In the wee hours of Friday morning, Senate Republicans passed a measure to provide about $70 billion in additional funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the parent agency for Border Patrol.
A “Republican worldview” is so scary for my own children’s future and the future of all the kids I teach. PLEASE do not lose hope - keep speaking up to Congress!
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress - Be LOUD. Trump/the administration is dangerous for our country 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
What’s unfathomable is how every morning brings a fresh scandal, a fresh grift, a fresh constitutional crisis, and now more money for ICE despite the growing reports of abuses inside detention facilities. Of course the measure was passed at 2am.
Keeping up with these obscene outrages feels like drinking from a firehose of corruption. The truly remarkable achievement of this administration is making yesterday’s disaster seem quaint by lunchtime. How many guardrails need to be ripped off a democracy before the bastards are ousted by the people, through voting or otherwise?
It’s almost impossible to keep up, but somehow we must keep channeling legitimate anger toward legitimate ends.
Right now, the DNC is basically broke — its coffers are empty. Too many of us treat elections as a boutique shopping experience. ‘I’ll donate to this one, but not to that one. This one’s pure, that one isn’t perfect.’ It’s an attitude virtually guaranteed to produce a losing outcome.
Not just vote blue no matter who, but donate blue, no matter who. Remember, they are sitting on piles of cash, while we collect outrage. Without more money, collective action, organization, GOTV and all that, our wonderful momentum will die on the vine. So it’s eyes on the prize, steady at the helm and all that.
Those of us who are living on fixed incomes can't donate nearly as much as we'd like to. I donate a small amount monthly to Jess Piper's Blue Missouri, which is helping democrats run in local elections. We have to work locally to start the big push upward. I hope everyone who can will continue to donate to the Democratic Party and to candidates in national elections across the nation. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. If it's not financial help, at least talk to your neighbors and help them see what's going on. Too many still haven't caught on to what the Republicans are trying to do. It's a team effort.
My Maga (I no longer will say Republican as that party died with McCain) relatives tell me, "it's just politics". I tell them that attitude is harming their children, their gay brother, their granddaughters, daughters and wives, our air and water, the nations economy, the collapse of morals, and our friends and allies. They respond with libtard, socialist and communist - so predictable and such an embarrassing and stupid response by them. I tell them their vote is anti American as it is anti the Constitution and I choose the nation's aspirational ideals over their bigotry. I have made it clear we are done. Communication has ended -the price I have to pay for my nation's soul is worth it. Actually that act of defending my values and my country is liberating.
Steve, they have nothing so they respond with name calling. They have no idea what either socialism or communism means. They are just words they know have negative connotations here. I hope they do not even drive on publicly funded roads. Unless they are very wealthy, they will find themselves at the short end of a stick. And in my experience, they are first in line for government help.
Ha! These days it seems that any fascist is preferred by the racist-right over anyone with even a hint of socialism or humanity about them. I don’t see how this is going to end well in the US. Too many guns and too many ill-tempered people. — Sorry you have to put up w those neighbors.
My roofer (remodeling my house) said 2 days ago, "I voted for Trump but but I can't be a Republican anymore. Trump is ruining my business." I think THAT is the message we must get ourlt to Republicans. Trump is anti-business.
Marj..., glad you like the expression I introduced here a couple years ago. Our MAGA folks do have a play in "Libtard". They are the "tard"d part of the equation, more specifically "tarded" preceded by the letters RE, which perfectly describes their behavior. They are a pathetic lot, indeed.
Alex, the word you're referring to was used as a playground insult when I was a kid around 1970. We were later urged to stop using it that way because doing so insults certain people who don't deserve to be insulted. It's also like calling a boy a girl as if that's an insult. There are plenty of better and more accurate words we can use against the Trump Cult (who used to be known as the Republican Party), the mindless worshippers of the Golden Calf.
I donate to candidates of my choice. The DNC blocks progressives and supports centrists who, often, are Republican-lite. We cannot afford to have new D members of Congress vote with Rs. Not with this regime with 2 1/2 more years in office.
Diane I also find the DNC totally out of touch with my assessment of the political situation. While I am supporting specific Democratic congressional candidates, I shan’t give a nickel to the DNC until it dumps Martin and gets real. Visceral and specific is what we need!
The organization VoteFwd.org says that they send writing kits with postage to some who volunteer but lack funds to do it on their own dime. I have never requested them, so I don't know how much they do this. If you go to their website, it says they are updating it, but you could sign up to get messages from them. Those who are able to pay need to have access to a printer, as you will print out the letters and need only write a few lines on why you vote.
I have done Vote Forward but prefer postcarding as the postage is cheaper. It's a bit harder for me, as you are required to write out the verbiage they give you and then add your own line or two. You also need to purchase your own postcards, although they aren't too expensive and they give you links. With VoteFwd.org, you only need to write as few as FIVE postcards, though you can write more. (Some postcarding sites require a minimum of 100, which is hard for me as I have arthritic hands)
I am at an age that I don't want THINGS, and so I have requested family and friends to gift me POSTAGE stamps.
For those financially unable to support organizations, you can help by forwarding on HCR's Letter. You can subscribe--for free--to many Substacks and YouTube channels, which you can restack on your social media (if you have them) or forward to friends. There are SO many good ones out there, but one I particularly like is "Belle of the Ranch". She puts out three SHORT clips daily--each is under 4 minutes. She has a longer format "The Roads with Belle" that she puts out twice weekly, these are about 15 minutes long.
Belle has many MAGA who watch and try to trip her up--bad mistake! She is a nurse and a veteran, and has a team behind her. She will often quote messages she gets from MAGA and she refutes them. Brilliantly, btw.
The good forum here has many favorites, and I do listen to other ones, too, but I don't have the time (or stomach, honestly) to listen to hours of podcasts on this regime AND keep my sanity. Belle will never be the first reporter on a subject, but she is rarely wrong. She says that she prefers to let situations play out a bit as so much misinformation is spread by the "first-on-the-spot" wannabees.
I used to watch Beau before Belle came on. And yes, she does a really good job. As do many others. Actually, you and I turn up on the comments on several of them!
Three month subscriber to here, Maggie? BLESS YOU, and WELCOME! 👋🏼 Consider yourself greatly appreciated by Miselle the self-appointed Walmart greeter of the LFAA forum!
Oh boy I agree. AS a "constituent" (HA) of both Schumer and Gillibrand I really agree. Just sent a couple hummer emails to both of them yesterday - their attitudes towards Mamdani really ticked me off.
I hope someone somewhere appears to primary them in 28.
The DNC is broke? GOOD! The DNC is a fetid cauldron of self-perpetuating incompetence. It needs to be cleared out completely. Happy about 2000? 2016? 2024? Thank the DNC. We need to start fresh with competent, courageous, pragmatic people who are not afraid to fight the good fight, to mix it up with the ruthless opposition. Not a bunch of feckless political types sitting around deciding whose “turn” it is to run in the big races.
We should be donating to local and state races. They hardly get enough money and a little goes a long way. Please see this link from OATH which indicates which races need money. They also don’t sell your name to campaigns.
Thank you!!! I have never heard of this group. Do you know if they are bipartisan or Dem-leaning?
I received 5 "asks" for money from one state (not my own) Dem gubernatorial candidate just yesterday. In one day. I actually do support this person but I am NOT a wealthy person.
I've had a chance to look into them a bit and you are correct. (Pretty easy to tell by the questions they ask 🤭. No card carrying conservative would ask these)
After donating far beyond my budget in 2024 for Democrats in key races, I now receive dozens of “asks” from Democrats in every race in every state, every day. Is there an organization that I can donate to that does a good job of helping the highest priority candidates? I don’t necessarily trust the DNC but if that’s the most effective option……? TIA!
Like so many of us on this forum, I live on a very limited income.
Recently, I have noticed a significant increase in requests, pleas, entreaties for $$. They come in with the daily deluge of donation requests from every animal charity in existence.
When I can spare it, I'd rather give to the animals than to the Dems.
Where are their deep-pocket supporters? Not all the wealth in this country is held by those on the red state side of the aisle, not by a long shot.
The DNC's lack of funding points to the fact that they have lost the trust of their base. They've allowed their own internal goals - what THEY want the party and candidates to be - get in the way of what their constituents want. The postmortem of the 2024 election was a joke, and their forcing younger, more progressive voices out of leadership roles showed what they're truly about. The injection of Janet Mills into the Maine Senate race was the last straw for me.
Don't get me wrong - I will "Vote Blue, no matter who" and I continue to donate and support Democratic candidates across the country. But the DNC hasn't even started earning my trust back yet.
I’m over it ICTT, I was overly generous in ‘24 and now all of my inboxes fill up every morning with pleas for money, my phone # and email have been sold-passed around to everyone running for office, from one side of the country to the other. Even if I agree with everything a candidate stands for, I’m not wasting another dime, candidates either communicate with their voters and win or they don’t, direct mail ad buys never get inside my house. We may have lost our country, I hope not, I guess we’ll see in Nov. won’t we. I’ll make an educated vote, I always try to do that, but if this country that I have fought for chooses to shoot themselves in the foot, where they end up will be on them. Maybe this was a good idea that couldn’t survive the greed of it’s citizens.
Right there with you. I am deluged daily with appeals for money from candidates I have never even heard of. I’m sure they are fine candidates but I am most concerned about my district and state. If I’m donating that’s where my money is going first. And a lot of the emails and texts are either bullying (we haven’t heard from you) or they are frantic appeals for help meeting artificial fundraising “deadlines” (the only one that matters is the FEC one which is quarterly, all the others are phony). And then there’s the “I had to make a tough decision last night” which is another way of saying “I’m putting my hand in your pocket again.”
And what are we getting for our money? How is it being spent? What is the return on our investment? What are you doing to actually fight the fascists? No accounting about that whatsoever.
''We Did Not Need Trump, but We Must Learn from Him''
Democratic renewal requires more than restoring the government we had. It requires participatory democracy, economic justice, and a Resourceist vision of the common good.
Experience the lesson Trump left behind. Discover how participatory democracy and Resourceism can transform exposure to crisis into lasting civic renewal, economic justice, and a society where power, resources, and opportunity are shared fairly. https://essayx.substack.com/p/we-did-not-need-trump-but-we-must
The “greatest real estate mogul…ever!”< according to HIMSELF, natch! Couldn’t sell warehouses purchased at 5 times the going rate??
Um…can you say ‘corruption’?
Yet another ‘one $ for you…AND 2 for DJT’ scheme, so that Trump can surpass Musk as “RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD”...It’s all about being the ‘TOP DOG’ (or snake as the case is) for narcissists.
Donald Trump could crawl under a snake’s belly with a top hat on! 🐍🎩
Yes, it's all about being the "bottom snake". I love it!
On my college baseball team ('70), we crudely referred to filthy people like the Trump family as "whale $hit" because it is the lowest form of organic matter in the world. Mary Trump is exempt from the vitriol.
I remember Mary T. WARNING people about the ‘monster’ they had elected in 2016. Now, here we are adding TREASONOUS FELON, EMBEZZLER, RAPIST, WARMONGER, AND LIKELY PEDOPHILE TO HIS ROUGE’s RESUMÉ.
Worst case of ‘mass amnesia’ EVER!’ 🔥🇺🇸🔥
But cheer up, America. The Special Security for Trump’s ‘Bigliest Ballroom in the World’ is not expecting the ‘attack-trained’ scorpions who home in on the scent of 🍔🍔🍔 & 🍟🍟🍟. FOOLPROOF…and you have just the burnt sienna fool.
Sorry but I’m directing what little money I have to one thing only; flipping my CD to blue. I’m not going to have my donations diluted to support hopeless cause seats. If they can’t raise enough at home to run a campaign they just don’t have enough support to win.
Obviously that’s not automatically true but this is no time to bet on long shots. Just donate where you think there is a chance to flip or protect a seat.
Frau Katze, how fortunate you are not to be dealing “directly” in this mess. The 3x, etc, gives people who cannot afford to give to candidates they might like to, a chance to have a one dollar donation become three dollars. Etc.
Just this morning I once again realized I have completely exhausted my lexicon of ways to say how loathsome and despicable these people are and the depths they will descend to in undermining what our country has always aspired to. What I just can’t wrap my head around is how the GOP can deliberately weaken our ability to defend ourselves, prepare for emergencies, feed our hungry, and do critical medical care and research. Obviously they don’t care about their constituents but do they truly believe themselves and their families immune to what will inevitably happen?
The crux is the secrecy of this regime. Ed Markey (MA) noted that U.S. military is in Lebanon which the DoD does not acknowledge. Why are they there? Are we fighting Netanyahu's war for him?
Diane.., You better believe it! It is so sickening that we seem to be coddling a government (yeah.., that's stretching it a lot), operating freely (WITH OUR BENEVALENT TAX DOLLARS) to bludgeon non-subscribers of other religious bents. Those who feel they've been short-changed, had their houses bull-dozed. Would that not piss you off? I ask you, would that make a person want to exact some revenge.., blow somebody up. I think it has. And our military is taking some hits, which we aren't privileged of knowing about. Haha..just as well, right? Hahahaa.., makes us non-complicit, right? WRONG! We elected this lunatic. our lunatic. And the Jewish lunatic.., NetanYAHU, has been running amuck forever. Blame the Jewish lobby for that one. I don't know about you Diane, but I've had my fill of this Religion Driven zealotry. Sick of it. FFRF, it's so past due.
The statement of “exhausted my lexicon “ describes how I have felt in posting comments. I have worn out “egregious “. Heather Delaney Reese has described Hegseth’s speech on D-Day in more detail. Insulting is too weak a word; he did not really say anything to honor the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy.
By all accounts those voters are communities who have been expertly manipulated. Sure they are dumb, racist, narrow-minded or ignorant, but what they don’t realise is that they’re being used. In the end they’ll be just as screwed as the people they are told to hate.
To paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill, whom I was taught -- despite the Marxism with which I was raised -- to regard as a true savior of humanity, which I will always believe him to have been:
"We must fight them on the beaches; we must fight them on the landing grounds; we must fight them in the fields and in the streets; we must fight them in the hills and in the forests; we must fight them in the schools and in the shopping malls and churches; we must never surrender.”
Meanwhile I literally weep with despair at the screwworm nation that evolved from 1776 and now -- our species' ultimate malignancy -- omnipotently assails our Mother Earth and all who live thereon with apocalyptic terminal illness.
We can never accuse this regime of being subtle. Because their behavior has been so brutal and extreme, every single Republican at every level of government must be rejected and defeated for their complicity or acquiescence. Democrats need to fight with the same determination and creativity Republicans have shown in perverting the course of this country. The fact that Hegseth so openly courts like-minded white supremacists when representing the US overseas reveals the scope and threat of their ambitions.
Absolutely Nancee, how dare an alcoholic womanising B-grade talk-show host believe he is speaking for the American people. The shameless confidence of these buffoons on the world stage is staggering.
I mean this regime isn't even at the mid-point of its reign.
I'm hoping the mid-terms will turn enough seats to make a difference. The thought that this crap could continue for another 2+ years, another day another outrage, is not acceptable.
It’s no longer “unfathomable.” It's the reality we are living.
Keep calm, stay informed, focus on the important versus the urgent, and let’s face it and act together to change the trajectory of what Trump and his Republican Regime are doing that is unconstitutional, contravenes the rule of law, and is corrupt, illegal, or immoral.
Trump and his Republican Regime are attempting to financially bankrupt the U.S. federal government for their personal or ideological gain, and they may be successful in doing so.
But Trump and his Republican Regime cannot bankrupt our American spirit or our striving for a multicultural democracy (as messy, imperfect, and flawed as it may be) that values equality, ethics, laws, the rights of the individual balanced with community/civic rights, and a government BY and FOR the people to represent it, NOT to oppress or suppress its constitutional rights.
So sick, to watch 'history repeating itself'. The documentary "The rise of the nazis" lays it down right on the living room floor. The Jew(s), so easy to identify, almost as easy as a black person. But this regime we've got going here in 2025 isn't wasting time hammering on Blacks (other than "re-districting" ho hum). Nope, Der Leeder is focusing on another fairly-easy-to-spot people.., yup: Latinos, Mexicans, hispanics, Ecuadorians, Michicoans, people with tail-lites out, people who don't look white or speak white. Mostly clinging to the Catholic religion (yeah you heard it here). Booshhh.., your windshield is busted, wham bam you're helped from your car and shoved into a black Tahoe (or something) and wisked away..., you are being "detained". And you could end up down in Dilley Texas along with about 130 Venezuelan families and, guess what. You're among amigos.., buenos dias.., como se llama, my friend? Don't worry "my friend", there is no "ultimate solution" for you. You will be paid nicely to LEAVE. Same for Blacks and Jews. Wait for it. It's Der Leeder's Big Day. First things first.
The AP photography strongly suggests all the victims are either Blacks or People of Color. Note that as early as 2016, those of us on the (real) left have been repeatedly warning that a vote for Trump and now for (any) member of the "Republican" (sic) ChristoNazi/Neoconfederate Party -- is an intentionally murderous vote for a new, high-tech weaponized, infinitely expanding Holocaust.
Well stated, but the impatience and outrage you rightly express should more explicitly directed at "the people". While it is difficult to challenge the morals, knowledge, critical thinking and priorities of "the people", I am not holding back any longer. This mass delusion and amorality, exemplified by the focus on personal financial condition, as opposed to the paramount need to treat other human beings with respect and dignity, is not being diminished rapidly enough. We are still on a downward path as a civilization until this willingness to curtail the lives and liberties of other human beings becomes much weaker. In the general population, as exemplified by moral choices at the ballot box.
My vote is for "otherwise." Michelle's "we go high" does not cut it. Liberal institutions must use the powers that they possess. Blue states can prohibit commerce with red states--no buying from; no selling to. They can also prevent the tax withholdings of state employees from being sent to the Treasury. They could create a Federal Tax Deposit Fund to give cover to any small or independent businesses (and their employees) who wished to withhold their tax payments as a form of civil disobedience against the MAGA regime of tyranny. Universities could revoke the degrees, bachelors and professional, from their graduates who are engaged in corruption and anti-democracy activities. Blue state AGs in CA, MA, NY, DC, VA, NJ, IL, MD should file state bar ethic complaints against any administration lawyer engaged in revenge prosecutions or bad faith and unethical behavior in courtrooms. Consumers must stop consuming. Buy local and boycott the monopolists. We all need to ditch our telephonic social networks and rediscover what it is like to engage with our families and the members of the various communities we are a part of. I'm sure there are other possibilities that our creative minds might explore.
Referring to MAGA as a right-wing vision is easy because we all know what it’s referring to, but this newsletter’s community alone is not a Blue tsunami.
Have you ever been the victim of someone with an “I’m right, and anyone who disagrees with me is an idiot” attitude? If yes, then you are the victim of someone refusing to constrain their own ignorance. Have you ever been a perpetrator?
Proposed Blue tsunami strategy: start by ending a practice employed in today’s newsletter when it says, “Now it is clear that the assault on immigrants was a tool to enforce a right-wing vision of the country on the American people.” Instead, follow Chris Murphy’s vision in his book, Crisis of the Common Good when he says, “I look at the solutions, they're really not right-left solutions.”
In a practical example, a (not perfect and instead) more perfect version of today’s newsletter would say, “Now it is clear that the assault on immigrants was a tool to enforce MAGA’s unconstrained ignorance of America on the American people (or words to that effect).”
Who agrees? George Orwell did when he said, “deceptive language not only corrupts thought but makes it easier to justify foolishness, atrocities, and totalitarian control.”
For the record, what is the opposite of unconstrained ignorance? Maturity.
Today's fight is a fight between fascism and democracy. That fight had been ongoing, since WWII, but now, it's being fought inside the US, and the US government tries to fight it in other democracies too (Europe).
That's the clearest language possible, and it's also the only language that entirely covers the truth.
There are very important differences between rightwing and leftwing political philosophies, but that is not what is at stake right now.
Except that most voters don’t know what “fascism” is and have only the vaguest notion of what “democracy” means. Not to mention that very large numbers of voters are profoundly distrustful of what democracy can do for them. If they were born in the last 30 years they’ve never, as adults, seen government work as it’s supposed to. They’ve seen only anger, paralysis, and dysfunction. No, Mr Carey is 100% right. People might not respond to fascism vs democracy but they sure as hell will understand that the GOP has started wars, driven up the costs of food and fuel, and done nothing when Americans are murdered by masked government agents and said nothing when faced with the astounding corruption of this administration. Americans are having trouble making ends meet but they can sleep well knowing that Trump, his family, and the super-rich has gotten hundreds of billions of dollars since the last election. I’d like to see billboards in Red districts saying, “They’re screwing you over in plain sight” with suitable imagery. There’s plenty to choose from. And Democrats have to start using plain language to describe a simple vision of what they are offering, not just what they are against.
Indeed, most Americans (including the 33% that doesn't vote, obviously) don't seem to know what fascism and democracy mean. Is it best, in such circumstances, to not frame the next elections in those terms, and instead go for "basic stuff"?
I sincerely don't know.
The result of going for "basic stuff" for decades is precisely that people oh so falsely imagine that over the last 30 years "they've never seen government work as it's supposed to".
Please explain how under Biden and the Democrats, or under Obama, government was NOT working as it's supposed to?
Imho, one of the huge disadvantages of a having a democracy without a significant degree of political literacy among its citizens is that people falsely imagine that if daily life isn't paradise yet, somehow something must be wrong with how the government works.
In real life, ALL real, non-violent, lasting, radical, democratic change IS always step by step change, compromise after compromise. That is the only alternative to fascism. In the US, however, for too long people reject their civic duty and turn against their own representatives again and again, only for not doing what a benevolent dictator would be able to achieve (= radical change overnight).
Obviously, they reject their civic duty out of ignorance of what that duty is in the first place. What caused that ignorance? Lack of civic education and a solid education in general. What cause the low quality of education in the US? The combination of a GOP onslaught on public schools (systematically defunding them and making education available only to the wealthiest) and, unfortunately, a "progressive" concept of pedagogy that rejects all real transmission of knowledge and instead goes for the utterly immoral (although based on good intentions) "validation" of the beliefs of the individual student (no matter how ignorant those beliefs may be) while politicizing the past to such an absurd degree that no real study of the classics in literature and philosophy is still possible (and it's especially political philosophy that teaches students what democracy is, and how to keep it).
So imho, we don't have to choose, we can and should do both: showing how neofascist policies destroy people's material well-being much faster than what the average rightwing approach did in the past (although neofascism IS the logical outcome of neoliberalism) while a leftwing approach will always lead to more material well-being for all... AND beginning the slow but crucial work of increasing political literacy, including explaining the key differences between democracy and fascism, and therefore the reason why all democratic progress is always slow.
Finally, as to "Democrats have to start using plain language to describe a simple vision of what they are offering, not just what they are against": they've always done that. It's pretty simple: no wars of aggression, building strong coalitions with international allies, universal healthcare, free education for all, solid social security and labor rights, thriving unions, fighting against climate change and for social justice for all. That's it.
And the good news? Not only have they been SAYING this forever, it's also what they DO whenever "we the people" give them full control over DC. It's even what they continue to work for when we give DC to neofascists.
I believe you mistook my meaning, EU. The government was assuredly NOT working as it should have during the Obama years, but it was not because of him or his administration. The GOP, Tea Party, Fox News, etc., prevented it from working. Those years saw 9/11, a homicidal sniper, anthrax, a devastating recession, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And after that came Covid and so on. Terrible things happen all the time, and “blame” seldom has only one parent, but I think it’s incontrovertible that the GOP deliberately gummed up the works (remember McConnell saying he’d do whatever was necessary to make Obama a one-term president?). And of course by the time Trump was elected in 2016 governance had become a reality TV show.
Your claim is that there “are very important differences between rightwing and leftwing political philosophies, but that is not what is at stake right now.”
My claim is that you are avoiding the issue that is at stake right now.
There is a reason why two parties draw conflicting conclusions while observing the same evidence. That reason: the two parties are interpreting their observations using different logic.
For better or for worse, we can’t change the evidence (although we can choose to observe it or ignore it). Fortunately, we can test the logic (although we can choose to test it or ignore it). I’m good either way.
Meanwhile, my working assumption is that I’m addressing whereas you are avoiding the issue.
It's this kind of "bothesidesism" that got us here in the first place.
Democrats aren't "interpreting" the facts. For decades now, they are the only ones proposing and passing evidence-based bills.
There's a reason why it is said that "facts have a liberal bias": it's because only Democrats are still interested in objective truths, while the GOP has massively betrayed its own voters by putting them systematically into an "alternative facts" bubble.
Ignoring the truth will not restore democracy. It's the foundation that every neofascist regime vitally needs.
So please tell me, if you don't even want to address THE thing at stake today (democracy versus fascism), what issue would I be "avoiding" in the first place... ?
Your comment is a reflection of your ready-fire-aim approach. I prefer a ready-aim-fire approach. In other words, unlike you, I abide by what I call the Bob Dylan rule: I don't criticize what I can't (or don't want to) understand (why I think the best time for the times to be a-changin' was six decades ago and the second best time is now).
If my original post is wrong, then I'm wrong. Tell me I'm wrong, but tell me in language I can understand. You're just saying I must be wrong because I disagree with you. If you want to defeat MAGA, stop behaving like MAGA. In other words, from where I'm sitting, your attitude toward me is an example of the issue at stake right now.
You have my respect. I have enough respect for you to believe that you will read my words and recognize that you've taken a wrong turn.
I guess this is another disagreement. My experience in dealing with people in political discussions is that it isn’t just a matter of opinion that is involved. It is more basic than that. It is a disagreement on facts themselves. As the old saying goes, everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts. Yet it is precisely here that the problems start. There is no agreement on the facts All one needs do is get into a discussion on migration in the U.S. and the policies of the Trump regime to deal with that. Mass deportation, going after the worst of the worst, crime levels among immigrants - and this in a land where we are all one or two generations away from being immigrants - is almost impossible to get any agreement. Opponents of migration won’t even accept FBI statistics on crime. Every time you point out that crimes attributed to illegal/undocumented migrants - we can’t even agree on how to describe their status because each descriptor carries with it an emotive set of characters - are lower than the rates for native born Americans. Which is only logical, you get the argument that they are more prone to crime. I grew up with that perception as an Italian-American. The Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas may be great movies but they came to define an entire group of citizenry who forgot about Enrico Fermi, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizutto, and Fiorello LaGuardia, among others. Once you focus on the outlaws, you can do all sorts of damage like limiting due process. If not eliminating it altogether, ignoring court orders , incarcerating people for their accent, skin color, means of employment. Prevent access to lawyers and deport, frequently to third-world countries with a history of torture and in opposition to our own treaty obligations.
Do some people ignore irrefutable evidence? Yes. Do I ignore irrefutable evidence? Never. Not even if my life depended on it. Do you ignore irrefutable evidence? If no, then wonderful … unless you’re using the fact that some people ignore evidence as an excuse for why you refuse to work with someone like me to get to the truth.
Opponents of (fill in the blank) won’t ever accept (fill in the blank). For example, I hope I’m wrong when I say that Theodore D'Afflisio won’t ever accept James R. Carey’s “win-win” idea, which is that when Theodore D'Afflisio and James R. Carey disagree, they will get to the truth even if doing so happens to be inconvenient for one of them.
Thank you, Megan, for persisting in sharing your spreadsheet and encouraging everyone to contact their legislators and others! We appreciate you so much! ❤️👍
Thank you for your sweet words! Your last sentence made me smile because in the classroom we use the words “We appreciate you so much” in place of “Happy birthday to you” when we sing our thanks for people (I.e it’s the end of the year and we sang it to those who volunteered in our room)
As LFAA readers may know, I have posted repeatedly on the legal substantial benefits of California's "CCPA" the California Consumer Privacy Act effective 1/1/2020.
Question: Does the CCPA apply to all California "residents" INCLUDING Latino immigrants?
Answer: YES!
*************
Any California resident should be able to her or his name removed from a wacko Orwellian "Master Death List".
Note clearly, CA "Residents" do not have to be an 'abogodo', an attorney. That is because a California State Agency enforces the CCPA not the CA resident.
Un abogodo no es necessário.
******************************
UPDATED With This Huge Footnote:
"California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides robust protections for Latino immigrants residing in California, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. The law specifically defines a "consumer" as anyone who resides in the state, including undocumented individuals.California specifically amended the CCPA via Assembly Bill (AB) 947 to classify citizenship and immigration status as Sensitive Personal Information (SPI).
"Because of this upgrade, businesses are subject to stricter regulations regarding how they handle this data.Key protections include:Strict Limitations: Consumers have the right to demand that companies limit the use or disclosure of their sensitive data to only what is necessary to provide the requested goods or services.Opt-Out Rights: Individuals can explicitly tell businesses "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" and mandate that they stop sharing their data with third parties.
"Right to Delete & Correct: You can request that businesses delete your data (with limited exceptions) or correct inaccuracies in the personal information they hold on you.No Discrimination: Businesses are legally prohibited from denying goods or services, charging different prices, or providing a different level of service simply because you exercise your CCPA privacy rights.It is important to note that the CCPA does not apply to all companies. It generally applies to for-profit businesses that do business in California and meet certain thresholds, such as having an annual gross revenue over $25 million, buying/selling the data of large numbers of consumers, or deriving a significant portion of their revenue from selling personal
"California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) serves as the regulatory body that enforces these rights. You can use the resources provided on the official California Department of Justice page to further understand your civil and privacy rights as an immigrant.10 sites US: California amends privacy law to tighten regulation of ...Oct 17, 2023 — On October 8, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he had signed AB 947 into law, bringing California in line.
"FAQs - California Privacy ...The CCPA provides privacy rights to California residents. A California resident is a person (not a corporation or other business e...California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) (.gov)Immigration | State of California - Department of JusticeRecent Work. The California DOJ strives to protect, defend, and enforce the rights of all Californians, regardless of their race, ...State of California - Department of Justice (.gov).
Bryan Sean McKown, thank you. This information should go on the first page of every CA newspaper every day and be published online daily as well. Had you not published it here for US, we might well never have understood how CA makes certain that the rest of America eats (and drinks). Is there a Caesar Chavez left to publish this daily and teach CA farm workers (and their overlords—forget Trump, remember his diet) their rights under state law?
America has identified its greatest national emergency.
Not hunger. Not medical debt. Not rent. Not the small inconvenience of going bankrupt because your appendix became politically active.
No, the real crisis is that an immigrant somewhere may be working, raising a family, and failing to appear sufficiently menacing on cable news.
Congress, naturally, has responded with billions for detention, surveillance, warehouses, and other sacred instruments of liberty.
The warehouses are especially inspiring. Nothing says “human dignity” like managing people with the same logistical philosophy used for patio furniture and surplus air fryers.
There is even talk of marking millions of immigrants as “dead” in government databases. Why bother with due process when a spreadsheet can quietly erase the living?
Naturally, the costs may balloon. But government waste only outrages people when it funds school lunches, healthcare, or housing.
Cruelty, by contrast, always seems to receive expedited approval.
So take comfort. Your insulin may be unaffordable. Your hospital may close. Your rent may swallow your paycheck.
But somewhere, behind a secure fence, a very expensive warehouse is standing proudly.
HCR explains in detail how hard and effective Democrats in Congress are fighting back, so please don't blame Congress as a whole, people urgently need to become aware of what great work Democrats are doing in DC, even when the media refuse to report on it!
Yes. We must make that distinction, not constantly blame "Congress." I wish the Democrats who are fighting so hard to save our Democracy would come out with a list of everything they've been doing to stop this madness.
What makes you imagine that they don't? The fact that the legacy media find what they do too boring to report on it?
The left made tons of mistakes, these last few decades, but most of them are on us, not on the Democrats representing us. They mostly did their job.
With social media distracting us 24/7, and a neofascist GOP building its propaganda machine using outrage (and clickbait) as a weapon, sometimes it feels as if the entire left (citizens, that is) got brainwashed too, and forgot how democracy works.
Instead, we seem to have turned it into a spectator sport. All we're interested in is "messaging". All we imagine lawmakers must do is investing in PR. It's not possible. Lawmaking is a more than full-time job, IF you take it seriously.
In a 1976 WSJ op-ed, Irving Kristol, founder of neoconservatism, infamously wrote that for conservatives to win elections, intellectuals need to stay at the margins of society rather than participating in public debates. Somehow, half a century later, it feels as if the left agrees. We don't care about all the crucial details that HCR sums up in her newsletter here, even though they prove how hard Democrats are working for us and how good they are at doing their job. Instead, we want them to ALSO do what ONLY the media and "we the people" can do: inform ourselves about who does what in DC.
The NYT has been hammering on this for years. Especially during election season, all they write about is the horse race (= cynically reducing the debate to personal ambitions of politicians as individuals) and... how bad Democrats are at "messaging" and how "messaging" should be everything etc.
This IS how the left undermined democracy in the US.
WE are the ones who will save us. That's the very essence of any democracy ("demos" = people, "kratein" = to govern, in ancient Greek). We cannot possibly continue to feed the myth that somehow lawmaking is not a full-time job, and that the legislative branch of Congress should also take over the job of the fourth branch of government (the media; their democratic job is to inform people about who does what in DC) and of the people themselves (to inform ourselves about who does what in DC, and engage in debates with fellow citizens who disagree).
Thank you Megan -- I am scared for my little granddaughters future -- we have to work together to stop this cruel madness. thank you for your amazing spreadsheet.
Our current status as a representative democracy shows how fragile it is and how easily it can be defeated. Now we must unite and fight the good fight and I hope that this pendulum to the extreme side of hate and greed and plunder will bring sensibilities back to a majority to defeat this enemy within. When the criminal proclaimed that voting would’ve necessary after he was elected, that should have been the singular message but it wasn’t. Societies are often misled to make the wrong move; to revenge vote and this is how he assumed this victory. Biden stumbled and the revenge voters slipped the nooses around their own necks. There is no doubt that he will use any and all tricks to effectuate a victory and we must take preventative actions to assure an actuate vote count.
If we grandmothers START NOW to instill an INTEREST, at the very least, re POLITICS in our granddaughters, then a strong woman candidate is going to become the 1st female POTUS.🗽
Might not live to SEE it, but the work starts NOW.
Kamala Harris had no chance against the misogynists in the male population of America. Donald Trump just had to ‘rattle their chain’ and describe a world where women would be equally empowered…and DJT had their vote. 🤬
The ‘momma’s boys’, told from the cradle up they are “God’s gift” can obviously forget how they got here and in doing so, disrespect their doting mothers.
Women have to begin to value WOMEN, and realize a good brain is a good brain, nomatter what body it is in!
This is the message to us all, wherever we are and whoever we are. D-Day cost lives, your campaign to keep objections and counter-arguments on the minds of legislators is essential, moral and timely.
Barbara McQuade's book, "Attack from Within," (2024) has probably been updated by her book out now, "The Fix." Make no mistake about it - the matter is now extremely serious. Congress has now funded Trump's private army, aka Dept. of Homeland Security and ICE. Does Trump intend to use this private army to police our next election? Trump intends to dismantle National Intelligence as Putin has ordered him to do by appointing a misfit with no Intelligence history, Trump instructing Bill Pulte to fire a lot of the employees, doing damage to National Intelligence just as Pete Hegseth has done to the Defense Department, ridding it of officers who had knowledge and experience along with strategic and critical thinking skills. Trump keeps calling the press "the enemy of the people," causing one to wonder why the Founding Fathers put its protection in the First Amendment to the Constitution. I think that the threat to our democratic process is more serious than most think.
And I’m sure you’re familiar with that fact about liberals about radical liberals 98% of the teachers union are Liberal Democrats look it up yourself and what kind of fair information are you gonna get from them?
As I pointed out to a number of people here, so many liberals here are defined as the following.
You used to be Twitter users, but as soon as Elon Musk bought it and changed the make up of Twitter from 85% liberal to only 52% liberal, most of you fled from Twitter like little chickadees with their tails between their legs over to blue sky Have to deal with opposing opinions
And the realism that I send your way as the following. Because it’s the only way I can practically make you see how ridiculous you’re thinking is in the way of balance and in reality
Your courtroom would look like this
You are a defendant, and the first person that gets up to speak as the prosecuting attorney and he will present the case to the jury
Now, under the processes that you and your friends here would like to enforce would be nobody here from the opposite side of the aisle with comment as the lady that just did exactly that she said go post your conservative values somewhere else
So what would happen in the courtroom under your premise would be that the prosecution would present its case it would go directly to the jury because you don’t want to hear the other side of the story and then the jury would obviously convict you
See putting you in that seat gives you a little bit more perspective does it not. Have a good night
RS is a hate-baiter and any response to him just encourages more ignorant posts. It's tempting to want to 'reason' with him or scold him but it accomplishes nothing.
The worst thing we can do, if we want to save democracy, is to just call those who disagree with us names.
If we claim to be pro-democracy, we should cultivate the unconditional willingness to engage in real debates. Because that IS how fascism can and will be defeated.
You are sadly wrong in every way and if you do not see the cruelty of the positions the administration you support has foisted upon innocents, there is no hope for you. I’m very sorry for how much you have been led into darkness.
Don’t believe the shit by the lady below here because again they have no factual information to back up all the crap that you keep talking about not one all you have and I keep repeating it, and I should put it in the biggest capital letters, but made by man accusations insults, and hate with no backup and no support for anything that you say
Voice it up upon the innocence let me hear come on let’s go enough for your bullshit. Do you wanna make a comment go to whitehouse.gov and comment on that
I’m not being lead anywhere. I’m the only one with my eyes ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE, UNLIKE YOU WHO ONLY SEE OUT OF YOUR LEFT EYE AND ONLY HEAR OUT OF YOUR LEFT EAR YIKES
LOOK AT YOUR POST AND TRY TO TELL ME, YOU SAID ANYTHING
RS is a hate-baiter and any response to him just encourages more ignorant posts. It's tempting to want to 'reason' with him or scold him but it accomplishes nothing. Please do not respond to him.
He could be a 'bot' .....as Thom Hartmann's newsletter reported yesterday, ""— For the first time in the internet’s history, bots now outnumber humans. Cloudflare reports that automated bots and AI agents have overtaken human web traffic — 57.4% bots to 42.6% humans worldwide, and a stunning 71.5% bots inside the United States. CEO Matthew Prince admitted the crossover “happened faster than I predicted,” years ahead of schedule. Odds are high that that person you’re arguing with on X or Facebook is actually a bot run by a rightwing-programmed AI program."
Or I could be Jeffrey epstein himself. Lmao. Because I don’t know if you heard that Jeffrey Epstein death never happened.
It was all a plot to allow him to escape, and some photographer caught him in a small little town in Israel in Northern Israel having lunch
But you won’t believe the rest of this he was actually having lunch with Julius Caesar and Julius Caesar had the entire Epstein files in his possession
Ready Russell and I’ve been saying it for months. In the first place four times now I posted since back in May 20 K points of Trump‘s policies that are working and I did that to people that questioned it. I guess I’m at a responses. I got to that when I posted it in public.? one person wrote back and had a problem with one of the 20 and not anybody else wrote back at all no arguments no disagreements nothing dead silence
And what I’ve offered to everybody here is a following every president has a dept that post to its site website whitehouse.gov and I’ve asked people here go to the website and tell me what you disagree with and we can have a discussion so there you go Russellwhitehouse.govwhitehouse.govwhitehouse.govwhitehouse.gov that’s what the administration posts in public NOT THERE ANY SINGLE HUMAN BEING AND HEATHER‘S UP SUBSTACK HAS EVER EVEN GONE THERE TO SEE WHAT THEY ARE
Russell, you’re just confirming what I’ve been telling you. But it wasn’t a CESSPIT When 85% of the content was uttered and controlled by liberals. It only became that says put when you didn’t like balance and it’s still 52 Liberal 48 conservative but you didn’t like any of it now so you like a little chickadee or a dog with its legs between its tail ran away over to blue sky, so you didn’t have to hear an opposing position.
I contribute the other half of the story Russell the one you don’t wanna hear the one you disacknowledge and the one that most of the people here fear the most for the possibility that what I’m saying is actually the truth so that they get even more defensive, which is the telltale.
RS is a hate-baiter and any response to him just encourages more ignorant posts. It's tempting to want to 'reason' with him or scold him but it accomplishes nothing. Please do not respond to him.
I guess Donald J. Trump desires to be “more erudite” as ‘Sender’ claims anyone with a middle name is trying to be!
Maybe we, all, can chip in and buy Rick a middle name, or at least an ‘initial’?
How about ‘ity’ for that 3rd name (so…’Rick-ity Sender’ or the initial “F” 😆.
If ‘he’ is an AI ‘bot’, then we don’t need to fear “AI” as much, because the ‘so-called’ intelligence will ‘eat itself’ or ‘implode’ based on the effects of all HATE on the human race.
Animals kill to survive on their prey. The Nazis didn’t eat one Jewish person - as far as we know - and the IRONY of the humans being slaughtered in the war zones today should be lost on noone.
This is the way you deny reality. By even suggesting that somebody who disagreed with you because you don’t have a single fact to post here, so you designate them as a possible bot to try to disarm the facts. Sad
I’m waiting for your retraction Jean. Cause if you lie about me here, it just might happen that somebody lies about you. And it even could be me. And I’m not waiting longer
Boy, are you a little slow and much and unfortunately uninformed and lack any sense of comprehensiveness
That's what the Nazis thought that's why they didn't eat the Jews yikes.
I can't believe you could actually misconstrue that
I'm Jewish Oooops.
Maybe now you comprehend, and you only miss comprehended because of your hate
The last person that used the word Nazi, I tell you what I told him I took them through every single torture chamber they could and kill the motherfuckers that use the word Nazi anybody that uses the word Nazi or refers to that era should meet a Nazi and the Nazi should treat them like they used to treat Jews and then they would learn never to use the word Nazi in their lives again EVER
Do you know why they didn’t eat any Jews because Jews were subhuman poison. Well guess what your ex president Joseph R Biden… was able to prolong a war that in the process when the money was almost gone until Biden’s money arrived HAS BEEN ABLE TO KILL 200,000 INNOCENT CITIZENS OF RUSSIA AND UKRAINE.
AND BY THE WAY, JEANNNNNNNNN ALL BECAUSE OF A MISTAKE BY A DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT AND I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT BIDEN. AND IN FACT THAT DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT WAS MY SECOND FAVORITE DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT OF ALL TIME BEHIND JOHN KENNEDY, BUT HE HAD THREE MAJOR FUCK UPS AND ONE OF THEM IS STILL KILLING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE EVERY SINGLE YEAR.
AND THE MOST AMAZING THING GENE NOT ONE OF YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HELL I’M TALKING ABOUT WHICH IS SO MUCH BULLSHIT FOR YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY OUT OF THE 3000 PEOPLE THAT I HAVE ASKED ABOUT WHY UKRAINE IS IN THE TROUBLE IT’S IN RIGHT NOW AND FIGHTING WITH RUSSIA ONLY SIX HAVE REPLIED AND THEY ONLY GOT A PIECE OF IT CORRECT
SO SINCE YOU SEEM TO BE ONE OF THE UBER, EDUCATED HERE WHY DON’T YOU TELL ME? WHY ARE UKRAINE IN RUSSIA AT WAR RIGHT NOW?
BUT I’M GUESSING YOU’RE GONNA BE MY NEXT VICTIM OF IGNORANCE
Gene, that was pretty good. At least you caught onto Mike innuendo.
And actually, if he would permit me the temerity to disagree with your ridiculous name and incorrect comment I am one of the few here that round out the conversation by including the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of which you’re certainly able to disagree with!!
Heather Selde, if ever gives you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth she has surrendered in my opinion her Moniker of noted historian to become a devout capitalist. And is raking it in with millions of lemmings, who follow around with nose rings on gullible, willing subjects to bow and genuflect every word that comes out of her mouth. She is the Jim Jones of the left. In my opinion.
Think about this really quick…. I have not seen one individual disagree with any of her posts. As long as I’ve been here in about a year and a half. It’s almost like you fools are reading from my Bible. You never dis you never question. And in fact, you don’t even investigate. AND THERE YOU HAVE THE SNAPSHOT.
AHA!! Caught you repeating your ‘bot’? Self verbatim:
…”the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”…you watch a lot of Trial movies, eh? (Perry Mason?)
The oath to establish that a person will NOT commit perjury is rather important, but you cannot use it as a preface to just MORE TRUMPIAN LIES. Trump the “Ox” and that makes you the “moron”. 🧐
ICTT is correct in saying that dialogue with you is pointless and only encourages your far right ideas. 👎👎👎
HCR is providing Americans with Historical knowledge pertinent to the attacks on Democracy from the White House. If you don’t like that…then…
What she knows, and what she says or like the north and South Pole apart.
She is relegated herself in my opinion, and an obvious dictum from her speeches here, but she has nothing more than a radical liberal activist
Have you been provided some of the proof here anytime Donald Trump has a major win that is accepted by almost all the other major media, including the media that don’t like him. She refuses to tell the story.
She then deflect the stories about pre-Abraham Lincoln. About the Lakota Indians of all people And three or four over irrelevant historical subjects that have nothing to do with Trump’s wins and certainly she’s not gonna cover them.
So unfortunately, for you, and many of you hear the most gullible human lemmings on planet earth. And at least one of you said something earlier, which you didn’t hear North do you care to hear.
Do you know anybody that tells you the entire truth all the time? And this one liberal poster that I have had discussions with from time to time, said exactly, precisely what the truth is
I am the almost the only one here who has the temerity to tell the story from a different perspective and disagree with Heather… and provide some factual basis, for her lack of coherence to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
A great song “I will provide for you. This quote was to a man you’ll get it when I say it
And it’s sung by two of the most ardent liberals as 99% of the liberals that come from Hollywood and fame in the music industry
A MAN HEARS WHAT HE WANTS TO HEAR AND DISREGARDS THE REST.
That line sums up 95% of your participants here. And that is ugly and that is sad. Alas, it is the truth.
No, that’s saying it’s been around for generations. And you’ve proven nothing except misinterpretation that was cracks me up. I hate over took your any rational fight, and that thing that’s 3 feet above your ass that you use for a head.
And if you don’t take back what you said about the quote, you misinterpreted you’re not gonna believe what I’m gonna say about you that I misinterpreted.
I’ll say it again so you’re clear the Nazis didn’t eat Jews because the Nazis thought that the Jews were poison.
HCR is providing nothing that you think she's providing. She's providing a one-sided microbial look from the radical liberal perspective and nothing more. And the fact that you're not even questioning anything she says, makes you even worse
As I've said before, and I'll say it again, it is my opinion that she reads every single liberal post out there reword the compilation of all the posts put them out to you, gullible lemmings, and then uses the same links where she got the information in the first place to document her posts.
He's actually the only voice disagreeing with us. For that alone already, he should be applauded - IF we are pro-democracy and therefore pro-debates with those who disagree with us, that is.
And I thank you very much. AUWDTB for your sense of awareness.
And I would love to have somebody provide me some facts to tell me that my facts are even partially incorrect and then to your point we could have a discussion.
But you are wrong below and the following manner if you want illustrate or annunciate the word, fascism, and who it I’ll put it squarely on the map of Barack Obama and Joe Biden
Trevon could’ve been my son the police acted super late in a constant show of racism by your president but the fascist part is if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan you can keep your plan lying to the public. To promote his highly unsuccessful medical plan.
And then we have Joe Biden, who fascistIcally decided to open the border to you, speculate a8/ 20 million illegal who have butchered Americans who have killed‘s, who have raped Americans who have tortured Americans who have brought amount of illegal drugs across the borderd. Including a proven. Of at least 4000 illegal criminals who are guilty of felonies in their own country. That still remained large in the United States.
Now, if you would like to describe to me, Donald Trump’s fascist issues I am ready to listen
Well, then you might want to take a peek at my illustrations up above, and I will wait for your answers to describe Donald Trump’s fascism. Vs versus that of Obama and Biden.
Hey Megan, why don’t you do us all a favor especially me why don’t you paint me with a republican world view? Looks like this I would love to hear. I can’t wait honestly. Thank you very much
And then once I see it, I will post for you. What a middle of the road independent voter like me and like now a majority of voters in America think what a middle of the road person thinks like.
You already know what radical liberals think like because Heather Fitz right into that niche
RS is a hate-baiter and any response to him just encourages more ignorant posts. It's tempting to want to 'reason' with him or scold him but it accomplishes nothing. Please do not respond to him.
Agree! I am done! Though I am not ‘afraid’ of his posts - even now that he threatened to tell lies about me - you, and “It’s Come To This” are correct…no point!
There’s no cure for stupid.
I pity him rather than ‘hate’, but won’t cut POTUS #47 the same slack.
Lololol. Let me show you a picture of you with a description which will kind of crack me up. People like you have a one track mind and it doesn’t include facts and it doesn’t include proof and it doesn’t include evidence. It only includes insults and accusations.
Which is what you just did here. I’m actually still a Bill Clinton fan despite his three major fuck ups one of them that is still killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in the world.
Turned out to be a very smart levelheaded president willing to work with the other side on the behalf of Of America where people like you have no idea what the other side looks like
And the delusion, if you’d like to see it, get a full length mirror and stare at it
Because if you’ve got some facts, the back up that I’m delusional or that I’m a mega worm I would love to hear it but it’s been nice knowing you, richard
So where are Heather’s conservative links so that her story is balanced, and we know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Oh, I’m sorry I was talking about Heather. Lol. And Megan, you know damn well while they’re trying to keep the illegals here because they’re trying to get them to vote as they already have and if you don’t know that shame on you.
Please troll elsewhere. "Conservative views" do not have to be given any space because most of them are lies. If you want to read lies, read what Trump and his Cabinet say.
Actually, Sandra, if you think that, then you are left of Santa Claus, my dear. I’m a middle of the road voter been an independent since I’m 30 which is about 45 years ago voted for Bill Clinton twice and would do it again
That’s one of the thing about you left these you have absolutely no judgment about someone else because of a few words they happen to put on the screen here But it’s typical of liberals. This is how you evaluate things you see a headline that you like, and you jump on it like a bitch in heat without ever thinking to question it validate it, inquire about it or look at the opposite point of view just to see if there’s some balance to it.
In fact, I will repeat what many people in the political arena have said recently they said that if John Fitzgerald Kennedy were alive today as the left has gone so far left John Fitzgerald Kennedy would be a middle of the road republican today.
Plus one other thing I’d like to hear because this is going I’m smiling and laughing thinking about what I’m gonna ask you but here’s the
Describe to me what you might think a right ring radical might sound like and don’t say it sounds like you I want some specific example examples Because I need a good laugh
I think you need rebalancing since you appear to have Trump Delusion Syndrome. Psychiatric consultation might be well worth its cost for you even if you don't have health care insurance. Use it or lose it !
Perfect and thank you for validating my point exactly. Insults and accusations Hollow and unfounded insults and accusations you should be richard insults and accusations Duggan Drop the E
Here’s a picture of your twin sister, who has the same emptiness of fact and lack of support for empty hate
PS the ‘clue’ is in the disjointed, terrible grammar from an almost illiterate source = Donald J. Trump, who types as he speaks. Obviously his normal speech writers have no control over the late night ramblings, and when ‘Rick’ says he doesn’t ‘like’ Trump, but LOVES the policies…um…😉
He uses a speech converter, hence the typos and incomplete sentences. I don't know if it's because of inability to type, but he doesn't take time to correct his comments. He voted for Clinton because Clinton was a white good ole boy. He loves Trump because Trump hates dark people. He's an angry resentful Archie Bunker who longs for the days when dark people (and women) knew their place and stayed out of sight. He's jealous of rich people but doesn't see the connection between wealth and poverty. He's jealous of successful intellectuals because he worked hard his whole life and they only use their brains. His jealousy of Heather is palpable. His crusade here says more about his emotional state than his confused mind.
Like Donald Trump, ‘Sender’ is a symptom of THE DISEASE. By pandering to DJT, the Republican Party are being deliberately cruel to a dumb animal in need of medical/psychiatric treatment. Why is he not getting that treatment? Because noone wants to admit that the system failed the minute he became the candidate, despite the tenet in the Constitution PROHIBITING a ‘convicted felon’ from becoming POTUS.
We ALL stood by with our mouths open in amazement as safeguard after safeguard fell and DJT just kept COMING!
Now he COULD BE unstoppable, through manipulation of the INJUSTICE SYSTEM!
The China Shop is almost completely destroyed, and although ‘the bull’ is still crashing around, noone is trying to REMOVE HIM…BODILY.
If you or I were committing daily crimes against humanity we would be locked up. Trump’s mug shot > already taken (post Jan 6/21) 34 guilty counts re FRAUD, 1 conviction re sexual assault, multiple indictments on other committed crimes…yet he slithers FREE.
This is all ‘coming to a head’, and both ‘Rick’ and Trump (if they are not the same entity) will soon ‘pay the piper’.
He could be a 'bot' .....as Thom Hartmann's newsletter reported yesterday, ""— For the first time in the internet’s history, bots now outnumber humans. Cloudflare reports that automated bots and AI agents have overtaken human web traffic — 57.4% bots to 42.6% humans worldwide, and a stunning 71.5% bots inside the United States. CEO Matthew Prince admitted the crossover “happened faster than I predicted,” years ahead of schedule. Odds are high that that person you’re arguing with on X or Facebook is actually a bot run by a rightwing-programmed AI program."
I should be so lucky. But I am my own person. I don’t follow nor imitate nor have anyone as my mentor. I take pieces of advice for many people see how they fit with my own predetermined, analyzed and analytical decisions and act accordingly.
Responding to a malicious, psychotic idiot out to get your goat only fuels the psychosis. Don’t let him bait you — it’s what he lives for. You can see the results.
I am FINISHED replying to ‘Rick Sender’ because as many have attested > there’s no point, AND, he has threatened to begin telling LIES about me.
Can he be banned from Heather’s substack comments?
I am not frightened…just really annoyed that someone so ‘broken’ is tormenting people who are trying to come up with a ‘plan’ while supporting each other through this ‘trial by fire’.
I ‘quoted’ him back to himself, before he then CHANGED a statement. Guess I am näive about such ‘hate baiters’. But, I really don’t ‘hate’ him…feel only pity and also ANGER, that his ilk got a Dictator into the seat of power, which will now take ‘dynamite’ to dislodge. 😉 ‘Sender’ would say I was suggesting a bomb since sarcasm is not something he can comprehend!
Hope I don’t require ‘legal’ advice. He is now pestering me for an apology.
Well…I’m SORRY I exercised my 1st Amendment right…but at least I STILL CAN! 👍
You know what Lisa I have just figured out a way that I will never hear from you again.
I would like to re-truths so I’m giving you the opportunity to tell me about all the truths that you want to tell here about Donald Trump and all his failures inadequacies lies, etc.
And here’s the way I’d like you to put it But of course, I won’t hear from you
Please tell me any of Trump’s laws or policies that have been enacted how any of them have actually negatively affected Personally Oh shit Rick you didn’t tell me there was gonna be honest questions
Poor Richard now you’re getting to be a little bit more radical as well as I just sent you that nice little picture of your sister ignoring facts no evidence to support any of your words as I’ve illustrated pretty detail to you and unfortunately, your brain has been inculcated with hate And and now I have to send you another illustration of one of your personal identities in this photo
The bottom of the photo is cut off, but the last caption says If we could do all these things, we could save democracy and if you’d like to see the bottom, I have to attach another photo for you, which I’d be more than happy to do, but if you don’t take my word for it, let me know. Wow, now I understand why you use the letter E for your middle name you have to have some way to make yourself look smarter than you are
‘Sender’ (? Trump ?) will end up like the Marquis de Sade> in prison for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography (see the Birthday card sent to Epstein). He is too far gone for any ‘help’.
Denise, I don’t even like Donald Trump. I love his policies and I love the laws that have been acted by Congress that he has presented to them.
I could give a shit what the president’s name is my second favorite president is Bill Clinton despite fucking an employee inside the most sacred building in the world and then lying about it under oath . He was a good president. Unfortunately, for Bill he made one super super super super major mistake that has recently killed 1 million people and counting and the problem with people like you is you’re so ignorant about reality of life that you don’t even know what I’m talking about, but you should investigate that Bill Clinton in the past three years even though he left Office 25 years ago or so with the help of Joe Biden has recently killed an additional 200,000 innocent people.
But Lisa, how are you ever gonna find out the truth? This is the problem with you, irrational folks. Let’s say you’re a defendant in a trial.
Your way of thinking would absolutely bury you. And here’s how that would happen. The prosecutor would get up and make his case. And then they would send it directly to the jury. You may not realize what you’re saying, but that’s exactly what you’re saying. This Substack is nothing more but a prosecuting attorney with one major fault. Biased evidence half the facts, no facts at all , or one-sided opinions without any backup or support just accusations OR PROOF. . I’m sure you would not like to be in that position as a defendant. But that’s what you’re suggesting.
And by the way, one last thing there are people here who post 10 2030 times a day lengthy lengthy posts and I have not once ever heard them. Called trolls. Only when they disagree with the UN informed group are they considered trolls.
A troll is a user who deliberately posts inflammatory, irrelevant, or off-topic messages. Their primary goal is to bait other members, disrupt normal conversations, and provoke strong emotional reactions (like anger or frustration) for their own amusement.
Well, there they are what are you gonna do now huh? Mom lmao.
I could go back and find the 20 initial ones that I did back in May ones that he actually won big-time for America and the planet, but I’ll wait for your response here and I will only address the issues that we speaking of right now nothing with anger nothing with frustration and nothing for your own amusement. Just the facts about his policies and nothing more.
I don’t wanna hear one word from you about anything having to do with Donald Trump until the day he became president. And if you do that, you’re absolutely worthless.
I already told you and back in May I posted the top 20 accomplishments of the Donald Trump administration. And you know what kind of feedback I got from that people arguing with me on the facts that I posted. NONNNNNNNNNNE.
And there you will find the policies and laws that I agree with see how simple that was. Now, unfortunately, the ball is in your court.
Let me give you the first one… because you don’t even agree with that one because if you agree with that one, you have to agree that the people that came over here illegally need to go home soooo
HE CLOSED THE BORDER IN 75 DAYS. AND THAT IS DESPITE ATTEMPTING TO DO THAT DURING HIS FIRST TERM WHEN THE LIBERALS WOULDN’T APPROVE THE WALL. AND WHAT DID THAT CAUSE IT CAUSED YOU PICK A NUMBER BETWEEN EIGHT AND 20 MILLION ILLEGALS TO COME OVER TO THE UNITED STATES ILLEGALLY
AND THEN I WILL SUBSCRIBE TO YOU EXACTLY WHAT THAT’S COST US BOTH IN HUMAN LIFE AND IN MONETARY VALUE
AND NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I’VE ASKED FOR ANSWERS AS TO WHA WHAT POLICIES DO YOU NOT AGREE WITH I GET NOTHING IN RESPONSE. I GET HOLLOW UNSUPPORTED BULLSHIT.
Well, you’re wrong on both accounts. Well maybe more than both maybe many
And none of this is for my amusement it’s for you AS A REALITY CHECK BECAUSE YOU SORELY NEED ONE
WHAT YOU CALL NORMAL CONVERSATION IS ONLY NORMAL IF YOU HEAR FROM THE PROSECUTION AND NEVER HEAR FROM THE DEFENSE
THAT’S NOT AMERICA. THAT’S NOT FAIRNESS. THAT’S NOT TRUTH AND WHAT DID YOU CALL IT? INFLAMMATORY, IRRELEVANT, OR OFF-TOPIC.
I don’t do any of that. I reply to ridiculously obscenely, incorrect, assertions assumptions that never have any backup proof or evidence. They’re simply insults and accusations that people make because they’re accepted by all the other people here as being the truth when there’s been no actual support FACTUALLY for such.
And unfortunately, for you, mom, this is not for my amusement at all. This is for the benefit of the United States of America to wake left wing haters up to their hate to their irrational hate to their useless hate causeless hate when all they do is join the group because it’s safe.
And like I said, mom I’m guessing that most of the people here used to be on Twitter and they left as soon as it became a balanced venue versus 85% liberal and 15% conservative before Elon Musk bought it and balanced it and everybody all the chicken shits all the cowards all fact deniers cowerd over to blue sky to be able to commiserate with other others without being questioned.
If you really believed this, Rick, you would refute the reports that the professor cites and cite facts of your own. Instead you make no attempt to contest her reports only to denigrate her on a personal level. That doesn't even count as polemic, Rick, it's just an ignorant rant. If you can't do better, then perhaps your time would be more profitably spent elsewhere with other morons like yourself.
Russell, I’ve been doing this for 20 months or so . The problem is there’s very little pushback when you post facts like I have.
I’m not degrading anybody Russell I am posting an honest observation
As I said before, and I’ll say it again, she never uses a right wing source as her evidence she never even crosses the line into right wing territory
That I’ve seen.
And sometimes it is so suspicious to me and I’m only spitballing here
But sometimes it almost seems like she reads the left-wing blogs, puts things in her own words, post them as her own thoughts and support them with the left-wing blogs that she was reading in the first place.
Lauren welcome to the ignorance channel. Heather’s Substack nickname Are you not aware that they have predicting that since January 20, 2017? And every single prediction that they made has been wrong about the economy about employment about the stock market about a recession about a depression about inflation about gasoline prices, until this war began, which will soon be over and prices will be down again
You are a lost soul, my dear No one is supporting our workforce they’re deporting the illegal workforce Including all the murderers that have killed people that you know raped women that you know brought drugs to people that you know and sucked up over $1 trillion of your tax dollars For free services, such as food, shelter, clothing, and worst of all medical care for free, which you in fact are not even entitled to
That’s a funny way you put that mom. Any facts that disagree with your distraught distorted views make me a bully if I disagree with them.. I hope to God you’re never a defendant in a trial o Or
God, I hope you’re not a defense attorney someday your clients are in big trouble.
The people here paint such a distorted view of reality with no facts no evidence, no proof, simply insults and hate and accusations, and any fool would be able to dispute them. They’re so simplistic in their mistake.
No. They don’t get tired of finding ways to hurt people. Cruelty is the point. They stated that at the outset, early in Trump’s first term. They are proud of it, and at least 77 million of our fellow Americans (probably more than a hundred million, really, when you throw in a comparable fraction of nonvoters) are all in with the pogrom. Those people are the problem. Trump will be gone in the foreseeable future, but the 100 million or so bigots who enjoy inflicting cruelty on other Americans will be with us indefinitely. We may have just barely enough decent human beings in the electorate to throw the bastards out, but it will require a monumental effort and a lot of luck.
A large percentage of these voters and non-voters that support these cruel acts claim to be Christians. This includes priests, ministers, pastors and so-called spiritual leaders. What do these people talk about in their Bible studies and church services? How many of them tithe as the Bible commands them over 42 times? How many of them help others when they are in need?
Texas passed an unconstitutional law. as have other states that requires the 10 commandments be hung in every classroom. If asked, I'm guessing every one of the legislators that voted for the bill couldn't recite them. As for the kids in the classroom, they will never even look at the commandments.
They are practicing prosperity theology. They think that the Bible promises a kind of covenant: if believers have sufficient faith and act on it (through prayer, and positive declarations to manifest what they want), God will provide material prosperity, health, and protection from hardship. Poverty, illness, and setbacks are signs that you lack faith. You can turn your situation around if you just work and pray harder. In other words, if you are poor, it is your own fault. If you are wealthy, it is a sign God loves you, and you deserve it. No introspection required.
The preachers, like Trump's spiritual advisor, Paula White Cane, leave out the part about the fortunate donating to the poor, and substitute in donating to their mega-churches. The preachers take their generous cut off the top, because God clearly must love them a lot...
It is a perversion of Christ's teachings and custom-crafted for grift. It equates material success with holiness and glorifies wealth inequality. It is the perfect religion for white Christian Nationalists.
I agree, Georgia, but am perplexed by other Christians who do good-works to help the poor, and the homeless and those Christians who are themselves poor and need help—-yet both these groups have many who support Trump ! I am skeptical of them.
Georgia, your description of Prosperity Gospel is 100% accurate. The reason the grift works in evangelicalism is that followers are simultaneously DIScouraged from critical thinking, fact-finding, and all the other mental processes humans are capable of. Instead, they are ENcouraged to have "faith," the unsupported assumption that everything will turn out okay.
Followers are told to tithe 10% as a bare minimum, "as commanded by God, and more than 10% as God leads and enables." Inherent in this command is that donations should be given to "God's work," never directly to those who need financial help. God's work is defined as churches, televangelists and other approved organizations. The unsupported assumption is that the supported organization's leaders are best qualified to decide how those donations should be spent, AFTER the administrators take their cut. Typically, the remainder is spent on sustaining operations rather than actually providing services the "ministry" is supposedly providing.
Example: Samaritan's Purse is a "charity" taken over by Franklin Graham supported entirely by donations. His 2024 annual salary from the organization was $945,493, which has increased every year. Since 2015, he has collected $8 million. This is in addition to the salary he collects from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), estimated to be somewhere over $600,000, but cannot be confirmed because BGEA does not file a Form 990 with the IRS.
Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is the primary "ministry" of Samaritan's Purse, in which evangelicals are encouraged to buy small gifts at their own expense from an approved list. They pack these gifts in shoeboxes from their closets wrapped in Christmas wrap, taking care to wrap the lid separately. These filled shoeboxes are marked for age and gender with labels purchased for $10 each. The boxes are collected and transported by volunteers to one of OCC's 8 "processing centers," where volunteers and minimum-wage workers open the shoeboxes, check for appropriate contents and stuff them with religious pamphlets designed to scare needy children into converting to Christianity. The shoeboxes are loaded onto pallets and transported at no or low cost on carriers with unused capacity to distribution centers worldwide.
In 2023, OCC raised $775 million in cash donations. Their alleged expenses were $718 million. What happened to $57 million? I can assure you that evangelical supporters aren't asking that question. Seems to me, Franklin Graham might be able to provide some insight.
Tithing or not tithing is a minor problem compared to the bigotry that motivates the devotion to cruelty that we see in 80% of white evangelicals, and plenty of other Christians, too, but it’s astonishingly pervasive in white evangelicals. But since you brought it up, tithing, as described in their bible, is a flat tax. That means negative effects of tithing on the lives of wealthy tithers are nil, but tithes affect severely the lives of tithers of modest means, and the effects on poor tithers are nearly impossible to bear. This is blatantly unfair, to the point of immorality in my book.
This is really the point to be made about giving and tithing--
From the book of Mark, Chapter 12:
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
There are other lessons that the White Christian Nationalists should be reminded of in Mark Chapter 12:
See The Greatest Commandment - Mark 12: 28-34
I'm a non-theist but I choose to follow the wisdom Jesus gave us unlike the white Christian Nationalists who choose hate and cruelty over love and kindness.
Rex, the "biblical" definition of tithe is 10% of one's income. This specification was handed down to the ancient Israelites by Moses. In that culture, it was actually a law, similar to a tax, as you alluded to. Most conservative sects dwell in the Old Testament, so they embrace this precept. To this day, evangelicals argue about whether the 10% tithe should given before or after taxes. 🤣
In Matthew 23:23, Jesus had some harsh words for the temple officials who meticulously gave their 10% to the temple, but treated their neighbors like shit.
Although GJ's quotation from Mark is useful, I think MAGA evangelicals would do well to read Matthew and re-read it until it finally sinks in.
No doubt a number of those favouring the 10 Commandments in schools will be voting for the sleazy crook Ken Paxton. And they probably all voted for the sleazy Trump. I don’t understand these people.
I read that anti-semitism is on the rise to add to the nationalist christians good deeds. Anyone want to remind them that the ten commandments were given to none other than Moses?
How do you reach the people who support the GOP world view?? Their feelings of supremacy and their suspicions and hatred are based upon their version of “Christianity” that gets reinforced daily by right wing media.
Just like the slave owners justified their cruelty by using so called religious dictates, these people justify their bigotry by claiming that some god permits them to oppress anyone who threatens their economic or cultural well being.
If religion makes a person evil, it is not about god. It is about power, and we need to be clear about that and be very specific about calling that out. James Telirico is doing exactly that by throwing Biblical references right back in their ignorant faces. So, true to their nature, they attack his character.
There can be no quarter in repudiating the people who espouse this kind of behavior. There is nothing defendable in this kind of bigotry. This is not “ patriotic” or American in any way. Whether it is public shaming or outright isolating these people from sane society, there is nothing defendable about bigotry. And no longer any reason to tolerate this behavior under the guise of “religion”.
It must be exhausting to spend all your waking hours fantasizing about just how much cruelty you can engage in, how you can best hurt as many around you as possible, how you can keep it up for as long as possible…
There is a hope in me (call me naive) that most of them do not realize how cruel this is. They strongly believe they are on the right path. Just like the people who burnt women for sorcery, believing they were doing God's will. As far as they are concerned, cruelty, under the guise of Christianity, is OK, as long as it is not unleashed on people like themselves. This is why I claim Talarico's message will hopefully resonate with some of the Maga voters.
Their belief that they are on the right path doesn’t change a thing IMO. I can believe the earth is flat as sincerely as I want. Doesn’t make it true. Talarico’s message may sway some fence sitters, but it isn’t changing MAGA. I’m afraid MAGA will need to see their movement fail utterly, then go through the five stages of grief (especially denial) before they even consider that Republican Jesus’ message was lacking.
Ligia, the cruelty is the point and the purpose of all they do. I am glad that you have not seen (or been impacted by) the same level of cruel, malicious, and demeaning behavior that I have seen; I think that they ache for that cruelty imposed upon the "others".
Ally, cruelty, as you have likely observed, is like a disease. Not dealt with early, it consumes those in whom the flames are fanned. Cruel parents beat their children, who in turn, beat theirs (second commandment: “the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children to the fourth generation of them that hate me….). Good luck to US all.
They don't get exhausted, they get further inspiration & possibly pleasure by causing their brand of "leadership" on those who oppose. "The beating will continue until moral improve." They're banking on the premise that if I make your enemies suffer more than yourself, you'll stay on our side. They honestly believe their cause is righteous. It is the sad & very dangerous situation were in right now & they're in it for the long haul. I saw a bumper stick once... "Science flies planes to the moon, Religion flies them into building" Maybe a bit harsh and I'll bet people in ICE facilities feel a plane just flew into the structure of their lives under the guise of Christian Nationalism
Honestly ICTT! And then there are the Heather's of the world who give, give, give until it hurts and then give some more. I am forever grateful to these men and women who give me a line to some truth.
Far from being exhausting, it gives them energy because when they focus on hurting other people, they can avoid looking inside their own broken psyches. They can look away from their own wounding and the layers of callouses they have used to cover it. As long as they focus on “them” and “out there,” they can avoid any responsibility or self-knowledge.
it's weird isn't it? Some people truly devote their lives to helping people. I think a majority of us try to help some. Some people are selfish and indifferent to the fate of others. Some really seem to want to cause suffering. I don't believe in the devil, but we don't seem to yneed one. Just let human nature drift into it's darkest places.
J L Graham, lucky me: I was raised by parents whose mission it was to level the playing field in health care, housing and access to jobs.
When I need to hire someone to help me or handyman I look for not only character-integrity, but for honesty, skill and often it’s an immigrant now citizen from latin America, Jamaica etc..
Almost everything the viscous t-gang do is the antithesis of what my parents and their generation stood for.
I still believe each one of us here w deep thanks to professor Richardson, can help turn the boat around.
I am always fascinated by human nature: how the socio economic, parental, or educational guides mould a person's personality! Or is it indeed partly inherited? Or are we just following a pre existing, pre ordained pattern? We all have good and evil in us, but for some of us, while doing good is essential, for others doing good only for self preservation/enrichment is the norm. However, we seem to have lost the meaning of "integrity"; and as long as humanity survives, we will never know the answer I think; no matter how many religions we come up with. I wish nature had a natural bulb that lights up above one's head every time a person tells a lie!
It appears that the religion these right-wingers follow has no problem with liars.
These so called Christians believe in Prosperity Doctrine. I imagine their version of Jesus joined the money changers instead of throwing them out.
When it comes to religion, they all require blind faith in irrational beliefs.
And religion is used to rationalize any thing including evil to others in the name of God. Sadly, so many are committed to their religious delusions. It makes it easy for evil people and organizations to manipulate them.
I see the exploitive (or is it expletive?) brand of "Christianity" as ego-centric arrogance and the kinder, more inclusive form as humble. What I mean by humble is not at all submissive, but honest, and I think that the real world is the ultimate creator and destroyer, and keen and honest assessment of both one's strengths and weaknesses give one the edge (but only an edge) against disaster. Modern medicine is an edge. Broadly observed and defended human rights are an edge. The world remains replete with opportunities and serious dangers, but wisdom helps us find the most likely to be fruitful next step. Billionaires who would enslave the whole of humanity to become trillionaires are sick and antisocial. We all of necessity pursue self-interest but our survival as a species may depend on preserving mutuality as much as competition. The ecosphere is a combination of both, as are civil societies. THAT is key to what what July 4th 1776 asserted, and however imperfectly it has been observed, that is the key to avoiding despotism and avoidable extinction. Greed can become a fanatical addiction.
Honesty gets tricky and I am not convinced it is always wise to show all of one's cards in society, at least not without some discussion, but I think that love that is worthy of the name is inseparably tied to truth, truth so far as we can determine it objectively, and truth so far as we choose not to lie. I think there is also some support for Keats' truth is beauty, beauty truth. I see that in the best aspects of religion, but also it's opposite in the worst. Desmond Tutu seemed to me to be a modern embodiment of the former. Does the current regime more resemble the kindnesses of Jesus or the cruelty of of those who drove the nails?
I've reached the point where I'm considering what I would call personality disorders, to be leftovers of our evolution as a species. Perhaps they were necessary to our survival, but are now, in the modern context, highly destructive. I'm no anthropologist, but there's got to be a way to understand and help direct people with severe personality problems before it's too late.
Makes sense to me. Many problematic adult behaviors are a persisting adaptation that made some sense at it's inception but outlived its usefulness. Maladapted behaviors can be harmful, even self-destructive. That can be true of us as societies or even as a species, as well as individually. It would seem to be wise to be wiser about that.
Except, Annabel, criminal Donald's lackies and sycophants didn't think of these ways.
Stalin, Hitler, Franco, Mao, Salazar, and Mussolini all thought of these, our current variously murderous concentration camps -- all back then extra-legal, deadly cruel.
Donald and his minions all work very closely with the worst in the U.S.'s private prison gulag to make sure the tens of thousands of people of color sent to their fates there -- effectively disappeared in the U.S. -- yes, all suffer bad food, lack of medical care, and no contacts with lawyers or families. But the cruelties also have the fantastic levels of additional corruption so everyone at the top scams millions of dollars in extra, off-the-books profits for themselves, too.
If there's one thing U.S. universities have excelled at, it's been in growing their morally empty, cynical, bottom-line dehumanized schools of biz ed as the largest in all academe. Three times the majors as all health disciplines combined.
Back in the day, Phil, circa mid 70’s, the goal of graduating business majors was to be the first in class to obtain triple digit pay, period. That was the end target of an entire field of education. The ethics required to obtain that goal perverted any sense of decency. That made for some real dillies in personal match-ups as new hires were awarded functional command of the work force without a corresponding experience threshold. My response was to abandoned corporate America and seek employment where respect was a mutual concern. While I never obtained triple digit pay I did find that respect. Mutual respect.
Mid-'70s I was a teaching fellow in Ann Arbor, for undergrad comp. Prior to that I'd been U.S. Army 2 Sept. 1969 to 4 Apr. '72 (Viet translator). Prior to that, undergrad myself in Ann Arbor, 1965-69.
I met a few biz ed folks then, but it operated out of an old three-bedroom wood house, and had no special clout or funding. The students, undergrad and grad, seemed to me entirely normal, decent.
Everything changed -- quantum changes, massive -- following the 1971 Powell memo. During the '70s the forces of money and corporate reach began their takeover of all the U.S. (See Wendell Berry's take on this in his 1977 "The Unsettling of America." This was the first, best book recognizing the ominous changes underway -- though it would be another 50 years before even he ever knew the words Powell memo.)
The JFK assassination was the coup that created the military/industrial empire that created the Tonkin Gulf Resolution creating the Vietnam War the people of Vietnam survived. (We are Vietnam Veterans)
I'd not known of him then, Alec, but someone here pointed him out to me.
Maybe it was you? Anyway, the book someone alerted me to was "Talking with Victor Charlie." His time in Nam was several years prior to my own year at South Post, Ft. Myer, and Crystal City, VA, learning Saigon dialect.
I graduated college in the 80s but I have some similar memories of b-school grads. I was a political science major watching it all with some bemusement as companies came to campus my senior year to do interviews. You had to put your name on a paper list on the wall in Student Life to sign up for a slot. All the lists for “big six” accounting firms filled up immediately. Everyone wanted to get rich quick and was drinking the kool-aid of the Reagan years - deregulate, make money and let everything else sort itself out. It wasn’t until later that “Wall Street” hit the big screens and showed the dark side of all this.
I of course took a different path. After working in the business world post-college, and even working my way halfway towards a MBA at night, I chucked it. I instead went to grad school (by now it was the early 90s) and got a MPA. I never once looked back.
I’ve gone through lots of ups and downs but have since built a career and done quite well for myself. I sometimes wonder if all those business whiz kids really ended up happy. Maybe they did. Or maybe some saw that happiness is more than money. I know in at least some cases that is true. Those are the business school students who are still my friends today.
Phil, did you read what I wrote earlier about Powell’s arriving home to find me at his dinner table as a guest of his wife and daughter? His reaction to my presence told all. Disdain as in WHO is she? Southern money and writer of the Powell Memo was clear to the wife of his daughter’s professor immediately.
Pat: My cousin got her MBA and went to work on Wall Street in the '70s. For a while, all I heard was how she was making 6 figures. And then suddenly she wasn't, after she took a buyout and then couldn't find another job. She was a raging racist narcissist like Trump. She wound up an alcoholic, a hoarder, and an agoraphobe. I hadn't spoken to her in 20 years when she died and I found out that she had made me the executor of her will. I was the only person at her funeral.
Sometimes I thought I was going crazy when these newly minted business wonders entered the actual world of work. It was impossible not to see when out of their own mouths I listened to their moaning of having achieved that goal while simultaneously realizing they hated the bed they made. Imagine being shipped more than halfway to the sun into the sterile endlessly drifting wheat fields of the golden triangle isolated in an agrarian setting so vast all direction became confining with no familiars. Poor souls.
I also got my undergrad in business (accounting) and an MBA and yes taught profits above all else. However critical thinking and seeing how corporate America operates has led me to an okay career, not quite making it to the top because I did not buy into their thinking. Hopefully retiring in 1-4 years.
PT, “buy into their thinking” is very telling. Thank you. It’s greed and racism that are our besetting sins. And they may overcome US unless we can survive 11/3/2026. Vote all ye who fear for the death of democracy to sustain it.
I’ve had my long run and now in my short run I’m trying to decide to whom I may parcel out the greedy clutches I have hoarded. Besides I don’t have an excavator to bury all my boats with me in them. It’s rather trying to determine one’s temporal realities.
Did the Nazis? The high they get from domination and degradation of the people under their power gets stale, so they have to push it further.
Trump's squeamishness and his focus on money may be his only saving graces. He just delegates the infliction of cruelty to others, so he never needs the increasing adrenaline rush from it. Stephen Miller is his proxy cruelty master. He enjoys crafting new ways to hammer people.
Meanwhile, Trump gets off on how much money he can milk out of the system. We've gone from a few million dollars up into the billions to satisfy his urges.
It seems that the capacity to choose to do the right thing has never been inoculated with any of them. If nothing else Moonlight Graham in Field of Dreams. Where were their parents or teachers? Didn’t anyone give them a one iota of a sense of responsibility for other humans and other species?
I don’t know about his mother. She was from the outer Hebrides Lewis Island. Rural life on those lands not at all easy. He went once and stayed for literally a few minutes. She perhaps was crushed by her husband in some way. I never have understood the dynamics.
GRAHAM PLATNER’S WIFE, AMY, SAYS THEIR MARRIAGE IS SOLID
In her “Politics Chat” of 6/4/26 Heather Cox Richardson discussed the kerfuffle sparked by a recent (6/4) NYT article about Graham Platner (popular Democratic primary Senate candidate in Maine) which is just prior to the primary election on Tuesday 6/9. Platner has replied with an interview on MS NOW with Chris Hayes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEi9rugxYcg Platner’s wife has stated in recorded videos that their marriage is solid and that they had marital counseling at the beginning of their marriage that resolved issues that they were experiencing. Platner served our country for four tours of duty as a Marine in two different wars (Iraq and Afghanistan). It is unfortunately not uncommon for soldiers who have experienced the trauma of warfare to suffer from PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome) when they return to normal society. (The NIH National Library of Medicine has a web page that describes the symptoms and behaviors of PDSD in military veterans. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11200391/ ). This is an added price that our service members may pay for their service in protecting us and our country. It is not something to smear their reputations over. Platner received professional treatment and with aging has apparently recovered. This should be celebrated. I say this as someone who has diagnosed and treated cases of PTSD, One has to question the timing (just a few days prior to an election) and the motives of the people bringing these accusations (the most accusatory one is an acknowledged right-wing advocate who has worked for Susan Collins and the Heritage Foundation) and the writers of the article (anxious to get their names on the media “scoop” of a controversy to pad their resumes). Where is the “due process”? The accusations are what lawyers would say is (out-of-court and not under oath or with cross examination) heresay. There are no FBI 302 Forms, Police reports, restraining orders, prosecutions or civil law suits. The accusers knew that Platner had served four tours of duty in war zones as a Marine. The medical diagnosis of PTSD has been public knowledge for over 40 years in response to when it surged in the veterans of the Vietnam war. It was part of the official 1980 DSM-III (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-3 by the American Psychiatric Association). If the accusers were concerned about his behavior and were empathic individuals, they would have responded by encouraging him to seek help at a VA Hospital. Instead they chose vengeful political slander. Graham Platner has not led a perfect life but who has? If an entity spend a million dollars investigating everything in the accusers’ and NYT writers’ lives, they might be the ones who are embarrassed. What have any of them done in service of their country? Platner recognized his problem with PTSD, had therapy and has now apparently fully recovered. When there was a problem in the early stages of his marriage, he participated in marital counseling and resolved the issues.This ability to problem solve is exactly what we want in elected officials and those aspiring to serve our country. Platner’s wife has recorded several videos stating that their marriage is “solid” and that marital counseling resolved their personal issues. She has certainly had more intimate and longer contact with him than the accusers or writers.
Why aren’t the legacy media and “talking heads” aroused to cover real criminals like Ken Paxton? They should be “electrified” in their coverage of Donald Trump - In comparison to Platner. Trump had sex with a porn star while his new wife was at home with a newborn, sexually molested E. Jean Carroll, fomented an insurrection to overturn the 2020 election, was convicted of 34 felony counts of fraud, evaded the draft so he wouldn’t have to serve his country, etc. and knowing this over 77 million voters voted for him because the media failed to adequately and accurately inform them. And Susan Collins enables him and his criminal and authoritarian behavior.
“While both men and women experience PTSD, male veterans are statistically more likely to externalize their trauma through irritability, aggressive behaviors, risk-taking, and substance misuse to numb their pain. Core symptoms generally fall into these four primary categories:
1. Intrusion & Re-experiencing
Flashbacks: Feeling or acting as if the traumatic event is happening all over again.
Nightmares: Distressing, recurring dreams about the trauma that severely disrupt sleep.
Intrusive Thoughts: Unwanted, distressing memories that repeatedly enter the mind.
2. Avoidance
Trigger Avoidance: Actively dodging specific people, places, objects, or activities that bring back memories of the trauma.
Emotional Disconnect: Intentionally avoiding conversations, thoughts, or feelings related to the event.
3. Negative Alterations in Mood & Cognition
Social Isolation: Withdrawing from family and friends, or feeling completely detached from loved ones.
Numbing: A reduced ability to feel positive emotions (e.g., happiness or love) and a general loss of interest in hobbies.
Distorted Beliefs: Persistent, exaggerated negative beliefs about oneself or the world (e.g., "I am bad" or "No one can be trusted").
4. Hyperarousal & Reactivity
(This category often looks visibly different in male veterans)
Anger and Irritability: Uncharacteristic outbursts of anger, aggression, or verbal arguments.
Hypervigilance: Being constantly "on edge," overly watchful of one's surroundings, or experiencing a heightened startle response (e.g., jumping at loud noises).
Reckless Behavior: Engaging in self-destructive or high-risk activities.
Substance Misuse: Turning to drugs or alcohol to self-medicate or dull emotional pain.”
They say. He's a Fetterman! He's a Trump! He's a dirtbag!
We know. He'll stand up for civil rights, workers' rights, equitable taxation, equal representation, environmental protections, essential and emergency services, and strategic alliances. And won't bow down to AIPAC.
So if - despite Republicans, establishment Democrats, and establishment media stopping at nothing to stop Graham Platner - we Maine Democratic voters make Platner our senate candidate ... will the nominal centrist and left wing opposition to Trump, still prefer a Republican senate majority over a Platner win?
As an American Jew and Zionist born in the shadow of the Holocaust. As a woman. As a Democrat. As a Maine voter. I am the demographic for the campaign against Graham Platner. And if you think I'm buying their bunk, then I've got a bridge to sell you.
Platner is imperfect. Compare him to the self-identified Christians, evangelicals in particular, who refuse to heed Jesus’s command to love one another. I’ll take a reformed (if he is—lin, you’re a better judge since you’re in Maine) human who sees the errors of his former ways any day.
He just doesn't come across as the real deal. I guess only time will tell. He sounds anti-establishment, yes. That's not quite the same as being a Bernie Sanders populist-progressive. No one wants Susan Collins to be re-elected. But is Planter the best Maine Democrats can do?
Graham Platner is endorsed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Ro Khanna. And by local progressives. So what they are seeing ? An FDR New Deal Democrat? A solid Progressive platform? A senate Democratic majority?
Graham Platner came to my attention through his and Amy Gertner's organizing of local protests here in Ellsworth Maine. And eventually to the attention of Maine Democratic organizers. During the bitter cold stormy New Year's weekend, hundreds of us across Maine collected over 6500 signatures of registered Democratic voters to get Platner on the ballot. Support has grown from there - undeterred by Chuck Schumer twisting Janet Mills' arm to mount a failed campaign, undeterred by opposition research, undeterred by unsubstantiated claims by an ex girlfriend who is a Republican operative bragging on being a leader in Ladies for Kavanaugh. We are focussed on Platner's platform.
Please listen for yourself.
Dem. Sen. candidate Graham Platner speaks at event amid BOMBSHELL NYT report
Yes, he has impressive support. What I see is from a distance, and my impression of him as not the real (progressive public servant) deal might be wrong. I hope so because we need strong progressive members of Congress, people with integrity and moral courage. I guess time will tell.
I always vote, but often with little enthusiasm. I have been to at least a dozen town halls in CA, NE, IL, FL and ME. No one has excited me more than Graham Platner, except maybe my next door neighbor in college - Tom Harkin. But part of that may have been the beer.
I'm with -lin. Once you hear him speak in person, you can feel his empathy and some of the pain of what he has gone through in his life.
Had he won the Democratic primary then ... no Bill Clinton neoliberalism, no turn from Main St to Wall Street, no Hillary Her Turn ... and just possibly No Trump.
In Platner and young Democrats in the Congressional Progressive caucus, I see new recruits coming to reinforce the older Democrats who have always upheld their New Deal, Great Society, Civil Rights roots.
I absolutely agree. We need more progressive members of Congress.
You think Janet Mills is a Progressive? I give her credit where credit is due. She is very law and order. She is a very stable centrist. She is absolutely not a progressive. Not small p not large P.
As far as politics goes, can't see daylight between her and Susan Collins. When push comes to shove they believe the same things. Susan doesn't vote with Trump because she believes in that sh$t. She votes with him because she's a political creature who is always worried about how things look and how they will affect re-election.
Janet Mills is also a career politician. She's not a bad person in spite of that. But she's not what we need right now. You know that in her 8 years as governor she consistently voted against Native Rights? She veto'd several bills that would have allowed unions and minimum wage for farm workers? She always sides with the corporations against the people.
I am baffled that you claim we need progressive members in Congress at the same time that you disparage us for supporting a Progressive over a right leaning Centrist.
I didn't take Mills for a progressive, BLB, given what I've learned of her recently. I thought she might have been a less risky candidate. We needed earlier transparency from Platner. Maybe I saw too much Columbo back in the day, or Poirot. My little grey cells are unsettled by Platner.
Platner may not be the best, but he is the candidate Mainers have raised in this moment and is likely what stands between us and another GOP Senate majority for Donald Trump. Is there risk with him? Undoubtedly, but we are painfully aware of the risks of an unchecked Trump and the cadre of brutes around him.
We vehemently agree! It's not easy to make this argument, but political pragmatism is necessary in the moment. I tell myself the Senate can always remove a member who misbehaves, for now focus on another crucial vote against Trump. Given Trump's outrageous, even criminal behavior, which has gone unaccountable his whole life, it violates any sense of fairness to hold others to a stricter standard, but I recognize and share the discomfort with it. Maybe that's a key difference. Republicans seem to ignore, celebrate or even worship it, while we struggle.
Regardless of your question, donna, he is the Democratic candidate by a vote of the people of Maine. We can tear him down, and then how’s that going to work out for us? Susan Collins yet again. Can we just decide to focus on winning the majority instead of shooting ourselves in the foot?
Yes, the voters of Maine will choose according to their own insights.
I don't think, though, that we should characterize questioning a candidate's viability and suitability as 'tearing him down.' Much of the commentary I've seen this weekend comes down to this: 1. P47 has changed the moral fabric of presidential ethics and we need to adapt. 2. Platner hasn't sunk to the level of conduct that the president has. 3. We need to adjust to the ethical landscape P47 has brought us.
I don't want the Democratic Party to become a Party that mirrors the ethical emptiness of P47. If that's what I'm offered, no thanks.
He isn't the candidate yet. There is a primary on Tuesday, correct? And Governor Mills was running for that until April 30 when she ran out of money. I understand a lot of people think Mills is not liberal enough, but she isn't better than Susan Collins? Seriously? And I doubt there is a grain of serious offense in her career that can be proven. How will you feel when Platner is proven to have assaulted women? It would be far better to have him out of the race and let people chose between Collins and Mills, wouldn't it?
Thanks for the correction, Jon. I knew Mills had suspended her campaign, and lost track of the zillion primary dates we have to keep track of. Many accusations fly around the internet endlessly. I trust the voters of Maine to evaluate and decide who their candidate will be. And I trust Sanders, Warren, and Khanna to do their due diligence. I'm so tired of Democrats doing MAGA's job for them by demolishing our own candidates. What I know about Mills is that she's already said she will not support abolishing the filibuster, and indicated she won't support the level of court reform necessary to undo the damage of the Roberts Court. Those things will have to happen if we are going to have any chance of restoring our democracy and the rule of law. So, I can't say at this point if Mills will be better than Collins.
I have to admit I was not fully aware of the issues re: Mills that you just mentioned. I agree those are definitely NOT ideal characteristics of someone I would want to see in the Senate. On the other hand, saying she wouldn't be better than Collins completely ignores the fact that she would be a Democrat and that in and of itself is critical if we are to regain control of the Senate. I.e., electing a Democrat, either Platner OR Mills, would definitely help change the mathematics in the Senate, and given how close we are, it is vital at least IMHO to elect as many Democrats as possible.
I just want our Democrats to be reasonable ones, and Platner to me is certainly questionable. Apparently so maybe is Mills. That is unfortunate because we need better Democrats as much as possible.
I am glad I do not live in Maine and don't have to make that decision.
lin•, my most recent "joust" with my MAGAt former work cohort was (and I am almost positive this is one of the "news" stories that they are consuming from their propaganda sources) that Platner's "crimes" of domestic abuse are equated with the "conduct" of Jeffery Epstein. I've also read things that I now cannot locate that indicate the reports of Platner's "crimes" have been engineered from disinformation sources.
Seriously, I had a former sergeant of mine that told me domestic abuse was the same level of offense as sex trafficking of minors and raping children. This is the same man who told me that I couldn't arrest a man who, as the subject of a restraining order and restrained from his wife's residence could not be arrested for rape for breaking into her house and raping her (she had a "system" where she would have her friend on speed dial (remember that?) and the friend could call the police. I suspect (no solid knowledge) that he tried to bring me up on insubordination charges for taking lawful action of investigating and subsequently arresting the husband. He was convicted, by the way.
Everywhere Platner goes he speaks to SRO crowds. I've attended three events and they were all packed. At one of the events he said he had just had coffee with a three time Trump voter and they agreed on almost every issue. He is as good a listener as he is a speaker. Like Mandami he doesn't give a damn about the negative Nellies out there, but he does address the lies.
I'm wondering why no one is looking at Susan Collins voting history to confirm 4 of the 6 Republican Supreme Court members that lied to her about precedent. At least she claims Kavanaugh and Gorsuch lied. She claims to support women, but her votes tell a different story. Or about how she became a multi-millionaire on a Senator's salary? Or about her husband being a lobbyist who is now worth over $10 million. Or about her husband's prior marriage and his three kids? How long were they shacking up before they got married? No one even knows who his ex-wife and kids are? Why is that such a big secret? I'll bet The NY Times could find out if they wanted to. How many ex-lovers has Collins jilted or mis-treated during her 73 years? Did she cheat on them? Did she beat them up or verbally abuse them?
In 1996 Collins promised that she would be a two-term Senator. Obviously she lied about that. One of the many PACs that donates to her campaigns accepted illegal donations.
One Nation PAC is donating millions to her campaign this election cycle and they brag on their website about how they support the Trump agenda. Collins happily takes their money, and then claims she knows nothing about their right wing hateful agenda.
And she is currently taking money from Palantir which the Nurses Association of ME has been protesting against.
Without her vote, the previous reconciliation bill (what a misnomer), the OBBBA wouldn't have been released from committee. She voted against it, but as the saying goes, "Susan Collins is always there when you don't need her."
Tens of thousands of Mainers have lost their health care and SNAP benefits thanks to the Republican's OBBBA. Bath Iron Works benefits from her being chair of the Appropriations Committee providing thousands of good paying jobs in ME. But Trump wants to build battleships and none of the US shipbuilding yards are large enough or can even be expanded to build one of these floating dinosaurs. So Trump and Kegsbreath are talking with other countries about building the battleships there. If the Bath Iron Works doesn't get a contract for the next ship, her campaign is doomed. For someone, that under normal circumstances would be in a good position to bring money into ME, she certainly has underperformed.
It's time to shine the spotlight on Susan instead of always on Platner. And let's go national with it as well.
Sorry, but I have to disagree here. Using your arguments would allow someone on the other side of the political spectrum to excuse Donald Trump from all of the accusations made against him. We (those of us on the left) have argued at length that he is unfit to serve as President for reasons that are quite similar to the charges brought against Platner.
I am NOT saying Platner is a "bad" person. I am sure he has dealt with his demons (as have many of the rest of us). But that, at least to me, is NOT a great QUALIFICATION to hold one of the most important political posts in our country, that of US Senator. ESPECIALLY if there are better candidates and in Maine, there certainly are. Governor Janet Mills only suspended her run for the office 35 days ago because she had run out of money. I am sure there are Democratic benefactors who could revive her campaign especially if Platner did as Swalwell did in California and step aside to let a better candidate run.
We have 100 Senators in this country. 435 House members. 1 president, 1 VP and about 25 top Cabinet officials, plus a bunch of judges. All told, less than 1000 people are in the top positions of power. Out of 330,000,000, representing less than .00005% of the population.
Is it too great to ask that our political and legal representives, friend and foe alike, at least NOT have sexual misconduct in their histories? Is it seriously true that we can't find 1000 people out of 330 million who aren't tainted?
If that is true, it really doesn't matter what happens in the battle to dislodge Trump because we are doomed anyway.
"Interitus Imperii Foederatarum Americanae" indeed.
I have to politely disagree. My father came back from Vietnam a very broken man. I can tell you stories of some things that he did when he got back that would cast him in a terrible light. He had major PTSD from the war. He is the recipient of THREE purple hearts and has a body criss-crossed with scars. To this day decades later, he is still in constant and debilitating pain from some of the injuries to his back. His best friend had his head blown off right in front of him, and he still cannot talk about it without tearing up. However, he finally got help. Personal therapy, group therapy, you name it, and he is much different person today than he was when I was little. Today, as a nearly 80 year old man with pain, he still insists on volunteering at the food pantry. He drives older veterans around who can no longer drive. He is a good man.
To compare a vet who suffered from PTSD to the behavior of Cadet Bone Spurs really rankles me. You may not think PTSD is an excuse. From what I've seen with my dad, it is amazing to me what these men are able to come back from.
Hello Jennifer... To be Spiritual among the Indigenous, is to be able to Listen, and not Judge those of Us who are in Pain... I have Listened, and helped Heal our Warriors since Vietnam... It is a Sorrow to see so much Pain... It is a Privilege to be able to do so...
Thank-You Marlene... I try, and am always a Work-In-Progress... I'm Heyoka, and that bestows a Burden of Responsibility... Being Able To Do Good Is The Greatest Gift...
One of the best and brightest programmers I have ever worked with came back from Iraq with PTSD. He was working on a project that was very similar to a project he had done before he went to Iraq. He struggled for months with the project and I ran interference with the IT director who was losing his patience. I never betrayed the PTSD person to the IT director and eventually the project got to a point that I was able to finish it. Once he had almost completed the project, I found assignments that were less stressful and he did really well for the most part.
I'm not always a good listener, in fact, my wife would say "rarely", but in this case I tried my best and never pushed him. I called him daily to check in and many days he wasn't even able to answer the phone. Thank you for your post Apache.
As I said before this conversation went a little off-course, I would NEVER attack someone for PTSD. That is a terrible illness often caused by wars engaged in by our government.
But in the Platner case, we aren't (or weren't) talking about PTSD. We were talking about sexual assault. There is a HUGE difference between the two, even if they may mirror similarly for some people.
And there was NO sexual assault reported. It was allegedly assault and perhaps holding someone against their will, but where was the sexual assault.
One person making claims of assault is not a pattern. One time when I was 19 years old, I briefly tried to prevent a girl friend from leaving the car when I was dropping her off at her house. Are you claiming that's sexual assault just because she is a woman and I'm a man? I've never hit a girl or a woman except for that one incident. Does that make me a criminal that you would never vote for?
Matt Goetz bragged about sexually assaulting women and doing drugs and Trump wanted to make him the Attorney General. I stand behind Platner because he has never lied to us like Susan Collins has.
Jennifer, I am in agreement with you as my husband is a Vietnam vet with PTSD also. His wounds were his psyche about what he saw and experienced. He was there 68-69, right after Tet. His nose has had to be reconstructed twice due to Agent Orange. The way he keeps his nervous system in check is to workout every single day and to play basketball 2 times a week with friends. He is hyper-vigilant and protective of his girls and me. On June 12th, we will be married 50 years. Blows our mind! We are having a party like no other. Has it been easy? Absolutely not for my girls nor me, but he tries really hard and kudos to him. You give your dad my very best, please.
When Graham Platner talked about his PTSD and his rehab, their wasn't a dry eye in the crowd of 500+ people. He owns it and everything he did during that time in his life. Unlike many of the US Senators, he is extremely intelligent and he actually listens. Plus, he is not a wealthy man. He was recruited to run against Collins and he accepted the challenge.
Most people outside of Maine don't realize how much people hate Susan Collins. She has done so little for us for so long that all she really has going for her is name recognition.
With that being said, she is going to be really hard to beat in November.
I've been volunteering in Ellsworth HQ. I've witnessed how Platner works collaboratively with the young field organizers who have more political experience than he does. Everybody has a place at the table. Platner is very measured and goal oriented. His style is listen, learn, and lead.
I've volunteered on many campaigns. The Platner campaign reminds me of Obama's second run and Chris VanHollen's first run.
The field organization, volunteer enthusiasm, team work, unwavering eyes on the prize, and unflagging sleeves rolled up.
I really don't see how people keep talking about Platner's PTSD (which I totally would NEVER argue as a reason for not voting for him) and ignoring his sexual assault charges. The two are NOT the same and while he deserves a LOT of slack for his PTSD trauma, he deserves none, at least IMHO, for any potential sexual assaults he may have committed.
He 'cheated' on his wife by consensual sexting with other woman. That isn't sexual assault.
And even Lindsay, the GOP activist ex-GF from over a decade ago who started at least two of these rumors, admits that he was never abusive to her. Sexual or Physically.
You are literally making stuff up as you go along.
Thank you, Jennifer. I have professionally dealt with Veterans with PTSD from both 'Nam and the Sandbox. It is not pretty, it takes work to get to some semblance of normal, and it is not easy.
I would NEVER castigate Platner for the PTSD he suffered. But we aren't talking about PTSD here, we are talking about sexual assault. Platner has been accused of assaulting women, as was Swalwell, and Clinton and many others including of course Trump. Did your father come back with his PTSD and then proceed to assault women? I would assume not.
And as I said, I am not even trying to make Platner out to be a bad person. I am sure he has worked hard to try to redeem himself and do better. His wife says so and I want to believe that. The question is whether someone so damaged can still effectively be one of a hundred or so leaders of this country? Or whether they should be?
As I pointed out, there are literally millions of people in this country who are eligible to run for Senate. Maine had a good one, their current governor. Why does Platner NEED to be a Senator? And what would make him superior to people in Maine, including their current governor? Nothing that I can see. I wish Platner all the best of luck in his life in this world, and I hope he continues to do good things with his life. I just wouldn't personally take the risk of asking him to be a national leader for my state with his background. (Nor would I want Swalwell, Clinton, Trump and many others, both GOP and Demcocrat, in that role either).
YOU are the only one talking about sexual assault.
What makes him superior to Gov Mills?
Support for unions.
Support for Medicare for All
Taxing the rich.
Housing affordability
A hatred of foreign wars
Reproductive Freedom
Supports Tribal Sovereignty
Protection of SS and Medicare.
Most of those things Mills is not in favor of. To the point where she has VETOED bills that the legislature passed about Tribal Sovereignty, Unions, Minimum wage for farmworkers... and on and on.
Tell you what. You vote for her. I'm voting for Platner.
I am fine with chess moves. I am NOT fine with suborning sexual assaulters and permitting them carte blanche to be elected, especially when that attitude is only one-sided, i.e., only OUR guys get the pass, not your guys. If you are going to let our guys get away with it, then at least be consistent.
I honor Eric Swalwell for stepping aside in the California governor's race so that Democrats could vote for someone not accused of such awful acts. I wish Platner had the decency to do the same.
The old saying is "Dems want to fall in love, Republicans fall in line." THIS is why we live in MAGAville and soon will be Orwell's Oceania. Great idea, keep sabotaging Dems until Republicans decide they have realized the error of their ways!
The path to the Trump administration was paved in part by left wing purity tests.
I can critique the Democratic party 'til I'm blue in the face. But I will Vote Blue and work to reform the party while keeping a big tent. So I've voted for Jared Golden and campaigned for Zohran Mamdani.
At times your posts sound as if you don't want Dems to criticize the Party, so if in fact you're open to this, super. This whole thing of purity tests is to me the wrong hill to die on. I'd say I don't like them either but then there are times when a candidate's integrity--or the voter's-- serves in effect as a purity test, if you will. We don't want to be judgmental. But human beings are endowed with judgement, and accountable for using it as well as we can.
There's a time and a place to criticize Dems. I attended a coffee last week with my State Senator, a state legislator and a journalist who was also a State Senator years ago.
There wasn't a lot of criticism of Democratic politicians, but there was some. It was actually an open meeting to any of their constituents, but the local weekly paper missed publicizing the meeting. Usually around 20 people attend the coffees and there are often criticisms made of all politicians. To me, that is the right forum.
When I first became a manager, I went to my boss complaining about one of the programmers. After explaining what the problem was I waiting for him to tell me what to do. Without hesitation he asked me, "So what's your solution?" After that, I never went to him with a problem unless I had a solution to offer.
Odd, I didn't read anything like "vote blue no matter who" in lin's comment. "his support of the Constitution" sounds like a position worth supporting to me. And the obvious fact that many allegations are "unsubstantiated and mosty from a Republican operative" make it clear that the smears have little foundation in reality.
After holding my nose to campaign and vote for Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Jared Golden, I am very pleased to have a candidate such as Graham Platner, whose platform I totally agree with.
Lin, my very real quandary is we have a R state senator that does really good work for our community. Should I not vote for him?
I tried to vote blue no matter who the last time and when it came time to feed my ballot into the counting machine I found the director in the room and asked for a new ballot so I could correct a mistake.
This state senator is a good man and it went against my grain to punish him. I could not do it with a clear conscious.
Jerry, lin might not have said it in the comment I replied to but she commends that line of action a lot in her posts.
Is there a Senator alive (or dead) who doesn't claim to support the Constitution? Even our president shamelessly claims to support the Constitution. Being a Senator, even a candidate, calls for more.
I've never supported a candidate like I support Platner. Many times, we vote against a candidate, but in this case, Collins is a rich entitled white Catholic woman who has stabbed us in the back many times by voting to approve Fascist judges and cabinet members.
Thank you, Donna. I agree there are far too many here who are willing to give Platner a pass. I am not ready to convict the man of anything, but like Swalwell, he should step aside so that the current race isn't screwed up by the allegations.
It's probably too late now. But as soon as the news of his online posts became an issue, and definitely when the sexting got traction, he should have stepped aside and worked as hard as he could to help elect Janet Mills. That's was a candidate of exceptional character would have done.
So you are OKAY with men with sexual assault in their background having leading roles in our government? SERIOUSLY? I am stunned by how many people will become so politically expedient (as they did with Bill Clinton, who in my humble opinion should have been impeached and removed from office in 1998) when THEIR COVETED OX is being gored, but so judgmental when it is someone else's OX (like Trump). If you are so okay with all these sexual assault allegations, then I assume you would be just as forgiving of Trump's alleged misbehavior?
If you favored keeping Trump out of office because of what he did to E. Jeanne Carol, but not in favor of keeping Platner out of office for what he is accused of, then I have to label you as an unadulterated hypocrite.
Thank you for the reply but you must be living in a different reality from the one I am experiencing. Graham Platner has never been accused or proven (or convicted as Trump has been) to have committed sexual molestation, 34 felonies, adulterous sex with a porn star, fomenting an insurrection against the government, intimate association with a pedophile and human trafficker of children, robbing the U.S. Treasury, stealing top secret U.S. documents, bankrupting multiple businesses, accepted bribery, disavowed the U.S. Constitution, compulsively lied, installed a kakistocracy/kleptocracy in the U.S. government, etc., etc.. Facts matter. It makes me question who is paying you to post spurious comments here.
Most of us who are appalled by his continuing candidacy don't feel this way because we believe he committed crimes. It takes a lot more than an absence of criminal convictions in one's background to be an acceptable candidate for the Senate. We already have too many buffoons with frat-boy (or girl?) ethics in Congress.
Show me the evidence, the sworn affidavits, the witnesses who agree to testify in sworn depositions, the police reports, etc.. Otherwise what you say are all specious speculations like Hillary Clinton running a pedophile ring in the basement of a pizza shop that has no basement. Get a life.
Whoa, Fred. I didn't say and I don't believe there's evidence Platner committed crimes. I said it takes more than being free of crime to be an acceptable candidate. I happen to think his history of posts--and they're not all that old--make him a questionable candidate.
Hello Donna... One of my Sons served in a USMC Spec Ops Team in six-deployments, and came back changed & troubled... I have Sympathy for Graham Platner's troubles, but not those actions if they are true...
Hi Apache, I am sorry for your son's post-service suffering. I hope I'd be sympathetic to anyone who is a victim of PTSC, including Graham Planter. No doubt he would be affected by what he saw and had to do in Iraq. But he seems to blame his decade+ of insulting social media posts and other puerile behavior on his military service. Is his PTSD still a problem or is it behind him now?
Thank you for mentioning your son's military experience.
Hello Donna... Serving in the USMC is Brutalizing... I served in the USMC as well... One must fight to preserve their Humanity... No One Who Has Seen War, Comes Back Unchanged... Seems that Graham came back with alot of Anger... I can understand that... One of the refrains in the Vietnam War, was "Why Me?"... I helped my Son deal with his... I help all that come to me...
So you would reelect Susan Collins even though she is married to someone who is divorced, has three kids and refuses to reveal their names? Do we know if they were having an affair while he was married? Or if she sleeps around in Washington or even Bangor? And how did she become so wealthy on a Senator's salary? He's a registered lobbyist. Conflict of interest anyone?
The Republicans in the Congress voted to reduce SNAP benefits to $4.80 a day from $6.00 a day. I would say both a criminal acts, like keeping the Federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour since July, 2009. Is starving someone to a criminal activity?
No, I wouldn't re-elect Collins, GJ, although I'm not sure her marriage would be the basis for my decision. Is legislation that leads to starvation (or homelessness or illness) a criminal activity? Who is responsible for that legislation? Huge questions, GJ. The mess we're in as a country is long-standing and deeply entrenched, and it's bigger than MAGA.
Maybe everyone in Maine should write in Heather Cox Richardson's name.
Such utter bullshit is beneath you. No one is paying me. I PAY out of my own pocket to be here, you can ask Heather if you want, she can confirm it. I never said Trump wasn't WORSE than Platner. I said Platner has been accused of things that do not warrant him to be Senator. I felt that way about Bill Clinton not being president when he was accused (rightfully if I might add as was later admitted after he lied to all of us). I felt that way when Swalwll was accused and then HE did the right thing by stepping aside so as not to make those accusations the cause for a potential Democratic failure in the election.
Platner won't win the November election against Susan Collins. So in the end, supporting him will be a loss anyway. Better to have a chance with Mills than a total failure with a guy who can't keep it in his pants.
here is an interview of Graham Platner by Jon Stewart “Graham Platner On Service, Messaging & the Future for Democrats | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-itNjgCJDxU It’s not a political speech but a one on one discussion. Here is the post interview opinion of Jon Stewart:
“You make a lot more sense to me now after spending time with you about what this is all about. I just assumed that you were the sum total of your three Reddit posts that were kind of odd (laughter) (Platner: “Oh God No”) but I really do appreciate and I also know that for a guy who likes to spend time alone on the ocean and with his family and with his community and Maine, this is a sacrifice. I do believe that. I believe that in the same way that you signing up to serve and fight for this country was a sacrifice and a commitment. And I feel like you’re continuing that legacy of service and sacrifice in this (campaign), It’s not easy to face down the forces that are arrayed against you. And I appreciate you man. I just wanted to say that. And it was really lovely to get to know you and I wish you the best here.” Post interview with staff members: “ I didn’t feel maybe for the first time in a while that I was talking to a politician. And I understand, look, he’s got to get elected. But that was clear. I say an actual conversation. It almost felt more like it was a mix between talking to Heather Cox, Richardson and the Gorton’s fisherman. I’m going to put those two things together. (laughter) But what was interesting to me is there’s he’s built a political campaign on the scaffolding of lived experience and philosophical principle based in historical precedent. (Staff “One of the most refreshing conversations we have had on this podcast.”) Yeah! It seemed very clear. You know it’s funny sometimes you wonder like how the hell is this guy in the position that he is in and then you talk to him and go ‘oh I can see how’ when you go to different town halls and you talk about your life and the planning board and your experience in the work. But it’s not just about the experiences. It’s what those experiences represent to him. How he has processed them. How he has filtered them after you talk to him. It’s kind of astounding that the whole story is like “f##ked up tattoo guy”. And you’re like OK I think we might have missed the main (point)…I think we may have “buried the lead” on this one. (Staff “People are not just the mistakes they make”)
For those who are unaware (especially those with children) Carol Dwick Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and author of “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”, introduced the concepts of fixed mindset (believing abilities are static) and growth mindset (believing abilities can be developed through effort). She argues that a growth mindset fosters resilience, learning and success in all areas of life while a fixed mindset leads to avoiding challenges and fearing failure. Graham Platner has a growth mindset. Celebrate that our country is still producing such people.
Yep, seriously true. JFK, Bill Clinton, many others in Congress and on the Supreme Court bench. Sorry, but Platner is so much an improvement over Mills that the people who want truly progressive policies to reform our government have a simple, clear choice.
Donald Trump, our President, was found guilty in court, by a jury of his peers of raping E Jean Carroll. He has also been accused by a number of women of sexual assault. Republicans in Texas have nominated a man to run for the US senate, Ken Paxton, who has been accused of graft, and accused by his wife of having a mistress with whom he shares an apartment. Do we really believe they are not going to vote for Paxton because of all his failings?
We in Maine finally have a chance to rid ourselves of a Senator who has not held a town hall anywhere in Maine in 20 years! You can Google that fact. For all his failings, Graham Platner, just since he was persuaded to run against Susan Collins by labor leaders, has held over 75 town halls all across Maine.!
If he turns out to be another Fetterman, we don't have to reelect him. But let Maine voters make that decision. and please don't post comments about a man you've never heard speak at a rally.
That's nonsense. Do you know how many people who are NOT from California have commented on the governorship race here? Do you remember how many people commented on Katie Porter losing to Adam Schiff? We are all entitled to our opinions wherever we are from, because we are all Americans.
And as I noted elsewhere, I have heard him speak on TV many times and I thought he seemed okay until I heard the assault charges. That was the end for me.
I've heard him speak on TV. I wasn't as impressed as you and many of your fellow Maineans are, but he seemed okay to me until the news about sexual assault charges came out. And hey, I've fought against Donald Trump and the rest of his miscreants for ages, as far back as 2016. The man is scum, you don't have to remind me.
But none of that excuses US (democrats) letting people even remotely like him hold office. And I will continue to feel that way.
You and all the others who support him are welcome to disagree, but if these charges turn out to be true, you will, like Fetterman (what a failing THAT was, ditto Kristen Sinema) have to deal with the failing. Better to prevent someone like that from holding office than have to deal with getting him out. Look at what George Santos did to the GOP.
"Using your arguments would allow someone on the other side of the political spectrum to excuse Donald Trump from all of the accusations made against him. We (those of us on the left) have argued at length that he is unfit to serve as President for reasons that are quite similar to the charges brought against Platner."
First, I don't know of any "charges brought" against Platner - allegations, yes.
Second, the 'charges' brought against Trump have been heard by a jury of his peers, and he has been convicted.
Do I wish we had a squeaky clean candidate in Maine, yes. These allegations will dog him in the general election for sure. Both side use 'political intel' to smear the opposing candidate. And we can be sure that that will happen in this case. Also, will there be more? We don't know. But, Mainers seem to be willing to take the risk. One thing they do not want is Susan Collins. And, by the way, Mills is still on the ballot.
Additionally, I am very. skeptical of the accuser. The only one that has complained of physical mistreatment. Brett Kavanaugh was accused of worse and he is on the SC thanks to the accuser herself.
If there was no other option, it would distress me to see Collins as Senator again. She has been one of the worst (even though she is not as grotesquely Trumpian as others) simply because she continues to be unwilling to take a stand against the slimy President.
But with an option like Mills, who is almost certainly squeaky clean, why do we even have to have this conversation? Eric Swalwell, when he was accused of similar misconduct (which he also denies) had the brains and courage to step aside and let Democrats in California not have to "die on the vine" in a withering battle for our Senate seat. Why is Platner given such leeway, when Mills would (at least in my humble opinion) be a better choice without a HINT of scandal?
I am seriously interested in what you have to say about that. If there is a legitimate reason for why an accused assaulter should be encouraged to stay in the race, I would love to hear it.
When I read about Platner and his life (setting aside the scandal, for now) harbor Master, Planning board and grass roots organizer. Active in local politics and such. Coming out of eight years of combat in the military, which is usually a plus, but has obviously left him with a lot of inner demons to deal with. It seems that he has honestly been doing what he can to deal with that and has been successful.
Now with all the dirt being exposed, which happens to anyone running for office, he has been labelled as an "assaulter" which, may not be the proper description in this case from what what I have read from both sides of the story. A young man with political views that align with many progressive individuals yet pretty rough around the edges. Mills may be squeaky clean as far a skeletons in her closet but, legislatively as Governor, she is not really popular with at least half of Mainers. Platner has tried to come clean and admit his failings which is admirable however, I do worry about the allegations and his behavior in the past and some of his behavior in the not too distant past. Are we, as Democrats, being too harsh or not harsh enough. Are we looking for a perfect candidate that doesn't exist. I'm not here to praise or encourage Platner as he is a risky bet. The only dog I have in this race is that, like you, I do not want Collins in that seat. I guess it is up to the people of Maine to decide. Let's hope they make the right choice whatever that choice is.
I do actually know of a man. A real he man who always took the bull by the horns. In fact he was kicked in the nuts as a child by a rampaging bull, and lost his testicular function. He didn’t have any sexual indulgences that came to light. He did on one occasion that I know of attend a stripper bar in Canada while on a fishing trip journey. I know for a fact that he was so perverted that in his enthusiasm to award a one dollar bill to a stripper that he got the lot of us sexual deviates removed from the club. It was the only time in my long association with a very worthy young man that I witnessed such a horrifying ordeal that I remember thinking if that incident ever became public he would never be president. Now a days, I’m glad he did what he did especially since at seventy five certain impulses are tempered by certain limitations and still I find myself attracted to ladies unencumbered by clothing. Call me any number of things you want concerning my views on sexuality but ladies beware I still enjoy the differences that attract while keeping to my side of the isle. Sigh…. Yes vote for the man! Even Prudence and her husband Dilbird have need of someone blooded in courage. Coquetry has not exactly led to leadership. Period.
And it's not only his offensive sexual behavior. He has an online history (now disappeared) which used slurs against a variety of groups. He wasn't a kid at the time he engaged in this cyber-slurring, but in his thirties. Was it all PTSD? He strikes me as an attention-seeking loudmouth without deep convictions at all, just loud, opportunistic rhetoric. Sorry, Bernie, you should have vetted your guy.
Bonfire of the vanities- savanarola brown. Burn that one which cannot be cleansed. Make that fire big enough for the tenders. People books ideas heap in a pile. In your empirical purity Jon, strike the match. Seek ye the wisdom and punishment. Follow me into the flames for I too must cleanse. And then there was nothing for it save smoking rubble. Gone the sinner. Gone the chastiser. Only the crazy man contemplating the void, stone in hand, but no where to throw it.
Sexting is sexual misconduct? Sexting 'might' be sexual misconduct if there is no consent.
Mostly sexting is an insult to your mate. Many consider it cheating. Some do not. For some people that's insta-divorce territory. For others, it's marriage or communication counseling.
Forgive me for thinking that Amy gets to choose if sexting is a deal breaker as he's her husband.
On the other hand, most of the current government between Congress, the president and his cabinet and donors are all in the Epstein files FOR RAPING CHILDREN.
I'll be voting for Platner. Even if Amy stood up today and said "I'm sick of this crap and I'm out of here" and called a huge 3 ring circus of a Press Conference to announce it. Why? Because I'm not looking to date him. I'm looking for some noise in the august halls of the capital. I'm looking for someone to support Medicare for All or at least some real type of healthcare reform. I'm looking for someone who can remind Congress that this country was built on the backs of the people they are stealing from. We need more unions and more workers rights. We need fewer Billionaires.
Does anyone remember Andrew Weiner or have we quickly forgotten THAT sordid episode in American politics?
He was a New York Congress critter who was convicted and sentenced to prison for 21 months for a sexting scandal in 2011 and ousted from office. Two years later, after supposedly extensive therapy, he swore he was cured, made a comeback, and then, in the middle of the Mayoral race, he was found to be sexting again. Oops.
Look, I have no problem if someone wants to engage with consenting adults on the internet in sexting. If you keep that private, more power to you. But if that is your hobby, as far as I am concerned, you have no business running for Congress or Senate or any other public office. At the very least, we used to consider this kind of stuff disqualifying out of fear of being compromised and subject to extortion.
We know that this is pathological behavior. Of course, unless the "victims" are unconsenting minors, no one should go to prison for that. It is a psychological problem, not a crime. People need help, not criminal convictions (Weiner WAS sexting with a minor, so that is why he ended up behind bars).
But is THAT the kind of person we want making serious, critical decisions on behalf of our country? Sorry, not in my opinion.
If Platner is the best we can do in Maine for one of the top three political positions in the state, Maine is in pretty poor shape, sorry to say.
Swalwell didn’t “step aside”, he was given the boot via his egregious, verified, recent behavior. Janet Mills is old. She didn’t want the job. I’ll stick with Platner and wish I could vote for him.
I’m curious as to the specifics you generalize. Spell it out man. Your habit of lurking in the weeds until springing the ambush is becoming an ominous repetition. Do you actually have the smoking gun? Are you paraphrasing to muddy the water? Again. Pray tell, what did the perp do and try to be specific with your allegations. So far I assume you were a navy man because squids love a cloudy inky hideout. Do you have the specifics of your attack on Platner or not? Change our minds. Quit pretending you are a Republican congressman cajoling Congress. Answer the question.
I think I am pretty blunt when I say ANYTHING (certainly enough to instill real anger in some people, sadly). If you are referring to the fact that there are days (sometimes even weeks) when I say nothing, I assure you it is NOT because I am lurking.
I actually have a "life", and this is NOT the only or even the most important thing I have to do! I am writing a musical, I spend time writing software, and I have some family. Heather and Joyce are the only Substack columns I read, and I imagine I get to do that about 1 night out of 3. So what you see as lurking in the weeds is me just paying attention to other parts of my life with almost as much diligence as I give politics. I apologize if it sometimes seems a little disjointed (trust me, it seems disjointed to ME at times!)
Fred. Obviously you can’t sell them this amount of bullshit and I think people are gonna believe it when there’s been a story after story after story on networks none of these prejudice assholes here whatever watch because they have all the facts that you don’t hear here. Hmmmm
And I don’t believe that Americans would vote for a person that has and knows why he has a Nazi concentration Camp tattoo and wears it with pride
The people who read Heather’s newsletter and comment here love their country as an American constitutional democracy not as an autocratic dictatorship. If you prefer authoritarianism, then perhaps it is time for you to find an authoritarian country and move there. I can’t recommend any of them. They have secret police who disappear people, put them in gulags, torture and kill them. If not this, then I recommend trying joining a “bridging group” like Urban Rural Action. Just don’t follow Trump when he leaves the country. You might end up in a Jim Jones People’s Temple scenario.
Please stop responding seriously to a psychotic, condescending troll — his ONLY purpose here is to enrage you. It’s truly like wrestling with a pig while trying to teach it to sing. It just makes the rest of us have to use the scroll bar.
And paragraphs ARE your friend, Fred. Brevity is the soul of wit and all that, you know.
Hey Hitler said he was a nice guy. Omg. If this guy gets it to the Congress, the funniest thing will be how he gets destroyed while he fights and yells and screams through sustain any credibility whatsoever. It’s gonna make your party even worse than it currently is with 72% of the party against the current direction of the party. Your favorability by Democrats is 20% and only 16% of males in your party.
That’s a CNN Poll. 72% unfavorable rating of the direction of the Democrats. BY DEMOCRATS. AND AFTER YOUR POST, I COULD ABSOLUTELY SEE WHY.
YEAH, DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT NAZI TATTOO THAT IS ACTUALLY A NAZI TATTOO OF THE CONCENTRATION CAMP COMMANDOS
1)We must be accurate with language. We must not use the regime's official whitewashed terminology for ICE's warehouses. They are not detention centers. They are concentration camps.
2)When Hegseth refers to beaches that today are"stormed by different dangerous ideologies" we musk ask, what are the "ideologies" that he is referring to? Is escaping drought and famine an ideology? Is escaping war an ideology? Is needing work to earn a living to provide for one's family an ideology? Is skin color an ideology?
These are not really unrelated concepts. They both point out the need not to let euphemisms or empty words replace truth. I remember how many years it took to acknowledge that Trump is a liar. Media refused to use that word, preferring circumlocutions. I see nowadays the "sanewashing" that pretends that much of what he says is logical or understandable when it is not. It is time to use precise words that corresponds to reality.
This infuriates me. It's one thing for that unqualified drunk "Head of War-fighters" shit on our military. But it quite another thing for him to spread his poison in Europe and call refugees yearning for a better life "the enemy". Those people are the ancestors of nearly every American, who left their war-torn and impovrished homes and went to the United States. They are no enemy. They are future Americans!
Keep your xenophobia to yourself inside your badly-fitting suit, you utter piece of excrement. Europe doesn't want to hear your shallow opinions!
I read an opinion in the Dutch News yesterday that Ukraine's success pushing Russia out of their country without US help is showing the Dutch (and other NATO countries) that they can do just fine without US military help and weapons. The Ukrainians built a whole new industry on the cheap. No one needs billions in Patriot missles when drones can be knocked out quickly and cheaply on the fly.
Friends, they don't need us. And they're starting to figure that out rather than succumb to our propaganda. And if we think we can survive on our own on our side of the planet and still be wealthy and safe, we need to think again.
Not only that, I am thinking that they don't want us. Seriously, who would? We "elected" a President who is shattering our constitution, bankrupting our treasury with a needless "war", and destroying OUR National Monuments. Deregulating our wildland protections (NPS and USFS), destroying a multinational pristine natural environment (Boundary Waters).
All true things. They are learning to live without us. The first months of the Trump administration had the NATO countries in a panic. Remember that meeting when they all showed up at the White House and stroked him? Well, I don't think they'll be doing that again. They're seeing they can protect themselves without us because they don't trust us to adhere to our responsibilities. And yeah, they're pissed because our "war" raised their gas prices. National rail services like NS (Dutch) and EuroStar (French/UK) are giving discounts on public transport this summer to help people still be able to go on vacation.
We cannot turn a blind eye to this administration’s treatment of immigrants. Republicans are funding organizations that are allowing people to die. They are essentially killing our neighbors. We can’t continue to turn a blind eye.
These are the stories that 60 Minutes would cover if they too weren’t being killed.
So many shenanigans. So much dishonesty. The in-your-face sleights-of-hand, the multitude of shell games, the endless smirking, flag lapel-pin primping and preening, the constant prevarications, ruses, deceptions. Squirrel after squirrel after squirrel.
And for what? What’s it all for? What will America look like once they’ve firehosed down all the resistance, fired the last decent people in government, deported all the foreign-born, silenced all those who won’t stand by idly while they eat away our republic…?
What will those who inherit all this brokenness and dishonor think of us for handing them such a shattered, tattered, poisoned legacy?
“ What will America look like once they’ve firehosed down all the resistance, fired the last decent people in government, deported all the foreign-born, silenced all those who won’t stand by idly while they eat away our republic…?”
Maybe it’s time to have DAILY replays of Trump SWEARING TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION at his inauguration juxtapositioned against the terrible assaults to it!?!
Of course criminal Donald lackies will reverse the old democratic allies vs. Nazi positions.
The billionaires and their dark money rule the U.S. Back in the day when young Americans were about to face off against the first Nazis, these Americans had all gone to schools where students and teachers united around using key humanities, reading and discussing great books -- whole books -- and writing serious essays, probing, deeply personal essays.
We've lost that as we've gained the control of cynical billionaires in all fields over us, the control of criminal, rapist Donald and all those underage girl predators Donald's pal Jeffrey trafficked, and for whom Donald yet covers up.
Republicans supported Trump in pardoning his Brown Shirts (SA - (Sturmabteilung or "Stormtroopers. The SA's primary purpose was to intimidate political opponents, protect Nazi rallies, and violently disrupt opposing political meetings.)
Now Republicans have funded Trump's Black Shirts (SS - Schutzstaffel or "Protection Squadron. The primary enforcement arm of the Nazi state. They ran the concentration camps and extermination camps, and managed internal security (Gestapo).)
If they goose step to Project 2025's ChristoFascist tune ...
The only way to make Republicans pay is to Vote Blue No Matter Who.
Remember - purity test German Communists who refused to unite for the Social Democratic party helped give the Nazi party a majority and paved the way for Hitler being appointed Chancellor.
I agree, but not if it means electing people like Platner in Maine. There have to be limits. If Gov. Mills can't beat Susan Collins in Maine, well then maybe that is a price we have to pay to avoid having someone who has assaulted women, even in their past, be a part of our government,.
"I agree [with voting Blue] but not if it means electing people like Platner in Maine. There have to be limits. If Gov. Mills can't beat Susan Collins in Maine, well then maybe that is a price we have to pay to avoid having someone who has assaulted women, even in their past, be a part of our government,." - Jon Rosen
I agree but .. I am willing to be complicit in the perpetuation of the unconscionable, unmitigated, and irreparable Republican assault on our most vulnerable neighbors, fragile planet, and endangered democracy.
I agree but ... I am more comfortable with the Republican repurposing our democratic republic as a ChristoFascist state than with a candidate who does not meet my personal purity tests.
I agree but - unsubstantiated claims by an ex girlfriend and Republican operative who was part of Ladies for Kavanaugh are more important to me than: all the women who have died or suffered irreparable harm because of the overturning of Roe; all the women swept up by ICE; all the women who are being harmed by Hegseth's white male grievance running of the military; all the trans women who are being persecuted by Republican policies; and all the woman harmed by the Republican slashing of every social program; all the women being denied their voting rights ...
I agree but ... I won't be paying the price.
1. Graham Platner has not sexually assaulted any one..
2. Ro Khanna, congressional champion of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, has endorsed Graham Platner.
Not true about gas prices. The US and Israel bombed Iran in June 2025 and the gas bag said that Iranian nuclear capability was “obliterated”. You can insult Obama all you want, moron, but he did not give the Crimea to Russia. He did not go to war over that naked grab but he did not throw Ukraine under the bus like Trump and just dumb Vance. Which policies of Trump are better for the US? Number them so I can refute them.
If I said less, then you wouldn’t be getting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth would we …there Joan? And you’re lucky that I don’t bloviate here because I easily could.
Not one of you not any of you here can list a policy or law that Donald Trump has signed or approved that has not been effective for the citizens of the United States and the world. That’s the problem that you all have until you could list something meaningful here you’re gonna continue to lose
We are not losing but if I even attempted to list every way Trump has made my life worse I would run out of space. Tell me if you insist I start listing because I can and will.
Well, Joanne, I’m still waiting and I there’s just as much space before I asked you the question as there is now how amazing is that?
Almost every one of his policies is working on behalf of the American people working well. Not only in America, but around the world, which, of course you probably totally ignorant But I can’t wait to have something to do today that puts a smile on my face
Well, there's a list of generic bullshit. Let's see.
I absolutely insist. Number them so I can address them each by number But please have some antidepressant pill pills next to you because when I None of them will hold water. They'll all be invalid. And only factual in your mind, but not in reality I'm waiting bring it on
1. An unauthorized “war”with Iran. After his June 2035 excursion with Israel “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear capacity he repeated his unprovoked mistake with Israel again and now we have higher gas prices, higher airplane tickets because of increased jet fuel costs, higher grocery prices due to increased transportation costs .
2. Higher prices for needed services, landscapers, cleaners and drivers mainly due to worker shortages.
3. The general deterioration of government services, mainly public health issues. Confusion about vaccines, hostility about green energy that I have financially supported. Long lines for airport security.
4. General agita on a personal basis. Revulsion about Trump’s personality, his lies, his incessant texting, his bromances with Putin and Netanyahu, his Cabinet picks, his Gulf of America, his increasing incapacity. And his example to our grandchildren who have not known Presidents who spoke in correct English with no cursing and who delivered speeches that were uplifting and unifying.
I too have thought of Churchill’s words. One of my favorite protest signs: “I’ll stop fighting when Heather Cox Richardson says it’s over.” Thank you for all your work.
Senator Kim's account of being turned away from Delaney Hall touches something older than this particular dispute: the constitutional role of Congress as a check on executive agencies. That oversight function exists regardless of which party controls the White House or the chamber, and courts will likely weigh in on whether a sitting senator can be lawfully refused access to a facility under congressional jurisdiction. Our own senators sit on committees with oversight responsibility here.
There is no more contemptible person that Donald Trump. But JD Vance is a close second. I do not possess curse words strong enough to describe him. They and every Republican now digging the misery and cruelty immigration pit $70 billion deeper know full well what they're doing -- trying to keep America white and militant christian; disempowering their political opposition through corrupt means, divvying up the spoils. If anyone believes those high-tech holding centers and SS dead list will be only for undocumented immigrants, you're a fool. ICE agents are being trained to "handle" anyone who is breaking the law of Trump sez. And, why can we not get answers on all that Social Security data that was downloaded by DOGE? Where is it. And who has it?
Republicans think the won the deed to America, the very thing the Revolutionary War was fought against. Republicans are emptying the treasury (as well as the Strategic Oil Reserve) and partying hard of posterity's dime. Good got HCR for pointing out what else we might be getting for our money. ICE is only part of the con game. "GOP" spending needs to be made a big deal. Expanded health care or an "American Flag Blue" Reflecting Pool that nobody asked for except Mad King Trump. There's a ton of that $%#@.
To despair is to turn my back on the Future. My children and grandchildren are inheriting that Future. Evil is chuckling at our trials and tribulations. They are sick. Deeply Sick.
My understanding is that the tRump family immunity from IRS investigation was also passed last night. It is surreal if this is so. Pay your tithes to the king happily people. I cannot understand how any taxpaying citizen could vote for a single R candidate in 2026. Law apparently means nothing in the USA if one is corrupt enough.
Apparently the current administration has not only already surrendered but is leading the charge to resuscitate the ideology and implementation of what those heroic men on D-Day sacrificed their lives to defeat. It is hard to fathom out of what dark hole Hegseth crawled as he continues to shame this country around the world and betray every possible democratic principle. I can only hold out hope that his day of reckoning will come in the not so distant future along with the traitors in Congress who have also surrendered to the Dark Lord.
Meanwhile Lord Donald Voldemort sleeps through meetings, and devotes his waking hours to building combat arenas on the White House lawn and living in the delusions of his own fantasy world. He's already made it clear that he has no interest in governing nor does he care about the welfare of the American people. He is perfectly content to let his Dementors run the show.
Nonetheless he is still idolized and supported with great passion by the millions of Americans who more and more behave like the bruised and battered spouses of the partners who continue to abuse them, the ones with hospital records of their injuries as long as your arm but who refuse to press charges because they still believe their abusers loves them and really don't mean them any harm. As we continue to fight back with everything we've got, we will also be forced to see the carnage from the destruction their beloved continues to rain on them.
Everyone is free to protest this or do something with their remaining power as citizens. Please stop simply reading about what's happening and take a risk. Everything we hold dear in society was fought for by people that took courageous risks. We are no exception.
A “Republican worldview” is so scary for my own children’s future and the future of all the kids I teach. PLEASE do not lose hope - keep speaking up to Congress!
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress - Be LOUD. Trump/the administration is dangerous for our country 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
What’s unfathomable is how every morning brings a fresh scandal, a fresh grift, a fresh constitutional crisis, and now more money for ICE despite the growing reports of abuses inside detention facilities. Of course the measure was passed at 2am.
Keeping up with these obscene outrages feels like drinking from a firehose of corruption. The truly remarkable achievement of this administration is making yesterday’s disaster seem quaint by lunchtime. How many guardrails need to be ripped off a democracy before the bastards are ousted by the people, through voting or otherwise?
It’s almost impossible to keep up, but somehow we must keep channeling legitimate anger toward legitimate ends.
Right now, the DNC is basically broke — its coffers are empty. Too many of us treat elections as a boutique shopping experience. ‘I’ll donate to this one, but not to that one. This one’s pure, that one isn’t perfect.’ It’s an attitude virtually guaranteed to produce a losing outcome.
Not just vote blue no matter who, but donate blue, no matter who. Remember, they are sitting on piles of cash, while we collect outrage. Without more money, collective action, organization, GOTV and all that, our wonderful momentum will die on the vine. So it’s eyes on the prize, steady at the helm and all that.
Those of us who are living on fixed incomes can't donate nearly as much as we'd like to. I donate a small amount monthly to Jess Piper's Blue Missouri, which is helping democrats run in local elections. We have to work locally to start the big push upward. I hope everyone who can will continue to donate to the Democratic Party and to candidates in national elections across the nation. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. If it's not financial help, at least talk to your neighbors and help them see what's going on. Too many still haven't caught on to what the Republicans are trying to do. It's a team effort.
My Republican neighbours tell me I am a libtard and don't know what I am talking about.
We also need to donate to our trusted journalists who feed us the truth. They need to eat too and cannot work for free.
My Maga (I no longer will say Republican as that party died with McCain) relatives tell me, "it's just politics". I tell them that attitude is harming their children, their gay brother, their granddaughters, daughters and wives, our air and water, the nations economy, the collapse of morals, and our friends and allies. They respond with libtard, socialist and communist - so predictable and such an embarrassing and stupid response by them. I tell them their vote is anti American as it is anti the Constitution and I choose the nation's aspirational ideals over their bigotry. I have made it clear we are done. Communication has ended -the price I have to pay for my nation's soul is worth it. Actually that act of defending my values and my country is liberating.
Steve, they have nothing so they respond with name calling. They have no idea what either socialism or communism means. They are just words they know have negative connotations here. I hope they do not even drive on publicly funded roads. Unless they are very wealthy, they will find themselves at the short end of a stick. And in my experience, they are first in line for government help.
Ha! These days it seems that any fascist is preferred by the racist-right over anyone with even a hint of socialism or humanity about them. I don’t see how this is going to end well in the US. Too many guns and too many ill-tempered people. — Sorry you have to put up w those neighbors.
November elections are LESS than 5 months away.
I'm sorry your Republican neighbors are rude, blind jerks.
All they know how to do is call names. Ignore them; they have nothing useful to say or offer.
My roofer (remodeling my house) said 2 days ago, "I voted for Trump but but I can't be a Republican anymore. Trump is ruining my business." I think THAT is the message we must get ourlt to Republicans. Trump is anti-business.
Spot-On Marj.
Marj..., glad you like the expression I introduced here a couple years ago. Our MAGA folks do have a play in "Libtard". They are the "tard"d part of the equation, more specifically "tarded" preceded by the letters RE, which perfectly describes their behavior. They are a pathetic lot, indeed.
Alex, the word you're referring to was used as a playground insult when I was a kid around 1970. We were later urged to stop using it that way because doing so insults certain people who don't deserve to be insulted. It's also like calling a boy a girl as if that's an insult. There are plenty of better and more accurate words we can use against the Trump Cult (who used to be known as the Republican Party), the mindless worshippers of the Golden Calf.
I donate to candidates of my choice. The DNC blocks progressives and supports centrists who, often, are Republican-lite. We cannot afford to have new D members of Congress vote with Rs. Not with this regime with 2 1/2 more years in office.
Diane I also find the DNC totally out of touch with my assessment of the political situation. While I am supporting specific Democratic congressional candidates, I shan’t give a nickel to the DNC until it dumps Martin and gets real. Visceral and specific is what we need!
Diane, we do the same. However, some turn out to be bad like Fetterman.
The organization VoteFwd.org says that they send writing kits with postage to some who volunteer but lack funds to do it on their own dime. I have never requested them, so I don't know how much they do this. If you go to their website, it says they are updating it, but you could sign up to get messages from them. Those who are able to pay need to have access to a printer, as you will print out the letters and need only write a few lines on why you vote.
I have done Vote Forward but prefer postcarding as the postage is cheaper. It's a bit harder for me, as you are required to write out the verbiage they give you and then add your own line or two. You also need to purchase your own postcards, although they aren't too expensive and they give you links. With VoteFwd.org, you only need to write as few as FIVE postcards, though you can write more. (Some postcarding sites require a minimum of 100, which is hard for me as I have arthritic hands)
I am at an age that I don't want THINGS, and so I have requested family and friends to gift me POSTAGE stamps.
For those financially unable to support organizations, you can help by forwarding on HCR's Letter. You can subscribe--for free--to many Substacks and YouTube channels, which you can restack on your social media (if you have them) or forward to friends. There are SO many good ones out there, but one I particularly like is "Belle of the Ranch". She puts out three SHORT clips daily--each is under 4 minutes. She has a longer format "The Roads with Belle" that she puts out twice weekly, these are about 15 minutes long.
Belle has many MAGA who watch and try to trip her up--bad mistake! She is a nurse and a veteran, and has a team behind her. She will often quote messages she gets from MAGA and she refutes them. Brilliantly, btw.
The good forum here has many favorites, and I do listen to other ones, too, but I don't have the time (or stomach, honestly) to listen to hours of podcasts on this regime AND keep my sanity. Belle will never be the first reporter on a subject, but she is rarely wrong. She says that she prefers to let situations play out a bit as so much misinformation is spread by the "first-on-the-spot" wannabees.
Here's a link to "Belle of the Ranch":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrjlrawHsHc
Here's a link to "The Roads with Belle":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr5xLt7G308
I used to watch Beau before Belle came on. And yes, she does a really good job. As do many others. Actually, you and I turn up on the comments on several of them!
Three month subscriber to here, Maggie? BLESS YOU, and WELCOME! 👋🏼 Consider yourself greatly appreciated by Miselle the self-appointed Walmart greeter of the LFAA forum!
Great short vid on Trump’s obsession with coal!
Go, Blue Missouri! I still can’t fathom why the Show Me state traded Claire McCaskill for that wretched little self-righteous undertaker Josh Hawley.
I am so sick and tired of voting blue no matter who???? Break the leadership of democrat party and get new ones with guts who work for we the people.
Oh boy I agree. AS a "constituent" (HA) of both Schumer and Gillibrand I really agree. Just sent a couple hummer emails to both of them yesterday - their attitudes towards Mamdani really ticked me off.
I hope someone somewhere appears to primary them in 28.
The DNC is broke? GOOD! The DNC is a fetid cauldron of self-perpetuating incompetence. It needs to be cleared out completely. Happy about 2000? 2016? 2024? Thank the DNC. We need to start fresh with competent, courageous, pragmatic people who are not afraid to fight the good fight, to mix it up with the ruthless opposition. Not a bunch of feckless political types sitting around deciding whose “turn” it is to run in the big races.
EtTuBrutex. You are hereby awarded the MadRussian12A. SLAM BAMM Tail Light Out Award, for your more than fair assessment of the DNC. Well done.
When people start dribbling “we need…” I always wonder — whose army do they think is gonna win this one for them?
You’ve just charted a one-way map to no place in particular. A lot of snatching defeat straight from the jaws of victory. Congratulations.
We should be donating to local and state races. They hardly get enough money and a little goes a long way. Please see this link from OATH which indicates which races need money. They also don’t sell your name to campaigns.
https://app.oath.vote/donor
Thank you!!! I have never heard of this group. Do you know if they are bipartisan or Dem-leaning?
I received 5 "asks" for money from one state (not my own) Dem gubernatorial candidate just yesterday. In one day. I actually do support this person but I am NOT a wealthy person.
My understanding is that they are democratic leaning.
I've had a chance to look into them a bit and you are correct. (Pretty easy to tell by the questions they ask 🤭. No card carrying conservative would ask these)
After donating far beyond my budget in 2024 for Democrats in key races, I now receive dozens of “asks” from Democrats in every race in every state, every day. Is there an organization that I can donate to that does a good job of helping the highest priority candidates? I don’t necessarily trust the DNC but if that’s the most effective option……? TIA!
Donate to individual candidates, even if just a few dollars. It will be more effective than donating to large PACs where your dollars may be misspent.
Like so many of us on this forum, I live on a very limited income.
Recently, I have noticed a significant increase in requests, pleas, entreaties for $$. They come in with the daily deluge of donation requests from every animal charity in existence.
When I can spare it, I'd rather give to the animals than to the Dems.
Where are their deep-pocket supporters? Not all the wealth in this country is held by those on the red state side of the aisle, not by a long shot.
The DNC's lack of funding points to the fact that they have lost the trust of their base. They've allowed their own internal goals - what THEY want the party and candidates to be - get in the way of what their constituents want. The postmortem of the 2024 election was a joke, and their forcing younger, more progressive voices out of leadership roles showed what they're truly about. The injection of Janet Mills into the Maine Senate race was the last straw for me.
Don't get me wrong - I will "Vote Blue, no matter who" and I continue to donate and support Democratic candidates across the country. But the DNC hasn't even started earning my trust back yet.
Huh? The DNC? Who dat?
I’m over it ICTT, I was overly generous in ‘24 and now all of my inboxes fill up every morning with pleas for money, my phone # and email have been sold-passed around to everyone running for office, from one side of the country to the other. Even if I agree with everything a candidate stands for, I’m not wasting another dime, candidates either communicate with their voters and win or they don’t, direct mail ad buys never get inside my house. We may have lost our country, I hope not, I guess we’ll see in Nov. won’t we. I’ll make an educated vote, I always try to do that, but if this country that I have fought for chooses to shoot themselves in the foot, where they end up will be on them. Maybe this was a good idea that couldn’t survive the greed of it’s citizens.
Right there with you. I am deluged daily with appeals for money from candidates I have never even heard of. I’m sure they are fine candidates but I am most concerned about my district and state. If I’m donating that’s where my money is going first. And a lot of the emails and texts are either bullying (we haven’t heard from you) or they are frantic appeals for help meeting artificial fundraising “deadlines” (the only one that matters is the FEC one which is quarterly, all the others are phony). And then there’s the “I had to make a tough decision last night” which is another way of saying “I’m putting my hand in your pocket again.”
And what are we getting for our money? How is it being spent? What is the return on our investment? What are you doing to actually fight the fascists? No accounting about that whatsoever.
Mine is as well. It is the world we live in right now.
''We Did Not Need Trump, but We Must Learn from Him''
Democratic renewal requires more than restoring the government we had. It requires participatory democracy, economic justice, and a Resourceist vision of the common good.
Experience the lesson Trump left behind. Discover how participatory democracy and Resourceism can transform exposure to crisis into lasting civic renewal, economic justice, and a society where power, resources, and opportunity are shared fairly. https://essayx.substack.com/p/we-did-not-need-trump-but-we-must
If this country survives trump you are damned sure correct.
First and foremost he should be tried for sedition from the inside. He and his supporter who enable his lame presidency.
This exstended group also must be ordered by the courts to pay damages.
The “greatest real estate mogul…ever!”< according to HIMSELF, natch! Couldn’t sell warehouses purchased at 5 times the going rate??
Um…can you say ‘corruption’?
Yet another ‘one $ for you…AND 2 for DJT’ scheme, so that Trump can surpass Musk as “RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD”...It’s all about being the ‘TOP DOG’ (or snake as the case is) for narcissists.
Donald Trump could crawl under a snake’s belly with a top hat on! 🐍🎩
Yes, it's all about being the "bottom snake". I love it!
On my college baseball team ('70), we crudely referred to filthy people like the Trump family as "whale $hit" because it is the lowest form of organic matter in the world. Mary Trump is exempt from the vitriol.
I remember Mary T. WARNING people about the ‘monster’ they had elected in 2016. Now, here we are adding TREASONOUS FELON, EMBEZZLER, RAPIST, WARMONGER, AND LIKELY PEDOPHILE TO HIS ROUGE’s RESUMÉ.
Worst case of ‘mass amnesia’ EVER!’ 🔥🇺🇸🔥
But cheer up, America. The Special Security for Trump’s ‘Bigliest Ballroom in the World’ is not expecting the ‘attack-trained’ scorpions who home in on the scent of 🍔🍔🍔 & 🍟🍟🍟. FOOLPROOF…and you have just the burnt sienna fool.
Go little insect ninjas!!
😉
🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂
That's great-"Attack of Little Insect Ninjas."
Sorry but I’m directing what little money I have to one thing only; flipping my CD to blue. I’m not going to have my donations diluted to support hopeless cause seats. If they can’t raise enough at home to run a campaign they just don’t have enough support to win.
Obviously that’s not automatically true but this is no time to bet on long shots. Just donate where you think there is a chance to flip or protect a seat.
ICTT, there is at least one 3x for Dems this morning. $3 becomes $9 or $5 becomes $15. There may also be a 7x.
What are 3X etc. I’m Canadian and not used to the insane sums of money in American politics.
Nor do I get hundreds of emails based on a donation to one candidate.
Frau Katze, how fortunate you are not to be dealing “directly” in this mess. The 3x, etc, gives people who cannot afford to give to candidates they might like to, a chance to have a one dollar donation become three dollars. Etc.
Thanks. How does it work? Wealthy people contribute?
I’d stay away from the 7x — kind of like oceanfront property in Utah.
But how about those of us who can’t afford more than $1 and would like to give more? It’s a help in these dark days.
If you are a US citizen or have US residency, would you please read my piece explaining the Free Speech for People campaign to impeach Trump AND his cabinet and help them get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
If you can't find the link to the petition in the above piece, here it is. Just scroll down and you will find it. https://www.impeachtrumpagain.org/
Just this morning I once again realized I have completely exhausted my lexicon of ways to say how loathsome and despicable these people are and the depths they will descend to in undermining what our country has always aspired to. What I just can’t wrap my head around is how the GOP can deliberately weaken our ability to defend ourselves, prepare for emergencies, feed our hungry, and do critical medical care and research. Obviously they don’t care about their constituents but do they truly believe themselves and their families immune to what will inevitably happen?
The crux is the secrecy of this regime. Ed Markey (MA) noted that U.S. military is in Lebanon which the DoD does not acknowledge. Why are they there? Are we fighting Netanyahu's war for him?
It's our war. We funded the bombs that Netanyahoo uses.
They want to integrate the US & Israeli military so not fight their wars for them but with them.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/30/us-congress-advances-american-israeli-military-integration-plan
For them, with them. It's one big war crime and we've funded it.
Agree.
Diane.., You better believe it! It is so sickening that we seem to be coddling a government (yeah.., that's stretching it a lot), operating freely (WITH OUR BENEVALENT TAX DOLLARS) to bludgeon non-subscribers of other religious bents. Those who feel they've been short-changed, had their houses bull-dozed. Would that not piss you off? I ask you, would that make a person want to exact some revenge.., blow somebody up. I think it has. And our military is taking some hits, which we aren't privileged of knowing about. Haha..just as well, right? Hahahaa.., makes us non-complicit, right? WRONG! We elected this lunatic. our lunatic. And the Jewish lunatic.., NetanYAHU, has been running amuck forever. Blame the Jewish lobby for that one. I don't know about you Diane, but I've had my fill of this Religion Driven zealotry. Sick of it. FFRF, it's so past due.
yes, sadly they think they're immune, that trump will help their families.What utter idiots. American leaders so dumbed down..they don't know history.
The statement of “exhausted my lexicon “ describes how I have felt in posting comments. I have worn out “egregious “. Heather Delaney Reese has described Hegseth’s speech on D-Day in more detail. Insulting is too weak a word; he did not really say anything to honor the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy.
And their constituents continue to vote for them.
By all accounts those voters are communities who have been expertly manipulated. Sure they are dumb, racist, narrow-minded or ignorant, but what they don’t realise is that they’re being used. In the end they’ll be just as screwed as the people they are told to hate.
That is a core part of their strategy. Flood the zone so it becomes overwhelming in hopes we give up fighting back.
To paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill, whom I was taught -- despite the Marxism with which I was raised -- to regard as a true savior of humanity, which I will always believe him to have been:
"We must fight them on the beaches; we must fight them on the landing grounds; we must fight them in the fields and in the streets; we must fight them in the hills and in the forests; we must fight them in the schools and in the shopping malls and churches; we must never surrender.”
Meanwhile I literally weep with despair at the screwworm nation that evolved from 1776 and now -- our species' ultimate malignancy -- omnipotently assails our Mother Earth and all who live thereon with apocalyptic terminal illness.
https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/study-world-usa-biggest-threat-china/comments
We can never accuse this regime of being subtle. Because their behavior has been so brutal and extreme, every single Republican at every level of government must be rejected and defeated for their complicity or acquiescence. Democrats need to fight with the same determination and creativity Republicans have shown in perverting the course of this country. The fact that Hegseth so openly courts like-minded white supremacists when representing the US overseas reveals the scope and threat of their ambitions.
Absolutely Nancee, how dare an alcoholic womanising B-grade talk-show host believe he is speaking for the American people. The shameless confidence of these buffoons on the world stage is staggering.
More and more, I am inclined towards "otherwise."
I mean this regime isn't even at the mid-point of its reign.
I'm hoping the mid-terms will turn enough seats to make a difference. The thought that this crap could continue for another 2+ years, another day another outrage, is not acceptable.
It’s no longer “unfathomable.” It's the reality we are living.
Keep calm, stay informed, focus on the important versus the urgent, and let’s face it and act together to change the trajectory of what Trump and his Republican Regime are doing that is unconstitutional, contravenes the rule of law, and is corrupt, illegal, or immoral.
Trump and his Republican Regime are attempting to financially bankrupt the U.S. federal government for their personal or ideological gain, and they may be successful in doing so.
But Trump and his Republican Regime cannot bankrupt our American spirit or our striving for a multicultural democracy (as messy, imperfect, and flawed as it may be) that values equality, ethics, laws, the rights of the individual balanced with community/civic rights, and a government BY and FOR the people to represent it, NOT to oppress or suppress its constitutional rights.
Stay strong. Keep hope alive. Carry on.
#TheRebuild
#YesWeCan
#SíSePuede
So sick, to watch 'history repeating itself'. The documentary "The rise of the nazis" lays it down right on the living room floor. The Jew(s), so easy to identify, almost as easy as a black person. But this regime we've got going here in 2025 isn't wasting time hammering on Blacks (other than "re-districting" ho hum). Nope, Der Leeder is focusing on another fairly-easy-to-spot people.., yup: Latinos, Mexicans, hispanics, Ecuadorians, Michicoans, people with tail-lites out, people who don't look white or speak white. Mostly clinging to the Catholic religion (yeah you heard it here). Booshhh.., your windshield is busted, wham bam you're helped from your car and shoved into a black Tahoe (or something) and wisked away..., you are being "detained". And you could end up down in Dilley Texas along with about 130 Venezuelan families and, guess what. You're among amigos.., buenos dias.., como se llama, my friend? Don't worry "my friend", there is no "ultimate solution" for you. You will be paid nicely to LEAVE. Same for Blacks and Jews. Wait for it. It's Der Leeder's Big Day. First things first.
https://apnews.com/article/toledo-ohio-shooting-4fbc465161cf1d4e29f0f1b22d3fb9d3?user_email=e72e7137fe6cf09f434b4234223ed439a7bda75191bf5fbb046317f8fa97fb36
The AP photography strongly suggests all the victims are either Blacks or People of Color. Note that as early as 2016, those of us on the (real) left have been repeatedly warning that a vote for Trump and now for (any) member of the "Republican" (sic) ChristoNazi/Neoconfederate Party -- is an intentionally murderous vote for a new, high-tech weaponized, infinitely expanding Holocaust.
It feel like getting beaten up by a drunk father coming back from the bar every night.
Well stated, but the impatience and outrage you rightly express should more explicitly directed at "the people". While it is difficult to challenge the morals, knowledge, critical thinking and priorities of "the people", I am not holding back any longer. This mass delusion and amorality, exemplified by the focus on personal financial condition, as opposed to the paramount need to treat other human beings with respect and dignity, is not being diminished rapidly enough. We are still on a downward path as a civilization until this willingness to curtail the lives and liberties of other human beings becomes much weaker. In the general population, as exemplified by moral choices at the ballot box.
My vote is for "otherwise." Michelle's "we go high" does not cut it. Liberal institutions must use the powers that they possess. Blue states can prohibit commerce with red states--no buying from; no selling to. They can also prevent the tax withholdings of state employees from being sent to the Treasury. They could create a Federal Tax Deposit Fund to give cover to any small or independent businesses (and their employees) who wished to withhold their tax payments as a form of civil disobedience against the MAGA regime of tyranny. Universities could revoke the degrees, bachelors and professional, from their graduates who are engaged in corruption and anti-democracy activities. Blue state AGs in CA, MA, NY, DC, VA, NJ, IL, MD should file state bar ethic complaints against any administration lawyer engaged in revenge prosecutions or bad faith and unethical behavior in courtrooms. Consumers must stop consuming. Buy local and boycott the monopolists. We all need to ditch our telephonic social networks and rediscover what it is like to engage with our families and the members of the various communities we are a part of. I'm sure there are other possibilities that our creative minds might explore.
Megan is always fighting for what’s good. As always, thank you. What you do takes a lot of time and effort but it is so valuable.
What is the Blue tsunami strategy?
Referring to MAGA as a right-wing vision is easy because we all know what it’s referring to, but this newsletter’s community alone is not a Blue tsunami.
Have you ever been the victim of someone with an “I’m right, and anyone who disagrees with me is an idiot” attitude? If yes, then you are the victim of someone refusing to constrain their own ignorance. Have you ever been a perpetrator?
Proposed Blue tsunami strategy: start by ending a practice employed in today’s newsletter when it says, “Now it is clear that the assault on immigrants was a tool to enforce a right-wing vision of the country on the American people.” Instead, follow Chris Murphy’s vision in his book, Crisis of the Common Good when he says, “I look at the solutions, they're really not right-left solutions.”
Ref: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/26/nx-s1-5692730/sen-chris-murphy-d-conn-talks-about-his-new-book-crisis-of-the-common-good.
In a practical example, a (not perfect and instead) more perfect version of today’s newsletter would say, “Now it is clear that the assault on immigrants was a tool to enforce MAGA’s unconstrained ignorance of America on the American people (or words to that effect).”
Who agrees? George Orwell did when he said, “deceptive language not only corrupts thought but makes it easier to justify foolishness, atrocities, and totalitarian control.”
For the record, what is the opposite of unconstrained ignorance? Maturity.
Today's fight is a fight between fascism and democracy. That fight had been ongoing, since WWII, but now, it's being fought inside the US, and the US government tries to fight it in other democracies too (Europe).
That's the clearest language possible, and it's also the only language that entirely covers the truth.
There are very important differences between rightwing and leftwing political philosophies, but that is not what is at stake right now.
Except that most voters don’t know what “fascism” is and have only the vaguest notion of what “democracy” means. Not to mention that very large numbers of voters are profoundly distrustful of what democracy can do for them. If they were born in the last 30 years they’ve never, as adults, seen government work as it’s supposed to. They’ve seen only anger, paralysis, and dysfunction. No, Mr Carey is 100% right. People might not respond to fascism vs democracy but they sure as hell will understand that the GOP has started wars, driven up the costs of food and fuel, and done nothing when Americans are murdered by masked government agents and said nothing when faced with the astounding corruption of this administration. Americans are having trouble making ends meet but they can sleep well knowing that Trump, his family, and the super-rich has gotten hundreds of billions of dollars since the last election. I’d like to see billboards in Red districts saying, “They’re screwing you over in plain sight” with suitable imagery. There’s plenty to choose from. And Democrats have to start using plain language to describe a simple vision of what they are offering, not just what they are against.
Indeed, most Americans (including the 33% that doesn't vote, obviously) don't seem to know what fascism and democracy mean. Is it best, in such circumstances, to not frame the next elections in those terms, and instead go for "basic stuff"?
I sincerely don't know.
The result of going for "basic stuff" for decades is precisely that people oh so falsely imagine that over the last 30 years "they've never seen government work as it's supposed to".
Please explain how under Biden and the Democrats, or under Obama, government was NOT working as it's supposed to?
Imho, one of the huge disadvantages of a having a democracy without a significant degree of political literacy among its citizens is that people falsely imagine that if daily life isn't paradise yet, somehow something must be wrong with how the government works.
In real life, ALL real, non-violent, lasting, radical, democratic change IS always step by step change, compromise after compromise. That is the only alternative to fascism. In the US, however, for too long people reject their civic duty and turn against their own representatives again and again, only for not doing what a benevolent dictator would be able to achieve (= radical change overnight).
Obviously, they reject their civic duty out of ignorance of what that duty is in the first place. What caused that ignorance? Lack of civic education and a solid education in general. What cause the low quality of education in the US? The combination of a GOP onslaught on public schools (systematically defunding them and making education available only to the wealthiest) and, unfortunately, a "progressive" concept of pedagogy that rejects all real transmission of knowledge and instead goes for the utterly immoral (although based on good intentions) "validation" of the beliefs of the individual student (no matter how ignorant those beliefs may be) while politicizing the past to such an absurd degree that no real study of the classics in literature and philosophy is still possible (and it's especially political philosophy that teaches students what democracy is, and how to keep it).
So imho, we don't have to choose, we can and should do both: showing how neofascist policies destroy people's material well-being much faster than what the average rightwing approach did in the past (although neofascism IS the logical outcome of neoliberalism) while a leftwing approach will always lead to more material well-being for all... AND beginning the slow but crucial work of increasing political literacy, including explaining the key differences between democracy and fascism, and therefore the reason why all democratic progress is always slow.
Finally, as to "Democrats have to start using plain language to describe a simple vision of what they are offering, not just what they are against": they've always done that. It's pretty simple: no wars of aggression, building strong coalitions with international allies, universal healthcare, free education for all, solid social security and labor rights, thriving unions, fighting against climate change and for social justice for all. That's it.
And the good news? Not only have they been SAYING this forever, it's also what they DO whenever "we the people" give them full control over DC. It's even what they continue to work for when we give DC to neofascists.
I believe you mistook my meaning, EU. The government was assuredly NOT working as it should have during the Obama years, but it was not because of him or his administration. The GOP, Tea Party, Fox News, etc., prevented it from working. Those years saw 9/11, a homicidal sniper, anthrax, a devastating recession, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And after that came Covid and so on. Terrible things happen all the time, and “blame” seldom has only one parent, but I think it’s incontrovertible that the GOP deliberately gummed up the works (remember McConnell saying he’d do whatever was necessary to make Obama a one-term president?). And of course by the time Trump was elected in 2016 governance had become a reality TV show.
Your claim is that there “are very important differences between rightwing and leftwing political philosophies, but that is not what is at stake right now.”
My claim is that you are avoiding the issue that is at stake right now.
There is a reason why two parties draw conflicting conclusions while observing the same evidence. That reason: the two parties are interpreting their observations using different logic.
For better or for worse, we can’t change the evidence (although we can choose to observe it or ignore it). Fortunately, we can test the logic (although we can choose to test it or ignore it). I’m good either way.
Meanwhile, my working assumption is that I’m addressing whereas you are avoiding the issue.
It's this kind of "bothesidesism" that got us here in the first place.
Democrats aren't "interpreting" the facts. For decades now, they are the only ones proposing and passing evidence-based bills.
There's a reason why it is said that "facts have a liberal bias": it's because only Democrats are still interested in objective truths, while the GOP has massively betrayed its own voters by putting them systematically into an "alternative facts" bubble.
Ignoring the truth will not restore democracy. It's the foundation that every neofascist regime vitally needs.
So please tell me, if you don't even want to address THE thing at stake today (democracy versus fascism), what issue would I be "avoiding" in the first place... ?
Your comment is a reflection of your ready-fire-aim approach. I prefer a ready-aim-fire approach. In other words, unlike you, I abide by what I call the Bob Dylan rule: I don't criticize what I can't (or don't want to) understand (why I think the best time for the times to be a-changin' was six decades ago and the second best time is now).
If my original post is wrong, then I'm wrong. Tell me I'm wrong, but tell me in language I can understand. You're just saying I must be wrong because I disagree with you. If you want to defeat MAGA, stop behaving like MAGA. In other words, from where I'm sitting, your attitude toward me is an example of the issue at stake right now.
You have my respect. I have enough respect for you to believe that you will read my words and recognize that you've taken a wrong turn.
I guess this is another disagreement. My experience in dealing with people in political discussions is that it isn’t just a matter of opinion that is involved. It is more basic than that. It is a disagreement on facts themselves. As the old saying goes, everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts. Yet it is precisely here that the problems start. There is no agreement on the facts All one needs do is get into a discussion on migration in the U.S. and the policies of the Trump regime to deal with that. Mass deportation, going after the worst of the worst, crime levels among immigrants - and this in a land where we are all one or two generations away from being immigrants - is almost impossible to get any agreement. Opponents of migration won’t even accept FBI statistics on crime. Every time you point out that crimes attributed to illegal/undocumented migrants - we can’t even agree on how to describe their status because each descriptor carries with it an emotive set of characters - are lower than the rates for native born Americans. Which is only logical, you get the argument that they are more prone to crime. I grew up with that perception as an Italian-American. The Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas may be great movies but they came to define an entire group of citizenry who forgot about Enrico Fermi, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizutto, and Fiorello LaGuardia, among others. Once you focus on the outlaws, you can do all sorts of damage like limiting due process. If not eliminating it altogether, ignoring court orders , incarcerating people for their accent, skin color, means of employment. Prevent access to lawyers and deport, frequently to third-world countries with a history of torture and in opposition to our own treaty obligations.
Do some people ignore irrefutable evidence? Yes. Do I ignore irrefutable evidence? Never. Not even if my life depended on it. Do you ignore irrefutable evidence? If no, then wonderful … unless you’re using the fact that some people ignore evidence as an excuse for why you refuse to work with someone like me to get to the truth.
Opponents of (fill in the blank) won’t ever accept (fill in the blank). For example, I hope I’m wrong when I say that Theodore D'Afflisio won’t ever accept James R. Carey’s “win-win” idea, which is that when Theodore D'Afflisio and James R. Carey disagree, they will get to the truth even if doing so happens to be inconvenient for one of them.
Dumb it down - we got an election to win if we want to defend democracy.
Simply and well said!!
That's what Republicans have done. I have many good reasons to think it's not a good approach.
How fortunate are Megan's kids to have a mom like Megan!
Aww 💙💙
Thank you Pam for your sweet words 💙
Thank you, Megan, for persisting in sharing your spreadsheet and encouraging everyone to contact their legislators and others! We appreciate you so much! ❤️👍
Thank you for your sweet words! Your last sentence made me smile because in the classroom we use the words “We appreciate you so much” in place of “Happy birthday to you” when we sing our thanks for people (I.e it’s the end of the year and we sang it to those who volunteered in our room)
As LFAA readers may know, I have posted repeatedly on the legal substantial benefits of California's "CCPA" the California Consumer Privacy Act effective 1/1/2020.
Question: Does the CCPA apply to all California "residents" INCLUDING Latino immigrants?
Answer: YES!
*************
Any California resident should be able to her or his name removed from a wacko Orwellian "Master Death List".
Note clearly, CA "Residents" do not have to be an 'abogodo', an attorney. That is because a California State Agency enforces the CCPA not the CA resident.
Un abogodo no es necessário.
******************************
UPDATED With This Huge Footnote:
"California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides robust protections for Latino immigrants residing in California, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. The law specifically defines a "consumer" as anyone who resides in the state, including undocumented individuals.California specifically amended the CCPA via Assembly Bill (AB) 947 to classify citizenship and immigration status as Sensitive Personal Information (SPI).
"Because of this upgrade, businesses are subject to stricter regulations regarding how they handle this data.Key protections include:Strict Limitations: Consumers have the right to demand that companies limit the use or disclosure of their sensitive data to only what is necessary to provide the requested goods or services.Opt-Out Rights: Individuals can explicitly tell businesses "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" and mandate that they stop sharing their data with third parties.
"Right to Delete & Correct: You can request that businesses delete your data (with limited exceptions) or correct inaccuracies in the personal information they hold on you.No Discrimination: Businesses are legally prohibited from denying goods or services, charging different prices, or providing a different level of service simply because you exercise your CCPA privacy rights.It is important to note that the CCPA does not apply to all companies. It generally applies to for-profit businesses that do business in California and meet certain thresholds, such as having an annual gross revenue over $25 million, buying/selling the data of large numbers of consumers, or deriving a significant portion of their revenue from selling personal
"California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) serves as the regulatory body that enforces these rights. You can use the resources provided on the official California Department of Justice page to further understand your civil and privacy rights as an immigrant.10 sites US: California amends privacy law to tighten regulation of ...Oct 17, 2023 — On October 8, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he had signed AB 947 into law, bringing California in line.
"FAQs - California Privacy ...The CCPA provides privacy rights to California residents. A California resident is a person (not a corporation or other business e...California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) (.gov)Immigration | State of California - Department of JusticeRecent Work. The California DOJ strives to protect, defend, and enforce the rights of all Californians, regardless of their race, ...State of California - Department of Justice (.gov).
Go that Right!
Texas used to have a CCPA as I recall.
Bryan Sean McKown, thank you. This information should go on the first page of every CA newspaper every day and be published online daily as well. Had you not published it here for US, we might well never have understood how CA makes certain that the rest of America eats (and drinks). Is there a Caesar Chavez left to publish this daily and teach CA farm workers (and their overlords—forget Trump, remember his diet) their rights under state law?
AZ, CA, OR & The state of Washington all have superior Attorney Generals.
California's AG Rob Bontas has a potent procedure that I have used to bring urgent matters to Rob's attention.
You do NOT have to be a lawyer but, a person must verify the facts under oath ... Something like being a witness in Court.
No problem as I have done that 1000 of times in my legal career.
''Freedom, Now Available in Warehouse Form''
America has identified its greatest national emergency.
Not hunger. Not medical debt. Not rent. Not the small inconvenience of going bankrupt because your appendix became politically active.
No, the real crisis is that an immigrant somewhere may be working, raising a family, and failing to appear sufficiently menacing on cable news.
Congress, naturally, has responded with billions for detention, surveillance, warehouses, and other sacred instruments of liberty.
The warehouses are especially inspiring. Nothing says “human dignity” like managing people with the same logistical philosophy used for patio furniture and surplus air fryers.
There is even talk of marking millions of immigrants as “dead” in government databases. Why bother with due process when a spreadsheet can quietly erase the living?
Naturally, the costs may balloon. But government waste only outrages people when it funds school lunches, healthcare, or housing.
Cruelty, by contrast, always seems to receive expedited approval.
So take comfort. Your insulin may be unaffordable. Your hospital may close. Your rent may swallow your paycheck.
But somewhere, behind a secure fence, a very expensive warehouse is standing proudly.
And freedom has never looked more like inventory.
Not "Congress". The NEOFASCIST GOP.
HCR explains in detail how hard and effective Democrats in Congress are fighting back, so please don't blame Congress as a whole, people urgently need to become aware of what great work Democrats are doing in DC, even when the media refuse to report on it!
Yes. We must make that distinction, not constantly blame "Congress." I wish the Democrats who are fighting so hard to save our Democracy would come out with a list of everything they've been doing to stop this madness.
What makes you imagine that they don't? The fact that the legacy media find what they do too boring to report on it?
The left made tons of mistakes, these last few decades, but most of them are on us, not on the Democrats representing us. They mostly did their job.
With social media distracting us 24/7, and a neofascist GOP building its propaganda machine using outrage (and clickbait) as a weapon, sometimes it feels as if the entire left (citizens, that is) got brainwashed too, and forgot how democracy works.
Instead, we seem to have turned it into a spectator sport. All we're interested in is "messaging". All we imagine lawmakers must do is investing in PR. It's not possible. Lawmaking is a more than full-time job, IF you take it seriously.
In a 1976 WSJ op-ed, Irving Kristol, founder of neoconservatism, infamously wrote that for conservatives to win elections, intellectuals need to stay at the margins of society rather than participating in public debates. Somehow, half a century later, it feels as if the left agrees. We don't care about all the crucial details that HCR sums up in her newsletter here, even though they prove how hard Democrats are working for us and how good they are at doing their job. Instead, we want them to ALSO do what ONLY the media and "we the people" can do: inform ourselves about who does what in DC.
The NYT has been hammering on this for years. Especially during election season, all they write about is the horse race (= cynically reducing the debate to personal ambitions of politicians as individuals) and... how bad Democrats are at "messaging" and how "messaging" should be everything etc.
This IS how the left undermined democracy in the US.
WE are the ones who will save us. That's the very essence of any democracy ("demos" = people, "kratein" = to govern, in ancient Greek). We cannot possibly continue to feed the myth that somehow lawmaking is not a full-time job, and that the legislative branch of Congress should also take over the job of the fourth branch of government (the media; their democratic job is to inform people about who does what in DC) and of the people themselves (to inform ourselves about who does what in DC, and engage in debates with fellow citizens who disagree).
MSNow does a good job of interviewing Democrats who are in the fight.
Thank you Megan -- I am scared for my little granddaughters future -- we have to work together to stop this cruel madness. thank you for your amazing spreadsheet.
Our current status as a representative democracy shows how fragile it is and how easily it can be defeated. Now we must unite and fight the good fight and I hope that this pendulum to the extreme side of hate and greed and plunder will bring sensibilities back to a majority to defeat this enemy within. When the criminal proclaimed that voting would’ve necessary after he was elected, that should have been the singular message but it wasn’t. Societies are often misled to make the wrong move; to revenge vote and this is how he assumed this victory. Biden stumbled and the revenge voters slipped the nooses around their own necks. There is no doubt that he will use any and all tricks to effectuate a victory and we must take preventative actions to assure an actuate vote count.
If we grandmothers START NOW to instill an INTEREST, at the very least, re POLITICS in our granddaughters, then a strong woman candidate is going to become the 1st female POTUS.🗽
Might not live to SEE it, but the work starts NOW.
Kamala Harris had no chance against the misogynists in the male population of America. Donald Trump just had to ‘rattle their chain’ and describe a world where women would be equally empowered…and DJT had their vote. 🤬
The ‘momma’s boys’, told from the cradle up they are “God’s gift” can obviously forget how they got here and in doing so, disrespect their doting mothers.
Women have to begin to value WOMEN, and realize a good brain is a good brain, nomatter what body it is in!
Example: Heather Cox Richardson
Nuff said!
The anxiety I feel as my girls get older is a lot to manage ❤️🩹
Commenting and Reacting for Bumping this up. Have a prosperous Sunday Megan and anyone else reading this!
I appreciate you!!
Thank you Megan 👏
This is the message to us all, wherever we are and whoever we are. D-Day cost lives, your campaign to keep objections and counter-arguments on the minds of legislators is essential, moral and timely.
Thank you Megan!
Thank you, Megan!
I can’t find your message from the other day - idk what happened to it. I’m going to message you again!
Copy that.
Barbara McQuade's book, "Attack from Within," (2024) has probably been updated by her book out now, "The Fix." Make no mistake about it - the matter is now extremely serious. Congress has now funded Trump's private army, aka Dept. of Homeland Security and ICE. Does Trump intend to use this private army to police our next election? Trump intends to dismantle National Intelligence as Putin has ordered him to do by appointing a misfit with no Intelligence history, Trump instructing Bill Pulte to fire a lot of the employees, doing damage to National Intelligence just as Pete Hegseth has done to the Defense Department, ridding it of officers who had knowledge and experience along with strategic and critical thinking skills. Trump keeps calling the press "the enemy of the people," causing one to wonder why the Founding Fathers put its protection in the First Amendment to the Constitution. I think that the threat to our democratic process is more serious than most think.
thank you for posting the spreadsheet!
If you are a US citizen or have US residency, would you please read my piece explaining the Free Speech for People campaign to impeach Trump AND his cabinet and help them get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
If you can't find the link to the petition in the above piece, here it is. Just scroll down and you will find it. https://www.impeachtrumpagain.org/
And I’m sure you’re familiar with that fact about liberals about radical liberals 98% of the teachers union are Liberal Democrats look it up yourself and what kind of fair information are you gonna get from them?
As I pointed out to a number of people here, so many liberals here are defined as the following.
You used to be Twitter users, but as soon as Elon Musk bought it and changed the make up of Twitter from 85% liberal to only 52% liberal, most of you fled from Twitter like little chickadees with their tails between their legs over to blue sky Have to deal with opposing opinions
And the realism that I send your way as the following. Because it’s the only way I can practically make you see how ridiculous you’re thinking is in the way of balance and in reality
Your courtroom would look like this
You are a defendant, and the first person that gets up to speak as the prosecuting attorney and he will present the case to the jury
Now, under the processes that you and your friends here would like to enforce would be nobody here from the opposite side of the aisle with comment as the lady that just did exactly that she said go post your conservative values somewhere else
So what would happen in the courtroom under your premise would be that the prosecution would present its case it would go directly to the jury because you don’t want to hear the other side of the story and then the jury would obviously convict you
See putting you in that seat gives you a little bit more perspective does it not. Have a good night
You obviously support hate and division. Maybe you should troll elsewhere.
The self identified" destroyer" has been reported to the Platform including the sexism.
RS is a hate-baiter and any response to him just encourages more ignorant posts. It's tempting to want to 'reason' with him or scold him but it accomplishes nothing.
The worst thing we can do, if we want to save democracy, is to just call those who disagree with us names.
If we claim to be pro-democracy, we should cultivate the unconditional willingness to engage in real debates. Because that IS how fascism can and will be defeated.
Wait, I support hate. There’s nothing but hate on this particular Substack
I’m here for something that you desperately need there, Richard E Dugan and I love when your people post your three names
As if that makes you more erudite. Lol.
I AM HERE FOR ONE THING AND ONE THING ONLY THAT YOU DON’T GET HERE
AWARENESS. AWARENESS THAT THERE ARE TWO SIDES OF A STORY AND YOU’RE ONLY GETTING ONE.SIDE.
AND I’M WAITING DESPERATELY TO HEAR FROM MOM WHO’S GONNA PROBABLY END UP WITH A D MINUS AS HER GRADE ON HER RESPONSE TO ME
You are sadly wrong in every way and if you do not see the cruelty of the positions the administration you support has foisted upon innocents, there is no hope for you. I’m very sorry for how much you have been led into darkness.
Don’t believe the shit by the lady below here because again they have no factual information to back up all the crap that you keep talking about not one all you have and I keep repeating it, and I should put it in the biggest capital letters, but made by man accusations insults, and hate with no backup and no support for anything that you say
Voice it up upon the innocence let me hear come on let’s go enough for your bullshit. Do you wanna make a comment go to whitehouse.gov and comment on that
I’m not being lead anywhere. I’m the only one with my eyes ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE, UNLIKE YOU WHO ONLY SEE OUT OF YOUR LEFT EYE AND ONLY HEAR OUT OF YOUR LEFT EAR YIKES
LOOK AT YOUR POST AND TRY TO TELL ME, YOU SAID ANYTHING
RS is a hate-baiter and any response to him just encourages more ignorant posts. It's tempting to want to 'reason' with him or scold him but it accomplishes nothing. Please do not respond to him.
Donna, you’re absolutely correct and I can’t believe I’m saying this.
Because when I post all I get is what you say more ignorant posts in return you couldn’t be more correct
Awareness of what, Rick? You rarely even bother to cite facts or sources for your untutored opinions.
He could be a 'bot' .....as Thom Hartmann's newsletter reported yesterday, ""— For the first time in the internet’s history, bots now outnumber humans. Cloudflare reports that automated bots and AI agents have overtaken human web traffic — 57.4% bots to 42.6% humans worldwide, and a stunning 71.5% bots inside the United States. CEO Matthew Prince admitted the crossover “happened faster than I predicted,” years ahead of schedule. Odds are high that that person you’re arguing with on X or Facebook is actually a bot run by a rightwing-programmed AI program."
Or I could be Jeffrey epstein himself. Lmao. Because I don’t know if you heard that Jeffrey Epstein death never happened.
It was all a plot to allow him to escape, and some photographer caught him in a small little town in Israel in Northern Israel having lunch
But you won’t believe the rest of this he was actually having lunch with Julius Caesar and Julius Caesar had the entire Epstein files in his possession
Ready Russell and I’ve been saying it for months. In the first place four times now I posted since back in May 20 K points of Trump‘s policies that are working and I did that to people that questioned it. I guess I’m at a responses. I got to that when I posted it in public.? one person wrote back and had a problem with one of the 20 and not anybody else wrote back at all no arguments no disagreements nothing dead silence
And what I’ve offered to everybody here is a following every president has a dept that post to its site website whitehouse.gov and I’ve asked people here go to the website and tell me what you disagree with and we can have a discussion so there you go Russellwhitehouse.govwhitehouse.govwhitehouse.govwhitehouse.gov that’s what the administration posts in public NOT THERE ANY SINGLE HUMAN BEING AND HEATHER‘S UP SUBSTACK HAS EVER EVEN GONE THERE TO SEE WHAT THEY ARE
OOPSOOOOOOOOOOOPS
Twitter/X is a cesspit, Rick, and that's where you belong. You contribute little or nothing to these comments pages.
You complain about censorship here and yet you're here almost every day moaning.
Russell, you’re just confirming what I’ve been telling you. But it wasn’t a CESSPIT When 85% of the content was uttered and controlled by liberals. It only became that says put when you didn’t like balance and it’s still 52 Liberal 48 conservative but you didn’t like any of it now so you like a little chickadee or a dog with its legs between its tail ran away over to blue sky, so you didn’t have to hear an opposing position.
And there is no better proof.
I contribute the other half of the story Russell the one you don’t wanna hear the one you disacknowledge and the one that most of the people here fear the most for the possibility that what I’m saying is actually the truth so that they get even more defensive, which is the telltale.
RS is a hate-baiter and any response to him just encourages more ignorant posts. It's tempting to want to 'reason' with him or scold him but it accomplishes nothing. Please do not respond to him.
And by the way, Donna to get hate here I don’t even have to bait my hook
I guess Donald J. Trump desires to be “more erudite” as ‘Sender’ claims anyone with a middle name is trying to be!
Maybe we, all, can chip in and buy Rick a middle name, or at least an ‘initial’?
How about ‘ity’ for that 3rd name (so…’Rick-ity Sender’ or the initial “F” 😆.
If ‘he’ is an AI ‘bot’, then we don’t need to fear “AI” as much, because the ‘so-called’ intelligence will ‘eat itself’ or ‘implode’ based on the effects of all HATE on the human race.
Animals kill to survive on their prey. The Nazis didn’t eat one Jewish person - as far as we know - and the IRONY of the humans being slaughtered in the war zones today should be lost on noone.
This is the way you deny reality. By even suggesting that somebody who disagreed with you because you don’t have a single fact to post here, so you designate them as a possible bot to try to disarm the facts. Sad
Um…you just wrote that…and it will be remembered as a quote exposing YOU:
“Do you know why they didn’t eat any Jews because Jews were subhuman poison.” Unquote Rick Sender
NO MORE NEED BE KNOWN ABOUT “YOU”.
Amen Brothers & Sisters
I’m waiting for your retraction Jean. Cause if you lie about me here, it just might happen that somebody lies about you. And it even could be me. And I’m not waiting longer
Boy, are you a little slow and much and unfortunately uninformed and lack any sense of comprehensiveness
That's what the Nazis thought that's why they didn't eat the Jews yikes.
I can't believe you could actually misconstrue that
I'm Jewish Oooops.
Maybe now you comprehend, and you only miss comprehended because of your hate
The last person that used the word Nazi, I tell you what I told him I took them through every single torture chamber they could and kill the motherfuckers that use the word Nazi anybody that uses the word Nazi or refers to that era should meet a Nazi and the Nazi should treat them like they used to treat Jews and then they would learn never to use the word Nazi in their lives again EVER
Do you know why they didn’t eat any Jews because Jews were subhuman poison. Well guess what your ex president Joseph R Biden… was able to prolong a war that in the process when the money was almost gone until Biden’s money arrived HAS BEEN ABLE TO KILL 200,000 INNOCENT CITIZENS OF RUSSIA AND UKRAINE.
AND BY THE WAY, JEANNNNNNNNN ALL BECAUSE OF A MISTAKE BY A DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT AND I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT BIDEN. AND IN FACT THAT DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT WAS MY SECOND FAVORITE DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT OF ALL TIME BEHIND JOHN KENNEDY, BUT HE HAD THREE MAJOR FUCK UPS AND ONE OF THEM IS STILL KILLING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE EVERY SINGLE YEAR.
AND THE MOST AMAZING THING GENE NOT ONE OF YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HELL I’M TALKING ABOUT WHICH IS SO MUCH BULLSHIT FOR YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY OUT OF THE 3000 PEOPLE THAT I HAVE ASKED ABOUT WHY UKRAINE IS IN THE TROUBLE IT’S IN RIGHT NOW AND FIGHTING WITH RUSSIA ONLY SIX HAVE REPLIED AND THEY ONLY GOT A PIECE OF IT CORRECT
SO SINCE YOU SEEM TO BE ONE OF THE UBER, EDUCATED HERE WHY DON’T YOU TELL ME? WHY ARE UKRAINE IN RUSSIA AT WAR RIGHT NOW?
BUT I’M GUESSING YOU’RE GONNA BE MY NEXT VICTIM OF IGNORANCE
Gene, that was pretty good. At least you caught onto Mike innuendo.
And actually, if he would permit me the temerity to disagree with your ridiculous name and incorrect comment I am one of the few here that round out the conversation by including the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of which you’re certainly able to disagree with!!
Heather Selde, if ever gives you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth she has surrendered in my opinion her Moniker of noted historian to become a devout capitalist. And is raking it in with millions of lemmings, who follow around with nose rings on gullible, willing subjects to bow and genuflect every word that comes out of her mouth. She is the Jim Jones of the left. In my opinion.
Think about this really quick…. I have not seen one individual disagree with any of her posts. As long as I’ve been here in about a year and a half. It’s almost like you fools are reading from my Bible. You never dis you never question. And in fact, you don’t even investigate. AND THERE YOU HAVE THE SNAPSHOT.
AHA!! Caught you repeating your ‘bot’? Self verbatim:
…”the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”…you watch a lot of Trial movies, eh? (Perry Mason?)
The oath to establish that a person will NOT commit perjury is rather important, but you cannot use it as a preface to just MORE TRUMPIAN LIES. Trump the “Ox” and that makes you the “moron”. 🧐
ICTT is correct in saying that dialogue with you is pointless and only encourages your far right ideas. 👎👎👎
HCR is providing Americans with Historical knowledge pertinent to the attacks on Democracy from the White House. If you don’t like that…then…
What she knows, and what she says or like the north and South Pole apart.
She is relegated herself in my opinion, and an obvious dictum from her speeches here, but she has nothing more than a radical liberal activist
Have you been provided some of the proof here anytime Donald Trump has a major win that is accepted by almost all the other major media, including the media that don’t like him. She refuses to tell the story.
She then deflect the stories about pre-Abraham Lincoln. About the Lakota Indians of all people And three or four over irrelevant historical subjects that have nothing to do with Trump’s wins and certainly she’s not gonna cover them.
So unfortunately, for you, and many of you hear the most gullible human lemmings on planet earth. And at least one of you said something earlier, which you didn’t hear North do you care to hear.
Do you know anybody that tells you the entire truth all the time? And this one liberal poster that I have had discussions with from time to time, said exactly, precisely what the truth is
I am the almost the only one here who has the temerity to tell the story from a different perspective and disagree with Heather… and provide some factual basis, for her lack of coherence to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
A great song “I will provide for you. This quote was to a man you’ll get it when I say it
And it’s sung by two of the most ardent liberals as 99% of the liberals that come from Hollywood and fame in the music industry
A MAN HEARS WHAT HE WANTS TO HEAR AND DISREGARDS THE REST.
That line sums up 95% of your participants here. And that is ugly and that is sad. Alas, it is the truth.
No, that’s saying it’s been around for generations. And you’ve proven nothing except misinterpretation that was cracks me up. I hate over took your any rational fight, and that thing that’s 3 feet above your ass that you use for a head.
And if you don’t take back what you said about the quote, you misinterpreted you’re not gonna believe what I’m gonna say about you that I misinterpreted.
I’ll say it again so you’re clear the Nazis didn’t eat Jews because the Nazis thought that the Jews were poison.
HCR is providing nothing that you think she's providing. She's providing a one-sided microbial look from the radical liberal perspective and nothing more. And the fact that you're not even questioning anything she says, makes you even worse
As I've said before, and I'll say it again, it is my opinion that she reads every single liberal post out there reword the compilation of all the posts put them out to you, gullible lemmings, and then uses the same links where she got the information in the first place to document her posts.
It's a fucking round Robin of hate you're so sad
He's actually the only voice disagreeing with us. For that alone already, he should be applauded - IF we are pro-democracy and therefore pro-debates with those who disagree with us, that is.
And I thank you very much. AUWDTB for your sense of awareness.
And I would love to have somebody provide me some facts to tell me that my facts are even partially incorrect and then to your point we could have a discussion.
But you are wrong below and the following manner if you want illustrate or annunciate the word, fascism, and who it I’ll put it squarely on the map of Barack Obama and Joe Biden
Trevon could’ve been my son the police acted super late in a constant show of racism by your president but the fascist part is if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan you can keep your plan lying to the public. To promote his highly unsuccessful medical plan.
And then we have Joe Biden, who fascistIcally decided to open the border to you, speculate a8/ 20 million illegal who have butchered Americans who have killed‘s, who have raped Americans who have tortured Americans who have brought amount of illegal drugs across the borderd. Including a proven. Of at least 4000 illegal criminals who are guilty of felonies in their own country. That still remained large in the United States.
Now, if you would like to describe to me, Donald Trump’s fascist issues I am ready to listen
Liberal Democrats are pro-democracy. Today, the neofascist GOP, financed by neofascist tech billionaires, is installing fascism.
I'll take Liberal Democrats, no matter how annoying, over fascism every day. What about you?
Well, then you might want to take a peek at my illustrations up above, and I will wait for your answers to describe Donald Trump’s fascism. Vs versus that of Obama and Biden.
Hey Megan, why don’t you do us all a favor especially me why don’t you paint me with a republican world view? Looks like this I would love to hear. I can’t wait honestly. Thank you very much
And then once I see it, I will post for you. What a middle of the road independent voter like me and like now a majority of voters in America think what a middle of the road person thinks like.
You already know what radical liberals think like because Heather Fitz right into that niche
You are definitely not a "middle of the road independent voter" but definitely a delusional MAGA worm.
And you notice he uses capitals, just like Trump. Its pretty infantile stuff he writes as well.
RS is a hate-baiter and any response to him just encourages more ignorant posts. It's tempting to want to 'reason' with him or scold him but it accomplishes nothing. Please do not respond to him.
Agree! I am done! Though I am not ‘afraid’ of his posts - even now that he threatened to tell lies about me - you, and “It’s Come To This” are correct…no point!
There’s no cure for stupid.
I pity him rather than ‘hate’, but won’t cut POTUS #47 the same slack.
Trump is ‘the worst’.
Lololol. Let me show you a picture of you with a description which will kind of crack me up. People like you have a one track mind and it doesn’t include facts and it doesn’t include proof and it doesn’t include evidence. It only includes insults and accusations.
Which is what you just did here. I’m actually still a Bill Clinton fan despite his three major fuck ups one of them that is still killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in the world.
Turned out to be a very smart levelheaded president willing to work with the other side on the behalf of Of America where people like you have no idea what the other side looks like
And the delusion, if you’d like to see it, get a full length mirror and stare at it
Because if you’ve got some facts, the back up that I’m delusional or that I’m a mega worm I would love to hear it but it’s been nice knowing you, richard
RS, you are a f%$#ing idiot.
Awwwwww are we upset….. you should be richard 72% of your own party thinks you’re heading in the wrong direction you should be upset.
If you are what constitutes middle-of-the-road now in America, Rick, then the road is in the wrong place.
So where are Heather’s conservative links so that her story is balanced, and we know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Oh, I’m sorry I was talking about Heather. Lol. And Megan, you know damn well while they’re trying to keep the illegals here because they’re trying to get them to vote as they already have and if you don’t know that shame on you.
Please troll elsewhere. "Conservative views" do not have to be given any space because most of them are lies. If you want to read lies, read what Trump and his Cabinet say.
There's nothing conservative about RS's views. He is a far right radical and best named as such.
And the self named "destroyer".
Actually, Sandra, if you think that, then you are left of Santa Claus, my dear. I’m a middle of the road voter been an independent since I’m 30 which is about 45 years ago voted for Bill Clinton twice and would do it again
That’s one of the thing about you left these you have absolutely no judgment about someone else because of a few words they happen to put on the screen here But it’s typical of liberals. This is how you evaluate things you see a headline that you like, and you jump on it like a bitch in heat without ever thinking to question it validate it, inquire about it or look at the opposite point of view just to see if there’s some balance to it.
In fact, I will repeat what many people in the political arena have said recently they said that if John Fitzgerald Kennedy were alive today as the left has gone so far left John Fitzgerald Kennedy would be a middle of the road republican today.
Plus one other thing I’d like to hear because this is going I’m smiling and laughing thinking about what I’m gonna ask you but here’s the
Describe to me what you might think a right ring radical might sound like and don’t say it sounds like you I want some specific example examples Because I need a good laugh
You have a good evening, OK
I think you need rebalancing since you appear to have Trump Delusion Syndrome. Psychiatric consultation might be well worth its cost for you even if you don't have health care insurance. Use it or lose it !
Perfect and thank you for validating my point exactly. Insults and accusations Hollow and unfounded insults and accusations you should be richard insults and accusations Duggan Drop the E
Here’s a picture of your twin sister, who has the same emptiness of fact and lack of support for empty hate
🤖
Rick ‘Sender’…a.k.a. Donald Trump?? 🤷🏼♀️
PS the ‘clue’ is in the disjointed, terrible grammar from an almost illiterate source = Donald J. Trump, who types as he speaks. Obviously his normal speech writers have no control over the late night ramblings, and when ‘Rick’ says he doesn’t ‘like’ Trump, but LOVES the policies…um…😉
He uses a speech converter, hence the typos and incomplete sentences. I don't know if it's because of inability to type, but he doesn't take time to correct his comments. He voted for Clinton because Clinton was a white good ole boy. He loves Trump because Trump hates dark people. He's an angry resentful Archie Bunker who longs for the days when dark people (and women) knew their place and stayed out of sight. He's jealous of rich people but doesn't see the connection between wealth and poverty. He's jealous of successful intellectuals because he worked hard his whole life and they only use their brains. His jealousy of Heather is palpable. His crusade here says more about his emotional state than his confused mind.
Like Donald Trump, ‘Sender’ is a symptom of THE DISEASE. By pandering to DJT, the Republican Party are being deliberately cruel to a dumb animal in need of medical/psychiatric treatment. Why is he not getting that treatment? Because noone wants to admit that the system failed the minute he became the candidate, despite the tenet in the Constitution PROHIBITING a ‘convicted felon’ from becoming POTUS.
We ALL stood by with our mouths open in amazement as safeguard after safeguard fell and DJT just kept COMING!
Now he COULD BE unstoppable, through manipulation of the INJUSTICE SYSTEM!
The China Shop is almost completely destroyed, and although ‘the bull’ is still crashing around, noone is trying to REMOVE HIM…BODILY.
🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♀️
If you or I were committing daily crimes against humanity we would be locked up. Trump’s mug shot > already taken (post Jan 6/21) 34 guilty counts re FRAUD, 1 conviction re sexual assault, multiple indictments on other committed crimes…yet he slithers FREE.
This is all ‘coming to a head’, and both ‘Rick’ and Trump (if they are not the same entity) will soon ‘pay the piper’.
Mother knows best!
AND ‘It’s Come To This’
He could be a 'bot' .....as Thom Hartmann's newsletter reported yesterday, ""— For the first time in the internet’s history, bots now outnumber humans. Cloudflare reports that automated bots and AI agents have overtaken human web traffic — 57.4% bots to 42.6% humans worldwide, and a stunning 71.5% bots inside the United States. CEO Matthew Prince admitted the crossover “happened faster than I predicted,” years ahead of schedule. Odds are high that that person you’re arguing with on X or Facebook is actually a bot run by a rightwing-programmed AI program."
I should be so lucky. But I am my own person. I don’t follow nor imitate nor have anyone as my mentor. I take pieces of advice for many people see how they fit with my own predetermined, analyzed and analytical decisions and act accordingly.
Responding to a malicious, psychotic idiot out to get your goat only fuels the psychosis. Don’t let him bait you — it’s what he lives for. You can see the results.
ICTI, I respectfully disagree.There are legal remedies in California Superior Court where I have 35 years of litigation & trial experience.
What does it matter if you have 50 years of litigation and trial experience? This is about using common sense, not the law.
Hi Bryan,
I am FINISHED replying to ‘Rick Sender’ because as many have attested > there’s no point, AND, he has threatened to begin telling LIES about me.
Can he be banned from Heather’s substack comments?
I am not frightened…just really annoyed that someone so ‘broken’ is tormenting people who are trying to come up with a ‘plan’ while supporting each other through this ‘trial by fire’.
I ‘quoted’ him back to himself, before he then CHANGED a statement. Guess I am näive about such ‘hate baiters’. But, I really don’t ‘hate’ him…feel only pity and also ANGER, that his ilk got a Dictator into the seat of power, which will now take ‘dynamite’ to dislodge. 😉 ‘Sender’ would say I was suggesting a bomb since sarcasm is not something he can comprehend!
Hope I don’t require ‘legal’ advice. He is now pestering me for an apology.
Well…I’m SORRY I exercised my 1st Amendment right…but at least I STILL CAN! 👍
You know what Lisa I have just figured out a way that I will never hear from you again.
I would like to re-truths so I’m giving you the opportunity to tell me about all the truths that you want to tell here about Donald Trump and all his failures inadequacies lies, etc.
And here’s the way I’d like you to put it But of course, I won’t hear from you
Please tell me any of Trump’s laws or policies that have been enacted how any of them have actually negatively affected Personally Oh shit Rick you didn’t tell me there was gonna be honest questions
You are as hateful and divisive as the Grand Old Pedophile party.
Did you get the photo Richard? I’ll send it again.
Poor Richard now you’re getting to be a little bit more radical as well as I just sent you that nice little picture of your sister ignoring facts no evidence to support any of your words as I’ve illustrated pretty detail to you and unfortunately, your brain has been inculcated with hate And and now I have to send you another illustration of one of your personal identities in this photo
The bottom of the photo is cut off, but the last caption says If we could do all these things, we could save democracy and if you’d like to see the bottom, I have to attach another photo for you, which I’d be more than happy to do, but if you don’t take my word for it, let me know. Wow, now I understand why you use the letter E for your middle name you have to have some way to make yourself look smarter than you are
Well, richard I just sent you a photo of your sister your twin sister who absolutely identifies exactly with your ideology.
All you have are insults and accusations Thank God, nobody has hired you as a defense attorney
Your Honor, he’s hateful and divisive as the grand old pedophile party
OK Richard I hear your accusations. Can you show me some evidence or some facts to back up your statements?
Will not exactly your honor, but they should be very evident to you
Well, thank you for that. Richard now get out of my courtroom.
🤖
Wow, that is one of the most demented, asinine posts and rationale. I have heard since adulthood.
Your posts are illogical, foolish nonsense. Get professional help.
‘Sender’ (? Trump ?) will end up like the Marquis de Sade> in prison for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography (see the Birthday card sent to Epstein). He is too far gone for any ‘help’.
🤖
Denise, I don’t even like Donald Trump. I love his policies and I love the laws that have been acted by Congress that he has presented to them.
I could give a shit what the president’s name is my second favorite president is Bill Clinton despite fucking an employee inside the most sacred building in the world and then lying about it under oath . He was a good president. Unfortunately, for Bill he made one super super super super major mistake that has recently killed 1 million people and counting and the problem with people like you is you’re so ignorant about reality of life that you don’t even know what I’m talking about, but you should investigate that Bill Clinton in the past three years even though he left Office 25 years ago or so with the help of Joe Biden has recently killed an additional 200,000 innocent people.
You are DELUSIONAL!!
🤖
But Lisa, how are you ever gonna find out the truth? This is the problem with you, irrational folks. Let’s say you’re a defendant in a trial.
Your way of thinking would absolutely bury you. And here’s how that would happen. The prosecutor would get up and make his case. And then they would send it directly to the jury. You may not realize what you’re saying, but that’s exactly what you’re saying. This Substack is nothing more but a prosecuting attorney with one major fault. Biased evidence half the facts, no facts at all , or one-sided opinions without any backup or support just accusations OR PROOF. . I’m sure you would not like to be in that position as a defendant. But that’s what you’re suggesting.
And by the way, one last thing there are people here who post 10 2030 times a day lengthy lengthy posts and I have not once ever heard them. Called trolls. Only when they disagree with the UN informed group are they considered trolls.
A troll is a user who deliberately posts inflammatory, irrelevant, or off-topic messages. Their primary goal is to bait other members, disrupt normal conversations, and provoke strong emotional reactions (like anger or frustration) for their own amusement.
If the shoe fits… 👞
Yes, “Mom”…your little Ricky is, unfortunately, a ‘sadist’ like his alter ego POTUS #47.
Exactly, you halfwitted deliberately offensive provocateur.
Well, there they are what are you gonna do now huh? Mom lmao.
I could go back and find the 20 initial ones that I did back in May ones that he actually won big-time for America and the planet, but I’ll wait for your response here and I will only address the issues that we speaking of right now nothing with anger nothing with frustration and nothing for your own amusement. Just the facts about his policies and nothing more.
I don’t wanna hear one word from you about anything having to do with Donald Trump until the day he became president. And if you do that, you’re absolutely worthless.
I already told you and back in May I posted the top 20 accomplishments of the Donald Trump administration. And you know what kind of feedback I got from that people arguing with me on the facts that I posted. NONNNNNNNNNNE.
SO GO TO WHITEHOUSE.GOVWhitehouse.gov
And there you will find the policies and laws that I agree with see how simple that was. Now, unfortunately, the ball is in your court.
Let me give you the first one… because you don’t even agree with that one because if you agree with that one, you have to agree that the people that came over here illegally need to go home soooo
HE CLOSED THE BORDER IN 75 DAYS. AND THAT IS DESPITE ATTEMPTING TO DO THAT DURING HIS FIRST TERM WHEN THE LIBERALS WOULDN’T APPROVE THE WALL. AND WHAT DID THAT CAUSE IT CAUSED YOU PICK A NUMBER BETWEEN EIGHT AND 20 MILLION ILLEGALS TO COME OVER TO THE UNITED STATES ILLEGALLY
AND THEN I WILL SUBSCRIBE TO YOU EXACTLY WHAT THAT’S COST US BOTH IN HUMAN LIFE AND IN MONETARY VALUE
AND NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I’VE ASKED FOR ANSWERS AS TO WHA WHAT POLICIES DO YOU NOT AGREE WITH I GET NOTHING IN RESPONSE. I GET HOLLOW UNSUPPORTED BULLSHIT.
SO HERE’S YOUR CHANCE.
Trump has been ordered a judge to recommence processing of asylum claims. Did you miss this?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/05/ruling-against-trump-travel-ban-immigrants
Well, you’re wrong on both accounts. Well maybe more than both maybe many
And none of this is for my amusement it’s for you AS A REALITY CHECK BECAUSE YOU SORELY NEED ONE
WHAT YOU CALL NORMAL CONVERSATION IS ONLY NORMAL IF YOU HEAR FROM THE PROSECUTION AND NEVER HEAR FROM THE DEFENSE
THAT’S NOT AMERICA. THAT’S NOT FAIRNESS. THAT’S NOT TRUTH AND WHAT DID YOU CALL IT? INFLAMMATORY, IRRELEVANT, OR OFF-TOPIC.
I don’t do any of that. I reply to ridiculously obscenely, incorrect, assertions assumptions that never have any backup proof or evidence. They’re simply insults and accusations that people make because they’re accepted by all the other people here as being the truth when there’s been no actual support FACTUALLY for such.
And unfortunately, for you, mom, this is not for my amusement at all. This is for the benefit of the United States of America to wake left wing haters up to their hate to their irrational hate to their useless hate causeless hate when all they do is join the group because it’s safe.
And like I said, mom I’m guessing that most of the people here used to be on Twitter and they left as soon as it became a balanced venue versus 85% liberal and 15% conservative before Elon Musk bought it and balanced it and everybody all the chicken shits all the cowards all fact deniers cowerd over to blue sky to be able to commiserate with other others without being questioned.
You are the troll, and in desperate need of help to cure you of TDS.
And if we could do all those things we could save democracy is how this story ends at the bottom, but it gets cut off. Which one are you richard
If you really believed this, Rick, you would refute the reports that the professor cites and cite facts of your own. Instead you make no attempt to contest her reports only to denigrate her on a personal level. That doesn't even count as polemic, Rick, it's just an ignorant rant. If you can't do better, then perhaps your time would be more profitably spent elsewhere with other morons like yourself.
Russell, I’ve been doing this for 20 months or so . The problem is there’s very little pushback when you post facts like I have.
I’m not degrading anybody Russell I am posting an honest observation
As I said before, and I’ll say it again, she never uses a right wing source as her evidence she never even crosses the line into right wing territory
That I’ve seen.
And sometimes it is so suspicious to me and I’m only spitballing here
But sometimes it almost seems like she reads the left-wing blogs, puts things in her own words, post them as her own thoughts and support them with the left-wing blogs that she was reading in the first place.
Just my personal observation.
Didn’t you get my post? Didn’t you get the photo of yourself? It’s a great photo.
Here’s a better one for you, Russell if you wonder why Kamala didn’t win here’s a little sidenote for you. I didn’t make this up. I just saw it online
Well, it doesn’t want to seem to copy. I’ll try one more time.
🤖
Let us know how standing in line for a loaf of bread feels after they deport our workforce and the economy crashes.
Lauren welcome to the ignorance channel. Heather’s Substack nickname Are you not aware that they have predicting that since January 20, 2017? And every single prediction that they made has been wrong about the economy about employment about the stock market about a recession about a depression about inflation about gasoline prices, until this war began, which will soon be over and prices will be down again
You are a lost soul, my dear No one is supporting our workforce they’re deporting the illegal workforce Including all the murderers that have killed people that you know raped women that you know brought drugs to people that you know and sucked up over $1 trillion of your tax dollars For free services, such as food, shelter, clothing, and worst of all medical care for free, which you in fact are not even entitled to
You are one of the saddest sacks here. I’m sorry
How did I raise such a bully? #suchadick
That’s a funny way you put that mom. Any facts that disagree with your distraught distorted views make me a bully if I disagree with them.. I hope to God you’re never a defendant in a trial o Or
God, I hope you’re not a defense attorney someday your clients are in big trouble.
The people here paint such a distorted view of reality with no facts no evidence, no proof, simply insults and hate and accusations, and any fool would be able to dispute them. They’re so simplistic in their mistake.
Tsk, tsk
Trump pardoned a child abuser.
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/11/nx-s1-5711294/trump-jan-6-pardons-child-sex-abuse
A commemorative statue of Kamala.
🤖
Do these people EVER get tired of thinking up ways to hurt people?
No. They don’t get tired of finding ways to hurt people. Cruelty is the point. They stated that at the outset, early in Trump’s first term. They are proud of it, and at least 77 million of our fellow Americans (probably more than a hundred million, really, when you throw in a comparable fraction of nonvoters) are all in with the pogrom. Those people are the problem. Trump will be gone in the foreseeable future, but the 100 million or so bigots who enjoy inflicting cruelty on other Americans will be with us indefinitely. We may have just barely enough decent human beings in the electorate to throw the bastards out, but it will require a monumental effort and a lot of luck.
A large percentage of these voters and non-voters that support these cruel acts claim to be Christians. This includes priests, ministers, pastors and so-called spiritual leaders. What do these people talk about in their Bible studies and church services? How many of them tithe as the Bible commands them over 42 times? How many of them help others when they are in need?
Texas passed an unconstitutional law. as have other states that requires the 10 commandments be hung in every classroom. If asked, I'm guessing every one of the legislators that voted for the bill couldn't recite them. As for the kids in the classroom, they will never even look at the commandments.
They are practicing prosperity theology. They think that the Bible promises a kind of covenant: if believers have sufficient faith and act on it (through prayer, and positive declarations to manifest what they want), God will provide material prosperity, health, and protection from hardship. Poverty, illness, and setbacks are signs that you lack faith. You can turn your situation around if you just work and pray harder. In other words, if you are poor, it is your own fault. If you are wealthy, it is a sign God loves you, and you deserve it. No introspection required.
The preachers, like Trump's spiritual advisor, Paula White Cane, leave out the part about the fortunate donating to the poor, and substitute in donating to their mega-churches. The preachers take their generous cut off the top, because God clearly must love them a lot...
It is a perversion of Christ's teachings and custom-crafted for grift. It equates material success with holiness and glorifies wealth inequality. It is the perfect religion for white Christian Nationalists.
Sad but true Georgia. Can I get an amen?
Amen
Amen
I'll see your "amen" and raise it to AMEN!!
I agree, Georgia, but am perplexed by other Christians who do good-works to help the poor, and the homeless and those Christians who are themselves poor and need help—-yet both these groups have many who support Trump ! I am skeptical of them.
Deborah.., they're nuts, pretty simple.
DDoouubbllee TThhiinnkk, DDoouubbllee SSttaannddaarrdd, DDoouubbllee CCrroossss
Georgia, your description of Prosperity Gospel is 100% accurate. The reason the grift works in evangelicalism is that followers are simultaneously DIScouraged from critical thinking, fact-finding, and all the other mental processes humans are capable of. Instead, they are ENcouraged to have "faith," the unsupported assumption that everything will turn out okay.
Followers are told to tithe 10% as a bare minimum, "as commanded by God, and more than 10% as God leads and enables." Inherent in this command is that donations should be given to "God's work," never directly to those who need financial help. God's work is defined as churches, televangelists and other approved organizations. The unsupported assumption is that the supported organization's leaders are best qualified to decide how those donations should be spent, AFTER the administrators take their cut. Typically, the remainder is spent on sustaining operations rather than actually providing services the "ministry" is supposedly providing.
Example: Samaritan's Purse is a "charity" taken over by Franklin Graham supported entirely by donations. His 2024 annual salary from the organization was $945,493, which has increased every year. Since 2015, he has collected $8 million. This is in addition to the salary he collects from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), estimated to be somewhere over $600,000, but cannot be confirmed because BGEA does not file a Form 990 with the IRS.
Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is the primary "ministry" of Samaritan's Purse, in which evangelicals are encouraged to buy small gifts at their own expense from an approved list. They pack these gifts in shoeboxes from their closets wrapped in Christmas wrap, taking care to wrap the lid separately. These filled shoeboxes are marked for age and gender with labels purchased for $10 each. The boxes are collected and transported by volunteers to one of OCC's 8 "processing centers," where volunteers and minimum-wage workers open the shoeboxes, check for appropriate contents and stuff them with religious pamphlets designed to scare needy children into converting to Christianity. The shoeboxes are loaded onto pallets and transported at no or low cost on carriers with unused capacity to distribution centers worldwide.
In 2023, OCC raised $775 million in cash donations. Their alleged expenses were $718 million. What happened to $57 million? I can assure you that evangelical supporters aren't asking that question. Seems to me, Franklin Graham might be able to provide some insight.
Those are damn compelling receipts Dale! Thanks for making the case!
Just give me freedom from religious dogma - please.
Why all the hullabaloo to post the 10 Commandments everywhere and not what Jesus is said to have said was "the greatest commandment"? Weird, no?
That’s pretty simple minded but no doubt you’re correct. Sigh.
Tithing or not tithing is a minor problem compared to the bigotry that motivates the devotion to cruelty that we see in 80% of white evangelicals, and plenty of other Christians, too, but it’s astonishingly pervasive in white evangelicals. But since you brought it up, tithing, as described in their bible, is a flat tax. That means negative effects of tithing on the lives of wealthy tithers are nil, but tithes affect severely the lives of tithers of modest means, and the effects on poor tithers are nearly impossible to bear. This is blatantly unfair, to the point of immorality in my book.
This is really the point to be made about giving and tithing--
From the book of Mark, Chapter 12:
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
There are other lessons that the White Christian Nationalists should be reminded of in Mark Chapter 12:
See The Greatest Commandment - Mark 12: 28-34
I'm a non-theist but I choose to follow the wisdom Jesus gave us unlike the white Christian Nationalists who choose hate and cruelty over love and kindness.
GJ, we're cut from the same cloth. A dear friend (who knows that I am a non-theist) has described me as the "most Christian person I know".
You don't need an imaginary sky pilot to be a good human.
Thanks for the lesson. I thought it was 10%. Maybe that’s LDS. For the record, I’m antitheist.
Rex, the "biblical" definition of tithe is 10% of one's income. This specification was handed down to the ancient Israelites by Moses. In that culture, it was actually a law, similar to a tax, as you alluded to. Most conservative sects dwell in the Old Testament, so they embrace this precept. To this day, evangelicals argue about whether the 10% tithe should given before or after taxes. 🤣
In Matthew 23:23, Jesus had some harsh words for the temple officials who meticulously gave their 10% to the temple, but treated their neighbors like shit.
Although GJ's quotation from Mark is useful, I think MAGA evangelicals would do well to read Matthew and re-read it until it finally sinks in.
I'll ask them, next time they come knockingn on my door.
No doubt a number of those favouring the 10 Commandments in schools will be voting for the sleazy crook Ken Paxton. And they probably all voted for the sleazy Trump. I don’t understand these people.
I read that anti-semitism is on the rise to add to the nationalist christians good deeds. Anyone want to remind them that the ten commandments were given to none other than Moses?
I heard from a variable reliable source (Mel Brooks) that there were 15 commandments and Moses broke the tablet with commandments 11-15. /S
(See History of the World Part 1)
Hard to carry three heavy stones would be my guess... so the third one fell and broke??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I48hr8HhDv0
here's the scene
And along came Jones... WABOB
How do you reach the people who support the GOP world view?? Their feelings of supremacy and their suspicions and hatred are based upon their version of “Christianity” that gets reinforced daily by right wing media.
Just like the slave owners justified their cruelty by using so called religious dictates, these people justify their bigotry by claiming that some god permits them to oppress anyone who threatens their economic or cultural well being.
If religion makes a person evil, it is not about god. It is about power, and we need to be clear about that and be very specific about calling that out. James Telirico is doing exactly that by throwing Biblical references right back in their ignorant faces. So, true to their nature, they attack his character.
There can be no quarter in repudiating the people who espouse this kind of behavior. There is nothing defendable in this kind of bigotry. This is not “ patriotic” or American in any way. Whether it is public shaming or outright isolating these people from sane society, there is nothing defendable about bigotry. And no longer any reason to tolerate this behavior under the guise of “religion”.
It must be exhausting to spend all your waking hours fantasizing about just how much cruelty you can engage in, how you can best hurt as many around you as possible, how you can keep it up for as long as possible…
There is a hope in me (call me naive) that most of them do not realize how cruel this is. They strongly believe they are on the right path. Just like the people who burnt women for sorcery, believing they were doing God's will. As far as they are concerned, cruelty, under the guise of Christianity, is OK, as long as it is not unleashed on people like themselves. This is why I claim Talarico's message will hopefully resonate with some of the Maga voters.
Their belief that they are on the right path doesn’t change a thing IMO. I can believe the earth is flat as sincerely as I want. Doesn’t make it true. Talarico’s message may sway some fence sitters, but it isn’t changing MAGA. I’m afraid MAGA will need to see their movement fail utterly, then go through the five stages of grief (especially denial) before they even consider that Republican Jesus’ message was lacking.
Ligia, the cruelty is the point and the purpose of all they do. I am glad that you have not seen (or been impacted by) the same level of cruel, malicious, and demeaning behavior that I have seen; I think that they ache for that cruelty imposed upon the "others".
Ally, cruelty, as you have likely observed, is like a disease. Not dealt with early, it consumes those in whom the flames are fanned. Cruel parents beat their children, who in turn, beat theirs (second commandment: “the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children to the fourth generation of them that hate me….). Good luck to US all.
They don't get exhausted, they get further inspiration & possibly pleasure by causing their brand of "leadership" on those who oppose. "The beating will continue until moral improve." They're banking on the premise that if I make your enemies suffer more than yourself, you'll stay on our side. They honestly believe their cause is righteous. It is the sad & very dangerous situation were in right now & they're in it for the long haul. I saw a bumper stick once... "Science flies planes to the moon, Religion flies them into building" Maybe a bit harsh and I'll bet people in ICE facilities feel a plane just flew into the structure of their lives under the guise of Christian Nationalism
I love that quote, TJB.
WOW! "Science flies planes to the moon, Religion flies them into building"
Science flies planes to the moon
Religion flies planes into buildings. This!
Honestly ICTT! And then there are the Heather's of the world who give, give, give until it hurts and then give some more. I am forever grateful to these men and women who give me a line to some truth.
And, keeping the Platform's "admins" & counsel busy.
I am certainly not seeing the evidence of this, Counsellor. I keep doing my part, but it seems to no avail.
Far from being exhausting, it gives them energy because when they focus on hurting other people, they can avoid looking inside their own broken psyches. They can look away from their own wounding and the layers of callouses they have used to cover it. As long as they focus on “them” and “out there,” they can avoid any responsibility or self-knowledge.
it's weird isn't it? Some people truly devote their lives to helping people. I think a majority of us try to help some. Some people are selfish and indifferent to the fate of others. Some really seem to want to cause suffering. I don't believe in the devil, but we don't seem to yneed one. Just let human nature drift into it's darkest places.
J L Graham, lucky me: I was raised by parents whose mission it was to level the playing field in health care, housing and access to jobs.
When I need to hire someone to help me or handyman I look for not only character-integrity, but for honesty, skill and often it’s an immigrant now citizen from latin America, Jamaica etc..
Almost everything the viscous t-gang do is the antithesis of what my parents and their generation stood for.
I still believe each one of us here w deep thanks to professor Richardson, can help turn the boat around.
I am always fascinated by human nature: how the socio economic, parental, or educational guides mould a person's personality! Or is it indeed partly inherited? Or are we just following a pre existing, pre ordained pattern? We all have good and evil in us, but for some of us, while doing good is essential, for others doing good only for self preservation/enrichment is the norm. However, we seem to have lost the meaning of "integrity"; and as long as humanity survives, we will never know the answer I think; no matter how many religions we come up with. I wish nature had a natural bulb that lights up above one's head every time a person tells a lie!
It appears that the religion these right-wingers follow has no problem with liars.
These so called Christians believe in Prosperity Doctrine. I imagine their version of Jesus joined the money changers instead of throwing them out.
When it comes to religion, they all require blind faith in irrational beliefs.
And religion is used to rationalize any thing including evil to others in the name of God. Sadly, so many are committed to their religious delusions. It makes it easy for evil people and organizations to manipulate them.
I see the exploitive (or is it expletive?) brand of "Christianity" as ego-centric arrogance and the kinder, more inclusive form as humble. What I mean by humble is not at all submissive, but honest, and I think that the real world is the ultimate creator and destroyer, and keen and honest assessment of both one's strengths and weaknesses give one the edge (but only an edge) against disaster. Modern medicine is an edge. Broadly observed and defended human rights are an edge. The world remains replete with opportunities and serious dangers, but wisdom helps us find the most likely to be fruitful next step. Billionaires who would enslave the whole of humanity to become trillionaires are sick and antisocial. We all of necessity pursue self-interest but our survival as a species may depend on preserving mutuality as much as competition. The ecosphere is a combination of both, as are civil societies. THAT is key to what what July 4th 1776 asserted, and however imperfectly it has been observed, that is the key to avoiding despotism and avoidable extinction. Greed can become a fanatical addiction.
Honesty gets tricky and I am not convinced it is always wise to show all of one's cards in society, at least not without some discussion, but I think that love that is worthy of the name is inseparably tied to truth, truth so far as we can determine it objectively, and truth so far as we choose not to lie. I think there is also some support for Keats' truth is beauty, beauty truth. I see that in the best aspects of religion, but also it's opposite in the worst. Desmond Tutu seemed to me to be a modern embodiment of the former. Does the current regime more resemble the kindnesses of Jesus or the cruelty of of those who drove the nails?
I've reached the point where I'm considering what I would call personality disorders, to be leftovers of our evolution as a species. Perhaps they were necessary to our survival, but are now, in the modern context, highly destructive. I'm no anthropologist, but there's got to be a way to understand and help direct people with severe personality problems before it's too late.
Makes sense to me. Many problematic adult behaviors are a persisting adaptation that made some sense at it's inception but outlived its usefulness. Maladapted behaviors can be harmful, even self-destructive. That can be true of us as societies or even as a species, as well as individually. It would seem to be wise to be wiser about that.
Except, Annabel, criminal Donald's lackies and sycophants didn't think of these ways.
Stalin, Hitler, Franco, Mao, Salazar, and Mussolini all thought of these, our current variously murderous concentration camps -- all back then extra-legal, deadly cruel.
Donald and his minions all work very closely with the worst in the U.S.'s private prison gulag to make sure the tens of thousands of people of color sent to their fates there -- effectively disappeared in the U.S. -- yes, all suffer bad food, lack of medical care, and no contacts with lawyers or families. But the cruelties also have the fantastic levels of additional corruption so everyone at the top scams millions of dollars in extra, off-the-books profits for themselves, too.
If there's one thing U.S. universities have excelled at, it's been in growing their morally empty, cynical, bottom-line dehumanized schools of biz ed as the largest in all academe. Three times the majors as all health disciplines combined.
It's all a disgrace that long since normalized.
Back in the day, Phil, circa mid 70’s, the goal of graduating business majors was to be the first in class to obtain triple digit pay, period. That was the end target of an entire field of education. The ethics required to obtain that goal perverted any sense of decency. That made for some real dillies in personal match-ups as new hires were awarded functional command of the work force without a corresponding experience threshold. My response was to abandoned corporate America and seek employment where respect was a mutual concern. While I never obtained triple digit pay I did find that respect. Mutual respect.
I remember that day, Pat.
Mid-'70s I was a teaching fellow in Ann Arbor, for undergrad comp. Prior to that I'd been U.S. Army 2 Sept. 1969 to 4 Apr. '72 (Viet translator). Prior to that, undergrad myself in Ann Arbor, 1965-69.
I met a few biz ed folks then, but it operated out of an old three-bedroom wood house, and had no special clout or funding. The students, undergrad and grad, seemed to me entirely normal, decent.
Everything changed -- quantum changes, massive -- following the 1971 Powell memo. During the '70s the forces of money and corporate reach began their takeover of all the U.S. (See Wendell Berry's take on this in his 1977 "The Unsettling of America." This was the first, best book recognizing the ominous changes underway -- though it would be another 50 years before even he ever knew the words Powell memo.)
Thanks, Phil. I'm going to look up Berry's book, and "Powell's memo," which I'm not familiar with.
I got my BA at UM in Ann Arbor - I was there from '68-'72!
Good to hear of the overlap, laurie.
If you read something in "The Michigan Daily" on Joseph Brodsky your freshman year (a review of "Poets on Street Corners"), it was by me.
Or a longer piece on the movies of John Ford and Howard Hawks, also mine.
Did you know , know of Sedgwick Downey Tourison? (Viet translator/interrogator)
The JFK assassination was the coup that created the military/industrial empire that created the Tonkin Gulf Resolution creating the Vietnam War the people of Vietnam survived. (We are Vietnam Veterans)
I'd not known of him then, Alec, but someone here pointed him out to me.
Maybe it was you? Anyway, the book someone alerted me to was "Talking with Victor Charlie." His time in Nam was several years prior to my own year at South Post, Ft. Myer, and Crystal City, VA, learning Saigon dialect.
I graduated college in the 80s but I have some similar memories of b-school grads. I was a political science major watching it all with some bemusement as companies came to campus my senior year to do interviews. You had to put your name on a paper list on the wall in Student Life to sign up for a slot. All the lists for “big six” accounting firms filled up immediately. Everyone wanted to get rich quick and was drinking the kool-aid of the Reagan years - deregulate, make money and let everything else sort itself out. It wasn’t until later that “Wall Street” hit the big screens and showed the dark side of all this.
I of course took a different path. After working in the business world post-college, and even working my way halfway towards a MBA at night, I chucked it. I instead went to grad school (by now it was the early 90s) and got a MPA. I never once looked back.
I’ve gone through lots of ups and downs but have since built a career and done quite well for myself. I sometimes wonder if all those business whiz kids really ended up happy. Maybe they did. Or maybe some saw that happiness is more than money. I know in at least some cases that is true. Those are the business school students who are still my friends today.
Phil, did you read what I wrote earlier about Powell’s arriving home to find me at his dinner table as a guest of his wife and daughter? His reaction to my presence told all. Disdain as in WHO is she? Southern money and writer of the Powell Memo was clear to the wife of his daughter’s professor immediately.
Pat: My cousin got her MBA and went to work on Wall Street in the '70s. For a while, all I heard was how she was making 6 figures. And then suddenly she wasn't, after she took a buyout and then couldn't find another job. She was a raging racist narcissist like Trump. She wound up an alcoholic, a hoarder, and an agoraphobe. I hadn't spoken to her in 20 years when she died and I found out that she had made me the executor of her will. I was the only person at her funeral.
I agree--she wound up with no sense of decency.
Sometimes I thought I was going crazy when these newly minted business wonders entered the actual world of work. It was impossible not to see when out of their own mouths I listened to their moaning of having achieved that goal while simultaneously realizing they hated the bed they made. Imagine being shipped more than halfway to the sun into the sterile endlessly drifting wheat fields of the golden triangle isolated in an agrarian setting so vast all direction became confining with no familiars. Poor souls.
I also got my undergrad in business (accounting) and an MBA and yes taught profits above all else. However critical thinking and seeing how corporate America operates has led me to an okay career, not quite making it to the top because I did not buy into their thinking. Hopefully retiring in 1-4 years.
PT, “buy into their thinking” is very telling. Thank you. It’s greed and racism that are our besetting sins. And they may overcome US unless we can survive 11/3/2026. Vote all ye who fear for the death of democracy to sustain it.
I’ve had my long run and now in my short run I’m trying to decide to whom I may parcel out the greedy clutches I have hoarded. Besides I don’t have an excavator to bury all my boats with me in them. It’s rather trying to determine one’s temporal realities.
I guess they focus on helping themselves without caring about others. 😢
Did the Nazis? The high they get from domination and degradation of the people under their power gets stale, so they have to push it further.
Trump's squeamishness and his focus on money may be his only saving graces. He just delegates the infliction of cruelty to others, so he never needs the increasing adrenaline rush from it. Stephen Miller is his proxy cruelty master. He enjoys crafting new ways to hammer people.
Meanwhile, Trump gets off on how much money he can milk out of the system. We've gone from a few million dollars up into the billions to satisfy his urges.
This is the sickness that has taken them over; they are addicted to inflicting cruelty.
No. They feel that they are both victims and superior to others.
Yes and We the People are paying their salaries to do this bs.
It seems that the capacity to choose to do the right thing has never been inoculated with any of them. If nothing else Moonlight Graham in Field of Dreams. Where were their parents or teachers? Didn’t anyone give them a one iota of a sense of responsibility for other humans and other species?
We know factually Trump’s parents didn’t.
I don’t know about his mother. She was from the outer Hebrides Lewis Island. Rural life on those lands not at all easy. He went once and stayed for literally a few minutes. She perhaps was crushed by her husband in some way. I never have understood the dynamics.
They never get tired of the grift either. All Republicans are complicit in the robbery of our Treasury.
GRAHAM PLATNER’S WIFE, AMY, SAYS THEIR MARRIAGE IS SOLID
In her “Politics Chat” of 6/4/26 Heather Cox Richardson discussed the kerfuffle sparked by a recent (6/4) NYT article about Graham Platner (popular Democratic primary Senate candidate in Maine) which is just prior to the primary election on Tuesday 6/9. Platner has replied with an interview on MS NOW with Chris Hayes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEi9rugxYcg Platner’s wife has stated in recorded videos that their marriage is solid and that they had marital counseling at the beginning of their marriage that resolved issues that they were experiencing. Platner served our country for four tours of duty as a Marine in two different wars (Iraq and Afghanistan). It is unfortunately not uncommon for soldiers who have experienced the trauma of warfare to suffer from PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome) when they return to normal society. (The NIH National Library of Medicine has a web page that describes the symptoms and behaviors of PDSD in military veterans. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11200391/ ). This is an added price that our service members may pay for their service in protecting us and our country. It is not something to smear their reputations over. Platner received professional treatment and with aging has apparently recovered. This should be celebrated. I say this as someone who has diagnosed and treated cases of PTSD, One has to question the timing (just a few days prior to an election) and the motives of the people bringing these accusations (the most accusatory one is an acknowledged right-wing advocate who has worked for Susan Collins and the Heritage Foundation) and the writers of the article (anxious to get their names on the media “scoop” of a controversy to pad their resumes). Where is the “due process”? The accusations are what lawyers would say is (out-of-court and not under oath or with cross examination) heresay. There are no FBI 302 Forms, Police reports, restraining orders, prosecutions or civil law suits. The accusers knew that Platner had served four tours of duty in war zones as a Marine. The medical diagnosis of PTSD has been public knowledge for over 40 years in response to when it surged in the veterans of the Vietnam war. It was part of the official 1980 DSM-III (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-3 by the American Psychiatric Association). If the accusers were concerned about his behavior and were empathic individuals, they would have responded by encouraging him to seek help at a VA Hospital. Instead they chose vengeful political slander. Graham Platner has not led a perfect life but who has? If an entity spend a million dollars investigating everything in the accusers’ and NYT writers’ lives, they might be the ones who are embarrassed. What have any of them done in service of their country? Platner recognized his problem with PTSD, had therapy and has now apparently fully recovered. When there was a problem in the early stages of his marriage, he participated in marital counseling and resolved the issues.This ability to problem solve is exactly what we want in elected officials and those aspiring to serve our country. Platner’s wife has recorded several videos stating that their marriage is “solid” and that marital counseling resolved their personal issues. She has certainly had more intimate and longer contact with him than the accusers or writers.
Why aren’t the legacy media and “talking heads” aroused to cover real criminals like Ken Paxton? They should be “electrified” in their coverage of Donald Trump - In comparison to Platner. Trump had sex with a porn star while his new wife was at home with a newborn, sexually molested E. Jean Carroll, fomented an insurrection to overturn the 2020 election, was convicted of 34 felony counts of fraud, evaded the draft so he wouldn’t have to serve his country, etc. and knowing this over 77 million voters voted for him because the media failed to adequately and accurately inform them. And Susan Collins enables him and his criminal and authoritarian behavior.
“Dem. Sen. candidate Graham Platner speaks at Maine rally amid NYT report - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrUKNcYPF40
SYMPTOMS AND BEHAVIORS IN PTSD
“While both men and women experience PTSD, male veterans are statistically more likely to externalize their trauma through irritability, aggressive behaviors, risk-taking, and substance misuse to numb their pain. Core symptoms generally fall into these four primary categories:
1. Intrusion & Re-experiencing
Flashbacks: Feeling or acting as if the traumatic event is happening all over again.
Nightmares: Distressing, recurring dreams about the trauma that severely disrupt sleep.
Intrusive Thoughts: Unwanted, distressing memories that repeatedly enter the mind.
2. Avoidance
Trigger Avoidance: Actively dodging specific people, places, objects, or activities that bring back memories of the trauma.
Emotional Disconnect: Intentionally avoiding conversations, thoughts, or feelings related to the event.
3. Negative Alterations in Mood & Cognition
Social Isolation: Withdrawing from family and friends, or feeling completely detached from loved ones.
Numbing: A reduced ability to feel positive emotions (e.g., happiness or love) and a general loss of interest in hobbies.
Distorted Beliefs: Persistent, exaggerated negative beliefs about oneself or the world (e.g., "I am bad" or "No one can be trusted").
4. Hyperarousal & Reactivity
(This category often looks visibly different in male veterans)
Anger and Irritability: Uncharacteristic outbursts of anger, aggression, or verbal arguments.
Hypervigilance: Being constantly "on edge," overly watchful of one's surroundings, or experiencing a heightened startle response (e.g., jumping at loud noises).
Reckless Behavior: Engaging in self-destructive or high-risk activities.
Substance Misuse: Turning to drugs or alcohol to self-medicate or dull emotional pain.”
DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP. VOTE
"DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP. VOTE"
DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP.
VOTE BLUE
They say. He's a Fetterman! He's a Trump! He's a dirtbag!
We know. He'll stand up for civil rights, workers' rights, equitable taxation, equal representation, environmental protections, essential and emergency services, and strategic alliances. And won't bow down to AIPAC.
So if - despite Republicans, establishment Democrats, and establishment media stopping at nothing to stop Graham Platner - we Maine Democratic voters make Platner our senate candidate ... will the nominal centrist and left wing opposition to Trump, still prefer a Republican senate majority over a Platner win?
As an American Jew and Zionist born in the shadow of the Holocaust. As a woman. As a Democrat. As a Maine voter. I am the demographic for the campaign against Graham Platner. And if you think I'm buying their bunk, then I've got a bridge to sell you.
Platner is imperfect. Compare him to the self-identified Christians, evangelicals in particular, who refuse to heed Jesus’s command to love one another. I’ll take a reformed (if he is—lin, you’re a better judge since you’re in Maine) human who sees the errors of his former ways any day.
Thank you!
He just doesn't come across as the real deal. I guess only time will tell. He sounds anti-establishment, yes. That's not quite the same as being a Bernie Sanders populist-progressive. No one wants Susan Collins to be re-elected. But is Planter the best Maine Democrats can do?
Graham Platner is endorsed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Ro Khanna. And by local progressives. So what they are seeing ? An FDR New Deal Democrat? A solid Progressive platform? A senate Democratic majority?
Graham Platner came to my attention through his and Amy Gertner's organizing of local protests here in Ellsworth Maine. And eventually to the attention of Maine Democratic organizers. During the bitter cold stormy New Year's weekend, hundreds of us across Maine collected over 6500 signatures of registered Democratic voters to get Platner on the ballot. Support has grown from there - undeterred by Chuck Schumer twisting Janet Mills' arm to mount a failed campaign, undeterred by opposition research, undeterred by unsubstantiated claims by an ex girlfriend who is a Republican operative bragging on being a leader in Ladies for Kavanaugh. We are focussed on Platner's platform.
Please listen for yourself.
Dem. Sen. candidate Graham Platner speaks at event amid BOMBSHELL NYT report
.https://www.youtube.com/live/0BHfTYOclRk?si=abw5dsORPjMZNHg7.
I listened to Graham's speech. From what I heard him say, I thought: that guy must subscribe to HCR's substack!
Best of luck for Maine, lin.
ThankYou.
And ThankYou for Chris VanHollen and Jamie Raskin (MD), Warner and Kaine (VA), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC).
Morning, Lynell. I've been jousting with my former work cohort over Platner. They have some really great propaganda being fed to them.
And as usual they’re all chattering the same propaganda.
Yes, he has impressive support. What I see is from a distance, and my impression of him as not the real (progressive public servant) deal might be wrong. I hope so because we need strong progressive members of Congress, people with integrity and moral courage. I guess time will tell.
I always vote, but often with little enthusiasm. I have been to at least a dozen town halls in CA, NE, IL, FL and ME. No one has excited me more than Graham Platner, except maybe my next door neighbor in college - Tom Harkin. But part of that may have been the beer.
I'm with -lin. Once you hear him speak in person, you can feel his empathy and some of the pain of what he has gone through in his life.
Tom Harkin!
Had he won the Democratic primary then ... no Bill Clinton neoliberalism, no turn from Main St to Wall Street, no Hillary Her Turn ... and just possibly No Trump.
In Platner and young Democrats in the Congressional Progressive caucus, I see new recruits coming to reinforce the older Democrats who have always upheld their New Deal, Great Society, Civil Rights roots.
“But part of that may have been the beer.’ 😄😄
"we need strong progressive members of Congress"
I absolutely agree. We need more progressive members of Congress.
You think Janet Mills is a Progressive? I give her credit where credit is due. She is very law and order. She is a very stable centrist. She is absolutely not a progressive. Not small p not large P.
As far as politics goes, can't see daylight between her and Susan Collins. When push comes to shove they believe the same things. Susan doesn't vote with Trump because she believes in that sh$t. She votes with him because she's a political creature who is always worried about how things look and how they will affect re-election.
Janet Mills is also a career politician. She's not a bad person in spite of that. But she's not what we need right now. You know that in her 8 years as governor she consistently voted against Native Rights? She veto'd several bills that would have allowed unions and minimum wage for farm workers? She always sides with the corporations against the people.
I am baffled that you claim we need progressive members in Congress at the same time that you disparage us for supporting a Progressive over a right leaning Centrist.
I didn't take Mills for a progressive, BLB, given what I've learned of her recently. I thought she might have been a less risky candidate. We needed earlier transparency from Platner. Maybe I saw too much Columbo back in the day, or Poirot. My little grey cells are unsettled by Platner.
Platner may not be the best, but he is the candidate Mainers have raised in this moment and is likely what stands between us and another GOP Senate majority for Donald Trump. Is there risk with him? Undoubtedly, but we are painfully aware of the risks of an unchecked Trump and the cadre of brutes around him.
I can't disagree with you, Nancee. I still wish there were a better alternative.
We vehemently agree! It's not easy to make this argument, but political pragmatism is necessary in the moment. I tell myself the Senate can always remove a member who misbehaves, for now focus on another crucial vote against Trump. Given Trump's outrageous, even criminal behavior, which has gone unaccountable his whole life, it violates any sense of fairness to hold others to a stricter standard, but I recognize and share the discomfort with it. Maybe that's a key difference. Republicans seem to ignore, celebrate or even worship it, while we struggle.
I vehemently agree!
Regardless of your question, donna, he is the Democratic candidate by a vote of the people of Maine. We can tear him down, and then how’s that going to work out for us? Susan Collins yet again. Can we just decide to focus on winning the majority instead of shooting ourselves in the foot?
Yes, the voters of Maine will choose according to their own insights.
I don't think, though, that we should characterize questioning a candidate's viability and suitability as 'tearing him down.' Much of the commentary I've seen this weekend comes down to this: 1. P47 has changed the moral fabric of presidential ethics and we need to adapt. 2. Platner hasn't sunk to the level of conduct that the president has. 3. We need to adjust to the ethical landscape P47 has brought us.
I don't want the Democratic Party to become a Party that mirrors the ethical emptiness of P47. If that's what I'm offered, no thanks.
He isn't the candidate yet. There is a primary on Tuesday, correct? And Governor Mills was running for that until April 30 when she ran out of money. I understand a lot of people think Mills is not liberal enough, but she isn't better than Susan Collins? Seriously? And I doubt there is a grain of serious offense in her career that can be proven. How will you feel when Platner is proven to have assaulted women? It would be far better to have him out of the race and let people chose between Collins and Mills, wouldn't it?
Thanks for the correction, Jon. I knew Mills had suspended her campaign, and lost track of the zillion primary dates we have to keep track of. Many accusations fly around the internet endlessly. I trust the voters of Maine to evaluate and decide who their candidate will be. And I trust Sanders, Warren, and Khanna to do their due diligence. I'm so tired of Democrats doing MAGA's job for them by demolishing our own candidates. What I know about Mills is that she's already said she will not support abolishing the filibuster, and indicated she won't support the level of court reform necessary to undo the damage of the Roberts Court. Those things will have to happen if we are going to have any chance of restoring our democracy and the rule of law. So, I can't say at this point if Mills will be better than Collins.
I have to admit I was not fully aware of the issues re: Mills that you just mentioned. I agree those are definitely NOT ideal characteristics of someone I would want to see in the Senate. On the other hand, saying she wouldn't be better than Collins completely ignores the fact that she would be a Democrat and that in and of itself is critical if we are to regain control of the Senate. I.e., electing a Democrat, either Platner OR Mills, would definitely help change the mathematics in the Senate, and given how close we are, it is vital at least IMHO to elect as many Democrats as possible.
I just want our Democrats to be reasonable ones, and Platner to me is certainly questionable. Apparently so maybe is Mills. That is unfortunate because we need better Democrats as much as possible.
I am glad I do not live in Maine and don't have to make that decision.
lin•, my most recent "joust" with my MAGAt former work cohort was (and I am almost positive this is one of the "news" stories that they are consuming from their propaganda sources) that Platner's "crimes" of domestic abuse are equated with the "conduct" of Jeffery Epstein. I've also read things that I now cannot locate that indicate the reports of Platner's "crimes" have been engineered from disinformation sources.
Seriously, I had a former sergeant of mine that told me domestic abuse was the same level of offense as sex trafficking of minors and raping children. This is the same man who told me that I couldn't arrest a man who, as the subject of a restraining order and restrained from his wife's residence could not be arrested for rape for breaking into her house and raping her (she had a "system" where she would have her friend on speed dial (remember that?) and the friend could call the police. I suspect (no solid knowledge) that he tried to bring me up on insubordination charges for taking lawful action of investigating and subsequently arresting the husband. He was convicted, by the way.
👏👏👏👏👏
Everywhere Platner goes he speaks to SRO crowds. I've attended three events and they were all packed. At one of the events he said he had just had coffee with a three time Trump voter and they agreed on almost every issue. He is as good a listener as he is a speaker. Like Mandami he doesn't give a damn about the negative Nellies out there, but he does address the lies.
I'm wondering why no one is looking at Susan Collins voting history to confirm 4 of the 6 Republican Supreme Court members that lied to her about precedent. At least she claims Kavanaugh and Gorsuch lied. She claims to support women, but her votes tell a different story. Or about how she became a multi-millionaire on a Senator's salary? Or about her husband being a lobbyist who is now worth over $10 million. Or about her husband's prior marriage and his three kids? How long were they shacking up before they got married? No one even knows who his ex-wife and kids are? Why is that such a big secret? I'll bet The NY Times could find out if they wanted to. How many ex-lovers has Collins jilted or mis-treated during her 73 years? Did she cheat on them? Did she beat them up or verbally abuse them?
In 1996 Collins promised that she would be a two-term Senator. Obviously she lied about that. One of the many PACs that donates to her campaigns accepted illegal donations.
https://www.wmtw.com/article/fbi-investigating-alleged-illegal-contributions-to-sen-collins-reelection-campaign/36467923
One Nation PAC is donating millions to her campaign this election cycle and they brag on their website about how they support the Trump agenda. Collins happily takes their money, and then claims she knows nothing about their right wing hateful agenda.
And she is currently taking money from Palantir which the Nurses Association of ME has been protesting against.
https://www.mainepublic.org/politics/2026-03-12/maine-nurses-call-on-collins-to-stop-taking-donations-from-ice-surveillance-company
Without her vote, the previous reconciliation bill (what a misnomer), the OBBBA wouldn't have been released from committee. She voted against it, but as the saying goes, "Susan Collins is always there when you don't need her."
Tens of thousands of Mainers have lost their health care and SNAP benefits thanks to the Republican's OBBBA. Bath Iron Works benefits from her being chair of the Appropriations Committee providing thousands of good paying jobs in ME. But Trump wants to build battleships and none of the US shipbuilding yards are large enough or can even be expanded to build one of these floating dinosaurs. So Trump and Kegsbreath are talking with other countries about building the battleships there. If the Bath Iron Works doesn't get a contract for the next ship, her campaign is doomed. For someone, that under normal circumstances would be in a good position to bring money into ME, she certainly has underperformed.
It's time to shine the spotlight on Susan instead of always on Platner. And let's go national with it as well.
This!
ThankYou, as always.
Thank you, GJ.
Sorry, but I have to disagree here. Using your arguments would allow someone on the other side of the political spectrum to excuse Donald Trump from all of the accusations made against him. We (those of us on the left) have argued at length that he is unfit to serve as President for reasons that are quite similar to the charges brought against Platner.
I am NOT saying Platner is a "bad" person. I am sure he has dealt with his demons (as have many of the rest of us). But that, at least to me, is NOT a great QUALIFICATION to hold one of the most important political posts in our country, that of US Senator. ESPECIALLY if there are better candidates and in Maine, there certainly are. Governor Janet Mills only suspended her run for the office 35 days ago because she had run out of money. I am sure there are Democratic benefactors who could revive her campaign especially if Platner did as Swalwell did in California and step aside to let a better candidate run.
We have 100 Senators in this country. 435 House members. 1 president, 1 VP and about 25 top Cabinet officials, plus a bunch of judges. All told, less than 1000 people are in the top positions of power. Out of 330,000,000, representing less than .00005% of the population.
Is it too great to ask that our political and legal representives, friend and foe alike, at least NOT have sexual misconduct in their histories? Is it seriously true that we can't find 1000 people out of 330 million who aren't tainted?
If that is true, it really doesn't matter what happens in the battle to dislodge Trump because we are doomed anyway.
"Interitus Imperii Foederatarum Americanae" indeed.
I have to politely disagree. My father came back from Vietnam a very broken man. I can tell you stories of some things that he did when he got back that would cast him in a terrible light. He had major PTSD from the war. He is the recipient of THREE purple hearts and has a body criss-crossed with scars. To this day decades later, he is still in constant and debilitating pain from some of the injuries to his back. His best friend had his head blown off right in front of him, and he still cannot talk about it without tearing up. However, he finally got help. Personal therapy, group therapy, you name it, and he is much different person today than he was when I was little. Today, as a nearly 80 year old man with pain, he still insists on volunteering at the food pantry. He drives older veterans around who can no longer drive. He is a good man.
To compare a vet who suffered from PTSD to the behavior of Cadet Bone Spurs really rankles me. You may not think PTSD is an excuse. From what I've seen with my dad, it is amazing to me what these men are able to come back from.
Hello Jennifer... To be Spiritual among the Indigenous, is to be able to Listen, and not Judge those of Us who are in Pain... I have Listened, and helped Heal our Warriors since Vietnam... It is a Sorrow to see so much Pain... It is a Privilege to be able to do so...
You’re a good man, Apache. 👏🏼👏🏼
Thank-You Marlene... I try, and am always a Work-In-Progress... I'm Heyoka, and that bestows a Burden of Responsibility... Being Able To Do Good Is The Greatest Gift...
It would be nice if others took an oath of responsibility and kindness but alas, their oath is to a very unpleasant mentally deranged man.
One of the best and brightest programmers I have ever worked with came back from Iraq with PTSD. He was working on a project that was very similar to a project he had done before he went to Iraq. He struggled for months with the project and I ran interference with the IT director who was losing his patience. I never betrayed the PTSD person to the IT director and eventually the project got to a point that I was able to finish it. Once he had almost completed the project, I found assignments that were less stressful and he did really well for the most part.
I'm not always a good listener, in fact, my wife would say "rarely", but in this case I tried my best and never pushed him. I called him daily to check in and many days he wasn't even able to answer the phone. Thank you for your post Apache.
As I said before this conversation went a little off-course, I would NEVER attack someone for PTSD. That is a terrible illness often caused by wars engaged in by our government.
But in the Platner case, we aren't (or weren't) talking about PTSD. We were talking about sexual assault. There is a HUGE difference between the two, even if they may mirror similarly for some people.
And there was NO sexual assault reported. It was allegedly assault and perhaps holding someone against their will, but where was the sexual assault.
One person making claims of assault is not a pattern. One time when I was 19 years old, I briefly tried to prevent a girl friend from leaving the car when I was dropping her off at her house. Are you claiming that's sexual assault just because she is a woman and I'm a man? I've never hit a girl or a woman except for that one incident. Does that make me a criminal that you would never vote for?
Matt Goetz bragged about sexually assaulting women and doing drugs and Trump wanted to make him the Attorney General. I stand behind Platner because he has never lied to us like Susan Collins has.
Jennifer, I am in agreement with you as my husband is a Vietnam vet with PTSD also. His wounds were his psyche about what he saw and experienced. He was there 68-69, right after Tet. His nose has had to be reconstructed twice due to Agent Orange. The way he keeps his nervous system in check is to workout every single day and to play basketball 2 times a week with friends. He is hyper-vigilant and protective of his girls and me. On June 12th, we will be married 50 years. Blows our mind! We are having a party like no other. Has it been easy? Absolutely not for my girls nor me, but he tries really hard and kudos to him. You give your dad my very best, please.
When Graham Platner talked about his PTSD and his rehab, their wasn't a dry eye in the crowd of 500+ people. He owns it and everything he did during that time in his life. Unlike many of the US Senators, he is extremely intelligent and he actually listens. Plus, he is not a wealthy man. He was recruited to run against Collins and he accepted the challenge.
Most people outside of Maine don't realize how much people hate Susan Collins. She has done so little for us for so long that all she really has going for her is name recognition.
With that being said, she is going to be really hard to beat in November.
I've been volunteering in Ellsworth HQ. I've witnessed how Platner works collaboratively with the young field organizers who have more political experience than he does. Everybody has a place at the table. Platner is very measured and goal oriented. His style is listen, learn, and lead.
I've volunteered on many campaigns. The Platner campaign reminds me of Obama's second run and Chris VanHollen's first run.
The field organization, volunteer enthusiasm, team work, unwavering eyes on the prize, and unflagging sleeves rolled up.
I really don't see how people keep talking about Platner's PTSD (which I totally would NEVER argue as a reason for not voting for him) and ignoring his sexual assault charges. The two are NOT the same and while he deserves a LOT of slack for his PTSD trauma, he deserves none, at least IMHO, for any potential sexual assaults he may have committed.
Because.. there are no sexual assault charges.
He 'cheated' on his wife by consensual sexting with other woman. That isn't sexual assault.
And even Lindsay, the GOP activist ex-GF from over a decade ago who started at least two of these rumors, admits that he was never abusive to her. Sexual or Physically.
You are literally making stuff up as you go along.
Thank you, Jennifer. I have professionally dealt with Veterans with PTSD from both 'Nam and the Sandbox. It is not pretty, it takes work to get to some semblance of normal, and it is not easy.
Thank you Ally. You're a good person.
I would NEVER castigate Platner for the PTSD he suffered. But we aren't talking about PTSD here, we are talking about sexual assault. Platner has been accused of assaulting women, as was Swalwell, and Clinton and many others including of course Trump. Did your father come back with his PTSD and then proceed to assault women? I would assume not.
And as I said, I am not even trying to make Platner out to be a bad person. I am sure he has worked hard to try to redeem himself and do better. His wife says so and I want to believe that. The question is whether someone so damaged can still effectively be one of a hundred or so leaders of this country? Or whether they should be?
As I pointed out, there are literally millions of people in this country who are eligible to run for Senate. Maine had a good one, their current governor. Why does Platner NEED to be a Senator? And what would make him superior to people in Maine, including their current governor? Nothing that I can see. I wish Platner all the best of luck in his life in this world, and I hope he continues to do good things with his life. I just wouldn't personally take the risk of asking him to be a national leader for my state with his background. (Nor would I want Swalwell, Clinton, Trump and many others, both GOP and Demcocrat, in that role either).
YOU are the only one talking about sexual assault.
What makes him superior to Gov Mills?
Support for unions.
Support for Medicare for All
Taxing the rich.
Housing affordability
A hatred of foreign wars
Reproductive Freedom
Supports Tribal Sovereignty
Protection of SS and Medicare.
Most of those things Mills is not in favor of. To the point where she has VETOED bills that the legislature passed about Tribal Sovereignty, Unions, Minimum wage for farmworkers... and on and on.
Tell you what. You vote for her. I'm voting for Platner.
A basket full of words adding up to : I won't give up my purity tests no matter the consequences.
Voting is a joint exercise in taking power. Republican voters understand this.
Treating voting as an individual exercise in personal expression helps elect Republicans.
The allegations against Platner - many unsubstantiated and mostly from a Republican operative - are a distraction from his solid Democratic platform.
But his posts. But his tattoo ...
But his potential for a Senate Democratic majority. But his support of the Constitution.
Or as Rebecca Solnit says: "Voting is a chess move, not a Valentine!"
I am fine with chess moves. I am NOT fine with suborning sexual assaulters and permitting them carte blanche to be elected, especially when that attitude is only one-sided, i.e., only OUR guys get the pass, not your guys. If you are going to let our guys get away with it, then at least be consistent.
I honor Eric Swalwell for stepping aside in the California governor's race so that Democrats could vote for someone not accused of such awful acts. I wish Platner had the decency to do the same.
The old saying is "Dems want to fall in love, Republicans fall in line." THIS is why we live in MAGAville and soon will be Orwell's Oceania. Great idea, keep sabotaging Dems until Republicans decide they have realized the error of their ways!
And I have to say -lin, the Bangor Daily News is really pissing me off right now with their coverage of Platner vs. the coverage of Collins.
The Maine Monitor and Maine Public Radio seem to be way more fair to both candidates.
Sorry, lin, as much as I've liked a lot of your posts, I think you've drunk some tainted kool-aid when it comes to vote-blue-no-matter-who.
The path to the Trump administration was paved in part by left wing purity tests.
I can critique the Democratic party 'til I'm blue in the face. But I will Vote Blue and work to reform the party while keeping a big tent. So I've voted for Jared Golden and campaigned for Zohran Mamdani.
At times your posts sound as if you don't want Dems to criticize the Party, so if in fact you're open to this, super. This whole thing of purity tests is to me the wrong hill to die on. I'd say I don't like them either but then there are times when a candidate's integrity--or the voter's-- serves in effect as a purity test, if you will. We don't want to be judgmental. But human beings are endowed with judgement, and accountable for using it as well as we can.
There's a time and a place to criticize Dems. I attended a coffee last week with my State Senator, a state legislator and a journalist who was also a State Senator years ago.
There wasn't a lot of criticism of Democratic politicians, but there was some. It was actually an open meeting to any of their constituents, but the local weekly paper missed publicizing the meeting. Usually around 20 people attend the coffees and there are often criticisms made of all politicians. To me, that is the right forum.
When I first became a manager, I went to my boss complaining about one of the programmers. After explaining what the problem was I waiting for him to tell me what to do. Without hesitation he asked me, "So what's your solution?" After that, I never went to him with a problem unless I had a solution to offer.
Sorry, Donna, but in my judgement we do whatever it takes to strip MAGA from our government.
We are in the fight of and for our life Donna. It's messy and it is going to get a lot messier.
I agree, J Busby. And it's going to take a lot more and harder work to win the Senate.
Odd, I didn't read anything like "vote blue no matter who" in lin's comment. "his support of the Constitution" sounds like a position worth supporting to me. And the obvious fact that many allegations are "unsubstantiated and mosty from a Republican operative" make it clear that the smears have little foundation in reality.
ThankYou.
I must own Vote Blue No Matter who.
After holding my nose to campaign and vote for Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Jared Golden, I am very pleased to have a candidate such as Graham Platner, whose platform I totally agree with.
Lin, my very real quandary is we have a R state senator that does really good work for our community. Should I not vote for him?
I tried to vote blue no matter who the last time and when it came time to feed my ballot into the counting machine I found the director in the room and asked for a new ballot so I could correct a mistake.
This state senator is a good man and it went against my grain to punish him. I could not do it with a clear conscious.
Jerry, lin might not have said it in the comment I replied to but she commends that line of action a lot in her posts.
Is there a Senator alive (or dead) who doesn't claim to support the Constitution? Even our president shamelessly claims to support the Constitution. Being a Senator, even a candidate, calls for more.
The primary is in two days. What do you suggest people do? What are you going to do?
I've been volunteering since Day 1 of the campaign. It's been GOTV for months.
I've never supported a candidate like I support Platner. Many times, we vote against a candidate, but in this case, Collins is a rich entitled white Catholic woman who has stabbed us in the back many times by voting to approve Fascist judges and cabinet members.
Thank you, Donna. I agree there are far too many here who are willing to give Platner a pass. I am not ready to convict the man of anything, but like Swalwell, he should step aside so that the current race isn't screwed up by the allegations.
It's probably too late now. But as soon as the news of his online posts became an issue, and definitely when the sexting got traction, he should have stepped aside and worked as hard as he could to help elect Janet Mills. That's was a candidate of exceptional character would have done.
So you are OKAY with men with sexual assault in their background having leading roles in our government? SERIOUSLY? I am stunned by how many people will become so politically expedient (as they did with Bill Clinton, who in my humble opinion should have been impeached and removed from office in 1998) when THEIR COVETED OX is being gored, but so judgmental when it is someone else's OX (like Trump). If you are so okay with all these sexual assault allegations, then I assume you would be just as forgiving of Trump's alleged misbehavior?
If you favored keeping Trump out of office because of what he did to E. Jeanne Carol, but not in favor of keeping Platner out of office for what he is accused of, then I have to label you as an unadulterated hypocrite.
Thank you for the reply but you must be living in a different reality from the one I am experiencing. Graham Platner has never been accused or proven (or convicted as Trump has been) to have committed sexual molestation, 34 felonies, adulterous sex with a porn star, fomenting an insurrection against the government, intimate association with a pedophile and human trafficker of children, robbing the U.S. Treasury, stealing top secret U.S. documents, bankrupting multiple businesses, accepted bribery, disavowed the U.S. Constitution, compulsively lied, installed a kakistocracy/kleptocracy in the U.S. government, etc., etc.. Facts matter. It makes me question who is paying you to post spurious comments here.
Most of us who are appalled by his continuing candidacy don't feel this way because we believe he committed crimes. It takes a lot more than an absence of criminal convictions in one's background to be an acceptable candidate for the Senate. We already have too many buffoons with frat-boy (or girl?) ethics in Congress.
Show me the evidence, the sworn affidavits, the witnesses who agree to testify in sworn depositions, the police reports, etc.. Otherwise what you say are all specious speculations like Hillary Clinton running a pedophile ring in the basement of a pizza shop that has no basement. Get a life.
Whoa, Fred. I didn't say and I don't believe there's evidence Platner committed crimes. I said it takes more than being free of crime to be an acceptable candidate. I happen to think his history of posts--and they're not all that old--make him a questionable candidate.
Your posts are usually much more tempered.
Yes and he accused me of being PAID to support an anti-Platner position. Really not at all like him. Sigh...
Hello Donna... One of my Sons served in a USMC Spec Ops Team in six-deployments, and came back changed & troubled... I have Sympathy for Graham Platner's troubles, but not those actions if they are true...
Hi Apache, I am sorry for your son's post-service suffering. I hope I'd be sympathetic to anyone who is a victim of PTSC, including Graham Planter. No doubt he would be affected by what he saw and had to do in Iraq. But he seems to blame his decade+ of insulting social media posts and other puerile behavior on his military service. Is his PTSD still a problem or is it behind him now?
Thank you for mentioning your son's military experience.
Hello Donna... Serving in the USMC is Brutalizing... I served in the USMC as well... One must fight to preserve their Humanity... No One Who Has Seen War, Comes Back Unchanged... Seems that Graham came back with alot of Anger... I can understand that... One of the refrains in the Vietnam War, was "Why Me?"... I helped my Son deal with his... I help all that come to me...
So you would reelect Susan Collins even though she is married to someone who is divorced, has three kids and refuses to reveal their names? Do we know if they were having an affair while he was married? Or if she sleeps around in Washington or even Bangor? And how did she become so wealthy on a Senator's salary? He's a registered lobbyist. Conflict of interest anyone?
The Republicans in the Congress voted to reduce SNAP benefits to $4.80 a day from $6.00 a day. I would say both a criminal acts, like keeping the Federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour since July, 2009. Is starving someone to a criminal activity?
No, I wouldn't re-elect Collins, GJ, although I'm not sure her marriage would be the basis for my decision. Is legislation that leads to starvation (or homelessness or illness) a criminal activity? Who is responsible for that legislation? Huge questions, GJ. The mess we're in as a country is long-standing and deeply entrenched, and it's bigger than MAGA.
Maybe everyone in Maine should write in Heather Cox Richardson's name.
Maybe they should. But, I don't think she would accept and we would all miss her daily newsletter.
Such utter bullshit is beneath you. No one is paying me. I PAY out of my own pocket to be here, you can ask Heather if you want, she can confirm it. I never said Trump wasn't WORSE than Platner. I said Platner has been accused of things that do not warrant him to be Senator. I felt that way about Bill Clinton not being president when he was accused (rightfully if I might add as was later admitted after he lied to all of us). I felt that way when Swalwll was accused and then HE did the right thing by stepping aside so as not to make those accusations the cause for a potential Democratic failure in the election.
Platner won't win the November election against Susan Collins. So in the end, supporting him will be a loss anyway. Better to have a chance with Mills than a total failure with a guy who can't keep it in his pants.
here is an interview of Graham Platner by Jon Stewart “Graham Platner On Service, Messaging & the Future for Democrats | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-itNjgCJDxU It’s not a political speech but a one on one discussion. Here is the post interview opinion of Jon Stewart:
“You make a lot more sense to me now after spending time with you about what this is all about. I just assumed that you were the sum total of your three Reddit posts that were kind of odd (laughter) (Platner: “Oh God No”) but I really do appreciate and I also know that for a guy who likes to spend time alone on the ocean and with his family and with his community and Maine, this is a sacrifice. I do believe that. I believe that in the same way that you signing up to serve and fight for this country was a sacrifice and a commitment. And I feel like you’re continuing that legacy of service and sacrifice in this (campaign), It’s not easy to face down the forces that are arrayed against you. And I appreciate you man. I just wanted to say that. And it was really lovely to get to know you and I wish you the best here.” Post interview with staff members: “ I didn’t feel maybe for the first time in a while that I was talking to a politician. And I understand, look, he’s got to get elected. But that was clear. I say an actual conversation. It almost felt more like it was a mix between talking to Heather Cox, Richardson and the Gorton’s fisherman. I’m going to put those two things together. (laughter) But what was interesting to me is there’s he’s built a political campaign on the scaffolding of lived experience and philosophical principle based in historical precedent. (Staff “One of the most refreshing conversations we have had on this podcast.”) Yeah! It seemed very clear. You know it’s funny sometimes you wonder like how the hell is this guy in the position that he is in and then you talk to him and go ‘oh I can see how’ when you go to different town halls and you talk about your life and the planning board and your experience in the work. But it’s not just about the experiences. It’s what those experiences represent to him. How he has processed them. How he has filtered them after you talk to him. It’s kind of astounding that the whole story is like “f##ked up tattoo guy”. And you’re like OK I think we might have missed the main (point)…I think we may have “buried the lead” on this one. (Staff “People are not just the mistakes they make”)
For those who are unaware (especially those with children) Carol Dwick Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and author of “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”, introduced the concepts of fixed mindset (believing abilities are static) and growth mindset (believing abilities can be developed through effort). She argues that a growth mindset fosters resilience, learning and success in all areas of life while a fixed mindset leads to avoiding challenges and fearing failure. Graham Platner has a growth mindset. Celebrate that our country is still producing such people.
Yep, seriously true. JFK, Bill Clinton, many others in Congress and on the Supreme Court bench. Sorry, but Platner is so much an improvement over Mills that the people who want truly progressive policies to reform our government have a simple, clear choice.
Donald Trump, our President, was found guilty in court, by a jury of his peers of raping E Jean Carroll. He has also been accused by a number of women of sexual assault. Republicans in Texas have nominated a man to run for the US senate, Ken Paxton, who has been accused of graft, and accused by his wife of having a mistress with whom he shares an apartment. Do we really believe they are not going to vote for Paxton because of all his failings?
We in Maine finally have a chance to rid ourselves of a Senator who has not held a town hall anywhere in Maine in 20 years! You can Google that fact. For all his failings, Graham Platner, just since he was persuaded to run against Susan Collins by labor leaders, has held over 75 town halls all across Maine.!
If he turns out to be another Fetterman, we don't have to reelect him. But let Maine voters make that decision. and please don't post comments about a man you've never heard speak at a rally.
"... let Maine voters make that decision. and please don't post comments about a man you've never heard speak ..."
Yes to all, especially this.
That's nonsense. Do you know how many people who are NOT from California have commented on the governorship race here? Do you remember how many people commented on Katie Porter losing to Adam Schiff? We are all entitled to our opinions wherever we are from, because we are all Americans.
And as I noted elsewhere, I have heard him speak on TV many times and I thought he seemed okay until I heard the assault charges. That was the end for me.
I've heard him speak on TV. I wasn't as impressed as you and many of your fellow Maineans are, but he seemed okay to me until the news about sexual assault charges came out. And hey, I've fought against Donald Trump and the rest of his miscreants for ages, as far back as 2016. The man is scum, you don't have to remind me.
But none of that excuses US (democrats) letting people even remotely like him hold office. And I will continue to feel that way.
You and all the others who support him are welcome to disagree, but if these charges turn out to be true, you will, like Fetterman (what a failing THAT was, ditto Kristen Sinema) have to deal with the failing. Better to prevent someone like that from holding office than have to deal with getting him out. Look at what George Santos did to the GOP.
"Using your arguments would allow someone on the other side of the political spectrum to excuse Donald Trump from all of the accusations made against him. We (those of us on the left) have argued at length that he is unfit to serve as President for reasons that are quite similar to the charges brought against Platner."
First, I don't know of any "charges brought" against Platner - allegations, yes.
Second, the 'charges' brought against Trump have been heard by a jury of his peers, and he has been convicted.
Do I wish we had a squeaky clean candidate in Maine, yes. These allegations will dog him in the general election for sure. Both side use 'political intel' to smear the opposing candidate. And we can be sure that that will happen in this case. Also, will there be more? We don't know. But, Mainers seem to be willing to take the risk. One thing they do not want is Susan Collins. And, by the way, Mills is still on the ballot.
Additionally, I am very. skeptical of the accuser. The only one that has complained of physical mistreatment. Brett Kavanaugh was accused of worse and he is on the SC thanks to the accuser herself.
Interesting time indeed.
https://crooksandliars.com/2026/06/ny-times-omits-minor-detail-platnet-hit
If there was no other option, it would distress me to see Collins as Senator again. She has been one of the worst (even though she is not as grotesquely Trumpian as others) simply because she continues to be unwilling to take a stand against the slimy President.
But with an option like Mills, who is almost certainly squeaky clean, why do we even have to have this conversation? Eric Swalwell, when he was accused of similar misconduct (which he also denies) had the brains and courage to step aside and let Democrats in California not have to "die on the vine" in a withering battle for our Senate seat. Why is Platner given such leeway, when Mills would (at least in my humble opinion) be a better choice without a HINT of scandal?
I am seriously interested in what you have to say about that. If there is a legitimate reason for why an accused assaulter should be encouraged to stay in the race, I would love to hear it.
When I read about Platner and his life (setting aside the scandal, for now) harbor Master, Planning board and grass roots organizer. Active in local politics and such. Coming out of eight years of combat in the military, which is usually a plus, but has obviously left him with a lot of inner demons to deal with. It seems that he has honestly been doing what he can to deal with that and has been successful.
Now with all the dirt being exposed, which happens to anyone running for office, he has been labelled as an "assaulter" which, may not be the proper description in this case from what what I have read from both sides of the story. A young man with political views that align with many progressive individuals yet pretty rough around the edges. Mills may be squeaky clean as far a skeletons in her closet but, legislatively as Governor, she is not really popular with at least half of Mainers. Platner has tried to come clean and admit his failings which is admirable however, I do worry about the allegations and his behavior in the past and some of his behavior in the not too distant past. Are we, as Democrats, being too harsh or not harsh enough. Are we looking for a perfect candidate that doesn't exist. I'm not here to praise or encourage Platner as he is a risky bet. The only dog I have in this race is that, like you, I do not want Collins in that seat. I guess it is up to the people of Maine to decide. Let's hope they make the right choice whatever that choice is.
I do actually know of a man. A real he man who always took the bull by the horns. In fact he was kicked in the nuts as a child by a rampaging bull, and lost his testicular function. He didn’t have any sexual indulgences that came to light. He did on one occasion that I know of attend a stripper bar in Canada while on a fishing trip journey. I know for a fact that he was so perverted that in his enthusiasm to award a one dollar bill to a stripper that he got the lot of us sexual deviates removed from the club. It was the only time in my long association with a very worthy young man that I witnessed such a horrifying ordeal that I remember thinking if that incident ever became public he would never be president. Now a days, I’m glad he did what he did especially since at seventy five certain impulses are tempered by certain limitations and still I find myself attracted to ladies unencumbered by clothing. Call me any number of things you want concerning my views on sexuality but ladies beware I still enjoy the differences that attract while keeping to my side of the isle. Sigh…. Yes vote for the man! Even Prudence and her husband Dilbird have need of someone blooded in courage. Coquetry has not exactly led to leadership. Period.
And it's not only his offensive sexual behavior. He has an online history (now disappeared) which used slurs against a variety of groups. He wasn't a kid at the time he engaged in this cyber-slurring, but in his thirties. Was it all PTSD? He strikes me as an attention-seeking loudmouth without deep convictions at all, just loud, opportunistic rhetoric. Sorry, Bernie, you should have vetted your guy.
Bernie does vet. You have what "strikes" you. You could go to Maine and introduce yourself and ask a few questions that are important to you.
Maine comes to you ; )
Dem. Sen. candidate Graham Platner speaks at event amid BOMBSHELL NYT report
.https://www.youtube.com/live/0BHfTYOclRk?si=abw5dsORPjMZNHg7.
Bonfire of the vanities- savanarola brown. Burn that one which cannot be cleansed. Make that fire big enough for the tenders. People books ideas heap in a pile. In your empirical purity Jon, strike the match. Seek ye the wisdom and punishment. Follow me into the flames for I too must cleanse. And then there was nothing for it save smoking rubble. Gone the sinner. Gone the chastiser. Only the crazy man contemplating the void, stone in hand, but no where to throw it.
Sexting is sexual misconduct? Sexting 'might' be sexual misconduct if there is no consent.
Mostly sexting is an insult to your mate. Many consider it cheating. Some do not. For some people that's insta-divorce territory. For others, it's marriage or communication counseling.
Forgive me for thinking that Amy gets to choose if sexting is a deal breaker as he's her husband.
On the other hand, most of the current government between Congress, the president and his cabinet and donors are all in the Epstein files FOR RAPING CHILDREN.
I'll be voting for Platner. Even if Amy stood up today and said "I'm sick of this crap and I'm out of here" and called a huge 3 ring circus of a Press Conference to announce it. Why? Because I'm not looking to date him. I'm looking for some noise in the august halls of the capital. I'm looking for someone to support Medicare for All or at least some real type of healthcare reform. I'm looking for someone who can remind Congress that this country was built on the backs of the people they are stealing from. We need more unions and more workers rights. We need fewer Billionaires.
Mills wasn't willing to do any of those things.
Does anyone remember Andrew Weiner or have we quickly forgotten THAT sordid episode in American politics?
He was a New York Congress critter who was convicted and sentenced to prison for 21 months for a sexting scandal in 2011 and ousted from office. Two years later, after supposedly extensive therapy, he swore he was cured, made a comeback, and then, in the middle of the Mayoral race, he was found to be sexting again. Oops.
Look, I have no problem if someone wants to engage with consenting adults on the internet in sexting. If you keep that private, more power to you. But if that is your hobby, as far as I am concerned, you have no business running for Congress or Senate or any other public office. At the very least, we used to consider this kind of stuff disqualifying out of fear of being compromised and subject to extortion.
We know that this is pathological behavior. Of course, unless the "victims" are unconsenting minors, no one should go to prison for that. It is a psychological problem, not a crime. People need help, not criminal convictions (Weiner WAS sexting with a minor, so that is why he ended up behind bars).
But is THAT the kind of person we want making serious, critical decisions on behalf of our country? Sorry, not in my opinion.
If Platner is the best we can do in Maine for one of the top three political positions in the state, Maine is in pretty poor shape, sorry to say.
Swalwell didn’t “step aside”, he was given the boot via his egregious, verified, recent behavior. Janet Mills is old. She didn’t want the job. I’ll stick with Platner and wish I could vote for him.
Everyone has a taint, Jon.
I certainly do. And that is precisely why I would NEVER seek higher office.
But not EVERYONE.
I’m curious as to the specifics you generalize. Spell it out man. Your habit of lurking in the weeds until springing the ambush is becoming an ominous repetition. Do you actually have the smoking gun? Are you paraphrasing to muddy the water? Again. Pray tell, what did the perp do and try to be specific with your allegations. So far I assume you were a navy man because squids love a cloudy inky hideout. Do you have the specifics of your attack on Platner or not? Change our minds. Quit pretending you are a Republican congressman cajoling Congress. Answer the question.
Lurking in the weeds, Pat? Really LOL?
I think I am pretty blunt when I say ANYTHING (certainly enough to instill real anger in some people, sadly). If you are referring to the fact that there are days (sometimes even weeks) when I say nothing, I assure you it is NOT because I am lurking.
I actually have a "life", and this is NOT the only or even the most important thing I have to do! I am writing a musical, I spend time writing software, and I have some family. Heather and Joyce are the only Substack columns I read, and I imagine I get to do that about 1 night out of 3. So what you see as lurking in the weeds is me just paying attention to other parts of my life with almost as much diligence as I give politics. I apologize if it sometimes seems a little disjointed (trust me, it seems disjointed to ME at times!)
Patrick Stewart speaks of the impact living with his father's undiagnosed PTSD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqFaiVNuy1k
Fred. Obviously you can’t sell them this amount of bullshit and I think people are gonna believe it when there’s been a story after story after story on networks none of these prejudice assholes here whatever watch because they have all the facts that you don’t hear here. Hmmmm
And I don’t believe that Americans would vote for a person that has and knows why he has a Nazi concentration Camp tattoo and wears it with pride
Back again Rick? Unfortunately you seem to promote mostly far right wing mis- and disinformation/claims for which you offer no substantiation.
This brings up the question: Are you being paid to do this? Cozy Bear/APT29?
Right-wing influencers say they were dupes in an alleged Russian influence operation. They’re keeping their millions, for now | CNN Business
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/13/media/right-wing-media-influencers-tenet-russian-money
South Florida podcaster among conservative influencers duped into working for Russia, feds say - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IafEba1znk
The people who read Heather’s newsletter and comment here love their country as an American constitutional democracy not as an autocratic dictatorship. If you prefer authoritarianism, then perhaps it is time for you to find an authoritarian country and move there. I can’t recommend any of them. They have secret police who disappear people, put them in gulags, torture and kill them. If not this, then I recommend trying joining a “bridging group” like Urban Rural Action. Just don’t follow Trump when he leaves the country. You might end up in a Jim Jones People’s Temple scenario.
Please stop responding seriously to a psychotic, condescending troll — his ONLY purpose here is to enrage you. It’s truly like wrestling with a pig while trying to teach it to sing. It just makes the rest of us have to use the scroll bar.
And paragraphs ARE your friend, Fred. Brevity is the soul of wit and all that, you know.
My lonely little baby is a sad man who only feels good when he is being a bully online. In person he’s a weenie. #suchadick
Not at all germane. Why did you post this here? Distracting voices like yours, rude whataboutism, show you cannot have a civil conversation.
I block people like you, not because ai disagree, but because your ADHD makes you a huge distraction.
And remember, Pete Hegseth's mom changed her tune after she threw her son under the boss.
Hey Hitler said he was a nice guy. Omg. If this guy gets it to the Congress, the funniest thing will be how he gets destroyed while he fights and yells and screams through sustain any credibility whatsoever. It’s gonna make your party even worse than it currently is with 72% of the party against the current direction of the party. Your favorability by Democrats is 20% and only 16% of males in your party.
That’s a CNN Poll. 72% unfavorable rating of the direction of the Democrats. BY DEMOCRATS. AND AFTER YOUR POST, I COULD ABSOLUTELY SEE WHY.
YEAH, DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT NAZI TATTOO THAT IS ACTUALLY A NAZI TATTOO OF THE CONCENTRATION CAMP COMMANDOS
Two seemingly unrelated comments:
1)We must be accurate with language. We must not use the regime's official whitewashed terminology for ICE's warehouses. They are not detention centers. They are concentration camps.
2)When Hegseth refers to beaches that today are"stormed by different dangerous ideologies" we musk ask, what are the "ideologies" that he is referring to? Is escaping drought and famine an ideology? Is escaping war an ideology? Is needing work to earn a living to provide for one's family an ideology? Is skin color an ideology?
These are not really unrelated concepts. They both point out the need not to let euphemisms or empty words replace truth. I remember how many years it took to acknowledge that Trump is a liar. Media refused to use that word, preferring circumlocutions. I see nowadays the "sanewashing" that pretends that much of what he says is logical or understandable when it is not. It is time to use precise words that corresponds to reality.
Amen, Betsy!
Betsy, language is important. I'd love to know how a dangerous ideaology "storms a beach." It makes me wonder.
This infuriates me. It's one thing for that unqualified drunk "Head of War-fighters" shit on our military. But it quite another thing for him to spread his poison in Europe and call refugees yearning for a better life "the enemy". Those people are the ancestors of nearly every American, who left their war-torn and impovrished homes and went to the United States. They are no enemy. They are future Americans!
Keep your xenophobia to yourself inside your badly-fitting suit, you utter piece of excrement. Europe doesn't want to hear your shallow opinions!
I read an opinion in the Dutch News yesterday that Ukraine's success pushing Russia out of their country without US help is showing the Dutch (and other NATO countries) that they can do just fine without US military help and weapons. The Ukrainians built a whole new industry on the cheap. No one needs billions in Patriot missles when drones can be knocked out quickly and cheaply on the fly.
Friends, they don't need us. And they're starting to figure that out rather than succumb to our propaganda. And if we think we can survive on our own on our side of the planet and still be wealthy and safe, we need to think again.
Not only that, I am thinking that they don't want us. Seriously, who would? We "elected" a President who is shattering our constitution, bankrupting our treasury with a needless "war", and destroying OUR National Monuments. Deregulating our wildland protections (NPS and USFS), destroying a multinational pristine natural environment (Boundary Waters).
All true things. They are learning to live without us. The first months of the Trump administration had the NATO countries in a panic. Remember that meeting when they all showed up at the White House and stroked him? Well, I don't think they'll be doing that again. They're seeing they can protect themselves without us because they don't trust us to adhere to our responsibilities. And yeah, they're pissed because our "war" raised their gas prices. National rail services like NS (Dutch) and EuroStar (French/UK) are giving discounts on public transport this summer to help people still be able to go on vacation.
We cannot turn a blind eye to this administration’s treatment of immigrants. Republicans are funding organizations that are allowing people to die. They are essentially killing our neighbors. We can’t continue to turn a blind eye.
These are the stories that 60 Minutes would cover if they too weren’t being killed.
If they have nothing to hide, why are they hiding it?
So many shenanigans. So much dishonesty. The in-your-face sleights-of-hand, the multitude of shell games, the endless smirking, flag lapel-pin primping and preening, the constant prevarications, ruses, deceptions. Squirrel after squirrel after squirrel.
And for what? What’s it all for? What will America look like once they’ve firehosed down all the resistance, fired the last decent people in government, deported all the foreign-born, silenced all those who won’t stand by idly while they eat away our republic…?
What will those who inherit all this brokenness and dishonor think of us for handing them such a shattered, tattered, poisoned legacy?
“ What will America look like once they’ve firehosed down all the resistance, fired the last decent people in government, deported all the foreign-born, silenced all those who won’t stand by idly while they eat away our republic…?”
Answer: 1860
Maybe it’s time to have DAILY replays of Trump SWEARING TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION at his inauguration juxtapositioned against the terrible assaults to it!?!
Of course criminal Donald lackies will reverse the old democratic allies vs. Nazi positions.
The billionaires and their dark money rule the U.S. Back in the day when young Americans were about to face off against the first Nazis, these Americans had all gone to schools where students and teachers united around using key humanities, reading and discussing great books -- whole books -- and writing serious essays, probing, deeply personal essays.
We've lost that as we've gained the control of cynical billionaires in all fields over us, the control of criminal, rapist Donald and all those underage girl predators Donald's pal Jeffrey trafficked, and for whom Donald yet covers up.
Republicans supported Trump in pardoning his Brown Shirts (SA - (Sturmabteilung or "Stormtroopers. The SA's primary purpose was to intimidate political opponents, protect Nazi rallies, and violently disrupt opposing political meetings.)
Now Republicans have funded Trump's Black Shirts (SS - Schutzstaffel or "Protection Squadron. The primary enforcement arm of the Nazi state. They ran the concentration camps and extermination camps, and managed internal security (Gestapo).)
If they goose step to Project 2025's ChristoFascist tune ...
The only way to make Republicans pay is to Vote Blue No Matter Who.
Remember - purity test German Communists who refused to unite for the Social Democratic party helped give the Nazi party a majority and paved the way for Hitler being appointed Chancellor.
You are right, lin … massive electoral rejection is the only alternative before the pitchforks … and the horror that such things bring
"... massive electoral rejection is the only alternative before the pitchforks..."
Exactly. ThankYou.
I agree, but not if it means electing people like Platner in Maine. There have to be limits. If Gov. Mills can't beat Susan Collins in Maine, well then maybe that is a price we have to pay to avoid having someone who has assaulted women, even in their past, be a part of our government,.
"I agree [with voting Blue] but not if it means electing people like Platner in Maine. There have to be limits. If Gov. Mills can't beat Susan Collins in Maine, well then maybe that is a price we have to pay to avoid having someone who has assaulted women, even in their past, be a part of our government,." - Jon Rosen
I agree but .. I am willing to be complicit in the perpetuation of the unconscionable, unmitigated, and irreparable Republican assault on our most vulnerable neighbors, fragile planet, and endangered democracy.
I agree but ... I am more comfortable with the Republican repurposing our democratic republic as a ChristoFascist state than with a candidate who does not meet my personal purity tests.
I agree but - unsubstantiated claims by an ex girlfriend and Republican operative who was part of Ladies for Kavanaugh are more important to me than: all the women who have died or suffered irreparable harm because of the overturning of Roe; all the women swept up by ICE; all the women who are being harmed by Hegseth's white male grievance running of the military; all the trans women who are being persecuted by Republican policies; and all the woman harmed by the Republican slashing of every social program; all the women being denied their voting rights ...
I agree but ... I won't be paying the price.
1. Graham Platner has not sexually assaulted any one..
2. Ro Khanna, congressional champion of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, has endorsed Graham Platner.
Not true about gas prices. The US and Israel bombed Iran in June 2025 and the gas bag said that Iranian nuclear capability was “obliterated”. You can insult Obama all you want, moron, but he did not give the Crimea to Russia. He did not go to war over that naked grab but he did not throw Ukraine under the bus like Trump and just dumb Vance. Which policies of Trump are better for the US? Number them so I can refute them.
Well, Phil, if you vote for a Nazi, you are indeed a Nazi sympathizer. Need I say more.
You could certainly say less !!!
If I said less, then you wouldn’t be getting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth would we …there Joan? And you’re lucky that I don’t bloviate here because I easily could.
Not one of you not any of you here can list a policy or law that Donald Trump has signed or approved that has not been effective for the citizens of the United States and the world. That’s the problem that you all have until you could list something meaningful here you’re gonna continue to lose
We are not losing but if I even attempted to list every way Trump has made my life worse I would run out of space. Tell me if you insist I start listing because I can and will.
CNN Poll 72% of Democrats are not in favor of the direction of the Democrat party 72% if you call that winning, please keep it up
With only a 20% favorability rating, Which are all here on Heather’s website….lololol
Well, Joanne, I’m still waiting and I there’s just as much space before I asked you the question as there is now how amazing is that?
Almost every one of his policies is working on behalf of the American people working well. Not only in America, but around the world, which, of course you probably totally ignorant But I can’t wait to have something to do today that puts a smile on my face
Well, there's a list of generic bullshit. Let's see.
I absolutely insist. Number them so I can address them each by number But please have some antidepressant pill pills next to you because when I None of them will hold water. They'll all be invalid. And only factual in your mind, but not in reality I'm waiting bring it on
’
1. An unauthorized “war”with Iran. After his June 2035 excursion with Israel “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear capacity he repeated his unprovoked mistake with Israel again and now we have higher gas prices, higher airplane tickets because of increased jet fuel costs, higher grocery prices due to increased transportation costs .
2. Higher prices for needed services, landscapers, cleaners and drivers mainly due to worker shortages.
3. The general deterioration of government services, mainly public health issues. Confusion about vaccines, hostility about green energy that I have financially supported. Long lines for airport security.
4. General agita on a personal basis. Revulsion about Trump’s personality, his lies, his incessant texting, his bromances with Putin and Netanyahu, his Cabinet picks, his Gulf of America, his increasing incapacity. And his example to our grandchildren who have not known Presidents who spoke in correct English with no cursing and who delivered speeches that were uplifting and unifying.
I too have thought of Churchill’s words. One of my favorite protest signs: “I’ll stop fighting when Heather Cox Richardson says it’s over.” Thank you for all your work.
Senator Kim's account of being turned away from Delaney Hall touches something older than this particular dispute: the constitutional role of Congress as a check on executive agencies. That oversight function exists regardless of which party controls the White House or the chamber, and courts will likely weigh in on whether a sitting senator can be lawfully refused access to a facility under congressional jurisdiction. Our own senators sit on committees with oversight responsibility here.
There is no more contemptible person that Donald Trump. But JD Vance is a close second. I do not possess curse words strong enough to describe him. They and every Republican now digging the misery and cruelty immigration pit $70 billion deeper know full well what they're doing -- trying to keep America white and militant christian; disempowering their political opposition through corrupt means, divvying up the spoils. If anyone believes those high-tech holding centers and SS dead list will be only for undocumented immigrants, you're a fool. ICE agents are being trained to "handle" anyone who is breaking the law of Trump sez. And, why can we not get answers on all that Social Security data that was downloaded by DOGE? Where is it. And who has it?
Republicans think the won the deed to America, the very thing the Revolutionary War was fought against. Republicans are emptying the treasury (as well as the Strategic Oil Reserve) and partying hard of posterity's dime. Good got HCR for pointing out what else we might be getting for our money. ICE is only part of the con game. "GOP" spending needs to be made a big deal. Expanded health care or an "American Flag Blue" Reflecting Pool that nobody asked for except Mad King Trump. There's a ton of that $%#@.
To despair is to turn my back on the Future. My children and grandchildren are inheriting that Future. Evil is chuckling at our trials and tribulations. They are sick. Deeply Sick.
My understanding is that the tRump family immunity from IRS investigation was also passed last night. It is surreal if this is so. Pay your tithes to the king happily people. I cannot understand how any taxpaying citizen could vote for a single R candidate in 2026. Law apparently means nothing in the USA if one is corrupt enough.
If so, hire a Trump for your criminal undertaking, and you may also buy freedom from IRS eyes.
Apparently the current administration has not only already surrendered but is leading the charge to resuscitate the ideology and implementation of what those heroic men on D-Day sacrificed their lives to defeat. It is hard to fathom out of what dark hole Hegseth crawled as he continues to shame this country around the world and betray every possible democratic principle. I can only hold out hope that his day of reckoning will come in the not so distant future along with the traitors in Congress who have also surrendered to the Dark Lord.
Meanwhile Lord Donald Voldemort sleeps through meetings, and devotes his waking hours to building combat arenas on the White House lawn and living in the delusions of his own fantasy world. He's already made it clear that he has no interest in governing nor does he care about the welfare of the American people. He is perfectly content to let his Dementors run the show.
Nonetheless he is still idolized and supported with great passion by the millions of Americans who more and more behave like the bruised and battered spouses of the partners who continue to abuse them, the ones with hospital records of their injuries as long as your arm but who refuse to press charges because they still believe their abusers loves them and really don't mean them any harm. As we continue to fight back with everything we've got, we will also be forced to see the carnage from the destruction their beloved continues to rain on them.
Hegseth has disgraced the sacrifices made by those who fought on D -Day. He has brought shame to all of us.
Everyone is free to protest this or do something with their remaining power as citizens. Please stop simply reading about what's happening and take a risk. Everything we hold dear in society was fought for by people that took courageous risks. We are no exception.
"Please stop reading about what's happening and take a risk."
Please stop *only* reading about what's happening and take a risk.