At about 1:30 this morning, local time, the Dali, a 985-foot (300 m) container ship operating under a Singapore flag, struck the steel Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, that spans the lower Patapsco River and outer Baltimore Harbor. The bridge immediately collapsed.
Such a busy day today. Thank you for this. I find it odd that with everything going on in the world, the thing that had me in tears was the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. I'm glad so few people were hurt, but it is symbolic to me of some of the old established ideas that have become outdated and brittle, which need to be replaced and updated. We need to rebuild not only the literal bridges, but we need to re-weave the fabric of our democratic society— with steel and courage, kindness and inclusivity, and with equal justice under the law for every one of us. Let's build that.
Mar 27·edited Mar 27Liked by Heather Cox Richardson
Thank you Heather. Your letters always inform us and I truly appreciate them and you. The collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge is a mammoth tragedy. So far, 6 people are missing and presumed dead, shipping lanes will be disrupted for months, people's lives and the way they get to and from their jobs will have to be re-routed, etc. etc. But, right away the conspiracy theorists are there to spin this tragedy so they can make money, throw dirt on their "opponents", and cause chaos. Did the orange menace do or say anything positive for the people who have lost a loved one or had their world turned upside down? I only hear crickets from him and his ilk. It must be very hard to always see the enemy behind every tree, to see the world as if everyone is out to get you, or to look at every situation as a way to make you more money. I wish people were smart enough to turn off the likes of the Alex Jones' and stop looking at the sites like "Truth Social" (now that is an oxymoron). Vote Blue all the way through! We need to get these thugs out of our lives!
If you take note of the 20 point swing in popularity the Democrats got in Alabama, you can see there really is no safe Republican seat anywhere in America in 2024 unless it goes unchallenged.
Trump has never lost his religion. It is my opinion that he has never had any religion. In fact, I do not see any semblance of spirituality about this guy. Wonder if his soul left?
I like it that the Dems can take credit for "competence in government matters" by their rebuilding of the bridge in Pennsylvania in record time and getting the infrastructure spending done and their ducks in a row. It shows who know how to get things done!!!
Thank you. Long day for you. Hope you’re getting enough rest.
Watching the tape of the Baltimore bridge incident was chilling. Glad they had at least a little warning and reacted so quickly, or it could have been worse.
That an unproven media group with an app "completely detached from any sort of fundamentals" more accurately named "Filth Vocal" can cause vulnerable people to buy it and financially support the grifting "perpetraitor" is actually yet one more metaphor for what he's done to their entire political party,....grifting their votes.
While Ronna has been detached from NBC and trading in ‘Truth Social’ also experiences a detachment from reality, I am grateful to all who expressed their outrage to NBC and the NBC News Division and they definitely earned the right to celebrate.
(Warning: There is a 'However' coming) ...
And remember it's NBC who gave us "The Apprentice". It's NBC who added Matt "No follow-up questions for my pal Trump" Lauer.
However, I won't be satisfied until all who continued to act either as co-conspirators or accessories after the fact in the attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters in the attempt to subvert a free and fair election. McDaniel should be under an investigatory microscope along with everyone else who willfully participated. She should be barred from ever holding public office -along with the rest -before she's being inaugurated as the next Governor of Wherever, United States.
Ooo nice last paragraph! Topping off a difficult intro w the Baltimore accidental maritime disaster early this morning at the bridge.
Biden & his team are powering along as best as we can expect given the daily challenges. I Keep sending my best Prayers (wishes, hopes & dreams, too) to energize our beloved country to meet each challenge with Grace and Power… vote, talk we everyone who looks friendly or just lost. There’s so much heart break out there .. the cars falling from the bridge this morning. The metal twisting like an old erector set.
We are at war. And this time the fascists have taken over the GOP instead of Germany. And the sooner the people who run America’s news organizations get this FACT through their thick (ie used to the GOP being a political party rather than an domestic enemy) heads, the sooner We the People will be able to set the course of our nation firmly in the direction the Founding Fathers set for us: towards a future where ALL are supported in achieving “life, liberty, and happiness”.
Related, if you want to watch one cornerstone of American journalism wrapping her brain around this new truth, I recommend watching Steve Schmidt interviewing Katie Couric on Steve’s YouTube channel. It’s a brand new interview. I’ll post a link to it in a comment on this post. Katie is in her late 60s now and never imagined the GOP would become an enemy of democracy. But she’s shedding her many decades of belief in one reality in favor of the new reality. It’s fascinating to watch that happening while she talks to Steve about the good old days when John McCain was the candidate for POTUS of his party… a time that seems light years away from today.
The stock market launch of the Trump Media and Technology Group stock yesterday is the greatest financial scam in my lifetime. It is a convoluted Trump ‘special’ out of Truth Social, a minor internet platform for Trump’s bloviating.
This stock is ‘valued’ at over $7 billion, with Trump the greatest beneficiary. It is based on far more hot air than Trump expends in a two-hour performance before his MAGists. For the moment Trump cannot cash out on his massive stock holding, since he is legally forbidden to do this for six months.
The financials for this stock are extraordinarily underwhelming—in the millions for revenue and the tens of millions for annual losses, which renders the $7+ billion market valuation total foo foo dust.
By comparison, Bitcoin (based on nothing but a computerized calculation done by an unknown Japanese) is a ‘risk free’ investment. Madoff, who had a massive, fraudulent Ponzi scheme, would have tipped his hat (from jail) in admiration of Trump’s financial shenanigans.
I congratulate Trump for initiating such an outlandish financial scam that makes his Trump golden sneakers and his personalized Bible look extremely modest by comparison.
This stock house of cards will collapse long before Trump has the opportunity to cash out. I wonder how many of his cultists will invest in this Trumphonymania before it collapses.
There is a complex relationship between advertising and semi-addictive human behavior. There is almost certainly a significant relationship between susceptibility to advertising (i.e. click through rates) and gullibility for political nonsense. There is probably a similar correlation with gambling. We probably need to do a dramatically better job of teaching personal financial management in both primary and secondary education. Liberals are bad at this same kind of math, in that state legislatures controlled by Democrats have mostly been supporting of state lotteries, which really is a way of taxing the poor, or as we jokingly like to put it: taxing folks who are bad a math.
Such a busy day today. Thank you for this. I find it odd that with everything going on in the world, the thing that had me in tears was the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. I'm glad so few people were hurt, but it is symbolic to me of some of the old established ideas that have become outdated and brittle, which need to be replaced and updated. We need to rebuild not only the literal bridges, but we need to re-weave the fabric of our democratic society— with steel and courage, kindness and inclusivity, and with equal justice under the law for every one of us. Let's build that.
Thank you Heather. Your letters always inform us and I truly appreciate them and you. The collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge is a mammoth tragedy. So far, 6 people are missing and presumed dead, shipping lanes will be disrupted for months, people's lives and the way they get to and from their jobs will have to be re-routed, etc. etc. But, right away the conspiracy theorists are there to spin this tragedy so they can make money, throw dirt on their "opponents", and cause chaos. Did the orange menace do or say anything positive for the people who have lost a loved one or had their world turned upside down? I only hear crickets from him and his ilk. It must be very hard to always see the enemy behind every tree, to see the world as if everyone is out to get you, or to look at every situation as a way to make you more money. I wish people were smart enough to turn off the likes of the Alex Jones' and stop looking at the sites like "Truth Social" (now that is an oxymoron). Vote Blue all the way through! We need to get these thugs out of our lives!
If you take note of the 20 point swing in popularity the Democrats got in Alabama, you can see there really is no safe Republican seat anywhere in America in 2024 unless it goes unchallenged.
Trump has never lost his religion. It is my opinion that he has never had any religion. In fact, I do not see any semblance of spirituality about this guy. Wonder if his soul left?
I like it that the Dems can take credit for "competence in government matters" by their rebuilding of the bridge in Pennsylvania in record time and getting the infrastructure spending done and their ducks in a row. It shows who know how to get things done!!!
Great job as always Ms Richardson!
"Just today, Trump began to hawk Bibles for $59.99."
We live in an upside-down world.
Thank you. Long day for you. Hope you’re getting enough rest.
Watching the tape of the Baltimore bridge incident was chilling. Glad they had at least a little warning and reacted so quickly, or it could have been worse.
That an unproven media group with an app "completely detached from any sort of fundamentals" more accurately named "Filth Vocal" can cause vulnerable people to buy it and financially support the grifting "perpetraitor" is actually yet one more metaphor for what he's done to their entire political party,....grifting their votes.
Many thanks to everyone here who wrote and emailed NBC executives to protest the hiring of Ronna McDaniel. Protest works!!!
Other news is pretty horrifying, except for the good election results in Alabama and signs of a good outcome for mifepristone access.
Thank you Heather.
While Ronna has been detached from NBC and trading in ‘Truth Social’ also experiences a detachment from reality, I am grateful to all who expressed their outrage to NBC and the NBC News Division and they definitely earned the right to celebrate.
(Warning: There is a 'However' coming) ...
And remember it's NBC who gave us "The Apprentice". It's NBC who added Matt "No follow-up questions for my pal Trump" Lauer.
However, I won't be satisfied until all who continued to act either as co-conspirators or accessories after the fact in the attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters in the attempt to subvert a free and fair election. McDaniel should be under an investigatory microscope along with everyone else who willfully participated. She should be barred from ever holding public office -along with the rest -before she's being inaugurated as the next Governor of Wherever, United States.
A Democrat won an election by 65% of the vote in Ala’ f’ing bama!
Ooo nice last paragraph! Topping off a difficult intro w the Baltimore accidental maritime disaster early this morning at the bridge.
Biden & his team are powering along as best as we can expect given the daily challenges. I Keep sending my best Prayers (wishes, hopes & dreams, too) to energize our beloved country to meet each challenge with Grace and Power… vote, talk we everyone who looks friendly or just lost. There’s so much heart break out there .. the cars falling from the bridge this morning. The metal twisting like an old erector set.
It’s time for “Operation Bluemap”!
Buying stock in any TFG-related company is to an investment strategy as buying lottery tickets is to a retirement plan.
“Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill
We are at war. And this time the fascists have taken over the GOP instead of Germany. And the sooner the people who run America’s news organizations get this FACT through their thick (ie used to the GOP being a political party rather than an domestic enemy) heads, the sooner We the People will be able to set the course of our nation firmly in the direction the Founding Fathers set for us: towards a future where ALL are supported in achieving “life, liberty, and happiness”.
Related, if you want to watch one cornerstone of American journalism wrapping her brain around this new truth, I recommend watching Steve Schmidt interviewing Katie Couric on Steve’s YouTube channel. It’s a brand new interview. I’ll post a link to it in a comment on this post. Katie is in her late 60s now and never imagined the GOP would become an enemy of democracy. But she’s shedding her many decades of belief in one reality in favor of the new reality. It’s fascinating to watch that happening while she talks to Steve about the good old days when John McCain was the candidate for POTUS of his party… a time that seems light years away from today.
The stock market launch of the Trump Media and Technology Group stock yesterday is the greatest financial scam in my lifetime. It is a convoluted Trump ‘special’ out of Truth Social, a minor internet platform for Trump’s bloviating.
This stock is ‘valued’ at over $7 billion, with Trump the greatest beneficiary. It is based on far more hot air than Trump expends in a two-hour performance before his MAGists. For the moment Trump cannot cash out on his massive stock holding, since he is legally forbidden to do this for six months.
The financials for this stock are extraordinarily underwhelming—in the millions for revenue and the tens of millions for annual losses, which renders the $7+ billion market valuation total foo foo dust.
By comparison, Bitcoin (based on nothing but a computerized calculation done by an unknown Japanese) is a ‘risk free’ investment. Madoff, who had a massive, fraudulent Ponzi scheme, would have tipped his hat (from jail) in admiration of Trump’s financial shenanigans.
I congratulate Trump for initiating such an outlandish financial scam that makes his Trump golden sneakers and his personalized Bible look extremely modest by comparison.
This stock house of cards will collapse long before Trump has the opportunity to cash out. I wonder how many of his cultists will invest in this Trumphonymania before it collapses.
There is a complex relationship between advertising and semi-addictive human behavior. There is almost certainly a significant relationship between susceptibility to advertising (i.e. click through rates) and gullibility for political nonsense. There is probably a similar correlation with gambling. We probably need to do a dramatically better job of teaching personal financial management in both primary and secondary education. Liberals are bad at this same kind of math, in that state legislatures controlled by Democrats have mostly been supporting of state lotteries, which really is a way of taxing the poor, or as we jokingly like to put it: taxing folks who are bad a math.