Yes, Public Servant, "Now the Nazis have taken power in America."
But a two-pronged attack. Two kinds of relentlessness. Cohering. Reenforcing.
One is Putin’s push to wipe democracy off the map of Europe (and Asia).
The other is the criminal in the White House aiding the tech bro and other billionaires so private interest corporate states replace democracy in the U.S.
You can enter into your search engine Heather’s name, and Gil Duran’s, as he explains Curtis Yarvin’s, Peter Thiel’s, and others’ plans thus to end U.S. democracy.
Both Putin and the criminal in the White House run on the same hate. Neither of them nor any of their white-supremacist nationalists ever got any education for any nuances needed for any who love anything anywhere. But it's the hand that has HATE tattooed on the knuckles of their one hand each forming the fists that lead their respective hatreds.
Thanks, Emily. Gil is new to me. He knows a lot and speaks like Heather - he is concise and clear. I learned a lot in 25 minutes.
He ends well. He says we should not give up, that the tech bros movement "is starting to fall apart." Heather adds to that the history of the end of the Robber Baron era, when all candidates for president were reformers.
I have just taken a few weeks off from calling my reps. I couldn't call, and I didn't know if I could go back to it. But I am ready to go again and in hindsight I see that I needed a break. Take care of yourselves, everybody!
When I attempted a copy-&-paste, I couldn't get what you got. Instead, I got an underlined, very brief prose description. And my experience with that is that it doesn't give access as yours here does.
A different perspective of history. One you must be exposed to living in Japan. FDR had placed an oil quarantine around Japan thereby forcing Japanese to attack us. Which forced us to enter WWII. Was it our own Tonkin Golf incident? As to the disgusting brut in the White House, we are paying a dear price for this folly but we only have ourselves to blame. Joe Biden is to blame. He was an extremely selfish man.
The Japanese Empire was engaged in a war it started to take over Asia. It first attacked China in 1931, then began a full-scale war in 1937. As to that war, look up “rape of Nanking.” In 1940, after the fall of France, Japan moved to take over effective power in Indochina. The rapidity of Japan’s advances through the Philippines, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies and Burma (as they all were then) is proof positive that the Japanese intended military conquest long before the oil embargo of 1941. FDR’s move only provided a convenient excuse.
As for holding Biden responsible for Trump, you probably think the Poles should not have provoked the Germans to invade in 1939.
As well the Japanese walked out of the League of Nations in 1933 thereby gaining no restrictions to prosecute a full scale war in China. We often forget just how long China was at war during this period. They, the Chinese, do not forget what happened after the fall of Nanking and the brutalities of that. The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang was a very difficult read.
Hey Monroe, did you happen to ask yourself how it was possible for Biden the semi cadaver to get 13 million more votes than Obama the god? That has puzzled me, as well as many people. And where were those people in 2024 for the election?
What a vicious and ignorant comment. Heather has said numerous times in her politics talks, and she interviewed Biden, that he was not at all senile. He was running the country incredibly well and perfectly able. Only thing is he had a stutter that was harder to control when he was tired. He was a great president.
It’s amazing everybody here or a lot of people here are facing their lives today and what happened 100 years ago. That’s over folks. Check in with reality today shall we ?
Biden is responsible for every single illegal alien that came through the borders during his administration. Get that through your head. And every death, every wrongful death every murder every rape every citizen an illegal immigrant that traffic it’s on Biden’s head on
His hands. Trump is only doing as promised and cleaning up Biden’s mess. And while judges and Congress watched as these people march through the gates, 11,000 a day, nothing was said no complaints were made. Even the laws were being broken but now that we want to get them out, there’s a fewer how dare we wanna do this? The stench from hypocrisy fills the air.
Japan thought they were the equal of European powers (by their defeat of Russia in the 1905 war and could be as aggressive and careless with colonial rule as Europeans had set the example for. What they seemed to have missed was that Russia was not anywhere near as powerful as other European powers, even in Europe, certainly not at the extreme east end of their impossible supply lines.
Admiral Yamamoto had a much more realistic few of relative strengths and eventual consequences, but followed orders to try anyway.
Japan was the clear aggressor, and we had a rather stupid America First Group that thought we could stay out of it, other than making huge profits supplying both sides at least according to my Mentor who was captured at Corregidor and spent 3-1/2 years in Japanese POW and work camps. Surprisingly to me at first, he had great respect for the Japanese, what they learned from their mistakes, and how they became great allies when treated as we would wish to be treated if the conditions were reversed. He said they were rather amazed and inspired by how well we treated them after the war.
I just wish the Confederates had been schooled as well as the Japanese, and changed their behaviors as completely as the Japanese did,
Seek first to understand! A difficult task, but necessary to gathering the complete story. I lived in Japan in the late 1960’s courtesy of Uncle Sam and witnessed a society struggling to regain its lost dignity. I also struggled with pulling together all the pieces of the puzzle and hope to continue to learn in order to keep my foot out of my mouth.
Might the U.S. have acceded to Japan's desires for their sphere of influence?
The U.S. accepted the French, the English, and the Dutch as having theirs -- not the people of France, England, and Holland, but the owners of capital. In league with U.S. owners of capital.
One of my greatest heroes of my life time has been RBG. I loved her. I mention this because she failed us by hanging on when we had a chance to add someone like her to the Supreme Court. I see that decision as hubris, a word written about since at least the ancient Greeks. Joe Biden also failed us because of hubris. It was wrong of her, and him, but I do not consider it extremely selfish, nor was Joe or RBG solely at blame. Both were trying to preserve the pillars of enlightenment, both forgot the order of things in being level five leaders. At the end of the day we, the people, permitted the creation of the Worst Generation, beginning by our vote.
Now that you mention it, yes, RBG was the best we had. I wrote a song lament to her. But she tripped over herself thinking she would live forever. I blame her. It doesn’t diminish my respect for her. Allegedly Obama subtly tried to get her to retire when he invited her to lunch at the White House. But that doesn’t change me feeling that she bigly did wrong by not retiring. I want my leaders to be super human and never make mistakes. Humanity will now pay dearly for these bad moves.
And I blame Bill Clinton for not being able to keep his pants up in the Oval Office thereby potentially diminishing Al Gore’s chances. I fault us democrats for eating our best when Al Frankin was criticized and resigned over that airplane incident. He was presidential material without doubt. So what if I sometimes look at the glass half empty. It’s totally empty now.
Bill - I offer you this quote by Ken Burns and ask that we remember, we are mortals, and as such it is in our DNA to make mistakes, no pedestal can take away that reality.
This is the biography of the protean genius who wrote the immortal words that formed the heart and soul of our great nation. This is also the biography on an often inscrutable and completely fallible man, a man of a thousand contradictions, the most profound of which was that he could express as no one before or since ever has, the eternal ideals of equality and freedom. And yet as a lifelong slave owner, he never found himself capable of living out those ideals. To come to terms with Jefferson and his legacy, it is important to tolerate the ambiguities that attend anyone's existance, to appreciate the emotional undertow of a person's life. Somehow we have forgotten that the Greeks taught us centuries ago that a hero is not perfect. indeed what makes a hero interesting is the constant tension and inner negotiations between that person's great strengh and his or her obvious and inevitable weakness.
Placing an Embargo on Oil to Japan is considered a peaceful act. The USA was trying to stay out of WWII using an Embargo. So what's your point???
The European Union and the USA have put a type of Embargo on Putin and Russia trying to strangle their oil and natural gas revenue. What's the difference??
Agree with Mr. Katz. The senility part is irrelevant. Biden's decisions and actions are the relevant question. Biden denied voters a Democratic Party primary to identify a candidate who could actually win swing voters. Worse still, he jammed the Party with a candidate who had already proven herself unable to win swing votes in the 2020 primaries. Not a shock that Harris won the votes of reliable Democratic Party voters (like me) but no other votes. This losing will continue until Democratic decision-makers and voters including many commenters on this thread stop romanticizing Biden, Harris et al, and start playing hardball with one purpose: to win.
No argument here. As I said before, democrats tend to eat their own as they did when Al Franken was senators and looking promising as a future presidential candidate. I cannot forgive those who hounded him until he left office. And it was a republican supporter set-up. What’s that special word every democrat loves to use… right misogynistic. He was misogynistic they said. As if there is no other word in the English language.
Bill, I agree with Jon - Japan had already launched its "Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" war long before Pearl Harbor. And, I agree with you - Joe Biden bears some of the blame, as do those who were around him. The "Ruth Bader Ginsburg" Syndrome is powerful. But, there are a myriad of other reasons for our debacle - we do have fascists among us and we (the National Democrats) failed miserably to deliver an effective message. Many because they thought prices were too high and that Trump could bring them down. Prices were high, but not as high as in other parts of the world. The American economy was the "envy of the World." [WSJ, 4-12-2024] That fact should have been broadcast day after day, hour after hour, but it wasn't. Tens of millions only get their info (not news) from Fox, Newsmax and OAN, so they didn't know. I knew when Jamie Harrison was selected as DNC Chair that we were in a heap of trouble. Jamie didn't even have the talent to be a good pimp.
Yeah bill the only price you’re paying is the cost of freedom. Yes, I’ve said here before. Here’s the liberals upside down solution to this problem. Of illegal immigration
If this administration stops enforcing the law, we will stop protesting. Holy crrrrrrap. You need to start looking at reality. The Democrats approval rating is in the toilet and getting lower almost every day that they back the wrong pony
Hey Phil, in my opinion, you’re a disgusting hateful human being. Take my advice, go to Auschwitz. Try using the word Nazi to describe this administration or any administration anywhere in the world since…. I could go on for a long time, especially after meeting survivors with tattoos on their arms and talking to them about their experience in survival. Just convinced me that, despite the education of many people here, they throw words like Nazi around like they are baseballs or marbles in a sandbox.
See Timothy Snyder's last column, "My brother-in-law is a genius." The songs are terrific and funny, just like Tom Lehrer 60 years ago (!). We are living in the "not see" state.
It is incredible, isn’t it?! The criminal in OUR WH claims to be for law and order and swears that the immigrants are rapists and killers but he pardons white killers and criminals and now those people are suing our government (us)? The horrors just keep piling up!
I wonder how many times you can use the 'Get Out of Jail' card in Trump Monopoly? Is there a 'Gleefully accept pardon and then claim compensation' card?
"Last night, Trump issued a memo invoking 10 U.S.C. § 12406 to “federalize” the National Guard.
Trump’s memo says he is starting with 2,000 federal troops in Los Angeles but reserves the right to federalize more National Guard troops and to use soldiers from other branches of the military against American citizens, pursuant to the discretion of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Pete Hegseth posted that he is ready to send the Marines against Americans. He says the Marines are just waiting for his order to attack."
Barbara, I am liking your comment, but I am horrified by what is happening in LA. I am sure that the area of the raid was chosen deliberately to provoke a response so he could call out the troops.
This is the moment I have been dreading all along. He absolutely will use troops on protesters on June14. He is enraged people hate him. He is enraged people would dare protest on his day. And he, of course, hates the California governor.
A friend and I were discussing the fiasco occurring in LA involving the National Guard and ICE. I said I thought this might be the spark that finally makes the general population awaken and realize the seriousness of our plight here in the US. My friend reminded me that it was only when "the people" saw peaceful protesters in Alabama being fire-hosed, attacked by vicious dogs, beaten and otherwise brutalized on their TV screens that they woke up to the need for Civil Rights legislation. I lived through these times and vividly remember my conservative, Republican parents becoming "woke" to this reality.
Much later, when in their seventies, my parents were more liberal than I am. I am glad they are not here to see what is happening now.
Russell, this suit is truly disgusting along with the payment to the family of the insurrectionist who was killed attacking the Capitol. But hey, if you kiss death star's rear somehow, you can be pardoned as he done recently with some of the biggest grifters at the government trough.
It's interesting that during the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021, Trump refused to take any action, including calling out the National Guard, to break up the riot. He even later falsely accused then Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, of refusing a request from him to deploy 10,000 National Guardsmen in advance of the demonstration, ostensibly to protect pro-Trump marchers.
He's now become only the second president in US history (after Eisenhower in 1962 did so to protect black students) to have unilaterally called out the National Guard and he did so without even consulting the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. When Newsom criticised this decision Trump appended one of his stupid nicknamesto the governor (Newscum) in falsely accusing him and LA mayor Karen Bass of not being able to do their jobs.
Of course he did because no rules or usual practice applies to him. i think he and the minions carefully chose the place to do this and were hoping for resistance. They want violence that they produce and then use it as an excuse to call out the military.
This is indeed the narrative they're trying to sell. Newsom warns people to be ready for this and to fall into Trump's trap, but how then can these vulnerable communities be protected from the administration's arbitrary behaviour? It's funny how it's always Republicans who stand up for states' rights while Democrats go all feeble when it comes to incursions into their bailiwicks. Newsom could ask the National Guard to withdraw from state government buildings and the centre of the city of Los Angeles and instruct the LAPD not to assist ICE but to arrest them if they use disproportiate force.
I wore a Tshirt commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-day on the 81sr anniversary the other day. It served a dual purpose--remembrance as well as a pro-democracy statement. I wore it to a tennis match and around town. Not a single person made a comment.
Somehow, even in the shadow of WWII, US wannabee Nazis and wealth Nazi collaborators have always been tolerated in a way the those, often even tangentially on the left have not. The death of liberty in any nation is totalitarianism, and left, right or religious, it is soul-crushing tyranny. I think our blind spot for wealthy US citizens who sympathized with and traded with Hitler, or tolerance of dangerously irresponsible behaviors by lawless persons such as the Bundy "gang", have been protected by our undemocratic deference to "big money", and has offered refuge for the impulses the Trump Regime now exploits.
May I expand on your excellent point? Beyond Nazism, Authoritarianism - I say this because Putin is driving much of this. He must have a whole bunch of stuff on The Felon to have the US government turn its back on NATO and Ukraine and infiltrate our government so easily.
Anyone that uses the term Nazi today is absolutely offensive and ignorant. If you want to use the word Nazi before you use it, go to Auschwitz go to Dachau Go lie down in the ovens… go see the video by Eisenhower when he first visited those camps… go look at the hundreds of thousands of pairs of glasses and boots once you do that you’ll never ever relate anybody today to Nazis. Go visit the tombs and remains of the 11 million people that were killed. One of the most offensive statements you can make in the world today…. you should be ashamed of yourself. Let me know when this administration starts killing millions of innocent foreigners or innocent victims of people in other countries Let me see this country, taking over foreign lands by force. This is supposed to be an educated bunch in truth it’s mostly a hateful bunch, which is really sad.
"The hard lessons of history seem to be repeating themselves". Per the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, Trump has launched "Operation At Large" arresting 2000 "immigrants" per week capturing over 200,000 humans so far.
Major street actions have erupted in 2 marches in Los Angeles this June 2025 weekend. In California immigrants have built the state's buildings & homes & worked in the Central Valley fields to feed that state and the entire nation.
This 4th generation Californian had "immigrant" ancestors that were fleeing from Ireland & Scotland. Like many those ancestors landed by boat at the Philadelphia harbor, some of the the original "boat people", if you will, before taking up brief residence in other parts of Pennsylvania.
After a short rest, family "immigrants" made another extended trek migrating south by foot into the valley below the Blue Ridge Mountains before establishing a new life in Stanton VA were there was good running water in creeks, streams & rivers.
1 of 5 immigrant sons (the second oldest) fought & died with then heavy, red, military coat wearing, Colonel George Washington in a 1755 failed battle against the French and & irregulars. The oldest immigrant son did not fight in any battles because he could not see well enough to shoot anyone.
Yes, "hard lessons" are being repeated. I hope I did not just write part of the Nation's Obituary before its 250th Birthday.
**********************************
OK, ok, I heard ya, here's a little Sunday inspirational song from ALANIS M on Austin City Limits, S49, Episode 12 with a powerful renditions of "All I really Want":
Don't worry, the United States obituary was written in 2016. Much like the Roman Empire it takes a while for a superpower to realize it's been dead for years.
I share your sentiments. Hundreds of thousands of us former moderate Republicans became "never Trumpers" since Trump's descent down his golden elevator into what has turned out to be hell for America and much of the world.
50501 on 6/14 in hundreds of locations across these great United States. Invite your Senators and Congresscritters to attend an event near them regardless of party.
He was an excellent president except for his decision to run for re-election. And I would fault him for making Garland AG. Some big errors.
But....show me the perfect president. Biden had a few flaws like all of us. But I slept well when he was in office. He had some important little things like morals and character and empathy. He built things and relationships. And he was a defender of democracy. America was respected and trusted by its allies and friends. And now...?
Bill Alstrom. Thanks for bringing out the contrast between the two presidents. Biden deserves better treatment than he is getting. Biden cared about people, trump hates them.
All human presidents are flawed to some degree but Biden set many things in a healthier direction, and like Carter is underestimated on account being unskilled as a TV star, a modern requirement for an influential presidency; maybe the most decisive one. He is crude and corrupt as hell, but like Reagan, Trump milks the medium. In an atmosphere of lies and chaos, Democrats need to be outspoken, firm, focused, and outraged, yet adult. Also persistent and repetitive, just like the BIg Lies and TV commercials.
trump's psychopathic traits are becoming an ubiquitous and exhausting part of our daily life, together with a large dose of deceitfulness, callous unconcern for and failure to conform to the truth, incapacity to experience guilt. disregard for expertise. His attempt to provide us with these ridiculous comforting myths is one of many ways he just bullshits his way through the presidency......
As one who remembers December 7th 1941, I am horrified though not surprised. Our felon president is both totally illiterate and totally uncaring about anything but gold. What he has done to the Oval Office is of a piece with what he is trying to do to American history.
Thank you Virginia. And please allow my own tribute to D-Day, when we, together with our British, Canadian, Free French and Free Dutch allies joined hands to turn back the tide that roared in on December 7.
With respect, the tide had roared in for Britain, France, Czechoslovakia (as it then was) and allies in 1939; and Japan had invaded China (the Manchuria region) in September 1931.
Yes. Thank you for reminding us of June 6th, lost in the current events of June 6, 2025, likey set up to dull the memory of our alliance with Europe.
May I add Poland to the list of allies? Poland had been overrun after September 1, 1939, but there had been Poles in the Battle of Britain in the skies. Thank you for the reminder. American history is being suppressed by those who want to sell US out to Putin, American ignoramuses who hope to gain power that way.
Yes. My father knew a Polish doctor he worked with that was in medical school in England at the time and the Poles joined together and became part of the RAF. We need to share these stories to family and friends and others. The videos are a good place to start. Perhaps Hestger can get an Oral Historiam or Storyteller involved!
My mother was at a Sunday tea with her mother for her Freshman class that day and her one friend heard the news with others as it was announced and ran into the bathroom crying the boys they boys they will be hurt and killed. My mother thought oh nonsense but she was right. My mothers four years of college was seeing her name peers enlist or her drafted and go to war . She was a pen pal for many. She also worked a summer at a war factory . There were not many dates or proms or dances because so many were gone. Her much younger brother would fill in as would his friends.!
I agree with what everyone has said, but I don’t want to give the congressional Rs a pass—they have enabled this man and I can only conclude they are fine with his destruction of our democracy bc they have done NOTHING to stop him.
Thank you for your note on Poland's crucial involvement particularly in the air war. I live in west London and only a few kilometers away is the memorial to Polish airmen of WWII. A regrettable omission by me.
Thank you for telling this (half-) Polish-American about the memorial in West London. I have read the story from the Polish flyers on week-ends in Poland to their escapes to get to England. Because of Yalta, the story is mostly lost in US history books (maybe someone will contradict me on this; i hope so). My Polish ancestry is a story of freedom fighters, so at 91, I write postcards to Democratic voters.
I live in the London Borough of Ealing which has the largest post WWII Polish population, enhanced by a new generation when 8 Eastern European countries were admitted to the European Union. I wish you a long and healthy life and many successive Democrat administrations ( and House and Senate majorities).
It is difficult to know if Trump is so lost in his own mind that he believes all his lies, or he just knows that if he says what he wants history to be, and he says it often enough, enough people will believe him.
Your project is very important and needed today. The truth, something that is necessary for sound decisions, something verifiable, must be preserved, presented, and easy to access. I am looking forward to your documentaries.
Yes, difficult to know whether Trump believes his lies and equally difficult to estimate the fraction of his acolytes who believe his lies. But the question of belief is irrelevant. What matters is why they voted for Trump. To that question, the answer is clear: they believed Trump would persecute people they don’t like. They are surely getting their money’s worth.
Absolutely. MAGAworld was voting for the culture war to "own the libs" and "erase woke " To them, truthful recitations of history, including (especially including) the ugly truths, are anathema to the narrow way they want to see the country. What they didn't expect in their voting bargain was what is happening economically. They truly didn't believe that economic pain would happen nor affect them. They only cared about the culture war, as well as indulging and re-normalizing their racism.
Yes. I fhink you’re right on all counts. However, I don’t think the economic pain will change their minds. They want their white supremacist government, regardless of cost. That has been evident since the white working class chose the racist, trickle-down Reagan despite his promise to bust the unions that were protecting their livelihoods.
Rex, you are very right about the dedicated MAGAs. There is no fixing them. No convincing them that bigotry is evil, etc. They are wedded to hate.
But, they are a minority. And I bet that as that economic pain is felt we'll hear from the vast majority of Americans that MAGA has gone too far. Keep in mind that Trump received 77 million votes. Harris 75 million. And over 80 Million qualified voters didn't show up. I see national frustration and ANGER brewing.
It is going be a long excruciatingly painful slog. Watch as the healthcare of elders and kids goes in the crapper. Watch as a new pandemic sweeps the country that has shut down preparations for such. Watch as state and local entities can't fill the gaps left by the brutal withholding of funds by the MAGA Nazis in DC. Watch as Veterans get worse care as 80,000 employees are fired at the VA and they farm out care to the private sector that is already overwhelmed and incapable of serving most of us properly.
Watch as the ERs fill with emergencies created by lack of early care. Watch as our system collapses.
Watch as the economics of chaos take its toll on all of us. The real estate market is already sending us a message. Homes are not selling. Why? And the business community is putting hiring and new projects on hold. Why?
Most of America is not going to like looking like a third world country while billionaires celebrate on their yachts. Most of America doesn't want chaos and more expensive everything.
The same blood that Heather celebrates in her Youtube series runs through our veins. This cruel fascist time will end. But first it will have to be very ugly. I am a short term pessimist and long term optimist. Just hope I live long enough for the latter.
Bill Alstrom, I usually agree with your thoughtful posts and I appreciate them. But I fervently disagree with your statement that Trump received 77 million votes, and I do believe that the truth will be revealed that the count we have been told is totally inaccurate. It will be one of the things that will take Trump's fascist regime down. Please do not project into such a distant future the ugliness which we are experiencing now (and will most likely in the short term). Bring out your long-term optimism and apply it now. We need to see that an ending is sooner than what you're predicting. Trust that the ending is nigh.
Sooner would certainly be better! Can you guide me to specific investigations about the November election that evidence fraud at the polls? I would appreciate any info you have. Thx.
I think we should also not underestimate the effect the “religious” (not) right has on its adherents. They instruct them whom to vote for and then openly support tfg’s meanness.
Don't discount the white christian nationalist angle; if you read Project 2025, you will see that everything is aimed at white Christian men being more equal than everyo e else. It is religious people who prefer their fictional history to reality. They believe that trump is gods chosen one to bring about the white christian nationalist country that they claim it always was.
I believe that today in California, with the immigration protests and the crazy escalation by the trump administration, we will see trump utilize the Insurrection Act and use the active military to deal with the protests. I think that the timing for trump to begin using the military to control the citizens is very soon becouse it won't be long before it becomes apparent to everyone that trump and the Republican party in Congress have ruined our national economy. They want the people who support them now to approve of using the Insurrection Act.
I think this fast escalation by trump was planned in advance to be used at immigration protests in California, and they are committed to declaring the Insurrection Act nationwide for as long as they are in power.
I believe Trump does not care a whit about anything Republican/Democrat.
He is avoiding jail and there to also enrich his family from millionaire to billionaire status. He naturally has an “autocratic” leaning as do most of the Republican Party.
Trump’s mind is gone. The sadistic people behind Project 2025 are calling the shots as far as policy initiatives. They are in charge, he is reaping personal benefits.
I agree -- the faces of Vought, Miller and the rest are filled with hatred and disdain for anyone who is not white and, preferably, male. We are in deep shit.
Yup, like EVERYTHING with Trump, it’s about Trump. He avoided jail (#1 on his immediate list). Now, he’s digging for gold and he has his family building hotels and golf courses. I hadn’t heard about the “National Garden of American Heroes,” but it wouldn’t surprise me that there will be a section devoted to certain “heroes” who have had their statutes removed because of their affiliation with efforts to disunite the United States as well as defend slavery.
Yes, Trump is not well-educated, except in the areas of bullying and bullshitting. He is educated in the art of Guilliani-ing people. Rudy is a perfect example of what Trump knows how to do and what he can get away with. This is Trumpian Knowledge. Elon is presently at Trump school. Eventually, he will get some crumbs (and droppings) once he “knuckles under,”
Education is another area of concern and not just Trump’s lack of it (and Navy Sec. John Phelan - and whichever aide sent him to Hawaii), but also what’s going on in higher education as well as in the Department of Education. In my opinion, the Education in the US is being unfairly bad-mouthed and students are being demeaned without cause or merit. Yes, COVID took its toll on my four grandkids - now aged 9-16. But, all four of them are doing very well not only academically, but also socially. The 9 year old is “employed” by a neighbor because their puppy dog loves it when she comes over and plays with him and tosses the ball and loves to learn and practice “Sit” and “Say Please,” etc. Scout also loves to roam the poop-free yard provided by a fun-loving 9 year old. When I hear TV people (Bill Maher in particular) rip into “today’s kids,” I get a bit perturbed. Even Maher’s opening video bit shows universities “stamping out” graduates.
OK, enough…I’m getting ready to go see my 12 year old’s baseball game….
like you, as I watch my grandkids, I am reassured we may be ok, if we responsible adults protect them from the maggots. I watch the HS students I teach, and hope we have provided them with strong morals and good strategies to become the educated productive adults they need to be. As those students graduate today, I am reassured that at least my public schools are doing a good job. The current administration attacking education is horrifying, yet not unexpected. In my life, educated people have often been attacked in similar schemes. We will survive.
Thank you, Nancy, for those reassuring words AND thank you for “taking on” high schoolers!! I taught 35 years of elementary school/middle school. I retired in 2001 (yikes!!), but have kept attuned to the profession. Happy graduation! (One of the most pleasing aspects of retirement from teaching is being contacted - out of the blue - by former students. When I retired there was just a glimmering of an Internet. Now, I get emails from former students - in their 50s - with offers to go get some wine!) Have fun teaching, Nancy!
Replying to myself: And his team won 12-0. Most importantly, they are a TEAM! Some good pitching and some good defense. Plus, my grandkid scored twice with one hit and an on base by an error. He’s a fast little nugget too - so, three stolen bases!
Plus, he is pretty fluent in American history. In my weird imagination, I have this grandson in a 21 Question Contest with the Terribly Rambling, Always Scrambling Huckster (TRASH, for short), President Trump. My money’s on the 12 year old kid.
Ironically, millions of MAGAs believe that Trump is a Republican and follow him ONLY because he put an "R" behind his name.
If Trump takes over. the government, eliminating Congress and the Courts, as long as he claims to be a Republican, he will get most of those that think they are Republicans to follow and support him.
I read past the fact that the Secretary of the Navy chose the wrong date...then I frowned when I realized how horrible and emblematic of the incompetence of the regime that error was. And then, as I read further and saw your new project, Heather, I broke into a wide smile. We NEED this! Thank you, thank you, thank you. With your tremendous following, the truth about our history should be disseminated widely. You continue to give way beyond what any of us could hope for. You are truly a national treasure.
You are spot on, Evelyn! I had the same experience reading this letter and then reading about the videos. They are a powerful way to reach a broad audience and reconnect to the roots that created the foundation for our democracy. Thank you so much for your comment and thank you to all those who created these videos!
Yes, I agree. But I think Heather writes for posterity. For the record. If MAGA ignore her, she counts on being a voice to help those who come after us to understand there were people who understood what was at stake and fought back against the fascist tyranny.
Yes, but wasn't the history of our founding, the composing of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution written for today - posterity- as well as the recording and documenting of other important events in our history now being disappeared, disavowed, or distorted? I always hope that Heather's brilliant reporting is disseminated more broadly beyond her substack and weekly podcasts.
I really would like to know your thoughts on this administration taking the upper hand in California and not giving the state's leaders a chance to deal with their own issues. Sending in the National Guard and potentially the USMarines seems like a huge escalation in an already dangerous situation. I see small children playing with toy soldiers and war pieces with no idea what they're playing with and what can happen. This has the potential to end very badly.
California should resist this insult as the fifth largest economy in the WORLD! Tell Trump and his brownshirt goons to take a hike. There's likely to be more than '4 Dead in OHIO ' news. Petty taco Head indeed.
It's not true that our represenatives have zero power. We must hold our elected leaders in the House and Senate accountable! Judge Luttig warned we cannot wait until the mid-term elections because we can't assume we'll still have mid-term elections in 2 years. Using the 5Calls app to call our elected leaders daily makes doing so quick and easy! Don't assume that they know what we do because they might not have time to read/listen to/watch Heather Cox Richardson, particularly her conversation with Gil Duran yesterday. There's still time to defeat "the big beautiful bill" -- especially its threat to democracy in Section 70302, which the Senate parliamentarian should recommend to remove and, ordinarily, the Senate would follow that recommendation but, we're not living in ordinary times. We also must insist that the Senate remove the 10 year moratorium on regulating AI [Subsection (c) of Section 43201]. We cannot allow our Federal government to engage Peter Thiel's company Palantir to conduct mass surveillance on us. We must demand action now from all of our representatives in Congress!
I agree with DC Policy Geek and Judge Luttig that we can't wait for the 2026 elections to stem the authoritarian tide. The civic infrastructure that keeps the country functioning will be rubble by then.
Consider the level of bureaucratic chaos already created. It's our first nationwide AI catastrophe; those DOGE fools treat AI as if it can think, and they're proving it only thinks as well as the humans who construct it. I've read that the civil service rehiring has already begun. I'm curious if that will repair the systems those jerks destroyed.
Many people like Rex, well intentioned, still think the fascist are going to risk it all in fair election James. I've been called defeatist for just mention the possibility of the regime creating an incident to justify declaring a state of emergency or the insurrection act. I simply called to be aware of the possibility and be prepared and insist that our leaders to be vigilant. James, we have to keep spreading the word before we are caught with our pants down.
Right there with you. These fascists will never cede power peacefully. It took them a long time to get here, and they are not going away without a fight. This country at the moment is not prepared for martial law, but that’s what’s coming next year. The 2026 elections will be the make or break for the country. In “normal” times, the party voted out of power would concede. That will not happen next year. We must prepare to fight to get back what we have lost, or democracy will be gone for at least a generation. I’m not sure at this point we’re up to that challenge..
No, we don’t. But we’re not even up to speed for 2025. The blitzkreig has most of the country still trying to figure out what the hell is going on, much less where things are headed. And the stupid brain-dead protect-our-profits-at-all-costs media is doing us no favors, playing along with the insanity as if all of it is just hunky dory. If I hear another word about the goddam food fight between the two assholes at the top, I’ll scream.
We have to be up for the challenge John, no alternative there even if we have to forget temporary going by the book and good manners. Nice to be on the same page. And just in case we are right, we should keep alerting people at all levels. 😉
There will probably BE no election, and if there is, it will be rigged. And we are staring the very strong possibility of martial law in the face... if not over what's happening in LA, then on June14. It's part of the P2025 plan and those "in charge" are just looking for excuses to employ it.
EVERY state and most counties have a Democratic Party that meets on a regular basis.
Engage with them to recruit state and local officials that are not Republicans.
Most of the sheriffs across the US are Republicans. Throw them out by finding an alternative choice that supports the values Heather talks about every day.
Much is happening right now to find and select new blood into state and local governments across the country. Take some time to find out what is going on in your locale.
After watching “good night and Good luck” live tonight my question to the administration “have you no decency?” The answer is no, they are indecent. His answer about the Declaration of Independence is like a lazy kid who refuses to do homework and does not even know he’s a fool !
as usual, every accusation is a confession. trxmp complains about “a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States … “ but hegseth is renaming ships! gimme a break!
I had the vinyl album, then replaced it with a CD and added Volume 2. One of the favorite recordings in my library.
Being a graphic designer, I've always sympathized with the plight of Betsy Ross and her impatience with a fussy George Washington's critique of her flag design.
"🎼Everybody wants to be an art director, changing all my stars to polka-dots!🎶"
None of them have pressing problems. None of them were hired for their education, backgrounds, or experience pertaining to the requirements of their current positions. They were only hired for their intense loyalty to one person and for their obedience in doing only exactly what they are told to do, period. They don't have to pay attention to anything going on in the depts they lead.
Some of them do seem to understand the importance of protecting their turf. The Washington Post reports on Musk's physical altercations with Scott Bessent and Marco Rubio over the issue of DOGE's exagerrated claims about savings it had identified and the horribly managed cancellation of USAID. Some DOGE officials have been pushed out of government and others refused entry to government buildings. However, at the same time, in other departments DOGE is actively recruiting staff and rehiring staff. It's hard to make any sense of all this activity.
Federal departments and agencies do a lot of important stuff and people begin to notice very quickly when it's not getting done. We've seen that already in those Senate confirmation hearings which went pretty badly for Trump nominees.
Use/share this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to your own reps, as well as those in other states on a specific committee important to a topic you’re sharing. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
A Secy. of the Navy who does not know the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor is emblematic of the Trump administration.
And in a nod to the adage about those who don’t remember history being inclined to repeat it, we have echoes of the run-up to Kent State now in LA.
Also, note the irony of Trump officials clutching their pearls over the safety of law enforcement in LA, while being fine with the pardons of the January 6 attackers.
Bush got the date wrong, too, saying September once during a speech instead of December. We can all have a brain fart from time to time but the participants in this regime have demonstrated their ignorance over and over and over again. With them it's almost a given that they don't know.
George W. Bush once said something to the effect that the Constitution is nothing more than a piece of paper he could use to wipe his ass.
Don't forget how he and dick Chaney used the national intelligence agencies to lie and justify going to war with Iraq in 2003.
Bush refused to include the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in his national budget; to this day, right-wingers blame Obama for adding to the debt because he added the cost of those wars to the budget where it belongs.
At least $10 trillion of the dept that is blamed on Obama is actually George W Bushes contribution to the debt.
Remember the "free speech zones" and the people turned away from Bush rallies based on their t-shirts.
Today's right-wing is not really much different than they were back then.
It appears to me that the trump administration has planned for an immigration protest in California to be the best excuse to enact the Insurrection Act. It is easier to justify beginning to use the military to control immigration protests and not begin with the pro-democracy demonstrations. They will keep the Insurrection Act in place as long as they hold power, and they will use the military to ruthlessly and violently control the population.
The ignorance and the shallowness of this regime is appalling. I've vacillated between wondering if it is willful ignorance or just plain stupidity. As a lifelong educator, I believe deeply that, with patience and attention, most of us are educable, but this crew makes me doubt that guiding principle of my life. When are our media going to push just a tiny bit to make the level of ignorance and incompetence apparent to the citizens of our nation? I am as unwilling to accept that we don't care as I am to accept that we are not educable. Those beliefs motivate me to get out of bed every day and not succumb to the notion what we are all pushing Sisyphus' rock uphill.
Most times stupidity goes hand in hand with ignorance and one is consequence of the other and if not enough, there's always the help from fox news. Thanks for your comment Betsy 👍
Good question GJ, I don't believe anything can be done while under this regime but if we ever get and winn another election, then the Democratic administration should switch into survivability mode and legislate limits to the freedom to spread false information for political purposes. We have to learn to defend our democracy from internal enemies as we do from those outside our borders. Even if it doesn't look very democratic. We play nice and by the book for too long and now we are immersed in a situation we might not be able to come out. In.the meantime we should keep protesting and encouraging our representatives in Congress and party leaders to present a solid opposition front to minimize the damage being inflicted on everyone. Keep the fight going!!!!
There is no doubt that the people of the right-wing are ignorant and unaware of true history but the administration, the ultra-rich, and the white christian nationalists are using their supporters ignorance and stupidity to take permanent minority rule of the USA.
Betsy, in Mary L. Trump's book, Too Much and Never Enough, she indicated without using the specific phrase that Donald is learning-disabled. She has both the education and inside knowledge to make that diagnosis.
People with such a disability are educable, of course. Unfortunately, Donald's family covered up Donald's disability rather than taking the necessary steps to overcome it. Donald was always "Number 2" behind Fred, Jr. until Freddy declared his lack of interest in the family business. Stuck with his second choice, Fred denigrated Donald while encouraging his "killer instinct" through cheating and bullying. Perhaps to soften the blows of Fred's abuse, Donald's emotionally arrested mother always told him he was "a very special boy" and coddled him.
Donald is the product of a profoundly dysfunctional family. As a result, he is a walking textbook of mental and emotional deficiencies which have never even been acknowledged, much less treated. He is ignorant, but with an unchecked, fragile ego, imagines that he's the smartest person in the room and chooses to surround himself with people who will affirm that self-deception.
Concerning corporate media, Donald's antics draw strong audiences which translate to strong revenue. Expecting the media to turn away from their cash cow is an exercise in futility.
Betsy, that, as the saying goes, is above my pay grade.
I believe mitigation isn't possible. The obstacles are immense and complex.
The simplest, and inexplicably unlikely solution would be for Donald's unhealthy lifestyle to have the effect it would have on anyone else. He seems to have the diabolical ability to escape the consequences that befall others when they live as he does.
Consequently, I think MAGA, as a political force, will dissipate when the focal point of the movement disappears.
Recovery afterward will be determined by the durability of the structure being created by the P2025 masterminds. I'm placing no wagers.
Well said Dale. Also depends upon the ability of the Manchurrian vice president Vance to control the chaos most likely would come as a consequence of having to steer a headless movement pulling in different directions at once.
The videos are short and they paint a clear historically factual picture of events, making them an easy lesson for any and all to absorb. Some I know in Boston are seriously talking resistance to the current regime, citing the American Revolution. They and I hope it doesn’t come to the levels of 1775-76. But the anger they feel for what is being done to Boston and the US is strong and their patriotic zeal rivals that of our founding fathers. They may not pick up arms, but they are using and will use the intelligence and savvy concentrated in the Boston area to counter the authoritarian actions of the current regime.
I’m a Kent alum. The events of May 4th changed the trajectory of the Vietnam War at the expense of 4 student lives and the wounding of 9 others. I came to understand the evil of government and how power warps men.
I was in school at IU that infamous day; I remember it very well. I recently read an old book, written a few years after 1974, that detailed the day-by-day events. Never realized how antagonistic townspeople were toward KSU.
MLMinET, I've lived in numerous university towns in the Eastern half of the U.S. I cannot think of any town, especially in the Midwest, where there wasn't a negative tension between the native locals and the university community.
Apparently, townspeople like the revenue universities bring to their communities, but resent the self-imposed sense of inadequacy they feel because they're not as educated. So many – not all – students exacerbate the problem with their unearned arrogance.
I know that is probably an issue. I think during those times at Kent it was also how “dirty” those hippies were, the governor of OH adding to the tension, etc.
I lived in Claremont during the academic year from 1981-1999, with summers on Cape Cod. Now, I live full time on the Cape, but I still feel bi-coastal. : )
A PLAN OF DEESCALATION is needed, not ESCALATION. Authoritarian tactics are being used. There hasn’t been an insurrection caused by protesters. The attack has come from highly armed and equipped federal agents. 🤯
I'm thankful for Aaron Parnas and his devotion to this movement and to providing us the information we need in a brief but in depth way. He's amazing and brave. And he's only 26 years old. Older heads could learn a lot from Aaron!
I stand with California and all Californians. I stand with any and every state that decides to separate from the Fascist Trump regime.
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
I look forward to seeing the videos. Heartfelt thanks for all of your hard work. It feels like we are pushing back the tide, but we cannot stop.
P.S. This administration’s ignorance is staggering. I have been thinking lately about those Republican members of Congress who have worked with capable, competent generals, intelligent cabinet members and their staff. They have bent the knee to MAGA, and I feel that some of them, anyway, have sold their souls so that they won’t be primaried. It’s very sad that there is no courage in the Republican congress.
I understand that’s an issue, but if so: get out of public life and position, which all of them refuse to do (see: fear of being primaried). House members in particular, who were elected last year, knew the political climate and, more importantly, the intentions of tfg. They chose this.
That is certainly one aspect of their political lives. Another is that being a politician is their job, with the attendant perks and power. Elected politicians may have started out with altruistic motives, but…I believe that power corrupts. I would like to see term limits for elected officials and the Supreme Court.
I have noticed that right-wingers are naturally corrupt; to begin with, left-wingers who are corrupt are people on the sociopathic spectrum who present themselves as progressive to gain power when they want to represent a more progressive area.
You have to be on the sociopathic spectrum to be a right-winger.
For the right-wingers, it's all about wielding their power to keep power in the hands of the minority with the use of every tool they have, including the military.
They will use massive, senseless violence to intimidate people from standing up for our Constitutional rights and liberties.
Gayle, in both my profession and my personal life, I have become acquainted with politicians and entertainers. Both groups benefit from strong public relations efforts; in fact, they can't succeed without vigorous PR and they depend on it for their survival. A dangerous temptation that almost none can resist is believing their own press. They fall into the belief that they are bulletproof, as long as they align themselves with the "right people."
At the moment, Donald appears to be the "right people," and Republicans are aligning with him, thinking he will protect them. But either they've failed to do their homework on Donald, or they're blinded by their power. With Donald, loyalty works in only one direction. If someone forgets to obey Donald, or other circumstances make it expedient for him, he will cut off anyone without a moment's thought. The people who think they are "safe" with Donald ... aren't.
Example: Apple Computer's Tim Cook thought he would protect himself and his company by dumping a million dollars into Donald's so-called "inauguration fund." Five months later, Donald announced he would levy tariffs on Apple products because they're made in China.
Agree with your take. Some very smart people have tried to appease djt with money and other concessions, to their sorrow. He pushes and pushes until a real tough guy like China’s Xi or Russia’s Putin pushes back. The man is a hollow shell, alas. We deserve better.
Gayle, I often wonder if we really do deserve better. The United States exists because white Europeans who couldn't get along with their neighbors in the old countries invaded the North American continent and stole land from indigenous peoples who'd stewarded the land for millennia. Then these white invaders had the audacity to slaughter thousands of the indigenous and herd the remnant into "reservations" and erase their cultural heritage through "education."
Meanwhile, our illustrious forebears decided it was their god-given right to enrich themselves by buying and owning kidnapped African humans, forcing them to work in brutal conditions without pay. When this practice was challenged, our ancestors fought and killed each other by the thousands in a war that was anything but civil.
Even after the dispute was "settled," descendants of the white European invaders have been relentless in their efforts to disadvantage and impoverish their Black neighbors, through education, finance, commerce and the judiciary. In recent years, these white European descendants have expanded their hatred to include anyone whose skin isn't lily-white, or doesn't worship the white protestant god, or isn't exclusively attracted to the "opposite sex."
And as if we hadn't caused enough mayhem in North America alone, we've spent centuries meddling in other nations' affairs, trying to make them adhere to an idealized model we can't even follow ourselves.
The idea of the United States is a good one, but we started on the wrong foot and we've never been able to achieve the dream that was held up for us. Our history is ugly with a few bright, shining moments scattered throughout, and we've never atoned for our mistakes.
So maybe we want better than Donald, but we don't necessarily deserve better until we acknowledge our ugly past and resolve to do better.
When I was a little boy and got into trouble for misbehaving, I would sometimes apologize to my mother. She would reply, "I don't want apologies. I want repentance!"
I literally can't STAND that stupid, uneducated, semi-literate monster who thinks he's hot stuff. He isn't. He's pathetic. He's small. He's weak. He's a bully. He's a coward, as bullies are. I majored in History. Truth is PARAMOUNT to understanding our world. To have such an idiot dare to change the story of our people, of our history literally makes me sick. Thank you for continuing to do everything in your power to keep Truth alive.
Thank you Heather and your team. We need to counter all that this regime is doing to the reality you and your readers see clearly.
81 years ago, brave Americans stormed Omaha beach to fight the Nazis. Now the Nazis have taken power in America. We must resist from Harvard to LA: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/harvard-is-defending-democracy
Yes, Public Servant, "Now the Nazis have taken power in America."
But a two-pronged attack. Two kinds of relentlessness. Cohering. Reenforcing.
One is Putin’s push to wipe democracy off the map of Europe (and Asia).
The other is the criminal in the White House aiding the tech bro and other billionaires so private interest corporate states replace democracy in the U.S.
You can enter into your search engine Heather’s name, and Gil Duran’s, as he explains Curtis Yarvin’s, Peter Thiel’s, and others’ plans thus to end U.S. democracy.
Both Putin and the criminal in the White House run on the same hate. Neither of them nor any of their white-supremacist nationalists ever got any education for any nuances needed for any who love anything anywhere. But it's the hand that has HATE tattooed on the knuckles of their one hand each forming the fists that lead their respective hatreds.
Here is the valuable conversation with Gil Duran:
https://www.youtube.com/live/FWjR6_qYJAw?si=bEYhffIAoHZMlDPJ
Thanks, Emily. Gil is new to me. He knows a lot and speaks like Heather - he is concise and clear. I learned a lot in 25 minutes.
He ends well. He says we should not give up, that the tech bros movement "is starting to fall apart." Heather adds to that the history of the end of the Robber Baron era, when all candidates for president were reformers.
I have just taken a few weeks off from calling my reps. I couldn't call, and I didn't know if I could go back to it. But I am ready to go again and in hindsight I see that I needed a break. Take care of yourselves, everybody!
I learned a ton from this conversation and, like you, found it encouraging!
You too, Anne. Take care of yourself.
Valuable is the right word. This explains why Trump 2 is different from Trump 1. Listen to all this, and listen again.
Yes, indeed, Emily.
When I attempted a copy-&-paste, I couldn't get what you got. Instead, I got an underlined, very brief prose description. And my experience with that is that it doesn't give access as yours here does.
In the US, the link went right to the YouTube video. Try searching for the title: American Conversations: Technology Reporter Gil Duran
It can be tricky to copy a link that works. Good you checked yours. I’m happy to help get this good conversation out to a wider audience.
A different perspective of history. One you must be exposed to living in Japan. FDR had placed an oil quarantine around Japan thereby forcing Japanese to attack us. Which forced us to enter WWII. Was it our own Tonkin Golf incident? As to the disgusting brut in the White House, we are paying a dear price for this folly but we only have ourselves to blame. Joe Biden is to blame. He was an extremely selfish man.
The Japanese Empire was engaged in a war it started to take over Asia. It first attacked China in 1931, then began a full-scale war in 1937. As to that war, look up “rape of Nanking.” In 1940, after the fall of France, Japan moved to take over effective power in Indochina. The rapidity of Japan’s advances through the Philippines, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies and Burma (as they all were then) is proof positive that the Japanese intended military conquest long before the oil embargo of 1941. FDR’s move only provided a convenient excuse.
As for holding Biden responsible for Trump, you probably think the Poles should not have provoked the Germans to invade in 1939.
As well the Japanese walked out of the League of Nations in 1933 thereby gaining no restrictions to prosecute a full scale war in China. We often forget just how long China was at war during this period. They, the Chinese, do not forget what happened after the fall of Nanking and the brutalities of that. The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang was a very difficult read.
Well argued about Japan's intentions.
But as to the last sentence, ordinary foolish Democrats like myself were betrayed by Biden's promise to be a one-term president.
And now we're left with the wacko-in-chief....
Hey Monroe, did you happen to ask yourself how it was possible for Biden the semi cadaver to get 13 million more votes than Obama the god? That has puzzled me, as well as many people. And where were those people in 2024 for the election?
Biden was and is a senile old man that overstayed and overplayed his hand.
What a vicious and ignorant comment. Heather has said numerous times in her politics talks, and she interviewed Biden, that he was not at all senile. He was running the country incredibly well and perfectly able. Only thing is he had a stutter that was harder to control when he was tired. He was a great president.
It’s amazing everybody here or a lot of people here are facing their lives today and what happened 100 years ago. That’s over folks. Check in with reality today shall we ?
Biden is responsible for every single illegal alien that came through the borders during his administration. Get that through your head. And every death, every wrongful death every murder every rape every citizen an illegal immigrant that traffic it’s on Biden’s head on
His hands. Trump is only doing as promised and cleaning up Biden’s mess. And while judges and Congress watched as these people march through the gates, 11,000 a day, nothing was said no complaints were made. Even the laws were being broken but now that we want to get them out, there’s a fewer how dare we wanna do this? The stench from hypocrisy fills the air.
Japan thought they were the equal of European powers (by their defeat of Russia in the 1905 war and could be as aggressive and careless with colonial rule as Europeans had set the example for. What they seemed to have missed was that Russia was not anywhere near as powerful as other European powers, even in Europe, certainly not at the extreme east end of their impossible supply lines.
Admiral Yamamoto had a much more realistic few of relative strengths and eventual consequences, but followed orders to try anyway.
Japan was the clear aggressor, and we had a rather stupid America First Group that thought we could stay out of it, other than making huge profits supplying both sides at least according to my Mentor who was captured at Corregidor and spent 3-1/2 years in Japanese POW and work camps. Surprisingly to me at first, he had great respect for the Japanese, what they learned from their mistakes, and how they became great allies when treated as we would wish to be treated if the conditions were reversed. He said they were rather amazed and inspired by how well we treated them after the war.
I just wish the Confederates had been schooled as well as the Japanese, and changed their behaviors as completely as the Japanese did,
Seek first to understand! A difficult task, but necessary to gathering the complete story. I lived in Japan in the late 1960’s courtesy of Uncle Sam and witnessed a society struggling to regain its lost dignity. I also struggled with pulling together all the pieces of the puzzle and hope to continue to learn in order to keep my foot out of my mouth.
Might the U.S. have acceded to Japan's desires for their sphere of influence?
The U.S. accepted the French, the English, and the Dutch as having theirs -- not the people of France, England, and Holland, but the owners of capital. In league with U.S. owners of capital.
One of my greatest heroes of my life time has been RBG. I loved her. I mention this because she failed us by hanging on when we had a chance to add someone like her to the Supreme Court. I see that decision as hubris, a word written about since at least the ancient Greeks. Joe Biden also failed us because of hubris. It was wrong of her, and him, but I do not consider it extremely selfish, nor was Joe or RBG solely at blame. Both were trying to preserve the pillars of enlightenment, both forgot the order of things in being level five leaders. At the end of the day we, the people, permitted the creation of the Worst Generation, beginning by our vote.
Now that you mention it, yes, RBG was the best we had. I wrote a song lament to her. But she tripped over herself thinking she would live forever. I blame her. It doesn’t diminish my respect for her. Allegedly Obama subtly tried to get her to retire when he invited her to lunch at the White House. But that doesn’t change me feeling that she bigly did wrong by not retiring. I want my leaders to be super human and never make mistakes. Humanity will now pay dearly for these bad moves.
And I blame Bill Clinton for not being able to keep his pants up in the Oval Office thereby potentially diminishing Al Gore’s chances. I fault us democrats for eating our best when Al Frankin was criticized and resigned over that airplane incident. He was presidential material without doubt. So what if I sometimes look at the glass half empty. It’s totally empty now.
Bill - I offer you this quote by Ken Burns and ask that we remember, we are mortals, and as such it is in our DNA to make mistakes, no pedestal can take away that reality.
This is the biography of the protean genius who wrote the immortal words that formed the heart and soul of our great nation. This is also the biography on an often inscrutable and completely fallible man, a man of a thousand contradictions, the most profound of which was that he could express as no one before or since ever has, the eternal ideals of equality and freedom. And yet as a lifelong slave owner, he never found himself capable of living out those ideals. To come to terms with Jefferson and his legacy, it is important to tolerate the ambiguities that attend anyone's existance, to appreciate the emotional undertow of a person's life. Somehow we have forgotten that the Greeks taught us centuries ago that a hero is not perfect. indeed what makes a hero interesting is the constant tension and inner negotiations between that person's great strengh and his or her obvious and inevitable weakness.
Burns,Ken
Their dishonesty was in not being honest about themselves to themselves.
Placing an Embargo on Oil to Japan is considered a peaceful act. The USA was trying to stay out of WWII using an Embargo. So what's your point???
The European Union and the USA have put a type of Embargo on Putin and Russia trying to strangle their oil and natural gas revenue. What's the difference??
Agree with Mr. Katz. The senility part is irrelevant. Biden's decisions and actions are the relevant question. Biden denied voters a Democratic Party primary to identify a candidate who could actually win swing voters. Worse still, he jammed the Party with a candidate who had already proven herself unable to win swing votes in the 2020 primaries. Not a shock that Harris won the votes of reliable Democratic Party voters (like me) but no other votes. This losing will continue until Democratic decision-makers and voters including many commenters on this thread stop romanticizing Biden, Harris et al, and start playing hardball with one purpose: to win.
No argument here. As I said before, democrats tend to eat their own as they did when Al Franken was senators and looking promising as a future presidential candidate. I cannot forgive those who hounded him until he left office. And it was a republican supporter set-up. What’s that special word every democrat loves to use… right misogynistic. He was misogynistic they said. As if there is no other word in the English language.
Bill, I agree with Jon - Japan had already launched its "Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" war long before Pearl Harbor. And, I agree with you - Joe Biden bears some of the blame, as do those who were around him. The "Ruth Bader Ginsburg" Syndrome is powerful. But, there are a myriad of other reasons for our debacle - we do have fascists among us and we (the National Democrats) failed miserably to deliver an effective message. Many because they thought prices were too high and that Trump could bring them down. Prices were high, but not as high as in other parts of the world. The American economy was the "envy of the World." [WSJ, 4-12-2024] That fact should have been broadcast day after day, hour after hour, but it wasn't. Tens of millions only get their info (not news) from Fox, Newsmax and OAN, so they didn't know. I knew when Jamie Harrison was selected as DNC Chair that we were in a heap of trouble. Jamie didn't even have the talent to be a good pimp.
Yeah bill the only price you’re paying is the cost of freedom. Yes, I’ve said here before. Here’s the liberals upside down solution to this problem. Of illegal immigration
If this administration stops enforcing the law, we will stop protesting. Holy crrrrrrap. You need to start looking at reality. The Democrats approval rating is in the toilet and getting lower almost every day that they back the wrong pony
Hey Phil, in my opinion, you’re a disgusting hateful human being. Take my advice, go to Auschwitz. Try using the word Nazi to describe this administration or any administration anywhere in the world since…. I could go on for a long time, especially after meeting survivors with tattoos on their arms and talking to them about their experience in survival. Just convinced me that, despite the education of many people here, they throw words like Nazi around like they are baseballs or marbles in a sandbox.
It’s Sub humane.
See Timothy Snyder's last column, "My brother-in-law is a genius." The songs are terrific and funny, just like Tom Lehrer 60 years ago (!). We are living in the "not see" state.
Thank you for that! Bookmarked and will pass on to others.
Never a truer word.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/26/neo-nazis-trump-extremism
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/07/the-base-neo-nazi-group-paramilitary-training
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/24/neo-nazi-group-the-base-leader-russian-spy-allegations
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/22/white-nationalist-hate-extremist-groups
And now you have neo-Nazis arrested during or after the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot suing the government for violating their rights.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/06/january-6-enrique-tarrio-lawsuit
It is incredible, isn’t it?! The criminal in OUR WH claims to be for law and order and swears that the immigrants are rapists and killers but he pardons white killers and criminals and now those people are suing our government (us)? The horrors just keep piling up!
He needs the criminals for the army he is building.
pretty sure some are already "working" with ICE..
Some of the people he's pardoned have since been re-arrested.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-pardon-recipients-are-being-charged-new-crimes-2022980
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/health-care-fraudster-philip-esformes-latest-trump-clemency-recipient-rcna175681
I wonder how many times you can use the 'Get Out of Jail' card in Trump Monopoly? Is there a 'Gleefully accept pardon and then claim compensation' card?
I know but not enough of them.
I agree. The pardon power has been so dreadfully abused that perhaps it should be removed from the office of the president altogether.
"Last night, Trump issued a memo invoking 10 U.S.C. § 12406 to “federalize” the National Guard.
Trump’s memo says he is starting with 2,000 federal troops in Los Angeles but reserves the right to federalize more National Guard troops and to use soldiers from other branches of the military against American citizens, pursuant to the discretion of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Pete Hegseth posted that he is ready to send the Marines against Americans. He says the Marines are just waiting for his order to attack."
Meidas Touch
Barbara, I am liking your comment, but I am horrified by what is happening in LA. I am sure that the area of the raid was chosen deliberately to provoke a response so he could call out the troops.
This is the moment I have been dreading all along. He absolutely will use troops on protesters on June14. He is enraged people hate him. He is enraged people would dare protest on his day. And he, of course, hates the California governor.
A friend and I were discussing the fiasco occurring in LA involving the National Guard and ICE. I said I thought this might be the spark that finally makes the general population awaken and realize the seriousness of our plight here in the US. My friend reminded me that it was only when "the people" saw peaceful protesters in Alabama being fire-hosed, attacked by vicious dogs, beaten and otherwise brutalized on their TV screens that they woke up to the need for Civil Rights legislation. I lived through these times and vividly remember my conservative, Republican parents becoming "woke" to this reality.
Much later, when in their seventies, my parents were more liberal than I am. I am glad they are not here to see what is happening now.
And, shockingly, people believe him.
Let's play make-believe.
And of course he’s a criminal and rapist, and arguably a murderer.
Russell, this suit is truly disgusting along with the payment to the family of the insurrectionist who was killed attacking the Capitol. But hey, if you kiss death star's rear somehow, you can be pardoned as he done recently with some of the biggest grifters at the government trough.
It's interesting that during the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021, Trump refused to take any action, including calling out the National Guard, to break up the riot. He even later falsely accused then Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, of refusing a request from him to deploy 10,000 National Guardsmen in advance of the demonstration, ostensibly to protect pro-Trump marchers.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4714732-new-video-shows-schumer-fury-over-trump-not-sending-national-guard-on-jan-6/
He's now become only the second president in US history (after Eisenhower in 1962 did so to protect black students) to have unilaterally called out the National Guard and he did so without even consulting the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. When Newsom criticised this decision Trump appended one of his stupid nicknamesto the governor (Newscum) in falsely accusing him and LA mayor Karen Bass of not being able to do their jobs.
Of course he did because no rules or usual practice applies to him. i think he and the minions carefully chose the place to do this and were hoping for resistance. They want violence that they produce and then use it as an excuse to call out the military.
This is indeed the narrative they're trying to sell. Newsom warns people to be ready for this and to fall into Trump's trap, but how then can these vulnerable communities be protected from the administration's arbitrary behaviour? It's funny how it's always Republicans who stand up for states' rights while Democrats go all feeble when it comes to incursions into their bailiwicks. Newsom could ask the National Guard to withdraw from state government buildings and the centre of the city of Los Angeles and instruct the LAPD not to assist ICE but to arrest them if they use disproportiate force.
Yeah! The ignorant guy gets an F in history. He had the historic significance wrong. Omaha Beach is a far cry and different date than Pearl Harbor
I wore a Tshirt commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-day on the 81sr anniversary the other day. It served a dual purpose--remembrance as well as a pro-democracy statement. I wore it to a tennis match and around town. Not a single person made a comment.
Good for you! Although I am a little shy about reading a woman's Tshirt.
I hope the graphic is on the back of the shirt.
Somehow, even in the shadow of WWII, US wannabee Nazis and wealth Nazi collaborators have always been tolerated in a way the those, often even tangentially on the left have not. The death of liberty in any nation is totalitarianism, and left, right or religious, it is soul-crushing tyranny. I think our blind spot for wealthy US citizens who sympathized with and traded with Hitler, or tolerance of dangerously irresponsible behaviors by lawless persons such as the Bundy "gang", have been protected by our undemocratic deference to "big money", and has offered refuge for the impulses the Trump Regime now exploits.
May I expand on your excellent point? Beyond Nazism, Authoritarianism - I say this because Putin is driving much of this. He must have a whole bunch of stuff on The Felon to have the US government turn its back on NATO and Ukraine and infiltrate our government so easily.
Anyone that uses the term Nazi today is absolutely offensive and ignorant. If you want to use the word Nazi before you use it, go to Auschwitz go to Dachau Go lie down in the ovens… go see the video by Eisenhower when he first visited those camps… go look at the hundreds of thousands of pairs of glasses and boots once you do that you’ll never ever relate anybody today to Nazis. Go visit the tombs and remains of the 11 million people that were killed. One of the most offensive statements you can make in the world today…. you should be ashamed of yourself. Let me know when this administration starts killing millions of innocent foreigners or innocent victims of people in other countries Let me see this country, taking over foreign lands by force. This is supposed to be an educated bunch in truth it’s mostly a hateful bunch, which is really sad.
That would be like "four score and one year ago", right ?
-- former speech writer for Abraham Lincoln
Saturday LFAA, HCR:
"The hard lessons of history seem to be repeating themselves". Per the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, Trump has launched "Operation At Large" arresting 2000 "immigrants" per week capturing over 200,000 humans so far.
Major street actions have erupted in 2 marches in Los Angeles this June 2025 weekend. In California immigrants have built the state's buildings & homes & worked in the Central Valley fields to feed that state and the entire nation.
This 4th generation Californian had "immigrant" ancestors that were fleeing from Ireland & Scotland. Like many those ancestors landed by boat at the Philadelphia harbor, some of the the original "boat people", if you will, before taking up brief residence in other parts of Pennsylvania.
After a short rest, family "immigrants" made another extended trek migrating south by foot into the valley below the Blue Ridge Mountains before establishing a new life in Stanton VA were there was good running water in creeks, streams & rivers.
1 of 5 immigrant sons (the second oldest) fought & died with then heavy, red, military coat wearing, Colonel George Washington in a 1755 failed battle against the French and & irregulars. The oldest immigrant son did not fight in any battles because he could not see well enough to shoot anyone.
Yes, "hard lessons" are being repeated. I hope I did not just write part of the Nation's Obituary before its 250th Birthday.
**********************************
OK, ok, I heard ya, here's a little Sunday inspirational song from ALANIS M on Austin City Limits, S49, Episode 12 with a powerful renditions of "All I really Want":
🎶 Do I stress you out?🎶
🎶 My sweater is on backwards & inside out🎶
🎶And you say, ya, ya, ya ... how appropriate 🎶
"Fight Everywhere All the Time"
Don't worry, the United States obituary was written in 2016. Much like the Roman Empire it takes a while for a superpower to realize it's been dead for years.
I share your sentiments. Hundreds of thousands of us former moderate Republicans became "never Trumpers" since Trump's descent down his golden elevator into what has turned out to be hell for America and much of the world.
50501 on 6/14 in hundreds of locations across these great United States. Invite your Senators and Congresscritters to attend an event near them regardless of party.
With a brief revival under Biden. He was a good President with the exception of his support of Israel.
He was an excellent president except for his decision to run for re-election. And I would fault him for making Garland AG. Some big errors.
But....show me the perfect president. Biden had a few flaws like all of us. But I slept well when he was in office. He had some important little things like morals and character and empathy. He built things and relationships. And he was a defender of democracy. America was respected and trusted by its allies and friends. And now...?
Oh, how I miss him.
Bill Alstrom. Thanks for bringing out the contrast between the two presidents. Biden deserves better treatment than he is getting. Biden cared about people, trump hates them.
All human presidents are flawed to some degree but Biden set many things in a healthier direction, and like Carter is underestimated on account being unskilled as a TV star, a modern requirement for an influential presidency; maybe the most decisive one. He is crude and corrupt as hell, but like Reagan, Trump milks the medium. In an atmosphere of lies and chaos, Democrats need to be outspoken, firm, focused, and outraged, yet adult. Also persistent and repetitive, just like the BIg Lies and TV commercials.
I will never forgive Joe Biden for two things:
He is ultimately responsible for having allowed Clarence Thomas to be on the Supreme Court; and
He is ultimately responsible for Trump being back in the White House.
Right now, with where we are, nothing else counts.
Yes, yes, yes! Same about Obama.
Obama definitely played a big part in putting Trump in in 2016.
trump's psychopathic traits are becoming an ubiquitous and exhausting part of our daily life, together with a large dose of deceitfulness, callous unconcern for and failure to conform to the truth, incapacity to experience guilt. disregard for expertise. His attempt to provide us with these ridiculous comforting myths is one of many ways he just bullshits his way through the presidency......
It’s exhausting.
Looking forward to the summer of love 2025. I love for the constitution and the history we share.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
As one who remembers December 7th 1941, I am horrified though not surprised. Our felon president is both totally illiterate and totally uncaring about anything but gold. What he has done to the Oval Office is of a piece with what he is trying to do to American history.
Thank you, Professor Richardson.
Thank you Virginia. And please allow my own tribute to D-Day, when we, together with our British, Canadian, Free French and Free Dutch allies joined hands to turn back the tide that roared in on December 7.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-164303963
With respect, the tide had roared in for Britain, France, Czechoslovakia (as it then was) and allies in 1939; and Japan had invaded China (the Manchuria region) in September 1931.
Yes. Thank you for reminding us of June 6th, lost in the current events of June 6, 2025, likey set up to dull the memory of our alliance with Europe.
May I add Poland to the list of allies? Poland had been overrun after September 1, 1939, but there had been Poles in the Battle of Britain in the skies. Thank you for the reminder. American history is being suppressed by those who want to sell US out to Putin, American ignoramuses who hope to gain power that way.
Yes. My father knew a Polish doctor he worked with that was in medical school in England at the time and the Poles joined together and became part of the RAF. We need to share these stories to family and friends and others. The videos are a good place to start. Perhaps Hestger can get an Oral Historiam or Storyteller involved!
My mother was at a Sunday tea with her mother for her Freshman class that day and her one friend heard the news with others as it was announced and ran into the bathroom crying the boys they boys they will be hurt and killed. My mother thought oh nonsense but she was right. My mothers four years of college was seeing her name peers enlist or her drafted and go to war . She was a pen pal for many. She also worked a summer at a war factory . There were not many dates or proms or dances because so many were gone. Her much younger brother would fill in as would his friends.!
I agree with what everyone has said, but I don’t want to give the congressional Rs a pass—they have enabled this man and I can only conclude they are fine with his destruction of our democracy bc they have done NOTHING to stop him.
Thank you for your note on Poland's crucial involvement particularly in the air war. I live in west London and only a few kilometers away is the memorial to Polish airmen of WWII. A regrettable omission by me.
Thank you for telling this (half-) Polish-American about the memorial in West London. I have read the story from the Polish flyers on week-ends in Poland to their escapes to get to England. Because of Yalta, the story is mostly lost in US history books (maybe someone will contradict me on this; i hope so). My Polish ancestry is a story of freedom fighters, so at 91, I write postcards to Democratic voters.
I live in the London Borough of Ealing which has the largest post WWII Polish population, enhanced by a new generation when 8 Eastern European countries were admitted to the European Union. I wish you a long and healthy life and many successive Democrat administrations ( and House and Senate majorities).
Thank you, Mr. Venkatesan. And thank you again for the exchange.
Make Competence Cool Again.
Make Honesty the Gold Standard.
It is difficult to know if Trump is so lost in his own mind that he believes all his lies, or he just knows that if he says what he wants history to be, and he says it often enough, enough people will believe him.
Your project is very important and needed today. The truth, something that is necessary for sound decisions, something verifiable, must be preserved, presented, and easy to access. I am looking forward to your documentaries.
Yes, difficult to know whether Trump believes his lies and equally difficult to estimate the fraction of his acolytes who believe his lies. But the question of belief is irrelevant. What matters is why they voted for Trump. To that question, the answer is clear: they believed Trump would persecute people they don’t like. They are surely getting their money’s worth.
Absolutely. MAGAworld was voting for the culture war to "own the libs" and "erase woke " To them, truthful recitations of history, including (especially including) the ugly truths, are anathema to the narrow way they want to see the country. What they didn't expect in their voting bargain was what is happening economically. They truly didn't believe that economic pain would happen nor affect them. They only cared about the culture war, as well as indulging and re-normalizing their racism.
Yes. I fhink you’re right on all counts. However, I don’t think the economic pain will change their minds. They want their white supremacist government, regardless of cost. That has been evident since the white working class chose the racist, trickle-down Reagan despite his promise to bust the unions that were protecting their livelihoods.
Conservatives don't change their minds. They are, as they have always been, told what to think.
Rex, you are very right about the dedicated MAGAs. There is no fixing them. No convincing them that bigotry is evil, etc. They are wedded to hate.
But, they are a minority. And I bet that as that economic pain is felt we'll hear from the vast majority of Americans that MAGA has gone too far. Keep in mind that Trump received 77 million votes. Harris 75 million. And over 80 Million qualified voters didn't show up. I see national frustration and ANGER brewing.
It is going be a long excruciatingly painful slog. Watch as the healthcare of elders and kids goes in the crapper. Watch as a new pandemic sweeps the country that has shut down preparations for such. Watch as state and local entities can't fill the gaps left by the brutal withholding of funds by the MAGA Nazis in DC. Watch as Veterans get worse care as 80,000 employees are fired at the VA and they farm out care to the private sector that is already overwhelmed and incapable of serving most of us properly.
Watch as the ERs fill with emergencies created by lack of early care. Watch as our system collapses.
Watch as the economics of chaos take its toll on all of us. The real estate market is already sending us a message. Homes are not selling. Why? And the business community is putting hiring and new projects on hold. Why?
Most of America is not going to like looking like a third world country while billionaires celebrate on their yachts. Most of America doesn't want chaos and more expensive everything.
The same blood that Heather celebrates in her Youtube series runs through our veins. This cruel fascist time will end. But first it will have to be very ugly. I am a short term pessimist and long term optimist. Just hope I live long enough for the latter.
Bill Alstrom, I usually agree with your thoughtful posts and I appreciate them. But I fervently disagree with your statement that Trump received 77 million votes, and I do believe that the truth will be revealed that the count we have been told is totally inaccurate. It will be one of the things that will take Trump's fascist regime down. Please do not project into such a distant future the ugliness which we are experiencing now (and will most likely in the short term). Bring out your long-term optimism and apply it now. We need to see that an ending is sooner than what you're predicting. Trust that the ending is nigh.
Sooner would certainly be better! Can you guide me to specific investigations about the November election that evidence fraud at the polls? I would appreciate any info you have. Thx.
I think we should also not underestimate the effect the “religious” (not) right has on its adherents. They instruct them whom to vote for and then openly support tfg’s meanness.
Don't discount the white christian nationalist angle; if you read Project 2025, you will see that everything is aimed at white Christian men being more equal than everyo e else. It is religious people who prefer their fictional history to reality. They believe that trump is gods chosen one to bring about the white christian nationalist country that they claim it always was.
I believe that today in California, with the immigration protests and the crazy escalation by the trump administration, we will see trump utilize the Insurrection Act and use the active military to deal with the protests. I think that the timing for trump to begin using the military to control the citizens is very soon becouse it won't be long before it becomes apparent to everyone that trump and the Republican party in Congress have ruined our national economy. They want the people who support them now to approve of using the Insurrection Act.
I think this fast escalation by trump was planned in advance to be used at immigration protests in California, and they are committed to declaring the Insurrection Act nationwide for as long as they are in power.
I becervthoughtbifvitvkijectgst.!! Of course!!!! Oh woe.
I believe Trump does not care a whit about anything Republican/Democrat.
He is avoiding jail and there to also enrich his family from millionaire to billionaire status. He naturally has an “autocratic” leaning as do most of the Republican Party.
Trump’s mind is gone. The sadistic people behind Project 2025 are calling the shots as far as policy initiatives. They are in charge, he is reaping personal benefits.
I agree -- the faces of Vought, Miller and the rest are filled with hatred and disdain for anyone who is not white and, preferably, male. We are in deep shit.
Yup, like EVERYTHING with Trump, it’s about Trump. He avoided jail (#1 on his immediate list). Now, he’s digging for gold and he has his family building hotels and golf courses. I hadn’t heard about the “National Garden of American Heroes,” but it wouldn’t surprise me that there will be a section devoted to certain “heroes” who have had their statutes removed because of their affiliation with efforts to disunite the United States as well as defend slavery.
Yes, Trump is not well-educated, except in the areas of bullying and bullshitting. He is educated in the art of Guilliani-ing people. Rudy is a perfect example of what Trump knows how to do and what he can get away with. This is Trumpian Knowledge. Elon is presently at Trump school. Eventually, he will get some crumbs (and droppings) once he “knuckles under,”
Education is another area of concern and not just Trump’s lack of it (and Navy Sec. John Phelan - and whichever aide sent him to Hawaii), but also what’s going on in higher education as well as in the Department of Education. In my opinion, the Education in the US is being unfairly bad-mouthed and students are being demeaned without cause or merit. Yes, COVID took its toll on my four grandkids - now aged 9-16. But, all four of them are doing very well not only academically, but also socially. The 9 year old is “employed” by a neighbor because their puppy dog loves it when she comes over and plays with him and tosses the ball and loves to learn and practice “Sit” and “Say Please,” etc. Scout also loves to roam the poop-free yard provided by a fun-loving 9 year old. When I hear TV people (Bill Maher in particular) rip into “today’s kids,” I get a bit perturbed. Even Maher’s opening video bit shows universities “stamping out” graduates.
OK, enough…I’m getting ready to go see my 12 year old’s baseball game….
like you, as I watch my grandkids, I am reassured we may be ok, if we responsible adults protect them from the maggots. I watch the HS students I teach, and hope we have provided them with strong morals and good strategies to become the educated productive adults they need to be. As those students graduate today, I am reassured that at least my public schools are doing a good job. The current administration attacking education is horrifying, yet not unexpected. In my life, educated people have often been attacked in similar schemes. We will survive.
Thank you, Nancy, for those reassuring words AND thank you for “taking on” high schoolers!! I taught 35 years of elementary school/middle school. I retired in 2001 (yikes!!), but have kept attuned to the profession. Happy graduation! (One of the most pleasing aspects of retirement from teaching is being contacted - out of the blue - by former students. When I retired there was just a glimmering of an Internet. Now, I get emails from former students - in their 50s - with offers to go get some wine!) Have fun teaching, Nancy!
Teachers can impact students much more than they know .. so happy to learn that so many of yours are still in touch!
Replying to myself: And his team won 12-0. Most importantly, they are a TEAM! Some good pitching and some good defense. Plus, my grandkid scored twice with one hit and an on base by an error. He’s a fast little nugget too - so, three stolen bases!
Plus, he is pretty fluent in American history. In my weird imagination, I have this grandson in a 21 Question Contest with the Terribly Rambling, Always Scrambling Huckster (TRASH, for short), President Trump. My money’s on the 12 year old kid.
Ironically, millions of MAGAs believe that Trump is a Republican and follow him ONLY because he put an "R" behind his name.
If Trump takes over. the government, eliminating Congress and the Courts, as long as he claims to be a Republican, he will get most of those that think they are Republicans to follow and support him.
Exactly how we feel.
💯💯💯💯
He does not believe his lies/every word he speaks. He is a demagogue who uses lies to gain power.
I agree, Oldandintheway
Really looking forward to this project, Heather. Heartfelt thanks, again. And again.
I read past the fact that the Secretary of the Navy chose the wrong date...then I frowned when I realized how horrible and emblematic of the incompetence of the regime that error was. And then, as I read further and saw your new project, Heather, I broke into a wide smile. We NEED this! Thank you, thank you, thank you. With your tremendous following, the truth about our history should be disseminated widely. You continue to give way beyond what any of us could hope for. You are truly a national treasure.
You are spot on, Evelyn! I had the same experience reading this letter and then reading about the videos. They are a powerful way to reach a broad audience and reconnect to the roots that created the foundation for our democracy. Thank you so much for your comment and thank you to all those who created these videos!
And hopefully her videos will go beyond us - the choir. Because the MAGAs endorse what is believed by their team - it's team loyalty.
Yes, I agree. But I think Heather writes for posterity. For the record. If MAGA ignore her, she counts on being a voice to help those who come after us to understand there were people who understood what was at stake and fought back against the fascist tyranny.
Yes, but wasn't the history of our founding, the composing of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution written for today - posterity- as well as the recording and documenting of other important events in our history now being disappeared, disavowed, or distorted? I always hope that Heather's brilliant reporting is disseminated more broadly beyond her substack and weekly podcasts.
I breathed a giant gulp of hope that we can share these truths about history. What a wonderful gift to now and the future. My grandchildren need this.
I really would like to know your thoughts on this administration taking the upper hand in California and not giving the state's leaders a chance to deal with their own issues. Sending in the National Guard and potentially the USMarines seems like a huge escalation in an already dangerous situation. I see small children playing with toy soldiers and war pieces with no idea what they're playing with and what can happen. This has the potential to end very badly.
🎵 This summer I hear the drumming....🎵
Though your brother's bound and gagged
and they've chained him to a chair . . .
"Before the end even treason might be worth a try. This country is too young to die." Phil Ochs
But demonstrations are a drag, besides we're much too high
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.
Phil Ochs (met him at an anti-war protest in 1969, drove him to and from his gig, nice guy, surprisingly shy.)
Truthfully, inside I always knew it would come to this. Now and how will the rest of the country take a stand?
Excellent!
California should resist this insult as the fifth largest economy in the WORLD! Tell Trump and his brownshirt goons to take a hike. There's likely to be more than '4 Dead in OHIO ' news. Petty taco Head indeed.
This is a train wreck. We need action now from our representatives in Congress.
Our representatives have zero power. The only hope is to give them power in the 2026 election.
It's not true that our represenatives have zero power. We must hold our elected leaders in the House and Senate accountable! Judge Luttig warned we cannot wait until the mid-term elections because we can't assume we'll still have mid-term elections in 2 years. Using the 5Calls app to call our elected leaders daily makes doing so quick and easy! Don't assume that they know what we do because they might not have time to read/listen to/watch Heather Cox Richardson, particularly her conversation with Gil Duran yesterday. There's still time to defeat "the big beautiful bill" -- especially its threat to democracy in Section 70302, which the Senate parliamentarian should recommend to remove and, ordinarily, the Senate would follow that recommendation but, we're not living in ordinary times. We also must insist that the Senate remove the 10 year moratorium on regulating AI [Subsection (c) of Section 43201]. We cannot allow our Federal government to engage Peter Thiel's company Palantir to conduct mass surveillance on us. We must demand action now from all of our representatives in Congress!
Exactly how do we make the minority party hold the majority to account?
Pinning responsibility on the Democrats just repeats the circular firing squad mentality that too often plagues America's left.
We demand, they ignore.
We must still make the demand of discontent.
I agree with DC Policy Geek and Judge Luttig that we can't wait for the 2026 elections to stem the authoritarian tide. The civic infrastructure that keeps the country functioning will be rubble by then.
Consider the level of bureaucratic chaos already created. It's our first nationwide AI catastrophe; those DOGE fools treat AI as if it can think, and they're proving it only thinks as well as the humans who construct it. I've read that the civil service rehiring has already begun. I'm curious if that will repair the systems those jerks destroyed.
Garbage in, garbage out
What 2026 election?
Many people like Rex, well intentioned, still think the fascist are going to risk it all in fair election James. I've been called defeatist for just mention the possibility of the regime creating an incident to justify declaring a state of emergency or the insurrection act. I simply called to be aware of the possibility and be prepared and insist that our leaders to be vigilant. James, we have to keep spreading the word before we are caught with our pants down.
Right there with you. These fascists will never cede power peacefully. It took them a long time to get here, and they are not going away without a fight. This country at the moment is not prepared for martial law, but that’s what’s coming next year. The 2026 elections will be the make or break for the country. In “normal” times, the party voted out of power would concede. That will not happen next year. We must prepare to fight to get back what we have lost, or democracy will be gone for at least a generation. I’m not sure at this point we’re up to that challenge..
We don't have until 2026.
No, we don’t. But we’re not even up to speed for 2025. The blitzkreig has most of the country still trying to figure out what the hell is going on, much less where things are headed. And the stupid brain-dead protect-our-profits-at-all-costs media is doing us no favors, playing along with the insanity as if all of it is just hunky dory. If I hear another word about the goddam food fight between the two assholes at the top, I’ll scream.
We have to be up for the challenge John, no alternative there even if we have to forget temporary going by the book and good manners. Nice to be on the same page. And just in case we are right, we should keep alerting people at all levels. 😉
There will probably BE no election, and if there is, it will be rigged. And we are staring the very strong possibility of martial law in the face... if not over what's happening in LA, then on June14. It's part of the P2025 plan and those "in charge" are just looking for excuses to employ it.
Indeed we must
EVERY state and most counties have a Democratic Party that meets on a regular basis.
Engage with them to recruit state and local officials that are not Republicans.
Most of the sheriffs across the US are Republicans. Throw them out by finding an alternative choice that supports the values Heather talks about every day.
Much is happening right now to find and select new blood into state and local governments across the country. Take some time to find out what is going on in your locale.
"All politics is local." Tip O'Neal
Well, they are "acting," but is it enough against the inimical republicans and cabinet?
After watching “good night and Good luck” live tonight my question to the administration “have you no decency?” The answer is no, they are indecent. His answer about the Declaration of Independence is like a lazy kid who refuses to do homework and does not even know he’s a fool !
Trump probably thinks that the Bill of Rights is an invoice and he's always ignored those.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dozens-of-lawsuits-accuse-trump-of-not-paying-his-bills-reports-claim?msockid=13378ba6f3b860b635ee9e79f29f61ee
He doesn’t care. It’s strangely that simple.
as usual, every accusation is a confession. trxmp complains about “a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States … “ but hegseth is renaming ships! gimme a break!
I like the Stan Freberg version, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjgxmlw43pw
I had the vinyl album, then replaced it with a CD and added Volume 2. One of the favorite recordings in my library.
Being a graphic designer, I've always sympathized with the plight of Betsy Ross and her impatience with a fussy George Washington's critique of her flag design.
"🎼Everybody wants to be an art director, changing all my stars to polka-dots!🎶"
You would think that Hegseth and Phelan would have more pressing problems to deal with.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq808gkn597o
None of them have pressing problems. None of them were hired for their education, backgrounds, or experience pertaining to the requirements of their current positions. They were only hired for their intense loyalty to one person and for their obedience in doing only exactly what they are told to do, period. They don't have to pay attention to anything going on in the depts they lead.
Some of them do seem to understand the importance of protecting their turf. The Washington Post reports on Musk's physical altercations with Scott Bessent and Marco Rubio over the issue of DOGE's exagerrated claims about savings it had identified and the horribly managed cancellation of USAID. Some DOGE officials have been pushed out of government and others refused entry to government buildings. However, at the same time, in other departments DOGE is actively recruiting staff and rehiring staff. It's hard to make any sense of all this activity.
Federal departments and agencies do a lot of important stuff and people begin to notice very quickly when it's not getting done. We've seen that already in those Senate confirmation hearings which went pretty badly for Trump nominees.
Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Use/share this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to your own reps, as well as those in other states on a specific committee important to a topic you’re sharing. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit?usp=drivesdk
Glad to see you here, again! Thank you! My local Indivisible group appreciated your spreadsheet! You rock!
Yayyyy!! Thank YOU for being so active!
Here’s one of the best How You Can Help (even in small ways) articles I’ve read to date. Please pass it along. https://open.substack.com/pub/50501/p/its-even-worse-than-you-think-but
Yes! I read that when they posted it and totally agree with you!
Thank you Megan!
A Secy. of the Navy who does not know the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor is emblematic of the Trump administration.
And in a nod to the adage about those who don’t remember history being inclined to repeat it, we have echoes of the run-up to Kent State now in LA.
Also, note the irony of Trump officials clutching their pearls over the safety of law enforcement in LA, while being fine with the pardons of the January 6 attackers.
Bush got the date wrong, too, saying September once during a speech instead of December. We can all have a brain fart from time to time but the participants in this regime have demonstrated their ignorance over and over and over again. With them it's almost a given that they don't know.
George W. Bush once said something to the effect that the Constitution is nothing more than a piece of paper he could use to wipe his ass.
Don't forget how he and dick Chaney used the national intelligence agencies to lie and justify going to war with Iraq in 2003.
Bush refused to include the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in his national budget; to this day, right-wingers blame Obama for adding to the debt because he added the cost of those wars to the budget where it belongs.
At least $10 trillion of the dept that is blamed on Obama is actually George W Bushes contribution to the debt.
Remember the "free speech zones" and the people turned away from Bush rallies based on their t-shirts.
Today's right-wing is not really much different than they were back then.
Also very much like the police riots in Chicago in '68.
It appears to me that the trump administration has planned for an immigration protest in California to be the best excuse to enact the Insurrection Act. It is easier to justify beginning to use the military to control immigration protests and not begin with the pro-democracy demonstrations. They will keep the Insurrection Act in place as long as they hold power, and they will use the military to ruthlessly and violently control the population.
Your last point hadn’t, but should have, occurred to me.
The ignorance and the shallowness of this regime is appalling. I've vacillated between wondering if it is willful ignorance or just plain stupidity. As a lifelong educator, I believe deeply that, with patience and attention, most of us are educable, but this crew makes me doubt that guiding principle of my life. When are our media going to push just a tiny bit to make the level of ignorance and incompetence apparent to the citizens of our nation? I am as unwilling to accept that we don't care as I am to accept that we are not educable. Those beliefs motivate me to get out of bed every day and not succumb to the notion what we are all pushing Sisyphus' rock uphill.
Most times stupidity goes hand in hand with ignorance and one is consequence of the other and if not enough, there's always the help from fox news. Thanks for your comment Betsy 👍
What can be done about Fox News Ricardo?
Their big diversion tactic right now is to denigrate Joe Biden as they have been doing for years.
Boycotting their advertisers has worked from time to time, but never for very long.
Any ideas?
Good question GJ, I don't believe anything can be done while under this regime but if we ever get and winn another election, then the Democratic administration should switch into survivability mode and legislate limits to the freedom to spread false information for political purposes. We have to learn to defend our democracy from internal enemies as we do from those outside our borders. Even if it doesn't look very democratic. We play nice and by the book for too long and now we are immersed in a situation we might not be able to come out. In.the meantime we should keep protesting and encouraging our representatives in Congress and party leaders to present a solid opposition front to minimize the damage being inflicted on everyone. Keep the fight going!!!!
There is no doubt that the people of the right-wing are ignorant and unaware of true history but the administration, the ultra-rich, and the white christian nationalists are using their supporters ignorance and stupidity to take permanent minority rule of the USA.
Betsy, in Mary L. Trump's book, Too Much and Never Enough, she indicated without using the specific phrase that Donald is learning-disabled. She has both the education and inside knowledge to make that diagnosis.
People with such a disability are educable, of course. Unfortunately, Donald's family covered up Donald's disability rather than taking the necessary steps to overcome it. Donald was always "Number 2" behind Fred, Jr. until Freddy declared his lack of interest in the family business. Stuck with his second choice, Fred denigrated Donald while encouraging his "killer instinct" through cheating and bullying. Perhaps to soften the blows of Fred's abuse, Donald's emotionally arrested mother always told him he was "a very special boy" and coddled him.
Donald is the product of a profoundly dysfunctional family. As a result, he is a walking textbook of mental and emotional deficiencies which have never even been acknowledged, much less treated. He is ignorant, but with an unchecked, fragile ego, imagines that he's the smartest person in the room and chooses to surround himself with people who will affirm that self-deception.
Concerning corporate media, Donald's antics draw strong audiences which translate to strong revenue. Expecting the media to turn away from their cash cow is an exercise in futility.
Fine analysis, but how do we mitigate the damage?
Betsy, that, as the saying goes, is above my pay grade.
I believe mitigation isn't possible. The obstacles are immense and complex.
The simplest, and inexplicably unlikely solution would be for Donald's unhealthy lifestyle to have the effect it would have on anyone else. He seems to have the diabolical ability to escape the consequences that befall others when they live as he does.
Consequently, I think MAGA, as a political force, will dissipate when the focal point of the movement disappears.
Recovery afterward will be determined by the durability of the structure being created by the P2025 masterminds. I'm placing no wagers.
Well said Dale. Also depends upon the ability of the Manchurrian vice president Vance to control the chaos most likely would come as a consequence of having to steer a headless movement pulling in different directions at once.
Especially with the administration pushing downhill.
The videos are short and they paint a clear historically factual picture of events, making them an easy lesson for any and all to absorb. Some I know in Boston are seriously talking resistance to the current regime, citing the American Revolution. They and I hope it doesn’t come to the levels of 1775-76. But the anger they feel for what is being done to Boston and the US is strong and their patriotic zeal rivals that of our founding fathers. They may not pick up arms, but they are using and will use the intelligence and savvy concentrated in the Boston area to counter the authoritarian actions of the current regime.
Hats off to Ken Casey and the Dropkick Murphy's for their contribution.
Hegseth may send in the marines to .Los Angeles. trump is sending the National Guard!
https://open.substack.com/pub/aaronparnas/p/breaking-pete-hegseth-may-send-in
https://open.substack.com/pub/aaronparnas/p/breaking-governor-gavin-newsom-confirms
The Marines will cross the county lines of San Diego and Orange County. It’s a terrible day when we send young Americans to confront other Americans.
Some of us remember vividly what happened at Kent State in 1970.
I’m a Kent alum. The events of May 4th changed the trajectory of the Vietnam War at the expense of 4 student lives and the wounding of 9 others. I came to understand the evil of government and how power warps men.
I was in school at IU that infamous day; I remember it very well. I recently read an old book, written a few years after 1974, that detailed the day-by-day events. Never realized how antagonistic townspeople were toward KSU.
MLMinET, I've lived in numerous university towns in the Eastern half of the U.S. I cannot think of any town, especially in the Midwest, where there wasn't a negative tension between the native locals and the university community.
Apparently, townspeople like the revenue universities bring to their communities, but resent the self-imposed sense of inadequacy they feel because they're not as educated. So many – not all – students exacerbate the problem with their unearned arrogance.
I know that is probably an issue. I think during those times at Kent it was also how “dirty” those hippies were, the governor of OH adding to the tension, etc.
Altered my life..
I do. And now this is happening in my home state. I live in San Diego.
I lived in Claremont during the academic year from 1981-1999, with summers on Cape Cod. Now, I live full time on the Cape, but I still feel bi-coastal. : )
A PLAN OF DEESCALATION is needed, not ESCALATION. Authoritarian tactics are being used. There hasn’t been an insurrection caused by protesters. The attack has come from highly armed and equipped federal agents. 🤯
Escalation is the plan for trump to be able to implement the Insurrection Act.
He needs to use the Insurrection Act to achieve his totalitarian goals.
So, who needs to deescalate Susan?
Trump is emulating his hero, Putin. Watch this;
https://open.substack.com/pub/olgalautman/p/pax-americana-episode-11
He sends them into battle with stirring words about the folly of trophy wives.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-west-point-address-dei-immigration-b2757275.html
I'm thankful for Aaron Parnas and his devotion to this movement and to providing us the information we need in a brief but in depth way. He's amazing and brave. And he's only 26 years old. Older heads could learn a lot from Aaron!
He is always the first to report the breaking news. He finished law school at 21. He is a child prodigy / brilliant!
And he's amazingly nice and down to earth.
Perhaps our future President.
I stand with California and all Californians. I stand with any and every state that decides to separate from the Fascist Trump regime.
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
At a pinch, they could also call on The Base.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/07/the-base-neo-nazi-group-paramilitary-training
Interesting how Trump is now sending the National Guard, but said he was unable to do so on January 6.
Nice observation Deb. Brava
Thanks!
I look forward to seeing the videos. Heartfelt thanks for all of your hard work. It feels like we are pushing back the tide, but we cannot stop.
P.S. This administration’s ignorance is staggering. I have been thinking lately about those Republican members of Congress who have worked with capable, competent generals, intelligent cabinet members and their staff. They have bent the knee to MAGA, and I feel that some of them, anyway, have sold their souls so that they won’t be primaried. It’s very sad that there is no courage in the Republican congress.
I wonder if they've bent their knees so that they and their employees won't be savaged or beaten up and their families won't be doxed.
I understand that’s an issue, but if so: get out of public life and position, which all of them refuse to do (see: fear of being primaried). House members in particular, who were elected last year, knew the political climate and, more importantly, the intentions of tfg. They chose this.
That is certainly one aspect of their political lives. Another is that being a politician is their job, with the attendant perks and power. Elected politicians may have started out with altruistic motives, but…I believe that power corrupts. I would like to see term limits for elected officials and the Supreme Court.
I have noticed that right-wingers are naturally corrupt; to begin with, left-wingers who are corrupt are people on the sociopathic spectrum who present themselves as progressive to gain power when they want to represent a more progressive area.
You have to be on the sociopathic spectrum to be a right-winger.
For the right-wingers, it's all about wielding their power to keep power in the hands of the minority with the use of every tool they have, including the military.
They will use massive, senseless violence to intimidate people from standing up for our Constitutional rights and liberties.
Absolutely agree.
Gayle, in both my profession and my personal life, I have become acquainted with politicians and entertainers. Both groups benefit from strong public relations efforts; in fact, they can't succeed without vigorous PR and they depend on it for their survival. A dangerous temptation that almost none can resist is believing their own press. They fall into the belief that they are bulletproof, as long as they align themselves with the "right people."
At the moment, Donald appears to be the "right people," and Republicans are aligning with him, thinking he will protect them. But either they've failed to do their homework on Donald, or they're blinded by their power. With Donald, loyalty works in only one direction. If someone forgets to obey Donald, or other circumstances make it expedient for him, he will cut off anyone without a moment's thought. The people who think they are "safe" with Donald ... aren't.
Example: Apple Computer's Tim Cook thought he would protect himself and his company by dumping a million dollars into Donald's so-called "inauguration fund." Five months later, Donald announced he would levy tariffs on Apple products because they're made in China.
Agree with your take. Some very smart people have tried to appease djt with money and other concessions, to their sorrow. He pushes and pushes until a real tough guy like China’s Xi or Russia’s Putin pushes back. The man is a hollow shell, alas. We deserve better.
Gayle, I often wonder if we really do deserve better. The United States exists because white Europeans who couldn't get along with their neighbors in the old countries invaded the North American continent and stole land from indigenous peoples who'd stewarded the land for millennia. Then these white invaders had the audacity to slaughter thousands of the indigenous and herd the remnant into "reservations" and erase their cultural heritage through "education."
Meanwhile, our illustrious forebears decided it was their god-given right to enrich themselves by buying and owning kidnapped African humans, forcing them to work in brutal conditions without pay. When this practice was challenged, our ancestors fought and killed each other by the thousands in a war that was anything but civil.
Even after the dispute was "settled," descendants of the white European invaders have been relentless in their efforts to disadvantage and impoverish their Black neighbors, through education, finance, commerce and the judiciary. In recent years, these white European descendants have expanded their hatred to include anyone whose skin isn't lily-white, or doesn't worship the white protestant god, or isn't exclusively attracted to the "opposite sex."
And as if we hadn't caused enough mayhem in North America alone, we've spent centuries meddling in other nations' affairs, trying to make them adhere to an idealized model we can't even follow ourselves.
The idea of the United States is a good one, but we started on the wrong foot and we've never been able to achieve the dream that was held up for us. Our history is ugly with a few bright, shining moments scattered throughout, and we've never atoned for our mistakes.
So maybe we want better than Donald, but we don't necessarily deserve better until we acknowledge our ugly past and resolve to do better.
When I was a little boy and got into trouble for misbehaving, I would sometimes apologize to my mother. She would reply, "I don't want apologies. I want repentance!"
I literally can't STAND that stupid, uneducated, semi-literate monster who thinks he's hot stuff. He isn't. He's pathetic. He's small. He's weak. He's a bully. He's a coward, as bullies are. I majored in History. Truth is PARAMOUNT to understanding our world. To have such an idiot dare to change the story of our people, of our history literally makes me sick. Thank you for continuing to do everything in your power to keep Truth alive.