“To show the importance of the Slaughter Case, 90 years of precedent has been COMPLETELY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY OVERRULED, greatly increasing Presidential Power at a time when it is most needed!” President Donald J.
These decisions are not bugs--they are features. And this illegitimate court is not composed of philosophical originalists, however misguided, but rather of corrupt and jaded opportunists, traitors to their robes and their country.
Do you think it is possible that the "blue wave" in '28 will be such that these SCOTUS rulings will give great power to a president who is actually aware of the great responsibility that comes with the office? It may provide the power to more expeditiously reverse all the bad decisions and go forward with accountability.
You are a country of laws, first and foremost, and that, not patriotic duty to country, is what actually secures and protects your democratic rights. This administration refuses to accept the rule of law, either at home or abroad.
The rule of law is supposed to apply everywhere and should be upheld by attorneys, judges, members of Congress, and especially the President whose job description is to literally uphold and execute the laws. If it’s not everywhere, it’s nowhere.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." -- Lincoln
That and our commitment to protect and abide by laws established with the consent of the governed, which is not possible if one faction or another successfully takes over; something the Constitution was specifically written to try to prevent. As I have said before, the Constitution is only a recipe for justice, but we the living, in each generation, imbue it with life. Saboteurs have been installed in the Supreme Court to short circuit its mission. Enough of us in solidarity may still manage to keep it alive. Working against this is the entire "Republican" party and a cohort of zillionaires. Underlying all the whoopdeedo, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence reminds us of the most serious matters.
No! It's never ONE individual, a Savior, who stops fascism. Democracy is always the work of the "demos", the people - whether it's installing it, maintaining it, or restoring it.
EUWDTB, you are right about it never being one man (or woman) who can stop fascism or its equivalents. One person can get things rolling, give a direction or ideas as to what can be done, but it is, as you say, the people who do the work of making the necessary change. That's us!
Exactly. One person, IF very charismatic, can be great to rally the troops, but as we saw with Obama too, once that person truly gets to work and there are no more charismatic speeches, many people get distracted or become cynical again and then progress is much slower than what it could have been.
In this case, we need a MOVEMENT to first restore democratic governance (that alone will easily take four years) and then gradually continue to build on the Obama/Pelosi/Reid/Biden/Harris legacy.
None of this is possible without a longterm movement, it cannot be done by just one charismatic individual, no matter how exceptional that individual may be (as the Obamas were).
EUWDTB, you are so right. There are a lot of really intelligent folks with a lot of skills, abilities, and understanding of how the world works who can work together to make what you describe happen. It is going to take time, but the more people who are involved at all levels, the higher the quality will be because we will have input from many and hopefully a commitment from many, too. We can do this! I think there is a will. I also think Barack and Michele Obama could take leadership in this because they know how to listen, to work with people, and to include their ideas in a plan for the future of our democracy. All the people you named who are still with us should definitely be involved too..
Obama was exceptional, and left the presidency with the nation in much better shape than when he began it, but he was not the reformer I think we are needing. You are absolutely right that a president or any such figure, even a tyrant, is powerless without public support. Lincoln said “In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” and I think that is true, yet democracy by design is herding cats. There are some who can inspire and clarify in ways the help a movement grow, a direction around which support can gather, but they can arise from anywhere, as Greta Thunberg did as the "adult in the room" in the climate debate. And as always; public focus is mercurial, and no battle is won forever. Leaders have a critical role, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. The people are always the underlying engine of social power.
I have to say, there comes a moment when you have to stop compromising, understand that your cause does have enemies, that your enemies have principles and goals that can never ever be reconciled with your own - for instance that SOME people have more rights than OTHERS- and show who's boss. Garibaldi came to that conclusion even before he went to Italy, it seems to me. It wasn't "Austrians" he was fighting, but mostly Italians who had different beliefs..
The problem is that MAGA-Fascism does not believe in Equality Solidarity Freedom as the basis for living together. They don't believe in the democratic republic or the laws that express those goals. A good example is elections. According to them elections are fraudulent because they don't win because people who shouldn't vote are voting even if they have no reasonable grounds for believing that. So, how do you compromise with people who don't compromise?
JL, I don't go along with that. I get it that power corrupts, but many people are trustworthy, probably most people. We need ways to distinguish among those who are and are not trustworthy.
Trump has never been trustworthy, being a liar at least all his adult life. He cheated in business dealings at all levels and was only saved because people thought he was richer than he actually was, perpetrated by the lies Trump told everyone about himself, his wealth, and what he had done and could do.
All people make mistakes, but that does not make them untrustworthy. Adams was not willing, it seems, to trust anyone who didn't agree with him and his worldview. He was a great man, but was flawed too, just like the rest of us.
Adam's was indeed flawed, as all of us have limitations to varying degrees, but he was not a cynic with respect to trust, but cautious to insist on "guardrails" where the public entrusts governmental power to individuals. A free society is impossible without earned trust, nor are real friendships or marriages. The highest form of freedom exists within an atmosphere of mutual trust. Yet we are obliged to also be prepared for errors and selfishness. Adams also said "“Power must never be trusted without a check.” by which I take to mean a strategy to head off and/or correct misuses of entrusted power. I know a successful artist whose financial manager was ripping he and his wife off. It's all too common. In order to enjoy and build an environment of trust, we have to plan to discourage and correct abuses, and those in positions of exceptional power present that greatest risk to others if the use of that power is not held accountable; and we know from examples like Hitler or Epstein of the damage that is possible when arbitrary power is allowed to stray too far.
There are a few exceptions, but this Court's default position is that whatever Trump argues he must have in order to really screw things up that were working pretty well before he got there, he must have. Whatever he asserts as a presidential power (in spite of decades of precedent that clearly state otherwise), he must be given it, no matter what.
But that is NOT the default position of the Constitution, which set up each branch in such a way as to check the power of the other two. No branch is supposed to rubber-stamp any other. There is no Constitutional concept of a "unitary executive" -- it doesn't exist in any of our founding documents. Every high school course on American history and government ever taught says the same thing. It has no more validity than a "unitary legislative" (an impossibility given the bipartisan nature of Congress) or a "unitary judiciary" (with its long history of dissenting opinions).
Last January, Trump chucked out almost every Inspector General that used to operate within virtually all executive branch agencies. Those IGs had been the first defense against waste, fraud, abuse or misuse of funds, program ineffectiveness. Established by Jimmy Carter back in 1976, they were meant to be the canaries within the agency coal mines. Congress relied on IG reports and findings to know whether the Executive was, in fact, actually doing its job of "faithfully executing" laws and statutes. Anyone who's ever worked within a federal agency knows this. The IGs themselves did not report to the head of their agency -- they were Senate-approved independent watchdogs, granted autonomy and discretion by law.
When Trump got rid of the guardians watching over the public henhouses and replaced them all with hungry foxes, it should have been the first sign to everyone (justices included) that power was being misused *against* the American people, not for them.
This is all basic, elemental stuff. That six Justices ignored all of this in favor of rubber-stamping the wishes of a preening, power-hungry idiot with a long history of screwing up everything he touches, replacing subject matter experts with wormtongues and lapdogs, goes against every concept of limited power our Founders created as a template, which we were supposed to follow just as "faithfully" as the President was supposed to "faithfully" execute the laws passed by Congress.
"Representing the government, Solicitor General John Sauer told the court that the president must be able to remove officials in the agencies because 'the President must have *the power to control* and…the one who has *the power to remove* is the one who…is the person that they have *to fear and obey*.'” (Asterisks are mine) And from the horse's mouth, we have the admission that this had nothing to do with article II; it was all about "power, control, fear, and obeyance." Those reasons are the antithesis to our Constitution. Impeachment cannot come soon enough.
Yeah, those statement caught my attention as well. That doesn't should like a government that works for the People, but rather the hallmarks of a dictatorship.
Me thinks one of the things to be investigated is the "behind the scenes" relationships between Mr. Sauer, and our esteemed SC Justices. Something isn't passing the smell test here, and it usually has Sauer ( Sour?) on site.
Actually, before he was #45 the Federalist Society asked him to fire merit selected government officials appointed under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, and appoint his own people. The spoils system. We've had a civil service since about 1882.
Trump ran on "deep state" paranoia butressed by a few radical law professors who alleged that "administrative law" was not in the Constitution, despite the fact that adminstrtions since Washingoton used it. They disregard the Administrative Procedure Act, a mini Constitution that requires due process and sets out rulemaking that GWB and Trump found too restrictive.
And Riad, do you think this DOJ will sign off on his impeachment? No, of course they won't. Not today and not when he runs again in 2028. When he refuses to leave our house who is going to remove him? The DOJ?
Apparently it's supposed to be done by coup. You know, organizing a mob and then pardoning and paying them once power is secured. DJT approves of this method, how could he object?
How can impeachment happen when the Supreme Court has taken away any power that Congress had and have given it to the president? How do these people sleep at night with all of their cruelty, corruption, cheating, lying, destruction of our country, allowing us to stay in a war that Trump started completely on his own!! I have nightmares and they sleep peacefully in the luxury of their ill-gotten wealth… 🤯
Mary Ellen, the Supreme Court, at least the 6 of whom we associate with this rabble of a "president," cannot stop the impeachment mechanics originating in the House and matriculating to the Senate. After the midterms finish, and assuming that the decay has not gone to the root of our Constitutional form of government or the elections haven't been subverted to the right wing's whim, we still have a chance to break this man and his sycophants from the foundations of the Constitution and all that entails. We are entering a phase, I believe, where the public now must take control. I must admit, as I sit here in my home, taking care of my wife battling two neurological disabilities with all that entails, I am having a hard time fathoming a course of action myself. We are approaching, if not already, at the precipice.
Thank you, Riad, for your explanation and your encouragement. I am 88 years old and am exhausted from spending so much time trying to keep up with all of the craziness of Trump and his worshippers! I needed to hear from someone that we still have a chance to break this malignant psychopath. I want to see him when he no longer has power and when he is finally punished for all of his atrocities! Again, thank you for responding!
Impeachment or Article 25 are not happening. There is not a Super Majority in Congress, now or in November that will even consider this...and his "Cabinet"?
What we have to do with our votes in the mid terms is to do a little fear instilling ourselves. The remaining Rethug Senators need to understand that WE the PEOPLE are on the warpath and they are the target zone.
Sadly, the justices did that to reach the goal set by the Reaganites to cement power in such a way that no democratic president could undo their changes. Mitch McConnell’s reason for living these last 70+ years. He must be orgasmic tonight. The rest of us will be having nightmares.
Every President has fired some IGs during his term of office, including Biden and Reagan, but none ever chucked the whole lot out the door and replaced them with dumb stooges. That is simply unprecedented.
Every single thing trump has done since taking office has been unprecedented. He has been allowed to do pretty much whatever he wants and the Supreme Court is no longer ruling in favor of the people. We are being destroyed from within.
They’ve been doing that for a long time. The Roberts Court has ruled for wealth and business at every turn, handing over our nation and democracy to those who have no interest in its health and welfare. Quite the opposite.
Find the dark money, the power hungry wanting an elusive Utopia of Norman Rockwell’ian “niceness” amongst their kin, hatred to others. Fully self-benighted to think they are exclusively the bearers of “truth” when they succor power and money that never satisfies and is their own bed of thorns they want others to suffer (vulture capitalism in the halls of governance).
DJT does cause nightmares and those nightmares have the potential to cause suicidal ideation. Do you suppose when project 2025 was being developed suicide was a spoken but not written down goal? If enough fear can be created will people give up and commit suicide? Is that what the authors of project 2025 have hoped for from the beginning? Leaving just enough serfs to carry out orders.
Yes, well said ICTT. Firing the IGs should have sent the entire Congress into Impeachment Mode. A bipartisan revolt should have ensued immediately.
The six justices who just crowned Trump "King of America" did so not out of principle, not out of some deeply held ideological reasoning, not out of thoughtful Constitutional analysis.
The six slaves of oligarchy made this decision, like several others, out of FEAR. They know that when American government returns to sanity, decency and a truer democracy they will have targets on their backs.
At least three of them have been bought by Leonard Leo and his billionaire backers. Impeachment is what they have nightmares about. They SHOULD be afraid. Very afraid. Because the people will be demanding their removal and imprisonment.
This is the same fear that haunts Trump and Vance and this administrations team of thieves and terrorists. Hence the insistence on depriving people of the ability and right to vote.
Any leader or politician who doesn't want voting to be as easy, accessible and simple as possible is afraid of the voters. Afraid of majority rule. Afraid of democracy. Afraid of accountability. We are their worst nightmares. We are brainworms of justice and we are not going anywhere. We are coming for them.
Are we nearing a "Pelican Brief" moment? When I read the book I thought it was impossible to feel compelled to kill Supreme Court Justices. John Grisham and Stephen King have both written dystopian novels that are nearing reality. And, of course George Orwell.
340M citizens. Most eking out a living. Others not wanting to lose what they’ve got and buy into the fears pounded into subconscious by the RW media ecosystem. RW media expanded by oligarchical monopolies and no anti-trust. JD Rockefeller would be pleased to see the modern robber barons ensconced into government.
I agree with everything you said and you said it so well. Now, I ask, what can we do about it? November is a long way off and Trump can, and will, do a lot more damage in the meantime.
ICTT, in your opinion as a political scientist, how did the court get to this point? Was it simply being Repubs who moved as the party moved? Do they have a particular affinity for Trump himself (God forbid)? How did they get to where THEY too want to crap on the American people and reject precedent and the Constitution. Their movement seems like the ultimate corruption.
We are of the Elightenment, which superseded (for Jefferson, etc.) Galileo and the emperors. At least we were. Now we may have thrown away our whole accomplishment because of greed, racism, and just plain stupidity. Is anybody but us here still reading?
I too am a political scientist by academic training. It's often been said that this regime is the tip of the iceberg, the logical endpoint of a long-term project by the right, and I would agree with that. The executive branch has been chipping away at checks and balances for decades. The most notable way has been in how our military has been used. “Declaration of war” by Congress, for example, is now nothing more than a quaint notion written on parchment. I doubt we ever fight in a “declared” war again. The path was laid over many years.
The right did their homework on what it would take to destroy democracy and good governance. I've long thought of it as guerilla warfare (or maybe lawfare). In this form of conflict, the guerrillas win by attacking the best AND the worst of the other side. The best are the brains, who are quietly sidelined. The worst are the hangers on who were never very good at their jobs, and they become the poster children for our “incompetence” etc. That's why the other side gets away with all this projection.
It's been going on for decades, interrupted by the occasional spasm of pushback when we get a Democrat in the WH, but the trend is unmistakable. Now the regime is accelerating the guerrilla war, looking to finish us off.
Somewhere along the way, or more likely at several critical junctures, the GOP abandoned its faith in the democratic republic that we are supposed to be. Both parties fight to win, but the concept of fighting fair was discarded in the service of gaining absolute power. Traditional Democrats who are averse to fighting dirty still rely on norms that basically no longer exist. A new generation, though, is becoming our guerrilla army. It's why I place my faith in those fighters, who recognize that what we fight for still matters, but the way we fight has to change.
I find the notion of fighting a guerilla war when one holds virtually all the reins of power somewhat strange. I agree that this power move by the right in America has been long in gestation and pursued at many levels - from the rejection of science that conflicts either with deeply held beliefs or business interests right down to the membership of school boards to try and control the contents of pupils' education.
But you're right that the Trump administration often behaves or speaks like there are other supervening forces - often collectively referred to as the Deep State - that are somehow able to thwart the administration's ambitions, whether they are recalcitrant judges, bothersome media, political opponents or just angry protesters. Trump's almost manic obsession with seeking retribution against these various forms of opposition and independence indicates a profound paranoia incongruously accompanying his growing presidential powers.
Great questions to ask. I'm not sure I can come up with a quip to 'splain it all away. Had Justice Ginsberg retired earlier, had McConnell not tried to subvert the entire judicial-nominating process twice (not just once), we'd have a very different court, it would seem. That's just for starters.
Had Pelosi held W accountable, had Merrick Garland not hemmed and hawed about holding Trump accountable, had Mueller not pussyfooted around the conclusion that Trump committed crimes, had Barr not lied about the contents of the Mueller report, had Congress impeached Reagan for arms for hostages and practicing foreign relations with Iran before he was president (same with Nixon scuttling the Paris Peace Accords), had the Democratic party woken up after the GOP declared war and taken good faith off the table with Reagan, Atwater, and Gingrich, the list goes on and on, and still we have elected officials who were not the strongest people to hold those positions. Chuck Schumer and his strongly worded letters and deep concern is a perfect example. Also, Democrats and liberals keep letting themselves be defined by radical MAGA pronouncements to the point where they believe that Bernie Sanders is a take away private property socialist instead of the old school middle of the road Democrat that he is. He and Eisenhower share a lot of the same ideals.
The justices lied. When they claimed that things like abortion rights were already set by precedent, and they would not overturn those laws, they lied. Plain and simple.
Abortion rights WERE set by precedent. I remember celebrating the decision. But this court has thrown away stare decisis. (AI doesn’t know the Latin, so we can keep it doing the hacking and the hewing. —Apologies to Monty Python.)
The wealth of people like Musk and Thiel had a lot to do with it. Citizens United and McCutcheon both institutionalized corruption, by flooding democracy with money and changing the definition of corruption in campaign finance from an appearance of corruption to an actionable quid pro quo. We went from a moderately free market to an oligarchy.
Fear mongering has a lot to do with it as well. The GOP, in bad faith, have been hammering away at the idea that Democrats and liberals are godless communists who want to destroy the American Way of Life. It goes back to Reagan, Atwater, and especially Newt Gingrich. Meanwhile, we’ve had Democratic leaders who have pretended that the GOP has been operating in good faith. Merrick Garland dragging his feet for 2 years has a lot to do with how we got here. Nancy Pelosi taking impeachment off the table for W also contributed to the message that the GOP could do anything they wanted to, including lie to the American people and murder hundreds of thousands, with impunity. We have a political system that relies on good faith actors and we have been taken in by grifters and charlatans.
For a long time, I have said (not here) that the Supreme Court is THE seat of power in the United States, more powerful than any other branch or agency in the government. I don't think many people agreed with me.
My argument has been that no matter what the Executive Branch says or does, the Supreme Court has the last word on whether the Executive can do what it wants. No matter what laws the Legislative Branch passes, the Supreme Court has the last word on whether those laws are "constitutional." Even the Department of Justice is subject to the will of the Supreme Court.
Much to my horror, the Roberts Court is proving me right.
Until recently, we thought the Supreme Court's job was to apply the U.S. Constitution to disputes that arise from modern-world problems, given that the framers never anticipated situations created by modern technology and knowledge. Instead, the Roberts Court is operating in exactly the same manner as conservative Christians, who view the world through a preconceived set of beliefs, then claiming to rest on the authority of the Bible, they cherrypick text that supports their notions and disregard or twist the text that doesn't support their views.
I sure hope David Jolly becomes Florida's next governor. It's going to take a long time to undo all of the damage done by DeSantis and Scott. Of course, the FL legislature are filled far-right racist Fascists, so it's going to be tough going.
On the call-in part of C-span yesterday, the moderator read the results of polls on how Americans see the current incarnation of the Republic and on how the Founding Fathers would view what America has turned out to be. 🗽
Though my grey matter doth shrinketh, something like two-thirds to three-quarters of our fellows surveyed stated their own pessimism or the sentiment that the Founding Fathers would be disappointed.💔
The Foundings Fathers would be okay with how the constitutional machinery has turned out, but they would be disappointed in us. ¿Why? For lacking the republican virtue (i.e., higher-minded common sense) to use that machinery well.🫣
I now get a lot of notifications about "replies" to things I never wrote, but somehow ended up in the pile. Substack has gotten worse about that, not better. Hard to fix.
It's Come to This, thanks for this summary. Every single American should know this, includinG our Roberts 6, but alas, knowing it doesn't mean they will heed it. They are for Trump and his oligarchs and are most likely gaining significant largess for their rulings. That is evident since their rulings since "Citizens United" have been outrageous in their refusal to follow precedent and their bowing to an ignoramus, Donald Trump who has nothing positive to offer anyone and the justices know it. That means they are colluding with Trump in working to undermine our democracy. To me, that is treason, the enemy within who does the damage foreign invaders can't do.
We the People are GOING to have to set things right. The founders did not want an all-powerful Supreme Court. It was supposed to look at some cases to make sure they followed the constitution. They were not to overrule laws passed by Congress and signed by the president, just because. Their reasoning for nearly everything these days, at least those rulings I have read or heard discussed are not well-supported with evidence. It is clear someone is pulling their strings. I am guessing it is Trump and his white house toddler pool directing the action. They dictate the outcome for cases they WANT to go a certain way and the justices are forced to support that decision. One can't help but wonder what Trump and his MAFIA crew have on those justices that they will bow to a bunch of anti-American ignoramuses and fools who hate this nation and want our wealth for themselves and the rest of us held as their slaves, left in poverty so we can be more easily controlled. Well, our answer to that insanity must be "NO!"
I look back on this and find its roots in the deliberate and unconscionable tear down of public education.
Do you know of ANY public school that teaches Civics and History combined so that our youngest learn early the “WHYs” of how our government is structured?
I find myself educating anyone younger than 60 about these most basic concepts including the separation of powers.
They don’t understand the danger.
Instead they get all caught up in the populist bile about immigration, stealing the vote, and expanding American power through the military instead of international leadership.
The founders were well aware that these political pin ball wizards would in effect use government to fill their pockets. Such has come to pass as predicted. Every effort must be to sweep them out of the government and put them in chains.
Trump is a FKN moron who is getting played big time by Mark Carney and the Canadians.
This is brilliant review of Carney's speech in New York to the Economic Club. You may recall that Trump made a total ass out of himself when he spoke to the Club in 2024. And yet, the titans of industry still supported him.
GJ...thank you for sharing that. I was hoping there was a link to Carney's speech in the video. I'll have to look it up. The speaker looks so familiar to me. Who is she?
I've been digging around. She certainly sounds smart, but I believe in transparency. I used Google search engine to inquire about it. If you click more info on the YouTube site, it shows 3 videos only and they started June 16, 2026. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but there is no information on who is behind it. She doesn't introduce herself. Why? I admit I am not familiar with how YouTube works. Here is another new (April) YouTube site with a woman talking who sounds very smart called CRITIC Show. She too doesn't introduce herself. Note the video graphics are soooo similar to Advacody Fletcher.
Who should we believe the fascist majority on SCOTUS are channeling to reach their "originalist" opinions? Certainly not any patriots at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Maybe some British Royalists who lost the War of Independence and fled to Britain or British Canada because they loved King George.
Their agenda does not touch any historical American intellectual recollection. Their agenda does not provide any safe bases in this rhetorical game of baseball. The umpire studied the little blue rule book of the John Birch society made anew and added more poison by the 2025 malaise. New game in town. Replace the umpire but keep it secret. I think the crowd that loves baseball knows the fix is in.
“The [Roman] Republic had in reality ceased to exist long before the establishment of the Empire. The interval was filled by ferocious, corrupt, and bloody factions. There was, indeed, a small but patriotic body of eminent individuals who struggled in vain to correct abuses and to restore the government to its . . . purity, and who sacrificed their lives in their endeavors to accomplish an object so virtuous and noble.”
--John C. Calhoun, ‘A Disquisition on Government’; 1848.
And that is the irony of it, ¿isn't it? We have a president and his team treason who make Vice President Calhoun relevant and President Nixo a boy scout.
Well said Ned. Romans had a lot to atone for. The parallel you sweep into view does mirror historical events. Slavery was still big. The influence of the gods was waning as Christianity gained popularity with the dispossessed. Wealth had certainly gone to the one percent. Professional armies changed leadership in foreign nations. So I thought our founders had accounted for most of that? What happened to create so much uncontrolled corruption as to bring democracy to its dark test? We all need to sink our teeth into something we can swallow or we’ll starve.
There are moments when corruption tries to wear a tie and speak in constitutional footnotes. Then there is Donald Trump, who hears that 90 years of precedent has been overruled to expand presidential power and immediately prints the trophy plaque.
Normally, the polite legal script would say “restoring executive control” or “clarifying separation of powers.” Trump skipped the wrapping paper and went straight to, “Great news, I have more power.” Subtle as a casino sign, but at least honest in the way a pickpocket is honest when he waves your wallet.
The theory is called the unitary executive, because “president can do whatever he wants” sounds too much like what it is. In this version of government, Congress may create independent agencies, experts may spend decades building professional standards, and the public may expect consumer safety, clean air, honest markets, and nuclear oversight. Then one man walks in, points to Article II, and says, “Mine.”
The most revealing line came from the government’s own lawyer, who argued that officials must know whom they “fear and obey.” That is not a theory of democratic administration. That is a mob boss explaining office culture.
And now the court has opened the door for independent agencies to become loyalty clubs. Scientists out, flatterers in. Economists out, donors in. Public servants out, family friends in. If your toaster explodes, your bank cheats you, your data gets sold, or a nuclear safety board becomes a praise circle, please understand that freedom is having fewer people qualified to help you.
Meanwhile, Trump calls a bipartisan housing bill “a yawn” while demanding a voter ID law that helps lock his party in power. Housing families? Boring. Protecting democracy? Optional. Expanding presidential control? Historic, monumental, beautiful.
The spoils system is back, baby, and this time it has a Supreme Court stamp.
How the hell a have these people EVER ruled as “originalists”? It’s all precedent when it favors GOP and all mumbo jumbo…”this what we think the founders thought 250 years ago”
“Originalist” is an excuse to rule against common sense, a modern America and progressive ideas.
“Originalist”….please…this court couldn’t exist if we went with “originalists”. Thomas and Jackson were 3/5 a person. Four out of nine are women who couldn’t even vote at the time. Italians and Catholics?
Yes, let’s take a Time Machine back to the 1770s. Let’s dream what they originally thought. Let’s not even discuss what they originally SAID. what they originally WROTE . what they originally RADIFIED.
Like LOTS of talk and writin about separation of church and state. Tons of actual writings, documents, SIGNED by the way by all of them. Staying pretty clearly they thought an established religion of any kind was really bad. Didn’t want it. ORIGINALLY! Wanted it separate all together from laws and government.
How about freedom of the press and assembly. Wanted that too. Not citizens shot dead for disagreeing. How about guns. These Originalists LOVE the first sentence. Right to bear arms! But always ignore the second one that says it should be well REGULATED. As in someone other than the gun owner has a say in regulating guns.
These people aren’t originalists. They’re clever defense attorneys for their client, the GOP.
Yes, & you'll note that the only thing they are keeping sacrosanct for now is "the Fed". You know the agency responsible for MONETARY POLICY! Well, thank goodness they saw fit to protect that! And why is that? Well, the Justices' patrons need security in their financial holdings & they're not going to get that with a Fed that sits at the mercy of a donald trump!
Return, you are so right here. It was the first thing I thought when I heard about the decision. Our Roberts 6 don't present a decision unless they are sure it will benefit themselves, their Baby Donnie, and his oligarchic buddies in some way. That is simply wrong and those folks need to be held accountable, both the Roberts 6 and the oligarchs who have made such demands of our court.
Absolutely Annabel. The most astonishing part of today’s news isn’t that the diapered lunatic in the Oval Office sought more power.
It’s that six Supreme Court justices looked at the situation and effectively said, “Yes, that seems like an excellent idea.”
History tends to be less interested in the ambitions of powerful individuals than in the people who enabled them.
If they’re prepared to keep expanding the powers of someone repeatedly described as ‘unfit for office’ (to put it mildly), all six should removed from office by conviction in the United States Senate.
And our "fave" Clarence Thomas was photographed coming out of Mike Johnson's office Monday--he is apparently trolling for votes to destroy all the laws protecting LGBTQ folks and their right to marry.
True—the MAGA majority could not get any less competent or more disingenuous. But they do make a phenomenal argument for one thing: expanding the court asap to overturn a whole slew of rulings including Citizens United, Dobbs and this one.
FASCISM means that the power of the legislative and judicial branches of government are "bundled" ("fasces" = "bundle" in Latin) into the power of the executive, in other words, Congress and the courts are subordinated to the White House.
THAT is what neoliberals have always wanted. The founders of neoliberalism are on the record, claiming that "democracy and capitalism are incompatible".
Peter Thiel, who bankrolls Vance's career, already said the same thing and called for a fascist regime publicly in 2019.
"Unitary Executive theory" is just a fancy name for neofascism.
It is THE goal of the GOP today. As their clown in chief said, everything else is just a big "yawn".
We know this. The larger issue is what are we going to do about it. It appears we the people are screwed unless we rise up in the manner of Hungry or Albania. Waiting for the midterms to save us is a fool's errand. Why? Because we keep electing the same exact people. These incumbents have been behind the scenes bending the knee to the MAGA for 11 years. They like to call it bipartisanship. I call it receiving money from the same PACs. These consultant-designed, PAC soaked, colluding politicians (corporate centrists) in the Democratic Party spew righteous declarations of overturn Citizens United! or affordability! while doing nothing. Want proof? Look where we are right this minute.
How can a Party whose Leaders support genocide, display a willingness to use our money on bombing children, and play victim at every turn save us? It can't and won't because Schumer has openly sworn to put Israel above the United States.
The most disastrous thing we voters in the Democratic Party are doing is to continue to play Charlie and Lucy football with the Democratic Party. How in the name of everything normal could this Party lose to an evil joke (twice)?
I am looking away from this Party to a new vital wing, the Democratic Socialists of America. Triggered? Then I invite folks to 1. learn exactly what socialism is and 2. look to NYC and see socialism in action with May Mamdani.
When I listen to what the DSA people are saying I feel hope. I stopped feeling that a long time ago.
Legal doctrines like Originalism and the Unitary Executive have always seemed to me to be post-hoc rationalisations of the right in seeking unfettered access to power.
Exactly. The Founders didn’t divide power because they assumed presidents could always be trusted. They divided it because they understood human nature. The real question isn’t whether any one president should have this authority. It’s whether the presidency itself should.
His enablers include, unfortunately, at least 77 million of our fellow Americans. They are the root of the problem. They have been looking for their hero since 1980 and have finally put him in charge.
Patrick Henry's objection to the power granted to the President by the proposed Constitution, June 5, 1788. Note his warning about "bad men" and a President "of ambition". His warnings ring true with Trump. (As students of the Constitution, all of the Justices should have read this long before now.)
"This Constitution is said to have beautiful features; but when I come to examine these features, sir, they appear to me horribly frightful. Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting; it squints toward monarchy, and does not this raise indignation in the breast of every true American? Your president may easily become king. Your Senate is so imperfectly constructed that your dearest rights may be sacrificed to what may be a small minority; and a very small minority may continue for ever unchangeably this government, altho horridly defective. Where are your checks in this government? Your strongholds will be in the hands of your enemies. It is on a supposition that your American governors shall be honest that all the good qualities of this government are founded; but its defective and imperfect construction puts it in their power to perpetrate the worst of mischiefs should they be bad men; and, sir, would not all the world, blame our distracted folly in resting our rights upon the contingency of our rulers being good or bad? Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men without a consequent loss of liberty! I say that the loss of that dearest privilege has ever followed, with absolute certainty, every such mad attempt.
If your American chief be a man of ambition and abilities, how easy is it for him to render himself absolute! The army is in his hands, and if he be a man of address, it will be attached to him, and it will be the subject of long meditation with him to seize the first auspicious moment to accomplish his design, and, sir, will the American spirit solely relieve you when this happens?"
It already is not bloodless. And the so-called “left” he mentions includes farmers, factory workers, teachers, nurses, et al. He’s so extreme, he can’t understand middle ground.
If more blood is shed, it will be due to Xn nationalist extremists like Roberts.
A Kevin Roberts is part of the Heritage Foundation which helped create Project 3025. It has been a blue print for disaster. It took its name from the African American history work entitled Project 1629 when the first captured Africans were brought to Jamestown. There have been many books and documentaries on all of this. Kevin is also connected to the Roman Catholic enclave called Opus Dei. Again many books written and many documentaries on this as well. I would be more than happy to or others too to give you some reading suggestions.
Thank you for this. I'd never read it before. Obviously, not enough people have. This is all horrifying, sickening. How did we manage to last almost 250 years before being obviously dismantled brick by brick? The SCOTUS (at least the 6) has betrayed the country. Possibly the worst person in the world is the POTUS. Maybe it's just a perfect storm. A good but fragile Constitution, a decent framework but entirely dependent upon moral players. And now - at this point - we apparently have the requisite dearth of "good guys" left in the mix to prevent the whole thing from collapsing. I may throw up.
The Right has been laying these seeds for 50 years, funding think tanks and media institutions that convince gullible members of the public that an authoritarian regime will give them status, that Haitians eat pets, that every country that is majority-Black is "s---hole," and that only the Right can save us.
Candace here. --- Just to clarify, my comment was a response to the quote DeBurgh provided, that of Patrick Henry, who seemed very worried about potential bad actors.
"A good but fragile Constitution, a decent framework but entirely dependent upon moral players. " You apparently have not read the Federalist Papers. The constitution was drawn as it is precisely to function with immoral players. And it has done well. Longer than any other in the world.
"The SCOTUS (at least the 6) has betrayed the country". Pretty strong opinion. The yissue about 85 opinions a year. Where is the betrayal? Did they dare to do something you don't understand but the headlines about it scare you?
I thought this comment tun was about Sup Ct decisions, not planets. You seem to be aggrieved sy specific questions and by people who aren't irrationally angry.
LOL. I'll feel A LOT BETTER when Liar, Fraud, Con, Grifter, Racist, Felon Trump dies from a massive heart attack (or suffers a massive debilitating stroke.)
"His warnings ring true with Trump. (As students of the Constitution, all of the Justices should have read this long before now.). Be assured that they have. And therefore....?
You demean the concept of ‘students of the Constitution’ by invoking it with these 6 frauds! They may have read it but the expression ‘in one ear and out the other’ embodies their retention of constitutional subject matter!
Nowhere in the Constitution can the phrase "the President...must be feared and obeyed" be found. It doesn't exist. It isn't in the Federalist Papers, it's not in the private writings of Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Hamilton. It's a phrase without any foundation or legal justification whatever. The idea that 6 Justices found that a convincing argument for overruling 90 years of Congressional precedent is bizarre beyond words.
And here I thought "originalism" meant sticking to the original intent of the Founders. The Constitution itself is brief, to the point, and clear. The President's duties include "faithfully executing" the laws of the land, which Congress -- not the President -- enacts.
Makes absolutely zero legal sense in anything other than an Upside Down World filled with alternative facts.
Like with Dobbs where Alito justified reversing Roe with English case law from hundreds of years before the US became a country. That's fantasyland not originalist.
"And here I thought "originalism" meant sticking to the original intent of the Founders." I knew, you knew and most everyone paying attention save the cheering lemmings knew at the outset that all that bs was nothing more than obfuscation. (yes, I realize you're being ironic)
Once you create a term out of nothing, you have to least be consistent with it across multiple sectors, instances and situations. "Originalism" may once have been a concept worth arguing (Scalia and Ginsburg used to have such arguments), but at this point, "originalism" doesn't even pass a basic giggle test. It simply means whatever its adherents claim it means. As Scalia might have said --- it's all "argle-bargle."
You can wipe that snide "Ruthie" from inside your snotty, deranged fat mouth. Unless you can prove you were her close friend, colleague and confidante, and earned the tight to refer to her like that....
We need a shadow government to oppose every insane interpretation of this group of vipers. Surely democrats have people who can devise P2926 to give us hope.
I would not call it that, but for sure we need a much clearer vision and a more actionable plan to get there. Plans that are imaginative but practical, wary, but not timid.
When I have observed here that the midterms are the first step, blistering oversight hearings the second, starting January '27 through May '28 to establish the grounds for and the choice of candidates for the 2028 presidential, and then the launching of the first firm steps to undertake the strengthening the Republic in January 2029 will need to to carry the nation yet another 250 years, that is what I've meant. So far as I've been able to learn the Democratic party is not thinking that way, communications received from the DNC do not touch it, and Congressional Democrats seem immured to that kind of calendar or its tasks. If that's an accurate assessment, America;s cooked already.
I'll repeat what I've said before. Congress is as silent about this just as the SCOTUS is actively supporting and continuing the deepening of the threat to the Republic. Effecting the requisite reforms will be complicated by the simple fact that the Constitution and its amendment processes are in place, which was not the case when the Declaration was first drawn up. But if the planning isn't done NOW, the corrections can't BEGIN until 2029.
" But if the planning isn't done NOW, the corrections can't BEGIN until 2029." You can't "correct" Supreme Court decisions based on the constitution. Only those interpreting statutes.
Say a little more, please. I wasn't talking about just Supreme Court decisions; the inadequate constitutional provisions for SCOTUS is just one area of the Constitution that pretty obviously needs attention for the future, By my growing count since January 20, 2025 there are more than thirty others which also cry out for examination and have received no attention from Democrat politicos on the hill. Elucidate further, please. Enlighten me.
Unfortunately or fortunately our shadow government may very well be it's armed citizens JD. There doesn't seem to be any wiggle room in our democracy with the latest Supreme Court decisions.
Maybe they missed it, Sauer speaks like he’s on speed dial. I find him offensive to listen to, the justices had to sit there and listen to him, maybe they missed “must be feared and obeyed”, I didn’t, it stuck out like a lunatic shouting curses in a cathedral. I thought to myself, “who would write shit like that?”, but then I considered it’s source. Of course, they’re trying to rob us blind, fearing and obeying them is exactly what they want. We are a calm and patient people but we do have our limits and over 30 million assault weapons disbursed among us. You would think the SC justices would have an inkling of what might be in store for them, but then look at the power they have handed to the executive, that even a child would know is morally wrong. The justices are like umpires, calling balls and strikes, the day they favor one side only, is the end of the game. 🤬🤬🤬
"You would think the SC justices would have an inkling of what might be in store for them, but then look at the power they have handed to the executive, that even a child would know is morally wrong." The Supreme Court does not make moral decisions. It interprets statutes and the constitution.
"t's a phrase without any foundation or legal justification whatever. The idea that 6 Justices found that a convincing argument for overruling 90 years of Congressional precedent is bizarre beyond words." You are right in the first sentence. It doesn't appear in any decision.
It's not bizarre. Its a basic separation of powers decision.
I can see the reversal of this decision coming…. Dems win the presidency in 2028 & on 20 Jan 2029 starts firing all trump appointees. 6 months into that term, a court case gets filed to repeal this ruling & it goes to the Supreme Court. 6-3 to repeal it & the trump appointees get to keep their position. Thank you again Turtle Man Mitch. You’re the father of this disgusting situation.
We must have resounding victories in both houses in 2026 and 20288, plus the presidency in 28. Then things will move forward. Court expansion could be possible. Hard work.
100%….the hubris of the SCOTUS SIX to assume they will still have the power to make any decisions after ceding so much to fascists. Judges are usually huge targets in fascists regimes.
These six out the final nail in their coffins to have any “judgement” from here on out. Kings and dictators do not have courts. They have “employees” whose job it is to publicly reassert to the people ina formal setting what has already been decided by the king and his cohorts. No evidence, no argument, no reason…no judging.
This sounds awesome, but from what I read, even if Democrats are ruling, they won’t be able to change anything that Trump is doing. Good Lord I am super stressed at 7:15 am 😭
FFR, I don't like your term, "ruling." That's what monarchs do. I prefer the term, "governing."
However, I share your concern. There is one way to fix this mess. Democrats must choose a presidential candidate in 2028 who promises to demand that Congress expand the Supreme Court. The popular recommendation is 13 justices. A SCOTUS with 6 MAGA justices and 7 sane justices could overturn the bad rulings handed down by the Roberts Court in the same manner that the Roberts Court overturned decades of stare decisis.
"Turtle Man Mitch." Which elementary school did you attend? We never had cool name calling like that. As for your "knowledge" of the Supreme Court, it has never in history reversed (they don't "repeal") a prior decision in less than at least 5 decades, usually much longer, as reversals are rare. Sorry to dispel your anger.
DeToqueville wrote, centuries ago, that the major difference between Britain and the US was that in the US, the servant could become the master. In England it was not so. Thus, the masters fear the servants and will create structures to suppress that possibility. Thus, for examples, it was forbidden for slaves to learn to read and write. Education (for poor whites) was focused on conformity to rules. Upward mobility was highly unusual. And here we are, repeating history.
You could look in numerous places to find the history we’re repeating. The wealthy appear to prefer staying wealthy and don’t want to share their riches; thus, today’s billionaires are condescending to the 99% and don’t want their grift of our taxpayer dollars (ex: Elon Musk) to stop. So, Musk (and others) fund politicians who will maintain/replicate the social structure. Heard of “The Great Replacement Theory”? Slavery? Ignorant Caucasians fear the browning of America; they want to stay in charge so demonize non-whites. A new Trump proposal will pay immigrant farm workers less than ever. Heard of the Triangle fire, where hundreds of women died? And OSHA protections are being erased. Have you ever seen union-busting tactics? Owners of the means of production want to keep workers subservient. Inequality in public schools — poor districts tend to attract less-qualified teachers, while wealthy districts excel, and their students go to the Ivy colleges in greater numbers. The voucher system exacerbates the inequality. The list goes on, and on, and on...
We have two options for this platform of exchanging opinions: (1) criticisize and lament and watch losing our country (2) develop plans to restore democracy.
I'm with Greg Sargent, who wrote that “Trump constantly and explicitly holds up his naked corruption *as a badge of honor* that his supporters are supposed to thrill to (and see benefit for themselves in). He thinks corruption is the highest form of winning.”
We are living in a time when BEING CORRUPT IS BEING CELEBRATED... openly by Trump and tacitly (by never acknowledging it) by the GOP members of the House and Senate. And to be honest, I'm having a hard time thinking of any Democratic Party leader who has consistently and forcefully made the cast that TRUMP IS CORRUPT. And this included former President Barack Obama, who recently talked only about how Trump has "an obsession with me" rather that that Trump "is the most corrupt person ever to exist in American political history".
How do we (the people) make honesty the goal in life we need it to be if America is going to have a functioning democracy? That to me is THE QUESTION of our age. Character should... and MUST ... matter!!!
Not just vote them all out.. there needs to be more to hold them all accountable, consequences of their actions. This SCOTUS continues to change the laws established for close to a hundred years to enable him even further. Has already given him immunity as per his position, again changing well established laws.
Saw on the news that Clarence Thomas was in the Capitol building and had a private chat with Johnson. Tomorrow or by the end of the week is suppose to be further decisions like birth rights…
What fire burning Hell is awaiting or not..
Again, there must be more than voting them all out ..
Yep, there is: hang them all in Washington Square. That’s the only way to get rid of ‘em, because the Extreme Court made trumpty-dumpty emperor, and he WILL cancel the upcoming elections.
First, we must vote them out, then remain in control of the Executive and Legislative branches long enough to live out Thomas and Alito - at the very least -
So what happens if a Democrat becomes president. Do they reverse their decision. It seems to me that they think they will always be in power. I don’t see how the upcoming elections are going to legitimate.I mean trump& the republicans have done absolutely nothing for the American people and they don’t seem worried at all.how do people vote for this
There is a Newspaper in the UK called the Daily Mail; it is a right-wing rag wedded to the "philosophies" of the Conservative and Unionist Party (The Tories). It is now a vile rag which used to be a fairly harmless newspaper devoted to mortgages, pensions and investments for the Lower Middle Class.
None of its owners, the Harmsworth Family, have ever paid a single penny in UK Tax, Corporate or Personal. This is achieved through "non-dom" status; meaning that the family and the Daily Mail as a business is not domiciled in the UK, for taxation purposes, and all income is disbursed through a family Trust registered in the Cayman Islands.
Steve Brant - not only Character, but Stewardship of federal tax payers money, and intellectual strategy towards the military and our nations growth. We need the weaknesses of Trump broadcast LOUD and REPEATED that he has us failed in war, failed our expectations of job growth, failed against China in tech strategy, set America’s climate change progress backwards, lost our scientists, and is ignorant in the corner of metals needed to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, proceed with green energy, or supply our military’s stock of weapons.
Today’s antics are the smoke & mirrors thats hiding the inadequacies of Trump in office. We need action demonstrated over & over that shows Trump can’t handle the job. And boycott this ridiculous charade of our 250th Anniversary.
But his antics were obvious to many people from the early days of primary debates in 2016. I’m still struggling to figure out why those antics weren’t obvious to his supporters…
Hello Steve... It has been said that, "Character Is Destiny'... DJT is Supremely Corrupt... DJT is Ruining the USA, like DJT has Ruined DJT's Businesses...
Yes.. character is destiny... and there is A LOT of corruption in America... throughout the system not just in the GOP. I urge everyone to read the two best-selling books by corruption expert Sarah Kendzior. One of the many things you'll earn is why Joe Biden chose Merrick Garland to be US AG and then did not complain when Garland waited 25 MONTHS before starting to prosecute Trump... allowing Trump to run out the clock and avoid going to prison. It'a painful read, but Sarah's books open people's eyes to the truth. As as the saying going, "The truth will set you free... but first it will piss you off."
The signed copy of "Hiding in Plain Sight" is at the top of my 'read this' pile... I started it the other day. She writes of being on MSNBC just after the 2017 inauguration: "What they're trying to do is establish power: they are lying to flaunt power. They are saying to us: 'We know that you know this is a lie, and we don't care, because there is nothing you can do about it.'" I'm looking forward to this and the other two of hers in the pile.
I just can’t figure out how people were bamboozled by Trump - even Reagan for that matter. They listen to a smooth talker without understanding the message being spoken. Regan convinced that big government was the problem. But but an expanded regulated system protects the people and the people lose sight of it. My educated neighbor who I quoted in my book, told me that she voted for Trump in 2016 and regrets it. But how did she come to vote against a woman running for office on top of the fact that Trump was never more than a 2nd rate mob boss mentality. Revenge voting I guess. They pick something like those emails Clinton had or the infamous hearings when she stupidly responded “What difference does it make” to a question about a killing of an American ambassador. But you still don’t revenge vote and vote for a criminal boss. But they did.
My sister said 'Benghazi, when I asked her why she hated HRC. Then I asked her to explain and she hung up on me. Because she knew that I knew she was recycling garbage faux news talking points.
We’re dealing with fanatics (not solely religious)!
“The defect is complex, the diagnosis is simple: in all of earth or heaven, there is no force, instance, authority or source which can bring home a new fact or interpretation not in harmony with his preconceptions to a fanatical person.”
Excerpt from my book: “Truth and Fear: Breaking Free from Religious Fundamentalism.”
Thanks Steve... I would guess that Biden wanted to appear Apolitical... DJT has proven to be Supremely Dangerous, and Corrupt.. It seems that DJT treats Good Manners, Mercy, what we consider Good Traits, as Weakness...
Please read what Sarah Kendzior has to say about Biden ... and the whole political system. No, he did not want to "appear Apolitical". Also... his failure to keep his promise to be a one term president also has to do with him being corrupt.
I know everyone likes to say Biden was great and Trump is awful. They als never say anything negative about Obama. This is cult-like behavior. We MUST learn how flawed our political leaders are ... in both parties ... if we are going to save democracy.
OK, Steve. I agree that Biden made some big mistakes. Running again was a huge one. But how fast we forget how well he steered the ship of state through a pandemic that had the world terrified of eminent death and international collapse of civil society. I was worried that I might breathe something and die an intubated death.
How fast we forget his efforts to reinvigorate the economy via the people vs the Obama approach of bailing out the same dudes who created the Financial Collapse of 2008 - leaving the rest of us to twist in the wind.
And isn't it easy to say Biden was too patient with Garland. For what it is worth, that was his responsibility. To let the DOJ do its job independently. Was Garland a bad pick? Absolutely. But I think it's a mistake to look at a president's relationship with the AG and DOJ through the current lens of abuse and weaponization. And someone please stand up and say that the day Garland was chosen that you didn't feel a sense of vindication after his treatment by McConnell.
Yup, all we need is a time machine. Because we are all so much smarter now.
But most of all, I am saddened that we are beating a dead horse long after it laid down to die. I plead guilty for even participating in this discussion.
I believe in living in the present moment. Learn from mistakes, yes. But we need every ounce of our energy focused now on defeating the Maga Empire. And, IMO, that means having a big tent unified on that mission. No beating up the guy next to you in the foxhole when the enemy is coming at you with flame throwers and relentless waves of assault.
No circular firing squads about labels like progressive, traditional, socialist, capitalist, centrist, left wing, radical or moderate.
No more beating each other up over past mistakes and different views of Democratic/Independent politics.
No allowing Israel and Iran to tear us apart. We can assemble a sensible balanced foreign policy only if we have the power to do it.
If we are going worry about Biden, then we might as well worry about Lincoln and his merciful treatment of the traitors that tried to blow up an entire nation. We could go on and on...Ford pardoning Nixon. LBJ tarnishing an amazing presidency with lying about Vietnam and...FDR for not allowing a boat filled with 900 Jews to land in America or running for re-election a FOURTH time! FDR - who we legitimately regard as one of the finest was extremely flawed. Wonderful, but very far from perfect.
Forward ho. All together. The Madness and corruption must be defeated.
Blue Wave - no matter who - no matter how imperfect.
The Democratic Party Leadership has gotten us into this nightmare. How in the name of everything sane could they lost to a fascist fool--TWICE?
Look at the elections currently in play. There is a revolution in the Democratic Party today. Go look at the Michigan race. You have 2 candidates owned by PACs and one DS. The current Party Leadership is so terrified of losing their AIPAC funded lifestyle they are throwing $30 MILLION to support their AIPAC candidate. The Democratic Party Leader Schumer says his first allegiance is to--wait for it----Israel. A DS Party candidate beat the Democratic Party establishment candidate (Dan Goldman) by 30 points. Meanwhile the DS Mayor in NYC is delivering exactly what the Democratic Party leadership has been promising for decades. I envy the people of New York right now.
There are currently 29 members of the Democratic Socialist wing of the Democratic Party who have won elections.
I can see you have not yet accepted my invitation to read what corruption expert Sarah Kendzior has written. Please find the time to do so. Her research will open your eyes.
All of Biden’s “fixes” have been undone by Trump, who has made things even worse now. So, please recognize that it might be great to “fix” things… but if you do not address the underlying causes then things just break again. Biden NEVER addressed the underlying causes… because that was the plan all along. “Look like one of the good guys. But set the stage for the bad guys to take over again.” And that’s exactly what happened. And that’s what Sarah Kendzior knew would happen. A Biden who was a true patriot would have made sure Trump went to prison. His one job was to protect and defend the Constitution. He failed to do that.
Thanks Steve.... I guess that Biden, who spent much of his life running for President, liked being President... Seems that Biden is a failed President if his goal was saving the USA from DJT... Personally I'm disappointed in Obama... In 2009 he had the two Houses of Congress. and did nothing except restore a Broken System... OBW: The System is now owned by Corrupt $$$ for the most part...
I have repeatedly criticized Biden and every time I got the same crap response from elderly readers here ( being kindly toward other elderly folks) that I was being unfair. Thank you for telling it like it is. I’ve repeatedly stated that it’s Biden who is the big loser. His selfishness lost our nation. He wanted to be here for the 250th even as he aged and stumbled. He was greedy. And I knew it would happen when he decided to run to late in his season. Then instead of stating he would choose the best running mate, he gave a nod toward Obama and said he would choose a Black woman instead of the best running mate. Identity politics are stupid. Always remember that it was Biden who gave Clarence Thomas a pass and tossed Anita Hill under the bus after that “this is nothing but a high tech lynch mob” remark. So he saved his ass. No, Biden is the big loser here. Thank you.
Once again: people voted for trump not *despite* him being an asshole, but exactly *because* he is an asshole. They love him for being a racist, pussy-grabbing egoistic asshole.
It is what they want, with all their stony hearts. There is a vindictive part of me that says that I hope they get reamed in the end, just like the rest of us. Of course, they'll go all Niedermeyer and say "Thank you sir, may I have another"?
Quite masochistic, actually, hating women and people of colour and gays and lesbians and trans people SO much that you'll elect a thoroughly corrupt grifter mob boss who will destroy your country and your economy, just to "own the libs"...
Obama is fearful he will be a target if he crosses Trump. Mob style government functions. Can we win, Steve? I don’t know but I’ve stated repeatedly that I will not be silent.
These were the words of Rebecca Slaughter, on the winner of the case she brought which the U.S.’s highest court today ruled for more power to criminal Donald.
Ironic we’re less than a week away from exactly the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and we celebrate by this ruling for more corrupt monarchy.
“Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! all persons having business before the honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the court is now sitting. God save the United States and this honorable court.”
The 6-member Supreme Court just threw this phrase right out the window.
By the way, did you see that the federal government just found 1 million people collecting Medicaid benefit benefits who don’t have a Social Security number? Wowowowow
Three months after the Fukushima-dai-ichi nuke explosions, Haruki Murakami spoke to this.
That is, in a speech in Barcelona, three months following the earthquake, tsunami, and explosions of March 11, 2011, he spoke to the many chains of blame the Japanese people incurred, or entrusted to lying elites both atop TEPCO (electrical energy company) and across the Tokyo government.
The single word he lambasted most, Home Viator, was this one, "efficiency," you nab here.
People of faceless bureaucracies always do this. They've always had to neuter themselves first, then similarly always found this great rationale for the great dehumanization all such always join.
America, that’s the purpose to continue to make our country greater than ever and it is an every single visitor from football world keeps doubting the incredible greatness of this country but we should do is ship people like you and all your liberals back to their countries and bring in all these people that actually love this country
Well, Phil look how efficient Trump is making the country got rid of all the fraud in the USA ID department got rid of the Department of education, thank God that’s inculcating our youth to know more about genitals than they know about math and science
Just one that’s why he was reelected or did you forget that part? And it’s still the most successful and efficient presidency at least in the last 50 years if not longer. Right now, JFK would be ashamed of the party. It would probably be a middle of the road republican
This decision is ghastly. Independent agencies are intended to protect the public with experts at the helm, not a loyalist that buys into the mob for a job and protection. The corruption is putrid.
When expertise from these agencies are replaced with a loyalist who suffers? The American people…
From the list supplied by legal analyst Barb McQuade. Here’s just one - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent U.S. government agency that protects your money and maintains stability in the nation's banking system. It insures bank deposits up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, and regulates banks to ensure they are operating safely. Now per this ruling there’s No longer a need to have any experts at the head of this agency. Totally voided of any experts.. just some loyalists….
How’s everyone feeling about their money in the banks with a loyalist heading up the FDIC and no experts around? Because the loyalist can hire their own cronies to fill the jobs within the agency…
As per Greg Sargent, his words, “He thinks corruption is the highest form of winning.” Then proceeds to say. “his supporters are supposed to thrill to this badge of honor”
Hey MAGA groupies how ya feeling about no FDIC guarantees of your money in the banks?
In his 1796 Farewell Address, Washington warned that political factions and extreme partisanship would gradually destroy public liberty. He cautioned that ambitious men would use party loyalty as a "potent engine" to usurp the reins of government and ultimately pave the way for a permanent despotism.
Russian politicians are proposing to forcefully seize money from private bank accounts to fund the war against Ukraine, according to The Washington Post on June 27. (No longer have a subscription to WaPo, not giving money to Bezos)
Russian Lawmakers Propose Seizing Private Bank Accounts to Fund War Amid $83B Deficit
It seems it took 22 years for Putin to reach this goal. As for us all here it looks like it may take only 2 years.. and it appears it could be even more….
As per WaPo — This statement caused concern within the Russian business community. Representatives noted that individuals are looking for ways to withdraw their funds and leave the country before potential account freezes, The Washington Post wrote. Additionally, the finance ministry is preparing legislation to allow state access to $40 billion in private pension savings..
This is not going to bode well in Russia… or at this point heaven forbid here.. have said it’s going to be a bumpy ride but wasn’t expecting the Himalayas…
Stay safe and healthy.. it’s after 3am, going to peddle on that stationary bike..
We will have to see where this one goes. I could be the nail in the coffin of Putin's reign. I believe that narcissistic "saving face" allowed the Vietnam War to lastingly damage our nation's momentum for social justice. Simply put, war is mass murder, and in WWII I don't think we had much realistic choice but to fight the aggressors, but I think that war is really the very last place you want to go, and to this day I don't get why we "had" to fight in Vietnam.
Banks are already getting pressured to use cryptocurrency, because Trump and his buddies are up to their necks in that scam with their Russian oligarch friends.
It's not just "corruption"; it's the meticulously planned, methodically imposed destruction of the nation, the ecogenocidal weaponization of austerity and unvaccinated spread of disease included.
We've got to change how we define what is being done to us. This isn't Teapot Dome or Tonkin Gulf; it's not even Dallas on 22 November 1963. It's far worse. It includes rape and murder. It could well become doomsday. At the very least, it's Pearl Harbor without bombs.
I agree that doomsday could come of this and yes, it is an epic threat and an epic outrage. In the end the reality is always what matters more that what we call it, but I still call it corrupt insofar as I believe political corruption is the self-serving abuse of power. That occurs in small and subtle ways as well as in the darkest events in human history. Corruption can be found in any human society at any point in time, including genocide, slavery, sexual subjugation, racism, etc., but also extends to innumerable pedestrian interactions where fair play is Trumped. It's Roy Cohn's McCarthyist formula writ large, to demonize the innocent, fight to defend the guilty, normalize perfidy, and never, ever admit. It is the mob's prime tools of bribery and extortion. It's Caligula's "Let them hate so long as they fear". It defies Christianity with the cruelty of Jesus's tormentors. It is the antithesis of the Enlightenment philosophies embedded in the Declaration of Independence. It is evil.
Yet Vance got one thing right about how Watergate might escape more that fleeting notice today. Somehow the former "Party of Lincoln" and somehow the DNC, and our society as a whole, has accepted "elephant in the room" corruption of our political boundaries in far too many ways, for far too long. "Jim Crow" was corrupt as hell, but the party that HAD accepted the ilk of George Wallace,as well as the preponderance of our citizens, fought to "denormalize" it; while the former Party of Lincoln sold it’s soul. Yet with Reagan, Democrats lost much of their taste for rocking the boat, even when it could be seen to be heading for danger; and money became ever more deeply installed as a criterion of “electability”, as elections were increasingly “made for TV”. We are witnessing the collapse of “equal justice”, equal protection” rule of law, though even some Democrats seem to think that saying so is distasteful. No matter what we call it, I think we must unite against corruption in all of its guises, or else we’re done for.
You’ve committed to suicide get yourself a mirror. And now you’re bashing the Supreme Court, but you didn’t bash him so much when they were ruling in your direction with you nope, not a bit. I don’t remember you complaining about the abortion ruling interesting.
Cheeto and his Nazi Republican allies are working hard at gathering data against American citizens. The dictator has been assured by his fascist buddies Musk and Theil that one of the ways to control elections is to create as many digital footprints as possible from government agencies as reported yesterday at the Guardian. Of course this is against all privacy laws but Cheeto needs to cheat in every way possible to win. In the 21st century digital manipulation of voting machines and tabulation, state attorney generals need to preemptively be addressing this interference by cyber forensic audits that investigate tampering before and after tabulation. Not all precincts will need to be audited in such a way but spot checks should be available and where there is a question perform a forensic audit where necessary.
If you’re unfortunate to live in a red state that has turned over your registered voter data information, you should be worried about a Nazi Republican vigilante challenge of your upcoming ballot in November. Voters in these situations need to vote early so that if there is a challenge, you have time to cure your ballot. Best not to connect with the federal government unless absolutely have to.
There are multiple attacks on free and fair elections by the Nazi Republicans. WE have seen the attempts at the judicial level as well as SCOTUS which allowed for aggressive gerrymandering ploys. The SAVE Act threatens voter registration data as the bill states that if the rolls are not turned over, federal funding for states refusing to do so would have their funding limited or stopped. With Pulte heading up ODNI, there is another avenue of attack. But the digital manipulation of voting machines themselves is right up the tech alley of Musk and Theil and adds another layer of election interference and WE must be prepared for this tech onslaught. Reach out to your attorney general and ask about cyber forensic audits for upcoming elections.
Better yet: get rid of all the machines that are networked and only electronic. Especially those produced by companies now led by Trump supporters. Go back to paper ballots and mark-sense machines so that there is an audit trail. All this touch-screen balloting is simply a way to be able to change the result and leave no trace. Internet connected? Are they really asking us to trust it with a network connection? And possibly a Starlink connection? Do they think we're that stupid? Oh, I forgot. He loves the uninformed voter.
The use of both spot and focused when necessary cyber forensic audits would solve the machine digital manipulation before and after tabulation....both could have occurred in 2024.
You know it’s fucking idiots like you that are dragging the country down. But the good news is that the smart people are not paying any attention to you at all and continuing to make this country great again, despite all the haters. What a great world wouldn’t unbelievably successful president.
However there will come a time when tRump is gone and all of the presidents who follow will have the same abilities. It would seem the court is incapable of projecting potential actions of future presidents. Extraordinarily short sighted besides morally corrupt. They are blindly promoting political instability for the foreseeable future. Poor pathetic synchophants.
They are not that naive. They do this willing, conscious and deliberate. Why? Because there is no future. There also no “we the people.” To them, there is only “me”, “now”, and grabbing as much money as possible in that now. They don’t care jack shit about anyone else, or anybody who should come after.
$COTUS has been colluding with the the president (who after all hired some of them) to sideline Congress (Tho this Congress has been sidelineing itself).
We have not seen even HALF of what he CAN and WILL do.
Protect yourself against him.
I heard that some very smart scientists are moving to the forest to live off the land because this little warming situation will cause NO sustenance.... from anywhere else..
Yeah, get out there and have another no King’s march their jail we love to watch you intellectual failures make idiots of yourself make fools of yourself in public. Let’s see we’re gonna have a no Kings march but in countries that have a king if you have a march against the king you get your head cut off yet all of you idiots made it back home safe and sound real realizing hey wait we don’t have a King otherwise we would be dead right now. Ooooops. Just a little tiny oversight, huh?
That’s exactly what you are M Aaron a sync fan. Donald Trump is arguably the best president ever in the United States has the most successful presidency and currently rocketing the American that we know in love to new Heights, not only here but around the world. Bringing democracy everywhere and enlightening the public to the greatness of the United States of America. Soccer fans are going apeshit over this country, loving every minute of it and can’t believe it the freedom and the pleasant tree of the people.
And of course they’re not seeing any of you here because you’re sitting in your house with one finger in your nose and one finger up your ass piss as hell that America is being so successful
At what planet are you living on these days Greg? The Supreme Court was fine when they voted in the abortion ruling I didn’t hear you complaining. But when they turned it into a democratic issue and sending it back to the voters, then you got pissed and you know why because you lost control and that’s all you care about nothing more.
Heather Cox Richardson, we all know are are a real-time historian. Are you sure you were never a law professor? Maybe hanging out with Barbara McQuade? Professor Joyce Vance?
Anyway, your analysis of the Rebecca Slaughter case rivals SCOTUSblog.
I believe a neurologist would label her cognitive skills "HF" - 'high functioning'. Looking forward to tonight's analysis of Trump's birthright case, big loss.
Did you hear how stupid you just sounded Brianne? Listen to the sentence you just posted here a real time historian. That’s about his oxymoronic comet as I’ve ever heard in my entire life a real time historian. Yikes.
Assuming the country survives the next two and a bit years, the next president, also assuming them to be Democrat, can, and should go through, line by line, every action of this band of robbers and reverse these catastrophic errors. First up, double SCOTUS.
I read her comment as saying that the Muslims are not corrupted, so focusing on one group but not in a negative way. I don’t know if that counts as “-ist.”
Peter, in addition to Susan Weinstein's accurate interpretation of Ms. Dyer's comment, I would suggest that if anyone is committing a racism here, it is you. Muslims are comprised of all races, including millions of Caucasians worldwide. To equate a religious tradition with a race or ethnicity is to be uninformed.
Pew Research, a respectable research organization, notes that 41% of American Muslims are white.
These decisions are not bugs--they are features. And this illegitimate court is not composed of philosophical originalists, however misguided, but rather of corrupt and jaded opportunists, traitors to their robes and their country.
“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.”
– John Adams
It is the public that destroys kings, and those that want to be such. We, the public, need to get busy.
Do you think it is possible that the "blue wave" in '28 will be such that these SCOTUS rulings will give great power to a president who is actually aware of the great responsibility that comes with the office? It may provide the power to more expeditiously reverse all the bad decisions and go forward with accountability.
You are a country of laws, first and foremost, and that, not patriotic duty to country, is what actually secures and protects your democratic rights. This administration refuses to accept the rule of law, either at home or abroad.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2026/mar/17/trump-is-aiming-for-dictatorship-thats-the-verdict-of-the-worlds-most-credible-democracy-watchdog
Not anymore. As an attorney, I feel like my law license is a joke.
Pro-democracy organizations, including the DNC, continue to win most lawsuits against neofascist executive orders coming from the GOP, for now.
So make sure you don't fall into anticipatory obedience!
Russell is perfectly right.
What makes you think that I would fall into anticipatory obedience? I literally went to law school at age 50 to hold the government accountable.
Perhaps depending which courts you practice in. But it’s distressing to hear you say this.
The rule of law is supposed to apply everywhere and should be upheld by attorneys, judges, members of Congress, and especially the President whose job description is to literally uphold and execute the laws. If it’s not everywhere, it’s nowhere.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." -- Lincoln
That and our commitment to protect and abide by laws established with the consent of the governed, which is not possible if one faction or another successfully takes over; something the Constitution was specifically written to try to prevent. As I have said before, the Constitution is only a recipe for justice, but we the living, in each generation, imbue it with life. Saboteurs have been installed in the Supreme Court to short circuit its mission. Enough of us in solidarity may still manage to keep it alive. Working against this is the entire "Republican" party and a cohort of zillionaires. Underlying all the whoopdeedo, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence reminds us of the most serious matters.
You need to find another Giuseppe Garibaldi.
No! It's never ONE individual, a Savior, who stops fascism. Democracy is always the work of the "demos", the people - whether it's installing it, maintaining it, or restoring it.
EUWDTB, you are right about it never being one man (or woman) who can stop fascism or its equivalents. One person can get things rolling, give a direction or ideas as to what can be done, but it is, as you say, the people who do the work of making the necessary change. That's us!
Exactly. One person, IF very charismatic, can be great to rally the troops, but as we saw with Obama too, once that person truly gets to work and there are no more charismatic speeches, many people get distracted or become cynical again and then progress is much slower than what it could have been.
In this case, we need a MOVEMENT to first restore democratic governance (that alone will easily take four years) and then gradually continue to build on the Obama/Pelosi/Reid/Biden/Harris legacy.
None of this is possible without a longterm movement, it cannot be done by just one charismatic individual, no matter how exceptional that individual may be (as the Obamas were).
EUWDTB, you are so right. There are a lot of really intelligent folks with a lot of skills, abilities, and understanding of how the world works who can work together to make what you describe happen. It is going to take time, but the more people who are involved at all levels, the higher the quality will be because we will have input from many and hopefully a commitment from many, too. We can do this! I think there is a will. I also think Barack and Michele Obama could take leadership in this because they know how to listen, to work with people, and to include their ideas in a plan for the future of our democracy. All the people you named who are still with us should definitely be involved too..
Obama was exceptional, and left the presidency with the nation in much better shape than when he began it, but he was not the reformer I think we are needing. You are absolutely right that a president or any such figure, even a tyrant, is powerless without public support. Lincoln said “In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” and I think that is true, yet democracy by design is herding cats. There are some who can inspire and clarify in ways the help a movement grow, a direction around which support can gather, but they can arise from anywhere, as Greta Thunberg did as the "adult in the room" in the climate debate. And as always; public focus is mercurial, and no battle is won forever. Leaders have a critical role, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. The people are always the underlying engine of social power.
Yes, if only a modern day Garibaldi, unifier of Italy, could unify the USA! Seems fitting that he was born on July 4 ;)
I have to say, there comes a moment when you have to stop compromising, understand that your cause does have enemies, that your enemies have principles and goals that can never ever be reconciled with your own - for instance that SOME people have more rights than OTHERS- and show who's boss. Garibaldi came to that conclusion even before he went to Italy, it seems to me. It wasn't "Austrians" he was fighting, but mostly Italians who had different beliefs..
Garibaldi was a dictator indeed.
What we need it the END of dictatorship in the US and the restoration of democracy. And democracy always means compromising.
The problem is that MAGA-Fascism does not believe in Equality Solidarity Freedom as the basis for living together. They don't believe in the democratic republic or the laws that express those goals. A good example is elections. According to them elections are fraudulent because they don't win because people who shouldn't vote are voting even if they have no reasonable grounds for believing that. So, how do you compromise with people who don't compromise?
FYI, Garibaldi was a General and the dictator of Sicily, before militarily conquering the rest of Italy.
In this case, our enemy IS fascism, so no, we definitely don't need a pro-fascist General to restore democracy!
'I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence." -- Lincoln
JL, I don't go along with that. I get it that power corrupts, but many people are trustworthy, probably most people. We need ways to distinguish among those who are and are not trustworthy.
Trump has never been trustworthy, being a liar at least all his adult life. He cheated in business dealings at all levels and was only saved because people thought he was richer than he actually was, perpetrated by the lies Trump told everyone about himself, his wealth, and what he had done and could do.
All people make mistakes, but that does not make them untrustworthy. Adams was not willing, it seems, to trust anyone who didn't agree with him and his worldview. He was a great man, but was flawed too, just like the rest of us.
I disagree that most people are trustworthy. My 88 years of observing and experience tell me thus. And I have lived a remarkably fulfilled life.
Adam's was indeed flawed, as all of us have limitations to varying degrees, but he was not a cynic with respect to trust, but cautious to insist on "guardrails" where the public entrusts governmental power to individuals. A free society is impossible without earned trust, nor are real friendships or marriages. The highest form of freedom exists within an atmosphere of mutual trust. Yet we are obliged to also be prepared for errors and selfishness. Adams also said "“Power must never be trusted without a check.” by which I take to mean a strategy to head off and/or correct misuses of entrusted power. I know a successful artist whose financial manager was ripping he and his wife off. It's all too common. In order to enjoy and build an environment of trust, we have to plan to discourage and correct abuses, and those in positions of exceptional power present that greatest risk to others if the use of that power is not held accountable; and we know from examples like Hitler or Epstein of the damage that is possible when arbitrary power is allowed to stray too far.
There are a few exceptions, but this Court's default position is that whatever Trump argues he must have in order to really screw things up that were working pretty well before he got there, he must have. Whatever he asserts as a presidential power (in spite of decades of precedent that clearly state otherwise), he must be given it, no matter what.
But that is NOT the default position of the Constitution, which set up each branch in such a way as to check the power of the other two. No branch is supposed to rubber-stamp any other. There is no Constitutional concept of a "unitary executive" -- it doesn't exist in any of our founding documents. Every high school course on American history and government ever taught says the same thing. It has no more validity than a "unitary legislative" (an impossibility given the bipartisan nature of Congress) or a "unitary judiciary" (with its long history of dissenting opinions).
Last January, Trump chucked out almost every Inspector General that used to operate within virtually all executive branch agencies. Those IGs had been the first defense against waste, fraud, abuse or misuse of funds, program ineffectiveness. Established by Jimmy Carter back in 1976, they were meant to be the canaries within the agency coal mines. Congress relied on IG reports and findings to know whether the Executive was, in fact, actually doing its job of "faithfully executing" laws and statutes. Anyone who's ever worked within a federal agency knows this. The IGs themselves did not report to the head of their agency -- they were Senate-approved independent watchdogs, granted autonomy and discretion by law.
When Trump got rid of the guardians watching over the public henhouses and replaced them all with hungry foxes, it should have been the first sign to everyone (justices included) that power was being misused *against* the American people, not for them.
This is all basic, elemental stuff. That six Justices ignored all of this in favor of rubber-stamping the wishes of a preening, power-hungry idiot with a long history of screwing up everything he touches, replacing subject matter experts with wormtongues and lapdogs, goes against every concept of limited power our Founders created as a template, which we were supposed to follow just as "faithfully" as the President was supposed to "faithfully" execute the laws passed by Congress.
"Representing the government, Solicitor General John Sauer told the court that the president must be able to remove officials in the agencies because 'the President must have *the power to control* and…the one who has *the power to remove* is the one who…is the person that they have *to fear and obey*.'” (Asterisks are mine) And from the horse's mouth, we have the admission that this had nothing to do with article II; it was all about "power, control, fear, and obeyance." Those reasons are the antithesis to our Constitution. Impeachment cannot come soon enough.
Yeah, those statement caught my attention as well. That doesn't should like a government that works for the People, but rather the hallmarks of a dictatorship.
Me thinks one of the things to be investigated is the "behind the scenes" relationships between Mr. Sauer, and our esteemed SC Justices. Something isn't passing the smell test here, and it usually has Sauer ( Sour?) on site.
Edwin Meese. Reagan AG when this all started. Keeps popping up in Amici briefs.
How does Meese, of whom I shudder to be reminded, “keep popping up in briefs”?
Good News. in the "birthright Case" opinion this AM. Trump vs Barbara. Barb prevailed 6-3.
Fear, FFS.
Fear and obey. WTAF?
Actually, before he was #45 the Federalist Society asked him to fire merit selected government officials appointed under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, and appoint his own people. The spoils system. We've had a civil service since about 1882.
Trump ran on "deep state" paranoia butressed by a few radical law professors who alleged that "administrative law" was not in the Constitution, despite the fact that adminstrtions since Washingoton used it. They disregard the Administrative Procedure Act, a mini Constitution that requires due process and sets out rulemaking that GWB and Trump found too restrictive.
Just ask the fearful, demurred women that can’t wait for positive comments to satiate their need for access to power otherwise.
Women are his first target. All sycophancy is to his delight.
Evil personified as power seeking and domination elixir.
And Riad, do you think this DOJ will sign off on his impeachment? No, of course they won't. Not today and not when he runs again in 2028. When he refuses to leave our house who is going to remove him? The DOJ?
WE WILL!! And once we get there, it ain't just HIM we're taking out!!
Apparently it's supposed to be done by coup. You know, organizing a mob and then pardoning and paying them once power is secured. DJT approves of this method, how could he object?
"power, control, fear, and obeyance” = far right Christian nationalism.
How can impeachment happen when the Supreme Court has taken away any power that Congress had and have given it to the president? How do these people sleep at night with all of their cruelty, corruption, cheating, lying, destruction of our country, allowing us to stay in a war that Trump started completely on his own!! I have nightmares and they sleep peacefully in the luxury of their ill-gotten wealth… 🤯
Mary Ellen, the Supreme Court, at least the 6 of whom we associate with this rabble of a "president," cannot stop the impeachment mechanics originating in the House and matriculating to the Senate. After the midterms finish, and assuming that the decay has not gone to the root of our Constitutional form of government or the elections haven't been subverted to the right wing's whim, we still have a chance to break this man and his sycophants from the foundations of the Constitution and all that entails. We are entering a phase, I believe, where the public now must take control. I must admit, as I sit here in my home, taking care of my wife battling two neurological disabilities with all that entails, I am having a hard time fathoming a course of action myself. We are approaching, if not already, at the precipice.
Thank you, Riad, for your explanation and your encouragement. I am 88 years old and am exhausted from spending so much time trying to keep up with all of the craziness of Trump and his worshippers! I needed to hear from someone that we still have a chance to break this malignant psychopath. I want to see him when he no longer has power and when he is finally punished for all of his atrocities! Again, thank you for responding!
You’re welcome, Mary Ellen. I feel your anxiety. At the age of 76, I also am angry that we all have to put up with this moron. We will get through.
Thank you, Daniel Kunsman. That’s the spirit we need to see on this terrible day which can get worse.
Impeachment or Article 25 are not happening. There is not a Super Majority in Congress, now or in November that will even consider this...and his "Cabinet"?
What we have to do with our votes in the mid terms is to do a little fear instilling ourselves. The remaining Rethug Senators need to understand that WE the PEOPLE are on the warpath and they are the target zone.
Sadly, the justices did that to reach the goal set by the Reaganites to cement power in such a way that no democratic president could undo their changes. Mitch McConnell’s reason for living these last 70+ years. He must be orgasmic tonight. The rest of us will be having nightmares.
Every President has fired some IGs during his term of office, including Biden and Reagan, but none ever chucked the whole lot out the door and replaced them with dumb stooges. That is simply unprecedented.
Every single thing trump has done since taking office has been unprecedented. He has been allowed to do pretty much whatever he wants and the Supreme Court is no longer ruling in favor of the people. We are being destroyed from within.
SCOTUS has thrown America under the bus.
But, SCOTUS upheld Defendant Barbra's birthright citizenship this AM 6-3.
No more opinions this Term.
They’ve been doing that for a long time. The Roberts Court has ruled for wealth and business at every turn, handing over our nation and democracy to those who have no interest in its health and welfare. Quite the opposite.
Find the dark money, the power hungry wanting an elusive Utopia of Norman Rockwell’ian “niceness” amongst their kin, hatred to others. Fully self-benighted to think they are exclusively the bearers of “truth” when they succor power and money that never satisfies and is their own bed of thorns they want others to suffer (vulture capitalism in the halls of governance).
Is McConnell still sentient at this point?
Is Trump?
No.
No, he is no longer sentient. Actually never was. No “fellow feeling.” It’s obvious. Only racism and money.
AI says it’s not confirmed he’s still hospitalized but also says he’s ’communicating with his staff.’ Dang.
Maybe he'll do a Fetterman in reverse. As he recovers he becomes a progressive. /s
DJT does cause nightmares and those nightmares have the potential to cause suicidal ideation. Do you suppose when project 2025 was being developed suicide was a spoken but not written down goal? If enough fear can be created will people give up and commit suicide? Is that what the authors of project 2025 have hoped for from the beginning? Leaving just enough serfs to carry out orders.
Maybe it will give him an orgasmic MI!
JD, I hope he is suffering tonight.
Yes, well said ICTT. Firing the IGs should have sent the entire Congress into Impeachment Mode. A bipartisan revolt should have ensued immediately.
The six justices who just crowned Trump "King of America" did so not out of principle, not out of some deeply held ideological reasoning, not out of thoughtful Constitutional analysis.
The six slaves of oligarchy made this decision, like several others, out of FEAR. They know that when American government returns to sanity, decency and a truer democracy they will have targets on their backs.
At least three of them have been bought by Leonard Leo and his billionaire backers. Impeachment is what they have nightmares about. They SHOULD be afraid. Very afraid. Because the people will be demanding their removal and imprisonment.
This is the same fear that haunts Trump and Vance and this administrations team of thieves and terrorists. Hence the insistence on depriving people of the ability and right to vote.
Any leader or politician who doesn't want voting to be as easy, accessible and simple as possible is afraid of the voters. Afraid of majority rule. Afraid of democracy. Afraid of accountability. We are their worst nightmares. We are brainworms of justice and we are not going anywhere. We are coming for them.
Are we nearing a "Pelican Brief" moment? When I read the book I thought it was impossible to feel compelled to kill Supreme Court Justices. John Grisham and Stephen King have both written dystopian novels that are nearing reality. And, of course George Orwell.
I won't be surprised by anything. Pandora's Box was opened long ago.
Stacey Abrams is a good read as well.
340M citizens. Most eking out a living. Others not wanting to lose what they’ve got and buy into the fears pounded into subconscious by the RW media ecosystem. RW media expanded by oligarchical monopolies and no anti-trust. JD Rockefeller would be pleased to see the modern robber barons ensconced into government.
I agree with everything you said and you said it so well. Now, I ask, what can we do about it? November is a long way off and Trump can, and will, do a lot more damage in the meantime.
🎯💥
Fear and profit. Especially Thomas.
ICTT, in your opinion as a political scientist, how did the court get to this point? Was it simply being Repubs who moved as the party moved? Do they have a particular affinity for Trump himself (God forbid)? How did they get to where THEY too want to crap on the American people and reject precedent and the Constitution. Their movement seems like the ultimate corruption.
I think the answer to your question is "Opus Dei".
OD is certainly a self-serving institution too. Corrupt, even.
We are of the Elightenment, which superseded (for Jefferson, etc.) Galileo and the emperors. At least we were. Now we may have thrown away our whole accomplishment because of greed, racism, and just plain stupidity. Is anybody but us here still reading?
I too am a political scientist by academic training. It's often been said that this regime is the tip of the iceberg, the logical endpoint of a long-term project by the right, and I would agree with that. The executive branch has been chipping away at checks and balances for decades. The most notable way has been in how our military has been used. “Declaration of war” by Congress, for example, is now nothing more than a quaint notion written on parchment. I doubt we ever fight in a “declared” war again. The path was laid over many years.
The right did their homework on what it would take to destroy democracy and good governance. I've long thought of it as guerilla warfare (or maybe lawfare). In this form of conflict, the guerrillas win by attacking the best AND the worst of the other side. The best are the brains, who are quietly sidelined. The worst are the hangers on who were never very good at their jobs, and they become the poster children for our “incompetence” etc. That's why the other side gets away with all this projection.
It's been going on for decades, interrupted by the occasional spasm of pushback when we get a Democrat in the WH, but the trend is unmistakable. Now the regime is accelerating the guerrilla war, looking to finish us off.
Somewhere along the way, or more likely at several critical junctures, the GOP abandoned its faith in the democratic republic that we are supposed to be. Both parties fight to win, but the concept of fighting fair was discarded in the service of gaining absolute power. Traditional Democrats who are averse to fighting dirty still rely on norms that basically no longer exist. A new generation, though, is becoming our guerrilla army. It's why I place my faith in those fighters, who recognize that what we fight for still matters, but the way we fight has to change.
I find the notion of fighting a guerilla war when one holds virtually all the reins of power somewhat strange. I agree that this power move by the right in America has been long in gestation and pursued at many levels - from the rejection of science that conflicts either with deeply held beliefs or business interests right down to the membership of school boards to try and control the contents of pupils' education.
But you're right that the Trump administration often behaves or speaks like there are other supervening forces - often collectively referred to as the Deep State - that are somehow able to thwart the administration's ambitions, whether they are recalcitrant judges, bothersome media, political opponents or just angry protesters. Trump's almost manic obsession with seeking retribution against these various forms of opposition and independence indicates a profound paranoia incongruously accompanying his growing presidential powers.
Great questions to ask. I'm not sure I can come up with a quip to 'splain it all away. Had Justice Ginsberg retired earlier, had McConnell not tried to subvert the entire judicial-nominating process twice (not just once), we'd have a very different court, it would seem. That's just for starters.
Had Pelosi held W accountable, had Merrick Garland not hemmed and hawed about holding Trump accountable, had Mueller not pussyfooted around the conclusion that Trump committed crimes, had Barr not lied about the contents of the Mueller report, had Congress impeached Reagan for arms for hostages and practicing foreign relations with Iran before he was president (same with Nixon scuttling the Paris Peace Accords), had the Democratic party woken up after the GOP declared war and taken good faith off the table with Reagan, Atwater, and Gingrich, the list goes on and on, and still we have elected officials who were not the strongest people to hold those positions. Chuck Schumer and his strongly worded letters and deep concern is a perfect example. Also, Democrats and liberals keep letting themselves be defined by radical MAGA pronouncements to the point where they believe that Bernie Sanders is a take away private property socialist instead of the old school middle of the road Democrat that he is. He and Eisenhower share a lot of the same ideals.
Trump lost Trump vs Barbara this morning the citizen ship case. Barb is a citizen! SCOTUS 6-3.
In a just and law-abiding world it would have been a slam-dunk 9-0 decision.
The justices lied. When they claimed that things like abortion rights were already set by precedent, and they would not overturn those laws, they lied. Plain and simple.
Abortion rights WERE set by precedent. I remember celebrating the decision. But this court has thrown away stare decisis. (AI doesn’t know the Latin, so we can keep it doing the hacking and the hewing. —Apologies to Monty Python.)
I think the point is that they lied about respecting stare decisis, not that abortion rights were not settled law by precedent.
The wealth of people like Musk and Thiel had a lot to do with it. Citizens United and McCutcheon both institutionalized corruption, by flooding democracy with money and changing the definition of corruption in campaign finance from an appearance of corruption to an actionable quid pro quo. We went from a moderately free market to an oligarchy.
Fear mongering has a lot to do with it as well. The GOP, in bad faith, have been hammering away at the idea that Democrats and liberals are godless communists who want to destroy the American Way of Life. It goes back to Reagan, Atwater, and especially Newt Gingrich. Meanwhile, we’ve had Democratic leaders who have pretended that the GOP has been operating in good faith. Merrick Garland dragging his feet for 2 years has a lot to do with how we got here. Nancy Pelosi taking impeachment off the table for W also contributed to the message that the GOP could do anything they wanted to, including lie to the American people and murder hundreds of thousands, with impunity. We have a political system that relies on good faith actors and we have been taken in by grifters and charlatans.
For a long time, I have said (not here) that the Supreme Court is THE seat of power in the United States, more powerful than any other branch or agency in the government. I don't think many people agreed with me.
My argument has been that no matter what the Executive Branch says or does, the Supreme Court has the last word on whether the Executive can do what it wants. No matter what laws the Legislative Branch passes, the Supreme Court has the last word on whether those laws are "constitutional." Even the Department of Justice is subject to the will of the Supreme Court.
Much to my horror, the Roberts Court is proving me right.
Until recently, we thought the Supreme Court's job was to apply the U.S. Constitution to disputes that arise from modern-world problems, given that the framers never anticipated situations created by modern technology and knowledge. Instead, the Roberts Court is operating in exactly the same manner as conservative Christians, who view the world through a preconceived set of beliefs, then claiming to rest on the authority of the Bible, they cherrypick text that supports their notions and disregard or twist the text that doesn't support their views.
🦉Thank you for saying that sooooooo much more eloquently than I did. I no longer have the patience to write that much.🦉
And if Tramp is so bored with being President, 🥱he should just go to sleep. Oh, that IS what he does.....🥱🥱😴𝔃𝔃𝔃𝔃
Florida affirms Heritage Foundation education priorities, first state to do so
https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/11/13/florida-affirms-heritage-foundation-education-priorities-first-state-to-do-so/
I sure hope David Jolly becomes Florida's next governor. It's going to take a long time to undo all of the damage done by DeSantis and Scott. Of course, the FL legislature are filled far-right racist Fascists, so it's going to be tough going.
Texas right on their heels!
On the call-in part of C-span yesterday, the moderator read the results of polls on how Americans see the current incarnation of the Republic and on how the Founding Fathers would view what America has turned out to be. 🗽
Though my grey matter doth shrinketh, something like two-thirds to three-quarters of our fellows surveyed stated their own pessimism or the sentiment that the Founding Fathers would be disappointed.💔
The Foundings Fathers would be okay with how the constitutional machinery has turned out, but they would be disappointed in us. ¿Why? For lacking the republican virtue (i.e., higher-minded common sense) to use that machinery well.🫣
Your last paragraph is a succinct assessment.
I had to go back and forth, three times, to figure out (I believe, now) this referred to ICTT;s substantial post. Am I correct??
Hendrik, I traced the line with some difficulty. Yes, Ally is referring to ICTT's last paragraph near the top of the comments.
"Placement" is a wrinkle Substack might want to think about adjusting. Thanks for the confirmation.
I now get a lot of notifications about "replies" to things I never wrote, but somehow ended up in the pile. Substack has gotten worse about that, not better. Hard to fix.
Yes. Shoulda put “ICCT” in the comment.
A very good suggestion. Now all I have to do is remember to . . .
You and me both!
It's Come to This, thanks for this summary. Every single American should know this, includinG our Roberts 6, but alas, knowing it doesn't mean they will heed it. They are for Trump and his oligarchs and are most likely gaining significant largess for their rulings. That is evident since their rulings since "Citizens United" have been outrageous in their refusal to follow precedent and their bowing to an ignoramus, Donald Trump who has nothing positive to offer anyone and the justices know it. That means they are colluding with Trump in working to undermine our democracy. To me, that is treason, the enemy within who does the damage foreign invaders can't do.
We the People are GOING to have to set things right. The founders did not want an all-powerful Supreme Court. It was supposed to look at some cases to make sure they followed the constitution. They were not to overrule laws passed by Congress and signed by the president, just because. Their reasoning for nearly everything these days, at least those rulings I have read or heard discussed are not well-supported with evidence. It is clear someone is pulling their strings. I am guessing it is Trump and his white house toddler pool directing the action. They dictate the outcome for cases they WANT to go a certain way and the justices are forced to support that decision. One can't help but wonder what Trump and his MAFIA crew have on those justices that they will bow to a bunch of anti-American ignoramuses and fools who hate this nation and want our wealth for themselves and the rest of us held as their slaves, left in poverty so we can be more easily controlled. Well, our answer to that insanity must be "NO!"
This is corruption at every level against our Constitution. “We the People “ need to do more than rallies. HELP
Well said!
I look back on this and find its roots in the deliberate and unconscionable tear down of public education.
Do you know of ANY public school that teaches Civics and History combined so that our youngest learn early the “WHYs” of how our government is structured?
I find myself educating anyone younger than 60 about these most basic concepts including the separation of powers.
They don’t understand the danger.
Instead they get all caught up in the populist bile about immigration, stealing the vote, and expanding American power through the military instead of international leadership.
The founders were well aware that these political pin ball wizards would in effect use government to fill their pockets. Such has come to pass as predicted. Every effort must be to sweep them out of the government and put them in chains.
Trump is a FKN moron who is getting played big time by Mark Carney and the Canadians.
This is brilliant review of Carney's speech in New York to the Economic Club. You may recall that Trump made a total ass out of himself when he spoke to the Club in 2024. And yet, the titans of industry still supported him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG2oT9c3GEI
In reviewing your suggested watch it raised me to my old combat sense of heightened scrutiny as when something was amiss. May just be Ai.
I considered that as well, but it is really really good, compared to many of the AI fakes I've seen. But, it could be.
GJ...thank you for sharing that. I was hoping there was a link to Carney's speech in the video. I'll have to look it up. The speaker looks so familiar to me. Who is she?
No idea who she is, but she is very smart IMO.
I've been digging around. She certainly sounds smart, but I believe in transparency. I used Google search engine to inquire about it. If you click more info on the YouTube site, it shows 3 videos only and they started June 16, 2026. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but there is no information on who is behind it. She doesn't introduce herself. Why? I admit I am not familiar with how YouTube works. Here is another new (April) YouTube site with a woman talking who sounds very smart called CRITIC Show. She too doesn't introduce herself. Note the video graphics are soooo similar to Advacody Fletcher.
Who should we believe the fascist majority on SCOTUS are channeling to reach their "originalist" opinions? Certainly not any patriots at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Maybe some British Royalists who lost the War of Independence and fled to Britain or British Canada because they loved King George.
I'm pretty sure, they think "originalist" means, contrary to logical interpretation.
Their agenda does not touch any historical American intellectual recollection. Their agenda does not provide any safe bases in this rhetorical game of baseball. The umpire studied the little blue rule book of the John Birch society made anew and added more poison by the 2025 malaise. New game in town. Replace the umpire but keep it secret. I think the crowd that loves baseball knows the fix is in.
Tommy the original pin ball wizard! Actually worth checking out again because some very amazing links to intergenerational trauma. And he was great.
🤞
“The [Roman] Republic had in reality ceased to exist long before the establishment of the Empire. The interval was filled by ferocious, corrupt, and bloody factions. There was, indeed, a small but patriotic body of eminent individuals who struggled in vain to correct abuses and to restore the government to its . . . purity, and who sacrificed their lives in their endeavors to accomplish an object so virtuous and noble.”
--John C. Calhoun, ‘A Disquisition on Government’; 1848.
Brilliant. Thank you, Ned.
Thank you, Sir.
Ned McDoodle, bringing in John Calhoun today is unbearable. 🤣?😭?
And that is the irony of it, ¿isn't it? We have a president and his team treason who make Vice President Calhoun relevant and President Nixo a boy scout.
Well said Ned. Romans had a lot to atone for. The parallel you sweep into view does mirror historical events. Slavery was still big. The influence of the gods was waning as Christianity gained popularity with the dispossessed. Wealth had certainly gone to the one percent. Professional armies changed leadership in foreign nations. So I thought our founders had accounted for most of that? What happened to create so much uncontrolled corruption as to bring democracy to its dark test? We all need to sink our teeth into something we can swallow or we’ll starve.
''King Don Gets His Crown Polished''
There are moments when corruption tries to wear a tie and speak in constitutional footnotes. Then there is Donald Trump, who hears that 90 years of precedent has been overruled to expand presidential power and immediately prints the trophy plaque.
Normally, the polite legal script would say “restoring executive control” or “clarifying separation of powers.” Trump skipped the wrapping paper and went straight to, “Great news, I have more power.” Subtle as a casino sign, but at least honest in the way a pickpocket is honest when he waves your wallet.
The theory is called the unitary executive, because “president can do whatever he wants” sounds too much like what it is. In this version of government, Congress may create independent agencies, experts may spend decades building professional standards, and the public may expect consumer safety, clean air, honest markets, and nuclear oversight. Then one man walks in, points to Article II, and says, “Mine.”
The most revealing line came from the government’s own lawyer, who argued that officials must know whom they “fear and obey.” That is not a theory of democratic administration. That is a mob boss explaining office culture.
And now the court has opened the door for independent agencies to become loyalty clubs. Scientists out, flatterers in. Economists out, donors in. Public servants out, family friends in. If your toaster explodes, your bank cheats you, your data gets sold, or a nuclear safety board becomes a praise circle, please understand that freedom is having fewer people qualified to help you.
Meanwhile, Trump calls a bipartisan housing bill “a yawn” while demanding a voter ID law that helps lock his party in power. Housing families? Boring. Protecting democracy? Optional. Expanding presidential control? Historic, monumental, beautiful.
The spoils system is back, baby, and this time it has a Supreme Court stamp.
I have seen something somewhere that reverberates. You didn’t by any chance write “COMMON SENSE”….?
How the hell a have these people EVER ruled as “originalists”? It’s all precedent when it favors GOP and all mumbo jumbo…”this what we think the founders thought 250 years ago”
“Originalist” is an excuse to rule against common sense, a modern America and progressive ideas.
“Originalist”….please…this court couldn’t exist if we went with “originalists”. Thomas and Jackson were 3/5 a person. Four out of nine are women who couldn’t even vote at the time. Italians and Catholics?
Yes, let’s take a Time Machine back to the 1770s. Let’s dream what they originally thought. Let’s not even discuss what they originally SAID. what they originally WROTE . what they originally RADIFIED.
Like LOTS of talk and writin about separation of church and state. Tons of actual writings, documents, SIGNED by the way by all of them. Staying pretty clearly they thought an established religion of any kind was really bad. Didn’t want it. ORIGINALLY! Wanted it separate all together from laws and government.
How about freedom of the press and assembly. Wanted that too. Not citizens shot dead for disagreeing. How about guns. These Originalists LOVE the first sentence. Right to bear arms! But always ignore the second one that says it should be well REGULATED. As in someone other than the gun owner has a say in regulating guns.
These people aren’t originalists. They’re clever defense attorneys for their client, the GOP.
It's not the GOP. It is Opus Dei and the oligarchs.
It is as you say completely illegitimate. It is not a real court.
EPSTEIN EPSTEIN EPSTEIN.
Yes, & you'll note that the only thing they are keeping sacrosanct for now is "the Fed". You know the agency responsible for MONETARY POLICY! Well, thank goodness they saw fit to protect that! And why is that? Well, the Justices' patrons need security in their financial holdings & they're not going to get that with a Fed that sits at the mercy of a donald trump!
Return, you are so right here. It was the first thing I thought when I heard about the decision. Our Roberts 6 don't present a decision unless they are sure it will benefit themselves, their Baby Donnie, and his oligarchic buddies in some way. That is simply wrong and those folks need to be held accountable, both the Roberts 6 and the oligarchs who have made such demands of our court.
Absolutely Annabel. The most astonishing part of today’s news isn’t that the diapered lunatic in the Oval Office sought more power.
It’s that six Supreme Court justices looked at the situation and effectively said, “Yes, that seems like an excellent idea.”
History tends to be less interested in the ambitions of powerful individuals than in the people who enabled them.
If they’re prepared to keep expanding the powers of someone repeatedly described as ‘unfit for office’ (to put it mildly), all six should removed from office by conviction in the United States Senate.
And our "fave" Clarence Thomas was photographed coming out of Mike Johnson's office Monday--he is apparently trolling for votes to destroy all the laws protecting LGBTQ folks and their right to marry.
Linda, one wonders just what that conversation was and who was making the threats!
True—the MAGA majority could not get any less competent or more disingenuous. But they do make a phenomenal argument for one thing: expanding the court asap to overturn a whole slew of rulings including Citizens United, Dobbs and this one.
Please use the CORRECT word here: NEOFASCISTS.
FASCISM means that the power of the legislative and judicial branches of government are "bundled" ("fasces" = "bundle" in Latin) into the power of the executive, in other words, Congress and the courts are subordinated to the White House.
THAT is what neoliberals have always wanted. The founders of neoliberalism are on the record, claiming that "democracy and capitalism are incompatible".
Peter Thiel, who bankrolls Vance's career, already said the same thing and called for a fascist regime publicly in 2019.
"Unitary Executive theory" is just a fancy name for neofascism.
It is THE goal of the GOP today. As their clown in chief said, everything else is just a big "yawn".
We know this. The larger issue is what are we going to do about it. It appears we the people are screwed unless we rise up in the manner of Hungry or Albania. Waiting for the midterms to save us is a fool's errand. Why? Because we keep electing the same exact people. These incumbents have been behind the scenes bending the knee to the MAGA for 11 years. They like to call it bipartisanship. I call it receiving money from the same PACs. These consultant-designed, PAC soaked, colluding politicians (corporate centrists) in the Democratic Party spew righteous declarations of overturn Citizens United! or affordability! while doing nothing. Want proof? Look where we are right this minute.
How can a Party whose Leaders support genocide, display a willingness to use our money on bombing children, and play victim at every turn save us? It can't and won't because Schumer has openly sworn to put Israel above the United States.
The most disastrous thing we voters in the Democratic Party are doing is to continue to play Charlie and Lucy football with the Democratic Party. How in the name of everything normal could this Party lose to an evil joke (twice)?
I am looking away from this Party to a new vital wing, the Democratic Socialists of America. Triggered? Then I invite folks to 1. learn exactly what socialism is and 2. look to NYC and see socialism in action with May Mamdani.
When I listen to what the DSA people are saying I feel hope. I stopped feeling that a long time ago.
Nothing original about corruption!
Best description I’ve ever read.
Legal doctrines like Originalism and the Unitary Executive have always seemed to me to be post-hoc rationalisations of the right in seeking unfettered access to power.
Exactly. The Founders didn’t divide power because they assumed presidents could always be trusted. They divided it because they understood human nature. The real question isn’t whether any one president should have this authority. It’s whether the presidency itself should.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
A war as critical as any, Iran is not in jeopardy, we are
No one is safe with maniacs in power.
And his enablers.
Including quiet Democrats. May all yawners be revealed while the calamaties clarify and mobilize We the People.
His enablers include, unfortunately, at least 77 million of our fellow Americans. They are the root of the problem. They have been looking for their hero since 1980 and have finally put him in charge.
You may be, but no one else is.
Patrick Henry's objection to the power granted to the President by the proposed Constitution, June 5, 1788. Note his warning about "bad men" and a President "of ambition". His warnings ring true with Trump. (As students of the Constitution, all of the Justices should have read this long before now.)
"This Constitution is said to have beautiful features; but when I come to examine these features, sir, they appear to me horribly frightful. Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting; it squints toward monarchy, and does not this raise indignation in the breast of every true American? Your president may easily become king. Your Senate is so imperfectly constructed that your dearest rights may be sacrificed to what may be a small minority; and a very small minority may continue for ever unchangeably this government, altho horridly defective. Where are your checks in this government? Your strongholds will be in the hands of your enemies. It is on a supposition that your American governors shall be honest that all the good qualities of this government are founded; but its defective and imperfect construction puts it in their power to perpetrate the worst of mischiefs should they be bad men; and, sir, would not all the world, blame our distracted folly in resting our rights upon the contingency of our rulers being good or bad? Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men without a consequent loss of liberty! I say that the loss of that dearest privilege has ever followed, with absolute certainty, every such mad attempt.
If your American chief be a man of ambition and abilities, how easy is it for him to render himself absolute! The army is in his hands, and if he be a man of address, it will be attached to him, and it will be the subject of long meditation with him to seize the first auspicious moment to accomplish his design, and, sir, will the American spirit solely relieve you when this happens?"
“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
~ Kevin Roberts P2025
It already is not bloodless. And the so-called “left” he mentions includes farmers, factory workers, teachers, nurses, et al. He’s so extreme, he can’t understand middle ground.
If more blood is shed, it will be due to Xn nationalist extremists like Roberts.
He has no personal experience whatsoever of being an actual human being.
I don't know who he is, but really, aren't you being a drama queen?
"He" is Trump. And no, I am not being a drama queen -- but thank you for the kind suggestion.
HI Boris. Tell Vlad I said hello.
War crimes galore, using starvation as a weapon, killing American citizens with immunity and impunity. You got it teresa.
That was the gauntlet being thrown at our feet. The challenge had been before us while too many Democrats played like the game is a gimme
The federal government has its own health care, retirement, protection, reality.
Who is Kevin Roberts? What office does he hold?
A Kevin Roberts is part of the Heritage Foundation which helped create Project 3025. It has been a blue print for disaster. It took its name from the African American history work entitled Project 1629 when the first captured Africans were brought to Jamestown. There have been many books and documentaries on all of this. Kevin is also connected to the Roman Catholic enclave called Opus Dei. Again many books written and many documentaries on this as well. I would be more than happy to or others too to give you some reading suggestions.
"A Kauffmann" is a Putin troll.
Thanks that is what I thought
Thank you for this. I'd never read it before. Obviously, not enough people have. This is all horrifying, sickening. How did we manage to last almost 250 years before being obviously dismantled brick by brick? The SCOTUS (at least the 6) has betrayed the country. Possibly the worst person in the world is the POTUS. Maybe it's just a perfect storm. A good but fragile Constitution, a decent framework but entirely dependent upon moral players. And now - at this point - we apparently have the requisite dearth of "good guys" left in the mix to prevent the whole thing from collapsing. I may throw up.
The Right has been laying these seeds for 50 years, funding think tanks and media institutions that convince gullible members of the public that an authoritarian regime will give them status, that Haitians eat pets, that every country that is majority-Black is "s---hole," and that only the Right can save us.
Looks like the ‘s-hole country’ is right in the convicted sex offenders back yard as a reflecting pool!
Agree. The reflecting pool is a HUGE issue.
The left. has think tanks too. So we get different points of view. Each side wins and loses over time. Thet's what democracy does.
I guess Mitch McConnell can die now.
Candace here. --- Just to clarify, my comment was a response to the quote DeBurgh provided, that of Patrick Henry, who seemed very worried about potential bad actors.
"A good but fragile Constitution, a decent framework but entirely dependent upon moral players. " You apparently have not read the Federalist Papers. The constitution was drawn as it is precisely to function with immoral players. And it has done well. Longer than any other in the world.
R,U still around. Time to sip some hemlock with a slice of lemon you’ll like it. No love it.
"The SCOTUS (at least the 6) has betrayed the country". Pretty strong opinion. The yissue about 85 opinions a year. Where is the betrayal? Did they dare to do something you don't understand but the headlines about it scare you?
On which planet do you live?
I thought this comment tun was about Sup Ct decisions, not planets. You seem to be aggrieved sy specific questions and by people who aren't irrationally angry.
Wow, thank you for posting this!
Read the Federalist Papers. You'll feel a lot better.
LOL. I'll feel A LOT BETTER when Liar, Fraud, Con, Grifter, Racist, Felon Trump dies from a massive heart attack (or suffers a massive debilitating stroke.)
Excellent reading.
Thank you ~
"will the American spirit" be enough to overcome the Trump Family's hijacking of our government for their personal gain?
"The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government."
"His warnings ring true with Trump. (As students of the Constitution, all of the Justices should have read this long before now.). Be assured that they have. And therefore....?
You are Rick Sender right?
His foresight was accurate.
Sounds like a high school book report that got a D for mere quotes without analysis.
You demean the concept of ‘students of the Constitution’ by invoking it with these 6 frauds! They may have read it but the expression ‘in one ear and out the other’ embodies their retention of constitutional subject matter!
"6 frauds"? You mean the justices chosen under Articles II and III? It's called "rule of law."
Nowhere in the Constitution can the phrase "the President...must be feared and obeyed" be found. It doesn't exist. It isn't in the Federalist Papers, it's not in the private writings of Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Hamilton. It's a phrase without any foundation or legal justification whatever. The idea that 6 Justices found that a convincing argument for overruling 90 years of Congressional precedent is bizarre beyond words.
And here I thought "originalism" meant sticking to the original intent of the Founders. The Constitution itself is brief, to the point, and clear. The President's duties include "faithfully executing" the laws of the land, which Congress -- not the President -- enacts.
Makes absolutely zero legal sense in anything other than an Upside Down World filled with alternative facts.
"Originalist" means they just make it up as they go.
Like with Dobbs where Alito justified reversing Roe with English case law from hundreds of years before the US became a country. That's fantasyland not originalist.
…its own health care, retirement, economy, reality…
All Dobbs does is return abortion law to the states. As Ruth Ginsberg argued.
If a justice of the Supreme Court is impeached for malfeasance, do his/ her votes become nullified?
Or do we have to start all over again with cases that have to wind their way through the court system to get corrected?
Not correct. You're thinking of the adherents of the "living constitution" point of view.
one would have thought that that phrase alone would have been enough for the Supreme Court to take a big step back. But no.
They did not use the phrase.
"And here I thought "originalism" meant sticking to the original intent of the Founders." I knew, you knew and most everyone paying attention save the cheering lemmings knew at the outset that all that bs was nothing more than obfuscation. (yes, I realize you're being ironic)
Once you create a term out of nothing, you have to least be consistent with it across multiple sectors, instances and situations. "Originalism" may once have been a concept worth arguing (Scalia and Ginsburg used to have such arguments), but at this point, "originalism" doesn't even pass a basic giggle test. It simply means whatever its adherents claim it means. As Scalia might have said --- it's all "argle-bargle."
And I have to wonder would Scalia ever have gone along with this decision? As constructionist as had been, I think, not.
And his wife didn't call herself "Vergogna" and fly an American flag upside down in her yard, either.
Now THAT should be impeachable.
He's not talking. We'll never know.
Antonin had his hand in the same pockets that owned alito and Thomas !
Most people thought Scalia was brilliant, not a giggle. And more justices now follow it.
Antonin was toying with our beloved RBG! She being a scholar he being a conman!
Ruthie didn't feel that way and she knew him well. Nor did Kagan.
You can wipe that snide "Ruthie" from inside your snotty, deranged fat mouth. Unless you can prove you were her close friend, colleague and confidante, and earned the tight to refer to her like that....
I thought not.
We need a shadow government to oppose every insane interpretation of this group of vipers. Surely democrats have people who can devise P2926 to give us hope.
I would not call it that, but for sure we need a much clearer vision and a more actionable plan to get there. Plans that are imaginative but practical, wary, but not timid.
When I have observed here that the midterms are the first step, blistering oversight hearings the second, starting January '27 through May '28 to establish the grounds for and the choice of candidates for the 2028 presidential, and then the launching of the first firm steps to undertake the strengthening the Republic in January 2029 will need to to carry the nation yet another 250 years, that is what I've meant. So far as I've been able to learn the Democratic party is not thinking that way, communications received from the DNC do not touch it, and Congressional Democrats seem immured to that kind of calendar or its tasks. If that's an accurate assessment, America;s cooked already.
I'll repeat what I've said before. Congress is as silent about this just as the SCOTUS is actively supporting and continuing the deepening of the threat to the Republic. Effecting the requisite reforms will be complicated by the simple fact that the Constitution and its amendment processes are in place, which was not the case when the Declaration was first drawn up. But if the planning isn't done NOW, the corrections can't BEGIN until 2029.
" But if the planning isn't done NOW, the corrections can't BEGIN until 2029." You can't "correct" Supreme Court decisions based on the constitution. Only those interpreting statutes.
Say a little more, please. I wasn't talking about just Supreme Court decisions; the inadequate constitutional provisions for SCOTUS is just one area of the Constitution that pretty obviously needs attention for the future, By my growing count since January 20, 2025 there are more than thirty others which also cry out for examination and have received no attention from Democrat politicos on the hill. Elucidate further, please. Enlighten me.
Unfortunately or fortunately our shadow government may very well be it's armed citizens JD. There doesn't seem to be any wiggle room in our democracy with the latest Supreme Court decisions.
"There doesn't seem to be any wiggle room in our democracy with the latest Supreme Court decisions." What "wiggle room" do you need?
Maybe they missed it, Sauer speaks like he’s on speed dial. I find him offensive to listen to, the justices had to sit there and listen to him, maybe they missed “must be feared and obeyed”, I didn’t, it stuck out like a lunatic shouting curses in a cathedral. I thought to myself, “who would write shit like that?”, but then I considered it’s source. Of course, they’re trying to rob us blind, fearing and obeying them is exactly what they want. We are a calm and patient people but we do have our limits and over 30 million assault weapons disbursed among us. You would think the SC justices would have an inkling of what might be in store for them, but then look at the power they have handed to the executive, that even a child would know is morally wrong. The justices are like umpires, calling balls and strikes, the day they favor one side only, is the end of the game. 🤬🤬🤬
"You would think the SC justices would have an inkling of what might be in store for them, but then look at the power they have handed to the executive, that even a child would know is morally wrong." The Supreme Court does not make moral decisions. It interprets statutes and the constitution.
Nah originalism is libertarian for bull shit!
"t's a phrase without any foundation or legal justification whatever. The idea that 6 Justices found that a convincing argument for overruling 90 years of Congressional precedent is bizarre beyond words." You are right in the first sentence. It doesn't appear in any decision.
It's not bizarre. Its a basic separation of powers decision.
I can see the reversal of this decision coming…. Dems win the presidency in 2028 & on 20 Jan 2029 starts firing all trump appointees. 6 months into that term, a court case gets filed to repeal this ruling & it goes to the Supreme Court. 6-3 to repeal it & the trump appointees get to keep their position. Thank you again Turtle Man Mitch. You’re the father of this disgusting situation.
We must have resounding victories in both houses in 2026 and 20288, plus the presidency in 28. Then things will move forward. Court expansion could be possible. Hard work.
This is gonna be tough with less than 75% of our citizens registered to vote, teresa.
100%….the hubris of the SCOTUS SIX to assume they will still have the power to make any decisions after ceding so much to fascists. Judges are usually huge targets in fascists regimes.
These six out the final nail in their coffins to have any “judgement” from here on out. Kings and dictators do not have courts. They have “employees” whose job it is to publicly reassert to the people ina formal setting what has already been decided by the king and his cohorts. No evidence, no argument, no reason…no judging.
This sounds awesome, but from what I read, even if Democrats are ruling, they won’t be able to change anything that Trump is doing. Good Lord I am super stressed at 7:15 am 😭
FFR, I don't like your term, "ruling." That's what monarchs do. I prefer the term, "governing."
However, I share your concern. There is one way to fix this mess. Democrats must choose a presidential candidate in 2028 who promises to demand that Congress expand the Supreme Court. The popular recommendation is 13 justices. A SCOTUS with 6 MAGA justices and 7 sane justices could overturn the bad rulings handed down by the Roberts Court in the same manner that the Roberts Court overturned decades of stare decisis.
Yeah ‘ruling’ is rather Aristocratic King like
https://theintercept.com/2026/06/25/democrats-socialist-left-midterms-centrists-new-york/#:~:text=The%20Left%20Just%20Keeps%20Winning.%20It%E2%80%99s%20Time%20for%20Democrats%20to%20Bend%20the%20Knee.
"Turtle Man Mitch." Which elementary school did you attend? We never had cool name calling like that. As for your "knowledge" of the Supreme Court, it has never in history reversed (they don't "repeal") a prior decision in less than at least 5 decades, usually much longer, as reversals are rare. Sorry to dispel your anger.
DeToqueville wrote, centuries ago, that the major difference between Britain and the US was that in the US, the servant could become the master. In England it was not so. Thus, the masters fear the servants and will create structures to suppress that possibility. Thus, for examples, it was forbidden for slaves to learn to read and write. Education (for poor whites) was focused on conformity to rules. Upward mobility was highly unusual. And here we are, repeating history.
"Upward mobility was highly unusual. And here we are, repeating history." What "history" are we repeating?
You could look in numerous places to find the history we’re repeating. The wealthy appear to prefer staying wealthy and don’t want to share their riches; thus, today’s billionaires are condescending to the 99% and don’t want their grift of our taxpayer dollars (ex: Elon Musk) to stop. So, Musk (and others) fund politicians who will maintain/replicate the social structure. Heard of “The Great Replacement Theory”? Slavery? Ignorant Caucasians fear the browning of America; they want to stay in charge so demonize non-whites. A new Trump proposal will pay immigrant farm workers less than ever. Heard of the Triangle fire, where hundreds of women died? And OSHA protections are being erased. Have you ever seen union-busting tactics? Owners of the means of production want to keep workers subservient. Inequality in public schools — poor districts tend to attract less-qualified teachers, while wealthy districts excel, and their students go to the Ivy colleges in greater numbers. The voucher system exacerbates the inequality. The list goes on, and on, and on...
Sho’ nough
We have two options for this platform of exchanging opinions: (1) criticisize and lament and watch losing our country (2) develop plans to restore democracy.
Of course it should not have that power. We do not elect presidents to have power over the people, but to express the needs and hopes of the nation.
Well stated. And fully misunderstood by 90% of the commenters below.
I'm with Greg Sargent, who wrote that “Trump constantly and explicitly holds up his naked corruption *as a badge of honor* that his supporters are supposed to thrill to (and see benefit for themselves in). He thinks corruption is the highest form of winning.”
We are living in a time when BEING CORRUPT IS BEING CELEBRATED... openly by Trump and tacitly (by never acknowledging it) by the GOP members of the House and Senate. And to be honest, I'm having a hard time thinking of any Democratic Party leader who has consistently and forcefully made the cast that TRUMP IS CORRUPT. And this included former President Barack Obama, who recently talked only about how Trump has "an obsession with me" rather that that Trump "is the most corrupt person ever to exist in American political history".
How do we (the people) make honesty the goal in life we need it to be if America is going to have a functioning democracy? That to me is THE QUESTION of our age. Character should... and MUST ... matter!!!
Remember...
when Hillary Clinton, during one of her debates with trump, said "trump doesn't pay any taxes"..
trump responded "that's because I'm smart".
trump ALWAYS wears DISHONESTY as a badge of honor!
VOTE 'EM ALL OUT!!
Not just vote them all out.. there needs to be more to hold them all accountable, consequences of their actions. This SCOTUS continues to change the laws established for close to a hundred years to enable him even further. Has already given him immunity as per his position, again changing well established laws.
Saw on the news that Clarence Thomas was in the Capitol building and had a private chat with Johnson. Tomorrow or by the end of the week is suppose to be further decisions like birth rights…
What fire burning Hell is awaiting or not..
Again, there must be more than voting them all out ..
Yep, there is: hang them all in Washington Square. That’s the only way to get rid of ‘em, because the Extreme Court made trumpty-dumpty emperor, and he WILL cancel the upcoming elections.
Ya... that is constantly in the back of my mind.
First, we must vote them out, then remain in control of the Executive and Legislative branches long enough to live out Thomas and Alito - at the very least -
as well as the current Chief.
Nuremberg Trials
So what happens if a Democrat becomes president. Do they reverse their decision. It seems to me that they think they will always be in power. I don’t see how the upcoming elections are going to legitimate.I mean trump& the republicans have done absolutely nothing for the American people and they don’t seem worried at all.how do people vote for this
What could Thomas possibly have to say to Johnson? Let’s speculate.
Right, TJ!!
Step 1) VOTE 'EM ALL OUT!!
Step 2) LOCK 'EM ALL UP!!
Step 3) THROW AWAY the KEYS!!
trump responded "that's because I'm smart".*
* These tricks only work for wealthy professional criminals. Don't try this at home.
There is a Newspaper in the UK called the Daily Mail; it is a right-wing rag wedded to the "philosophies" of the Conservative and Unionist Party (The Tories). It is now a vile rag which used to be a fairly harmless newspaper devoted to mortgages, pensions and investments for the Lower Middle Class.
None of its owners, the Harmsworth Family, have ever paid a single penny in UK Tax, Corporate or Personal. This is achieved through "non-dom" status; meaning that the family and the Daily Mail as a business is not domiciled in the UK, for taxation purposes, and all income is disbursed through a family Trust registered in the Cayman Islands.
Thanks for this! It was my thought exactly.
I seems that Trump is never more pleased with himself than when he is breaking the law and/or trashing decency, and totally getting away with it.
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-stock-taser-axon-ice-contract-b3005284.html
Steve Brant - not only Character, but Stewardship of federal tax payers money, and intellectual strategy towards the military and our nations growth. We need the weaknesses of Trump broadcast LOUD and REPEATED that he has us failed in war, failed our expectations of job growth, failed against China in tech strategy, set America’s climate change progress backwards, lost our scientists, and is ignorant in the corner of metals needed to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, proceed with green energy, or supply our military’s stock of weapons.
Today’s antics are the smoke & mirrors thats hiding the inadequacies of Trump in office. We need action demonstrated over & over that shows Trump can’t handle the job. And boycott this ridiculous charade of our 250th Anniversary.
His smoke and mirrors isn’t working. His antics are obvious to most people. His ratings are in the ditch. And yet the beat goes on…or the beatings!
But his antics were obvious to many people from the early days of primary debates in 2016. I’m still struggling to figure out why those antics weren’t obvious to his supporters…
They want to believe in his flattery, and fear to differ and be banished from the club.
Hello Steve... It has been said that, "Character Is Destiny'... DJT is Supremely Corrupt... DJT is Ruining the USA, like DJT has Ruined DJT's Businesses...
Yes.. character is destiny... and there is A LOT of corruption in America... throughout the system not just in the GOP. I urge everyone to read the two best-selling books by corruption expert Sarah Kendzior. One of the many things you'll earn is why Joe Biden chose Merrick Garland to be US AG and then did not complain when Garland waited 25 MONTHS before starting to prosecute Trump... allowing Trump to run out the clock and avoid going to prison. It'a painful read, but Sarah's books open people's eyes to the truth. As as the saying going, "The truth will set you free... but first it will piss you off."
www.sarahkendzior.com
The signed copy of "Hiding in Plain Sight" is at the top of my 'read this' pile... I started it the other day. She writes of being on MSNBC just after the 2017 inauguration: "What they're trying to do is establish power: they are lying to flaunt power. They are saying to us: 'We know that you know this is a lie, and we don't care, because there is nothing you can do about it.'" I'm looking forward to this and the other two of hers in the pile.
trump tells POWER LIES…
EVERYONE KNOWS that they ARE LIES…including maga.
maga just LOVES that trump gets away with them!
Their symbiotic relationship is what holds them together.
I just can’t figure out how people were bamboozled by Trump - even Reagan for that matter. They listen to a smooth talker without understanding the message being spoken. Regan convinced that big government was the problem. But but an expanded regulated system protects the people and the people lose sight of it. My educated neighbor who I quoted in my book, told me that she voted for Trump in 2016 and regrets it. But how did she come to vote against a woman running for office on top of the fact that Trump was never more than a 2nd rate mob boss mentality. Revenge voting I guess. They pick something like those emails Clinton had or the infamous hearings when she stupidly responded “What difference does it make” to a question about a killing of an American ambassador. But you still don’t revenge vote and vote for a criminal boss. But they did.
My sister said 'Benghazi, when I asked her why she hated HRC. Then I asked her to explain and she hung up on me. Because she knew that I knew she was recycling garbage faux news talking points.
Because, Bill Katz...
People believe what they WANT to believe...
NO matter HOW it collides with Reality!!
We’re dealing with fanatics (not solely religious)!
“The defect is complex, the diagnosis is simple: in all of earth or heaven, there is no force, instance, authority or source which can bring home a new fact or interpretation not in harmony with his preconceptions to a fanatical person.”
Excerpt from my book: “Truth and Fear: Breaking Free from Religious Fundamentalism.”
I am starting "The Fix" by Barbara McQuade.
"We know that you know this is a lie, and we don't care, because there is nothing you can do about it.'" Happens with most presidents
Thanks Steve... I would guess that Biden wanted to appear Apolitical... DJT has proven to be Supremely Dangerous, and Corrupt.. It seems that DJT treats Good Manners, Mercy, what we consider Good Traits, as Weakness...
Please read what Sarah Kendzior has to say about Biden ... and the whole political system. No, he did not want to "appear Apolitical". Also... his failure to keep his promise to be a one term president also has to do with him being corrupt.
I know everyone likes to say Biden was great and Trump is awful. They als never say anything negative about Obama. This is cult-like behavior. We MUST learn how flawed our political leaders are ... in both parties ... if we are going to save democracy.
OK, Steve. I agree that Biden made some big mistakes. Running again was a huge one. But how fast we forget how well he steered the ship of state through a pandemic that had the world terrified of eminent death and international collapse of civil society. I was worried that I might breathe something and die an intubated death.
How fast we forget his efforts to reinvigorate the economy via the people vs the Obama approach of bailing out the same dudes who created the Financial Collapse of 2008 - leaving the rest of us to twist in the wind.
And isn't it easy to say Biden was too patient with Garland. For what it is worth, that was his responsibility. To let the DOJ do its job independently. Was Garland a bad pick? Absolutely. But I think it's a mistake to look at a president's relationship with the AG and DOJ through the current lens of abuse and weaponization. And someone please stand up and say that the day Garland was chosen that you didn't feel a sense of vindication after his treatment by McConnell.
Yup, all we need is a time machine. Because we are all so much smarter now.
But most of all, I am saddened that we are beating a dead horse long after it laid down to die. I plead guilty for even participating in this discussion.
I believe in living in the present moment. Learn from mistakes, yes. But we need every ounce of our energy focused now on defeating the Maga Empire. And, IMO, that means having a big tent unified on that mission. No beating up the guy next to you in the foxhole when the enemy is coming at you with flame throwers and relentless waves of assault.
No circular firing squads about labels like progressive, traditional, socialist, capitalist, centrist, left wing, radical or moderate.
No more beating each other up over past mistakes and different views of Democratic/Independent politics.
No allowing Israel and Iran to tear us apart. We can assemble a sensible balanced foreign policy only if we have the power to do it.
If we are going worry about Biden, then we might as well worry about Lincoln and his merciful treatment of the traitors that tried to blow up an entire nation. We could go on and on...Ford pardoning Nixon. LBJ tarnishing an amazing presidency with lying about Vietnam and...FDR for not allowing a boat filled with 900 Jews to land in America or running for re-election a FOURTH time! FDR - who we legitimately regard as one of the finest was extremely flawed. Wonderful, but very far from perfect.
Forward ho. All together. The Madness and corruption must be defeated.
Blue Wave - no matter who - no matter how imperfect.
The vote blue no matter who is a futile fantasy.
The Democratic Party Leadership has gotten us into this nightmare. How in the name of everything sane could they lost to a fascist fool--TWICE?
Look at the elections currently in play. There is a revolution in the Democratic Party today. Go look at the Michigan race. You have 2 candidates owned by PACs and one DS. The current Party Leadership is so terrified of losing their AIPAC funded lifestyle they are throwing $30 MILLION to support their AIPAC candidate. The Democratic Party Leader Schumer says his first allegiance is to--wait for it----Israel. A DS Party candidate beat the Democratic Party establishment candidate (Dan Goldman) by 30 points. Meanwhile the DS Mayor in NYC is delivering exactly what the Democratic Party leadership has been promising for decades. I envy the people of New York right now.
There are currently 29 members of the Democratic Socialist wing of the Democratic Party who have won elections.
Thank you. You said it much more succinctly than I. Navel gazing is no longer a luxury we can afford.
I can see you have not yet accepted my invitation to read what corruption expert Sarah Kendzior has written. Please find the time to do so. Her research will open your eyes.
All of Biden’s “fixes” have been undone by Trump, who has made things even worse now. So, please recognize that it might be great to “fix” things… but if you do not address the underlying causes then things just break again. Biden NEVER addressed the underlying causes… because that was the plan all along. “Look like one of the good guys. But set the stage for the bad guys to take over again.” And that’s exactly what happened. And that’s what Sarah Kendzior knew would happen. A Biden who was a true patriot would have made sure Trump went to prison. His one job was to protect and defend the Constitution. He failed to do that.
Thanks Steve.... I guess that Biden, who spent much of his life running for President, liked being President... Seems that Biden is a failed President if his goal was saving the USA from DJT... Personally I'm disappointed in Obama... In 2009 he had the two Houses of Congress. and did nothing except restore a Broken System... OBW: The System is now owned by Corrupt $$$ for the most part...
I don't read Al Jazeera so haven't seen her writing.
Nice try. Sarah Kendzior (I assume that's who you're referring to) is not part of Al Jazeera.
Hear, Hear!
EVERYone?
Yes, pretty much. Please read Sarah Kendzior’s well-researched books.
www.sarahkendzior,com
I have repeatedly criticized Biden and every time I got the same crap response from elderly readers here ( being kindly toward other elderly folks) that I was being unfair. Thank you for telling it like it is. I’ve repeatedly stated that it’s Biden who is the big loser. His selfishness lost our nation. He wanted to be here for the 250th even as he aged and stumbled. He was greedy. And I knew it would happen when he decided to run to late in his season. Then instead of stating he would choose the best running mate, he gave a nod toward Obama and said he would choose a Black woman instead of the best running mate. Identity politics are stupid. Always remember that it was Biden who gave Clarence Thomas a pass and tossed Anita Hill under the bus after that “this is nothing but a high tech lynch mob” remark. So he saved his ass. No, Biden is the big loser here. Thank you.
Never thought of Kendzior as a “corruption expert” but I suppose it’s true. I’ve read all of her books.
I read and like her a lot.
Once again: people voted for trump not *despite* him being an asshole, but exactly *because* he is an asshole. They love him for being a racist, pussy-grabbing egoistic asshole.
It is what they want, with all their stony hearts. There is a vindictive part of me that says that I hope they get reamed in the end, just like the rest of us. Of course, they'll go all Niedermeyer and say "Thank you sir, may I have another"?
BREAKING Ally: We have the published "birthright case" Trump v Barbara. Good news defendant Barbara is a citizen! 6-3. But, more like 5 1/2-3 1/2.
194 pages long. See, www. supremecourt.gov. So pleased you hung-in there Barbara.
Thanks, Counselor!!
Quite masochistic, actually, hating women and people of colour and gays and lesbians and trans people SO much that you'll elect a thoroughly corrupt grifter mob boss who will destroy your country and your economy, just to "own the libs"...
A weak man's vision of a "Strong, Man's Man."
Absolutely. A weak and fearful man, I might add. Afraid of women, afraid of anyone who looks and thinks different. "Tribethink" at its narrowest.
I do believe Hillary Clinton calls a spade a spade.
Obama is fearful he will be a target if he crosses Trump. Mob style government functions. Can we win, Steve? I don’t know but I’ve stated repeatedly that I will not be silent.
I hope the three opposition justices of SCOTUS have food tasters.
“. . . a tool of an out-of-control executive.”
These were the words of Rebecca Slaughter, on the winner of the case she brought which the U.S.’s highest court today ruled for more power to criminal Donald.
Ironic we’re less than a week away from exactly the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and we celebrate by this ruling for more corrupt monarchy.
“Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! all persons having business before the honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the court is now sitting. God save the United States and this honorable court.”
The 6-member Supreme Court just threw this phrase right out the window.
Every concentration of power begins as a promise of efficiency.
And we should always demand to know . . .efficiency at what?
Exactly. And with what extended consequences?
By the way, did you see that the federal government just found 1 million people collecting Medicaid benefit benefits who don’t have a Social Security number? Wowowowow
See if you can figure out what that means.
Three months after the Fukushima-dai-ichi nuke explosions, Haruki Murakami spoke to this.
That is, in a speech in Barcelona, three months following the earthquake, tsunami, and explosions of March 11, 2011, he spoke to the many chains of blame the Japanese people incurred, or entrusted to lying elites both atop TEPCO (electrical energy company) and across the Tokyo government.
The single word he lambasted most, Home Viator, was this one, "efficiency," you nab here.
People of faceless bureaucracies always do this. They've always had to neuter themselves first, then similarly always found this great rationale for the great dehumanization all such always join.
Exactly. Efficiency is never neutral. It always serves a purpose—and the real question is whose purpose.
Follow the money...
Every stinkin' time.
America, that’s the purpose to continue to make our country greater than ever and it is an every single visitor from football world keeps doubting the incredible greatness of this country but we should do is ship people like you and all your liberals back to their countries and bring in all these people that actually love this country
Well, Phil look how efficient Trump is making the country got rid of all the fraud in the USA ID department got rid of the Department of education, thank God that’s inculcating our youth to know more about genitals than they know about math and science
DOGE
Yep, save this country GotK9 billion which is just a drop of what was happening in fraud under Biden and the Democrat Democrats
Hey Homo, you should like it. She’s now quoting political theorists. It doesn’t get any better than that. Heather is now in fantasyland officially.
Just one that’s why he was reelected or did you forget that part? And it’s still the most successful and efficient presidency at least in the last 50 years if not longer. Right now, JFK would be ashamed of the party. It would probably be a middle of the road republican
This decision is ghastly. Independent agencies are intended to protect the public with experts at the helm, not a loyalist that buys into the mob for a job and protection. The corruption is putrid.
When expertise from these agencies are replaced with a loyalist who suffers? The American people…
From the list supplied by legal analyst Barb McQuade. Here’s just one - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent U.S. government agency that protects your money and maintains stability in the nation's banking system. It insures bank deposits up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, and regulates banks to ensure they are operating safely. Now per this ruling there’s No longer a need to have any experts at the head of this agency. Totally voided of any experts.. just some loyalists….
How’s everyone feeling about their money in the banks with a loyalist heading up the FDIC and no experts around? Because the loyalist can hire their own cronies to fill the jobs within the agency…
As per Greg Sargent, his words, “He thinks corruption is the highest form of winning.” Then proceeds to say. “his supporters are supposed to thrill to this badge of honor”
Hey MAGA groupies how ya feeling about no FDIC guarantees of your money in the banks?
Under Trump there may be guarantees, subject of course to executive whim; what there may not be is any money.
Sadly..
trump WILL stick around as long as he can still squeeze another nickel out of the American Treasury and the American taxpayers...
Because that's what GRIFTERS do!
In his 1796 Farewell Address, Washington warned that political factions and extreme partisanship would gradually destroy public liberty. He cautioned that ambitious men would use party loyalty as a "potent engine" to usurp the reins of government and ultimately pave the way for a permanent despotism.
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Washingtons_Farewell_Address.pdf?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Fear we are there…
Though not down and out just yet.
Never always get up..
Not to be an alarmist but come to find out this…
Russian politicians are proposing to forcefully seize money from private bank accounts to fund the war against Ukraine, according to The Washington Post on June 27. (No longer have a subscription to WaPo, not giving money to Bezos)
Russian Lawmakers Propose Seizing Private Bank Accounts to Fund War Amid $83B Deficit
https://united24media.com/world/russian-lawmakers-propose-seizing-private-bank-accounts-to-fund-war-amid-83b-deficit-20247
It seems it took 22 years for Putin to reach this goal. As for us all here it looks like it may take only 2 years.. and it appears it could be even more….
As per WaPo — This statement caused concern within the Russian business community. Representatives noted that individuals are looking for ways to withdraw their funds and leave the country before potential account freezes, The Washington Post wrote. Additionally, the finance ministry is preparing legislation to allow state access to $40 billion in private pension savings..
This is not going to bode well in Russia… or at this point heaven forbid here.. have said it’s going to be a bumpy ride but wasn’t expecting the Himalayas…
Stay safe and healthy.. it’s after 3am, going to peddle on that stationary bike..
if i were you, TJ, i'd set that bike free and point it either north or south...
I hear ya, TJ. Currently at 4:50 AM, and after reading through these comments, I will be at the pool swimming laps.
We will have to see where this one goes. I could be the nail in the coffin of Putin's reign. I believe that narcissistic "saving face" allowed the Vietnam War to lastingly damage our nation's momentum for social justice. Simply put, war is mass murder, and in WWII I don't think we had much realistic choice but to fight the aggressors, but I think that war is really the very last place you want to go, and to this day I don't get why we "had" to fight in Vietnam.
Banks are already getting pressured to use cryptocurrency, because Trump and his buddies are up to their necks in that scam with their Russian oligarch friends.
It's the criminal's currency of choice!
The Slaughter decision is well named; SCOTUS just slaughtered our democracy, rule of law, and checks and balances.
The Robbers Court are hand picked agents of corruption.
It's not just "corruption"; it's the meticulously planned, methodically imposed destruction of the nation, the ecogenocidal weaponization of austerity and unvaccinated spread of disease included.
We've got to change how we define what is being done to us. This isn't Teapot Dome or Tonkin Gulf; it's not even Dallas on 22 November 1963. It's far worse. It includes rape and murder. It could well become doomsday. At the very least, it's Pearl Harbor without bombs.
I agree that doomsday could come of this and yes, it is an epic threat and an epic outrage. In the end the reality is always what matters more that what we call it, but I still call it corrupt insofar as I believe political corruption is the self-serving abuse of power. That occurs in small and subtle ways as well as in the darkest events in human history. Corruption can be found in any human society at any point in time, including genocide, slavery, sexual subjugation, racism, etc., but also extends to innumerable pedestrian interactions where fair play is Trumped. It's Roy Cohn's McCarthyist formula writ large, to demonize the innocent, fight to defend the guilty, normalize perfidy, and never, ever admit. It is the mob's prime tools of bribery and extortion. It's Caligula's "Let them hate so long as they fear". It defies Christianity with the cruelty of Jesus's tormentors. It is the antithesis of the Enlightenment philosophies embedded in the Declaration of Independence. It is evil.
Yet Vance got one thing right about how Watergate might escape more that fleeting notice today. Somehow the former "Party of Lincoln" and somehow the DNC, and our society as a whole, has accepted "elephant in the room" corruption of our political boundaries in far too many ways, for far too long. "Jim Crow" was corrupt as hell, but the party that HAD accepted the ilk of George Wallace,as well as the preponderance of our citizens, fought to "denormalize" it; while the former Party of Lincoln sold it’s soul. Yet with Reagan, Democrats lost much of their taste for rocking the boat, even when it could be seen to be heading for danger; and money became ever more deeply installed as a criterion of “electability”, as elections were increasingly “made for TV”. We are witnessing the collapse of “equal justice”, equal protection” rule of law, though even some Democrats seem to think that saying so is distasteful. No matter what we call it, I think we must unite against corruption in all of its guises, or else we’re done for.
How billionaires bought the Supreme Court for Trump to pack Federal agencies: Follow the money, gifts, luxury trips…
https://thedemlabs.org/2026/06/29/roberts-court-billionaire-influence-federal-agencies/
It’s heartbreaking seeing a great nation commit suicide. I can’t bear to read these columns some days.
At (almost) 87, it's heartbreaking, as an American, as a human, to be alive.
the heart is a resilient muscle, Judith...
To be sure. It's still beating ...and. the political
"situation" isn't my only "heartbreaker".
You’ve committed to suicide get yourself a mirror. And now you’re bashing the Supreme Court, but you didn’t bash him so much when they were ruling in your direction with you nope, not a bit. I don’t remember you complaining about the abortion ruling interesting.
Yep, sure know that feelin'.
Big Brother Cheeto Is Watching Over You
Cheeto and his Nazi Republican allies are working hard at gathering data against American citizens. The dictator has been assured by his fascist buddies Musk and Theil that one of the ways to control elections is to create as many digital footprints as possible from government agencies as reported yesterday at the Guardian. Of course this is against all privacy laws but Cheeto needs to cheat in every way possible to win. In the 21st century digital manipulation of voting machines and tabulation, state attorney generals need to preemptively be addressing this interference by cyber forensic audits that investigate tampering before and after tabulation. Not all precincts will need to be audited in such a way but spot checks should be available and where there is a question perform a forensic audit where necessary.
If you’re unfortunate to live in a red state that has turned over your registered voter data information, you should be worried about a Nazi Republican vigilante challenge of your upcoming ballot in November. Voters in these situations need to vote early so that if there is a challenge, you have time to cure your ballot. Best not to connect with the federal government unless absolutely have to.
There are multiple attacks on free and fair elections by the Nazi Republicans. WE have seen the attempts at the judicial level as well as SCOTUS which allowed for aggressive gerrymandering ploys. The SAVE Act threatens voter registration data as the bill states that if the rolls are not turned over, federal funding for states refusing to do so would have their funding limited or stopped. With Pulte heading up ODNI, there is another avenue of attack. But the digital manipulation of voting machines themselves is right up the tech alley of Musk and Theil and adds another layer of election interference and WE must be prepared for this tech onslaught. Reach out to your attorney general and ask about cyber forensic audits for upcoming elections.
Better yet: get rid of all the machines that are networked and only electronic. Especially those produced by companies now led by Trump supporters. Go back to paper ballots and mark-sense machines so that there is an audit trail. All this touch-screen balloting is simply a way to be able to change the result and leave no trace. Internet connected? Are they really asking us to trust it with a network connection? And possibly a Starlink connection? Do they think we're that stupid? Oh, I forgot. He loves the uninformed voter.
The use of both spot and focused when necessary cyber forensic audits would solve the machine digital manipulation before and after tabulation....both could have occurred in 2024.
You know it’s fucking idiots like you that are dragging the country down. But the good news is that the smart people are not paying any attention to you at all and continuing to make this country great again, despite all the haters. What a great world wouldn’t unbelievably successful president.
Go eat some cats and dogs
However there will come a time when tRump is gone and all of the presidents who follow will have the same abilities. It would seem the court is incapable of projecting potential actions of future presidents. Extraordinarily short sighted besides morally corrupt. They are blindly promoting political instability for the foreseeable future. Poor pathetic synchophants.
They are not that naive. They do this willing, conscious and deliberate. Why? Because there is no future. There also no “we the people.” To them, there is only “me”, “now”, and grabbing as much money as possible in that now. They don’t care jack shit about anyone else, or anybody who should come after.
They have cancelled the future.
Yes they have. And they seem really eager to prevent everyone else from having a future...
So succinctly said Elizabeth.
Assuming Trump does not declare himself Emperor, as Napoleon did, with $COTUS's blessing.
$COTUS has been colluding with the the president (who after all hired some of them) to sideline Congress (Tho this Congress has been sidelineing itself).
We have not seen even HALF of what he CAN and WILL do.
Protect yourself against him.
I heard that some very smart scientists are moving to the forest to live off the land because this little warming situation will cause NO sustenance.... from anywhere else..
Yeah, get out there and have another no King’s march their jail we love to watch you intellectual failures make idiots of yourself make fools of yourself in public. Let’s see we’re gonna have a no Kings march but in countries that have a king if you have a march against the king you get your head cut off yet all of you idiots made it back home safe and sound real realizing hey wait we don’t have a King otherwise we would be dead right now. Ooooops. Just a little tiny oversight, huh?
That’s exactly what you are M Aaron a sync fan. Donald Trump is arguably the best president ever in the United States has the most successful presidency and currently rocketing the American that we know in love to new Heights, not only here but around the world. Bringing democracy everywhere and enlightening the public to the greatness of the United States of America. Soccer fans are going apeshit over this country, loving every minute of it and can’t believe it the freedom and the pleasant tree of the people.
And of course they’re not seeing any of you here because you’re sitting in your house with one finger in your nose and one finger up your ass piss as hell that America is being so successful
As with the MOB...
Mob boss John Gotti had tons of money and connections, many many followers, and the best attorneys money could buy.
Gotti won so many of his court cases that he was dubbed The Teflon Don.
BUT...it still didn't stop him from dying in PRISON in Missouri!!
Fingers crossed 🤞🤞🤞!
I fear as a non-human he will be exempt from dying!
Trump, the Republican Party and the conservatives on the Supreme Court... VOID OF HONOR, VOID OF HONESTY.
Trump and MAGA, from top to bottom... "LOUD, PROUD AND BRAIN DEAD."
At what planet are you living on these days Greg? The Supreme Court was fine when they voted in the abortion ruling I didn’t hear you complaining. But when they turned it into a democratic issue and sending it back to the voters, then you got pissed and you know why because you lost control and that’s all you care about nothing more.
Heather Cox Richardson, we all know are are a real-time historian. Are you sure you were never a law professor? Maybe hanging out with Barbara McQuade? Professor Joyce Vance?
Anyway, your analysis of the Rebecca Slaughter case rivals SCOTUSblog.
She's just damned smart and studies like crazy and she cares!
I believe a neurologist would label her cognitive skills "HF" - 'high functioning'. Looking forward to tonight's analysis of Trump's birthright case, big loss.
And HCR meant it when she said she isn't leaving anything on the field. It seems to me she hasn't had a day off forever.
Did you hear how stupid you just sounded Brianne? Listen to the sentence you just posted here a real time historian. That’s about his oxymoronic comet as I’ve ever heard in my entire life a real time historian. Yikes.
Assuming the country survives the next two and a bit years, the next president, also assuming them to be Democrat, can, and should go through, line by line, every action of this band of robbers and reverse these catastrophic errors. First up, double SCOTUS.
Aren't the Dems pretty corrupted by $$ also?
Not all of them.
Not the Muslims......
Racist much?
I read her comment as saying that the Muslims are not corrupted, so focusing on one group but not in a negative way. I don’t know if that counts as “-ist.”
Peter, in addition to Susan Weinstein's accurate interpretation of Ms. Dyer's comment, I would suggest that if anyone is committing a racism here, it is you. Muslims are comprised of all races, including millions of Caucasians worldwide. To equate a religious tradition with a race or ethnicity is to be uninformed.
Pew Research, a respectable research organization, notes that 41% of American Muslims are white.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/07/26/demographic-portrait-of-muslim-americans/