On Thursday the Trump administration told Harvard University that because it had not handed over information on foreign students’ protest activities, violent activity, and coursework, the university had “lost [the] privilege” of enrolling foreign students.
Sitting in San Francisco airport on a long delay layover reading just as this letter is out of the gate. And it was a hard one to read. Not just because I'm super tired. I can't even believe my eyes. And it all breaks my spirit. My heart. And as evil as they appear. They won't win. They won't.
Sadly agree. Trump is just a loathsome idiot, but the Maybeline Bitch is the one going 'come, come now', fobbing himself off as reasonable. The one who should make everyone's skin crawl.
But as the democrats continue to receive bad press, Americans know what's happening in this moment; and can't conceive of a democratic government when all the dems get is criticism - hardly a party one has confidence in.
But did you see excerpts from trump's speech at the Naval Academy???? It was humiliating. He is incapable of being profound, intelligent and serious. He only knows crude and profane.
People can suspect you're a fool...or you can open your mouth and leave no doubt!!!!
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Trump spoke at West Point. Vance spoke at Annapolis.
Among other hypocracies. Trump advised the cadets not to become ‘yes men’, a most curious remark by a man who has surrounded himself with lickspittles.
James, his speech was quite something and I missed this advice. Trophy wives (and he should know) etc. is what hit the news. I also liked nobody wanted to join the military under Biden to an entire class that began under Biden.
I watched that Trump speech and a snip-it of Vance's address. In Trump's case, if he had ended his address at fifteen minutes, it would have been a decent commencement speech. 💡
Of course, the Trumpanzee had to go rogue. My apologies to chimps; can not resist the pun. 🫣 The snip-it of Vance left me feeling, again, that he is one articulate yet very angry and truculent dude. 😱 Yes, I am biassed. 🤫
PS. I like that word "lickspittle". It matches "toadies" as one of my fave words in English. Of course, in Australia we'd say "arselickers" but, then again, we're known for our vulgarity.
The Left, Right, Media, and heaven knows who else needs the Democratic Party to be destroyed and have been trying to do that for years. Between sane washing DJT and slamming Democrats the media constantly obfuscate the reality, which is the only way to start to defeat fascism is to elect Democrats. It's that simple. As someone said (I wish I remember who it was) that Russia doesn't control the Democratic Party like they do other entities. Think about that. Then pay attention to how the media with few exceptions continue to sabotage and undermine the Party. This latest hit job against Biden is but one example of what they're doing.
The real problem here is our ossified binary political party system itself. In the midst of this constant drumbeat of Democrats vs Republicans, far too many of us can forget that we need to think of ourselves first of being Americans. Only in doing that do we come to see the real danger of TRumpism, which is not so much anti-Democratic or pro-Republican (it’s actually neither), but instead anti-democratic.
2026 may be too late. 😱 The June 14th parade for Trump's birthday provides a fine starting point for mass resistance. 🤞🏼 I wish I had the dough to two single-propeller planes to fly over the Mall and to unfurl two banners with the following messages. 🖕
> "Come on, people, laugh Trump off the parade!" 😂
> "Happy early Juneteenth, Mr President!" ✌🏼
Between the derision and poking Trump's racism, the Trumpanzee would go ape-scheiße. 🥳
Hi, Kathleen - You make a good point, but the Democratic Party doesn't help by making so many counterproductive decisions going all the way back to the 1990s when it deliberately turned its back on the working class. Now we have Chuck Schumer refusing to turn his leadership position over to someone who actually wants to fight, and young firebrands such as AOC and David Hogg being held down by the Democrats' ruling gerontocracy.
And the media - or what little is left of it - always maintains a double-standard when it comes to the two parties. Whataboutism is rampant.
The very saddest part of the ongoing push against JB and that history is that there us enough truth in it to fuel endless whatsboutism. No reasonable person can doubt that tRump and his acolytes are orders of magnitude WORSE, but it has become harder to fight the Rs based on fundamental principle where we’d be better to hold unquestioned high ground. The D party structure has sown the seeds to expose weakness wrt its own adherence to democratic principles and open, truthful dialogue. We must EXPECT that the R shock troops will rally toward D exposure. Liberals must take this issue away by accepting it, cleansing the stench by fixing it openly and re-committing to rational, honest and open democratic process.
Hopefully, at 83 it isn't dementia, but I am seeing the Bernie/AOC Anti Fascism rallies, and the other rallies, tell us Americans can definitely conceive of a democratic government. "You can fool some of the people some of the time. You can fool some of the people all of the time. You can't fool all of the people all of the time."
A big challenge for the Democratic Party right now is that the Party has been controlled by older careerists many of whom should have stepped aside long ago to allow the rising generations to assume leadership. As a sixty-eight year old, I must say that it is no longer our world.
Absolutely, Ned! They are trying real hard to strangle David Hogg, a young progressive. He is pushing their buttons, rightfully so. We have too many oldsters in Congress. Many are revered on the Democratic side but they must step aside and let others continue their work. Here’s an interesting list of all of the people nearing 80 and beyond: https://www.axios.com/2025/05/21/congress-ages-gerontocracy-members-gerry-connolly
I loved the trophy wife part. The man describes himself perfectly and can’t even see it. I wondered if all those cadets were MAGA. Will the new West Point even allow anyone who doesn’t swear fealty to Trump?
I do not think the Cadets were M.A.G.A. at all. During the first fifteen minutes, Trump gave a decent speech and drew rather loud cheers. Then he jumped the rails and the applause thinned progressively as the ordeal wore on. It seemed like polite applause at best.
Jocelyn, have you known of any rule, policies or laws this administration had respect ? Do you have any doubt about their determination to stay in power no matter what. After all, they are fascist to the core.
Ricardo, I do worry about this. If we do, however, the Rs are going to be hurt. People who voted for death star are already seeing how that has hurt them personally...which is what it is going to take because so many cannot see beyond themselves to the common good.
As usual you are 💯 % right Michele. But hiding within your comment is the real problem, of course their voters can't see beyond themselves to the common good when they can't see themselves voting against their own interests and they don't see themselves as looser.
And the current administration can't count only on those voters to winn the next midterm election. Also it's in the open how unpopular the policies being implemented and the methods used are .
No sane political party would act like this if they expect to winn and stay in power legally. They would act like that only if they don't fear to lose and the only way for them not to lose is to not running any election or rigging them as they do in Russia, Venezuela and others .
Things seem grim. I remain optimistic because I have no choice.
"If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other."
“The [500-year] Republic had in reality ceased to exist long before the establishment of the [Roman] Empire. The interval was filled by ferocious, corrupt, and bloody factions. There was, indeed, a small but patriotic body of eminent individuals who struggled in vain to correct abuses and to restore the government to its . . . purity, and who sacrificed their lives in their endeavors to accomplish and object so virtuous and noble.”
--John C. Calhoun, ‘A Disquisition on Government’; 1848.
Those mid-terms are 17 months away. Given that A) Our Dem "leaders" are still reeling and not fighting back, B) The repubs are running over our country like a giant bulldozer, and C) SCOTUS is tiptoeing towards freeing trump from all restraints, there's a really good chance that there won't be any mid-terms or it'll be a "for show" election straight out of Putin's playbook.
Though I will not last very long, I am ready for a civil war or wide-spread civil violence. 💔I can barely hit the side of a barn with a fire-arm; 😳fortunately, from what I have seen, these storm-trumpers (thank you, Jimmy Kimmel) are as wide as the side of a barn. 😉
At 74, I probably wouldn't last long either Ned, but I'm willing to give it a go. This country has been good to me and I can't just watch it taken away by a hate filled sociopath.
I admire and envy your optimism about continuing elections. I’m not so sure the mid-terms will even be held at the rate we’re going; or if held will be legitimate given all the effort to disenfranchise voters, subject us to AI manufactured information, etc. So far, this administration has ignored the increasing discontent and protests of voters and polls, the courts. Since Trump doesn’t seem to be running anything - except his mouth and his pen - the focus and ridicule directed at Trump keeps Vance, Miller and the other monsters implementing Project 25 out of the fray. I don’t really know where this nightmare will end, but I don’t think it will be in the midterms.
You're so right. Trump is corrupt as hell and full of himself but he's an intellectual featherweight who we'll miss if Vance becomes president. Saw as much as I could stand of JD's interview in Rome with Ross Douthat. What an evil, sanctimonious prick. Also, he's very much Thiel's man and Peter seems to be in thrawl of "end-times capitalism."
Sanctimonious Prick. I rather like the sound of that. What I loathe about the prick the most is his utter phoniness. Not an honest bone in that flabby, diet Mountain Dew-swilling body. Changed his name (more than once), changed his religion, dons eyeliner, stands next to Kamala in debate making this absurd little downward sweep gesture with his arm, plays the role of Wormtongue, kicking Zelensky in the face. Every bit of the shtick as genuine as a three dollar bill, every gyration a practiced skit of fluttery and falsehood, every detail screaming 'look at me, I'm pretending to be something I'm not.'
America used to recognize snake-oil salesmen, even Americans in little towns did. What happened to their descendants that they can't see through this?
Now do YALL understand why I called for the once good generals to enact a temporary military takeover because we have already lost to an authoritarian state oh yes we have. It’s over. We may pretend it’s not but it is. And listen up; authoritarians don’t easily give up power. One exclusion is Brazil. They got Bolsonaro out before he took over the military. I have diminishing confidence that our military will eventually save us. You know that constitution bullshit? We the People bullshit? It’s over. Let’s protest for the bell of it. I’ll be out on June 14 at my state capital.
My question is: how do the wives and children of these politicians - in the white house or in congress - tolerate their husbands' and fathers' behavior ,using the most vile language, upholding obvious lies, gloating over the tearing apart of government, the constitution, rule of law, taking away food and health care from the vulnerable????
I had hoped that Second-Lady Vance would lay down the law to her rageing husband. I guess not. I wish Mmes Trump and Vance would just walk out on their inferior halves, for the sake of their children and for the sake of the country.
I sense that you are right on the money, there, Michele. He is too intellectual and educated for them. Yet he may pull in traditional Republicans currently disaffected.
No, at least in the case of 'Vance', Mr whatever consciously changed his surname out of respect for his grandmother. A good reason; I just like bashing the guy, I suppose.
I recently saw an interview with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Asked if we are already in an authoritarian moment, she answered that authoritarianism is typically on a continuum, but she agreed we are on that continuum. She also said that America will never get back to business as usual. Not very uplifting.
I, for one, don't want to go back to business as usual! I want better than usual. I want money out of politics. I want free and fair elections, and an end to gerrymandering. I want a tax system that makes the wealthy pay their fair share, and can pay down our debt. I want Medicare for all. I want government of, by, and for THE PEOPLE!
So do I but it’s too late. It began innocently enough with a few little mistakes and those mistakes morphed into the gigantic one today. To review: Nixon — nope. Reagan: hum…. Nope destroyed so much of his big government policy. HW Bush? Clarance Thomas and the golf War stationing American troops in the Arabia leading to 9/11. (And guess who allowed Thomas oh you got that right.) W Bush appointing Roberts plus and insuring corporate financing of elections. The New Guilded Age of the MAGA movement and authoritarianism. Did I forget something?
I'm sure she meant a country of laws, that follows the constitution, obeys court rulings, does not disappear innocent people, or gut the entire government, etc.
MisTBlu, I once called J.D, Vance an odious opportunist with no redeeming qualities, but I like your description of him much better. Evil, sanctimonious prick has such a nice ring to it.
Thank you for posting that link, MisTBlu. It was an eye popping read for me. I've been wondering for a long time now...who are these people? where did they come from? Do they seriously believe what they are saying? Sadly, I do think some do, and clearly a lot have been swept up in the "end games" belief system. Hunger Games nihilism. I now have a much better appreciation of the history and breadth of the danger we're in. It's more terrifying than I had thought.
I'm working up to a comparison to Alice in Wonderland, where she stops the Queen of Hearts' rage tweets, I mean beheadings, by saying out loud "You're nothing but a pack of cards." These f__kwads are nothing but a pack of hypocritical cowards or sanctimonious pricks as you so beautifully put it, MisT.
Fobbing? Oh my, such a new wonderful word..haven’t even heard or read what fobbing actually means but it sounds in my mind like …oh perfect! LOL!
Which brings me to certainty ….the minds of far too many people I suspect as ‘possessed’ are ruining AND/as well as … running our country.
Basic boil down:
No matter what ‘stance’ I/a person believes , if that is challenged, …is ‘out to get us/crazy/wrong’. Usually and …Dear Lord, you gave us 1) choice 2) the bigger brain 3) a set of rules ( guardrails) 4) and your ‘son’ who walked The Path ( who was killed) but willing ‘to die for’ the principle. So, years later even perhaps at ‘some university’ or WHATEVER..someone else has [evolution/a different ‘reasoning’ and so that is evil/wrong/kill it. And, with this bigger brain the pr…pri..prin…principle is lost/avoided?/deemed ‘wrong’.
That being: Regardless what/how/different your walk/talk/color/race/belief … IF YOU ARE a loving, caring,sharing,helping others manage,guiding others the same,patient,tolerant …regardless of the whatever’s person …I am going to say ..you’re a great friend,leader( person,in fact ,person of principle).
I’d ’to die for’ a piece of cheesecake right now..great breakfast idea. Just pointing out ad infinitum ridiculous ruses, sorta like ‘lipstick on a pig’ or ‘if it walks like a duck…’ it’s a Donald…?
The history books are so ‘full of it’😂 …we’ve been here a hundred times realizing OPPs made a mistake let’s correct that,new law, new mind set, new beginning…
..and along the way comes a brilliant writer ( thank you Heather) two or three or ’fourever’ ‘principle is as principle does’ if it’s loving,kind,helps the wholesomeness of whatever …I’m pretty amazed, impressed, and probably joining .
Otherwise..probably NOT!
Hoping your Memorial weekend is fun, relaxing, safe, enjoyed. Thanks to all who keep the lights on and the most vulnerable cared for.
Very interesting. I have dry, irritated eyes from radial keratotomy surgery. I’ve had punctal plugs for years. On my last visit my ancient Opthamologist changed the silicone plugs that were causing more irritation to collagen plugs. They are more comfortable. He also said I have eyelashes in the inner corner of my eye that could be removed. Unfortunately he didn’t do anything to remove them.
I was thinking he had those dark lines tattooed so he didn’t have to ever reapply. Imagine being caught without. I’ve never seen pictures of him when he was younger.
Trump is Project 2025's useful idiot. We know where the power actually lies, and he's the gullible, persuadable fool they're using to promote their insidious goals.
I was brought up in a Catholic grade school and the Sisters of merciless Mercy taught us to use reason and logic as our lifelong guides. So I soon reasoned that there was no God. They eventually expelled me.
Bill, I was spared the Catholic grade school experience although I lived in a neighborhood with a Catholic school and a large percentage of Catholic families. Every so often, the Catholic school would try to compete with the public school either athletically or academically and they always lost at everything. They were so bad that after a few years they quit competing.
Each year, a few more Catholic educated kids would come to the public school, and not to be mean, but they always ended up in the "dumb" class.
Oh contrar. We were ahead academically by at least 2 years over public school kids. When I registered at the local public school, they were all idiots sorry to say.
Bill Katz, I am intrigued by your experience. I have heard that echoed before. It makes me realize that religious school advocates always assume the religion part is what results in their academic standards being higher than public school. I don’t believe that. I believe it was stricter classroom expectations -( which could be cruelly harsh in the wrong hands), smaller classroom size, and they did not have to bother with academically challenged students. They just expelled them. Public schools must perform under more challenging realities. What do you think?
Worked as a school psychologist concurrently in the public and parochial settings, and I agree with you. The parochial curriculum was easier, but because they had the option of refusing admission/expelling students, overall adherence to classroom expectations was very good. Meanwhile, academic goals were higher at my working-class town's public schools, but the teachers had to instruct all sorts, with many laws restricting what constituted discipline.
One could argue this on several points. The catholic school kids were mostly lower middle class to middle class and not too many impoverished although that said there were likely working class included. In the public school where I registered there was a large non English-speaking segment. By grade 7, my teacher had a thing for space rocketry and had us copy notes off the blackboard — in 7th grade. I only know what I experienced and when I moved into public school system, they were behind or maybe the private school was simply ahead academically speaking. I’m not doing a study just stating what I experienced
MLRGRMI...(bingo) NO NON-SENSE prevailed. If the word "institution" conjures up fear in ones mind, then Catholic Schools fit right in. Religious academies, not so much. Public schools? Sorry, your book report on Capt Underpants is full of miss-spelings. zttzzzzzttttt
GJ and Bill, at my Catholic high school, we were so far ahead of the public schools, I'd been in college for two years before I had to start studying again. 97% of us graduated from a four year university.
Unlike public schools, our Catholic school history curriculum also introduced us to (1) the world's religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Toaism, Christianity, and nature based faiths and (2) the different geography and climate on different continents. In college I noticed public school students were totally ignorant about geography and religion and attributed everything, good and bad, to leaders.
My education through middle school was in Catholic school in the Caribbean. (To be fair, I'm an old fart now). We returned to the mainland during my freshman year, and I was about two years ahead of my public school peers. I could have graduated at 16, but I stayed for a "goof off" year, taking what I wanted to for fun.
I think when and where one was in Catholic school matters a great deal.
When I was in 8th grade the Catholic schools in Omaha had a math contest. They invited one public school - the one I attended. 4 seventh graders and 4 eighth graders from each school competed. All four of our two person teams beat every Catholic school team. I'm guessing the parochial school system in Omaha wasn't very academically challenging.
I started teaching in public school in the early 70s just when someone decided kids didn't need to learn history and geography--they needed to learn social studies--as a result many kids had no idea about what were our states or our history but they did know what were the crops of Samoa. Also, the powers decided there was one way to teach reading. I went into special ed. so I could use the skills I had learned to help kids.
You are half correct. The reason you saw the "dumb" students is because those students did not meet the academic standards of the Catholic (Private) schools. You were seeing those who failed to maintain good grades or could not meet the challenges. Because the Catholic (Private) schools can simply let the "dumb" students go, the average performance is higher. My Catholic high school required passage of an entrance exam further limiting the student body to a certain academic level. Public schools have no choice but to accept every student. That said, that does not by any means mean one can not get a good education in a public school, it gets means the average may be higher. It raises the question of whether a private school necessarily means one gets a better education or simply that the average is higher and therefore interpreted as better?
I had 12 years of Catholic education, including five of Jesuit training. I can remember to this day a Jesuit telling our religion class we need not interpret the New Testament literally, but as as metaphor. That began my journey down the road to critical thinking and concluding there is no evidence of a supreme being.
I had 12 years of Catholic education in Florida with both lay teachers and Sisters of St Joseph and Irish priests fresh off the boat from Ireland. I think we were considered “missionary “ territory. I wish I did have a Jesuit education. But it was a good education academically. This was in the mid to late sixties. We did not have co-ed classes and to take Physics, another female student and I had to attend that class in the “boy’s school” across the street. Only the girls took Home-Ec! I was one of the students on “scholarship” along with 2 of my siblings (because my parents couldn’t afford the tuition).
Despite the Catholicism I credit the Jesuits with instilling critical thinking. An interesting juxtaposition. My school was all boys. I'm not sure it's the best way to socialize young men.
I had 11 1/4 years of Catholic education. I know where you are coming from. It took me over 50 years but I left the Church too. It was a right to life issue. The Church is prolife when it comes to birthcontrol and abortion but silent of gun ownership and gun regulation. I became sick of seeing candles being lit for murdered school children.
I worked with and traveled with some Sisters of Mercy—they made more sense to me than many priests and certainly our then bishop—and carried out Jesus instruction to love one another better than anyone. (Having said that, I know there can be stinkers among sisters—I had one in grade school … different order, though.)
How did you reach that conclusion by reason alone? Thomas Henry Huxley, Darwin's 'bulldog', coined the term 'agnosticism' to distinguish between what is knowable and what isn't. I've personally never got any further than that employing reason. How does reason distinguish between the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum theory and the Many Worlds Theory?
Some of my favorite quotes on the subject (I have many more.):
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
-Epicurus
"We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
-Richard Dawkins
"It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so."
There are various logical issues, as Bill says. For example, concerning omnipotence: can God create an object so heavy that even He cannot move it? Even so, short of the discovery of a Babel Fish I don't see how the existence of a supernatural being is capable of being definitively ruled out, logically or otherwise.
"What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof."
-Christopher Hitchens
I've said this many times before: although I don't believe there's a god, I can't definitively say there isn't. So I suppose I'm an agnostic, which I define as an atheist hedging his bets.
By reason of there being no empirical evidence of a god. The lack thereof plus the false origins of there being one led my youthful self to conclude that the ancients misinterpreted thunder and lightning as evidence.
Bill Having taught Similarities and Differences between Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, I did not identify a single ‘god.’ Indeed, Karen Armstrong, in her HISTORY OF GOD, points out that human worship of ‘powers/gods’ commenced about 30,000 BCE.
The linkage of pharaohs and ‘gods’ commenced about 3,000 BCE. In the Middle East, less in Asia, ‘gods’ were often linked more to power than the ‘spiritual.’ Barbara Tuchman’s account of Renaissance popes in FOLLIES OF HISTORY is light on morality and heavy on frivolity.
I agree with Eleanor Roosevelt in my belief of a ‘Supreme Being.’ Who or what she/he is remains a personal puzzlement.
Wow. Hats off to you. 30,000 years after humans shimmied down from trees. I’ve grown to pick and choose my interests. For example, I have no interest in sports. Except running, perhaps. I don’t do God study. I do like song composition. History is fascinating. When I stated my compassion towards Muslims, it’s because they are being slaughtered throughout the Middle East.
It’s not of any interest for me. Im not interested in religion. I believe religion is the bane of human existence. Further, I don’t particularly like Christians. Or Jews for that matter. Or Hindi. Since Muslims are so persecuted, I have much more kindness in my heart for them.
Not so long ago I was virtually kicked out of an open mic sponsored by a Methodist church. They just didn’t like my story telling. I once did a stand-up and my opening line was, “God made a terrible mistake allowing the wrong primate branch up the evolutionary trail.” OMG, no pun I intended ,I thought I was keeping it clean. No one laughed and I received a call from the pastor the next morning wanting to see me. I envisioned what Mark Twain would have said and I’m sure he would have laughed.
But quantum theory dispels classical modes of reason, including empiricism. What does empiricism mean when an observer cannot be detached from an event being observed (or alternatively when that event occurs only in one of a multitude of parallel universes)? Do you see the risks of solipsism even attempting this?
Have you considered the empirical evidence for the various scientific theories about how the universe came into being (or whether it has always existed)? I have found there's not much to be enouraged about there.
I'm not trying to convert you here, Bill, from your atheism. In fact even the word 'atheism' is rather loaded because it implies that theism is a default philosophy or belief - probably a vestige of man's innate religiosity, or spirituality, if you like. But one needs to recognise religion as a phenomenon, for good or for bad, and a central aspect of the human experience.
I sidestep all of that, Russell, by distinguishing between religion and deism. I'm an agnostic, because whether by science or faith, I don't know if there's a deity. I don't think it's a thing anyone can know because of the vastness of the concept of god. But there certainly is religion, and whichever one you follow, it has been responsible for war, slavery, ignorance, and a host of other ills.
Bill! And.., "I" would utter, that any conversation to the contrary is quite frankly, pee-ing into the wind, for they hold the reference book that can prove or refute anything. Who(??) in hell wrote that anyway? Hell, being a convoluted state of mind.., but who wrote it? Some scribe with a hammer and pick taking dictation? Who? Or was it downloaded to some pdf in some room in the pyramids? When.., huh?
I tell another story in my stand up. In 4th grade, Mrs Henigan put me under her desk for talking in class. Really. This part happened. The next part is imaginary. I go on to say how delighted I was to be so close to you know what since coming out of my mommy. And so me thinks what could she do if I reached up and touched it? Scream? Not do anything? Or call up Father Emerling the principle. “Father, Billy Katz just touched it what should I do.? Father Emerling: “Mrs Henigan you march little Billy Katz right doe to my office so I can put him under my desk.”
Christians can’t handle that one at all. I once told that bit but first asked the audience if there were any Catholics in the audience. I sensed they were all Baptist and they were. Black Baptists in fact. No one laughed so they were showing support to fellow Christians I got it.
yeah but Trump depends on his lone super power of connecting directly with his base. Vance's toolbox of people skills is virtually empty and he is not well-liked. If Trump were to keel from a stroke or a heart attack, Vance "might" capture the MAGAs--but only for a short time. I doubt Vance could stand in front of a class of West Pointers and spew out volleys of lies and venom for an HOUR, as Trump can do. He doesn't have that sing-song delivery that makes thinking people gag, but apparently fascinates and mesmerizes his (MAGA) listeners.
I once thought this - Vance is deeply unpopular and a non-starter among the MAGA cult. But we need to follow the money, and his being in the Peter Thiel crowd will bring all the other billionaires and foreign influence seekers on board. He'll lay his "hillbilly" background on thick.
Anyone who watches a true self-defined "hillbilly" ---Tennessee Brando--knows that Vance is not one. Nor is "Kid Rock" or the Duck Dynasty family. Brando gets nearly enraged when he talks about them.
He's quite a force of common sense. Many of us here watch him on the Meidas Touch network.
One of my best buds at Washington and Lee University, hailing from the Blue Mountain State, detests Vance, less for his politics, than for his making all of Appalachia all about J.D. Name-of-the week.
My friend maintains that most of Appalachia is like the rest of us; that J.D.'s family may be screwed up but that does not mean all of Appalachia is. A better book on the tragedy of Appalachia is 'Demon Copperhead' by Barbara Kingsolver.
His hillbillyness, dubious as it is, won't get him very far, Maureen. Even with all the money in the world behind him he isn't likeable. Exhibit 1: Musk.
Perfect characterization of Trump’s “sing-song delivery.” It’s simultaneously soporific and menacing. He sometimes varies that with his “comic growly voice,” as in “I’m gonna let [RFK Jr.] go wild on the food and the vaccines [etc.].” That passes for humor with him and his crowd. The whole act is as repellent as it is dangerous and destructive of sane government and common sense.
We failed to be careful Ned, and we also failed to be forceful and failed to be off the book confronting what we knew was coming. This is only the beginning of the nightmare. Vance is next in line.
I did not Ned but I'm getting it anyway. Somehow we need to resolve this situation and if so, learn the lesson to not repeat this nightmare again. They are persistent and have all the money they need to survive for the next time, we have to get off the book and what's proper or not and fly lower, not as low as they fly but lower till we pass all the laws required to guarantee that democracy will survive. Even if our actions don't look democratic. It will be only temporary.
Why is it those lucky enough to have the benefit of an Ivy League education are particularly eager to denigrate that education and damage or destroy their universities?
Vance did his undergraduate work at Ohio State, and it would be interesting to hear what kind of student he was there. His law degree is from Yale, which he has in common with both Clintons and Robert Reich, but also with Clarence Thomas. Seems like Vance and Thomas fueled their resentment there as did William F. Buckley.
I have wondered about this resentment, too. I suspect there may be a feeling by Vance, Alito, and Thomas that the traditional Yalers said implicitly -- or, more likely that the three mentioned here inferred incorrectly -- "Welcome to Yale, Harvard, etc. Delighted to have you study with us but you will NEVER be one of us."
Yes, Vance with his beautiful wife and gorgeous three children are projecting to the folks who only watch Fox and trump's commercials, the American dream - that BTW will soon be unachievable for anyone but the bro's
Maybe, Vance has an awkwardness about him. He's not very charismatic. Peter Theil put Vance on the ballot. The orange blight didn't want Vance and he seems to ignore him most of the time.
I don’t think Vance has the charismatic appeal to MAGA that Trump does. And am not sure those closest to Trump think much of him. If possible Trump wants to keep it in the family.
Ned, you are spot on. Each of us must be aware as the Heritage plan unfolds piece by piece. Listen and watch as the players behind the curtain implement the plan to cripple our government and Democracy. As Trump's mental and physical abilities decline more, the news and social media are obsessed with his reality show that is only a cover. I'm not saying that what he says or does isn't important and destructive as well, I see it as a distraction that enables the real leaders of this devious and sadistic movement to move forward in front of our eyes.
Although I was a Bush Republican and once sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, I can not understand this desire to destroy the machinery of republican governance.
"Poised" is an odd word ever to use in reference to Vance, Ned. JD is too awkward and unpopular to win a national election, or to sway the Kangaroo Kabinet to invoke the 25th. Of course he'd be heinous in power, but in what world does he have what it takes to get there?
Vance is more dangerous because he is intelligent. No one could reasonably say that Trump is intelligent, or ever has been. Whatever others may have seen as intelligence in business never looked at his history of failed businesses and refusal to pay for work done on his properties. Trump’s cognitive difficulties are increasingly obvious; the most recent example being his commencement address at West Point. The “Golden Age “ will never happen under his leadership. It should be more correctly characterized as the “Iron Pyrite Age”.
You got that right Laura DunnART; they will not win.
First, the human context; there are six thousand, eight hundred (6,800) foreign students whose careers and lives of the students are at stake along with the potential losses back in the nations of origin.
Legal matters are under federal court control. Savy Judge ALLISON BURROUGHS did not merely grant a "TRO". The Judge made specific findings on the record of BOTH "substantial and irreparable harm".
The "Status" hearing before Judge Burroughs is coming up quickly on 5/27/25. Soon I believe, the Court's case file will be stuffed with foreign students' declarations under oath to cement the entry of Preliminary Injunction on 5/2925. That's only in five (5) calendar days!
SPOILER ALERT:
"The preliminary Injunction is GRANTED". Signed AB.
A Very CORRUPT Bill would NOT Have Passed the House Under REASONABLE Circumstances
Representatives Who Did Not Vote
1. Andrew Garbarino (R- NY): Missed the vote after inadvertently falling asleep during an all-night legislative session.
New York Post
2. Gerry Connolly (D-VA): Passed away on May 21, 2025, a day before the vote.
3. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ): Absent due to health issues.
4. Frederica Wilson (D-FL): Absent; specific reason not publicly disclosed.
5. Brittany Pettersen (D- CO): Absent due to maternity leave.
6. Kevin Mullin (D-CA): Absent due to recovery from knee surgery
BECAUSE this was a crucial bill that would affect the entire country for decades, it should have been treated with SERIOUSNESS and:
1. Should have been given ample consideration under normal business hours, NOT in the middle of the night - NOT with “marathon hours” that would be difficult for a very young person to focus when in fact the majority are elderly.
Sleep is a necessity. Lack of sleep can cause health issues.
2. Should be afforded the SAME consideration as in a presidential election, where the voter is allowed to have an advocate submit THEIR vote when they are unable to be physically present for the vote.
THREE VOTES which would have PREVENTED this bill from passing the House were NOT COUNTED because those Representatives could not be present.
(Did Speaker Johnson hurry & hold this vote so quickly BECAUSE he KNEW Petersen (D) would be on pregnancy leave and Mullin (D) was to have knee surgery?)
3. Should allow reasonable time for the Congress (Representatives & Senators) to:
• READ the bill,
• ANALYZE the bill,
• DISCUSS the bill,
• DEBATE the bill and
• AMEND the bill.
You ONLY want to rush a bill through with a vote in the middle if the night when you DON’T want Congress to KNOW what is REALLY in the bill - how it could AFFECT their constituents, our country and our democracy. OR that it allows President Trump to be a DICTATOR. (See below).
That’s exactly what happened in this 1,116 page bill. Maybe they ought to take a vote on how many of those Representatives actually READ the bill in its ENTIRETY! If they hadn’t read the bill, that is lack of “due diligence.” Therefore they neglected their sworn duty as a Representative by not doing their required “homework.”
According to ChatGPT, to read this entire bill it would take:
• an average reader 22 hours and 20 minutes; and
• a fast reader 18 hours.
Were the House Representatives afforded proper time to READ this bill let alone analyze, discuss, debate and amend it??
“BURIED IN THE BILL
A small addition to the budget bill House GOPers are pushing upends the traditional balance of power by forbidding courts to charge Trump and other government officials with contempt for defying court orders.
The bill also blocks court-ordered national injunctions to prevent potential illegal acts posing imminent harm.
*** With the SCOTUS ruling giving Trump immunity, this small part of the bill completes his quest to become America's first dictator.” ***
You can use the 3 dots in the upper right corner to select "edit," this morning I ended up using it 3 times on a nine word comment.
I'd have never made it as tech writer without a computer, editor, and proof reader, with that team I lost count of the pages I created and they corrected, but the biggest single manual set was 3,750 pages.
Edit: Actually it was ten words. I'm glad I wasn't making mistakes this often back then.,
Looking at the situation from the perspective of an international student, would I still want to come to Harvard with such an uncertain future? Even if the courts protect Harvard's right to bring me to the U.S. to study, how will I be protected if I am arrested on spurious charges? Would I commit to coming to study anywhere in the U.S. if I can choose another country--Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, if I'm limited to English-speaking countries--with an excellent higher ed system and a less precarious environment? I'm not worried about Harvard's ability to fill a class with excellent students, but is their currently rich multicultural ambience threatened if many international students decide to give Harvard, or any U.S. university, for that matter, a pass?
I'm afraid of a modern exodus of our own best and brightest, along with all the others (including many of the best and most willing workers), this administration is trying to force out.
Where will the best teachers go, if so many of the best students are forced to leave?
One of the girl's in my daughter's class in rural Maine attended medical school in Israel because of the cost and not because it was easier to get accepted. My doctor in FL immigrated to the US from Columbia and was an amazing doctor and help hundreds of Spanish speaking patients.
The brain drain from US colleges and universities will only make it harder for businesses to hire qualified candidates to build the products Trump wants to bring back to the US to make.
Guess I don't get it GJ. "Other" countries are happily making all this crap (hi-tech/lo-tech/dollar-store).., why close their factories down? Don't their people like those jobs? Don't they turn out a good product? I didn't go to Hahverd, but I just don't see the picture.
Jim, as you know, America has been the lighthouse for the worlds best and brightest. Just like the lighthouses along the coast here in Maine. T-Rump has pulled the plug and is busy destroying the fresnel lens. So, sick.
In 1913, Ford hired more than 52,000 men to keep a workforce of only 14,000. New workers required a costly break-in period, making matters worse for the company. Also, some men simply walked away from the line to quit and look for a job elsewhere. Then the line stopped and production of cars halted. The increased cost and delayed production kept Ford from selling his cars at the low price he wanted. Drastic measures were necessary if he was to keep up this production.
Pay attention this time to see what really happens when you get rid of hard to replace workers.
He should have been arrested before the end of January 2021. He should have been arrested as soon as we saw the photo of top secret documents in his Mar a Lago guest bathroom.
If Biden or Obama had done 1% of what the Orange Menace has done what would the GOP MAGA Nazis being saying?
Could the Crypto Dinner be his ultimate Achilles heel? There was nothing about that feast of fools that related to a president's official duties, right?
I saw that point made, saying that Leavitt tossed him under the bus by saying he did it in his private time, thus it was not official presidential duties.
" ... without an Achilles heal", I'm not certain about that Ricardo. Don't think they were completely submerged in the River Styx. Regardless, they do have have many, many weak points.
Your options are to love America watch what’s happening enjoy all the winning like the other 75 million or more Americans that are doing exactly that stop believing everything you read here unless you go, in fact, check it and see the other side of the story as well because you don’t see it here
What’s the matter with you? James isn’t enough they tried to kill him three times. Three years eight months more to go. He’s only just begun sit back relax and enjoy the ride.
Thank you Betsy Smith for your penetrating questions:
Uncertain future? Exactly. That is one reason I will attempt to download the foreign students' written declarations submitted to the Court unless they are protected. Judge Burroughs, all Judges protect witnesses.
As you may know, New Zealand (NZ) ) has a thriving upper education infrastructure on the South Island (Dunedin) that supports foreign students.
Back to Harvard, my understanding is the University's endowment is north of fifty (50) billion dollars. Harvard has been around in 1 form or another since the 18th Century. We have two (2) pending Harvard cases now & the litigation has only just started.
I will be taking a deep dive into the mushrooming record. More later.
I made a pitch to Substack's Inc's lawyers to go straight to SF Superior Court.
All of your TOU contract violations that I allege have been reported & will be used as Exhibits whether at JAMS mediation, SF Superior Court orJAMS Mediation then to SF Superior Court.
Betsy, Hong Kong University has posted publicly that they will take any and all international students who are kicked out of the USA or prevented from attending their universities of choice, at the same level of tuition or scholarship that was offered them at an American institution. Now, 20 years ago this would have been a terrific opportunity (Hong Kong was still a British protectorate) because HKU was an innovative and exciting place to be. It is now a former shell of itself, dominated by a committee of terrified government shills who answer to Beijing. So this is actually China hoping to take advantage of the derangement of this maladministration and its Felon in Chief.
I am personally less concerned about the issue of foreign students attending US schools, and much more concerned about the potential exodus of American students who choose to study overseas due to the threats to academic freedom that are becoming worse every day under this administration.
I am not thrilled at all that Harvard uses 1/4 of its available admissions for foreign students, especially when it gets a significant amount of funding via public moneys to support student financial aid. If there were no public financial aid being used to support Harvard, then they should be free to admit anyone they choose. But given that a substantial amount of their annual budgets come from federal funding, they should be focused on educating American students, not foreign ones.
I personally think that education is not limited by what students are taught in classrooms but that the interactions among people--students, faculty, staff, workers of all kinds--in a higher ed setting is what makes people's experiences at Harvard so valuable, often life-changing. I have seen enormous changes in people's attitudes and understanding maybe in small part from what I taught them, but mostly from what they learned from each other. And I never taught at Harvard.
Well, to add to my comment above, I am strongly opposed to governmental funding of ANY private institution like Harvard, just as I am opposed to governmental funding of private elementary, secondary and parochial schools. There should be NO public funding going into private schools, for any reason whatsoever. If you want to be a private school, charge your students what you need to charge or get enough support from your donors (which should ALSO NOT be tax deductible.)
We need to stop funding private organizations that are not definable as charitable organizations because public funding being used to support private organizations is a drain on the moneys needed to support public and charitable organizations.
Bryan My roses song was sung by Gene Kelly and Dennis O’Connor in Singing in the Rain. I only do short rhymes such as Trump’s ‘America First’ will become ‘America’s Worse’ and Bone Spur Donald at West Point was perverse rather than diverse.
I agree with you, John Spence! I think our new slogan should be: “ Simply No ! “ . Lat night I watched a PBS special documentary by the Latino actor John Leguizamo about the history and contributions of Latinos. So often I said “THAT’S the spirit we need going forward!” Simply No! Our worth, Our intelligence, Our contributions, Our History will NOT be denied. For anyone wanting a defiant, rich, beautifully crafted history lesson, watch : https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/american-historia-the-untold-history-of-latinos/
And you know now why would the administration is trying to defund PBS and NPR haven’t been fair-minded public voices in decades. I hope you heard the testimony of the lady that basically called Trump the devil and she was heading up the organization
You’re absolutely right. They won’t win. At the moment we depend on 3 things. W rely on ourselves, all of us with our multiplicity of views with open minds and hearts. We rely on the law and the dutiful judiciary that upholds it. And we rely on the people across the nation, the vast majority who are being disenfranchised by a coalition of small, well organized groups that do not and cannot represent them.
White Dominionist males, MAGA, so-called Freedom Party, and the Fascist underbelly of society are and will always remain a minority. They have failed on every front but one, the last poorly understood election. Just now, they pass bills in the dark of night. Bills that refer vaguely to “unfinished” sections. Bills that have zero bipartisan support and despite the slimmest of majorities. Bills that despite their size and tremendous scope of impact on the nation have been pushed through without debate and in unprecedented haste.
The scofflaw Administration advances its secret agenda by secret means and leaves no record of the process or those involved. Although not constitutionally a law making body they enforce orders without standing to do so. The enforcers characteristically claim, “We’re not thugs. We’re just doing what we’re told.” I am only surprised they don’t give the straight arm salute and click heels in that moment.
Do not lose heart. Don’t imagine for a moment that in a nation of 100s of millions of people, any large majority supports any of this usurpation. At the end of the day we must stand with, join hands and unite all Americans. Do trust that both history and the future are on our side.
Roberts was wrong to call this a second American revolution. It is a criminal assault by a small minority upon everything this country has and will continue to represent.
Bill, I don't understand all this talk of a secret agenda. I've never seen an administration that flaunts its corruption and lawlessness so casually before the public.
Diversionary flak? Don’t be fooled. Ask instead who’s directing the show? Don’t be one who stares at the swinging pocket watch when that’s not what’s going on at all. “Sleep , sleep … sleep.”
I don't know, Bill. It seems to me that what you call 'diversionary flak' is the whole piece so far as this administration is concerned. There have simply been too many missteps to believe that there is some sinister guiding principle behind the fiasco. It's all playing out in the full light of day. Even the Republicans misguided attempt to force through legislation in the early hours of the morning has royally backfired. I totally agree that sometimes it's hard to see the wood for the trees because of all the crap coming at you every day.
I'm not sure there is a secret agenda. In fact the right seems very clear on it's objectives.
The problem we have now is the Democratic Party is even less popular than Trump. Until the Democrats figure out they need to acknowledge they have lost middle America and die on nonsensical hills, MAGA wins the day.
GARY, I have to commend you that was a very accurate post indeed.
Currently, the Democrat party is in total disarray. They have no leader their only agenda is hate Trump. And that won’t work. Even Democrat pumpkins are going nuts over the liberals, backing the wrong pony like illegal, criminals versus American citizens. Like men and women sports.
We need two parties in this country at least. Balance is important
I’ll mention to you one last thing if I haven’t already said it.
The NFL plays games on Sunday on Monday. It watches film most of the day to assess how they played how they lost and what they can do to change their execution so that they can win.
It’s been 6 months since the election and the democratsstill haven’t figured it out. And what’s worse is the quasi leaders they have now are left of Santa Claus.
There’s probably not an individual here that can tell me who is the leader of the Democrat party right now or what their agenda is. They lost the election and both houses of Congress so for the next two years, it’s gonna be a struggle for the Dems just like it was a struggle for the Republicans when Obama was in the same position just a few years ago.
They need to regroup and focus. Having senators run down to El Salvador on behalf of one criminal illegal versus all the damage has been done to American citizens that have been murdered, raped or trafficked, or died of fentanyl. it’s not the leader ship the Democrats need IMO.
Keep fighting, Laura. It is not the first time they have tried to put us all down and the arc of justice has been bent towards the good before by all of us fighting for it.
This letter helped me put perspective into the perplexing anti-intellectual bent of a “radical right” that has appeared resistant to logic, unable to find comfort with thinking outside the box of a Bible, yet also divided by various interpretations within. Ultimately needing to feel “chosen”, and not inferior to those with higher education through embracing simplistically dictated “rules”— even alienating themselves from its primary leader (Jesus). All based in the core fear of feeling less-than, a wound no amount of money or power can heal. Liberals embrace diversity and acceptance. So, how to appeal to these wounded masses?
Do not be broken! Truth is truth. Reality is reality. We know what is real. Education, knowledge, curiosity, all part of being human. This cannot be shut down.
Today's New York Times has a map showing the distribution of red and blue states. The map is a sea of red. Whether these statistics remain true, I don't know, but it was once noted that of the 25 most dangerous cities, 76% are in red states. Many states with the highest rate of burglary are red. I'm not sure that widespread belief in god ensures a society's health. It may be that a society's dysfunction increases a belief in god as people pray for safety and revenge against wrong doers. In fact, we know that people follow some of the ten commandments and neglect others. Christians have abused, enslaved, insulted, oppressed people - Blacks, Native Americans, the Japanese during WW2. The bible says: you shall not commit murder; you shall not commit adultery (trump?); honor your father and mother. How many human beings ever honored their mother and father or abstained from committing murder, adultery, theft or perjury? And what about science and now academia: universities and research centers now live in fear of the Christian mob. Science does not say anything about the supernatural. There will continue to be a clash between religion and the world of facts, evidence and data.
Stephanie, if everybody here saw that map that you were speaking of I think they would be shockingly surprised. I try to throw a link up here that shows up, but I doubt if anyone has looked at it because it’s coming from me, but it would be wise to do that because it is a sea of red and that needs to change to bring balance. And please take into consideration, that other than the fact of the map crime news from the New York Times, could probably use as birdcage liner
What they’re doing is using percentages in lower populated states where we all know that the worst numbers of crimes occur in the most populated cities, which are mostly run by blue. That really doesn’t matter but they need to see the map to understand what’s happening. Thank you for your post
You may be absolutely correct. I hope you are. Then we should have good opportunity to flip Congress and proceed with multiple impeachments and sack the lot of them. Sounds good.
The flip side may be different. If indeed they are as stupid as they appear, it becomes difficult to explain the depth and spread of their victories. Right now they own both Houses of Congress, SCOTUS, and the Administration. They have a deeply layered assembly of judges across the country. They are dig in to State legislatures and many Governorships. They do have vigorous support.
All things considered it begs the question, which side is more lost in the weeds? Project 2025 is a plainly written blueprint for overthrowing the Government of the US. It’s been around for awhile. It’s no great secret, and it appears to be working. Notwithstanding the many injunctions laid against it.
I have no crystal ball. For the time being the options left to us are limited. As I stated at the beginning, I hope you’re correct. I much prefer that view. I’m happy to be wrong.
I feel your pain. Some days, it's almost too much to bear. That's when it's time to take a little break from the news and later return to it, reinvigorated.
“Trump White House Purges Official Transcripts of President’s Remarks”
-Olga Lautman / Substack 05-23-25
Trump officials have removed nearly all official transcripts of the president’s public remarks from WhiteHouse.gov, replacing them with select videos. As of now, only Trump’s 2025 inaugural address remains online. A White House official claimed the move was made to "maintain consistency" and to offer what they called a more “accurate sense” of Trump via video.
Trump is erasing the written record of his presidency—scrubbing transcripts to dodge accountability, control the narrative, and rewrite history on his terms. This is how authoritarian regimes operate.
Source: NBC News
*We must resist, protest, and write to our congress*
He's erasing the written record because it would reveal a psychiatric basket case of derangement, incoherence and the inability to speak (much less write) two sentences without the obvious blather of dementia being officially revealed.
He is ruthlessly, and persistently, evil to the bone. Way worse than demented. Same for Vance and I’ll add the hypocrite Buckley. They are traitors in the worse way. Destroy to rebuild, with the money and the evil fully in charge. The earth shudders…
The media is complicit in this cover up. Example: I watched one of the major networks' coverage of Trump's graduation speech at West Point. They showed brief clips of a couple of his "key" messages, mostly about eradicating DEI in the military. While that is backward and fascist-adjacent bullshit to our ears, it red meat to his base, and with him reading dully from his teleprompter, it looks like relatively "normal" political speech. Nothing about his long, rambling asides about yachts and trophy wives - and all the other things that echo around in the dark, abandoned hallways of his dying brain.
I suspect ALL of the Trump tripe can be found online somewhere. One of their reasons for erasing Trump's ramblings is because they have been used against him in court time and again. And when Trump says one thing and then claims something completely different in court, who are the judges supposed to believe?
If trump is smart he will resign the presidency in close to three years….hand it over to Vance and VOILÀ. IF Vance does a good job…8 more years of Republican rule.
And if Joe and Jill aka pres and VP did the same. Kamala migh t e[actually still be in the WH…or the Dems could have had a primary and picked a good/viable candidate
I found a source of all his speeches, videos, and comments he makes publicly. They provide a transcript for everything. It is on the Roll Call website. Click on the tab for Factbase. It has it written as factba.se. (You can click on the previous underlined link.) You can select your category. This will be helpful. I scrolled through several categories and looked at the dates, and it appears to be thorough since January 20th.
And just how do they 'disappear' the records of Trump's inanities held by the media? The internet is not the only record of political change. Do you remember books?
US government websites are disappearing in real time but the information they hold isn't.
They don’t have to erase it, they just have to blur it. Fact-based reasoning was lost in America when the term “fake news” took hold. If there is no standard for what is fact and what is not, then liars like Trump can easily persuade a willing populace. This is right out of the Nazi propaganda handbook and it is very, very effective.
Whewww!! Exactly.., "A willing populace", and THAT they are. I was just going to type that T-Rumps yo yo's almost love it when Democrats cause him a trainwreck, because he can bloviate from his pulpit that he will repair the damage and make things even better. He owns the pulpit - he has the last words. If we're going to right-this-ship we need to get on top of this game. Did we not learn from the Haitian mess in Springfield Ohio? We gotta skin this cat!
Especially, Jim, in this day and age of smart phones, videos, and internet/social media….you can run, but you can’t hide. Ha! which is probably why Trump just crimes out in the open!
I am counting upon YouTube to provide many clips that the mainstream media will edit--as seen in the campaign--for us to view. Medias Touch Network, Brian Tyler Cohen, David Pakman, etc. The more we watch, subscribe (it's free), like and comment, we promote distribution of these bits of information.
I'm beyond sad, grieving even. What was built up in 250 years is broken down in mere months by an evil orange clown and his sycophant shit show. The biggest democracy of the world is gone. If it ever can be rebuilt, remains to be seen...
The work, lives lost, and sacrifices that it took to achieve what this country has achieved are all for nought with these vipers. Common sense, along with enlightened intelligence led us to a flawed, but productive and empathetic society. Ruthless is the word for the destroyers. The religious hypocrites are the best example of what must be kicked to the curb. Jesus never was their inspiration and Franklin Graham is the worst of the lot.
Thank you Dr Richardson for such a thorough and concise presentation of one of the most important battles we are fighting in order to Save Our Democracy, Our Planet and Our Way of Life. We must win this battle for our children, grandchildren and for all of those who have sacrificed so much to preserve our freedom. God Bless You HCR!!!
Lisa. Since I live in a fact free world, here’s a fact you might wanna swallow whole.
Here are the facts.. here is a quote from the head/ CEO MAHER of NPR, who testified in front of congress. She claims she’s not biased. Here’s a quote from her.
NPR chief regrets tweets calling Donald Trump ‘a fascist and a deranged racist sociopath’
Published: Mar. 26, 2025, 2:58 p.m. That enough fact for you?
Argue? lol. You tell me I’m factless , yet when I present facts you bail.
75 million or more thrilled “nut cases” in this Country today. Sorry that you are not happy, but angry, defensive, and negative in advance….not good for the spirit nor your health.. America is seeing the beginning of a screaming success…..you might consider joining in?
Well, Biden had four years… Basically destroyed/obliterated our border, our belief in the White House, our belief in legacy media… our false belief in honesty… pardoned his whole family. Let crime run rampant. Poured gasoline on the war in Ukraine. Lisa, I would say you were pretty accurate.
Well, I found your post, but I also posted up above because I didn’t see this one. So here’s the fact free bubble I live in a fact free bubble according to you and now you’re gonna have to swallow this whole Lisa. Here are the facts. here is a quote from the head/ CEO of NPR, who testified in front of congress. She claims she’s not biased. Here’s a quote from her.
NPR chief regrets tweets calling Donald Trump ‘a fascist and a deranged racist sociopath’
Published: Mar. 26, 2025, 2:58 p.m. That enough fact for you?
By the way, I only picked one topic, but I have facts to back up all the other things that I said above you like to hear them just let me know but I know you don’t wanna hear them. You know why you don’t wanna hear them because you think it’s better that you only hear the facts from one side of the ledger.
I’ll listen to everything you have to say but don’t see P surprise that you’re only hearing half the story on these threads and you’re not getting the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth here. In fact, every opening garage that Heather posts starts out against from negatively and at the end of her post there’s not one right of center link that she use it to support her contacts so you’re never gonna hear the whole truth here
Obviously, you missed the point, in fact, the entire point of the hearing. There was this substantial evidence that both PBS and NPR were left wing zealots. And essentially, they are a voice for the left wing Taxpayers are funding it, so they should be even keeled let’s call it
When the CEO of one of the organizations tries to say, they’re not biased in the middle of calling him a fascist racist deranged sociopath.. and they try to say they’re not biased even you don’t believe that I neither did the committee and neither does the public. Glaring faults is that what you called it?? Well, you better pay attention to Biden right now because his faults are coming out en masse and they’re getting worse, and these are by left-wing pundits and buy the wrong party and buy the Legacy media lied about for a good 2 1/2 years. Any fair-minded middle of the road person knows exactly what PBS on NPR are and if they’re so popular, they can go ahead and fund themselves.
I am a late-life Christian and I am confident Jesus does not need the "right" to save Him!! JD Vance is correct--the "right" has lost in all of those areas, not because of the "left", but because they are against the very commandments of God by their persecution of anyone who doesn't look or sound like them. Interesting that Jesus said He would "separate the goats from the sheep" and elsewhere that many would come to Him proclaiming all the deeds they did "in His name" and He will say "go away...I never knew you".
Even in the OT, God called for His people to "take care of the foreigner and alien among you", yet the Christian Nationalists are doing the exact opposite! I used to love my decorations of a cross and the American flag colors because they represented my love of God and Country--now they represent a "sect" which abhors these values. I can no longer wear my cross pendant as it no longer conveys "you are safe and loved" to others--instead it makes me look like a judgemental "Karen" :(
Good for you Professor Richardson for staying true to your giftedness in educating others and standing up to their bullying!
Totally agree, David. Although I’ve never flown the USA flag before I recently purchased one & intend to fly it with a sign below stating “this flag belongs to ALL of us” [also plan to get an Earth flag & a rainbow one as well….gonna let my freak-flag fly, as the saying goes…should be quite decorative too!!!]🇺🇸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
My boyfriend is a flag freaque and has Ukrainian, Palestinian, Mexican, Greenland , and Canada as well as the original 13 star one and the current American.
Thanks. I will offer something else to consider. Always refer to them as Forced Birth. Even in direct conversation with others. Never waiver.
You will be surprised how effective it is in direct conversations. It tends to stop them in their tracks. It's not rude. You don't need to raise your voce. And it puts them immediately on the defensive.
I fly flags strategically. I will fly the Stars and Stripes on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Veterans Day in honor of those who fought and died for America. On Trump’s birthday, June 14th, I will fly it upside down while he has his multi- million dollar birthday parade in Washington. The rest of the time I fly the flags of nations he is pissing on…primarily Ukraine at the moment.
I'm totally with you JennSH. I try to live up to the teachings of Christ but abhor how they ignore almost all of the teachings of Jesus and the Law in the OT.
And I can't support any so called Christian institution that refuses to denounce Trump and his cruel and evil words and actions.
The cross and the American flag. Stolen symbols just like the swastikas. If nothing else, nazis, historical and contemporary, are consistently evil, thieving, lying, murderous, cruel, and sadistic rapists!
I’m surprised you EVER did. Want to hear something even worse….in Biden’s administration he put up with the anti-semetism…to the point where there was a huuuuuge billboard at Ft Lauderdale airport seen by a couple million a day they say on I-95 and 595. It says.
If you think turbulence scary, try wearing a Jewish k star
Oh, JD, this reminds me of when my fella and I were searching for a place to hold our wedding in ‘67 (sigh, we were just kids!). Neither of us were religious nor attended any church. We went to see the pastor at one church…it was really a cute little location that we passed by often on our way to the beach (had a small sign outside that said, if I recall, “bide a wee and pray”…and asked about having our wedding there. He asked if we were Episcopalians and we said no. My fella said the closest he could come to “religion” was probably Taoist/Confucianist. The Pastor was quiet for a bit and then said I don’t think I can help you. We ended up holding our wedding at the UU Church in Santa Barbara…short lovely service where the pastor quoted Khalil Gibran.
In several US states, regular church attendance has fallen below 20%. And most of those attending are over the age of 50.
When our daughter was little, I thought she would benefit from going to Sunday school and learning about the lessons in the Bible. After a few months, my daughter came home crying. Her SS teacher had told the class that her mommy wasn't going to go to heaven because she doesn't believe in God. And this SS teacher was a full professor at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
We immediately switched to the local UU church which we attended for several years.
Not sorry for switching. UU has been great. What a great story. My husband loved “The Prophet.” I put a quote in the handout at his funeral. Also one by Omar Khayyam. His MAGAt sister may never forgive me. But he would have approved.
I grew up in a UU fellowship way back in the day. They are an interesting organization (as are those in the Ethical Culture community, which is a far smaller and less international movement) and a good place for people to go if they need a religio-social community. But I find I am fine without it. A family friend who was the local Reformed rabbi used to call us his "super-reformed congregation" and we would joke that he was simply one tick away from joining us. My family background is Jewish on the maternal side and Greek Orthodox on the paternal side (my Greek grandmother was extremely devout; my father rejected the church around age 6) so you can imagine that if anyone was looking for some kind of community, the UUs would be the place to go.
I didn’t go for years but then found a small, rural United Methodist church that seemed reasonable. And it was until a member brought the Tea Party to church. I just realized that some Christians weren’t. Neither was I. There are so many more options for spiritual growth. The Golden Rule a good place to start.
I was raised a Catholic... but left that at 18 because I could not come up with a reason for staying. Have been religion free for most of my life. My interactions with the local churches have shown me the only one I could possibly tolerate is the local UU church, if I ever decided to go.
An educated populace with ready access to facts won’t be easily swayed by the reactionary + big business alliance’s culture wars, which provide cover for them looting our treasury and exploiting our labor. We need all of our universities and colleges to stand together and resist government control. Any effort to appease the Trump regime always ends badly for the appeasers anyway, so colleges and universities may as well make their stand now.
Universities are where, with government support, so many discoveries are made and create opportunities to develop businesses. But rampant capitalism will drive over people in its path like a tank in its desire to make ever more money.
Universities are where people are educated, become self sustaining, and lift up their own families and society as a whole. Jeff Bezos’ concept of Amazon is not possible without all the people who work to fulfill orders. Walmart is not possible without all the “associates.” But people like Bezos become addicted to the hoarding of money. We have the resources for our population to have a decent life. For some people to have everything and others to have nothing because greed rigged the systems in place is sin that will come back to haunt the greedy.
Fortunately, my uneducated parents taught us that the way to a better life was through education. All of us heard the message and tried to better ourselves. When I was growing up, religion and education were not at war. Religion was free and education expensive. But all found a way to thrive. Both revered although religion lost its hold on me. Now we’re a mixed bag, sort of like the Civil War era when division reigned.
My parents taught us the same way, and I believe in higher ed. Unfortunately, for decades, the universities have adopted too much political correctness and progressive orthodoxy. As Michael Roth of Wesleyan U. has said, it is always useful to engage with people including students who don't all share our same views.
If you aren't familiar, she immigrated to the US from Russia and is a world class poker player. She is currently writing a book on cheating which includes the psychology of cheating.
The monsters "voted" into limited power are trying to grab unlimited power, and treat government very unlike a regulated public utility and more like an expendable for profit business they can take over with Junk Bonds, strip of all valuable assets as they sell off or give pieces to Russian style oligarchs.
It seems like trump & co. are not interested in preserving any value offered by the institutions and agencies trump/musk DOGE has shut down. They are proud of abandoning the world's most vulnerable people internationally and in the US to live in poverty or die from lake of food or medical attention. It appears they are hell-bent on not only undermining our intellectual, evidence-based, non-religious institutions of higher learning that have been the economic engine that has kept the US at the forefront of the world's most successful economies.
It looks like the right-wingers intend to tank the economy with the big disgusting bill and trump constantly using tariffs to extort the rest of the world to bend the knee. Extortion is trumps only technique for making deals.
The more ignorant the public is, the easier to manipulate them.
I have no problem with people who choose to believe in religion but don't want a penny of my taxes to go to any religious school that doesn't teach actual science and history. I don't believe that they will achieve all of their Project 2025 goals because, at the rate they are sabotaging the economy, we will soon be in a severe recession or even a depression before they can pass any legislation in Congress. The country knows that trump and the rest of the right-wing are responsible for the US becoming a failed state.
Do the Oligarchs have a plan to profit from the failed economy?
WASHINGTON — May 6, 2024, By Ryan J. ReillyFederal prosecutors are seeking more than 11 years in federal prison for convicted Jan. 6 defendant Brent Bozell IV, the son and grandson of two men who shaped the American conservative movement in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Bozell, also known as "Zeeker," smashed windows at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and was convicted of a host of charges in September, including five felonies. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 17. Federal prosecutors, in a sentencing memo filed late Friday, sought a terrorism sentencing enhancement for Bozell, saying that his actions were intended to affect the conduct of the government and that he made preparations for Jan. 6 because he "believed that the presidential election had been 'stolen' and thus planned to respond through violence."
Bozell's father, Brent Bozell III, founded the Media Research Center, NewsBusters, CNSNews and the Parents Television and Media Council. Bozell III once wrote that former President Donald Trump "might be the greatest charlatan of them all" but pivoted to defending Trump after his 2016 election victory. Brent Bozell Jr., the convicted rioter's grandfather, was a speechwriter for Joe McCarthy, ghostwrote Barry Goldwater's "The Conscience of a Conservative" and was a friend of National Review founder William F. Buckley. Bozell Jr. was such a "fan boy" of fascist dictator Francisco Franco that he moved to Spain during his reign, according to Politico, which also credited him with organizing the "first violent anti-abortion protest" in Washington in 1970, for which he was "convicted of assaulting a police officer with a five-foot wooden cross," according to his 1997 obituary.
Conservative is simply a long word for greedy. I want to keep my stuff. I want to keep my foot on your neck to keep you from rising to be equal with me.
AI -- L. Brent Bozell III is related to the well-known Buckley family through his parents, L. Brent Bozell Jr. and Patricia Buckley Bozell. Patricia Buckley Bozell was the sister of conservative author and National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr and US Senator James L. Buckley. L. Brent Bozell Jr. was William F. Buckley Jr's debating partner at Yale and a conservative activist. L. Brent Bozell III is a conservative activist himself, known for founding and leading the Media Research Center.
Good Lord. Never heard of them and I have been “woke” a long time. The most persistent evil in the history of the country. Apparently National democrats never heard of them either.
I don't like Bozell(s) but I do think Buckley was a brilliant thinker and he would be appalled at Trump's disdain for the separation of powers. Buckley was in favor of capitalism and individual responsibility and limited govt, and against socialism and communism, and so was at odds with the prevailing thinking at most high-profile universities during the last half of the 20th century. As for all these comments deriding the "Christian Nationalists" , I think it would be interesting to hear exactly how anyone thinks they would force the country to become officially a Christian country. Don't the so-called Christian Nationalists mostly support Israel, and rail against anti-semitism? And do Trump, Vance or other leading politicians even call themselves Christian Nationalists?
Buckley would support them. He was above all anti Mexico and all things Mexican... His father was a lawyer and oil developer who became influential in Mexican politics during the dictatorship of Victoriano Huerta. He was eventually expelled by the leftist general Álvaro Obregón. Buckley Jr. lived in Mexico with his family as a boy. .
To many of the most virulent white nationalists, Catholics like Buckley were the enemy. John Birchers. But they hold their noses because idiots like Thomas and Alito further their cause.
That doesn't make Catholic nationalists accept humanism...or even tolerance.
For a lot of them the test would be DNA.
The reason that they support Israel is because they're expecting the final rapture, which would require the death of all Semites.
I used to watch WFB Jr on Firing Line, seldom agreeing with him, almost always more appreciative of the guests and the air time they got by being on one of the most watched programs.
After watching his debate with James Baldwin at The Cambridge Union Society (many decades later), I can never look at any of his videos without deep revulsion.
"exactly how anyone thinks they would force the country to become officially a Christian country." Well. I saw a brief news chyron today: said Texas voted to require the ten commandments be displayed in all the schools. That's a start.
Linda H, you've made a good point that I'm afraid sometimes gets lost in all the discussion.
Appeasing Trump always ends badly for the appeasers. Case in point: Apple's Tim Cook figured he'd avoid Donald's wrath by dumping a million dollars into his so-called "Inauguration Fund."
Five months later, Donald announces that he's going to tariff the sh*t out of Apple iPhones unless they're manufactured stateside.
Even if Cook wanted to comply, it would take years to find a site, build a facility, recruit and train enough employees to make the product.
Shouldn't the so-called businessman realize WHY iPhones are made overseas, after all, it's profit for the investors to do business that way. If iPhones WERE made in the US, and the projected costs WERE $3500 each--who would buy them?
But then again, he bankrupted casinos, so there's that............
Yes. In fact, the only reason capitalism works is that there is someone who is willing to make the products we buy for less-per-hour than we earn. Usually, that means you have to go outside the domestic economy to an economy with a lower standard of living to find that person who will work for less money. It can be no other way.
The U.S. had a self-contained economy for a while, when slavery was legal. That's what Donald and MAGA want.
There are many, many, MANY educated asswipes! Look at the gazillionaires who run companies like Walmart, Target, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Disney, the banks, the tech bros. Education is a two-edged sword.
Thank you, Professor Richardson. This article hits the nail on the head of anti-education politics with excellent acumen. Republicans conflate religion with science with glaring incompetence. The two are not the same, nor have they ever been.
Science produces better outcomes for mankind through tenacious research, study, experiment, and peer review and contributions. Religion produces (or requires) faith, which may save men from eternal damnation if you believe it, but does not seek to understand the world of the physical in systematic and agreeable ways. To eliminate science is to eliminate progress from which we, right now, are the benefactors of Newton through Einstein and beyond.
Teaching critical thought through philosophical education does not destroy faith, either.
Thank you for raising this topic in your writing today. Your approach is a breath of fresh air needed to separate fundamentally different goals of universities and churches, and it is we, as Americans, who have eroded our need to keep the two apart. Excellent work - I appreciate what you do here.
But Heather also errs when she emphasizes 2012 as Turning Point USA for when, "Increasingly, far-right activists insisted that all of the pillars of society, including universities, had been corrupted by the liberal ideas behind the modern government and that those pillars must be destroyed."
Truth is, this animus by the far-right against schools -- both higher ed and K-12 -- began more than 40 years before. The very first actions organized following the 1971 Powell memo were those by the new Heritage Foundation, the new ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), and a newly-funded Hoover Institution.
All through the 1970s they hired far-right activists to place articles in the mainstream press naming and attacking liberal profs on campus and teachers in K-12 who expressed activism for anti-war, civil rights, and feminism. These progressive activists always cited popular books, movies, and songs of the time, so Heritage, ALEC, and Hoover went to war to rid K-12 curricula of humanities and to push higher ed into neutered silos. The reasoning was that profs who quoted humanities were insufficiently specialist in their fields.
The breaking point was ALEC's success before the end of the 1970s in getting all state legislatures to cut public funding for what had been the world's best system of public colleges and universities since the Justin Morrill land grant system began with Lincoln's signature in 1862.
As she recounted in an earlier paragraph, specifically mentioning Powell. Her statement regarding Turning Point USA was tracing the evolution of the anti education right.
The "anti-education right" was going full-bore through the 1970s, Gail.
Sad thing is the massive amount of damage Heritage, ALEC, and Hoover all did. Couple that with the even greater damage from testing's then-soon-coming entrenched conceits, and we can take the measure of the terrible repercussions we inhabit today.
Ignore what was going on by the organized, mega-well-funded far right in the 1970s -- even before Reagan, long before Citizens United, and longer still before Turning Point USA?
Jeebus, man. Start your own substack, if you believe you preach to the uninformed. Heather laid out the route, including Powell and Charlie Kirk. I’m guessing you wrote before you considered. Read the article more than once if you have a knee jerk habit.
The most chilling words of all --- "the Second American Revolution will be bloodless if the left allows it to be." Like a rapist putting his hand over your mouth, whispering 'as long as you cooperate, no one will get hurt' with Trump's Little Maybeline Bitch playing the role of 'let's be reasonable now --- all we want is your freedom.' This is, of course, what they're really saying; what they're really doing. Everything else is just for show. Their cup of arrogant, self-righteous bullshit runneth over.
Of course, President Dumpo knows nothing of this. He goes after Harvard because Malia Obama got into Harvard, and Baron did not, with anti-semitism being the 'let's be reasonable' smokescreen. No need to venture into the esoteric with Don the Con. The Occam's Razor simplest explanation invariably revolves around the supremely small and petty --- his personal demons of perceived humiliation. At night he tosses and turns --- not about the threat of war, global climate change, much less the economy, but about Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Oprah, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Rosie O'Donnell, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Why? They're all way smarter, way more popular, and all see right through him. O, the outrage. O, the tempest. O, the pissiness of teeny-tiny 3AM rage-tweeting.
The courts are our only line of defense right now and we must help them. Our first actionable opportunity is November 2026. We must begin now to convince voters that the current cast, from both parties, are not serving their country as their oath of office dictates. They are serving their party and in the case of republicans they are serving one man. They really want to keep their jobs and their benefits even as they allow the current administration to take both away from tens of thousands of citizens and immigrants alike. In the submarine service there was a tradition of lashing a broom to the periscope as we returned from a successful mission. We called it a clean sweep and now it’s time for a clean sweep of Congress.
Our next “Actionable Opportunity” is June 14…the No Kings demonstrations! We need to flood the streets of every city and hamlet with peaceful protesters as a powerful counterweight to the travesty of Trump’s multi million dollar birthday parade in Washington. And at every chance leading up to the 2026 Midterms, WE THE PEOPLE need to keep reminding Trump and his Republican Lickspittles in every way possible just how much they are hated and despised!
I believe in the power of the people to protest because I believe democracy is the only way forward that will protect our civil liberties. And I feel it is all of our civic duties right now to resist and peacefully protest in whatever way we can. But I don’t see a good outcome from adding to the hatred. Hatred feeds anger and rage, rightful or not, and that plays right into the hands of the fascists we are dealing with. I’m sure Trump and Co. would love nothing more than a violent uprising on the day of his bonkers military birthday parade. They’re probably briefing their anonymous SWAT teams right now…..
There are elections in one state or another nearly every week. November 2025, a few months from now, will host important statewide elections in Virginia, municipal elections in many states, and special elections to fill empty Congressional seats for a year.
There are many postcarding sites whose grass-roots efforts do appear to be making ground in these smaller elections. They rely upon us providing the postcards (sometimes they will send them) and our own postage. Postage prices are going up so I'd suggest that everyone stock up.
And a thought: instead of meeting friends for coffee or a meal, how about inviting friends to gather and write postcards together? Consider the cost of a dinner out and apply that to postage. I know of a group (in another state, sadly) who did that prior to the election.
According to Project 2025, the courts and the free press/journalists, and universities are next on the list to annihilate:
“…When courts prevent unconstitutional orders, (Curtis)Yarvin says that they should just be ignored. After that, the free press and universities must be curtailed, as well—Yarvin said no later than April after the inauguration.”
This is all part of a planned ““Butterfly Revolution,” a “full power start” to the U.S. government accomplished by “giving absolute sovereignty to a single organization." This is imagined as an internal coup meant to privatize the government and replace democracy with complete executive authority.”
This wounds me personally. My late cousin, who became one of Australia's most prominent legal practitioners, and founded one of our universities, took his Masters at Harvard. We were so proud. His daughter is now a Judge on the Supreme Court of Australia. These people are savages.
I know many academics who pursue their scientific endeavours with great rigour whilst living their life informed deeply by their religious faith. And I know plenty of academic and professional staff in universities who have no religious faith but work happily, respectfully and collaboratively with their religious colleagues.
These attacks on the universities are nothing to do with religion. They are designed to create a population too scared to speak up or unable to think for themselves.
If Musk et al. think Americans are too stupid to work in the tech sector now, imagine what they'll think of Americans in 20 years time if the government does manage to break the universities.
I spent the better part of my career in and supporting colleges and universities in several states. I went to and graduated from excellent public universities. I never realized there were people who feared and hated them and were plotting to destroy this world -renowned model of education. It's like a bad WWII movie come to life.
Use this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress. Reach out to your own, as well as those in other states on a specific committee important to a topic you’re sharing. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
As per other discussion on the comments today, postcarding helps, too. Perhaps you could start adding that to your comment?
postcardstovoters.org is one I've used. It is a small time/money committment as you can send less than 10 cards if that is all you can manage.
Another one which is non-partisan (but is Dem based) is letter writing. They provide letters which you download and print, adding your personal comments about why you vote. You need a printer, envelopes and postage, but they will send all that to you if you email and request.
We can all do something. I have a foot injury limiting my ability to stand or walk very long. But I can make phone calls! For those who are anxious to make calls, you can do it in off hours and leave a message. If that is also anxiety producing, you can send emails to many in Congress (some don't take out of district emails.) You can send the postcards or letters--again, if finances are an issue, you can request help from votefwd.org. If you can't do any of those, but have a few bucks to spare, those postcarding/letter sites gladly accept support.
You can also subscribe to many progressive Substacks ("Chop Wood, Carry Water" is my #2 favorite after Heather, as Jessica provides info and action) and YouTube progressive media. (Way too many to list, but ANY on the Medias Touch Network are good). Subscribe, hit the like buttons, comment and forward to friends/post on your social media.
The worst thing to do is feel helpless. We are not.
I am Jewish and I resent that Donald J. Trump seems to think that Jews are something he can use as he sees fit. We are not. Donald, if you want to fight antisemitism, tell your antisemitic dinner guests to stay home and that they can keep their money; you don’t want anything to do with them. But I’ll bet you won’t. And that, my dear sir, is the real antisemitism.
I’m with you William. This entire administration is antisemitic, as well as anti anything or anyone whose not white or rich.
They’ve been extremely successful in creating a divide and fanning the flames relating to the horrible and deadly situation in the Middle East. Instead of focusing on our domestic unraveling of democracy, they have folks arguing with one another…creating hatred among Jews, Zionists, Palestinians, and Others. When we give in to that hatred, this Disgustingly Shameful Regime wins!
When I say that I’m Jewish, I mean that I am of the Jewish people. My DNA would show that I am an Ashkenazi Jew. Before Judaism was a religion the Jews were a people. I am one of them.
My DNA is 100% Ashkenazi Jew if it’s like my sister’s (and I believe it is). I will be a Jew all of my life, even if I converted to Christianity or Islam. The Jewish people preceded the Jewish religion. I don’t know how to say it any clearer. I would have thought if you’re a Jew you would have known that.
The Hebrew calendar is now 5785 years old …in Hebrew school. we were taught that while the Jews did not have a formal religion,. They had formal beliefs which started when The Jewish/hebrew calendar was formed.
History seems to indicate that the actual formation or the official formation of the Jewish religion was formed a couple thousand years after the calendar, however we both know that the Jews have had certain beliefs and identify them as Jews from the beginning.
I’ll respond to your next post and it’s incorrectness that if you knew about Judaism as you say you do, you would know that the FACTS don’t agree with your assertion of course and your TDS towards Trump
I got the idea that “before Judaism was a religion, the Jews were a people” from Rabbi Harold Kushner. You, of course, are entitled to look at it any way you want to. Rabbi Kushner’s point of view on this fits with what I was taught. As far as Trump derangement syndrome goes, I take the opposite point of view; I think you’re the one who has it. I think I see him as he is. You may want to respond to what I’m saying here, but I am finished with my part of this conversation. I wish you well.
William said you’re not seeing the whole picture. Yes, I have posted the following here online and I too am Jewish. I was recently in Fort Lauderdale and there was a huge billboard adjacent and along the fence line of the Fort Lauderdale airport at the junction of I 95 and 595 two of the busiest freeways in Florida that see apparently over 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 views a day
One BILLBOARD… and here’s the message on the BILLBOARD.
If you think turbulence is scary, try wearing a Jewish star.
You don’t think Trump is trying to protect against antisemitism you are rudely, mistaken, I believe and there is every justification, for my comment that every activity he has made regarding antisemitism is real, not imagined By the way, six presidents tried to move the capital in Israel to its rightful place, and Trump is the only one that had the courage to do it.
It wasn’t for Donald Trump to decide where the capital of Israel should be. That’s exactly the type of behavior that he is famous for—trying to control things that are out of his domain. It’s what he’s doing now regarding the separation of powers and the Constitution. Donald Trump isn’t the king of the United States, nor is he the king of Israel. I’m not sure he realizes that. Or perhaps he finds his aspirations to be overpowering.
Regarding Trump and anti-Israeli sentiment on college campuses, I’m far more concerned about his dinner guests (F*ck the Jews) and his buddy Elon’s Nazi salutes than I am about college protests. Donald Trump has made threatening statements toward Jews who are Democrats. Trump’s credentials are weak in this department to put it mildly.
So I’m afraid we will have to disagree on this point.
Well, you can disagree all you want but here’s the facts in this. You should analyze whether this is an affirmation of your hate of Donald Trump no matter the facts.
In 1980, Israel passed the Jerusalem Law, which declared that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel".
This had NOTHING to do with Trump obviously so evaluate that as to your apparent/ inherent hate for Donald Trump for no reason whatsoever.
Israel itself decided that, not Donald Trump so if I can refresh your memory …if you knew anything about Judaism you would’ve known that.
By the way, my father and all his brothers, but one, were born in Israel which was Palestine then as was indicated on my birth certificate, where it asks father’s place of birth, 120 years ago. The remaining portion of my fathers family are HAREDIS.
And by the way, as far as Jerusalem was meant to be the capital based on the vote BY Israeli citizens, that is why all the presidents since then have attempted to move the capital but didn’t have the courage or the will.
So you can talk all about trumps antisemitism all you like , while I laugh at your opinion.
I am not big fan what comes out of Trump‘s mouth, but all his actions, speak of his protection of Israel and his actions have confirmed that. Up to including destruction of every anti-Israel terrorist group that he can and his handling of Iran’s nuclear threat.
you only say because you don’t like his policies then. Because nothing else that he has done has affected your life in the least.
Donald Trump is a once in a lifetime leader. In fact, that is why he was elected in alternate elections …which should be some indication to you.
Unfortunately, I do believe that you don’t want to hear or care to understand why 75 million people voted for him and More would vote for him the next time if there was another election…. assuming the “big beautiful bill that targets the middle class gets passed
To those that voted for him, his entire lifetime was a success most importantly, his presidency, which has influenced the world. It’s certainly not a waste of his life and his legacy, and his positive impact on this planet will be a lot longer than the folks like Obama, or Biden or Bush 1 and 2 as an example.
Sitting in San Francisco airport on a long delay layover reading just as this letter is out of the gate. And it was a hard one to read. Not just because I'm super tired. I can't even believe my eyes. And it all breaks my spirit. My heart. And as evil as they appear. They won't win. They won't.
Told y'all that Vance is more dangerous than Trump. Trump has the dubious virtue of being transparent with his churlish behavior.
Vance appears to be poised with a level-headed view of things. He is a fascist who can win decisively, if we fail to be careful.
EDITing P.S., I did not intend to sound peevish as in 'I told you so.' Well maybe I did; if so, shame on me.
Sadly agree. Trump is just a loathsome idiot, but the Maybeline Bitch is the one going 'come, come now', fobbing himself off as reasonable. The one who should make everyone's skin crawl.
This is the problem with the calls for impeachment. Vance would be even worse. We need a crushing win for Dems in the mid-terms.
But as the democrats continue to receive bad press, Americans know what's happening in this moment; and can't conceive of a democratic government when all the dems get is criticism - hardly a party one has confidence in.
But did you see excerpts from trump's speech at the Naval Academy???? It was humiliating. He is incapable of being profound, intelligent and serious. He only knows crude and profane.
People can suspect you're a fool...or you can open your mouth and leave no doubt!!!!
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Trump spoke at West Point. Vance spoke at Annapolis.
Among other hypocracies. Trump advised the cadets not to become ‘yes men’, a most curious remark by a man who has surrounded himself with lickspittles.
James, his speech was quite something and I missed this advice. Trophy wives (and he should know) etc. is what hit the news. I also liked nobody wanted to join the military under Biden to an entire class that began under Biden.
James and Michele, 🤝🏻
I watched that Trump speech and a snip-it of Vance's address. In Trump's case, if he had ended his address at fifteen minutes, it would have been a decent commencement speech. 💡
Of course, the Trumpanzee had to go rogue. My apologies to chimps; can not resist the pun. 🫣 The snip-it of Vance left me feeling, again, that he is one articulate yet very angry and truculent dude. 😱 Yes, I am biassed. 🤫
Sort of like exhorting them," Dont be like my administration"
PS. I like that word "lickspittle". It matches "toadies" as one of my fave words in English. Of course, in Australia we'd say "arselickers" but, then again, we're known for our vulgarity.
I recall seeing him say AS PRESIIDENT I CAN DO WHAT I WANT! DID I SEE THIS WRONG?
"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
~Mark Twain
Great quote, but misattributed. Maurice Switzer most likely authored the adage in his book, "Mrs. Goose, Her Book."
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/17/remain-silent/
As I wrote above, my husband used that line, then I used his line, not knowing it was Mark Twain's line. Thanks for the correction.
The Left, Right, Media, and heaven knows who else needs the Democratic Party to be destroyed and have been trying to do that for years. Between sane washing DJT and slamming Democrats the media constantly obfuscate the reality, which is the only way to start to defeat fascism is to elect Democrats. It's that simple. As someone said (I wish I remember who it was) that Russia doesn't control the Democratic Party like they do other entities. Think about that. Then pay attention to how the media with few exceptions continue to sabotage and undermine the Party. This latest hit job against Biden is but one example of what they're doing.
The real problem here is our ossified binary political party system itself. In the midst of this constant drumbeat of Democrats vs Republicans, far too many of us can forget that we need to think of ourselves first of being Americans. Only in doing that do we come to see the real danger of TRumpism, which is not so much anti-Democratic or pro-Republican (it’s actually neither), but instead anti-democratic.
2026 may be too late. 😱 The June 14th parade for Trump's birthday provides a fine starting point for mass resistance. 🤞🏼 I wish I had the dough to two single-propeller planes to fly over the Mall and to unfurl two banners with the following messages. 🖕
> "Come on, people, laugh Trump off the parade!" 😂
> "Happy early Juneteenth, Mr President!" ✌🏼
Between the derision and poking Trump's racism, the Trumpanzee would go ape-scheiße. 🥳
Hi, Kathleen - You make a good point, but the Democratic Party doesn't help by making so many counterproductive decisions going all the way back to the 1990s when it deliberately turned its back on the working class. Now we have Chuck Schumer refusing to turn his leadership position over to someone who actually wants to fight, and young firebrands such as AOC and David Hogg being held down by the Democrats' ruling gerontocracy.
And the media - or what little is left of it - always maintains a double-standard when it comes to the two parties. Whataboutism is rampant.
And I cant stand Jake Trapper.
The very saddest part of the ongoing push against JB and that history is that there us enough truth in it to fuel endless whatsboutism. No reasonable person can doubt that tRump and his acolytes are orders of magnitude WORSE, but it has become harder to fight the Rs based on fundamental principle where we’d be better to hold unquestioned high ground. The D party structure has sown the seeds to expose weakness wrt its own adherence to democratic principles and open, truthful dialogue. We must EXPECT that the R shock troops will rally toward D exposure. Liberals must take this issue away by accepting it, cleansing the stench by fixing it openly and re-committing to rational, honest and open democratic process.
Hopefully, at 83 it isn't dementia, but I am seeing the Bernie/AOC Anti Fascism rallies, and the other rallies, tell us Americans can definitely conceive of a democratic government. "You can fool some of the people some of the time. You can fool some of the people all of the time. You can't fool all of the people all of the time."
Agreed 111%, good professor Twaddle.
A big challenge for the Democratic Party right now is that the Party has been controlled by older careerists many of whom should have stepped aside long ago to allow the rising generations to assume leadership. As a sixty-eight year old, I must say that it is no longer our world.
Absolutely, Ned! They are trying real hard to strangle David Hogg, a young progressive. He is pushing their buttons, rightfully so. We have too many oldsters in Congress. Many are revered on the Democratic side but they must step aside and let others continue their work. Here’s an interesting list of all of the people nearing 80 and beyond: https://www.axios.com/2025/05/21/congress-ages-gerontocracy-members-gerry-connolly
I loved the trophy wife part. The man describes himself perfectly and can’t even see it. I wondered if all those cadets were MAGA. Will the new West Point even allow anyone who doesn’t swear fealty to Trump?
I think he's proud of having a trophy wife - who is incredibly vacant.
OMG! On memorial day, I have to wonder what all those innocent young yanks died for anyway.
I do not think the Cadets were M.A.G.A. at all. During the first fifteen minutes, Trump gave a decent speech and drew rather loud cheers. Then he jumped the rails and the applause thinned progressively as the ordeal wore on. It seemed like polite applause at best.
A truly embarrassing speech. The poor students who had to sit through such a degrading and shameful litany.
Yes, sadly.
That last line, my husband uttered last night. I used it not aware that it was a Mark Twain proverb.
If we have mid terms at all Carolyn.
We will, Ricardo. The states run elections, not the feds.
Jocelyn, have you known of any rule, policies or laws this administration had respect ? Do you have any doubt about their determination to stay in power no matter what. After all, they are fascist to the core.
Except Gore v Bush. Oops, SCOTUS instructed us to never cite the case. "Brooksbrother" BS.
Ricardo, I do worry about this. If we do, however, the Rs are going to be hurt. People who voted for death star are already seeing how that has hurt them personally...which is what it is going to take because so many cannot see beyond themselves to the common good.
As usual you are 💯 % right Michele. But hiding within your comment is the real problem, of course their voters can't see beyond themselves to the common good when they can't see themselves voting against their own interests and they don't see themselves as looser.
And the current administration can't count only on those voters to winn the next midterm election. Also it's in the open how unpopular the policies being implemented and the methods used are .
No sane political party would act like this if they expect to winn and stay in power legally. They would act like that only if they don't fear to lose and the only way for them not to lose is to not running any election or rigging them as they do in Russia, Venezuela and others .
Things seem grim. I remain optimistic because I have no choice.
"If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other."
-- President Grant, 1875.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7316179054984855553/
“The [500-year] Republic had in reality ceased to exist long before the establishment of the [Roman] Empire. The interval was filled by ferocious, corrupt, and bloody factions. There was, indeed, a small but patriotic body of eminent individuals who struggled in vain to correct abuses and to restore the government to its . . . purity, and who sacrificed their lives in their endeavors to accomplish and object so virtuous and noble.”
--John C. Calhoun, ‘A Disquisition on Government’; 1848.
https://allpoetry.com/Let-America-Be-America-Again
"Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half-an-hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years." –Edmund Burke, 1790.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vbghyhIZCk
The June 14th rally will be important. I say that all of us who do go start laughing Trump and Vance off of the stage.
Those mid-terms are 17 months away. Given that A) Our Dem "leaders" are still reeling and not fighting back, B) The repubs are running over our country like a giant bulldozer, and C) SCOTUS is tiptoeing towards freeing trump from all restraints, there's a really good chance that there won't be any mid-terms or it'll be a "for show" election straight out of Putin's playbook.
Though I will not last very long, I am ready for a civil war or wide-spread civil violence. 💔I can barely hit the side of a barn with a fire-arm; 😳fortunately, from what I have seen, these storm-trumpers (thank you, Jimmy Kimmel) are as wide as the side of a barn. 😉
At 74, I probably wouldn't last long either Ned, but I'm willing to give it a go. This country has been good to me and I can't just watch it taken away by a hate filled sociopath.
Both need to be impeached!!!!
I admire and envy your optimism about continuing elections. I’m not so sure the mid-terms will even be held at the rate we’re going; or if held will be legitimate given all the effort to disenfranchise voters, subject us to AI manufactured information, etc. So far, this administration has ignored the increasing discontent and protests of voters and polls, the courts. Since Trump doesn’t seem to be running anything - except his mouth and his pen - the focus and ridicule directed at Trump keeps Vance, Miller and the other monsters implementing Project 25 out of the fray. I don’t really know where this nightmare will end, but I don’t think it will be in the midterms.
The mobsters will take away my republic over my dead body.
Totally! As in trump's first term I had the sm thought regarding Pence
Actually, I have liked Vice President Pence, though I was disillusioned during Trump 1.0; I salute his courage now.
Then make it happen!
Agree wholeheartedly
You're so right. Trump is corrupt as hell and full of himself but he's an intellectual featherweight who we'll miss if Vance becomes president. Saw as much as I could stand of JD's interview in Rome with Ross Douthat. What an evil, sanctimonious prick. Also, he's very much Thiel's man and Peter seems to be in thrawl of "end-times capitalism."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk
Sanctimonious Prick. I rather like the sound of that. What I loathe about the prick the most is his utter phoniness. Not an honest bone in that flabby, diet Mountain Dew-swilling body. Changed his name (more than once), changed his religion, dons eyeliner, stands next to Kamala in debate making this absurd little downward sweep gesture with his arm, plays the role of Wormtongue, kicking Zelensky in the face. Every bit of the shtick as genuine as a three dollar bill, every gyration a practiced skit of fluttery and falsehood, every detail screaming 'look at me, I'm pretending to be something I'm not.'
America used to recognize snake-oil salesmen, even Americans in little towns did. What happened to their descendants that they can't see through this?
Wormtongue!
Now do YALL understand why I called for the once good generals to enact a temporary military takeover because we have already lost to an authoritarian state oh yes we have. It’s over. We may pretend it’s not but it is. And listen up; authoritarians don’t easily give up power. One exclusion is Brazil. They got Bolsonaro out before he took over the military. I have diminishing confidence that our military will eventually save us. You know that constitution bullshit? We the People bullshit? It’s over. Let’s protest for the bell of it. I’ll be out on June 14 at my state capital.
My question is: how do the wives and children of these politicians - in the white house or in congress - tolerate their husbands' and fathers' behavior ,using the most vile language, upholding obvious lies, gloating over the tearing apart of government, the constitution, rule of law, taking away food and health care from the vulnerable????
I had hoped that Second-Lady Vance would lay down the law to her rageing husband. I guess not. I wish Mmes Trump and Vance would just walk out on their inferior halves, for the sake of their children and for the sake of the country.
Sanctimonious Pricks--sounds like a new band name
It's....excellent description of that creep. For some reason, I think he does not have the pull that death star does on MAGA.
I sense that you are right on the money, there, Michele. He is too intellectual and educated for them. Yet he may pull in traditional Republicans currently disaffected.
Yes, I.H.C.T.T., I always wondered whether l would be able to recognize a latter-day Alcibiades, Napoleon, or Aaron Burr. Turns out I can.
🎯 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Totally! However, in the fairness that he wouldn't accord others, the name changes, other than using only his initials, was not his doing.
No, at least in the case of 'Vance', Mr whatever consciously changed his surname out of respect for his grandmother. A good reason; I just like bashing the guy, I suppose.
I recently saw an interview with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Asked if we are already in an authoritarian moment, she answered that authoritarianism is typically on a continuum, but she agreed we are on that continuum. She also said that America will never get back to business as usual. Not very uplifting.
I, for one, don't want to go back to business as usual! I want better than usual. I want money out of politics. I want free and fair elections, and an end to gerrymandering. I want a tax system that makes the wealthy pay their fair share, and can pay down our debt. I want Medicare for all. I want government of, by, and for THE PEOPLE!
Could not agree more Bob. Thank you for clearly articulating where we need to go. The only real question is, How do we get there?!
So do I but it’s too late. It began innocently enough with a few little mistakes and those mistakes morphed into the gigantic one today. To review: Nixon — nope. Reagan: hum…. Nope destroyed so much of his big government policy. HW Bush? Clarance Thomas and the golf War stationing American troops in the Arabia leading to 9/11. (And guess who allowed Thomas oh you got that right.) W Bush appointing Roberts plus and insuring corporate financing of elections. The New Guilded Age of the MAGA movement and authoritarianism. Did I forget something?
I'm sure she meant a country of laws, that follows the constitution, obeys court rulings, does not disappear innocent people, or gut the entire government, etc.
Bravo, Bob.
BUMMER, Stephanie, bummer. But denial will not help, either.
Douthat is somewhat nutty too.
MisTBlu, I once called J.D, Vance an odious opportunist with no redeeming qualities, but I like your description of him much better. Evil, sanctimonious prick has such a nice ring to it.
Thank you for posting that link, MisTBlu. It was an eye popping read for me. I've been wondering for a long time now...who are these people? where did they come from? Do they seriously believe what they are saying? Sadly, I do think some do, and clearly a lot have been swept up in the "end games" belief system. Hunger Games nihilism. I now have a much better appreciation of the history and breadth of the danger we're in. It's more terrifying than I had thought.
This article is sort of a companion piece: "Systems are crumbling – but daily life continues. The dissonance is real" https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-interactive/2025/may/22/hypernormalization-dysfunction-status-quo?CMP=share_btn_url
I still believe that times were much darker in 1940.
I'm working up to a comparison to Alice in Wonderland, where she stops the Queen of Hearts' rage tweets, I mean beheadings, by saying out loud "You're nothing but a pack of cards." These f__kwads are nothing but a pack of hypocritical cowards or sanctimonious pricks as you so beautifully put it, MisT.
My skin began to crawl with Flynn, Bannon and Miller.
The good news as HCR has pointed out is that Vance is disliked and doesn’t have a following!
He does make my skin crawl!
Fobbing? Oh my, such a new wonderful word..haven’t even heard or read what fobbing actually means but it sounds in my mind like …oh perfect! LOL!
Which brings me to certainty ….the minds of far too many people I suspect as ‘possessed’ are ruining AND/as well as … running our country.
Basic boil down:
No matter what ‘stance’ I/a person believes , if that is challenged, …is ‘out to get us/crazy/wrong’. Usually and …Dear Lord, you gave us 1) choice 2) the bigger brain 3) a set of rules ( guardrails) 4) and your ‘son’ who walked The Path ( who was killed) but willing ‘to die for’ the principle. So, years later even perhaps at ‘some university’ or WHATEVER..someone else has [evolution/a different ‘reasoning’ and so that is evil/wrong/kill it. And, with this bigger brain the pr…pri..prin…principle is lost/avoided?/deemed ‘wrong’.
That being: Regardless what/how/different your walk/talk/color/race/belief … IF YOU ARE a loving, caring,sharing,helping others manage,guiding others the same,patient,tolerant …regardless of the whatever’s person …I am going to say ..you’re a great friend,leader( person,in fact ,person of principle).
I’d ’to die for’ a piece of cheesecake right now..great breakfast idea. Just pointing out ad infinitum ridiculous ruses, sorta like ‘lipstick on a pig’ or ‘if it walks like a duck…’ it’s a Donald…?
The history books are so ‘full of it’😂 …we’ve been here a hundred times realizing OPPs made a mistake let’s correct that,new law, new mind set, new beginning…
..and along the way comes a brilliant writer ( thank you Heather) two or three or ’fourever’ ‘principle is as principle does’ if it’s loving,kind,helps the wholesomeness of whatever …I’m pretty amazed, impressed, and probably joining .
Otherwise..probably NOT!
Hoping your Memorial weekend is fun, relaxing, safe, enjoyed. Thanks to all who keep the lights on and the most vulnerable cared for.
Blessed are those times.😉🫶
He does!
No idea who the "B***h" is. Vance?
Maybelline is a brand of makeup. The reference is to the dark lower eyelashes of JD, who has been supposed to wear eyeliner.
Perhaps Vance is unaware of this odd trend among young men.
https://theconversation.com/men-on-social-media-are-cutting-their-eyelashes-to-appear-more-masculine-heres-why-its-a-bad-idea-256363
The unrelated things I learn from this forum … who even thinks of doing these things?? (Thin-skinned males, I know.)
Very interesting. I have dry, irritated eyes from radial keratotomy surgery. I’ve had punctal plugs for years. On my last visit my ancient Opthamologist changed the silicone plugs that were causing more irritation to collagen plugs. They are more comfortable. He also said I have eyelashes in the inner corner of my eye that could be removed. Unfortunately he didn’t do anything to remove them.
HA! Let these idiots do it and then let them suffer in their stupidity.
I was thinking he had those dark lines tattooed so he didn’t have to ever reapply. Imagine being caught without. I’ve never seen pictures of him when he was younger.
Trump with his slather of makeup and Vance with his eyeliner—why doesn’t the “manosphere” take that on?
Agree 111% with your WOWERful insight, I.H.C.T.T.
https://substack.com/profile/282099210-its-come-to-this
Trump is Project 2025's useful idiot. We know where the power actually lies, and he's the gullible, persuadable fool they're using to promote their insidious goals.
Crawling and itching: severely allergic to all that’s going on. We will prevail. Me must.
I was brought up in a Catholic grade school and the Sisters of merciless Mercy taught us to use reason and logic as our lifelong guides. So I soon reasoned that there was no God. They eventually expelled me.
Bill, I was spared the Catholic grade school experience although I lived in a neighborhood with a Catholic school and a large percentage of Catholic families. Every so often, the Catholic school would try to compete with the public school either athletically or academically and they always lost at everything. They were so bad that after a few years they quit competing.
Each year, a few more Catholic educated kids would come to the public school, and not to be mean, but they always ended up in the "dumb" class.
Oh contrar. We were ahead academically by at least 2 years over public school kids. When I registered at the local public school, they were all idiots sorry to say.
Bill Katz, I am intrigued by your experience. I have heard that echoed before. It makes me realize that religious school advocates always assume the religion part is what results in their academic standards being higher than public school. I don’t believe that. I believe it was stricter classroom expectations -( which could be cruelly harsh in the wrong hands), smaller classroom size, and they did not have to bother with academically challenged students. They just expelled them. Public schools must perform under more challenging realities. What do you think?
Worked as a school psychologist concurrently in the public and parochial settings, and I agree with you. The parochial curriculum was easier, but because they had the option of refusing admission/expelling students, overall adherence to classroom expectations was very good. Meanwhile, academic goals were higher at my working-class town's public schools, but the teachers had to instruct all sorts, with many laws restricting what constituted discipline.
One could argue this on several points. The catholic school kids were mostly lower middle class to middle class and not too many impoverished although that said there were likely working class included. In the public school where I registered there was a large non English-speaking segment. By grade 7, my teacher had a thing for space rocketry and had us copy notes off the blackboard — in 7th grade. I only know what I experienced and when I moved into public school system, they were behind or maybe the private school was simply ahead academically speaking. I’m not doing a study just stating what I experienced
MLRGRMI...(bingo) NO NON-SENSE prevailed. If the word "institution" conjures up fear in ones mind, then Catholic Schools fit right in. Religious academies, not so much. Public schools? Sorry, your book report on Capt Underpants is full of miss-spelings. zttzzzzzttttt
GJ and Bill, at my Catholic high school, we were so far ahead of the public schools, I'd been in college for two years before I had to start studying again. 97% of us graduated from a four year university.
Unlike public schools, our Catholic school history curriculum also introduced us to (1) the world's religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Toaism, Christianity, and nature based faiths and (2) the different geography and climate on different continents. In college I noticed public school students were totally ignorant about geography and religion and attributed everything, good and bad, to leaders.
My education through middle school was in Catholic school in the Caribbean. (To be fair, I'm an old fart now). We returned to the mainland during my freshman year, and I was about two years ahead of my public school peers. I could have graduated at 16, but I stayed for a "goof off" year, taking what I wanted to for fun.
I think when and where one was in Catholic school matters a great deal.
When I was in 8th grade the Catholic schools in Omaha had a math contest. They invited one public school - the one I attended. 4 seventh graders and 4 eighth graders from each school competed. All four of our two person teams beat every Catholic school team. I'm guessing the parochial school system in Omaha wasn't very academically challenging.
I started teaching in public school in the early 70s just when someone decided kids didn't need to learn history and geography--they needed to learn social studies--as a result many kids had no idea about what were our states or our history but they did know what were the crops of Samoa. Also, the powers decided there was one way to teach reading. I went into special ed. so I could use the skills I had learned to help kids.
They were not all idiots such a condescending word I apologize.
We were better at language skills, but not as good in math. George Carlin is of that ilk.
That's correctly "Au contraire," Bill. It kinda belies your point, which is valid in its substance, when you misuse a phrase.
I know I know. Thank you.
You are half correct. The reason you saw the "dumb" students is because those students did not meet the academic standards of the Catholic (Private) schools. You were seeing those who failed to maintain good grades or could not meet the challenges. Because the Catholic (Private) schools can simply let the "dumb" students go, the average performance is higher. My Catholic high school required passage of an entrance exam further limiting the student body to a certain academic level. Public schools have no choice but to accept every student. That said, that does not by any means mean one can not get a good education in a public school, it gets means the average may be higher. It raises the question of whether a private school necessarily means one gets a better education or simply that the average is higher and therefore interpreted as better?
I went to public high school and university and extended my disciplined grade school education. I think it was the times—more was expected.
Losing badly was our penance.
I had 12 years of Catholic education, including five of Jesuit training. I can remember to this day a Jesuit telling our religion class we need not interpret the New Testament literally, but as as metaphor. That began my journey down the road to critical thinking and concluding there is no evidence of a supreme being.
I had 12 years of Catholic education in Florida with both lay teachers and Sisters of St Joseph and Irish priests fresh off the boat from Ireland. I think we were considered “missionary “ territory. I wish I did have a Jesuit education. But it was a good education academically. This was in the mid to late sixties. We did not have co-ed classes and to take Physics, another female student and I had to attend that class in the “boy’s school” across the street. Only the girls took Home-Ec! I was one of the students on “scholarship” along with 2 of my siblings (because my parents couldn’t afford the tuition).
Despite the Catholicism I credit the Jesuits with instilling critical thinking. An interesting juxtaposition. My school was all boys. I'm not sure it's the best way to socialize young men.
Atta boy.
I understand that happens quite often in seminary (that many wannabe pastors/priests discover there isn't a superior being.
Considering the vastness of space I think there may be superior beings, just not a supreme one on a golden throne running the show.
I had 11 1/4 years of Catholic education. I know where you are coming from. It took me over 50 years but I left the Church too. It was a right to life issue. The Church is prolife when it comes to birthcontrol and abortion but silent of gun ownership and gun regulation. I became sick of seeing candles being lit for murdered school children.
I worked with and traveled with some Sisters of Mercy—they made more sense to me than many priests and certainly our then bishop—and carried out Jesus instruction to love one another better than anyone. (Having said that, I know there can be stinkers among sisters—I had one in grade school … different order, though.)
I love this comment, Bill Katz. I was brought up in the Catholic religion, but thankfully not Catholic school.
How did you reach that conclusion by reason alone? Thomas Henry Huxley, Darwin's 'bulldog', coined the term 'agnosticism' to distinguish between what is knowable and what isn't. I've personally never got any further than that employing reason. How does reason distinguish between the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum theory and the Many Worlds Theory?
Some of my favorite quotes on the subject (I have many more.):
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
-Epicurus
"We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
-Richard Dawkins
"It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so."
-Robert A. Heinlein
Free will is a law of the universe.
Benjamin Libet could give you an argument.
There are various logical issues, as Bill says. For example, concerning omnipotence: can God create an object so heavy that even He cannot move it? Even so, short of the discovery of a Babel Fish I don't see how the existence of a supernatural being is capable of being definitively ruled out, logically or otherwise.
Russell, then here's another favorite:
"What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof."
-Christopher Hitchens
I've said this many times before: although I don't believe there's a god, I can't definitively say there isn't. So I suppose I'm an agnostic, which I define as an atheist hedging his bets.
By reason of there being no empirical evidence of a god. The lack thereof plus the false origins of there being one led my youthful self to conclude that the ancients misinterpreted thunder and lightning as evidence.
Bill Having taught Similarities and Differences between Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, I did not identify a single ‘god.’ Indeed, Karen Armstrong, in her HISTORY OF GOD, points out that human worship of ‘powers/gods’ commenced about 30,000 BCE.
The linkage of pharaohs and ‘gods’ commenced about 3,000 BCE. In the Middle East, less in Asia, ‘gods’ were often linked more to power than the ‘spiritual.’ Barbara Tuchman’s account of Renaissance popes in FOLLIES OF HISTORY is light on morality and heavy on frivolity.
I agree with Eleanor Roosevelt in my belief of a ‘Supreme Being.’ Who or what she/he is remains a personal puzzlement.
Wow. Hats off to you. 30,000 years after humans shimmied down from trees. I’ve grown to pick and choose my interests. For example, I have no interest in sports. Except running, perhaps. I don’t do God study. I do like song composition. History is fascinating. When I stated my compassion towards Muslims, it’s because they are being slaughtered throughout the Middle East.
Wow. This could open up a huge rabbit hole of discussion on "is there a God? Does God exist?"
First we need to define which God Kathy since there are about 2,000 gods that people believe in around the world.
It’s not of any interest for me. Im not interested in religion. I believe religion is the bane of human existence. Further, I don’t particularly like Christians. Or Jews for that matter. Or Hindi. Since Muslims are so persecuted, I have much more kindness in my heart for them.
Not so long ago I was virtually kicked out of an open mic sponsored by a Methodist church. They just didn’t like my story telling. I once did a stand-up and my opening line was, “God made a terrible mistake allowing the wrong primate branch up the evolutionary trail.” OMG, no pun I intended ,I thought I was keeping it clean. No one laughed and I received a call from the pastor the next morning wanting to see me. I envisioned what Mark Twain would have said and I’m sure he would have laughed.
For you reading pleasure, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nonexistent-objects/
Would we do better to say gods are fictitious characters rather than god does not exist?
But quantum theory dispels classical modes of reason, including empiricism. What does empiricism mean when an observer cannot be detached from an event being observed (or alternatively when that event occurs only in one of a multitude of parallel universes)? Do you see the risks of solipsism even attempting this?
Have you considered the empirical evidence for the various scientific theories about how the universe came into being (or whether it has always existed)? I have found there's not much to be enouraged about there.
I'm not trying to convert you here, Bill, from your atheism. In fact even the word 'atheism' is rather loaded because it implies that theism is a default philosophy or belief - probably a vestige of man's innate religiosity, or spirituality, if you like. But one needs to recognise religion as a phenomenon, for good or for bad, and a central aspect of the human experience.
I sidestep all of that, Russell, by distinguishing between religion and deism. I'm an agnostic, because whether by science or faith, I don't know if there's a deity. I don't think it's a thing anyone can know because of the vastness of the concept of god. But there certainly is religion, and whichever one you follow, it has been responsible for war, slavery, ignorance, and a host of other ills.
Which is why a fraternize more easily with animals than humans.
Bill.., is it lunchtime yet? I hear Krakatoa is getting ready to blow (again). Pray that doesn't happen in our lifetime.T-Rump will blame a democrat.
That's baby Krakatoa, Anak Krakatoa? It's still huffing and puffing somewhat spasmodically. Trump would probably recommend nuking it.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-nuke-hurricanes/
No, it will be Joe Biden’s Fault.
That’s “faith.”
For you reading pleasure, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nonexistent-objects/
Would we do better to say god is a fictitious character than god does not exist?
Goodness me, do you think this could be the basis for Trump talking about Hannibal Lecter as though he were a real person?
Bill! And.., "I" would utter, that any conversation to the contrary is quite frankly, pee-ing into the wind, for they hold the reference book that can prove or refute anything. Who(??) in hell wrote that anyway? Hell, being a convoluted state of mind.., but who wrote it? Some scribe with a hammer and pick taking dictation? Who? Or was it downloaded to some pdf in some room in the pyramids? When.., huh?
I tell another story in my stand up. In 4th grade, Mrs Henigan put me under her desk for talking in class. Really. This part happened. The next part is imaginary. I go on to say how delighted I was to be so close to you know what since coming out of my mommy. And so me thinks what could she do if I reached up and touched it? Scream? Not do anything? Or call up Father Emerling the principle. “Father, Billy Katz just touched it what should I do.? Father Emerling: “Mrs Henigan you march little Billy Katz right doe to my office so I can put him under my desk.”
Christians can’t handle that one at all. I once told that bit but first asked the audience if there were any Catholics in the audience. I sensed they were all Baptist and they were. Black Baptists in fact. No one laughed so they were showing support to fellow Christians I got it.
Also, the SBC has had its own reckoning with sexual abuse. At the highest levels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhYqeGp_Do
yeah but Trump depends on his lone super power of connecting directly with his base. Vance's toolbox of people skills is virtually empty and he is not well-liked. If Trump were to keel from a stroke or a heart attack, Vance "might" capture the MAGAs--but only for a short time. I doubt Vance could stand in front of a class of West Pointers and spew out volleys of lies and venom for an HOUR, as Trump can do. He doesn't have that sing-song delivery that makes thinking people gag, but apparently fascinates and mesmerizes his (MAGA) listeners.
I once thought this - Vance is deeply unpopular and a non-starter among the MAGA cult. But we need to follow the money, and his being in the Peter Thiel crowd will bring all the other billionaires and foreign influence seekers on board. He'll lay his "hillbilly" background on thick.
Vance has Thiel, but I don't think that he can continue to play the hillbilly card. An Ivy league grad married to another Ivy league grad.
Anyone who watches a true self-defined "hillbilly" ---Tennessee Brando--knows that Vance is not one. Nor is "Kid Rock" or the Duck Dynasty family. Brando gets nearly enraged when he talks about them.
He's quite a force of common sense. Many of us here watch him on the Meidas Touch network.
One of my best buds at Washington and Lee University, hailing from the Blue Mountain State, detests Vance, less for his politics, than for his making all of Appalachia all about J.D. Name-of-the week.
My friend maintains that most of Appalachia is like the rest of us; that J.D.'s family may be screwed up but that does not mean all of Appalachia is. A better book on the tragedy of Appalachia is 'Demon Copperhead' by Barbara Kingsolver.
I hated Hillbilly Elegy without knowing his politics. He let everyone know how much smarter he is. Demon is a great book.
His hillbillyness, dubious as it is, won't get him very far, Maureen. Even with all the money in the world behind him he isn't likeable. Exhibit 1: Musk.
G-D knows, I hope you are correct, Lauren, and that I am mis-reading Vance's public persona.
😢
As well as 💔, T. L.
I hope you’re right but I am afraid you underestimate Vance and the axis of evil pulling the veritable strings.
The hardest part for me, Mary, is that I have always believed that people are simply not malevolent. Ooops.
Perfect characterization of Trump’s “sing-song delivery.” It’s simultaneously soporific and menacing. He sometimes varies that with his “comic growly voice,” as in “I’m gonna let [RFK Jr.] go wild on the food and the vaccines [etc.].” That passes for humor with him and his crowd. The whole act is as repellent as it is dangerous and destructive of sane government and common sense.
Hopefully, like all other nearby peers, Vance will get drumpfed soon enough as Trump tries to establish his F*ck Dynasty.
As his (t rumps) cocks back and forth and lips purse as he spews extravagant lies
I suspect that you are accurate with your insight, T. L.
We failed to be careful Ned, and we also failed to be forceful and failed to be off the book confronting what we knew was coming. This is only the beginning of the nightmare. Vance is next in line.
That is the hard part. As a people, we getting just what we signed up for.
I did not Ned but I'm getting it anyway. Somehow we need to resolve this situation and if so, learn the lesson to not repeat this nightmare again. They are persistent and have all the money they need to survive for the next time, we have to get off the book and what's proper or not and fly lower, not as low as they fly but lower till we pass all the laws required to guarantee that democracy will survive. Even if our actions don't look democratic. It will be only temporary.
Why is it those lucky enough to have the benefit of an Ivy League education are particularly eager to denigrate that education and damage or destroy their universities?
Vance did his undergraduate work at Ohio State, and it would be interesting to hear what kind of student he was there. His law degree is from Yale, which he has in common with both Clintons and Robert Reich, but also with Clarence Thomas. Seems like Vance and Thomas fueled their resentment there as did William F. Buckley.
I have wondered about this resentment, too. I suspect there may be a feeling by Vance, Alito, and Thomas that the traditional Yalers said implicitly -- or, more likely that the three mentioned here inferred incorrectly -- "Welcome to Yale, Harvard, etc. Delighted to have you study with us but you will NEVER be one of us."
I have no problem denigrating Yale -- the admissions committee there has the temerity to take a pass on me. 🤭🤫😉
JD is not level headed. He's just smarter, but I agree more dangerous.
Drumpf is an elderly man brought up on a belief in his own unfounded superiority. JD is the same creature with eyeliner instead of a spray tan.
Both appeal to the same simpleton sad slab of America.
Hopefully others (e.g., Lauren and Carol et al., above) are on-target about prancing Vance's two right feet.
With Vance you can always see the wheels turning in his head.
Interesting that Pope Francis seemed to figure that out, and he made sure that Vance was one of the last people he spoke with.
Yes, Vance with his beautiful wife and gorgeous three children are projecting to the folks who only watch Fox and trump's commercials, the American dream - that BTW will soon be unachievable for anyone but the bro's
Maybe, Vance has an awkwardness about him. He's not very charismatic. Peter Theil put Vance on the ballot. The orange blight didn't want Vance and he seems to ignore him most of the time.
Yep. This dash towards dictatorship is better titled, "Revenge of the Nerds XLVII: the Final Retribution."
I don’t think Vance has the charismatic appeal to MAGA that Trump does. And am not sure those closest to Trump think much of him. If possible Trump wants to keep it in the family.
Ned, you are spot on. Each of us must be aware as the Heritage plan unfolds piece by piece. Listen and watch as the players behind the curtain implement the plan to cripple our government and Democracy. As Trump's mental and physical abilities decline more, the news and social media are obsessed with his reality show that is only a cover. I'm not saying that what he says or does isn't important and destructive as well, I see it as a distraction that enables the real leaders of this devious and sadistic movement to move forward in front of our eyes.
Although I was a Bush Republican and once sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, I can not understand this desire to destroy the machinery of republican governance.
"Poised" is an odd word ever to use in reference to Vance, Ned. JD is too awkward and unpopular to win a national election, or to sway the Kangaroo Kabinet to invoke the 25th. Of course he'd be heinous in power, but in what world does he have what it takes to get there?
Poised in his temper. Yes, he is a klutz like the rest of the Nerd Reich.
Agree.
Vance is more dangerous because he is intelligent. No one could reasonably say that Trump is intelligent, or ever has been. Whatever others may have seen as intelligence in business never looked at his history of failed businesses and refusal to pay for work done on his properties. Trump’s cognitive difficulties are increasingly obvious; the most recent example being his commencement address at West Point. The “Golden Age “ will never happen under his leadership. It should be more correctly characterized as the “Iron Pyrite Age”.
"Poised" is the right expression. Background. A player; but keeping his cards close to his chest. Et tu Brute?
I keep saying the same thing so good for you.
I pray that you are correct, Laura. Thank you Dr. Richerson , for this clear, cogent summary of what is happening. Knowledge will help us win .
You got that right Laura DunnART; they will not win.
First, the human context; there are six thousand, eight hundred (6,800) foreign students whose careers and lives of the students are at stake along with the potential losses back in the nations of origin.
Legal matters are under federal court control. Savy Judge ALLISON BURROUGHS did not merely grant a "TRO". The Judge made specific findings on the record of BOTH "substantial and irreparable harm".
The "Status" hearing before Judge Burroughs is coming up quickly on 5/27/25. Soon I believe, the Court's case file will be stuffed with foreign students' declarations under oath to cement the entry of Preliminary Injunction on 5/2925. That's only in five (5) calendar days!
SPOILER ALERT:
"The preliminary Injunction is GRANTED". Signed AB.
🎶Hold on, Hold On, Everything's Coming Up Roses🎶
Have a wonderful & safe Holiday Weekend Everyone.
Memorial Day 2025. A good day to fight fascism.
June 14 is the No Kings National Day of Defiance.
A Very CORRUPT Bill would NOT Have Passed the House Under REASONABLE Circumstances
Representatives Who Did Not Vote
1. Andrew Garbarino (R- NY): Missed the vote after inadvertently falling asleep during an all-night legislative session.
New York Post
2. Gerry Connolly (D-VA): Passed away on May 21, 2025, a day before the vote.
3. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ): Absent due to health issues.
4. Frederica Wilson (D-FL): Absent; specific reason not publicly disclosed.
5. Brittany Pettersen (D- CO): Absent due to maternity leave.
6. Kevin Mullin (D-CA): Absent due to recovery from knee surgery
BECAUSE this was a crucial bill that would affect the entire country for decades, it should have been treated with SERIOUSNESS and:
1. Should have been given ample consideration under normal business hours, NOT in the middle of the night - NOT with “marathon hours” that would be difficult for a very young person to focus when in fact the majority are elderly.
Sleep is a necessity. Lack of sleep can cause health issues.
2. Should be afforded the SAME consideration as in a presidential election, where the voter is allowed to have an advocate submit THEIR vote when they are unable to be physically present for the vote.
THREE VOTES which would have PREVENTED this bill from passing the House were NOT COUNTED because those Representatives could not be present.
(Did Speaker Johnson hurry & hold this vote so quickly BECAUSE he KNEW Petersen (D) would be on pregnancy leave and Mullin (D) was to have knee surgery?)
3. Should allow reasonable time for the Congress (Representatives & Senators) to:
• READ the bill,
• ANALYZE the bill,
• DISCUSS the bill,
• DEBATE the bill and
• AMEND the bill.
You ONLY want to rush a bill through with a vote in the middle if the night when you DON’T want Congress to KNOW what is REALLY in the bill - how it could AFFECT their constituents, our country and our democracy. OR that it allows President Trump to be a DICTATOR. (See below).
That’s exactly what happened in this 1,116 page bill. Maybe they ought to take a vote on how many of those Representatives actually READ the bill in its ENTIRETY! If they hadn’t read the bill, that is lack of “due diligence.” Therefore they neglected their sworn duty as a Representative by not doing their required “homework.”
According to ChatGPT, to read this entire bill it would take:
• an average reader 22 hours and 20 minutes; and
• a fast reader 18 hours.
Were the House Representatives afforded proper time to READ this bill let alone analyze, discuss, debate and amend it??
“BURIED IN THE BILL
A small addition to the budget bill House GOPers are pushing upends the traditional balance of power by forbidding courts to charge Trump and other government officials with contempt for defying court orders.
The bill also blocks court-ordered national injunctions to prevent potential illegal acts posing imminent harm.
*** With the SCOTUS ruling giving Trump immunity, this small part of the bill completes his quest to become America's first dictator.” ***
Call DC Pols/202-224-3121/Raise Hell
Maybe you missed the election on November 5?
D-Day + 10. Daniel, I'm certain we are going land a lot of troops on the Front.
June 6 + 8 is June 14, or am I missing something?
No Jim; I'm the one missing something -- Sleep. : ---)
You can use the 3 dots in the upper right corner to select "edit," this morning I ended up using it 3 times on a nine word comment.
I'd have never made it as tech writer without a computer, editor, and proof reader, with that team I lost count of the pages I created and they corrected, but the biggest single manual set was 3,750 pages.
Edit: Actually it was ten words. I'm glad I wasn't making mistakes this often back then.,
My friends, husband and I are going to be at the Colorado State Capital in Denver on June 14th for the NO KINGS rally too!
You mean like Obamacare?
Yes. And yes. Everyone to the streets!
Fascism has nothing to do with America today. Stop believing the lies you’ll be better off for it.
Looking at the situation from the perspective of an international student, would I still want to come to Harvard with such an uncertain future? Even if the courts protect Harvard's right to bring me to the U.S. to study, how will I be protected if I am arrested on spurious charges? Would I commit to coming to study anywhere in the U.S. if I can choose another country--Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, if I'm limited to English-speaking countries--with an excellent higher ed system and a less precarious environment? I'm not worried about Harvard's ability to fill a class with excellent students, but is their currently rich multicultural ambience threatened if many international students decide to give Harvard, or any U.S. university, for that matter, a pass?
I'm afraid of a modern exodus of our own best and brightest, along with all the others (including many of the best and most willing workers), this administration is trying to force out.
Where will the best teachers go, if so many of the best students are forced to leave?
One of the girl's in my daughter's class in rural Maine attended medical school in Israel because of the cost and not because it was easier to get accepted. My doctor in FL immigrated to the US from Columbia and was an amazing doctor and help hundreds of Spanish speaking patients.
The brain drain from US colleges and universities will only make it harder for businesses to hire qualified candidates to build the products Trump wants to bring back to the US to make.
Guess I don't get it GJ. "Other" countries are happily making all this crap (hi-tech/lo-tech/dollar-store).., why close their factories down? Don't their people like those jobs? Don't they turn out a good product? I didn't go to Hahverd, but I just don't see the picture.
Jim, as you know, America has been the lighthouse for the worlds best and brightest. Just like the lighthouses along the coast here in Maine. T-Rump has pulled the plug and is busy destroying the fresnel lens. So, sick.
So why can’t we educate more Americans?
Henry Ford myth seems a lesson never learned by Trump
See https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/03/04/the-story-of-henry-fords-5-a-day-wages-its-not-what-you-think/
In 1913, Ford hired more than 52,000 men to keep a workforce of only 14,000. New workers required a costly break-in period, making matters worse for the company. Also, some men simply walked away from the line to quit and look for a job elsewhere. Then the line stopped and production of cars halted. The increased cost and delayed production kept Ford from selling his cars at the low price he wanted. Drastic measures were necessary if he was to keep up this production.
Pay attention this time to see what really happens when you get rid of hard to replace workers.
I understand France has recruited our scientists and physicians from the NIH, CDC, etc.
Cool. Maybe they’ll come up with a way to defend the next global pandemic as well. Aka Fauci.
More gullibility why would they be forced to leave Harvard Has a $52 billion foundation.
The solution is to arrest the president. And his team.
He should have been arrested before the end of January 2021. He should have been arrested as soon as we saw the photo of top secret documents in his Mar a Lago guest bathroom.
If Biden or Obama had done 1% of what the Orange Menace has done what would the GOP MAGA Nazis being saying?
Could the Crypto Dinner be his ultimate Achilles heel? There was nothing about that feast of fools that related to a president's official duties, right?
I saw that point made, saying that Leavitt tossed him under the bus by saying he did it in his private time, thus it was not official presidential duties.
Correct Bill.
Seems to me it’s just a bunch of hateful souls. While America keeps winning
They all were born without Achilles heel Bill.
" ... without an Achilles heal", I'm not certain about that Ricardo. Don't think they were completely submerged in the River Styx. Regardless, they do have have many, many weak points.
Then they aren't human! But maybe that's the problem?
But seriously,
Let's see what happens when Apollo guides another arrow from Paris...
The sloppy awful, unlawful mistakes of this NEW KKK CLAN provide future prosecutors with many gifts to work with.
The Karma Cops are on their way.
Yeah? Annnd, James.., who we gonna call on to do that? Ghostbusters, hahhaaaahaaaa.., Homan? 780Bondi, 780Noem, 780Fetterman.
*780 is the How Mal (malfunctioned) code for bent,buckled,twisted or distorted back in aircraft/engine maintenance in the AF.
That’s my point. Options are narrowing if not eliminated.
Your options are to love America watch what’s happening enjoy all the winning like the other 75 million or more Americans that are doing exactly that stop believing everything you read here unless you go, in fact, check it and see the other side of the story as well because you don’t see it here
Maybe you should just use Comey’s line 86,47.
I do use a sign that says
"SCOTUS and Congress
86 47
Before it's Too Late
(It's their job to, with due process to 86 47 or any other president that will not stay within the bounds of the Constitution.)
FALSE. No comma & Comey did not create the meme.
"No mens rea" regardless as as we say around the DA's Office.
What’s the matter with you? James isn’t enough they tried to kill him three times. Three years eight months more to go. He’s only just begun sit back relax and enjoy the ride.
Thank you Betsy Smith for your penetrating questions:
Uncertain future? Exactly. That is one reason I will attempt to download the foreign students' written declarations submitted to the Court unless they are protected. Judge Burroughs, all Judges protect witnesses.
As you may know, New Zealand (NZ) ) has a thriving upper education infrastructure on the South Island (Dunedin) that supports foreign students.
Back to Harvard, my understanding is the University's endowment is north of fifty (50) billion dollars. Harvard has been around in 1 form or another since the 18th Century. We have two (2) pending Harvard cases now & the litigation has only just started.
I will be taking a deep dive into the mushrooming record. More later.
Maybe you missed it there Brian Harvard used to be Jew Heaven now it’s Jew hell or so it seems.
I made a pitch to Substack's Inc's lawyers to go straight to SF Superior Court.
All of your TOU contract violations that I allege have been reported & will be used as Exhibits whether at JAMS mediation, SF Superior Court orJAMS Mediation then to SF Superior Court.
Betsy, Hong Kong University has posted publicly that they will take any and all international students who are kicked out of the USA or prevented from attending their universities of choice, at the same level of tuition or scholarship that was offered them at an American institution. Now, 20 years ago this would have been a terrific opportunity (Hong Kong was still a British protectorate) because HKU was an innovative and exciting place to be. It is now a former shell of itself, dominated by a committee of terrified government shills who answer to Beijing. So this is actually China hoping to take advantage of the derangement of this maladministration and its Felon in Chief.
Other opportunities are arising for those wishing to leave the US.
https://tfiglobalnews.com/2025/05/10/europe-launches-e500m-initiative-to-attract-u-s-scientists/#:~:text=In%20a%20bold%20move%20to%20position%20itself%20as,States%2C%20amid%20deep%20cuts%20to%20American%20science%20funding.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/24/americans-british-citizenship
Betsey.., Where ya gonna go?
I hear you and would feel the same. I can not WAIT for this nightmare to be over.
I am personally less concerned about the issue of foreign students attending US schools, and much more concerned about the potential exodus of American students who choose to study overseas due to the threats to academic freedom that are becoming worse every day under this administration.
I am not thrilled at all that Harvard uses 1/4 of its available admissions for foreign students, especially when it gets a significant amount of funding via public moneys to support student financial aid. If there were no public financial aid being used to support Harvard, then they should be free to admit anyone they choose. But given that a substantial amount of their annual budgets come from federal funding, they should be focused on educating American students, not foreign ones.
I personally think that education is not limited by what students are taught in classrooms but that the interactions among people--students, faculty, staff, workers of all kinds--in a higher ed setting is what makes people's experiences at Harvard so valuable, often life-changing. I have seen enormous changes in people's attitudes and understanding maybe in small part from what I taught them, but mostly from what they learned from each other. And I never taught at Harvard.
Well, to add to my comment above, I am strongly opposed to governmental funding of ANY private institution like Harvard, just as I am opposed to governmental funding of private elementary, secondary and parochial schools. There should be NO public funding going into private schools, for any reason whatsoever. If you want to be a private school, charge your students what you need to charge or get enough support from your donors (which should ALSO NOT be tax deductible.)
We need to stop funding private organizations that are not definable as charitable organizations because public funding being used to support private organizations is a drain on the moneys needed to support public and charitable organizations.
Bryan
‘Moses supposes his toesees are roses,
But Moses supposes Erroneously,
Moses he knowsees his toesees aren’t roses,
As Moses supposes his toesees to be.”
Happy Memorial Day week end, my Solon friend.
Your Moses can't remember when he last saw his toeses.
🤣
Hellloooo Keith! This was great! Sending you big hugs and best wishes!
Wow, 91 & writes poetry!
I wasn't sure they were going to 🎶still feed me🎶 or need me when I was 64.
Bryan My roses song was sung by Gene Kelly and Dennis O’Connor in Singing in the Rain. I only do short rhymes such as Trump’s ‘America First’ will become ‘America’s Worse’ and Bone Spur Donald at West Point was perverse rather than diverse.
Cheerio,
Keith
🤣
You, too!
They will be defeated decisively or I will be dead; conclusive either way.
Which could be 6800 Americans. Or at least the majority of them.
Thanks, Bryan. Always value your input.
We just cannot let them win, Laura.
I agree with you, John Spence! I think our new slogan should be: “ Simply No ! “ . Lat night I watched a PBS special documentary by the Latino actor John Leguizamo about the history and contributions of Latinos. So often I said “THAT’S the spirit we need going forward!” Simply No! Our worth, Our intelligence, Our contributions, Our History will NOT be denied. For anyone wanting a defiant, rich, beautifully crafted history lesson, watch : https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/american-historia-the-untold-history-of-latinos/
And you know now why would the administration is trying to defund PBS and NPR haven’t been fair-minded public voices in decades. I hope you heard the testimony of the lady that basically called Trump the devil and she was heading up the organization
NPR and PBS are different organizations. No one lady heads up the "organization."
Oh Rick I was thinking of you last week.
You claimed the United States had one of the best health care systems in the world, certainly better than Canada.
The following cay in a congressional hearing Secretary of HHS RFK Jr said it was the worst. We're "the sickest country in the world."
Should I believe you or RFK Jr?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2VGnUkyR8SM
You’re absolutely right. They won’t win. At the moment we depend on 3 things. W rely on ourselves, all of us with our multiplicity of views with open minds and hearts. We rely on the law and the dutiful judiciary that upholds it. And we rely on the people across the nation, the vast majority who are being disenfranchised by a coalition of small, well organized groups that do not and cannot represent them.
White Dominionist males, MAGA, so-called Freedom Party, and the Fascist underbelly of society are and will always remain a minority. They have failed on every front but one, the last poorly understood election. Just now, they pass bills in the dark of night. Bills that refer vaguely to “unfinished” sections. Bills that have zero bipartisan support and despite the slimmest of majorities. Bills that despite their size and tremendous scope of impact on the nation have been pushed through without debate and in unprecedented haste.
The scofflaw Administration advances its secret agenda by secret means and leaves no record of the process or those involved. Although not constitutionally a law making body they enforce orders without standing to do so. The enforcers characteristically claim, “We’re not thugs. We’re just doing what we’re told.” I am only surprised they don’t give the straight arm salute and click heels in that moment.
Do not lose heart. Don’t imagine for a moment that in a nation of 100s of millions of people, any large majority supports any of this usurpation. At the end of the day we must stand with, join hands and unite all Americans. Do trust that both history and the future are on our side.
Roberts was wrong to call this a second American revolution. It is a criminal assault by a small minority upon everything this country has and will continue to represent.
Bill, I don't understand all this talk of a secret agenda. I've never seen an administration that flaunts its corruption and lawlessness so casually before the public.
Diversionary flak? Don’t be fooled. Ask instead who’s directing the show? Don’t be one who stares at the swinging pocket watch when that’s not what’s going on at all. “Sleep , sleep … sleep.”
I don't know, Bill. It seems to me that what you call 'diversionary flak' is the whole piece so far as this administration is concerned. There have simply been too many missteps to believe that there is some sinister guiding principle behind the fiasco. It's all playing out in the full light of day. Even the Republicans misguided attempt to force through legislation in the early hours of the morning has royally backfired. I totally agree that sometimes it's hard to see the wood for the trees because of all the crap coming at you every day.
I'm not sure there is a secret agenda. In fact the right seems very clear on it's objectives.
The problem we have now is the Democratic Party is even less popular than Trump. Until the Democrats figure out they need to acknowledge they have lost middle America and die on nonsensical hills, MAGA wins the day.
GARY, I have to commend you that was a very accurate post indeed.
Currently, the Democrat party is in total disarray. They have no leader their only agenda is hate Trump. And that won’t work. Even Democrat pumpkins are going nuts over the liberals, backing the wrong pony like illegal, criminals versus American citizens. Like men and women sports.
We need two parties in this country at least. Balance is important
I’ll mention to you one last thing if I haven’t already said it.
The NFL plays games on Sunday on Monday. It watches film most of the day to assess how they played how they lost and what they can do to change their execution so that they can win.
It’s been 6 months since the election and the democratsstill haven’t figured it out. And what’s worse is the quasi leaders they have now are left of Santa Claus.
There’s probably not an individual here that can tell me who is the leader of the Democrat party right now or what their agenda is. They lost the election and both houses of Congress so for the next two years, it’s gonna be a struggle for the Dems just like it was a struggle for the Republicans when Obama was in the same position just a few years ago.
They need to regroup and focus. Having senators run down to El Salvador on behalf of one criminal illegal versus all the damage has been done to American citizens that have been murdered, raped or trafficked, or died of fentanyl. it’s not the leader ship the Democrats need IMO.
Nobody’s been disenfranchised. Four months and the people here are freaking out. Sad.
We won’t let them. Willful ignorance to manipulate the uneducated will not stand.
Hey, Karen, basket of deplorable’s didn’t work so well either.
What are you even doing here?
Keep fighting, Laura. It is not the first time they have tried to put us all down and the arc of justice has been bent towards the good before by all of us fighting for it.
This letter helped me put perspective into the perplexing anti-intellectual bent of a “radical right” that has appeared resistant to logic, unable to find comfort with thinking outside the box of a Bible, yet also divided by various interpretations within. Ultimately needing to feel “chosen”, and not inferior to those with higher education through embracing simplistically dictated “rules”— even alienating themselves from its primary leader (Jesus). All based in the core fear of feeling less-than, a wound no amount of money or power can heal. Liberals embrace diversity and acceptance. So, how to appeal to these wounded masses?
Do not be broken! Truth is truth. Reality is reality. We know what is real. Education, knowledge, curiosity, all part of being human. This cannot be shut down.
We knew this was coming. Project 2025 was public. Yet the opposition leadership was caught flat-footed.
Today's New York Times has a map showing the distribution of red and blue states. The map is a sea of red. Whether these statistics remain true, I don't know, but it was once noted that of the 25 most dangerous cities, 76% are in red states. Many states with the highest rate of burglary are red. I'm not sure that widespread belief in god ensures a society's health. It may be that a society's dysfunction increases a belief in god as people pray for safety and revenge against wrong doers. In fact, we know that people follow some of the ten commandments and neglect others. Christians have abused, enslaved, insulted, oppressed people - Blacks, Native Americans, the Japanese during WW2. The bible says: you shall not commit murder; you shall not commit adultery (trump?); honor your father and mother. How many human beings ever honored their mother and father or abstained from committing murder, adultery, theft or perjury? And what about science and now academia: universities and research centers now live in fear of the Christian mob. Science does not say anything about the supernatural. There will continue to be a clash between religion and the world of facts, evidence and data.
Stephanie, if everybody here saw that map that you were speaking of I think they would be shockingly surprised. I try to throw a link up here that shows up, but I doubt if anyone has looked at it because it’s coming from me, but it would be wise to do that because it is a sea of red and that needs to change to bring balance. And please take into consideration, that other than the fact of the map crime news from the New York Times, could probably use as birdcage liner
What they’re doing is using percentages in lower populated states where we all know that the worst numbers of crimes occur in the most populated cities, which are mostly run by blue. That really doesn’t matter but they need to see the map to understand what’s happening. Thank you for your post
You may be absolutely correct. I hope you are. Then we should have good opportunity to flip Congress and proceed with multiple impeachments and sack the lot of them. Sounds good.
The flip side may be different. If indeed they are as stupid as they appear, it becomes difficult to explain the depth and spread of their victories. Right now they own both Houses of Congress, SCOTUS, and the Administration. They have a deeply layered assembly of judges across the country. They are dig in to State legislatures and many Governorships. They do have vigorous support.
All things considered it begs the question, which side is more lost in the weeds? Project 2025 is a plainly written blueprint for overthrowing the Government of the US. It’s been around for awhile. It’s no great secret, and it appears to be working. Notwithstanding the many injunctions laid against it.
I have no crystal ball. For the time being the options left to us are limited. As I stated at the beginning, I hope you’re correct. I much prefer that view. I’m happy to be wrong.
I feel your pain. Some days, it's almost too much to bear. That's when it's time to take a little break from the news and later return to it, reinvigorated.
Amen
WE won’t let them win!!!!!
Yes they will and on behalf of all Americans
The destruction of our government and institutions is infuriating.
“Trump White House Purges Official Transcripts of President’s Remarks”
-Olga Lautman / Substack 05-23-25
Trump officials have removed nearly all official transcripts of the president’s public remarks from WhiteHouse.gov, replacing them with select videos. As of now, only Trump’s 2025 inaugural address remains online. A White House official claimed the move was made to "maintain consistency" and to offer what they called a more “accurate sense” of Trump via video.
Trump is erasing the written record of his presidency—scrubbing transcripts to dodge accountability, control the narrative, and rewrite history on his terms. This is how authoritarian regimes operate.
Source: NBC News
*We must resist, protest, and write to our congress*
He's erasing the written record because it would reveal a psychiatric basket case of derangement, incoherence and the inability to speak (much less write) two sentences without the obvious blather of dementia being officially revealed.
He is ruthlessly, and persistently, evil to the bone. Way worse than demented. Same for Vance and I’ll add the hypocrite Buckley. They are traitors in the worse way. Destroy to rebuild, with the money and the evil fully in charge. The earth shudders…
Don’t forget Rubio and McConnell, both of whom know better but will do Trump’s bidding because they have no moral core.
So much deliberate, gleeful evil
The media is complicit in this cover up. Example: I watched one of the major networks' coverage of Trump's graduation speech at West Point. They showed brief clips of a couple of his "key" messages, mostly about eradicating DEI in the military. While that is backward and fascist-adjacent bullshit to our ears, it red meat to his base, and with him reading dully from his teleprompter, it looks like relatively "normal" political speech. Nothing about his long, rambling asides about yachts and trophy wives - and all the other things that echo around in the dark, abandoned hallways of his dying brain.
And the videos will be edited of course. NYTimes is missing a chance to again become the newspaper of record.
I suspect ALL of the Trump tripe can be found online somewhere. One of their reasons for erasing Trump's ramblings is because they have been used against him in court time and again. And when Trump says one thing and then claims something completely different in court, who are the judges supposed to believe?
Exactly!
But JDVance doesn’t have those problems! JDVance is a sure nuff menace. And he’s next in line.
If trump is smart he will resign the presidency in close to three years….hand it over to Vance and VOILÀ. IF Vance does a good job…8 more years of Republican rule.
And if Joe and Jill aka pres and VP did the same. Kamala migh t e[actually still be in the WH…or the Dems could have had a primary and picked a good/viable candidate
A written record makes it easy to search. We can’t have that.
I found a source of all his speeches, videos, and comments he makes publicly. They provide a transcript for everything. It is on the Roll Call website. Click on the tab for Factbase. It has it written as factba.se. (You can click on the previous underlined link.) You can select your category. This will be helpful. I scrolled through several categories and looked at the dates, and it appears to be thorough since January 20th.
Interesting! Best copy and save what you can before the site gets ‘disappeared’.
And just how do they 'disappear' the records of Trump's inanities held by the media? The internet is not the only record of political change. Do you remember books?
US government websites are disappearing in real time but the information they hold isn't.
right on Kathy J - factba.se sounds great as a source of scribed records.
https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/search/
I assume all this is happening without Dear Leader's knowledge. So just who is running the Ministry of Truth? Stephen Miller?
Thank you!
As long as there are people with cell phones, the record of the orange felon will not be entirely erased.
Perfect. Then you will realize that everything did… worked.
Jesus wept, have none of you people ever read a book?!!
Expound, pls
Sad to say, Susan, most of what I know about the world comes from books. Please excuse the peevish plaint of a bibliophile.
Were you directing that plaint toward the people who don’t read HCR, or those who do?
Attempts to erase history, and evidence, seem futile, and fantasy.
They don’t have to erase it, they just have to blur it. Fact-based reasoning was lost in America when the term “fake news” took hold. If there is no standard for what is fact and what is not, then liars like Trump can easily persuade a willing populace. This is right out of the Nazi propaganda handbook and it is very, very effective.
Whewww!! Exactly.., "A willing populace", and THAT they are. I was just going to type that T-Rumps yo yo's almost love it when Democrats cause him a trainwreck, because he can bloviate from his pulpit that he will repair the damage and make things even better. He owns the pulpit - he has the last words. If we're going to right-this-ship we need to get on top of this game. Did we not learn from the Haitian mess in Springfield Ohio? We gotta skin this cat!
Yes, Dave, but there's an antidote.
Especially, Jim, in this day and age of smart phones, videos, and internet/social media….you can run, but you can’t hide. Ha! which is probably why Trump just crimes out in the open!
Fortunately for now this site does record videos and transcripts!
https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/search/
The White House should be sued for editing.
This WH OR THE LAST ONE. OH BOY. Joe is in top shape and perfect mental health. In fact. He doesn’t have cancer either.
To see him from John Oliver's perspective, including lots of video footage, Last Week Tonight was worth my 28 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07JQr5W3970
Hey blame John Oliver that trump is in the WHITE HOUSE. john Actually dared and begged trump to run. And so he did. Oooooops Lmfao.
I am counting upon YouTube to provide many clips that the mainstream media will edit--as seen in the campaign--for us to view. Medias Touch Network, Brian Tyler Cohen, David Pakman, etc. The more we watch, subscribe (it's free), like and comment, we promote distribution of these bits of information.
You guys will believe almost everything. Even after you were duped for four years that Biden was competent and in perfect mental health.
I'm beyond sad, grieving even. What was built up in 250 years is broken down in mere months by an evil orange clown and his sycophant shit show. The biggest democracy of the world is gone. If it ever can be rebuilt, remains to be seen...
You got that right.
The work, lives lost, and sacrifices that it took to achieve what this country has achieved are all for nought with these vipers. Common sense, along with enlightened intelligence led us to a flawed, but productive and empathetic society. Ruthless is the word for the destroyers. The religious hypocrites are the best example of what must be kicked to the curb. Jesus never was their inspiration and Franklin Graham is the worst of the lot.
Thank you Dr Richardson for such a thorough and concise presentation of one of the most important battles we are fighting in order to Save Our Democracy, Our Planet and Our Way of Life. We must win this battle for our children, grandchildren and for all of those who have sacrificed so much to preserve our freedom. God Bless You HCR!!!
There’s no threat to our democracy AT ALL. IN FACT it is flourishing.
Lisa. Since I live in a fact free world, here’s a fact you might wanna swallow whole.
Here are the facts.. here is a quote from the head/ CEO MAHER of NPR, who testified in front of congress. She claims she’s not biased. Here’s a quote from her.
NPR chief regrets tweets calling Donald Trump ‘a fascist and a deranged racist sociopath’
Published: Mar. 26, 2025, 2:58 p.m. That enough fact for you?
I am not interested I n a conversation with you. Have a nice day.
Of course. You cannot tolerate factual dialogue, nor opinion that differs from your beliefs from what it seems here.
No, I don’t argue with nutcases.
Argue? lol. You tell me I’m factless , yet when I present facts you bail.
75 million or more thrilled “nut cases” in this Country today. Sorry that you are not happy, but angry, defensive, and negative in advance….not good for the spirit nor your health.. America is seeing the beginning of a screaming success…..you might consider joining in?
Well, Biden had four years… Basically destroyed/obliterated our border, our belief in the White House, our belief in legacy media… our false belief in honesty… pardoned his whole family. Let crime run rampant. Poured gasoline on the war in Ukraine. Lisa, I would say you were pretty accurate.
I am sorry you live in a fact-free bubble.
Well, I found your post, but I also posted up above because I didn’t see this one. So here’s the fact free bubble I live in a fact free bubble according to you and now you’re gonna have to swallow this whole Lisa. Here are the facts. here is a quote from the head/ CEO of NPR, who testified in front of congress. She claims she’s not biased. Here’s a quote from her.
NPR chief regrets tweets calling Donald Trump ‘a fascist and a deranged racist sociopath’
Published: Mar. 26, 2025, 2:58 p.m. That enough fact for you?
By the way, I only picked one topic, but I have facts to back up all the other things that I said above you like to hear them just let me know but I know you don’t wanna hear them. You know why you don’t wanna hear them because you think it’s better that you only hear the facts from one side of the ledger.
I’ll listen to everything you have to say but don’t see P surprise that you’re only hearing half the story on these threads and you’re not getting the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth here. In fact, every opening garage that Heather posts starts out against from negatively and at the end of her post there’s not one right of center link that she use it to support her contacts so you’re never gonna hear the whole truth here
The name for the House committee discussing NPR and PBS is "ANTI-AMERICAN AIRWAVES: HOLDING THE HEADS OF NPR AND PBS ACCOUNTABLE" from https://www.congress.gov/event/119th-congress/house-event/LC74287/text
This is definitely a biased name. There is no attempt to openly listen to both sides.
About Katherine Maher's comment, President Trump does seem to have some glaring faults. And causes much consternation and some strong language.
Obviously, you missed the point, in fact, the entire point of the hearing. There was this substantial evidence that both PBS and NPR were left wing zealots. And essentially, they are a voice for the left wing Taxpayers are funding it, so they should be even keeled let’s call it
When the CEO of one of the organizations tries to say, they’re not biased in the middle of calling him a fascist racist deranged sociopath.. and they try to say they’re not biased even you don’t believe that I neither did the committee and neither does the public. Glaring faults is that what you called it?? Well, you better pay attention to Biden right now because his faults are coming out en masse and they’re getting worse, and these are by left-wing pundits and buy the wrong party and buy the Legacy media lied about for a good 2 1/2 years. Any fair-minded middle of the road person knows exactly what PBS on NPR are and if they’re so popular, they can go ahead and fund themselves.
I am a late-life Christian and I am confident Jesus does not need the "right" to save Him!! JD Vance is correct--the "right" has lost in all of those areas, not because of the "left", but because they are against the very commandments of God by their persecution of anyone who doesn't look or sound like them. Interesting that Jesus said He would "separate the goats from the sheep" and elsewhere that many would come to Him proclaiming all the deeds they did "in His name" and He will say "go away...I never knew you".
Even in the OT, God called for His people to "take care of the foreigner and alien among you", yet the Christian Nationalists are doing the exact opposite! I used to love my decorations of a cross and the American flag colors because they represented my love of God and Country--now they represent a "sect" which abhors these values. I can no longer wear my cross pendant as it no longer conveys "you are safe and loved" to others--instead it makes me look like a judgemental "Karen" :(
Good for you Professor Richardson for staying true to your giftedness in educating others and standing up to their bullying!
I no longer wear my cross or fly the flag. Those symbols have been stolen by evil people.
I hope you will bring them back. Which is why I have a flag decal in my car window.
We should reclaim what is rightfully ours - our flag and, if Christian, our cross.
And know this: the Forced Birth people are on the road to eternal damnation. They are not Christians. They are fakes. Matt 23
Doing evil and hiding behind the Lord's name will result in spending eternity in hell.
Totally agree, David. Although I’ve never flown the USA flag before I recently purchased one & intend to fly it with a sign below stating “this flag belongs to ALL of us” [also plan to get an Earth flag & a rainbow one as well….gonna let my freak-flag fly, as the saying goes…should be quite decorative too!!!]🇺🇸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
I just bought a flag, too, as I now have a place where I can put it. I will, however, display it upside down.
👍
We got a planet flag as well
Ah, a gift idea!
My boyfriend is a flag freaque and has Ukrainian, Palestinian, Mexican, Greenland , and Canada as well as the original 13 star one and the current American.
Fly them!
A case of extreme Forced Birth in Georgia: "A brain dead pregnant Georgia woman is a horror story. It's Republicans' fault."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnists/2025/05/25/georgia-woman-brain-dead-pregnant-adriana-smith/83751213007/
"This is not about protecting women. It was never about protecting women."
Makes me even sadder that she and the baby are at Emory University Hospital, which I thought was a Methodist institution.
Right on David Gagne
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJjlumhPokn/?igsh=NXcyNjdrMWh4dzU0
Thanks. I will offer something else to consider. Always refer to them as Forced Birth. Even in direct conversation with others. Never waiver.
You will be surprised how effective it is in direct conversations. It tends to stop them in their tracks. It's not rude. You don't need to raise your voce. And it puts them immediately on the defensive.
Love the wisdom of Sister Joan! I saw this on the Moyer’s show you linked to and was very impressed….was a dedicated viewer to his show.
I fly flags strategically. I will fly the Stars and Stripes on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Veterans Day in honor of those who fought and died for America. On Trump’s birthday, June 14th, I will fly it upside down while he has his multi- million dollar birthday parade in Washington. The rest of the time I fly the flags of nations he is pissing on…primarily Ukraine at the moment.
I'm totally with you JennSH. I try to live up to the teachings of Christ but abhor how they ignore almost all of the teachings of Jesus and the Law in the OT.
And I can't support any so called Christian institution that refuses to denounce Trump and his cruel and evil words and actions.
The cross and the American flag. Stolen symbols just like the swastikas. If nothing else, nazis, historical and contemporary, are consistently evil, thieving, lying, murderous, cruel, and sadistic rapists!
Not to mention the Baptist flag. White with a blue field that has a red cross in it.
The gold cross looks to be a symbol of white Christian Nationalism. They all wear them. It has nothing to do with Christianity; of that I’m sure.
I’m surprised you EVER did. Want to hear something even worse….in Biden’s administration he put up with the anti-semetism…to the point where there was a huuuuuge billboard at Ft Lauderdale airport seen by a couple million a day they say on I-95 and 595. It says.
If you think turbulence scary, try wearing a Jewish k star
I was ashamed of my church. Time to go UU.
Oh, JD, this reminds me of when my fella and I were searching for a place to hold our wedding in ‘67 (sigh, we were just kids!). Neither of us were religious nor attended any church. We went to see the pastor at one church…it was really a cute little location that we passed by often on our way to the beach (had a small sign outside that said, if I recall, “bide a wee and pray”…and asked about having our wedding there. He asked if we were Episcopalians and we said no. My fella said the closest he could come to “religion” was probably Taoist/Confucianist. The Pastor was quiet for a bit and then said I don’t think I can help you. We ended up holding our wedding at the UU Church in Santa Barbara…short lovely service where the pastor quoted Khalil Gibran.
In several US states, regular church attendance has fallen below 20%. And most of those attending are over the age of 50.
When our daughter was little, I thought she would benefit from going to Sunday school and learning about the lessons in the Bible. After a few months, my daughter came home crying. Her SS teacher had told the class that her mommy wasn't going to go to heaven because she doesn't believe in God. And this SS teacher was a full professor at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
We immediately switched to the local UU church which we attended for several years.
Not sorry for switching. UU has been great. What a great story. My husband loved “The Prophet.” I put a quote in the handout at his funeral. Also one by Omar Khayyam. His MAGAt sister may never forgive me. But he would have approved.
I grew up in a UU fellowship way back in the day. They are an interesting organization (as are those in the Ethical Culture community, which is a far smaller and less international movement) and a good place for people to go if they need a religio-social community. But I find I am fine without it. A family friend who was the local Reformed rabbi used to call us his "super-reformed congregation" and we would joke that he was simply one tick away from joining us. My family background is Jewish on the maternal side and Greek Orthodox on the paternal side (my Greek grandmother was extremely devout; my father rejected the church around age 6) so you can imagine that if anyone was looking for some kind of community, the UUs would be the place to go.
I didn’t go for years but then found a small, rural United Methodist church that seemed reasonable. And it was until a member brought the Tea Party to church. I just realized that some Christians weren’t. Neither was I. There are so many more options for spiritual growth. The Golden Rule a good place to start.
I was raised a Catholic... but left that at 18 because I could not come up with a reason for staying. Have been religion free for most of my life. My interactions with the local churches have shown me the only one I could possibly tolerate is the local UU church, if I ever decided to go.
Have you actually seen his cabinet? Investigated their abilities or origins?
An educated populace with ready access to facts won’t be easily swayed by the reactionary + big business alliance’s culture wars, which provide cover for them looting our treasury and exploiting our labor. We need all of our universities and colleges to stand together and resist government control. Any effort to appease the Trump regime always ends badly for the appeasers anyway, so colleges and universities may as well make their stand now.
Universities are where, with government support, so many discoveries are made and create opportunities to develop businesses. But rampant capitalism will drive over people in its path like a tank in its desire to make ever more money.
Universities are where people are educated, become self sustaining, and lift up their own families and society as a whole. Jeff Bezos’ concept of Amazon is not possible without all the people who work to fulfill orders. Walmart is not possible without all the “associates.” But people like Bezos become addicted to the hoarding of money. We have the resources for our population to have a decent life. For some people to have everything and others to have nothing because greed rigged the systems in place is sin that will come back to haunt the greedy.
Fortunately, my uneducated parents taught us that the way to a better life was through education. All of us heard the message and tried to better ourselves. When I was growing up, religion and education were not at war. Religion was free and education expensive. But all found a way to thrive. Both revered although religion lost its hold on me. Now we’re a mixed bag, sort of like the Civil War era when division reigned.
My parents taught us the same way, and I believe in higher ed. Unfortunately, for decades, the universities have adopted too much political correctness and progressive orthodoxy. As Michael Roth of Wesleyan U. has said, it is always useful to engage with people including students who don't all share our same views.
So true Robert. Republicans believe that if our kids are exposed to lies and only Christian nationalist beliefs they will be Christians for life.
Maria Konnikova has an excellent column on "cheating" and how it is morally and ethically accepted in many cultures.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQbfTsNsdLCVrWJPzfKrctJbrXr
If you aren't familiar, she immigrated to the US from Russia and is a world class poker player. She is currently writing a book on cheating which includes the psychology of cheating.
I'm almost tempted to add that one, but fear it might make me more sad.
But choices abound, at least they did for me and my sibs
The monsters "voted" into limited power are trying to grab unlimited power, and treat government very unlike a regulated public utility and more like an expendable for profit business they can take over with Junk Bonds, strip of all valuable assets as they sell off or give pieces to Russian style oligarchs.
What could possibly go wrong?
It seems like trump & co. are not interested in preserving any value offered by the institutions and agencies trump/musk DOGE has shut down. They are proud of abandoning the world's most vulnerable people internationally and in the US to live in poverty or die from lake of food or medical attention. It appears they are hell-bent on not only undermining our intellectual, evidence-based, non-religious institutions of higher learning that have been the economic engine that has kept the US at the forefront of the world's most successful economies.
It looks like the right-wingers intend to tank the economy with the big disgusting bill and trump constantly using tariffs to extort the rest of the world to bend the knee. Extortion is trumps only technique for making deals.
The more ignorant the public is, the easier to manipulate them.
I have no problem with people who choose to believe in religion but don't want a penny of my taxes to go to any religious school that doesn't teach actual science and history. I don't believe that they will achieve all of their Project 2025 goals because, at the rate they are sabotaging the economy, we will soon be in a severe recession or even a depression before they can pass any legislation in Congress. The country knows that trump and the rest of the right-wing are responsible for the US becoming a failed state.
Do the Oligarchs have a plan to profit from the failed economy?
Wanna bet? Russian psy ops at work....revenge is a dish best served cold
We taught them how.....https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/specialty-careers/special-ops/psychological-operations
After Man God and Yale, the Buckely family devoted themselves....
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-seeks-11-years-conservative-scion-brent-bozell-iv-saying-led-charg-rcna150701
WASHINGTON — May 6, 2024, By Ryan J. ReillyFederal prosecutors are seeking more than 11 years in federal prison for convicted Jan. 6 defendant Brent Bozell IV, the son and grandson of two men who shaped the American conservative movement in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Bozell, also known as "Zeeker," smashed windows at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and was convicted of a host of charges in September, including five felonies. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 17. Federal prosecutors, in a sentencing memo filed late Friday, sought a terrorism sentencing enhancement for Bozell, saying that his actions were intended to affect the conduct of the government and that he made preparations for Jan. 6 because he "believed that the presidential election had been 'stolen' and thus planned to respond through violence."
Bozell's father, Brent Bozell III, founded the Media Research Center, NewsBusters, CNSNews and the Parents Television and Media Council. Bozell III once wrote that former President Donald Trump "might be the greatest charlatan of them all" but pivoted to defending Trump after his 2016 election victory. Brent Bozell Jr., the convicted rioter's grandfather, was a speechwriter for Joe McCarthy, ghostwrote Barry Goldwater's "The Conscience of a Conservative" and was a friend of National Review founder William F. Buckley. Bozell Jr. was such a "fan boy" of fascist dictator Francisco Franco that he moved to Spain during his reign, according to Politico, which also credited him with organizing the "first violent anti-abortion protest" in Washington in 1970, for which he was "convicted of assaulting a police officer with a five-foot wooden cross," according to his 1997 obituary.
Conservative is simply a long word for greedy. I want to keep my stuff. I want to keep my foot on your neck to keep you from rising to be equal with me.
These are fascists. They want all our stuff.
AI -- L. Brent Bozell III is related to the well-known Buckley family through his parents, L. Brent Bozell Jr. and Patricia Buckley Bozell. Patricia Buckley Bozell was the sister of conservative author and National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr and US Senator James L. Buckley. L. Brent Bozell Jr. was William F. Buckley Jr's debating partner at Yale and a conservative activist. L. Brent Bozell III is a conservative activist himself, known for founding and leading the Media Research Center.
And power over everyone.
Good Lord. Never heard of them and I have been “woke” a long time. The most persistent evil in the history of the country. Apparently National democrats never heard of them either.
I don't like Bozell(s) but I do think Buckley was a brilliant thinker and he would be appalled at Trump's disdain for the separation of powers. Buckley was in favor of capitalism and individual responsibility and limited govt, and against socialism and communism, and so was at odds with the prevailing thinking at most high-profile universities during the last half of the 20th century. As for all these comments deriding the "Christian Nationalists" , I think it would be interesting to hear exactly how anyone thinks they would force the country to become officially a Christian country. Don't the so-called Christian Nationalists mostly support Israel, and rail against anti-semitism? And do Trump, Vance or other leading politicians even call themselves Christian Nationalists?
Buckley would support them. He was above all anti Mexico and all things Mexican... His father was a lawyer and oil developer who became influential in Mexican politics during the dictatorship of Victoriano Huerta. He was eventually expelled by the leftist general Álvaro Obregón. Buckley Jr. lived in Mexico with his family as a boy. .
To many of the most virulent white nationalists, Catholics like Buckley were the enemy. John Birchers. But they hold their noses because idiots like Thomas and Alito further their cause.
That doesn't make Catholic nationalists accept humanism...or even tolerance.
For a lot of them the test would be DNA.
The reason that they support Israel is because they're expecting the final rapture, which would require the death of all Semites.
I used to watch WFB Jr on Firing Line, seldom agreeing with him, almost always more appreciative of the guests and the air time they got by being on one of the most watched programs.
After watching his debate with James Baldwin at The Cambridge Union Society (many decades later), I can never look at any of his videos without deep revulsion.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin%E2%80%93Buckley_debate
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tek9h3a5wQ
I missed it while in a military tech school in Feb 65.
"exactly how anyone thinks they would force the country to become officially a Christian country." Well. I saw a brief news chyron today: said Texas voted to require the ten commandments be displayed in all the schools. That's a start.
Linda H, you've made a good point that I'm afraid sometimes gets lost in all the discussion.
Appeasing Trump always ends badly for the appeasers. Case in point: Apple's Tim Cook figured he'd avoid Donald's wrath by dumping a million dollars into his so-called "Inauguration Fund."
Five months later, Donald announces that he's going to tariff the sh*t out of Apple iPhones unless they're manufactured stateside.
Even if Cook wanted to comply, it would take years to find a site, build a facility, recruit and train enough employees to make the product.
Shouldn't the so-called businessman realize WHY iPhones are made overseas, after all, it's profit for the investors to do business that way. If iPhones WERE made in the US, and the projected costs WERE $3500 each--who would buy them?
But then again, he bankrupted casinos, so there's that............
Yes. In fact, the only reason capitalism works is that there is someone who is willing to make the products we buy for less-per-hour than we earn. Usually, that means you have to go outside the domestic economy to an economy with a lower standard of living to find that person who will work for less money. It can be no other way.
The U.S. had a self-contained economy for a while, when slavery was legal. That's what Donald and MAGA want.
Bingo.
There are many, many, MANY educated asswipes! Look at the gazillionaires who run companies like Walmart, Target, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Disney, the banks, the tech bros. Education is a two-edged sword.
Thank you, Professor Richardson. This article hits the nail on the head of anti-education politics with excellent acumen. Republicans conflate religion with science with glaring incompetence. The two are not the same, nor have they ever been.
Science produces better outcomes for mankind through tenacious research, study, experiment, and peer review and contributions. Religion produces (or requires) faith, which may save men from eternal damnation if you believe it, but does not seek to understand the world of the physical in systematic and agreeable ways. To eliminate science is to eliminate progress from which we, right now, are the benefactors of Newton through Einstein and beyond.
Teaching critical thought through philosophical education does not destroy faith, either.
Thank you for raising this topic in your writing today. Your approach is a breath of fresh air needed to separate fundamentally different goals of universities and churches, and it is we, as Americans, who have eroded our need to keep the two apart. Excellent work - I appreciate what you do here.
Basically you're correct, Rick, as is Heather.
But Heather also errs when she emphasizes 2012 as Turning Point USA for when, "Increasingly, far-right activists insisted that all of the pillars of society, including universities, had been corrupted by the liberal ideas behind the modern government and that those pillars must be destroyed."
Truth is, this animus by the far-right against schools -- both higher ed and K-12 -- began more than 40 years before. The very first actions organized following the 1971 Powell memo were those by the new Heritage Foundation, the new ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), and a newly-funded Hoover Institution.
All through the 1970s they hired far-right activists to place articles in the mainstream press naming and attacking liberal profs on campus and teachers in K-12 who expressed activism for anti-war, civil rights, and feminism. These progressive activists always cited popular books, movies, and songs of the time, so Heritage, ALEC, and Hoover went to war to rid K-12 curricula of humanities and to push higher ed into neutered silos. The reasoning was that profs who quoted humanities were insufficiently specialist in their fields.
The breaking point was ALEC's success before the end of the 1970s in getting all state legislatures to cut public funding for what had been the world's best system of public colleges and universities since the Justin Morrill land grant system began with Lincoln's signature in 1862.
Heather is referencing the group, Turning Point USA, which was formed in 2012, not calling 2012 a turning point.
Heather indicated, quote, that in 2012 "Increasingly far-right activists . . ." etc.
No, that was wrong. That increasingly began in the very early 1970s, not 2012.
As she recounted in an earlier paragraph, specifically mentioning Powell. Her statement regarding Turning Point USA was tracing the evolution of the anti education right.
The "anti-education right" was going full-bore through the 1970s, Gail.
Sad thing is the massive amount of damage Heritage, ALEC, and Hoover all did. Couple that with the even greater damage from testing's then-soon-coming entrenched conceits, and we can take the measure of the terrible repercussions we inhabit today.
Ignore what was going on by the organized, mega-well-funded far right in the 1970s -- even before Reagan, long before Citizens United, and longer still before Turning Point USA?
Jeebus, man. Start your own substack, if you believe you preach to the uninformed. Heather laid out the route, including Powell and Charlie Kirk. I’m guessing you wrote before you considered. Read the article more than once if you have a knee jerk habit.
Well said, and accurate.
The most chilling words of all --- "the Second American Revolution will be bloodless if the left allows it to be." Like a rapist putting his hand over your mouth, whispering 'as long as you cooperate, no one will get hurt' with Trump's Little Maybeline Bitch playing the role of 'let's be reasonable now --- all we want is your freedom.' This is, of course, what they're really saying; what they're really doing. Everything else is just for show. Their cup of arrogant, self-righteous bullshit runneth over.
Of course, President Dumpo knows nothing of this. He goes after Harvard because Malia Obama got into Harvard, and Baron did not, with anti-semitism being the 'let's be reasonable' smokescreen. No need to venture into the esoteric with Don the Con. The Occam's Razor simplest explanation invariably revolves around the supremely small and petty --- his personal demons of perceived humiliation. At night he tosses and turns --- not about the threat of war, global climate change, much less the economy, but about Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Oprah, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Rosie O'Donnell, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Why? They're all way smarter, way more popular, and all see right through him. O, the outrage. O, the tempest. O, the pissiness of teeny-tiny 3AM rage-tweeting.
That was delightful, thank you.
Congratulations on being one of the first names on the hit list. We’ve got your six…
The courts are our only line of defense right now and we must help them. Our first actionable opportunity is November 2026. We must begin now to convince voters that the current cast, from both parties, are not serving their country as their oath of office dictates. They are serving their party and in the case of republicans they are serving one man. They really want to keep their jobs and their benefits even as they allow the current administration to take both away from tens of thousands of citizens and immigrants alike. In the submarine service there was a tradition of lashing a broom to the periscope as we returned from a successful mission. We called it a clean sweep and now it’s time for a clean sweep of Congress.
Our next “Actionable Opportunity” is June 14…the No Kings demonstrations! We need to flood the streets of every city and hamlet with peaceful protesters as a powerful counterweight to the travesty of Trump’s multi million dollar birthday parade in Washington. And at every chance leading up to the 2026 Midterms, WE THE PEOPLE need to keep reminding Trump and his Republican Lickspittles in every way possible just how much they are hated and despised!
I believe in the power of the people to protest because I believe democracy is the only way forward that will protect our civil liberties. And I feel it is all of our civic duties right now to resist and peacefully protest in whatever way we can. But I don’t see a good outcome from adding to the hatred. Hatred feeds anger and rage, rightful or not, and that plays right into the hands of the fascists we are dealing with. I’m sure Trump and Co. would love nothing more than a violent uprising on the day of his bonkers military birthday parade. They’re probably briefing their anonymous SWAT teams right now…..
There are elections in one state or another nearly every week. November 2025, a few months from now, will host important statewide elections in Virginia, municipal elections in many states, and special elections to fill empty Congressional seats for a year.
There are many postcarding sites whose grass-roots efforts do appear to be making ground in these smaller elections. They rely upon us providing the postcards (sometimes they will send them) and our own postage. Postage prices are going up so I'd suggest that everyone stock up.
And a thought: instead of meeting friends for coffee or a meal, how about inviting friends to gather and write postcards together? Consider the cost of a dinner out and apply that to postage. I know of a group (in another state, sadly) who did that prior to the election.
According to Project 2025, the courts and the free press/journalists, and universities are next on the list to annihilate:
“…When courts prevent unconstitutional orders, (Curtis)Yarvin says that they should just be ignored. After that, the free press and universities must be curtailed, as well—Yarvin said no later than April after the inauguration.”
This is all part of a planned ““Butterfly Revolution,” a “full power start” to the U.S. government accomplished by “giving absolute sovereignty to a single organization." This is imagined as an internal coup meant to privatize the government and replace democracy with complete executive authority.”
https://time.com/7269166/dark-enlightenment-history-essay/
Love your optimism
What happened to my beautiful country? I am frightened for my grandchildren. This is all just so sad!
This wounds me personally. My late cousin, who became one of Australia's most prominent legal practitioners, and founded one of our universities, took his Masters at Harvard. We were so proud. His daughter is now a Judge on the Supreme Court of Australia. These people are savages.
I could not agree more!
I know many academics who pursue their scientific endeavours with great rigour whilst living their life informed deeply by their religious faith. And I know plenty of academic and professional staff in universities who have no religious faith but work happily, respectfully and collaboratively with their religious colleagues.
These attacks on the universities are nothing to do with religion. They are designed to create a population too scared to speak up or unable to think for themselves.
If Musk et al. think Americans are too stupid to work in the tech sector now, imagine what they'll think of Americans in 20 years time if the government does manage to break the universities.
The influence of Pat Buchanan.....https://www.adl.org/resources/profile/patrick-buchanan-unrepentant-bigot
The very idea that bullshit gets published......
Reporter: Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of western civilization ?
Mr Gandhi: I thing it would be a good idea.
USA, still resisting Enlightenment.
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” -Sinclair Lewis, “It Can’t Happen Here,” 1935.
I spent the better part of my career in and supporting colleges and universities in several states. I went to and graduated from excellent public universities. I never realized there were people who feared and hated them and were plotting to destroy this world -renowned model of education. It's like a bad WWII movie come to life.
The listing of the grievous harms being foisted on the nation, the flashing lights, the deafening alarms – to what end if not to action.
The question is when…
June 14th…NO KINGS PROTESTS across the country!
Ready, have walker, will travel
Use this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress. Reach out to your own, as well as those in other states on a specific committee important to a topic you’re sharing. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit
Thank you Megan! Keep posting this!
As per other discussion on the comments today, postcarding helps, too. Perhaps you could start adding that to your comment?
postcardstovoters.org is one I've used. It is a small time/money committment as you can send less than 10 cards if that is all you can manage.
Another one which is non-partisan (but is Dem based) is letter writing. They provide letters which you download and print, adding your personal comments about why you vote. You need a printer, envelopes and postage, but they will send all that to you if you email and request.
votefwd.org
We can all do something. I have a foot injury limiting my ability to stand or walk very long. But I can make phone calls! For those who are anxious to make calls, you can do it in off hours and leave a message. If that is also anxiety producing, you can send emails to many in Congress (some don't take out of district emails.) You can send the postcards or letters--again, if finances are an issue, you can request help from votefwd.org. If you can't do any of those, but have a few bucks to spare, those postcarding/letter sites gladly accept support.
You can also subscribe to many progressive Substacks ("Chop Wood, Carry Water" is my #2 favorite after Heather, as Jessica provides info and action) and YouTube progressive media. (Way too many to list, but ANY on the Medias Touch Network are good). Subscribe, hit the like buttons, comment and forward to friends/post on your social media.
The worst thing to do is feel helpless. We are not.
I am Jewish and I resent that Donald J. Trump seems to think that Jews are something he can use as he sees fit. We are not. Donald, if you want to fight antisemitism, tell your antisemitic dinner guests to stay home and that they can keep their money; you don’t want anything to do with them. But I’ll bet you won’t. And that, my dear sir, is the real antisemitism.
I’m with you William. This entire administration is antisemitic, as well as anti anything or anyone whose not white or rich.
They’ve been extremely successful in creating a divide and fanning the flames relating to the horrible and deadly situation in the Middle East. Instead of focusing on our domestic unraveling of democracy, they have folks arguing with one another…creating hatred among Jews, Zionists, Palestinians, and Others. When we give in to that hatred, this Disgustingly Shameful Regime wins!
And I’m with you as well.
When I say that I’m Jewish, I mean that I am of the Jewish people. My DNA would show that I am an Ashkenazi Jew. Before Judaism was a religion the Jews were a people. I am one of them.
By the way, when was Judaism not a religion before the Jews were a people? Not sure I understand that comment
My DNA is 100% Ashkenazi Jew if it’s like my sister’s (and I believe it is). I will be a Jew all of my life, even if I converted to Christianity or Islam. The Jewish people preceded the Jewish religion. I don’t know how to say it any clearer. I would have thought if you’re a Jew you would have known that.
The Hebrew calendar is now 5785 years old …in Hebrew school. we were taught that while the Jews did not have a formal religion,. They had formal beliefs which started when The Jewish/hebrew calendar was formed.
History seems to indicate that the actual formation or the official formation of the Jewish religion was formed a couple thousand years after the calendar, however we both know that the Jews have had certain beliefs and identify them as Jews from the beginning.
I’ll respond to your next post and it’s incorrectness that if you knew about Judaism as you say you do, you would know that the FACTS don’t agree with your assertion of course and your TDS towards Trump
I got the idea that “before Judaism was a religion, the Jews were a people” from Rabbi Harold Kushner. You, of course, are entitled to look at it any way you want to. Rabbi Kushner’s point of view on this fits with what I was taught. As far as Trump derangement syndrome goes, I take the opposite point of view; I think you’re the one who has it. I think I see him as he is. You may want to respond to what I’m saying here, but I am finished with my part of this conversation. I wish you well.
Well, I just responded to your two previous posts and per your wishes will not respond further
William said you’re not seeing the whole picture. Yes, I have posted the following here online and I too am Jewish. I was recently in Fort Lauderdale and there was a huge billboard adjacent and along the fence line of the Fort Lauderdale airport at the junction of I 95 and 595 two of the busiest freeways in Florida that see apparently over 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 views a day
One BILLBOARD… and here’s the message on the BILLBOARD.
If you think turbulence is scary, try wearing a Jewish star.
You don’t think Trump is trying to protect against antisemitism you are rudely, mistaken, I believe and there is every justification, for my comment that every activity he has made regarding antisemitism is real, not imagined By the way, six presidents tried to move the capital in Israel to its rightful place, and Trump is the only one that had the courage to do it.
It wasn’t for Donald Trump to decide where the capital of Israel should be. That’s exactly the type of behavior that he is famous for—trying to control things that are out of his domain. It’s what he’s doing now regarding the separation of powers and the Constitution. Donald Trump isn’t the king of the United States, nor is he the king of Israel. I’m not sure he realizes that. Or perhaps he finds his aspirations to be overpowering.
Regarding Trump and anti-Israeli sentiment on college campuses, I’m far more concerned about his dinner guests (F*ck the Jews) and his buddy Elon’s Nazi salutes than I am about college protests. Donald Trump has made threatening statements toward Jews who are Democrats. Trump’s credentials are weak in this department to put it mildly.
So I’m afraid we will have to disagree on this point.
Well, you can disagree all you want but here’s the facts in this. You should analyze whether this is an affirmation of your hate of Donald Trump no matter the facts.
In 1980, Israel passed the Jerusalem Law, which declared that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel".
This had NOTHING to do with Trump obviously so evaluate that as to your apparent/ inherent hate for Donald Trump for no reason whatsoever.
Israel itself decided that, not Donald Trump so if I can refresh your memory …if you knew anything about Judaism you would’ve known that.
By the way, my father and all his brothers, but one, were born in Israel which was Palestine then as was indicated on my birth certificate, where it asks father’s place of birth, 120 years ago. The remaining portion of my fathers family are HAREDIS.
And by the way, as far as Jerusalem was meant to be the capital based on the vote BY Israeli citizens, that is why all the presidents since then have attempted to move the capital but didn’t have the courage or the will.
So you can talk all about trumps antisemitism all you like , while I laugh at your opinion.
I am not big fan what comes out of Trump‘s mouth, but all his actions, speak of his protection of Israel and his actions have confirmed that. Up to including destruction of every anti-Israel terrorist group that he can and his handling of Iran’s nuclear threat.
I would like to say that I don’t hate Donald Trump; I feel sorry for him—I think he’s wasting his life.
you only say because you don’t like his policies then. Because nothing else that he has done has affected your life in the least.
Donald Trump is a once in a lifetime leader. In fact, that is why he was elected in alternate elections …which should be some indication to you.
Unfortunately, I do believe that you don’t want to hear or care to understand why 75 million people voted for him and More would vote for him the next time if there was another election…. assuming the “big beautiful bill that targets the middle class gets passed
To those that voted for him, his entire lifetime was a success most importantly, his presidency, which has influenced the world. It’s certainly not a waste of his life and his legacy, and his positive impact on this planet will be a lot longer than the folks like Obama, or Biden or Bush 1 and 2 as an example.