Much we owe to those Capitol Police, Washington Metropolitan Police and Virginia National Guard who collectively saved our republic from the Trump thugs that day. It is they who continue bearing witness to the truth. If he could, he'd find a way to poison them with Novichok, polonium or epibatidine, the way Putin does to those who bear witness against him. Let us be thankful it has not yet come to that in this country.
Another group of unsung heroes that day -- the House Parliamentarian who had enough wits about her to order the boxes containing all certified 435 Electoral College ballots seized from the Parliamentarian's table. At her orders, a few House pages (in their teens) made certain they were secured in a safe room only minutes before the mob tried to rush in from outside, the Sergeant-at-Arms and his staff barricading the doors, guns drawn....
Those who dared to stand against his mob of goons that day -- from the cops being beaten with flagpoles on the front line to the unnamed pages trying to find a locked room to safeguard the 2020 election results -- were many. Trump will never forgive any of them for doing their right, honorable and patriotic duty.
Someone here yesterday argued that Trump is not a murderer. I know that Senator's Kelly and Slotkin don't agree, but does anyone exonerate Trump for killing unarmed fishermen in the Caribbean, or killing Venezuelans trying to protect Moduro and wife, or killing school girls in Iran, or patients in hospitals in Iran. And more cruelly, Trump and Musk illegally shut down USAID, destroying food that could have fed tens of thousands. Isn't starving people to death murder?
while he gushes over the cute blond widow. not ONE word on his other supporter. Because he does not care about his supporters, they are useful and that is all.
I think it was just a mistake. I don't think anyone was meant to be killed. I guess the sharp shooter wasn't as "skilled" as he claimed to be. But to trump it's just collateral damage. he just moved on to the next grift and con without a backward glance.
It wasn't staged. The young shooter in Butler County fired at Trump, clipping him in the ear, and killing a man behind him. And then the Secret Service shot and killed the shooter. The shooter would have to be quite the devoted martyr to stage this, knowing he would be killed himself.
You have a point. Trump had someone kidnap the shooter and place him on the roof with a rifle, while the Trump kidnapper did the shooting and then fled, unseen and unharmed.
Agree. I have a longtime friend, whom I've distanced from due to her undying support of trump, who has a son who suffers uncontrollable tremors and seizures resulting from a freak home accident. I told her this could be her son trump was viciously ridiculing and mocking. She told me in no room for argument terms "Hillary would be worse". The extent these cult members go to to continue slavishly support trump is truly disturbing.
Yes you are correct.He has caused many deaths directly or indirectly resulting from his policies.Who could forget his botched response to the Covid pandemic that resulted in the deaths of over 3 million Americans.He knew it was an airborne virus yet waited months to do anything.
You are speaking TRUTH! I lost my mother's brother to the pandemic, and I blame Donald Trump. I broke down when I had to collect his personal items from the hospital. I am crying right now.
The USA is 4% of the world population but during the early wave of the pandemic ended up being 1 in 4 of the deaths. Refrigerated trucks as morgues, mass graves, isolation, lack of PPE, health care workers overextended and endangered... and that (expletive) talking about "it's going to disappear" and how people should inject bleach. I hate him.
Jan 21: "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China."
Jan 30: "We think we have it very much under control."
Feb 02: "We pretty much shut it down, coming from China."
Feb 14: “We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12… Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape.”
Feb 25: "People are getting better, they're all getting better."
Feb 26: "And the 15 in a couple of days is gonna be down to close to zero."
Feb 28: "Coronavirus. This is the new hoax... You'll be fine."
Feb 28: “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear”
Mar 02: "They're going to have vaccines very soon."
Mar 03: "Not only the vaccines, but the therapies. Therapies is sort of another word for cure."
Mar 04: "We're talking about very small numbers in the United States."
Mar 06: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault… I like the numbers where they are.”
Mar 06: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect…”
Mar 07: “It came out of China, and we heard about it. And made a good move: We closed it down. We stopped it.”
Mar 08: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House.”
Mar 10: "It's really working out, and a lot of good things are gonna happen. Just stay calm. It will go away."
Mar 12: "It's gonna go away."
Mar 16: “I’d rate it a 10. I think we’ve done a great job.”
Mar 17: "This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."
Mar 25: “We’re the ones that gave the great response, and we’re the ones that kept China out of here. And if I didn’t do it, you’d have thousands and thousands of people died — who would’ve died — that are now living and happy.”
And then by the Fall, ivermectin and bleach. No masks.Fire Dr Fauci. (Read Dr Fauci’s excellent book❤️) Bring in the witch woman. That’s why he lost the election. Then January 6. And now every day—Biden cheated. Donnie is a walking talking load of bullshit. 🤮💩🎃🤡🤮
Where, in that timeline, was he hauled off to Walter Reed to be treated for Covid.....which damn near killed him? I was with my pod having drinks when it was announced that he had been hospitalized. I will not publicly state what our reaction was to that news. Big brother is watching.
You can blame Trump and his Administration for many Covid moves, for sure. But it's fair to note that he tried to, and succeeded in fast-tracking development of the vaccine. Fauci said a vaccine would take 18 months to develop, but even he came around, and in the fall of 2020, most people were happy that a vaccine was not far away. Of course, to this day we have vaccine skeptics, and Trump probably doesn't believe in the vaccine anymore, either.
I’m his first administration he closed down the pandemic unit in the White House administration. He was having Jared call his brother in law an ER doc for advice and asking other ER doctors what to do. They might have been or are great ER docs but they had no global or any public health knowledge and skills.
Potus was first informed about COVID-19 in January 2020, when he received briefings on the virus's potential impact. He visited India on February 24-25, 2020, shortly after the initial reports of the virus spreading outside of China. He was invited to speak to a million people. How many people did he take with him and how many planes?
trump IS a murderer. Remember, he started with Covid, ignoring the situation while scores of Americans died. He won't stop until the world stops him. It begins with us.
he knew how deadly Covid is and still denied and wasted time- he even got covid and was saved by treatment. But Trump is a sociopath, to put a name on it, and has demonstrated he has no feeling for other people. he is mentally ill and unfit to be president. This is about us. We made him president twice knowing enough about the danger.
Bandy X Lee MD has been with other experts such as the late Robert Jay Lifton and Judith Herman telling us he is and has been displaying traits and characteristics of an extremely dysfunctional persona. She was given short shrift . I have my issues with our so called mental health system which I think has been an utter failure but she is correct in her thinking. She had the ears of Congress and then suddenly not. Then Yale gave her a hard time. There is another layer to all of this or perhaps layers. We are at a turning point and hard to say what will happen. Trump is a metaphor for environmental collapse and human civilization collapse. If we don’t stop now and completely change there will be only scattered remnants. The question is can we wait until November. I would say just do everything one can now and ongoing. Some of the powers that be also have to redo and rethink and reimagine. I am not yet hopeless but worried.
Glad you mentioned these people Lifton, Lee and Herman. I have been following two of them for years because my sister had schizophrenia. I know what it's like to be driven crazy by such a person, worried all the time as well, and scared (she was murdered). You must realize that this few know of. And I will say, worse, people do not get it, do not understand mental illness and all its variations. This is special knowledge by experience and training. Trump gets Dr. support (Dr. unqualified for this )to cover over for him. Then he goes out and claims he is a genius or whatever. WE shrug and go on to the next mess or danger he creates. People are clueless regarding mental illness-including those in power who care perhaps more for their power and position- and, we all are learning the hard way, we as a people, partisan primed. We go for the con. I was just reading here in the substack Trump was an "evil genius".. We cannot leave it at that. He is very dangerous. And he is advertising it- and still we don't seem to get it.
Dr John Gartner called him a psychopath whose only activity is destruction. He said he was about 95% sure we are at risk—we just don’t quite know yet if it is using nuclear weapons—from his destructiveness as he sees his power slipping away.
I may be out on a limb by saying this but I believe Trump will threaten but will not go all out with nuclear weapons-- nor will that be allowed by those around him. Why? Because they, even in their craven states of mind, are not suicidal.. nor do I believe Trump is. He scares. He takes you to the brink because he has demonstrated he can scare. He threatens to scare.. to win to get his way. He may-MAY- give a little start, escalate but he is really chicken. He has always backed down, found an excuse to do so. And others in charge of executing his threats are not suicidal--they have lives, families, loved ones..and their reputations, money and power. No they will want to talk him down. If his power is slipping away- which it is actually- he will find an escape route to keep some power-to escalate to "The Board of Peace" or some fantasy- go to Russia or even Venezuela and be celebrated. This is, I think, psychologically, why all the gold- and the rebuilding Washington, the monuments. He has to beef himself up, convince himself of his grandeur. Why can't people see the meaning of all this gold?
If someone here would like to talk me out of my pessimism... with important primaries being lost to maga candidates together with extensive gerrymandering - the continuing war over values and culture (religion, immigration, gender and the role of diversity) - I can't hold my breath all the way to the midterms -
These are PRIMARIES, Stephanie! MAGAt voters voting for MAGAts! And it is THAT that we will use AGAINST them come November! These are MAGAt loyalists running against what used to be Republicans. We have good, solid people running against them, and the ads will be writing themselves from now until the election. The important thing for ALL of us to do now is to get EVERYONE to the polls and to vote out the Nazis. It is a job we CAN do, and that we WILL do. Stick with us here, Stephanie, and take encouragement and motivation from the group who believe in what our forefathers believed in. And BREATHE!!
Ok, I just let out a deep breath. Fingers are also crossed; I may procure a rabbit's foot. The (bad) news varying from day to day sometimes leaves me puzzling over the election. And I wouldn't leave out violence at the polls either. We may (will) win, scratched up, bandaged and body parts in slings - if that's what it takes.
He is weak Stephanie. Hang on to this fact. Take walks, tune out for a little bit. Find some joy. I find being at stand outs with others to be healing.
Think globally and act locally is also helpful to me.
No problem with distractions: bike, swim laps, do photography, watercolor art, read (reading a great book on the Middle Ages - not without its own issues), attend movies - Andrzej Wajda festival - WWII era director/filmmaker - look him up.
Stephanie Banks, you made me smile because I find myself holding my breath even as I write GOTV postcards daily to blot out the sound of ICE sirens (constant reminder of DT). Suggest you do something to help you breathe. Do you have a local Indivisible group? Can you form one? It’s the “doing something” the French learned in 1942 that helped make Normandy possible.
We have many possibilities of helping for an end to this Hitler.
It takes as long as it takes. So in the short term not good until this collapses. It will. We are all working on this. It has to. More and more of us are getting the alarm. I know it's slow but there are good signs. Trump keeps adding more for you to keep your pessimism going. What is the alternative? There is none. Hard or harder?
If you feel pessimistic then look ahead. Do you think this will go on? Only if we allow it to. Think of a ship with a huge hole in it in the middle of the ocean. Do we sink with it- or look for ways to repair it... I suppose you can grab a dinghy with some others... which is what some are doing. So if you say you cannot hold your breath-- then what? the dinghy? I am here..Pessimism comes and goes if you do not hang onto it. And if expressed, it harms, is catchy too.
And GJ, add to that all the American farmers put out of business as they were growing food for USAID. Suicide rate for them is high. And add the number of children who will starve to death without that food. FOR LESS MONEY THAN HIS SLUSH FUND, HE HAS KILLED THOUSAND OF PEOPLE. He is a mass murderer on a grand scale.
And now King Con and his mob are out to kill more Americans by encouraging having more lethal chemicals in our water, burning more fossil fuel to pollute our air, allowing who-knows-what in our crops (well, it's too expensive to fertilize those anyway), encouraging the spread of disease by discouraging vaccines and shutting down sources of information and research...all to line the pockets of the oligarch class. But there are more of us than them, and I am seeing more signs of real pushback from folks like us. (Grateful for HCR and others on Substack)
He had his ex wife killed because she knew every single thing he did in the Epstein files. Yes. He also had his buddy Epstein killed. Wow. Murderer? Mob BOSS.
and shutting off oil shipments to Cuba so they have no electricity. A few weeks ago *everybody* in Cuba on a ventilator died overnight because the power went off and there was no fuel to run emergency generators.
not to mention the people starving there day to day.
And they want to go after the Cuban leader for decades-old crimes—shooting down an American plane—saying murderers should be held accountable regardless of time. Meanwhile, Trump killed fishermen in defenseless boats, caused casualties from bombings, and pardons the January 6th insurrectionists who killed cops and tried to overthrow the government. Accountability for thee, but not for me.
This does not excuse him but I believe Trump is amoral and a sociopath- cannot feel for others or another human being. Nevertheless that does not exonerate him from being called a murderer and even prosecuted (though a hard case) as a murderer.
The tolls : uncounted innocents suffering or dead who never nor ever will be known-
lives lost to greed, evil measures ,corruption and the insanity of dictators wanting “ to get rich”.
We used to depend on elected representatives to separate them , blow the whistles -before oaths are broken, before illegal acts are ordered, before harm is done…because then they too would not be ‘COMPLICIT’ in ‘loyalty’s demands’ i.e. breaking the laws.
Far too many succumb when that magic dollar mark is reached ..they then will commit heinous acts in those “get rich” schemes.
Drunk by the lure of power, money, fame, seduction kills integrity, conscience, humane care and the balances of justice.
Q: How many will plot to succeed for the 50 million Iran offer$ to kill the Nitwitnyahoo or King Trump ..yet how many sort of secretly smiled reading of the alleged offer….
Renee Good, Alex Pretti, ICE detainees dying in custody, Americans being denied health care and SNAP, U.S. military service members dying in Trump's war in Iran, Epstein files....
The rage comes from decades of pilfering the middle class by the Oligarchs creating economic stresses that wear down average families to the point of despair coupled with the GOP mantra that its “the other” that is stealing from you, not the Rich
The rioters mistake who they should be mad at, as rightwing media feeds them messages intended to further their rage
They’re mad at the wrong people. Mobs do what mobs do
Well, Dave, when we're living in a broken world (rules and norms broken eg.), no sense of pride in community, deliberate ignorance of trump's and other representatives' becoming unmoored from decency and respect, a failure of the ability to be compassionate, kind and patient - well you all know this....
Decency, respect and compassion are all concepts that have been demonized by GOP messaging that says these are traits of weakness and wokeness; The Heritage Foundation stuff
“Be a team player, the fight against Woke is crucial”
I'd like to know more about the people and the actions of those responsible for the physical removal of the ballots that day. I have often wondered about the particulars, though, tragically, it seems naming those patriots who acted at that moment of peril, including teen-aged pages, might end up making them targets of rewarded insurrectionists.
I don’t want them named for their safety and their families. I do however thank them profusely for taking the clear headed action that preserved our democracy at least for that day. Everyday that the corrupt and cowardly congresspeople continue to serve this tyrant, is a day that we mark for their future trials and incarceration for which they should never live in society again nor have any access to power. I am personally enraged and disgusted with them all who stay silent or support this bunch of goons. We will not forget!
Whether we remember or not, I fear, makes no difference. Future elections are almost certainly not going to be representative of the American populist.....using whatever means necessary.
Part of mine & other Navy retirement ceremonies is the reading of Old Glory. A flag presentation to the retiring Sailor. The poem is written in the 1st person, as if Old Glory is speaking. There’s a part where Old Glory says “ I was trampled & burned on streets in counties that I helped to set free. It does not hurt because I’m invincible. Then Old Glory goes onto say when it’s done on American streets, “It hurts”. I believe the poem should be amended to say it hurts when Old Glory is used as a weapon against peace officers defending democracy.
Great comment, ICTT, about who the real heroes are. I have been wondering for a while now when Felon 45-47 was going to get around to targeting the Parliamentarian.
In the case Heather mentioned, he's going after the current Senate Parliamentarian. Both are careful, non-partisan scholars responsible for setting rules of procedure and ensuring bills brought before either body conform with those rules. Hard to say which he hates most -- the fact that there's a referee, or that she's a woman...
The Parliamentarians have saved the American people from terrible legislation almost every time a reconciliation bill is introduced. The Republicans have slipped in some heinous items like being able to get restitution for phone tabs related to J6 that have been discovered and quashed by the Parliamentarians.
I only hope that Senate Parliamentarian MacDonough has top-notch security protecting her. Remember how the Soviets used to target their enemies in the UK as they walked the streets? KBG agents brushed against them, sticking them with nearly-undetectable poisoned pin pricks?
They did not "save our republic." The republic was never threatened. It was a riot. An ugly one, but still, hardly a threat to the government or its structure.
It should be noted though that while Richardson was in a twist over the ICE shooting in Minnesota, where both deceased threatened the police, she never seemed bothered by the death of the woman who was shot by Capitol Police on January 6. That woman did not threaten the police and merely engaged in an act of vandalism. Somehow Richardson's moral compass is only threatened by people whose beliefs are contrary to her politics.
Because we have no Congress and our nation has lost its soul. Hopefully, there will be a point so outrageous that our deep slumber will end. Murder hadn’t done it. Maybe stealing from the Treasury will finally be the bridge too far.
Some of us even longer. I was aware of the changes in the Ohio Legislatures late 1980’s and it was ALEC. They courted and won over the legislators . Bill
Moyers documented this in his shows. His work at the Library of Congress . It is suppose to be accessible to all.
I agree. I think all of the officers should be joining them in that suit. The money, if it belongs to anyone for damages, it belongs to them. My representatives are in Illinois and I will be calling them today to say back this up.
Each day I am not surprised, but I am shocked by the corruption of Trump. Part of the shock is the American acceptance of his bad behavior. There seems to be a stupor with people not knowing what to do, at least not legally.
On top of all this, and leaving the Iran war in a state of permanent mess, Trump is again going aggressively after Greenland and Cuba, and Canada but trying to slip it under the media's radar. Trump may be more corrupt than Richard Nixon who carried an illicit war on Cambodia and had the Watergate Files. More corrupt than George Bush whose halfwit brother Jeb and the corrupt SCOTUS stole the election for him. At this point he seems to be the most corrupt president that we have had, if not in the top contenders. We have given presidents a lot of leeway in the past, and it has been a mistake. Trump is banking on that and running away with it, particularly as the election comes closer and he gets more desperate. We need to stop him.
“We have given presidents a lot of leeway in the past, and it has been a mistake.”
Linda, this is a spot-on comment. If you read Carol Leonig’s book about the DOJ under Merrick Garland, not only was he overly cautious, but he also had to deal with those who had supported Trump still in the department, and—get this—those who believed Trump had been president—you just COULD NOT OR SHOULD NOT prosecute a PRESIDENT!!
I rather doubt this has any relevance. I’m not surprised but awed by the attraction of human scum motivated by unmitigated greed that use the cover of God and patriotism to plunder.
The lawsuit begins "The most brazen act of presidential corruption this century ". This century????. How about, The the most brazen act of corruption ever !!!!!
Meanwhile, what is happening with the Epstein files? Trump started a war as a diversion to the Epstein files which has cost us around $75 billion and counting. He kidnapped Maduro and wife, he tore down the East Wing of the WH, and he has signed dozens of illegal Executive Orders.
Subpeona DonOld and Melania to testify on the Epstein case. And Todd Blanche as well.
Yes, so many distractions at the same time. Yesterday in S. Florida, the news cycle was dominated by the indictment of Raul Castro, which the Trump regime chose to do at this time, after 30 years have passed without legal action. It's all part of the campaign to take control of Cuba in one way or another. I hope HCR will be able to mention this at some point.
As if the situation in Cuba it's more detrimental to the US than every single action coming out of this regime. Sick and tired of stupid distractions David.
Unfortunately, as by design, there're too many new scandals every day that it's hard to keep focusing on a few realy terrible ones as the Epstein files. We should pay extreme attention to what are they cooking for the up coming midterm elections.
Yes, Hodges and Dunn defended the Capitol and the lawmakers in it on January 6, they deserve respect and our thanks for that and for filing this lawsuit.
As it states: “In the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century, President Donald J. Trump has created a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name.”
“The fund…is illegal. No statute authorizes its creation, the settlement on which it is premised is a corrupt sham, and its design violates the Constitution and federal law.”
Although this is currently the most brazen act, it should really be stated that this entire Trump term has been the most brazen presidential corruption ever in our Nation's history...
100% agree, Liz - we need to light up the phones with our support for Hodges and Dunn and our condemnation of this outrageous and unprecedented corruption.
The problem with any lawsuit against Trump is 1) the Supreme Court giving him absolute immunity and impunity for anything he deems an official act, 2) standing. If anyone has standing against this ridiculous theft of our hard earned tax dollars it is the J6 officers and their heirs. But, will the courts agree that they have standing?
And even if they do, Congress has the purse strings. They should be able to prohibit this fund and of course, that is what Raskin is trying to do in the House.
Let's see how hard Trump's little Johnson fights agains this bill.
Yeah, Liz, Officers Hodges and Dunn - and all the others - deserve our deepest support. One of the things I find very interesting is that the Capitol police were not just defending Dumocrats (Trump’s word, not mine), they were defending Mike Pence and Lindsey Graham and Josh Hawley and the list goes on and on…. They were doing their sworn duty to be LOYAL to the LAW and not LOYAL to the LIAR.
Hmmmm…, 34% of our nation still support and remain loyal to the liar? That’s pretty sad. I know some of these people - friends and relatives. Yes, I correspond with them, talk to them, send them money. Some of them need financial help, even though they have finagled their way into the poor house.
Oh, well…, this nation has gone through a lot in its 250 years, and we have always made it through “the best of times and the worst of times.” Who will the Charles Darnay or the John Dean of our better times? Thomas Massie? John Cornyn? MTG? Oooooo… far out…Little Marco? Someone on the inside who now wants to move to the “right” side!
It is like the Greenlander children turning down the chocolate chip cookies offered to them by Jeff Landry Special Envoy to Greenland, who is there to try to help steal the country from both Denmark and the people.
"For Trump, making money is clearly a major part of it."
For Trump, *stealing * money is clearly a major part of it.
"This is the most hateful administration globally. What's to like about ignorant, tone deaf, misogynist, homophobic, White Supremacists?"
This is the most hated administration globally (along with Russia, North Korea, Israel ... ) What's to like about ignorant, tone deaf, misogynist, homophobic, anti-trans, bigots? Ask the millions of voters here and world-wide who turn out to support exactly such administrations.
I attended a workshop last night on Russian disinformation campaigns in the UK. They had a lot of information because they have been doing research on this, and want to disseminate it. Seems like a lot of what drives the people who support these people is hatred, fear, and for some a bit of grudging admiration of characters that so brazenly get over. But, I don't know that they necessarily like them the way you would people you want to be friends with. The leaders that Trump calls his "friends," like Putin, Xi and Kim hate him. I do however understand that the voters that vote for them are like them.
The Trump GOP might as well be called the GOP Trump. He tailors himself to the party - which he has come to personify.
Trump does nothing original, he takes the worst impulses / ideas, puts his brand on them, and markets them. In a way Trump is the crash test dummy of the directors of the 'vast right wing conspiracy' to see how fast they can accelerate Project 2025 before slamming into the wall.
If enough of us can unite and Vote Blue No Matter Who in 2026, then we can be the wall.
I can understand why Putin, Xi and Kim hate him - he brings all their true crimes and ambitions out into the light. He's like the idiot "friend" in a teenage group who shouts to the world "Billy's using his dad's car! And he ain't asked his dad! And we're going out to get drunk!"
I bet they're longing to say "Just shut your pie-hole, Donnie!"
Also, it is a long term hatred from the Cold war days, of the so called Communists against the American Imperialists. It is pitiful that even the older of Trump's MAGA supporters do not seem to have this institutional memory. They tell their people that they are winning against us, and keep them in a bubble of disinformation that makes it hard to know otherwise unless people leave. If they do they are watched. Their families at home do not believe anything else that they might be told for the most part.
I don't think they liked Biden any better. They just hate the US, and Trump cannot get it through his head that because of that they will never like him unless he renounces the US and joins one of their countries. Fat chance. I still see Argentina as the most likely place for Trump to go to Exile but then, he does not speak Spanish, and is not going to learn, so maybe not. He doesn't speak Russian either, and Putin would not welcome him. Will Bibi if Trump decides to go to Israel. We shall see how that plays itself out.
You make an important point, lin, because working-class people have to EARN money through their labor. The Epstein class appears to "make" money through manipulation, deception, insider trading, and most definitely cheating on their taxes.
They borrow against their assets which is one reason they don't pay taxes. You do not need to pay taxes on money you borrow, you just have to pay it back.
..... add to that, the group of people who go out "finding" money, a term that shocked me when I first heard it from a scientist on behalf of his institution's development department. Not to judge each term in a binary way, but to point out the cultural conditions under which we live. There's also "attracting" money. Economist Justin Wolfers' new Substack is an interesting antidote, guided by his mission to help economics become publicly available analysis and insight. Yesterday's Platypus Economics was on behavioral research of phone addiction and withdrawal -- https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/what-really-happens-when-schools. We as a country have some behavioral problems that he contextualizes in this session (what happens to individuals when the system changes?)
I agree that "Nothing is sacred, nor just, in a society where literally everything is for sale." Thank God we don't live in that society. Thank God something is still sacred. They've awakened the sacred sleeping giant of democracy. Good!
What percent of people won't change their minds about the possibility of people being able to change their minds? If it's more than 34 percent, then Step 1 is to make it equal to 34 percent (to make it possible to make it less than 34 percent in Step 2).
and my biggest fear is that it has gone so far that if he loses the election (which he should not even be eligible for) or if the races for seats loses -he will just declare the election null. The dictator's handbook. If the redistricting cheat proves unsuccessful, that is the next play.
You are very prolific! Polite! And probably right. Im a cynic. I hope you are right. Hopefully a majority of congress will have some backbone. The house maybe. Thank you!
A cynic reflexively rejects conflicting beliefs. That means the cynic is also naively rejecting the possibility of being wrong. It's a very good thing that you're not doing a very good job of being a cynic.
My advice to cynics: Be skeptical. Be very skeptical. But the moment you cross the skeptic-cynic line is the moment you've stopped being a skeptic and started being naive.
The strength of a politician's backbone is directly proportional to the strength of the collective "we the people" backbone.
I'm not always "polite," but I thank you for allowing me to be polite.
It was about time Mary, after all, this giant woke up in the middle of a nightmare and I hope it won't fall asleep again till we, as a nation, return to a state of decency and the rule of law. We have to find a way to pass legislation to guarantee that it won't be any repetition and all the enablers are investigated and all the money illegally obtained is returned. Thanks for your comment 👍
Mary, many of us grew complacent and depended on the three branches of government following norms. We have been rudely awakened and will never take our democracy for granted again. Now is the time to gird our loins and plan how to pass legislation to address the vulnerabilities that have been exposed by the unacceptable actions of the executive and legislative branches and the Supreme Court.
During the next two and a half years, J D Vance is going to be carefully shown to all of us as being a thoughtful, articulate, upstanding father of 4, and an American holding religious family values. The 34 percent will become 65 percent, the democrat(s) will continue to be a lost ball in the weeds. The media-system owned by the MAGAtt Party (also known as republican) will ensure "we the people" are only given the news we are conditioned to receive. We can make fun of Vance all we want, just like we (yes "we") made fun of Donnie.., who shuffled right back into the Whitehouse. So, watch as JD, the couch-F..er, gets positioned. I'm afraid we could do worse.
I don't think the media is in the tank for Vance. And the GOP is not ready to anoint Vance as their nominee. PBS and the regular networks will never be pawns for the GOP. But you're correct, I think, that the next president will have to look or appear much more rational and controlled than Trump. Voters will be fed up with Trump's style, methods, disregard for the other branches, in my opinion.
Heather has pulled the threads together tonight just brilliantly! This is one of those letters that belongs on the front pages of all the papers that are still worthy of being read.
Indeed. One added detail (there are so many) is the shameless cockwomble Todd Blanche adding the Get Out of Jail Free addendum in a "one-page document" (thanks to the New York Times for describing it correctly -- neither a settlement nor an agreement, and carries no legal authority) only AFTER he brought his Trump lollipop to slurp on in front of Congress, every word a complete fabrication and outrage.
They know exactly what they're doing. it's the same reason the Big Ugly Bill got passed at 4am in the House of Representatives last May. Grave-diggers only work in the dead of night, the honest have no need of sleight-of-hand or 'by-the-way, we forgot to mention this little thing we're now attaching...' Disgusting.
Blanche is evil -- that addendum is a total license to steal and to cover up the Trump and Trump families tax return lies -- changing valuations of the same properties to suit their goals -- exaggerated values for one thing; minimal values for another. Blanche does not have the authority to do this -- or, if he does, how is that even possible.
I agree. I asked this exact question in a different forum yesterday and still have not gotten an answer. Several readers liked my question but none could answer how this is even legally possible. The only ones in our government allowed to write and vote on policy are our elected officials. Congress has the power of the purse. trump taking appropriated monies and disbursing them how he sees fit is illegal yet our courts and "justice" department do nothing.
The corruption is through the roof and no ball-less republican is willing to do the job! And I'm not referring to "count the votes" manipulation senators like collins, paul and murkowski, but those whose vote would actually make a difference. Why isn't there even one elected republican willing to stand up to this brazen corruption?
I just heard the answer to my question on Morning Joe. Apparently in the 1950s congress wrote a law that enacted a discretionary fund that the president had access to to use as he basically saw fit. Prior to this bill the president needed permission to release more than $100K (?) which they found to be tedious and difficult. Some expressed concern that it would be ripe for abuse but still it passed. Now we are witnessing what these elected officials worried about- a corrupt president who would use these loopholes to nefarious and criminal ends. The analyst who was being interviewed pretty much conceded to the fact that very little could be done to end trump's most corrupt and brazen action to date, basically absolving himself and his family from any governmental oversight of their money making corruption. There are no words strong enough to convey my absolute disgust at this corrupt, criminal administration.
I have heard differently. This ‘agreement’ is patterned on an agreement with farmers who actually were discriminated against, which isn’t the case here. This agreement is not legal for a number of reasons which could also be challenged by the next (presumably Dem) president.
Which deal are you referring to? I'm referring to the deal he made with the IRS. How this is linked to the legislation from the 1950s I don't quite understand. Maybe it was orchestrated all along. trump would start with the lawsuit then strike a deal in order to not use this seemingly unlimited power. Instead he struck a deal to make his family above our laws, to perpetuate far beyond his term and even his death.
People keep claiming he's suffering from dementia but I believe it's all an act. he knows exactly what he's doing, he may have help doing it, but he is aware of always playing to his base. he doesn't sound demented to me, he just sounds extremely nasty and evil. Same as he ever was.
Entirely depends on one’s intentions and/or perspective…
“After midnight, all things are possible" is something Timothy Leary used to say as Hunter S. Thompson told it, during their frequent and elaborate phone conversations usually around 2 in the morning…
Avery, every letter it's an inspiration to me and a source of information that allows me to talk to as many people as possible every day. I like to think I'm doing my part to restore decency and democracy and I thank HCR for helping me and many others doing our part.😄
Maybe it started on J6 but there is no doubt, we are in our Second Civil War.
Trump and his MAGA allies, know it or not, are reborn versions of J.C. Calhoun's States Rights doctrine and the supremacy of the White Race. When you don't like Federal law, just pass state laws that circumvent Federal law and secede if necessary. Enslavement should be forever
Today, we have a POTUS who has effectively seceded from the obligations laid out in the Constitution and the traditions of democratic, multi-cultural rule.
Hopefully, we will settle this crisis without an internal war. Removing Trump by lawful means would be the right path
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress - Be LOUD. Trump/the administration is dangerous for our country 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Stephen Colbert's last show (on See BS) is tomorrow night. But at the end of tonight's show, Bruce Springsteen performed his somber and moving song "Streets of Minneapolis" solo on acoustic guitar and harmonica, an ode to Minneapolis and tribute to Renee Good & Alex Pretti. Written soon after their deaths from the occupation of the city by Border Patrol and ICE during the harsh winter there, disrupting Minneapolis and much of Minnesota, causing so much abuse, violence, wreaking havoc, similar to the lawless thuggery of January 6 but months of it inflicted on a city.
Before he started playing, Bruce made a point to say: “I am here in support tonight for Stephen, you are the first guy in America who lost his show because we got a president who can't take a joke."
“And because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want. Anyway, Stephen, these are small-minded people. They got no idea what the freedoms of this country are supposed to be about. This is for you."
Paul Krugman wrote Tuesday that Trump and his minions have entered the black hole of corruption with the slush fund.
"Think of it this way: The gravity of what the Trumpists have already done has created a sort of black hole at the center of American political life — and the Trumpists have already crossed the event horizon, the boundary beyond which there is no escape. So they will do ever more terrible things, because they have nothing more to lose."
That scares the sh*t out of me because we then have to imagine a vastly more previously unimaginable immediate future, and the steps we will need to take to stop it.
Trump has openly mused about using troops, National Guard, or federal agents around elections and has refused to rule out such deployments in recent comments, which is why experts and election officials are gaming out worst‑case scenarios.
The previously unimaginable:
Election‑law organizations like the Brennan Center and civil‑rights groups emphasize that any actual attempt to station federalized Guard or other federal forces at polling places would be blatantly illegal and would likely trigger immediate court challenges, injunctions, and potential criminal and civil liability for those carrying out the orders.
The now imaginable:
Trump ignores the law, declares a national emergency, and does it anyway.
The expanded reality:
There are 170,000 to 180,000 election precincts (polling places) in the US. Most are concentrated in the 427 counties won by Kamala Harris in high-population- density blue urban and suburban areas. Think Manhattan with hundreds of polling places. There are a total 440,000 National Guard members, only a small percentage of them who could be called up and have reasonable training since many have already been used in other deployments, say 10% who would obey commanders who would be willing to risk the legal jeopardy, so 44,000. So there might be one National Guardsman for every blue-leaning precinct.
The more likely intimidation threat would be J6ers, emboldened by the slush fund or angry that it didn't work out and pay them, who would show up in blue-leaning precincts on election day, armed in open-carry states.
The best response by the public:
Vote early in person or vote by mail if you still can in your state. Check that out if you are in a red state, because most have passed "election integrity" model legislation from the Heritage Foundation over the last year related to required voter ID and how you can vote. Trump started ranting about the filibuster and the SAVE America Act again, so it could still be imposed nationally, but more likely it will be cloned and enacted, at least in part, in red state legislatures.
Steps you need to take:
1. The DOJ's demand for detailed voter rolls from the states could be used to target voters to be purged. Check that you are still registered and that the details there match the details on your ID EXACTLY, and that your ID meets state requirements. Check again 6 weeks before election day, and just before Election Day.
2. The most chaos would be caused by the enactment and imposition of new ID requirements close to Election Day. If proof of citizenship is required, you will need a passport or a birth certificate with a raised seal from your state of birth. These can take time to order and cost money — in NJ, a birth certificate costs $20. If the name on your birth certificate does not match the name on your voter registration, you must show proof of a legal name change as well. Marriage certificates do not count; they have to be used to get a certificate from the state where you legally changed your name. Deal with this now.
3. Best option, least likely to be challenged, avoids potential intimidation on Election Day: Go to vote early in person if your state allows it. Bring your proof of citizenship and paperwork with you. In case your documentation is challenged, you will have time to correct it.
4. Next best option: Vote by mail to avoid intimidation, and it may allow you to "cure" a defective ballot. Bring your ballot to your local post office, ask that it be manually postmarked in front of you, and snap a photo of the envelope on your phone. Machine postmarks no longer certify the date mailed — they only certify the day the mail was first processed, which can be days later. You have to do this for any date-certain mailing, like income tax estimated payments now.
5. Avoid Drop Boxes--they are easy targets for J6er vandalism.
6. Last Option: Vote on Election Day. Come prepared with all your documentation, water, snacks, and a folding chair, and be sure your phone is fully charged. There are likely to be lines due to confusion about the correct voting locations, due to redistricting, and new voter ID requirements. Long lines are another way to suppress the vote.
7. If you are denied your right to vote, demand a provisional ballot and written instructions on how to "cure" your deficiency so your provisional ballot will be counted.
8. Check that your ballot was received online and keep checking until it shows up as "accepted." If your ballot was rejected, contact your local board of elections and get details and contact your local party officials to follow up.
The bottom line is that each of us has to do what it takes to see that our vote is counted. There is a very small chance that we will encounter intimidation if we plan ahead. The far greater risk is that we are denied our vote because of last-minute documentation issues.
Congress has failed us. SCOTUS has failed us. WE CANNOT FAIL EACH OTHER.
"Marriage certificates do not count; they have to be used to get a certificate from the state where you legally changed your name." Thanks for pointing this out, Georgia; also, for the rest of it!
Morning, Lynell. Oregon votes by mail, and the two drop boxes I use are both under video surveillance 24/7. Even with that, my friend and I usually go to the County Clerk's office and drop them off inside.
So glad I never changed my name when we married. So glad I had to get my birth certificate when I was hired with the Sheriff's office. My sister is dancing through these shenanigans, although she lives in the county where she was born and married.
And if you vote by mail - take it to a window at the post office and get them to stamp it right then b/c Trump is messing around with that also to cause apparent "delays" in voting by not stamping on time and dumping those votes. I just renewed my passport and drivers license via mail -- it was faster than I anticipated -- probably because the election is still a few months away.
Great information Georgia, including name change protocols.
I’ll just add: my daughter was married this past weekend. Many mailed invitations weren’t received. Not random “it got lost in the mail”, it included members of the bridal party. Forwarded mail from my Florida home received yesterday were mailed in March. Mail delivery that used to be a day to Richmond, Va. are now taking 4-5 days. If you use mail for your ballot, plan to post it much earlier than in the past. The effort to privatize the USPS seems to include breaking it.
I'm afraid Georgia that the most terrible thing they'll come up with is related to the midterm election. They crossed all the lines already many times over and they have nothing to lose anymore. To be continued.
We knew it would get worse before it got better. Our biggest advantage is that Trump and his minions are so transparent most of the time, the military attacks on foreign countries being the exceptions.
Our biggest weakness is wasting energy on fretting instead of analyzing the nature of the threat, planning a reasonable response, and then doing what has to be done.
The model continues to be Minnesotans who organized to protect their immigrant neighbors. The gamut of responses ranged from educating people about their rights to delivering food to picking up their neighbors' kids from school to marching in protest.
Yes Georgia, we should be doing all you are posting plus much more, as individuals and as members of organized groups. Opportunities lost won't repeat themselves. Every single act helps, even if we can get just one more vote.
In fact for the likes of Trump the fact that he breaks the law so openly and gets away with it is half the fun. The other half is Trump and his cronies getting richer while the vast majority of citizens get poorer. May he be overplaying his hand.
No. The Courts are bought and paid for. Congress is lacking the spine and fortitude to stand up to him. It is a complete abdication of judicial and congressional responsibility.
President Trump vs. The Invisible Rules: A Social Media Saga
Watching President Trump lob insults at the Senate parliamentarian is like seeing a grown man wage war on gravity. Every tweet is a declaration of total victory, even as procedural rules quietly continue, unimpressed. Armed with all-caps fury and a thousand exclamation points, he battles an invisible bureaucrat whose greatest power is reminding senators that, yes, rules still matter.
Trump’s proclamations read less like policy critique and more like a reality show pitch: “They don’t like me! They’re trying to steal everything! I’m the only one who knows what’s really happening!” Meanwhile, the parliamentarian, calm, silent, and horrifyingly ordinary, sits at a desk, wielding spreadsheets like a wizard. The contrast is cinematic: a sitting president shrieking at clipboards, demanding magical powers that no law can grant.
It is a performance of absurdity, a master class in the theater of entitlement. History will note that no rules were broken, no powers usurped, and yet the spectacle felt like a near-apocalyptic drama on repeat. One can only hope future textbooks include screenshots, for the world deserves to see what happens when Twitter rage meets constitutional procedure and how quietly the latter prevails while the president tweets himself into legend.
Heather knows. No U.S. president gets any U.S. taxpayer money unless Congress says so.
Ever. That’s final. The U.S. Constitution makes that explicit in its very first article. The Founders made it clear that it was the representatives of the people, and only these representatives who, in congress – in Congress – could authorize spending any of the people’s money.
P.S. I’m adding this extra to Heather’s today, hoping fellow commenters will see I’m also trying to stay close to all her letters’ larger generosity.
That is, as it’s now Stephen Colbert’s last day on air, I’m urging him to do what we all do with Heather: listen more closely, and as fellow commenters amplify, explore more.
Stephen well deserves many beach days all this coming summer. But in addition to that, I’m asking he also often visit, appear with, and in depth, in connection with our many public issues, interview on stage Graham Platner, James Talarico, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mallory McMorrow, and many other American personalities running for political office this November.
He's done interviewing like this all his life. Doing it now, first focused on our many good fellow Americans having good public goals running for office could let him feel out any aptness for his own running for political office himself two years from now.
He could run for what we used to call our top office, where now criminal Donald postures himself above the law, above the Constitution, above the American people and our representatives.
Congress and a majority on the Supreme court are now the selected toadies of plutocrats. Pretty much what the "Spirit of 1776" was a decidedly rejecting.
Phil, you likely already realize this but for the sake of overall discussion, it should be pointed out that the package deal with Blanche is much broader than the $1.776B. Drumpf dropped his case, the $100B suit before it could be dismissed for lack of merit. He dropped the case because a better plan was found.
No tax audits of Drumpf, his family and businesses IN PERPETUITY. Added in was another bit, no audits of any back tax returns forever. This deal is worth far more than $100B. It would all be money due the US Treasury. It is the nation’s money. This will not require Congressional approval and the entire deal requires no judicial ruling … barring a lawsuit.
If this is allowed to stand, there may be large numbers of interested parties, in a reversal of the usual corporate practice of acquisitions, lined up to house their corporations within his and recursively pay handsomely to do it. Then there’s his family.
Everyone should think where this is going. It shouldn’t be anywhere but stopped.
I would vote for Colbert for anything - not because he is famous but because he is smart and compassionate and cares about this country. How nice it would be to have an articulate, thoughtful President.
In his wonderful interview of Obama Colbert asked if he had the former President’s endorsement. Obama said “No”. It was a cute moment. https://fb.watch/HeICRTytnO/?fs=e
I'm going to see Graham Platner tonight for the 3rd time in person at the Hancock County Democrats monthly meeting. Since December, they have allowed 2 candidates per meeting to speak to the group. You can attend in person at 7 pm at the UU church in Ellsworth, ME or by Zoom. Also speaking will be Paige Loud who is running for Congress in the 2nd Congressional district. She is a social worker and part Cherokee. She refuses to take any PAC money.
I attended a Zoom yesterday with Alexander Vindman running for US Senate against DeSantis-appointed Sen Ashley Moody.He also said he’s taking no corporate PAC $$$.
Phil, you likely already realize this but for the sake of overall discussion, it should be pointed out that the package deal with Blanche is much broader than the $1.776B. Drumpf dropped his case, the $100B suit before it could be dismissed for lack of merit. He dropped the case because a better plan was found.
No tax audits of Drumpf, his family and businesses IN PERPETUITY. Added in was another bit, no audits of any back tax returns forever. This deal is worth far more than $100B. It would all be money due the US Treasury. It is the nation’s money. This will not require Congressional approval and the entire deal requires no judicial ruling … barring a lawsuit.
If this is allowed to stand, there may be large numbers of interested parties, in a reversal of the corporate practice of acquisitions, CEO’s will be lined up to house their corporations within his and recursively pay handsomely to do it. Then there’s his family.
Everyone should think where this is going. It shouldn’t be anywhere else but stopped.
I share your appreciation for officers Hodges and Dunn Patricia but how about 300 million US citizens suing as well ?. After all, it's our tax money they are using to reward criminals. Thanks for your comment 👍
An important ingredient that I read about the Hodges/Dunn lawsuit is that they have standing to sue. But I would argue along with you, Ricardo, that We, the People, also have standing in that, as you say, "it's our tax money they are using..."
ICYMI: Heather interviewed Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman today 5/20/26. “Lunch Money with Paul Krugman and Heather Cox Richardson - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NfWvmPeG9g They discussed the current AI financial “bubble” in comparison to other historical “bubbles” (tulips, trains, dot.com, 2008, etc.), the effects of the plethora of data centers, and how it may out economically. It contains a whole bounty of information from two experts. You may also be interested in a slightly different perspective on AI presented by Senator Bernie Sanders: “Bernie vs. Claude - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3AtWdeu_G0 He illuminates some of the very direct effects AI is having on you and on our democracy. And if you thing Democrats are not doing anything to fight against this and protect the public then see: “LIVE: Sen. Sanders and Rep. Lee Introduce Bill to Abolish Super PACs - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLdv_FkHtYU And a hopeful article about how AI still needs humans in many instances: “Why AI cannot do good science without humans”. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01551-3
Heather was very busy 5/20/26 and also recorded a “Politics Chat” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUlZjp_1fag). - and last but not least an American Conversations interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UFE7L9QZOQ) of Cleve Jones, human rights advocate, lecturer, author (“When We Rise: My Life in the Movement”), historic and iconic AIDS and LGBTQ activist, who conceived the NAMES AIDS Memorial Quilt, co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, worked as a student intern in Harvey Milk’s office, works with UNITE HERE, an amalgam of labor unions, on human rights issues, etc.. In the 1980’s HIV/AIDS was poorly understood and largely underestimated (it wasn’t clear exactly what was causing it) and the AIDS Memorial Quilt drew attention to and sympathy for the thousands of victims. Each patch of the quilt was 2 by 6 feet (to symbolize a grave) and represented an individual death - memorializing the more than 85,000 Americans killed by AIDS. Jones says he was infected with HIV in the late 1970s and credits his activism with saving his life since it put him into the early antiviral “cocktail” trials to which he responded. Note that at that time over 90% of HIV+ patients died. In the interview Cleve Jones advocated for public health and deplored the Trump administrations extensive cuts to healthcare funding. The dismantling of USAID and the destruction of its vaccine and antibiotic stockpiles will result in an estimated >500,000 deaths. He supports and recommends www.sevendaysinjune.org, a decentralized, nonpartisan, grassroots-driven campaign that focuses on how healthcare funding cuts will devastate local communities and what to do about it. He feels the same public health mistakes that were made in the HIV epidemic were made with the COVID epidemic and the Trump cuts to healthcare and public health make our society susceptible to a repeat of the HIV and other infectious disease epidemics. I agree.
I expect like in the dot.com bubble the will be much ado about hare-brained projections, that will peak and crash, along with some worthwhile applications with staying power. Also new forms of crime and oppression.
Yes, a lot of the panic was clearly media BS unconnected to the actual problem of managers procrastinating dealing with a problem that could not have been more predictable or inevitable, that some systems would start producing errors because of the way dates had been encoded. Yet I figured that too much money was at stake for them to ride it all the way to failure. If only people were as bothered about some things that are scary and harder to fix, we might spend some money and attention toward a wiser response. I don't mean panic, I mean like making an appointment with the dentist because you sense it's better to do so than not.
Yes I do. When we "didn't know what we didn't know" and prepared for the worst, I was the shift supervisor (acting out of class at a higher position than my rank) and the only one on the street as we rolled over to 2000. It was the quietest NYE I worked in 28 years of law enforcement--because people recognized the problem and took measures over many years to fix it.
Boy, did the wing nuts have a field day with "the end of the world as we know it."
"asking whether Blanche was following the advice of ethics lawyers in the department in his handling of issues having to do with Trump, as he had promised to do in his confirmation hearings."
At this point who would believe ANY "Republican" speaking in such circumstances?
They are not expecting an honest answer. They are providing an evidence trail for future impeachment and prosecution. If Blanche says he did consult ethics lawyers, and he didn't, they can add lying to Congress. If he says nothing, they can impeach him for incompetence and get him disbarred.
You dont' even have to listen to them speak. The cast of losers stood in front of a lectern someplace in Miami and announced with great fanfare their indictment of Raul Castro. With the blab-off button pressed, you could just watch, while some strutting, pompous asshole standing in front of a lectern next to Todd Blanche was no doubt bloviating about the unchecked global danger posed by a 94-year-old Cuban who can't even manage to turn on the lights in Havana, much less threaten Washington.
All these people are cartoon caricatures of themselves. Doubtful even Mel Brooks could make them appear more grotesque, Trump-licking, Nazi-weenies, one and all.
They were playing to the dinosaur wing of the Cuban exile community that now
dominates S. Florida local politics --as well as part of the carrot and stick stuff going on with Cuba right now. All a big distraction that dominated the local news cycle here for most of yesterday. I mean, helicopters following Blanche's motorcade from the airport and breathless reporting live from the SRO crowd waiting at the Freedom Tower.
As an eyewitness at the Capitol on January 6th 2021, when American nazis attacked the government, I can reasonably expect to be compensated by the slushfunders. A few million dollars should cover my trauma and suffering. And I would simply recompense the genuine victims – those police on the line, the congressional staffers chased by the goons, the photographers and reporters attacked, the maintenance staff who had to clean it all up...
Will be happy to file an Amicus Curiae brief to support you. As a resident of Capitol Hill, I heard the sirens start at about noon. They didn't stop until well past nightfall, when the Governor of Virginia was finally able to send in the Virginia Guard to help the Washington Metropolitan Police restore order after the chaos.
Even as I was listening to everything in real time, I knew it was bad. I didn't know just how bad until afterward. Nothing makes my blood boil more than watching this demented, twisted, incoherent outlaw get a few shitweasels and scalawags together to try to rewrite history to pretend what happened never did -- all at taxpayer expense. Thousands of us heard exactly what transpired all day long and know better. We will never be silent about it.
Yes, many of us real Americans were psychologically harmed by witnessing what we did see with our own eyes on January 6, 2021. In 1966, as a congressional intern on Capitol Hill, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunities to explore our nation’s Capital buildings, unimpeded, in most areas that many (even the elected ones) will never see. And I was sitting at home on January 6, dumbfounded probably like or similar to many Americans, witnessing what was occurring all at our nation’s Capitol, and at the instigation of POTUS 45—what a sad moment in our nation’s history!
There are just not enough adjectives and nouns to describe the individual and his makeup of the person who conned some and just fooled so many…ohhh, and just tried to match the hate and evilness; ignorance and stupidity within others…to be elected twice as president of the United States of America!
“I want absolute loyalty. I want to trade stocks, make hundreds of millions of dollars. I want my 1776 fund to make sure J Sixers, you know, get the money that they’re owed. I want immunity for me and my family from an audit forevermore…. I want to get rich, and I don’t care that you are poorer.”
Could it be that GOP politicians have miraculously located a vertebra? Unlikely, but whether that or the poll numbers, could it be that they may be swayable to overturn the J6 slush find? Flood their offices with support if they will. This could end sooner if some of them decided to jump ship.
A complete mystery. Everything Trump touches dies. Everyone he comes into contact with eventually meets the wheels of a speeding bus. Somebody might have mentioned that to Senator Cassidy, who apparently didn't believe it until it happened to him.
Trump is brazenly open about stealing federal funds for his political and corrupt purposes, since he knows Republican legislators won‘t stop him, because they want to loot the Treasury as well. And Trump knows that slow justice is no justice. He will be dead and long gone before the Supremes would ever stop him.
"Jessica Tarlov noted, Massie’s district went for Trump by 35 points in 2024, but Gallrein won by just ten points after outside money spent an astronomical $35 million on the race when winning a primary usually costs between $100,000 and $500,000."
Just as Trump's "Deal" with the IRS is epically corrupt, is there not something blatantly, empirically wrong and anti-democratic about the role excessive wads of money has come to warp our electoral selection process. Even is argued it is not exactly the same as "corruption" (though I think it IS) does it not produce the very same effects? We should have mounted far more organized resistance to this state of affairs as it was emerging, especially after the Orwellianly named "Citiizens United" "decision". OK that done. Unregulated de facto corruption is stealing control of our society with every day that passes. Is the maniacal, exclusionary "love of money" the root of all evil? It's something like that.
Thank you Officers Hodges and Dunn! The least we can do to support their fight is call our representatives!
Much we owe to those Capitol Police, Washington Metropolitan Police and Virginia National Guard who collectively saved our republic from the Trump thugs that day. It is they who continue bearing witness to the truth. If he could, he'd find a way to poison them with Novichok, polonium or epibatidine, the way Putin does to those who bear witness against him. Let us be thankful it has not yet come to that in this country.
Another group of unsung heroes that day -- the House Parliamentarian who had enough wits about her to order the boxes containing all certified 435 Electoral College ballots seized from the Parliamentarian's table. At her orders, a few House pages (in their teens) made certain they were secured in a safe room only minutes before the mob tried to rush in from outside, the Sergeant-at-Arms and his staff barricading the doors, guns drawn....
Those who dared to stand against his mob of goons that day -- from the cops being beaten with flagpoles on the front line to the unnamed pages trying to find a locked room to safeguard the 2020 election results -- were many. Trump will never forgive any of them for doing their right, honorable and patriotic duty.
Someone here yesterday argued that Trump is not a murderer. I know that Senator's Kelly and Slotkin don't agree, but does anyone exonerate Trump for killing unarmed fishermen in the Caribbean, or killing Venezuelans trying to protect Moduro and wife, or killing school girls in Iran, or patients in hospitals in Iran. And more cruelly, Trump and Musk illegally shut down USAID, destroying food that could have fed tens of thousands. Isn't starving people to death murder?
Yes, yes and yes. It was the fishing boats that got me. The survivors waving so that they could be rescued...
What about that rally goer who was killed in Trump’s staged assassination attempt?!
while he gushes over the cute blond widow. not ONE word on his other supporter. Because he does not care about his supporters, they are useful and that is all.
I don’t know anything about assassination, but how did he ensure that guy got hit and not him?
I think it was just a mistake. I don't think anyone was meant to be killed. I guess the sharp shooter wasn't as "skilled" as he claimed to be. But to trump it's just collateral damage. he just moved on to the next grift and con without a backward glance.
It wasn't staged. The young shooter in Butler County fired at Trump, clipping him in the ear, and killing a man behind him. And then the Secret Service shot and killed the shooter. The shooter would have to be quite the devoted martyr to stage this, knowing he would be killed himself.
You have a point. Trump had someone kidnap the shooter and place him on the roof with a rifle, while the Trump kidnapper did the shooting and then fled, unseen and unharmed.
My conspiracy is much better than yours.
Anne-Louise, it was the mocking of the handicapped reporter that got to me.
Agree. I have a longtime friend, whom I've distanced from due to her undying support of trump, who has a son who suffers uncontrollable tremors and seizures resulting from a freak home accident. I told her this could be her son trump was viciously ridiculing and mocking. She told me in no room for argument terms "Hillary would be worse". The extent these cult members go to to continue slavishly support trump is truly disturbing.
⬆️😟‼️
Yes, Marj, that mockery was right up there with Trump's comment that he didn't want wounded military to be seen at his parade last year.
The were killed, Hegseth had a ridiculous rationalization for killing them, ie. a war crime.
...and on other fishing boats near Ecuador, survivors have been sequestered and tortured on US vessels.
Yes you are correct.He has caused many deaths directly or indirectly resulting from his policies.Who could forget his botched response to the Covid pandemic that resulted in the deaths of over 3 million Americans.He knew it was an airborne virus yet waited months to do anything.
You are speaking TRUTH! I lost my mother's brother to the pandemic, and I blame Donald Trump. I broke down when I had to collect his personal items from the hospital. I am crying right now.
The USA is 4% of the world population but during the early wave of the pandemic ended up being 1 in 4 of the deaths. Refrigerated trucks as morgues, mass graves, isolation, lack of PPE, health care workers overextended and endangered... and that (expletive) talking about "it's going to disappear" and how people should inject bleach. I hate him.
Jan 21: "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China."
Jan 30: "We think we have it very much under control."
Feb 02: "We pretty much shut it down, coming from China."
Feb 14: “We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12… Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape.”
Feb 25: "People are getting better, they're all getting better."
Feb 26: "And the 15 in a couple of days is gonna be down to close to zero."
Feb 28: "Coronavirus. This is the new hoax... You'll be fine."
Feb 28: “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear”
Mar 02: "They're going to have vaccines very soon."
Mar 03: "Not only the vaccines, but the therapies. Therapies is sort of another word for cure."
Mar 04: "We're talking about very small numbers in the United States."
Mar 06: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault… I like the numbers where they are.”
Mar 06: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect…”
Mar 07: “It came out of China, and we heard about it. And made a good move: We closed it down. We stopped it.”
Mar 08: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House.”
Mar 10: "It's really working out, and a lot of good things are gonna happen. Just stay calm. It will go away."
Mar 12: "It's gonna go away."
Mar 16: “I’d rate it a 10. I think we’ve done a great job.”
Mar 17: "This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."
Mar 25: “We’re the ones that gave the great response, and we’re the ones that kept China out of here. And if I didn’t do it, you’d have thousands and thousands of people died — who would’ve died — that are now living and happy.”
Mar 13: "No, I don't take responsibility at all."
Thank you. The timeline you supply deserves a place in any history of the period AND in any biography of Trump, US president.
Christine, I have read many, many diligent annotations on LFAA. Your Covid historical work product goes to the top of the list as ... Best Ever
Well done, Christine! A list like this could be put together for every trump atrocity. I would love to see that and believe it would be very useful.
And then by the Fall, ivermectin and bleach. No masks.Fire Dr Fauci. (Read Dr Fauci’s excellent book❤️) Bring in the witch woman. That’s why he lost the election. Then January 6. And now every day—Biden cheated. Donnie is a walking talking load of bullshit. 🤮💩🎃🤡🤮
Nicely done, Christine!!
Where, in that timeline, was he hauled off to Walter Reed to be treated for Covid.....which damn near killed him? I was with my pod having drinks when it was announced that he had been hospitalized. I will not publicly state what our reaction was to that news. Big brother is watching.
You can blame Trump and his Administration for many Covid moves, for sure. But it's fair to note that he tried to, and succeeded in fast-tracking development of the vaccine. Fauci said a vaccine would take 18 months to develop, but even he came around, and in the fall of 2020, most people were happy that a vaccine was not far away. Of course, to this day we have vaccine skeptics, and Trump probably doesn't believe in the vaccine anymore, either.
And you know what, Beverly, I think he would do it again. The many dead meant nothing to him.
To the contrary, I think they mean quite a bit to him. HE IS PROUD THAT HE WAS THE MASTER OF ALL THAT DEATH!
and right now our service men are hungry on ships not being resupplied. He does not care.
I’m his first administration he closed down the pandemic unit in the White House administration. He was having Jared call his brother in law an ER doc for advice and asking other ER doctors what to do. They might have been or are great ER docs but they had no global or any public health knowledge and skills.
Big hug to you, Beverly.
⬆️🎯👏🏼👏🏼
Potus was first informed about COVID-19 in January 2020, when he received briefings on the virus's potential impact. He visited India on February 24-25, 2020, shortly after the initial reports of the virus spreading outside of China. He was invited to speak to a million people. How many people did he take with him and how many planes?
I was aware of it through a December 2019, article in the WSJ (Wall Street Journal).
Besides all the financial corruption, consider the body count from his "genius" executive orders and policies.
I would not be surprised if he has been involved in other deaths in his past.
trump IS a murderer. Remember, he started with Covid, ignoring the situation while scores of Americans died. He won't stop until the world stops him. It begins with us.
he knew how deadly Covid is and still denied and wasted time- he even got covid and was saved by treatment. But Trump is a sociopath, to put a name on it, and has demonstrated he has no feeling for other people. he is mentally ill and unfit to be president. This is about us. We made him president twice knowing enough about the danger.
Bandy X Lee MD has been with other experts such as the late Robert Jay Lifton and Judith Herman telling us he is and has been displaying traits and characteristics of an extremely dysfunctional persona. She was given short shrift . I have my issues with our so called mental health system which I think has been an utter failure but she is correct in her thinking. She had the ears of Congress and then suddenly not. Then Yale gave her a hard time. There is another layer to all of this or perhaps layers. We are at a turning point and hard to say what will happen. Trump is a metaphor for environmental collapse and human civilization collapse. If we don’t stop now and completely change there will be only scattered remnants. The question is can we wait until November. I would say just do everything one can now and ongoing. Some of the powers that be also have to redo and rethink and reimagine. I am not yet hopeless but worried.
Glad you mentioned these people Lifton, Lee and Herman. I have been following two of them for years because my sister had schizophrenia. I know what it's like to be driven crazy by such a person, worried all the time as well, and scared (she was murdered). You must realize that this few know of. And I will say, worse, people do not get it, do not understand mental illness and all its variations. This is special knowledge by experience and training. Trump gets Dr. support (Dr. unqualified for this )to cover over for him. Then he goes out and claims he is a genius or whatever. WE shrug and go on to the next mess or danger he creates. People are clueless regarding mental illness-including those in power who care perhaps more for their power and position- and, we all are learning the hard way, we as a people, partisan primed. We go for the con. I was just reading here in the substack Trump was an "evil genius".. We cannot leave it at that. He is very dangerous. And he is advertising it- and still we don't seem to get it.
Dr John Gartner called him a psychopath whose only activity is destruction. He said he was about 95% sure we are at risk—we just don’t quite know yet if it is using nuclear weapons—from his destructiveness as he sees his power slipping away.
I may be out on a limb by saying this but I believe Trump will threaten but will not go all out with nuclear weapons-- nor will that be allowed by those around him. Why? Because they, even in their craven states of mind, are not suicidal.. nor do I believe Trump is. He scares. He takes you to the brink because he has demonstrated he can scare. He threatens to scare.. to win to get his way. He may-MAY- give a little start, escalate but he is really chicken. He has always backed down, found an excuse to do so. And others in charge of executing his threats are not suicidal--they have lives, families, loved ones..and their reputations, money and power. No they will want to talk him down. If his power is slipping away- which it is actually- he will find an escape route to keep some power-to escalate to "The Board of Peace" or some fantasy- go to Russia or even Venezuela and be celebrated. This is, I think, psychologically, why all the gold- and the rebuilding Washington, the monuments. He has to beef himself up, convince himself of his grandeur. Why can't people see the meaning of all this gold?
If someone here would like to talk me out of my pessimism... with important primaries being lost to maga candidates together with extensive gerrymandering - the continuing war over values and culture (religion, immigration, gender and the role of diversity) - I can't hold my breath all the way to the midterms -
These are PRIMARIES, Stephanie! MAGAt voters voting for MAGAts! And it is THAT that we will use AGAINST them come November! These are MAGAt loyalists running against what used to be Republicans. We have good, solid people running against them, and the ads will be writing themselves from now until the election. The important thing for ALL of us to do now is to get EVERYONE to the polls and to vote out the Nazis. It is a job we CAN do, and that we WILL do. Stick with us here, Stephanie, and take encouragement and motivation from the group who believe in what our forefathers believed in. And BREATHE!!
Ok, I just let out a deep breath. Fingers are also crossed; I may procure a rabbit's foot. The (bad) news varying from day to day sometimes leaves me puzzling over the election. And I wouldn't leave out violence at the polls either. We may (will) win, scratched up, bandaged and body parts in slings - if that's what it takes.
He is weak Stephanie. Hang on to this fact. Take walks, tune out for a little bit. Find some joy. I find being at stand outs with others to be healing.
Think globally and act locally is also helpful to me.
No problem with distractions: bike, swim laps, do photography, watercolor art, read (reading a great book on the Middle Ages - not without its own issues), attend movies - Andrzej Wajda festival - WWII era director/filmmaker - look him up.
Boy, do I understand, Stephanie. Breathe frequently and often.
Stephanie-
Hopium-Simon Rosenberg
https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/anyone-who-thinks-trump-is-winning
Robert Hubbell
https://roberthubbell.substack.com
Both are great to give you a lift out of pessimism. I need them at times.
Well, it seems I may be a little behind on the news. Just read this. Thank you for the update!
Stephanie Banks, you made me smile because I find myself holding my breath even as I write GOTV postcards daily to blot out the sound of ICE sirens (constant reminder of DT). Suggest you do something to help you breathe. Do you have a local Indivisible group? Can you form one? It’s the “doing something” the French learned in 1942 that helped make Normandy possible.
We have many possibilities of helping for an end to this Hitler.
I am in that boat with you.
It takes as long as it takes. So in the short term not good until this collapses. It will. We are all working on this. It has to. More and more of us are getting the alarm. I know it's slow but there are good signs. Trump keeps adding more for you to keep your pessimism going. What is the alternative? There is none. Hard or harder?
If you feel pessimistic then look ahead. Do you think this will go on? Only if we allow it to. Think of a ship with a huge hole in it in the middle of the ocean. Do we sink with it- or look for ways to repair it... I suppose you can grab a dinghy with some others... which is what some are doing. So if you say you cannot hold your breath-- then what? the dinghy? I am here..Pessimism comes and goes if you do not hang onto it. And if expressed, it harms, is catchy too.
And GJ, add to that all the American farmers put out of business as they were growing food for USAID. Suicide rate for them is high. And add the number of children who will starve to death without that food. FOR LESS MONEY THAN HIS SLUSH FUND, HE HAS KILLED THOUSAND OF PEOPLE. He is a mass murderer on a grand scale.
And...possibly young girls by his own hands. RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES
Epstein who? He seems to have succeeded knocking this off the front page.
And now King Con and his mob are out to kill more Americans by encouraging having more lethal chemicals in our water, burning more fossil fuel to pollute our air, allowing who-knows-what in our crops (well, it's too expensive to fertilize those anyway), encouraging the spread of disease by discouraging vaccines and shutting down sources of information and research...all to line the pockets of the oligarch class. But there are more of us than them, and I am seeing more signs of real pushback from folks like us. (Grateful for HCR and others on Substack)
He had his ex wife killed because she knew every single thing he did in the Epstein files. Yes. He also had his buddy Epstein killed. Wow. Murderer? Mob BOSS.
and shutting off oil shipments to Cuba so they have no electricity. A few weeks ago *everybody* in Cuba on a ventilator died overnight because the power went off and there was no fuel to run emergency generators.
not to mention the people starving there day to day.
And they want to go after the Cuban leader for decades-old crimes—shooting down an American plane—saying murderers should be held accountable regardless of time. Meanwhile, Trump killed fishermen in defenseless boats, caused casualties from bombings, and pardons the January 6th insurrectionists who killed cops and tried to overthrow the government. Accountability for thee, but not for me.
Well stated!
Yes, along with Elon, RFK, Hegseth, Miller, Vought, Thiel, Vance, Yarvin, Rubio.... etc.
This does not excuse him but I believe Trump is amoral and a sociopath- cannot feel for others or another human being. Nevertheless that does not exonerate him from being called a murderer and even prosecuted (though a hard case) as a murderer.
The tolls : uncounted innocents suffering or dead who never nor ever will be known-
lives lost to greed, evil measures ,corruption and the insanity of dictators wanting “ to get rich”.
We used to depend on elected representatives to separate them , blow the whistles -before oaths are broken, before illegal acts are ordered, before harm is done…because then they too would not be ‘COMPLICIT’ in ‘loyalty’s demands’ i.e. breaking the laws.
Far too many succumb when that magic dollar mark is reached ..they then will commit heinous acts in those “get rich” schemes.
Drunk by the lure of power, money, fame, seduction kills integrity, conscience, humane care and the balances of justice.
Q: How many will plot to succeed for the 50 million Iran offer$ to kill the Nitwitnyahoo or King Trump ..yet how many sort of secretly smiled reading of the alleged offer….
A:would you be surprised?
Can I pose as guess as to “who” said that??
And no, he shall not be named
Yes yes yes and yes. All these are deliberate actions intended to cause death--murder.
Renee Good, Alex Pretti, ICE detainees dying in custody, Americans being denied health care and SNAP, U.S. military service members dying in Trump's war in Iran, Epstein files....
They were virtually being stabbed with flagpoles, worse even than beaten. It was unspeakable.
And Trump gave Ashley Babbitt's family $5. million as restitution.
How much have Renee Good's and Alex Pretti's family received from Trump?
Certainly they will never see justice done as their murderers still run free.
How crazy with rage do you have to be to try to gouge somebody's eyes out?
Crazy with pure, seething hate and, very probably, high on multiple drugs.
The rage comes from decades of pilfering the middle class by the Oligarchs creating economic stresses that wear down average families to the point of despair coupled with the GOP mantra that its “the other” that is stealing from you, not the Rich
The rioters mistake who they should be mad at, as rightwing media feeds them messages intended to further their rage
They’re mad at the wrong people. Mobs do what mobs do
Yes Dave, get rid of racism and income inequality and the rage will subside.
Well, Dave, when we're living in a broken world (rules and norms broken eg.), no sense of pride in community, deliberate ignorance of trump's and other representatives' becoming unmoored from decency and respect, a failure of the ability to be compassionate, kind and patient - well you all know this....
Decency, respect and compassion are all concepts that have been demonized by GOP messaging that says these are traits of weakness and wokeness; The Heritage Foundation stuff
“Be a team player, the fight against Woke is crucial”
I'd like to know more about the people and the actions of those responsible for the physical removal of the ballots that day. I have often wondered about the particulars, though, tragically, it seems naming those patriots who acted at that moment of peril, including teen-aged pages, might end up making them targets of rewarded insurrectionists.
I don’t want them named for their safety and their families. I do however thank them profusely for taking the clear headed action that preserved our democracy at least for that day. Everyday that the corrupt and cowardly congresspeople continue to serve this tyrant, is a day that we mark for their future trials and incarceration for which they should never live in society again nor have any access to power. I am personally enraged and disgusted with them all who stay silent or support this bunch of goons. We will not forget!
Whether we remember or not, I fear, makes no difference. Future elections are almost certainly not going to be representative of the American populist.....using whatever means necessary.
Part of mine & other Navy retirement ceremonies is the reading of Old Glory. A flag presentation to the retiring Sailor. The poem is written in the 1st person, as if Old Glory is speaking. There’s a part where Old Glory says “ I was trampled & burned on streets in counties that I helped to set free. It does not hurt because I’m invincible. Then Old Glory goes onto say when it’s done on American streets, “It hurts”. I believe the poem should be amended to say it hurts when Old Glory is used as a weapon against peace officers defending democracy.
Thank you, TJB.
For those (like me) who are unfamiliar with the poem "Old Glory", here you are:
https://www.goatlocker.org/retire/oldglory1.htm
And more info as to why it is called the "Goatlocker". I umpired with a retired CPO, who told me about it, and why it is important.
https://locknlocker.com/why-is-the-navy-chiefs-mess-called-the-goat-locker/
Tried to gouge eyes out.... wtf. And some of them already convicted again for child molestation and assault.
Great comment, ICTT, about who the real heroes are. I have been wondering for a while now when Felon 45-47 was going to get around to targeting the Parliamentarian.
In the case Heather mentioned, he's going after the current Senate Parliamentarian. Both are careful, non-partisan scholars responsible for setting rules of procedure and ensuring bills brought before either body conform with those rules. Hard to say which he hates most -- the fact that there's a referee, or that she's a woman...
Plus, she's educated, ICTT.
Oh no, an educated woman smites the sub human trump! Brava!
It's a double whammy for Donold, if she was also a journalist he'd squawk something even more vile at her and about her.
And if she was a black, female journalist he'd have an even bigger meltdown.
Oh gawd Laurie, I remember poor Amiche Alcindor from PBS.
Oh, I'm sure a big dose of both, (ICTT). We don't need a detailed behavioral blueprint to comprehend trump's toxicity.
Yes.
The Parliamentarians have saved the American people from terrible legislation almost every time a reconciliation bill is introduced. The Republicans have slipped in some heinous items like being able to get restitution for phone tabs related to J6 that have been discovered and quashed by the Parliamentarians.
I'm amazed he can even say the word Parlementarian. That must have taken his handlers hours. Probably AI.
Thank you for that funny comment. I needed to laugh, Montana Channing.
🤣🤣🤣
😹😹😹
The Parliamentarian, her House pages (teenagers), and the Sargeant-at-Arms and staff rule!!!
I only hope that Senate Parliamentarian MacDonough has top-notch security protecting her. Remember how the Soviets used to target their enemies in the UK as they walked the streets? KBG agents brushed against them, sticking them with nearly-undetectable poisoned pin pricks?
don't give him any ideas
Thanks so much for this added info. I had not heard of these brave young adults risking their lives to make sure the evidence of the vote was secure.
How many red lines is trump going to cross and get away with it?
How many ARE there? That's the answer.
Too many to count I suppose... or even imagine, Cari.
Just give him time👇🏽
“If he could, he'd find a way to poison them with Novichok, polonium or epibatidine, the way Putin does to those who bear witness against him.”
They did not "save our republic." The republic was never threatened. It was a riot. An ugly one, but still, hardly a threat to the government or its structure.
It should be noted though that while Richardson was in a twist over the ICE shooting in Minnesota, where both deceased threatened the police, she never seemed bothered by the death of the woman who was shot by Capitol Police on January 6. That woman did not threaten the police and merely engaged in an act of vandalism. Somehow Richardson's moral compass is only threatened by people whose beliefs are contrary to her politics.
You weren't there. You haven't the FAINTEST idea what you are talking about.
Why is it so hard to call a traitor a traitor and than act accordingly?
Because we have no Congress and our nation has lost its soul. Hopefully, there will be a point so outrageous that our deep slumber will end. Murder hadn’t done it. Maybe stealing from the Treasury will finally be the bridge too far.
SOME of our nation has lost its soul. Some of us have been ringing warning bells since 2015.
Some of us even longer. I was aware of the changes in the Ohio Legislatures late 1980’s and it was ALEC. They courted and won over the legislators . Bill
Moyers documented this in his shows. His work at the Library of Congress . It is suppose to be accessible to all.
I agree. I think all of the officers should be joining them in that suit. The money, if it belongs to anyone for damages, it belongs to them. My representatives are in Illinois and I will be calling them today to say back this up.
Each day I am not surprised, but I am shocked by the corruption of Trump. Part of the shock is the American acceptance of his bad behavior. There seems to be a stupor with people not knowing what to do, at least not legally.
On top of all this, and leaving the Iran war in a state of permanent mess, Trump is again going aggressively after Greenland and Cuba, and Canada but trying to slip it under the media's radar. Trump may be more corrupt than Richard Nixon who carried an illicit war on Cambodia and had the Watergate Files. More corrupt than George Bush whose halfwit brother Jeb and the corrupt SCOTUS stole the election for him. At this point he seems to be the most corrupt president that we have had, if not in the top contenders. We have given presidents a lot of leeway in the past, and it has been a mistake. Trump is banking on that and running away with it, particularly as the election comes closer and he gets more desperate. We need to stop him.
If you are a US citizen or have US residency, would you please read my piece explaining the Free Speech for People campaign to impeach Trump AND his cabinet and help them get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
If you can't find the link to the petition in the above piece, here it is. Just scroll down and you will find it.
https://www.impeachtrumpagain.org/
“We have given presidents a lot of leeway in the past, and it has been a mistake.”
Linda, this is a spot-on comment. If you read Carol Leonig’s book about the DOJ under Merrick Garland, not only was he overly cautious, but he also had to deal with those who had supported Trump still in the department, and—get this—those who believed Trump had been president—you just COULD NOT OR SHOULD NOT prosecute a PRESIDENT!!
he loses interest when anything gets hard-leaves it to the lawyers and moves on to the next shiny object.
Call any legislative office using the Capitol Hill phone number—202-224-3121
Some like maga Mike Johnson may never answer. And it’s usually a recording where you can leave a message.
I’m going to call and report a burglary in progress. The current administration is actively stealing from the citizens and taxpayers of this country.
202-224-3121.
Thanks Lynell.
I rather doubt this has any relevance. I’m not surprised but awed by the attraction of human scum motivated by unmitigated greed that use the cover of God and patriotism to plunder.
a-freakin'-men Bill.
The lawsuit begins "The most brazen act of presidential corruption this century ". This century????. How about, The the most brazen act of corruption ever !!!!!
Meanwhile, what is happening with the Epstein files? Trump started a war as a diversion to the Epstein files which has cost us around $75 billion and counting. He kidnapped Maduro and wife, he tore down the East Wing of the WH, and he has signed dozens of illegal Executive Orders.
Subpeona DonOld and Melania to testify on the Epstein case. And Todd Blanche as well.
Yes, so many distractions at the same time. Yesterday in S. Florida, the news cycle was dominated by the indictment of Raul Castro, which the Trump regime chose to do at this time, after 30 years have passed without legal action. It's all part of the campaign to take control of Cuba in one way or another. I hope HCR will be able to mention this at some point.
As if the situation in Cuba it's more detrimental to the US than every single action coming out of this regime. Sick and tired of stupid distractions David.
Talk about the ultimate attempt at distraction …
I have a feeling from watching a part of Massie’s concession speech the Epstein files will be in the news again.
Unfortunately, as by design, there're too many new scandals every day that it's hard to keep focusing on a few realy terrible ones as the Epstein files. We should pay extreme attention to what are they cooking for the up coming midterm elections.
Dunn is running for election. You can give to his campaign if you care to.
Yes, Hodges and Dunn defended the Capitol and the lawmakers in it on January 6, they deserve respect and our thanks for that and for filing this lawsuit.
As it states: “In the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century, President Donald J. Trump has created a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name.”
“The fund…is illegal. No statute authorizes its creation, the settlement on which it is premised is a corrupt sham, and its design violates the Constitution and federal law.”
Although this is currently the most brazen act, it should really be stated that this entire Trump term has been the most brazen presidential corruption ever in our Nation's history...
100% agree, Liz - we need to light up the phones with our support for Hodges and Dunn and our condemnation of this outrageous and unprecedented corruption.
The problem with any lawsuit against Trump is 1) the Supreme Court giving him absolute immunity and impunity for anything he deems an official act, 2) standing. If anyone has standing against this ridiculous theft of our hard earned tax dollars it is the J6 officers and their heirs. But, will the courts agree that they have standing?
And even if they do, Congress has the purse strings. They should be able to prohibit this fund and of course, that is what Raskin is trying to do in the House.
Let's see how hard Trump's little Johnson fights agains this bill.
They need to run the clock as much as possible on all these lawsuits.
Yeah, Liz, Officers Hodges and Dunn - and all the others - deserve our deepest support. One of the things I find very interesting is that the Capitol police were not just defending Dumocrats (Trump’s word, not mine), they were defending Mike Pence and Lindsey Graham and Josh Hawley and the list goes on and on…. They were doing their sworn duty to be LOYAL to the LAW and not LOYAL to the LIAR.
Hmmmm…, 34% of our nation still support and remain loyal to the liar? That’s pretty sad. I know some of these people - friends and relatives. Yes, I correspond with them, talk to them, send them money. Some of them need financial help, even though they have finagled their way into the poor house.
Oh, well…, this nation has gone through a lot in its 250 years, and we have always made it through “the best of times and the worst of times.” Who will the Charles Darnay or the John Dean of our better times? Thomas Massie? John Cornyn? MTG? Oooooo… far out…Little Marco? Someone on the inside who now wants to move to the “right” side!
Ah Charles Darnay ! It is a far far better thing then I have ever done before. A Tale of Two Cities and what great characters!
Yes, Mary! What a fantastic book that we all can/should learn from.
https://harrydunnformd.com/
Harry Dunn is running for Congress in MD. This page takes you to ActBlue and has a video.
Two brave officers show the coward Rapebulicans what morals are.
Does anyone know how we can support Dunn and Hodges financially? Have they set up a site to receive financial contributions?
In any garden of American heroes, those men and their colleagues should be front and center.
All the money in the world can’t buy your vote if you won’t sell it . They have awakened the sleeping giant of democracy.
It is like the Greenlander children turning down the chocolate chip cookies offered to them by Jeff Landry Special Envoy to Greenland, who is there to try to help steal the country from both Denmark and the people.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/21/greenland-trump-us-envoy-jeff-landry-visit
This is the most hateful administration globally. What's to like about ignorant, tone deaf, misogynist, homophobic, White Supremacists?
"For Trump, making money is clearly a major part of it."
For Trump, *stealing * money is clearly a major part of it.
"This is the most hateful administration globally. What's to like about ignorant, tone deaf, misogynist, homophobic, White Supremacists?"
This is the most hated administration globally (along with Russia, North Korea, Israel ... ) What's to like about ignorant, tone deaf, misogynist, homophobic, anti-trans, bigots? Ask the millions of voters here and world-wide who turn out to support exactly such administrations.
I attended a workshop last night on Russian disinformation campaigns in the UK. They had a lot of information because they have been doing research on this, and want to disseminate it. Seems like a lot of what drives the people who support these people is hatred, fear, and for some a bit of grudging admiration of characters that so brazenly get over. But, I don't know that they necessarily like them the way you would people you want to be friends with. The leaders that Trump calls his "friends," like Putin, Xi and Kim hate him. I do however understand that the voters that vote for them are like them.
Yes.
The Trump GOP might as well be called the GOP Trump. He tailors himself to the party - which he has come to personify.
Trump does nothing original, he takes the worst impulses / ideas, puts his brand on them, and markets them. In a way Trump is the crash test dummy of the directors of the 'vast right wing conspiracy' to see how fast they can accelerate Project 2025 before slamming into the wall.
If enough of us can unite and Vote Blue No Matter Who in 2026, then we can be the wall.
🤞🏽GOTV!
There's an interesting article in the NYT about intraparty conflicts, both parties. The Dems, and the GOP, are not monolithic.
I can understand why Putin, Xi and Kim hate him - he brings all their true crimes and ambitions out into the light. He's like the idiot "friend" in a teenage group who shouts to the world "Billy's using his dad's car! And he ain't asked his dad! And we're going out to get drunk!"
I bet they're longing to say "Just shut your pie-hole, Donnie!"
Also, it is a long term hatred from the Cold war days, of the so called Communists against the American Imperialists. It is pitiful that even the older of Trump's MAGA supporters do not seem to have this institutional memory. They tell their people that they are winning against us, and keep them in a bubble of disinformation that makes it hard to know otherwise unless people leave. If they do they are watched. Their families at home do not believe anything else that they might be told for the most part.
I don't think they liked Biden any better. They just hate the US, and Trump cannot get it through his head that because of that they will never like him unless he renounces the US and joins one of their countries. Fat chance. I still see Argentina as the most likely place for Trump to go to Exile but then, he does not speak Spanish, and is not going to learn, so maybe not. He doesn't speak Russian either, and Putin would not welcome him. Will Bibi if Trump decides to go to Israel. We shall see how that plays itself out.
Linda,ICYMI….
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/shorts/trump-jokes-he-could-run-for-prime-minister-of-israel-263660613741
You make an important point, lin, because working-class people have to EARN money through their labor. The Epstein class appears to "make" money through manipulation, deception, insider trading, and most definitely cheating on their taxes.
They borrow against their assets which is one reason they don't pay taxes. You do not need to pay taxes on money you borrow, you just have to pay it back.
..... add to that, the group of people who go out "finding" money, a term that shocked me when I first heard it from a scientist on behalf of his institution's development department. Not to judge each term in a binary way, but to point out the cultural conditions under which we live. There's also "attracting" money. Economist Justin Wolfers' new Substack is an interesting antidote, guided by his mission to help economics become publicly available analysis and insight. Yesterday's Platypus Economics was on behavioral research of phone addiction and withdrawal -- https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/what-really-happens-when-schools. We as a country have some behavioral problems that he contextualizes in this session (what happens to individuals when the system changes?)
What chocolate chip cookies? I didn’t read that, lol.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeff-landry-maga-hats-cookies-greenland_n_6a0d9be7e4b079e4ea3481e8
I see.
Nothing is sacred, nor just, in a society where literally everything is for sale.
I agree that "Nothing is sacred, nor just, in a society where literally everything is for sale." Thank God we don't live in that society. Thank God something is still sacred. They've awakened the sacred sleeping giant of democracy. Good!
34 percent of you still support this bastard.
I'm guessing 0 percent of us support Trump, but yes, 34 percent of the sheeple still "approve" of his job as President.
What Rex Tillerson said....
Newsweek published a map yesterday showing Trump's over/under combined rating yesterday.
He's underwater in almost every state including TX, FL, and GA.
Mike, I strongly doubt that percentage applies to the 'subscribers' reading this. But, I understand your lack of empathy.
What percent of people won't change their minds about the possibility of people being able to change their minds? If it's more than 34 percent, then Step 1 is to make it equal to 34 percent (to make it possible to make it less than 34 percent in Step 2).
I defy you to find 34% of HCR readers who support this bastard.
Heck I defy you to find 10% of HCR posters who support this bastard who aren't literal bots.
Get over yourself.
WTF is that supposed to mean ? Get over yourself?
and my biggest fear is that it has gone so far that if he loses the election (which he should not even be eligible for) or if the races for seats loses -he will just declare the election null. The dictator's handbook. If the redistricting cheat proves unsuccessful, that is the next play.
Disagree
Well then, JBR, we agree to disagree. Good talk.
You are very prolific! Polite! And probably right. Im a cynic. I hope you are right. Hopefully a majority of congress will have some backbone. The house maybe. Thank you!
A cynic reflexively rejects conflicting beliefs. That means the cynic is also naively rejecting the possibility of being wrong. It's a very good thing that you're not doing a very good job of being a cynic.
My advice to cynics: Be skeptical. Be very skeptical. But the moment you cross the skeptic-cynic line is the moment you've stopped being a skeptic and started being naive.
The strength of a politician's backbone is directly proportional to the strength of the collective "we the people" backbone.
I'm not always "polite," but I thank you for allowing me to be polite.
In Trump world all of the people are for sale.
We must all hope you are right, Mary!
It was about time Mary, after all, this giant woke up in the middle of a nightmare and I hope it won't fall asleep again till we, as a nation, return to a state of decency and the rule of law. We have to find a way to pass legislation to guarantee that it won't be any repetition and all the enablers are investigated and all the money illegally obtained is returned. Thanks for your comment 👍
Mary, many of us grew complacent and depended on the three branches of government following norms. We have been rudely awakened and will never take our democracy for granted again. Now is the time to gird our loins and plan how to pass legislation to address the vulnerabilities that have been exposed by the unacceptable actions of the executive and legislative branches and the Supreme Court.
During the next two and a half years, J D Vance is going to be carefully shown to all of us as being a thoughtful, articulate, upstanding father of 4, and an American holding religious family values. The 34 percent will become 65 percent, the democrat(s) will continue to be a lost ball in the weeds. The media-system owned by the MAGAtt Party (also known as republican) will ensure "we the people" are only given the news we are conditioned to receive. We can make fun of Vance all we want, just like we (yes "we") made fun of Donnie.., who shuffled right back into the Whitehouse. So, watch as JD, the couch-F..er, gets positioned. I'm afraid we could do worse.
I don't think the media is in the tank for Vance. And the GOP is not ready to anoint Vance as their nominee. PBS and the regular networks will never be pawns for the GOP. But you're correct, I think, that the next president will have to look or appear much more rational and controlled than Trump. Voters will be fed up with Trump's style, methods, disregard for the other branches, in my opinion.
I hope you're wrong but fear that you are right.
very much this. I do not want to have to watch everything like a hawk, but this has proved deadly for democracy.
Do you think so? I hope you are correct.
Heather has pulled the threads together tonight just brilliantly! This is one of those letters that belongs on the front pages of all the papers that are still worthy of being read.
Indeed. One added detail (there are so many) is the shameless cockwomble Todd Blanche adding the Get Out of Jail Free addendum in a "one-page document" (thanks to the New York Times for describing it correctly -- neither a settlement nor an agreement, and carries no legal authority) only AFTER he brought his Trump lollipop to slurp on in front of Congress, every word a complete fabrication and outrage.
They know exactly what they're doing. it's the same reason the Big Ugly Bill got passed at 4am in the House of Representatives last May. Grave-diggers only work in the dead of night, the honest have no need of sleight-of-hand or 'by-the-way, we forgot to mention this little thing we're now attaching...' Disgusting.
Blanche is evil -- that addendum is a total license to steal and to cover up the Trump and Trump families tax return lies -- changing valuations of the same properties to suit their goals -- exaggerated values for one thing; minimal values for another. Blanche does not have the authority to do this -- or, if he does, how is that even possible.
I agree. I asked this exact question in a different forum yesterday and still have not gotten an answer. Several readers liked my question but none could answer how this is even legally possible. The only ones in our government allowed to write and vote on policy are our elected officials. Congress has the power of the purse. trump taking appropriated monies and disbursing them how he sees fit is illegal yet our courts and "justice" department do nothing.
The corruption is through the roof and no ball-less republican is willing to do the job! And I'm not referring to "count the votes" manipulation senators like collins, paul and murkowski, but those whose vote would actually make a difference. Why isn't there even one elected republican willing to stand up to this brazen corruption?
I just heard the answer to my question on Morning Joe. Apparently in the 1950s congress wrote a law that enacted a discretionary fund that the president had access to to use as he basically saw fit. Prior to this bill the president needed permission to release more than $100K (?) which they found to be tedious and difficult. Some expressed concern that it would be ripe for abuse but still it passed. Now we are witnessing what these elected officials worried about- a corrupt president who would use these loopholes to nefarious and criminal ends. The analyst who was being interviewed pretty much conceded to the fact that very little could be done to end trump's most corrupt and brazen action to date, basically absolving himself and his family from any governmental oversight of their money making corruption. There are no words strong enough to convey my absolute disgust at this corrupt, criminal administration.
I have heard differently. This ‘agreement’ is patterned on an agreement with farmers who actually were discriminated against, which isn’t the case here. This agreement is not legal for a number of reasons which could also be challenged by the next (presumably Dem) president.
Which deal are you referring to? I'm referring to the deal he made with the IRS. How this is linked to the legislation from the 1950s I don't quite understand. Maybe it was orchestrated all along. trump would start with the lawsuit then strike a deal in order to not use this seemingly unlimited power. Instead he struck a deal to make his family above our laws, to perpetuate far beyond his term and even his death.
People keep claiming he's suffering from dementia but I believe it's all an act. he knows exactly what he's doing, he may have help doing it, but he is aware of always playing to his base. he doesn't sound demented to me, he just sounds extremely nasty and evil. Same as he ever was.
and unfortunately, the corrupt have realized that his health is going and are lining up the next stage of power-younger and just as corrupt.
Todd Blanches eyes look dead to me, as did Pam Bondi’s and Marco Rubios.
Who was it that said, "Nothing good happens after midnight?"
Entirely depends on one’s intentions and/or perspective…
“After midnight, all things are possible" is something Timothy Leary used to say as Hunter S. Thompson told it, during their frequent and elaborate phone conversations usually around 2 in the morning…
Avery, every letter it's an inspiration to me and a source of information that allows me to talk to as many people as possible every day. I like to think I'm doing my part to restore decency and democracy and I thank HCR for helping me and many others doing our part.😄
She has no equal.
Maybe it started on J6 but there is no doubt, we are in our Second Civil War.
Trump and his MAGA allies, know it or not, are reborn versions of J.C. Calhoun's States Rights doctrine and the supremacy of the White Race. When you don't like Federal law, just pass state laws that circumvent Federal law and secede if necessary. Enslavement should be forever
Today, we have a POTUS who has effectively seceded from the obligations laid out in the Constitution and the traditions of democratic, multi-cultural rule.
Hopefully, we will settle this crisis without an internal war. Removing Trump by lawful means would be the right path
I tend to agree, Merrill.
So many of her’s do…belong on the front pages and [probably] above the fold, in our major newspapers!
Don’t just doom scroll - speak up!
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress - Be LOUD. Trump/the administration is dangerous for our country 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
Stephen Colbert's last show (on See BS) is tomorrow night. But at the end of tonight's show, Bruce Springsteen performed his somber and moving song "Streets of Minneapolis" solo on acoustic guitar and harmonica, an ode to Minneapolis and tribute to Renee Good & Alex Pretti. Written soon after their deaths from the occupation of the city by Border Patrol and ICE during the harsh winter there, disrupting Minneapolis and much of Minnesota, causing so much abuse, violence, wreaking havoc, similar to the lawless thuggery of January 6 but months of it inflicted on a city.
Before he started playing, Bruce made a point to say: “I am here in support tonight for Stephen, you are the first guy in America who lost his show because we got a president who can't take a joke."
“And because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want. Anyway, Stephen, these are small-minded people. They got no idea what the freedoms of this country are supposed to be about. This is for you."
Much as I love Stephen Colbert, and grieve for his loss, I can't watch that.
I've cried enough.
https://youtu.be/rMrNO6VjqiA?si=6HIrPArP5U0FWIqg
Thank you MaryPat. Crying in my coffee.
I was watching it while I was waiting for Professor Richardson’s Substack post to show up since it had already gone up on Facebook ❤️🩹
Thank you, Megan. 💪
Thank you Megan!!!
Thank you, as always, Megan.
Yes, the grift is blatant. They are not even bothering to HIDE the corruption anymore.
Paul Krugman wrote Tuesday that Trump and his minions have entered the black hole of corruption with the slush fund.
"Think of it this way: The gravity of what the Trumpists have already done has created a sort of black hole at the center of American political life — and the Trumpists have already crossed the event horizon, the boundary beyond which there is no escape. So they will do ever more terrible things, because they have nothing more to lose."
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-looting-of-america
That scares the sh*t out of me because we then have to imagine a vastly more previously unimaginable immediate future, and the steps we will need to take to stop it.
The reality:
Trump has openly mused about using troops, National Guard, or federal agents around elections and has refused to rule out such deployments in recent comments, which is why experts and election officials are gaming out worst‑case scenarios.
The previously unimaginable:
Election‑law organizations like the Brennan Center and civil‑rights groups emphasize that any actual attempt to station federalized Guard or other federal forces at polling places would be blatantly illegal and would likely trigger immediate court challenges, injunctions, and potential criminal and civil liability for those carrying out the orders.
The now imaginable:
Trump ignores the law, declares a national emergency, and does it anyway.
The expanded reality:
There are 170,000 to 180,000 election precincts (polling places) in the US. Most are concentrated in the 427 counties won by Kamala Harris in high-population- density blue urban and suburban areas. Think Manhattan with hundreds of polling places. There are a total 440,000 National Guard members, only a small percentage of them who could be called up and have reasonable training since many have already been used in other deployments, say 10% who would obey commanders who would be willing to risk the legal jeopardy, so 44,000. So there might be one National Guardsman for every blue-leaning precinct.
The more likely intimidation threat would be J6ers, emboldened by the slush fund or angry that it didn't work out and pay them, who would show up in blue-leaning precincts on election day, armed in open-carry states.
The best response by the public:
Vote early in person or vote by mail if you still can in your state. Check that out if you are in a red state, because most have passed "election integrity" model legislation from the Heritage Foundation over the last year related to required voter ID and how you can vote. Trump started ranting about the filibuster and the SAVE America Act again, so it could still be imposed nationally, but more likely it will be cloned and enacted, at least in part, in red state legislatures.
Steps you need to take:
1. The DOJ's demand for detailed voter rolls from the states could be used to target voters to be purged. Check that you are still registered and that the details there match the details on your ID EXACTLY, and that your ID meets state requirements. Check again 6 weeks before election day, and just before Election Day.
2. The most chaos would be caused by the enactment and imposition of new ID requirements close to Election Day. If proof of citizenship is required, you will need a passport or a birth certificate with a raised seal from your state of birth. These can take time to order and cost money — in NJ, a birth certificate costs $20. If the name on your birth certificate does not match the name on your voter registration, you must show proof of a legal name change as well. Marriage certificates do not count; they have to be used to get a certificate from the state where you legally changed your name. Deal with this now.
3. Best option, least likely to be challenged, avoids potential intimidation on Election Day: Go to vote early in person if your state allows it. Bring your proof of citizenship and paperwork with you. In case your documentation is challenged, you will have time to correct it.
4. Next best option: Vote by mail to avoid intimidation, and it may allow you to "cure" a defective ballot. Bring your ballot to your local post office, ask that it be manually postmarked in front of you, and snap a photo of the envelope on your phone. Machine postmarks no longer certify the date mailed — they only certify the day the mail was first processed, which can be days later. You have to do this for any date-certain mailing, like income tax estimated payments now.
5. Avoid Drop Boxes--they are easy targets for J6er vandalism.
6. Last Option: Vote on Election Day. Come prepared with all your documentation, water, snacks, and a folding chair, and be sure your phone is fully charged. There are likely to be lines due to confusion about the correct voting locations, due to redistricting, and new voter ID requirements. Long lines are another way to suppress the vote.
7. If you are denied your right to vote, demand a provisional ballot and written instructions on how to "cure" your deficiency so your provisional ballot will be counted.
8. Check that your ballot was received online and keep checking until it shows up as "accepted." If your ballot was rejected, contact your local board of elections and get details and contact your local party officials to follow up.
The bottom line is that each of us has to do what it takes to see that our vote is counted. There is a very small chance that we will encounter intimidation if we plan ahead. The far greater risk is that we are denied our vote because of last-minute documentation issues.
Congress has failed us. SCOTUS has failed us. WE CANNOT FAIL EACH OTHER.
PROTECT YOUR VOTE!
"Marriage certificates do not count; they have to be used to get a certificate from the state where you legally changed your name." Thanks for pointing this out, Georgia; also, for the rest of it!
Morning, Lynell. Oregon votes by mail, and the two drop boxes I use are both under video surveillance 24/7. Even with that, my friend and I usually go to the County Clerk's office and drop them off inside.
So glad I never changed my name when we married. So glad I had to get my birth certificate when I was hired with the Sheriff's office. My sister is dancing through these shenanigans, although she lives in the county where she was born and married.
Morning, Ally!
I have never voted by mail. My polling place is mere minutes away from home. Plus, it’s an excuse to get outside and see people😏
And if you vote by mail - take it to a window at the post office and get them to stamp it right then b/c Trump is messing around with that also to cause apparent "delays" in voting by not stamping on time and dumping those votes. I just renewed my passport and drivers license via mail -- it was faster than I anticipated -- probably because the election is still a few months away.
Excellent point, laruiemcf. I do that with our quarterly taxes as well.
CA is fighting with the DOJ over providing voter rolls to Trump and Co. A lawsuit has been filed by our great AG, Rob Bonta.
“VoteRiders has your back on getting an ID to vote. We set up appointments & cover costs.”
https://voteriders.org/
Great information Georgia, including name change protocols.
I’ll just add: my daughter was married this past weekend. Many mailed invitations weren’t received. Not random “it got lost in the mail”, it included members of the bridal party. Forwarded mail from my Florida home received yesterday were mailed in March. Mail delivery that used to be a day to Richmond, Va. are now taking 4-5 days. If you use mail for your ballot, plan to post it much earlier than in the past. The effort to privatize the USPS seems to include breaking it.
That isn't the effort, it is the plan. USPS does not make rich people richer. UPS, FedEx, and Amazon all do.
Yup. Hope you’re healing well! 😘
I am! Thank you for the boost.
Thanks for these recommendations Georgia
I'm afraid Georgia that the most terrible thing they'll come up with is related to the midterm election. They crossed all the lines already many times over and they have nothing to lose anymore. To be continued.
We knew it would get worse before it got better. Our biggest advantage is that Trump and his minions are so transparent most of the time, the military attacks on foreign countries being the exceptions.
Our biggest weakness is wasting energy on fretting instead of analyzing the nature of the threat, planning a reasonable response, and then doing what has to be done.
The model continues to be Minnesotans who organized to protect their immigrant neighbors. The gamut of responses ranged from educating people about their rights to delivering food to picking up their neighbors' kids from school to marching in protest.
Yes Georgia, we should be doing all you are posting plus much more, as individuals and as members of organized groups. Opportunities lost won't repeat themselves. Every single act helps, even if we can get just one more vote.
We need to work on state-level charges against dozens of Trump lieutenants and especially the Trump trio who now think they are above the law.
Slush - Another distraction. Zorro to the rescue. Who?
In fact for the likes of Trump the fact that he breaks the law so openly and gets away with it is half the fun. The other half is Trump and his cronies getting richer while the vast majority of citizens get poorer. May he be overplaying his hand.
He is definitely overpaying his hand J L and, believe it or not, it's a good thing since many more votes are paying attention .
Yes, I'm seeing that. We need to see a lot more of that, but though the public is fickle, Trump's overall approval is low.
In a sane world Trump would not be more popular than hantavirus.
There're parts of the world where sanity still prevails. The US it's not one of those.
It's never low enough J L.
Who’s stopping him? Your courts? Congress?
No. The Courts are bought and paid for. Congress is lacking the spine and fortitude to stand up to him. It is a complete abdication of judicial and congressional responsibility.
President Trump vs. The Invisible Rules: A Social Media Saga
Watching President Trump lob insults at the Senate parliamentarian is like seeing a grown man wage war on gravity. Every tweet is a declaration of total victory, even as procedural rules quietly continue, unimpressed. Armed with all-caps fury and a thousand exclamation points, he battles an invisible bureaucrat whose greatest power is reminding senators that, yes, rules still matter.
Trump’s proclamations read less like policy critique and more like a reality show pitch: “They don’t like me! They’re trying to steal everything! I’m the only one who knows what’s really happening!” Meanwhile, the parliamentarian, calm, silent, and horrifyingly ordinary, sits at a desk, wielding spreadsheets like a wizard. The contrast is cinematic: a sitting president shrieking at clipboards, demanding magical powers that no law can grant.
It is a performance of absurdity, a master class in the theater of entitlement. History will note that no rules were broken, no powers usurped, and yet the spectacle felt like a near-apocalyptic drama on repeat. One can only hope future textbooks include screenshots, for the world deserves to see what happens when Twitter rage meets constitutional procedure and how quietly the latter prevails while the president tweets himself into legend.
Michael, you have again articulated a wonderful assessment: "...a performance of absurdity, a master class in the theater of entitlement." Bravo!
What must they be saying behind closed doors?
They are saying “Where can we best hide our money?”
Some of you might find some hope in reading Waldo Emerson's famous essay "Compensation"(think Karma): https://emersoncentral.com/ebook/Compensation.pdf And here's my take on the essay: https://essayx.substack.com/p/compensation-karma-and-payback-a
Heather knows. No U.S. president gets any U.S. taxpayer money unless Congress says so.
Ever. That’s final. The U.S. Constitution makes that explicit in its very first article. The Founders made it clear that it was the representatives of the people, and only these representatives who, in congress – in Congress – could authorize spending any of the people’s money.
P.S. I’m adding this extra to Heather’s today, hoping fellow commenters will see I’m also trying to stay close to all her letters’ larger generosity.
That is, as it’s now Stephen Colbert’s last day on air, I’m urging him to do what we all do with Heather: listen more closely, and as fellow commenters amplify, explore more.
Stephen well deserves many beach days all this coming summer. But in addition to that, I’m asking he also often visit, appear with, and in depth, in connection with our many public issues, interview on stage Graham Platner, James Talarico, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mallory McMorrow, and many other American personalities running for political office this November.
He's done interviewing like this all his life. Doing it now, first focused on our many good fellow Americans having good public goals running for office could let him feel out any aptness for his own running for political office himself two years from now.
He could run for what we used to call our top office, where now criminal Donald postures himself above the law, above the Constitution, above the American people and our representatives.
Congress and a majority on the Supreme court are now the selected toadies of plutocrats. Pretty much what the "Spirit of 1776" was a decidedly rejecting.
Phil, you likely already realize this but for the sake of overall discussion, it should be pointed out that the package deal with Blanche is much broader than the $1.776B. Drumpf dropped his case, the $100B suit before it could be dismissed for lack of merit. He dropped the case because a better plan was found.
No tax audits of Drumpf, his family and businesses IN PERPETUITY. Added in was another bit, no audits of any back tax returns forever. This deal is worth far more than $100B. It would all be money due the US Treasury. It is the nation’s money. This will not require Congressional approval and the entire deal requires no judicial ruling … barring a lawsuit.
If this is allowed to stand, there may be large numbers of interested parties, in a reversal of the usual corporate practice of acquisitions, lined up to house their corporations within his and recursively pay handsomely to do it. Then there’s his family.
Everyone should think where this is going. It shouldn’t be anywhere but stopped.
Any crimes committed in the future are not covered by the document, according to PBS. Future years could be audited.
I heard Colbert may run for Congress as a South Carolina candidate.
I would vote for Colbert for anything - not because he is famous but because he is smart and compassionate and cares about this country. How nice it would be to have an articulate, thoughtful President.
I would vote for Cobert or Stewart. Zelenskyy was a comedian before he was elected.
Of course he other side is that.. both times we have tapped TV stars (Reagan and Trump) for office we have been decidedly worse off.
He needs a bigger stage than Congress and not as a politician. I hope he stumps for the candidates he has had on his show.
In his wonderful interview of Obama Colbert asked if he had the former President’s endorsement. Obama said “No”. It was a cute moment. https://fb.watch/HeICRTytnO/?fs=e
“Americans For A Better Tomorrow,Tomorrow”
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/01/31/146132466/stephen-colbert-says-his-super-pac-raised-1-million
Ain't that Good News
I'm going to see Graham Platner tonight for the 3rd time in person at the Hancock County Democrats monthly meeting. Since December, they have allowed 2 candidates per meeting to speak to the group. You can attend in person at 7 pm at the UU church in Ellsworth, ME or by Zoom. Also speaking will be Paige Loud who is running for Congress in the 2nd Congressional district. She is a social worker and part Cherokee. She refuses to take any PAC money.
I attended a Zoom yesterday with Alexander Vindman running for US Senate against DeSantis-appointed Sen Ashley Moody.He also said he’s taking no corporate PAC $$$.
I live like two houses down from the '2nd District' starts but if I did live there I would vote for Paige.
Dirigo
Phil, you likely already realize this but for the sake of overall discussion, it should be pointed out that the package deal with Blanche is much broader than the $1.776B. Drumpf dropped his case, the $100B suit before it could be dismissed for lack of merit. He dropped the case because a better plan was found.
No tax audits of Drumpf, his family and businesses IN PERPETUITY. Added in was another bit, no audits of any back tax returns forever. This deal is worth far more than $100B. It would all be money due the US Treasury. It is the nation’s money. This will not require Congressional approval and the entire deal requires no judicial ruling … barring a lawsuit.
If this is allowed to stand, there may be large numbers of interested parties, in a reversal of the corporate practice of acquisitions, CEO’s will be lined up to house their corporations within his and recursively pay handsomely to do it. Then there’s his family.
Everyone should think where this is going. It shouldn’t be anywhere else but stopped.
Thank you officer Hodges and Mr. Harry Dunn. You give me hope to see that you are still willing to stand up for what is right! 🙏
I share your appreciation for officers Hodges and Dunn Patricia but how about 300 million US citizens suing as well ?. After all, it's our tax money they are using to reward criminals. Thanks for your comment 👍
An important ingredient that I read about the Hodges/Dunn lawsuit is that they have standing to sue. But I would argue along with you, Ricardo, that We, the People, also have standing in that, as you say, "it's our tax money they are using..."
We are in the same page Lynell. Thanks for your reply 👍
ICYMI: Heather interviewed Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman today 5/20/26. “Lunch Money with Paul Krugman and Heather Cox Richardson - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NfWvmPeG9g They discussed the current AI financial “bubble” in comparison to other historical “bubbles” (tulips, trains, dot.com, 2008, etc.), the effects of the plethora of data centers, and how it may out economically. It contains a whole bounty of information from two experts. You may also be interested in a slightly different perspective on AI presented by Senator Bernie Sanders: “Bernie vs. Claude - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3AtWdeu_G0 He illuminates some of the very direct effects AI is having on you and on our democracy. And if you thing Democrats are not doing anything to fight against this and protect the public then see: “LIVE: Sen. Sanders and Rep. Lee Introduce Bill to Abolish Super PACs - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLdv_FkHtYU And a hopeful article about how AI still needs humans in many instances: “Why AI cannot do good science without humans”. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01551-3
Thanks for the information and links!
Heather was very busy 5/20/26 and also recorded a “Politics Chat” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUlZjp_1fag). - and last but not least an American Conversations interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UFE7L9QZOQ) of Cleve Jones, human rights advocate, lecturer, author (“When We Rise: My Life in the Movement”), historic and iconic AIDS and LGBTQ activist, who conceived the NAMES AIDS Memorial Quilt, co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, worked as a student intern in Harvey Milk’s office, works with UNITE HERE, an amalgam of labor unions, on human rights issues, etc.. In the 1980’s HIV/AIDS was poorly understood and largely underestimated (it wasn’t clear exactly what was causing it) and the AIDS Memorial Quilt drew attention to and sympathy for the thousands of victims. Each patch of the quilt was 2 by 6 feet (to symbolize a grave) and represented an individual death - memorializing the more than 85,000 Americans killed by AIDS. Jones says he was infected with HIV in the late 1970s and credits his activism with saving his life since it put him into the early antiviral “cocktail” trials to which he responded. Note that at that time over 90% of HIV+ patients died. In the interview Cleve Jones advocated for public health and deplored the Trump administrations extensive cuts to healthcare funding. The dismantling of USAID and the destruction of its vaccine and antibiotic stockpiles will result in an estimated >500,000 deaths. He supports and recommends www.sevendaysinjune.org, a decentralized, nonpartisan, grassroots-driven campaign that focuses on how healthcare funding cuts will devastate local communities and what to do about it. He feels the same public health mistakes that were made in the HIV epidemic were made with the COVID epidemic and the Trump cuts to healthcare and public health make our society susceptible to a repeat of the HIV and other infectious disease epidemics. I agree.
Thanks for these links, Fred!
I expect like in the dot.com bubble the will be much ado about hare-brained projections, that will peak and crash, along with some worthwhile applications with staying power. Also new forms of crime and oppression.
Remember Y2K?
Yes, a lot of the panic was clearly media BS unconnected to the actual problem of managers procrastinating dealing with a problem that could not have been more predictable or inevitable, that some systems would start producing errors because of the way dates had been encoded. Yet I figured that too much money was at stake for them to ride it all the way to failure. If only people were as bothered about some things that are scary and harder to fix, we might spend some money and attention toward a wiser response. I don't mean panic, I mean like making an appointment with the dentist because you sense it's better to do so than not.
Yes I do. When we "didn't know what we didn't know" and prepared for the worst, I was the shift supervisor (acting out of class at a higher position than my rank) and the only one on the street as we rolled over to 2000. It was the quietest NYE I worked in 28 years of law enforcement--because people recognized the problem and took measures over many years to fix it.
Boy, did the wing nuts have a field day with "the end of the world as we know it."
"asking whether Blanche was following the advice of ethics lawyers in the department in his handling of issues having to do with Trump, as he had promised to do in his confirmation hearings."
At this point who would believe ANY "Republican" speaking in such circumstances?
They are not expecting an honest answer. They are providing an evidence trail for future impeachment and prosecution. If Blanche says he did consult ethics lawyers, and he didn't, they can add lying to Congress. If he says nothing, they can impeach him for incompetence and get him disbarred.
Accountability will require evidence.
There's plenty of evidence Georgia, what we need it's the will to enforce the rule of law ASAP.
Yes a sane and just society requires actions of the state to be evidence based, at least where responsible actions or required.
You dont' even have to listen to them speak. The cast of losers stood in front of a lectern someplace in Miami and announced with great fanfare their indictment of Raul Castro. With the blab-off button pressed, you could just watch, while some strutting, pompous asshole standing in front of a lectern next to Todd Blanche was no doubt bloviating about the unchecked global danger posed by a 94-year-old Cuban who can't even manage to turn on the lights in Havana, much less threaten Washington.
All these people are cartoon caricatures of themselves. Doubtful even Mel Brooks could make them appear more grotesque, Trump-licking, Nazi-weenies, one and all.
Equal Justice Under Law (but some animals are more equal than others).
Talk about a target audience. Miami voted blue in the last local election. What a pathetic object for a pep rally to regain the Latino vote.
They were playing to the dinosaur wing of the Cuban exile community that now
dominates S. Florida local politics --as well as part of the carrot and stick stuff going on with Cuba right now. All a big distraction that dominated the local news cycle here for most of yesterday. I mean, helicopters following Blanche's motorcade from the airport and breathless reporting live from the SRO crowd waiting at the Freedom Tower.
Seriously!
As an eyewitness at the Capitol on January 6th 2021, when American nazis attacked the government, I can reasonably expect to be compensated by the slushfunders. A few million dollars should cover my trauma and suffering. And I would simply recompense the genuine victims – those police on the line, the congressional staffers chased by the goons, the photographers and reporters attacked, the maintenance staff who had to clean it all up...
Will be happy to file an Amicus Curiae brief to support you. As a resident of Capitol Hill, I heard the sirens start at about noon. They didn't stop until well past nightfall, when the Governor of Virginia was finally able to send in the Virginia Guard to help the Washington Metropolitan Police restore order after the chaos.
Even as I was listening to everything in real time, I knew it was bad. I didn't know just how bad until afterward. Nothing makes my blood boil more than watching this demented, twisted, incoherent outlaw get a few shitweasels and scalawags together to try to rewrite history to pretend what happened never did -- all at taxpayer expense. Thousands of us heard exactly what transpired all day long and know better. We will never be silent about it.
Yes, many of us real Americans were psychologically harmed by witnessing what we did see with our own eyes on January 6, 2021. In 1966, as a congressional intern on Capitol Hill, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunities to explore our nation’s Capital buildings, unimpeded, in most areas that many (even the elected ones) will never see. And I was sitting at home on January 6, dumbfounded probably like or similar to many Americans, witnessing what was occurring all at our nation’s Capitol, and at the instigation of POTUS 45—what a sad moment in our nation’s history!
There are just not enough adjectives and nouns to describe the individual and his makeup of the person who conned some and just fooled so many…ohhh, and just tried to match the hate and evilness; ignorance and stupidity within others…to be elected twice as president of the United States of America!
There you go. WRAP UP BY JESSICA TARLOV...
“I want absolute loyalty. I want to trade stocks, make hundreds of millions of dollars. I want my 1776 fund to make sure J Sixers, you know, get the money that they’re owed. I want immunity for me and my family from an audit forevermore…. I want to get rich, and I don’t care that you are poorer.”
Can he say “I’m an A-Hole!” any louder? Thank you Heather, for making sure that everything this regime does, does not get swept under the rug.
Harry Truman was right, way back in 1948, when he observed that "the only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies."
Could it be that GOP politicians have miraculously located a vertebra? Unlikely, but whether that or the poll numbers, could it be that they may be swayable to overturn the J6 slush find? Flood their offices with support if they will. This could end sooner if some of them decided to jump ship.
Where do Trump's enablers suppose he is taking them? Do they trust in one whose consistent core MO is betrayal?
A complete mystery. Everything Trump touches dies. Everyone he comes into contact with eventually meets the wheels of a speeding bus. Somebody might have mentioned that to Senator Cassidy, who apparently didn't believe it until it happened to him.
They think he's taking them to the promised land.
They have no clue.
Ehhh, I'm not ready to grant them grace yet. I'll wait for the actions. They have been effectively decapitated and don't appear to have a leader.
Desoulified (if there is such a thing) anyway.
Trump is brazenly open about stealing federal funds for his political and corrupt purposes, since he knows Republican legislators won‘t stop him, because they want to loot the Treasury as well. And Trump knows that slow justice is no justice. He will be dead and long gone before the Supremes would ever stop him.
"Jessica Tarlov noted, Massie’s district went for Trump by 35 points in 2024, but Gallrein won by just ten points after outside money spent an astronomical $35 million on the race when winning a primary usually costs between $100,000 and $500,000."
Just as Trump's "Deal" with the IRS is epically corrupt, is there not something blatantly, empirically wrong and anti-democratic about the role excessive wads of money has come to warp our electoral selection process. Even is argued it is not exactly the same as "corruption" (though I think it IS) does it not produce the very same effects? We should have mounted far more organized resistance to this state of affairs as it was emerging, especially after the Orwellianly named "Citiizens United" "decision". OK that done. Unregulated de facto corruption is stealing control of our society with every day that passes. Is the maniacal, exclusionary "love of money" the root of all evil? It's something like that.
Was it AIPAC $$$?….
Some of it I 'm sure. Anyone who wanted something from the government they couldn't get with votes.