A Rogue government is running roughshod over the Constitution. This should be seen more clearly each day by people who care about the values we have lived by being swept away. We must resist and support the politicians who prove themselves to be allis. Whatever party or ideology you professesed before, it's MAGA we need to defeat now .
But Dems have been mostly silent. A few have spoken up with fervor, and it should have roused the “playing dead Dems,” but alas, it did not. But Bruce Springsteen heard. Maybe he is our Pete Seeger. Our heroes have peeled off and barely stir. Will the musicians wake and lead like they did in the 60’s. Time’s a wasting…
We've got to make our own noise. Loved the Boss in the UK. Telling the truth. Emerging media like Letters From An American, The Bulwark, Pod Save America, etc. are expanding the range and opening up communications between diverse groups. We all recognize the "divergence in the force", but the Constitution and Rule of Law MUST be preserved.
Sharon, how easy it is to criticize without offering solutions, so I thank you for this post. My senators here in Oregon and my rep are doing what they can. I see them and lots of other Ds calling out the R minions that appear before them in hearings despite being talked over or being treated disdainfully by the arrogant wormbrain.
I get tired of hearing from some people that are supposed to be Democrats.....damning them and accusing them of doing nothing. Tune in to MSNBC. Open your eyes. Watch Rachel on Monday nights. she is showing what we Democrats are doing. I protested with a group in Bishop, CA recently. It is a small town and we had several folks out that hot afternoon. Some flipped us off and I would say more folks gave us a honk or thumbs up! Where I live most of the people are Trumpers.....because they spend their time watching Fox Entertainment....it is even on in the lobby of the local bank in town. I hate going in there to deposit our donations and dues for our Clay County Democrats. I am the new treasurer. There are so few of us and most of us are in our 70s or 80s. Until we elect decent non corrupt people....things are not going to change.....and we can't sit and cry about it we have to do something.....even if we are nearly 82 and the treasurer of the party. I attended by first Indiana Democrat Convention last summer. I am not sure I am up to that in the future...but I will do what I can!
I don't think he replies with any great ideas! Did he? LOL I just get sick of those stupid comments! They never say what Democrats should be doing! LOL
I am so tired of people blaming Democrats for our current predicament. Democrats are in the minority in both houses of Congress and have no power to get legislation passed or investigations initiated. What can they do other than speak out? What do people want Democrats to do? It is up to us to tackle these problems not our elected representatives!
We WOULD have the power, Barb, if we could convince 4 republican members from each chamber to SWITCH their party from Repub to Dem. Why is it so hard for them to keep sniffing up trumps butt?
There was no "Biden lie". Joe Biden did good for the American people he served for his entire life. He was no more. or less, perfect than you and I.
James, the only relevant question IMHO is did you vote in November?
If you voted for Trump, you get what you get and deserve my scorn, but at least you voted. If you chose not to vote, or one of the eighty million who NEVER VOTE you, personally, own a small piece of the tragicomedy that our potentially great nation has become.
I blame the voters who voted for Trump, knowing he is a criminal who uses the presidency for self enrichment, a man who has no interest in the well-being of his constituents, which includes all of the people not just those who voted for him. No act by Biden would have convinced the MAGAts to vote for him. These voters were willing to overlook the cruelty, racism, hatred he constantly tweets and incompetence, to “own the libs.”
But we know trump is not fit even before he was elected. He's just as old as Biden was. Video of trump falling asleep during a mid eastern meeting. The Declaration of Independence is about unity and friendship? It was just the opposite. What's with renaming everything including places which are not even near us! Listen to his description of what groceries are-something in a bag. Stealth jets are invisible-you can't see them. and on and on.
Trump and the republicans don’t lie? They are doing what best for the middle class? What have they done, specifically for the middle class? Cutting free or reduced school lunch(mostly working class poor kids)?, cutting Medicaid? Cutting cancer research, cutting medical research period! Before you come at me, my Neice is fighting cancer and is on Medicaid and her husband works! She is 42. My daughter carries the gene for ALD, look up that beauty. Her father died of the adult form AMN. No, the family was not aware of the anomaly, until my husband became ill. It was too late, my daughter was 7.
Let’s just agree to disagree and leave it at that.
Where as, the Republicans have one idea. ‘Burn it Down’! If I am not mistaken isn’t than what Steve Bannon says? Do you have any ideas that might stop them from achieving their goal? The forth estate has failed us miserably, they focus on the daily shiny object and not on what is happening behind the scenes. So as Sharon asked you, what is your idea?
Which explains far more and is far more helpful than casting stones at folks who criticize democrats. Their news diet is only the MSM. Susan, Barbara and many of us are much further informed; Why ? We have the time and are long time politically active / engaged. How do we fix the MSM ? Right... and around in circles we go, but please, preferably without 'james' or any of his other I.D.'s. (-;
Cults are known to be dangerous. I guess my long time habit of watching Bill Moyers made me cognizant of so much. I miss him but substack and Blue Sky suffice. The problem existed long before the Tea Party and such. Dems never seemed to realize that…
This view of ICE reminds me of the authoritarian Hitler, using Gestapo for widespread repression of political opponents, ideological dissenters, and various persecuted groups. The Gestapo often arrested individuals without judicial process, and many disappeared in their custody. The Gestapo was also instrumental in the persecution and deportation of those seen as undesirables. How is trumps use of ICE all that different?
Why were those that violently (see Josh run for his life) attacked our Capitol on January 6 pardoned? They assaulted law enforcement and one officer died, yet they, according to the current administration, are above the law. Your thought process has no integrity.
Joan , thank you for the link, I just subscribed, luckily they like so many other patriotic substacks have a fee subscription. I wish I could pay them all for their work, but retired and on a limited fixed income with too many medical bills does not afford me this privilege, I am so greatful to substack which has allowed me access to so much wonderful needed information for free,
JD, Dems are in the minority. It's in the hands of the Republican party or at least three of their representatives to oppose and defeat such a monstrous bill. Since it's their responsibility, and they are going to be held responsible, they need to grow a spine before Wednesday 1 am.
Heather: "...12 swing-state Republicans who don’t want drastic Medicaid cuts, and 31 hardliners who do. House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) can afford to lose only three Republican votes on the measure. Nicole Lafond of Talking Points Memo reported today that Trump will go to Capitol Hill tomorrow to talk Republicans into voting for the measure."
He's there now.
Besides the Medicare issue, lots of other dissension.
We need to encourage Don Bacon R. NE. and other Republicans who are standing up to Trump and MAGA Mike. He and Reps. David Valadao, R-Calif., Don Bacon, R-Neb., Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Rob Bresnahan Jr., R-Pa., Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., Jen Kiggans, R-Va., Young Kim, R-Calif., Robert Wittman, R-Va., Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., and Jeff Hurd, R-Colo signed a letter:
“Many hospitals — particularly in rural and underserved areas — rely heavily on Medicaid funding, with some receiving over half their revenue from the program alone,” the representatives wrote. “Providers in these areas are especially at risk of closure, with many unable to recover. When hospitals close, it affects all constituents, regardless of healthcare coverage.”
Besides the Medicaid issue, Republican Reps have called out Trump/Musk on national security and tariffs.
On MSNBC Saturday, Velshi asked Bacon about tariffs. He said, in essence, any Reagan Republican would remove Trump tariff authority. To do that, they need all of the House Dems.
Plus Bacon said Trump has a "moral blindscape" re Ukraine. Retired General. Russia is not a superpower. Mexico with nuclear weapons.
Says anyone who served has to oppose Hegseth, SIGNAL.
Says we are better than any other country in agriculture. Says Trump has broken free trade. In essence, we are losing the trade war.
But will they be held responsible? Dems are trashed non stop and I hate to pile on but they were gonsmacked by the “mandate.” And were afraid to accuse (or even investigate the bought election). I was depressed too but our leaders have been pretty much immobilized. Thank god for the fighters but we need leaders. They are not deaf, have the ability to speak and push back, and call out the abominations. Sort of Iike Bernie and AOC. People are hungry and starving for pushback. They/we are fed crumbs. Rupert still dominates the narrative. Who calls out the lies…
JD inTX , I believe that if you dig deeper, you will find that there is a lot of push back by Congress, many cases in courts , judges, state AG’s , civil servants, many Governors and local politicians and groups are pushing back, but many major media outlets are either mouthpieces for this regime, or are afraid of lawsuits and reduced ability to do business from this regime, so we don’t get to hear about the truth as much as we should. The media are often filled with the distractions that trump wants to shift our focus from his treasonous actions, ( this is a first major tactic of all authoritarian regimes to withhold information from the public) but if you look to the many outlets, Propublica, Daily Cos, Politifacts, Mother Jones, and many more, and substacks by Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Robert Reich, Dan Rather, Elliot Kirschner, Steve Schmidt, the Contrarian, and so many others, listening to Rachael Maddow’s show, signing up to Civic shout, Ultraviolet, Native rights political groups, using the website EWG.org, to counter advertising lies and promote your own personal health, and just googling for organizations that interest you and see what their political arm is. There are still so many other ways that we can find the truth and find ways to get involved,
With trump going to the House to encourage the passing of their Big Beautiful Bill reminds me of the debate between him and Hillary when he stood behind her in an intimidating posture. His presence will serve as an intimidating presence - do what I ask or else....
I was thinking about the protest songs of the '60s last week. The so-called 'folk revival' got going with the civil rights marches and protests and morphed to protest the Vietnam war.
I was thinking about Buffalo Springfield's "For What Its Worth" and Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Ohio". Great songs, great messages, but not good march tunes, not like "We Shall Overcome". We need both kinds though. For those not familiar with these two songs, please Google them. They are worth it.
Thank you for this link. I have many friends who read the LFAA but not all read the comments. I tell them I don't get through them all (and yes, there are certain folks I look for) but the comment section adds so much to the experience.
I wonder what others are thinking, but I'm becoming concerned about Heather. I DO NOT want her voice silenced--either by MAGA or by a breakdown. Plenty of people on here also watched YouTube "Beau of the Fifth Column" who had to step back. Thankfully, his wife took over the channel, and "Belle" is doing a great job. Who would take over for Heather? I hope she dials it back a bit so she can keep on. I REALLY don't like the thought of not having her Letter to get us through.
JD, please don’t give up hope, even when you may think your voice doesn’t matter, it is part of a whole, and it matters, e-mail your representatives every day and let them know they will not be voted back in if they do not protect the liberties, rights, freedoms, and the common good that is protected by a Constitution that they swore an oath to. it can’t hurt and historically it has made a huge difference,
No danger of giving up, but I seem to be more pissed than most. Texas is insane, fear that the country is heading to that level of weaponized imbecility
Our Dems are not silent. mega has flooded the zone with so many offences that it is difficult to come up with say the 5 -10 worst offences. I do cheer Springsteen on. Perhaps he will wake up a few people.
I agree, it is a MAGA strategy to “ flood the zone” with nonsense to distract us from his treasonous acts of making this a fascist regime and celebrating all the many ways that we still have of hearing the truth while trump uses lawsuits and threats of destroying businesses, to supporting basically government propaganda media. .character and truth still matter if we want a democracy,
Am constantly bombarded by Dems for donations but I see no action on their part. Sitting in Congress with your tail between your legs is not going to get them one dime from me. Do something or get the hell out. My purse is permanently closed until you do. Do your damn jobs, protect democracy.
I just obligated for a monthly donation to Move On. Best I can do at the moment. Dems are kneecapped with the likes of Gillibrand and Fetterman. Regret any money I spent on them
OMG Jeri! I wrote so many postcards for Fetterman, and besides the costs of postcards and stamps, the TIME for me to write legibly with my arthritic hands!! He is a HUGE disappointment to me! I thought he'd be a very outspoken leader for the little guys! :-(
I have given up calling his office. When I did, I used to leave a message reminding him of how he has tattoos of the dates when someone died of violence in his town when he was mayor. I asked "will you tattoo the date that democracy perished under your watch?"
Miselle, I am afraid that Fetteman is no longer who he was through no fault of his own, but from his stroke that has damaged parts of his brain, Maybe don’t give up, but e-mail your other state, local, and federal representatives and the DNC and let them know what you expect from them, Your voice will always matter,
No, dems have not been mostly silent…the news media have been silent about reporting on dems speaking out & showing up at town halls & other agencies ‼️
They are screaming into a void, that is true. But Dems let the perfect be the enemy of the good (except for Fetterman). Chuck S is a pissy leader. Bernie and AOC were covered somewhat, but never on Fox. When Fox came on the air, I watched a brilliant friend blather nonsense and turn into a MAGAt before there were MAGAts. The division is widening while Dems pretend it’s politics as usual as far as the public is concerned. More will be required before a more positive outlook is warranted. From where I sit in Texas, anyway.
You are so right! The time IS now! No more waiting . They have stolen our Country while we have been immobilized by disbelief. Every day we prolong the inevitable we watch them grab more of AMERICA. They have shuttered all but a few of our governmental institutions that provide both oversight and aid to our people . They have
chipped away at our reputation across the globe and shamed us by disrespecting our allies. They are spending and propose to spend billions of dollars on airplanes and golden domes as the price food increases daily for most American families as they watch their savings begin to dwindle. What are we waiting for?
The men and women famous for making speeches in the 1960s and 1970s for women, minorities and gay rights like Gloria Steinem, Malcolm X, King Jr., Milk, Kramer were just the ones chosen to be the collective voice. There were hundreds and thousands of like minded people marching behind them, filling up protests, calling their congressmen and women, Senators and demanding accountability.
We don’t have that today. What we have is hundreds and thousands who like to bitch plenty and like to do nothing plenty more. All through the news today, I read or heard how I should be outraged at Biden. At the Democratic leadership. I’m mad at neither. I’m mad at my fellow Americas. Who were too lazy or too uninformed to realize where this was headed. It isn’t like every Dem pol wasn’t warning non stop about the end of democracy and fascism. Here it is in case they needed to visually learn. And reversing it will take a lot more hard work than getting out a blamethrower and blasting whomever, whatever, anyone everyone except ourselves.
Craig, I agree with your conclusion that “A rogue government is running roughshod over the Constitution.” How ever that conclusion comments on the results of a well thought out and executed plan as laid out in painful detail in the Project 2025 document. This document and the goals and strategy were inspired and funded by those who stood physically behind Trump during his inauguration. Much to our horror and dismay what we are experiencing is the success of this diabolical plan to dismantle an already deteriorating Democracy.
What we lack is the foresight and detailed plan to build back a just and equitable government and economy. Project 2025 came about from a stinging loss to Biden. Now we the people are suffering an even more stinging loss to the success of Project 2025. It is all too easy to focus on Donald Trump and MAGA but the real villain here is the success of Project 2025.
Taking the same playbook utilized by Project 2025, we must create our own vision for what will be our future and clearly we cannot wait for the Democratic Party to provide it. They have already proven their inability to even attempt what Project 2025 has accomplished. The “Crisis and Transition” Substack is becoming the preeminent forum for creation and implementation of a truly progressive roadmap to our brighter future.
Marc, you say some good things, however, Project 2025 is no Johnny come lately. It was launched with the Powell Memorandum in 1971 and incubated in the administrations of Reagan, Bush, and Shrub. It was birthed with the opposition to Barack Obama via the Tea Party, and the oligarchs jumped on board with ffpotus in his 45 role and we are seeing the fruits of their labor in this administration.
Ally, I agree with you, but I will (predictably) state, as I have before, that the roots of Project 2025 first formed in the late 1950s as the U.S. population became more affluent and had time for weekend leisure pastimes that did not include church attendance. This raised concerns among evangelicals, who had held sway over U.S. culture and governance since the colonial days.
P2025's roots took hold in the 1960s when the "sexual revolution," the civil rights movement and "women's lib," not to mention Madelyn Murray O'Hair's success with removing compulsory christian prayer from public schools, created upheaval in American culture. These groundswell changes in Americans' attitude toward religion, morals and sexuality were anathema to the repressive evangelical ethos. U.S. evangelical leaders panicked, fearing they were losing control of U.S. society. Various evangelical groups began fighting against this cultural liberation in various ways. Many repurposed their summer youth camps as training camps to indoctrinate youth as "christian soldiers." https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486358/
Others organized retreats and seminars to train their faithful on how to run for public office at all levels, from school board members to county clerks to state representatives.
These isolated operations continued through the 1970s, with only minor impact, until 1979 when Lynchburg, VA, Baptist megachurch pastor Jerry Falwell organized "The Moral Majority." Falwell overruled other evangelicals by insisting that conservative Catholics and Jews be included in the new umbrella organization.
It's interesting that Falwell's Moral Majority opposed Jimmy Carter, whose life most closely matched the example of Jesus, in favor of divorced B-list actor, Ronald Reagan, who identified as Presbyterian, but made no serious profession of christian belief. History doesn't always repeat, but it rhymes.
Fun story: I lived and worked in Lynchburg, VA, in the early 1980s when Jerry Falwell was peaking in fame. I should note that except for members of Thomas Road Baptist Church, everyone in Lynchburg hated Falwell.
My route from home to work took me past Falwell's expansive, walled compound (untaxed and paid for by church members). One sunny morning, as I started a left turn onto the road passing the Falwell compound, Jerry overran his stop sign and rolled into the road where I was already partway through my turn. We both stopped abruptly as the front bumper of his big, black Suburban came within a few inches of mine.
Believing himself to be far more important than me, he gestured for me to back up and let him continue on his way. I stared directly at him without moving. After an awkward few moments, he threw his hands up in irritation, slammed his black behemoth into reverse and backed up even with the stop sign where he should have stopped in the first place.
As I finished my left turn onto his road, I smiled and waved, with my middle finger more prominent than the others. It was a very good day.
Dale R, Thank you, I loved your story, Prosperity Christianity has stolen so many dollars from folks that couldn’t afford it in the hopes that it would bring them good fortune not realizing they were being “sold a bridge”, and just enhancing the wealth and power of con persons.
That's an awesome experience Dale ! A lot of fodder in that to chew on too. "... except for members of Thomas Road Baptist Church, everyone in Lynchburg hated Falwell." That's one of those things to chew on. My Dad, Korean War marine was somewhat a back and forth, Eisenhower republican. Later, he got roped in hook, line, and sinker with the "Moral Majority" bunch. I doubt that he had even a notion that most locals there detested Falwell. I wonder now if that would have made any difference to him ? My youngest daughter, an ER RN ++, has been doing the travel nurse gig for a few years now. Not long ago she did a 3 month long tour of duty in Lynchburg, the epicenter of a far too large, medical care desert.
Dale, great historical insights into more of the many ways that people opposed the march toward a government that really is of the people, by the people, and for the people grounded in a Constitution that protects the liberties, freedoms, and unalienable rights of all Americans regardless of how they were born, not their skin color, sex, gender, economic level, other abledness, or age should ever be factors that determine a person's legal protection under the law in America, Now that many have discussed this, and many are now aware of the “flooding the zone” with t by design further hatred and division by trump so we don’t pay attention to his treasonous fascist coup, what are your thoughts regarding what you would like to see the Democratic Party do to not only fight this coup, but bring about that more perfect union? Are you willing to write, email, or call all of your local, state, federal representatives and the DNC to let them know what yiu expect of them? Your voice matters,
"Roots".... Maybe seedling sprouting I'd agree with. Ally's position in my humble opinion cites the more obvious acceleration that's observable. The 10 year + , smoke filled rooms of the commerce class talking behind closed doors is far less observable and provable, as 'in print.' Understand: I don't entirely disagree with your postulate, as I actually felt and experienced the shifting sands.
Ally, thanks for the background history that resulted in the finished Project 2025 document. Because “We the People” can no longer rely on the Democratic Party to provide the progressive vision, we will have to undertake this ourselves.
Exactly Marc. The 'educated estimate' of others who might know better than I estimate that a impactfully successful number of folks it requires to actually force change, expressed as a percentage, is about 3.5 percent actively engaged and demonstrating can 'force' that movement. My glasses are not tinted; I don't think that's very many more than are currently, actively pushing back. Organizing the larger tent of the similarly enough affected is 'the thing.' Spectacles will be covered; "If it bleeds, it leads."
Thanks, Ally. As Paul Harvey would have said, "Now you know the REST of the story".
This, as Heather has repeatedly said, began to gain traction under Ronnie Ray Gun, even though you're correct that the Powell Memo was a foundational document. Perhaps if Nixon hadn't been such a crook, the memo wouldn't have carried the weight it did. We'll never know now.
Ally, thank you for the history of what is happening. I would add that the Rs tried to undo the New Deal from the get go, but ramped up their efforts starting with St. Ray Gun. And yes, the election of Obama was such an affront to regressive white people plus gains made by people who should know their place or remain in the closet. Once people have status, even if they do not deserve it, merely by being white, male, and straight, they become resentful if they think they are losing it. This last election was about resentment and now we are seeing revenge in spades.
There are two big dividing issues that come to mind. One is the “age” issue, or “old guard vs. new guard” schism; briefly summed up with “we must do what we’ve done in the past” vs. “tear it down and rebuild anew”. The other is “identity politics” or (I’m my mind) “just how many alphabet people do we ‘let in’? Women seem to be in, but just how much bodily autonomy is included in that? BIPOC seems pretty assured, but what about immigration status? But how many LGBTQIA+ people can be included before we hear a “not them!”?
What I see in some circles are that Transfolk are unwanted, and the complete understanding of why Intersex and Asexual are part of that cohort.
Frankly, I’d like to see a 5 party system with the basic monikers reading left to right as: Radical, Liberal, Centrist, Conservative, Reactionary.
Marc, I agree with you, a well-planned, longterm plan will be necessary. Unfortunately, it's much easier to use a wrecking ball to the Constitution the Federal government and the rule of law, than it is to repair the damage later. A well thought out plan is an essential start.
A second thought: Repairing the damage to our reputation worldwide is an entirely different project. It will also take a lot of time.
To be fair, I have kept up but I was still shocked by the tech folks going Trojan Horse. Repubs have been evil since Newt, but I thought tech, and MSM would hold with sanity. Dems have made missteps but repubs are evil in their duplicity and hypocrisy. And they scan every Dem action for decades looking for any crack, and making up what is not there. Dems still think it’s politics as usual, a fatal mistake, in my opinion.
Evil, yes EVIL!!! Thank you JD for using the word! Keep using it! Everybody use it! That is what we are dealing with - evil deeds carried out by evil people. And supported by almost half of our fellow Americans. They who support evil are themselves evil.
Difficult to comprehend Marc. But, as you imply, this 'present day tea-party' has to have been assembling those who would carry out "the plan" very quietly. This is not being pulled off by some gang-of-12. These bots are all over the place, while the president and Ms Bondi and Noem (and her attack dog) are instilling fear and backing it up with help from the new outlets they exercise control over (but, not all!).
The only resistance that will save our democracy and restore the rule of law will have to be massive and determined. I am talking general strike, with millions of individual citizens filling the streets with their bodies to shut our country down for a day. This will require real leadership from a critical mass of our Democratic politicians. Objectives, detailed planning, incessant publicity, speeches and the physical presence of anyone unafraid to be a role model for the rest of us, especially our children, are essential.
In a word, COURAGE.
The leaders will necessarily insist on nonviolence, but be prepared to suffer at the hands of the rogue policemen, soldiers and MAGA gangs Trump will certainly try to unleash against all of us.
It is very sad that it has come to this, but failure to put Trump and the billionaires in their place now, (not waiting for midterm elections that may never happen)... Unthinkable.
Our local leaders and advocates keep telling myself and others to keep calling our elected officials - that phone calls matter and are influence them. I hope they are right because I live in PA home to John Fetterman and Dave McCormick I’m not seeing that. Fetterman and McCormick won’t even host town halls. Eventually, after months of calling, filling out forms on their websites, writing letters, got a AI generated fluff email with a screen shot of a letter from both Fetterman and McCormick. Both emails were almost identical. As expected, both emails told me all the great things they are doing for PA. Really? These two senators are doing such a great job that our Governor had to sue the federal government to release funds all ready approved for PA. I’m retired so I have all the time in the world to keep calling them but I’m waiting for the election to get my voice heard!
Miselle, we all learn from our mistakes, I am sure you are wiser and more discerning now making you an even better advocate for Democracy,
As a fellow citizen who also believes in Democracy and fears living under a fascist regime, I thank you for all of your time, your patriotism, your dedication, your love of the American people , your effort, and expense.
MP, maybe contact your local, state, and federal representatives and thank those doing good work for the common good, along with telling them all and the DNC what you expect from them not just to fight this fascist coup, but what you would like to see in a comprehensive unified 50 year plan to bring our Constitution up to date so that it protects the equality and equity of all Americans and Democracy,
Are Dems stuck with people who never should have run in the first place. Imperfect candidates don’t have to be Trojan Horses. Surely vetting is not a lost art.
David, I agree with most of what you said except for your statement "This will require real leadership from a critical mass of our Democratic politicians.” We cannot forsake our own responsibility for leadership to “Democratic politicians” as they have now proven themselves to be like a “deer in the headlights”when we could have used their leadership the most.
Marc, our "deer in the headlights" DEMS, as you so aptly describe them, need to get their asses out in the road and stop traffic. If they continue to "lay low" while strategizing how to win the mid terms, there won't be any effing midterms!
If you or I decided to hold a major press conference and announced plans to shut down a major US city, no one would ever hear about it.
But, If Obama, the Clinton's, 5 or 6 well known Senators and Governor's and celebrities, and a gaggle of House reps did it, it would be front page news for days and generate a lot of excitement among the base and beyond.
Trump breaks the law and pisses on the Constitution daily. He needs to be stopped now.
David, I don’t believe we can rely on MSM to give even huge demonstrations much attention, possibly one day until they focus on Trump‘s reaction. In truth, Trump is doing a good job of burning his bridges as the Trump train moves along and destroys our economy. In the end, it will be the looming recession/depression that will topple the Trump regime and his MAGA following.
One thing I would note with grave concern is that we are ignoring the biggest crisis of all which is the deteriorating climate situation that we find ourselves in. We have become so hyper-focused on Trump and his MAGA cult that we have ignored the elephant in the room, the environmental climate catastrophe we are facing within increasing speed.
Trump has money and family and friends and homes all over the world. It will be most of his followers who will be "hung out to dry".
When our country is destroyed and used up...Trump can go anywhere he wants to live...where the water and air are safer....and where his buddy dictators rule.
Do you think he is going to care for the poor little parasites who worship him here. He only cares for those he can manipulate and use.
When he is done...he is done.
I see what money does to people....it squeezes any decency they once MAY have had completely out of them. Rubio is a heartbreaking example.
Marc, If the fix is really in and the NYT, Wapo, WSJ, etc. are ordered by their masters to ignore a million people shouting and blocking traffic in downtown New York City, or in multiple cities on the same day, then the choice is even more difficult and dangerous than our worst nightmares. What are we left with? Secession of the more enlightened states from the less enlightened? Civil war?
And of course Trump is distracting us from the really serious issues he neither recognizes nor knows how to resolve.
Trump needed to be jailed no more than a week after the events of Jan 6th, thank you Merrick Garland. But that horse has fled the barn, and the longer we wait to get the job done, the less likely it is that our democracy can survive.
Large masses of people can send the worst dictators into early retirement and damp prison cells. It has happened before.
The government is rogue because it's been bought and paid for by a cabal of obscenely rich oligarchs hellbent on establishing an outright kleptocracy (vs the disguised but nonetheless effective one of the last fifty or so years) headed by an autocratic puppet. Well, with the passage of the BBB now in the offing, they've all but closed the deal. Government, you say? A new aristocracy, sez me.
Kamala is exceptional. She has taken a beating. What she does next is not only up to her, but up to us to stand by her....to support her....NOT to leave her seemingly taking her defeat alone. I voted FOR her and I would do it again.
She is the one who stood up for this country....for Democracy....for the care and lifting up of each and all. SHE IS QUALIFIED!!!! She cannot serve alone. She needs to know we have her back!
If she's elected Governor of California, maybe she'd figure out a way to secede from the so-called union. Or at least cause Trump a lot of good trouble. It's the 9th largest economy in the WORLD, remember! Love to see that happen.
"California Governor Kamala Harris" sounds great as well. I would just like to see her voted into a leadership role that honors her abilities. I want to see that big bright smile again !
What we're witnessing is not only the demise of our democracy under Trump and the MAGA Republicans but also the wealthy feeding on what flesh is left. Soon it'll be a carcass of bones and nothing else. How did we get here? The failure of our schools to teach critical thinking skills along with civics, government and comparative history. Tens of millions of voters don't know what they don't know. They're now going to pay the price for those deficits. Any many will never understand why or how it happened.
We told them (MAGAs) time after time, with rhythmic regularity, to fear a 2nd Trump presidency, that it would spell disaster for democracy here and around the world. But, for them, crushing brown- and black-skinned people was more important.
I am so fed up with the lying and distortions perpetrated by so many in the trump administration. This is all magical thinking. And the MAGA faithful, who probably never passed a history test, don't know the facts.........And how dare they shout NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW when that is exactly what trump are others are guilty of. trump and his administration are the greatest disinformation warriors ....ever!
"This should be seen more clearly each day by people who care about the values we have lived by being swept away."
I agree with one exception. You should not have pluralized "value". There is precisely one value/principle: Treat others the way you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot. Beyond that, there are only context-specific rules for how to adhere to that context-independent principle in rule-specific contexts.
Democracy doesn't work because people follow the rule of law. It works when enough people are adhering to the one principle.
Diversions - Distractions and Cover-Ups are careening toward us like an out-of-control freight train. Every time I say to myself, "It can't get worse", the danger and the illegality of the Trump regime's actions escalate.. Subterfuge is the mask behind which hides the regime's maliciously racist and power-hungry intent to devour our rule of law and extol lies over truth.
The very recent attempt at political persecution and prosecution of Representative LaMonica McIver is only the beginning of setting an abhorrent precedent in this escalation of power. The regime tosses words like " assaulting", "resisting" and "impeding" around as if their words matter. When, in fact, lies are the order of business every day and subterfuge is the mask behind which their hidden agenda lurks.
As Bernie Sanders said on the Stephen Colbert show on the night of May 15: "If you sit back and do nothing, they will take it all." June 14 is a day when we all, (kids, adults, seniors) need to be on the streets saying NO to dictatorship!
P.S. I guess there is another Michele. This could be confusing???!!!
Tear up your advanced degree (or your HS Diploma if you got one). You are the opposite of an "intellectual". You're a Fan Boy Wanna Be. Go ahead a pop off some more MAGAt bullshit and prove me right. Stop drooling on us...
OOOOooo.. guess I hit a nerve talking about your diploma and advanced degrees... You are sad. Trump IS a mental illness. Go back to X where you belong.
It is MAGA that needs to be defeated. Americans also need to figure out at which point they are better off fighting from a Blue State or from Abroad. I wrote this piece right after Trump was elected to point that people should figure out what their red line is for the place in which they live. Vulnerable people should know that there are places where they might be safer.
I personally had planned to move abroad because I was worried about the constant threat on Social Security and Medicare by the government, programs I had paid into, which are insurances, can be destroyed, and then the recipients face either death through lack of care of crippling bills and bankruptcy. Not how I wanted to spend my golden years. So, I moved to a country with universal health care insurance, which most of my friends who have moved abroad to other countries also have. Now I am able to compare the two systems.
Almost all of my reasons for leaving were financial. It is just cheaper to live in other countries except for 12 of them. This was true before Trump took power, so I imagine it is going to get worse under him.
Evil is not new but it is epidemic now. Never fathomed that so many would sign on. I read that Roger Stone was so relieved when he figured that lying was so effective….maybe it was the Netflix special I saw several years ago. Pure evil.
Dems can get over their collective impotence by focusing on the three “H”s.
Americans need action in three areas of the aspirated letter “H”: Health. Housing. Whores.
#1) The U.S. should have a national public health system as do all other democracies.
#2) It should have a massive housing program for the working and middle classes – all of it around inter-city fast rail and inner-city commuter rail, with schools, clinics, day care, elder care, parks, local shops, and farmers’ markets.
#3) We should declare war on the tax-evading, hugely subsidized whores – billionaires who galloped aboard Citizens United and others who so cudgeled standardized testing into the schools as to void humanities there and install but corporate conceits for impersonal, abstracted categories and linear simpleton causalities.
Calling the men who have hurt this country whores--women who sell themselves for small amounts of money simply to survive, whereas the billionaires are raping the entire land to enrich themselves enormously. Such a man thing to do.
A man can no more be a whore than a white person be the "N" word. I don't care for its use in this context either. I wanted to say this w/o getting too distracted from the larger discussion of our common enemy.
Laura, there is an entire industry of “male escorts” whores by any other name, but I think that the is issue is consent, Whoring may be transactional and there is not necessarily an agreement that at the end of the meal , everyone has had their cookie, but is is consensual, ( of course unless this is happening to trafficked boys and girls, women and men, that is a different discussion)
I think what trump and these billionaires are doing is more akin to rape, A selfish, violent, deceitful betrayal of the rights of another human being that not only hurts their physical being, but also their psychological being, their emotional beings and very soul and spirit,
That is what Trump and these billionares are doing to our government and our people. They are the embodiment of the worst aspects of our species. They feel entitles to lie, cheat, betray, and even cause great harm to the extent of causing deaths to fulfill their delusions of grandeur at amassing power and wealth for themselves,
I was trying not to touch the whole “N” word thing, but I find that I just can’t, At 73, growing up as a woman without equal rights, I am just so tired of “knowing my place”. And if you want to tell me it’s never been that bad, then tell me why the ERA has never been added to the Constitution .
I and many others in this country are multiracial. People see me and call me white, but what does that mean? Am I supposed to ignore my “N” ancestral heritage, or my Asian, or European, or American Indigenous, or for that matter
whatever formation of the first self-replicating molecules and the development of cellular life that my line came up out of the primordial soup from?
I am the glorious culmination of eons of ancestral trials, tribulations, and successes, I carry all of them with me in my DND and the DNA of my microbiome, Did you know humans have more nonhuman cells than human. We are symbiotic beings, Do you think ignoring our symbiots has allowed for good healthcare or becoming our best selves?
When will we realize that we need to learn from the past, but we are not the past? We need to feel the shame and guilt for how some of our species felt it was OK to commit violence, even genocide, realizing that we need those feelings to teach us that that is no way forward for our species, We need to realize that as a species, we live on this rare and beautiful planet that depends on diversity for life, We need to realize that we are not meant to have dominion over, but to work as good stewards recognizing our place in an interdependent system that supports LIFE? Will we ? maybe. Will we continue to kill each other and shit in our own backyards (like no other animal on this planet ) until it no longer sustains human life, maybe. I just know which side I choose to fight on, We all have a choice, everything is political, every action and word actually does matter.
They are guilty of selling their souls for power and finance, not to keep body and soul together. Whatever their name be, it should be in large, bloody capitals. More Americans will sell their most precious possession, dignity, health, and their back because of this perfidy disguised as legislation on behalf of the electing members of our communities. Evil, thy name is Republican. Shame on everyone of you. My prayer: May justice rain down on your households and lay you all bare.
I agree with you Teresa. Phil’s finaI flourish was badly put. In fact, whore isn’t even an “H” word. To compare MAGA to sex workers is to substantially elevate MAGA. And I am glad you pointed it out.
I’m Jonny-come-lately to this thread but at this late moment there began immediately after your well stated post a virtual firestorm of PC derailment of the initial topic. None of this was your doing. It seems a lot more people would prefer to discuss the word “whore”, its meaning, derivation, and application than to discuss a platform of principles to rally around to defeat MAGA.
Each of Phil’s actual points deserves solid discussion and debate.
National health care may prove the toughest nut to crack. I’m sure nearly everyone who reads this will recall the terrible and fraught path taken just to get to ACA. That’s a history of barefaced plutocrat manipulation of national, state and local governments. How to move national healthcare forward requires an understanding of how it was thoroughly undermined in the past.
Affordable housing and transportation are a fundamental necessity for the wellbeing of citizens and economic growth.
Establishment of the principle that not dollars and not PAC secrecy but individual citizens are the only and truest basis for determining elections in a democracy. That the restoration of basic educational values rather than dumbed down controls for government oversight are the surest way to create a well informed electorate.
I agree the word whore isn't even an H word. It is a flourish that denigrates not just women who are poor or even rich, and sell their bodies to stay alive, and often to keep their own illegitimate children alive. Half the human race is being put in their place as an object of the worst any human could ever be. It has been used against us to mark all women, to hold us in place or we risk being called this name by society at large, by law, by custom, by writ. Here we are an example of all that is wrong with humans. This is seen in the Abrahamic Genesis as we are discussed as wholly bad at birth, an evil that God has chosen to describe half the human race. An evil we will never overcome. The person who wrote this is an internet stranger to me. You give him great courage for saying truths you feel you have to clarify. Your clarification of course makes sense, but the word whore does not, except for the destruction of DEI and equity, which makes the word whore make sense. Half the human race is by nature evil. The evil democrats could overcome is the evil God has assigned to women, which they can never overcome. We are being blamed for an evil the democrats can never overcome in God's eyes and the eyes of men.
I have only one thing to say to this, and the men who would prey on women as we walk the streets to supply the rape and the beatings that go with the problem of being a woman in this culture that supersedes our beinghood, that labels us as God's prey to men, know it in me as they know it as they approach. I am not easy prey. I will not go down easily not for their God, not for their theories or their many hatreds. I will instead be every kind of trouble there is. They can attack me. They can attack all other women. They can use all of us as an example of the worst of everything there is, and as I scream and rip their eyes out, as I use what little force I have to defend myself and all women, I assure you, I will be every kind of trouble there is. By the way, Dr. Cox Richardson is a woman too. Ain't half of this race woman? None of us are whores. Just like me, we do what we have to do to exist, and yes, we will be every kind of trouble there is, because we have been bashed, labeled, and raped, but we will scratch men's yes out as you feel so free to work us over. And yes, democrats should be just like women: every kind of trouble there is, to those who are using the brief power of the office of POTUS to slam trouble into the faces of all the People of the USA. Every.Kind.of.Trouble.There.Is!
I am warning you and all men that I am a woman. Words are powerful things. No one may call me a whore. No one may call other women whores. I am walking down the street of the internet. And I will be every kind of trouble there is when anyone uses words to demean me and all other women as an example of how not to be.
Whatever party or faction you belonged to before this aberration appeared upon our lands, it is now time to join together and defeat this MAGA monstrocity. We need to dedicate ourselves to saving The Constitution, the Rule of Law, and rebuilding faith in the promise we have followed for 250 years. We can get through this like so many other challenges we have faced, together.
Terry, can we change our attitude toward seeing words often associated with women as derogatory, By the way whoring is done by both men and women often as the only means of earning enough money to survive in a very oppressive world that limits one’s ability to earn a living, Then there are people who actually enjoy sex work, I know it is not that simple, If it is coerced or trafficked then it should be called something else, something really tragic that puts the onus of negativity and repulsion on the person who is coercing or trafficking, The one word just doesn’t cover it all.
Very much like your animus, Bob, at "another 'H' word; Hierarchy."
That, hierarchy, runs totally opposite the world where all our best artists see, celebrate, pay personal debts to, and glow with appreciation for nuances, subtleties, complications, serendipity, cohering loves, and multiple other dynamics in humanity and nature.
Hierarchy denotes instead a world where everything is machine-gradable, rank-&-file, militarized, corporatized, abstracted, grouped, commercialized, easily demagogue-led.
The humane and nature worlds run to verbs all active. Its opposite -- as you say, Bob, hierarchy -- sinks to the copulative verbs given only to labeling, stereotyping, more histrionic hating, fearing, and murdering, and (again -- and again) demagogue-led.
Yes. We need to be developing the collaborative way of governance that is really true to this time in history. The old days of Hierarchy when it may have been reasonable have degenerated into kleptocracy, autocracy, oligarchy, toxic patriarchy, and corruption as they failed to evolve positively. Now we need a forceful system, messy and slow, perhaps, but in line with our humanity and the rest of nature. I hope and believe that can eventually be healing to the current illness.
Still, I'd stress trains even serving small towns.
The opposite: more cars. More gigantic parking lagoons. More lanes of superhighway. More sprawl housing where humans never walk -- or don't even have sidewalks.
And trains and other forms of public transit would help with #1 - health. One has to WALK to get to the place of transit. Being sedentary is a real health problem. For those who are less abled, there can be shuttles the way there are for the aging in many areas.
I recenlty read an article about Colorado Springs building "tiny homes" for teachers. I applaud the effort, as we have many teachers in my family. I was disappointed, though, to discover the upper age limit of 25 for residency. I have a mid 30s daughter who teaches in a rural area. There is no housing available in the area--it's all farms and no apartments in the small town. She travels 45 minutes to get there from where she lives , and her rent is a "reasonable" $1500/mo. She makes $46K/yr.
And besides, don't rural students deserve dedicated teachers as well?
Phil, I love your post and the discussion it prompted. Please, everyone - let's keep searching for the third H word. I think it's important to have it consistent with Phil's original concept of billionaire overlords, yet should be a positive alternative. One noun beginning with "h" that is the opposite of tax-evading, hugely subsidized, corporate whores...
The first two are things we will take action on in a positive manner while the third, the one facing objection, is a negative. It’d be great to find a third that’s a positive. I do believe you’re onto something, though.
Watching the discussion between KEM and Phil, I tried:
Health, Housing, Humanity.
Health, Housing, Honor.
I do feel that a strong, simple, easy to understand slogan would go a long way, and I believe Health and Housing fit … but I don’t actually think Humanity or Honor work as they’re too vague.
Does anyone have a concise word that implies going after abuse of power within the government so it actually works and is ethical? Lol. Just one word, preferably starting with an H. (I’m eye-rolling at myself, but IMO this is a unifying element for us.)
Human rights, however, devolves into abstractions and identity politics if schools have no humanities and all -- teachers and students -- have given up on reading, let alone discussing, whole books.
There are some things worth bringing back , out of the dust, for the sake of our future ie READING AND DISCUSSING LITERATURE (and as many subjects as possible) WITHIN A CLASSROOM OF INTELLECTUALLY MIXED STUDENTS.
And...YES Phil...reading the book cover to cover! We need to appreciate viewpoints honed from various lived out/in experiences. We need one another...to listen...to one another if we want to be the best we can be.
I know Phil is an educator, and I am unsure if you are as well. From what I am hearing from the teachers in my family (5 teachers, 2 teach HS English, one is a lower grade librarian, the others teach Math (jr high) and business (HS). STUDENTS DO NOT READ THE ASSIGNED WORK.
For us old folks, especially us "good little boys and girls" it was unthinkable to NOT do assignments. The English teachers tell me you can't get them to read 10 pages, so an entire book?!?!
Sadly, there is such lack of support from many (if not most) parents, they get nowhere.
Miselle, I am very sorry to hear this, but the first step in solving a problem is identifying the problem. We need to find out why? I am sure that not allowing phones in classrooms is a start, then what about the old ways, if you don’t do your assignment, you get a failing grade, if you fail, you get to take the year over,?
that is the stick, now, there needs to be the carrots, .what rewards will the kids respond to l. if everyone completes the book, do they get to go on an outing? Earn pints toward some prize, get to pick the next book? Each class would need to come up with goals that they would find rewarding, These suggestions may not work, but teachers are taught how to teach to many different ways of learning, I am sure that they have some other ideas, The on,y thing that is not acceptable is to not keep trying. Our children deserve it from the adults,
I started out in a 2 room schoolhouse, I was only there for 1st grade but my teacher, Miss Ruby remains my only beloved and favorite teacher her. She is the only one who made me feel seen and valued, I took the lessons of her cooperative model with me for the rest of my life,.
Miss Ruby had 1st through 5th grade, Each grade had its own pod, The goal was learning. After Miss Ruby presented a lesson, we studied it and then we were allowed to work together to help each other understand it and learn it, We made sure each other knew the material. If it was a spelling test and someone was unsure, we could discuss it, make sure the person had learned it before they wrote it down.
When we moved into town, my second grade teacher used a competitive model. One I was unaware or existing, At our first spelling test, I was unsure if I knew the correct spelling of a word, so I did what I knew and asked my desk mate if I was correct. The teacher called me to the front of the room, accused me publicly of cheating and told me to turn in my paper, I did not know the meaning of the word cheat, I did not understand that what I had done was “wrong”, but I did understand the use of public humiliation even if I did not know what it was called, Has anyone asked the kids what is preventing them from reading? From not getting excited about learning? Do they feel respected in their schools? this is a fixable problem and for their sakes, it must be fixed,
That sounds great...especially for "city" kids who would like to participate and are too often unable to be around animals/gardens/orchards, in a farm setting.
But those who write on identity politics almost never cite humanities. Neutered, they have none.
Their language gears only to abstractions, categories, copulative labeling, "theory," and the wonk.
Humanities contrarily always bring in exceptions, contradictions, and unorthodox references -- to things outside the group-think and silo comfort zones where the elite dehumanized (skilled test-takers) cluster.
"The Humanities" usually refers to the arts. But I didn't write "the Humanities." I wrote Humanity, which is the human race, so why are you bringing up another subject.
Phil, I agree with your characterization of the last H - they are the "welfare queens" we are supposed to be rooting out by killing Medicaid and all other aid to those who need it. Let's get it right this time around.
Phil, I agree except with using the word whores, I am afraid that it gives a historically needed job left as one of the few for oppressed women a bad name, Why do we demonize whores, but applaud the “sowing their wild oats” nature of Johns? Just a thought.
On Trumps birthday in June there are supposed to be people hitting the streets throughout the country. It should be easy to find a gathering close to wherever you might be. Let's hit the streets. That's when he has a military parade scheduled. Oh, how I wish I could be in Washington DC to physically block that parade.
And the Republicans are doing their best to ram through Trump's insanely cruel budget tomorrow. It's time to call your Representative, Democrat or Republican, and make some good noise.
I think a parade through empty streets will have a bigger impact than a parade through a protest. My spidy senses tell me the regime is just looking for an excuse to declare martial law and nothing says martial law than a large protest.
Project 2025 Chapter 7, page 29 (not correct citation but I do recall reading the section on martial law, right next to eliminating voting)
I feel the same way. I think if, like Tiananmen Square, one person stood in front of the Trump parade, he'd have the tank run over them and enjoy every minute. And MAGA would cheer.
Hopefully, Fox News and Newsmax are the only ones to report on the parade. May it be as well attended as the 4th of July parades in many of the small communities across American. Hopefully, the world press reports exactly what this is.
Anyone can go to Tesla takedown.com and create their own protest. There is not sufficient time remaining to wait until the middle of June to hold up a sign. Do it NOW.
Laura , I tried the link, but it was for information regarding a computer hacker. Please correct your link, thanks. I was not a bad link that will cause me problems for opening it,
There are protests all over the country, on nearly every day of the week. We have our own small protest on Monday evenings at a well-traveled intersection: our crowd is slowly growing, and last night's had no MAGAts giving us feedback - only positive responses from passing motorists.
“The Republicans are trying to advance Trump’s entire agenda—from massive logging on public lands to slashing Medicaid—in one giant bill under a process known as “budget reconciliation,” which means it cannot be filibustered in the Senate. That means it needs only Republican votes to pass.”
People, These times are not even close to what dylan was writing about.
What a divided nation. A draft in place for a war that no one understood; unfairly proportionally black. Those that managed to survive it, returned to be spat on. A cold war between us and Russia. Bomb shelters, public school practice drills for a nuclear missile strike. A very popular young hopeful president, gunned down by a communist supporter. A brother later being assassinated. Lynching in the south, a civil rights peaceful movement by a great leader, who is also to be assassinated by a racist he marched against.
They were tough and challenging times. Yet we survived those times, and came out of those ashes even stronger then before.
Turn off the news since fear sells ads. March, gather in coffee shops and talk, write songs and poetry, but more importantly, try to listen to your brothers and sisters on the other side. They have been had and need a friend, not an enemy.
I'm going to take issue with your perspective here; I believe that these times are at least as dire that what you write about in the 1960's. We have just come from a 20 year war where a small percentage of soldiers (compared to Vietnam) did a huge percentage of time in country suffering from both physical and moral injury. We have an administration that is gutting the Federal government and enriching the oligarchs and tech bros, the latter having mined the most secure personal data of millions of Americans. We have a bought and paid for SCOTUS which is not holding the Executive Branch in order, and we have a Congress that has abdicated its duties since at least 2001 if not before. We have all three branches of government working hard to eliminate the constitutional rights afforded to BIPOC and LGBTQ+ and effectively turned the female population into second class citizens with no rights to their own bodies.
I have talked to and listened to those folks on the other side. They do not see that they have been "had", on the contrary, they feel that what is happening to the "others" is both right and true, and is returning them (mostly white men in my personal contacts area) to their rightful place.
Yes Ally, people I love and have respected in the past have been "brainwashed" and I cannot understand. They are faithful and kind friends...it so hurts my heart that they have received this " blind guide".
I was a Republican for years but when Trump came on the scene, I changed Political parties. I could not understand how our great nation ie "The Land of the Free BECAUSE of the Brave" could have possibly placed such a self absorbed human being at the helm of our government. I am sure if I just "followed the money" I would find the answer. There are many responsible for what is taking place within our government. Our foundations are being broken. Those who are doing the damage will NOT live forever...but they will leave a destroyed nation behind them.
So many of our nation's citizenry and many of our great institutions are being "left behind". The "mob boss" is in charge!
I am deeply concerned for the future of this country and especially what will be left for my children and grandchildren.
Ally, these times are worse. Yes, we were divided over Viet Nam, civil rights, and more, but we did not have half the nation thinking that burning it all down was any kind of solution, or that power needed to be concentrated among the wealthy, or that freedom for all wasn't the goal.
To both Ally and John - You are both correct in your thinking/feeling/analyses. But, I say: This ain’t no COMPETITION of national emergencies!!!
I’m an OLD (verified old) folksinger who remembers talking to his 5th grade students about assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK. I saw the tears on the eyes of those gentle 11 year olds as they were looking at the tears of their long-haired, bearded, hippie-looking teacher….There’s a lot of $#!+ in the air these days, but WE SHALL OVERCOME - someday! And, yes, I would bring my guitar to school and we would sing all those songs, but we would also study the Constitution and what was going on in the US government. Remember: It’s the Hammer of Justice, It’s the Bell of Freedom, It’s the Song About LOVE Between My Brothers and Sisters All Over This Land. And that last bit is perhaps the most important - the Brothers and Sisters must include those people who HATE us and want to diminish and destroy us. That’s the really hard part. Also remember there is such a thing as Tough Love. We don’t have to blindly accept the misinformation that is being dumped in our laps….(Sorry, I need another cup of coffee! Too early for wine.)
I’d do it anyway, Miselle, because I was teaching US History - the specified curriculum of 5th grade. I was well within the scope of my job. I wasn’t being hateful. I showed love and mercy and respect for “the other side.” WE - today - don’t have to show hatred toward the MAGA millions. All we need to do is ask for Justice. We can ask - without being strident: Do we really want to
- Slash Medicaid
- Scrap Clean Energy Funding
- Eliminate SALT (not from your diet…something else)
And we did not know back then. That is even more reason to protest - the unknown.
I will dip into the history that Dr. Richardson knows real well, and no one really knew what they were really getting into as they signed their name on July 4th, 1776, BUT THEY DID SIGN!
We actually need another declaration. To see what government official will sign their name, yet you will not see Schumer or Fetterman signing it. Cowards. But Bruce and Taylor will jump in for them.
John, I fear that you do not see the fascist coup like none other that we have seen because it is a digital coup and it has a leader in the role of the President,
look at all of the data musk has gathered illegally and what he plans to do with it, look at all the dedicated civil servants that have illegally been removed from their jobs weakening our government, look at all the completely incompetent sycophants he has placed in all the roles of leadership, look at all the legal actions that were being taken against big corporations that have been dismissed, look at the orders from judges that trump is ignoring, look at the alienation trump has caused with our allies, look at the manipulation of the stock market netting him and his family and his billionaire bros billions, look at how this bill will impact and increase what every household has to pay for daily living, while decreasing healthcare, education, disaster relief, the protection of due process and have us corpus , look at his accepting a jet extorted for free from Qatar that will cost the tax payers a billion dollars to outfit for security that he can use then to fly off to anyone of his homes around the world if things go bad for him and he needs to, think about his daily delusions of grandeur, his lies, his admiration for dictators, look at how he is using ICE the same way that Hitler used the Gestapo, look at his turning the
White hours into a palace, look at his need for a military birthday parade costing millions, while he tells the people of American that they don’t need so many dolls or pencils, or healthcare, affordable healthy food, good public health ,disaster relief, a functioning NIH…..
You are right these time are not close to what Dylan was writing about,
they are much worse, Turning off the news, accepting ignorance, is not the answer , If we want to defend the character of this country, defend democracy, then it is our moral obligation, our civic duty to examine own character and see if we believe in equality or fascism. Everything each of us says and does, right down to where we decide to buy the products that we need is political and contributes to the common good, or to the dominance of an authoritarian oligarichal fascist system.
Ok. If it is that bleak , what are YOU going to do.? You personally. What are you going to do this week, next month, next year?
I know this week , i visited a suicide CALL center , now connected to 988, that I was a board member at one time, They are having a huge increase with calls. And thank God they are not advising them to watch more news.
I will continue to do “food rescue” to help these families that are in hiding since January. Out of work. Children out of school. Hungry and scared from all the media hype.
I’ll continue to volunteer with Jersey Battered Women Services and provide them hope beyond the shelter. To try and reduce their fear of what is being said in the news.
You simply cannot live your life in fear. It will destroy you.
And I am not ignorant to the news, i still receive the New York times, read heather and laugh with Andy, Jon, and SNL. I also talk with others that have a positive outlook on life - yes difficult at times to find, but to keep my sanity. I just recommend a lesser dose of the news. Like when we had only three networks, and 30 minutes of news each day.
And if we lose Congress in 2026, i will be putting down the peace pipe and grabbing a rubber hose (as my 85 year old Georgian truck driver friend recommends - “that guys needs to be beat with a rubber hose John.”
Do you know what the biggest weakness of the democrats is? Division. Do you know what the greatest strength is of the Republicans? Unity.
If someone is in need, I’m jumping in. And i know Ally will be right next to me.
Trump is not the villain; he’s the same psychopath megalomaniac he’s always been. The real villains, and traitors and cowards as well, are Republican legislators aiding and abetting a criminal executive branch, and ducking scrutiny by scheduling public meetings and hearings in the dead of night.
Not sure about that, Ralph. Trump is a convicted fraudster, a sex fiend and a pathological liar. His administration's policies are largely being driven by his absurd sense of victimisation and desire for retribution; and his insistence on loyalty rather than eligibility as the main criterion for senior roles in his government. Much of the chaos of the first 100 days of his presidency are largely on him. He has always been served by complicit courtiers and followers, but he's a bad guy.
None of what Trump has done would have occurred without the complicity of the Republican congressional caucus. They have utterly abandoned their sworn duty to “preserve and defend” the US Constitution and be a check on an out of control executive branch.
Trump will never change, no matter what is revealed about him. But he can be rendered harmless if Congress, and SCOTUS, would do what the Constitution requires of them.
Wrong on "trump will never change" Ralph, he did change, and he changed for the worse being followed closely by the republican party, better known as maga.
" Beware of capitalism's politicians and preachers! They are the lineal descendants of the hypocrites of old who all down the ages have guarded the flock in the name of patriotism and religion and secured the choicest provender and the snuggest booths for themselves by turning the sheep over to the ravages of the wolves." Eugene V, Debs
I agree that Trumpism in its current autocratic form would be impossible without the complicity of the Republican congressional delegation. And complicit also are the Republican Party rank and file as a whole. I’m still astonished that this radical, authoritarian, antidemocratic, violent, far Right-Wing Party formed around the beginning of President Biden's administration and took control in the 2024 Presidential Election. Right in front of our eyes. I can't comprehend why some Americans vote for Trump. By doing that, they harm to themselves and us.
But, I agree, too, that there's good news. This anti-American, criminal regime could be rendered harmless quickly if it dawns on Republicans that they've become traitors who can redeem themselves only by repudiating Trumpism. If they don't and their current coup attempt fails, they'll face real American justice and should never be an effective political party again.
So my Brazilian cleaning lady who inherited the business from her dear mother told me a harrowing personal story. Last week she was picked up by a car that turned on police lights suddenly in Lynn MA as she was picking up her American partner who works at GE. The man was wearing plain clothes and announced he was a state trooper. He did a quick search of her car as she stood there waiting. She has a six year old daughter who goes to Lynn Public Schools where I taught for 9 years. Finally, he apologized to her and said he stopped her car by mistake. I’m sure he was ICE. Another friend last week whispered to me that ICE agents were showing up at our popular local market basket supermarket looking for illegals to arrest. They haven’t been in office 6 months yet— this is Miller’s racist dream come true. Free reins from T to implement rounding them up. Just imagine how bad it will get in 6 more months or 2 years from now…my wildest nightmare on election night as I saw all the Red states winning was only a tiny fraction of we’d hat they’d like. Trump is worse than Hitler because he’s OUR homegrown sociopath.
"So, Republicans today continued their campaign to pressure Walmart into, as Trump put it 'eating' the tariff costs. On CNBC today, Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) suggested that Walmart leaders 'need to think hard' about raising prices. I think they're going to be very careful about how they do this. I know they've received some criticism from the president,' he said, adding: 'They should know the president has been working very hard with China to make sure we get this thing addressed as quickly as possible.'” There are several sad jokes about this statement by Bill Hagerty: that Wal-Mart will "need to think hard" about raising prices is an insane statement in itself. Market forces, which the republicans have historically made arguments for the reliable and ethical business practices obligating corporations to pay attention to those realities, now intimidates Wal-Mart to do just the opposite. The other cruel joke against the American public is for Trump (and Haggerty, as his mouthpiece) to cast reality to the wind on how "hard" Trump is working with China to address the inane actions from this president against China. The public should be reminded that no "hard work" would have ever been necessary if Trump had used the smallest percentage of intelligence to figure out that tariffs were ultimately the wrong move. This is how this administration works: they create mayhem with the tariffs, then shift blame to the foreign entity receiving the tariffs and then claim "hard work" to fix the problem. Jerking the publica around is not what "great" leadership and making "America great again" is all about. Instead of knowing that "failure is not an option," failure is the only option Trump, and apparently Bessant and Haggerty, know.
Can’t some clever techie who isn’t enamored with Musk and Big Balls simply post the differences in prices at all stores. Or why doesn’t WalMart accidentally on purpose just leak the difference.
I can’t even believe we need to do tjis. Don’t people have a budget, a ledger….ask your bank for your monthly statements going back a year and you will easily se you’re paying more. I guess that’s Biden’s fault too.
"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN’s Jake Tapper that Qatar giving a plane to Trump was like France giving the Statue of Liberty to the U.S.." Let's accept the Qatari airplane and make it a permanent fixture on an island in New York Harbor. As the Statue of Liberty serves as a memorial to immigrants to the United States, the Qatari airplane could serve as a memorial to immigrants deported from the United States.
As long as the island is at sea level. The tide could wash Qatar plane out to sea and let it sink into the harbor. Just ensure it will not be a navigation hazard.
I’d love to hear Stacey Keach slowly opening an American Greed episode with the plane and an hour just rattling off all the 3 billion in 100 days going to the Trumps Mafia.
aww, what a lovely story about the Resolute, and a nice respite from the firehose of heinously cruel actions by the current regime.
On short notice, we need to get the word out about what the Rethugs are attempting to ram through in the middle of the night on May 21st:
"The House Rules Committee will take up the Republicans’ omnibus bill this week. Illustrating their confidence that the American people support this 1,116-page measure enacting much of MAGA’s wish list, the committee has set its meeting for Wednesday, May 21, 2025…at 1:00 in the morning (not a typo). The Republicans are trying to advance Trump’s entire agenda—from massive logging on public lands to slashing Medicaid—in one giant bill under a process known as “budget reconciliation,” which means it cannot be filibustered in the Senate. That means it needs only Republican votes to pass."
Still, I am glad the ship was called "The Resolute" rather than "The Hind's End" or some such :)
As for the Big Billionaire's Bill, we've seen that the MAGA swampers lack the power of their convictions, or they would not find it necessary to incessantly lie and hide their true intentions.
Heather, your article tonight was packed with content - the pace you’re keeping up with since Jan 20th is gonna burn you out. Would you consider a substack article only 4x a week? This group from the Heritage Foundation is not working for what ‘we the people’ hired Trump to do for our voting republic. They are turning on the fire hose every day - a group of thugs breaking our institutions & spending aka wasting taxpayer’s money just to be revengeful.
I’m pasting this shortie #reels from Trevor Noah - hahaha
"No one is above the law." (except all Republican politicians, every billionaire in the US, most of the autocrats like Trump, Putin and Orban, everyone in the Trump administration, SCOTUS and anyone that gives Trump over an amount to be determined by Trump, everyone at Fox News and Newsmax, etc.)
If the republicans couldn’t lie, they would be mute. In my recollection. Newt was a habitual liar (having been given permission by Reagan’s cronies), and W (and his evil crew) took political lies to a whole new level, with help from Frank Luntz. This crowd would rather lie than tell the truth, when truth would serve them better. Their definition of transparency Is “tell them the opposite of what we do. They are too stupid to know the difference.”
As to the quote from democrats “House Democrats will not be intimidated by the Trump administration. Not today. Not ever.” I wish that were true. Rolling over and playing dead is being intimidated. Blathering lies is the republican thing. Leave it to them.
The Newt Gingrich/Frank Luntz GoPac memo, "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control" may have been written in 1990 but reached weapons grade strength by 1996 within the party. I had expected it to be rejected much like when the party cleaned it's own house by getting Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon to Resign. When it became an undeniable and unlikely to end in the foreseeable future, I left the party (about the same time Elizabeth Warren did).
One much more than the other Slartibartfast. The problems with the democrats is that in order to preserve democracy, they need to understand that they don't need to be purist all the time and commit collective suicide buy going by the book blindly .
In what way, and by what power are only two parties allowed? I think that a healthy two party system, where people vote for the candidate and party closer to their views tends intrinsically toward the center.
Third parties tend toward one extreme or the other. One problem in American politics is that one of the two parties, the Republicans, has had an extreme group form within, retaining its nominal Republican ties but is effectively another third party splinter group. First there was the Tea Party, and now MAGA. Both are effectively extreme third parties, which tend to destabilize our typically more stable two party dynamic.
That the president identifies more closely with the extreme minority faction bodes ill for the nation.
A situation where a President can simply make his own private lawyer an 'acting US attorney' for the people of the United States (or any of the states) is one deeply corrupt, deeply fucked-up legal system. It epitomizes and makes an utter mockery of the very concept of 'conflict of interest.'
So we now have the worst of all worlds --- a fucked-up, privatized public legal system being run by fucked-up people who can't even gin for the rule of Trump properly, let alone the rule of law. On top of being nothing but a servile toady, Alina Habba is also clearly an absolute incompetent. Every bit of this spectacular New Jersey flop was a miserably executed pirouette of primping and preening for the sake of only ONE audience member --- nothing to do with the people of the United States. I cannot even think when an out-of-control President tried to arrest a member of Congress. Not even Nixon attempted such nonsense (though he probably wanted to).
Neither the two former stalwarts of our press --- the New York Times or the Washington Post -- calls this out directly for what it so obviously is -- grand corruption. So we rely on Professor Richardson and others to speak truth to us. Even more dangerous, no one in the GOP shows the willingness to challenge these monstrous perversions of justice or connect the dots. If these cruel idiots even get called to the Hill, only Democrats interrogate them, like that weirdo Kristi Noem (something is SERIOUSLY wrong with that woman's deranged eyes). She, Habba and others have been pimping Lady Justice --- or in keeping with the top comment so far here, perhaps just made her the Whore of Babylon. And we haven't even started on this Administration's man-whores like Hegseth and Lutnick. We are literally drowning in stereophonic, bi-gendered whoredom.
Fascinating history of the Resolute Desk. Thank you. Didn’t Congress approve acceptance of both the Statue of Liberty and the Resolute Desk as required by the Constitution?
I’m very concerned about David Hogg and the treatment he’s receiving by DNC Party leadership. His generation is too important and his voice needs to be heard!
I rather like he’s getting some opposition. Hogg isn’t polished as much as he thinks he is. He sometimes comes off as rigid and immature as MAGA. He told a radio host yhe only way gun reform will happen is “when you all die.”. He may be right but if he’s going to be one of the leaders of the next generation, he needs to tone it down a bit. There are plenty of responsible gun owners in this country who don’t own them as a flex or a tool to threaten. And being dismissive is not the way to broaden the tent needed to defeat fascism or alienating the people who have the money he’ll need to keep his position.
Democrats wshoild have been grooming people for the last decades. It seems like none of the big wigs had a #2 at the hip ready to take over and step in. Who was Nancy Pelosis successor, who is Chuck Schumer’s? I don’t see a lot of mentoring in the party and I think that is what will be needed. It would be such a strong party of the elders, who know the job backward and forward took people like Hogg under heir wing, showed them the ropes and polished them to beat yhe next generation of MAGA. Because it seemed like the elders in MAGA definitely listened to the young people as far as media. Credit where credit it due…they are much more in tuned with that area and it paid off. Maybe Hogg and his contemporaries tried to get that across and didn’t but these two generations working hand in hand would be a powerful force.
They need to be willing to teach and the new ones need to be willing to be teachable.
A Rogue government is running roughshod over the Constitution. This should be seen more clearly each day by people who care about the values we have lived by being swept away. We must resist and support the politicians who prove themselves to be allis. Whatever party or ideology you professesed before, it's MAGA we need to defeat now .
But Dems have been mostly silent. A few have spoken up with fervor, and it should have roused the “playing dead Dems,” but alas, it did not. But Bruce Springsteen heard. Maybe he is our Pete Seeger. Our heroes have peeled off and barely stir. Will the musicians wake and lead like they did in the 60’s. Time’s a wasting…
We've got to make our own noise. Loved the Boss in the UK. Telling the truth. Emerging media like Letters From An American, The Bulwark, Pod Save America, etc. are expanding the range and opening up communications between diverse groups. We all recognize the "divergence in the force", but the Constitution and Rule of Law MUST be preserved.
Disturbance in the Force, and it’s a big one. All those voices crying out in agony
Susan... May The Force Be With You...
Thank you, Apache. And also with you. 😉
Chaos and Cruelty Force One.
That is the problem....the Democrats are BIG on NOISE and SMALL on good ideas.
And might I ask what is your idea?
Sharon, how easy it is to criticize without offering solutions, so I thank you for this post. My senators here in Oregon and my rep are doing what they can. I see them and lots of other Ds calling out the R minions that appear before them in hearings despite being talked over or being treated disdainfully by the arrogant wormbrain.
I get tired of hearing from some people that are supposed to be Democrats.....damning them and accusing them of doing nothing. Tune in to MSNBC. Open your eyes. Watch Rachel on Monday nights. she is showing what we Democrats are doing. I protested with a group in Bishop, CA recently. It is a small town and we had several folks out that hot afternoon. Some flipped us off and I would say more folks gave us a honk or thumbs up! Where I live most of the people are Trumpers.....because they spend their time watching Fox Entertainment....it is even on in the lobby of the local bank in town. I hate going in there to deposit our donations and dues for our Clay County Democrats. I am the new treasurer. There are so few of us and most of us are in our 70s or 80s. Until we elect decent non corrupt people....things are not going to change.....and we can't sit and cry about it we have to do something.....even if we are nearly 82 and the treasurer of the party. I attended by first Indiana Democrat Convention last summer. I am not sure I am up to that in the future...but I will do what I can!
Sharon, you should know better than to engage 'james' or any of his other I.D.'s.
I don't think he replies with any great ideas! Did he? LOL I just get sick of those stupid comments! They never say what Democrats should be doing! LOL
I am so tired of people blaming Democrats for our current predicament. Democrats are in the minority in both houses of Congress and have no power to get legislation passed or investigations initiated. What can they do other than speak out? What do people want Democrats to do? It is up to us to tackle these problems not our elected representatives!
We WOULD have the power, Barb, if we could convince 4 republican members from each chamber to SWITCH their party from Repub to Dem. Why is it so hard for them to keep sniffing up trumps butt?
It’s like they’ve all been put under a spell by the MAGAts! They are willing to subvert our democracy in
Who do you blame for the losses in the PResidency? The Senate? The House?
The tooth fairy?
Heather, like a lot of leftist propagandists, refuses to own the BIDEN lie.
Biden was not fit to be president, and it looks like they were lying about his cancer and treatments too.
There is a reckoning coming for DEMOCRATS.
There was no "Biden lie". Joe Biden did good for the American people he served for his entire life. He was no more. or less, perfect than you and I.
James, the only relevant question IMHO is did you vote in November?
If you voted for Trump, you get what you get and deserve my scorn, but at least you voted. If you chose not to vote, or one of the eighty million who NEVER VOTE you, personally, own a small piece of the tragicomedy that our potentially great nation has become.
I blame the voters who voted for Trump, knowing he is a criminal who uses the presidency for self enrichment, a man who has no interest in the well-being of his constituents, which includes all of the people not just those who voted for him. No act by Biden would have convinced the MAGAts to vote for him. These voters were willing to overlook the cruelty, racism, hatred he constantly tweets and incompetence, to “own the libs.”
But we know trump is not fit even before he was elected. He's just as old as Biden was. Video of trump falling asleep during a mid eastern meeting. The Declaration of Independence is about unity and friendship? It was just the opposite. What's with renaming everything including places which are not even near us! Listen to his description of what groceries are-something in a bag. Stealth jets are invisible-you can't see them. and on and on.
Good ideas?? I haven’t heard any bad ones yet, not even a mediocre one. They are f—king useless.
James,
Trump and the republicans don’t lie? They are doing what best for the middle class? What have they done, specifically for the middle class? Cutting free or reduced school lunch(mostly working class poor kids)?, cutting Medicaid? Cutting cancer research, cutting medical research period! Before you come at me, my Neice is fighting cancer and is on Medicaid and her husband works! She is 42. My daughter carries the gene for ALD, look up that beauty. Her father died of the adult form AMN. No, the family was not aware of the anomaly, until my husband became ill. It was too late, my daughter was 7.
Let’s just agree to disagree and leave it at that.
Where as, the Republicans have one idea. ‘Burn it Down’! If I am not mistaken isn’t than what Steve Bannon says? Do you have any ideas that might stop them from achieving their goal? The forth estate has failed us miserably, they focus on the daily shiny object and not on what is happening behind the scenes. So as Sharon asked you, what is your idea?
How about STOP LYING?
Listen to the middle class?
Stop defending illegal criminals?
Stop forcing girls to shower and compete with boys?
Have a coherent economic message?
Can any entity match Rupert. When MSM caved it was a paradigm shift
Which explains far more and is far more helpful than casting stones at folks who criticize democrats. Their news diet is only the MSM. Susan, Barbara and many of us are much further informed; Why ? We have the time and are long time politically active / engaged. How do we fix the MSM ? Right... and around in circles we go, but please, preferably without 'james' or any of his other I.D.'s. (-;
Cults are known to be dangerous. I guess my long time habit of watching Bill Moyers made me cognizant of so much. I miss him but substack and Blue Sky suffice. The problem existed long before the Tea Party and such. Dems never seemed to realize that…
Actually, many elected Democrats are speaking up every single day. They just don't get much coverage. Ariella Elms is changing that by reporting on them. Here is her most recent newsletter on the topic: https://ariellaelm.substack.com/p/daily-dems-doing-the-work-making-46d
Thanks for this, Joan! And thanks to Ariella!
It’s time to stop trashing the Democrats and wake up to what they ARE doing!
YES!
Loved reading about the efforts being made by Dems. Thank God for Substack, where we can get news like this!
If the Congresswoman in New Jersey hadn't been arrested (or threatened with arrest) we wouldn't have known about her efforts at the detention facility
The arrests are an example of unlawful overreach.
This view of ICE reminds me of the authoritarian Hitler, using Gestapo for widespread repression of political opponents, ideological dissenters, and various persecuted groups. The Gestapo often arrested individuals without judicial process, and many disappeared in their custody. The Gestapo was also instrumental in the persecution and deportation of those seen as undesirables. How is trumps use of ICE all that different?
HOW DO YOU KNOW? Have you seen the evidence the DOJ has seen?
Do you have all the videos? The testimony of law enforcement at the site?
Are you calling those men and women LIARS?
Yes, because Trump and his minions lie all the time.
NO ONE is above the law. Assaulting law enforcement officers is not acceptable.
Even worse is her defense of MS13 illegal criminals.
Blah blah blah
The truth is brutal.
Unless you are supporting the assault of law enforcement and ICE agents?
This proves how phony you are.
Why were those that violently (see Josh run for his life) attacked our Capitol on January 6 pardoned? They assaulted law enforcement and one officer died, yet they, according to the current administration, are above the law. Your thought process has no integrity.
First ITS A LIE that any officer from died from a J6 attacker
https://www.uscp.gov/media-center/press-releases/medical-examiner-finds-uscp-officer-brian-sicknick-died-natural-causes died on January 6th and, according to the District of Columbia's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, he died of natural causes, specifically a heart attack.
2) Everyone who participated in J6, got a trial and served at least a partial sentence.
3) The issue with the pardon's was over sentencing as WELL as 27 FBI informants who may have entraped people at the Capitol.
Joan , thank you for the link, I just subscribed, luckily they like so many other patriotic substacks have a fee subscription. I wish I could pay them all for their work, but retired and on a limited fixed income with too many medical bills does not afford me this privilege, I am so greatful to substack which has allowed me access to so much wonderful needed information for free,
The Dan Rather Steady Substack doesn’t require payment. One of the few.
I subscribe (also) to The Contrarian. The subscription covers their constant litigation activity - the daily news and podcasts are free.
Thank you!
"No Coverage" .... why ?
JD, Dems are in the minority. It's in the hands of the Republican party or at least three of their representatives to oppose and defeat such a monstrous bill. Since it's their responsibility, and they are going to be held responsible, they need to grow a spine before Wednesday 1 am.
Heather: "...12 swing-state Republicans who don’t want drastic Medicaid cuts, and 31 hardliners who do. House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) can afford to lose only three Republican votes on the measure. Nicole Lafond of Talking Points Memo reported today that Trump will go to Capitol Hill tomorrow to talk Republicans into voting for the measure."
He's there now.
Besides the Medicare issue, lots of other dissension.
We need to encourage Don Bacon R. NE. and other Republicans who are standing up to Trump and MAGA Mike. He and Reps. David Valadao, R-Calif., Don Bacon, R-Neb., Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Rob Bresnahan Jr., R-Pa., Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., Jen Kiggans, R-Va., Young Kim, R-Calif., Robert Wittman, R-Va., Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., and Jeff Hurd, R-Colo signed a letter:
“Many hospitals — particularly in rural and underserved areas — rely heavily on Medicaid funding, with some receiving over half their revenue from the program alone,” the representatives wrote. “Providers in these areas are especially at risk of closure, with many unable to recover. When hospitals close, it affects all constituents, regardless of healthcare coverage.”
Besides the Medicaid issue, Republican Reps have called out Trump/Musk on national security and tariffs.
On MSNBC Saturday, Velshi asked Bacon about tariffs. He said, in essence, any Reagan Republican would remove Trump tariff authority. To do that, they need all of the House Dems.
Plus Bacon said Trump has a "moral blindscape" re Ukraine. Retired General. Russia is not a superpower. Mexico with nuclear weapons.
Says anyone who served has to oppose Hegseth, SIGNAL.
Says we are better than any other country in agriculture. Says Trump has broken free trade. In essence, we are losing the trade war.
Thanks for that list, had no idea.
Thanks Daniel, i am going to call them ALL and leave my little message, getting real good at that!
But will they be held responsible? Dems are trashed non stop and I hate to pile on but they were gonsmacked by the “mandate.” And were afraid to accuse (or even investigate the bought election). I was depressed too but our leaders have been pretty much immobilized. Thank god for the fighters but we need leaders. They are not deaf, have the ability to speak and push back, and call out the abominations. Sort of Iike Bernie and AOC. People are hungry and starving for pushback. They/we are fed crumbs. Rupert still dominates the narrative. Who calls out the lies…
JD inTX , I believe that if you dig deeper, you will find that there is a lot of push back by Congress, many cases in courts , judges, state AG’s , civil servants, many Governors and local politicians and groups are pushing back, but many major media outlets are either mouthpieces for this regime, or are afraid of lawsuits and reduced ability to do business from this regime, so we don’t get to hear about the truth as much as we should. The media are often filled with the distractions that trump wants to shift our focus from his treasonous actions, ( this is a first major tactic of all authoritarian regimes to withhold information from the public) but if you look to the many outlets, Propublica, Daily Cos, Politifacts, Mother Jones, and many more, and substacks by Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Robert Reich, Dan Rather, Elliot Kirschner, Steve Schmidt, the Contrarian, and so many others, listening to Rachael Maddow’s show, signing up to Civic shout, Ultraviolet, Native rights political groups, using the website EWG.org, to counter advertising lies and promote your own personal health, and just googling for organizations that interest you and see what their political arm is. There are still so many other ways that we can find the truth and find ways to get involved,
Tyranny cannot be appeased. It never works.
Tyranny only wins when we submit.
Solidarity is how we win.
I am aware of the whole spectrum
With trump going to the House to encourage the passing of their Big Beautiful Bill reminds me of the debate between him and Hillary when he stood behind her in an intimidating posture. His presence will serve as an intimidating presence - do what I ask or else....
As he's such a hyperinflated blowhard, maybe someone (Jasmine Crockett?) should just stick a pin in him.
Oh, she has a wicked tongue and rapier's wit.
Ooo! I can picture that!
I was thinking about the protest songs of the '60s last week. The so-called 'folk revival' got going with the civil rights marches and protests and morphed to protest the Vietnam war.
I was thinking about Buffalo Springfield's "For What Its Worth" and Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Ohio". Great songs, great messages, but not good march tunes, not like "We Shall Overcome". We need both kinds though. For those not familiar with these two songs, please Google them. They are worth it.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=s-QAw98EWqI&si=JPaKt4MUKWLa3XxL
Check out this wonderful conversation with Heather and Joan Baez on this very topic!
Thank you for this link. I have many friends who read the LFAA but not all read the comments. I tell them I don't get through them all (and yes, there are certain folks I look for) but the comment section adds so much to the experience.
I wonder what others are thinking, but I'm becoming concerned about Heather. I DO NOT want her voice silenced--either by MAGA or by a breakdown. Plenty of people on here also watched YouTube "Beau of the Fifth Column" who had to step back. Thankfully, his wife took over the channel, and "Belle" is doing a great job. Who would take over for Heather? I hope she dials it back a bit so she can keep on. I REALLY don't like the thought of not having her Letter to get us through.
Time to leave the Chicken Little Caucus and resign from the Nothing-Can-Be-Done- Club. Democrats are fighting back every day, at all levels.
Screaming into a void, at least in Texas
JD, you are in Texas and I am sorry. Here in Oregon, it is not the same. Our senators and my rep are doing all that they can.
JD, please don’t give up hope, even when you may think your voice doesn’t matter, it is part of a whole, and it matters, e-mail your representatives every day and let them know they will not be voted back in if they do not protect the liberties, rights, freedoms, and the common good that is protected by a Constitution that they swore an oath to. it can’t hurt and historically it has made a huge difference,
No danger of giving up, but I seem to be more pissed than most. Texas is insane, fear that the country is heading to that level of weaponized imbecility
SW MO, too.
Our Dems are not silent. mega has flooded the zone with so many offences that it is difficult to come up with say the 5 -10 worst offences. I do cheer Springsteen on. Perhaps he will wake up a few people.
I agree, it is a MAGA strategy to “ flood the zone” with nonsense to distract us from his treasonous acts of making this a fascist regime and celebrating all the many ways that we still have of hearing the truth while trump uses lawsuits and threats of destroying businesses, to supporting basically government propaganda media. .character and truth still matter if we want a democracy,
Time to throw some Moxie into the cooler.
Mmm! Love that stuff.
Am constantly bombarded by Dems for donations but I see no action on their part. Sitting in Congress with your tail between your legs is not going to get them one dime from me. Do something or get the hell out. My purse is permanently closed until you do. Do your damn jobs, protect democracy.
I just obligated for a monthly donation to Move On. Best I can do at the moment. Dems are kneecapped with the likes of Gillibrand and Fetterman. Regret any money I spent on them
OMG Jeri! I wrote so many postcards for Fetterman, and besides the costs of postcards and stamps, the TIME for me to write legibly with my arthritic hands!! He is a HUGE disappointment to me! I thought he'd be a very outspoken leader for the little guys! :-(
I have given up calling his office. When I did, I used to leave a message reminding him of how he has tattoos of the dates when someone died of violence in his town when he was mayor. I asked "will you tattoo the date that democracy perished under your watch?"
Miselle, I am afraid that Fetteman is no longer who he was through no fault of his own, but from his stroke that has damaged parts of his brain, Maybe don’t give up, but e-mail your other state, local, and federal representatives and the DNC and let them know what you expect from them, Your voice will always matter,
We helped Fetterman and regret it. I think he has mental problems.
Judy, might I suggest that you e-mail all of your representatives and the DNC and tell them what you expect from them. Your voice matters.
Red Tide Risin’
https://davedalton1.bandcamp.com/track/red-tide-risin
AOC and Bernie Sanders are fighting.
We need a resistance themed song NOW
No, dems have not been mostly silent…the news media have been silent about reporting on dems speaking out & showing up at town halls & other agencies ‼️
They are screaming into a void, that is true. But Dems let the perfect be the enemy of the good (except for Fetterman). Chuck S is a pissy leader. Bernie and AOC were covered somewhat, but never on Fox. When Fox came on the air, I watched a brilliant friend blather nonsense and turn into a MAGAt before there were MAGAts. The division is widening while Dems pretend it’s politics as usual as far as the public is concerned. More will be required before a more positive outlook is warranted. From where I sit in Texas, anyway.
Have they been silent? Or have they NOT been reported?
Likely both
Craig and JDinTX ,
You are so right! The time IS now! No more waiting . They have stolen our Country while we have been immobilized by disbelief. Every day we prolong the inevitable we watch them grab more of AMERICA. They have shuttered all but a few of our governmental institutions that provide both oversight and aid to our people . They have
chipped away at our reputation across the globe and shamed us by disrespecting our allies. They are spending and propose to spend billions of dollars on airplanes and golden domes as the price food increases daily for most American families as they watch their savings begin to dwindle. What are we waiting for?
Every hour of every another abomination. All designed to destroy and disenfranchise
Where were you in 2024? The DEMOCRATS tried to trot out musicians, actors, and celebrities. How did that turn out?
Know nothing elites talking down to middle America is not a winning strategy.
Good ideas are.......
Working my arse off for Dems
Go F yourself. You're nothing but a divisive POS.
WINNING feels great!
White House, Senate, Congress, Supreme Court, Governors
Democratic party is circling the drain because of people like you.
Enjoy losing. It fits you WELL
The men and women famous for making speeches in the 1960s and 1970s for women, minorities and gay rights like Gloria Steinem, Malcolm X, King Jr., Milk, Kramer were just the ones chosen to be the collective voice. There were hundreds and thousands of like minded people marching behind them, filling up protests, calling their congressmen and women, Senators and demanding accountability.
We don’t have that today. What we have is hundreds and thousands who like to bitch plenty and like to do nothing plenty more. All through the news today, I read or heard how I should be outraged at Biden. At the Democratic leadership. I’m mad at neither. I’m mad at my fellow Americas. Who were too lazy or too uninformed to realize where this was headed. It isn’t like every Dem pol wasn’t warning non stop about the end of democracy and fascism. Here it is in case they needed to visually learn. And reversing it will take a lot more hard work than getting out a blamethrower and blasting whomever, whatever, anyone everyone except ourselves.
You
Couldn’t’ agree more, but Dems need to be as woke as they are accused of being as we battle “the destroyers”
Craig, I agree with your conclusion that “A rogue government is running roughshod over the Constitution.” How ever that conclusion comments on the results of a well thought out and executed plan as laid out in painful detail in the Project 2025 document. This document and the goals and strategy were inspired and funded by those who stood physically behind Trump during his inauguration. Much to our horror and dismay what we are experiencing is the success of this diabolical plan to dismantle an already deteriorating Democracy.
What we lack is the foresight and detailed plan to build back a just and equitable government and economy. Project 2025 came about from a stinging loss to Biden. Now we the people are suffering an even more stinging loss to the success of Project 2025. It is all too easy to focus on Donald Trump and MAGA but the real villain here is the success of Project 2025.
“Without a Vision the People Perish” is the title of an excellent essay by Ronald Logan on the Crisis and Transition Substack. https://crisistransition.substack.com/p/without-a-vision-the-people-perish
On the same Substack is the Essay “Resistance is not Enough” by the same author. https://crisistransition.substack.com/p/resistance-is-not-enough
Taking the same playbook utilized by Project 2025, we must create our own vision for what will be our future and clearly we cannot wait for the Democratic Party to provide it. They have already proven their inability to even attempt what Project 2025 has accomplished. The “Crisis and Transition” Substack is becoming the preeminent forum for creation and implementation of a truly progressive roadmap to our brighter future.
Marc, you say some good things, however, Project 2025 is no Johnny come lately. It was launched with the Powell Memorandum in 1971 and incubated in the administrations of Reagan, Bush, and Shrub. It was birthed with the opposition to Barack Obama via the Tea Party, and the oligarchs jumped on board with ffpotus in his 45 role and we are seeing the fruits of their labor in this administration.
Ally, I agree with you, but I will (predictably) state, as I have before, that the roots of Project 2025 first formed in the late 1950s as the U.S. population became more affluent and had time for weekend leisure pastimes that did not include church attendance. This raised concerns among evangelicals, who had held sway over U.S. culture and governance since the colonial days.
P2025's roots took hold in the 1960s when the "sexual revolution," the civil rights movement and "women's lib," not to mention Madelyn Murray O'Hair's success with removing compulsory christian prayer from public schools, created upheaval in American culture. These groundswell changes in Americans' attitude toward religion, morals and sexuality were anathema to the repressive evangelical ethos. U.S. evangelical leaders panicked, fearing they were losing control of U.S. society. Various evangelical groups began fighting against this cultural liberation in various ways. Many repurposed their summer youth camps as training camps to indoctrinate youth as "christian soldiers." https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486358/
Others organized retreats and seminars to train their faithful on how to run for public office at all levels, from school board members to county clerks to state representatives.
These isolated operations continued through the 1970s, with only minor impact, until 1979 when Lynchburg, VA, Baptist megachurch pastor Jerry Falwell organized "The Moral Majority." Falwell overruled other evangelicals by insisting that conservative Catholics and Jews be included in the new umbrella organization.
It's interesting that Falwell's Moral Majority opposed Jimmy Carter, whose life most closely matched the example of Jesus, in favor of divorced B-list actor, Ronald Reagan, who identified as Presbyterian, but made no serious profession of christian belief. History doesn't always repeat, but it rhymes.
Fun story: I lived and worked in Lynchburg, VA, in the early 1980s when Jerry Falwell was peaking in fame. I should note that except for members of Thomas Road Baptist Church, everyone in Lynchburg hated Falwell.
My route from home to work took me past Falwell's expansive, walled compound (untaxed and paid for by church members). One sunny morning, as I started a left turn onto the road passing the Falwell compound, Jerry overran his stop sign and rolled into the road where I was already partway through my turn. We both stopped abruptly as the front bumper of his big, black Suburban came within a few inches of mine.
Believing himself to be far more important than me, he gestured for me to back up and let him continue on his way. I stared directly at him without moving. After an awkward few moments, he threw his hands up in irritation, slammed his black behemoth into reverse and backed up even with the stop sign where he should have stopped in the first place.
As I finished my left turn onto his road, I smiled and waved, with my middle finger more prominent than the others. It was a very good day.
Dale, thanks for this. It has made my day.
:-D
Dale R, Thank you, I loved your story, Prosperity Christianity has stolen so many dollars from folks that couldn’t afford it in the hopes that it would bring them good fortune not realizing they were being “sold a bridge”, and just enhancing the wealth and power of con persons.
That's an awesome experience Dale ! A lot of fodder in that to chew on too. "... except for members of Thomas Road Baptist Church, everyone in Lynchburg hated Falwell." That's one of those things to chew on. My Dad, Korean War marine was somewhat a back and forth, Eisenhower republican. Later, he got roped in hook, line, and sinker with the "Moral Majority" bunch. I doubt that he had even a notion that most locals there detested Falwell. I wonder now if that would have made any difference to him ? My youngest daughter, an ER RN ++, has been doing the travel nurse gig for a few years now. Not long ago she did a 3 month long tour of duty in Lynchburg, the epicenter of a far too large, medical care desert.
Dale, thanks for all the background history.
Dale, great historical insights into more of the many ways that people opposed the march toward a government that really is of the people, by the people, and for the people grounded in a Constitution that protects the liberties, freedoms, and unalienable rights of all Americans regardless of how they were born, not their skin color, sex, gender, economic level, other abledness, or age should ever be factors that determine a person's legal protection under the law in America, Now that many have discussed this, and many are now aware of the “flooding the zone” with t by design further hatred and division by trump so we don’t pay attention to his treasonous fascist coup, what are your thoughts regarding what you would like to see the Democratic Party do to not only fight this coup, but bring about that more perfect union? Are you willing to write, email, or call all of your local, state, federal representatives and the DNC to let them know what yiu expect of them? Your voice matters,
I think he knows and does those things; Perhaps more Linda.
"Roots".... Maybe seedling sprouting I'd agree with. Ally's position in my humble opinion cites the more obvious acceleration that's observable. The 10 year + , smoke filled rooms of the commerce class talking behind closed doors is far less observable and provable, as 'in print.' Understand: I don't entirely disagree with your postulate, as I actually felt and experienced the shifting sands.
Ally, thanks for the background history that resulted in the finished Project 2025 document. Because “We the People” can no longer rely on the Democratic Party to provide the progressive vision, we will have to undertake this ourselves.
Exactly Marc. The 'educated estimate' of others who might know better than I estimate that a impactfully successful number of folks it requires to actually force change, expressed as a percentage, is about 3.5 percent actively engaged and demonstrating can 'force' that movement. My glasses are not tinted; I don't think that's very many more than are currently, actively pushing back. Organizing the larger tent of the similarly enough affected is 'the thing.' Spectacles will be covered; "If it bleeds, it leads."
Agree, Project 2025 has been around for a while. The Republicans and their supporters had a lot of time write this document.
Yes Ally, the Reagan vision for America has now corrupted our nation.
Thanks, Ally. As Paul Harvey would have said, "Now you know the REST of the story".
This, as Heather has repeatedly said, began to gain traction under Ronnie Ray Gun, even though you're correct that the Powell Memo was a foundational document. Perhaps if Nixon hadn't been such a crook, the memo wouldn't have carried the weight it did. We'll never know now.
Ally, thank you for the history of what is happening. I would add that the Rs tried to undo the New Deal from the get go, but ramped up their efforts starting with St. Ray Gun. And yes, the election of Obama was such an affront to regressive white people plus gains made by people who should know their place or remain in the closet. Once people have status, even if they do not deserve it, merely by being white, male, and straight, they become resentful if they think they are losing it. This last election was about resentment and now we are seeing revenge in spades.
Ally, I agree this has been a well thought through and long range plan, Now that we know what are your thought s for a Democratic 50 year plan?
There are two big dividing issues that come to mind. One is the “age” issue, or “old guard vs. new guard” schism; briefly summed up with “we must do what we’ve done in the past” vs. “tear it down and rebuild anew”. The other is “identity politics” or (I’m my mind) “just how many alphabet people do we ‘let in’? Women seem to be in, but just how much bodily autonomy is included in that? BIPOC seems pretty assured, but what about immigration status? But how many LGBTQIA+ people can be included before we hear a “not them!”?
What I see in some circles are that Transfolk are unwanted, and the complete understanding of why Intersex and Asexual are part of that cohort.
Frankly, I’d like to see a 5 party system with the basic monikers reading left to right as: Radical, Liberal, Centrist, Conservative, Reactionary.
So is anyone even working on a plan to counter P2025? The Constitution, written so many decades ago in a v
Yes, check out the “Crisis and Transition” substack for some bold fresh now thinking. https://crisistransition.substack.com/
Marc, thanks for the link, just signed up and am anxious to see what they say,
Marc, I agree with you, a well-planned, longterm plan will be necessary. Unfortunately, it's much easier to use a wrecking ball to the Constitution the Federal government and the rule of law, than it is to repair the damage later. A well thought out plan is an essential start.
A second thought: Repairing the damage to our reputation worldwide is an entirely different project. It will also take a lot of time.
Marc, what do you envision that plan to be?
To be fair, I have kept up but I was still shocked by the tech folks going Trojan Horse. Repubs have been evil since Newt, but I thought tech, and MSM would hold with sanity. Dems have made missteps but repubs are evil in their duplicity and hypocrisy. And they scan every Dem action for decades looking for any crack, and making up what is not there. Dems still think it’s politics as usual, a fatal mistake, in my opinion.
Evil, yes EVIL!!! Thank you JD for using the word! Keep using it! Everybody use it! That is what we are dealing with - evil deeds carried out by evil people. And supported by almost half of our fellow Americans. They who support evil are themselves evil.
Difficult to comprehend Marc. But, as you imply, this 'present day tea-party' has to have been assembling those who would carry out "the plan" very quietly. This is not being pulled off by some gang-of-12. These bots are all over the place, while the president and Ms Bondi and Noem (and her attack dog) are instilling fear and backing it up with help from the new outlets they exercise control over (but, not all!).
The only resistance that will save our democracy and restore the rule of law will have to be massive and determined. I am talking general strike, with millions of individual citizens filling the streets with their bodies to shut our country down for a day. This will require real leadership from a critical mass of our Democratic politicians. Objectives, detailed planning, incessant publicity, speeches and the physical presence of anyone unafraid to be a role model for the rest of us, especially our children, are essential.
In a word, COURAGE.
The leaders will necessarily insist on nonviolence, but be prepared to suffer at the hands of the rogue policemen, soldiers and MAGA gangs Trump will certainly try to unleash against all of us.
It is very sad that it has come to this, but failure to put Trump and the billionaires in their place now, (not waiting for midterm elections that may never happen)... Unthinkable.
Our local leaders and advocates keep telling myself and others to keep calling our elected officials - that phone calls matter and are influence them. I hope they are right because I live in PA home to John Fetterman and Dave McCormick I’m not seeing that. Fetterman and McCormick won’t even host town halls. Eventually, after months of calling, filling out forms on their websites, writing letters, got a AI generated fluff email with a screen shot of a letter from both Fetterman and McCormick. Both emails were almost identical. As expected, both emails told me all the great things they are doing for PA. Really? These two senators are doing such a great job that our Governor had to sue the federal government to release funds all ready approved for PA. I’m retired so I have all the time in the world to keep calling them but I’m waiting for the election to get my voice heard!
I wrote at least 60 postcards for Fetterman from here in Illinois.
What a disappointment! I apologise to you, MP.
Perhaps AOC and Bernie could do a town hall for Fetterman?
Miselle, we all learn from our mistakes, I am sure you are wiser and more discerning now making you an even better advocate for Democracy,
As a fellow citizen who also believes in Democracy and fears living under a fascist regime, I thank you for all of your time, your patriotism, your dedication, your love of the American people , your effort, and expense.
MP, maybe contact your local, state, and federal representatives and thank those doing good work for the common good, along with telling them all and the DNC what you expect from them not just to fight this fascist coup, but what you would like to see in a comprehensive unified 50 year plan to bring our Constitution up to date so that it protects the equality and equity of all Americans and Democracy,
Are Dems stuck with people who never should have run in the first place. Imperfect candidates don’t have to be Trojan Horses. Surely vetting is not a lost art.
David, I agree with most of what you said except for your statement "This will require real leadership from a critical mass of our Democratic politicians.” We cannot forsake our own responsibility for leadership to “Democratic politicians” as they have now proven themselves to be like a “deer in the headlights”when we could have used their leadership the most.
Marc, our "deer in the headlights" DEMS, as you so aptly describe them, need to get their asses out in the road and stop traffic. If they continue to "lay low" while strategizing how to win the mid terms, there won't be any effing midterms!
If you or I decided to hold a major press conference and announced plans to shut down a major US city, no one would ever hear about it.
But, If Obama, the Clinton's, 5 or 6 well known Senators and Governor's and celebrities, and a gaggle of House reps did it, it would be front page news for days and generate a lot of excitement among the base and beyond.
Trump breaks the law and pisses on the Constitution daily. He needs to be stopped now.
David, I don’t believe we can rely on MSM to give even huge demonstrations much attention, possibly one day until they focus on Trump‘s reaction. In truth, Trump is doing a good job of burning his bridges as the Trump train moves along and destroys our economy. In the end, it will be the looming recession/depression that will topple the Trump regime and his MAGA following.
One thing I would note with grave concern is that we are ignoring the biggest crisis of all which is the deteriorating climate situation that we find ourselves in. We have become so hyper-focused on Trump and his MAGA cult that we have ignored the elephant in the room, the environmental climate catastrophe we are facing within increasing speed.
Marc,
Trump has money and family and friends and homes all over the world. It will be most of his followers who will be "hung out to dry".
When our country is destroyed and used up...Trump can go anywhere he wants to live...where the water and air are safer....and where his buddy dictators rule.
Do you think he is going to care for the poor little parasites who worship him here. He only cares for those he can manipulate and use.
When he is done...he is done.
I see what money does to people....it squeezes any decency they once MAY have had completely out of them. Rubio is a heartbreaking example.
T just does not understand that these 'leaders' think of him as an idiot. I'm sure they all have plans to make him disappear.
Emily, and he will get to fly away on his big beautiful jet extorted for free from Qatar, and with $1 billion in upgrades courtesy of US tax dollars,
Marc, If the fix is really in and the NYT, Wapo, WSJ, etc. are ordered by their masters to ignore a million people shouting and blocking traffic in downtown New York City, or in multiple cities on the same day, then the choice is even more difficult and dangerous than our worst nightmares. What are we left with? Secession of the more enlightened states from the less enlightened? Civil war?
And of course Trump is distracting us from the really serious issues he neither recognizes nor knows how to resolve.
Trump needed to be jailed no more than a week after the events of Jan 6th, thank you Merrick Garland. But that horse has fled the barn, and the longer we wait to get the job done, the less likely it is that our democracy can survive.
Large masses of people can send the worst dictators into early retirement and damp prison cells. It has happened before.
Chump is the roadblock to any other crisis solutions. By design and careful planning.
Spectacles attract News.
We need a general strike and boycott all but food spending at local grocery stores.
Everything about this “Reconciliation Bill” is infuriating to say the least.
David Herrick-YES, YES, and YES!
The government is rogue because it's been bought and paid for by a cabal of obscenely rich oligarchs hellbent on establishing an outright kleptocracy (vs the disguised but nonetheless effective one of the last fifty or so years) headed by an autocratic puppet. Well, with the passage of the BBB now in the offing, they've all but closed the deal. Government, you say? A new aristocracy, sez me.
Kamala ran a good campaign. No wrestlers or Kidd Rock. The evil bought the election. I wish there was some Bob Woodward lurking somewhere
JDinTX,
Kamala is exceptional. She has taken a beating. What she does next is not only up to her, but up to us to stand by her....to support her....NOT to leave her seemingly taking her defeat alone. I voted FOR her and I would do it again.
She is the one who stood up for this country....for Democracy....for the care and lifting up of each and all. SHE IS QUALIFIED!!!! She cannot serve alone. She needs to know we have her back!
If she's elected Governor of California, maybe she'd figure out a way to secede from the so-called union. Or at least cause Trump a lot of good trouble. It's the 9th largest economy in the WORLD, remember! Love to see that happen.
Leigh Horne,
"California Governor Kamala Harris" sounds great as well. I would just like to see her voted into a leadership role that honors her abilities. I want to see that big bright smile again !
I hope the Dems in DC are doing just that
What we're witnessing is not only the demise of our democracy under Trump and the MAGA Republicans but also the wealthy feeding on what flesh is left. Soon it'll be a carcass of bones and nothing else. How did we get here? The failure of our schools to teach critical thinking skills along with civics, government and comparative history. Tens of millions of voters don't know what they don't know. They're now going to pay the price for those deficits. Any many will never understand why or how it happened.
Amen!
We told them (MAGAs) time after time, with rhythmic regularity, to fear a 2nd Trump presidency, that it would spell disaster for democracy here and around the world. But, for them, crushing brown- and black-skinned people was more important.
I am so fed up with the lying and distortions perpetrated by so many in the trump administration. This is all magical thinking. And the MAGA faithful, who probably never passed a history test, don't know the facts.........And how dare they shout NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW when that is exactly what trump are others are guilty of. trump and his administration are the greatest disinformation warriors ....ever!
"This should be seen more clearly each day by people who care about the values we have lived by being swept away."
I agree with one exception. You should not have pluralized "value". There is precisely one value/principle: Treat others the way you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot. Beyond that, there are only context-specific rules for how to adhere to that context-independent principle in rule-specific contexts.
Democracy doesn't work because people follow the rule of law. It works when enough people are adhering to the one principle.
Diversions - Distractions and Cover-Ups are careening toward us like an out-of-control freight train. Every time I say to myself, "It can't get worse", the danger and the illegality of the Trump regime's actions escalate.. Subterfuge is the mask behind which hides the regime's maliciously racist and power-hungry intent to devour our rule of law and extol lies over truth.
The very recent attempt at political persecution and prosecution of Representative LaMonica McIver is only the beginning of setting an abhorrent precedent in this escalation of power. The regime tosses words like " assaulting", "resisting" and "impeding" around as if their words matter. When, in fact, lies are the order of business every day and subterfuge is the mask behind which their hidden agenda lurks.
As Bernie Sanders said on the Stephen Colbert show on the night of May 15: "If you sit back and do nothing, they will take it all." June 14 is a day when we all, (kids, adults, seniors) need to be on the streets saying NO to dictatorship!
P.S. I guess there is another Michele. This could be confusing???!!!
A lot of cliches Craig. Where are the Republicans running roughshod over the constitution?
Be specific. Bring receipts
Holy shit! You jest.
Tear up your advanced degree (or your HS Diploma if you got one). You are the opposite of an "intellectual". You're a Fan Boy Wanna Be. Go ahead a pop off some more MAGAt bullshit and prove me right. Stop drooling on us...
How does it feel to be a loser?
You lost the White House, Senate, Congress, Supreme Court, and Governorships.
Democratic approval rating is 29%
And now the revelation drops that the media and left has been lying for Joe Biden for years.
How does it feel to see your party circling the DRAIN?
NO you need to defeat your own LYING and crappy ideas.
Can you articulate what the party stands for? What are its major initatives? Vision?
Hating TRUMP is a mental illness NOT a governing principle
OOOOooo.. guess I hit a nerve talking about your diploma and advanced degrees... You are sad. Trump IS a mental illness. Go back to X where you belong.
It is MAGA that needs to be defeated. Americans also need to figure out at which point they are better off fighting from a Blue State or from Abroad. I wrote this piece right after Trump was elected to point that people should figure out what their red line is for the place in which they live. Vulnerable people should know that there are places where they might be safer.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/a-plan-b-for-catastrophe?r=f0qfn
I personally had planned to move abroad because I was worried about the constant threat on Social Security and Medicare by the government, programs I had paid into, which are insurances, can be destroyed, and then the recipients face either death through lack of care of crippling bills and bankruptcy. Not how I wanted to spend my golden years. So, I moved to a country with universal health care insurance, which most of my friends who have moved abroad to other countries also have. Now I am able to compare the two systems.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/copy-us-health-care-is-like-rotten?r=f0qfn
Almost all of my reasons for leaving were financial. It is just cheaper to live in other countries except for 12 of them. This was true before Trump took power, so I imagine it is going to get worse under him.
Evil is not new but it is epidemic now. Never fathomed that so many would sign on. I read that Roger Stone was so relieved when he figured that lying was so effective….maybe it was the Netflix special I saw several years ago. Pure evil.
They mean war, these MAGA.
Dems can get over their collective impotence by focusing on the three “H”s.
Americans need action in three areas of the aspirated letter “H”: Health. Housing. Whores.
#1) The U.S. should have a national public health system as do all other democracies.
#2) It should have a massive housing program for the working and middle classes – all of it around inter-city fast rail and inner-city commuter rail, with schools, clinics, day care, elder care, parks, local shops, and farmers’ markets.
#3) We should declare war on the tax-evading, hugely subsidized whores – billionaires who galloped aboard Citizens United and others who so cudgeled standardized testing into the schools as to void humanities there and install but corporate conceits for impersonal, abstracted categories and linear simpleton causalities.
Health. Housing. Whores.
Calling the men who have hurt this country whores--women who sell themselves for small amounts of money simply to survive, whereas the billionaires are raping the entire land to enrich themselves enormously. Such a man thing to do.
Maybe better, Teresa, a testosterone thing.
Or, to stay with Heather's scenario -- a slave owner thing, or self-fancied member of the enslaving class thing to do.
The term you are looking for I think is “testosterone poisoning “.
Yes, always appreciate the clarity of Thom Hartmann
A man can no more be a whore than a white person be the "N" word. I don't care for its use in this context either. I wanted to say this w/o getting too distracted from the larger discussion of our common enemy.
Laura, there is an entire industry of “male escorts” whores by any other name, but I think that the is issue is consent, Whoring may be transactional and there is not necessarily an agreement that at the end of the meal , everyone has had their cookie, but is is consensual, ( of course unless this is happening to trafficked boys and girls, women and men, that is a different discussion)
I think what trump and these billionaires are doing is more akin to rape, A selfish, violent, deceitful betrayal of the rights of another human being that not only hurts their physical being, but also their psychological being, their emotional beings and very soul and spirit,
That is what Trump and these billionares are doing to our government and our people. They are the embodiment of the worst aspects of our species. They feel entitles to lie, cheat, betray, and even cause great harm to the extent of causing deaths to fulfill their delusions of grandeur at amassing power and wealth for themselves,
I was trying not to touch the whole “N” word thing, but I find that I just can’t, At 73, growing up as a woman without equal rights, I am just so tired of “knowing my place”. And if you want to tell me it’s never been that bad, then tell me why the ERA has never been added to the Constitution .
I and many others in this country are multiracial. People see me and call me white, but what does that mean? Am I supposed to ignore my “N” ancestral heritage, or my Asian, or European, or American Indigenous, or for that matter
whatever formation of the first self-replicating molecules and the development of cellular life that my line came up out of the primordial soup from?
I am the glorious culmination of eons of ancestral trials, tribulations, and successes, I carry all of them with me in my DND and the DNA of my microbiome, Did you know humans have more nonhuman cells than human. We are symbiotic beings, Do you think ignoring our symbiots has allowed for good healthcare or becoming our best selves?
When will we realize that we need to learn from the past, but we are not the past? We need to feel the shame and guilt for how some of our species felt it was OK to commit violence, even genocide, realizing that we need those feelings to teach us that that is no way forward for our species, We need to realize that as a species, we live on this rare and beautiful planet that depends on diversity for life, We need to realize that we are not meant to have dominion over, but to work as good stewards recognizing our place in an interdependent system that supports LIFE? Will we ? maybe. Will we continue to kill each other and shit in our own backyards (like no other animal on this planet ) until it no longer sustains human life, maybe. I just know which side I choose to fight on, We all have a choice, everything is political, every action and word actually does matter.
". . . symbiotic beings." Nice, Linda.
Actually, most eloquent, your lovely, apt, discursive notes here.
I'm sorry to see that Laura, to whom you addressed these considerations and facts, has not replied to you.
They are guilty of selling their souls for power and finance, not to keep body and soul together. Whatever their name be, it should be in large, bloody capitals. More Americans will sell their most precious possession, dignity, health, and their back because of this perfidy disguised as legislation on behalf of the electing members of our communities. Evil, thy name is Republican. Shame on everyone of you. My prayer: May justice rain down on your households and lay you all bare.
With all due respect Theresa, there are also male whores. I think Phil's initial statement and answer to your objection is reasonable.
I agree with you Teresa. Phil’s finaI flourish was badly put. In fact, whore isn’t even an “H” word. To compare MAGA to sex workers is to substantially elevate MAGA. And I am glad you pointed it out.
I’m Jonny-come-lately to this thread but at this late moment there began immediately after your well stated post a virtual firestorm of PC derailment of the initial topic. None of this was your doing. It seems a lot more people would prefer to discuss the word “whore”, its meaning, derivation, and application than to discuss a platform of principles to rally around to defeat MAGA.
Each of Phil’s actual points deserves solid discussion and debate.
National health care may prove the toughest nut to crack. I’m sure nearly everyone who reads this will recall the terrible and fraught path taken just to get to ACA. That’s a history of barefaced plutocrat manipulation of national, state and local governments. How to move national healthcare forward requires an understanding of how it was thoroughly undermined in the past.
Affordable housing and transportation are a fundamental necessity for the wellbeing of citizens and economic growth.
Establishment of the principle that not dollars and not PAC secrecy but individual citizens are the only and truest basis for determining elections in a democracy. That the restoration of basic educational values rather than dumbed down controls for government oversight are the surest way to create a well informed electorate.
These sound like good thoughts to me.
I agree the word whore isn't even an H word. It is a flourish that denigrates not just women who are poor or even rich, and sell their bodies to stay alive, and often to keep their own illegitimate children alive. Half the human race is being put in their place as an object of the worst any human could ever be. It has been used against us to mark all women, to hold us in place or we risk being called this name by society at large, by law, by custom, by writ. Here we are an example of all that is wrong with humans. This is seen in the Abrahamic Genesis as we are discussed as wholly bad at birth, an evil that God has chosen to describe half the human race. An evil we will never overcome. The person who wrote this is an internet stranger to me. You give him great courage for saying truths you feel you have to clarify. Your clarification of course makes sense, but the word whore does not, except for the destruction of DEI and equity, which makes the word whore make sense. Half the human race is by nature evil. The evil democrats could overcome is the evil God has assigned to women, which they can never overcome. We are being blamed for an evil the democrats can never overcome in God's eyes and the eyes of men.
I have only one thing to say to this, and the men who would prey on women as we walk the streets to supply the rape and the beatings that go with the problem of being a woman in this culture that supersedes our beinghood, that labels us as God's prey to men, know it in me as they know it as they approach. I am not easy prey. I will not go down easily not for their God, not for their theories or their many hatreds. I will instead be every kind of trouble there is. They can attack me. They can attack all other women. They can use all of us as an example of the worst of everything there is, and as I scream and rip their eyes out, as I use what little force I have to defend myself and all women, I assure you, I will be every kind of trouble there is. By the way, Dr. Cox Richardson is a woman too. Ain't half of this race woman? None of us are whores. Just like me, we do what we have to do to exist, and yes, we will be every kind of trouble there is, because we have been bashed, labeled, and raped, but we will scratch men's yes out as you feel so free to work us over. And yes, democrats should be just like women: every kind of trouble there is, to those who are using the brief power of the office of POTUS to slam trouble into the faces of all the People of the USA. Every.Kind.of.Trouble.There.Is!
Hi Teresa,
“as you feel so free to work us over.”
Umm, I gather you are directly accusing me of something. What is it? Based on what?
I am warning you and all men that I am a woman. Words are powerful things. No one may call me a whore. No one may call other women whores. I am walking down the street of the internet. And I will be every kind of trouble there is when anyone uses words to demean me and all other women as an example of how not to be.
I haven’t ever called you anything but Teresa. I gather that’s your name.
Are you still playing around with that generative AI nonsense?
Whatever party or faction you belonged to before this aberration appeared upon our lands, it is now time to join together and defeat this MAGA monstrocity. We need to dedicate ourselves to saving The Constitution, the Rule of Law, and rebuilding faith in the promise we have followed for 250 years. We can get through this like so many other challenges we have faced, together.
Can we call the billionaires parasites instead of whores? That is a disgusting derogatory word used mainly against women and I find it insulting...
Terry, can we change our attitude toward seeing words often associated with women as derogatory, By the way whoring is done by both men and women often as the only means of earning enough money to survive in a very oppressive world that limits one’s ability to earn a living, Then there are people who actually enjoy sex work, I know it is not that simple, If it is coerced or trafficked then it should be called something else, something really tragic that puts the onus of negativity and repulsion on the person who is coercing or trafficking, The one word just doesn’t cover it all.
Call them sex workers.
Teri, I think they should be called “mhores” because they believe they’re always entitled to more than their share.
Again I think parasites describes them best - living off Us working people.
To sidestep the negative connotations of the third descriptor, may I suggest another "H" word; Hierarchy.
Very much like your animus, Bob, at "another 'H' word; Hierarchy."
That, hierarchy, runs totally opposite the world where all our best artists see, celebrate, pay personal debts to, and glow with appreciation for nuances, subtleties, complications, serendipity, cohering loves, and multiple other dynamics in humanity and nature.
Hierarchy denotes instead a world where everything is machine-gradable, rank-&-file, militarized, corporatized, abstracted, grouped, commercialized, easily demagogue-led.
The humane and nature worlds run to verbs all active. Its opposite -- as you say, Bob, hierarchy -- sinks to the copulative verbs given only to labeling, stereotyping, more histrionic hating, fearing, and murdering, and (again -- and again) demagogue-led.
Yes. We need to be developing the collaborative way of governance that is really true to this time in history. The old days of Hierarchy when it may have been reasonable have degenerated into kleptocracy, autocracy, oligarchy, toxic patriarchy, and corruption as they failed to evolve positively. Now we need a forceful system, messy and slow, perhaps, but in line with our humanity and the rest of nature. I hope and believe that can eventually be healing to the current illness.
Regarding #2, rural America lacks affordable housing as much as urban areas. Housing needs should be addressed across the board.
Yes, Ellen, absolutely.
Still, I'd stress trains even serving small towns.
The opposite: more cars. More gigantic parking lagoons. More lanes of superhighway. More sprawl housing where humans never walk -- or don't even have sidewalks.
And trains and other forms of public transit would help with #1 - health. One has to WALK to get to the place of transit. Being sedentary is a real health problem. For those who are less abled, there can be shuttles the way there are for the aging in many areas.
Have you told your local, state, and federal representatives that this is something that you expect them to fight for?
Short answer, Linda: yes.
have you told you local, state, and federal representatives and the DNC thst at this is what you expect them to fight for?
Now you've added the DNC, Linda.
So I can add a further Yes. Multiply ongoing with the establishment.
I recenlty read an article about Colorado Springs building "tiny homes" for teachers. I applaud the effort, as we have many teachers in my family. I was disappointed, though, to discover the upper age limit of 25 for residency. I have a mid 30s daughter who teaches in a rural area. There is no housing available in the area--it's all farms and no apartments in the small town. She travels 45 minutes to get there from where she lives , and her rent is a "reasonable" $1500/mo. She makes $46K/yr.
And besides, don't rural students deserve dedicated teachers as well?
Great point
Well said!
Phil, I love your post and the discussion it prompted. Please, everyone - let's keep searching for the third H word. I think it's important to have it consistent with Phil's original concept of billionaire overlords, yet should be a positive alternative. One noun beginning with "h" that is the opposite of tax-evading, hugely subsidized, corporate whores...
THIS is a rallying cry we could get behind!
I still like Health, Homes, and Human Rights the best so far,
The first two are things we will take action on in a positive manner while the third, the one facing objection, is a negative. It’d be great to find a third that’s a positive. I do believe you’re onto something, though.
Health. Housing. Human Rights.
Watching the discussion between KEM and Phil, I tried:
Health, Housing, Humanity.
Health, Housing, Honor.
I do feel that a strong, simple, easy to understand slogan would go a long way, and I believe Health and Housing fit … but I don’t actually think Humanity or Honor work as they’re too vague.
Does anyone have a concise word that implies going after abuse of power within the government so it actually works and is ethical? Lol. Just one word, preferably starting with an H. (I’m eye-rolling at myself, but IMO this is a unifying element for us.)
I appreciate the way you’re both working at this.
We're beginning to sound like 4H: Head Heart Hands Health <G>. But yes, I do like it. Honesty? Human Rights? Habitat?
Actually the 4 H Club framework on a new level and use as an inter generational neighborhood tool for the environment and civics not a bad idea.
So creative--love it!
KEM wrote Health , Housing and Human rights, I think it is a winner,
Fine, your third term, KEM.
Human rights, however, devolves into abstractions and identity politics if schools have no humanities and all -- teachers and students -- have given up on reading, let alone discussing, whole books.
Phil Balla,
There are some things worth bringing back , out of the dust, for the sake of our future ie READING AND DISCUSSING LITERATURE (and as many subjects as possible) WITHIN A CLASSROOM OF INTELLECTUALLY MIXED STUDENTS.
And...YES Phil...reading the book cover to cover! We need to appreciate viewpoints honed from various lived out/in experiences. We need one another...to listen...to one another if we want to be the best we can be.
Emily (and hopefully Phil sees this as well)
I know Phil is an educator, and I am unsure if you are as well. From what I am hearing from the teachers in my family (5 teachers, 2 teach HS English, one is a lower grade librarian, the others teach Math (jr high) and business (HS). STUDENTS DO NOT READ THE ASSIGNED WORK.
For us old folks, especially us "good little boys and girls" it was unthinkable to NOT do assignments. The English teachers tell me you can't get them to read 10 pages, so an entire book?!?!
Sadly, there is such lack of support from many (if not most) parents, they get nowhere.
Miselle, I am very sorry to hear this, but the first step in solving a problem is identifying the problem. We need to find out why? I am sure that not allowing phones in classrooms is a start, then what about the old ways, if you don’t do your assignment, you get a failing grade, if you fail, you get to take the year over,?
that is the stick, now, there needs to be the carrots, .what rewards will the kids respond to l. if everyone completes the book, do they get to go on an outing? Earn pints toward some prize, get to pick the next book? Each class would need to come up with goals that they would find rewarding, These suggestions may not work, but teachers are taught how to teach to many different ways of learning, I am sure that they have some other ideas, The on,y thing that is not acceptable is to not keep trying. Our children deserve it from the adults,
Miselle,
I started out in a 2 room schoolhouse, I was only there for 1st grade but my teacher, Miss Ruby remains my only beloved and favorite teacher her. She is the only one who made me feel seen and valued, I took the lessons of her cooperative model with me for the rest of my life,.
Miss Ruby had 1st through 5th grade, Each grade had its own pod, The goal was learning. After Miss Ruby presented a lesson, we studied it and then we were allowed to work together to help each other understand it and learn it, We made sure each other knew the material. If it was a spelling test and someone was unsure, we could discuss it, make sure the person had learned it before they wrote it down.
When we moved into town, my second grade teacher used a competitive model. One I was unaware or existing, At our first spelling test, I was unsure if I knew the correct spelling of a word, so I did what I knew and asked my desk mate if I was correct. The teacher called me to the front of the room, accused me publicly of cheating and told me to turn in my paper, I did not know the meaning of the word cheat, I did not understand that what I had done was “wrong”, but I did understand the use of public humiliation even if I did not know what it was called, Has anyone asked the kids what is preventing them from reading? From not getting excited about learning? Do they feel respected in their schools? this is a fixable problem and for their sakes, it must be fixed,
An inter generational 4 H Club format would would work.
Mary,
That sounds great...especially for "city" kids who would like to participate and are too often unable to be around animals/gardens/orchards, in a farm setting.
And agreed...people of all ages....FUN!!!
Habeus Corpus is neither abstract nor identity politics. But if you disagree, how about Health. Housing. Hunger?
Agreed on habeus corpus, KEM.
But those who write on identity politics almost never cite humanities. Neutered, they have none.
Their language gears only to abstractions, categories, copulative labeling, "theory," and the wonk.
Humanities contrarily always bring in exceptions, contradictions, and unorthodox references -- to things outside the group-think and silo comfort zones where the elite dehumanized (skilled test-takers) cluster.
"The Humanities" usually refers to the arts. But I didn't write "the Humanities." I wrote Humanity, which is the human race, so why are you bringing up another subject.
Phil, I agree with your characterization of the last H - they are the "welfare queens" we are supposed to be rooting out by killing Medicaid and all other aid to those who need it. Let's get it right this time around.
Love this!
Phil, I agree except with using the word whores, I am afraid that it gives a historically needed job left as one of the few for oppressed women a bad name, Why do we demonize whores, but applaud the “sowing their wild oats” nature of Johns? Just a thought.
What an excellent description of the tax evading billionaires—whores.
On Trumps birthday in June there are supposed to be people hitting the streets throughout the country. It should be easy to find a gathering close to wherever you might be. Let's hit the streets. That's when he has a military parade scheduled. Oh, how I wish I could be in Washington DC to physically block that parade.
And the Republicans are doing their best to ram through Trump's insanely cruel budget tomorrow. It's time to call your Representative, Democrat or Republican, and make some good noise.
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
Please use that link to get the appropriate phone number.
Let's do this thing.
Let the parade pass through empty streets.
Honestly, I’d rather see the parade stopped by real Americans.
Meanwhile, in cities across the country, Americans show up and give voice to saving our country.
I think a parade through empty streets will have a bigger impact than a parade through a protest. My spidy senses tell me the regime is just looking for an excuse to declare martial law and nothing says martial law than a large protest.
Project 2025 Chapter 7, page 29 (not correct citation but I do recall reading the section on martial law, right next to eliminating voting)
My feeling too. Also it would be a powerful expression of disdain.
I feel the same way. I think if, like Tiananmen Square, one person stood in front of the Trump parade, he'd have the tank run over them and enjoy every minute. And MAGA would cheer.
Hopefully, Fox News and Newsmax are the only ones to report on the parade. May it be as well attended as the 4th of July parades in many of the small communities across American. Hopefully, the world press reports exactly what this is.
Memories of Tiananmen Square - one guy and a tank. Hope someone has the guts.
For most of us another protest opportunity presents.
https://www.nokings.org/#map
Looking at the map, the events are many. I suggest folks sign up to give the press more to talk about in advance.
I could be wrong. It happens all the time. But I think this may be the biggest national protest in US history. Even Faux News will have to notice.
OMG Bill, I just posted a comment at Tiananmen up above. Only, I think Trump would gleefully command the tank to run over them.
By June 14, the Billionaires' Budget likely will have passed. Protests won't matter much to this MAGA-majority House and Senate.
If you come, dress as a clown, or carry a big portrait of Barack Obama. Drive the point home...
Anyone can go to Tesla takedown.com and create their own protest. There is not sufficient time remaining to wait until the middle of June to hold up a sign. Do it NOW.
Laura , I tried the link, but it was for information regarding a computer hacker. Please correct your link, thanks. I was not a bad link that will cause me problems for opening it,
I'll be marching in the streets in San Antonio on that day (Jun 14th).
There are protests all over the country, on nearly every day of the week. We have our own small protest on Monday evenings at a well-traveled intersection: our crowd is slowly growing, and last night's had no MAGAts giving us feedback - only positive responses from passing motorists.
BE PATIENT AMERICA, THE TIMES ARE A CHANGING.
“The Republicans are trying to advance Trump’s entire agenda—from massive logging on public lands to slashing Medicaid—in one giant bill under a process known as “budget reconciliation,” which means it cannot be filibustered in the Senate. That means it needs only Republican votes to pass.”
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
And you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
The battle outside ragin'
Will soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'
Bob Dylan
People, These times are not even close to what dylan was writing about.
What a divided nation. A draft in place for a war that no one understood; unfairly proportionally black. Those that managed to survive it, returned to be spat on. A cold war between us and Russia. Bomb shelters, public school practice drills for a nuclear missile strike. A very popular young hopeful president, gunned down by a communist supporter. A brother later being assassinated. Lynching in the south, a civil rights peaceful movement by a great leader, who is also to be assassinated by a racist he marched against.
They were tough and challenging times. Yet we survived those times, and came out of those ashes even stronger then before.
Turn off the news since fear sells ads. March, gather in coffee shops and talk, write songs and poetry, but more importantly, try to listen to your brothers and sisters on the other side. They have been had and need a friend, not an enemy.
I'm going to take issue with your perspective here; I believe that these times are at least as dire that what you write about in the 1960's. We have just come from a 20 year war where a small percentage of soldiers (compared to Vietnam) did a huge percentage of time in country suffering from both physical and moral injury. We have an administration that is gutting the Federal government and enriching the oligarchs and tech bros, the latter having mined the most secure personal data of millions of Americans. We have a bought and paid for SCOTUS which is not holding the Executive Branch in order, and we have a Congress that has abdicated its duties since at least 2001 if not before. We have all three branches of government working hard to eliminate the constitutional rights afforded to BIPOC and LGBTQ+ and effectively turned the female population into second class citizens with no rights to their own bodies.
I have talked to and listened to those folks on the other side. They do not see that they have been "had", on the contrary, they feel that what is happening to the "others" is both right and true, and is returning them (mostly white men in my personal contacts area) to their rightful place.
Ally House (Oregon),
Yes Ally, people I love and have respected in the past have been "brainwashed" and I cannot understand. They are faithful and kind friends...it so hurts my heart that they have received this " blind guide".
I was a Republican for years but when Trump came on the scene, I changed Political parties. I could not understand how our great nation ie "The Land of the Free BECAUSE of the Brave" could have possibly placed such a self absorbed human being at the helm of our government. I am sure if I just "followed the money" I would find the answer. There are many responsible for what is taking place within our government. Our foundations are being broken. Those who are doing the damage will NOT live forever...but they will leave a destroyed nation behind them.
So many of our nation's citizenry and many of our great institutions are being "left behind". The "mob boss" is in charge!
I am deeply concerned for the future of this country and especially what will be left for my children and grandchildren.
Ally, these times are worse. Yes, we were divided over Viet Nam, civil rights, and more, but we did not have half the nation thinking that burning it all down was any kind of solution, or that power needed to be concentrated among the wealthy, or that freedom for all wasn't the goal.
Ally, always value your opinion!
Then more of a Malcom X approach to things? A new Declaration of Independence to be written and signed by our governors and congress on our 250th?
Signed. In front of the media.
Knowing the Republicans will call it treason to sign. 7/4/2026.
Or keep our cool and let the voting booths speak on 11/3/2026? And if they don’t speak, if found to be fraudulent or restricted - DAMN THE TORPEDOES!
I say we are hardly in this war. It is a four year war with a major battle on 11/3/2026. And it will, in the end, result for the better.
If done peacefully.
Just steer through the minefields until the last booth closes.
And they have been “had”. They just don’t know it yet. My father actually started to realize it towards the end.
At least Liz and Adam saw it. Others will come.
Peace (for now).
Indeed so.
To both Ally and John - You are both correct in your thinking/feeling/analyses. But, I say: This ain’t no COMPETITION of national emergencies!!!
I’m an OLD (verified old) folksinger who remembers talking to his 5th grade students about assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK. I saw the tears on the eyes of those gentle 11 year olds as they were looking at the tears of their long-haired, bearded, hippie-looking teacher….There’s a lot of $#!+ in the air these days, but WE SHALL OVERCOME - someday! And, yes, I would bring my guitar to school and we would sing all those songs, but we would also study the Constitution and what was going on in the US government. Remember: It’s the Hammer of Justice, It’s the Bell of Freedom, It’s the Song About LOVE Between My Brothers and Sisters All Over This Land. And that last bit is perhaps the most important - the Brothers and Sisters must include those people who HATE us and want to diminish and destroy us. That’s the really hard part. Also remember there is such a thing as Tough Love. We don’t have to blindly accept the misinformation that is being dumped in our laps….(Sorry, I need another cup of coffee! Too early for wine.)
Papa, if you tried that today, you quite possibly would get called out by some of the parents and doxxed in the media.
I’d do it anyway, Miselle, because I was teaching US History - the specified curriculum of 5th grade. I was well within the scope of my job. I wasn’t being hateful. I showed love and mercy and respect for “the other side.” WE - today - don’t have to show hatred toward the MAGA millions. All we need to do is ask for Justice. We can ask - without being strident: Do we really want to
- Slash Medicaid
- Scrap Clean Energy Funding
- Eliminate SALT (not from your diet…something else)
- Raise the Deficit - $3.3 T over 10 years???
True John. But/AND, comparisons skew the real fact that not one of us knows what can or will happen next. I'll leave it at that.
And we did not know back then. That is even more reason to protest - the unknown.
I will dip into the history that Dr. Richardson knows real well, and no one really knew what they were really getting into as they signed their name on July 4th, 1776, BUT THEY DID SIGN!
We actually need another declaration. To see what government official will sign their name, yet you will not see Schumer or Fetterman signing it. Cowards. But Bruce and Taylor will jump in for them.
I would sign.
Peace
John, I fear that you do not see the fascist coup like none other that we have seen because it is a digital coup and it has a leader in the role of the President,
look at all of the data musk has gathered illegally and what he plans to do with it, look at all the dedicated civil servants that have illegally been removed from their jobs weakening our government, look at all the completely incompetent sycophants he has placed in all the roles of leadership, look at all the legal actions that were being taken against big corporations that have been dismissed, look at the orders from judges that trump is ignoring, look at the alienation trump has caused with our allies, look at the manipulation of the stock market netting him and his family and his billionaire bros billions, look at how this bill will impact and increase what every household has to pay for daily living, while decreasing healthcare, education, disaster relief, the protection of due process and have us corpus , look at his accepting a jet extorted for free from Qatar that will cost the tax payers a billion dollars to outfit for security that he can use then to fly off to anyone of his homes around the world if things go bad for him and he needs to, think about his daily delusions of grandeur, his lies, his admiration for dictators, look at how he is using ICE the same way that Hitler used the Gestapo, look at his turning the
White hours into a palace, look at his need for a military birthday parade costing millions, while he tells the people of American that they don’t need so many dolls or pencils, or healthcare, affordable healthy food, good public health ,disaster relief, a functioning NIH…..
You are right these time are not close to what Dylan was writing about,
they are much worse, Turning off the news, accepting ignorance, is not the answer , If we want to defend the character of this country, defend democracy, then it is our moral obligation, our civic duty to examine own character and see if we believe in equality or fascism. Everything each of us says and does, right down to where we decide to buy the products that we need is political and contributes to the common good, or to the dominance of an authoritarian oligarichal fascist system.
Ok. If it is that bleak , what are YOU going to do.? You personally. What are you going to do this week, next month, next year?
I know this week , i visited a suicide CALL center , now connected to 988, that I was a board member at one time, They are having a huge increase with calls. And thank God they are not advising them to watch more news.
I will continue to do “food rescue” to help these families that are in hiding since January. Out of work. Children out of school. Hungry and scared from all the media hype.
I’ll continue to volunteer with Jersey Battered Women Services and provide them hope beyond the shelter. To try and reduce their fear of what is being said in the news.
You simply cannot live your life in fear. It will destroy you.
And I am not ignorant to the news, i still receive the New York times, read heather and laugh with Andy, Jon, and SNL. I also talk with others that have a positive outlook on life - yes difficult at times to find, but to keep my sanity. I just recommend a lesser dose of the news. Like when we had only three networks, and 30 minutes of news each day.
And if we lose Congress in 2026, i will be putting down the peace pipe and grabbing a rubber hose (as my 85 year old Georgian truck driver friend recommends - “that guys needs to be beat with a rubber hose John.”
Do you know what the biggest weakness of the democrats is? Division. Do you know what the greatest strength is of the Republicans? Unity.
If someone is in need, I’m jumping in. And i know Ally will be right next to me.
Trump is not the villain; he’s the same psychopath megalomaniac he’s always been. The real villains, and traitors and cowards as well, are Republican legislators aiding and abetting a criminal executive branch, and ducking scrutiny by scheduling public meetings and hearings in the dead of night.
Not sure about that, Ralph. Trump is a convicted fraudster, a sex fiend and a pathological liar. His administration's policies are largely being driven by his absurd sense of victimisation and desire for retribution; and his insistence on loyalty rather than eligibility as the main criterion for senior roles in his government. Much of the chaos of the first 100 days of his presidency are largely on him. He has always been served by complicit courtiers and followers, but he's a bad guy.
None of what Trump has done would have occurred without the complicity of the Republican congressional caucus. They have utterly abandoned their sworn duty to “preserve and defend” the US Constitution and be a check on an out of control executive branch.
Trump will never change, no matter what is revealed about him. But he can be rendered harmless if Congress, and SCOTUS, would do what the Constitution requires of them.
Wrong on "trump will never change" Ralph, he did change, and he changed for the worse being followed closely by the republican party, better known as maga.
" Beware of capitalism's politicians and preachers! They are the lineal descendants of the hypocrites of old who all down the ages have guarded the flock in the name of patriotism and religion and secured the choicest provender and the snuggest booths for themselves by turning the sheep over to the ravages of the wolves." Eugene V, Debs
Great quote, Gregg!
Thanks Ally!
I agree, but that's the central dilemma you face today. Trump is the elected president and has a loyal base of supporters despite everything.
I agree that Trumpism in its current autocratic form would be impossible without the complicity of the Republican congressional delegation. And complicit also are the Republican Party rank and file as a whole. I’m still astonished that this radical, authoritarian, antidemocratic, violent, far Right-Wing Party formed around the beginning of President Biden's administration and took control in the 2024 Presidential Election. Right in front of our eyes. I can't comprehend why some Americans vote for Trump. By doing that, they harm to themselves and us.
But, I agree, too, that there's good news. This anti-American, criminal regime could be rendered harmless quickly if it dawns on Republicans that they've become traitors who can redeem themselves only by repudiating Trumpism. If they don't and their current coup attempt fails, they'll face real American justice and should never be an effective political party again.
They got elected! The villians are our relatives, friends and neighbors!
No longer friends. I wave to them if I pass them in the car, sometimes.
So my Brazilian cleaning lady who inherited the business from her dear mother told me a harrowing personal story. Last week she was picked up by a car that turned on police lights suddenly in Lynn MA as she was picking up her American partner who works at GE. The man was wearing plain clothes and announced he was a state trooper. He did a quick search of her car as she stood there waiting. She has a six year old daughter who goes to Lynn Public Schools where I taught for 9 years. Finally, he apologized to her and said he stopped her car by mistake. I’m sure he was ICE. Another friend last week whispered to me that ICE agents were showing up at our popular local market basket supermarket looking for illegals to arrest. They haven’t been in office 6 months yet— this is Miller’s racist dream come true. Free reins from T to implement rounding them up. Just imagine how bad it will get in 6 more months or 2 years from now…my wildest nightmare on election night as I saw all the Red states winning was only a tiny fraction of we’d hat they’d like. Trump is worse than Hitler because he’s OUR homegrown sociopath.
All self imposed immigration investigators are not really ICE. The worry is that this type of behavior can be adopted by traffickers and kidnappers.
100%.
Or rapists and murderers. What better way to get a young woman in your car.
Or he was in fact a state trooper.
Maryland allows this, https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/maryland-ice-287g-law-enforcement-immigration-trump/
"So, Republicans today continued their campaign to pressure Walmart into, as Trump put it 'eating' the tariff costs. On CNBC today, Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) suggested that Walmart leaders 'need to think hard' about raising prices. I think they're going to be very careful about how they do this. I know they've received some criticism from the president,' he said, adding: 'They should know the president has been working very hard with China to make sure we get this thing addressed as quickly as possible.'” There are several sad jokes about this statement by Bill Hagerty: that Wal-Mart will "need to think hard" about raising prices is an insane statement in itself. Market forces, which the republicans have historically made arguments for the reliable and ethical business practices obligating corporations to pay attention to those realities, now intimidates Wal-Mart to do just the opposite. The other cruel joke against the American public is for Trump (and Haggerty, as his mouthpiece) to cast reality to the wind on how "hard" Trump is working with China to address the inane actions from this president against China. The public should be reminded that no "hard work" would have ever been necessary if Trump had used the smallest percentage of intelligence to figure out that tariffs were ultimately the wrong move. This is how this administration works: they create mayhem with the tariffs, then shift blame to the foreign entity receiving the tariffs and then claim "hard work" to fix the problem. Jerking the publica around is not what "great" leadership and making "America great again" is all about. Instead of knowing that "failure is not an option," failure is the only option Trump, and apparently Bessant and Haggerty, know.
I can helpfully suggest to Walmart's CEO that he write a letter directly to the President instructing HIM what HE can eat....
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Bravo!
I can't help myself -- I'm imagining that Walmart suspends all operations and closes its doors for a day (and pays all its workers).
That would be a "good trouble" Joan. Definitely people would notice.
Can’t some clever techie who isn’t enamored with Musk and Big Balls simply post the differences in prices at all stores. Or why doesn’t WalMart accidentally on purpose just leak the difference.
I can’t even believe we need to do tjis. Don’t people have a budget, a ledger….ask your bank for your monthly statements going back a year and you will easily se you’re paying more. I guess that’s Biden’s fault too.
"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN’s Jake Tapper that Qatar giving a plane to Trump was like France giving the Statue of Liberty to the U.S.." Let's accept the Qatari airplane and make it a permanent fixture on an island in New York Harbor. As the Statue of Liberty serves as a memorial to immigrants to the United States, the Qatari airplane could serve as a memorial to immigrants deported from the United States.
Best idea of the day, Leonard. And we could gold plate it so it withstands the weather.
As long as the island is at sea level. The tide could wash Qatar plane out to sea and let it sink into the harbor. Just ensure it will not be a navigation hazard.
I’d love to hear Stacey Keach slowly opening an American Greed episode with the plane and an hour just rattling off all the 3 billion in 100 days going to the Trumps Mafia.
aww, what a lovely story about the Resolute, and a nice respite from the firehose of heinously cruel actions by the current regime.
On short notice, we need to get the word out about what the Rethugs are attempting to ram through in the middle of the night on May 21st:
"The House Rules Committee will take up the Republicans’ omnibus bill this week. Illustrating their confidence that the American people support this 1,116-page measure enacting much of MAGA’s wish list, the committee has set its meeting for Wednesday, May 21, 2025…at 1:00 in the morning (not a typo). The Republicans are trying to advance Trump’s entire agenda—from massive logging on public lands to slashing Medicaid—in one giant bill under a process known as “budget reconciliation,” which means it cannot be filibustered in the Senate. That means it needs only Republican votes to pass."
Still, I am glad the ship was called "The Resolute" rather than "The Hind's End" or some such :)
As for the Big Billionaire's Bill, we've seen that the MAGA swampers lack the power of their convictions, or they would not find it necessary to incessantly lie and hide their true intentions.
Heather, your article tonight was packed with content - the pace you’re keeping up with since Jan 20th is gonna burn you out. Would you consider a substack article only 4x a week? This group from the Heritage Foundation is not working for what ‘we the people’ hired Trump to do for our voting republic. They are turning on the fire hose every day - a group of thugs breaking our institutions & spending aka wasting taxpayer’s money just to be revengeful.
I’m pasting this shortie #reels from Trevor Noah - hahaha
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHj0ZqmPpM_/?igsh=ZDZkaWdtNG44ZXQ5
😁
Great clip, thank you! Reality is so harsh that now I'm imagining a debate between Trevor Noah and Elon Musk.
I get taxed on non IRA stock gains...just at a lower rate than earned income. It's still a screwy system.
"No one is above the law." (except all Republican politicians, every billionaire in the US, most of the autocrats like Trump, Putin and Orban, everyone in the Trump administration, SCOTUS and anyone that gives Trump over an amount to be determined by Trump, everyone at Fox News and Newsmax, etc.)
If the republicans couldn’t lie, they would be mute. In my recollection. Newt was a habitual liar (having been given permission by Reagan’s cronies), and W (and his evil crew) took political lies to a whole new level, with help from Frank Luntz. This crowd would rather lie than tell the truth, when truth would serve them better. Their definition of transparency Is “tell them the opposite of what we do. They are too stupid to know the difference.”
As to the quote from democrats “House Democrats will not be intimidated by the Trump administration. Not today. Not ever.” I wish that were true. Rolling over and playing dead is being intimidated. Blathering lies is the republican thing. Leave it to them.
The Newt Gingrich/Frank Luntz GoPac memo, "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control" may have been written in 1990 but reached weapons grade strength by 1996 within the party. I had expected it to be rejected much like when the party cleaned it's own house by getting Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon to Resign. When it became an undeniable and unlikely to end in the foreseeable future, I left the party (about the same time Elizabeth Warren did).
Glad somebody remembers. I thought repubs had learned their lesson. They did, just not the logical one.
Keep bashing Democrats and live with the results, No thanks! Vote Blue.
But why only two parties allowed in the USA? Both have failed
One much more than the other Slartibartfast. The problems with the democrats is that in order to preserve democracy, they need to understand that they don't need to be purist all the time and commit collective suicide buy going by the book blindly .
A basic problem. The perfect is the enemy of the good. Ref Al Franklin
Any number of parties are allowed but people only vote for two. You have to vote to change and right now we need to vote Blue.
In what way, and by what power are only two parties allowed? I think that a healthy two party system, where people vote for the candidate and party closer to their views tends intrinsically toward the center.
Third parties tend toward one extreme or the other. One problem in American politics is that one of the two parties, the Republicans, has had an extreme group form within, retaining its nominal Republican ties but is effectively another third party splinter group. First there was the Tea Party, and now MAGA. Both are effectively extreme third parties, which tend to destabilize our typically more stable two party dynamic.
That the president identifies more closely with the extreme minority faction bodes ill for the nation.
I always have. Flawed is better than evil
A situation where a President can simply make his own private lawyer an 'acting US attorney' for the people of the United States (or any of the states) is one deeply corrupt, deeply fucked-up legal system. It epitomizes and makes an utter mockery of the very concept of 'conflict of interest.'
So we now have the worst of all worlds --- a fucked-up, privatized public legal system being run by fucked-up people who can't even gin for the rule of Trump properly, let alone the rule of law. On top of being nothing but a servile toady, Alina Habba is also clearly an absolute incompetent. Every bit of this spectacular New Jersey flop was a miserably executed pirouette of primping and preening for the sake of only ONE audience member --- nothing to do with the people of the United States. I cannot even think when an out-of-control President tried to arrest a member of Congress. Not even Nixon attempted such nonsense (though he probably wanted to).
Neither the two former stalwarts of our press --- the New York Times or the Washington Post -- calls this out directly for what it so obviously is -- grand corruption. So we rely on Professor Richardson and others to speak truth to us. Even more dangerous, no one in the GOP shows the willingness to challenge these monstrous perversions of justice or connect the dots. If these cruel idiots even get called to the Hill, only Democrats interrogate them, like that weirdo Kristi Noem (something is SERIOUSLY wrong with that woman's deranged eyes). She, Habba and others have been pimping Lady Justice --- or in keeping with the top comment so far here, perhaps just made her the Whore of Babylon. And we haven't even started on this Administration's man-whores like Hegseth and Lutnick. We are literally drowning in stereophonic, bi-gendered whoredom.
Fascinating history of the Resolute Desk. Thank you. Didn’t Congress approve acceptance of both the Statue of Liberty and the Resolute Desk as required by the Constitution?
I’m very concerned about David Hogg and the treatment he’s receiving by DNC Party leadership. His generation is too important and his voice needs to be heard!
I rather like he’s getting some opposition. Hogg isn’t polished as much as he thinks he is. He sometimes comes off as rigid and immature as MAGA. He told a radio host yhe only way gun reform will happen is “when you all die.”. He may be right but if he’s going to be one of the leaders of the next generation, he needs to tone it down a bit. There are plenty of responsible gun owners in this country who don’t own them as a flex or a tool to threaten. And being dismissive is not the way to broaden the tent needed to defeat fascism or alienating the people who have the money he’ll need to keep his position.
Democrats wshoild have been grooming people for the last decades. It seems like none of the big wigs had a #2 at the hip ready to take over and step in. Who was Nancy Pelosis successor, who is Chuck Schumer’s? I don’t see a lot of mentoring in the party and I think that is what will be needed. It would be such a strong party of the elders, who know the job backward and forward took people like Hogg under heir wing, showed them the ropes and polished them to beat yhe next generation of MAGA. Because it seemed like the elders in MAGA definitely listened to the young people as far as media. Credit where credit it due…they are much more in tuned with that area and it paid off. Maybe Hogg and his contemporaries tried to get that across and didn’t but these two generations working hand in hand would be a powerful force.
They need to be willing to teach and the new ones need to be willing to be teachable.
Thank you! 🙏🏻