Buried in the cascade of news this week, Sadie Gurman and Caitlin Ostroff of the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that 47,635 files are missing from the Epstein files documents that the Justice Department has made public.
That paragraph-long babble-bibble word salad tirade about missiles and "we now have peace in the Middle East" Heather quoted was even worse in the non-cleaned up original appearing on Hair Furor's "Truth Social" posts (nothing to do with truth of course, and about as social as venereal disease). Pushing those hamberder wrappers aside, he used those pudgy little fingers to tippy-tap:
"Sleepy Joe Biden spent all his time, and our Country's money, GIVING everything to P.T Barnum (Zelenskyy!) of Ukraine -- Hundreds of Billions Worth -- And, while he gave so much of the super high end (FREE!) he didn't bother to replace it. Fortunately, I rebuilt the military..."
It's all Biden's fault. Of course. Whatever "it" was or is.
For sure! Trump would have had all those D-Day Antifa soldiers rounded up and placed in internment camps. It’s increasingly clear that Trump and his inner circle believe America fought on the wrong side in World War II. Moreover, they are doing their utmost to reverse the Confederacy’s loss of the Civil War.
Tragically we are seeing our Democracy die by one more of a thousand cuts every day. It's becoming predictable that the failing, mentally deranged "leader" who has lost touch with reality, is providing cover for the cruelty, chaos, and corruption his regime and the Republican Party is inflicting on the American people and now, the rest of the world every day.
Paul, having one more person who no doubt would agree with that reduction, when Congress comes to a vote, Could help make a difference. That is why I am sharing about an upcoming congressional seat I read about this morning.
Here is what I am sharing.
POSSIBLY AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP?
NEVADA WILL HAVE AN OPEN
CONGRESSIONAL SEAT!
Now that another Republican is leaving Congress, as I have read in a message made available by Native Voters Alliance Nevada, or NVA or NVAV, there is an opportunity to help them do what they can to avoid having a replacement of the same mindset as the person who is leaving Congress and of the person currently proud of his undeclared, unofficial war while still being against minorities within our national population.
I understand that NATIVE VOTERS ALLIANCE NEVADA is online in various places.
What we do to help one state when any congressional seat opens, is help for our legislature over all because the types of votes they make affect much of our country. Watching who will run for election in Nevada is important even though many of us do not live there and do not know anybody there, so I suggest paying attention.
Native American Voters Alliance Nevada does take non-tax deductible donations; however, I am only sharing this information only to let readers know that there is going to be an additional seat opening which will be on their state ballot. Any decision for support through a donation is an individual one, of course. There are ways to help even without making a donation.
How can a person help yet not donate?
It seems that by being aware, by reading of their needs and sharing news of a candidate they believe will support them and their rights, especially their voting and land rights, without a prejudiced attitude, and with no intention of intruding on their land to denude it of minerals or whatever wealth they perceive is there and covet away from Native Americans, we can share the name of the good candidate. If it is posted in places where people who vote there will see it, Nebraskan voters will be more aware, and in doing so,we could help both Native American Voters and anyone anywhere whose welfare would be involved in legislation.
Native Voters Alliance Nevada should be easy to find in a search for anyone who cares to read and to know more. I do not feel it would be right to copy and paste their letter here. Although it has an excellent description, the letter does ask for donations To Help Them Avoid More of the Current Republican Mindset in Congress. We should be aware of congressional seats opening everywhere!
With last names like Gonzales, Valdes, and Carajval, umm… not exactly Aryans here. Don’t they realize they’re just pawns in the white supremacists’ game? They’re not in “the club.” Same goes for that unfuckable little dweeb Nick Fuentes. When it comes down to brass tacks, these non “true whites” and non-WASPs will get rounded up right along with the people they hate.
And money being stashed in their accounts. While the US deficit grows so does the money in the billionaires coffers. And of course, we must have a war to distract from those Epstein files.
The ONLY way MAGA(there are no more republicans) can win is to stop elections or cheat.
Sir! Must I remind you that was NOT a war! In polite society, in order not to upset ladies and other persons of gentle demeanor, it is always referred to as “the Recent Unpleasantness.”
I think all these WWII analogies see us on the wrong side. All the self-congratulatory statements coming out of the White House and Defense Department make me think of the celebrations that probably took place at the Japanese High Command after the successful sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
I also wonder how many of our enemies are just waiting for us to deplete our arsenal against Iran so they can proceed with their own military adventures essentially unopposed.
Well sure, even if they were stunned at the spectacular success, they were all smarter than Trump/Hegseth. There are loads of eveil pricks around the world, but we have the Confederacy of Clowns...
The people to blame for Pete Hedseth's leadership as SecDef are the people who voted to confirm him--most particularly the ones who were former military members. Pete Hegseth was a troubled field grade officer who got out after choosing what I call " the reserve unit, then tours, then finally getting out career path". I saw a number of those guys as a military wife. They are basically unstable male adults who are supposed to hit all these wickets in life, and can't get it done reasonably and rationally, so they go from thing to thing. Pete Hegseth was involved with some minor veteran charities and he stole money from them, for himself or for family, but whoever it was for and what the reason for it was, it was still misappropriation funds. then he was a talking head, and it is uniformly embarassing to watch his escapades on right wing tv.
It was mind boggling to an extent I will never wrap my mind around, that a guy, who I think finally was promoted to major, ascended to SecDef. No commendable company command. No Command and General Staff, no War College, no laudable staff jobs, and most shockingly, no LTC, no COL, no General Officer rank. No time in the military to learn and grow. He would not have been capable of it anyway.
It would be great to start sarcastically naming things after Trump. Town dumps, recycling centers, hog "lagoons". And replicas of his DC building posters on porta-potties...we need to save the dog-parks for Kristi Noem, though...and something alcoholic for Hegseth. Maybe Bud can name a new "lightweight" beer after him?
It all goes back to the airports that Biden had built during the Revolutionary War J L. If Trump had only been there to prevent Biden from building those airports in the 1700's none of this Middle East stuff would be happening. /s
Trump ABSOLUTELY would have been an appeaser. Wasn't Lindbergh's pro-German party called something like "America First"? You only go to war with people who can't do anything about it. Right now, his Gulf arab buddies can't be too thrilled that he let Netanyahu trick him into taking on Iran, who turns out to be a little less hapless than trump's preferred victims, and is making it very hard on their favorite activity, making money...funny how geopolitically dumb these Republicans are. Bush spent $2 trillion removing the counterweight to Iran, and now Trump is spending $10 billion a week getting rid of the counterweight to the Sunni arabs, who it should be remembered gave us 9/11 and ISIS, even if their rulers didn't like either one...
J L Graham, I hope having one more trustworthy person in Congress will be possible by filling an upcoming vacant seat.
POSSIBLY AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP?
NEVADA WILL HAVE AN OPEN
CONGRESSIONAL SEAT!
Now that another Republican is leaving Congress, as I have read in a message made available by Native Voters Alliance Nevada, or NVA or NVAV, there is an opportunity to help them do what they can to avoid having a replacement of the same mindset as the person who is leaving Congress and of the person currently proud of his undeclared, unofficial war while still being against minorities within our national population.
I understand that NATIVE VOTERS ALLIANCE NEVADA is online in various places.
What we do to help one state when any congressional seat opens, is help for our legislature over all because the types of votes they make affect much of our country. Watching who will run for election in Nevada is important even though many of us do not live there and do not know anybody there, so I suggest paying attention.
Native American Voters Alliance Nevada does take non-tax deductible donations; however, I am only sharing this information only to let readers know that there is going to be an additional seat opening which will be on their state ballot. Any decision for support through a donation is an individual one, of course. There are ways to help even without making a donation.
How can a person help yet not donate?
It seems that by being aware, by reading of their needs and sharing news of a candidate they believe will support them and their rights, especially their voting and land rights, without a prejudiced attitude, and with no intention of intruding on their land to denude it of minerals or whatever wealth they perceive is there and covet away from Native Americans, we can share the name of the good candidate. If it is posted in places where people who vote there will see it, Nebraskan voters will be more aware, and in doing so,we could help both Native American Voters and anyone anywhere whose welfare would be involved in legislation.
Native Voters Alliance Nevada should be easy to find in a search for anyone who cares to read and to know more. I do not feel it would be right to copy and paste their letter here. Although it has an excellent description, the letter does ask for donations To Help Them Avoid More of the Current Republican Mindset in Congress. We should be aware of congressional seats opening everywhere!
It's like a stopped clock that's correct twice a day.
Or maybe more like Wheel of Fortune, where it's just random what pops into his brain on each spin. With enough spins, you eventually hit the right one.
Hello Georgia... Good Analogy... Apparently, DJT only lives in the Moment... DJT does not Plan, or Think of the Consequences... DJT only wants to 'Win' the Photo Op... This explains his 5X Bankruptcies, 2X Impeachments, and now a potential Military Disaster that could destabilize the Middle-East for Years, and lead to hundreds of thousands of Casualties ... OBW: Why haven't Yair Netanyahu, Tiffany Trump, and Barron Trump, signed up for DJT's, aka Cadet Bone-Spurs, Excellent Adventure...
Editorial comment: I think Salon may actually have scooped the world on this story, but my most affirmative old-newsman's applause for content and military veteran's salute for courage to Dr. Richardson for leading with this vital expose`, however sourced.
If the books are honest, more like "Epic Felony." That's why I strongly suspect the secret Trumpstein hope is the bombings will provoke Iran to buy a nuke from Pakistan or North Korea and make Washington D.C. and everything in it disappear -- files included -- while the Regime, its ChristoNazi Supreme Court and all the RepubliKlanners are out of town, of course.
Trump is a pathological lying malignant narcissist with severe antisocial personality disorder and is in cognitive decline. When he says what will happen he is reading a script handed to him. He is a performer just like Reagan. Luis Powell wrote a memo known as the "Powell Memo" in which he plotted a method to attack America with corporatist fascist "think tanks" and find speakers to deliver the ideas to America. Trump is a speaker. We are under attack. I explain the attack in n detail, including Powell's part in it, in my Memorandum. I also provide a comprehensive five section model amendment: strong medicine for our badly wounded Republic. It also defines voting rights to stop the kind of corruption Texas Republicans live for.
I say “strong medicine” because I have read the proposed amendment introduced by Senator Adam Schiff, et, al., intended to address Citizens United (2010) and find it to not be the rampart we need. As I read the language by Senator Schiff, et, al., although I do not believe it to be their intention, I see a problem. They use legal terms of art such as “...may regulate and impose...”, “...may regulate and enact...”, and “...shall have power to implement...” The problem with such terms is that it allows Congress and the States to decide whether they “may” or “shall” not regulate, enact, or implement anything. Some people elected to Office may even read it as a way to profit from such decision making. I see those words as a gate which for a “campaign contribution” will be left wide open to mega-money in politics. Moreover, in the last 16 years since Citizens United the Roberts 6 have continued to assault our constitution and no proposed amendment addresses these newer cases. My model amendment does so and more. Please read, share and discuss the link below with your colleagues as such a dialogue is urgently needed to save our Republic, our Democracy. We must unite to not only win elections but with a plan to build the rampart to protect our posterity. Moreover, the professional interpretation and effective presentation of the Memorandum alone is worth a visit to the page. UnitedWeAmend.org
Given Trump's ability to reduce our Mother Earth to a lifeless barren, his malevolence has no precedent in our planetary history. His moral imbecility -- his sociopathy -- is clearly without limit, which defines his Evil as genuinely absolute and infinite, a magnitude of depravity for which there are no words in any language. Two Liberation-Theology Christians I know, each PhD'd, each a retired college professor, regard him as the Anti-Christ, the bringer of apocalypse, a real-world manifestation each formerly viewed as entirely metaphorical. From what I read online, many of their Liberal Christian colleagues -- that is, humanitarian-minded Christians who correctly interpret the Bible as more metaphor than fact -- have come to the same conclusion. And I – with the consciousness of word-meanings necessitated by a near lifetime of professional writing -- cannot overlook the decidedly eerie appropriateness of Trump’s name; as a verb, one of its definitions is “to impose unfairly,” and its synonyms include “defeat,” “conquer,” “crush” and “trounce.” But Fate is not without her sense of humor, for as a noun, one of its British meanings is “fart,” and its verb-form is “fart,” "farting" and “farted.” Therefore it might pejoratively be said that when President Donald J. Fart befouls the atmosphere with his threatening diatribes, he is indeed farting – that is, expressing the vile, karma-comedic truth of his name...(may its apocalyptic toxins all be exorcised by the healing energies of our planetary motherland). (See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trump#Synonyms , https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trump and https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/trump )
Yes, a perfect example of the Anti-Christ. I am not a Christian or believer of any deity but there have been many times over the last 8 years when I've thought of Trump as defining of an Anti-Christ figure. And do quite love one of the British meanings for 'trump', a fart befouling the atmosphere!
Beth, as I understand "legalese," the verb, "may" means that whatever follows is utterly optional. "Will" applies to a future action that is voluntary. "Shall" is the only legal verb meaning the action that follows is compulsory, without question or option. "Shall" is a command.
Unfortunately, Schiff et al inserted "weasel words" (have the power to) after "shall" that completely neuter the actions they are claiming to mandate.
"Shall have the power to" stipulates that the people given the power can choose not to exercise it. Writing legislation or an amendment that uses phrases like "shall have the power to ..." is as worthwhile as not writing one at all.
"With enough spins," as you say, Georgia. But also given that he's always talking.
Yes, again, too, how "it's just random what pops into his brain on each spin."
Sadly, pathetically, however, it's not random how Republicans like Susan Collins are always making excuses for supporting his inconsistencies, contradictions, and illegalities.
America, face it, has produced some tens of millions grotesquely ill-educated, ignorant, happy to support a rapist, pedophile, mass murderer, economic terrorist, private army thug terrorist.
Collins’ clock is permanently stopped at one minute to midnight—always concerned, but almost never ever disagreeing when it is time to vote. As my statistician father used to say, within the rounding error.
And where is The NY Times and the WAPO. When we evacuated Afghanistan they criticized Biden for months every single fucking time calling it a "chaotic withdrawal."
I finally wrote to the editor of The NY Times and told them it was sophomoric journalism to keep using the term "chaotic" about the withdrawal which, in actuality, was much smoother than when we evacuated Viet Nam.
Trump has stranded up to a million Americans in the Middle East many of whom are there on humanitarian missions. A 4th grader could have better utilized his allowance than Trump and the Republicans have ours.
Absolutely JD. And he set the Biden administration up for failure by 1) leaving equipment that was cheaper to leave than take and 2) negotiating with only the Taliban on when they would leave.
I am still 100% on board with us leaving. After 20 years of war, Afghanistan's GDP went from dead last to about 20th from last. This was NEVER going to work.
My impression at the time was that it was mostly chaotic. But I don't know how it would have gone otherwise since the government collapsed very quickly and no one anticipated that. And throw in a suicide bomber on top of it.
This was way after the evacuations and the suicide bombing. The NY Times wouldn't drop it. I was disgusted. You're right, all large scale evacuations are chaotic, so why aren't they saying that now about the evacuation of US citizens from the Middle East. Trump's entire administration is totally incompetent and it's obvious they never considered the consequences of bombing Iran.
I'm afraid it's like spitting into the wind. With the MSM there's the tension between reporting facts and selling newspapers or whatever. Drama sells better.
I doubt quickly evacuating something like a million would have been logistically possible, but yes no thought at all about it or how to protect citizens from retaliation. Let's just see what we can blow up and thump our chests.
I see him more like a big concrete mixer truck spinning a drum full of Bull, Horse, Chicken and Bat Manure, mostly Bat. Every chance he gets he dumps it all over us.
The key, Albert -- mainstream media always trains its cameras on him.
Chaos, blood, insanity, rampaging armies of ICE & CBP thugs, mass murders abroad -- all float mainstream media and social media billionaires.
Don't U.S. schools have any decencies other than testing-training to keep following the billionaires' scatology?
How many readers of Heather can cite any public officials (media or elective office) stressing how humanly AWOL our testing-suffocating schools have so conveniently devolved?
Our best hope is TrumpEpstein. House ovesight Committee subpoened Pam Bondi.
"All Democrats present for the committee hearing voted in favor, with Mace and GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Michael Cloud (Texas) and Scott Perry (Pa.) joining their colleagues from across the aisle."
"The subpoena of Bondi would bring the highest-level sitting official before the House panel as it pushes ahead....
Epstein file retraction revisions, unaimed shots at war, and deliberately confusing voting restrictions are the Republican old news of the day. Continue to contact your representatives, they can’t ignore us forever, and vote Blue.
Yes, "deliberately confusing" ...everything. These so-called contradicting reasons for the war are part of the overall plan to control the front page of the news. The war itself is a big story because it is unconstitutional. Everything Trump does is a transaction to put money into The Trump Organization, Inc., to be a deterrent from the TrumpStein Pedo Files, and follow Putin's fascist orders.
My polling place in Madison, Wisconsin, is often moved. Best to go on the Vote app day of to be sure or vote early. As part of League Of Women Voters we are working on informing the public.
I once saw a woman upset when she was directed to a different polling place shortly before closing. Her kids went to the school where there was one district and she assumed it was okay for her.
Given the mobility of many and the moving of the polls there is a good chance for confusion.
Lack of trust with mail as well.
Not counting those votes just breeds more mistrust and will likely result in “why vote” which may be the goal.
I am very, very concerned about the midterms. I believe Trump and minions will manipulate everything they can. I hope all 50 Secretaries of State along with all who are involved with protecting our free and fair elections are preparing for potential issues.
Yup, Janis, deliberately confusing matters is a MAGA goal. For example, I’m guessing that Pam and Stephen, et al, love the term “redacting Epstein VICTIMS.” I mean, Trump was obviously victimized by Epstein and therefore a whole bunch of Trump’s behavior should be redacted.
Ugh ICTT. This is already 5 minutes that I'll never get back and probably even more for Professor Richardson. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she reported it, but the TOFU King is fucking insane.
No, I try to avoid such things. And rather than listening to talking heads, I far prefer to read my news. Haven’t had a TV for at least 15 year. That said, I have seen repeated reports of Trump repeatedly falling asleep slurring his words, etc etc.
We watched about five to ten seconds of it on BBC, which was all either myself or my husband could stomach. As I post this this morning, I'm hearing a battery of military flights overhead, just as I did the night before he launched his Epstein suppression attack. Last time we had this much traffic was in pre-dawn the day Bush Sr. announced his "Desert Storm" campaign. Having grown up within a couple of miles of our local National Guard airpark, I knew at 5 AM something was up, long before the news broke then, and about midnight this time around.
Best to my knowledge, majority of Ukraine funding under Biden Administration went to defense contractors to re-stock supplies provided to Ukraine. So were the inventories replenished? Were the empty shelves partially due to the delayed Ukrainian funding buffoonery caused by Speaker Johnson back in 2023?
CEOs of Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin are going to the White House Friday to get more funding for Iran. Seems the Patriot stockpile is being depleted too fast, and they need to ramp up production.
Hello James... Defending Israel for the past two Years has been a huge drain on our Interceptor stockpiles... For instance the supply of Patriots, and SA-3s are dangerously low... If we are committed to defend Taiwan, that is jepordised...
Jesse is awesome (and not a ls young as you might think, he's over 30 and has been performing for more than 10 years, he just has that young Dylanish look!) I love all his stuff!
America woke up this week to discover that transparency in government works much like a magician’s act: the more dramatic the announcement, the more likely something important has vanished behind the curtain.
In the case of the Epstein files, the trick appears to involve 47,635 documents mysteriously going “offline for review.” Conveniently, this happened while questions swirl about who exactly appears in those files, including Donald Trump, whose name reportedly pops up often enough to make a cameo in the credits. Even more awkward, at least one missing document contains allegations involving a thirteen-year-old girl. But don’t worry, officials assure us the files will return shortly, presumably after a refreshing spa weekend of redactions.
Meanwhile, Washington continues its proud bipartisan tradition of pretending that wars happen accidentally, like knocking over a lamp. The administration launched bombing operations against Iran at a cost of about $1 billion a day, yet somehow nobody can quite explain the goal. The official strategy seems to be a combination of vibes, bravado, and the hope that if you rate the war a “15 out of 10,” reality will eventually comply. Intelligence agencies say Iran was not about to obtain a nuclear weapon in two weeks, but who are they to interrupt a good monologue about ammunition inventory?
Congress, for its part, bravely defended the Constitution by declining to ask any inconvenient questions. Several senators explained that stopping the war might send “the wrong message,” presumably the dangerous message that wars should involve planning.
Back home, democracy itself is enjoying a thrilling obstacle course phase. In Texas, officials helpfully changed voting procedures midstream, then failed to tell voters where they could actually vote. When courts attempted to keep polling places open so citizens could participate in elections, higher courts stepped in to protect democracy from the terrifying threat of… voters.
Yet amid the chaos, turnout in Democratic primaries surged, and special elections continued to swing away from Republicans.
Which leaves the current American political strategy clear: lose public support, lose elections, lose the plot, and hope 47,635 missing files eventually explain everything.
I believe that Trump is the most prolific fabulist since Aesop. The difference is that Aesop’s fables had a moral and were intended to help us become better people, whereas Trump’s fables are simply incoherent babble.
It must have been emotionally painful and intellectually draining for Heather to type out Trump’s response.
The president of the tiniest nation in this world can speak more coherently than trump. Are the brains of all supporters of this failed US president so deformed by $$$ signs that they cannot see that this 'incoherent babble' or 'babble-bibble word salad tirade' (as some readers commented) are completely unacceptable from anybody speaking publicly, much less from the president? And this is a daily occurrence. Shame on him and those who allow him to utter such drivel, instead of answering questions. What does he have to hide? What is being covered up?
It would be interesting to compile a list of all the people Trump has blamed for his own failings over the course of his life -- this pattern had to start way back in kindergarten.
Let's face it; the purpose of this war is to redirect the press from following the New Mexico Epstein bodies in the ground stuff. I read Nobody's Girl and the young women were afraid for their lives for reasons. Also, this war causes a rise in oil prices, handing Pooting more $ to continue his war on Ukraine. tRump starting WWIII to avoid Epstein implications? The narcissist in all its glory. Who could have guessed the narc would cause us all pain and drag the country down. /endsarcasm
Always some one else's fault. Trump never learned to stand up and take responsibility for his actions. His shoe was untied....to take responsibility is what it means to be an adult.
When I read that babble-bibble, I said to myself: "WHAT?!!?" Two things are beyond clear: either he is making it up as he goes along, and/or he's so far out of reality that he truly is unhinged. I know...... I know... the unhinged part has already been diagnosed; however, if this isn't proof positive of how unhinged he is, I don't know what would be. Then again, it could very well be both.
VOTE EARLY. It's becoming clear that polling places where a lot of democrats are expected will be targeted in any number of ways, delays, obfuscation about location, quite possibly bomb threats, power outages, intimidation by ICE or informal mobs, any number of ploys -- we can be sure the MAGA people are planning cunning ways to, first, keep people from voting, and second, give an excuse to cast doubt on the votes that were cast in particular polling places. It's hard to plan for everything they might do, but encouraging early voting where possible is one valuable step.
I think this is the way. Don’t put your mail-in vote in the USPS mail! Drop it off. And get some kind of receipt. And do it early. And….. get your passport for when they contest it! And try to get everyone else to do all this too????
Just now thinking that I’m on a watch list with the Feds. As passengers went through a 2nd TSA identification at the embarkation at the airport, a second ashole pulled me over to do a swab scan of my palms and while he would not answer my question the ticketing agent told me it was a scan for gun power residue. Which means I’m on a watch list.Ralph Emerson would be proud of me.
Highly doubtful. It’s common practice even for this old gal under Biden. If you fly often enough you’ll notice it’s a pretty random choice of who gets swabbed.
gun power? i didn't think you werf one of those, Bill...but wow...if they could detect THAT with a scan? i'm surprise the 10th person in line could make it through and catch their flight...
and right out in the open...nothing stable aBOUT it...and wouldn't that usu be horseshit in a stable, J? given what we're seeing here, Musk's influence and Trump's predisposition to do so...i STRONGly suspect that Trump stole that last election, if not both...and then dems are blaming each other for 'not getting out and voting'. i know that i(in the country in which i've lived for over 25 yrs) DID register and got the acknowledgement. but never received a ballot. i've wondered since how many people that was true for...lots of ways to fiddle with an election.
Tuesday morning I called Susan Collins office in Lewiston ME to demand she support the resolution to stop trump's illegal war. Her minion's response was to talk over me, saying "We are not at war". A U.S. senator's representative, treating a constituent like an errant underling. And being wrong in fact and in process. Collins is heretofore non existent, a worthless speed bump on the road to restore democratic process. We will soundly defeat her in November.
I don't see how this vote is a gender-related issue. I don't live in Maine either, but I would vote for Collins if I did. She proposed amendment to big tax bill to increase taxes on the wealthiest, to fund rural health care, and only 4 Dems supported it. To deny a female Republican a victory I suppose. US women should not forget that.
Fellow Mainer here- my husband & I have been calling and writing to her weekly! Southern Maine won’t vote for her but she has a following in the rest of Maine. She’s their sweetheart from Caribou which is in Aroostook county. I think Platner has a good chance of beating her , but he’ll have to campaign in Republican held territory!
Graham Platner is and he will continue to bring his message to the second district.. The County is and will be the first to feel the negative effects of trump's regime, on immigration (Who will pick the broccoli?) Mainecare cuts, SNAP benefits, hospital and clinic closings, cost of living, medical premium costs, and inflationary policies that will reduce the farmers' ability to make a profit from their labors. And nobody I've ever known knows more about the whole issue of how war affects the people, than Platner, who served four, count 'em four combat tours. Collins couldn't shine his combat boots, and surely wouldn't lower herself to shuck oysters. Eat'em, certainly, as long as someone serves them to her on a platter, but doing the cold, smelly, messy work of producing them for market, not hardly. Keep the faith, keep up the noise, and we'll see you at the ballot box come November.
Ah, send her to see if this feels like war, particularly for the service members who have died for word salad-brained Donny and HegsDeath! I see HegsDeath is now in the spellchecker, although not with a capital D for dumbshit.
I keep voting for whatever the DSCC keeps putting in front of us. But so far their track record is abysmal. As Ken Martin insists that he wants Mills. I expect this time will go down in flames as well.
Mills literally said that she wasn't going to run. She was going to retire and spend time with her family.
Ken Martin, DSCC, told her that she was 'the only one' who could beat Collins and that she had a responsibility to do so to save the country.
But by the time he convinced her of that, Platner was already running. The DSCC attacks on Platner every day are incredible.
The DSCC is supposed to be focused on getting democrats into office.
But instead the Dems are focused on getting the the 'centrists' into office. And have done everything they can to smear Platner as a Nazi. The long term effects of which have yet to be seen but honestly can't be great. I see them forcing Mills down our throats and then having half the people refuse to vote again. Much as they did with Bernie and Hillary.
And the corporations will be happy. Because Mills or Collins, they still get what they want.
I've been hearing of the DSCC's attacks on Platner. That just adds one more reason to the list I send in response to all the fundraising requests I get from DSCC, DCCC, et alii: Don't ask for money until you start standing up and showing you care. Like a lot of my fellow Dems here in MA, we are fed up with both the state and national party leadership.
Lord knows I have a long list of disagreements with concerned Collins. This vote, however, is more. It is a dereliction of duty and a violation of her oath. As a constituent I am going to do everything in my power to ensure that she loses this election.
Susan Collins is full of BS about supporting the war equals supporting the troops. NOPE. I’m pretty sure most would rather NOT be in an unnecessary war. As if those service members would be disappointed if they had to stop risking their lives for a fool’s fever dream.
This was the standard Republican approach to opposition to the Vietnam war. Protesters were labeled as anti-American and failing to support the troops. As one of those protesters, I always found that to be exactly wrong. I was supporting the concept of getting the troops back home and out of a prefabricated and ultimately unwinnable war. The same logic applies to Susan Collins, who is so commonly on the wrong side of history. Send her to the rest home where she belongs.
They don't believe it themselves. It's just all they've got. They have workshopped a dozen reasons. The one that stuck with most of MAGA was the "nuclear weapons" aka WMD ploy. But it didn't play well here. We have a huge percentage of veterans (poor kids tend to enlist because there is nothing else to do). So she went with the tried and true 'protect the troops'.
"Buried in the news this week" could form an entire sub-heading describing virtually everything taking place around us right now.
Two tidbits the New York Times buried within its reporting on the Texas primary were the details of that last-minute bait-and-switch efforts election county officials used as voter-suppression tactics in Democratic precincts, and the fact that the Texas Supreme Court invalidated the lower court order to keep the polls open until 10pm in Williamson County.
Yet despite that 'preview of coming attractions' in November, Democratic voters together OUTVOTED Republican ones (in a primary, no less) by over 150,000 votes. I can't think when that last happened in Texas. In North Carolina, it was over 200,000.
The GOP does us a favor. Forewarned is forearmed. These kinds of pissy 'back door' games about the location of voting precincts are going to be November's flavor of the month. The front doors are heavily guarded -- in the Senate, by the Courts -- but far less so at state levels.
The usual caveats: ensure the name you sign with to vote matches exactly the one your county registrar has for you. Vote early at a designated polling station if you can. If you vote by mail, do it EARLY, being mindful that the Post Office has changed its rules about dates. Get a passport if you can, although you shouldn't have to. Be confident, but be prepared.
Thanks Kathy, but a question: I went to the site a few days ago and they seem to serve only major metro areas. I’d like to be boots on the ground to provide transportation in rural Virginia. Are there chapters of which I’m unaware? I plan to reach out once I’m back in the state.
Good question,Gail,although unfortunately I don’t know the answer.I do know they cover transportation costs (like Uber,I believe).Volunteers do provide virtual help and I spoke with one recently who said more help was needed.I suggest contact via Email: info@VoteRiders.org
“Buried in the news” is the MO of this gish gallop smash and grab criminal syndicate masquerading as an “administration.” There are the headlines and outlandish statements that are meant to cause outrage. When we react to them they are having the desired effect. Why? Because they ensure nobody sees what's really going on. Two weeks ago, DHS handed Palantir a $1B non-competed contract and there has been barely a word about it in the MSM. It's the collective micro-moves like this that are altering our governance for the worse, and they are also much harder to undo later. That's just one example. We have to do the dirty investigative work that the MSM won't do. Ask the hard questions and hold people to account. Let them know we are not fooled into being blind to what the other hand is doing. Call it out. Relentlessly.
$5 billion spent in 4 days. If Republican fiscal hawks aren’t moved by the number of US military personnel dying, or the American citizens at risk in the Middle East with no evacuation plans in place, maybe this will get their attention.
We burned through 400 Tomahawks in 4 days, when RTX can only manufacture 100 a year currently. No emergency meeting with defense manufacturers on Friday is going to magically restock the Tomahawk supply in a week, or a month, or a year.
Can we all remember that a spent Tomahawk is no longer a deterrent to any other country, say for instance, China should it decide to make a move on Taiwan.
And it ain't just the Tomahawks that are running low.
It depends on who is driving the bus. When we need money for war, money appears as if by magic. In the past we have been able to "deficit spend" easily, especially when the spending goes into our war materiel economy. But for 11% of our population living in poverty and depending on Medicaid, not so much. We can spend $1 billion per day on a stupid war, but we can't afford relief for our friends and neighbors and families who are working, struggling to meet rising costs.
And that is the crux of the matter. Our neighbors should come first. Our families should come first. Why don’t the Repugs understand this? And why aren’t the Demos fighting harder for us?
Funny how this consistently happens… look at George W war on terror…. 20 years of funding. Can’t wait for them to attack social security saying the funding ran out. Everyone knows it will happen.
More on the asymmetric costs of drone warfare from Forbes, along with reporting that Zelenskyy is offering drone defense knowledge to Middle Eastern countries in return for their negotiating a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine for several weeks to a month. It is coming up on "mud season" in Ukraine, when land war mobility is difficult because anything with wheels gets stuck in the mud. It will affect Russian vehicles more than Ukrainian ones. Zelenskyy gets to cut the US out of the discussion with Putin, and, given his drone production deals within jointly owned factories built in coalition-of-the-willing partner nations, he is marketing to a whole new slew of customers and developing a new revenue stream that is not subject to Russian attacks.
Apparently, there are deals in the works with the US.
The Ukraine has cutting edge drone warfare knowledge, the city-states of the UAE and the other gulf countries, with their gleaming skyscrapers, none of which can move, are no doubt rethinking how much help they want to give to Ukraine. We may finally see a tilt in the right direction, and to think that the insipid orange turd might be responsible for that, go figure. 🤷♂️
They also are running out of Patriots which are no good against drones anyway. And Iran has uranium to make dirty bombs, No nuclear explosion, no need for weapons grade material, a dispersal of powder from a standard explosive device on a small drone would do the job. A very expensive clean up required.
Drones can and do kill other drones these days especially with kamikaze’s that can now fly in swarms released by a long-range (1200 km) mothership.
This was so poorly thought out, it’s beyond stupid, I expect we will see dirty bombs, if I was an Iranian, it’s what I would use, and not necessarily this week, months from now. They have long memories, and have been schooled on revenge, we will see this play out for decades. 🤬
Yes it will play out over decades, and not just with the Muslim countries—with our former European allies and Canada. Spain’s refusal to allow US access to its airbases is a major escalation in Europe abandoning the US and NATO and realigning with the Coalition of the Willing. You can’t be blunter than “No, we won’t help you. What you are doing is does not align with our values.” Blunt and bad ass. Trump is blustering saying that we have the right to come in and use the base any way. And then he is threatening to cut off all trade with Spain, but they are part of the EU and can’t be singled out so if Trump does that the entire EU will likely react. Trade with the EU was $1.4 trillion in 2023. With a couple of sentences he puts that at risk. After Greenland, no one in Europe is cutting the US slack except for the pro-Putin states. Hungary and Slovakia.
And then there is Trump bitching about the SAFE program that provides long term loans for mutual defense projects in Europe. Canada has also joined. The are committed to purchasing within the countries that have joined and are requiring interoperability for everything that is manufactured within the members of the group. In other words, they are cutting out the US defense industry on major weapons projects and initiatives.
$5 billion. The USAID budget that was smashed. And millions in the process of dying needlessly. Or...ok...back home. Food and health care for Americans?
This act of aggression is sick and twisted and evil. And completely stupidly out of control.
Yes, so many life affirming possibilities versus so many life destroying possibilities.
It may be worse—it may not involve a sense of morality at all, just wealth extraction for the rich. That goes along with Trump’sanswer to what is the only thing that will stop him: answer: his own morality.
I actually thick he was intending to say mortality. He will grift until the day he dies.
I think this adventure is going to put us into a second Great Recession. That will not be totally pleasing to the oligarchs, or at least some fraction of them, so they might lean on their toadies.
Lots of concerns from foreign investors about the creditworthyness of the US.
Could be a combination of events. Have you read the concerns about giant private equity firms like Blue Owl? They are scrambling to sell assets at a discount as investors look to withdraw their cash. An opaque industry with about $3 trillion in assets that nobody monitors or regulates. What could go wrong?
Caught a webinar on that very topic yesterday given by Americans for Financial Reform. Dr. Lenore Palladino of UMass Amherst: "Private Credit and the Dangerous Rise of Unregulated Finance". She had a webinar about a year ago so I was familiar with her research. Crackerjack prof. Explained it all... and we are in deep doodoo.
Blue Owl reminds me of the sub-prime home loan packaging deals, just for middle sized businesses. the fact that Trump allies want to make these available to retail investors, along with crypto for retirement accounts like 401Ks. Insanity!!!!
Georgia, they have hoarded enough to last for generations; and they will find a way to continue enriching themselves in different ways. I follow the markets daily, and I can see how money keeps flowing from place to place. They are (maybe even have been for a while) hedging in ways you or I would never be able to. It will not be like the Great Recession for them at all I am afraid.
I agree, the oligarchs will be hedged and protected from anything that could have a real impact on their lifestyles, But they would see their businesses contract at least temporarily, their stock prices would fall and who was the richest would change, and that is an assault to their egos.
They are all driven by a “there must be more for me” mantra. Very few walk away with “enough”even when they have kids to bequeath the empire to.
They really are the dumbest administration in the last 60 years that I know of.
They are soo busy trying to force conversion therapy and forcibly detransition those in Federal custody that they couldn't be bothered to re-order their own stockpiles of weapons.
Since they have pissed off pretty much the entire world, we can't be surprised that China is slow walking the parts we need to build new munitions.
They are evil. But they really are incredibly stupid.
Unless, of course, the point is to leave the US weak and vulnerable. I guess if you look at it from Putin's point of view... Trump is still doing a great job.
I think you are absolutely right as far as the US is concerned. But I don’t think Putin expected Europe to break from the US so quickly. That is Zelenskyy’s doing—the whole peace negotiation has been Zelenskyy trying to appease Trump to hold on to US oil sanctions and to get weapons through PURL while organizing the Coalition of the willing into a mutual defense alliance parallel to NATO but separate so he could get rid of the pro-Putin members, and the highly unreliable US.
I am sure Trump is going to get rid of the oil sanctions because of the Iran war since oil prices are skyrocketing—that will help fund Putin’s war effort. Zelenskyy is trying to get the Middle Eastern US allies to broker a ceasefire with Putin in exchange for Ukrainian drones built in coalition partner countries. Its a nice revenue stream for Ukraine that is not subject to Russian attacks. The weaponization of winter attacks were successful in part because Russia had transfered Iranian Shahed drone tech to Russian factories.
“While some [Republicans]said they were nervous about the apparent lack of a plan for the conflict, others said it was imperative to demonstrate support for the troops by supporting the war, regardless of how we got into it.”
Sounds like the Vietnam War all over again. Historical reminder; 50,000 Americans dead, 3 million Asians dead. For nothing. Well, actually, a handful American non-combatants did get rich, so there’s that.
Ralph, I'm sure you don't think the person who spoke the word salad recounted by Heather at the start of her letter can follow your irrefutable logic..
I expect nothing from the orange fat man. I place all guilt and blame on congressional Republicans. They do know better. Reining in a dictator is the responsibility of Congress.
And, did you notice it has been reported that over the last weekend, we sent Special Forces as combat advisors to Ecuador? 1963 in Vietnam Nam all over again.
The Trump–Epstein Pedo-files are going to haunt Mad King Donald all through November’s Midterm Elections – and beyond. Can you imagine the devastating hearings that are coming when Democrats retake the House, and perhaps also the Senate?
Devastating for many in the Epstein class, perhaps. But not for Trump, who has no shame.
And, I am afraid, he is too wedded to retribution. I think he will be the most dangerous after the revelations, but while he still has power to take revenge. As he has made clear, there is nothing to stop him except his own morality, and we know that he has none.
Depends what you mean by devastating to Trump. He’s losing support deep into his MAGA base. Relatively-sane Republicans are abstaining from voting; more Democrats just voted in the primaries in North Carolina as well as in Texas! Democrats just flipped a legislative seat in deep-Red Arkansas!
And in November, Trump is on schedule to lose his MAGA-Republican majority in the House and perhaps even the Senate. Imagine the hearings and investigations when Democrats are back in control!
While you’re right Trump has no shame, this and more will be devastating to the Mad King and his hold on power.
I agree that resistance is growing and that is heartening.
But I am talking about what he will do between his exposure and his removal from power. That could be a few months to 34 months from now. That is a lot of time to do a lot of damage. Look at what he did in the last few days with the help of his sycophants.
Your words "removal from power" makes me wonder... I am having a hard time believing that any Republican will be able to go along with that. He holds a gun at their heads. Whatever he has on them, they know, will be the end of their political careers.
I read Heather first thing every morning, and I find myself enraged even more, each day, with the kind of corruption, lack of self respect and total lack of integrity in these politicians. I don't naively believe the democrats don't plot and conspire, but the level of their scheming seems different. These Republicans (who have almost nothing similar to Republicans in the past) are a different kind of rot. Talarico gives us all hope, but the way the Republicans are trying to interfere with voting, I doubt he will have a fair election. And I am at a loss thinking what the Democrats can do to stop the interference. I am convinced DJT is not going anywhere, and if he does, Vance might make us shudder even more.
I fear Vance, too. He is too wedded to Thiel and the oligarchs. I think his position reflects theirs. A war just long enough with limited objectives to maximize profits, but not so long as to tank the US or the world economy. They want a justifiable patriotic war to distract from the Epstein files, and they can use to paint Democrats as woke liberals supporting terrorists if we are anti-war.
He is hedging his bets on the war, repeatedly framing it as a limited, objective‑driven campaign focused on destroying Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities while insisting it will not become a long, open‑ended conflict. He is definitely staying away from the “regime change” justification. He keeps to a short list of short-term goals: destroying Iran’s offensive missile capabilities and production, “annihilating” or crippling its navy, and ensuring Iran can’t obtain a nuclear weapon or continue arming and directing proxies.
He waited until Trump had made up his mind to strike before saying anything. Then he positioned himself with a script to keep close to his previous anti-interventionist America First rhetoric. “The strikes were necessary” and “I back the president”. Vance is trying to look like the adult in the room.
His X and social posts in the last few days largely repeat the line that Trump will not entangle the U.S. in a “forever war” and that preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon is the operation’s purpose. He isn’t talking about last June’s “obliteration” of the nuclear threat, at least so far as I have seen. Seems he caught a case of amnesia from Trump on that.
Vance is walking a tightrope, and letting Little Marco look like the one who is vasillating along with Trump. I think Little Marco is going to be the fall guy in this mess. Vance will just keep saying “necessary” and “I support the president.” Kind of like those 1990’s toys where you pulled the string and they said something random each time.
Of course the elections in November will be a clear focus for DJT and the GOP. He can’t afford to lose. Since voting is overseen by states (and not “nationalized”) we all need to beware of how we can “stop the steal” because the assault on our voting rights will be vicious. The shenanigans in Texas are a clear example of the games that will be played.
Assuming the elections will be allowed to go forward or that Democrats will be allowed to be sworn in even if even remotely fair elections take place (a long shot at best) is pretty optimistic at this point. There is no world where Trump doesn't know he's a lame duck and probably going to prison if the elections in November go forward, and we've already seen him try to murder congress to prevent that from happening before.
Well the one thing you have wrong is "knowing he's going to prison". In fact he knows he is NOT going to ANY prison and that is what gives him the freedom to do whatever the hell he wants.
And he is not going to prison because (a) he is the President and like it or not this country holds that as a "sacred" position even when it is used corruptly and (b) he has the unlimited power of the pardon which he will certainly use to exempt himself and many others from any federal legal accountability for his actions for at least this term and possibly forever (looking backwards).
Yes he can't pardon himself and others for state crimes but most of what is involved here would be federal crimes and he absolutely can pardon those. And of any state tries to indict him for his crimes I expect the SCOTUS will step in anyway because they are his lap dog.
You have to accept that we did this to ourselves by voting him back into office and we are going to pay for that in the short and long run.
There aren't many alternatives left. I don't have much faith in the efficacy of prayer, but maybe, just maybe, that stroke my spouse has been hoping for will come along sooner than 2028. We'll deal with Vance.
She wants to wait until I have all the household repairs done. And all my toys sold off (motorcycles, mostly). Come to think of it, after that, what's the point?
Good question. Obama has always had a worse problem because he was the first non-white President. That polarized the country (sad as that is). So you are probably correct, but I think I would consider that a special case.
On the other hand, we know that other Presidents had scandals (FDR, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Clinton and of course Nixon). FDR, Kennedy and Eisenhower were protected by the press (albeit their scandals were clearly not at the level of Trump's) and Nixon was indeed shamed out of office, but I expect he was given a lot more deference than a non-President would have been given for the same offenses. And of course Clinton was impeached but not convicted for the same reasons I think that Trump will be protected.
You need Senate 67 votes to convict in an impeachment and in today's environment (as with Clinton) with a Senate that doesn't have a party with that margin (today its 53-47 GOP) you will NEVER get an impeachment conviction. It just isn't going to happen.
Perhaps the meat in the Epstein files is finally being revealed. Hence, the need for the most massive distraction possible--a war costing a billion dollars a day.
And write to your Republican Senators chastising them for voting to waste our hard earned tax dollars on Iran when while Americans are struggling to pay for food, energy, housing, health care, etc.
Many of these Senators are up for reelection this year. First, primary them if they aren't running unopposed and second vote them out.
Republicans are parroting 🦜🦜🦜that all we want to do is criticize T.Just yesterday I heard it from media mouthpieces Kegsbreath,Karolying Levitt and the insufferable billionaire Bessent.
Working people are getting squeezed with high grocery/gas/housing costs while billionaires,including those in T’s cabinet, are getting wealthier!
Trump’s incomprehensible answer (?) to why the government was not ready to evacuate our citizens from the Middle East should convince everyone that he is irrational.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE It must be the Catholic grade school boy in me, but I double dog dare anybody to diagram the “sentences” that make up his answer!
Heather sums up Republicans' approach to a war powers resolution: "Senate Republicans today refused to rein in Trump's attack on Iran with a war powers resolution to bring the war to a stop. While some said they were nervous about the apparent lack of a plan for the conflict, others said it was imperative to demonstrate support for the troops by supporting the war, regardless of how we got into it."
Seems to me (as a veteran) that you support the troops best by immediately taking steps to get them out of an ill-conceived, unnecessary, and illegal war. The deaths of six service members is six too many for any presidential vanity venture.
Watching the ping-pong tournament between Little Marco and his incoherent boss about why we went to war in Iran leaves a normal person with neck sprain. The shifting liquefaction and gobbledegook just boggle the brain cells. We did this because Iran is run by "fundamentalist lunatics" about the launch a nuclear weapon, says Rubio.
Since the part about 'about to launch' wasn't supported by his own intelligence people, the phrase must translate to 'they had to be stopped -- WE'RE the only country that gets to be run by fundamentalist lunatics!'
Then it's 'well, Israel was about to attack Iran first, so we had to...' Oh..Since when did you start taking orders from Bibi, Marco?
But wait! His boss denied it was Bibi. 'I made the decision, I told Bibi what we're going to do.' Oops. Square One. Next version? Enter Kegsbreath. "This isn't your father's regime change war....but the regime sure did change." News reports a few hours later said Iran had chosen Khamenei's son (Little Khamenei?) to take daddy's place. Does this count as "regime change" in Kegsbreath's shrunken brain?
And they wonder why 60% of America does not approve of them....
ICTT, we’re being led into war by a plastic sword waving lunatic who lies so much he can’t even follow his own trail of thoughts. We all support our troops and pray for their safe return. However this fake-news regime is playing with their lives and the lives of all those they’ve abandoned in this war zone.
Being “surprised” by any response by Iran is evidence of poor and unprepared military leadership. Effective chess players are able to predict every possible move of their opponent. This orange faced maniac just blindly wields his fake sword hoping to hit the right target.
…We’re in the back seat of a car being driven 100 mph by a drunk driver, heading north on the south bound side of this highway.
Sending prayers for our troops and all those he’s placed in harms way.
Apparently, Kegsbreath forgot to read "Middle East for Dummies." And his boss was "on a roll" after Venezuela, just like every dumb asshole in every casino in the world certain his next roll of the dice will show he just outsmarted the house...
What is astoundingly incomprehensible is that apparently 40% of polled Americans don't have a problem with this obscenity. I am gobsmacked that 40% of polled Americans still support this diabolical madman and the terror and damage he is wreaking, not just to the country, but throughout the world. Again, I ask, wtf is wrong with so many people in this country?
Or maybe it’s the polls where 1000 respondents represent millions. Some polls are even less than 1000 and a few foreign hackers would throw it off. The legacy news doesn’t tell us the sample size any more and I wish our substack writers would.
They're supposedly a cross section of voters, for what that's worth.
Read comments on Gov Tim Walz's FB, Rep Jim McGovern, Gov Maura Healey, etc. and then get back to us. The comments are dripping with hatred and slavish, cultish, beyond reasoning support of trump. So sorry, I don't feel any kind of encouragement when I read your comment.
Add that in with the blatant violation of our Constitutional "right" to vote and it's still pretty discouraging. trump is trying to ram through that "save" act by bypassing congress and filing an "executive" order. He has no power to do this but who is going to stop him? Our corrupt "supreme" court? We see how well that has worked so far. This will disenfranchise millions upon millions of voters. Not just women who will have to spend countless hours and money to prove who they are if married or divorced, our three married daughters, our one divorced daughter, and our daughter in law fall into this category as well as I and millions upon millions of women. Trans and those who were adopted will also be disenfranchised, men as well as women.
I had an adopted sister who passed away a while ago. Her name was changed to our last name when the adoption went through at her age of five. But her birth certificate lists her biological parents. No documentation can change that. So what do these adoptees do? Legally change their names back to their biological parent's name? How is this not a poll tax which is expressly forbidden by the Constitution?
Are any of these phone surveys? In that instance they wouldn't be bots.
I'm just weary of getting over enthusiastic about a change in tide. I'll be wearily watching through November. The votes are encouraging but the nefarious manipulation of the elections in republican controlled states are not. Their "supreme" courts seem as corrupt as our federal "supreme" court. The only answer is to beat them so badly there is no room for doubt. And that's a pretty big task.
lindsey graham was caught on mic, quite a few years ago now, stating that the only way republicans will win elections is if they cheat. It seems none have the integrity to actually run on policies that the constituency actually support, but rather manipulate and lie to win.
Sharon-it seems that lying, manipulation and cheating is how they want to make America great again. When we study our history we see that these tactics have been a good part of the American experiment.
It takes lots of lying and manipulation to convince people that skin color matters and that women are only supposed to be “helpmates” for men. We’ve been dealing with this for centuries.
And some of us just choose to ignore the truth. No-one holds a gun to anyone's head to support a certain candidate. I know many who are far more "educated" than me who believe it all. Or are just too tribal to actually think for themselves. It's definitely a danger to democracy when so many support a fascist regime like trump's and the republicans' party. I don't know what the answer is. I just hope there are more of us than them and that we show up to vote. I know they do.
At the end of the day it’s because we can…. Republicans have no constraints. Expect more of this. The rules are for fools. They know the stakes are sky high and don’t intend to lose.
Same with Epstein hot potato, more tricks than Houdini could pull out of a bag. Whack-A-Mole ad nauseam
If Democrats aren't detaining and arresting Republican politicians "because we can" after all of this is over any pretense of law in America (which is basically a fart on the wind at this point) will be gone forever.
Trump's answer to the question about getting Americans out of harms way is an absolutely crazy word salad which is hard to even read with any meaning - the ramblings of an unhinged man.
Another tidbit buried by the avalanche of war is that the US Court of International Trade just ordered the dolt to start repaying more than $100 billion illegally collected since the Era of Yo-Yo, On-Again, Off-Again Tariffs began. Of course Dump will try to appeal, but....
Another tidbit buried seems to be Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis considering clemency to former former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who is serving a nine-year prison sentence. Trump "pardoned" her though she hasn't faced federal charges in what to me is the most serious breach of security for the 2020 and all following federal elections at risk from the voting machine security she eliminated.
That paragraph-long babble-bibble word salad tirade about missiles and "we now have peace in the Middle East" Heather quoted was even worse in the non-cleaned up original appearing on Hair Furor's "Truth Social" posts (nothing to do with truth of course, and about as social as venereal disease). Pushing those hamberder wrappers aside, he used those pudgy little fingers to tippy-tap:
"Sleepy Joe Biden spent all his time, and our Country's money, GIVING everything to P.T Barnum (Zelenskyy!) of Ukraine -- Hundreds of Billions Worth -- And, while he gave so much of the super high end (FREE!) he didn't bother to replace it. Fortunately, I rebuilt the military..."
It's all Biden's fault. Of course. Whatever "it" was or is.
Like when we went all the way to Europe to fight Hitler. What a waste! (and that was Biden's fault too.)
For sure! Trump would have had all those D-Day Antifa soldiers rounded up and placed in internment camps. It’s increasingly clear that Trump and his inner circle believe America fought on the wrong side in World War II. Moreover, they are doing their utmost to reverse the Confederacy’s loss of the Civil War.
Exactly, racism is the driver
And greed.
What's worse than "The Endless War" is "The Endless Trump".
His Endless Lies which he can't remember from one moment to the next.
His incoherent word salad is a repetition of his his truncated vocabulary of words with 4 syllables or less.
Redact Trump
what is worse is that at every opportunity the republicans have had to rein him in, they fail.
He is just a raving lunatic!
Tragically we are seeing our Democracy die by one more of a thousand cuts every day. It's becoming predictable that the failing, mentally deranged "leader" who has lost touch with reality, is providing cover for the cruelty, chaos, and corruption his regime and the Republican Party is inflicting on the American people and now, the rest of the world every day.
Paul, having one more person who no doubt would agree with that reduction, when Congress comes to a vote, Could help make a difference. That is why I am sharing about an upcoming congressional seat I read about this morning.
Here is what I am sharing.
POSSIBLY AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP?
NEVADA WILL HAVE AN OPEN
CONGRESSIONAL SEAT!
Now that another Republican is leaving Congress, as I have read in a message made available by Native Voters Alliance Nevada, or NVA or NVAV, there is an opportunity to help them do what they can to avoid having a replacement of the same mindset as the person who is leaving Congress and of the person currently proud of his undeclared, unofficial war while still being against minorities within our national population.
I understand that NATIVE VOTERS ALLIANCE NEVADA is online in various places.
What we do to help one state when any congressional seat opens, is help for our legislature over all because the types of votes they make affect much of our country. Watching who will run for election in Nevada is important even though many of us do not live there and do not know anybody there, so I suggest paying attention.
Native American Voters Alliance Nevada does take non-tax deductible donations; however, I am only sharing this information only to let readers know that there is going to be an additional seat opening which will be on their state ballot. Any decision for support through a donation is an individual one, of course. There are ways to help even without making a donation.
How can a person help yet not donate?
It seems that by being aware, by reading of their needs and sharing news of a candidate they believe will support them and their rights, especially their voting and land rights, without a prejudiced attitude, and with no intention of intruding on their land to denude it of minerals or whatever wealth they perceive is there and covet away from Native Americans, we can share the name of the good candidate. If it is posted in places where people who vote there will see it, Nebraskan voters will be more aware, and in doing so,we could help both Native American Voters and anyone anywhere whose welfare would be involved in legislation.
Native Voters Alliance Nevada should be easy to find in a search for anyone who cares to read and to know more. I do not feel it would be right to copy and paste their letter here. Although it has an excellent description, the letter does ask for donations To Help Them Avoid More of the Current Republican Mindset in Congress. We should be aware of congressional seats opening everywhere!
We know for sure that he doesn't know what the word OBITERATE means.
Explore Financial Disclosures From President Trump and 1,500 of His Appointees - ProPublica
.https://projects.propublica.org/trump-team-financial-disclosures/.
Thank you for this, lin! Every. Single. Person., In this regime are swimming in money but not only that, they are taking ours!
There was a Schwab in there. Any relations to the Schwab investment people since she is working in the treasury. Miller is the poor boy in the group.
..and ignorance, and impulse, and apathy, and covetousness, and cruelty and impenetrable madness and .........
All of it bad, and that ain't good.
“Miami GOP Secretary's Group Chat Pushes Antisemitism, 'Killing N-ggers'
The new faces of the Republican Party?”
https://floridianpress.com/2026/03/miami-gop-secretarys-group-chat-pushes-antisemitism-killing-n-ggers/?
Kathy-Thanks for posting this link. It exemplifies the ongoing racism that too many Americans have taught their children to practice. Racism
Is ingrained in our culture and systems-it’s been a problem for more than 250 years.
Indeed, it is America's original sin
OMG. They don’t even hide their nastiness anymore.
😤 Sick.
With last names like Gonzales, Valdes, and Carajval, umm… not exactly Aryans here. Don’t they realize they’re just pawns in the white supremacists’ game? They’re not in “the club.” Same goes for that unfuckable little dweeb Nick Fuentes. When it comes down to brass tacks, these non “true whites” and non-WASPs will get rounded up right along with the people they hate.
Yeah, just "ask Marco . . . " (last name Rubio).
Didn't trump have lunch with Nick at Mar a Lago and when asked about it, trump said he didn't know who he was.
Defamatory doesn't begin to describe the vileness of this so-called chat. All participants should have their mouths washed out with Clorox.
Ethical republicans have been scarce as hens teeth for most of my long life. Loved Everett Dirksen but his ghost has turned Dem, I betcha
And money being stashed in their accounts. While the US deficit grows so does the money in the billionaires coffers. And of course, we must have a war to distract from those Epstein files.
The ONLY way MAGA(there are no more republicans) can win is to stop elections or cheat.
Cheating is well underway. They will stop at nothing….even if another depression hits. Take the money and run.
Sir! Must I remind you that was NOT a war! In polite society, in order not to upset ladies and other persons of gentle demeanor, it is always referred to as “the Recent Unpleasantness.”
Thanks! I had missed that euphemism.
Your servant sir.
I thought "the recent unpleasantness" came when Trump, giving a speech, had a tonsil stone visibly fly out of his mouth and land on the podium.
And the War of Northern Aggression. Now switched to Iranian Aggression.
Thanks for the giggle this morning, Michael. 😂
Lol
I think all these WWII analogies see us on the wrong side. All the self-congratulatory statements coming out of the White House and Defense Department make me think of the celebrations that probably took place at the Japanese High Command after the successful sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
I also wonder how many of our enemies are just waiting for us to deplete our arsenal against Iran so they can proceed with their own military adventures essentially unopposed.
Many Japanese indeed were self congratulatory, but I believe it was Yamamoto who said "we have awakened a sleeping giant."
Well sure, even if they were stunned at the spectacular success, they were all smarter than Trump/Hegseth. There are loads of eveil pricks around the world, but we have the Confederacy of Clowns...
The people to blame for Pete Hedseth's leadership as SecDef are the people who voted to confirm him--most particularly the ones who were former military members. Pete Hegseth was a troubled field grade officer who got out after choosing what I call " the reserve unit, then tours, then finally getting out career path". I saw a number of those guys as a military wife. They are basically unstable male adults who are supposed to hit all these wickets in life, and can't get it done reasonably and rationally, so they go from thing to thing. Pete Hegseth was involved with some minor veteran charities and he stole money from them, for himself or for family, but whoever it was for and what the reason for it was, it was still misappropriation funds. then he was a talking head, and it is uniformly embarassing to watch his escapades on right wing tv.
It was mind boggling to an extent I will never wrap my mind around, that a guy, who I think finally was promoted to major, ascended to SecDef. No commendable company command. No Command and General Staff, no War College, no laudable staff jobs, and most shockingly, no LTC, no COL, no General Officer rank. No time in the military to learn and grow. He would not have been capable of it anyway.
Well, EVIL clowns.
Victory disease is rampant.
What is increasingly clear is that he's lost his marbles....
The South HAS risen again...
ArcticStones, you are exactly right!
As someone joked -- the Andreas Fault will probably be re-named Biden's Fault!
It may be the only thing to which he won’t attach his name.
But WE should!!!
It would be great to start sarcastically naming things after Trump. Town dumps, recycling centers, hog "lagoons". And replicas of his DC building posters on porta-potties...we need to save the dog-parks for Kristi Noem, though...and something alcoholic for Hegseth. Maybe Bud can name a new "lightweight" beer after him?
Oooh, I forgot off-shore wind farms!
Thank you for the much needed laugh, though sadly probably true.
It all goes back to the airports that Biden had built during the Revolutionary War J L. If Trump had only been there to prevent Biden from building those airports in the 1700's none of this Middle East stuff would be happening. /s
Or as Dwight Eisenhower said the day after D-Day and the carnage on Omaha Beach..."Shit happens. But we'll get a really good deal from Hitler."
Trump ABSOLUTELY would have been an appeaser. Wasn't Lindbergh's pro-German party called something like "America First"? You only go to war with people who can't do anything about it. Right now, his Gulf arab buddies can't be too thrilled that he let Netanyahu trick him into taking on Iran, who turns out to be a little less hapless than trump's preferred victims, and is making it very hard on their favorite activity, making money...funny how geopolitically dumb these Republicans are. Bush spent $2 trillion removing the counterweight to Iran, and now Trump is spending $10 billion a week getting rid of the counterweight to the Sunni arabs, who it should be remembered gave us 9/11 and ISIS, even if their rulers didn't like either one...
"You only go to war with people who can't do anything about it."
Bullies love to attack the most vulnerable. At least at first. Some of Hitler's first targets were the disabled.
Actually the Gulf countries have a “complicated” relationship with Iran. Iran-funded Houthis have been attacking Saudi Arabia for some time.
Yeah, and why weren't Biden and Obama fighting in WW2 if they're so brave?
Good point!!
J L Graham, I hope having one more trustworthy person in Congress will be possible by filling an upcoming vacant seat.
POSSIBLY AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP?
NEVADA WILL HAVE AN OPEN
CONGRESSIONAL SEAT!
Now that another Republican is leaving Congress, as I have read in a message made available by Native Voters Alliance Nevada, or NVA or NVAV, there is an opportunity to help them do what they can to avoid having a replacement of the same mindset as the person who is leaving Congress and of the person currently proud of his undeclared, unofficial war while still being against minorities within our national population.
I understand that NATIVE VOTERS ALLIANCE NEVADA is online in various places.
What we do to help one state when any congressional seat opens, is help for our legislature over all because the types of votes they make affect much of our country. Watching who will run for election in Nevada is important even though many of us do not live there and do not know anybody there, so I suggest paying attention.
Native American Voters Alliance Nevada does take non-tax deductible donations; however, I am only sharing this information only to let readers know that there is going to be an additional seat opening which will be on their state ballot. Any decision for support through a donation is an individual one, of course. There are ways to help even without making a donation.
How can a person help yet not donate?
It seems that by being aware, by reading of their needs and sharing news of a candidate they believe will support them and their rights, especially their voting and land rights, without a prejudiced attitude, and with no intention of intruding on their land to denude it of minerals or whatever wealth they perceive is there and covet away from Native Americans, we can share the name of the good candidate. If it is posted in places where people who vote there will see it, Nebraskan voters will be more aware, and in doing so,we could help both Native American Voters and anyone anywhere whose welfare would be involved in legislation.
Native Voters Alliance Nevada should be easy to find in a search for anyone who cares to read and to know more. I do not feel it would be right to copy and paste their letter here. Although it has an excellent description, the letter does ask for donations To Help Them Avoid More of the Current Republican Mindset in Congress. We should be aware of congressional seats opening everywhere!
Trump lies all the time, yet somehow he always manages to tell us what he’s going to do. I don’t get it.
It's like a stopped clock that's correct twice a day.
Or maybe more like Wheel of Fortune, where it's just random what pops into his brain on each spin. With enough spins, you eventually hit the right one.
Hello Georgia... Good Analogy... Apparently, DJT only lives in the Moment... DJT does not Plan, or Think of the Consequences... DJT only wants to 'Win' the Photo Op... This explains his 5X Bankruptcies, 2X Impeachments, and now a potential Military Disaster that could destabilize the Middle-East for Years, and lead to hundreds of thousands of Casualties ... OBW: Why haven't Yair Netanyahu, Tiffany Trump, and Barron Trump, signed up for DJT's, aka Cadet Bone-Spurs, Excellent Adventure...
Apropos what some are calling "Operation Epstein Fury," note this: https://www.salon.com/2026/03/04/doj-admits-to-removing-nearly-48000-epstein-files-from-database-including-trump-allegations/ (Thanks to Mary OMalley and Marta for the tip.)
Editorial comment: I think Salon may actually have scooped the world on this story, but my most affirmative old-newsman's applause for content and military veteran's salute for courage to Dr. Richardson for leading with this vital expose`, however sourced.
How about "Operation TrumpStein Pedo File Fury."
I forget who is calling it the Epstein War. That is accurate. That is what it is.
Hear, hear!
"Epic Fury." Sounds like another Rambo movie.
I mean, is that the way it is going to go down in the history books?
If the books are honest, more like "Epic Felony." That's why I strongly suspect the secret Trumpstein hope is the bombings will provoke Iran to buy a nuke from Pakistan or North Korea and make Washington D.C. and everything in it disappear -- files included -- while the Regime, its ChristoNazi Supreme Court and all the RepubliKlanners are out of town, of course.
Or Ben Stiller.
And I think those two rodents Don Jr. and Eric are not too old to go to war either. Put your family where your bluster is.
And put their fannies where their bombs are.
They never send their kids in harms way, just middle class and poor kids. No Draft ever again
Trump is a pathological lying malignant narcissist with severe antisocial personality disorder and is in cognitive decline. When he says what will happen he is reading a script handed to him. He is a performer just like Reagan. Luis Powell wrote a memo known as the "Powell Memo" in which he plotted a method to attack America with corporatist fascist "think tanks" and find speakers to deliver the ideas to America. Trump is a speaker. We are under attack. I explain the attack in n detail, including Powell's part in it, in my Memorandum. I also provide a comprehensive five section model amendment: strong medicine for our badly wounded Republic. It also defines voting rights to stop the kind of corruption Texas Republicans live for.
I say “strong medicine” because I have read the proposed amendment introduced by Senator Adam Schiff, et, al., intended to address Citizens United (2010) and find it to not be the rampart we need. As I read the language by Senator Schiff, et, al., although I do not believe it to be their intention, I see a problem. They use legal terms of art such as “...may regulate and impose...”, “...may regulate and enact...”, and “...shall have power to implement...” The problem with such terms is that it allows Congress and the States to decide whether they “may” or “shall” not regulate, enact, or implement anything. Some people elected to Office may even read it as a way to profit from such decision making. I see those words as a gate which for a “campaign contribution” will be left wide open to mega-money in politics. Moreover, in the last 16 years since Citizens United the Roberts 6 have continued to assault our constitution and no proposed amendment addresses these newer cases. My model amendment does so and more. Please read, share and discuss the link below with your colleagues as such a dialogue is urgently needed to save our Republic, our Democracy. We must unite to not only win elections but with a plan to build the rampart to protect our posterity. Moreover, the professional interpretation and effective presentation of the Memorandum alone is worth a visit to the page. UnitedWeAmend.org
Your first sentence says it all from beginning to end.
Given Trump's ability to reduce our Mother Earth to a lifeless barren, his malevolence has no precedent in our planetary history. His moral imbecility -- his sociopathy -- is clearly without limit, which defines his Evil as genuinely absolute and infinite, a magnitude of depravity for which there are no words in any language. Two Liberation-Theology Christians I know, each PhD'd, each a retired college professor, regard him as the Anti-Christ, the bringer of apocalypse, a real-world manifestation each formerly viewed as entirely metaphorical. From what I read online, many of their Liberal Christian colleagues -- that is, humanitarian-minded Christians who correctly interpret the Bible as more metaphor than fact -- have come to the same conclusion. And I – with the consciousness of word-meanings necessitated by a near lifetime of professional writing -- cannot overlook the decidedly eerie appropriateness of Trump’s name; as a verb, one of its definitions is “to impose unfairly,” and its synonyms include “defeat,” “conquer,” “crush” and “trounce.” But Fate is not without her sense of humor, for as a noun, one of its British meanings is “fart,” and its verb-form is “fart,” "farting" and “farted.” Therefore it might pejoratively be said that when President Donald J. Fart befouls the atmosphere with his threatening diatribes, he is indeed farting – that is, expressing the vile, karma-comedic truth of his name...(may its apocalyptic toxins all be exorcised by the healing energies of our planetary motherland). (See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trump#Synonyms , https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trump and https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/trump )
Yes, a perfect example of the Anti-Christ. I am not a Christian or believer of any deity but there have been many times over the last 8 years when I've thought of Trump as defining of an Anti-Christ figure. And do quite love one of the British meanings for 'trump', a fart befouling the atmosphere!
"May" and "shall" don't cut it, indeed, implying a question hanging in the air that will be exploited by any (physical or mental) seven-year-old.
Beth, as I understand "legalese," the verb, "may" means that whatever follows is utterly optional. "Will" applies to a future action that is voluntary. "Shall" is the only legal verb meaning the action that follows is compulsory, without question or option. "Shall" is a command.
Unfortunately, Schiff et al inserted "weasel words" (have the power to) after "shall" that completely neuter the actions they are claiming to mandate.
"Shall have the power to" stipulates that the people given the power can choose not to exercise it. Writing legislation or an amendment that uses phrases like "shall have the power to ..." is as worthwhile as not writing one at all.
Your homepage is outstanding!
"With enough spins," as you say, Georgia. But also given that he's always talking.
Yes, again, too, how "it's just random what pops into his brain on each spin."
Sadly, pathetically, however, it's not random how Republicans like Susan Collins are always making excuses for supporting his inconsistencies, contradictions, and illegalities.
America, face it, has produced some tens of millions grotesquely ill-educated, ignorant, happy to support a rapist, pedophile, mass murderer, economic terrorist, private army thug terrorist.
Collins’ clock is permanently stopped at one minute to midnight—always concerned, but almost never ever disagreeing when it is time to vote. As my statistician father used to say, within the rounding error.
Good point, Georgia. And a blind pig finds the truffle once in a while.
Twice a day? He's lucky if it's twice a year!
Two a day us about 2 in 87 claims.
He weaves insanity, revenge and cruelty like a pro
And where is The NY Times and the WAPO. When we evacuated Afghanistan they criticized Biden for months every single fucking time calling it a "chaotic withdrawal."
I finally wrote to the editor of The NY Times and told them it was sophomoric journalism to keep using the term "chaotic" about the withdrawal which, in actuality, was much smoother than when we evacuated Viet Nam.
Trump has stranded up to a million Americans in the Middle East many of whom are there on humanitarian missions. A 4th grader could have better utilized his allowance than Trump and the Republicans have ours.
There's another thought to consider. Every single one of those stranded Americans of voting age are now unable to do so.
And chump set up the Afghan fiasco by dealing with the enemy before he left office
Absolutely JD. And he set the Biden administration up for failure by 1) leaving equipment that was cheaper to leave than take and 2) negotiating with only the Taliban on when they would leave.
I am still 100% on board with us leaving. After 20 years of war, Afghanistan's GDP went from dead last to about 20th from last. This was NEVER going to work.
Your letter doesn't seem to have had an effect.
My impression at the time was that it was mostly chaotic. But I don't know how it would have gone otherwise since the government collapsed very quickly and no one anticipated that. And throw in a suicide bomber on top of it.
This was way after the evacuations and the suicide bombing. The NY Times wouldn't drop it. I was disgusted. You're right, all large scale evacuations are chaotic, so why aren't they saying that now about the evacuation of US citizens from the Middle East. Trump's entire administration is totally incompetent and it's obvious they never considered the consequences of bombing Iran.
I'm afraid it's like spitting into the wind. With the MSM there's the tension between reporting facts and selling newspapers or whatever. Drama sells better.
I doubt quickly evacuating something like a million would have been logistically possible, but yes no thought at all about it or how to protect citizens from retaliation. Let's just see what we can blow up and thump our chests.
I see him more like a big concrete mixer truck spinning a drum full of Bull, Horse, Chicken and Bat Manure, mostly Bat. Every chance he gets he dumps it all over us.
The key, Albert -- mainstream media always trains its cameras on him.
Chaos, blood, insanity, rampaging armies of ICE & CBP thugs, mass murders abroad -- all float mainstream media and social media billionaires.
Don't U.S. schools have any decencies other than testing-training to keep following the billionaires' scatology?
How many readers of Heather can cite any public officials (media or elective office) stressing how humanly AWOL our testing-suffocating schools have so conveniently devolved?
Our best hope is TrumpEpstein. House ovesight Committee subpoened Pam Bondi.
"All Democrats present for the committee hearing voted in favor, with Mace and GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Michael Cloud (Texas) and Scott Perry (Pa.) joining their colleagues from across the aisle."
"The subpoena of Bondi would bring the highest-level sitting official before the House panel as it pushes ahead....
The Department of Education is always the Cabinet position Repubs want to eliminate. As Trump said - he likes uneducated people.
Uneducated, misinformed, and uninformed voters are the reason that we are where we are today.
pathological liar. always has been.
Too many people believe him, or pretend to believe him. And to quote James Thurber, you can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
Freudian slips
It’s called “The Mindf*ck”
Epstein file retraction revisions, unaimed shots at war, and deliberately confusing voting restrictions are the Republican old news of the day. Continue to contact your representatives, they can’t ignore us forever, and vote Blue.
Yes, "deliberately confusing" ...everything. These so-called contradicting reasons for the war are part of the overall plan to control the front page of the news. The war itself is a big story because it is unconstitutional. Everything Trump does is a transaction to put money into The Trump Organization, Inc., to be a deterrent from the TrumpStein Pedo Files, and follow Putin's fascist orders.
VOTE EARLY
My polling place in Madison, Wisconsin, is often moved. Best to go on the Vote app day of to be sure or vote early. As part of League Of Women Voters we are working on informing the public.
I once saw a woman upset when she was directed to a different polling place shortly before closing. Her kids went to the school where there was one district and she assumed it was okay for her.
Given the mobility of many and the moving of the polls there is a good chance for confusion.
Lack of trust with mail as well.
Not counting those votes just breeds more mistrust and will likely result in “why vote” which may be the goal.
The goal, indeed.
I am very, very concerned about the midterms. I believe Trump and minions will manipulate everything they can. I hope all 50 Secretaries of State along with all who are involved with protecting our free and fair elections are preparing for potential issues.
Yup, Janis, deliberately confusing matters is a MAGA goal. For example, I’m guessing that Pam and Stephen, et al, love the term “redacting Epstein VICTIMS.” I mean, Trump was obviously victimized by Epstein and therefore a whole bunch of Trump’s behavior should be redacted.
To state the obvious: Trump was not a victim. He was a participant.
Yup, of course he was a participant, but Pam & Stephen prefer to use the label victim!
How refreshing from Trump! Missing is the obvious blame of President Obama and Hillary Clinton. The Mad King must be feeling out of sorts.
Not at all. I just gave you the condensed version. There's a longer one where HUSSEIN's name is mentioned, I think.
Ugh ICTT. This is already 5 minutes that I'll never get back and probably even more for Professor Richardson. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she reported it, but the TOFU King is fucking insane.
Oh, I should have known better.
Hello Arctic... Did You see today's DJT Press-Conference?... DJT's Battery is getting low... Low Energy, and more Disheveled than ever...
No, I try to avoid such things. And rather than listening to talking heads, I far prefer to read my news. Haven’t had a TV for at least 15 year. That said, I have seen repeated reports of Trump repeatedly falling asleep slurring his words, etc etc.
There's now an oozing hole in his neck on top of whatever that purple thing is on his right hand. The flesh rots from within....
Someone commented yesterday : "The portrait is out of the attic."
IMO his neck looks like a friction burn from a rope. https://people.com/trump-appears-to-cover-neck-rash-makeup-11918701
Or Shingles.
:)
Charming.
Oh but those gold drapes!!!
We watched about five to ten seconds of it on BBC, which was all either myself or my husband could stomach. As I post this this morning, I'm hearing a battery of military flights overhead, just as I did the night before he launched his Epstein suppression attack. Last time we had this much traffic was in pre-dawn the day Bush Sr. announced his "Desert Storm" campaign. Having grown up within a couple of miles of our local National Guard airpark, I knew at 5 AM something was up, long before the news broke then, and about midnight this time around.
Hello Janet... Much Military Air Traffic... Not Since Desert Storm?... That doesn't good... Have they caught the Tip Of The Tail Of The Dragon?...
Not low enough, Apache.
As to this war, these are OUR children going to HIS war that fills the pockets of HIS administration and friends.
There is no scenario where HIS war helps the people of America.
Down with a President who thinks HIS unilateral decision to go to war will allow HIM to cancel elections and hide HIS pedophilia history.
Best to my knowledge, majority of Ukraine funding under Biden Administration went to defense contractors to re-stock supplies provided to Ukraine. So were the inventories replenished? Were the empty shelves partially due to the delayed Ukrainian funding buffoonery caused by Speaker Johnson back in 2023?
CEOs of Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin are going to the White House Friday to get more funding for Iran. Seems the Patriot stockpile is being depleted too fast, and they need to ramp up production.
Could it be Kegseth the Great doesn’t know how to run a war?
Ah yes, the ever present problem of production capacity and logistical capacity at work.
Hello James... Defending Israel for the past two Years has been a huge drain on our Interceptor stockpiles... For instance the supply of Patriots, and SA-3s are dangerously low... If we are committed to defend Taiwan, that is jepordised...
“Sometimes You Bomb Iran”, gosh, a young folk singer was prescient….
https://youtu.be/Vcc3kdxbLYI?is=UElpm52A4L-T4y-A
Jesse is awesome (and not a ls young as you might think, he's over 30 and has been performing for more than 10 years, he just has that young Dylanish look!) I love all his stuff!
Thanks for the link. I've become a fan. Jesse Welles is playing the House of Blues in Boston Friday night.
Lots of great young people out there, "Slartibartfast 42."
Musicians. Chefs. Documentary makers. Viticulturalists. Quilt makers. Cat lovers. Knitters. Care workers. Nurses. Community college memoirists.
Minneapolis 3/12. Looks like there's some resale tickets available under $90. Humm....
A lyric noted in the video comments:
"Be the change in the regime you want to see in the world"
Jesse Welles gets it!
How ironic that T@#! refers to Zelenskyy as 'PT Barnum,' when in fact T@#! is the biggest humbug of all time.
Projection
America woke up this week to discover that transparency in government works much like a magician’s act: the more dramatic the announcement, the more likely something important has vanished behind the curtain.
In the case of the Epstein files, the trick appears to involve 47,635 documents mysteriously going “offline for review.” Conveniently, this happened while questions swirl about who exactly appears in those files, including Donald Trump, whose name reportedly pops up often enough to make a cameo in the credits. Even more awkward, at least one missing document contains allegations involving a thirteen-year-old girl. But don’t worry, officials assure us the files will return shortly, presumably after a refreshing spa weekend of redactions.
Meanwhile, Washington continues its proud bipartisan tradition of pretending that wars happen accidentally, like knocking over a lamp. The administration launched bombing operations against Iran at a cost of about $1 billion a day, yet somehow nobody can quite explain the goal. The official strategy seems to be a combination of vibes, bravado, and the hope that if you rate the war a “15 out of 10,” reality will eventually comply. Intelligence agencies say Iran was not about to obtain a nuclear weapon in two weeks, but who are they to interrupt a good monologue about ammunition inventory?
Congress, for its part, bravely defended the Constitution by declining to ask any inconvenient questions. Several senators explained that stopping the war might send “the wrong message,” presumably the dangerous message that wars should involve planning.
Back home, democracy itself is enjoying a thrilling obstacle course phase. In Texas, officials helpfully changed voting procedures midstream, then failed to tell voters where they could actually vote. When courts attempted to keep polling places open so citizens could participate in elections, higher courts stepped in to protect democracy from the terrifying threat of… voters.
Yet amid the chaos, turnout in Democratic primaries surged, and special elections continued to swing away from Republicans.
Which leaves the current American political strategy clear: lose public support, lose elections, lose the plot, and hope 47,635 missing files eventually explain everything.
This is why I call his third-rate "social network" Lies Anti-Social.
I believe that Trump is the most prolific fabulist since Aesop. The difference is that Aesop’s fables had a moral and were intended to help us become better people, whereas Trump’s fables are simply incoherent babble.
It must have been emotionally painful and intellectually draining for Heather to type out Trump’s response.
MAGA and the GOP are operating on a level of magical thinking that would embarrass the flakiest hippie I ever met, and that's saying something.
I was thinking the same and hoped for her sake HCR copied and pasted the text into her letter.
The president of the tiniest nation in this world can speak more coherently than trump. Are the brains of all supporters of this failed US president so deformed by $$$ signs that they cannot see that this 'incoherent babble' or 'babble-bibble word salad tirade' (as some readers commented) are completely unacceptable from anybody speaking publicly, much less from the president? And this is a daily occurrence. Shame on him and those who allow him to utter such drivel, instead of answering questions. What does he have to hide? What is being covered up?
It would be interesting to compile a list of all the people Trump has blamed for his own failings over the course of his life -- this pattern had to start way back in kindergarten.
Let's face it; the purpose of this war is to redirect the press from following the New Mexico Epstein bodies in the ground stuff. I read Nobody's Girl and the young women were afraid for their lives for reasons. Also, this war causes a rise in oil prices, handing Pooting more $ to continue his war on Ukraine. tRump starting WWIII to avoid Epstein implications? The narcissist in all its glory. Who could have guessed the narc would cause us all pain and drag the country down. /endsarcasm
My eyes rolled back within 2 sentences.
Trump’s babble is ridiculous. What a moron.
Always some one else's fault. Trump never learned to stand up and take responsibility for his actions. His shoe was untied....to take responsibility is what it means to be an adult.
And he’s surrounded by others just like him.
When I read that babble-bibble, I said to myself: "WHAT?!!?" Two things are beyond clear: either he is making it up as he goes along, and/or he's so far out of reality that he truly is unhinged. I know...... I know... the unhinged part has already been diagnosed; however, if this isn't proof positive of how unhinged he is, I don't know what would be. Then again, it could very well be both.
Qualified voter deprived of their right to vote due to incompetence or malfeasance should have a right to sue those responsible.
VOTE EARLY. It's becoming clear that polling places where a lot of democrats are expected will be targeted in any number of ways, delays, obfuscation about location, quite possibly bomb threats, power outages, intimidation by ICE or informal mobs, any number of ploys -- we can be sure the MAGA people are planning cunning ways to, first, keep people from voting, and second, give an excuse to cast doubt on the votes that were cast in particular polling places. It's hard to plan for everything they might do, but encouraging early voting where possible is one valuable step.
I agree - the Texas counties where authorized polling places were reduced was just practice.
Mail-in voting. I fill mine out and drop it off at the county courthouse. This year I'll repeat this process within 2 days of receiving it
No. Grab it fill it out and run like the dickens down to the county courthouse. But you might be late if you don’t run a 4 minute mile, lol.
I think this is the way. Don’t put your mail-in vote in the USPS mail! Drop it off. And get some kind of receipt. And do it early. And….. get your passport for when they contest it! And try to get everyone else to do all this too????
It seems the last election DeJoy decided that the UPS needed to be revamped ( shut down offices) right at election time.
1. Stand in line early
2. Don’t drink coffee before going to the polls
3. Take Imodium the night before
4. Make sure identification conforms to local Nazi rules
5. Bring a light folding chair you might be waiting a long time
6. Bring your own water and drink sparingly
7 Munch on energy bars only
Bring your own water and drink sparingly in secret - bc I think drinking water at polling places is illegal these days. ;-O
I think you just can't offer it to anyone standing in TX heat.
No singing, Bill?
Just now thinking that I’m on a watch list with the Feds. As passengers went through a 2nd TSA identification at the embarkation at the airport, a second ashole pulled me over to do a swab scan of my palms and while he would not answer my question the ticketing agent told me it was a scan for gun power residue. Which means I’m on a watch list.Ralph Emerson would be proud of me.
Highly doubtful. It’s common practice even for this old gal under Biden. If you fly often enough you’ll notice it’s a pretty random choice of who gets swabbed.
gun power? i didn't think you werf one of those, Bill...but wow...if they could detect THAT with a scan? i'm surprise the 10th person in line could make it through and catch their flight...
My 90 year old mother in law and I (@70 at the time) got pulled out and sniffed by dogs to check for drugs. LOL
Your experience is “badge of courage” worthy😊
well...last time i brought my guitar along, Phil, i was arrested for bringing a machine that kills fascists.
go figya...
and btw...you brandish the first name of one of my favorite folk singers... Phil Ochs. imo, an unacknowledged great...
You and Woody Guthrie, Isaac.
Sure he was.
Damn, courts will be busy
As they should be. There is an Augean Stable of BS and corruption to be dealt with here.
We need a Herculean effort on the part of Democrats to clean out the metric fucktons of Republican horse-shit.
No more kumbaya
and right out in the open...nothing stable aBOUT it...and wouldn't that usu be horseshit in a stable, J? given what we're seeing here, Musk's influence and Trump's predisposition to do so...i STRONGly suspect that Trump stole that last election, if not both...and then dems are blaming each other for 'not getting out and voting'. i know that i(in the country in which i've lived for over 25 yrs) DID register and got the acknowledgement. but never received a ballot. i've wondered since how many people that was true for...lots of ways to fiddle with an election.
They cheated, in 2016 and 2024
Epstein: eighteen and a half minutes, anyone?🙄
On Iran: Trump, recipient of the Tojo Peace Award.🤢
Dicators don't want to make it easy to vote especially those who do not approve.
No time extensions. Are election rules always changed during elections?
I want to like your post at least twice JL.
Tuesday morning I called Susan Collins office in Lewiston ME to demand she support the resolution to stop trump's illegal war. Her minion's response was to talk over me, saying "We are not at war". A U.S. senator's representative, treating a constituent like an errant underling. And being wrong in fact and in process. Collins is heretofore non existent, a worthless speed bump on the road to restore democratic process. We will soundly defeat her in November.
Right on Dan!
You Mainers show Collins the door
💪💪💪💪💪
Please defeat her, she should have been voted out ten years ago! Arrogant ineffective and manipulative.
But, but, she’s very concerned!!!!
Call every day
Thank you for your effort
What you are doing in Maine is very important
I have called although not a Maine resident to remind her that US women will never forget her betrayal
I don't see how this vote is a gender-related issue. I don't live in Maine either, but I would vote for Collins if I did. She proposed amendment to big tax bill to increase taxes on the wealthiest, to fund rural health care, and only 4 Dems supported it. To deny a female Republican a victory I suppose. US women should not forget that.
That was in response to her vote to put Kananagh on the SC and her support for the SAVE act.
“Per Politico, Democratic Senators Elissa Slotkin, Jack Reed, Gary Peters, and Tim Kain are not ruling out supporting additional funding.”
https://www.slotkin.senate.gov/contact/
https://www.reed.senate.gov/contact
https://www.peters.senate.gov/contact
https://www.kaine.senate.gov/contact
📲📲📲📲
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/04/democrats-iran-supplemental-funding-00813547
Thx for reporting. Makes me furious and determined to do whatever it takes to clean house.
BTW ( although I should know), did all Ds except Fetterman support the WPR?
Yes Wendy , all except Fetterman
Thank you Kathy
I hope Mainers (finally) show Collins the door.
I'll tell you the same thing I just reminded my neighbor of.
As long as the DSCC keeps overriding the public to put in their candidate don't be surprised if Collins wins again.
I'll vote for Mills if she is the nominee. But the race is nasty thanks to Ken and many people are really, really not happy about it.
The push to elect more 'centrists' to court the mythical independents will allow Trump's tools to hold onto their jobs.
Fellow Mainer here- my husband & I have been calling and writing to her weekly! Southern Maine won’t vote for her but she has a following in the rest of Maine. She’s their sweetheart from Caribou which is in Aroostook county. I think Platner has a good chance of beating her , but he’ll have to campaign in Republican held territory!
Graham Platner is and he will continue to bring his message to the second district.. The County is and will be the first to feel the negative effects of trump's regime, on immigration (Who will pick the broccoli?) Mainecare cuts, SNAP benefits, hospital and clinic closings, cost of living, medical premium costs, and inflationary policies that will reduce the farmers' ability to make a profit from their labors. And nobody I've ever known knows more about the whole issue of how war affects the people, than Platner, who served four, count 'em four combat tours. Collins couldn't shine his combat boots, and surely wouldn't lower herself to shuck oysters. Eat'em, certainly, as long as someone serves them to her on a platter, but doing the cold, smelly, messy work of producing them for market, not hardly. Keep the faith, keep up the noise, and we'll see you at the ballot box come November.
Thats ridiculous a phone answerer correcting your message to your senator.
Collins once again showing her utter uselessness. “Troubled and concerned,” my ass. Fuck her.
She is a spineless useless person. Vote her out!
Ah, send her to see if this feels like war, particularly for the service members who have died for word salad-brained Donny and HegsDeath! I see HegsDeath is now in the spellchecker, although not with a capital D for dumbshit.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻🙏
I hope you are right.
But we haven't got a great track record there.
I keep voting for whatever the DSCC keeps putting in front of us. But so far their track record is abysmal. As Ken Martin insists that he wants Mills. I expect this time will go down in flames as well.
Not a Mainer, but I'd rather see Platner than Mills. Maine needs new blood. She has an impressive resumé, but at 78, why?
Mills literally said that she wasn't going to run. She was going to retire and spend time with her family.
Ken Martin, DSCC, told her that she was 'the only one' who could beat Collins and that she had a responsibility to do so to save the country.
But by the time he convinced her of that, Platner was already running. The DSCC attacks on Platner every day are incredible.
The DSCC is supposed to be focused on getting democrats into office.
But instead the Dems are focused on getting the the 'centrists' into office. And have done everything they can to smear Platner as a Nazi. The long term effects of which have yet to be seen but honestly can't be great. I see them forcing Mills down our throats and then having half the people refuse to vote again. Much as they did with Bernie and Hillary.
And the corporations will be happy. Because Mills or Collins, they still get what they want.
I've been hearing of the DSCC's attacks on Platner. That just adds one more reason to the list I send in response to all the fundraising requests I get from DSCC, DCCC, et alii: Don't ask for money until you start standing up and showing you care. Like a lot of my fellow Dems here in MA, we are fed up with both the state and national party leadership.
Once the primary is over, I plan to send all I can from MT to defeat concerned susan.
Lord knows I have a long list of disagreements with concerned Collins. This vote, however, is more. It is a dereliction of duty and a violation of her oath. As a constituent I am going to do everything in my power to ensure that she loses this election.
Susan Collins is full of BS about supporting the war equals supporting the troops. NOPE. I’m pretty sure most would rather NOT be in an unnecessary war. As if those service members would be disappointed if they had to stop risking their lives for a fool’s fever dream.
This was the standard Republican approach to opposition to the Vietnam war. Protesters were labeled as anti-American and failing to support the troops. As one of those protesters, I always found that to be exactly wrong. I was supporting the concept of getting the troops back home and out of a prefabricated and ultimately unwinnable war. The same logic applies to Susan Collins, who is so commonly on the wrong side of history. Send her to the rest home where she belongs.
I remember……
They don't believe it themselves. It's just all they've got. They have workshopped a dozen reasons. The one that stuck with most of MAGA was the "nuclear weapons" aka WMD ploy. But it didn't play well here. We have a huge percentage of veterans (poor kids tend to enlist because there is nothing else to do). So she went with the tried and true 'protect the troops'.
"Buried in the news this week" could form an entire sub-heading describing virtually everything taking place around us right now.
Two tidbits the New York Times buried within its reporting on the Texas primary were the details of that last-minute bait-and-switch efforts election county officials used as voter-suppression tactics in Democratic precincts, and the fact that the Texas Supreme Court invalidated the lower court order to keep the polls open until 10pm in Williamson County.
Yet despite that 'preview of coming attractions' in November, Democratic voters together OUTVOTED Republican ones (in a primary, no less) by over 150,000 votes. I can't think when that last happened in Texas. In North Carolina, it was over 200,000.
The GOP does us a favor. Forewarned is forearmed. These kinds of pissy 'back door' games about the location of voting precincts are going to be November's flavor of the month. The front doors are heavily guarded -- in the Senate, by the Courts -- but far less so at state levels.
The usual caveats: ensure the name you sign with to vote matches exactly the one your county registrar has for you. Vote early at a designated polling station if you can. If you vote by mail, do it EARLY, being mindful that the Post Office has changed its rules about dates. Get a passport if you can, although you shouldn't have to. Be confident, but be prepared.
Women need passports
VoteRiders has your back on getting an ID to vote. We set up appointments & cover costs.
https://voteriders.org/
Thanks Kathy, but a question: I went to the site a few days ago and they seem to serve only major metro areas. I’d like to be boots on the ground to provide transportation in rural Virginia. Are there chapters of which I’m unaware? I plan to reach out once I’m back in the state.
Good question,Gail,although unfortunately I don’t know the answer.I do know they cover transportation costs (like Uber,I believe).Volunteers do provide virtual help and I spoke with one recently who said more help was needed.I suggest contact via Email: info@VoteRiders.org
Safe travels !
Pathetic isn’t it? The Repugs are scared of a bunch of WOMEN. All I can say is, they better be…this crap has gone on long enough.
Do you know why they are scared of a bunch of women? Because they should be!!!
Way long enough, I’m scary these days
Yes, the unspoken part...
“Buried in the news” is the MO of this gish gallop smash and grab criminal syndicate masquerading as an “administration.” There are the headlines and outlandish statements that are meant to cause outrage. When we react to them they are having the desired effect. Why? Because they ensure nobody sees what's really going on. Two weeks ago, DHS handed Palantir a $1B non-competed contract and there has been barely a word about it in the MSM. It's the collective micro-moves like this that are altering our governance for the worse, and they are also much harder to undo later. That's just one example. We have to do the dirty investigative work that the MSM won't do. Ask the hard questions and hold people to account. Let them know we are not fooled into being blind to what the other hand is doing. Call it out. Relentlessly.
$5 billion spent in 4 days. If Republican fiscal hawks aren’t moved by the number of US military personnel dying, or the American citizens at risk in the Middle East with no evacuation plans in place, maybe this will get their attention.
We burned through 400 Tomahawks in 4 days, when RTX can only manufacture 100 a year currently. No emergency meeting with defense manufacturers on Friday is going to magically restock the Tomahawk supply in a week, or a month, or a year.
Can we all remember that a spent Tomahawk is no longer a deterrent to any other country, say for instance, China should it decide to make a move on Taiwan.
And it ain't just the Tomahawks that are running low.
https://substack.com/@foreignaffairsreview/note/c-223230612?r=dvhmb&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
https://substack.com/@deanblundell/p-189876744
"Reagan proved deficits don't matter." Adventure wars are a freebee. Just slash public services and blame it all on Democrats.
It depends on who is driving the bus. When we need money for war, money appears as if by magic. In the past we have been able to "deficit spend" easily, especially when the spending goes into our war materiel economy. But for 11% of our population living in poverty and depending on Medicaid, not so much. We can spend $1 billion per day on a stupid war, but we can't afford relief for our friends and neighbors and families who are working, struggling to meet rising costs.
And that is the crux of the matter. Our neighbors should come first. Our families should come first. Why don’t the Repugs understand this? And why aren’t the Demos fighting harder for us?
Give dems a majority in the fall and watch what they can do. They are presently neutered.
Funny how this consistently happens… look at George W war on terror…. 20 years of funding. Can’t wait for them to attack social security saying the funding ran out. Everyone knows it will happen.
More on the asymmetric costs of drone warfare from Forbes, along with reporting that Zelenskyy is offering drone defense knowledge to Middle Eastern countries in return for their negotiating a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine for several weeks to a month. It is coming up on "mud season" in Ukraine, when land war mobility is difficult because anything with wheels gets stuck in the mud. It will affect Russian vehicles more than Ukrainian ones. Zelenskyy gets to cut the US out of the discussion with Putin, and, given his drone production deals within jointly owned factories built in coalition-of-the-willing partner nations, he is marketing to a whole new slew of customers and developing a new revenue stream that is not subject to Russian attacks.
Apparently, there are deals in the works with the US.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkirichenko/2026/03/03/ukraine-offers-drone-intercept-expertise-to-gulf-states--for-a-price/
The Ukraine has cutting edge drone warfare knowledge, the city-states of the UAE and the other gulf countries, with their gleaming skyscrapers, none of which can move, are no doubt rethinking how much help they want to give to Ukraine. We may finally see a tilt in the right direction, and to think that the insipid orange turd might be responsible for that, go figure. 🤷♂️
They also are running out of Patriots which are no good against drones anyway. And Iran has uranium to make dirty bombs, No nuclear explosion, no need for weapons grade material, a dispersal of powder from a standard explosive device on a small drone would do the job. A very expensive clean up required.
Drones can and do kill other drones these days especially with kamikaze’s that can now fly in swarms released by a long-range (1200 km) mothership.
This was so poorly thought out, it’s beyond stupid, I expect we will see dirty bombs, if I was an Iranian, it’s what I would use, and not necessarily this week, months from now. They have long memories, and have been schooled on revenge, we will see this play out for decades. 🤬
Yes it will play out over decades, and not just with the Muslim countries—with our former European allies and Canada. Spain’s refusal to allow US access to its airbases is a major escalation in Europe abandoning the US and NATO and realigning with the Coalition of the Willing. You can’t be blunter than “No, we won’t help you. What you are doing is does not align with our values.” Blunt and bad ass. Trump is blustering saying that we have the right to come in and use the base any way. And then he is threatening to cut off all trade with Spain, but they are part of the EU and can’t be singled out so if Trump does that the entire EU will likely react. Trade with the EU was $1.4 trillion in 2023. With a couple of sentences he puts that at risk. After Greenland, no one in Europe is cutting the US slack except for the pro-Putin states. Hungary and Slovakia.
And then there is Trump bitching about the SAFE program that provides long term loans for mutual defense projects in Europe. Canada has also joined. The are committed to purchasing within the countries that have joined and are requiring interoperability for everything that is manufactured within the members of the group. In other words, they are cutting out the US defense industry on major weapons projects and initiatives.
Cascading bits of economic bad news.
$5 billion. The USAID budget that was smashed. And millions in the process of dying needlessly. Or...ok...back home. Food and health care for Americans?
This act of aggression is sick and twisted and evil. And completely stupidly out of control.
Yes, so many life affirming possibilities versus so many life destroying possibilities.
It may be worse—it may not involve a sense of morality at all, just wealth extraction for the rich. That goes along with Trump’sanswer to what is the only thing that will stop him: answer: his own morality.
I actually thick he was intending to say mortality. He will grift until the day he dies.
No, they still get their tax cuts. That financial concern only kicks in if Dems in power.
I think this adventure is going to put us into a second Great Recession. That will not be totally pleasing to the oligarchs, or at least some fraction of them, so they might lean on their toadies.
Lots of concerns from foreign investors about the creditworthyness of the US.
UPDATE:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/business/economy/iran-oil-economy-consumers.html
NY Times is reporting this morning on all of the drags on the economy this war will produce if it goes on for more than a couple of weeks.
We could lose our status as the world’s reserve currency, which would wreak economic havoc on us.c
Could be a combination of events. Have you read the concerns about giant private equity firms like Blue Owl? They are scrambling to sell assets at a discount as investors look to withdraw their cash. An opaque industry with about $3 trillion in assets that nobody monitors or regulates. What could go wrong?
Caught a webinar on that very topic yesterday given by Americans for Financial Reform. Dr. Lenore Palladino of UMass Amherst: "Private Credit and the Dangerous Rise of Unregulated Finance". She had a webinar about a year ago so I was familiar with her research. Crackerjack prof. Explained it all... and we are in deep doodoo.
Blue Owl reminds me of the sub-prime home loan packaging deals, just for middle sized businesses. the fact that Trump allies want to make these available to retail investors, along with crypto for retirement accounts like 401Ks. Insanity!!!!
Georgia, they have hoarded enough to last for generations; and they will find a way to continue enriching themselves in different ways. I follow the markets daily, and I can see how money keeps flowing from place to place. They are (maybe even have been for a while) hedging in ways you or I would never be able to. It will not be like the Great Recession for them at all I am afraid.
I agree, the oligarchs will be hedged and protected from anything that could have a real impact on their lifestyles, But they would see their businesses contract at least temporarily, their stock prices would fall and who was the richest would change, and that is an assault to their egos.
They are all driven by a “there must be more for me” mantra. Very few walk away with “enough”even when they have kids to bequeath the empire to.
Thanking my stars that I don't know any oligarchs!
You are right of course.
I'm surprised we're not there already!
I expect that, pushing no debt to daughter and grands
They really are the dumbest administration in the last 60 years that I know of.
They are soo busy trying to force conversion therapy and forcibly detransition those in Federal custody that they couldn't be bothered to re-order their own stockpiles of weapons.
Since they have pissed off pretty much the entire world, we can't be surprised that China is slow walking the parts we need to build new munitions.
They are evil. But they really are incredibly stupid.
Unless, of course, the point is to leave the US weak and vulnerable. I guess if you look at it from Putin's point of view... Trump is still doing a great job.
I think you are absolutely right as far as the US is concerned. But I don’t think Putin expected Europe to break from the US so quickly. That is Zelenskyy’s doing—the whole peace negotiation has been Zelenskyy trying to appease Trump to hold on to US oil sanctions and to get weapons through PURL while organizing the Coalition of the willing into a mutual defense alliance parallel to NATO but separate so he could get rid of the pro-Putin members, and the highly unreliable US.
I am sure Trump is going to get rid of the oil sanctions because of the Iran war since oil prices are skyrocketing—that will help fund Putin’s war effort. Zelenskyy is trying to get the Middle Eastern US allies to broker a ceasefire with Putin in exchange for Ukrainian drones built in coalition partner countries. Its a nice revenue stream for Ukraine that is not subject to Russian attacks. The weaponization of winter attacks were successful in part because Russia had transfered Iranian Shahed drone tech to Russian factories.
“While some [Republicans]said they were nervous about the apparent lack of a plan for the conflict, others said it was imperative to demonstrate support for the troops by supporting the war, regardless of how we got into it.”
Sounds like the Vietnam War all over again. Historical reminder; 50,000 Americans dead, 3 million Asians dead. For nothing. Well, actually, a handful American non-combatants did get rich, so there’s that.
In what possible way is continuing a war "supporting the troops" - we are fully down the rabbit hole of crazy.
Agreed. You don’t honor dead soldiers by sending in more soldiers to die.
“who wants to be the last man to die for a mistake?”
-Vietnam vet John Kerry.
Ralph, I'm sure you don't think the person who spoke the word salad recounted by Heather at the start of her letter can follow your irrefutable logic..
I expect nothing from the orange fat man. I place all guilt and blame on congressional Republicans. They do know better. Reining in a dictator is the responsibility of Congress.
If I hold anyone else accountable it's only because he may no longer have the mental capacity to be legally competent.
And, did you notice it has been reported that over the last weekend, we sent Special Forces as combat advisors to Ecuador? 1963 in Vietnam Nam all over again.
Something of a LIVE BLOG today, anyway:
From NBC News 10 minutes ago:
KRSTI NOEM has been FIRED. the Senator of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, is the DHS replacement. FYI, Mullin's Senator seat at issue in November election
EARLIER:
"The Republican lead House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena AG Pam Bondi after a motion by Republican NANCY MACE R-SC".
********************
Thursday Morning.
I signed up today for FREE 'Columbia Journalism Review' emails.
Also, I:am checking out sharp author & independent investigator NILO TABRIZY. She has a piece now in 'New Lines Magazine:
*********************
Thank you Professor for leading with the WSJ German & Ostroff precision article.
Epstein Files Wall Street Journal update was published 3/3/26 (corrected).
Context: 'There are 47,635 Epstein Files that per Bondi's DOJ have been "offline" for review.
Per the WSJ, the 47,635 Files "should be ready for re-production by the end of week".
That 's Friday, 3/6/26 TOMORROW.
*****************************
Ari Melber 'The Beat' show: "Oversight Committee asks seven to Testify in Epstein Case."
1. Bill Gates
2. Kathy Ruemmler
3. Leslie Goff
4. Sarah Kellen
5. Leon Black
6. Dough Band
7. Ted Watt
.
The Trump–Epstein Pedo-files are going to haunt Mad King Donald all through November’s Midterm Elections – and beyond. Can you imagine the devastating hearings that are coming when Democrats retake the House, and perhaps also the Senate?
Devastating for many in the Epstein class, perhaps. But not for Trump, who has no shame.
And, I am afraid, he is too wedded to retribution. I think he will be the most dangerous after the revelations, but while he still has power to take revenge. As he has made clear, there is nothing to stop him except his own morality, and we know that he has none.
Depends what you mean by devastating to Trump. He’s losing support deep into his MAGA base. Relatively-sane Republicans are abstaining from voting; more Democrats just voted in the primaries in North Carolina as well as in Texas! Democrats just flipped a legislative seat in deep-Red Arkansas!
And in November, Trump is on schedule to lose his MAGA-Republican majority in the House and perhaps even the Senate. Imagine the hearings and investigations when Democrats are back in control!
While you’re right Trump has no shame, this and more will be devastating to the Mad King and his hold on power.
I agree that resistance is growing and that is heartening.
But I am talking about what he will do between his exposure and his removal from power. That could be a few months to 34 months from now. That is a lot of time to do a lot of damage. Look at what he did in the last few days with the help of his sycophants.
Your words "removal from power" makes me wonder... I am having a hard time believing that any Republican will be able to go along with that. He holds a gun at their heads. Whatever he has on them, they know, will be the end of their political careers.
I read Heather first thing every morning, and I find myself enraged even more, each day, with the kind of corruption, lack of self respect and total lack of integrity in these politicians. I don't naively believe the democrats don't plot and conspire, but the level of their scheming seems different. These Republicans (who have almost nothing similar to Republicans in the past) are a different kind of rot. Talarico gives us all hope, but the way the Republicans are trying to interfere with voting, I doubt he will have a fair election. And I am at a loss thinking what the Democrats can do to stop the interference. I am convinced DJT is not going anywhere, and if he does, Vance might make us shudder even more.
I fear Vance, too. He is too wedded to Thiel and the oligarchs. I think his position reflects theirs. A war just long enough with limited objectives to maximize profits, but not so long as to tank the US or the world economy. They want a justifiable patriotic war to distract from the Epstein files, and they can use to paint Democrats as woke liberals supporting terrorists if we are anti-war.
He is hedging his bets on the war, repeatedly framing it as a limited, objective‑driven campaign focused on destroying Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities while insisting it will not become a long, open‑ended conflict. He is definitely staying away from the “regime change” justification. He keeps to a short list of short-term goals: destroying Iran’s offensive missile capabilities and production, “annihilating” or crippling its navy, and ensuring Iran can’t obtain a nuclear weapon or continue arming and directing proxies.
He waited until Trump had made up his mind to strike before saying anything. Then he positioned himself with a script to keep close to his previous anti-interventionist America First rhetoric. “The strikes were necessary” and “I back the president”. Vance is trying to look like the adult in the room.
His X and social posts in the last few days largely repeat the line that Trump will not entangle the U.S. in a “forever war” and that preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon is the operation’s purpose. He isn’t talking about last June’s “obliteration” of the nuclear threat, at least so far as I have seen. Seems he caught a case of amnesia from Trump on that.
Vance is walking a tightrope, and letting Little Marco look like the one who is vasillating along with Trump. I think Little Marco is going to be the fall guy in this mess. Vance will just keep saying “necessary” and “I support the president.” Kind of like those 1990’s toys where you pulled the string and they said something random each time.
Of course the elections in November will be a clear focus for DJT and the GOP. He can’t afford to lose. Since voting is overseen by states (and not “nationalized”) we all need to beware of how we can “stop the steal” because the assault on our voting rights will be vicious. The shenanigans in Texas are a clear example of the games that will be played.
Yes. [t]rump will maintain full power until the instant he goes. What could be more frightening?
Assuming the elections will be allowed to go forward or that Democrats will be allowed to be sworn in even if even remotely fair elections take place (a long shot at best) is pretty optimistic at this point. There is no world where Trump doesn't know he's a lame duck and probably going to prison if the elections in November go forward, and we've already seen him try to murder congress to prevent that from happening before.
Well the one thing you have wrong is "knowing he's going to prison". In fact he knows he is NOT going to ANY prison and that is what gives him the freedom to do whatever the hell he wants.
And he is not going to prison because (a) he is the President and like it or not this country holds that as a "sacred" position even when it is used corruptly and (b) he has the unlimited power of the pardon which he will certainly use to exempt himself and many others from any federal legal accountability for his actions for at least this term and possibly forever (looking backwards).
Yes he can't pardon himself and others for state crimes but most of what is involved here would be federal crimes and he absolutely can pardon those. And of any state tries to indict him for his crimes I expect the SCOTUS will step in anyway because they are his lap dog.
You have to accept that we did this to ourselves by voting him back into office and we are going to pay for that in the short and long run.
There aren't many alternatives left. I don't have much faith in the efficacy of prayer, but maybe, just maybe, that stroke my spouse has been hoping for will come along sooner than 2028. We'll deal with Vance.
Your spouse has been hoping you have a stroke?
My ex probably hoped for that once!
:-). Got to have a LITTLE humor these days, no? :-)
She wants to wait until I have all the household repairs done. And all my toys sold off (motorcycles, mostly). Come to think of it, after that, what's the point?
Jon-If Obama was causing all
of this chaos and madness (including being involved with a pedophile) do you think the presidency would still be held “sacred”?
Good question. Obama has always had a worse problem because he was the first non-white President. That polarized the country (sad as that is). So you are probably correct, but I think I would consider that a special case.
On the other hand, we know that other Presidents had scandals (FDR, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Clinton and of course Nixon). FDR, Kennedy and Eisenhower were protected by the press (albeit their scandals were clearly not at the level of Trump's) and Nixon was indeed shamed out of office, but I expect he was given a lot more deference than a non-President would have been given for the same offenses. And of course Clinton was impeached but not convicted for the same reasons I think that Trump will be protected.
You need Senate 67 votes to convict in an impeachment and in today's environment (as with Clinton) with a Senate that doesn't have a party with that margin (today its 53-47 GOP) you will NEVER get an impeachment conviction. It just isn't going to happen.
Perhaps the meat in the Epstein files is finally being revealed. Hence, the need for the most massive distraction possible--a war costing a billion dollars a day.
Trumpstein continues to slither along. They called Clinton. Now let's call Trump
And write to your Republican Senators chastising them for voting to waste our hard earned tax dollars on Iran when while Americans are struggling to pay for food, energy, housing, health care, etc.
Many of these Senators are up for reelection this year. First, primary them if they aren't running unopposed and second vote them out.
Republicans are parroting 🦜🦜🦜that all we want to do is criticize T.Just yesterday I heard it from media mouthpieces Kegsbreath,Karolying Levitt and the insufferable billionaire Bessent.
Working people are getting squeezed with high grocery/gas/housing costs while billionaires,including those in T’s cabinet, are getting wealthier!
📲📲📲👩🏻💻👨🏼💻👨🏽💻
Why not Melania????
If you call in Hillary
Spousal protection.
According to the date on the Wall Street Journal article it was published "March 3, 2026 at 6:05 pm ET"
Trump’s incomprehensible answer (?) to why the government was not ready to evacuate our citizens from the Middle East should convince everyone that he is irrational.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE It must be the Catholic grade school boy in me, but I double dog dare anybody to diagram the “sentences” that make up his answer!
Oh, how I miss the well-structured sentences of President Barack Obama! Logical and well-argued, he even spoke in well-ordered paragraphs.
I had to diagram sentences too -- I kind of wish I could remember how. Could be a good new game for the NYT along with Connections, etc
😂😂😂😂😂
Heather sums up Republicans' approach to a war powers resolution: "Senate Republicans today refused to rein in Trump's attack on Iran with a war powers resolution to bring the war to a stop. While some said they were nervous about the apparent lack of a plan for the conflict, others said it was imperative to demonstrate support for the troops by supporting the war, regardless of how we got into it."
Seems to me (as a veteran) that you support the troops best by immediately taking steps to get them out of an ill-conceived, unnecessary, and illegal war. The deaths of six service members is six too many for any presidential vanity venture.
Watching the ping-pong tournament between Little Marco and his incoherent boss about why we went to war in Iran leaves a normal person with neck sprain. The shifting liquefaction and gobbledegook just boggle the brain cells. We did this because Iran is run by "fundamentalist lunatics" about the launch a nuclear weapon, says Rubio.
Since the part about 'about to launch' wasn't supported by his own intelligence people, the phrase must translate to 'they had to be stopped -- WE'RE the only country that gets to be run by fundamentalist lunatics!'
Then it's 'well, Israel was about to attack Iran first, so we had to...' Oh..Since when did you start taking orders from Bibi, Marco?
But wait! His boss denied it was Bibi. 'I made the decision, I told Bibi what we're going to do.' Oops. Square One. Next version? Enter Kegsbreath. "This isn't your father's regime change war....but the regime sure did change." News reports a few hours later said Iran had chosen Khamenei's son (Little Khamenei?) to take daddy's place. Does this count as "regime change" in Kegsbreath's shrunken brain?
And they wonder why 60% of America does not approve of them....
ICTT, we’re being led into war by a plastic sword waving lunatic who lies so much he can’t even follow his own trail of thoughts. We all support our troops and pray for their safe return. However this fake-news regime is playing with their lives and the lives of all those they’ve abandoned in this war zone.
Being “surprised” by any response by Iran is evidence of poor and unprepared military leadership. Effective chess players are able to predict every possible move of their opponent. This orange faced maniac just blindly wields his fake sword hoping to hit the right target.
…We’re in the back seat of a car being driven 100 mph by a drunk driver, heading north on the south bound side of this highway.
Sending prayers for our troops and all those he’s placed in harms way.
Apparently, Kegsbreath forgot to read "Middle East for Dummies." And his boss was "on a roll" after Venezuela, just like every dumb asshole in every casino in the world certain his next roll of the dice will show he just outsmarted the house...
What is astoundingly incomprehensible is that apparently 40% of polled Americans don't have a problem with this obscenity. I am gobsmacked that 40% of polled Americans still support this diabolical madman and the terror and damage he is wreaking, not just to the country, but throughout the world. Again, I ask, wtf is wrong with so many people in this country?
Or maybe it’s the polls where 1000 respondents represent millions. Some polls are even less than 1000 and a few foreign hackers would throw it off. The legacy news doesn’t tell us the sample size any more and I wish our substack writers would.
They're supposedly a cross section of voters, for what that's worth.
Read comments on Gov Tim Walz's FB, Rep Jim McGovern, Gov Maura Healey, etc. and then get back to us. The comments are dripping with hatred and slavish, cultish, beyond reasoning support of trump. So sorry, I don't feel any kind of encouragement when I read your comment.
Add that in with the blatant violation of our Constitutional "right" to vote and it's still pretty discouraging. trump is trying to ram through that "save" act by bypassing congress and filing an "executive" order. He has no power to do this but who is going to stop him? Our corrupt "supreme" court? We see how well that has worked so far. This will disenfranchise millions upon millions of voters. Not just women who will have to spend countless hours and money to prove who they are if married or divorced, our three married daughters, our one divorced daughter, and our daughter in law fall into this category as well as I and millions upon millions of women. Trans and those who were adopted will also be disenfranchised, men as well as women.
I had an adopted sister who passed away a while ago. Her name was changed to our last name when the adoption went through at her age of five. But her birth certificate lists her biological parents. No documentation can change that. So what do these adoptees do? Legally change their names back to their biological parent's name? How is this not a poll tax which is expressly forbidden by the Constitution?
Remember, countless number of those replying are bots. They’re fairly easy to spot.
Are any of these phone surveys? In that instance they wouldn't be bots.
I'm just weary of getting over enthusiastic about a change in tide. I'll be wearily watching through November. The votes are encouraging but the nefarious manipulation of the elections in republican controlled states are not. Their "supreme" courts seem as corrupt as our federal "supreme" court. The only answer is to beat them so badly there is no room for doubt. And that's a pretty big task.
lindsey graham was caught on mic, quite a few years ago now, stating that the only way republicans will win elections is if they cheat. It seems none have the integrity to actually run on policies that the constituency actually support, but rather manipulate and lie to win.
Sharon-it seems that lying, manipulation and cheating is how they want to make America great again. When we study our history we see that these tactics have been a good part of the American experiment.
It takes lots of lying and manipulation to convince people that skin color matters and that women are only supposed to be “helpmates” for men. We’ve been dealing with this for centuries.
I was referencing your comment about Walz and CO’s comment section.
Exactly my thoughts, too… how did we get here? His support should be in single digits with all the shit that has gone down.
Well Sharon, I believe we are 'all born equal' to be false. Sadly some of us know the difference between truth and being played.
And some of us just choose to ignore the truth. No-one holds a gun to anyone's head to support a certain candidate. I know many who are far more "educated" than me who believe it all. Or are just too tribal to actually think for themselves. It's definitely a danger to democracy when so many support a fascist regime like trump's and the republicans' party. I don't know what the answer is. I just hope there are more of us than them and that we show up to vote. I know they do.
I think "fundamentalist lunatic" applies perfectly to Hegseth and the rest of the Christian-Nationalists.
At the end of the day it’s because we can…. Republicans have no constraints. Expect more of this. The rules are for fools. They know the stakes are sky high and don’t intend to lose.
Same with Epstein hot potato, more tricks than Houdini could pull out of a bag. Whack-A-Mole ad nauseam
If Democrats aren't detaining and arresting Republican politicians "because we can" after all of this is over any pretense of law in America (which is basically a fart on the wind at this point) will be gone forever.
So true, none of that becoming buds with the perps
Make America a Hobbesian Hellscape. (Truth in packaging.)
JDinTX-Our secretary of “war” made that exact point. No more rules…
And they brag about it while lying that they are following the law. Forked tongues everywhere
The Texas mess was certainly a forewarning of what mayhem repugs plan for voters this year. So disgusted by these traitors.
I rate Trump a 15 on a scale from 1 to 10 for being an dangerous ignorant idiot.
i concur
Trump's answer to the question about getting Americans out of harms way is an absolutely crazy word salad which is hard to even read with any meaning - the ramblings of an unhinged man.
He is a master spinner, just like his press secretary.
Another tidbit buried by the avalanche of war is that the US Court of International Trade just ordered the dolt to start repaying more than $100 billion illegally collected since the Era of Yo-Yo, On-Again, Off-Again Tariffs began. Of course Dump will try to appeal, but....
Another tidbit buried seems to be Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis considering clemency to former former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who is serving a nine-year prison sentence. Trump "pardoned" her though she hasn't faced federal charges in what to me is the most serious breach of security for the 2020 and all following federal elections at risk from the voting machine security she eliminated.
See https://apnews.com/article/tina-peters-prison-clemency-trump-polis-colorado-a7ecef3620a88fa76c19488ea3cccfdf?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us