This morning, economist Paul Krugman came right out and said it: “People close to Trump are trading based on national secrets.” Another word for that, he said, is “treason.” The evidence for such a claim is the sudden and isolated jump in trading volume in S&P 500 and oil futures about 15 minutes before Trump suddenly announced that the U.S.
I sure hope one day we learn who made the trades. In the meantime - Be LOUD! We deserve better 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Malcolm Nance and Jacob Kaarsbo are keeping us informed each day about the war. Yesterday Malcolm was predicting that Friday night we are going to see some boots on the ground action as they try to take Kharg Island and perhaps several more. They think is it foolhardy, but we shall see.
Many in the chat noted that it coincides with No Kings Days on Saturday to take over the news cycle with his war. The board of peace is the board of perpetual war. I will be out at the No Kings Demo that I am in charge of. Just got our revised permit as we get new permits as we ask for modifications. The people in our group are wonderful and working on this rally I have fallen in love with their goodness and kindness and helpfulness.
I just wrote a piece listing all of the No Kings Demos Abroad that I can find. Please share this with friends abroad.
When the Iranians launch 30,000 Shaheds at the Marines - who have no knowledge of fighting a drone war, up against the people who invented modern drone warfare - when they attempt to land at Kharg Island, it will make the slaughter of the Second Wave at Tarawa (70% casualties when the landing craft hung up on the coral reef) look like a walk in the park. As a veteran and a military historian, I hate that fact, but it is a fact. It may be the only thing that finally moves the GOP scum in Congress to act, if only to save their own necks.
He stranded HUNDREDS of thousands of Americans, not just thousands. And each of these people, alone, by themselves, in families, had to figure out *by themselves* how to get home. I know of one instance only -- two guys unable to get out of Qatr (closed airspaces and constantly canceled flights) finally bribed (I'm guessing) their way south via Uber (I didn't even know Qatr had Uber) to the insides of Saudia Arabia, a commuter-type train to Riyadh, a hastily arranged hotel room there, a flight from Riyadh to Tbilisi on an airline I've never even heard of) -- days without much sleep, food and no security.
The whole point of American diplomatic presence overseas is to help Americans, not Saudis or Israelis. Yet almost every American was essentially told: 'you're on your own. You deal with it. Not our problem.'
I cannot even think when in the history of America's Foreign Service such a massive scenario of official fuckupery -- no warnings, wanton disregard, complete neglect, the abandonment of common sense and concern -- ever transpired.
I am reaching a limit of extreme intolerance to trump's, the republicans' and the cabinet's mythic narratives of patriotic glory being sold to us. They don't intend to only change the world but change the meaning of the world. We receive a permanent flow of unconscionable images and words and the stakes in this struggle we face are incredibly high. And too many people don't know what to believe; and if you can't believe anything....you can't act (or vote) rationally. And reality is increasingly under siege by constant manipulation and fakery and many voters are susceptible to fakery and propaganda.
I could hardly get through this newsletter, overcome by intense revulsion--not because of Heather's brilliant writing but of the depravity of a human sack of waste and the vast destruction he is wielding.
I had the supreme good fortune to have met, corresponded with, and finally having worked with R. Buckminster Fuller, a renowned futurist (a modern day Leonardo da Vinci). His motto was "More with less," how to provide more for humanity with less material. He was one of the most spiritual people I have ever encountered and have written about in my first book. trump cannot be more antithetical--a typhoon of wreckage on every level.
Sophia, I feel the same. “Typhoon of wreckage” is a great turn of phrase. Weren’t you lucky to know Buckminster Fuller! Incredible the destruction produced by an elderly toddler who has found he can destroy just by pointing at something and someone will take care of it. Like King Henry II saying “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?” Like a mafioso. It is all too much to stomach. Our beautiful country, come to this.
Sophia, Great that you could work with R. Buckminster Fuller. Death star and his cabal's motto is take all that we can and support destroying the country and the planet. I see that monster as a ball of destruction hurling through space and our country hence the name borrowed from Star Wars.
It's, I guess we should not be surprised because even before this happened, the embassies were not getting the support they need to do the work that they are supposed to do which includes helping US citizens abroad. Quite the story about the two getting out. Death star and his cabal view the government as their personal trough. Rubio has turned out to be truly awful.
On Sunday, while I was working an auction, a woman started telling me her story. She was one of those hundreds of thousands. She said the embassy just said, you have to get out, and you're on your own. She said they had to sell their possessions to get transport out. She said she had never felt so abandoned by the country that deployed her overseas (I believe she said she was doing humanitarian work). Unfortunately, since I was working during a noisy auction, I couldn't get more of her story, but I certainly got enough to be horrified.
I can see several headlines from your post It's Come to This! The mainstream media and journalists need to take their cues from you and others who plainly state the facts when they find it so challenging to do so. I'm so tired of Ari Melber, who I used to like to watch, say "to be fair," as if everything was equivalent to everything else. Am I being too harsh?
Not too harsh! I, too, am getting impatient with Ari and many other commentators who do not seem to understand that their audiences are miles ahead of them. We can see what's coming, connect the dots, project the grift and the problems at light speed compared to them. I wonder sometimes if they are really that naive or just think their viewers are idiots.
The whole point of American diplomatic presence abroad today sadly seems to be about facilitating deals that benefit thr Trump family and their cronies.
Bret has always been a conservative. He must believe that war is a ticket to glory, honor and manhood and swallows the now altered Pentagon's public relations machine's propaganda. Or he's seen, and has been influenced by, too many Hollywood war movies where we always win.
GJ, I agree. A school full of girls have paid for it with their lives as well. We are looking at War Crimes and it is coming from Christians (Trump is probably not, but he is representing them), Jews (Israel) and Muslims (Saudi Arabia), who also bought Trump.
Reading about MBS's influence on our country makes my blood boil. It is another outrage.
Should he get to keep his stock market gains too. How about that insider trading spree! Didn’t some international star get prison for that. Oops she was a woman.
I'm wondering: are those Republicans in Congress who rubber stamp everything that Pooper Trump and the rest are doing (the killings, i.e., murders) complicit and therefore indictable by a war crimes tribunal? We need a tsunami of voters to start taking back control of our policies.
As a marine in 1968 the enemy had the high ground due to bad planning and our losses were bad. The high ground rules the battle. The pentagon knows this but those knowledgeable people have been shitcanned for lack of a better word.
AI: Yes, "shitcan" is a long-standing military slang term, particularly in the US Navy and Marine Corps, dating back to WWII. It refers to a trashcan, or as a verb, to discard, fire, or quickly get rid of someone or something. It can also describe someone below standards ("bent shitcan").
Years ago, I found out a much younger colleague had never before heard the term FUBAR, and didn't know what SNAFU stood for. Another World War II gift to us all. Sweet little thing....I disabused him of his innocence straightaway. 😜
Hogsbreath has effed around and he'll find out, just like everybody else who works with Turnip. He'll be tossed into the abovementioned sh*tcan like so much used toilet paper.
I'm on the maybe side with the alcohol. I wish that people inside would WATCH him and report on any failures. And I agree, Kegsbreath is headed under the bus.
Kegsbreath is so far gone into extremist rightwing “Christianity” and white supremacy that his brain is non functional. He operates out of the lower regions of his body.
Though we (my Air Force weather equipment repair team chief and one other new member), didn't get past Phu Bai, trying to get a barometer to Khe Sanh, because a Combat Weatherman beat us and another team trying to get one to them. We, or at least I, didn't know how important it would be to them for artillery, and pilots trying to figure how low they could go looking for way through low clouds especially in hill country, but I learned we would always do everything possible to get them whatever they needed. Once I was ready to travel solo, I spent about 9 months using a pad of blanket travel orders going all over the rest of Vietnam and Thailand (61 bases and camps I can remember). I didn't get past Da Nang after that since we supported mostly Air Force and Army units.
Though I didn't travel as much in Marine combat areas one of my later lab partners in aeronautics courses was a Vietnamese Recon Marine, and some co-workers had been Marines in I Corps during Tet 68 that trusted me with some personal stories, and stories of others they had immense respect for such as Captain William Dabney and the men that helped holding Hill 871S with helicopters seemingly doing the impossible to keep them supplied. One simple version of the story is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiOl6in__CA
It is cruel and heartless to send in any military. Well it is also cruel and heartless to do what we are doing to the area but neither trump nor Headless have any sense of morality. Trump just wants to deflect from EPSTEIN, and headless gets off on killing and seeing the bodies pile up while the buildings fall down. And a lot of people voted for this regime whether they actually cast ballots. There were so many who abstained because they didn't like the posture that had been taken by Biden and it was their form of protest (Palestine and Israel were the major impetus for those abstentions I believe.) Well, that meant they supported trump and this is what we are left with. There will never be a party or even committee for that matter with which there will be total agreement with everything but one has to decide which option is the best for the outcome one wants. Hopefully we all have learned, but just in case I will be out Saturday with my cane and rollator to show my support for NO KINGS DAY.
I think of the troops this madman is sending into his own created mayhem, and I am so grateful we have no family in the military--and then I feel guilty for that relief.
The list of the reasons I hate Trump (and really, I don't hate anybody else) is long, so long, but way at the top is the changes it is creating in me. I never ever thought I'd feel ashamed of my government.
Miselle, I agree about Barron and his older bros should go. I am even feeling sorry for young men and women in this military who did not sign up for their government to treat them like cannon fodder like Putin does. It is just shocking to me to treat human beings like this. I cannot imagine what it is like for the Iranian people.
I am only ashamed of governments that I vote for when they mess up inordinately. So, who should be feeling shame is those who voted for him. They must know on some level that they are the reason so many soldiers will die, and so many people will suffer financially. If they do not realize that, they are too stupid to be on their own, and should have caretakers.
Linda Weide, … and I’m prepping for taxes. Not one rep or senator, not the governor nor our attorney general here in MA, have answered the question: how can I how can We refuse to pay taxes for all the illegal things t & co are doing? It’s outrageous to pay into this ‘war’ or ice or the destruction of OUR HOUSE among too many other vile things.
Last year, post paying my taxes I received a letter from the IRS telling me I owed them $1.00; however, they would not try to collect it. Of course, they or someone there knows my opinion of this gang, and it is… we all know ….far worse than the mafia. (Just to make clear: My payments probably pay for one bolt on a door).
I’m wondering how many of us have refused to pay income taxes? I gladly pay my state taxes, and have offered our state my federal ones as well.
Still no one has called me back or had any advice. I guess kinda like like the folks stranded in the Mideast, we’re on our own with this.
TC, yesterday Zedeo has some guest, which is paywalled, who runs an organization for conscience objectors saying there were a thousand who had called his org. They do not support the war and yet they don't want to leave their friends behind. I think 3 years in prison might be better than what awaits them in Kharg Island if they even make it there. Here is what Malcolm Nance said about it yesterday, in his daily war briefing with Jacob Kaarsbo.
Senator Lindsay Graham casually remarked that taking Kharg Island would be just like Iwo Jima for the Marines.
Iwo Jima was a bloodbath.
Approximately 70,000 U.S. Marines and 18,000 Japanese soldiers took part in the battle. In thirty-six days of fighting on the island, nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed. Another 20,000 were wounded. Marines captured 216 Japanese soldiers; the rest were killed in action.
That man is a walking, drunken asshole. He also called for South Carolina's mothers and fathers to send their children. Of course, he has none himself....
Gary, Lindsay is such an idiot!! My great uncle fought on Iwo Jima and survived, but ,the family believes, came home and proceeded to drink himself to death because of the horrors of that fight.
I have accompanied a WWII D Day Veteran to the ceremonies at Utah Beach 5 times and spent the nights in his room because of his health. The first couple times he had terrible dreams reliving the war, but it did get better through the outpouring of thankfulness by the French people. War is Hell! Not a video game like Lindsay and Hegsbreath believe.
Gary, given that Melania has been maintaining at least 500 miles between herself and Donald, I'm pretty sure he keeps Lindsey close by for purposes other than cheerleading. 😉
Yes Gary. Malcolm Nance was discussing that yesterday in disgust with how stupid it is, among other things. He was giving a sort of summary like you are here.
This administration is beyond despicable how they use people if it suits their agenda. Hence gay married men in his cabinet, gay buddy billionaires like thiel, supposedly autistic men like musk and former drug addicts like kennedy.
Oh and let's not forget the mail in ballot vote of the convicted felon who gets to vote in FL when other felons who served their sentence do not. As always the law only applies to some of us.
I'm sure they won't mind gay cannon fodder, autistic cannon fodder, female cannon fodder, even trans cannon fodder. They're all acceptable since the ends, enriching the coffers of himself, his family, his sycophants and his billionaire buddies, justify the means.
The military, and trump, despise the gay community, the disabled, and women, right? Right? Or will they be good enough to die for oil?
Linda, I have noted in my reading this week that some in the military are looking for a way out because they do not want to be cannon fodder for us or the Israelis. People who help them have reported a big jump in people seeking an honorable way out as you have noted.
Always pay attention to the Chief and Jacob and now Wajeet. The briefing Malcolm gave on the 24th was blood-curdling and, according to open source information coming out, completely supported in it's accuracy. Look for Straits Islands campaign originating out of Kuwait/ Saudi and/ or direct para insertion into Iran proper. As Malcolm commented this morning: 'Exciting'.
Don't think the Iranians have that many Shaheds available, but they wouldn't need that many, either. If just a couple get through our defenses, a lot of our guys are going to end up in the hospital or in bags.
Thx TC, your street cred re military history provides valuable insights to the utter lack of strategy employed by Nero, er Trump. The command is “just do it, no whining about obstacles, I’ll just wave them away with a tweet, er a truth”
Also...boots on the ground is the point at which we are at war and not just on the fun excursion of bombing everything to smithereens from 30,000 feet. That requires Congress to authorize it. If they do not, it's illegal. The countries whose bidding we are doing, Saudi Arabia and Israel, do not want the war to end until there is real regime change and much more damage done. Real regime change requires boots on the ground.
Did we learn nothing from the second Iraq war, and the war in Afghanistan? You want to fight them on their territory? Only an idiot would, and voila we’ve got a whole administration of them. Never have I seen a group of people so high on power like these folks, it is as if they aren’t getting enough oxygen to their brains. Not that it matters they march to the ever changing tune their master chooses in that moment. What an absolute embarrassment to our country.
I'm afraid it might be another Gallipoli or Little Big Horn. Whiskey Pete, stupid ass that he is, said "no quarter." That means the Iranians don't have to take prisoners.
Sounds like Trump's plan. Also Congress starts a two-week recess on Friday so nobody will be there to try to stop Trump from doing whatever he wants.
If Trump does that to please MBS who seems to be talking to him daily then every desalination plant in the Arab countries will be hit by Iran. All of the royalty will have decamped to the Riviera, and the local population and the semi-slave foreign workers will be left to fend for themselves as they die of thirst.
I have no idea why MBS would want to force that outcome unless he is a crazy madman psychopath.
The Sunni/Shia schism (it's fun to say, "schism" - try it) is a huge factor. Our LameStream Media appears to have no clue of their history or it's importance in all ME Muslim interactions. Nor does the American public (Duh!) - at least based on readers' comments to various news articles.
Religiosity wackadoodles of all stripes range from silly to dangerous IMO, and that includes the "christian" Nationalists running our govt. But the great majority of Iranians (nee - Persians) are NOT Muslim fundamentalists. They've suffered enormously at the hands of the mullah-types who are in charge largely as a result of the US mucking around in their sovereign nation.
The much more numerous Sunni have been trying to eradicate the minority Shia for 1400 years over some absurd fine-point of theology. No defense of the mullahs here, but Iran is, and has been, fighting for their very survival. Open the viewfinder a click and the Shias' position is not unlike the Israelis' - surrounded by powerful neighbors who hate them and want to subjugate/eradicate them.
"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is call Insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion, it is called Religion."
- Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Yes. "Motorcycle Maintenance" was spiritually seminal book for me.
As you may know, one of the things he writes about is the incredible courage it takes to truly BE, since that demands that we step outside of our Ego - that in order to have it all, we must give it all up (Yikes!).
He compares it to being on a speeding train, climbing out to the cowcatcher at the very front of the locomotive, leaning waaaay forward - and having the courage to let go.
Apparently, Awakening is not for the faint of heart. One step at a time, eh?
Sounds like the difference between "Born Again Christians" who want to take over the U.S. government, and "Mainstream Christians," who believe what Jesus supposedly taught, and we all fund Netanyaho, who started this war.
The Persia that lasted 250 years embraced Zoroastrianism. "Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest monotheistic faiths, founded over 3,000 years ago in ancient Persia by the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra). Centered on the creator God Ahura Mazda, it emphasizes a cosmic struggle between good and evil, promoting a moral life defined by "Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds". Followers, often honoring fire as a symbol of divine light, hold purification rituals and maintain strong ethical traditions."
When you mentioned zoroastrianism, I thought you might be heading to Los Angeles in the late 1800s around the time of Zoro er Zorro :-). Zarathustra cleared up my confusion LOL!
I dunno, Jen. When there was some tomfoolery a few years back, my wife and I were driving to visit relatives and discussing what we knew about the Middle East and its history. (almost NOTHING!) I was driving and she was researching. The best information that we could find was (drumroll) from the Bible, as history from the Old Testament and other religious tomes.
I note that there are three major Abrahamic religions all arising from the same tiny corner of the world at roughly the same time. I figure there was something big needing 'splainin that happened, and Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are the results.
Reminds me of a story many decades ago, that I seem to recall from the Detroit News about Police pulling over what seemed a drunk driver. The driver was stone cold sober but blind.
He had been talked into driving by the really drunk passenger in the back seat, who was telling him how to steer the car and when to stop or step on the gas.
Why does this remind me of Trump at the wheel and Kegsbreath in the back seat?
My Republican representative doesn’t have live town halls and appears to never visit his local office. He only goes to pre-vetted events where he will be greeted warmly by the Republicans present. He does phone town halls with questions sent in ahead of the call and it is clear his answers are pre-recorded. He also got a million dollars from Elon Musk’s PAC in the last election.
I’m sorry Georgia but when you said your Republican representative I am sure glad I was drinking coffee and not coke when it came back out my nose. I’m going to chuckle for the rest of the day. I hate to break it to you that you don’t have one. They dug a moat and built a castle wall to allay their fears of you. In plain old American they are scared shitless of you. I’m still loading Trump in my manure spreader so I better get back to work.
The chat folks are right about the timing of the landings. They will keep the No Kings Day rallies out of the headlines and push the Trump/Epstein Pedo Files out of the news altogether. But there may well soon come a time, if we put those boots on the ground, that those headlines are going to feature American casualties. Those islands are well within range of mobile artillery and mobile drone launchers that will be beyond the capacity of our air assets to suppress, especially those drones controlled by fiber-optic cables, which are undetectable except by eyesight (not sure about radar), by which time it will be too late for the targets to react. The next stage will be to put even more boots on the mainland, to drive the shooters away. We've seen this scenario before. The ending is not a happy one.
No doubt, that is what they want, but given the momentum of what is transpiring across the land, I doubt they will get. Perhaps Fox News will run long articles about Trump's beautiful new architecture, but everyone else from Kotzebue to Kalamazoo, Pine Cone to Palm Beach, will be covering what sounds like maybe 10 million who will appear with homemade signs across the towns, cities, suburbs and hamlets across the land.
Their terror of us is foremost on their minds. I doubt Trump gives a flying flamingo about the safety of the 5,000 or so in those Marine Expeditionary Units set to storm Kharg island.
My husband and I will be 2 citizens standing on Saturday with our fellow patriots as we have stood before in honor of those who came before us and in hope that the future will be filled with persons of courage who love this country and respect the sacrifices of those who were before us.
How easily, a man who has never "broken a nail" to defend this country but who has preferred to befriend dictators....is sitting in the seat of President of the United States of America. Every day he and his sons find new ways to take from others to increase their own bank accounts. The minions he has surrounded himself with are the same.
Yet he with no concern, sends brave young men and women who are ready to lay down their lives for the freedom of others in a distant land, to face possible death!
Trump is more interested in building a monument to himself than the lives of our military sons and daughters!!!!....he so easily sends into battle!!!!
Hope you're right about the potential size of Saturday's demonstrations. And you're right about the flying flamingo. I don't think our guys will have to storm Kharg Island. I think our landing will be almost unopposed. But once they're on the ground, they'll be targets for indirect artillery fire and directed drone attacks. And if we're going to send in the 82nd guys along with the two MEUs, the targets just get more numerous.
That sounds more likely. Expect casualties. Iran has an awful lot of drones left -- and so does Russia by its attack yesterday in daylight with about 550 drones across the length and breadth of Ukraine -- reflecting Putin's new-found swagger, thanks to Trump's removing partial sanctions against it. Every single Russian oil producer is now raking in those profits.
I agree about the casualties. The wounded are coming here to Germany and their numbers are not going to be hidden forever. The dead are being returned home.
In Saint Paul, Minnesota, at the State Capitol where the march on Saturday will culminate, the rally will include Joan Baez, Jane Fonda, Bernie Sanders, and Bruce Springsteen, and we expect thousands of marchers. Whew!
In Germany we will be marching and rallying in 9 cities in solidarity with you. I know that there are rallies in more and more countries. I heard that Kenya just joined Indivisible Abroad.
I am most likely unable to join either Medford's or Ashland's No Kings. I will have a sign, even if it has to be on the I-5 overpass at the south Ashland exit.
UPDATE: I am now registered for Ashland's "No Kings" with someone to drop me off and pick me up. I still can't get around very well (although my PT is super impressed with my progress) on my shiny new right knee that is 3 weeks old today
As an aside from the normal political schpiel, how did that knee replacement go overall? I am probably getting a new hip this summer (still waiting on the final recommendation).
You will no doubt have many European friends and supporters around you as you do so, and will not have to worry about safety or provocations the way many in small towns in red states here might have to.
It bears saying at the top -- in Trump's diseased, warped, mostly non-functioning brain, aircraft carriers, bombs, planes and adolescent male war-is-fun video games substitute for alliances, friends, diplomacy, strategy. No sane attacking force leaps into battle without back-up, without a plan, without the knowledge that others behind them have their backs. The strategic incoherence of this war just can't be exaggerated -- reality is worse than what almost any of us can imagine.
A few days ago, Germany, perhaps the strongest backer of the NATO alliance which brought peace and stability to Europe and enforced order elsewhere for decades, essentially wrote the obituary by saying the obvious. 'No, Donald, we will not help you unfuck yourself' -- essentially the message from the Chancellor. To Europe, the unspoken part was even more powerful -- 'we are officially on our own. Time for us to act like it.' It was a message Europe needed to hear. But no one on this earth will be made safer, happier, more stable or more prosperous as a result of Trump's self-indulgent madness.
"No sane attacking force leaps into battle without back-up, without a plan, without the knowledge that others behind them have their backs. The strategic incoherence of this war just can't be exaggerated -- reality is worse than what almost any of us can imagine."
Look what he installed to lead our Dept. of Defense: someone chosen because he looked good on TV (at least to this president, but then...). Hegseth knew and knows nothing of military strategy or planning or history. He got rid of those in place at the Pentagon and in the field who might have had some sense of how war works.
In Cartersville GA at the last No Kings, the local police did a valiant job of controlling the MAGAs who wanted to start trouble. Nobody hassled us successfully, and the next day, the same police stopped a planned attack at the Atlanta Airport (because someone reported a relative's intentions).
At our No Kings rally we are having a police presence because as Americans abroad we might draw the ire of Jihadists, and have discussed what to be prepared for. That is because the Ayatollah put a fatwa on all Americans because of the war, whereas before it was just against Trump. So that is another gift he gave us. I am sharing a list of all the places abroad that are having rallies in support of the US here. Please share with family and friends abroad.
I wish! I can't believe the number of people who know nothing about this protest! I crocheted my red hat and am ready to go with friends! Let's all bring friends with us!
My friends were knitting and crocheting red hats on Saturday. Also, we are sending a little pink one to the new baby of a friend whose husband is on paternity leave from the military.
I was just making plans with my team for the fact that it is supposed to rain here on that day. We will be there, but in the rain. Today we had hail so I hope no hail.
Real name, "Board of War" why, in "1984" which explains very well how Trump does things, and thinks, "WAR IS PEACE" and that is what Trump lives by. A forever war, which he pretends is protection for us. But really is a device to keep him in power. See my article on the language Trump uses. How he uses "Doublethink" and his underlings use "Duckspeak."
trump will plan on making his military action coincide with No-Kings Protests to bump it out of the news cycle because he knows the dependability of the manipulable legacy news heads: “If It Bleeds, It Leads”. He will make that a certainty this weekend. I would say he’s banking on it.
TY Linda, to those Marines I say , “ Take a Stand For Life “ immediately terminate your enlistment . That any and every Marine killed is the last day of this Trump insanity and every Republican ( or Democrat) voting that move. Make their names known and forever banished.
Then declare openly to the WORLD…the literal end of his presidency and his Cabinet.
I agree. Someone needs to send messages to soldiers that tells them to quit before they become war criminals too. We must insist that next Democratic President signs on to the International Treaty and that Trump and his cronies are tried in the Hague.
I think the strike was suggested for Tuesday, but not sure where I read that. We are too old to strike, our income is all Social Security Retirement because we are 82 and 85 respectively. But our grey hair helps in the Protest.
Linda, 'I have fallen in love with their goodness and kindness and helpfulness.' is the best sentiment! I look forward to a time when love conquers hate!
1st off ... There needs to be a unanimous recommendation to SubStack to replace "Like" with "Agree". These are all good points, just have a tough time saying I "Like" that the Marines I served with can be heading into a disaster. The scariest part of Prof. Heather's letter was the quotes from Steve Bannon (I'm embarrassed that he & I wore the same Naval Officer uniform): the deployment of ICE to airports is EXACTLY a warm up for the mid-terms !
I agree TJB. I feel the same way about the Marines. I hope that they mutiny. It is best for them and best for the world. We will be amassing in the biggest anti war protest for the USA on Saturday. Here is a list of all the places protesting around the world in solidarity. Please share with family and friends.
As Heather noted Republicans are trying a desperate move to weld together the SAVE Act, which is a vehicle for suppressing voting rights and additional funding for ICE and CBP, with little reform in a budget reconciliation bill that can’t be stopped with the filibuster. It is a Frankensteinian monster of the worst of the Trump regime’s wet dreams of denying our constitutional rights that can pass with a simple majority in each chamber of Congress.
Just posted this on the SAVE Act/ICE-CBP reconciliation act. It has a lot of wonky analysis of how the Republicans are trying to manage this and the hurdles they have to overcome.
The SAVE Act is an incredible attack on voting rights. It must be stopped. Congress goes into a two-week recess on Friday, and I am sure they are going to use the pressure on TSA and air traffic controllers over the holidays to push for a fast vote on the reconciliation bill, like with the OBBBA, where nobody had a chance to read what was in it before the vote.
Call and write daily until and while you are at it, write separately to be sure the bill includes the reforms for ICE/CBP. The reconciliation strategy means they could not pass the Byrd rule because the ICE reforms might not materially affect spending levels so they could be struck as "extraneous."
This is a strategy coming from some very smart constitutional lawyers who want to get policy on voter suppression and policy stripping off Democratic reforming/normalizing ICE/CBP operations into a reconciliation bill where policy is not supposed to be made, both at the same time. It is either effing crazy or totally nefarious. I cannot tell which.
UPDATE: The Axios story just popped up on my feedly screener. Republicans and Democrats, at least those talking to the press, hate the idea for welding together the SAVE Act and DHS funding for the issues discussed above.
I am not sure that means that the approach is dead. There may be agreement that both sides hate it. But that means there is something in it that each side could frame as a win for their side. The alternative is still carving out an exemption to the filibuster, and neither side really wants to do that either as long as both sides believe there is a chance they will be in the minority in the future.
People still think it is just a requirement that you need ID to vote. It is a propaganda coup for repubs since their message is the one blathered by media instead of the disenfranchisements. Women are the primary targets but they blather about illegals voting to fool the fools. WOMEN BEWARE you are the target. Scream it from the rooftops, 90 decibels
Once registered, the SAVE America Act adds a photo ID to vote rule, which is separate from needing to provide proof of citizenship at registration. Your name on the photo ID you use to vote should match the name on the document you used to prove your citizenship when you registered to vote. The names might be different for people who changed their names when they married, underwent gender reassignment and chose a new name, or simply disliked their birth name or used a nickname on their driver's license.
You might be able to vote if you can bring a legal document linking your former name on your registration document to the current name on your photo ID. You may be able to vote with a provisional ballot, or in some states you can sign an affirmation to the name change and get a provisional ballot, but how that is resolved will depend on the rules in your state.
For in‑person voting, acceptable IDs are: U.S. passport, state driver’s license, state ID, military ID, or tribal ID, typically if unexpired and government‑issued.
For absentee/mail voting, voters must include a copy of an eligible photo ID when requesting and when returning an absentee ballot.
The bill excludes some IDs that states currently accept, notably most student IDs, and treats many tribal IDs as unacceptable if they lack an expiration date.
Here is a link to a useful explainer on the original SAVE Act:
And here is an explainer on the differences between the SAVE Act and the later SAVE America Act, which changes what counts as an acceptable photo ID when you go to vote. I believe the confusion with two versions of the “voter ID” bills in the House and Senate at the same time, with similar names, is being done purposefully.
And here is a link to the Brennan Center’s Election Interference Handbook for New Jersey, published in October 2025,. The first half summarizes Federal law. They also have ones for Virginia, California, and Michigan. It will have to be revised if some version of the SAVE Act is signed into law.
Mark Elias & his crew of intrepid lawyers at The Democracy Docket are already planning lawsuits against the Save Act. They are the ones who won the 60+ cases against Trump's minions after the 2020 election.
Elias is my hero. The fact that he believes it will be passed in some form is part of why I did a deep dive into it. The reconciliation route seems crazy, but most of the major policy initiatives since Reagan have used the strategy, just on a grander scale.
I must add this, if they start this proving you are a citizen crap, then they can start defining what it mean to be a "voting citizen" which means only their supporters get to vote. I mean this point keeps getting lost. They are working to define "who" can be voting citizen not unlike being a "party" member. Trump pretty much has said that with his democrats are the enemy.
The question will be how many clerks in voter registration offices will be processing applications, checking those documents, and potentially questioning them. I am worried that if the SAVE Act is passed, there won’t be enough clerks to process applications, and the paper will sit around waiting to be acted on.
Even if the Save Act isn’t passed, individual red states could copy the legislation as a model for their own voter ID requirements for state and local elections.
If you are married, changed your name 40 years ago, and moved across the country, getting a document proving you changed your name can take weeks.
Will states decide that a mailed-in application with a photocopy is good enough, or do you have to provide an original with a raised seal? There are a lot of ways small decisions like whether a photocopy or an original is required, that can vary by state, could hang you up.
In New Jersey, it costs $20 to get a copy of your birth certificate, and processing can take weeks. If you are close enough to go to the town where you were born, it only takes a few minutes in person.
My advice is to go online today and check whether you are registered to vote, that the name and address are correct, that they match what is on your photo ID, and that your type of ID is acceptable under the SAVE America Act. Make sure that your photo ID hasn’t expired. It’s easy to not realize that your passport has expired and needs to be renewed if you haven’t traveled abroad in a while.
Then do what you need to do to get the documentation you need to prove citizenship and any name change.
I am sure there will be voter purges in red states multiple times between now and the midterms, and it’s likely MAGA will be generating lists to provide to motivated Rs to challenge people likely to be Democratic voters. I would check every couple of months just to be sure.
Do you have an ethnic-sounding name that suggests you are Black, brown, Hispanic, or Muslim? Live in an urban neighborhood? Registered as a Democrat? Sounds like you could be involved in voter fraud…
Every vote counts, especially in red states. The goal is to achieve veto-proof majorities in Congress and state legislatures in the midterms so we can start the reform effort. It is every voter’s responsibility to do everything they can to ensure that their vote will be counted.
Even voter ID that has ANY cost whatsoever is essentially a poll tax if it is required to vote. I would be okay with a new voter ID process that was free to all and provided by the government(s). But any process that includes ANY kind of fee (including the fee you might have to pay for a certified birth certificate) pure and simply violates the 24th Amendment and should be struck down by any sane court.
Unfortunately, I no longer consider the Supreme Court in that group.
I just don’t get it. The cognitive dissonance here seems outrageous. If I am going to selfishly break any law, I want it to benefit me. What does my fraudulent vote get me? Even electing my small Maine town mayor would require a concerted effort by what? 100 fraudulent voters? Are we all going to get paid? Receive access? Contracts? I have faith that our election officials would catch on to that pretty quickly. Or, is there an assumption that the older folks who volunteer at polling stations are corrupt and/or incompetent? Am I missing something?
Additionally I want to add that Susan Collins support for the SAVE act flies in the face of the defeat last year of a similar referendum on the special election ballot. Like it wasn’t even close. She needs to go.
Yea I get that, but what baffles me is how the people who, without evidence, can claim/believe election fraud is a legitimate thing that when you break it down to the individual level it just doesn’t make any sense.
Those immigrants are sneaky bastards, getting pregnant to create a citizen, taking in welfare checks, committing heinous crimes, drug dealing, being terrorists and heathens… according to Fox. For chump’s immigrant ancestor, add pimp.
I think these illegal trades will come to light. And after the Trump era ends, there will be investigations and convictions like never before. Then we will need to demolish all the horrible structures that were built. They shall be all torn down. And when Trump passes on which will be sooner rather than later, I have made a vow on my mother’s grave that I will crap on his tombstone. And I will try to be the first one to do so. In fact, I suggest that no one get in my way of crapping on his tombstone. You may instead wait like ladies and gentlemen that you are and take a number; a number one or a number two.
Say what you will; I am distinguishing between childish fantasy and embittering adult truth. Apropos the midterm election, if the ChristoNazi Supreme Court limits the counting of mail-in ballots, as expected, that alone could kill the Democrats' chances. If the the Republicans enact the Subjugate All Voters Evermore act, as is probable, the Democrats will never again win a federal election. And that is only the proverbial tip of the ChristoNazi ICEberg, pun intended. See https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-elections-mailed-ballots-a516e60209e68642f4d74947fa06017f and https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5783688-senate-floor-takeover-save-america-act/ And SAVE already has 71 percent Moronic Majority support. Bottom line, it is exactly as I said: there is no end to the ChristoNazi conquest anywhere in sight -- and to imagine otherwise is to court defeat.
I imagine he will give himself some incredibly tacky black marble mausoleum covered in gold paint. Paid for by tax payers of course. There could be a long line Bill.
they could take all those gaudy, tacky gold-sprayed doo-dads from the Oval and cover the mausoleum with them - like so many stickers in a child's sticker book.
It will be on the mall and at least 600 ft tall to be taller than the Arch de Trump and the Washington Monument and at least 10 times the width and length of the Lincoln Memorial.
Won't it be ironic if the crimes that finally bring down the House of Trump are insider trading around the Iran war?
Not pedophilia, not tariffs, not DOGE, not "It's Going to be Wild" RFK Jr, not a big pile of Constitutional violations, not his in your face graft, not ICE murders, not the murder of alleged drug runners in boats and so forth.
It's like mobsters of yore who never paid for their murders but went to prison for tax evasion.
Whatever it takes, the American People are abandoning Trump/MAGA in droves. Retribution is coming.
Ally I'll bet you will concur ab out my statement above being a former police officer. I have written an open letter to my CT governor then sent copies to him, my 2 senators and my congressman. Our mayor recently state very clearly that our police force will arrest any illegal activities even if they are federal authorities. This is serious business.. We can't wake up on election day with Ice thugs walking at polling stations. We need to act now.
I was trying to recall that one. Sure enough, the Great Al Capone went to the big house on tax evasion. But let's not count our hens yet. They will not go down without a massive fight. There is most definately going to be blood in the streets. No doubt in my mind.
AHA! Found you. assuming you are the same Bill Katz....(same cat)
I am TRYING to pay for Miles Taylor's Defiance News and it keeps telling me: Please complete the captcha to continue
There is NO captcha!
Could you let him know, he doesn't have that many comments...(maybe in caps?) that this is a problema. Nothing wrong with my card, I use it for everything.
I even looked back,,did I miss one of those aggravating tiny picture captchas? No.
Anyway, we gotta stick together and help each other PAY!
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Judith Arndt Dyer
It beats me. I only spoke with him once in person but have never reached through messaging. I do want to network with him but to date, I haven’t succeeded. I think you can go through his Difinance direct or through substack . But I’m not very skilled navigating this.
Thanks. I did find that I could email defiance so we'll see if they read their mail....I saw the guy speak and have to support him, given what he has contributed of his life and the life of his little family. He's a thousand more of a person than those cowards in the GOP. How can they let Trump go on like this ....he's def. become a very loose cannon.
In person, very cordial, genuine and friendly. I hope he can fit me in when there is a staged event as am a singer/songwriter. I hoped he might have called on me for his state of the Union alternative. Maybe next time. Anyway, come on my blog if you want it’s easy to disengage l
"The SAVE Act is an incredible attack on voting rights. It must be stopped." Well said Georgia and that takes us to what Megan said above, "Be LOUD!" and "contact members of Congress,..."
Our Democracy is under attack. The methods used by them are nearly countless. Congress coming home (maybe, likely going on vacation) for a two-week recess means maybe they will speak in public. Find out and be there and be LOUD! Some good people have proposed Amendments to our Constitution. I have read the the popular ones said to address “Citizens United” and find their words to not be the rampart we need to secure our Republic. They use legal terms such as Congress and the States “...may regulate...”, and “...shall have power to...” First, that does nothing to repeal corporate personhood. Second, it allows Congress and the States to decide to do nothing. I see those words as a gate which for a “campaign contribution” will be left wide open to mega-money in politics. That led me to write my “Memorandum to We the people.” Please read, discuss and share my Memorandum at UnitedWeAmend.org.
God I wish people on my side were smart enough to open a goddamned book and find out how things work so they would stop going ga-ga over things that CANNOT HAPPEN. The SAVE Act CANNOT be done through reconciliation because it is not budgetary, and will be stripped out by the Senate Parliamentarian. And it cannot be passed stand-alone without killing the filibuster, which GOP senators will NEVER DO, since it's the one thing that gives them power over us.
Jeezus, can you people stop being the intellectual embarrassments you are and go get crutches for your brains???
Those of us who have lived in Washington many years are probably much more familiar with Senate/House rules and procedures than most outside Washington -- that much I have finally figured out. Being an 'insider' doesn't necessarily bestow wisdom, but it does have its benefits. The hue and cry over SAVE may be important as a set of principles, but you are right -- what Trump (or Steve Bannon) in another one of his fetish-filled flights of fancy wants doesn't mean 'what Trump gets.' His real name isn't Lola, after all.
SAVE is dead as a doornail -- it has been for some time now. What you see from Republicans is an elaborate game of bluff -- 'if I huff and puff long enough, people will think I'm dying and come to my rescue.' The Senate Majority leader doesn't have even a simple majority for it -- and he knows he doesn't. Murkowski will vote against it, at least 2-3 others will too -- even Kentucky Fried Voldemort might as well. And it can never go to reconciliation for the reasons you mentioned -- many people are unaware that a budget component of any bill (as this one) precludes that path. They would need a filibuster to do that -- and that they will not get.
Thune knows Trump's dream-demon act would disenfranchise Republican voters (overwhelmingly using mail and not possessing original birth certificates, passports or statements signed in blood in the presence of 20 witnesses or whatever....) far more than Democratic ones. He also fears what a future Democratic Senate (looking more and more likely) might do. All it takes is 51 and all the chairs, the agendas, the turfs suddenly change in an instant.
Far more dangerous than the heavily guarded front doors (not even mentioning the scores of lawsuits from state attorneys general other others immediately challenging SAVE's constitutionality were it to pass), are the unguarded, unlocked back doors. It is states and localities you have to worry about. Legislatures trying to mimic SAVE, what we saw in Fulton County with the recent by-election -- people suddenly finding out their polling place has moved, too few voting centers, people who wait to mail in ballots the last day (the Mississippi law permitting ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day) may be overturned --- those are the places where the real dramas are set to occur. Vigilance THERE will be far more important than most of us realize.
There are all kinds of creative ways to suppress the vote, as Fulton County demonstrated. Be alert and aware. Double check your polling location before you go vote.
We can only hope, but I caution you. These people will not stop. For decades the plotting and planning has been unfolding. They have probed and plotted starting with the organizing document the Lewis Powell Memo which then helped form the first Mandate For Leadership. When they get beat in court, they come back with a different nuanced argument and chip away.
One thing they managed to do was gain control of SCOTUS where the Chief Justice Roberts along with Scalia, Alito, Gorsuch became advisors to them when they would bring cases by providing the "right" way to come back and challenge the law.
The real scary thing about the SAVE Act is "proof of citizenship". What this can mean is they are going to define who can be a "voting" citizen and who cannot. I might be reaching here, but so far a number of my predictions have been spot on. They are working to not only have people prove they are a citizen, but define "who" can be a citizen and then "who" can vote. You have to think like Stephen Miller.
And we plot right back. And we have dozens and dozens of lawyers just salivating at the chance to file an immediate emergency lawsuit against SAVE, backed by about 25 state attorneys general (if not more). Because SAVE is unconstitutional on its face -- it violates Article I, Section 4 regarding elections. They will make Appellate Court decisions even easier.
You don't have to "caution me." You have to pay more attention to where the easier fights are going to take place. Thieves always try to get in back doors when the front is heavily guarded.
ICTT -To your point about the regime's "backdooring" tactics to watch out for: CA GOP sheriff (Chad Bianco) who is running for governor, seized over 650,000 ballots from election officials on the pretext of conducting an investigation into potential "fraud" in the 2025 special election relating to redistricting. CA Attorney General, Rob Banta, calls these actions "unprecedented" and suggests "they aim to undermine public trust in the electoral process." Here we go... We need eyes in the back of our heads to keep track of all upcoming desperate actions...
TC - there is one thing you miss in your analysis- these republicans will toss rules to keep the leader happy. There are very dew that will stand up to him. Hell, Grassley keeps rolling over time and again. It is not yet total capitulation, but damn near it. That is why I keep warning people that every republican leader in the senate and House needs to voted out. The whole system is about to collapse rules be damned. Watch what they do not what they say. Those that talk about the rules are rarely standing by them these days. Look at how they sit silent as the actions of this administration keep piling up and the republican leaders do nothing.
Even though it "cannot be done," about which you're correct, TC,rhis doesn't mean the president's men and women won't try to do it, so the D's need to be prepared for yet another unlawful power/statute grab. As subscriber Steve Brant posted earlier, while the D's are trying to play a game of winning politics (which they have been miserable at lately), the R's are waging war games. Guess who's likely to win?
Spot the issue. Rules and laws are neither here nor there in "Trump World." Thus whatever "goddamned book" you have in mind plays no role. Read the news. Trump has had laws passed, proclamations signed, and whims carried out and many, if not most, of them are sued. Then several years later the Supreme Court hands down their opinion about it all. If Trump's World get overturned what does that mean? It means he got his goddamned way for several years. How does that work with the Save America B.S. Act? Well, it works for Trump because it means the 2026 election would go his way and then maybe not so with future elections long after he has already died from old age. See how Trump works or do you need a tutor to read the goddamned news to you?
That reminds me. From my travel notes, Graves of Justice Scalia and Judge Bork, Pay your respects but don’t get caught. Warning, rubber galoshes needed. Fairfax Memorial Park, aka, Calvary Memorial Park. Just W of the Beltway and 15 mi E of Manassas National Battlefield at 9900 Braddock Rd. Fairfax. It would seem they should be buried further S, way S. (703) 323-5202
Even Noted Konztitooshinul Skolar Mike Lee knows it can't be done in a reconciliation bill, so don't get your knickers in a knot, worrying that it will happen. Another one of those
For the first time, I find myself in agreement with Mike Lee. Trying not to spew at the thought. At least in this case
But the basic idea of enacting major policy change using budget reconciliation has gotten us some of the best and worst major policy changes through the Senate and around the filibuster. It has been used successfully by both parties. The devil is in the details of getting around the Byrd Rule.
Better constitutional law attorneys than Mike Lee are going to be going down this route, ones who will be paid by oligarchs who want to see the gravy train keep on running down the track.
Here are some examples where the strategy worked.
Reagan and Bush tax cuts: The 1981 Reagan tax cuts and the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 used reconciliation to sharply lower individual income‑tax rates, change brackets, and expand various credits and retirement provisions.
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017: TCJA was passed via reconciliation and permanently cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, rewrote international tax rules, and made sweeping but time‑limited changes to individual income taxes.
Welfare reform (1996): The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which overhauled cash welfare and created TANF block grants, moved as reconciliation legislation, fundamentally changing the structure of federal welfare.
Affordable Care Act “fixes” (2010): The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 carried key final pieces of the ACA, including subsidy and tax changes, and also made major student‑loan policy changes (ending most bank‑based federal loans).
American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act: ARP (2021) and the IRA (2022) both used reconciliation to create or expand large health‑insurance subsidies and to establish extensive clean‑energy tax credits and spending programs.
2025 Budget Reconciliation Act aka the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Recent reconciliation legislation has made substantial changes to Medicaid, Medicare payment rules, and ACA subsidy structures, with major downstream effects on coverage and provider behavior even though framed as budget measures.
Trump really really really wants this damn thing to pass. The only thing that Republicans defied him on has been the Epstein Files Transparency Act. I am not yet breathing a sigh of relief that the SAVE Act is dead with a stake through its heart. Once Thune let it out of committee, it can keep being resurrected until somebody finds language to pass the parliamentarian’s decision that it meets the Byrd Rule.
They keep probing and punching holes in the whole process. It is the unmentioned consequences of this bill that worry me like how they will decide to define "Citizen". I can foresee a time coming where a person that has been here all their lives with generations of back ground being defined as a non-citizen or at least a non-voting citizen because they do not support the "dear leader". Sounds crazy? Not really, when you have a republican (low level) come out and say that we should deport Native Americans. There is nothing off limits to these people.
The Guardian article is from March 11--way out of date in Trump time.
I think that the next iteration will get rid of Trump's "no deal with the democrats" by putting all of DHS funding into the reconciliation bill and keep the SAVE Act in it with some thin argument for SCOTUS to hang a favorable ruling on saying that adding the SAVE Act doesn't violate the Byrd Rule but the ICE/CBP reforms do or they simply don't monitor performance of ICE and CPB after the bill is passed. They get what they want without giving up the filibuster.
Establishing an autocracy is so much easier with a compliant Supreme Court.
How many times have the right wing nuts gone to this court, been turned down only to have SCOTUS members provide them strategy of how to come back with a different approach to get a favorable ruling? Remember Roe? Voting Rights Act? Unitary Executive?
The CFTC has re-affirmed that it has full authority to "police illegal trading practices" on trading exchanges. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) jurisdiction would include the not-so "dark pools" of treasonous Gang trading.
I suspect the well documented illegal trade Gang will be revealed before Saturday's No Kings Ever events. Get your signs ready.
When you trade futures what if there is no supply to trade? Will the contracts go unfilled? I've never traded in commodities and I know these are stupid questions, but Trump's temporary supply relief of releasing Iranian oil and lifting Russian sanctions on oil is not a long term solution.
Long ago the MSM quit reporting on the war in Ukraine, at least not anything above the fold so how many Americans understand how the Ukrainians have cut off Russian oil and natural gas.
Won't it be ironic if the crimes that finally bring down the House of Trump are insider trading around the Iran war?
Not pedophilia, not tariffs, not DOGE, not "It's Going to be Wild" RFK Jr, not a big pile of Constitutional violations, not his in your face graft, not ICE murders, not the murder of alleged drug runners in boats and so forth.
It's like mobsters of yore who never paid for their murders but went to prison for tax evasion.
Whatever it takes, the American People are abandoning Trump/MAGA in droves. Retribution is coming.
The "hardcore MAGA" aren't there yet, Merrill. Their propaganda "information" feed is not giving them accurate information, and simply tickling their amygdalae even more. They are a cult.
I keep wondering who the people are in the think tanks that come up with all of the ideas to take our government and country down. I am , of course, assuming that they are using think tanks since Trump and most of Trumps cabinet members and department heads don't seem smart enough to come up with this crap by themselves.
The Silicon Valley tech bros, the media moguls, the fossil fuel bosses. The insanely rich people who want to become even more insanely rich. For that, they need to get rid of all the nasty rules made by nasty NPCs so that they can rule as they wish.
Mike, I am bewildered by the greed. They have more money than they could possibly spend in their lifetimes, or that of their grandchildren. How many mansions, mega-yachts, Ferrari's, jets, etc can anyone need? It reminds me of a former friend who was very wealthy--her son was never happy no matter how many material items were dumped in his lap.
It might have been one of the good folks here, I can't recall who, but when I mentioned this, someone said I have "something they'll never have." When I asked what that could possibly be, they said:
That absolutely nails it. And I am totally with you: I, too, am bewildered by the galactic-level greed that these people display. They own half the planet, and still it isn't enough: they want the _whole_planet. There aren't enough planets in the universe to fill their totally empty, but hugely inflated egos.
Almost every post names the obscenely rich oligarchs as the problem. That is where the fight will have to be joined. Get them under control (first by levying taxes on their wealth that makes up for the decade of free ride that they have enjoyed) and then enacting laws that negate the SCOTUS
“Decisions” that have given these greedy billionaires the power to own our government.
Cynthia, I agree with you as every time Trump pulls some obscure (bad word!) out, you just know he didn't have anything to do with it: Miller or one of the Heritage gang is busy looking for work-arounds. Trump is just to (really bad word!) lazy to do any work. All he needs is one of those disgusting (worse word imho) to whisper in his ear and tell him to do this.
Cynthia, I think Dutch Mike and Frau Katze have pretty-much covered it. I like to call them the Tech Bros and the Theo Bros. Peter Thiel has a Gucci loafer in both camps.
It should probably be mentioned that Leonard Leo, a Theo Bro, devotes his attention to packing the Supreme Court with fellow Catholics who are there to bless whatever the Tech Bros and Theo Bros slide under the autopen named "Donald."
Here is a list from the Christian Nationalist end. This list is a work in progress. It mostly comes from Katherine Stewart's book, "Money, Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy."
Yes may those who made so much money from this insider trading by exposed and prosecuted.
And I still want to know who the 14 co-conspirators are in the recently uncovered document that had been redacted in the Epstein files.
The document focused on an investigation, called “Chain Reaction,” that began in December 2010 during the Obama administration, showed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency was running an investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and fourteen other people for drug trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering. It was still underway in 2015 but then Trump came in and the investigation disappeared, although the document suggested that it was a significant investigation and that the government was on the verge of indictments. Now Bondi's Department of Justice is blocking the release of that memo related to the Drug Enforcement Agency investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and those 14 co-conspirators.
Too many crimes to count, even gaudy gold tackiness and defacing historic buildings, monuments, mucking up the layout and design, destroying the lines and architecture of the Nation's capital. Trump and the regime plod on and plot onward, unabated...We must make it stop...lets make 15 million or more of us protesting this Saturday be a show of force against this madness, solidarity among us and a much needed better way forward...
America is no longer being governed so much as aggressively merchandised.
The basic theme of the day is that the presidency has been rebranded from public service into a deluxe lifestyle package for one man’s appetites. National security appears to have become a tip sheet for the rich, the White House is being redecorated like a Caesars Palace lobby with unresolved father issues, and federal power is now used with the subtle restraint of a guy live-posting from a golf cart.
It’s actually impressive. Most administrations merely flirt with corruption. This one has moved in with it, given it drawer space, and started picking out granite samples together. Allegations of suspicious futures trading tied to a false Iran announcement? Sure. Ripping out historic White House stonework so the walkway better complements the gold doodads? Of course. Sending ICE into airports during TSA chaos while allies openly call it a rehearsal for midterm deployment? Why not make authoritarianism multifunctional.
Even the hypocrisy has become performance art. Mail-in voting is supposedly a civilization-ending scandal, except when Donald Trump does it from Florida, in which case it becomes one of the commonsense exceptions for Very Important People With Special Mail.
The governing philosophy could not be clearer: if it can be monetized, weaponized, fossil-fueled, gold-trimmed, or used to make ordinary Americans more miserable, it’s now official policy. This is not the imperial presidency. It’s the Home Shopping Network of democratic collapse, operators standing by.
Michael, you are so spot on... and your writing is exceptional.
I wish these things weren't true. God, I wish this wasn't our reality.
He is a monster who destroys.
Destroys our history, historic architecture, Democracy, American lives, our mental and physical health, lives of LGBTQ, lives of immigrants, lives of the poor, lives of those not white, programs for children/elderly/disabled, farmers, our planet, government structure, our coffers, our financial stability, our standing and allied relationships, global financial stability, lives across the globe, and he's destroyed all trust.
Thank you, and I feel that grief too. What we’re living through is not just political conflict, it’s organized destruction of trust, dignity, institutions, and human belonging. That’s why naming it clearly matters. We can’t defend what remains by pretending this is normal. The damage is wide, but so is the responsibility to resist it, tell the truth, and refuse moral numbness.
"The Stock Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act requires U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives to publicly file and disclose any financial transaction within 45 days of its occurrence. We download those disclosures, parse them for stock trades, fetch the stock's performance in the time following the transaction, and calculate each politician's cumulative return from their trades."
Traders spent $580 million in fifteen minutes. Imagine this: had they instead given $1,000,000 to every American (including children), they'd still have had $150,000,000 to play with.
And that $1,000,000 in every American's bank account would have been put right back into the economy, increasing profits for every industry and retailer in the US. But no, that's not the Capitalist way.
A republic is being stripped for parts, spray-painted gold, and sold back as greatness. This satire takes aim at the vulgarity, corruption, and staged menace of an American presidency now obsessed with power, spectacle, and self-worship. https://essayx.substack.com/p/gold-plated-authoritarianism
Follow the suspicious trading just minutes before Trump made his Iran announcement with this infographic. Epstein Class Insider Trading: Gas Futures & Trump’s Iran War
The corruption of Donald Trump, and everyone associated with his regime, is off the charts. I hope some patriotic group, and whistleblowers in government, are documenting it all. Every single one of these criminals should be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law as soon as Democrats are once again in control of the Oval Office and the Department of Justice.
Meanwhile, state attorneys general should step up to the plate, as much as possible.
Yes Arctic Stone... there are some of those folks out there in government but even better than that - note that all of Professor Heather's "Letters to America" are carefully annotated - references for posterity for futures historians and humanity and for any clever prosecutor to dig in for the proper information to use.
Trump wants the world to run on oil, the environment be damned, because that is where he and his family have manipulated corrupt investments. They want to control the oil supply. He wanted to "take the oil" in Iraq. He has apparently succeeded in taking the oil in Venezuela. He and his family are good friends with Saudi Arabia, and now he is working on gaining control in Iran.
Extractable oil is fairly rare which means a very few people can control and collect great fortunes. Alternative energy has all sorts of advantages, BUT it is far more decentralized and therefore far less suitable for monopolization. THAT is why it must go; even at the price of sending our species (and a great many others) to hell in a handbasket.
That's a good point that I hadn't even thought about. Time was not long ago that alternative energy was so expensive that only a few companies could afford to set it up. Now it's just like you say, an energy source that is increasingly decentralized and therefore less subject to control and monopolization.
Yes, I agree JL, but China is doing very well monetarily on solar and many other clever ideas for alternate energy - they are, I believe, one of the top contenders in the up and coming fusion energy business (much better than anyone's dabbling in AI as far as humanity will be served). But you are certainly correct on the monopolization angle - which begets greed and the lust for more power.
As far as I know, China is wisely staying out of conflicts that would cost the lives of their inhabitants and staying focused on being successful "as a communist nation"...not without its own problems...but one must give credit to the people, where it is deserved.
J.L. this is precisely the reason Morgan squashed Nicola Tesla's renewable energy designs, because he could not figure out how to slap a meter on it and charge everyone for usage.
Speaking of the Saudis... Follow the Saudi money to Trump and Kushner with this interactive map. Also the Middle East money to Steve Witkoff and Bondi. When did the U.S. military become a mercenary force for hire from Trump's real estate business/https://embed.kumu.io/e7d1b29a12cd7ec728cefdc1450be476
On the other hand, Trump makes optimistic announcements about the war just before the stock market opens and saves his more belligerent rants for after it closes, and anybody can track these vacillations.
When Trump makes announcements is incidental to what really matters: who can profit from Trump's announcements and trade accordingly? It's especially suspicious when trades made minutes before Trump's announcements and involves millions of dollars.
Michael Lewis’s book Flash Boys described the early years of this type of trading. I was worried then and more worried now.Even if one puts stocks in a blind trust I think still problematic. It is no longer the people running the government it is the 1 % and others from around the globe.
You're right. In Flash Boys the unfair advantage is that insiders rig the system by manipulating when stock trades are placed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Boys
The current situation under Trump is worse where insiders can get policy announcements and trade on that insider knowledge before the general public. And the regulators who are supposed to protect regular investors have been fired.
Just like people won't go to a casino where the game is rigged, what happens when people lose trust in the U.S. stock markets? So the next time Trump announces the war with Iran is over, how many people will believe him and trade accordingly?
Except that the Constitution has a narrow definition as one of my legal friends reminds me. Specifically, aiding the enemy during a time of war. I agree with you that this is a treasonous action, but in court not so much where the law matters. As he said, this is a situation where the very people in charge of upholding the law are the ones in charge and since they have no integrity, well you know.
Speaking of flash and not Flash Gordon there is a AI for profit school chain Alpha out of Austin Texas originated by the Triology founder. Linda McMahon is a fine. AI school students eyes are tracked. Without ethics in ever part of all core aspects of our culture we are in increasing trouble.
The diminution of the concepts of ethics and moral core has been tragic.when and who threw them out the widows. The analogy of a house built on sand comes to mind.
I accept that, Deepak, but I'm just saying there's no mystery about why Trump announces talks with Iran on Monday morning hours before the stock market opens and times the expiry of his extended five-day deadline to coincide with the closing of the markets on Friday evening. He judges the whole economy by the performance of the stock market.
Furthermore, Trump's self-enrichment project can hardly be said to have been conducted with even a modicum of discretion: it's happening in plain sight. The New Yorker's David D. Kirkpatrick has been tracking his corruption and has totalled his presidential 'earnings' as around $4bn as at the end of January. So it should come as no surprise that those around him are following his lead.
I agree that he's sacked inspectors general and ethics advisers and appointed cronies but that hasn't prevented people from monitoring his excesses.
It appears there was a great deal of extremely questionable trading done 15 minutes BEFORE Trump made his announcement. Those trades resulted in millions of dollars of profit for those illegal traders. A top person at SEC resigned bc she wanted to investigate what appeared to be insider trading and was told NO.
I do not think Trump wants or would tolerate others to be doing insider trading based on their knowledge of his actions. They would be exploiting their access to their advantage. He would not be getting a cut. I do not think he would tolerate it. It follows that if he would not tolerate others making money this way AND such insider trading happens, that Trump and those working explicitly for him are doing this. He is essentially a mob boss with pardon powers.
Mark, he gets his cut BEFORE they get their inside information, in the form of "contributions" to his campaign, inauguration, crypto ventures, 'presidential library' and various construction projects. That's why his "contributors" get their inside information.
With Donald, it's always quid pro quo. The quid always comes before the quo.
Treason. Let that sink in. The President of the United States of America has committed treason. This man threatens all of us.
We must curtail this SOB now. We must resist. Join your neighbors. Join your comrades. Join your friends. Join your family. Join all of us as we rally to save our country.
How I wish I could be out there demonstrating with you all on Saturday but my husband is on home hospice and I cannot leave him -- so I will donate instead and hope that helps in some small way. Thank you all for showing up - this is the most important demonstration so far.
@lauriemcf Robert Hubbell’s newsletter today has a link for being able to “march” from home on Saturday, I think. I read it fast but look for it! Sorry about your husband but grateful for hospice helping you take this journey together. Peace.
Every single thing we do individually adds to the resistance. Donating, subscribing,post carding, petitioning, voting, comforting our loved ones and neighbors. I'm sending healing thoughts to both you and your husband.
lauriemcf, you’re right where you need to be. May you & your husband be blessed.
For the first time we are recording our No Kings event and will have it for posterity. I’ll include a link here with access to it. I’m so excited for Saturday to come, like a child on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa. We’ve thrown ourselves into putting a meaningful program and it will be the debut of our Justice Singers. Modeled by watching the strong, generous, loving people of Minneapolis. Thank you all for being part of my community. I gain strength from Heather and each of you.
laurie, I will write your name on my sign. Thank you for what you're doing with and for your husband. Hospice is such a gift (I got to travel that path with my wife's uncle 8 years ago.)
Not treason as it is defined by American law, but certainly in the larger sense of selling out official duties, the public's interests and any shred of decency, in favor of personal greed and lust for autocratic power.
According to Perplexity AI “Enemies” in the treason clause has been read to mean the forces of a foreign power or entity with which the United States is in a state of declared or de facto war, not just any hostile group or domestic political opponent.
So if we aren't in armed conflict (de facto war) with a nation, that provides a lot of latitude in what states we can give aid to. So it's OK for Trump to lift sanctions on Russia because we aren't shooting at them even though they are giving aid to someone whom we are shooting at.
But then Trump lifted sanctions on Iran who we are bombing, so...
Won't it be ironic if the crimes that finally bring down the House of Trump are insider trading around the Iran war?
Not pedophilia, not tariffs, not DOGE, not "It's Going to be Wild" RFK Jr, not a big pile of Constitutional violations, not his in your face graft, not ICE murders, not the murder of alleged drug runners in boats and so forth.
It's like mobsters of yore who never paid for their murders but went to prison for tax evasion.
Whatever it takes, the American People are abandoning Trump/MAGA in droves. Retribution is coming.
The good news is the cracks are widening. The bad news is the ugliness exposed in those cracks. Like a festering boil it must all be cleaned out. Gross I know but it has to be exposed and uprooted if we are going to reclaim our government.
Given the corruption of corp. media, it is fortunate that, for now, we have ways to "shine the light" and communicate: independent experts on youtube and substacks.
"Now, in every human question, there is something more powerful than strength, than courage, than genius itself: it is the idea whose time has come." - Émile Souvestre
This. The cracks --- they widen. The filth rises. Perversely, it is a sign that momentum is with us. No guarantee of success, but the wind is at our back, not theirs.
I have often used the festering boil anology to refer to this hard time we are living through. When it's cleaned out it will leave a scar. We will have a lot of work to do to recover our country.
The big picture here is Trump is an abusive husband and America has become the abused wife. An abusive husband does whatever he wants with the families finances and other resources, expecting the wife to cower in fear for her life. (I know this dynamic well because my father abused my mother for 20 years.)
I perceive the Democrats as being in shock the way my mother was. They only know “politics“. What is happening now is NOT politics! It is a war against democracy by a domestic terrorist organization masquerading as a government. That organization is in league with authoritarians around the world (Putin and Orban) and techno fascist in Silicon Valley. If the Democrats don’t WTFU, there will be no midterm election of the kind necessary to take back control of the Congress. The Democrats need to THINK OUTSIDE THE POLITICAL BOX and hold a CITIZENS’ IMPEACHMENT OF TRUMP at the Washington Press Club and otherwise BREAK TRUMP’s HOLD ON THE PUBLIC CONVERSATION about both what’s going on now and what kind of future we can have! I call on everyone here to demand the Democrats shut down Congress and declare they refuse to work with domestic terrorists!
Yep. They still try to play by the rules. This is like they’re trying to play a game of chess, by the rules, while Trump and the MAGAts are continuously punching their faces.
Sarah Kendzior was talking with Mark Thompson today – about Robert Mueller.
They agreed that the most prophetic things he ever said came at a talk he gave in 2011, as F.B.I. director, on the convergence of worldwide organized crime and the growth of dark money, particularly in the U.S. after the 1971 Powell money. Thus rose all the more global trafficking in girls, arms, drugs, and money laundering.
Those of us who remember key Supreme Court dates also recall that the year previous to Mueller’s 2011 talk was Citizens United – all valves now open to the sluicing of money and corruption.
Sarah Kendzior and Mark Thompson regretted no one ever acted on Mueller’s warnings. Mueller himself did nothing, either – except his performative roles gussying up all the U.S.’s key institutions, when in fact most were caving to the multiplying corruption.
Could we add in both testing at the K-12 level, and higher ed’s transformation into neutered dehumanized specialist silos, all adding to what we endure now?
Thank you, Heather, for bringing up the wholesale enshittification of our Nation's capital. The destruction of the east Wing, that gross "ballroom," the removal of art work and memorials to women, Black and Brown people, the destruction of WPA murals, removal of the bicycle lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue .... tearing out the Rose Garden, it just goes on and on. Washington DC belongs to the people of the United States - perhaps that is why he is so vindictively soiling it at every opportunity.
We remember his scatological video of himself as a Flying Ace dumping shit all over the rest of us. It's always been his fondest dream. A mentality filled with pathology and disease, incapable of grasping any of the ideals that L'Enfant and others were determined Washington the city should express.
I want a future Democratic Congress to commit to blowing up every single monstrosity he has in store and restoring the East Wing, Jackie Kennedy's Rose Garden, the bike lanes and the cameras (don't forget that one) that he wants removed -- I guess because they've saved too many black lives...
Jon, I am convinced that the "enshittification" is a reflexive response to Donald's failure to fulfill his parents' assignment to get the Trump family accepted by Manhattan's aristocracy.
Having limited education and limited understanding of how high society works, Fred and Mary Ann Trump assumed that having large amounts of money would enable them to befriend the "old money" types in the NYC area. Being ignorant, they didn't realize that their loud, harsh personas would still be unwelcome, no matter how much money they made from cheap apartment buildings and laundromats.
Donald was supposed to open doors for them, but he, being loud and coarse, also failed. He is filled with resentment and rage that he couldn't buy their love with aristocratic access. His actions are acts of revenge against the establishment that wouldn't accept his family.
He is the boy who kicks down the sand castles of other children on the beach who won't play with him.
… and now he’s plunked a Christopher Columbus statue in front of the Old Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. I wrote about this statue and the man it honors a couple of years ago, when nobody wanted it on their property. Here’s the link, FWIW. https://davea.substack.com/p/exiled-columbus
Terribly grim on all fronts. Clearly corruption is driving the entire enterprise. Yesterday we were told that Iran had generally accepted 15 points, agreeing to our most important demands. Bold/faced Lies. A massive, costly deadly war started illegally, and conducted grossly incompetently with no plan or coherent strategy. We know Trump will now double down plunging us deeper into the abyss. And yet the GOP is fine with this. God help us.
ICYMI: What Julie Brown is doing is as big or bigger than Woodward and Bernstein/Watergate and the Boston Globe Spotlight Team that exposed the Catholic Church child sexual abuse. Nicolle Wallace on “The Best People” interviews Julie K. Brown, investigative reporter for the Miami Herald: “Blown every door open’: She broke the Epstein story — and she has more - YouTube”
Julie K. Brown for a Pulitzer Prize and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
But wait.This horrific story is expanding. Legal AF/Meidastouch interviewed investigative journalist and author Gareth Gore. “INSIDER Reveals Pope Leo's Confrontation of GOP-Linked Opus Dei - YouTube”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxvmm1wajp4 and see: “Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church”.by Gareth Gore just recently published. And guess who belongs to Opus Dei? Bill Barr, Trump first term AG. Kevin D. Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation and overseer of Project 2025. Leonard Leo, chairman of the Federalist Society that lobbied the packing of the SCOTUS with ultra right wingers.
And Glenn Kirshner, an American attorney, former US Army prosecutor (JAG), former US Assistant Attorney in the office of the DOJ for the District of Columbia, former NBC/MSNBC legal analyst, podcaster of “Justice Matters” was interviewed by famous, voting rights lawyer Marc Elias of Democracy Docket on 4/24/26. They discuss “ The Accountability Project”, US courts and their assumption of good faith on the part of the DOJ, what is likely to happen surrounding the time of the 2026 elections, how we the people can fight back, SCOTUS decisions, grand juries ruling against unwarranted DOJ cases, etc.. It’s a very informative discussion by two legal experts. “Trump Accountability Must Go SCORCHED EARTH | Glenn Kirschner - YouTube”
It's not just for the flamboyant poster child of malignant narcissism; it's toady servitude to plutocrats, most of whom stay out of the spotlight; though Musk is an exception.
About the insider trading. I think Trump is carefully limiting the insider trading to his own family; people closest to him. I strongly suspect that the wealth accumulated by America's more visible billionaires really grates on him and he thinks as President he deserves a much bigger "piece of the action".
Amassing troops to escalate attacks on Iran after the markets close this Friday, and perhaps early Saturday--just like the initial attack. Hopefully, Saturday's No Kings march will be unimaginably larger than the last.
I sure hope one day we learn who made the trades. In the meantime - Be LOUD! We deserve better 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
Malcolm Nance and Jacob Kaarsbo are keeping us informed each day about the war. Yesterday Malcolm was predicting that Friday night we are going to see some boots on the ground action as they try to take Kharg Island and perhaps several more. They think is it foolhardy, but we shall see.
https://malcolmnance.substack.com/p/us-iran-warcast-day-25-live-wmalcolm?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Many in the chat noted that it coincides with No Kings Days on Saturday to take over the news cycle with his war. The board of peace is the board of perpetual war. I will be out at the No Kings Demo that I am in charge of. Just got our revised permit as we get new permits as we ask for modifications. The people in our group are wonderful and working on this rally I have fallen in love with their goodness and kindness and helpfulness.
I just wrote a piece listing all of the No Kings Demos Abroad that I can find. Please share this with friends abroad.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/no-kings-no-tyrants-no-dictators?r=f0qfn
When the Iranians launch 30,000 Shaheds at the Marines - who have no knowledge of fighting a drone war, up against the people who invented modern drone warfare - when they attempt to land at Kharg Island, it will make the slaughter of the Second Wave at Tarawa (70% casualties when the landing craft hung up on the coral reef) look like a walk in the park. As a veteran and a military historian, I hate that fact, but it is a fact. It may be the only thing that finally moves the GOP scum in Congress to act, if only to save their own necks.
13 Americans have already paid for this debacle in Iran with their lives. That is 13 too many. And up to 200 more have been wounded.
And Trump and Kegsbreath have killed at least 217 Iranian children. This is a war crime that should be prosecuted.
Killing unarmed fishermen on boats in the Caribbean, the Pacific and elsewhere is a war crime.
Trump has stranded hundreds of thousands of Americans in the Middle East.
And then there are war deaths from at least 13 countries. This is more than a regional war and it must end NOW.
He stranded HUNDREDS of thousands of Americans, not just thousands. And each of these people, alone, by themselves, in families, had to figure out *by themselves* how to get home. I know of one instance only -- two guys unable to get out of Qatr (closed airspaces and constantly canceled flights) finally bribed (I'm guessing) their way south via Uber (I didn't even know Qatr had Uber) to the insides of Saudia Arabia, a commuter-type train to Riyadh, a hastily arranged hotel room there, a flight from Riyadh to Tbilisi on an airline I've never even heard of) -- days without much sleep, food and no security.
The whole point of American diplomatic presence overseas is to help Americans, not Saudis or Israelis. Yet almost every American was essentially told: 'you're on your own. You deal with it. Not our problem.'
I cannot even think when in the history of America's Foreign Service such a massive scenario of official fuckupery -- no warnings, wanton disregard, complete neglect, the abandonment of common sense and concern -- ever transpired.
Yup….all this because we couldn’t wouldn’t vote for a black woman!
...Or, Janis, because 'he' stole the 2024 election.
One (of the many) difficult things to bear is that our president hates us. Hates the citizens his only job is to keep safe.
We are all suckers and losers to Trump.
I am reaching a limit of extreme intolerance to trump's, the republicans' and the cabinet's mythic narratives of patriotic glory being sold to us. They don't intend to only change the world but change the meaning of the world. We receive a permanent flow of unconscionable images and words and the stakes in this struggle we face are incredibly high. And too many people don't know what to believe; and if you can't believe anything....you can't act (or vote) rationally. And reality is increasingly under siege by constant manipulation and fakery and many voters are susceptible to fakery and propaganda.
MLMinET, how dare we vote him out of office in 2020 or try to hold him accountable!
Him and his administration.
Indigestible!
I could hardly get through this newsletter, overcome by intense revulsion--not because of Heather's brilliant writing but of the depravity of a human sack of waste and the vast destruction he is wielding.
I had the supreme good fortune to have met, corresponded with, and finally having worked with R. Buckminster Fuller, a renowned futurist (a modern day Leonardo da Vinci). His motto was "More with less," how to provide more for humanity with less material. He was one of the most spiritual people I have ever encountered and have written about in my first book. trump cannot be more antithetical--a typhoon of wreckage on every level.
I'm praying for all of us.
Sophia, I feel the same. “Typhoon of wreckage” is a great turn of phrase. Weren’t you lucky to know Buckminster Fuller! Incredible the destruction produced by an elderly toddler who has found he can destroy just by pointing at something and someone will take care of it. Like King Henry II saying “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?” Like a mafioso. It is all too much to stomach. Our beautiful country, come to this.
Sophia, Great that you could work with R. Buckminster Fuller. Death star and his cabal's motto is take all that we can and support destroying the country and the planet. I see that monster as a ball of destruction hurling through space and our country hence the name borrowed from Star Wars.
Yes = even the final moments in Vietnam were more organised. . .
It's, I guess we should not be surprised because even before this happened, the embassies were not getting the support they need to do the work that they are supposed to do which includes helping US citizens abroad. Quite the story about the two getting out. Death star and his cabal view the government as their personal trough. Rubio has turned out to be truly awful.
On Sunday, while I was working an auction, a woman started telling me her story. She was one of those hundreds of thousands. She said the embassy just said, you have to get out, and you're on your own. She said they had to sell their possessions to get transport out. She said she had never felt so abandoned by the country that deployed her overseas (I believe she said she was doing humanitarian work). Unfortunately, since I was working during a noisy auction, I couldn't get more of her story, but I certainly got enough to be horrified.
I can see several headlines from your post It's Come to This! The mainstream media and journalists need to take their cues from you and others who plainly state the facts when they find it so challenging to do so. I'm so tired of Ari Melber, who I used to like to watch, say "to be fair," as if everything was equivalent to everything else. Am I being too harsh?
Not too harsh! I, too, am getting impatient with Ari and many other commentators who do not seem to understand that their audiences are miles ahead of them. We can see what's coming, connect the dots, project the grift and the problems at light speed compared to them. I wonder sometimes if they are really that naive or just think their viewers are idiots.
You can't think of one because there has never been one.
The whole point of American diplomatic presence abroad today sadly seems to be about facilitating deals that benefit thr Trump family and their cronies.
He cares only about himself, he could care less about anyone else. He is a human of the worst sort.
But New York Times columnist Bret Stephens thinks this war is going really well! Who to believe- Stephens or James Mattis & Malcolm Nance?
I read his latest column about how well things were going. The reader comments disagreed.
The reader comments are about all worth reading any more.
Who to believe? Bret Stephens is worse than FOX.
Hah...as though that question even needs to be asked. Bret Stephens is an unreadable idjit.
Brett Stephens is simply a Republican mouthpiece. Nance and Mattis have field experience.
Worse. He is a propagandist for the fascist regime in America.
Why they publish that twit is beyond me
Oh so glad I cancelled my subscription Han 2025.
Puke.
Don’t believe anyone connected or in cahoots with Trump.
Bret has always been a conservative. He must believe that war is a ticket to glory, honor and manhood and swallows the now altered Pentagon's public relations machine's propaganda. Or he's seen, and has been influenced by, too many Hollywood war movies where we always win.
No brainer.
GJ, I agree. A school full of girls have paid for it with their lives as well. We are looking at War Crimes and it is coming from Christians (Trump is probably not, but he is representing them), Jews (Israel) and Muslims (Saudi Arabia), who also bought Trump.
Reading about MBS's influence on our country makes my blood boil. It is another outrage.
https://popularinformation.substack.com/p/update-after-sending-billions-to?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Should he get to keep his stock market gains too. How about that insider trading spree! Didn’t some international star get prison for that. Oops she was a woman.
Amen!
Nailed it
I'm wondering: are those Republicans in Congress who rubber stamp everything that Pooper Trump and the rest are doing (the killings, i.e., murders) complicit and therefore indictable by a war crimes tribunal? We need a tsunami of voters to start taking back control of our policies.
As a marine in 1968 the enemy had the high ground due to bad planning and our losses were bad. The high ground rules the battle. The pentagon knows this but those knowledgeable people have been shitcanned for lack of a better word.
Chris, I believe "shitcan" is a military term, so you're in the clear.
AI: Yes, "shitcan" is a long-standing military slang term, particularly in the US Navy and Marine Corps, dating back to WWII. It refers to a trashcan, or as a verb, to discard, fire, or quickly get rid of someone or something. It can also describe someone below standards ("bent shitcan").
Years ago, I found out a much younger colleague had never before heard the term FUBAR, and didn't know what SNAFU stood for. Another World War II gift to us all. Sweet little thing....I disabused him of his innocence straightaway. 😜
Do you think Kegsbreath knows this? Or if so, does he even care? I swear he thinks he's playing a computer game.
He is clearly so high on all the death and destruction. He replaced alcohol (maybe?) with military power and it’s giving him all the dopamine.
However, Trump seems to shifting the responsibility for actions to him, so when it all goes sideways Pete will take the fall.
Hogsbreath has effed around and he'll find out, just like everybody else who works with Turnip. He'll be tossed into the abovementioned sh*tcan like so much used toilet paper.
I'm on the maybe side with the alcohol. I wish that people inside would WATCH him and report on any failures. And I agree, Kegsbreath is headed under the bus.
Kegsbreath is so far gone into extremist rightwing “Christianity” and white supremacy that his brain is non functional. He operates out of the lower regions of his body.
Though we (my Air Force weather equipment repair team chief and one other new member), didn't get past Phu Bai, trying to get a barometer to Khe Sanh, because a Combat Weatherman beat us and another team trying to get one to them. We, or at least I, didn't know how important it would be to them for artillery, and pilots trying to figure how low they could go looking for way through low clouds especially in hill country, but I learned we would always do everything possible to get them whatever they needed. Once I was ready to travel solo, I spent about 9 months using a pad of blanket travel orders going all over the rest of Vietnam and Thailand (61 bases and camps I can remember). I didn't get past Da Nang after that since we supported mostly Air Force and Army units.
Though I didn't travel as much in Marine combat areas one of my later lab partners in aeronautics courses was a Vietnamese Recon Marine, and some co-workers had been Marines in I Corps during Tet 68 that trusted me with some personal stories, and stories of others they had immense respect for such as Captain William Dabney and the men that helped holding Hill 871S with helicopters seemingly doing the impossible to keep them supplied. One simple version of the story is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiOl6in__CA
It is cruel and heartless to send in any military. Well it is also cruel and heartless to do what we are doing to the area but neither trump nor Headless have any sense of morality. Trump just wants to deflect from EPSTEIN, and headless gets off on killing and seeing the bodies pile up while the buildings fall down. And a lot of people voted for this regime whether they actually cast ballots. There were so many who abstained because they didn't like the posture that had been taken by Biden and it was their form of protest (Palestine and Israel were the major impetus for those abstentions I believe.) Well, that meant they supported trump and this is what we are left with. There will never be a party or even committee for that matter with which there will be total agreement with everything but one has to decide which option is the best for the outcome one wants. Hopefully we all have learned, but just in case I will be out Saturday with my cane and rollator to show my support for NO KINGS DAY.
I think of the troops this madman is sending into his own created mayhem, and I am so grateful we have no family in the military--and then I feel guilty for that relief.
The list of the reasons I hate Trump (and really, I don't hate anybody else) is long, so long, but way at the top is the changes it is creating in me. I never ever thought I'd feel ashamed of my government.
#SENDBARRON
Miselle, I agree about Barron and his older bros should go. I am even feeling sorry for young men and women in this military who did not sign up for their government to treat them like cannon fodder like Putin does. It is just shocking to me to treat human beings like this. I cannot imagine what it is like for the Iranian people.
I am only ashamed of governments that I vote for when they mess up inordinately. So, who should be feeling shame is those who voted for him. They must know on some level that they are the reason so many soldiers will die, and so many people will suffer financially. If they do not realize that, they are too stupid to be on their own, and should have caretakers.
Linda Weide, … and I’m prepping for taxes. Not one rep or senator, not the governor nor our attorney general here in MA, have answered the question: how can I how can We refuse to pay taxes for all the illegal things t & co are doing? It’s outrageous to pay into this ‘war’ or ice or the destruction of OUR HOUSE among too many other vile things.
Last year, post paying my taxes I received a letter from the IRS telling me I owed them $1.00; however, they would not try to collect it. Of course, they or someone there knows my opinion of this gang, and it is… we all know ….far worse than the mafia. (Just to make clear: My payments probably pay for one bolt on a door).
I’m wondering how many of us have refused to pay income taxes? I gladly pay my state taxes, and have offered our state my federal ones as well.
Still no one has called me back or had any advice. I guess kinda like like the folks stranded in the Mideast, we’re on our own with this.
TC, yesterday Zedeo has some guest, which is paywalled, who runs an organization for conscience objectors saying there were a thousand who had called his org. They do not support the war and yet they don't want to leave their friends behind. I think 3 years in prison might be better than what awaits them in Kharg Island if they even make it there. Here is what Malcolm Nance said about it yesterday, in his daily war briefing with Jacob Kaarsbo.
https://malcolmnance.substack.com/p/us-iran-warcast-day-25-live-wmalcolm?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Senator Lindsay Graham casually remarked that taking Kharg Island would be just like Iwo Jima for the Marines.
Iwo Jima was a bloodbath.
Approximately 70,000 U.S. Marines and 18,000 Japanese soldiers took part in the battle. In thirty-six days of fighting on the island, nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed. Another 20,000 were wounded. Marines captured 216 Japanese soldiers; the rest were killed in action.
This is who rides on Air Force One with Trump.
Gary, I say we reserve a seat to Kharg Island for Graham!
That man is a walking, drunken asshole. He also called for South Carolina's mothers and fathers to send their children. Of course, he has none himself....
"Ignorant" comes to mind, followed by quite a few unprintable words.
Gary, Lindsay is such an idiot!! My great uncle fought on Iwo Jima and survived, but ,the family believes, came home and proceeded to drink himself to death because of the horrors of that fight.
I have accompanied a WWII D Day Veteran to the ceremonies at Utah Beach 5 times and spent the nights in his room because of his health. The first couple times he had terrible dreams reliving the war, but it did get better through the outpouring of thankfulness by the French people. War is Hell! Not a video game like Lindsay and Hegsbreath believe.
Gary, given that Melania has been maintaining at least 500 miles between herself and Donald, I'm pretty sure he keeps Lindsey close by for purposes other than cheerleading. 😉
Yes Gary. Malcolm Nance was discussing that yesterday in disgust with how stupid it is, among other things. He was giving a sort of summary like you are here.
https://substack.com/@malcolmnance/note/c-232629444?r=f0qfn&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
These people are all so callous they do not care who dies for them to maintain their power.
He (Lindsay) must have failed world history. It's what he and a similarly seduced public want to believe about ourselves.
This administration is beyond despicable how they use people if it suits their agenda. Hence gay married men in his cabinet, gay buddy billionaires like thiel, supposedly autistic men like musk and former drug addicts like kennedy.
Oh and let's not forget the mail in ballot vote of the convicted felon who gets to vote in FL when other felons who served their sentence do not. As always the law only applies to some of us.
I'm sure they won't mind gay cannon fodder, autistic cannon fodder, female cannon fodder, even trans cannon fodder. They're all acceptable since the ends, enriching the coffers of himself, his family, his sycophants and his billionaire buddies, justify the means.
The military, and trump, despise the gay community, the disabled, and women, right? Right? Or will they be good enough to die for oil?
Yes sharon. I am focused on resisting him and his actions, standing up to him and getting rid of him! Despicable him!
Linda, I have noted in my reading this week that some in the military are looking for a way out because they do not want to be cannon fodder for us or the Israelis. People who help them have reported a big jump in people seeking an honorable way out as you have noted.
I wish they would see a way out. I think they should quit Michele.
Linda, it sounded like some were ready to do that.
Do you mean Zeteo?
Yes. Sorry, I should have looked it up. I am a Chicagoan, and our t's sound like d's.
No biggie. I am always on the lookout for more non-legacy reading material Mehdi is amazing! Love Chicago so much.
Always pay attention to the Chief and Jacob and now Wajeet. The briefing Malcolm gave on the 24th was blood-curdling and, according to open source information coming out, completely supported in it's accuracy. Look for Straits Islands campaign originating out of Kuwait/ Saudi and/ or direct para insertion into Iran proper. As Malcolm commented this morning: 'Exciting'.
Or more likely GOP scum in Congress will use the deaths to whip up more hate against Iran and to say patriots must now support Trump and the war.
Don't think the Iranians have that many Shaheds available, but they wouldn't need that many, either. If just a couple get through our defenses, a lot of our guys are going to end up in the hospital or in bags.
Thx TC, your street cred re military history provides valuable insights to the utter lack of strategy employed by Nero, er Trump. The command is “just do it, no whining about obstacles, I’ll just wave them away with a tweet, er a truth”
The only problem is that I don’t want to save their necks. I want them all swinging from a very tall tree.
Also...boots on the ground is the point at which we are at war and not just on the fun excursion of bombing everything to smithereens from 30,000 feet. That requires Congress to authorize it. If they do not, it's illegal. The countries whose bidding we are doing, Saudi Arabia and Israel, do not want the war to end until there is real regime change and much more damage done. Real regime change requires boots on the ground.
They care more about their pockets than their necks TCinLA. Use your hopes for something that would be possible.
Thank you, TCinLA. I was born during the second world war and it looks like I may die during the final world war!
Did we learn nothing from the second Iraq war, and the war in Afghanistan? You want to fight them on their territory? Only an idiot would, and voila we’ve got a whole administration of them. Never have I seen a group of people so high on power like these folks, it is as if they aren’t getting enough oxygen to their brains. Not that it matters they march to the ever changing tune their master chooses in that moment. What an absolute embarrassment to our country.
They won’t move. They are insulated from any consequences also they don’t care about those they are sending to their deaths
I'm afraid it might be another Gallipoli or Little Big Horn. Whiskey Pete, stupid ass that he is, said "no quarter." That means the Iranians don't have to take prisoners.
Sounds like Trump's plan. Also Congress starts a two-week recess on Friday so nobody will be there to try to stop Trump from doing whatever he wants.
If Trump does that to please MBS who seems to be talking to him daily then every desalination plant in the Arab countries will be hit by Iran. All of the royalty will have decamped to the Riviera, and the local population and the semi-slave foreign workers will be left to fend for themselves as they die of thirst.
I have no idea why MBS would want to force that outcome unless he is a crazy madman psychopath.
Oh wait...
Saudi Arabia is Sunni and Arab.
Iran is Shia and Persian.
This is a conflict which began over 2000 years ago.
MBS, like Trump, is at best indifferent to human life. And also enjoys carnage.
The Sunni/Shia schism (it's fun to say, "schism" - try it) is a huge factor. Our LameStream Media appears to have no clue of their history or it's importance in all ME Muslim interactions. Nor does the American public (Duh!) - at least based on readers' comments to various news articles.
Religiosity wackadoodles of all stripes range from silly to dangerous IMO, and that includes the "christian" Nationalists running our govt. But the great majority of Iranians (nee - Persians) are NOT Muslim fundamentalists. They've suffered enormously at the hands of the mullah-types who are in charge largely as a result of the US mucking around in their sovereign nation.
The much more numerous Sunni have been trying to eradicate the minority Shia for 1400 years over some absurd fine-point of theology. No defense of the mullahs here, but Iran is, and has been, fighting for their very survival. Open the viewfinder a click and the Shias' position is not unlike the Israelis' - surrounded by powerful neighbors who hate them and want to subjugate/eradicate them.
"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is call Insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion, it is called Religion."
- Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
I love that Pirsig quote!
Yes. "Motorcycle Maintenance" was spiritually seminal book for me.
As you may know, one of the things he writes about is the incredible courage it takes to truly BE, since that demands that we step outside of our Ego - that in order to have it all, we must give it all up (Yikes!).
He compares it to being on a speeding train, climbing out to the cowcatcher at the very front of the locomotive, leaning waaaay forward - and having the courage to let go.
Apparently, Awakening is not for the faint of heart. One step at a time, eh?
Saudi Arabia is mostly Sunni with some Shia. Iran is majority Persian, who are Shia. Iran funds the Houthis, who have attacked Saudi Arabia.
Yup. Got it backwards.
Thanks!
Ta-may-toe, Ta-motto.
Who's the rightful heir to a warlord spoken to by an angel while he slept and the swept away by a winged horse?
Madness.
My brother and I against our cousin, my cousin and I against our neighbor, my neighbor and I against…… whoever?
"You say you're a Christian, Cause God made you.
You say you're a Muslim, Cause god made you.
You say you're a Hindu and the next man a Jew,
Then we all kill each other, Cause God told us to?
NAH!"
- Michael Franti, "Hello, Bon jour"
A pox on all their houses!
Sounds like the difference between "Born Again Christians" who want to take over the U.S. government, and "Mainstream Christians," who believe what Jesus supposedly taught, and we all fund Netanyaho, who started this war.
Yep. Variations on a theme.
I thought the Muslim thing was more like 1200 years old.
But all religion is stupid blame shifting and perpetuates division.
The Persia that lasted 250 years embraced Zoroastrianism. "Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest monotheistic faiths, founded over 3,000 years ago in ancient Persia by the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra). Centered on the creator God Ahura Mazda, it emphasizes a cosmic struggle between good and evil, promoting a moral life defined by "Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds". Followers, often honoring fire as a symbol of divine light, hold purification rituals and maintain strong ethical traditions."
When you mentioned zoroastrianism, I thought you might be heading to Los Angeles in the late 1800s around the time of Zoro er Zorro :-). Zarathustra cleared up my confusion LOL!
The comparative religion courses my wife took put the origin closer to 600 CE + or - a few decades, or 14 centuries ago.
I dunno, Jen. When there was some tomfoolery a few years back, my wife and I were driving to visit relatives and discussing what we knew about the Middle East and its history. (almost NOTHING!) I was driving and she was researching. The best information that we could find was (drumroll) from the Bible, as history from the Old Testament and other religious tomes.
I note that there are three major Abrahamic religions all arising from the same tiny corner of the world at roughly the same time. I figure there was something big needing 'splainin that happened, and Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are the results.
Who was the true and rightful heir? Therein lies the rub.
....and why are they always MALE?
Well, MBS like Trump, is not thinking through a world where things do not go his way because he is an oil billionaire.
“Oh wait……”. Precedes “hold my beer” in Michigan’s icy roads car challenge
Reminds me of a story many decades ago, that I seem to recall from the Detroit News about Police pulling over what seemed a drunk driver. The driver was stone cold sober but blind.
He had been talked into driving by the really drunk passenger in the back seat, who was telling him how to steer the car and when to stop or step on the gas.
Why does this remind me of Trump at the wheel and Kegsbreath in the back seat?
Truly insulting to blind people AND drunks. Seriously (LOL!).
Yup
What difference would it make to have this useless Republican run Congress sitting at their desks in DC? Trump does exactly as he wants anyway.
It may be better for these idiots to be at home in their districts to hear the outrage of their constituents.
My Republican representative doesn’t have live town halls and appears to never visit his local office. He only goes to pre-vetted events where he will be greeted warmly by the Republicans present. He does phone town halls with questions sent in ahead of the call and it is clear his answers are pre-recorded. He also got a million dollars from Elon Musk’s PAC in the last election.
I’m sorry Georgia but when you said your Republican representative I am sure glad I was drinking coffee and not coke when it came back out my nose. I’m going to chuckle for the rest of the day. I hate to break it to you that you don’t have one. They dug a moat and built a castle wall to allay their fears of you. In plain old American they are scared shitless of you. I’m still loading Trump in my manure spreader so I better get back to work.
No Georgia....we don't have to wait....we know already..😄
The chat folks are right about the timing of the landings. They will keep the No Kings Day rallies out of the headlines and push the Trump/Epstein Pedo Files out of the news altogether. But there may well soon come a time, if we put those boots on the ground, that those headlines are going to feature American casualties. Those islands are well within range of mobile artillery and mobile drone launchers that will be beyond the capacity of our air assets to suppress, especially those drones controlled by fiber-optic cables, which are undetectable except by eyesight (not sure about radar), by which time it will be too late for the targets to react. The next stage will be to put even more boots on the mainland, to drive the shooters away. We've seen this scenario before. The ending is not a happy one.
No doubt, that is what they want, but given the momentum of what is transpiring across the land, I doubt they will get. Perhaps Fox News will run long articles about Trump's beautiful new architecture, but everyone else from Kotzebue to Kalamazoo, Pine Cone to Palm Beach, will be covering what sounds like maybe 10 million who will appear with homemade signs across the towns, cities, suburbs and hamlets across the land.
Their terror of us is foremost on their minds. I doubt Trump gives a flying flamingo about the safety of the 5,000 or so in those Marine Expeditionary Units set to storm Kharg island.
It's Come to This,
My husband and I will be 2 citizens standing on Saturday with our fellow patriots as we have stood before in honor of those who came before us and in hope that the future will be filled with persons of courage who love this country and respect the sacrifices of those who were before us.
How easily, a man who has never "broken a nail" to defend this country but who has preferred to befriend dictators....is sitting in the seat of President of the United States of America. Every day he and his sons find new ways to take from others to increase their own bank accounts. The minions he has surrounded himself with are the same.
Yet he with no concern, sends brave young men and women who are ready to lay down their lives for the freedom of others in a distant land, to face possible death!
Trump is more interested in building a monument to himself than the lives of our military sons and daughters!!!!....he so easily sends into battle!!!!
Hope you're right about the potential size of Saturday's demonstrations. And you're right about the flying flamingo. I don't think our guys will have to storm Kharg Island. I think our landing will be almost unopposed. But once they're on the ground, they'll be targets for indirect artillery fire and directed drone attacks. And if we're going to send in the 82nd guys along with the two MEUs, the targets just get more numerous.
That sounds more likely. Expect casualties. Iran has an awful lot of drones left -- and so does Russia by its attack yesterday in daylight with about 550 drones across the length and breadth of Ukraine -- reflecting Putin's new-found swagger, thanks to Trump's removing partial sanctions against it. Every single Russian oil producer is now raking in those profits.
If they can live-stream active combat into the Oval Office, the tiny mushroom is in danger of priapism.
Having picked mushrooms, I can attest that, occasionally, there is a "bent stem"....usually on poisonous ones.
🤣👏🏼👏🏼
I agree about the casualties. The wounded are coming here to Germany and their numbers are not going to be hidden forever. The dead are being returned home.
That didn't work during growing Vietnam War protests. Trump and the oligarchs are doomed.
thank you for all you do, Linda.
Your observation is accurate - he will escalate the WAR to take over the news cycle.
No Kings III will be the largest protest in the history of the nation.
YES IT WILL. In Solidarity Beverly! ✌🏾
In Saint Paul, Minnesota, at the State Capitol where the march on Saturday will culminate, the rally will include Joan Baez, Jane Fonda, Bernie Sanders, and Bruce Springsteen, and we expect thousands of marchers. Whew!
Fantastic Melinda!
In Germany we will be marching and rallying in 9 cities in solidarity with you. I know that there are rallies in more and more countries. I heard that Kenya just joined Indivisible Abroad.
https://indivisibleabroad.org/become_involved.html
The rallies sponsored by Indivisible Groups are on the No Kings Map.
https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/map/
Then there are rallies sponsored by Democrats Abroad, or they sponsor meet up groups in cities that have Indivisible Abroad groups.
Aix-En-Provance, France
https://www.democratsabroad.org/susandebra/no_tyrants_protest
Ajijic, Mexico
https://www.democratsabroad.org/rally_march
Athens, Greece
https://www.democratsabroad.org/klee9/join_in_no_kings_no_tyants_protests_cf_tpkioyqqhrvbkhwmllw
Amsterdam, Netherlands
https://www.democratsabroad.org/atolbs/no_tyrants_3_rally_with_voter_registration
Barcelona, Spain
https://www.democratsabroad.org/181073/_no_tyrants_protest_march_28_global_day_of_defiance
Berlin, Germany
https://www.democratsabroad.org/stacyhyer/let_s_meet_up_before_the_no_kings_protest_and_walk_together_to_bebelplatz_suhl0yjoyjrk9shbivl2uq
Berlin, Germany afterparty
https://www.democratsabroad.org/261977/no_kings_march_afterparty
Berlin, Germany after grab a bite
https://www.democratsabroad.org/stacyhyer/after_the_no_kings_protest_let_s_grab_a_bite_or_a_beer
Bologna, Italy
https://www.democratsabroad.org/363166/bologna_no_tyrants_peaceful_non-violent_demonstration
Bremen, Germany
https://www.democratsabroad.org/347793/meetup_to_support_the_no_kings_rally_in_bremen_march_28
Bremen, Germany
https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/851603/
Bristol, UK
https://www.democratsabroad.org/freyaproudman/no_tyrants_-_bristol_uk
Brussels, Belgium
https://www.democratsabroad.org/85966/no_tyrants_day_-_protest_in_brussels_on_28_march_2026
Cape Town, South Africa
https://www.democratsabroad.org/lizoleary/no_tyrants_democracy_in_the_park_-_cape_town_28_march
Cuauhtemoc, Mexico
https://www.democratsabroad.org/trojemor/no_tyrants_meet_up
Düsseldorf, Germany
https://www.democratsabroad.org/527738/no_kings_protest_vorkbvlt57zopnnryeag6q
Frankfurt, Germany
https://www.democratsabroad.org/melindahargravekanzow/_demonstrate_in_solidarity_with_the_no_kings_3_protest_in_frankfurt_on_march_28th
Hamburg, Germany
https://www.democratsabroad.org/347793/no_tyrants_no_kings_day_protest_on_march_28
Johannesburg, South Africa
https://www.democratsabroad.org/lizoleary/no_tyrants_braai_-_joburg_28_march
Laborie, St. Lucia
https://www.democratsabroad.org/susandebra/no_tyrants_protest
Las Condes, Chile
https://www.democratsabroad.org/542878/da_chile_saturday_march_28th_in_support_of_no_kings_day
Leipzig, Germany
https://www.democratsabroad.org/oliviabrown/no_tyrants_protest_in_leipzig
Lisbon, Portugal
https://www.democratsabroad.org/krup/no_kings_-_lisbon
London, England
https://www.democratsabroad.org/freyaproudman/no_tyrants_london_-_march_28th
Lyon, France
https://www.democratsabroad.org/212355/no_tyrants_no_kings_3_0_in_lyon
Madrid, Spain
https://www.democratsabroad.org/m105887/no_tyrants_protest_madrid
Milan, Italy
https://www.democratsabroad.org/348435/no_tyrants_protest_milan_-_march_28
Munich, Germany
https://www.democratsabroad.org/261977/no_kings_march_da_munich_meetup
Nice, France
https://www.democratsabroad.org/nancytoolan/no_tyrants_protest_on_march_28_in_nice
Oaxaca, Mexico
https://www.democratsabroad.org/davidshallen/no_tyrants_rally
Oslo, Norway
https://www.democratsabroad.org/ericagibson/no_tyrants_oslo_march_28_event
Paris, France
https://www.democratsabroad.org/cheyjohnson1/apr_s_no_kings_-_paris
Pavas, Costa Rica
https://www.democratsabroad.org/518068/ice_melts_under_resistance_protest
Porto, Portugal
https://www.democratsabroad.org/krup/_sem_tiranos_no_kings
Prague, Czechia
https://www.democratsabroad.org/juliabryan/no_tyrants_protest_in_prague_-_march_28_2pm
Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
https://www.democratsabroad.org/324894/no_tyrants_day_-_rodney_bay_saint_lucia
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
https://www.democratsabroad.org/555834/meetup_for_no_kings_in_san_miguel_de_allende_jharxe7t4npgdxgazn5tma
Sevilla, Spain
https://www.democratsabroad.org/helenm/_no_tyrants_protest_in_sevilla
Strasbourg, France
https://www.democratsabroad.org/59266/join_da_strasbourg_for_no_tyrants_-_global_day_of_defiance
Sydney, Australia
https://www.democratsabroad.org/taralh/sydney_no_tyrants_day_demonstration
Shanghai, China
https://www.democratsabroad.org/dustinwdoyle/da_china_hosts_trivia_night_a_trivia_night_of_kings_tyrants_and_the_people_who_stopped_them
Southhampton, UK
https://www.democratsabroad.org/freyaproudman/no_tyrants_-_southampton_uk
Stavenger, Norway
https://www.democratsabroad.org/ericagibson/no_tyrants_stavanger_march_28_event
Stockholm, Sweden
https://www.democratsabroad.org/joelparthemore/no_to_dictators
Malmö, Sweden
https://www.democratsabroad.org/sharrilyn/no_dictators_protest
Rennes, France
https://www.democratsabroad.org/whykie/no_tyrants_no_kings_solidarity_gathering_democrats_abroad_brittany
Rome, Italy
https://www.democratsabroad.org/secretary_dait/update_on_protest_plans_in_rome_march_28
Rome, Italy
https://www.democratsabroad.org/363166/todi_no_tyrants_protest_28_march
Tokyo, Japan
https://www.democratsabroad.org/sarajean/daj_20260328
Toronto, Canada
https://www.democratsabroad.org/juliabuchanan/no_tyrants_in_toronto
Toulouse, France
https://www.democratsabroad.org/rebeccawhitebordonado/toulouse_nbsp_no_tyrants_ice_out_no_war_rally_saturday_march_28
Venice, Italy
https://www.democratsabroad.org/334684/28_march_no_tyrants_protest_in_venice_v5j1pzsrw6tngz3yl1ql2g
Basel, Switzerland
https://www.democratsabroad.org/lizneilvoss/no_tyrants_basel_20260328
Geneva, Switzerland
https://www.democratsabroad.org/372160/no_tyrants_geneva
Gijón, Spain
https://www.democratsabroad.org/121977/get_together_in_gijon
Cambridge, England
https://www.democratsabroad.org/freyaproudman/dauk_cambridge_travel_together_to_london_no_tyrants_rally
Zurich, Switzerland
https://www.democratsabroad.org/huertaapolonio/no_tyrants_-_z_rich_pro-democracy_rally
Paris, France
https://www.democratsabroad.org/cheyjohnson1/no_kings_day_protest_meet_up_-_paris
Puerta Vallarta, Mexico
https://www.democratsabroad.org/gclintonharris/meet_up_at_indivisible_abroad_vallarta_s_no_tyrants_gathering
Göteborg, Sweden
https://www.democratsabroad.org/joelparthemore/no_dictators_g_teborg
Guadalajara, Mexico
https://www.democratsabroad.org/315342/democrats_abroad_gdl_no_tyrants_rally
Valencia, Spain
https://www.democratsabroad.org/564766/no_tyrants_protest_global_day_of_defiance
Vancouver, BC, Canada
https://www.democratsabroad.org/mshankar/3_28_-_donuts_democracy_no_tyrants_protest
Victoria, Canada
https://www.democratsabroad.org/518414/global_day_of_defiance_-_no_tyrants_victoria_bc_pre-rally_meetup_march_28_10_30am
Vienna, Austria
https://www.democratsabroad.org/daatec/daat_2026_march-no-tyrants
Wiesbaden, Germany
https://www.democratsabroad.org/bseebach/no_tyrants_protest_in_wiesbaden
I am most likely unable to join either Medford's or Ashland's No Kings. I will have a sign, even if it has to be on the I-5 overpass at the south Ashland exit.
UPDATE: I am now registered for Ashland's "No Kings" with someone to drop me off and pick me up. I still can't get around very well (although my PT is super impressed with my progress) on my shiny new right knee that is 3 weeks old today
As an aside from the normal political schpiel, how did that knee replacement go overall? I am probably getting a new hip this summer (still waiting on the final recommendation).
🤞🫶
You will no doubt have many European friends and supporters around you as you do so, and will not have to worry about safety or provocations the way many in small towns in red states here might have to.
It bears saying at the top -- in Trump's diseased, warped, mostly non-functioning brain, aircraft carriers, bombs, planes and adolescent male war-is-fun video games substitute for alliances, friends, diplomacy, strategy. No sane attacking force leaps into battle without back-up, without a plan, without the knowledge that others behind them have their backs. The strategic incoherence of this war just can't be exaggerated -- reality is worse than what almost any of us can imagine.
A few days ago, Germany, perhaps the strongest backer of the NATO alliance which brought peace and stability to Europe and enforced order elsewhere for decades, essentially wrote the obituary by saying the obvious. 'No, Donald, we will not help you unfuck yourself' -- essentially the message from the Chancellor. To Europe, the unspoken part was even more powerful -- 'we are officially on our own. Time for us to act like it.' It was a message Europe needed to hear. But no one on this earth will be made safer, happier, more stable or more prosperous as a result of Trump's self-indulgent madness.
"No sane attacking force leaps into battle without back-up, without a plan, without the knowledge that others behind them have their backs. The strategic incoherence of this war just can't be exaggerated -- reality is worse than what almost any of us can imagine."
Look what he installed to lead our Dept. of Defense: someone chosen because he looked good on TV (at least to this president, but then...). Hegseth knew and knows nothing of military strategy or planning or history. He got rid of those in place at the Pentagon and in the field who might have had some sense of how war works.
In Cartersville GA at the last No Kings, the local police did a valiant job of controlling the MAGAs who wanted to start trouble. Nobody hassled us successfully, and the next day, the same police stopped a planned attack at the Atlanta Airport (because someone reported a relative's intentions).
At our No Kings rally we are having a police presence because as Americans abroad we might draw the ire of Jihadists, and have discussed what to be prepared for. That is because the Ayatollah put a fatwa on all Americans because of the war, whereas before it was just against Trump. So that is another gift he gave us. I am sharing a list of all the places abroad that are having rallies in support of the US here. Please share with family and friends abroad.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/no-kings-no-tyrants-no-dictators?r=f0qfn
Trump ABSOLUTELY wants to knock No Kings Day off the news!
I know it will be in the Guardian. At least I hope so. I should send them a press release about ours.
Full page ad for NO KINGS in the Wall Street Journal today!
I wish! I can't believe the number of people who know nothing about this protest! I crocheted my red hat and am ready to go with friends! Let's all bring friends with us!
Bringing friends and family and have my NICE Agent hat!
My friends were knitting and crocheting red hats on Saturday. Also, we are sending a little pink one to the new baby of a friend whose husband is on paternity leave from the military.
I was just making plans with my team for the fact that it is supposed to rain here on that day. We will be there, but in the rain. Today we had hail so I hope no hail.
Wow! That is great!
The real name: Bored of Peace.
Real name, "Board of War" why, in "1984" which explains very well how Trump does things, and thinks, "WAR IS PEACE" and that is what Trump lives by. A forever war, which he pretends is protection for us. But really is a device to keep him in power. See my article on the language Trump uses. How he uses "Doublethink" and his underlings use "Duckspeak."
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/the-language-of-the-fascist-regime?r=f0qfn
trump will plan on making his military action coincide with No-Kings Protests to bump it out of the news cycle because he knows the dependability of the manipulable legacy news heads: “If It Bleeds, It Leads”. He will make that a certainty this weekend. I would say he’s banking on it.
Yes, he know that. We can call it the biggest anti-war rally on the planet on that day!
TY Linda, to those Marines I say , “ Take a Stand For Life “ immediately terminate your enlistment . That any and every Marine killed is the last day of this Trump insanity and every Republican ( or Democrat) voting that move. Make their names known and forever banished.
Then declare openly to the WORLD…the literal end of his presidency and his Cabinet.
We.Will. Not. Support.War.Criminals.
And America….go.on.strike.
I agree. Someone needs to send messages to soldiers that tells them to quit before they become war criminals too. We must insist that next Democratic President signs on to the International Treaty and that Trump and his cronies are tried in the Hague.
👍
I think the strike was suggested for Tuesday, but not sure where I read that. We are too old to strike, our income is all Social Security Retirement because we are 82 and 85 respectively. But our grey hair helps in the Protest.
Interesting..fortify best you can all…
Linda, 'I have fallen in love with their goodness and kindness and helpfulness.' is the best sentiment! I look forward to a time when love conquers hate!
It does with us! We will have a big love fest on Saturday, and it will be our Love Conquers Hate rally. No Kings, No Tyrants.
They’re making a good point, Linda and I feel the same way about our Indivisible group.
1st off ... There needs to be a unanimous recommendation to SubStack to replace "Like" with "Agree". These are all good points, just have a tough time saying I "Like" that the Marines I served with can be heading into a disaster. The scariest part of Prof. Heather's letter was the quotes from Steve Bannon (I'm embarrassed that he & I wore the same Naval Officer uniform): the deployment of ICE to airports is EXACTLY a warm up for the mid-terms !
I agree TJB. I feel the same way about the Marines. I hope that they mutiny. It is best for them and best for the world. We will be amassing in the biggest anti war protest for the USA on Saturday. Here is a list of all the places protesting around the world in solidarity. Please share with family and friends.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/no-kings-no-tyrants-no-dictators?r=f0qfn
Thanks for this list. I'm astounded.
Elizabeth, In Solidarity we mount the largest anti war protest ever. ✌🏾
As Heather noted Republicans are trying a desperate move to weld together the SAVE Act, which is a vehicle for suppressing voting rights and additional funding for ICE and CBP, with little reform in a budget reconciliation bill that can’t be stopped with the filibuster. It is a Frankensteinian monster of the worst of the Trump regime’s wet dreams of denying our constitutional rights that can pass with a simple majority in each chamber of Congress.
Just posted this on the SAVE Act/ICE-CBP reconciliation act. It has a lot of wonky analysis of how the Republicans are trying to manage this and the hurdles they have to overcome.
https://georgiafisanick.substack.com/p/saving-the-save-act-and-killing-your
The SAVE Act is an incredible attack on voting rights. It must be stopped. Congress goes into a two-week recess on Friday, and I am sure they are going to use the pressure on TSA and air traffic controllers over the holidays to push for a fast vote on the reconciliation bill, like with the OBBBA, where nobody had a chance to read what was in it before the vote.
Call and write daily until and while you are at it, write separately to be sure the bill includes the reforms for ICE/CBP. The reconciliation strategy means they could not pass the Byrd rule because the ICE reforms might not materially affect spending levels so they could be struck as "extraneous."
This is a strategy coming from some very smart constitutional lawyers who want to get policy on voter suppression and policy stripping off Democratic reforming/normalizing ICE/CBP operations into a reconciliation bill where policy is not supposed to be made, both at the same time. It is either effing crazy or totally nefarious. I cannot tell which.
UPDATE: The Axios story just popped up on my feedly screener. Republicans and Democrats, at least those talking to the press, hate the idea for welding together the SAVE Act and DHS funding for the issues discussed above.
I am not sure that means that the approach is dead. There may be agreement that both sides hate it. But that means there is something in it that each side could frame as a win for their side. The alternative is still carving out an exemption to the filibuster, and neither side really wants to do that either as long as both sides believe there is a chance they will be in the minority in the future.
The news cycle certainly is moving fast.
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/24/dhs-funding-deal-ice-senate-talks-trump-thune
People still think it is just a requirement that you need ID to vote. It is a propaganda coup for repubs since their message is the one blathered by media instead of the disenfranchisements. Women are the primary targets but they blather about illegals voting to fool the fools. WOMEN BEWARE you are the target. Scream it from the rooftops, 90 decibels
Once registered, the SAVE America Act adds a photo ID to vote rule, which is separate from needing to provide proof of citizenship at registration. Your name on the photo ID you use to vote should match the name on the document you used to prove your citizenship when you registered to vote. The names might be different for people who changed their names when they married, underwent gender reassignment and chose a new name, or simply disliked their birth name or used a nickname on their driver's license.
You might be able to vote if you can bring a legal document linking your former name on your registration document to the current name on your photo ID. You may be able to vote with a provisional ballot, or in some states you can sign an affirmation to the name change and get a provisional ballot, but how that is resolved will depend on the rules in your state.
For in‑person voting, acceptable IDs are: U.S. passport, state driver’s license, state ID, military ID, or tribal ID, typically if unexpired and government‑issued.
For absentee/mail voting, voters must include a copy of an eligible photo ID when requesting and when returning an absentee ballot.
The bill excludes some IDs that states currently accept, notably most student IDs, and treats many tribal IDs as unacceptable if they lack an expiration date.
Here is a link to a useful explainer on the original SAVE Act:
https://campaignlegal.org/sites/default/files/2026-01/Updated%20CLC%20Fact%20Sheet%20on%20the%20SAVE%20Act%201-29-26.pdf
And here is an explainer on the differences between the SAVE Act and the later SAVE America Act, which changes what counts as an acceptable photo ID when you go to vote. I believe the confusion with two versions of the “voter ID” bills in the House and Senate at the same time, with similar names, is being done purposefully.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-save-act-bills-would-still-block-millions-americans-voting
And here is a link to the Brennan Center’s Election Interference Handbook for New Jersey, published in October 2025,. The first half summarizes Federal law. They also have ones for Virginia, California, and Michigan. It will have to be revised if some version of the SAVE Act is signed into law.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/new-jersey-election-interference-law-handbook
Mark Elias & his crew of intrepid lawyers at The Democracy Docket are already planning lawsuits against the Save Act. They are the ones who won the 60+ cases against Trump's minions after the 2020 election.
Elias is my hero. The fact that he believes it will be passed in some form is part of why I did a deep dive into it. The reconciliation route seems crazy, but most of the major policy initiatives since Reagan have used the strategy, just on a grander scale.
Mine too. He is a mensch for sure. I am on edge about his latest (voter surpression) case in front of the supremes.
I must add this, if they start this proving you are a citizen crap, then they can start defining what it mean to be a "voting citizen" which means only their supporters get to vote. I mean this point keeps getting lost. They are working to define "who" can be voting citizen not unlike being a "party" member. Trump pretty much has said that with his democrats are the enemy.
"We just want to make sure the right people are voting" ~Kristi Noem
Thanks for clearly articulating the hamster wheel of thought fragments running amok in my head!
Georgia, this from a guy who rejected Obama's legit birth certificate. How many other legit birth certificates will his crew reject?
The question will be how many clerks in voter registration offices will be processing applications, checking those documents, and potentially questioning them. I am worried that if the SAVE Act is passed, there won’t be enough clerks to process applications, and the paper will sit around waiting to be acted on.
Even if the Save Act isn’t passed, individual red states could copy the legislation as a model for their own voter ID requirements for state and local elections.
If you are married, changed your name 40 years ago, and moved across the country, getting a document proving you changed your name can take weeks.
Will states decide that a mailed-in application with a photocopy is good enough, or do you have to provide an original with a raised seal? There are a lot of ways small decisions like whether a photocopy or an original is required, that can vary by state, could hang you up.
In New Jersey, it costs $20 to get a copy of your birth certificate, and processing can take weeks. If you are close enough to go to the town where you were born, it only takes a few minutes in person.
My advice is to go online today and check whether you are registered to vote, that the name and address are correct, that they match what is on your photo ID, and that your type of ID is acceptable under the SAVE America Act. Make sure that your photo ID hasn’t expired. It’s easy to not realize that your passport has expired and needs to be renewed if you haven’t traveled abroad in a while.
Then do what you need to do to get the documentation you need to prove citizenship and any name change.
I am sure there will be voter purges in red states multiple times between now and the midterms, and it’s likely MAGA will be generating lists to provide to motivated Rs to challenge people likely to be Democratic voters. I would check every couple of months just to be sure.
Do you have an ethnic-sounding name that suggests you are Black, brown, Hispanic, or Muslim? Live in an urban neighborhood? Registered as a Democrat? Sounds like you could be involved in voter fraud…
Every vote counts, especially in red states. The goal is to achieve veto-proof majorities in Congress and state legislatures in the midterms so we can start the reform effort. It is every voter’s responsibility to do everything they can to ensure that their vote will be counted.
The bill is a travesty in many ways, all dressed up in legitimate and rational verbiage. Lies all
Agree - voter ID alone doesn't sound too bad -- but that's just the shallow end of this act - the sharks are beneath the water.
Letters to the editor in Ft Worth make it clear that ignorance abounds.
Even voter ID that has ANY cost whatsoever is essentially a poll tax if it is required to vote. I would be okay with a new voter ID process that was free to all and provided by the government(s). But any process that includes ANY kind of fee (including the fee you might have to pay for a certified birth certificate) pure and simply violates the 24th Amendment and should be struck down by any sane court.
Unfortunately, I no longer consider the Supreme Court in that group.
I just don’t get it. The cognitive dissonance here seems outrageous. If I am going to selfishly break any law, I want it to benefit me. What does my fraudulent vote get me? Even electing my small Maine town mayor would require a concerted effort by what? 100 fraudulent voters? Are we all going to get paid? Receive access? Contracts? I have faith that our election officials would catch on to that pretty quickly. Or, is there an assumption that the older folks who volunteer at polling stations are corrupt and/or incompetent? Am I missing something?
Additionally I want to add that Susan Collins support for the SAVE act flies in the face of the defeat last year of a similar referendum on the special election ballot. Like it wasn’t even close. She needs to go.
Overall voter suppression, with intimidation, and the power to count or not to count. Every aspect is being looked at because they have it ALL to lose
Yea I get that, but what baffles me is how the people who, without evidence, can claim/believe election fraud is a legitimate thing that when you break it down to the individual level it just doesn’t make any sense.
Those immigrants are sneaky bastards, getting pregnant to create a citizen, taking in welfare checks, committing heinous crimes, drug dealing, being terrorists and heathens… according to Fox. For chump’s immigrant ancestor, add pimp.
I think these illegal trades will come to light. And after the Trump era ends, there will be investigations and convictions like never before. Then we will need to demolish all the horrible structures that were built. They shall be all torn down. And when Trump passes on which will be sooner rather than later, I have made a vow on my mother’s grave that I will crap on his tombstone. And I will try to be the first one to do so. In fact, I suggest that no one get in my way of crapping on his tombstone. You may instead wait like ladies and gentlemen that you are and take a number; a number one or a number two.
After the trump era ends…
his disciples will make the disciples of Jesus look inept. Prepare for the fight of our lives
But in reality, there is no end to "the Trump era" anywhere in sight.
"But in reality, there is no end to "the Trump era" anywhere in sight."
You are not looking in the right places.
Say what you will; I am distinguishing between childish fantasy and embittering adult truth. Apropos the midterm election, if the ChristoNazi Supreme Court limits the counting of mail-in ballots, as expected, that alone could kill the Democrats' chances. If the the Republicans enact the Subjugate All Voters Evermore act, as is probable, the Democrats will never again win a federal election. And that is only the proverbial tip of the ChristoNazi ICEberg, pun intended. See https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-elections-mailed-ballots-a516e60209e68642f4d74947fa06017f and https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5783688-senate-floor-takeover-save-america-act/ And SAVE already has 71 percent Moronic Majority support. Bottom line, it is exactly as I said: there is no end to the ChristoNazi conquest anywhere in sight -- and to imagine otherwise is to court defeat.
Are you listening, or just waiting to talk?
I imagine he will give himself some incredibly tacky black marble mausoleum covered in gold paint. Paid for by tax payers of course. There could be a long line Bill.
they could take all those gaudy, tacky gold-sprayed doo-dads from the Oval and cover the mausoleum with them - like so many stickers in a child's sticker book.
It will be on the mall and at least 600 ft tall to be taller than the Arch de Trump and the Washington Monument and at least 10 times the width and length of the Lincoln Memorial.
Greatness must be given its due...
My hope is for his rotting carcass to be flung to outer space. Our Earth deserves better.
Please let's not contaminate Outer Space.
Or used as a scarecrow in a remote cornfield in Minnesota where they could watch the crows pick at his bones.
Won't it be ironic if the crimes that finally bring down the House of Trump are insider trading around the Iran war?
Not pedophilia, not tariffs, not DOGE, not "It's Going to be Wild" RFK Jr, not a big pile of Constitutional violations, not his in your face graft, not ICE murders, not the murder of alleged drug runners in boats and so forth.
It's like mobsters of yore who never paid for their murders but went to prison for tax evasion.
Whatever it takes, the American People are abandoning Trump/MAGA in droves. Retribution is coming.
Ironic, indeed!
Ally I'll bet you will concur ab out my statement above being a former police officer. I have written an open letter to my CT governor then sent copies to him, my 2 senators and my congressman. Our mayor recently state very clearly that our police force will arrest any illegal activities even if they are federal authorities. This is serious business.. We can't wake up on election day with Ice thugs walking at polling stations. We need to act now.
I do, indeed.
I was trying to recall that one. Sure enough, the Great Al Capone went to the big house on tax evasion. But let's not count our hens yet. They will not go down without a massive fight. There is most definately going to be blood in the streets. No doubt in my mind.
You could start now by posting his photo on a tree and throwing darts at it.
A little levity works wonders!
AHA! Found you. assuming you are the same Bill Katz....(same cat)
I am TRYING to pay for Miles Taylor's Defiance News and it keeps telling me: Please complete the captcha to continue
There is NO captcha!
Could you let him know, he doesn't have that many comments...(maybe in caps?) that this is a problema. Nothing wrong with my card, I use it for everything.
I even looked back,,did I miss one of those aggravating tiny picture captchas? No.
Anyway, we gotta stick together and help each other PAY!
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Judith Arndt Dyer
It beats me. I only spoke with him once in person but have never reached through messaging. I do want to network with him but to date, I haven’t succeeded. I think you can go through his Difinance direct or through substack . But I’m not very skilled navigating this.
Thanks. I did find that I could email defiance so we'll see if they read their mail....I saw the guy speak and have to support him, given what he has contributed of his life and the life of his little family. He's a thousand more of a person than those cowards in the GOP. How can they let Trump go on like this ....he's def. become a very loose cannon.
In person, very cordial, genuine and friendly. I hope he can fit me in when there is a staged event as am a singer/songwriter. I hoped he might have called on me for his state of the Union alternative. Maybe next time. Anyway, come on my blog if you want it’s easy to disengage l
"The SAVE Act is an incredible attack on voting rights. It must be stopped." Well said Georgia and that takes us to what Megan said above, "Be LOUD!" and "contact members of Congress,..."
Our Democracy is under attack. The methods used by them are nearly countless. Congress coming home (maybe, likely going on vacation) for a two-week recess means maybe they will speak in public. Find out and be there and be LOUD! Some good people have proposed Amendments to our Constitution. I have read the the popular ones said to address “Citizens United” and find their words to not be the rampart we need to secure our Republic. They use legal terms such as Congress and the States “...may regulate...”, and “...shall have power to...” First, that does nothing to repeal corporate personhood. Second, it allows Congress and the States to decide to do nothing. I see those words as a gate which for a “campaign contribution” will be left wide open to mega-money in politics. That led me to write my “Memorandum to We the people.” Please read, discuss and share my Memorandum at UnitedWeAmend.org.
God I wish people on my side were smart enough to open a goddamned book and find out how things work so they would stop going ga-ga over things that CANNOT HAPPEN. The SAVE Act CANNOT be done through reconciliation because it is not budgetary, and will be stripped out by the Senate Parliamentarian. And it cannot be passed stand-alone without killing the filibuster, which GOP senators will NEVER DO, since it's the one thing that gives them power over us.
Jeezus, can you people stop being the intellectual embarrassments you are and go get crutches for your brains???
Those of us who have lived in Washington many years are probably much more familiar with Senate/House rules and procedures than most outside Washington -- that much I have finally figured out. Being an 'insider' doesn't necessarily bestow wisdom, but it does have its benefits. The hue and cry over SAVE may be important as a set of principles, but you are right -- what Trump (or Steve Bannon) in another one of his fetish-filled flights of fancy wants doesn't mean 'what Trump gets.' His real name isn't Lola, after all.
SAVE is dead as a doornail -- it has been for some time now. What you see from Republicans is an elaborate game of bluff -- 'if I huff and puff long enough, people will think I'm dying and come to my rescue.' The Senate Majority leader doesn't have even a simple majority for it -- and he knows he doesn't. Murkowski will vote against it, at least 2-3 others will too -- even Kentucky Fried Voldemort might as well. And it can never go to reconciliation for the reasons you mentioned -- many people are unaware that a budget component of any bill (as this one) precludes that path. They would need a filibuster to do that -- and that they will not get.
Thune knows Trump's dream-demon act would disenfranchise Republican voters (overwhelmingly using mail and not possessing original birth certificates, passports or statements signed in blood in the presence of 20 witnesses or whatever....) far more than Democratic ones. He also fears what a future Democratic Senate (looking more and more likely) might do. All it takes is 51 and all the chairs, the agendas, the turfs suddenly change in an instant.
Far more dangerous than the heavily guarded front doors (not even mentioning the scores of lawsuits from state attorneys general other others immediately challenging SAVE's constitutionality were it to pass), are the unguarded, unlocked back doors. It is states and localities you have to worry about. Legislatures trying to mimic SAVE, what we saw in Fulton County with the recent by-election -- people suddenly finding out their polling place has moved, too few voting centers, people who wait to mail in ballots the last day (the Mississippi law permitting ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day) may be overturned --- those are the places where the real dramas are set to occur. Vigilance THERE will be far more important than most of us realize.
There are all kinds of creative ways to suppress the vote, as Fulton County demonstrated. Be alert and aware. Double check your polling location before you go vote.
We can only hope, but I caution you. These people will not stop. For decades the plotting and planning has been unfolding. They have probed and plotted starting with the organizing document the Lewis Powell Memo which then helped form the first Mandate For Leadership. When they get beat in court, they come back with a different nuanced argument and chip away.
One thing they managed to do was gain control of SCOTUS where the Chief Justice Roberts along with Scalia, Alito, Gorsuch became advisors to them when they would bring cases by providing the "right" way to come back and challenge the law.
The real scary thing about the SAVE Act is "proof of citizenship". What this can mean is they are going to define who can be a "voting" citizen and who cannot. I might be reaching here, but so far a number of my predictions have been spot on. They are working to not only have people prove they are a citizen, but define "who" can be a citizen and then "who" can vote. You have to think like Stephen Miller.
And we plot right back. And we have dozens and dozens of lawyers just salivating at the chance to file an immediate emergency lawsuit against SAVE, backed by about 25 state attorneys general (if not more). Because SAVE is unconstitutional on its face -- it violates Article I, Section 4 regarding elections. They will make Appellate Court decisions even easier.
You don't have to "caution me." You have to pay more attention to where the easier fights are going to take place. Thieves always try to get in back doors when the front is heavily guarded.
I feel (somewhat) safe in my blue state, BUT, despite supporting mail-in-ballots, I ALWAYS vote early because of the reasons you cite.
I am more and more frequently despondent, however, the election in Mar-a-lago land made me giddy. I was texting GIFs of confetti to friends.
ICTT -To your point about the regime's "backdooring" tactics to watch out for: CA GOP sheriff (Chad Bianco) who is running for governor, seized over 650,000 ballots from election officials on the pretext of conducting an investigation into potential "fraud" in the 2025 special election relating to redistricting. CA Attorney General, Rob Banta, calls these actions "unprecedented" and suggests "they aim to undermine public trust in the electoral process." Here we go... We need eyes in the back of our heads to keep track of all upcoming desperate actions...
TC - there is one thing you miss in your analysis- these republicans will toss rules to keep the leader happy. There are very dew that will stand up to him. Hell, Grassley keeps rolling over time and again. It is not yet total capitulation, but damn near it. That is why I keep warning people that every republican leader in the senate and House needs to voted out. The whole system is about to collapse rules be damned. Watch what they do not what they say. Those that talk about the rules are rarely standing by them these days. Look at how they sit silent as the actions of this administration keep piling up and the republican leaders do nothing.
Even though it "cannot be done," about which you're correct, TC,rhis doesn't mean the president's men and women won't try to do it, so the D's need to be prepared for yet another unlawful power/statute grab. As subscriber Steve Brant posted earlier, while the D's are trying to play a game of winning politics (which they have been miserable at lately), the R's are waging war games. Guess who's likely to win?
Spot the issue. Rules and laws are neither here nor there in "Trump World." Thus whatever "goddamned book" you have in mind plays no role. Read the news. Trump has had laws passed, proclamations signed, and whims carried out and many, if not most, of them are sued. Then several years later the Supreme Court hands down their opinion about it all. If Trump's World get overturned what does that mean? It means he got his goddamned way for several years. How does that work with the Save America B.S. Act? Well, it works for Trump because it means the 2026 election would go his way and then maybe not so with future elections long after he has already died from old age. See how Trump works or do you need a tutor to read the goddamned news to you?
Second place TC. Gail has you with “are you listening, or just waiting to talk.” There is still time for another entry!
If you want to crap on his tombstone, please ask me for a number. I’m first.
That reminds me. From my travel notes, Graves of Justice Scalia and Judge Bork, Pay your respects but don’t get caught. Warning, rubber galoshes needed. Fairfax Memorial Park, aka, Calvary Memorial Park. Just W of the Beltway and 15 mi E of Manassas National Battlefield at 9900 Braddock Rd. Fairfax. It would seem they should be buried further S, way S. (703) 323-5202
Scalia https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/158137009/antonin-gregory-scalia
Bork https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102351274/robert-heron-bork
Unfortunately ICE would send my shit (sorry for the crudeness) off to Quantico, Virginia for analysis.
Albert, Thank you, however it appears to be in edit view without access to your memorandum. unitedweamend.org/m-home.htmlhttps://share.google/8mFGsC3TpxVPXI2eH
Victoria, I'm not sure where you got the link you mentioned, but the correct link is UnitedWeAmend.org .
Even Noted Konztitooshinul Skolar Mike Lee knows it can't be done in a reconciliation bill, so don't get your knickers in a knot, worrying that it will happen. Another one of those
Fantasized
Expectations
Appearing
Real
For the first time, I find myself in agreement with Mike Lee. Trying not to spew at the thought. At least in this case
But the basic idea of enacting major policy change using budget reconciliation has gotten us some of the best and worst major policy changes through the Senate and around the filibuster. It has been used successfully by both parties. The devil is in the details of getting around the Byrd Rule.
Better constitutional law attorneys than Mike Lee are going to be going down this route, ones who will be paid by oligarchs who want to see the gravy train keep on running down the track.
Here are some examples where the strategy worked.
Reagan and Bush tax cuts: The 1981 Reagan tax cuts and the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 used reconciliation to sharply lower individual income‑tax rates, change brackets, and expand various credits and retirement provisions.
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017: TCJA was passed via reconciliation and permanently cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, rewrote international tax rules, and made sweeping but time‑limited changes to individual income taxes.
Welfare reform (1996): The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which overhauled cash welfare and created TANF block grants, moved as reconciliation legislation, fundamentally changing the structure of federal welfare.
Affordable Care Act “fixes” (2010): The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 carried key final pieces of the ACA, including subsidy and tax changes, and also made major student‑loan policy changes (ending most bank‑based federal loans).
American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act: ARP (2021) and the IRA (2022) both used reconciliation to create or expand large health‑insurance subsidies and to establish extensive clean‑energy tax credits and spending programs.
2025 Budget Reconciliation Act aka the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Recent reconciliation legislation has made substantial changes to Medicaid, Medicare payment rules, and ACA subsidy structures, with major downstream effects on coverage and provider behavior even though framed as budget measures.
Trump really really really wants this damn thing to pass. The only thing that Republicans defied him on has been the Epstein Files Transparency Act. I am not yet breathing a sigh of relief that the SAVE Act is dead with a stake through its heart. Once Thune let it out of committee, it can keep being resurrected until somebody finds language to pass the parliamentarian’s decision that it meets the Byrd Rule.
They keep probing and punching holes in the whole process. It is the unmentioned consequences of this bill that worry me like how they will decide to define "Citizen". I can foresee a time coming where a person that has been here all their lives with generations of back ground being defined as a non-citizen or at least a non-voting citizen because they do not support the "dear leader". Sounds crazy? Not really, when you have a republican (low level) come out and say that we should deport Native Americans. There is nothing off limits to these people.
How on earth did I miss that absolutely vapid thought? Where in the actual <expletive> do you send people who are Indigenous???
To be completely fair to them, they're not trying very hard despite all the threats coming from the White House.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/11/trump-john-thune-save-america-act
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/w1spUVuFc4s
The Guardian article is from March 11--way out of date in Trump time.
I think that the next iteration will get rid of Trump's "no deal with the democrats" by putting all of DHS funding into the reconciliation bill and keep the SAVE Act in it with some thin argument for SCOTUS to hang a favorable ruling on saying that adding the SAVE Act doesn't violate the Byrd Rule but the ICE/CBP reforms do or they simply don't monitor performance of ICE and CPB after the bill is passed. They get what they want without giving up the filibuster.
Establishing an autocracy is so much easier with a compliant Supreme Court.
How many times have the right wing nuts gone to this court, been turned down only to have SCOTUS members provide them strategy of how to come back with a different approach to get a favorable ruling? Remember Roe? Voting Rights Act? Unitary Executive?
Yes I do.
The CFTC has re-affirmed that it has full authority to "police illegal trading practices" on trading exchanges. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) jurisdiction would include the not-so "dark pools" of treasonous Gang trading.
I suspect the well documented illegal trade Gang will be revealed before Saturday's No Kings Ever events. Get your signs ready.
Counselor, I hope you’re right!
Ally, CNBC has reported extensively on the 6:50 am Pre-market trade.
When you trade futures what if there is no supply to trade? Will the contracts go unfilled? I've never traded in commodities and I know these are stupid questions, but Trump's temporary supply relief of releasing Iranian oil and lifting Russian sanctions on oil is not a long term solution.
Long ago the MSM quit reporting on the war in Ukraine, at least not anything above the fold so how many Americans understand how the Ukrainians have cut off Russian oil and natural gas.
Won't it be ironic if the crimes that finally bring down the House of Trump are insider trading around the Iran war?
Not pedophilia, not tariffs, not DOGE, not "It's Going to be Wild" RFK Jr, not a big pile of Constitutional violations, not his in your face graft, not ICE murders, not the murder of alleged drug runners in boats and so forth.
It's like mobsters of yore who never paid for their murders but went to prison for tax evasion.
Whatever it takes, the American People are abandoning Trump/MAGA in droves. Retribution is coming.
The "hardcore MAGA" aren't there yet, Merrill. Their propaganda "information" feed is not giving them accurate information, and simply tickling their amygdalae even more. They are a cult.
I keep wondering who the people are in the think tanks that come up with all of the ideas to take our government and country down. I am , of course, assuming that they are using think tanks since Trump and most of Trumps cabinet members and department heads don't seem smart enough to come up with this crap by themselves.
The Silicon Valley tech bros, the media moguls, the fossil fuel bosses. The insanely rich people who want to become even more insanely rich. For that, they need to get rid of all the nasty rules made by nasty NPCs so that they can rule as they wish.
Mike, I am bewildered by the greed. They have more money than they could possibly spend in their lifetimes, or that of their grandchildren. How many mansions, mega-yachts, Ferrari's, jets, etc can anyone need? It reminds me of a former friend who was very wealthy--her son was never happy no matter how many material items were dumped in his lap.
It might have been one of the good folks here, I can't recall who, but when I mentioned this, someone said I have "something they'll never have." When I asked what that could possibly be, they said:
"ENOUGH".
Nailed it.
That absolutely nails it. And I am totally with you: I, too, am bewildered by the galactic-level greed that these people display. They own half the planet, and still it isn't enough: they want the _whole_planet. There aren't enough planets in the universe to fill their totally empty, but hugely inflated egos.
Perhaps that is why Musk is fixated on getting to Mars.
Almost every post names the obscenely rich oligarchs as the problem. That is where the fight will have to be joined. Get them under control (first by levying taxes on their wealth that makes up for the decade of free ride that they have enjoyed) and then enacting laws that negate the SCOTUS
“Decisions” that have given these greedy billionaires the power to own our government.
The Project 2025 crowd, from the Heritage Foundation.
Cynthia, I agree with you as every time Trump pulls some obscure (bad word!) out, you just know he didn't have anything to do with it: Miller or one of the Heritage gang is busy looking for work-arounds. Trump is just to (really bad word!) lazy to do any work. All he needs is one of those disgusting (worse word imho) to whisper in his ear and tell him to do this.
Cynthia, I think Dutch Mike and Frau Katze have pretty-much covered it. I like to call them the Tech Bros and the Theo Bros. Peter Thiel has a Gucci loafer in both camps.
It should probably be mentioned that Leonard Leo, a Theo Bro, devotes his attention to packing the Supreme Court with fellow Catholics who are there to bless whatever the Tech Bros and Theo Bros slide under the autopen named "Donald."
Here is a list from the Christian Nationalist end. This list is a work in progress. It mostly comes from Katherine Stewart's book, "Money, Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy."
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1phIDBPuLoW_7rQT1pp1CZdvf4JOvV41DcKaK7K1vS68/edit?usp=sharing
Yes may those who made so much money from this insider trading by exposed and prosecuted.
And I still want to know who the 14 co-conspirators are in the recently uncovered document that had been redacted in the Epstein files.
The document focused on an investigation, called “Chain Reaction,” that began in December 2010 during the Obama administration, showed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency was running an investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and fourteen other people for drug trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering. It was still underway in 2015 but then Trump came in and the investigation disappeared, although the document suggested that it was a significant investigation and that the government was on the verge of indictments. Now Bondi's Department of Justice is blocking the release of that memo related to the Drug Enforcement Agency investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and those 14 co-conspirators.
Too many crimes to count, even gaudy gold tackiness and defacing historic buildings, monuments, mucking up the layout and design, destroying the lines and architecture of the Nation's capital. Trump and the regime plod on and plot onward, unabated...We must make it stop...lets make 15 million or more of us protesting this Saturday be a show of force against this madness, solidarity among us and a much needed better way forward...
America is no longer being governed so much as aggressively merchandised.
The basic theme of the day is that the presidency has been rebranded from public service into a deluxe lifestyle package for one man’s appetites. National security appears to have become a tip sheet for the rich, the White House is being redecorated like a Caesars Palace lobby with unresolved father issues, and federal power is now used with the subtle restraint of a guy live-posting from a golf cart.
It’s actually impressive. Most administrations merely flirt with corruption. This one has moved in with it, given it drawer space, and started picking out granite samples together. Allegations of suspicious futures trading tied to a false Iran announcement? Sure. Ripping out historic White House stonework so the walkway better complements the gold doodads? Of course. Sending ICE into airports during TSA chaos while allies openly call it a rehearsal for midterm deployment? Why not make authoritarianism multifunctional.
Even the hypocrisy has become performance art. Mail-in voting is supposedly a civilization-ending scandal, except when Donald Trump does it from Florida, in which case it becomes one of the commonsense exceptions for Very Important People With Special Mail.
The governing philosophy could not be clearer: if it can be monetized, weaponized, fossil-fueled, gold-trimmed, or used to make ordinary Americans more miserable, it’s now official policy. This is not the imperial presidency. It’s the Home Shopping Network of democratic collapse, operators standing by.
Michael, you are so spot on... and your writing is exceptional.
I wish these things weren't true. God, I wish this wasn't our reality.
He is a monster who destroys.
Destroys our history, historic architecture, Democracy, American lives, our mental and physical health, lives of LGBTQ, lives of immigrants, lives of the poor, lives of those not white, programs for children/elderly/disabled, farmers, our planet, government structure, our coffers, our financial stability, our standing and allied relationships, global financial stability, lives across the globe, and he's destroyed all trust.
Thank you, and I feel that grief too. What we’re living through is not just political conflict, it’s organized destruction of trust, dignity, institutions, and human belonging. That’s why naming it clearly matters. We can’t defend what remains by pretending this is normal. The damage is wide, but so is the responsibility to resist it, tell the truth, and refuse moral numbness.
"...aggressively merchandised" BINGO!! Complete with video game combat reports and new and improved pavers.
Thank you, Megan.
For Congressional stock trading information go to:
integrityindex.us and https://www.quiverquant.com/
"The Stock Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act requires U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives to publicly file and disclose any financial transaction within 45 days of its occurrence. We download those disclosures, parse them for stock trades, fetch the stock's performance in the time following the transaction, and calculate each politician's cumulative return from their trades."
Thank you Megan!
Traders spent $580 million in fifteen minutes. Imagine this: had they instead given $1,000,000 to every American (including children), they'd still have had $150,000,000 to play with.
And that $1,000,000 in every American's bank account would have been put right back into the economy, increasing profits for every industry and retailer in the US. But no, that's not the Capitalist way.
What Krugman announced is exactly what my husband said. We all know that trump follows the stock market and alters policy to reflect its daily status.
Thanks, will do.
Gold-Plated Authoritarianism
A republic is being stripped for parts, spray-painted gold, and sold back as greatness. This satire takes aim at the vulgarity, corruption, and staged menace of an American presidency now obsessed with power, spectacle, and self-worship. https://essayx.substack.com/p/gold-plated-authoritarianism
We don't need to wait, WE KNOW Nancy Pelosi made MILLIONS on insider trading.
Thank you and I agree completely.
What is going on is frightening..and wrong.
Be loud..speak out..call people in Congress..
the Senate and the House..we can do this
calling several people a day. at least.
The Congress could stop this .
Follow the suspicious trading just minutes before Trump made his Iran announcement with this infographic. Epstein Class Insider Trading: Gas Futures & Trump’s Iran War
https://thedemlabs.org/2026/03/23/investigation-epstein-class-insider-trading-gas-futures-iran-war/
The corruption of Donald Trump, and everyone associated with his regime, is off the charts. I hope some patriotic group, and whistleblowers in government, are documenting it all. Every single one of these criminals should be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law as soon as Democrats are once again in control of the Oval Office and the Department of Justice.
Meanwhile, state attorneys general should step up to the plate, as much as possible.
Yes Arctic Stone... there are some of those folks out there in government but even better than that - note that all of Professor Heather's "Letters to America" are carefully annotated - references for posterity for futures historians and humanity and for any clever prosecutor to dig in for the proper information to use.
Exactly. Bravo!
I don’t believe in the death penalty, but hanging is sounding better each day.
Trump wants the world to run on oil, the environment be damned, because that is where he and his family have manipulated corrupt investments. They want to control the oil supply. He wanted to "take the oil" in Iraq. He has apparently succeeded in taking the oil in Venezuela. He and his family are good friends with Saudi Arabia, and now he is working on gaining control in Iran.
Extractable oil is fairly rare which means a very few people can control and collect great fortunes. Alternative energy has all sorts of advantages, BUT it is far more decentralized and therefore far less suitable for monopolization. THAT is why it must go; even at the price of sending our species (and a great many others) to hell in a handbasket.
That's a good point that I hadn't even thought about. Time was not long ago that alternative energy was so expensive that only a few companies could afford to set it up. Now it's just like you say, an energy source that is increasingly decentralized and therefore less subject to control and monopolization.
Yes, I agree JL, but China is doing very well monetarily on solar and many other clever ideas for alternate energy - they are, I believe, one of the top contenders in the up and coming fusion energy business (much better than anyone's dabbling in AI as far as humanity will be served). But you are certainly correct on the monopolization angle - which begets greed and the lust for more power.
Karen Close,
As far as I know, China is wisely staying out of conflicts that would cost the lives of their inhabitants and staying focused on being successful "as a communist nation"...not without its own problems...but one must give credit to the people, where it is deserved.
J.L. this is precisely the reason Morgan squashed Nicola Tesla's renewable energy designs, because he could not figure out how to slap a meter on it and charge everyone for usage.
With no apologies and the self-righteous blather of Elmer Gantry and Jerry Springer
Exactly!
$adly.
Speaking of the Saudis... Follow the Saudi money to Trump and Kushner with this interactive map. Also the Middle East money to Steve Witkoff and Bondi. When did the U.S. military become a mercenary force for hire from Trump's real estate business/https://embed.kumu.io/e7d1b29a12cd7ec728cefdc1450be476
The future they are planning maybe worse than
https://rickey125.substack.com/p/nuclear-war-what-is-happening-may
Exactly Jane Ketcham
On the other hand, Trump makes optimistic announcements about the war just before the stock market opens and saves his more belligerent rants for after it closes, and anybody can track these vacillations.
When Trump makes announcements is incidental to what really matters: who can profit from Trump's announcements and trade accordingly? It's especially suspicious when trades made minutes before Trump's announcements and involves millions of dollars.
Also note: Margaret Ryan, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director of Enforcement, resigned effective March 16, 2026, after only six months, amid reports of internal clashes over investigations involving allies of President Trump, including Elon Musk. Ryan, a former military judge appointed under Chairman Paul Atkins, reportedly faced resistance over her approach to high-profile cases. - https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-sec-enforcement-director-leave-agency-after-months-job-sources-say-2026-03-16/#:~:text=By%20Dawn%20Kopecki%20and%20Chris,top%20leaders%20into%20their%20roles.
Michael Lewis’s book Flash Boys described the early years of this type of trading. I was worried then and more worried now.Even if one puts stocks in a blind trust I think still problematic. It is no longer the people running the government it is the 1 % and others from around the globe.
So yes the word treason fits.
Even, I think, the word "evil". When one is willing to harm anyone and anything for the sake of greed for greed's sake, what else could it be?
Agreed. I think that is the definition of evil.
You're right. In Flash Boys the unfair advantage is that insiders rig the system by manipulating when stock trades are placed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Boys
The current situation under Trump is worse where insiders can get policy announcements and trade on that insider knowledge before the general public. And the regulators who are supposed to protect regular investors have been fired.
Just like people won't go to a casino where the game is rigged, what happens when people lose trust in the U.S. stock markets? So the next time Trump announces the war with Iran is over, how many people will believe him and trade accordingly?
Except that the Constitution has a narrow definition as one of my legal friends reminds me. Specifically, aiding the enemy during a time of war. I agree with you that this is a treasonous action, but in court not so much where the law matters. As he said, this is a situation where the very people in charge of upholding the law are the ones in charge and since they have no integrity, well you know.
Speaking of flash and not Flash Gordon there is a AI for profit school chain Alpha out of Austin Texas originated by the Triology founder. Linda McMahon is a fine. AI school students eyes are tracked. Without ethics in ever part of all core aspects of our culture we are in increasing trouble.
The diminution of the concepts of ethics and moral core has been tragic.when and who threw them out the widows. The analogy of a house built on sand comes to mind.
Mary OMalley,
When we allow criminals to be in charge, what can we expect?
It was not me who originally suggested this. Please follow threads and primary sources in the commentary.
I accept that, Deepak, but I'm just saying there's no mystery about why Trump announces talks with Iran on Monday morning hours before the stock market opens and times the expiry of his extended five-day deadline to coincide with the closing of the markets on Friday evening. He judges the whole economy by the performance of the stock market.
Furthermore, Trump's self-enrichment project can hardly be said to have been conducted with even a modicum of discretion: it's happening in plain sight. The New Yorker's David D. Kirkpatrick has been tracking his corruption and has totalled his presidential 'earnings' as around $4bn as at the end of January. So it should come as no surprise that those around him are following his lead.
I agree that he's sacked inspectors general and ethics advisers and appointed cronies but that hasn't prevented people from monitoring his excesses.
https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-warren-reads-100-acts-of-trump-corruption-into-congressional-record-to-mark-100-days-of-the-trump-administration
It appears there was a great deal of extremely questionable trading done 15 minutes BEFORE Trump made his announcement. Those trades resulted in millions of dollars of profit for those illegal traders. A top person at SEC resigned bc she wanted to investigate what appeared to be insider trading and was told NO.
Thank you. Sharing.
I do not think Trump wants or would tolerate others to be doing insider trading based on their knowledge of his actions. They would be exploiting their access to their advantage. He would not be getting a cut. I do not think he would tolerate it. It follows that if he would not tolerate others making money this way AND such insider trading happens, that Trump and those working explicitly for him are doing this. He is essentially a mob boss with pardon powers.
.
Mark, he gets his cut BEFORE they get their inside information, in the form of "contributions" to his campaign, inauguration, crypto ventures, 'presidential library' and various construction projects. That's why his "contributors" get their inside information.
With Donald, it's always quid pro quo. The quid always comes before the quo.
Perfectly put!
Treason. Let that sink in. The President of the United States of America has committed treason. This man threatens all of us.
We must curtail this SOB now. We must resist. Join your neighbors. Join your comrades. Join your friends. Join your family. Join all of us as we rally to save our country.
Saturday March 28.
No Kings 3.
Avance la Lucha
How I wish I could be out there demonstrating with you all on Saturday but my husband is on home hospice and I cannot leave him -- so I will donate instead and hope that helps in some small way. Thank you all for showing up - this is the most important demonstration so far.
@lauriemcf Robert Hubbell’s newsletter today has a link for being able to “march” from home on Saturday, I think. I read it fast but look for it! Sorry about your husband but grateful for hospice helping you take this journey together. Peace.
Every single thing we do individually adds to the resistance. Donating, subscribing,post carding, petitioning, voting, comforting our loved ones and neighbors. I'm sending healing thoughts to both you and your husband.
lauriemcf, you’re right where you need to be. May you & your husband be blessed.
For the first time we are recording our No Kings event and will have it for posterity. I’ll include a link here with access to it. I’m so excited for Saturday to come, like a child on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa. We’ve thrown ourselves into putting a meaningful program and it will be the debut of our Justice Singers. Modeled by watching the strong, generous, loving people of Minneapolis. Thank you all for being part of my community. I gain strength from Heather and each of you.
lauriemcf,
May love and devotion be your strength during these days as you care for your husband. I am thankful for your choice.
We each give as we are able. You are where you should be.
laurie, I will write your name on my sign. Thank you for what you're doing with and for your husband. Hospice is such a gift (I got to travel that path with my wife's uncle 8 years ago.)
Not treason as it is defined by American law, but certainly in the larger sense of selling out official duties, the public's interests and any shred of decency, in favor of personal greed and lust for autocratic power.
According to Perplexity AI “Enemies” in the treason clause has been read to mean the forces of a foreign power or entity with which the United States is in a state of declared or de facto war, not just any hostile group or domestic political opponent.
So if we aren't in armed conflict (de facto war) with a nation, that provides a lot of latitude in what states we can give aid to. So it's OK for Trump to lift sanctions on Russia because we aren't shooting at them even though they are giving aid to someone whom we are shooting at.
But then Trump lifted sanctions on Iran who we are bombing, so...
Wait. I am confused....
That’s the plan man
Understandably so.
More worringly, so is he.
Your husband’s care is paramount. Peace & love to you both.
Won't it be ironic if the crimes that finally bring down the House of Trump are insider trading around the Iran war?
Not pedophilia, not tariffs, not DOGE, not "It's Going to be Wild" RFK Jr, not a big pile of Constitutional violations, not his in your face graft, not ICE murders, not the murder of alleged drug runners in boats and so forth.
It's like mobsters of yore who never paid for their murders but went to prison for tax evasion.
Whatever it takes, the American People are abandoning Trump/MAGA in droves. Retribution is coming.
The good news is the cracks are widening. The bad news is the ugliness exposed in those cracks. Like a festering boil it must all be cleaned out. Gross I know but it has to be exposed and uprooted if we are going to reclaim our government.
One thing public movements have done historically well is to shine light on evil, and keep it in the spotlight.
Given the corruption of corp. media, it is fortunate that, for now, we have ways to "shine the light" and communicate: independent experts on youtube and substacks.
For now.
Wish they had the attention of most. They are a blip at the moment
I say to myself quite often: how long will these really informed truth tellers be able to get away with it.
Way longer than I ever thought possible…. Walter is gone
"Now, in every human question, there is something more powerful than strength, than courage, than genius itself: it is the idea whose time has come." - Émile Souvestre
This. The cracks --- they widen. The filth rises. Perversely, it is a sign that momentum is with us. No guarantee of success, but the wind is at our back, not theirs.
Well, here's another crack widening. TSA is addressed in Project 2025:
Block funding to TSA and bring in ICE.
Kill the federal TSA union so ICE stays.
Privatize TSA.
Normalize armed enforcement at airports.
https://bsky.app/profile/spudleyt.bsky.social/post/3mhqrd7zhfs2h
Billionaires make more money.
More control built into mass deportation.
Government has more control over people's movement.
How many Jews were able to get travel permits to flee the Nazis?
Timely reminder of Project 2025 strategy and plans!
Thanks for exposing this plan.
The Project 2025 page regarding TSA with explainer:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWRKI3-Eeq9/?img_index=5&igsh=NjZiM2M3MzIxNA==
Well “Linda in Arizona” was prescient. Or she read P2025.
Extreme dislike, Ellie.
Yeah well, cleaning up the swamp went well. Right? What scum between those cracks!
I have often used the festering boil anology to refer to this hard time we are living through. When it's cleaned out it will leave a scar. We will have a lot of work to do to recover our country.
Kathleen, I suppose it's encouraging to remember that scar tissue is tougher than the tissue around it.
HOW are they widening? Please…improve my wretched day. I can’t quite see it; I’m not disputing it.
Insider trading...But wait! Aren't many of these people in Congress the same ones that went nuts over Martha Stewart?
Stewart had no politician's prerogatives.
well, she is a woman .....
I thought similarly! She must want to send out some tainted hors d’oeuvres to these insiders!
The big picture here is Trump is an abusive husband and America has become the abused wife. An abusive husband does whatever he wants with the families finances and other resources, expecting the wife to cower in fear for her life. (I know this dynamic well because my father abused my mother for 20 years.)
I perceive the Democrats as being in shock the way my mother was. They only know “politics“. What is happening now is NOT politics! It is a war against democracy by a domestic terrorist organization masquerading as a government. That organization is in league with authoritarians around the world (Putin and Orban) and techno fascist in Silicon Valley. If the Democrats don’t WTFU, there will be no midterm election of the kind necessary to take back control of the Congress. The Democrats need to THINK OUTSIDE THE POLITICAL BOX and hold a CITIZENS’ IMPEACHMENT OF TRUMP at the Washington Press Club and otherwise BREAK TRUMP’s HOLD ON THE PUBLIC CONVERSATION about both what’s going on now and what kind of future we can have! I call on everyone here to demand the Democrats shut down Congress and declare they refuse to work with domestic terrorists!
Dems still are playing politics. Game changed so many years ago
Yep. They still try to play by the rules. This is like they’re trying to play a game of chess, by the rules, while Trump and the MAGAts are continuously punching their faces.
Sarah Kendzior was talking with Mark Thompson today – about Robert Mueller.
They agreed that the most prophetic things he ever said came at a talk he gave in 2011, as F.B.I. director, on the convergence of worldwide organized crime and the growth of dark money, particularly in the U.S. after the 1971 Powell money. Thus rose all the more global trafficking in girls, arms, drugs, and money laundering.
Those of us who remember key Supreme Court dates also recall that the year previous to Mueller’s 2011 talk was Citizens United – all valves now open to the sluicing of money and corruption.
Sarah Kendzior and Mark Thompson regretted no one ever acted on Mueller’s warnings. Mueller himself did nothing, either – except his performative roles gussying up all the U.S.’s key institutions, when in fact most were caving to the multiplying corruption.
Could we add in both testing at the K-12 level, and higher ed’s transformation into neutered dehumanized specialist silos, all adding to what we endure now?
Right as usual Phil
A crime for everyone except for the immune Donald Trump!
Were the six justices honest, this alone would make them change their votes. But … not a chance!
Thank you, Heather, for bringing up the wholesale enshittification of our Nation's capital. The destruction of the east Wing, that gross "ballroom," the removal of art work and memorials to women, Black and Brown people, the destruction of WPA murals, removal of the bicycle lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue .... tearing out the Rose Garden, it just goes on and on. Washington DC belongs to the people of the United States - perhaps that is why he is so vindictively soiling it at every opportunity.
We remember his scatological video of himself as a Flying Ace dumping shit all over the rest of us. It's always been his fondest dream. A mentality filled with pathology and disease, incapable of grasping any of the ideals that L'Enfant and others were determined Washington the city should express.
I want a future Democratic Congress to commit to blowing up every single monstrosity he has in store and restoring the East Wing, Jackie Kennedy's Rose Garden, the bike lanes and the cameras (don't forget that one) that he wants removed -- I guess because they've saved too many black lives...
Yes, I do , too. It has to be done. Restoration could be a great way to obliterate him and give us hope for the future. Any cost will be worth it.
Jon, I am convinced that the "enshittification" is a reflexive response to Donald's failure to fulfill his parents' assignment to get the Trump family accepted by Manhattan's aristocracy.
Having limited education and limited understanding of how high society works, Fred and Mary Ann Trump assumed that having large amounts of money would enable them to befriend the "old money" types in the NYC area. Being ignorant, they didn't realize that their loud, harsh personas would still be unwelcome, no matter how much money they made from cheap apartment buildings and laundromats.
Donald was supposed to open doors for them, but he, being loud and coarse, also failed. He is filled with resentment and rage that he couldn't buy their love with aristocratic access. His actions are acts of revenge against the establishment that wouldn't accept his family.
He is the boy who kicks down the sand castles of other children on the beach who won't play with him.
… and now he’s plunked a Christopher Columbus statue in front of the Old Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. I wrote about this statue and the man it honors a couple of years ago, when nobody wanted it on their property. Here’s the link, FWIW. https://davea.substack.com/p/exiled-columbus
YES! Keep this front and center! 💙🇺🇸💙
Terribly grim on all fronts. Clearly corruption is driving the entire enterprise. Yesterday we were told that Iran had generally accepted 15 points, agreeing to our most important demands. Bold/faced Lies. A massive, costly deadly war started illegally, and conducted grossly incompetently with no plan or coherent strategy. We know Trump will now double down plunging us deeper into the abyss. And yet the GOP is fine with this. God help us.
I think of all the good the money for the war could have done at home. And I think of all the lives lost for no reason. It is truly evil.
Chump repeats big lie three times, it’s then true. He learned in the crib and was reinforced by Mein Kampf.
He's probably clicking his heels as he repeats the phrase - Like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.
Performance, Oscar please
Though not grand and not that old. The party of Lincoln is dead, dead, dead.
Yes and I guess the 2000 ground troops being sent in are just to help with the talks that are going so well ?
ICYMI: What Julie Brown is doing is as big or bigger than Woodward and Bernstein/Watergate and the Boston Globe Spotlight Team that exposed the Catholic Church child sexual abuse. Nicolle Wallace on “The Best People” interviews Julie K. Brown, investigative reporter for the Miami Herald: “Blown every door open’: She broke the Epstein story — and she has more - YouTube”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXGlXnCKlZU
Julie K. Brown for a Pulitzer Prize and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
But wait.This horrific story is expanding. Legal AF/Meidastouch interviewed investigative journalist and author Gareth Gore. “INSIDER Reveals Pope Leo's Confrontation of GOP-Linked Opus Dei - YouTube”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxvmm1wajp4 and see: “Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church”.by Gareth Gore just recently published. And guess who belongs to Opus Dei? Bill Barr, Trump first term AG. Kevin D. Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation and overseer of Project 2025. Leonard Leo, chairman of the Federalist Society that lobbied the packing of the SCOTUS with ultra right wingers.
And Glenn Kirshner, an American attorney, former US Army prosecutor (JAG), former US Assistant Attorney in the office of the DOJ for the District of Columbia, former NBC/MSNBC legal analyst, podcaster of “Justice Matters” was interviewed by famous, voting rights lawyer Marc Elias of Democracy Docket on 4/24/26. They discuss “ The Accountability Project”, US courts and their assumption of good faith on the part of the DOJ, what is likely to happen surrounding the time of the 2026 elections, how we the people can fight back, SCOTUS decisions, grand juries ruling against unwarranted DOJ cases, etc.. It’s a very informative discussion by two legal experts. “Trump Accountability Must Go SCORCHED EARTH | Glenn Kirschner - YouTube”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7nNzIHFgvM
Remember the No Kings rally on Saturday, March 28, 2026.
WOW! Thanks for the links!
Do we know if Republicans in Congress know right from wrong?
It was the late Robert Mueller who spoke of integrity above all else.
He was a Republican.
Keep winning Democrats until Republicans see that loyalty to a narcissist is less important than putting the country first.
It's not just for the flamboyant poster child of malignant narcissism; it's toady servitude to plutocrats, most of whom stay out of the spotlight; though Musk is an exception.
Somebody, anybody, please stop this man!
About the insider trading. I think Trump is carefully limiting the insider trading to his own family; people closest to him. I strongly suspect that the wealth accumulated by America's more visible billionaires really grates on him and he thinks as President he deserves a much bigger "piece of the action".
Trump’s puppets in Congress who refuse to use their powers to rein him in are as guilty as he is. Their grandchildren need to explain this to them.
Amassing troops to escalate attacks on Iran after the markets close this Friday, and perhaps early Saturday--just like the initial attack. Hopefully, Saturday's No Kings march will be unimaginably larger than the last.
And it won't matter, once the small arms shooting starts. No Kings might make it to page two.
CRINGE
It has been a long day, and I'm too tired to write at length as I sometimes do, but this one word seems sufficient to sum it all up.
Betsy, my knee jerk response was just “gag me”.