegation against Clinton.
As you said in March " On a fixed income, I cannot afford subscriptions to the variety of news sources that would give me information outside information silos." So be careful if you cannot get access to correct information.
I am a ‘polite’ Canadian, but also a member of the “Me Too” movement which gives me the right to ask you:
Since you think your Healthcare is so good (at least for those who can afford it 🤨),then why are you trying to deny that Donald Trump’s CONVICTION of ‘sexual assault’ was somehow a bad verdict by American courts. Besides that, the young girls testifying in the Epstein case KNOW they were ‘raped’, and Trump is trying…like a cat endeavouring to hide its poop on a marble floor…to drag the investigation out, which is not the actions of an innocent person!
Sorry to say, but Phil is correct in asking for JUSTICE re the Epstein Files, and here’s hoping the US Legal System is on a par with your estimation of American Healthcare. (I’m SURE the workers are caring, but…paperwork!)
We understand your frustration…understand ours!
The 😾-grabber is not the POTUS Americans deserve. Please don’t blindly excuse his really worst actions (war/assault/insider trading/egomania). I would add ‘killing’, but do not want to debate that with you.
Some of us recognize a kind of ‘mass hypnosis’ re POTUS #47’s ability. I think you are smarter than to believe that.
Anyway, the invitation is still out to vacation in 🇨🇦, but please try to view our Prime Minister’s speech that he made in Dublin. It is the opinion of most Canadians…even those of a different political stripe, because we have been insulted by Mr. Trump and therefore feel you have A PROBLEM in him!
And 250 years after that day, a man unfit to clean the boots of the lowest soldier in that army brought several thousand grunting morons, most of them the kind of Ammurikins one crosses the street to avoid, degraded and defiled the people's house with a display of Roman barbarism that besmirched all those 250 years, turning them into nothing in an hour - the way a reputation is lost. It will be a very long time before this is once again a country whose people can look those ancestors in the eye.
Some of the damage can be fixed quickly — in theory at least— but other parts may be lost for a very long time and still others might never come back. So much of what we once took for granted, now shattered, came about through voluntary, informal behavior once upheld by all sides as a matter of course.
The destruction of trust feels the worst — trust that a sitting President would never seek to enrich himself on orders of magnitude that would make Midas blush or put his own name on public buildings dedicated to others, that those he would spare through pardon actually deserved mercy, that Congress would never turn from an executive check into an organ-grinder’s monkey, that our highest Court would never hide its rubber-stamping the con of a deranged criminal and moron by means of unsigned, single-sentence rulings filed via something called an “emergency docket.”
How do we ever manage to put that kind of toothpaste back in the tube?
Toothpaste makes good boot polish! We will need ‘boots’ if History is telling us something. Did you see the 🇨🇦 P.M.’s speech in Dublin? (Where Trump wasn’t invited!!!) it is offered in one of the COMMENTS (within the first 150 of this burgeoning set of remarks.
He is not my personal political party’s leader (of 3 choices) but a very smart and good man, and we are proud of his integrity and for STANDING UP TO TRUMP (in essence told DJT to ‘GO POUND SAND’!) 😉
🇨🇦🤝🇺🇸
Thanks for a memorable lesson. Here’s to democracy, no kings, and creation of a more perfect Union.
🇺🇸
Pulitzer Historian: The Next Stage Is Collapse (And You Are Ignoring The Signs) (5/11/26)
https://youtu.be/kwEtOyaFhCA?is=OHh1v8jJRDqhZ5FF
Anne Applebaum has spent decades studying how democracies collapse, how authoritarian systems rise, and why the warning signs are often ignored until it’s too late. She reveals why America is entering a dangerous new phase, and what happens next!
Anne Applebaum is a staff writer at The Atlantic and has hosted its Autocracy in America podcast.
Thank you for this link. I love Ms. Applebaum and look forward to listening to her wise, if sometimes frightening, thoughts on the United States today.
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And now we are faced with a man who never was a soldier, but commanded an American army to go to war on a whim, and who tried to stay in power in a failed coup, but was elected again, and has told us he intends to stay in power forever.
How far we have fallen as a nation in not responding, united, to the "Intolerable Acts" in our own time.
Washington acted with public integrity when he resigned his commission. We are living in an age where the expectation of it has been lost. At best, if remembered at all, it is seen as quaint, when, in fact, we cannot have a government that protects our rights and freedoms, and works toward the common good, without it.
From Robert Reich's substack this morning on the same theme discussing Musk and Trump:
"The question, then, is why have two such loathsome men come to dominate America and much of the rest of the world at this point in history? Is there something about American capitalism or culture in the 21st century that has given both such extraordinary power?
Part of the answer, it seems to me, is a loss of our sense of common good — a decline of the role of public honor and public shame, and a disintegration of public morality — which has allowed, even encouraged, these two dangerous men to acquire such untrammeled wealth and power"
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-era-of-the-super-asholes
First, we have to remind people about what public integrity and morality means, especially in the political arena. Then we need to demand it from candidates for elective office and career civil servants. We have to write laws and punishments that codify abuse of the public trust and the consequences.
A case in point--the Republican SuperPACs that are representing themselves to be supporting liberal/progressive causes while sending out attack ads aimed at damaging the leading blue candidates to suppress voter turnout. While there are fraud laws that apply when money is collected but spent excessively on "overhead" rather than campaign activities, there are no laws against misrepresenting ideology. You can find out who is actually funding the superPACs by examining FEC filings, but they are often not revealed until after elections.
Reform advocates have flagged this gap and proposed changes. Proposals like the Political Accountability and Transparency Act would strengthen disclosure and donor‑identification rules in ads (e.g., requiring “top donors” to be listed in ads themselves) and tighten coordination rules, but they do not ban ideological mislabeling. Some members of Congress have introduced bills to abolish Super PACs altogether,but they have not gained much traction.
In other words, the direction of reform is mostly: more transparency on donor identities and better enforcement of coordination and fraud rules—not policing whether a group’s branding matches its true ideological funding sources.
You need to get big money and lobbying out of politics altogether, perhaps moving eventually to publicly-funded elections. You spend so much time on your elections that there's hardly any time for governance. It seems perverse to cite China as a an example of a country that takes a properly long-term view of the major challenges that we all face in the coming years but look at how they are approaching the development of Artificial Intelligence. They actually have a policy to regulate AI for a start. They are building out the grid so their datacenters will be up and running soon after they're built, not lying quiet like American ones because of the lack of available electricity.
https://apnews.com/article/big-tech-data-centers-electricity-energy-power-texas-pennsylvania-46b42f141d0301d4c59314cc90e3eab5
While people like Musk are selling to investors a whimsical narrative about datacenters in space while the actual datacenters in the US are being built in locations stricken by drought, the Chinese have actually built a wind-powered datacenter underwater off the coast of Shanghai using the seawater as a natural cooling system. Musk says that he sees the future of the human race as establishing colonies on Mars and to my mind the sooner he and the rest of his bonkers billionaire chums set off, the better for the rest of us.
The Chinese are also building AI models that are more efficient in terms of “compute” required, so they don’t need as many processors to get a “good enough to do the job” level of precision. They are trained on more relevant, smaller databases—it is the same spirit that Ukraine used in the development of drone tech—The US keeps going for the super “push the limits of tech” solution—huge missiles, the Gold Dome—when cheap drones can do the job for factors of 10 less money. The breakthrough is in reformulating what the problem is. If it is hard to kill a missile once it is airborne, like Russi’s Oreshnik, then the most effective solution is to kill it while it is still on the ground.
David Mack got the essence of Trump back in 2017 https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/vroom-vroom The page is kinda been spoiled by being retrofitted with a scattering of sleazy ads, but it bitingly illustrates that Trump is a thoroughly spoiled rich-kid playboy. He has the cash to run well-funded grits, and he is making out like a bandit, but wherever he dabbles, he is fundamentally a puerile playboy. Even at the age of 80.
Hello JL.... "puerile playboy"... You Are Being Too Kind...
Vroom vroom vroom!
Washington’s example is a powerful one standing in sharp contrast to the current rogue who sent a violent mob to overthrow the government so he could retain power. I always liked this take on GW’s resignation from the army: King George III asked American-born artist Benjamin West what Washington planned to do after winning the Revolutionary War, and West replied that Washington would likely return to his farm. The King responded, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”
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"who sent a violent mob to overthrow the government so he could retain power." If you read through the evidence you'll find that is not true. He was, to be sure, happy to have protest, but there is not serious evidence to suggest he planned the riot or meant for it to occur. There is, true, evidence that he was at best indifferent to it once it occurred. Also, there is no evidence that the rioters planned to "overthrow the government." They were too dumb and disorganized to even fantasize about that. They hoped they could interfere with the vote, and even then, were too dumb to achieve that.
FYI: bumper stickers are a bad source of information.
ICYMI: (1) The third series of Heather’s wonderful, informative 250 to 250 one minute videos is out: “100) Week Three in 250 to 250.” https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/week-three-in-250-to-250 Enjoy and show to any children you know.
(2) A few days ago Heather was interviewed by WBUR, “the voice of Boston”: “Heather Cox Richardson interviewed by Meghna Chakrabarti at the 2026 WBUR Bash - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ5_n4mTTa8
(3****‼️) Heather hits a bases loaded home run in her “American Conversations” interview of University of Michigan Law Professor Barbara McQuade about the criminality of the Trump administration and her new book “The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of Mob-Style Government”: “Barbara McQuade | American Conversations - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ5_n4mTTa8
Professor McQuade draws on her prosecutorial experience, analogies to “The Godfather” and the Hungarian Revolution to explain the corruption of the Trump Administration and how to overcome it. We need Barbara McQuade or her doppelgänger as the next Attorney General. Her book makes a great America’s 250th Birthday Celebration gift for your Republican friends or book club.
(4) An interview by Heather of State of Iowa Representative and gold-medal-winning wheelchair basketball player who is running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat and fighting for “We the People”. “Representative Joshua Turek | American Conversations - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sJ-JDb4tjY
(5) And: If you have MAGA friends or acquaintances who are convinced that immigrants are stealing “heritage” American jobs and freeloading on government handouts, here is the truth explained in easily understood factual language by a prominent professor of economics at the University of Michigan, Justin Wolfers: “Justin Wolfers on lmmigrants stealing jobs”. https://platypuseconomics.substack.com/p/trump-officials-accidentally-revealed?r=1d2cea&utm_medium=ios It is terrific.
Here is a paragraph from Justin Wolfers article Fred mentions -
"In many ways, you can think of immigration like a potluck dinner. Yes, a new attendee will probably eat some of your food. But they also brought a dish to share. When an immigrant arrives, it’s not just one more worker chasing one fixed job. It’s one more person joining and expanding a country’s entire web of economic life."
Many of the Indian programmers, here on H-1B visas have been denied renewal of their visas. These are professionals, engineers, doctors, scientists, programmers, etc. Several of the talented Indian programmers I worked with have moved back to India where they are contracted to US Fortune 500 companies to work remote. How is this helping our economy?
Fred, thanks for this assemblage! One correction: Barbara McQuade's conversation with HCR can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShAhIE3vpW0
The link you provided took us back to the WBUR interview.
Morning, Lynell, and thanks for the (corrected) link!
You must be Paul Revere reincarnated! :)
ALWAYS bringing history into the present moment.
That helps to give us hope for better times, if we stay true and work to retake our country.
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“Donald Trump: turned 80, booked cage fights for the lawn, posted, and isn’t scheduled to so much as shake the hand of the most impressive leader in the western world.”
Read original full article in 🍁Substack link below🍁
“The old guard isn’t going out in a blaze of war or a clatter of coup. It’s going out the single most humiliating way a malignant narcissist possibly can: in a group chat that quietly, deliberately, never added him.”
🇨🇦 ‘Together, we are powerful’: Carney at Trinity College Dublin, 13 June 2026 (via YouTube) 🇨🇦
https://youtu.be/bYPsxBEaO5k?is=ZGcxGAq4xLyZAVth
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
“Now here’s the bit that should have a certain leathery birthday boy lying awake tonight, mouth-breathing into his gold pillowcase.
Carney isn’t fighting Trump. He isn’t arguing with him. He isn’t even acknowledging the silly old prick draws breath. As of right now there’s no bilateral meeting scheduled between the two of them at the G7. None. Zero. Carney flew to Paris for Macron, to Dublin for Martin, and he’ll roll into Évian to break bread with every serious human in the building, and the man who keeps braying about swallowing Canada whole as the “51st state” didn’t even make the dance card.
That isn’t a snub. A snub means you still give enough of a toss to be rude. This is so much worse. This is detachment.
Goodbye to the bronzer-dipped birthday clown and his lawn full of sweaty cages.
Hello to the world leaders with a working set of neurons firing between the ears.”~ Maizy & Gman
‘ADULTS BUILT A NEW WORLD ORDER THIS WEEKEND, WHILE TRUMP SPENT HIS HOSTING CAGE FIGHTS’
by IFLA ~GMan
JUN 13 2026 | Substack
https://ifloz.substack.com/p/adults-built-a-new-world-order-this?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios
.
🌎 The 52nd G7 Summit was moved to begin on Monday, June 15th, and runs through Wednesday, June 17, 2026. The summit was pushed back by one day to avoid conflicting with President Trump's birthday celebrations at the White House. The meeting is taking place in Évian-les-Bains, France 🌎
I'm only sorry that the Summit organizers saw fit to accommodate his birthday farce. This only feeds the myth that he's "more equal" than other G-7 leaders, when instead they should have followed IFLA's playbook and "detached" from him.
It will as usual be touch and go whether Trump stays for the whole of the G7 summit or pisses off after the first day. Every day he spends at these international conferences is a day wasted that could be spent on idle dissipation or self-enrichment.
Russell, I think he will embarrass the U.S. by falling asleep in session. His babysitters will see it and create an "urgent need" for him to return to the U.S.
Caper here! THANKS, THANKS, THANKS!
So proud of our PM.
The only ‘toss’ we should give is Trump, by re-inacting History: into Boston Harbour right after his teacup!
If he isn’t out of the White House after the Midterms make impeachment possible, we can always ‘re-inact’ 1812 😈.
Just kidding, Jon!
What a contrast: the dignified, articulate, well-read PM Carney v. the vulgar, incoherent, ignorant US president.
THANKYOU for noticing. I believe Carney will be ‘fair’ but ‘firm’ in his dealings with Trump. Their brains are soooo different:
🇺🇸 🍤…..🇨🇦 🐳
(Emoji of ‘sheepish, flushed cheek’ GRIN)
I hope Carney shows him the 'detachment' he deserves! As all other leaders should. No special treatment, no deference beyond basic politeness, no obsequiousness. No happy birthday recognition. No premature gratitude for the Iran ceasefire that will probably break before the first glass is raised in Évian-les-Bains. "He" will no doubt monopolize the conversation, congratulating himself with undeserved praise for an agreement whose terms we don't even know yet.
Real ‘adults’ can humour a ‘Glory Hound’, so, as long as we GET the ceasefire, all will be positive.
By getting out of the ‘mess’ by the ‘skin of his teeth’ it MIGHT make Trump a bit more hesitant to play “Captain America” the next time.
MAYBE? 🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♀️
🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
If it were anyone other that the current US president I'd agree that we can afford to humor him. If I had more confidence that he'll do a big "Whew!" and stay out of Cuba, it might be worth him to let him have a moment in the sun. I don't have that degree of confidence yet, Jean. Even more chilling, we don't even know we'll have a real ceasefire. Israel has already said No, it won't leave Lebanon. I doubt Iran will let that go.
"The world turned upside down."
Congrats to the New York Knicks, NBA Champions!
The last time they won, in 1973, the President resigned the next year.
Here's to history repeating itself!
Woot woot
The act of giving power back is what makes the holding of it legitimate in the first place. A representative who cannot imagine returning to private life has already confused the office with the person. The people who send someone to govern (or fight) in their name are not transferring their sovereignty — they are lending it, for a term, for a purpose. When the term ends or the purpose is fulfilled, the power goes back. That is the whole architecture.
Trump doesn't have a private life. He is estranged from his wife; he apparently has no affection for his family; and he spends most of his day on social media, railing at the world or just re-posting nonsense he has seen elsewhere. My limited knowledge of his pre-political life is that he has always been like this, living the life of a reality TV star.
In this way General George Washington followed the ancient
example of Lucius Cincinnatus, by leaving political life after saving the republic. Service rather than vain self-seeking.
" Service rather than vain self-seeking."
What an immensely important phrase, David. A sentiment now almost completely disappeared from American political life. Which elected officials, which candidates prioritize serving their constituents and the common good over serving their own interests?