I just figured out that Trump's use of BBB for his Big, Beautiful Bill is yet another way to erase the good work done by Joe Biden's BBB -- Build Back Better. Trump is letting RFK Jr erase our progress in eradicating childhood diseases. The only silver lining I've found these past few days is how well Newsom and Bass and other Dems and progressive folks are responding to all the attempted lies, by pointing out how the Trump regime's lies about the majority peaceful protests are being used as cover while they pick our pockets and rip away our protections from diseases and cancer. We have to keep that up -- pointing out their lies AND telling the reasons why they're doing it AND telling the TRUTH!
Lawrence O'Donnell said tonight on MSNBC that LAPD DID NOT NEED BACKUP to arrest a total of 56 protesters. The Ice Agents came to the Garment District, supposedly looking for gangs and money laundering. O'Donnell said: "They interrupted sewing".
In the "Grounded Podcast" video with Prof. Richardson, she said, "I see these attempts of his to assert dominance as a sign of weakness, not of strength."
O'Donnell suggests Trump, once again, is distracting us from The Big Bill, his failures with tariffs, the video of Trump stumbling up the stairs to Air Force One, his fight with Musk, etc.
The hope lies in what Rachel said tonight...that protest matters and pushback( in all its forms) is the only thing that ever works to defeat authoritarianism...
Ezra Levin, who was interviewed by Rachel Maddow tonight said ," This is a Democracy. Power depends on the people. It flows from the people. It depends on the consent of the governed." We must stand up to Trump by protesting peacefully all across this nation on Saturday. Rachel Maddow says, "The movement is unstoppable. Now more than ever..." So with heart and resolve and the courage of our convictions, let's stand up together for our Democracy!
If you are able, please attend one of the myriad protests against Trump and his Fascist takeover of the Federal government on Saturday. And if you are unable to attend in person, do a drive-by to stand against Fascism in the US. Let Trump call out the National Guard in all 50 states and we'll see how many guardsmen stand against the oath they swore to the US Constitution.
As for the BBB, call and write your representatives and Senators.
In Sarajevo when hundreds of thousands of Serbs assembled to protest against Milosevich, the police were ordered to fire on the crowd. They refused to fire on their countrymen and women. That was the day that Milosevich was arrested and taken to The Hague for trial. Maybe it will happen here. I would be content if the orange convict were placed in solitary confinement for the rest of his days and all of his henchmen and women were put in Guantanimo.
I am hoping with all my heart that our military will remember and keep the oath they took when they became soldiers. The Constitution is what keeps us free, and the trump regime is an enemy to the Constitution, a domestic enemy. Therefore, our enemy. He has already allowed 'germ warfare' by allowing RFK jr. to attack us by removing our safeguards at HHS, and has threatened the function of checking him by threatening the people in Congress. He is threatening the population by illegally arresting anyone with skin other than white. He is an enemy of the people and must be brought down, but only by our numbers, not violence.
Marines are trained for one thing. Combat. Defined more of less by the Army as to pursue and engage the enemy, kill their soldiers and destroy their equipment. That's what they're trained for. That's all theyr trained for.
Sending them against US citizens. Or even residents, has got to be illegal in several ways and also immoral and just plain stupid.
The ICE agents have fired (rubber bullets) at the crowds, and even at an Australian journalist. How have these agents been indoctrinated that they would fire on innocent protesters?
Some of them (ICE Agents), with room-temperature IQ's are no doubt willful pushers & shovers happily wearing the ICE jacket. They now have the 'upper hand'. This is not good.
Look carefully at their “uniforms”. Mismatched, boots, pants and baseball caps. Duty belts have varying weapons and tools (e.g., handcuffs) on them. Patches are inconsistent. Long beards and long hair are not typically permitted in law enforcement. Few have badges or name tags; many wear masks.
They kind of are. I believe that right wing militias, like proud boys, but there are many ate being deputies by ICE. These guys are wanna be sissies, some ex army. So if you wonder who these guys are with surplus store tactical gear and masks hiding their identity and they don't seem to have any training ... guess why. I think there are off-duty cops doing the same thing. Just amateur tough guys being Trumps secret army. Why don't some journalists dig hard into this?
Apparently, Noem stated the truth when she answered that insurrectionists were employed by ICE. So, no background check, no training, no ID, no uniforms , no Judicial warrants - not legally employed by the Federal government!
👏 sounds like a plan…let’s get to it …protests are happening all over this country, join one ..join many.. make it known . 🗣️You’re toast Trump . Your entourage too,Don the Con and all the ponzi pawns. Your fake electors , your fraudulent schemes , and fools that follow ..are done!
The comparison of Milosevich and his actions in Sarajevo to Trump is really far-fetched. I am not saying that I think Trump is doing anything right for this country, but I am saying that you would be hard pressed to prove that he has committed crimes anywhere near the ones that Milosevich did. Milosevich conducted brutal campaigns against political opponents in Yugoslavia, including ordering murders of many of his opponents. At least so far, nothing of the sort has been alleged against Trump. Yes, he has ordered deportation to overseas prisons like in El Salvador of allegedly illegal immigrants, but in fact, most of those people were here in this country illegally. Not all, but most.
I am not defending any of his actions in any way, but I am suggesting that any comparison of him to the crimes committed by Milosevich are specious at best. He very well may become a dictator as bad as Milosevich, but he certainly has NOT become that yet. He is incompetent and outrageous, but unless you have some proof to offer, it is wrong to suggest he is the equivalent of Milosevich.
Lighten up, maybe? Are we going to argue about whether Trump is a “criminal” or not? He is an adjudicated criminal, but, putting that aside, while I’m no historian I feel sure that no President in our history has committed as many illegal and unconstitutional acts as has Trump. I feel now is the perfect time to get out in the streets and Resist.
Excuse me, "lighten up"? I am not the one who is making wild accusations here. People here are slinging unsubstantiated charges repeatedly. Those are the people who need to "lighten up".
Regardless of that, he was elected President and there are NO bars to being elected and serving even if you are an adjudicated criminal. You may hate that fact, but it is true. He was elected by our country, admittedly be a minimal margin, but he WAS elected and there is no justification to bar him from that office because of ANYTHING he did before. If you want to blame anyone for electing him, blame the people who stupidly voted for him.
Maybe we need to fix this in the future (put some additional constitutional restrictions on running for the highest office in the land) but that is for the future.
We have to deal with the situation we have today.
I agree, you can protest, but there are no grounds right now for removing him unless we can get an impeachment and conviction in the Senate. Even if an impeachment could be brought (probably difficult but possible) there is virtually no chance of getting a conviction in the Senate which takes 67 votes. And the GOP is never going to abandon him because the GOP population loves him.
Jon Rosen. You missed the point about the Milosevich take down. It showed that people when sufficiently provoked can take down even a brutal dictator. There are other examples like S. Korea to inspire us.
I did not miss that point at all. It was clearly intended to suggest that Trump is somehow a "brutal dictator". I certainly can't stand the guy but if you are going to, by association, suggest that he is a brutal dictator, please use facts rather than slander.
Don't forget, this country ELECTED him as president, he didn't get into office by overthrowing anything or anyone. The voting population deserves heaps of scorn for that result but it still doesn't make him (yet) a "brutal dictator".
Even if those people were here illegally, they have committed no crime by doing so. The answer to illegal entry is deportation back to their country of origin, not rendition to prisons in third party countries. This is kidnapping and human trafficking, not deportation, and the process is so rapid that there is no adjudication as to any criminal behavior on their part.
Are you nuts? Read your first sentence. Under our current laws the very fact of entering the US illegally IS a crime. It is a violation of our current immigration laws. Your supposition is preposterous. please read the laws regarding deportation. You might actually learn something.
Jon, so as an armchair lawyer and self-appointed discussion moderator, your position is that no one is allowed to compare Donald's crimes to Milosevich's until they can be proven to be metrically equal?
So in your world, no one is allowed to pull the fire alarm until they can show the building is fully engulfed in flames? A driver may not apply the brakes until proof can be shown that their vehicle will slam into a tree?
In other words, we've just gotta wait until Donald actually does all the things he's promised to do. Got it. Keep your day job.
Sadly I wrote to my US Rep Mike Rulli (R-OH) about the BBB and his reply to me was that he was elected to support and implement trump's agenda. Not a word about doing what was right for his constituents, his state or even our country, but full on support for trump. This seems to be the attitude of most of the GOP representatives regardless of what state they represent.
My representative, Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01), responded this week to my complaints about her vote for the MAGA Murder Bill by telling me I was wrong about the bill and assuring me how great it will be for Iowans. And of course disputing that ANY Medicaid cuts would result.
It’s hard to say whether your congressman’s blind callousness or mine’s complete fabrications are more despicable!
Keep the pressure on, regardless! Even if they outwardly fail to be listening they remain very aware of what our feedback is telling them.
It's not very different from attending a No Kings protest. Trimp and his gang will loudly declare that it's inconsequential and they're bravely implementing the silent majority's will, but enough of us push back hard enough they will yield.
Trump is rattled by the protests according to Rachel Maddow and others. Ezra Levin (Co- Executive Director of Indivisible) said last night on Rachel Maddow segment on MSNBC when talking about protests: "That's what works against would-be authoritarians."
Begin to support the Democratic Party and the local candidates. Donate time and money. Write letters to the editor in the local paper…We will remember in November!
Perhaps more of the elected Democrats should be supporting democracy instead of feathering their nests. Most of the leaders in DC are just trying to collect more money!
But you are doing the most important work. The R’s need to hear from you. If they get enough pushback, it will start to change. We need to try to widen the circle of resistance
My brother’s rep is Josh Gottheimer. I don’t know what Gottheimer thinks of this. My senators are Trump shill Bernie Moreno, the former Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, and my rep is Mike Turner. At least I am spared being represented by Gym Jordan.
I too wrote to my rep, Tom Kean (NJ) and he did reply telling me he was doing all good things for his constituents including voting for the BBB that he believes will get rid of those who do not deserve to deplete what the good guys should get (I paraphrase his remarks). I would guess he never read the bill but instead just voted yes and moved on to the next thing.
Grrrrrrr! Meanwhile, what happened with the repubs who admitted they hadn’t read the bill, or the whole bill, and were sorry now? Even mtg admitted that!
As Pamela writes above, US Rep Mike Rulli (R-OH)'s "reply to me was that he was elected to support and implement trump's agenda." So why would they even bother reading the bill?
It’s important to keep responding with FACTS. Not just to your elected officials but on social media posts, instagram, threads -wherever you see lies and disinformation. Flood the lies with FACTS, referenced if possible, and photos. Like photos of peaceful protests when Trump claims it’s out of control. It’s his ruse to claim the need for martial law. Your truth may not stop him but if it causes his remaining supporters, or those of us with their heads still in the sand, to WAKE UP then you’ve done something positive to move the needle. Also hammer at legacy media who are not pushing back against trumps narrative.
We have 3 Republican Cuban American House members who represent majority Dems. 50% of the population is Hispanic.
A Miami Republican who co-founded the group Latinas for Trump is condemning President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation campaign and blasting recent immigration enforcement actions as harmful. “This is not what we voted for,” State Sen. Ileana Garcia said in a statement on Saturday. “I have always supported Trump, through thick and thin. However, this is unacceptable and inhumane.”
Many Republican American Cuban donors agree including Miami healthcare CEO Michael “Mike” B. Fernandez, who wrote the following open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of the Republican Cuban-American Miami-Dade congressional delegation: U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez and Maria Elvira Salazar.
For decades, I have stood with you in defense of the freedoms we cherish, those we were denied in the country of our birth and found in the grace of this one. I know what it means to flee tyranny. Like you, I carry that history in my bones and that pain in my heart.
But like a growing number in our community, I have watched with dismay as the very values we once found sanctuary in are now being attacked by a previously unthinkable threat — the sitting president of the United States.
Yes time to peal off the Christian’s, immigrants, and not this was not what they wanted, guns, drugs and gangs, that was the focus! No we have grandmothers who have been here for decades sewing our clothes!
Were you aware of the meeting today with Hegseth? A democrat was questioning him and Hegseth walked all over him. The dems are constantly being caught flat footed. Did anyone ever hear a dem DEMAND to be shown evidence of fraud, waste and abuse? I hope I just missed it..,
Wow! Yes, Pete had a great example of actually looking at and dealing with efficiency…firing needed workers is stupid! Could government be more effective, better practices and research, you bet! How about getting rid of the Sewer Circus that has no experience doing their jobs and hiring people who know what they are doing! My God, a Faux spokesdroid running the Dept of Defense! No resume at all and he sucks at it…Signal!
Don’t give up Pam. Keep the pressure on. A really great tactic is to get a small group of voters together to meet at least the people who work for Rulli. Then they must talk face to face and it is harder to deny reality.
I intend never to give up. Rulli has refused to hold any “town hall” meetings , does not staff a local office even though our area is the largest in terms of population in his district . I intend to send his reply to me to the chair of our local democratic party headquarters with the hope they can use his own words against him.
In Ohio, several Republican members support Ukraine. You can't expct them to switch allegiances, but Ohio has hundreds of thousands of Ukraininans, who are univerally exTrumpers, and Mike Turner and David Joyce have been vocal. Pressure them.
I'm in Ohio; All my reps are R's. I've gotten the similar crap. I have not had representation in Ohio since.... I can't remember when. Didn't we toss tea in the ocean over such in the past ?
Hi Pamela, that’s exactly the response I was given by my Congressional Representative. Yesterday, I received an email with an explanation of the BBB, and how no one who was qualified would lose benefits. Key word would be “qualified”, I’m certain the requirements will change.
I love your optimism GJ, but I expect that 99% of any NG called up by Trump will do what they are ordered to do. Most have no real idea whether any order actually is a violation of their oath, and in fact, most of what Trump has ordered, despite its despicable nature, is in fact legal and within his power under our current laws. People who are in the military, whether the regulars or national guard, have limited options when ordered to do something that is not obviously and blatantly illegal. If order to go slaughter people in the streets of LA, I expect there would be some who would resist, but rounding up illegal immigrants? In fact that is probably a completely legal order even if we hate the whole notion.
So far, Trump has kept MOST of his actions just slightly inside the borders of illegality, and the times he has strayed have mostly not been obvious. So if he orders guards soldiers to arrest people at protests, they would be in serious danger to refuse such orders, even though such orders might very well be illegal. Most "foot soldiers" do not have the skills to decide which orders they should not obey, especially when the punishment for doing so is quite serious.
You do realize that ICE is not only rounding up "illegal" immigrants, don't you? In a community near me, they took a Russian man who has lived in the U.S. for 25+ years - who has a green card - into custody. ICE is claiming all sorts of immigrants are criminals, without any evidence whatsoever - and then denying them access to their attorneys.
I've been dealing with various aspects of the legal system for decades and of course they will round up some people who are exceptions, that always happens and usually gets straightened out at some point. If you had evidence of a roundup of people where even 10% were illegal arrests, I'd be concerned but MOST of the arrests have been legit under current law (which had not been adequately enforced by any administration in 20+ years.) The arguments being made suggest that at worst a few dozen people out of 1000s have been illegally detained. Not ideal but unsubstantiated arrests happen every day so across the country. It's awful but it's not cause for protesting in the streets (maybe it should be).
I've been protesting that the problem is in fact that we need to remove the very idea that anyone should be convicted of illegally entering this country. Open our borders and all of this nonsense goes away.
If there are no laws that make law abiding immigrants "illegal" then there can be no arrests of illegal immigrants.
Is it not true that the courts have found in case after case that what Trump has been trying to do with his flood of Executive orders is illegal or unconstitutional? Has this not been obvious?
It is NOT true. There have been preliminary orders blocking some executive orders but so far almost none of his executive orders have been blocked with a final order. And the few that have have been appealed to the Supreme Court where those decisions are at least odds on to be overturned by a 6-3 court.
"Courts entered more than 200 orders stopping the administration’s actions in 128 cases, with judges sometimes ruling at multiple stages of the legal fights.”
128 cases seem like a lot of cases. Some judges were scathing in their remarks, especially Judge Boardman in the birthright citizenship case.
My point is that Trump’s behavior as President has no precedent in our history. He’s the only one I can think of who has set out expressly to abuse the American people. For a minute or two after his inauguration no one saw it coming, but after that it’ became clear that he intends to destroy our democracy and replace it with a fascist dictatorship with Himself in the starring role. You’re welcome to continue trying to put right the terrible wrong being done to him regarding his immigration policies. All of the arguments you’ve put forth this morning remind me of nothing so much as Trump’s own observation that “Hitler did some good things, too."
Can we , will we ..all cite the judges who call out the illegal action ( of any of his pawns stayed orders too please). We need to double down on the FACTS , bore into the fake news cycles, point out the planted ideas/words/accusations. Recognize the subliminal programming folks -it’s very effective on the dwindling base- like what Bannon just coughed up ..is ,as usual BS, but what he says is extremely manipulative,that’s their major MO it’s water-boarding technique 😉
The photo of the bare-chested man in black, skull-decorated pants and mask, waving a Mexican flag, standing on a Waymo, with flames in the picture— it pushes all of the buttons for Trump’s base, and possibly many others who see nothing else. I wonder if it was made to resemble the famous Iwo Jima image.
Why the Mexican flags? Many of the targeted people are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, etc. Immigration from Mexico has trended down.
Oh very correct, thank you. Thats the plan! Do we know who it is, bechya it’s a plant. The police car on fire, 2020 pic. Yes….its the real game played faster, pushed harder, faster,harder, we have to sue quickly at each punch (bravo CA) ,follow suits (won 97 of 100 so far 👏) with facts and educate. We are the teachers, they are the rowdy bully’s of class of 2025.
Actually if you check various pages that report on diversity in the military, in both the active duty AND the guard, minority/ Hispanic representation is approximately 25% and 75% white, up from about 20% on 2010. The officers Corp in both is about 90%white (not surprising).
What is a potential issue is that 98+% of the enlisted force and guard are high school educated with no college degrees. Most of those are men. And that, regardless of race, it's a HUGE "Trump" support group. Enlisted folks make up 85% of the forces.
Non-college educated men support Trump far more than college educated men.
I maintain my point that at this point very few members of the armed forces, guard or not, will refuse to follow orders at least until someone actually orders them to kill Us citizens.
Which includes them sleeping on the floors of federal building basement minus adequate bathrooms, food, and water. That is not going to engender loyalty as far as I can see. It is going to scare them that they are working for people so incompetent. Think about how well prepared our military is going to be for any situation when the people at the top cannot think things through and don't know what they are doing.
According to the Daily Koz, the American people are more against what Trump is doing than for it.
Trump has not stayed inside the borders of legality. He has been losing lawsuit after lawsuit because what he is doing is illegal. He is already a convicted criminal, so where are you getting legal from?
Even if most foot soldiers cannot think for themselves, Russia had the same problem in the beginning when they were setting people against their family members in Ukraine. CA national guard is seeing family members in LA that I do not believe they will attack.
GJ. just a reminder to protest peacefully because death star, et al. are just waiting for violence to call more military on the street. In Portland, we have a group of people who I believe are probably apolitical, but love to break things and cause havoc who use every protest to their own ends. If you see some people you deem suspicious or look like they are plants, move away from them.
The entire Oregon delegation save one are Ds. The lone R, Bentz, continues to tell people that the bill is wonderful despite what his own constituents are saying to him. i hope they continue to tell him that he is wrong no matter what he says.
The one here in Philadelphia will be a big one as lots of people from DC will be attending as there won't be a protest there. I'll be going with seven friends and neighbors....
The poor NG's, having to stand against their fellow citizens. They're not supposed to be involved in arresting anyone. Since NO ONE thought to provide the 1st deployment of NG w/ federal money for food, water, sleeping areas, Maybe we need to offer them food & water when they show up in our states.
“A once Great Nation, far and above than any other nations on earth, is now inhabited by a disgusting, fat-farting, lying, second-rate pretend mafia hood with a nice color-toned hair piece in the fabulous but small inconsequential White House; I’m referring to myself, of course and all the disgusting hanger’s on I’ve appointed that don’t know squat about the positions I appointed them to.
I have consulted with my architects that I have yet to pay from the last job they did for me at Trump Tower to study tearing down this shabby White House and replacing it with a carved marble structure honoring me as your leader for all time. There will be sculptures of your humble servant gazing out at the four corners of the universe.”
Trump is everything evil. There is not one decent bone in his body. He is pure evil and 100% destructive. If there was any such animal as an Antichrist, he is it. My only question is, why did he have to live in my time?
Please come out on June 14 to peacefully rally against this Thing that inhabits our world.
I just received a letter from the Census Bureau asking me to participate in a population survey. I will not cooperate with any government agency since our government is in the throes of being dismantled.
We also did not cooperate with the last census after being told we had "been selected" for a detailed interview. All they got was the bare minimum required by law. Especially with DOGE and palantir creating databases, give the government as little as possible..
It’s all voluntary as far as I can tell. If not I’ll lie. I have enjoyed being an enumerator over the years from 1980 going forward. I’ll do it again only if I get an administrative position one more time for ole times sake.
Bill, you’ve asked me the same question 27 times I can’t give you a different answer than the original answer. I really don’t know what you’re looking for.
Just learned the Chinese are having naval maneuvers. That and Russia in Ukraine should tell US even more about where we are “led” by a felonious illiterate. No one has mentioned DT’s vocabulary. Never large, it seems to be shrinking daily, even as he picks up bits of military vocabulary.
Well, it is a good time to strike if you are an enemy of the USA, because we cannot even get National Guard to LA with toilets, food, water, and shelter. They are sleeping on concrete floor just like the people they are supposed to be helping ICE to arrest. In fact, they are living like the immigrants that ICE is going after who are in captivity.
Watching this debacle is making the US look like it is run by clowns, or as Jeff Tiedrich would say, Sewer clowns.
No, it’s being run by a president in charge of creating a safe environment for those of us legally here.
And the good thing is ice agents police, and National Guard are motivated to protect the city and the law and they’re doing it with knowing that they are doing just that.
And in fact, you might not of heard, but the military has now exceeded its annual quota for military enlistment by May instead of by December. That’s how many people are dedicated to preserving this country.
Bill do yourself a favor don’t get caught up with these worthless shenanigans if you wanna protest protest on the side of the law not on the side of illegal immigrants. Protest against the killing of innocent US citizens by these illegals, they have crossed the line.
And Bill, with all due respect if they would’ve been peaceful protest, they would’ve been fine but from the beginning even before everything started they were hurling rocks at police cars passing by breaking windshields injuring officers that is not a peaceful protest.
They were dropping rocks from an overpass onto police cars, burning
Driverless cars, destroying sidewalks, and even looting.
For those of you who are fortunate not to have lived in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots please stay out of the conversation because you have no idea how bad it was.
1100 Buildings were damaged. Business is closed and people, especially the people who were single small business owners lost their businesses for the rest of their life and over $1 billion worth of damage. With over 4000 people injured.
So, while the chief of police says were overwhelmed and can’t handle it, the city was in peril. And as I understand it, the mayor told the police to stand down, as she allegedly shut down the normal lines of contact between her office and LAw Enforcement, creating a significant delay in action by the police.
My understanding is that we have violent people planted in with the peaceful. Wonder why they are hiding their faces? Could be because they work for Trump.
Rid of that takes out pretty good modicum of imagination on your part do you think that any of these people in the mask that are Trump supporters causing trouble are known by police or buy ice? So what happens to them and they get arrested or thrown to the ground and handcuffed.
There have been issues with people being arrested that are confirmed to be funded by a couple of socialist and Marxist type groups. Which I’ve paid for thousands of T-shirts and professionally done signs. I can’t remember their acronyms right now. Can you imagine that a Trump funded group would do such a thing? Yikes. If that was true, and they got caught, it would be all over for him so let’s get our minds back in reality Shall we? The mayor and the governor is suggesting.
Sorry, The stopped me in the middle. I will finish.
There were two named organizations that were found funding thieves, and one was a socialist organization and one was a Marxist organization that are funding the printing of these T-shirts on the sign as an example.
The most hysterical comment is stop in, forcing the law and the protests will stop. Omg. Finally, the mayor of LA put out a curfew which she should’ve put out two nights ago.
To me the most important thing is this if people are here legally they have nothing to worry about they have ID they have documents that show their legality end of story. Why are so many people fighting For illegal immigration and the answer is very simple because there’s at least 1 million illegal immigrants in the city of LA alone in LA is funded and California has funded Medicaid food and shelter for unmitigated illegal immigrants while taking those same dollars away from American citizens.
Linda, I keep suggesting if the Democrat party keeps backing the wrong side of the law it’s gonna get even worse for the Democrats they’re losing their party already. They can’t continue to back with a country voted for which was to get rid of everything that Biden did having to do with the border. And all this lands on the nod of Joe Biden for allowing all these people to come illegally and caused these problems in the first place.
And by the way, if you’ve been paying close attention to the LA riots them selves, everyone is masked up.
And here’s your media lying to you again by talking about the peaceful riots, while showing your video from San Francisco where they were peaceful and pretending that those were the LA riots. Unbelievable deceit.
I agree with throwing the book at the violent or destructive anarchistic types and can easily imagine some James O'Keefe type provocateurs participating. identify and jail all of them.
Should I say with no more lasting punishment than the real insurrectionists in the Jan 6 crowds? I'd personally liked to have seen the Jan 6 crowd get equally severe consequences (actually more for the ones who's actions led to the eventual deaths from injury or suicide).
The L.A. anarchists have no real hope of overthrowing our government, unlike the Jan 6 crowd (and maybe some James O'Keefe type provocateurs).
WE WILL BE THERE ON THE 14TH!!!!!!!!!!! As George Clooney said at the end of the play "Good Night and Good Luck" when dealing with tyrants, "Do something". Show up to the nearest protest, if you care about the future of this country. For your nearest demonstration:https://www.nokings.org/?SQF_SOURCE=indivisible#map
You have to do something in the 26 and 28 elections… vote to keep the house and the senate, Republican control and stop the violence and insurrection by the liberal protestors.
Do you actually think the demonstration assisted in making your claims and bolstering your approval ratings? Yikes
I do have some faith. They modeled Pee 2025 on Hungary which has a population the size of New Jersey, is most white Christian and has strict gun laws and now virtually no free speech.
They also seem to be so scattered philosophically. The #2 at Defense, Bongino seems genuinely shocked and upset he needs to work a 40 hour work week. These guys are used to doing an hour TV show or podcast with assistant and MAKEUP.
Their “work” beforehand is pulling bat shit crazy lunatic conspiracy theories off the internet and making a show of it.
And now they see this isn’t a 40 hour a week job. This is 24/7. Did they think they’d have the same schedule as Trump? Go,f and nappy naps all day? He’s the puppet….youre the hand job, Bingino.
He misses his WIFE during work hours? Can you imagine an actual professional general or major bellyaching because he missed his wife? Hegseth misses his so much he wants her to have security clearance and includes her on DOD decisions like they’re picking out the fucking drapes for the living room.
The only hope is these are not serious people. They really are delusional and now see the facts. Lie Elon who actually thought the government of the Inited states was as easy to run as a gossip platform where…..really what is there to do except turn the thing on and watch the vat fight between strangers begin.
Maybe Elon can seek redemption form Humans on the planet he actually can live on and turn his platforms into good rather than evil. Maybe Bog Balls can leak what he’s actually been doing for Mr. Vought for the last 6 months.
Hey Marcus don’t get too far ahead of yourself. I bet you didn’t see the comment the other day when Elon said well if Adam Schiff feels this way, and is supporting my push against the bill… then I’m probably thinking very wrongly about things.
It won’t be long before Elon and Donna will be on speaking terms and friendly terms again because Elon if anything else smart enough to know right from wrong, he just doesn’t understand the complications of Pulte politics.
Hey Marcus , the only one shutting down free-speech has been the liberals even here on this thread when they don’t want to hear something they say get the F out go somewhere else we don’t wanna hear you delete his posts and that’s the problem here.
Illl take the bait only because I believe it’s important to counter facts versus fiction.
At no point in time have universities been asked to give their speech and free association to yhe government.
At no point in time has the president of the United States extorted law firms to do free legal work for them and simultaneously told them they could not represent a political rival in court.
At no point in my recollection has the executive branch, via the justice department threaten judges and congressman who SPEAK for our gr eatery asset, the law, and behalf of America.
Im going to guess you are here as a person to agitate people who are trying to have thoughtful conversations based in fact and evidence, of which sir, you provide a sliver at best and none at worst. You respond to people with little to no facts and throw out shiny objects that’s are also based in LaLa land to distract the conversation to what?
Biden was old?
You say nothing of the fact that Trump is openly selling out country to ….prople who have ACTUALLY attacked us in our own country.
And now he is sending Marines, honorable young men to OUR streets to fight their own neighbors, friends, cousins and brothers.
His response was “”I dunno”. They’re sleeping on floors in their clothes because nobody told the dog that once they caught the car they had to eat the fucker. They are choking on chrome and rubber.
And BTW, our Marines are the people who go in to the pit of despair. They are the ones who begged to have their interpreters who saved their lives in Afghanistan to get here to the states. Instead, Afrikaners farmers are here.
These marines should never be in a position to fight their fellow countrymen.
It is another example how Vought, Miller, The Trump puppeteers hate America and all she stands for. They value the,selves above all else.
Trump is bringing this country back from the Biden toilet that he created by allowing this to happen. This very thing is happening from Biden’s watch so chew on that for four more years
Actually, Stephanie, you’re building up the Maga quantity as more people see a total difference to writing and plunder and attacking Police and LAw Enforcement destroying cities and carrying Mexican flags in America. Oh well do you think the Mexicans were like it up? There was a protest in Mexico carrying American flags. What do you think about that?
Sophia you’re dreaming. He actually asked for 2000 troops and Pelosi didn’t do it and she admits that to her daughter in a limo on video. Donald Trump doesn’t control the capital police it’s controlled by Nancy Pelosi. Please get your facts straight
There is one trump-lover on our street. When I voiced concern about another neighbor's undocumented workers, he retorted "Oh they're only deporting the criminals." When I told him three first hand accounts of innocent people deported simply for not having ID his jaw dropped and didn't say a word. What this taught me is that all of you trump people swallow whatever FOX newscasters feed you (your comment is a case in point) and so I don't debate these "facts."
By the way, there’s one of his points I’d like to make. Think you should stop using the term Trump lover. People like the policies of Trump is enforcing and advocating has nothing to do with him personally, or his personality or his mouth. They simply support his policies which represent a majority of Americans
And I’m kind of laughing when you talk about innocent people being deported as soon as you cross the border illegally, you’re no longer innocent. You’d have to watch Fox News to determine that they’re not telling the truth, but you would find a different story.
Then let me help you here as your neighbor isn't paying close attention.
They are trying to capture the most illegal criminals on their list however when they get there and they find a number of other illegals hanging out with this criminal on the most wanted list, they grab them all as associates who are also illegal by the way, so tell your neighbor to pay more attention.
In the meantime, you probably should realize that all the Legacy media has lost anywhere from 30 to 60% of its audiences for its lies deceptions and coverups having to do with Biden and the administration. However, Fox is now controlling 65% of the news of all the networks so you might want to pay a little bit more attention and not call them fake news because they're not that.
In fact, the top 15 newscast are on Fox News only number 15 happens to be Rachel Maddow on the list that's it. So you can deny that, but the truth is that the truth has finally come out.
But again the bottom line is if there's a bad criminal and other illegals hanging out with them, they're all gonna get nabbed in the same process. They're not gonna avoid the other illegals in the crowd there.
"But again the bottom line is if there's a bad criminal and other illegals hanging out with them, they're all gonna get nabbed in the same process."
Not the case with any of my 3 firsthand stories. FACT: I have a client who's friend is from Puerto Rico (US territory) and lives here in Philadelphia with her husband and two children. The husband, a professor, was in Columbia visiting his mother. The children were at school and the friend went to a store. She was stopped by ICE who asked to see her ID which she didn't have on her (BTW there were no "bad criminals" in the store--they were out to get brown-skinned people). They took her phone and threw her in a bus and my client got a call from her from Tijuana. Her crime:no ID and spoke little English. The husband had to take pics of her (US) passport to get his wife back.
Are you saying that all of the Walmarts and Home Depots that ICE is targeting are all full of criminals? Satan Miller wants to deport 3000 people per day. How can there possible be so many criminals? How can you even fill such a quota even if you are kidnapping and deporting innocent people? See, you and my neighbor eat the same crap and believe it in LIGHT of the facts....
I recommend this book Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson. It kind of explains how we got to where we are with this kakistocracy, oligarchy, kleptocracy.
Thank you Linda. I tried to watch the link, but there was no sound...I will definitely check it out later. I am slowly making my way through the book "Patriot" by Alexei Navalny - amazing courage and committment... I can't read it fast as it just makes me even more angry at Trump who continues to desecrate the true meaning of patriotism!
I just read written reviews on line yesterday.. Look forward to reading the book... I will go back to your site today. Thank you so much for the suggestion... Yes, "Patriot" is a very good book...the horrors of what he experienced cannot be forgotten...
I feel bad for you guys in your distorted delusional world. Where do you think of this government is doing anything else but exactly what they should be doing. Stopping at destruction of a city, stopping the looting, stopping the attacking of police. I swear so many people here seem to be living an Alice in Wonderland
Rick, your buddy Putin probably has a nice warm bed waiting for you in Moscow. The only problem with backing Putin is they are so paranoid that from time to time the just purge everyone, even if they are loyal.
Linda, I hope your mental condition improves because it can’t be very good for your health. TDS is indeed a debilitating disease and creates some bad mental health issues.
I can only suggest you seek some help. I do have pity for those who have been sucking so badly that they venture down this road to nowhere.
Hi Bill nice to hear from you. Are you watching all these beautiful Mexican flags waving through the streets of downtown, Los Angeles, looting, jewelry stores in 7-Elevens and drug stores. These people got the privilege of living here and this is how they’re showing their thanks for the blessing of living here
Typical of you to understand agent provocateurs which is what they are. I no more agree with this street shit then you and you know it. But this all comes from a tired playbook to escalate to violence. The Germans did it successfully under nazism. The facists did it as well. Joe McCarthy, Roy Choen, Donald Trump all cut for the same cloths. You are a very ignorant man. In the extreme.
“Looking really bad in L.A.,” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after midnight Sunday night. “BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” Yes, to the White House, please and thank you....
Well, maybe you should give them a month to plan for the next riot the hell are you talking about? Do you think they plant toilets in advance so the people have a place to go to the bathroom? They don’t have a place to go to the bathroom and they might even have a place to sleep whether you know it or not I do think that bothers them not in the least they care that they’re protecting this country from the illegal activity that’s happening here all all all all caused by Joe Biden, and the neglect of the border.
My Texas cousins equate protest to insurrection. It is ill advised for the protestors to resort to violence. But, it makes no difference to the MAGA folks - setting a car on fire justifies bringing out the national guard while invading the Capitol to stop a free and fair election doesn't. Our government leaders should not be wasting time. To save themselves they must save the nation, otherwise they will be discarded as trash the way Trump discarded Musk. Impeachment now. Mike Johnson is a stupid fool if he thinks that Trump will do anything for him after the BBB passes. Musk goes down as the most stupid and naïve businessman ever. He lost billions and billions of dollars for himself and for Tesla. But, can he be blamed? Of course he thought that the BBB would not cut tax credits for Tesla. Sucker.
Bill, I indeed have time on my hands but I don’t wanna be a gad fly and I wish more people so I’ll reality here for what it is and where it’s so close minded to what a majority of people in this country feel about illegal immigration. As I understand it, California has spent over 9 billion with a B $ on illegal immigrants for food housing and medical care. Who do you imagine they’re taking it away from?
I am still amazed that with the way this country is improving day-to-day. The people are not heralding and supporting America.
Would that be like the first months of the GW Bush administration when ENRON was raping the energy market, or the collapsing economy around July 2008, a little too early to blame the biggest Financial Crisis since the Great Depression on the previous administration?
That sort of reminded me of the initial tax cuts by Republicans in the 1920s, fair enough to reduce after war debts were paid but then they got so counter-productive with excessive tax cuts that we ended up with the Great Depression. Are you in favor of similar spectacular failure (in a much shorter period than the Great Recession), and destroying work-in-progress of Democracy that we once led the world in?
Well, for the last couple days, all's been quiet as far as meaningful commentary here
I lived through the 1992 riots and we weren't going to have to do it again and Trump did what he had to do and will continue to do what he has to do to quilt them so it doesn't destroy an entire section of the Citi who by the way is the least capable of absorbing these actions.
Singular business people in depressed areas of the city and they need to be preserved
Nobody in the right mind richard thought that the 1500 people were actually gonna stop and overturn the results of an election so please you're smarter than that.
And Trump didn't discard musk. It was the other way around and it was only musk's naïveté that caused the issues to come to light. Musk doesn't understand the intricacies of political debate and activity. He understands of view from the outside, which is accurate, but unfortunately, politics inside is different differently from observed observations from the outside.
And nobody in their right mind actually thought that the 1500 people we're gonna either change an election or overthrow the government richard be reasonable please you actually don't believe that you're too smart to believe something like that sorry
BS. That was an appalling and shameful day when that rabble sullied the halls of Congress and even shit on Nancy Pelosi's desk. It was a menacing and threatening display outside the Capitol building, and once the insurrectionists broke in the majority of Congress feared for their lives as so many of us watched in horror what was happening in our so called democracy.
Richard, I just can’t believe it you are you seem like a really intelligent well educated individual with multiple top line degrees.
For anyone that actually has a temerity to post here or anywhere that 1500 basically unarmed individuals were going to overthrow the government of the United States is a freaking joke. They were a group of protesters, and with all the video comes out you’re gonna see a different story than you currently see..
By the way, Trump didn’t throw musk out it was a self-inflicted wound that musk did, and all will be better very shortly between the two of them once again
And lastly Richard, the issue with Evie credits have been discussed for a couple of years. This is not new to Tesla and you should know that.
Rick, are you saying that the folks who attacked the Capitol on 1-6-2021 shouting "hang Mike Pence," the one who would certify the votes, didn't intend to stop the confirmation of Biden's being elected? The crowd seriously injured 138 police officers, 15 being hospitalized. Four of the officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 died by suicide. Trump watched the attack on the Capitol on TV for 187 minutes, ignoring pleas from his staff to call out the National Guard.
Regarding the EV credits, don't you think that Musk felt that his spending $288 million to get Trump elected was sufficient to get the credits put back in? Musk is a fool. Trump played him for the sucker that he is, just as he will you and those like you who support him. Suckers all.
How do you think Trump played him? Musk was working from his own brain doing what he thought he should do even before Donald asked him for anything. Trump didn't ask us to join in. Musk did it on his own volition because he saw what was happening with in doge he saw the waste fraud and abuse and he was trying to stop it and he saw the big bill as an impediment to all the work that DOGE was doing
IF DONALD TRUMP HAD HIS WAY DURING THE FIRST TERM, THE EV CREDIT WOULD'VE BEEN GONE WITHOUT MUSK'S INPUT EITHER WAY
We're not the suckers we're the ones who won the election and everything that we wanted is happening so I don't know how that makes us the suckers. The suckers are the people that actually believe protecting illegal immigrants is more important than protecting citizens of this country.
Rick, thank you for the laugh. The thought that comes to my mind upon reading this post is "oblivious." Fact is, though, to put any trust into a person who is a convicted felon, who has more than 30,000 documented lies during his first term in office, who cheated on three wives, who bankrupted six companies, who lost his right to run a charitable organization because he used it as a piggy bank, who had to repay students of Trump Univ. (sic) $25 million, etc. , one must be oblivious. You don't know what you don't know. It's called being unconsciously incompetent. Trump will ultimately stomp on you just as he has done everyone else. You are no different. But you don't see it, unless you're a bot. Trusting Trump is mind boggling for anyone who has a reasonable amount of intelligence and experience.
Richard, when the full report on the J6 comes out you're gonna see a totally different story 161 police injured give me a break for anyone in the right mind who seriously thinks that that 1500 people with three guns in their possession and a couple of fire extinguishers we're gonna overthrow the result of the election you'd have to to be on heavy drugs in order to believe something like that.
That was never the intention. The intention was protesting, an election result which seemed substantially flawed, and I'm using an understatement to make to say that. So they seriously injured 161 but only 100 and change were taken to the hospital so how seriously were the other 140 or 50 injured give me a break. That was not their goal and that was not their intent.
The only person that was actually injured on January 6 just filed a lawsuit and just won some four or $5 million for a wrongful death so there you go there's your justice richard
Enter your point but didn't musk think that the EV credits were gonna be put back for his 288 million not a chance it had been talked about for years years even during Trump's first term OK the only problem with musk is that he doesn't understand the details of the Democratic process within the Congress is Holls and how things work internally.
All musk saw was all the work that he did during those was being destroyed by a bill that he thought was going to essentially eliminate all the work that he had done
He doesn't understand you can't just make mass changes like off a cliff in your government without having substantial negative effects and impacts
If people were shouting, hang my pants and had a wherewithal to do it. I think they should be in prison, but I don't think that was the case.
If that could be proven that that was her intent and they wanted to kill Mike Pence, they should make the case And approving guilty they'll serve whatever time that penalty deserves.
And lastly, again, richard nobody in the right mind believes at 1500 essentially unarmed people were gonna overthrow the government or overthrow an election Result
Forgot to press the send button on my older comment before going to the second protest of the day outside of Susan Collins' Lewiston office. Good turnout despite some rain (around 50 when I got there), and surprised some of the protestors pointing out that Google Maps captured the protestors in what was labeled as a Jun 2019 image capture. It actually looks like early birds for the noon to 1 PM event earlier this month with familiar looking signs and people, when she still had the window sign at 55 Lisbon St. Her new office is about 500 feet north at 184 Main St, but the old office next to the District Court is a more satisfactory protest area, it seems.
The Grounded Podcast is a weekly podcast that explores various topics including politics......Jon Tester ( former US Senator from Montana) and journalist Maritsa Georgiou) are the hosts. I had never heard of it either, but Prof. Richardson sent it to us on June 9. It is a great video of her Interview with the two of them! Worth watching!!!
Her notice came as "substack" to my email... But I just did a little research. I don't know if she has one centralized place with everything she is doing... But she does post many videos on you tube - from her new history videos - to her weekly 11 plus minute short pieces on various topics. Her short video on the historical effect of Ukraine's drone attack is outstanding...
Regarding the "Grounded Podcast" video... If you google " you tube The Grounded Podcast with Heather Cox Richardson" - and then scroll down, you will see substack.com... "Live with Heather Cox Richardson: ...Press on that and it will take you to that video... I hope this helps...
Please note: I think Richard Sender is a bot or troll??!!## Beware...he is posting replies everywhere!
I am neither, however, what cracks me up there Michelle. If you’ll go up and down the threads here you’ll see people replying and responding and sending messages on multiple occasions very frequently. Thesesame people… I have never heard of any of those people called trolls or bots. And very simply the reason is is because they agree with you but as soon as they disagree with you then there a troll or a bot, but guess what not the case unfortunately for you. I’m not posting replies everywhere. I’m posting them where they need to be posted so that people have an alternative perspective and aren’t just lemmings swallowing the same nonsense.
You’re welcome and I agree so many great comments and recommendations that add to/riff off of Heather’s informative, comprehensive and indispensable nightly letters.
I only saw the last half of this Grounded podcast when it was live yesterday. So when I actually figured out how to copy the link for this comment I just watched it all the way through. Worth watching, like Michele2 said above.
Wouldn't it be nice if there are 50 million of us protesting. Could that possibly give the Republicans in Congress the incentive to do the right thing? Once Trump completes his secure hold on power, he will discard them the way he did Elon Musk after Milking Musk for $288 million and destroying financially Tesla.
We sure have a chance- Saturday 6/14. There are a lot of small towns that won't make it onto the Nat. News but, people can take & send pictures to their local news stations.
Great idea, Cindy. I will do that - take photos and send them to the San Angelo Standard Times, part of the chain of newspapers owned by Gannett. It's readily obvious that the wealthy having bought almost all of the print media and much of the airwaves, they can indoctrinate and deceive at will, Rick Sender being an excellent example.
Nope it will just do the opposite Richard. But you guys go on with your bad selves. By the way, you can keep thinking that Trump milked must but what must did was on his own from his own brain and that that’s your problem. You can’t understand that was absolutely 100% correct about the waste fraud and abuse within the government. Just like Clinton just like Obama.
Yes Oregon has looked up upon with so much respect for its upside down radical policies that allowed the George Floyd protest to run and ruin your cities.
And now we get two perspectives, starting with Democratic Congresswoman Norma Torres, who represents part of Southern California. I spoke with her earlier today.
Congresswoman Torres, thank you for being with us.
What specifically triggered the wave of public outrage that has led to days of protests, in some places riots? What has been building up?
Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA):
What has been building up is the fact that Donald Trump has sent ICE agents armed to the teeth with face coverings in unmarked vehicles raiding communities indiscriminately, targeting Latinos, arresting them, and failing to provide due process, not carrying warrants.
And when members of Congress like myself have presented ourselves at the ICE holding locations, they have refused to allow us to come in. They have refused to brief us on what their actions have been, how many officers have been involved, local officers, and how many injuries have we had, and to really have any oversight over what they are doing.
Look, I have visited that location in the past. The max capacity for that location is 100 people. And we are receiving reports that they — there were probably close to 1,000 people being detained during the time that we were there. So that makes sense to me that they refused us entry because they did not want us to see the conditions that these humans were being held in.
Geoff Bennett:
Now, ICE says it's targeting people with final deportation orders, people who have exhausted the range of legal options available to them. Some 1.5 million undocumented immigrants fall into that category in this country.
If we're a nation of laws, why shouldn't federal agents enforce those court orders?
Rep. Norma Torres:
If that was true, they would come in with a warrant. If that was true, they would have an actual name, and they would be asking people for their identification. They would not be breaking car windows and they would not be raiding places of employment, school graduations, or standing in front of elementary schools demanding to be allowed in to arrest children.
Geoff Bennett:
We have witnessed some disturbing scenes, protesters throwing rocks at police, setting off commercial-grade fireworks near law enforcement, even torching self-driving cars.
So far as you know, who are these rioters? Are they part of the broader protest movement or something more fringe and opportunistic?
Rep. Norma Torres:
They are not part of the movement that has been a peaceful movement of immigrants and their neighbors, their supporters trying to have their voices heard.
The city of Los Angeles is very diverse with many groups, with many different agendas. And the people that understand these groups best are the local police department, the LAPD and the local leaders. That is why we cannot get ahead of them. And that is why we need to allow them the time to have — to exercise oversight over what is happening and take control of the situation.
But this cannot happen while ICE continues to unleash this terror on our communities.
Geoff Bennett:
Lastly, Congresswoman, you're facing some criticism from conservatives for the social media post where you called out ICE agents.
Rep. Norma Torres:
ICE, get the (Expletive Deleted) out of L.A. so that order can be restored.
Geoff Bennett:
Does language like that coming from a sitting member of Congress, does that risk escalating tensions at this already volatile moment?
Rep. Norma Torres:
Absolutely not, any more than language like just grab them by the P-word.
Guess what, America? We have become the P-word.
Geoff Bennett:
Congresswoman Norma Torres, thank you for joining us this evening.
Rep. Norma Torres:
Thank you. Nice talking to you, Geoff..."
Personal to me:
Norma Torres was my representative when I lived in California and earned my vote as a 17 year 9-1-1 operator. I met her at a monthly Veteran’s Koffee Klatch at the Planes of Fame back when many Veterans were initially wearing MAGA Red Hats (that tapered off over a few months). I stayed close to support her and discuss Veterans Courts, special courts like Maine’s then Kennebec County Sheriff Randolph (Randy) Liberty helped start along with separate cell blocks for Veterans and Restorative Justice for those once vetted as acceptable for military service, to me something beyond the 270 or so Veteran’s drug offense courts (since many were prescribed problematic drugs and drug tested to make sure they were taking the drugs.
Maj Hal Moore’s Radioman at the battle of Ia Drang was a legislative assistant (to conservatives) who respected her service and was able to interface with her productively.
Jim, thank you for sharing Congresswoman Torres comments and for sharing your own personal experiences... It means a great deal... And thank you for your 47 protest events - You have my respect and appreciation!
PS I think Richard Sender is a troll or bot???!!## He is replying everywhere...
He believes what he wants to believe, no matter what so many others object to.
I not only think he isn't changing any minds, I think he provides an occasional opportunity to provide some different views that may be more acceptable to many more people.
I usually only try to counter some that may sound good to innocent readers that don't know more about his real opinions. I'd love to see what Tim Russert could do with him like he did with David Duke. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KjJ0mMB3uA
That’s because people like Democrat Congressional representatives has suggested docking some of these ice agents and threatening their lives
And by the way, they’re not armed to the teeth nice try.
In California has become a cesspool for illegal immigration and they’ve paid out from what I understand over $9 billion of taxpayer money for food, housing and medical supplies for illegal immigrants. While millions of Americans are suffering not getting that money.
I do know who was doxed, and offered protection by an honest and ethical Republican (if there was anything more than just the doxing). My old party is the one by far doing the most to instigate people who believe their lies to do actual harm to others (Nancy Pelosi's husband for one). Should we do an accurate count of violent acts instigated by right wing lies vs liberals, independents, or Democrats?
I would like to see all doxers prosecuted, no matter which side they claim to be on
And I totally agree with you but the problem is you're not seeing on your networks that actually congressional representatives are standing up in front of a podium talking about docking ice employees.
And they have also use the other term and I keep forgetting where they make believe there's a crime scene at ice employee's house so that the police show up there and Scar scare the owners of the house I forgot the term, but you probably know what it is
Go to your browser Newsweek, revealing ice agents identity could lead to prison and that's what they've been doing in Tennessee as an example other title Democrats threatened to expose, masked ice agents. Next post Democrats threatened to do ice agents who won't remove their masks the Department of homeland services fire is back at Democrats for beyond the pale rhetoric as they offer to docs ice agents
Tom and Holman has spoken out repeatedly and shown evidence of the docking of ice agents
Federal officials slammed Democrats for dangerous rhetoric and dashing ice agents. These are some of the headlines you can see them for yourself.
Swatting or SWATting, though Denver had one of the early versions called SCAT before SWAT became the more common concept and name, IIRC. It was formed according to one former member I knew, in response to the Texas Tower shooting of Aug 1, 1966.
I was stationed at Randolph AFB, TX, 60 miles south and for some reason I can't remember, had that Monday off. remember listening to over an hour of the radio reporting on the incident, before two Police, and the "deputized" Bookstore Manager were able to stop him. What seems lost to history was the number of students and other civilians that had hunting rifles in their vehicles and "helped," firing at Whitman to try to kill or at least distract him.
The disorganized response influenced me to think about how I could help in such situations without endangering other people. In Vietnam where I often traveled solo, using a pad of blanket travel orders that let us ride almost any form of military transport (including occasional Air America flights), the SOP was to find a mid-level combat experienced individual and coordinate what they could expect from me. Usually that was just to stay enough away from them to cover them and ask them to signal me on anything they wanted me to do. I always carried extra ammo for my weapons so they wouldn't have concerns about having to provide any for me (besides sometimes having dissimilar weapons). The only times I had permission to fire was to kill a snake down in the delta, and one night at a combat engineer camp at the entrance to the Mang Yang Pass, assured that the little sparkles on the hillside were indeed enemy that were firing distant small arms and mortars at us. I was never asked to fire from helicopters but another team member was when they had come across a group of VC after they had expended all their other ammo (and were picking up wounded or dead along with the team member).
The more experienced team members set the example, such as when Carl B and I were returning from K.P. duty (since no contract Vietnamese were available during the first few days of Tet 68), As we approached the Security Police bldg, a firefight broke out and Carl asked me what I heard, verifying it was only M-16s and an M-60 machine gun, friendlies firing at each other from different sides of the street. Carl started walking towards the street light nearest the M-60, saying if we try to hide they will mistake us for VC so we just casually strolled to the street light passing within 10 or 15 feet in front of it. Though very angry at us, they stopped firing and started asking around to see what the others were shooting at. Fortunately no one was injured by the otherwise great guys (500 or so), who initially held off what we learned were 2,655 VC that attacked 3 days earlier, until the Army units could get there from Cu Chi. Apparently, unlike more experienced Army troops they hadn't gotten much sleep, if any, so were easily spooked.
With that experience and what I learned from the SCAT member, and watching other less experienced police officers where they ended up shooting undercover officers, undercover teams ending up shooting at each other, and individual cops off duty firing at each other in traffic disputes, i decided I didn't need to be around weapons and problematic people that were careless with them. I was more afraid of our own troops in Vietnam than I was of the enemy (as I learned from LRRP teams that would never approach some bases at night for fear of guards mistaking them for VC). Like Medics who refuse to carry weapons, I've always had better luck persuading people to stop acting badly or give up their weapons (4 times) when they were drunk or otherwise not thinking clearly.
I let a paratrooper deliver an uppercut that knocked me into the top corner of a bar room once, simply because I had a cable cutting knife in my boot I was afraid he might think I would try to use on him. Better to play dead and not get the other guy too worked up.
Is that all you do is spout 4004th largest economy in the world and you have no idea what it means and immigrants pay a part of that and illegal immigrants pay no part of that. You wanna have 175,000 people in your state lying on the street sleeping is that what your idea of success is ?
And major companies are fleeing. There are fleeing the West Coast because of the politics, the Bezos of the world, the Zucker books of the world the musks the world are leaving because of the politics there and the taxes there.
Poor baby, Rick, with all of those issues California climbed up from the 5th largest economy in the world past Japan to become the 4th largest. Having spent 5 decades in Silicon Valley, I can tell you from personal experience, the immigrants are very entrepreneurial. And the others? The California agricultural industry, the tops in the U.S., couldn't do it without the laborers from Mexico. Take your racism, your xenophobia, to Russia. You'll be much happier there.
Protest doesn't matter. The people trapped in the Fox News bubble won't hear about most of it and what they do will be vilified by those well- lighted happy beautiful white people leading the MAGA cult.
The protests must make us happy, but will accomplish nothing. Maybe a marginal uptick is votes for Dems in the midterms and give Rachel material, God bless her.
For anyone here who happens to be wanting to quote Lawrence O’Donnell or Rachel Maddow. ? Once again, you’re backing the wrong ponies… that’s why for this reason AND MSNY OTHERS , your party is in total chaos and disarray.
Brilliant. Given his petty, pissy, whiny, tiny hatred for anything at all connected with the good name of Joe Biden, you've got to be onto something. Nobody else in the media has made the connection...
Adam Kinzinger says he "smells like butt." Bob Woodward says the 'no-smells' elastic band in his underwear "doesn't work." Feel free to draw your own conclusions.
Welcome America to Trump's wag the dog, reality TV show. Three months ago the enemy was wasted and fraud in the "deep state". So bring in the DOGE boys Two months ago the enemy was every nation we traded with. They were ripping us off so let's crush their economy with tariffs. After that came the law firms and the universities, who are obviously institutional traitors in this country. Now it's the immigrant's turn. Let's destroy the lives of millions of working, law abiding families to find a few hundred gang members. And what? Save a few dogs from being eaten?? Who is next after the immigrants??
And all of this hatred and chaos to make Trump and his cronies richer. Someone should be checking the bathrooms in Mar a Lago. Maybe Trump has been moving the gold from fort Knox into his palace under the smoke screen of his pet peeves.
Your argument regarding immigrants is unfortunately a poor one. In fact, there are an estimated 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 undocumented immigrants in this country illegally. Yes, many (possibly most) of them are NOT criminals in any sense OTHER than for their illegal entry into this county. Yes, most of them are employed here or raising families and most make lower wages than citizens do because they can be exploited by their employers. But that does NOT make them legal here under our current laws and while we all may despise Trump for his actions, in most cases his actions are in fact upholding the current laws of our country. I personally find it disgusting that he is doing so, but I can NOT agree that he is trying to "find a few hundred gang members". If he is going to do his job as President, he SHOULD be trying to remove any undocumented immigrant who is illegally in this country. THAT is the current state of our laws, like it or not. In fact, he is doing something that the last seven Presidents have all basically ignored because they saw how bad it would hurt their images and how it could hurt them at the polls.
For me, the only right thing to do is to change the laws, to have open borders. That would immediately make all the non-criminal immigrants in this country who are here without authorization legal. A simple and easy solution to the illegal immigrant problem. If its not illegal, then the people who do it aren't criminals.
Unfortunately most of the people in this country do NOT want that the happen. And if that continues, then Trump will continue to hunt down anyone in this country who is not authorized to be here and deport them. It will be ugly, because many of those people do jobs here that no one else wants. But it will be hard to attack him for doing the one thing that he is doing which is enforcing the current laws of our country, even if those laws are stupid.
Illegal immigration is actually not a crime on its own. It’s a civil offense. From the ACLU: Undocumented presence in the United States is only criminally punishable if it occurs after an
individual was previously formally removed from the United States and then returned without
permission. 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (any individual previously “deported or removed” who “enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in” the United States without authorization may be
Thank you for clarifying that. Mr. Rosen has spilled a lot of ink this morning to make the point that Trump's intention to deport illegal immigrants isn’t illegal. I’m skeptical though that Trump is making an honest attempt to do that and there are many reasons to be skeptical. Your information heightens my skepticism because it doesn’t look like he’s taking any care to find out who is properly an illegal immigrant. And, we know that he is not careful about finding out who is a member of TDA or is a part of an invasion of our country or is guilty of rape or murder. I’m certain he thinks all that is necessary to find these things out is to check on their skin color and if they speak Spanish.
THANKYOU Maren! Geez! If people would really know of what they speak, there would be less confusion & less ability to convince brain dead people of erroneous facts.
Exactly right Maren. Immigration, legal or not, is also an extremely complex 'tree' of law that branches and roots with other matters of law; That's 'why' it's hardly ever touched owing to those complicated factors. R's choose it for argument and electoral attention attraction for precisely the fact that it's so complicated and little understood. Contentious issues has always been the name of their games. Women's health and pregnancy termination, religion are others they use owing to the contentiousness.
Jon, his admin’s actions are sweeping, not targeted. Miller’s Gestapo are being exhorted to grab as many people as possible and sort them out later. If in fact he were seeking illegal immigrants only it would be one thing. He wants to show his idea of strength by grabbing anyone who doesn’t have white skin.
Jon says that "in most cases [Trump's] actions are in fact upholding the current laws of our country." Ha! Right, sweeping up people and calling them criminals with no evidence, denying them due process, and hiding them in foreign prisons... That's NOT upholding the law, that's abusing their power.
RefJim, I will appear to be like Jon (and I'd rather eat a dog turd), but your characterization of him is inaccurate.
Jon is a contrarian and provocateur with trollish tendencies. He measures the direction that a conversation is going, then writes a comment that opposes the opinions expressed, or takes pot-shots at others' lines of thinking.
I disagree with many here at times. I try to do so intelligently and without rancor. I try my level best to do so without judgement or opinion on their character or motivations.
What about due process? Is taking folks and shipping them to God knows where without due process legal? Sending an undocumented 5-year-old who is going through cancer treatment out of the country may not be illegal, but it sure is morally wrong. We throw out decency when dealing with immigrants, which leads us to a very sad and sick culture.
Typically immigration offenses are considered civil, but they can be criminal as well, especially if you cross the border illegally. Google "are immigration violations civil or criminal" and you will see references to criminal immigration violations.
Jon, regarding your statement that the last 7 presidents did nothing about immigration, have you forgotten (during Biden's administration) the bipartisan bill on immigration that had sweeping reforms, many of which were liked by the Republicans, which would have passed and Biden would have signed had Trump not stopped it by threatening the GOP. He wanted an immigration problem to run on during his campaign, so he didn't want the problem fixed.
Thank you Carol for mentioning the bipartisan bill on immigration during the Biden administration. That would have solved the immigration issue. Shows how unpresidential and uncaring trumpie convict is.
The last legislation on immigration that was signed into law was done when Reagan and Tip O'Neil were working things out. The ones with Bush 43 and Obama were both stopped by republicans.
That bill would never have "solved" immigration. It would have put some bandages on the sores, but the fundamental fact is we have the third largest population in the world and the largest free economy and people want to come here. Until that changes, people will want to enter, legally or illegally (if they can get away with it). There is money to be made here by anyone willing to work hard.
We would have STILL had an immigration problem as the Biden bill did NOTHING to resolve the case of most of the 20,000,000 illegal immigrants here already. Zip. A few of them might have been able to make better cases for asylum, but most would still be undocumented and illegal.
The CORRECT solution is to eliminate bars to entry, so that anyone who wants to come here and become a member of our country unless they have a clearly criminal background, should be admitted.
Jon, I didn't say it would solve the problem of immigration, but it would have increased the number of people employed to deal with processing immigrants so the waiting time to become citizens isn't so unbelievably complex and long. And more judges would be made available to hold hearings for those seeking asylum, among other things. It was by no means a perfect bill, but it would have been better than what we presently have, which is virtually nothing, to assist those undocumented people already in our country and those coming into our country. I agree with you that the process must be much kinder and easier, but we unfortunately have to work with the system we have. The massive media lies about immigrants that feeds xenophobia doesn't help at all, so Congress takes a long time getting anything accomplished around this issue. That's why the very fact that any bill that would have gotten passed and that would have helped was remarkable.
I’m Canadian so I’m not totally clear on your laws around immigration. My question is…are the people who are “checking in” at immigration offices, people who are not fully vetted as landed immigrants, considered illegal? If they are legitimately going through the process to become citizens, are they still considered illegal?
My non-lawyer understanding: If you enter our country and claim asylum from persecution in your home country, you have to prove it. But the court system is so starved of funds that it takes years now to get to that court date. Immigrants are allowed to stay until they finally get their day in court, but the courts keep track of them thru check ins. They are NOT illegal, but ARE undocumented. Others who just overstayed visas or crossed the border without claiming asylum do not have check-ins, obv. This is a CIVIL offense, not criminal.
If you attempt to enter and apply for asylum, you will generally NOT be permitted to enter until your case is heard. Many come into the country illegally and then attempt to apply. Different administrations have handled this differently. It is absolutely possible to be immediately ordered out of the country and told to "wait your turn" for your application to be processed. Of course, if you are coming from a country where you are being persecuted, then the US can (if it wants to) permit you to stay here while your application is processed. Interestingly, while the Trump administration is ordered many undocumented immigrants who are awaiting decisions out of the country, it also immediately let several hundred white South Afrikaners enter the US on temporary asylum visas because they were being harassed by the current black South African administration.
The basic thing is that under our current laws and rules, admission to this country is NOT guaranteed to anyone and it is absolutely selective. My personal view is that the CORRECT solution to this (highly unlikely of course under the Trump administration, but also not likely under any administraion, Democrat or GOP) is to eliminate barriers to entry other than restrictions on admitting people with criminal records for violent crimes in their own country or elsewhere. Provide open borders and you can't have, for the most part, "undocumented" or "illegal" immigrants. Make everyone welcome (as this country once did - "give me your tired, your poor" from the Statue of LIberty) and the problem of illegal immigration mostly disappears.
You are 100% CORRECT. There are processes to get Green Cards to be able to work and be here. Maybe Congress could update these laws to allow worker and employers to meet their requirements. Open Borders is not the answer and Open Borders without Vetting ends as an Invasion and no Sovereignty.
Nonsense. Open borders have never been tried since the late 1800s and early 1900s so you have ZERO idea that it becomes an invasion. Open borders except for people with previous criminal histories is an absolutely ideal way to solve the problem. If you can't be "illegal" then there is no basis for what is happening today. You can't deport someone if they have the right to be here.
What did Biden try? Whatever it was, it failed miserably. He certainlyu didn't try open borders. And his attempts at immigration control were feeble. Fact is, in the third largest country in the world and the largest which has a widely heterogenous population (China and India, the two largest, are highly homogenous), immigration control is extremely difficult if not impossible (based on current experience, impossible is the actual answer). Open borders is a terrific solution which would increase our labor supply, especially for lower paying jobs, and legitimize most of the current illegal immigrants in our country (currently estimated to be almost 20,000,000 people).
Whatever gold was left after the DOGE BOIS raid! All records have probably been destroyed by the DOGIES so we will likely never know and no one will be able to prove anything!
Revealing and true. Thank you! We do have to keep that up, especially on June 14th, “No Kings Day.” As many of us as are able should find a local protest and peacefully get out in the streets on Saturday. There is nothing “American” about what the totalitarians like Trump, Stephen Miller, and Homan are doing. It's anti-American and intentionally menacing although there’s something amusing about watching Homan, Noem, and Hegseth prancing around in military gear. It just looks clownish.
Vaccines have kept my now adult children from getting childhood diseases like I did; I’m 71. My mother was terrified when my brother and I got measles. We recovered, but lots of children did not. Polio outbreaks were another source of anxiety and grief. I remember being in line to get the polio vaccine. You can walk through old cemeteries and see the graves of children. You can tell from the dates of death when children and family members died during a disease outbreak. Now we have a wildly unstable drug abuser with no medical background at all in charge of the nation’s health.
I just watched this! Heather, your interview with Gil Duran finally explains what Yarvin, Musk, and Theil and the Tech Bros have up their “Dark Enlightenment” sleeves.
How can this have gotten so far?
Thank you for this clarifying interview! (Is there a transcript?)
Well, the lower Federal Courts still support the US Constitution and sometimes the Fascist Supremes will uphold the rulings of the lower courts, but not always.
Leo and his Federalist society are pushing through another slew of far right theocratic Federal judges. Let your Senators know that "we the people" do not approve.
It is what is unsaid. They know white is soon to be the minority. Better kill off the brown, the black, the old, the dissenters….while there is a chance to do it under a bogus immigration rodeo and radical healthcare change to vaccines and disease.
Its purpose is no different than the ovens in Nazi Germany.
Kill off or minimize those that oppose the authoritarian regime. Sic the military upon its citizens.
Their salute is always to “long live white, rich, and Christian.”
Be steady and focused. They have sorely underestimated We the People. Keep protest vigorous and peaceful, keep focus on our beautiful diversity,economy, tariffs, undoing of the reconciliation bill…put the admin’s performative bullchit to the side.
YES!!! We need to not use MAGA's language. Also, the American government was founded to protect and serve--not harm--us. It's not ok for our government to harm us, especially on purpose. Americans help each other. That's who we are as a nation. Let's spread that message!!!
Stephanie, those concerns are locked in a box stuck on a top shelf in a seldom-used closet down a hallway nobody ever uses.
Corporate media is not owned or operated by journalists. It is owned by money-grubbing boards of directors and CEOs. The only things that matter to corporate media are dollars. And those dollars arrive in direct proportion to their audience numbers, which in turn, justify advertising rates.
Trump's performative antics draw audience, attracted by adulation or horror. He knows it and the media know it. Corporate media makes bank on Trump coverage and they want him to remain on the public stage as long as possible. It's not in their interest to cast him in any negative light, democracy be damned.
If the Trump regime advances to its logical destination, the directors of corporate media hope that their previous favorable coverage will earn them the privilege of being state media. It's unlikely that any of them will outfox Fox Entertainment, but they're all trying.
Well, there's a saying: "Don't let the lion tell the giraffe's story." Legacy media don't test ideas with multiple questions. I appreciate the destructive potential of the corporate state, and that it is intellectually and morally useless. I know it manipulates the public, and that these corporate media engage in repeated lying and the conning of others for profit. People who follow Fox News don't give up their cherished narratives easily. either. Celebrity reporters like Hannity, Tucker and others make millions and provide a platform to the powerful and famous so they can spin and lie. I live up the road from where the Washington Post is published; we boycotted it for awhile, but we still support our favorite editorialists. I get what you're saying.
I call it the Big Bad Bill, and we need to get rid of it. I never liked build back better as a name because it did not clarify for people what it was. The American Jobs for Construction Bill would have been a better name. So, Trump knows how to make an acronym that does not really say anything about what it is, but makes the people fall behind it. He has a feud with Musk to get the MAGAs who are hurt by the bill to stand behind it because they will show Musk, and now creates this performance in LA to get them to back him for the mid-terms. The media does not report on it either. Too bad for us. We need to spread the word. The people who are being violent are masked and wearing black and acting like plants into the crowd. They provide the photo ops for Trump.
I thought about provocateur infiltration some time ago. I suggested something like henna tattoos or some such for peaceful demonstrators and rather than violence, "flying the bird", middle finger salute to illegal orders.
My niece and I will be bringing our US passports and the phone number of an immigration attorney. We will be marching in our brown skins and there is no telling what will happen. I may be in Chicago, but the president of the police union is as racist as down in Mississippi where my father came from.
In my county, the bill financed replacing perfectly built aluminum utility poles along a route and replaced them with huge aluminum utility poles. No possible improvement since the people’s were in perfect condition. It’s called government waste this time on the part of democrats. Cheese wiz, yes indeedy.
Bill, I think you would enjoy the book my bookclub is reading, Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson.
He’s a criminal, remember. Done criminality all his life.
Combine that with theatricality – and don’t even bother to ask why the tens of millions of Americans buy into bloodlust, hate, and paranoia.
We needn’t ask that “why” so much as ask all the good little boys and girls who so worked to get themselves atop the meritocracy – what did you think? You know your schools rid themselves of whole-book novels, memoirs, histories, biographies, travelogues, and essay collections.
“Men long for news,” Auden said in “Night Mail.” To which, as William Carlos Williams put it in “Asphodel, That Greeny Flower, “Look at / what passes for the new. / You will not find it there but in / despised poems. / It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there.”
Across America (across the world) people hunger for stories, narratives, images, memes, metaphors. We have a criminal who’s delivering that and finds it easy because our schools gave it up.
He's an entertainer -- a TV personality. And that's all. Everything he does is to stay in the limelight, and it's clear he'll do anything to remain there, no matter how grotesque, underhanded, dishonest, cruel.
In his recent interview with Anderson Cooper, George Clooney predicted that when this awful era ends, little will be left of it. They don't have anybody else up their sleeve with that combination of bombast theatricality, depravity, derangement. On some level, they must know this. For them, it's now all or nothing, boom or bust, winner take all, or zip. I can't imagine a more dangerous moment for the country.
One thing that scares me is what they are going to do with all of our information that has been illegally downloaded by DOGE? They have our names addresses, SS numbers, medical records, bank and investment info and God only knows what else. I’m certain Musk’s teenagers are putting back doors into the systems so they can access private info in government departments from the comfort of their living rooms. Who are they selling our private data too? What are they doing with it?
An entertainer is someone who intends to entertain. That some may find Trump "entertaining" doesn't make him one. He's just a con man manipulating his base for his own aggrandizement and monetary gain.
It's Come To This, I suggest that your choice of "entertainer" isn't quite right. True, his schtick does entertain his most devout MAGA followers, but he doesn't draw massive amounts of attention based on the entertainment value of his performances, especially now that dementia is taking its toll on his wit and delivery.
It could be argued that he's a con artist, as he's deceived his audience with convincing patter and false promises. But that skill has lost its luster, too. His patter has turned into repetitive rambling and too many of his promises have been proven to be lies. He's losing his audience as they become aware of his broken promises.
I'd call him a "professional celebrity," famous for being famous. He's not unlike the Kardashians, having pushed their way into the limelight with nothing of substance to offer their audience. When each of them dies, nobody will remember them for anything.
Incidentally, shame must be heaped on the American public who pay attention to these professional celebrities who contribute nothing of value to our society.
Donald's value now lies in his ability to command attention. He's valuable to corporate media as an audience magnet, which translates to advertising revenue. He's valuable to ideologues like Stephen Miller, Russell Vought and Peter Thiel as a distraction, while they work in the shadows to try and remake the U.S. into a white, theocratic oligarchy.
Well said. Given this “most dangerous moment”, why does it seem that the only contingent responding commensurately are the people. I must be seriously naive, but where is the sense of urgency?? Is there not a single soul in the dem circle brave enough to take this regime on? Clearly I watch too many American films. If this were truly a war, as many are claiming, are we left to believe congress would sit on their collective asses?
It seems that for the most part, the people are left taking care of this invasion. The erstwhile leadership of this country should be ashamed. The people are taking all the risk.
Blessings on all of you for the poetry. There’s a bit of Tennyson too that I cherish for the laughter. I’ve forgotten the first two lines, but the second two are “Onward, onward still and upward,/ Downward too into the abysm.” Somehow his lordship got it right.
For years I've been marinating in the poetry of many cultures: Russian, Hungarian, Irish, Hebrew, Arab, Slovak, Czech, English, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Polish, Spanish, French, Italian, and American.
I thought for sure I'd see you get on that thread!
I think who I see depends upon what time I get online to read. Some days though, it's too depressing to go through many of the comments, so I don't always see people.
Beautifully said, though I think the fault is less our schools but with ourselves. Many a dedicated teacher has given up the job, rather than struggle with the political hobbles increasingly applied to education, the industrializing of a process that dulls curiosity and rewards mechanical conformity. A new form of Scholasticism elbowing out the creative Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and beyond. Beguiled by pre-packaged commercial culture, we often neglect the fertility of our own minds interacting in earnest conversation and collaborative action, and have let our own collective agency slip away. Trump may serve a salvageable purpose if he inadvertently wakes us from this tragic trajectory.
Not my school. We have a wonderful school board, superintendent, principal and teachers that are dedicated to educating our kids. This is why it is essential to prevent the Fascist white Christian Nationalists from fucking with the education in each of our local communities as well as the Republicans at the state level.
And pay your educators well. How Is it good practice to force a teacher to worry about their finances because we're too cheap to pay them well?
GL, Amen to your sentiment. I am a retired teacher, was a single mom raising my son without any child support, made just enough to get by. I wanted my son to have a bright future so I worked with him to secure a Pell grant, took out loans, and he applied for scholarships. He worked at various jobs throughout his undergraduate, masters and PHD quests and is now a geology professor. He helps out in his community and works to help students find ways to continue their education. Without the Pell Grant, which is being eliminated, he would not have been able to achieve his dreams and aspirations. It's so sad and frightening that children's dreams and aspirations will be much harder to attain.
There’s always a next. The wealthy want to crush us and have the resources to fund these tools. We need to demand Congress make the changes needed to protect us. Get big/dark money out of politics.
But why are the wealthy, wealthy? Someone had to design and make the widget that they sell. Someone has to buy it to pay for the materials and labor plus the profit for them to put in their pocket. It's to their advantage to have a healthy, functioning, vibrant middle class to keep the boat afloat. Why are they trying to destroy it?
It makes no sense to me, either. It seems counterintuitive. Somehow they think they can dominate us and create/reinforce a submissive “worker class” that will accept their scraps. It is delusional.
Kathy, one of the functions of my career has been public relations. My services have been employed by corporate leaders, entertainers, politicians and others. It was my job to emphasize my subjects' achievements and minimize their weaknesses.
A temptation these luminaries all face and usually fail to resist is belief in their own press. They begin to believe they achieved their accomplishments all on their own, without the support and assistance of "the little people" who actually did the hard work that elevated them to their lofty heights.
The 1% – especially those who inherited their wealth – have been where they are for so long, they've completely lost sight or memory of how they got there.
This blindness might best be characterized by Leona Helmsley's famous comment: "Only the little people pay taxes."
Phil, I agree with you regarding his criminality. He is also a spectacular study of a completely psychotic narcissist and that’s why he seizes upon 3 letters, BBB, and claims them as his own. He is the embodiment of chaos and doing his nest to set our heads spinning. Much as I was fearful of his return, now I find his efforts at a speedy takeover are so comedic that I foresee an end to Mr. “Foghorn Bighorn’s “ rule of disorder and a clumsy exit of his band of unfit sycophants in the very near future. If I felt certain that nobody will die I could laugh.
Thank you, Phil Balla. This is where we are. We have been heading there since 1952, when public school teachers came from the lowest SAT scorers and there was money to be made inventing multiple choice for everything. Then art, music, and cursive writing.
Virginia, your comment about “the lowest SAT scores” isn’t exactly true (I was born in 1952 and had excellent teachers throughout my school career). If you remember, at that time a woman could aspire to be a nurse, teacher, or secretary; that was pretty much the range of her opportunities (or perhaps a stewardess if she was young and single). Many schools were good because these women poured themselves into their careers since they really didn’t have any other choice. The dumbing down of our schools really started more in the 1980’s.
Susan Lynn Hollis, the newspaper article which is the background for that statement was presented to me by a professor of Art at Hollins University (Hollins College at that time) while I waited to see the chairman of the Art Department. Obviously the effects of the loss of the liberal arts education weren’t felt everywhere for some years. Are you aware that many if not most liberal arts colleges have folded? (The article may have been from a Roanoke, VA, paper. Deciding immediately that I would never take an education course, I didn’t notice. I taught for years—French as a graduate student, piano later—recognizing that imitating the best teachers is the best education course.
FYI, I’m from Houston, Texas and grew up in one of the suburbs (Pasadena); there were a LOT of industrial plants in the area so the tax base was big, and the schools were fortunate to have this money. St. Thomas University (Catholic) is the liberal arts college here; that said, I agree there aren’t many left in the country. I do remember when Sputnik happened and the grading system was raised, i.e. an A was now 93 instead of 90, and so on. I was in elementary school at the time. I totally agree that cutting music, art, and cursive writing is terrible. I went to Baylor University for my B.A. (English, Spanish, French, secondary education certified) and University of Houston for a M.S.O.E. in marketing education. (After retailing at a specialty department store I was able to use that qualification to be certified to teach marketing education). After teaching for two years I was very fortunate to be hired as a flight attendant for a major airline. Forty years later I’m still flying; I plan to keep on as long as I can stand up. Unfortunately Texas has turned VERY red and the public schools are a shambles. Our idiot governor is pushing private school vouchers on the state, which only makes it worse. As much as I hate getting older I realize how fortunate I was to have the education that I had and the career that I have now. I really do fear for the generation coming up.
Thank you for your story. Both of us have been lucky, which means we still have the responsibility to try to pass on as much as we can to those coming after us. Good for you for continuing to work in the current “situation.” May the democracy win out and go on from strength to strength as we worked to make it happen.
So true. The part about Hunger for stories, narratives. Does poetry in old fashioned lines mean anything in these days of ticktock, instant messages, texting, etc. and now AI can write nice poetical lines. Are words too late to this moment?
But do not blame schools, teachers are always trying, as are parents and grandparents.
So that’s the plan: suck up all money from the treasury and let the tax payers pay for the deficit. Bleed the ordinary Americans dry and set the military on them if they protest against that. The Silicon Valley tech bro billionaires’ wet dream is coming true…
And in the meantime Dutch, pay attention at how many times they mention insurrection when there's none . And pay attention at how, out a small protest in front of a parking lot at Home Depot the regime escalated to justify sending the Nation Gard and set a full high alert on 700 Marines and mow another 2,000 NG members. Take all that as a distraction for the BBB and a practice to be repeated before the next election. Please think about that.
The next election it's at stake lauriemcf, and with that our future as a Nation.
I expect the unions in LA if not in the whole of California to show up in force, massively and peacefully together with the rest of the state's population. That would be the real show. Let's see how many army divisions the regime would be willing to send. Thanks for your reply 👍
I wish the same Susan but I think it's only up to us . People should organize, come out, show up, protest peacefully and display only American flags otherwise it reinforce the falsehood that we are an occupied country and need someone to come to the rescue. Save those Mexican flags for the 5 de Mayo, 5th of May 😄. And eat some TACO(s).
I worry that even if we perform the actions of protest, we lack an underlying cohesiveness, a uniting “why.” Part of the reason the civil rights movement had the success it did was because the folks had a faith community and an overarching larger motivation — creating the Kingdom of G*d on earth. Today we're splintered and have no larger impetus. IMO
Exactly! "Riots" it wasn't until Traitor ran with it and tried to make it so. What's left of our ability to communicate to the masses has got to pound out the truth that the government reaction was overkill.
I know, Ricardo. I know... It's all straight from the "Dictator's Playbook"... "I can't do otherwise than have the military shoot at these unlawful, violent and lawless insurrectionists!"
"The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves---in their separate, and individual capacities.
In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere." - Lincoln
It is indeed. When they suck the tit dry, us taxpayers will have to take over the care and feeding of our fellow citizens. It can be done for only $19 a month, times millions. Just turn on your tv and see how you can solve so many problems that our government once had responsibility for.
Kind of like blowing up the safe in the bank and then running away with all the money as fast as possible - and leave everybody else with the mess and the rubble.
L G ,what's going to happen when there's no more money left and the few have their pockets full? Are they going to be so powerful that would use us in a kind of gladiator competition for their own amusement?
Donald Trump has begun turning the National Guard into the Nazi-nal Guard and the Marines into a pack of storm troopers. As someone who enlisted to serve on active duty and later served for more than a decade (enlisted and officer, including as a JAGC lawyer) in National Guard units in several states, this degeneration appalls me.
I have some advice for current members of the National Guard, particularly the Army National Guard. If you're eligible for retirement, do so quickly. If you're eligible to resign or leave, do so quickly. If you have to stay, be prepared to identify and refuse illegal orders; contact a lawyer familiar with military law (for example, a volunteer lawyer through the ACLU or similar legal organization) for advice. If you remain in the Guard under the Trump reich, you will almost certainly be put in a position where you'll be ordered to commit acts qualifying as crimes against humanity, perhaps even war crimes if Trump invokes the Insurrection Act. Even if you escape legal liability, you won't escape humanity's moral judgment and condemnation. The more you participate, the more you'll contribute to the degradation of the public's respect for the military, to the degradation of your soul, and to the rise of a military dictatorship on American soil.
This advice applies to active-duty troops as well.
CGW, I saw a young (to me) fellow on the news today standing in front of, but at a bit of distance (he was not “in their face”) from the Guard, exhorting them to remember the oath they took to uphold and defend the Constitution. He was passionate and sincere—caring both for them AND for all civilians. He verbalized exactly what I’ve been keenly feeling these past weeks as things, courtesy of ‘Rump, have escalated. I wonder what is going through the minds/hearts of these folks as they are called up to do what indeed might be illegal/unconstitutional. Will they have a moment of clarity/morality and turn away? I hope so, after all “just following orders” didn’t go over too well at the Nuremberg trials. ☮️
That man was Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn's son, Wyatt. So powerful and well said. It also seemed that he had a captive audience, and has been viewed all over Youtube. I worked for 40 years as a nurse under the direction of MDs. I refused to follow some orders because I wasn't licensed to perform the request, which was one of their responsiblities. Authority only works when the one being bullied is complient. Maybe public sit ins would be effective, has no appearance of violence! Also, singing "We Shall Overcome" with intent!!!
Thank you. Although I watched that video as well, I had no idea that he was related to anyone with “star power”. And honestly, although that’s simply not a factor that should matter one way or another, it’s telling that, due to his relationship to his own parents, this may have the consequences of having the video reach more audiences. He clearly wasn’t using his own personal background to make his point. He was simply trying his best to get the attention of the both the guard and the civilians around him to make the point that the guard had a duty to uphold their oath and defend the constitution and the rule of law. That alone is enough to make the video go viral and to spread it around in order to get his point across! I, for one, found him to be an excellent example of how to use clear and powerful words as a means to protest peacefully.👍💙🇺🇸
I just read a post from Entertainment Weekly saying Wyatt Russell was misidentified. The man is apparently AAron Fisher, partner at Statecraft Media, which produces digital media campaigns for progressive candidates.
Maybe they know each other!?! He still was inspiring and if the misnaming got him more attention: GOOD!!
Thank you and WOW! I loved his statement to Entertainment Weekly in response to releasing the information that it was, indeed, he that was the man is the video.💙🇺🇸
Jessie thanks for the ID (and your moral courage to refuse to do things you knew to be wrong). I have seen that video posted on dozens of sites and FB pages.
This might be the video you saw; he kept his distance, was non-threatening, but made many good points as he tried to get them to THINK about what they are doing.
Yes, thank you, that’s him! I encourage those reading these comments to take some time to view this. Quite powerful I think. His sincerity is so endearing…and spot on.
Those troops within earshot heard what he said and was whispered to the others later. These are citizen soldiers and live among us. It's their call to be a part of democracy.
I hate to say it, but I believe there are those who actually enjoy the "authority" to "legally" hurt others. It's like the bad cops who poison the police forces, like the one who knelt on George Floyd's neck.
Barbara, wen I saw and listened to that young man, yes, for mee too, I had a " Chinese man with two shoping bags blocking tanks,s path toward Tianament Square " moment. I know there are differences but, the action of standing in front and verbally exporting them that we are one and we are part of them and them part of us. A very powerful and touching moment unlikely to be shown in Fox News.
CGW, THAT is great advice! Really someone needs to create a template for National Guard and Troops as to their rights and ability to resist. Having spent a lifetime being drilled to follow orders, now we are asking Guardsmen and Troops to become self representing lawyers while their fellow herd members are also confused. I'll do some research to see if anyone has published a template. It's a tricky area of Constitutional and Military Law, I don't know anyone who practices it. I urge you to also research this topic and post here in a future. Feel free to email me via Substack here if you want to collaborate.
I apologize for this delayed response. I'm retired, so I don't have access to the research sources I had years ago. But there are some sources that might provide some help.
Good advice CGW. I'm a Gulf War era Navy veteran and a lot of memories and thoughts have been coming up for me. Mostly it's the oath we take to preserve, protect, uphold and (the lifelong commitment to) defend the Constitution of the U.S. against enemies, foreign and domestic, that is still paramount to this republic if we can keep it.
In an article published on the Maine Public Radio website in December, 2023 Heather explains-
“[Being from a small town], it’s not idyllic. Anybody who’s lived in a small town knows that there’s drug abuse, and spousal abuse, and alcohol abuse," said Richardson. "But there is also charity. And by that, I mean graciousness [and] the idea of helping each other out — real caring. And if you’re from elsewhere, you don’t necessarily have that sense of an entire community being one.”
Finally!!! Someone with a major profile mentioning Project 2025. If only all the pundits would do that every day. Trump isn't doing anything, even though he is assigned the credit. The "advisors" decide what is going to happen and he goes along. Why not? He doesn't even read. He's an old, befuddled man who likes cheeseburgers and cheating at golf. The christian nationalists/white supremacists have been working towards this for 60+ years and must be dancing in joy. Their goal has been to kill democracy, create a theocratic republic and to have the President operate as a dictator with no interference from Congress or the SCOTUS. Project 2025 states that fossil fuel is great and taking it away harms poor people! It also says that when women have access to abortion or family planning, they are being harmed. They insist there is just male and female, nothing in between, and that rich white men are meant to control everything according to "biblical values" (their version of the bible.) You can't read the document and not be chilled by what's in it and how much of it Trump has carried out vicariously since Jan. 20. Thanks, Heather, for writing about this. PLEASE keep doing that.
And in the middle of all this, another nighttime barrage of drones and cruise missiles cover Ukraine's skies, this time striking a maternity hospital in Odesa, with downed wreckage falling in at least 16 locations in Kyiv.
Yet hardly a word in our press about 20,000 US anti-drone missiles having been diverted from Ukraine by Trump for the Middle East....
And then there was the story where an ABC correspondent was suspended after tweeting that Trump is a world class hater. The oligarchy owned corporate media has totally lost the plot. Like so many of us, the correspondent was guilty of repeating the obvious, even though few have the courage to call them out.
Yes, I saw this and felt utter outrage! Absolutely sickening beyond belief! At some point the guns of the world are going to (justifiably) be aimed at us :(
Jeannette, I highly recommend this essay about Russell Vought and Representative DeLauro (who has brilliantly called out Vought). This essay concisely makes clear how Project 2025 is destroying government as the means to install their vision of America.
They hide behind “eliminating waste fraud and abuse” while purposely increasing waste and incompetence.
Today I was traveling north from Arizona heading home to Alaska. I like to get off the highways and travel secondary, rural roads. The America I see bears absolutely no resemblance to the country Donald Trump screams about every day. Most of the people (In my experience about 90+%) will go well out of their way to help a total stranger. Not because they hope to gain some advantage, they do it because they know what is right. Turn down the volume, listen to your heart, it’s good for your soul.
It's so true. I live I live in NYC, which Trump likes to pretend is a hell hole. It's a safe and friendly city. Sure we walk fast, talk fast, and are impatient - but over and over I see New Yorkers stop to help someone out, give directions, and all sorts of other small courtesies. His crazy descriptions are just intended to create more fear and division.
I am old enough to have lived through, and to some extent participated in, the tumult of the 1960s. The civil rights struggles, the assassinations, the Vietnam conflict, the horror of the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. I marched in a fair share of marches (I lived in the SF Bay Area then, so no shortage of things to march for and against.) I campaigned for Gene McCarthy as a write-in, even though the Dems had already picked Humphrey and even though I was not yet old enough to vote, because I thought he offered the best chance for peace by the time my first opportunity to vote came around. I Joined thousands as we marched, peacefully, on Easter 1969, from Union Square to the Presidio and back. I got teargassed when then-Governor Ronny Raygun called in the guard to put down a peaceful protest in Berkeley in May of 69.
And then came Nixon, Watergate, etc, etc.
I had hoped to see through what remains of my life free from this kind of crap, thinking maybe something had been learned, some kind of wisdom had come from those struggles.
I, too, remember growing up in the sixties. I very much agree with your position--hard to believe we have to do this again. But what choice do we have? No matter how discouraged and downhearted we are, we MUST make this stop if we ever want to live in an open society in our beloved homeland.
Heather, I just glanced at that Niagara of footnotes citing your sources and thought again of the dogged record keeping you're doing for your future colleagues. Did you ever have an idea that history such as you have studied would dump itself on your lap, demanding to be properly organized, filed,and annotated for the historians of tomorrow? Since they can't, let me presume to thank you for them.
Suddenly, the cruelty has a face. It is the face of a mom being clubbed and wrestled to the ground. The face of the beloved member of a local community being torn away from her family handcuffed, and pushed into a van by masked so-called "law enforcement". It is the President of the SEIU under the freedom afforded by law being arrested and taken away. It is in a child's tears as they are separated from their family. It is a reporter hit by so-called "non-lethal" bullets while covering the Trump-Noem-Hegseth escalation and provocation of violence.
While the "Silent Majority" became the "Tea Party" and then "MAGA" -the rising anger was always centered in generational economic despair. The lack of opportunity and upward mobility. Right-wing extremists have achieved success misdirecting that anger to immigrants and less directly, the BIPOC community. By using "News" outlets such as Fox "News" they have created a long-lasting frame of runaway crime, job-stealing immigrants and refugees, and Reagan's "Cadillac-driving welfare queen" as an example of corruption, gaming the system, and the reason behind minimal paychecks.
The reality that 1% of the population has hoarded extreme wealth is not a message that is amplified in the United States (or elsewhere globally), when the same 1% own and control the media outlets responsible for the distribution of "news" stories.
Instead, we get headlines such as "Violent Out-of-Control ICE Riots Destroying Los Angeles as President Deploys National Guard and Marines to Restore Order", "Oil Rises as US-China talks counter OPEC", and "Republican lawmaker's raucous town hall reflects challenges promoting Trump's bill" -headlines that intentionally mislead while buried in a stream of sports and entertainment news -instead of any news outlet running one story about the complete subversion of the United States by a lawless, corrupt, criminal cabal.
Should a handful of elected GOP members find their courage (or borrow some from Liz Cheney) and impeach this abomination of an Executive Branch, each day the corrupt idiocracy continues to create more chaos, concentrate wealth, and bury the United States in debt and interest payments -which will be borne by workers -not Musk, Bezos, Thiel, Adelson, or others who continue to enjoy watching the chaos from one of their many homes.
Absent any GOP courage -the only peaceful way to stop this madness is a prolonged general strike for all but first responders until this government falls.
George, McConnell shot our country in the foot when he failed to encourage R’s in the Senate to convict ‘Rump for his second impeachment….you could tell HE KNEW ‘Rump was guilty as hell, but passed it off to “the people” to hold him accountable via the courts. Seems all those in power & with the responsibility to make things right just caved. I’ll never understand why.
Indeed Barbara. I think it was and is recognition that "MAGA" anger is real and cult-like. Leveraging the misdirected anger to amass greater power and control has caused most every Republican member to set aside their Oath of Office. McConnell not only abdicated his leadership responsibility -he made the problem far worse by shaping SCOTUS on a foundation of corrupt partisans. And I would argue that blocking Garland from SCOTUS and elevating Gorsuch instead was monumental, perhaps unintentionally. Garland might have been well-suited to the court, however he was a terrible AG. Anyone in that role should have aggressively pursued all election deniers in Federal and State government under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Any educated and informed society would completely reject the GOP's primary objective -the extreme concentration of wealth in the United States which is antithetical to any meaningful democracy.
Ah, Rhonda, but those should realize by his actions that he’s really a TACO!!!!! To channel Emily Dickinson, he’s only “plated wares”, not the real thing.
McConnell is and was a coward. He did not want to be a target of Trump and his Maga base (and Proud Boys, One Percenters, etc.). Being old doesn't mean that one is not afraid to die. Interesting that his disease manifested as being frozen...unable to move or speak-- remember?
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.”
The most effective way to be heard by your Congressional representative is to meet in person with them or a member of their staff. The least effective way is to call their office. If you can't meet in person write a letter-not an email.
stephen, Heather has mentioned many, many times that snail mail is totally ineffective. She stated by the time it arrives and is read and sorted, whatever legislation you are writing about had already been voted upon.
She definately says to meet in person, but if they refuse town halls, what are you to do? Heather says to make a phone call, and having myself made MANY calls, the aides will ask and tally what your opinion is on whatever you are calling about. The phone lines are often jammed, so our next best it to email.
50501 is organizing 'No Kings Day" protests in all 50 states forn6/14, the day of the president's "birthday parade". You can find more information on what's happening in your area athttps://www.fiftyfifty.one/ The Women's March is organizing "Kick Out the Clowns' circus-themed protest actions in all 50 states on the same day. For more informationhttps://action.womensmarch.com/calendars/kick-out-the-clowns One of the protests planned for 6/14 is a caravan/march to Mar-a-Lago and rally in West Palm Beach, FL. I am very encouraged to see that some of these protests are taking place all over deep red Florida, some highly localized. Also "flag waving days" are being organized prior to the 16th in which people are waving banners over freeway and other highway overpasses with themes of "Fighting Fascism", "No Kings" etc. There was a protest at Miami Government Center today over immigrant actions, and another protest is scheduled for Wednesday. America is rising up.
“Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarcy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.”
The guardrails are crumbling but some refuse to buckle. Is it enough? The evil is on the throne and has the momentum. They will push, push until enough have enough. May his birthday be the day that enough will have enough. It’s now or subjugation.
I just figured out that Trump's use of BBB for his Big, Beautiful Bill is yet another way to erase the good work done by Joe Biden's BBB -- Build Back Better. Trump is letting RFK Jr erase our progress in eradicating childhood diseases. The only silver lining I've found these past few days is how well Newsom and Bass and other Dems and progressive folks are responding to all the attempted lies, by pointing out how the Trump regime's lies about the majority peaceful protests are being used as cover while they pick our pockets and rip away our protections from diseases and cancer. We have to keep that up -- pointing out their lies AND telling the reasons why they're doing it AND telling the TRUTH!
Lawrence O'Donnell said tonight on MSNBC that LAPD DID NOT NEED BACKUP to arrest a total of 56 protesters. The Ice Agents came to the Garment District, supposedly looking for gangs and money laundering. O'Donnell said: "They interrupted sewing".
In the "Grounded Podcast" video with Prof. Richardson, she said, "I see these attempts of his to assert dominance as a sign of weakness, not of strength."
O'Donnell suggests Trump, once again, is distracting us from The Big Bill, his failures with tariffs, the video of Trump stumbling up the stairs to Air Force One, his fight with Musk, etc.
The hope lies in what Rachel said tonight...that protest matters and pushback( in all its forms) is the only thing that ever works to defeat authoritarianism...
Ezra Levin, who was interviewed by Rachel Maddow tonight said ," This is a Democracy. Power depends on the people. It flows from the people. It depends on the consent of the governed." We must stand up to Trump by protesting peacefully all across this nation on Saturday. Rachel Maddow says, "The movement is unstoppable. Now more than ever..." So with heart and resolve and the courage of our convictions, let's stand up together for our Democracy!
If you are able, please attend one of the myriad protests against Trump and his Fascist takeover of the Federal government on Saturday. And if you are unable to attend in person, do a drive-by to stand against Fascism in the US. Let Trump call out the National Guard in all 50 states and we'll see how many guardsmen stand against the oath they swore to the US Constitution.
As for the BBB, call and write your representatives and Senators.
In Sarajevo when hundreds of thousands of Serbs assembled to protest against Milosevich, the police were ordered to fire on the crowd. They refused to fire on their countrymen and women. That was the day that Milosevich was arrested and taken to The Hague for trial. Maybe it will happen here. I would be content if the orange convict were placed in solitary confinement for the rest of his days and all of his henchmen and women were put in Guantanimo.
I am hoping with all my heart that our military will remember and keep the oath they took when they became soldiers. The Constitution is what keeps us free, and the trump regime is an enemy to the Constitution, a domestic enemy. Therefore, our enemy. He has already allowed 'germ warfare' by allowing RFK jr. to attack us by removing our safeguards at HHS, and has threatened the function of checking him by threatening the people in Congress. He is threatening the population by illegally arresting anyone with skin other than white. He is an enemy of the people and must be brought down, but only by our numbers, not violence.
We must turn him away like a Milosevich.
Well, my husband must receive attribution for the following: "we are living on a thin skin over a molten powder keg."
Is America possible? The answer from Freedom Summer (1964) to the sequel, Freedom Summer Part II, is yes:
https://onbeing.org/programs/vincent-harding-is-america-possible/
Marines are trained for one thing. Combat. Defined more of less by the Army as to pursue and engage the enemy, kill their soldiers and destroy their equipment. That's what they're trained for. That's all theyr trained for.
Sending them against US citizens. Or even residents, has got to be illegal in several ways and also immoral and just plain stupid.
The problem with the military as I understand it is that 50% identify as fundamentalist Christians.
The ICE agents have fired (rubber bullets) at the crowds, and even at an Australian journalist. How have these agents been indoctrinated that they would fire on innocent protesters?
It would not surprise me if most of these ICE agents are not the same ones who stormed the Capitol. Their allegiance is to Trump.
Absolutely!!! That’s why he let them all out of jail…
Some of them (ICE Agents), with room-temperature IQ's are no doubt willful pushers & shovers happily wearing the ICE jacket. They now have the 'upper hand'. This is not good.
Look carefully at their “uniforms”. Mismatched, boots, pants and baseball caps. Duty belts have varying weapons and tools (e.g., handcuffs) on them. Patches are inconsistent. Long beards and long hair are not typically permitted in law enforcement. Few have badges or name tags; many wear masks.
According to Snopes, Noem didn't suggest she would do this.
Next thing we know the republicans are going to want to flow up the planet to make room for trump's ego...
They kind of are. I believe that right wing militias, like proud boys, but there are many ate being deputies by ICE. These guys are wanna be sissies, some ex army. So if you wonder who these guys are with surplus store tactical gear and masks hiding their identity and they don't seem to have any training ... guess why. I think there are off-duty cops doing the same thing. Just amateur tough guys being Trumps secret army. Why don't some journalists dig hard into this?
Wouldn't surprise me at all.
Highly doubt the they are trained law enforcement, probably Jan6ers released from prison and getting their revenge like assolini...
Apparently, Noem stated the truth when she answered that insurrectionists were employed by ICE. So, no background check, no training, no ID, no uniforms , no Judicial warrants - not legally employed by the Federal government!
They also fired at another journalist as well.
Go that right Kathy Hughes. That attack, the battery, came while the reporter & other media were working.
Those were ICE agents? I thought they were LAPD officers firing.
The perp that attacked the journalist ID'd by Kathy Hughes can without too much difficulty be tracked back to the shooter.
In the separate attack on media, the "Australian reporter" has a real name : LAUREN TOMASI. Lauren & her crew work for Australia's "Nine News".
The incident is well documented & has been broadcast worldwide.
They keep being served Koolaid!
👏 sounds like a plan…let’s get to it …protests are happening all over this country, join one ..join many.. make it known . 🗣️You’re toast Trump . Your entourage too,Don the Con and all the ponzi pawns. Your fake electors , your fraudulent schemes , and fools that follow ..are done!
Just a matter of time, let’s get to it folks !
He's a strange and awkward man.....He thinks he is the master of the world and subduer of wild beasts, too.
The comparison of Milosevich and his actions in Sarajevo to Trump is really far-fetched. I am not saying that I think Trump is doing anything right for this country, but I am saying that you would be hard pressed to prove that he has committed crimes anywhere near the ones that Milosevich did. Milosevich conducted brutal campaigns against political opponents in Yugoslavia, including ordering murders of many of his opponents. At least so far, nothing of the sort has been alleged against Trump. Yes, he has ordered deportation to overseas prisons like in El Salvador of allegedly illegal immigrants, but in fact, most of those people were here in this country illegally. Not all, but most.
I am not defending any of his actions in any way, but I am suggesting that any comparison of him to the crimes committed by Milosevich are specious at best. He very well may become a dictator as bad as Milosevich, but he certainly has NOT become that yet. He is incompetent and outrageous, but unless you have some proof to offer, it is wrong to suggest he is the equivalent of Milosevich.
Lighten up, maybe? Are we going to argue about whether Trump is a “criminal” or not? He is an adjudicated criminal, but, putting that aside, while I’m no historian I feel sure that no President in our history has committed as many illegal and unconstitutional acts as has Trump. I feel now is the perfect time to get out in the streets and Resist.
he's also an adjudicated rapist...anyway you look at it he's a criminal and a felon...
Excuse me, "lighten up"? I am not the one who is making wild accusations here. People here are slinging unsubstantiated charges repeatedly. Those are the people who need to "lighten up".
Regardless of that, he was elected President and there are NO bars to being elected and serving even if you are an adjudicated criminal. You may hate that fact, but it is true. He was elected by our country, admittedly be a minimal margin, but he WAS elected and there is no justification to bar him from that office because of ANYTHING he did before. If you want to blame anyone for electing him, blame the people who stupidly voted for him.
Maybe we need to fix this in the future (put some additional constitutional restrictions on running for the highest office in the land) but that is for the future.
We have to deal with the situation we have today.
I agree, you can protest, but there are no grounds right now for removing him unless we can get an impeachment and conviction in the Senate. Even if an impeachment could be brought (probably difficult but possible) there is virtually no chance of getting a conviction in the Senate which takes 67 votes. And the GOP is never going to abandon him because the GOP population loves him.
I took Michael’s point to be the refusal to fire into the crowd of their countrymen despite the dictator’s order.
Jon Rosen. You missed the point about the Milosevich take down. It showed that people when sufficiently provoked can take down even a brutal dictator. There are other examples like S. Korea to inspire us.
Absolutely correct about the missed point, George.
I did not miss that point at all. It was clearly intended to suggest that Trump is somehow a "brutal dictator". I certainly can't stand the guy but if you are going to, by association, suggest that he is a brutal dictator, please use facts rather than slander.
Don't forget, this country ELECTED him as president, he didn't get into office by overthrowing anything or anyone. The voting population deserves heaps of scorn for that result but it still doesn't make him (yet) a "brutal dictator".
Even if those people were here illegally, they have committed no crime by doing so. The answer to illegal entry is deportation back to their country of origin, not rendition to prisons in third party countries. This is kidnapping and human trafficking, not deportation, and the process is so rapid that there is no adjudication as to any criminal behavior on their part.
Are you nuts? Read your first sentence. Under our current laws the very fact of entering the US illegally IS a crime. It is a violation of our current immigration laws. Your supposition is preposterous. please read the laws regarding deportation. You might actually learn something.
Jon, so as an armchair lawyer and self-appointed discussion moderator, your position is that no one is allowed to compare Donald's crimes to Milosevich's until they can be proven to be metrically equal?
So in your world, no one is allowed to pull the fire alarm until they can show the building is fully engulfed in flames? A driver may not apply the brakes until proof can be shown that their vehicle will slam into a tree?
In other words, we've just gotta wait until Donald actually does all the things he's promised to do. Got it. Keep your day job.
I think you missed my point. I was talking about how the Serbs resisted to get the old stinker out.
I'm not too sure all those National Guard members are very happy with the way their government is treating them, either.
Thank you for the history reminder Michael.
I fear that plenty in the police and military here would obey.
Sadly I wrote to my US Rep Mike Rulli (R-OH) about the BBB and his reply to me was that he was elected to support and implement trump's agenda. Not a word about doing what was right for his constituents, his state or even our country, but full on support for trump. This seems to be the attitude of most of the GOP representatives regardless of what state they represent.
My representative, Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01), responded this week to my complaints about her vote for the MAGA Murder Bill by telling me I was wrong about the bill and assuring me how great it will be for Iowans. And of course disputing that ANY Medicaid cuts would result.
It’s hard to say whether your congressman’s blind callousness or mine’s complete fabrications are more despicable!
Keep the pressure on, regardless! Even if they outwardly fail to be listening they remain very aware of what our feedback is telling them.
It's not very different from attending a No Kings protest. Trimp and his gang will loudly declare that it's inconsequential and they're bravely implementing the silent majority's will, but enough of us push back hard enough they will yield.
Trump is rattled by the protests according to Rachel Maddow and others. Ezra Levin (Co- Executive Director of Indivisible) said last night on Rachel Maddow segment on MSNBC when talking about protests: "That's what works against would-be authoritarians."
Begin to support the Democratic Party and the local candidates. Donate time and money. Write letters to the editor in the local paper…We will remember in November!
Perhaps more of the elected Democrats should be supporting democracy instead of feathering their nests. Most of the leaders in DC are just trying to collect more money!
Writing to my Republican representative and senators in Phio feels like I’m trying to communicate with a brick wall.
But you are doing the most important work. The R’s need to hear from you. If they get enough pushback, it will start to change. We need to try to widen the circle of resistance
Same here with my representative, Chris Smith, one of the few Republican representatives from New Jersey.
My brother’s rep is Josh Gottheimer. I don’t know what Gottheimer thinks of this. My senators are Trump shill Bernie Moreno, the former Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, and my rep is Mike Turner. At least I am spared being represented by Gym Jordan.
Ditto; And it's not new.
I too wrote to my rep, Tom Kean (NJ) and he did reply telling me he was doing all good things for his constituents including voting for the BBB that he believes will get rid of those who do not deserve to deplete what the good guys should get (I paraphrase his remarks). I would guess he never read the bill but instead just voted yes and moved on to the next thing.
Grrrrrrr! Meanwhile, what happened with the repubs who admitted they hadn’t read the bill, or the whole bill, and were sorry now? Even mtg admitted that!
‘Dimb’ that’s dim and dumb GOP…I didn’t read…
As Pamela writes above, US Rep Mike Rulli (R-OH)'s "reply to me was that he was elected to support and implement trump's agenda." So why would they even bother reading the bill?
Great that you got a reply and keep writing with FACTS. I agree most never read the bill of 1000 pages. They met at night for a reason.
It’s important to keep responding with FACTS. Not just to your elected officials but on social media posts, instagram, threads -wherever you see lies and disinformation. Flood the lies with FACTS, referenced if possible, and photos. Like photos of peaceful protests when Trump claims it’s out of control. It’s his ruse to claim the need for martial law. Your truth may not stop him but if it causes his remaining supporters, or those of us with their heads still in the sand, to WAKE UP then you’ve done something positive to move the needle. Also hammer at legacy media who are not pushing back against trumps narrative.
😡
Same here in Florida; our Senators are full on claiming their allegiance is to the despicable one's agenda.
We have 3 Republican Cuban American House members who represent majority Dems. 50% of the population is Hispanic.
A Miami Republican who co-founded the group Latinas for Trump is condemning President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation campaign and blasting recent immigration enforcement actions as harmful. “This is not what we voted for,” State Sen. Ileana Garcia said in a statement on Saturday. “I have always supported Trump, through thick and thin. However, this is unacceptable and inhumane.”
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article308111995.html#storylink=cpy
Many Republican American Cuban donors agree including Miami healthcare CEO Michael “Mike” B. Fernandez, who wrote the following open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of the Republican Cuban-American Miami-Dade congressional delegation: U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez and Maria Elvira Salazar.
For decades, I have stood with you in defense of the freedoms we cherish, those we were denied in the country of our birth and found in the grace of this one. I know what it means to flee tyranny. Like you, I carry that history in my bones and that pain in my heart.
But like a growing number in our community, I have watched with dismay as the very values we once found sanctuary in are now being attacked by a previously unthinkable threat — the sitting president of the United States.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article304271841.html#storylink=cpy
If we can get those 3 to oppose the Big Beautiful bill, we might be able to stop all this stuff.
We need the Republicans opposed to tariffs, Ukraine policy, grift, national security policy, etc to focus. In red states like NC, MO he's defunded FEMA. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/josh-hawley-begs-trump-administration-fema-aid-missouri-1235343815/
We need Murkowski, Collins et al to stop it.
Yes time to peal off the Christian’s, immigrants, and not this was not what they wanted, guns, drugs and gangs, that was the focus! No we have grandmothers who have been here for decades sewing our clothes!
Short term use Daniel; Don't forget to properly dispose of them after temporary use.
Were you aware of the meeting today with Hegseth? A democrat was questioning him and Hegseth walked all over him. The dems are constantly being caught flat footed. Did anyone ever hear a dem DEMAND to be shown evidence of fraud, waste and abuse? I hope I just missed it..,
Wow! Yes, Pete had a great example of actually looking at and dealing with efficiency…firing needed workers is stupid! Could government be more effective, better practices and research, you bet! How about getting rid of the Sewer Circus that has no experience doing their jobs and hiring people who know what they are doing! My God, a Faux spokesdroid running the Dept of Defense! No resume at all and he sucks at it…Signal!
😡
They want a king? Move to another country and their disavowed oath to protect and defend the constitution…No Kings!!
All I got back was a canned form letter spouting platitudes and telling me how wonderful everything is. Didn't answer my questions at all
Don't you just love the 'warmth and attention' of those Kat ?
😡
Don’t give up Pam. Keep the pressure on. A really great tactic is to get a small group of voters together to meet at least the people who work for Rulli. Then they must talk face to face and it is harder to deny reality.
I intend never to give up. Rulli has refused to hold any “town hall” meetings , does not staff a local office even though our area is the largest in terms of population in his district . I intend to send his reply to me to the chair of our local democratic party headquarters with the hope they can use his own words against him.
In Ohio, several Republican members support Ukraine. You can't expct them to switch allegiances, but Ohio has hundreds of thousands of Ukraininans, who are univerally exTrumpers, and Mike Turner and David Joyce have been vocal. Pressure them.
At one time, Ruli was a Dem. His district, south of Youngstown is rural, filled with low income voters. East Palistine should be all over him. https://www.vindy.com/opinion/editorials/2025/05/norfolk-southern-is-not-alone-in-moving-too-slowly/
Object to the Vindicator. https://www.vindy.com/opinion/editorials/2025/06/the-real-problem-with-joni-ernst/
That really sucks Pam
Nothing about the fact that he was elected by the people to REPRESENT THEM. Grrrrr
Typical Republican jabberwocky. It runs rampant in Indiana where our governor is a Trump wanna-be and our senators Trump waterboys.
I'm in Ohio; All my reps are R's. I've gotten the similar crap. I have not had representation in Ohio since.... I can't remember when. Didn't we toss tea in the ocean over such in the past ?
Hi Pamela, that’s exactly the response I was given by my Congressional Representative. Yesterday, I received an email with an explanation of the BBB, and how no one who was qualified would lose benefits. Key word would be “qualified”, I’m certain the requirements will change.
I love your optimism GJ, but I expect that 99% of any NG called up by Trump will do what they are ordered to do. Most have no real idea whether any order actually is a violation of their oath, and in fact, most of what Trump has ordered, despite its despicable nature, is in fact legal and within his power under our current laws. People who are in the military, whether the regulars or national guard, have limited options when ordered to do something that is not obviously and blatantly illegal. If order to go slaughter people in the streets of LA, I expect there would be some who would resist, but rounding up illegal immigrants? In fact that is probably a completely legal order even if we hate the whole notion.
So far, Trump has kept MOST of his actions just slightly inside the borders of illegality, and the times he has strayed have mostly not been obvious. So if he orders guards soldiers to arrest people at protests, they would be in serious danger to refuse such orders, even though such orders might very well be illegal. Most "foot soldiers" do not have the skills to decide which orders they should not obey, especially when the punishment for doing so is quite serious.
You do realize that ICE is not only rounding up "illegal" immigrants, don't you? In a community near me, they took a Russian man who has lived in the U.S. for 25+ years - who has a green card - into custody. ICE is claiming all sorts of immigrants are criminals, without any evidence whatsoever - and then denying them access to their attorneys.
I've been dealing with various aspects of the legal system for decades and of course they will round up some people who are exceptions, that always happens and usually gets straightened out at some point. If you had evidence of a roundup of people where even 10% were illegal arrests, I'd be concerned but MOST of the arrests have been legit under current law (which had not been adequately enforced by any administration in 20+ years.) The arguments being made suggest that at worst a few dozen people out of 1000s have been illegally detained. Not ideal but unsubstantiated arrests happen every day so across the country. It's awful but it's not cause for protesting in the streets (maybe it should be).
I've been protesting that the problem is in fact that we need to remove the very idea that anyone should be convicted of illegally entering this country. Open our borders and all of this nonsense goes away.
If there are no laws that make law abiding immigrants "illegal" then there can be no arrests of illegal immigrants.
Is it not true that the courts have found in case after case that what Trump has been trying to do with his flood of Executive orders is illegal or unconstitutional? Has this not been obvious?
It is NOT true. There have been preliminary orders blocking some executive orders but so far almost none of his executive orders have been blocked with a final order. And the few that have have been appealed to the Supreme Court where those decisions are at least odds on to be overturned by a 6-3 court.
Your wording suggests you concede that, "Oh sure, there are some cases blocking EOs but they don’t count because they’re not final.” Here’s some info from Bloomberg a little over a month ago, (https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-lawsuits-against-trump-administration/?embedded-checkout=true).
"Courts entered more than 200 orders stopping the administration’s actions in 128 cases, with judges sometimes ruling at multiple stages of the legal fights.”
128 cases seem like a lot of cases. Some judges were scathing in their remarks, especially Judge Boardman in the birthright citizenship case.
My point is that Trump’s behavior as President has no precedent in our history. He’s the only one I can think of who has set out expressly to abuse the American people. For a minute or two after his inauguration no one saw it coming, but after that it’ became clear that he intends to destroy our democracy and replace it with a fascist dictatorship with Himself in the starring role. You’re welcome to continue trying to put right the terrible wrong being done to him regarding his immigration policies. All of the arguments you’ve put forth this morning remind me of nothing so much as Trump’s own observation that “Hitler did some good things, too."
Thanks , Jon.
Can we , will we ..all cite the judges who call out the illegal action ( of any of his pawns stayed orders too please). We need to double down on the FACTS , bore into the fake news cycles, point out the planted ideas/words/accusations. Recognize the subliminal programming folks -it’s very effective on the dwindling base- like what Bannon just coughed up ..is ,as usual BS, but what he says is extremely manipulative,that’s their major MO it’s water-boarding technique 😉
The photo of the bare-chested man in black, skull-decorated pants and mask, waving a Mexican flag, standing on a Waymo, with flames in the picture— it pushes all of the buttons for Trump’s base, and possibly many others who see nothing else. I wonder if it was made to resemble the famous Iwo Jima image.
Why the Mexican flags? Many of the targeted people are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, etc. Immigration from Mexico has trended down.
Oh very correct, thank you. Thats the plan! Do we know who it is, bechya it’s a plant. The police car on fire, 2020 pic. Yes….its the real game played faster, pushed harder, faster,harder, we have to sue quickly at each punch (bravo CA) ,follow suits (won 97 of 100 so far 👏) with facts and educate. We are the teachers, they are the rowdy bully’s of class of 2025.
We.Can.Win.This. Stay the course.
Thanks , Mary
Jon, who do you think make up the National Guard? I bet lots of Chicanos!
The Marines are probably a different story.
Actually if you check various pages that report on diversity in the military, in both the active duty AND the guard, minority/ Hispanic representation is approximately 25% and 75% white, up from about 20% on 2010. The officers Corp in both is about 90%white (not surprising).
What is a potential issue is that 98+% of the enlisted force and guard are high school educated with no college degrees. Most of those are men. And that, regardless of race, it's a HUGE "Trump" support group. Enlisted folks make up 85% of the forces.
Non-college educated men support Trump far more than college educated men.
I maintain my point that at this point very few members of the armed forces, guard or not, will refuse to follow orders at least until someone actually orders them to kill Us citizens.
And even then, who knows for sure?
I bet the guard in California is mostly Chicano. https://www.calvet.ca.gov/MinorityVets
There are virtually no Hispanics in most states. https://www.nationalguard.mil/Resources/Image-Gallery/News-Images/igphoto/2000956984/
Which includes them sleeping on the floors of federal building basement minus adequate bathrooms, food, and water. That is not going to engender loyalty as far as I can see. It is going to scare them that they are working for people so incompetent. Think about how well prepared our military is going to be for any situation when the people at the top cannot think things through and don't know what they are doing.
According to the Daily Koz, the American people are more against what Trump is doing than for it.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/10/2327039/-Americans-largely-reject-Trump-s-military-invasion-of-California?detail=emailrecap
Trump has not stayed inside the borders of legality. He has been losing lawsuit after lawsuit because what he is doing is illegal. He is already a convicted criminal, so where are you getting legal from?
Even if most foot soldiers cannot think for themselves, Russia had the same problem in the beginning when they were setting people against their family members in Ukraine. CA national guard is seeing family members in LA that I do not believe they will attack.
Let 's get 3.5% of the population out: this is the tipping point.
#PublicHealthHaiku
Comment, not haiku:
I'll be participating in Boston's Pride parade with sign:
Drag kings
Not tyrants
(Logo of No Kings movement)
And refer to it as the Budget Buster Bill.
Or the Big Brutal Bill.
Stand!
GJ. just a reminder to protest peacefully because death star, et al. are just waiting for violence to call more military on the street. In Portland, we have a group of people who I believe are probably apolitical, but love to break things and cause havoc who use every protest to their own ends. If you see some people you deem suspicious or look like they are plants, move away from them.
The entire Oregon delegation save one are Ds. The lone R, Bentz, continues to tell people that the bill is wonderful despite what his own constituents are saying to him. i hope they continue to tell him that he is wrong no matter what he says.
And maybe carry American flags, just to remind people the principles we stand for
The one here in Philadelphia will be a big one as lots of people from DC will be attending as there won't be a protest there. I'll be going with seven friends and neighbors....
Perfect!
The poor NG's, having to stand against their fellow citizens. They're not supposed to be involved in arresting anyone. Since NO ONE thought to provide the 1st deployment of NG w/ federal money for food, water, sleeping areas, Maybe we need to offer them food & water when they show up in our states.
From the Office of Truth Social: Donald Trump
(A Once Great Nation)
“A once Great Nation, far and above than any other nations on earth, is now inhabited by a disgusting, fat-farting, lying, second-rate pretend mafia hood with a nice color-toned hair piece in the fabulous but small inconsequential White House; I’m referring to myself, of course and all the disgusting hanger’s on I’ve appointed that don’t know squat about the positions I appointed them to.
I have consulted with my architects that I have yet to pay from the last job they did for me at Trump Tower to study tearing down this shabby White House and replacing it with a carved marble structure honoring me as your leader for all time. There will be sculptures of your humble servant gazing out at the four corners of the universe.”
Trump is everything evil. There is not one decent bone in his body. He is pure evil and 100% destructive. If there was any such animal as an Antichrist, he is it. My only question is, why did he have to live in my time?
Please come out on June 14 to peacefully rally against this Thing that inhabits our world.
I just received a letter from the Census Bureau asking me to participate in a population survey. I will not cooperate with any government agency since our government is in the throes of being dismantled.
We also did not cooperate with the last census after being told we had "been selected" for a detailed interview. All they got was the bare minimum required by law. Especially with DOGE and palantir creating databases, give the government as little as possible..
It’s all voluntary as far as I can tell. If not I’ll lie. I have enjoyed being an enumerator over the years from 1980 going forward. I’ll do it again only if I get an administrative position one more time for ole times sake.
Name, rank & serial number....
No, it’s not Bill. It’s in the process of being preserved.
Answer my question.
Bill, you’ve asked me the same question 27 times I can’t give you a different answer than the original answer. I really don’t know what you’re looking for.
You are so stupid I convinced you to buy my book. How more stupid and a person get. Please answer the question.
Just learned the Chinese are having naval maneuvers. That and Russia in Ukraine should tell US even more about where we are “led” by a felonious illiterate. No one has mentioned DT’s vocabulary. Never large, it seems to be shrinking daily, even as he picks up bits of military vocabulary.
Well, it is a good time to strike if you are an enemy of the USA, because we cannot even get National Guard to LA with toilets, food, water, and shelter. They are sleeping on concrete floor just like the people they are supposed to be helping ICE to arrest. In fact, they are living like the immigrants that ICE is going after who are in captivity.
Watching this debacle is making the US look like it is run by clowns, or as Jeff Tiedrich would say, Sewer clowns.
No, it’s being run by a president in charge of creating a safe environment for those of us legally here.
And the good thing is ice agents police, and National Guard are motivated to protect the city and the law and they’re doing it with knowing that they are doing just that.
And in fact, you might not of heard, but the military has now exceeded its annual quota for military enlistment by May instead of by December. That’s how many people are dedicated to preserving this country.
Well, one day you'll wake up and realize it's not the vocabulary that means a thing it's the actual actions that mean everything.
Actions not words, laws, not threats
Bill do yourself a favor don’t get caught up with these worthless shenanigans if you wanna protest protest on the side of the law not on the side of illegal immigrants. Protest against the killing of innocent US citizens by these illegals, they have crossed the line.
And Bill, with all due respect if they would’ve been peaceful protest, they would’ve been fine but from the beginning even before everything started they were hurling rocks at police cars passing by breaking windshields injuring officers that is not a peaceful protest.
They were dropping rocks from an overpass onto police cars, burning
Driverless cars, destroying sidewalks, and even looting.
For those of you who are fortunate not to have lived in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots please stay out of the conversation because you have no idea how bad it was.
1100 Buildings were damaged. Business is closed and people, especially the people who were single small business owners lost their businesses for the rest of their life and over $1 billion worth of damage. With over 4000 people injured.
So, while the chief of police says were overwhelmed and can’t handle it, the city was in peril. And as I understand it, the mayor told the police to stand down, as she allegedly shut down the normal lines of contact between her office and LAw Enforcement, creating a significant delay in action by the police.
My understanding is that we have violent people planted in with the peaceful. Wonder why they are hiding their faces? Could be because they work for Trump.
Rid of that takes out pretty good modicum of imagination on your part do you think that any of these people in the mask that are Trump supporters causing trouble are known by police or buy ice? So what happens to them and they get arrested or thrown to the ground and handcuffed.
There have been issues with people being arrested that are confirmed to be funded by a couple of socialist and Marxist type groups. Which I’ve paid for thousands of T-shirts and professionally done signs. I can’t remember their acronyms right now. Can you imagine that a Trump funded group would do such a thing? Yikes. If that was true, and they got caught, it would be all over for him so let’s get our minds back in reality Shall we? The mayor and the governor is suggesting.
Sorry, The stopped me in the middle. I will finish.
There were two named organizations that were found funding thieves, and one was a socialist organization and one was a Marxist organization that are funding the printing of these T-shirts on the sign as an example.
The most hysterical comment is stop in, forcing the law and the protests will stop. Omg. Finally, the mayor of LA put out a curfew which she should’ve put out two nights ago.
To me the most important thing is this if people are here legally they have nothing to worry about they have ID they have documents that show their legality end of story. Why are so many people fighting For illegal immigration and the answer is very simple because there’s at least 1 million illegal immigrants in the city of LA alone in LA is funded and California has funded Medicaid food and shelter for unmitigated illegal immigrants while taking those same dollars away from American citizens.
Linda, I keep suggesting if the Democrat party keeps backing the wrong side of the law it’s gonna get even worse for the Democrats they’re losing their party already. They can’t continue to back with a country voted for which was to get rid of everything that Biden did having to do with the border. And all this lands on the nod of Joe Biden for allowing all these people to come illegally and caused these problems in the first place.
And by the way, if you’ve been paying close attention to the LA riots them selves, everyone is masked up.
And here’s your media lying to you again by talking about the peaceful riots, while showing your video from San Francisco where they were peaceful and pretending that those were the LA riots. Unbelievable deceit.
I liked Nancy Pelosi's response and comparison to Jan 6 at https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pelosi-hits-trump-on-la-where-was-national-guard-on-jan-6/ar-AA1GrYKd
I agree with throwing the book at the violent or destructive anarchistic types and can easily imagine some James O'Keefe type provocateurs participating. identify and jail all of them.
Should I say with no more lasting punishment than the real insurrectionists in the Jan 6 crowds? I'd personally liked to have seen the Jan 6 crowd get equally severe consequences (actually more for the ones who's actions led to the eventual deaths from injury or suicide).
The L.A. anarchists have no real hope of overthrowing our government, unlike the Jan 6 crowd (and maybe some James O'Keefe type provocateurs).
WE WILL BE THERE ON THE 14TH!!!!!!!!!!! As George Clooney said at the end of the play "Good Night and Good Luck" when dealing with tyrants, "Do something". Show up to the nearest protest, if you care about the future of this country. For your nearest demonstration:https://www.nokings.org/?SQF_SOURCE=indivisible#map
Yeah, George Clooney, the leader of the free world of Hollywood, who basically ran Joe Biden over with the bus that’s the guy you’re backing. ?
George Clooney himself and his group raise $25 million for Joe Biden candidacy only to push him off two weeks later
You have to do something in the 26 and 28 elections… vote to keep the house and the senate, Republican control and stop the violence and insurrection by the liberal protestors.
Do you actually think the demonstration assisted in making your claims and bolstering your approval ratings? Yikes
I do have some faith. They modeled Pee 2025 on Hungary which has a population the size of New Jersey, is most white Christian and has strict gun laws and now virtually no free speech.
They also seem to be so scattered philosophically. The #2 at Defense, Bongino seems genuinely shocked and upset he needs to work a 40 hour work week. These guys are used to doing an hour TV show or podcast with assistant and MAKEUP.
Their “work” beforehand is pulling bat shit crazy lunatic conspiracy theories off the internet and making a show of it.
And now they see this isn’t a 40 hour a week job. This is 24/7. Did they think they’d have the same schedule as Trump? Go,f and nappy naps all day? He’s the puppet….youre the hand job, Bingino.
He misses his WIFE during work hours? Can you imagine an actual professional general or major bellyaching because he missed his wife? Hegseth misses his so much he wants her to have security clearance and includes her on DOD decisions like they’re picking out the fucking drapes for the living room.
The only hope is these are not serious people. They really are delusional and now see the facts. Lie Elon who actually thought the government of the Inited states was as easy to run as a gossip platform where…..really what is there to do except turn the thing on and watch the vat fight between strangers begin.
Maybe Elon can seek redemption form Humans on the planet he actually can live on and turn his platforms into good rather than evil. Maybe Bog Balls can leak what he’s actually been doing for Mr. Vought for the last 6 months.
Bingbongbino-was-his-name-o is the number two at the FBI, not Defense.
Thank you for the correction. It isn’t just billionaires and media outlets who should and do need fact checking.
I truly appreciate the correction and welcome more when I make an error. Nothing is more important now than truth and accuracy.
Apologies.
Hey Marcus don’t get too far ahead of yourself. I bet you didn’t see the comment the other day when Elon said well if Adam Schiff feels this way, and is supporting my push against the bill… then I’m probably thinking very wrongly about things.
It won’t be long before Elon and Donna will be on speaking terms and friendly terms again because Elon if anything else smart enough to know right from wrong, he just doesn’t understand the complications of Pulte politics.
Hey Marcus , the only one shutting down free-speech has been the liberals even here on this thread when they don’t want to hear something they say get the F out go somewhere else we don’t wanna hear you delete his posts and that’s the problem here.
Illl take the bait only because I believe it’s important to counter facts versus fiction.
At no point in time have universities been asked to give their speech and free association to yhe government.
At no point in time has the president of the United States extorted law firms to do free legal work for them and simultaneously told them they could not represent a political rival in court.
At no point in my recollection has the executive branch, via the justice department threaten judges and congressman who SPEAK for our gr eatery asset, the law, and behalf of America.
Im going to guess you are here as a person to agitate people who are trying to have thoughtful conversations based in fact and evidence, of which sir, you provide a sliver at best and none at worst. You respond to people with little to no facts and throw out shiny objects that’s are also based in LaLa land to distract the conversation to what?
Biden was old?
You say nothing of the fact that Trump is openly selling out country to ….prople who have ACTUALLY attacked us in our own country.
And now he is sending Marines, honorable young men to OUR streets to fight their own neighbors, friends, cousins and brothers.
His response was “”I dunno”. They’re sleeping on floors in their clothes because nobody told the dog that once they caught the car they had to eat the fucker. They are choking on chrome and rubber.
And BTW, our Marines are the people who go in to the pit of despair. They are the ones who begged to have their interpreters who saved their lives in Afghanistan to get here to the states. Instead, Afrikaners farmers are here.
These marines should never be in a position to fight their fellow countrymen.
It is another example how Vought, Miller, The Trump puppeteers hate America and all she stands for. They value the,selves above all else.
Trump is bringing this country back from the Biden toilet that he created by allowing this to happen. This very thing is happening from Biden’s watch so chew on that for four more years
Hopefully there are fewer MAGA people taking up all the oxygen and more correct-minded citizens getting the message through.
Actually, Stephanie, you’re building up the Maga quantity as more people see a total difference to writing and plunder and attacking Police and LAw Enforcement destroying cities and carrying Mexican flags in America. Oh well do you think the Mexicans were like it up? There was a protest in Mexico carrying American flags. What do you think about that?
"Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!”
What a contrast to his refusal to send the Guard in to disperse violent insurrectionists at the Capitol on January 6th....
Sophia you’re dreaming. He actually asked for 2000 troops and Pelosi didn’t do it and she admits that to her daughter in a limo on video. Donald Trump doesn’t control the capital police it’s controlled by Nancy Pelosi. Please get your facts straight
I would love to know where you get your facts.
There is one trump-lover on our street. When I voiced concern about another neighbor's undocumented workers, he retorted "Oh they're only deporting the criminals." When I told him three first hand accounts of innocent people deported simply for not having ID his jaw dropped and didn't say a word. What this taught me is that all of you trump people swallow whatever FOX newscasters feed you (your comment is a case in point) and so I don't debate these "facts."
By the way, there’s one of his points I’d like to make. Think you should stop using the term Trump lover. People like the policies of Trump is enforcing and advocating has nothing to do with him personally, or his personality or his mouth. They simply support his policies which represent a majority of Americans
And I’m kind of laughing when you talk about innocent people being deported as soon as you cross the border illegally, you’re no longer innocent. You’d have to watch Fox News to determine that they’re not telling the truth, but you would find a different story.
Then let me help you here as your neighbor isn't paying close attention.
They are trying to capture the most illegal criminals on their list however when they get there and they find a number of other illegals hanging out with this criminal on the most wanted list, they grab them all as associates who are also illegal by the way, so tell your neighbor to pay more attention.
In the meantime, you probably should realize that all the Legacy media has lost anywhere from 30 to 60% of its audiences for its lies deceptions and coverups having to do with Biden and the administration. However, Fox is now controlling 65% of the news of all the networks so you might want to pay a little bit more attention and not call them fake news because they're not that.
In fact, the top 15 newscast are on Fox News only number 15 happens to be Rachel Maddow on the list that's it. So you can deny that, but the truth is that the truth has finally come out.
But again the bottom line is if there's a bad criminal and other illegals hanging out with them, they're all gonna get nabbed in the same process. They're not gonna avoid the other illegals in the crowd there.
"But again the bottom line is if there's a bad criminal and other illegals hanging out with them, they're all gonna get nabbed in the same process."
Not the case with any of my 3 firsthand stories. FACT: I have a client who's friend is from Puerto Rico (US territory) and lives here in Philadelphia with her husband and two children. The husband, a professor, was in Columbia visiting his mother. The children were at school and the friend went to a store. She was stopped by ICE who asked to see her ID which she didn't have on her (BTW there were no "bad criminals" in the store--they were out to get brown-skinned people). They took her phone and threw her in a bus and my client got a call from her from Tijuana. Her crime:no ID and spoke little English. The husband had to take pics of her (US) passport to get his wife back.
Are you saying that all of the Walmarts and Home Depots that ICE is targeting are all full of criminals? Satan Miller wants to deport 3000 people per day. How can there possible be so many criminals? How can you even fill such a quota even if you are kidnapping and deporting innocent people? See, you and my neighbor eat the same crap and believe it in LIGHT of the facts....
I recommend this book Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson. It kind of explains how we got to where we are with this kakistocracy, oligarchy, kleptocracy.
Here is a video of him discussing the book.
https://youtu.be/cnPDnnRvtQg?si=7FlvWAK3GNXbkl0M
Linda, Thanks for the recommendation.
Thank you Linda. I tried to watch the link, but there was no sound...I will definitely check it out later. I am slowly making my way through the book "Patriot" by Alexei Navalny - amazing courage and committment... I can't read it fast as it just makes me even more angry at Trump who continues to desecrate the true meaning of patriotism!
Michele, did you check the mute? It comes on muted. I have heard good things about Alexei Navalny's book.
I just read written reviews on line yesterday.. Look forward to reading the book... I will go back to your site today. Thank you so much for the suggestion... Yes, "Patriot" is a very good book...the horrors of what he experienced cannot be forgotten...
Soon trump will be using Putin's mantra: 3 ways to influence people: blackmail, vodka and the threat of murder.
An evil impulse has mastered trump....
I feel bad for you guys in your distorted delusional world. Where do you think of this government is doing anything else but exactly what they should be doing. Stopping at destruction of a city, stopping the looting, stopping the attacking of police. I swear so many people here seem to be living an Alice in Wonderland
Rick, your buddy Putin probably has a nice warm bed waiting for you in Moscow. The only problem with backing Putin is they are so paranoid that from time to time the just purge everyone, even if they are loyal.
Linda, I hope your mental condition improves because it can’t be very good for your health. TDS is indeed a debilitating disease and creates some bad mental health issues.
I can only suggest you seek some help. I do have pity for those who have been sucking so badly that they venture down this road to nowhere.
I feel bad for you Rick because you are so stupid. So stupid that I convinced you to buy my book. How more stupid can you be than that.
Hi Bill nice to hear from you. Are you watching all these beautiful Mexican flags waving through the streets of downtown, Los Angeles, looting, jewelry stores in 7-Elevens and drug stores. These people got the privilege of living here and this is how they’re showing their thanks for the blessing of living here
Typical of you to understand agent provocateurs which is what they are. I no more agree with this street shit then you and you know it. But this all comes from a tired playbook to escalate to violence. The Germans did it successfully under nazism. The facists did it as well. Joe McCarthy, Roy Choen, Donald Trump all cut for the same cloths. You are a very ignorant man. In the extreme.
“Looking really bad in L.A.,” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after midnight Sunday night. “BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” Yes, to the White House, please and thank you....
He is making things up. Also, not taking care of the troops, who have not toilets, food, water or place to sleep other than on a concrete floor.
Perhaps I should rephrase that - please send the troops TO THE WHITE HOUSE where they are badly needed to put down that particular insurrection.
Well, maybe you should give them a month to plan for the next riot the hell are you talking about? Do you think they plant toilets in advance so the people have a place to go to the bathroom? They don’t have a place to go to the bathroom and they might even have a place to sleep whether you know it or not I do think that bothers them not in the least they care that they’re protecting this country from the illegal activity that’s happening here all all all all caused by Joe Biden, and the neglect of the border.
My Texas cousins equate protest to insurrection. It is ill advised for the protestors to resort to violence. But, it makes no difference to the MAGA folks - setting a car on fire justifies bringing out the national guard while invading the Capitol to stop a free and fair election doesn't. Our government leaders should not be wasting time. To save themselves they must save the nation, otherwise they will be discarded as trash the way Trump discarded Musk. Impeachment now. Mike Johnson is a stupid fool if he thinks that Trump will do anything for him after the BBB passes. Musk goes down as the most stupid and naïve businessman ever. He lost billions and billions of dollars for himself and for Tesla. But, can he be blamed? Of course he thought that the BBB would not cut tax credits for Tesla. Sucker.
I think Rick Sender is a bot or troll???!!!## He is suddenly posting many replies...
Just block him! No need to raise your BP by reading his posts.
No no bot just a retiree with a lot of time on his hands and who likes being a gadfly.
Bill, I indeed have time on my hands but I don’t wanna be a gad fly and I wish more people so I’ll reality here for what it is and where it’s so close minded to what a majority of people in this country feel about illegal immigration. As I understand it, California has spent over 9 billion with a B $ on illegal immigrants for food housing and medical care. Who do you imagine they’re taking it away from?
I am still amazed that with the way this country is improving day-to-day. The people are not heralding and supporting America.
Would that be like the first months of the GW Bush administration when ENRON was raping the energy market, or the collapsing economy around July 2008, a little too early to blame the biggest Financial Crisis since the Great Depression on the previous administration?
That sort of reminded me of the initial tax cuts by Republicans in the 1920s, fair enough to reduce after war debts were paid but then they got so counter-productive with excessive tax cuts that we ended up with the Great Depression. Are you in favor of similar spectacular failure (in a much shorter period than the Great Recession), and destroying work-in-progress of Democracy that we once led the world in?
Well, for the last couple days, all's been quiet as far as meaningful commentary here
I lived through the 1992 riots and we weren't going to have to do it again and Trump did what he had to do and will continue to do what he has to do to quilt them so it doesn't destroy an entire section of the Citi who by the way is the least capable of absorbing these actions.
Singular business people in depressed areas of the city and they need to be preserved
Nobody in the right mind richard thought that the 1500 people were actually gonna stop and overturn the results of an election so please you're smarter than that.
And Trump didn't discard musk. It was the other way around and it was only musk's naïveté that caused the issues to come to light. Musk doesn't understand the intricacies of political debate and activity. He understands of view from the outside, which is accurate, but unfortunately, politics inside is different differently from observed observations from the outside.
And nobody in their right mind actually thought that the 1500 people we're gonna either change an election or overthrow the government richard be reasonable please you actually don't believe that you're too smart to believe something like that sorry
BS. That was an appalling and shameful day when that rabble sullied the halls of Congress and even shit on Nancy Pelosi's desk. It was a menacing and threatening display outside the Capitol building, and once the insurrectionists broke in the majority of Congress feared for their lives as so many of us watched in horror what was happening in our so called democracy.
Why you got multiple accounts Rick?
Rick is so stupid that I convinced him to buy my book and he bought it. Too bad nothing rubbed off on him.
Richard, I just can’t believe it you are you seem like a really intelligent well educated individual with multiple top line degrees.
For anyone that actually has a temerity to post here or anywhere that 1500 basically unarmed individuals were going to overthrow the government of the United States is a freaking joke. They were a group of protesters, and with all the video comes out you’re gonna see a different story than you currently see..
By the way, Trump didn’t throw musk out it was a self-inflicted wound that musk did, and all will be better very shortly between the two of them once again
And lastly Richard, the issue with Evie credits have been discussed for a couple of years. This is not new to Tesla and you should know that.
Rick, are you saying that the folks who attacked the Capitol on 1-6-2021 shouting "hang Mike Pence," the one who would certify the votes, didn't intend to stop the confirmation of Biden's being elected? The crowd seriously injured 138 police officers, 15 being hospitalized. Four of the officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 died by suicide. Trump watched the attack on the Capitol on TV for 187 minutes, ignoring pleas from his staff to call out the National Guard.
Regarding the EV credits, don't you think that Musk felt that his spending $288 million to get Trump elected was sufficient to get the credits put back in? Musk is a fool. Trump played him for the sucker that he is, just as he will you and those like you who support him. Suckers all.
How do you think Trump played him? Musk was working from his own brain doing what he thought he should do even before Donald asked him for anything. Trump didn't ask us to join in. Musk did it on his own volition because he saw what was happening with in doge he saw the waste fraud and abuse and he was trying to stop it and he saw the big bill as an impediment to all the work that DOGE was doing
IF DONALD TRUMP HAD HIS WAY DURING THE FIRST TERM, THE EV CREDIT WOULD'VE BEEN GONE WITHOUT MUSK'S INPUT EITHER WAY
We're not the suckers we're the ones who won the election and everything that we wanted is happening so I don't know how that makes us the suckers. The suckers are the people that actually believe protecting illegal immigrants is more important than protecting citizens of this country.
Rick, thank you for the laugh. The thought that comes to my mind upon reading this post is "oblivious." Fact is, though, to put any trust into a person who is a convicted felon, who has more than 30,000 documented lies during his first term in office, who cheated on three wives, who bankrupted six companies, who lost his right to run a charitable organization because he used it as a piggy bank, who had to repay students of Trump Univ. (sic) $25 million, etc. , one must be oblivious. You don't know what you don't know. It's called being unconsciously incompetent. Trump will ultimately stomp on you just as he has done everyone else. You are no different. But you don't see it, unless you're a bot. Trusting Trump is mind boggling for anyone who has a reasonable amount of intelligence and experience.
Richard, when the full report on the J6 comes out you're gonna see a totally different story 161 police injured give me a break for anyone in the right mind who seriously thinks that that 1500 people with three guns in their possession and a couple of fire extinguishers we're gonna overthrow the result of the election you'd have to to be on heavy drugs in order to believe something like that.
That was never the intention. The intention was protesting, an election result which seemed substantially flawed, and I'm using an understatement to make to say that. So they seriously injured 161 but only 100 and change were taken to the hospital so how seriously were the other 140 or 50 injured give me a break. That was not their goal and that was not their intent.
The only person that was actually injured on January 6 just filed a lawsuit and just won some four or $5 million for a wrongful death so there you go there's your justice richard
Enter your point but didn't musk think that the EV credits were gonna be put back for his 288 million not a chance it had been talked about for years years even during Trump's first term OK the only problem with musk is that he doesn't understand the details of the Democratic process within the Congress is Holls and how things work internally.
All musk saw was all the work that he did during those was being destroyed by a bill that he thought was going to essentially eliminate all the work that he had done
He doesn't understand you can't just make mass changes like off a cliff in your government without having substantial negative effects and impacts
Have another glass of Kool Aide, Rick. You are definitely a True Believer.
If people were shouting, hang my pants and had a wherewithal to do it. I think they should be in prison, but I don't think that was the case.
If that could be proven that that was her intent and they wanted to kill Mike Pence, they should make the case And approving guilty they'll serve whatever time that penalty deserves.
And lastly, again, richard nobody in the right mind believes at 1500 essentially unarmed people were gonna overthrow the government or overthrow an election Result
Forgot to press the send button on my older comment before going to the second protest of the day outside of Susan Collins' Lewiston office. Good turnout despite some rain (around 50 when I got there), and surprised some of the protestors pointing out that Google Maps captured the protestors in what was labeled as a Jun 2019 image capture. It actually looks like early birds for the noon to 1 PM event earlier this month with familiar looking signs and people, when she still had the window sign at 55 Lisbon St. Her new office is about 500 feet north at 184 Main St, but the old office next to the District Court is a more satisfactory protest area, it seems.
Returning home, we got to see Nancy Pelosi's spot on comparison to Jan 6 at https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pelosi-hits-trump-on-la-where-was-national-guard-on-jan-6/ar-AA1GrYKd
What is the “Grounded Podcast”?
The Grounded Podcast is a weekly podcast that explores various topics including politics......Jon Tester ( former US Senator from Montana) and journalist Maritsa Georgiou) are the hosts. I had never heard of it either, but Prof. Richardson sent it to us on June 9. It is a great video of her Interview with the two of them! Worth watching!!!
Guess I missed her notice, but that reminds me—is there a single Place to learn where she will be speaking?
Her notice came as "substack" to my email... But I just did a little research. I don't know if she has one centralized place with everything she is doing... But she does post many videos on you tube - from her new history videos - to her weekly 11 plus minute short pieces on various topics. Her short video on the historical effect of Ukraine's drone attack is outstanding...
Regarding the "Grounded Podcast" video... If you google " you tube The Grounded Podcast with Heather Cox Richardson" - and then scroll down, you will see substack.com... "Live with Heather Cox Richardson: ...Press on that and it will take you to that video... I hope this helps...
Please note: I think Richard Sender is a bot or troll??!!## Beware...he is posting replies everywhere!
I am neither, however, what cracks me up there Michelle. If you’ll go up and down the threads here you’ll see people replying and responding and sending messages on multiple occasions very frequently. Thesesame people… I have never heard of any of those people called trolls or bots. And very simply the reason is is because they agree with you but as soon as they disagree with you then there a troll or a bot, but guess what not the case unfortunately for you. I’m not posting replies everywhere. I’m posting them where they need to be posted so that people have an alternative perspective and aren’t just lemmings swallowing the same nonsense.
https://open.substack.com/pub/groundedpodcast/p/live-with-heather-cox-richardson?r=i06a&utm_medium=ios
Thank you! One of the reasons I come to these comments is to get all these great recommendations from all these smart people!
You’re welcome and I agree so many great comments and recommendations that add to/riff off of Heather’s informative, comprehensive and indispensable nightly letters.
I only saw the last half of this Grounded podcast when it was live yesterday. So when I actually figured out how to copy the link for this comment I just watched it all the way through. Worth watching, like Michele2 said above.
Thank you for sharing this. I enjoyed it.
You’re welcome. I didn’t see it in its entirety yesterday so glad I was able to watch it again too.
I will be participating to protest NoKings with Indivisible Bend, here in Oregon. Let’s Roll!
Wouldn't it be nice if there are 50 million of us protesting. Could that possibly give the Republicans in Congress the incentive to do the right thing? Once Trump completes his secure hold on power, he will discard them the way he did Elon Musk after Milking Musk for $288 million and destroying financially Tesla.
We sure have a chance- Saturday 6/14. There are a lot of small towns that won't make it onto the Nat. News but, people can take & send pictures to their local news stations.
Great idea, Cindy. I will do that - take photos and send them to the San Angelo Standard Times, part of the chain of newspapers owned by Gannett. It's readily obvious that the wealthy having bought almost all of the print media and much of the airwaves, they can indoctrinate and deceive at will, Rick Sender being an excellent example.
Nope it will just do the opposite Richard. But you guys go on with your bad selves. By the way, you can keep thinking that Trump milked must but what must did was on his own from his own brain and that that’s your problem. You can’t understand that was absolutely 100% correct about the waste fraud and abuse within the government. Just like Clinton just like Obama.
Yes Oregon has looked up upon with so much respect for its upside down radical policies that allowed the George Floyd protest to run and ruin your cities.
Heading out for my 47th protest so can't read much but did want to make a comment on my Representative when I left California for Maine:
PBS News Hour Transcript June 9, 2025
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/southern-california-officials-react-to-immigration-demonstrations-federal-response
"... Geoff Bennett:
And now we get two perspectives, starting with Democratic Congresswoman Norma Torres, who represents part of Southern California. I spoke with her earlier today.
Congresswoman Torres, thank you for being with us.
What specifically triggered the wave of public outrage that has led to days of protests, in some places riots? What has been building up?
Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA):
What has been building up is the fact that Donald Trump has sent ICE agents armed to the teeth with face coverings in unmarked vehicles raiding communities indiscriminately, targeting Latinos, arresting them, and failing to provide due process, not carrying warrants.
And when members of Congress like myself have presented ourselves at the ICE holding locations, they have refused to allow us to come in. They have refused to brief us on what their actions have been, how many officers have been involved, local officers, and how many injuries have we had, and to really have any oversight over what they are doing.
Look, I have visited that location in the past. The max capacity for that location is 100 people. And we are receiving reports that they — there were probably close to 1,000 people being detained during the time that we were there. So that makes sense to me that they refused us entry because they did not want us to see the conditions that these humans were being held in.
Geoff Bennett:
Now, ICE says it's targeting people with final deportation orders, people who have exhausted the range of legal options available to them. Some 1.5 million undocumented immigrants fall into that category in this country.
If we're a nation of laws, why shouldn't federal agents enforce those court orders?
Rep. Norma Torres:
If that was true, they would come in with a warrant. If that was true, they would have an actual name, and they would be asking people for their identification. They would not be breaking car windows and they would not be raiding places of employment, school graduations, or standing in front of elementary schools demanding to be allowed in to arrest children.
Geoff Bennett:
We have witnessed some disturbing scenes, protesters throwing rocks at police, setting off commercial-grade fireworks near law enforcement, even torching self-driving cars.
So far as you know, who are these rioters? Are they part of the broader protest movement or something more fringe and opportunistic?
Rep. Norma Torres:
They are not part of the movement that has been a peaceful movement of immigrants and their neighbors, their supporters trying to have their voices heard.
The city of Los Angeles is very diverse with many groups, with many different agendas. And the people that understand these groups best are the local police department, the LAPD and the local leaders. That is why we cannot get ahead of them. And that is why we need to allow them the time to have — to exercise oversight over what is happening and take control of the situation.
But this cannot happen while ICE continues to unleash this terror on our communities.
Geoff Bennett:
Lastly, Congresswoman, you're facing some criticism from conservatives for the social media post where you called out ICE agents.
Rep. Norma Torres:
ICE, get the (Expletive Deleted) out of L.A. so that order can be restored.
Geoff Bennett:
Does language like that coming from a sitting member of Congress, does that risk escalating tensions at this already volatile moment?
Rep. Norma Torres:
Absolutely not, any more than language like just grab them by the P-word.
Guess what, America? We have become the P-word.
Geoff Bennett:
Congresswoman Norma Torres, thank you for joining us this evening.
Rep. Norma Torres:
Thank you. Nice talking to you, Geoff..."
Personal to me:
Norma Torres was my representative when I lived in California and earned my vote as a 17 year 9-1-1 operator. I met her at a monthly Veteran’s Koffee Klatch at the Planes of Fame back when many Veterans were initially wearing MAGA Red Hats (that tapered off over a few months). I stayed close to support her and discuss Veterans Courts, special courts like Maine’s then Kennebec County Sheriff Randolph (Randy) Liberty helped start along with separate cell blocks for Veterans and Restorative Justice for those once vetted as acceptable for military service, to me something beyond the 270 or so Veteran’s drug offense courts (since many were prescribed problematic drugs and drug tested to make sure they were taking the drugs.
It was part of the actions I took after watching "A Matter of Duty: The Continuing War Against PTSD at https://www.pbs.org/show/matter-duty/
Maj Hal Moore’s Radioman at the battle of Ia Drang was a legislative assistant (to conservatives) who respected her service and was able to interface with her productively.
Jim, thank you for sharing Congresswoman Torres comments and for sharing your own personal experiences... It means a great deal... And thank you for your 47 protest events - You have my respect and appreciation!
PS I think Richard Sender is a troll or bot???!!## He is replying everywhere...
He believes what he wants to believe, no matter what so many others object to.
I not only think he isn't changing any minds, I think he provides an occasional opportunity to provide some different views that may be more acceptable to many more people.
I usually only try to counter some that may sound good to innocent readers that don't know more about his real opinions. I'd love to see what Tim Russert could do with him like he did with David Duke. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KjJ0mMB3uA
Oh boy, do I miss Tim. He made people squirm!
That’s because people like Democrat Congressional representatives has suggested docking some of these ice agents and threatening their lives
And by the way, they’re not armed to the teeth nice try.
In California has become a cesspool for illegal immigration and they’ve paid out from what I understand over $9 billion of taxpayer money for food, housing and medical supplies for illegal immigrants. While millions of Americans are suffering not getting that money.
I do know who was doxed, and offered protection by an honest and ethical Republican (if there was anything more than just the doxing). My old party is the one by far doing the most to instigate people who believe their lies to do actual harm to others (Nancy Pelosi's husband for one). Should we do an accurate count of violent acts instigated by right wing lies vs liberals, independents, or Democrats?
I would like to see all doxers prosecuted, no matter which side they claim to be on
And I totally agree with you but the problem is you're not seeing on your networks that actually congressional representatives are standing up in front of a podium talking about docking ice employees.
And they have also use the other term and I keep forgetting where they make believe there's a crime scene at ice employee's house so that the police show up there and Scar scare the owners of the house I forgot the term, but you probably know what it is
Go to your browser Newsweek, revealing ice agents identity could lead to prison and that's what they've been doing in Tennessee as an example other title Democrats threatened to expose, masked ice agents. Next post Democrats threatened to do ice agents who won't remove their masks the Department of homeland services fire is back at Democrats for beyond the pale rhetoric as they offer to docs ice agents
Tom and Holman has spoken out repeatedly and shown evidence of the docking of ice agents
Federal officials slammed Democrats for dangerous rhetoric and dashing ice agents. These are some of the headlines you can see them for yourself.
Swatting or SWATting, though Denver had one of the early versions called SCAT before SWAT became the more common concept and name, IIRC. It was formed according to one former member I knew, in response to the Texas Tower shooting of Aug 1, 1966.
I was stationed at Randolph AFB, TX, 60 miles south and for some reason I can't remember, had that Monday off. remember listening to over an hour of the radio reporting on the incident, before two Police, and the "deputized" Bookstore Manager were able to stop him. What seems lost to history was the number of students and other civilians that had hunting rifles in their vehicles and "helped," firing at Whitman to try to kill or at least distract him.
The disorganized response influenced me to think about how I could help in such situations without endangering other people. In Vietnam where I often traveled solo, using a pad of blanket travel orders that let us ride almost any form of military transport (including occasional Air America flights), the SOP was to find a mid-level combat experienced individual and coordinate what they could expect from me. Usually that was just to stay enough away from them to cover them and ask them to signal me on anything they wanted me to do. I always carried extra ammo for my weapons so they wouldn't have concerns about having to provide any for me (besides sometimes having dissimilar weapons). The only times I had permission to fire was to kill a snake down in the delta, and one night at a combat engineer camp at the entrance to the Mang Yang Pass, assured that the little sparkles on the hillside were indeed enemy that were firing distant small arms and mortars at us. I was never asked to fire from helicopters but another team member was when they had come across a group of VC after they had expended all their other ammo (and were picking up wounded or dead along with the team member).
The more experienced team members set the example, such as when Carl B and I were returning from K.P. duty (since no contract Vietnamese were available during the first few days of Tet 68), As we approached the Security Police bldg, a firefight broke out and Carl asked me what I heard, verifying it was only M-16s and an M-60 machine gun, friendlies firing at each other from different sides of the street. Carl started walking towards the street light nearest the M-60, saying if we try to hide they will mistake us for VC so we just casually strolled to the street light passing within 10 or 15 feet in front of it. Though very angry at us, they stopped firing and started asking around to see what the others were shooting at. Fortunately no one was injured by the otherwise great guys (500 or so), who initially held off what we learned were 2,655 VC that attacked 3 days earlier, until the Army units could get there from Cu Chi. Apparently, unlike more experienced Army troops they hadn't gotten much sleep, if any, so were easily spooked.
With that experience and what I learned from the SCAT member, and watching other less experienced police officers where they ended up shooting undercover officers, undercover teams ending up shooting at each other, and individual cops off duty firing at each other in traffic disputes, i decided I didn't need to be around weapons and problematic people that were careless with them. I was more afraid of our own troops in Vietnam than I was of the enemy (as I learned from LRRP teams that would never approach some bases at night for fear of guards mistaking them for VC). Like Medics who refuse to carry weapons, I've always had better luck persuading people to stop acting badly or give up their weapons (4 times) when they were drunk or otherwise not thinking clearly.
I let a paratrooper deliver an uppercut that knocked me into the top corner of a bar room once, simply because I had a cable cutting knife in my boot I was afraid he might think I would try to use on him. Better to play dead and not get the other guy too worked up.
Trumps masked militia does the exact opposite, doing everything they think they can get away with to provoke resistance, seemingly pretty much the way Goebbels did in 1927 Berlin, as described at https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/how-the-nazis-succeeded-in-taking-power-in-red-berlin-a-866793.html
I followed others who decided it was better to be a Sheepdog than a Wolf
4th largest economy in the world. What a. Cesspool!!! Immigrants are a large part of the reason why.
Is that all you do is spout 4004th largest economy in the world and you have no idea what it means and immigrants pay a part of that and illegal immigrants pay no part of that. You wanna have 175,000 people in your state lying on the street sleeping is that what your idea of success is ?
And major companies are fleeing. There are fleeing the West Coast because of the politics, the Bezos of the world, the Zucker books of the world the musks the world are leaving because of the politics there and the taxes there.
Poor baby, Rick, with all of those issues California climbed up from the 5th largest economy in the world past Japan to become the 4th largest. Having spent 5 decades in Silicon Valley, I can tell you from personal experience, the immigrants are very entrepreneurial. And the others? The California agricultural industry, the tops in the U.S., couldn't do it without the laborers from Mexico. Take your racism, your xenophobia, to Russia. You'll be much happier there.
Protest doesn't matter. The people trapped in the Fox News bubble won't hear about most of it and what they do will be vilified by those well- lighted happy beautiful white people leading the MAGA cult.
The protests must make us happy, but will accomplish nothing. Maybe a marginal uptick is votes for Dems in the midterms and give Rachel material, God bless her.
For anyone here who happens to be wanting to quote Lawrence O’Donnell or Rachel Maddow. ? Once again, you’re backing the wrong ponies… that’s why for this reason AND MSNY OTHERS , your party is in total chaos and disarray.
Brilliant. Given his petty, pissy, whiny, tiny hatred for anything at all connected with the good name of Joe Biden, you've got to be onto something. Nobody else in the media has made the connection...
Trump is the BBB: Big Bloviating Baby
I keep seeing references to Trump wearing adult diapers, stinking, using catheters, etc. Any truth to these remarks?
Adam Kinzinger says he "smells like butt." Bob Woodward says the 'no-smells' elastic band in his underwear "doesn't work." Feel free to draw your own conclusions.
In his file reports came out about the awful smell around him
One wonders on the origin of the foul, disgusting odors that Trump emits. Could it be his mouth?
I’ve seen those rumours too but haven’t been able to confirm them.
Hi Frau Katze. Is that the German version of the name? Thank you for being supportive.
It’s just a pseudonym I made up years ago before I retired. I added an “e” to make it more feminine.
BBB ; I think you've got something there Linda. It does make sense all the way around considering 'it's' intentional belligerence. Brava sister !
Well said. Shine bright lights on the Creepy-Crawlies.
Welcome America to Trump's wag the dog, reality TV show. Three months ago the enemy was wasted and fraud in the "deep state". So bring in the DOGE boys Two months ago the enemy was every nation we traded with. They were ripping us off so let's crush their economy with tariffs. After that came the law firms and the universities, who are obviously institutional traitors in this country. Now it's the immigrant's turn. Let's destroy the lives of millions of working, law abiding families to find a few hundred gang members. And what? Save a few dogs from being eaten?? Who is next after the immigrants??
And all of this hatred and chaos to make Trump and his cronies richer. Someone should be checking the bathrooms in Mar a Lago. Maybe Trump has been moving the gold from fort Knox into his palace under the smoke screen of his pet peeves.
Your argument regarding immigrants is unfortunately a poor one. In fact, there are an estimated 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 undocumented immigrants in this country illegally. Yes, many (possibly most) of them are NOT criminals in any sense OTHER than for their illegal entry into this county. Yes, most of them are employed here or raising families and most make lower wages than citizens do because they can be exploited by their employers. But that does NOT make them legal here under our current laws and while we all may despise Trump for his actions, in most cases his actions are in fact upholding the current laws of our country. I personally find it disgusting that he is doing so, but I can NOT agree that he is trying to "find a few hundred gang members". If he is going to do his job as President, he SHOULD be trying to remove any undocumented immigrant who is illegally in this country. THAT is the current state of our laws, like it or not. In fact, he is doing something that the last seven Presidents have all basically ignored because they saw how bad it would hurt their images and how it could hurt them at the polls.
For me, the only right thing to do is to change the laws, to have open borders. That would immediately make all the non-criminal immigrants in this country who are here without authorization legal. A simple and easy solution to the illegal immigrant problem. If its not illegal, then the people who do it aren't criminals.
Unfortunately most of the people in this country do NOT want that the happen. And if that continues, then Trump will continue to hunt down anyone in this country who is not authorized to be here and deport them. It will be ugly, because many of those people do jobs here that no one else wants. But it will be hard to attack him for doing the one thing that he is doing which is enforcing the current laws of our country, even if those laws are stupid.
Illegal immigration is actually not a crime on its own. It’s a civil offense. From the ACLU: Undocumented presence in the United States is only criminally punishable if it occurs after an
individual was previously formally removed from the United States and then returned without
permission. 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (any individual previously “deported or removed” who “enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in” the United States without authorization may be
punished by imprisonment up to two years).”
Thank you for clarifying that. Mr. Rosen has spilled a lot of ink this morning to make the point that Trump's intention to deport illegal immigrants isn’t illegal. I’m skeptical though that Trump is making an honest attempt to do that and there are many reasons to be skeptical. Your information heightens my skepticism because it doesn’t look like he’s taking any care to find out who is properly an illegal immigrant. And, we know that he is not careful about finding out who is a member of TDA or is a part of an invasion of our country or is guilty of rape or murder. I’m certain he thinks all that is necessary to find these things out is to check on their skin color and if they speak Spanish.
Jon Rosen is a servant of Trump.
THANKYOU Maren! Geez! If people would really know of what they speak, there would be less confusion & less ability to convince brain dead people of erroneous facts.
Exactly right Maren. Immigration, legal or not, is also an extremely complex 'tree' of law that branches and roots with other matters of law; That's 'why' it's hardly ever touched owing to those complicated factors. R's choose it for argument and electoral attention attraction for precisely the fact that it's so complicated and little understood. Contentious issues has always been the name of their games. Women's health and pregnancy termination, religion are others they use owing to the contentiousness.
Jon, his admin’s actions are sweeping, not targeted. Miller’s Gestapo are being exhorted to grab as many people as possible and sort them out later. If in fact he were seeking illegal immigrants only it would be one thing. He wants to show his idea of strength by grabbing anyone who doesn’t have white skin.
Thank you. Exactly!
Jon says that "in most cases [Trump's] actions are in fact upholding the current laws of our country." Ha! Right, sweeping up people and calling them criminals with no evidence, denying them due process, and hiding them in foreign prisons... That's NOT upholding the law, that's abusing their power.
Jon is a Trump bootlicker obsessed with brown people.
RefJim, I will appear to be like Jon (and I'd rather eat a dog turd), but your characterization of him is inaccurate.
Jon is a contrarian and provocateur with trollish tendencies. He measures the direction that a conversation is going, then writes a comment that opposes the opinions expressed, or takes pot-shots at others' lines of thinking.
I disagree with many here at times. I try to do so intelligently and without rancor. I try my level best to do so without judgement or opinion on their character or motivations.
That is good to know. Thanks
What about due process? Is taking folks and shipping them to God knows where without due process legal? Sending an undocumented 5-year-old who is going through cancer treatment out of the country may not be illegal, but it sure is morally wrong. We throw out decency when dealing with immigrants, which leads us to a very sad and sick culture.
Jon, being in the US illegally is a civil offense, not a crime.
Typically immigration offenses are considered civil, but they can be criminal as well, especially if you cross the border illegally. Google "are immigration violations civil or criminal" and you will see references to criminal immigration violations.
Jon, regarding your statement that the last 7 presidents did nothing about immigration, have you forgotten (during Biden's administration) the bipartisan bill on immigration that had sweeping reforms, many of which were liked by the Republicans, which would have passed and Biden would have signed had Trump not stopped it by threatening the GOP. He wanted an immigration problem to run on during his campaign, so he didn't want the problem fixed.
Thank you Carol for mentioning the bipartisan bill on immigration during the Biden administration. That would have solved the immigration issue. Shows how unpresidential and uncaring trumpie convict is.
The last legislation on immigration that was signed into law was done when Reagan and Tip O'Neil were working things out. The ones with Bush 43 and Obama were both stopped by republicans.
💯. 🎯.
His chosen premise to impose a police state, which he has always admired and wanted.
That bill would never have "solved" immigration. It would have put some bandages on the sores, but the fundamental fact is we have the third largest population in the world and the largest free economy and people want to come here. Until that changes, people will want to enter, legally or illegally (if they can get away with it). There is money to be made here by anyone willing to work hard.
We would have STILL had an immigration problem as the Biden bill did NOTHING to resolve the case of most of the 20,000,000 illegal immigrants here already. Zip. A few of them might have been able to make better cases for asylum, but most would still be undocumented and illegal.
The CORRECT solution is to eliminate bars to entry, so that anyone who wants to come here and become a member of our country unless they have a clearly criminal background, should be admitted.
Jon, I didn't say it would solve the problem of immigration, but it would have increased the number of people employed to deal with processing immigrants so the waiting time to become citizens isn't so unbelievably complex and long. And more judges would be made available to hold hearings for those seeking asylum, among other things. It was by no means a perfect bill, but it would have been better than what we presently have, which is virtually nothing, to assist those undocumented people already in our country and those coming into our country. I agree with you that the process must be much kinder and easier, but we unfortunately have to work with the system we have. The massive media lies about immigrants that feeds xenophobia doesn't help at all, so Congress takes a long time getting anything accomplished around this issue. That's why the very fact that any bill that would have gotten passed and that would have helped was remarkable.
I’m Canadian so I’m not totally clear on your laws around immigration. My question is…are the people who are “checking in” at immigration offices, people who are not fully vetted as landed immigrants, considered illegal? If they are legitimately going through the process to become citizens, are they still considered illegal?
My non-lawyer understanding: If you enter our country and claim asylum from persecution in your home country, you have to prove it. But the court system is so starved of funds that it takes years now to get to that court date. Immigrants are allowed to stay until they finally get their day in court, but the courts keep track of them thru check ins. They are NOT illegal, but ARE undocumented. Others who just overstayed visas or crossed the border without claiming asylum do not have check-ins, obv. This is a CIVIL offense, not criminal.
If you attempt to enter and apply for asylum, you will generally NOT be permitted to enter until your case is heard. Many come into the country illegally and then attempt to apply. Different administrations have handled this differently. It is absolutely possible to be immediately ordered out of the country and told to "wait your turn" for your application to be processed. Of course, if you are coming from a country where you are being persecuted, then the US can (if it wants to) permit you to stay here while your application is processed. Interestingly, while the Trump administration is ordered many undocumented immigrants who are awaiting decisions out of the country, it also immediately let several hundred white South Afrikaners enter the US on temporary asylum visas because they were being harassed by the current black South African administration.
The basic thing is that under our current laws and rules, admission to this country is NOT guaranteed to anyone and it is absolutely selective. My personal view is that the CORRECT solution to this (highly unlikely of course under the Trump administration, but also not likely under any administraion, Democrat or GOP) is to eliminate barriers to entry other than restrictions on admitting people with criminal records for violent crimes in their own country or elsewhere. Provide open borders and you can't have, for the most part, "undocumented" or "illegal" immigrants. Make everyone welcome (as this country once did - "give me your tired, your poor" from the Statue of LIberty) and the problem of illegal immigration mostly disappears.
"Illegal" isn't any kind of official status.
You are 100% CORRECT. There are processes to get Green Cards to be able to work and be here. Maybe Congress could update these laws to allow worker and employers to meet their requirements. Open Borders is not the answer and Open Borders without Vetting ends as an Invasion and no Sovereignty.
Nonsense. Open borders have never been tried since the late 1800s and early 1900s so you have ZERO idea that it becomes an invasion. Open borders except for people with previous criminal histories is an absolutely ideal way to solve the problem. If you can't be "illegal" then there is no basis for what is happening today. You can't deport someone if they have the right to be here.
Biden tried - mightily. Remember how that turned out George ?
What did Biden try? Whatever it was, it failed miserably. He certainlyu didn't try open borders. And his attempts at immigration control were feeble. Fact is, in the third largest country in the world and the largest which has a widely heterogenous population (China and India, the two largest, are highly homogenous), immigration control is extremely difficult if not impossible (based on current experience, impossible is the actual answer). Open borders is a terrific solution which would increase our labor supply, especially for lower paying jobs, and legitimize most of the current illegal immigrants in our country (currently estimated to be almost 20,000,000 people).
It is extremely important we, the readers know where your numbers come from. It would nice for you provide a source.
Whatever gold was left after the DOGE BOIS raid! All records have probably been destroyed by the DOGIES so we will likely never know and no one will be able to prove anything!
Now it just seems like only 97% of the Republicans give the other 3% a bad reputation.
You are so right. Chump knows how to twist the knife.
Revealing and true. Thank you! We do have to keep that up, especially on June 14th, “No Kings Day.” As many of us as are able should find a local protest and peacefully get out in the streets on Saturday. There is nothing “American” about what the totalitarians like Trump, Stephen Miller, and Homan are doing. It's anti-American and intentionally menacing although there’s something amusing about watching Homan, Noem, and Hegseth prancing around in military gear. It just looks clownish.
MAGATs love playing dress-up.
Vaccines have kept my now adult children from getting childhood diseases like I did; I’m 71. My mother was terrified when my brother and I got measles. We recovered, but lots of children did not. Polio outbreaks were another source of anxiety and grief. I remember being in line to get the polio vaccine. You can walk through old cemeteries and see the graves of children. You can tell from the dates of death when children and family members died during a disease outbreak. Now we have a wildly unstable drug abuser with no medical background at all in charge of the nation’s health.
“a clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.”
The definition of creating a crisis then claiming to solve it.
Yep. We've seen this movie before.
I just watched this! Heather, your interview with Gil Duran finally explains what Yarvin, Musk, and Theil and the Tech Bros have up their “Dark Enlightenment” sleeves.
How can this have gotten so far?
Thank you for this clarifying interview! (Is there a transcript?)
https://www.youtube.com/live/FWjR6_qYJAw?si=4UHBd9NWKiP_cdtG
Sharing again! Too important to get buried 💡
We need ACTION, and we need it NOW!!!!!
Well, the lower Federal Courts still support the US Constitution and sometimes the Fascist Supremes will uphold the rulings of the lower courts, but not always.
Leo and his Federalist society are pushing through another slew of far right theocratic Federal judges. Let your Senators know that "we the people" do not approve.
Here’s some truth, however opinionated or dark.
It is what is unsaid. They know white is soon to be the minority. Better kill off the brown, the black, the old, the dissenters….while there is a chance to do it under a bogus immigration rodeo and radical healthcare change to vaccines and disease.
Its purpose is no different than the ovens in Nazi Germany.
Kill off or minimize those that oppose the authoritarian regime. Sic the military upon its citizens.
Their salute is always to “long live white, rich, and Christian.”
Be steady and focused. They have sorely underestimated We the People. Keep protest vigorous and peaceful, keep focus on our beautiful diversity,economy, tariffs, undoing of the reconciliation bill…put the admin’s performative bullchit to the side.
It will be their complete undoing.
Salud!
🗽
Just call it the Big Bad Bill by the Boogeyman.
YES!!! We need to not use MAGA's language. Also, the American government was founded to protect and serve--not harm--us. It's not ok for our government to harm us, especially on purpose. Americans help each other. That's who we are as a nation. Let's spread that message!!!
And the legacy media need to do their job daily. With excruciating honesty.
They’re too cowed.
Unfortunately, yes. Still, where is their indignation at injustice and the serious atrophy of freedoms of speech, assembly, ideas....?
Stephanie, those concerns are locked in a box stuck on a top shelf in a seldom-used closet down a hallway nobody ever uses.
Corporate media is not owned or operated by journalists. It is owned by money-grubbing boards of directors and CEOs. The only things that matter to corporate media are dollars. And those dollars arrive in direct proportion to their audience numbers, which in turn, justify advertising rates.
Trump's performative antics draw audience, attracted by adulation or horror. He knows it and the media know it. Corporate media makes bank on Trump coverage and they want him to remain on the public stage as long as possible. It's not in their interest to cast him in any negative light, democracy be damned.
If the Trump regime advances to its logical destination, the directors of corporate media hope that their previous favorable coverage will earn them the privilege of being state media. It's unlikely that any of them will outfox Fox Entertainment, but they're all trying.
Well, there's a saying: "Don't let the lion tell the giraffe's story." Legacy media don't test ideas with multiple questions. I appreciate the destructive potential of the corporate state, and that it is intellectually and morally useless. I know it manipulates the public, and that these corporate media engage in repeated lying and the conning of others for profit. People who follow Fox News don't give up their cherished narratives easily. either. Celebrity reporters like Hannity, Tucker and others make millions and provide a platform to the powerful and famous so they can spin and lie. I live up the road from where the Washington Post is published; we boycotted it for awhile, but we still support our favorite editorialists. I get what you're saying.
If anyone is guilty of destroying the fabric of America—it is the idiot liar-in-chief, the criminal temporary occupant of the peoples’ White House!!!
Always appreciate what you contribute, Linda.
I call it the Big Bad Bill, and we need to get rid of it. I never liked build back better as a name because it did not clarify for people what it was. The American Jobs for Construction Bill would have been a better name. So, Trump knows how to make an acronym that does not really say anything about what it is, but makes the people fall behind it. He has a feud with Musk to get the MAGAs who are hurt by the bill to stand behind it because they will show Musk, and now creates this performance in LA to get them to back him for the mid-terms. The media does not report on it either. Too bad for us. We need to spread the word. The people who are being violent are masked and wearing black and acting like plants into the crowd. They provide the photo ops for Trump.
I thought about provocateur infiltration some time ago. I suggested something like henna tattoos or some such for peaceful demonstrators and rather than violence, "flying the bird", middle finger salute to illegal orders.
My niece and I will be bringing our US passports and the phone number of an immigration attorney. We will be marching in our brown skins and there is no telling what will happen. I may be in Chicago, but the president of the police union is as racist as down in Mississippi where my father came from.
https://youtu.be/71p468A4Po0?si=4gMZZ7MKOx5PS0K7
In my county, the bill financed replacing perfectly built aluminum utility poles along a route and replaced them with huge aluminum utility poles. No possible improvement since the people’s were in perfect condition. It’s called government waste this time on the part of democrats. Cheese wiz, yes indeedy.
Bill, I think you would enjoy the book my bookclub is reading, Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson.
Here is an interview with him.
https://youtu.be/cnPDnnRvtQg?si=UXnEh6QZoebCXYsm
He’s a criminal, remember. Done criminality all his life.
Combine that with theatricality – and don’t even bother to ask why the tens of millions of Americans buy into bloodlust, hate, and paranoia.
We needn’t ask that “why” so much as ask all the good little boys and girls who so worked to get themselves atop the meritocracy – what did you think? You know your schools rid themselves of whole-book novels, memoirs, histories, biographies, travelogues, and essay collections.
“Men long for news,” Auden said in “Night Mail.” To which, as William Carlos Williams put it in “Asphodel, That Greeny Flower, “Look at / what passes for the new. / You will not find it there but in / despised poems. / It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there.”
Across America (across the world) people hunger for stories, narratives, images, memes, metaphors. We have a criminal who’s delivering that and finds it easy because our schools gave it up.
He's an entertainer -- a TV personality. And that's all. Everything he does is to stay in the limelight, and it's clear he'll do anything to remain there, no matter how grotesque, underhanded, dishonest, cruel.
In his recent interview with Anderson Cooper, George Clooney predicted that when this awful era ends, little will be left of it. They don't have anybody else up their sleeve with that combination of bombast theatricality, depravity, derangement. On some level, they must know this. For them, it's now all or nothing, boom or bust, winner take all, or zip. I can't imagine a more dangerous moment for the country.
Some of the P2025 promoters knew it was now or never and said so. That’s why Vought is assiduously carrying on the DOGErs’ work.
One thing that scares me is what they are going to do with all of our information that has been illegally downloaded by DOGE? They have our names addresses, SS numbers, medical records, bank and investment info and God only knows what else. I’m certain Musk’s teenagers are putting back doors into the systems so they can access private info in government departments from the comfort of their living rooms. Who are they selling our private data too? What are they doing with it?
I think they are going to sell it, use it for AI development, pinpoint or blackmail people--you name it. None of it good.
An entertainer is someone who intends to entertain. That some may find Trump "entertaining" doesn't make him one. He's just a con man manipulating his base for his own aggrandizement and monetary gain.
It's Come To This, I suggest that your choice of "entertainer" isn't quite right. True, his schtick does entertain his most devout MAGA followers, but he doesn't draw massive amounts of attention based on the entertainment value of his performances, especially now that dementia is taking its toll on his wit and delivery.
It could be argued that he's a con artist, as he's deceived his audience with convincing patter and false promises. But that skill has lost its luster, too. His patter has turned into repetitive rambling and too many of his promises have been proven to be lies. He's losing his audience as they become aware of his broken promises.
I'd call him a "professional celebrity," famous for being famous. He's not unlike the Kardashians, having pushed their way into the limelight with nothing of substance to offer their audience. When each of them dies, nobody will remember them for anything.
Incidentally, shame must be heaped on the American public who pay attention to these professional celebrities who contribute nothing of value to our society.
Donald's value now lies in his ability to command attention. He's valuable to corporate media as an audience magnet, which translates to advertising revenue. He's valuable to ideologues like Stephen Miller, Russell Vought and Peter Thiel as a distraction, while they work in the shadows to try and remake the U.S. into a white, theocratic oligarchy.
I'll easily go with "professional celebrity" who wishes he were talented enough to be an "entertainer."
Well said. Given this “most dangerous moment”, why does it seem that the only contingent responding commensurately are the people. I must be seriously naive, but where is the sense of urgency?? Is there not a single soul in the dem circle brave enough to take this regime on? Clearly I watch too many American films. If this were truly a war, as many are claiming, are we left to believe congress would sit on their collective asses?
It seems that for the most part, the people are left taking care of this invasion. The erstwhile leadership of this country should be ashamed. The people are taking all the risk.
I agree. Trump is an entertainer. He rose to prominence as a TV star. MAGA came for the entertainment. They stayed for the entertainment.
And they have not been disappointed.
I'll see your "Night Mail" and raise you "August 1968." Auden knew.
August 1968
The Ogre does what ogres can,
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach,
The Ogre cannot master Speech:
About a subjugated plain,
Among its desperate and slain,
The Ogre stalks with hands on hips,
While drivel gushes from his lips.
Well, let's throw in Yeats for good measure, shall we?
"...Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity...
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem waiting to be born?"
--Boldly and audaciously put to music by Joni Mitchell.
I'll return to Auden with:
"Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets."
Resist.
Blessings on all of you for the poetry. There’s a bit of Tennyson too that I cherish for the laughter. I’ve forgotten the first two lines, but the second two are “Onward, onward still and upward,/ Downward too into the abysm.” Somehow his lordship got it right.
This poem has gone through my head every day for weeks now.
Where is Phil Balla to get in on this poetry throwdown? LOL!!
;-D
Marinating, Miselle.
For years I've been marinating in the poetry of many cultures: Russian, Hungarian, Irish, Hebrew, Arab, Slovak, Czech, English, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Polish, Spanish, French, Italian, and American.
I thought for sure I'd see you get on that thread!
I think who I see depends upon what time I get online to read. Some days though, it's too depressing to go through many of the comments, so I don't always see people.
A wonderful & very timely poem by Yeats. Thank you for posting it.
I have been singing this too myself for months!
Vexed to nightmare by Christianity?
Seems to me the rough beast is Netanyahu, already born in full form, already taken Bethlehem, and now we are out of nice metaphors
Beautifully said, though I think the fault is less our schools but with ourselves. Many a dedicated teacher has given up the job, rather than struggle with the political hobbles increasingly applied to education, the industrializing of a process that dulls curiosity and rewards mechanical conformity. A new form of Scholasticism elbowing out the creative Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and beyond. Beguiled by pre-packaged commercial culture, we often neglect the fertility of our own minds interacting in earnest conversation and collaborative action, and have let our own collective agency slip away. Trump may serve a salvageable purpose if he inadvertently wakes us from this tragic trajectory.
Not my school. We have a wonderful school board, superintendent, principal and teachers that are dedicated to educating our kids. This is why it is essential to prevent the Fascist white Christian Nationalists from fucking with the education in each of our local communities as well as the Republicans at the state level.
And pay your educators well. How Is it good practice to force a teacher to worry about their finances because we're too cheap to pay them well?
GL, Amen to your sentiment. I am a retired teacher, was a single mom raising my son without any child support, made just enough to get by. I wanted my son to have a bright future so I worked with him to secure a Pell grant, took out loans, and he applied for scholarships. He worked at various jobs throughout his undergraduate, masters and PHD quests and is now a geology professor. He helps out in his community and works to help students find ways to continue their education. Without the Pell Grant, which is being eliminated, he would not have been able to achieve his dreams and aspirations. It's so sad and frightening that children's dreams and aspirations will be much harder to attain.
We had Hitler now we have Trump. Who is going to be next ?
Will there be a next?
There’s always a next. The wealthy want to crush us and have the resources to fund these tools. We need to demand Congress make the changes needed to protect us. Get big/dark money out of politics.
But why are the wealthy, wealthy? Someone had to design and make the widget that they sell. Someone has to buy it to pay for the materials and labor plus the profit for them to put in their pocket. It's to their advantage to have a healthy, functioning, vibrant middle class to keep the boat afloat. Why are they trying to destroy it?
It makes no sense to me, either. It seems counterintuitive. Somehow they think they can dominate us and create/reinforce a submissive “worker class” that will accept their scraps. It is delusional.
Kathy, one of the functions of my career has been public relations. My services have been employed by corporate leaders, entertainers, politicians and others. It was my job to emphasize my subjects' achievements and minimize their weaknesses.
A temptation these luminaries all face and usually fail to resist is belief in their own press. They begin to believe they achieved their accomplishments all on their own, without the support and assistance of "the little people" who actually did the hard work that elevated them to their lofty heights.
The 1% – especially those who inherited their wealth – have been where they are for so long, they've completely lost sight or memory of how they got there.
This blindness might best be characterized by Leona Helmsley's famous comment: "Only the little people pay taxes."
Musk or a Trump child.
I am sick and tiredplacing blame on schools
I don't blame you, Lanette.
Can't simply blame schools, when we all know anyway that they're totally owned by and subservient to the billionaire standardized testers.
Phil, I agree with you regarding his criminality. He is also a spectacular study of a completely psychotic narcissist and that’s why he seizes upon 3 letters, BBB, and claims them as his own. He is the embodiment of chaos and doing his nest to set our heads spinning. Much as I was fearful of his return, now I find his efforts at a speedy takeover are so comedic that I foresee an end to Mr. “Foghorn Bighorn’s “ rule of disorder and a clumsy exit of his band of unfit sycophants in the very near future. If I felt certain that nobody will die I could laugh.
Although Trump's use of metaphor lacks a certain poetry.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/insects-floods-and-the-snake-what-trumps-use-of-metaphors-reveals/
Thank you, Phil Balla. This is where we are. We have been heading there since 1952, when public school teachers came from the lowest SAT scorers and there was money to be made inventing multiple choice for everything. Then art, music, and cursive writing.
Virginia, your comment about “the lowest SAT scores” isn’t exactly true (I was born in 1952 and had excellent teachers throughout my school career). If you remember, at that time a woman could aspire to be a nurse, teacher, or secretary; that was pretty much the range of her opportunities (or perhaps a stewardess if she was young and single). Many schools were good because these women poured themselves into their careers since they really didn’t have any other choice. The dumbing down of our schools really started more in the 1980’s.
Susan Lynn Hollis, the newspaper article which is the background for that statement was presented to me by a professor of Art at Hollins University (Hollins College at that time) while I waited to see the chairman of the Art Department. Obviously the effects of the loss of the liberal arts education weren’t felt everywhere for some years. Are you aware that many if not most liberal arts colleges have folded? (The article may have been from a Roanoke, VA, paper. Deciding immediately that I would never take an education course, I didn’t notice. I taught for years—French as a graduate student, piano later—recognizing that imitating the best teachers is the best education course.
FYI, I’m from Houston, Texas and grew up in one of the suburbs (Pasadena); there were a LOT of industrial plants in the area so the tax base was big, and the schools were fortunate to have this money. St. Thomas University (Catholic) is the liberal arts college here; that said, I agree there aren’t many left in the country. I do remember when Sputnik happened and the grading system was raised, i.e. an A was now 93 instead of 90, and so on. I was in elementary school at the time. I totally agree that cutting music, art, and cursive writing is terrible. I went to Baylor University for my B.A. (English, Spanish, French, secondary education certified) and University of Houston for a M.S.O.E. in marketing education. (After retailing at a specialty department store I was able to use that qualification to be certified to teach marketing education). After teaching for two years I was very fortunate to be hired as a flight attendant for a major airline. Forty years later I’m still flying; I plan to keep on as long as I can stand up. Unfortunately Texas has turned VERY red and the public schools are a shambles. Our idiot governor is pushing private school vouchers on the state, which only makes it worse. As much as I hate getting older I realize how fortunate I was to have the education that I had and the career that I have now. I really do fear for the generation coming up.
Thank you for your story. Both of us have been lucky, which means we still have the responsibility to try to pass on as much as we can to those coming after us. Good for you for continuing to work in the current “situation.” May the democracy win out and go on from strength to strength as we worked to make it happen.
Phil, thanks for educating me a little about poetry and the news.
So true. The part about Hunger for stories, narratives. Does poetry in old fashioned lines mean anything in these days of ticktock, instant messages, texting, etc. and now AI can write nice poetical lines. Are words too late to this moment?
But do not blame schools, teachers are always trying, as are parents and grandparents.
More than entertainer, he’s a self-promoter
So that’s the plan: suck up all money from the treasury and let the tax payers pay for the deficit. Bleed the ordinary Americans dry and set the military on them if they protest against that. The Silicon Valley tech bro billionaires’ wet dream is coming true…
And in the meantime Dutch, pay attention at how many times they mention insurrection when there's none . And pay attention at how, out a small protest in front of a parking lot at Home Depot the regime escalated to justify sending the Nation Gard and set a full high alert on 700 Marines and mow another 2,000 NG members. Take all that as a distraction for the BBB and a practice to be repeated before the next election. Please think about that.
Classic Trump -- create a problem, inflame it, describe it in false terms and "solve" it. Only this time there's so much more at stake.
The next election it's at stake lauriemcf, and with that our future as a Nation.
I expect the unions in LA if not in the whole of California to show up in force, massively and peacefully together with the rest of the state's population. That would be the real show. Let's see how many army divisions the regime would be willing to send. Thanks for your reply 👍
From your keyboard to G*d’s screen, Ricardo
I wish the same Susan but I think it's only up to us . People should organize, come out, show up, protest peacefully and display only American flags otherwise it reinforce the falsehood that we are an occupied country and need someone to come to the rescue. Save those Mexican flags for the 5 de Mayo, 5th of May 😄. And eat some TACO(s).
I worry that even if we perform the actions of protest, we lack an underlying cohesiveness, a uniting “why.” Part of the reason the civil rights movement had the success it did was because the folks had a faith community and an overarching larger motivation — creating the Kingdom of G*d on earth. Today we're splintered and have no larger impetus. IMO
Watch the word that your tv news uses to characterize the protests. I’m seeing riots.
Exactly! "Riots" it wasn't until Traitor ran with it and tried to make it so. What's left of our ability to communicate to the masses has got to pound out the truth that the government reaction was overkill.
Ya can't have a riot within 5 blocks of concrete buildings and LAPD all over the place.
I know, Ricardo. I know... It's all straight from the "Dictator's Playbook"... "I can't do otherwise than have the military shoot at these unlawful, violent and lawless insurrectionists!"
Right Dutch. Actually they are the insurrectionists by creating such state of chaos .
...and taking over the "government by the people".
Since January 20th it's no longer the "government by the people"
Nope, it's not. Government _by_ the stupid and narcissistic, _for_ the billionaires.
Orwellianly labeled "Republicans" are actively attempting to overthrow the Republic. They have been Antirepublicans since at least Reagan.
Once again:
"The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves---in their separate, and individual capacities.
In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere." - Lincoln
It is indeed. When they suck the tit dry, us taxpayers will have to take over the care and feeding of our fellow citizens. It can be done for only $19 a month, times millions. Just turn on your tv and see how you can solve so many problems that our government once had responsibility for.
"our government" AKA "We the People" (as opposed to "Our Lord and Master".
"Once"... You mean, only half a year ago :/
A dystopian nightmare has become our reality.
I'm afraid so...
Yep, Greg Olear explained the plan. ACCELERATION. Rapid destruction. Carefully planned chaos, as fast as possible. Efficient and irreversible
Kind of like blowing up the safe in the bank and then running away with all the money as fast as possible - and leave everybody else with the mess and the rubble.
Or "The Shock Doctrine".
Exactly the plan, that post was shocking to me and the insanity would never pass the smell test in a semi-sane world.
We don't have to work for the government JD, it's all the way around and that's why we pay taxes.
Oligarch’s have dibs on our tax revenue, seems to me…
Hoover the wealth of the entire nation into the pockets of the few.
L G ,what's going to happen when there's no more money left and the few have their pockets full? Are they going to be so powerful that would use us in a kind of gladiator competition for their own amusement?
Well, they will need entertainment as well as servants
Enter the Hunger Games...
😄
Donald Trump has begun turning the National Guard into the Nazi-nal Guard and the Marines into a pack of storm troopers. As someone who enlisted to serve on active duty and later served for more than a decade (enlisted and officer, including as a JAGC lawyer) in National Guard units in several states, this degeneration appalls me.
I have some advice for current members of the National Guard, particularly the Army National Guard. If you're eligible for retirement, do so quickly. If you're eligible to resign or leave, do so quickly. If you have to stay, be prepared to identify and refuse illegal orders; contact a lawyer familiar with military law (for example, a volunteer lawyer through the ACLU or similar legal organization) for advice. If you remain in the Guard under the Trump reich, you will almost certainly be put in a position where you'll be ordered to commit acts qualifying as crimes against humanity, perhaps even war crimes if Trump invokes the Insurrection Act. Even if you escape legal liability, you won't escape humanity's moral judgment and condemnation. The more you participate, the more you'll contribute to the degradation of the public's respect for the military, to the degradation of your soul, and to the rise of a military dictatorship on American soil.
This advice applies to active-duty troops as well.
CGW, I saw a young (to me) fellow on the news today standing in front of, but at a bit of distance (he was not “in their face”) from the Guard, exhorting them to remember the oath they took to uphold and defend the Constitution. He was passionate and sincere—caring both for them AND for all civilians. He verbalized exactly what I’ve been keenly feeling these past weeks as things, courtesy of ‘Rump, have escalated. I wonder what is going through the minds/hearts of these folks as they are called up to do what indeed might be illegal/unconstitutional. Will they have a moment of clarity/morality and turn away? I hope so, after all “just following orders” didn’t go over too well at the Nuremberg trials. ☮️
That man was Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn's son, Wyatt. So powerful and well said. It also seemed that he had a captive audience, and has been viewed all over Youtube. I worked for 40 years as a nurse under the direction of MDs. I refused to follow some orders because I wasn't licensed to perform the request, which was one of their responsiblities. Authority only works when the one being bullied is complient. Maybe public sit ins would be effective, has no appearance of violence! Also, singing "We Shall Overcome" with intent!!!
Thank you. Although I watched that video as well, I had no idea that he was related to anyone with “star power”. And honestly, although that’s simply not a factor that should matter one way or another, it’s telling that, due to his relationship to his own parents, this may have the consequences of having the video reach more audiences. He clearly wasn’t using his own personal background to make his point. He was simply trying his best to get the attention of the both the guard and the civilians around him to make the point that the guard had a duty to uphold their oath and defend the constitution and the rule of law. That alone is enough to make the video go viral and to spread it around in order to get his point across! I, for one, found him to be an excellent example of how to use clear and powerful words as a means to protest peacefully.👍💙🇺🇸
I just read a post from Entertainment Weekly saying Wyatt Russell was misidentified. The man is apparently AAron Fisher, partner at Statecraft Media, which produces digital media campaigns for progressive candidates.
Maybe they know each other!?! He still was inspiring and if the misnaming got him more attention: GOOD!!
Thank you and WOW! I loved his statement to Entertainment Weekly in response to releasing the information that it was, indeed, he that was the man is the video.💙🇺🇸
https://www.yahoo.com/news/kurt-russells-son-misidentified-viral-131300085.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABxF506e6FWAizZ3NlKLtc3GklWtagWsAyausgdCuDojHuWvPPQcCOlufyjmZYzz-cGC_EAClNCinAF1uK264qClYde-hEyv_d3NB1Mrorbb1fr949q0ZNUEFcBGXTKgQX5KoxGsdjFQshibNmXTcnEWTA6pFjufcWl9cu21jKSR
Jessie thanks for the ID (and your moral courage to refuse to do things you knew to be wrong). I have seen that video posted on dozens of sites and FB pages.
This might be the video you saw; he kept his distance, was non-threatening, but made many good points as he tried to get them to THINK about what they are doing.
https://bsky.app/profile/iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social/post/3lr6mo4vgcc2f
Yes, thank you, that’s him! I encourage those reading these comments to take some time to view this. Quite powerful I think. His sincerity is so endearing…and spot on.
I saw him too. Excellent, and thank you both for pointing him out.
Those troops within earshot heard what he said and was whispered to the others later. These are citizen soldiers and live among us. It's their call to be a part of democracy.
Thanks for that link, good to see the Raw Beauty of Pure Courage.
Ahhh my heart! So proud of that young man. Spread that video far and wide.
I want to repost this to Substack. Is the guy in the video the guy who actually has the bluesky post?
That was Kurt Russell's son (sorry I can't recall his name) -- he was marvelous.
That was Wyatt Russell, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn’s son. So articulate, respectful and passionate.
I have just read that maybe it wasn't him but not taking away from my respect for what he did.
I hate to say it, but I believe there are those who actually enjoy the "authority" to "legally" hurt others. It's like the bad cops who poison the police forces, like the one who knelt on George Floyd's neck.
Agree sadly, Miselle, the dark shadows of human kind….be it by nature or life circumstance. The yin-yang ☯️ of our species.☮️
Barbara, wen I saw and listened to that young man, yes, for mee too, I had a " Chinese man with two shoping bags blocking tanks,s path toward Tianament Square " moment. I know there are differences but, the action of standing in front and verbally exporting them that we are one and we are part of them and them part of us. A very powerful and touching moment unlikely to be shown in Fox News.
CGW, THAT is great advice! Really someone needs to create a template for National Guard and Troops as to their rights and ability to resist. Having spent a lifetime being drilled to follow orders, now we are asking Guardsmen and Troops to become self representing lawyers while their fellow herd members are also confused. I'll do some research to see if anyone has published a template. It's a tricky area of Constitutional and Military Law, I don't know anyone who practices it. I urge you to also research this topic and post here in a future. Feel free to email me via Substack here if you want to collaborate.
I have said the same, but I only have about 25 subscribers, so it's good to have this proposal repeated widely! Such a guidance is badly needed!
I apologize for this delayed response. I'm retired, so I don't have access to the research sources I had years ago. But there are some sources that might provide some help.
Back during the Vietnam War, when I served, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) <https://afsc.org/> published a small pamphlet for service members that summarized their rights. I haven't found a copy online, but a similar publication is available online from the Wisconsin Historical Society <https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/p15932coll8/id/61935/rec/2>. The AFSC archives <https://afsc.org/archives> also have some historical publications of a similar nature:
o MILITARY SERVICE: QUESTIONS AND CHOICES (1986) - https://afsc.org/archive/military-service-questions-and-choices
o Before You Enlist (2006) - https://afsc.org/archive/you-enlist
Although dated, these publications might provide jumping-off points for further inquiry.
For more current information, you might look at:
o Can you recognize an unlawful order? (2022) - https://www.militaryjusticecenter.com/blog/2022/03/can-you-recognize-an-unlawful-order/
o A Duty to Disobey? (2016) - https://www.justsecurity.org/34612/duty-disobey/
o Duty and Disobedience: The Conflict of Conscience and Compliance in the Trump Era (2018) - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2870548
Finally, there are the principal sources for military law and discipline:
o Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) - 10 U.S.C. ch. 47 - https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2023-title10/USCODE-2023-title10-subtitleA-partII-chap47
o Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) - 10 U.S.C. ch. 47 (PDF) - https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title10/pdf/USCODE-2023-title10-subtitleA-partII-chap47.pdf
o Manual for Courts-Martial (MCM) (2024 ed.) (PDF) - https://jsc.defense.gov/Portals/99/2024%20MCM%20files/MCM%20(2024%20ed)%20-%20TOC%20no%20index.pdf?ver=b7JVpxV5rbIHg0ENlCRVKQ%3D%3D
I don't know of any template of the sort you mention.
Sorry I can't be more helpful, but I hope this information has provided some guidance.
Wonderful post! Friends, if you know people in National Guard or military please share with them these resources.
Good advice CGW. I'm a Gulf War era Navy veteran and a lot of memories and thoughts have been coming up for me. Mostly it's the oath we take to preserve, protect, uphold and (the lifelong commitment to) defend the Constitution of the U.S. against enemies, foreign and domestic, that is still paramount to this republic if we can keep it.
Thank you for your service and for affirming the sacred agreement that gives power to OATHs we take.
Thank you for living our American values and helping us to understand ours.
They hear you!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/09/veterans-trump-national-guard-la-protests
Thank you so much for this, Heather. I hope you and Buddy are well.
It is getting harder, isn’t it?
We will probably be on the Sagadahoc Bridge for No King’s Day. Y’all give us a honk if you are passing through.
I am reading, writing, and feeding my crow friends. The bridge Ospreys are teaching the young ones to fly over the city parking lot.
I am really sad about what’s happening.
In an article published on the Maine Public Radio website in December, 2023 Heather explains-
“[Being from a small town], it’s not idyllic. Anybody who’s lived in a small town knows that there’s drug abuse, and spousal abuse, and alcohol abuse," said Richardson. "But there is also charity. And by that, I mean graciousness [and] the idea of helping each other out — real caring. And if you’re from elsewhere, you don’t necessarily have that sense of an entire community being one.”
"https://www.mainepublic.org/arts-and-culture/2023-12-15/with-1-3-million-daily-readers-heather-cox-richardson-speaks-to-maine-and-the-nation-beyond
Whether we grew up in a small community, like Heather, or a large city, there seems to always be the gracious people willing to help each other out.
As Tip O'Neil said, "All politics are local."
I know it is no comfort, but you are nt alone!
Ditto ditto...
Finally!!! Someone with a major profile mentioning Project 2025. If only all the pundits would do that every day. Trump isn't doing anything, even though he is assigned the credit. The "advisors" decide what is going to happen and he goes along. Why not? He doesn't even read. He's an old, befuddled man who likes cheeseburgers and cheating at golf. The christian nationalists/white supremacists have been working towards this for 60+ years and must be dancing in joy. Their goal has been to kill democracy, create a theocratic republic and to have the President operate as a dictator with no interference from Congress or the SCOTUS. Project 2025 states that fossil fuel is great and taking it away harms poor people! It also says that when women have access to abortion or family planning, they are being harmed. They insist there is just male and female, nothing in between, and that rich white men are meant to control everything according to "biblical values" (their version of the bible.) You can't read the document and not be chilled by what's in it and how much of it Trump has carried out vicariously since Jan. 20. Thanks, Heather, for writing about this. PLEASE keep doing that.
And in the middle of all this, another nighttime barrage of drones and cruise missiles cover Ukraine's skies, this time striking a maternity hospital in Odesa, with downed wreckage falling in at least 16 locations in Kyiv.
Yet hardly a word in our press about 20,000 US anti-drone missiles having been diverted from Ukraine by Trump for the Middle East....
https://kyivindependent.com/trump-redirects-20-000-anti-drone-missiles-meant-for-ukraine-zelensky-confirms/
I saw that yesterday in my news feed. WTF!
And then there was the story where an ABC correspondent was suspended after tweeting that Trump is a world class hater. The oligarchy owned corporate media has totally lost the plot. Like so many of us, the correspondent was guilty of repeating the obvious, even though few have the courage to call them out.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/abc-news-correspondent-suspended-after-tweet-calling-trump-a-world-class-hater/ar-AA1GjN1w
The big legacy media have capitulated. What Terry Moran said was absolutely true. ABC should have had his back.
Yes, I saw this and felt utter outrage! Absolutely sickening beyond belief! At some point the guns of the world are going to (justifiably) be aimed at us :(
Jeannette, I highly recommend this essay about Russell Vought and Representative DeLauro (who has brilliantly called out Vought). This essay concisely makes clear how Project 2025 is destroying government as the means to install their vision of America.
They hide behind “eliminating waste fraud and abuse” while purposely increasing waste and incompetence.
https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/winners-and-losers-the-puppet-master
Today I was traveling north from Arizona heading home to Alaska. I like to get off the highways and travel secondary, rural roads. The America I see bears absolutely no resemblance to the country Donald Trump screams about every day. Most of the people (In my experience about 90+%) will go well out of their way to help a total stranger. Not because they hope to gain some advantage, they do it because they know what is right. Turn down the volume, listen to your heart, it’s good for your soul.
It's so true. I live I live in NYC, which Trump likes to pretend is a hell hole. It's a safe and friendly city. Sure we walk fast, talk fast, and are impatient - but over and over I see New Yorkers stop to help someone out, give directions, and all sorts of other small courtesies. His crazy descriptions are just intended to create more fear and division.
I just saw Liz Donnelly's post today with photos of NYC. After moving to CA 39 years ago, I still miss it.
So this is where we are now. Again.
I am old enough to have lived through, and to some extent participated in, the tumult of the 1960s. The civil rights struggles, the assassinations, the Vietnam conflict, the horror of the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. I marched in a fair share of marches (I lived in the SF Bay Area then, so no shortage of things to march for and against.) I campaigned for Gene McCarthy as a write-in, even though the Dems had already picked Humphrey and even though I was not yet old enough to vote, because I thought he offered the best chance for peace by the time my first opportunity to vote came around. I Joined thousands as we marched, peacefully, on Easter 1969, from Union Square to the Presidio and back. I got teargassed when then-Governor Ronny Raygun called in the guard to put down a peaceful protest in Berkeley in May of 69.
And then came Nixon, Watergate, etc, etc.
I had hoped to see through what remains of my life free from this kind of crap, thinking maybe something had been learned, some kind of wisdom had come from those struggles.
Instead, here we are now. Again.
And yet, BC, we continue to resist, and persist in standing up for the best ideals of the USA….sigh, tho I do agree it’s Deja vu all over again. 🤷🏻♀️
I, too, remember growing up in the sixties. I very much agree with your position--hard to believe we have to do this again. But what choice do we have? No matter how discouraged and downhearted we are, we MUST make this stop if we ever want to live in an open society in our beloved homeland.
Me too, dammit.
Heather, I just glanced at that Niagara of footnotes citing your sources and thought again of the dogged record keeping you're doing for your future colleagues. Did you ever have an idea that history such as you have studied would dump itself on your lap, demanding to be properly organized, filed,and annotated for the historians of tomorrow? Since they can't, let me presume to thank you for them.
^^^👆THIS!!!^^^
Thank you Professor Richardson.
Suddenly, the cruelty has a face. It is the face of a mom being clubbed and wrestled to the ground. The face of the beloved member of a local community being torn away from her family handcuffed, and pushed into a van by masked so-called "law enforcement". It is the President of the SEIU under the freedom afforded by law being arrested and taken away. It is in a child's tears as they are separated from their family. It is a reporter hit by so-called "non-lethal" bullets while covering the Trump-Noem-Hegseth escalation and provocation of violence.
While the "Silent Majority" became the "Tea Party" and then "MAGA" -the rising anger was always centered in generational economic despair. The lack of opportunity and upward mobility. Right-wing extremists have achieved success misdirecting that anger to immigrants and less directly, the BIPOC community. By using "News" outlets such as Fox "News" they have created a long-lasting frame of runaway crime, job-stealing immigrants and refugees, and Reagan's "Cadillac-driving welfare queen" as an example of corruption, gaming the system, and the reason behind minimal paychecks.
The reality that 1% of the population has hoarded extreme wealth is not a message that is amplified in the United States (or elsewhere globally), when the same 1% own and control the media outlets responsible for the distribution of "news" stories.
Instead, we get headlines such as "Violent Out-of-Control ICE Riots Destroying Los Angeles as President Deploys National Guard and Marines to Restore Order", "Oil Rises as US-China talks counter OPEC", and "Republican lawmaker's raucous town hall reflects challenges promoting Trump's bill" -headlines that intentionally mislead while buried in a stream of sports and entertainment news -instead of any news outlet running one story about the complete subversion of the United States by a lawless, corrupt, criminal cabal.
Should a handful of elected GOP members find their courage (or borrow some from Liz Cheney) and impeach this abomination of an Executive Branch, each day the corrupt idiocracy continues to create more chaos, concentrate wealth, and bury the United States in debt and interest payments -which will be borne by workers -not Musk, Bezos, Thiel, Adelson, or others who continue to enjoy watching the chaos from one of their many homes.
Absent any GOP courage -the only peaceful way to stop this madness is a prolonged general strike for all but first responders until this government falls.
George, McConnell shot our country in the foot when he failed to encourage R’s in the Senate to convict ‘Rump for his second impeachment….you could tell HE KNEW ‘Rump was guilty as hell, but passed it off to “the people” to hold him accountable via the courts. Seems all those in power & with the responsibility to make things right just caved. I’ll never understand why.
Indeed Barbara. I think it was and is recognition that "MAGA" anger is real and cult-like. Leveraging the misdirected anger to amass greater power and control has caused most every Republican member to set aside their Oath of Office. McConnell not only abdicated his leadership responsibility -he made the problem far worse by shaping SCOTUS on a foundation of corrupt partisans. And I would argue that blocking Garland from SCOTUS and elevating Gorsuch instead was monumental, perhaps unintentionally. Garland might have been well-suited to the court, however he was a terrible AG. Anyone in that role should have aggressively pursued all election deniers in Federal and State government under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Any educated and informed society would completely reject the GOP's primary objective -the extreme concentration of wealth in the United States which is antithetical to any meaningful democracy.
The Turtle sure is quiet these days. In part, no doubt due to his failing health, but I wonder if part of it is shame.
Naw---no shame there. My bad. Silly me.
Yes Miselle, I don’t think shame is part of the GOP vocabulary.
Indeed, George, indeed.
I think Trump is very heavy on the threats, Putin style, so many around him are very worried about going against him…Tragic….
Ah, Rhonda, but those should realize by his actions that he’s really a TACO!!!!! To channel Emily Dickinson, he’s only “plated wares”, not the real thing.
McConnell is and was a coward. He did not want to be a target of Trump and his Maga base (and Proud Boys, One Percenters, etc.). Being old doesn't mean that one is not afraid to die. Interesting that his disease manifested as being frozen...unable to move or speak-- remember?
Our reality is unreal right now!
Call. Write. Email. Protest peacefully. 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
The most effective way to be heard by your Congressional representative is to meet in person with them or a member of their staff. The least effective way is to call their office. If you can't meet in person write a letter-not an email.
stephen, Heather has mentioned many, many times that snail mail is totally ineffective. She stated by the time it arrives and is read and sorted, whatever legislation you are writing about had already been voted upon.
She definately says to meet in person, but if they refuse town halls, what are you to do? Heather says to make a phone call, and having myself made MANY calls, the aides will ask and tally what your opinion is on whatever you are calling about. The phone lines are often jammed, so our next best it to email.
50501 is organizing 'No Kings Day" protests in all 50 states forn6/14, the day of the president's "birthday parade". You can find more information on what's happening in your area athttps://www.fiftyfifty.one/ The Women's March is organizing "Kick Out the Clowns' circus-themed protest actions in all 50 states on the same day. For more informationhttps://action.womensmarch.com/calendars/kick-out-the-clowns One of the protests planned for 6/14 is a caravan/march to Mar-a-Lago and rally in West Palm Beach, FL. I am very encouraged to see that some of these protests are taking place all over deep red Florida, some highly localized. Also "flag waving days" are being organized prior to the 16th in which people are waving banners over freeway and other highway overpasses with themes of "Fighting Fascism", "No Kings" etc. There was a protest at Miami Government Center today over immigrant actions, and another protest is scheduled for Wednesday. America is rising up.
“Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarcy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.”
― Thomas Paine
Thanks, Maizie.
Thank you Professor. We have always said, as California goes, goes the nation. It’s time to stand with California!
"But in an op-ed published today in the Wall Street Journal, he said “a clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.”
It would be cynical comedy were it not so dangerous.
This is the guy who recently told senators that no one should be taking medical advice from him. Very sage advice it turns out.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PyJMTz0kaCw
North Korean-style chickenshit served in a tasty taco shell...
✅🤮
Hopefully, only 43 more months of this. Feels like we have a combination of Hitler/Stalin/Pinochet/Pol Pot/Kim Jong-il........
Nauseating.
Ha, Judith, all rolled into one…..fat and lumpy!
As a New Yorker for 40+ years, sometimes I have to shake my head: this is really the same piece of poop as that Trump.........?
How can it even be possible??
The guardrails are crumbling but some refuse to buckle. Is it enough? The evil is on the throne and has the momentum. They will push, push until enough have enough. May his birthday be the day that enough will have enough. It’s now or subjugation.
79! Poor old man. The hair and make-up don't do as much for him as he thinks they do.
You're not having a go at him for his beautiful hair?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2GWBm4Bho2k
The BBB? Big beautiful bouffant? (Er, yes).
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_yXHDo3HQk0
Well, what can I say? There speaks a president. Witty, no boring stuff about his actual plans for making AGA. And they scream with delight.
Ugliest man alive. Hollywood couldn’t make him look good, but he thinks he’s like the idiotic representations he pushes
I saw a stunning close-up of him snarling, yesterday - he's the picture of Dorian Gray. What he's become can't be hidden.
Fox can sanewash only so much. But they have done a good job so far. His evil shines through since it emanates from what used to be a soul…