“He’s trying to kill the Constitution of the United States in a different way every day.”
Those are the words of Lawrence O’Donnell today as the U.S. Court of International Trade totally condemned the criminal in the White House’s attempt to give to himself what was always only Congress’s role.
Lawrence O’Donnell also condemned the U.S. press for how, all during the 2024 national elections, “The campaign press corps never, ever reported to voters that the Trump proposed tariffs were completely illegal and unconstitutional.”
The criminal is not done. On June 14, during his use of the military for a giant festival for his own birthday, he will have false flags planted for provocations against the millions of protestors – so he can proclaim final national emergency, and declare the total end of the republic, replaced instead with but martial law for himself as dictator.
He’s a criminal egoist. The Congress criminally cowardly. The press, criminally supine.
"Lawrence O’Donnell also condemned the U.S. press for how, all during the 2024 national elections, “The campaign press corps never, ever reported to voters that the Trump proposed tariffs were completely illegal and unconstitutional.”
Let's not forget the Robert's Court in all of this - Justices in title only. When you give a megalomaniac, dumb f*ck psychopath all the power in the world, prepare for a sh*t storm. You're not just inviting chaos, you're underwriting it. I hope Chief Justice Roberts, particularly, is drawn and quartered when this junk administration folds under the weight of it's own corruption. May he be remembered not as the steady hand of reason, but as the Pontius Pilate of American democracy — washing his hands while the nation burned.
Kazz, Roberts isn't washing his hands while the nation burns, he is holding the torch that is spreading the flames, and that has been his intention all -along. Bush was supplied with his name because he helped the SC give the 2000 election to Bush despite all kinds of irregularities in Florida and probably other states too, and Bush didn't win the popular vote. The SC should have said FL is a mess and the winner of the popular vote takes the election. The only positive ruling I can think of that Roberts supported was the same-sex marriage which should never even have had to be ruled on at all since marriage should be a personal decision, not a government one. Roberts likes being the king-maker and despite his whining about the importance of the SC, he really doesn't care much or he would never have permitted Alito to write the anti-Roe decision or Alito,
Gorsuch, and Thomas to take bribes and display anti-American flags. He is right there with those corrupt three no matter the image he wants to project. He should be regularly called out on who he really is and what he has really done.
Thomas should have been impeached long ago, for if nothing else, his blatant lying during his hearing. He is a pathetic soul driven by resentment. If he were white, he would never have been confirmed.
Ruth, he was most certainly a D.E.I. hire. Surely, they could have found a black judge with more integrity to take the place of Thurgood Marshall. Thomas is one of those people who floats to the top and does nothing but take advantage of that in a corrupt manner. Then there is his wife.
It was once a good joke that local officials in certain Latin American countries would accept small bribes to make exceptions to the rules they were supposed to be enforcing. Now the U.S. foreign policy decisions are being made by a president who favors those countries that will offer him personal multi-million dollar bribes!
Two cartel parties and the government that only they form run on bribes. They just call them "campaign contributions" and behold: "There's no bribery here. That only happens in banana republics."
Listen to his ramblings and you will hear someone who is out of touch and who lacks any sense of self-awareness. Aotherwise you would never hear such complete nonsense. This regime is being ruled by others not the wannabe king.
Project 2025. I've tried to educate people since it came out (the shortened version which is no long available) still it is on line. if you want to read the whole thing. He signs the EOs, then says "What did I sign"
Harvey, you are right, that is why I refer to them as "handlers" or Puppeteers" because that is what they are in relation to Trump. They all know he can't function. I think it is hilarious that a book has come out claiming Biden couldn't do anything and was not doing his job. That is just a distraction so people won't mind that an old guy almost as old as Biden who has dementia was just elected because he is a white man and a demented old man is better than any woman, particularly a woman of color. So we are stuck with that. I don't want to hear anything about Jake Tapper's book because we could have been informed of this earlier but were not and Trump's decaying memory and ability to function could be covered now as it is happening, but it is not. I am only aware of the symptoms because several members of my family have gone through it, including my mother.
Agree Harvey. The guy is being fed. By whom or what, etc is open for conjecture. Whether the 2025 writ is the scripture they (?) are following or perhaps just an inconspicuous input from FSB implants (male or female) no matter..., he responds in his own inimitable way. The "they" whomever they may be in the kitchen at that time, produce the sausage WE are fed. Would you prefer some horseradish or sour-cream Harvey? How about (another) manhattan with me?
Not to mention Marco Rubio who is like a walking flame threatening students and everything we hold dear in our links to the international community. He is no Secretary of State- Rubio is Secretary of Hate. He has destroyed our being connected to the world. Country after Country are pulling their students out of the United States’ finest Universities and Little Marco has doubled down. From The New York Times just 3 hours ago - “US Will Aggressively Revoke Visas of Chinese Students, Rubio Says”. How does this help our standing in the world???We will never forget nor forgive. Oh and do you think the Chinese are going to look favorably on the $768.6 billion of our debt they are holding? What happens when they decide to dump their Treasury holdings? Massively impact the bond market triggering higher interest rates. Then the US government would have to pay more to borrow money impacting national budget. More consequences.
Pam, Rubio is a despicable human being among a host of despicable human beings. He is the son of immigrants, then turns on immigrants. I guess he thinks of himself as one of the "good" ones, the "white" ones. I am still appalled that the entire senate approved that jerk. People knew he was a jerk, so why would they give the job to him with no dissent? Rubio wants to prove he is a big man while in reality he is proving he is totally unqualified for the job he is in and fits perfectly the name Trump gave him in the campaign, "Little Marco" said with derision. He must be a really good smoocher of the Trump Rump, though so he got the job. What Rubio does not realize is that he is being used by this regime to do their dirty work and they know he is stupid enough to go along with all of it and to blurt out just how rotten what he is doing actually is. Gag!
Ruth you nailed it perfectly- been up since 4 watching the markets as they Rally on Trump losing by the US Court of International Trade- all Tariffs illegal. To watch these guys continually lie, (Rump, Lutnick, Hassett, Rubio etc) and cause irreparable harm to companies and relationships/ astounding. Now the money has to be returned to the people who already paid. How? When will the madness end?
Rubio is running for President and desperately needs the MAGA base. He has given up every ounce of dignity and integrity and turned his back on Christian teachings that he was always so ready to tweet out and lecture us on. Just another sniveling, greedy loser.
Rubio suffers from what I call” small man syndrome “.He has an inflated sense of self in trying to compensate for his being small in stature.He’s pathetic.
I would say that C J Roberts suffers from a similar “small man syndrome”, though small as in racial inferiority, so compensates by using his power to ‘win white friends and influence white people’, people who wouldn’t give him the time of day otherwise, including his white wife. He needs to take a long hard look at the man in the mirror.
Little Marco is only doing EXACTLY as told. Look at him when he was in the Zelensky ambush, trying to sink as far down into the sofa cushions as possible out of embarrassment. That demeanor holds in most other situations too. Regardless of his qualifications, he has agreed to behave as a simple puppet, period. The words, phrases, and delivery tone he uses are what he's been told to employ. If his parents are living, I feel really sorry for them. They fled Cuba in order to get OUT of the situation we are headed for. Marco should be ashamed of himself.
Yup. I've been watching for any sign that they might be ready to play that card. To use one of his favorite sayings, "He doesn't have the cards" to stop them.
I hold Rubio in the highest contempt. The rest of the cabinet is a bunch of incompetent fools, but Rubio is not a fool. He knows what he is doing, and what he is doing is the Devil’s work.
Martin, yep, Rubio is simply evil! I have tried to come up with other words, but that one keeps returning when I think of him, betraying immigrants when he is the sone of immigrants who came here for the same reasons the people he is trying to kick out came here. EVIL!
Can this administration possibly get more creative in shooting itself in the foot than dragging out this tariff game and banning foreign students--revoking Chinese students' visas in particular?
I am convince beyond any trace of doubt that the underlying cruelty here is the doings of Stephen Miller who is really the one running the show....
I agree. Musk is gone, and miller is still there. I suggest people stop focusing on trump and pay close attention to miller. My partner seems to be obsessed with <Game Of Thrones>. This time I am focusing on Little Finger. Uncanny analogy.
Sophia, I am with you 100% related to Steve Miller. He is scum except that is an insult to scum. I heard him interviewed recently and he lied about the immigrants, about tariffs, foreign students and more and although I couldn't see it, with a straight face. He too is simply EVIL, along with his puppet Trump. I knew that for a long time, particularly when he set up the plan to separate children from their parents with no records of where the children are and whose children they are. He should be in jail for that because it is a kind of kidnaping and the last I heard, that is illegal, pretty much everywhere, well, except in Trump's Klan.
Nothing can top the what-is-more-evil department than purposefully conjuring up a plan to separate children from their parents without recording their whereabouts. NOTHING. I know rhat you're not supposed to wish ill on another person but in the case of Miller my imagination has no bounds....
A thousand times yes to this. This scumbag court and its Pontius Pilate (great analogy, Kazz) are ultimately responsible for giving away our democracy, officially granting the title of dictator to the biggest scumbag of them all.
And consider—Roberts would rather have this regime than a lawful administration. He’s certainly given tfg all the power he wanted. What kind of “judge” would hand the bazooka to the shooter.
Kazz, I remember in the heady, early days of John Roberts as CJ and him discussing what his "legacy" was going to be, and how "The Roberts Court" would be remembered. I used to think that he had a reason for that wondering; if he would be held in the same light as the Warren Court has been. Now, with knowledge of his immersion in the Federalist Society, I wonder if he had any inkling that he was going to be the one guy who, ultimately, had the power to destroy our democracy.
Ally House, I suspect Roberts was hoping because the Fed. Soc. wants to take over everything and Johnny gave them a few legs up toward their goal, then whines that he is worried about whether the SC is respected. I can tell him as though it would matter, that it is not and it is mostly his doing. Congrats Johnny! It's too bad 3 good Justices: Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson are being dragged down too. The rest of the Court is right there with their Johnny, voting to do as much damage as possible to placate their Baby Donnie and their master Leo.
YES. . and as if the Citizens United decision wasn't damaging enough. Makes one wonder how long roberts and the other two have been in on the long range game plan we're now seeing in outright action...
MM, I am suspecting it has been from their law school days when they got connected to The Federalist Society, a creepy bunch of mostly white men who think themselves smarter, more clever than anyone else which means they should rule. They're not, just more creepy, ruthless, and unable to empathize with anyone. Those in charge are also rich white men. Enough said there!
If everyone responded as such, they would back off. Or maybe they wouldn’t. We are becoming accustomed to this. We are beginning to accept this as normal and it isn’t normal. And local police need to begin protecting its residents. This is behavior outside the law. It reminds me of once I saw a teen girl being stalked by a guy driving slowly down Main Street. At the point where he existed his car and ran toward her, my car was in a middle of an intersection and I jumped out leaving the door open and ran towards the girl. The stalker happened to be the girl’s father but that didn’t excuse his behavior. Not much difference here with our new homegrown stormtroopers. They need to be stopped.
In Nashville the TN Highway Patrol and ICE have teamed up to stop “suspicious” people on faux traffic violations—bc ICE isn’t allowed to do that—and then ICE takes over. Bill Lee is as sycophantic as TN’s congressional reps (except for Cohen from Memphis, a Dem).
Kazz, I have to point out that while drawing and quartering is a tempting idea, it is also unconstitutional. Someone in this country has to follow the Constitution, even if it isn't the President or the Supreme Court.
But for the press all to have been besotted sycophants themselves (10 years of ceaseless insane sensationalism -- it pays, it pays, it pays)? That's the great hooker.
All know testing sank our schools. All know who've read any Orwell, or Timothy Snyder, or Joan Didion, or Hannah Arendt, or Pasternak, or Auden, or Brodsky, or A. J. Liebling, or E. B. White, or Miklos Radnoti) that if we're civilized -- if our schools raise us to those standards -- none allows the rule of such abstractions or group identity (racial, nationality, sectarian, or consumer demo) logic and categories as testing promotes.
Clicks = $$$$. The NY Times was in financial straights until DonOld Dementia came down the golden elevator. The corporate media relies on Clicks to sell their BS to the masses.
Democrats don't do clickbait very well and until they stand up to Trump with threats and hatred (unfortunately) they will always lose the media battle. The sane-washing of Trump's and the Republican political cabal shows the media's fearful and greedy response to losing the clickbait battle.
Yes, but let’s remember to include the key descriptor, “corporate” when we describe our failed media. Bezos, the ass, has been the most glaring example, but all owners are complicit. Greedy, soulless bastards.
Gina, you nailed it with the one word, greedy”. They are fearful of losing even a dollar of their greed. Interesting, no one tells them, they can’t take it with them. Greed and Power are killing this nation. I wish I had a solution but I know one thing, congress needs now to be called out every day for their abdication of the power they have to stop this madness
Trump wants to believe that God has saved and sent him to rule. If there is a God it will rain biggly on his parade. In the meantime, we will demonstrate biggly on that day.
I am finishing up a book about the policy Britain undertook in Kenya against the Mau Mau. It paints of picture of purposeful genocide of the Kikuyu people. It wasn't enough for Britain to steal their land. They needed to subdue the people. And it was covered up by the British government. Reading history like this convinces me that there isn't a God. Certainly not a God that fulfills my idea of what a God should be. And this story is repeated over and over in human history. If God does exist, God is surely a man. So, if Don TACO is felled, it will be because of a woman.
Let’s hope our side is peaceful. I would bet the would-be king has his proud boys standing by to make sure there is violence. Then we’ll have martial law.
I do believe that is going to happen - and all hell will break out in terms of the declaration of martial law that this administration is dying to impose. I think it’s being planned.
Harvey, I am compelled to offer a slight correction. Trump has few beliefs other than the power of WEALTH.
The source of this myth that "God saved him and sent him to rule" is the cabal of christian nationalist handlers who've used it to facilitate the unquestioning allegiance of the evangelical and evangelical-adjacent base of the Trump Party, thus enabling the handlers to continue injecting christian nationalist policy into the bloodstream of U.S. government.
Maybe it would rain so hard, the attendance would go down. We also know that planes and helicopters can't fly in really bad weather (at least according to the first term White House minions).
Yes. Thus, we the people will be marching all over the world. Instead of marching in one of the German Democrats Abroad and Indivisible Deutschland collaborative marches on June 14, in Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, I am here in the US and will be marching in my Blue city in my Blue state. No Tyrants, No Kings!
Do people still watch their local news? If they do, are any of the local stations publicizing where and when the protests are going to be held in our communities.
If you don't or can't be part of the protests, just driving by and giving a thumbs up shows support for the cause.
Or drive by and honk your horn. That rallies the protesters AND let’s all the car riders nearby know that there is lots of support for the resistance. That’s particularly helpful for protests in places assumed to be red. I live in Georgia and am speaking from experience.
At the last protest I was at, people were driving by honking and several had signs they held out the windows. It was awesome. I now carry a sign in my car.
GJ- Yes here in southern ME we still watch local news. WCSH has not mentioned where or when protests are going to be! I gave up on National networks but watched beginning of NBC this AM. They mentioned the tariff scam, but very matter of fact “nothing to see here”, “will be in courts for long time”, etc! Hello- we have a felon wannabe dictator in charge!
I stand with a group every Tuesday AM on our Main St with our protest signs! People honking their horns in support is greatly appreciated. We get the middle finger, thumb down, trucks intentionally speeding by emoting black exhaust, but they are in the minority! Please continue supporting us who stand out at rallies- I know people work and have children, so call or write your reps! Everything helps!
Agreed. Regrettably (in my opinion), the Meidas Network has taken on some of the odor of corporate media by spending a lot of resources trying to make their outlet as dominant as the corporate outlets through excessive self-promotion and hyperbole.
While I agree that the voices of the truth-tellers need to be heard as widely as the corporate sycophants, I don't agree with using the same techniques.
I have had to take control of my time and energy. If that means eliminating some truthful-but-intrusive sources, so be it.
To paraphrase that famous quote from Field of Dreams, "If you tell the truth, they will come."
On face Book there is a Women's March site. It said that the big rally was going to be in Wisconsin. Try Indivisible. Theyn do rallies like the Hands Off ones. They weren't specific, Best to keep it away from DC. trump will take credit for all of his admirers attending.
In our small group demonstrations along the side of the road, we gets lots of horns and thumbs up. Then there are the idiots with the finger and shouts of fascist or communist. Just shows their ignorance.
Instead of marching in my glowing red state (FL) I’ll be in New England for a grandchild’s HS graduation. On that day, I hope my family (who are fervently PRO-Democracy, ANTI-PINO) will find time to join with me up there for a protest. I can’t let this particular date go by without my voice being heard.
Definitely a 'go big or go home' situation. Unfortunately their homes (the press) were threatened and they stayed home to protect them. One cannot venture out onto the street alone. This mess will have to coalesce.
The MAGApublican house and senate will remain supine while the executive rifles everyone's pockets for spare change to funnel up to the oligarchs, then descending on the poor to add insult to injury. This is all a replay of books, flims, and reality of the 1930's, etc... We know where this is going, What will you do? What will WE do? The MSM is dead in the water.
I wrote about it back in February. Our personal information was very compartmentalized for security reasons. Musk is making it easier to access and use against us like China does.
Rickey, back when Homeland Security was created, I remember a tech safety expert, who was a former cyber criminal who had done his time and turned around to teach people how to protect themselves gave a talk about how things should not be centralized there because it would make it easier to hack and do great damage. So, exactly what you are saying. Three days ago Andra Watkins, who has been doing a lot of discussion of protecting ourselves from this government, shared a link to an Atlantic article about identity protection.
I have to take some of this in small doses, but having buffoons who do not even fully understand what they are doing running the country is quite damaging for all of us.
I remember that many, many warnings that were stated about the Patriot Act when it was passed. Too many of our elected federal officers were all in on it as well. Why? Simple- power. Now we have an unscrupulous group of people in the government that will ruthlessly use this power as stated by JD Vance.
Mainstream media. A term that is rapidly losing meaning as fewer people than ever actually read newspapers. I think MSM is now social media, where there is everything and the opposite of everything and no way to distinguish fact from fiction, especially for the less educated. I know, sounds elitist, but the damage done to our democracy is obvious. What to do?
The main newspaper in my area features a local chef as their top story in the Sunday edition. With huge 8 x 11 photos. Does that tell you how low newspapers have sunk? It's a worthless rag.
Linda, others have explained. But please allow me to summarize and opine.
As others have noted, MSM refers to mainstream media, which is no longer an accurate reference to these outlets for a couple reasons.
First, this media is no longer "mainstream" because this group of media outlets disburses a news product that is NOT consumed by the majority of news consumers. Rather, their product is consumed by a minority of news consumers who want "news coverage" that glorifies their orange idol, or they're just too lazy to seek out truthful outlets that aren't subsidized by national advertisers.
Second, these media outlets are better described as "corporate media" because they are owned by moguls or syndicates who are more interested in protecting their profitability than telling the truth. The content they dispense is either not news at all, or stories that have been so slanted and edited, they are hardly recognizable as accounts of what took place that day.
This distortion is all in service to appeasing the orange tyrant in the White House who abuses his power to seek revenge against entities that he feels have slighted him.
The increasingly popular term used to describe "anti-corporate" media is "independent media," mainly because these outlets are not owned by moguls or corporations, and they truthfully report the news, independent of how the truth might offend some individuals.
No Linda. I was responding to, "The MAGApublican house and senate will remain supine while the executive rifles everyone's pockets for spare change to funnel up to the oligarchs, then descending on the poor to add insult to injury."
I do strongly suspect that parade would be when, perhaps even where, he would have provocateurs along the lines of James O'Keefe's crews (he's become too recognizable to do much of the same himself). He seems to have been itching to do it for quite a while, but frustrated by the numbers of peaceful protestors and too few real vandals doing things like torching Teslas (something I suspect could have been done by provocateurs, or really counter-productive trouble makers).
The last thing we need is to give him an excuse to declare the national emergency he wants to justify the ultimate power he wants to be able to use.
We need to protest all over the country on June 14th. Trump's parade is going to be sharing the headlines with the protestors. And so far, the only ones doing it non-peacefully are the MAGAs.
We saw the provocateurs in the Twin Cities after George Floyd’s murder. White vans with no/obscured license plates, Boogie Boys in Hawaiian shirts….. I assume this parade has provocateurs already standing back and standing by. Look for vandalism and arson. Those were very effectively used after Floyd. Lots of media attention.
So far, the element of our population with darker skin has been doing an admirable job of making their presence known without violence. Beware the "provocateurs", those $hithead$ are out there, it just looks bad for Bondi when they are exposed.
Phil, I would love to see all the tanks and other vehicles for Trump's dictator parade sabotaged so they won't move. Every maligned soldier and marine should be right there to do the deed, particularly the trans military, women, and any other service member who gives a damn about this nation. That would be such a show as would be truly awesome!
Ya Ruth.., can you imagine three or four tanks just kind of running amuck, all of a sudden? Whoaaa! What a disaster. I've a couple friends who were "tankers" (tank drivers) during SEA. I think it was at the Base Exchange in Tuy Hoa where a couple of them destroyed the freshly paved parking lot on hot afternoon on a beer-run. Anyone out there remember that.., it was in 68' I think? Maybe give Ralph Zumbro (Tank Sergeant. Presidio Press, ISBN: 0-89141-265-4), a call. Takes a tank to stop a tank. Good luck.
I agree that June 14th is not a day to protest downtown. With 6500 troops (including the National Guard) planned to be on site, and pro-Trump instigators poised for trouble, a set up for the imposition of martial law is clear. Resisters should be encouraged to stay away. I plan to be miles away from my ‘inside the beltway’ Md. home on that day. I’ll be in Bath, Maine, commemorating the life of a dear friend.
Yes. This is what is happening. There will be peaceful protests all over EXCEPT for DC. NO KINGS DAY! Take back the American Flag! Patriots will be peacefully gathered everywhere but at that anti-American Republican parade.
Good grief, Phil this is all so sickening, all the way down to having our intelligence insulted by little Mrs BB (barbie bull--t in the Press House). I mean, having our faces shoved into the gutter for standing up for the principle, in this case Abrego, by insinuating we want to protect drugsters and rapists. Only to have T-Rump play 'catch-and-release' of those already incarcerated for such crimes. If that isn't a WTF "issue" nothing is. And, apparently..., "nothing" covers it. But, what seems worse is our Courts have ruled on this illegality (blatant illegality), but the people directing and carrying out the actions.., clearly "illegal actions" just seem to face no personal consequence. Take Homan and Noem.., "we're coming to get you"..! Like, I hate to say it, but WT..?! However, that's nothing, compared to threatening other countries (tariffs, invasion!) causing them to break their own oaths to their people. Habeas corpus is serious. But here in real life, when I watch someone break a window, they are clearly guilty and must be 'restrained' (locked up) before they can do more damage, because they are clearly guilty.. GUILTY.., of bad behavior. Holding the present group of clowns in check is where we have fallen short. So "short" that there is an actual felon in charge. Failure to lock that POS up is an example of what is wrong.., 70X (times) wrong. Suffer and permit. We have an emergency alright. We appear to have lost the Federal Marshal service. The Whitehouse police have been compromised. Our local police departments are being ICE'd over (one by two). And our girl Noem, she's as numb as they come, can't think of what habeas corpus means. Gag me!
I, as many of my fellow Americans are tired of hearing about the day today dismantling of the rules and laws within our Constitution and the lack of common sense, decency and fair play taking place within our government. as well as the foul behavior of leaders of industry and business within our country.
This is not the American way!!!
As for June 14....What a JOKE!!!! What a waste of taxpayers dollars!!!!
Phil, what is your source for saying he will plant false flags?
Meanwhile, I have come to the conclusion that he is simply trying to kill us all. Literally. (Except the billionaire cronies, of course.) I had to turn off the news on the way to work yesterday. It was overwhelming.
How about when commenting on what they are doing, we all make a habit of also comment on what we are doing personally to stop them. Expressing one's pessimism feels good in the moment, but it can also be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Good point. I teach 8th grade American History and since Trump took office, part of my lessons include the structure of the Constitution and how the Trump administration is trying to destroy it. One of my students heard her Science teacher talking about how birthright citizenship was illegal and told him that it came from the 14th amendment to the Constitution, so could not be removed by executive order. Made me feel good.
They say that saving one life is equivalent to saving the world. I'm with them. Good for you, Joel. You saved the world.
May I suggest that you beyond that by clicking on the following link and listening to the conversation between Nicholle Wallace and General Stanley McCrystal beginning at about 27 minutes into the podcast.
All this didn't start with trump. He represents the culmination which started in antebellum America. We have endured and still endure serious divisions of race, class and gender, rural versus urban, red state versus blue, Christian versus non-Christian, etc. Americans no longer speak the same language and we don't communicate well. Within our borders reside literate and illiterate cultures, shameful in a nation with an excellent education system. (And some whose English language skills are too poor to grasp the nuances of government policy. Trying to be careful - this is not immigrant bashing.) Too many Americans are hedonists not thoughtful or interested in the rigors of understanding public policy. Although name calling is cathartic it is not productive. (Although we have created a lexicon of clever words and phrases to describe our dear leader.) Institutions won't save us because they have been mostly shuttered and can no longer combat the power elites or the pompous, grandiose rants of a dictator. Furthermore, he is EXACTLY the wrong person to be in charge as the US deals with its debt problem. He is creating the emergency he claims he is trying to prevent. He is the president whose business life was defined by bad debt. (NY banks refused to lend him money due to his bad debt.) Didn't he promise in 2016 to zero out the deficit and national debt??? but didn't. Instead the BBB, now before Congress, will add trillions to our national debt. Most Americans are financially illiterate (blind, dumb and indifferent) and so is Navarro. (Then you've got your single issue voters who vote for Trump because he belongs to the party that doesn't want to murder fetuses.) An accepted truism is "If you're already in a deep hole, stop digging!" I provide a link of required listening. (While you're at it read Nassim Taleb's book The Black Swan and Michael Lewis's The Big Short - if you haven't already.) https://youtu.be/vWHkTLzeGPk?si=PjAolZToUp1r7xYJ
Let's focus on what voters can do to stop Trump. Professor wrote yesterday what matters is how the people organize against Trump and MAGA. I am writing to my DEM senators and congress person for specific issues, but am thinking of suggesting that DEMs should annouce they are the party of fighting soldiers for democracy. Because fighting for democracy was the beginning of America and the task inherent to the cititizenship of America.
It may be market manipulation, but is Trump really that clever? Plus the way the markets have reacted under Trump is illogical and subject to overselling when something negative happens.
Most of us don't have access to the information that is driving the market day by day and many have taken huge hits to their portfolios and retirement funds. But Fidelity and the other large brokerage houses do and they have a huge advantage over the average investor. But the MSM doesn't report on how the average investor is doing. They care about the fund managers and their results.
No, the dictator is not that clever, even while taking advantage of market swings. I think the Russians nailed it the other day in response to his whining about Putin and Ukraine. “Overly emotional” is exactly what goes on under that golden squirrel he coifs every day. There isn’t an ounce of logic or thought in anything he does. His entire life has been one emotional response after another to whatever is gong on around him. He is incapable of critical thought. And he sits on the world’s biggest arsenal of nukes. That alone should keep us all up at night.
I think he thrashes about and proclaims - this tariff goes up / that tariff goes down / just because he can and because it makes him feel powerful and gets him the attention he endlessly craves.
He did everything he could to manipulate the market as 45 but now as 47 he’s so blatantly obvious that he has all the millionaires profiting with him. I sold every penny of my stocks when he took office to avoid the constant stress of what was happening with my retirement funds. He’s decimating the working class and enriching his cronies and one day there will be no one to work for them. Unemployment is up, there’s no one to work the farms and they’re grabbing up immigrants who are following our laws to increase their deportation numbers all while letting the real criminals go free. I can’t wait for a good legal case to use the pardon/commutation of the drug kingpin against him on the whole tariffs scam.
A huge shout-out to White House correspondent Meghan Cassella who confronted the Bloviating Turd yesterday with Wall Street's latest "TACO" acronym for his take.
The Toddler-in-Chief rage-babbled his usual 'I didn't do it! I didn't do it! I didn't do it!' response before arriving at his favorite epithet for strong, intelligent women who dare confront him: "nasty." Eyes puffy, speech slurred, heard "chicken" but thought it was "kickin'" --- the dementia is so clearly strong with that one.
Why is it the women are the ones with the balls, while the men mostly stand around playing with themselves? Inquiring minds want to know.
Over and over and over - the women are standing up to him. Some men too, to be fair. But he hates a strong woman and he especially hates a strong woman of color.
Lauriemcf, figuratively speaking, he's obsessed. Skin color isn't the biggy. Figures are all that appear to count in his convoluted-mind. Dollar signs or the other kind. Hair color doesn't figure in.., except for his own.
Rich old white men are destroying our country. We need diverse women of color to lead us to a progressive future. That is why AOC/Crockett is the strongest and most inclusive ticket for 2028: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/aoc-crockett-2028
Pretty simple really..., and "It's Come to This": Women are the ones with "mens" 'balls in hand' in many cases. Men succumb to the attention. In T-Rumps case, it was the tit-factor that took him for a ride. His wife, apparently had a different 'grip' on things. No?
Everything coming out of the White House since January reads like a rap sheet or a police blotter. Words can't even describe the feelings of revulsion and sadness knowing this building has become nothing more than a den of thieves breaking laws, robbing banks, stealing identities, embezzling, racketeering and extorting, while yelling --- Jimmy Cagney-style ---'come and get me, ya dirty screw!' at every judge and cop in the country.
I was a high school teacher in Chicago which was totally dominated by Larry Hoover’s Gangster Disciples which he ran from prison. My students were recruited by the DGs and had no choice either join or be beaten up or worse . I remember a mother crying about her older son who was a GD and asking me what she could do to protect her younger son from the gang. Heartbreaking. Some mothers sent their sons to live with relatives in other states to get them away from the Gangster Disciples . I guess Trump thinks immigrant workers are more dangerous than Larry Hoover and his DGs .
Are you worried that the “Deep State” and its collaborators might face more than arrest? And, rushing through a deal with VietNam that involves a luxury resort including not just one but THREE 18 hole golf courses is way out of line. How can this even be? Thank you once again for your bravery and consistency in keeping us better informed than we would be if we didn’t include you in our daily reading. In this house we read you out loud, over breakfast.
Dr. Richardson neatly notes that Vietnamese government authorities are violating their own laws to bribe Trump. This is quintessentially Vietnamese behavior (realism combined with utter pragmatism) wrapped in a Leninist jacket (authority checked only within the Party). This is the first I've heard of this project, so I haven't researched the proposed location of the luxury resort. It will be interesting to see whose land is going to be taken to build these superfluous golf courses, how they will react, and how the protests, if any, will be handled. Protests of land grabs have been allowed in the past as a way of letting victims blow off steam, as long as they are not violent.
Ricardo, I think protests, if any materialize, will be confined to those directly affected by the land grab. And they will be enhanced if the protesters feel that they have been disrespected personally by the authorities as well as robbed. Law, and the attitude toward the law, is complex in Vietnam. Most laws are seen as necessary for a stable society, but some often appear to be arbitrary and confusing. And all laws offer an opportunity for enforcement agencies and individuals to profit by illegal means. In addition, Vietnamese will often try, and expect to find, a way to get around any law. That's common in many societies, including here in the US, but it seems especially prevalent in Vietnam.
You might be right James, after all the Vietnamese people didn't have a single day of their life, for generations, of living democratically. Different case in the US and apparently with similar results. Also we should consider that in the case of grabbing land to please trump's family in exchange for favorable tariffs, the Vietnamese people fought for generations against China, France, Japan, the French again and then the US and their own people in the south. All you need is a cause, a spark and a leader and people to respond and they have a lot of experience doing that.
I've been in Vietnam once and very superficially I can say they are wonderful people. Thanks for your comment James.
"Never wrestle in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty, but the pig enjoys it."
Not only is 47 eager to bring back public executions, and to hurt in every way possible those he feels are not giving him enough adoration, but in the background making things happen is Stephen Miller, who for the life of me seems the embodiment of evil.
Phil, and I hope that "all those hundreds nations waiting in line to sign tariff agreements "with the the scum bag president, start laughing in his face.
We cannot rely on yen courts. This will have to be a mass movement by the majority of citizens in the US.
Yes, the courts are ruling correctly but it is also true they really have no enforcement power. Will a Marshall walk onto the WH and Arrest Miller for contempt? Can he even be held accountable since he is giving orders but is not a part officially of the WH…just an advisor. Another way Heritage found to skirt the laws.
Will the Marshall be fired, his boss told to stand down.
Two terrifying things have happened in less than a year. That ridiculous SCOTUS ruling in Trumo UsA giving him benefit of the doubt immunity for crimes and this new proposal form Congress about a obstructing courts to enforce their rulings of the executive branch and I believe it’s the entire branch gets to break the laws, defy orders and nothing can be enforced.
That leaves one branch in charge with a dementia-riddled puppet and Lord knows who is actually running it….is it Heritage, with Vought in charge of policy and Miller in charge of brute enforcement of illegal policy? I’m guessing it isn’t the techies. I believe they are just aiding and abetting illegal policy through their massive control of information in exchange to be wildly rich and able to live out weird fantasies. I’d lump religion in with that. They have never been more powerful in 1/2 a century and might be taking over ‘-12 if Heritage courts can reason a way to give public dollars to religious schools.mthat K case is only sort of settled. They are waiting for a better one to give shade to the Lseazy Six. It certainly isn’t Vance in charge and the Trumo kids are just playing hungry hungry hippo trying to grab as much cash until the house falls. Either there is an election and the power is stripped, making them useless AGAIN. or he dies and the next guy who despised them like most of the party does kicks them to the curb.
I’m guessing it’s the Voughts, McGahns, Leo’s running the show. They’ve been at if forever and know policy just haven’t figured out how to present completely unconstitutional behavior in courts tasked with upholding it. I mean Alito was basically co counsel in Trump V the Us. Way more psychotic and dangerous than Thomas
The courts have been ruling all along against him. And yet where is Abrega Garcia? Where is the evidence demanded by judges I. The extortion cases of law firms and deportees? They have not complied at all.
And this June 14 parade to honor a single leader is not about giving the baby man a birthday party with toy soldier.
It’s for Miller, Vought, Bondi, Vance to make a very clear threat to ALL of America, Courts included, they have the army and you don’t. So either go along of these tanks, soldiers and force are coming for you.
That pardon which I’m sure Trump knew nothing about is about siding with hamsters over the law.
The Heritage, Tech, oligarchs are the masters of propaganda don messaging. Even if not a single eruption happens, this is to let the American people know this force is in the executive hands. Not just tariff threats or grant money, this is we will shoot you in your ride, classroom, street and court and “YOU AND WHAT ARMY WILL STOO IT”.
That judges are looking for protection from other sources beside the government policing entities when they are the holders of the constitutional law says everything. We need a strong voice and plan for the MAJORITY to take to the Steve.
And stay out of DC June 14. They’ll manipulate the footage. And also, never forget….when these people want to do something illegal, they first accuse falsely the other side.
Antofagasta was the real culprit of 1/6….umm?
nits Semiticism is why they are crushing universities…..they break bread with Neo Nazi.
Immigrants are rapists based on zero evidence but the foreign Tate brothers, with lots of evidence, are welcomed in because they spit this nonsense and 19 year old Baron thinks they’re cool
I do not uinderstand why every American cannot see that he is just a conman and a fraudster. Every thing he does/has done only benefits himself. Even the Proud Boys as disgusting as they are, believe in SOMETHING. I'm not sure he believes in anything accept himself and hogging more for himself. He is just like some kind of raging 1000 pound ID come to life who just want to FEED itself with no ego or super ego to get in the way.
That’s the question I’ve been asking myself since this nightmare began-why does any normal American believe he is “for” them? I’ve never seen any evidence of it.
There is a psychological phenomena where the victim of a con refuses to condemn the con artist - even in the face of undeniable evidence. The suckers of Ponzi schemes sometimes still support the perpetrator - because to admit they have been scammed is too much to handle. So they refuse to budge...
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
Most immigrants came to the USA for $$$. And I know that America's real religion is money, but I think most Americans, even though they love money, love other things more or at least, as much. But since 77 million voted for this con with literally no redeeming qualities for a second time, I'm beginning to wonder.
In my family the story goes, en route to America, my Scotch/Irish ancestor threw his life savings overboard because he was told it was worthless and he would be showered with wealth once in the USA. Dang.
I've read that back then there was a large reverse migration of expat Euros back to the Continent after they'd had a taste of the crap conditions of life in this here paradise.
I read a great article on Substack that talked about how Trump supporters are essentially having a trauma response. They were bullied by their parents, they bullied others and they see him as an extension of their parents and their trauma formed values. I’m not doing a great job of explaining it but the article proposed an answer to the question of how and why.
“‘Congress manifestly is not permitted to abdicate or to transfer to other the essential legislative functions with which it is thus vested,’ the court writes.”
The Republican congressional majority has done just that; ceding its constitutional law-making and executive oversight authority to the Trump White House. At the very least, they are guilty of malfeasance, but, to my mind, they are much closer to treason.
The wording was a very specific, double-slap: first to Congress for abdicating its functions; second to the Executive for aggrandizing them. A real two-fer.
While this is the sordid part what we are in is a fascist coup. We need to not get distracted by the Grade B movie part and realize that behind his sordidness there are people effectively dismantling our Government, way of life and Democracy.
I sincerely hope, pray and beg for people to protest on June 14 in the NO KINGS event all across America.
I believe June 14th will be larger than all protests before. We would be hard pressed to find someone not offended or affected by the MAGA madness.
And sadly, the worst is yet to come as SO many agencies that are life lines have been effectively crippled by defunding and firings. Even if the courts rule those actions unconstitutional, the refunding and rehiring is delayed by appeals and refusals to obey the courts.
I expect that we will have to protest over and over....something I could never have imagined.
My worry is that the Fascists will ultimately defy even the most clear and direct court orders and that the Judiciary will be attacked. The Mad King has already villainized them in his garbled diatribes setting the stage for more intimidation and who knows what. Many judges and SCOTUS are about to be tested. If they are defied, what will they do?
And if the Orange Menace goes full rogue with military involvement....?
My sign may be the same as last time: NO KING, FREE GARCIA
Most of us agree within this space Heather has created regarding the sad state of affairs in D.C.
There are far too many who have not waked up to reality. There are too many who will support Trump's parade. There are many who have tasted "the green" and the power and pretty shinny things that come with it. They are "Trump groupies" and as long as they can ride along within his power, and garner the advantages along the way, they will not leave.
I always sneak "half of those who voted" because the largest voting block in the last election were those voting eligible who did not/could not/were blocked from voting.
Use this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to your own reps, 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.”
"While Trump’s pardons of Republicans convicted of tax crimes seem in keeping with his favoring of the wealthy, Trump’s commutation of the sentence of a gang kingpin seems an odd counterpoint to his administration’s stance on undocumented immigrants."
A most bizarre menagerie of felons, sycophantic sadists, unscrupulous billionaires and oligarchs, Nazis/white supremacists and fascists(some are all of those at once) looking much more like actual Bond villains as this regime plods on.
No surprise there, but can he do anything about it and does anyone care?
In January, 2021 Trump pardoned or commuted eight Medicare and Medicaid fraudsters who had stolen over $2 billion from us combined.
The MSM doesn't give a damn about who Trump pardons.
It's like Trump has killed hundreds of thousands of people with his terrible decisions and the MSM doesn't report it, but if any of us shot someone famous, every news outlet would report it for days.
I find that the serious newspapers and media outlets invariably do cover most things, even if they are reporting them second-hand, so to speak. The problem is that they don't cover them consistently so that find one story in the NYT, another on Axios etc. The Guardian does a Trump briefing page every morning that I go to first and then pursue the HTML links to sources and to other stories. I think it's inevitable when you have a president in White Queen mode every single day. On the pardon issue, for example, NBC reported on the white collar pardons.
The law firms were all noting the change in the Department of Justice's priorities that indicated a more relaxed appraoch to white collar crime. It's then not to hard to put two and two together.
Similarly, I found this link on today's briefing page.
I haven't checked if it's been picked up by other media but honestly what could one expect when there has been so much craziness at HHS? The SARS-CoV-2 booster jab announcement; the decision to ban government scientists from publishing in eminent health journals like the Lancet; the decision to import avian flu from Canada in a herd of ostriches that will be moved to a ranch in Florida owned by Mehmet Oz.
This is the darkest closing of one of your posts in the six years of your posting LFAA, but I congratulate you, for anything else than your conclusion would have been banal and silly! Thanks!
The Trump Organization and Congressional Republicans are an organized crime syndicate. The SCOTUS majority in the Trump vs US decision makes them complicit. Musk-DOGE & mercenaries for oligarchs in The Heritage Foundation Project 2025 are illegally dismantling and/or blocking the mechanisms of democracy. It is a recreationn of the fascist mafia state oligarghy that controls The Russian Federation. It’s not fake reality TV or TV crime drama or another version of The Godfather. 77+ million Americans chose to be manipulated by gangsters.
It has turned out that the Republican lawyers who became judges are doing much more for our democracy than the Republican lawyers who are in the legislative branch of government. The latter group are worthless for our constitution yet both are supposed to uphold it.
“He’s trying to kill the Constitution of the United States in a different way every day.”
Those are the words of Lawrence O’Donnell today as the U.S. Court of International Trade totally condemned the criminal in the White House’s attempt to give to himself what was always only Congress’s role.
Lawrence O’Donnell also condemned the U.S. press for how, all during the 2024 national elections, “The campaign press corps never, ever reported to voters that the Trump proposed tariffs were completely illegal and unconstitutional.”
The criminal is not done. On June 14, during his use of the military for a giant festival for his own birthday, he will have false flags planted for provocations against the millions of protestors – so he can proclaim final national emergency, and declare the total end of the republic, replaced instead with but martial law for himself as dictator.
He’s a criminal egoist. The Congress criminally cowardly. The press, criminally supine.
"Lawrence O’Donnell also condemned the U.S. press for how, all during the 2024 national elections, “The campaign press corps never, ever reported to voters that the Trump proposed tariffs were completely illegal and unconstitutional.”
And rain on the horserace? What a spoilsport.
Let's not forget the Robert's Court in all of this - Justices in title only. When you give a megalomaniac, dumb f*ck psychopath all the power in the world, prepare for a sh*t storm. You're not just inviting chaos, you're underwriting it. I hope Chief Justice Roberts, particularly, is drawn and quartered when this junk administration folds under the weight of it's own corruption. May he be remembered not as the steady hand of reason, but as the Pontius Pilate of American democracy — washing his hands while the nation burned.
Kazz, Roberts isn't washing his hands while the nation burns, he is holding the torch that is spreading the flames, and that has been his intention all -along. Bush was supplied with his name because he helped the SC give the 2000 election to Bush despite all kinds of irregularities in Florida and probably other states too, and Bush didn't win the popular vote. The SC should have said FL is a mess and the winner of the popular vote takes the election. The only positive ruling I can think of that Roberts supported was the same-sex marriage which should never even have had to be ruled on at all since marriage should be a personal decision, not a government one. Roberts likes being the king-maker and despite his whining about the importance of the SC, he really doesn't care much or he would never have permitted Alito to write the anti-Roe decision or Alito,
Gorsuch, and Thomas to take bribes and display anti-American flags. He is right there with those corrupt three no matter the image he wants to project. He should be regularly called out on who he really is and what he has really done.
Thomas should have been impeached long ago, for if nothing else, his blatant lying during his hearing. He is a pathetic soul driven by resentment. If he were white, he would never have been confirmed.
Harvey, OMG! You mean Thomas was a DEI hire!!! How is it he doesn't know that or does he and that is why he flouts the Constitution, to get even?
If Roberts has a problem, it's that he and his wife allegedly have been profiting from hiring for law firms that appear before the court. https://newrepublic.com/post/172304/congress-known-john-robertss-wifes-shady-financial-dealings-months
Ruth, he was most certainly a D.E.I. hire. Surely, they could have found a black judge with more integrity to take the place of Thurgood Marshall. Thomas is one of those people who floats to the top and does nothing but take advantage of that in a corrupt manner. Then there is his wife.
The Sex Offenders Club bands together to help each other out.
That's brilliant, Ruth!
Affirmative Action was his step stool.
It was once a good joke that local officials in certain Latin American countries would accept small bribes to make exceptions to the rules they were supposed to be enforcing. Now the U.S. foreign policy decisions are being made by a president who favors those countries that will offer him personal multi-million dollar bribes!
Two cartel parties and the government that only they form run on bribes. They just call them "campaign contributions" and behold: "There's no bribery here. That only happens in banana republics."
Well, right now bananas are popping out all over the place. Maybe we should start calling them the top bananas!
Damn straight. I hope “ the people “ can set this right. “Our guardians “ of democracy have failed us.
It's a junk "regime", not an administration.
With a dottering old man supposedly at the top.
Listen to his ramblings and you will hear someone who is out of touch and who lacks any sense of self-awareness. Aotherwise you would never hear such complete nonsense. This regime is being ruled by others not the wannabe king.
Project 2025. I've tried to educate people since it came out (the shortened version which is no long available) still it is on line. if you want to read the whole thing. He signs the EOs, then says "What did I sign"
Harvey, you are right, that is why I refer to them as "handlers" or Puppeteers" because that is what they are in relation to Trump. They all know he can't function. I think it is hilarious that a book has come out claiming Biden couldn't do anything and was not doing his job. That is just a distraction so people won't mind that an old guy almost as old as Biden who has dementia was just elected because he is a white man and a demented old man is better than any woman, particularly a woman of color. So we are stuck with that. I don't want to hear anything about Jake Tapper's book because we could have been informed of this earlier but were not and Trump's decaying memory and ability to function could be covered now as it is happening, but it is not. I am only aware of the symptoms because several members of my family have gone through it, including my mother.
Agree Harvey. The guy is being fed. By whom or what, etc is open for conjecture. Whether the 2025 writ is the scripture they (?) are following or perhaps just an inconspicuous input from FSB implants (male or female) no matter..., he responds in his own inimitable way. The "they" whomever they may be in the kitchen at that time, produce the sausage WE are fed. Would you prefer some horseradish or sour-cream Harvey? How about (another) manhattan with me?
Harvey, I agree. Death star is the front man, adored by the cult and the chief whiner. He signs prepared executive orders written by the cabal.
It's a wealthy gang of mobsters, not "a political party" either.
Not to mention Marco Rubio who is like a walking flame threatening students and everything we hold dear in our links to the international community. He is no Secretary of State- Rubio is Secretary of Hate. He has destroyed our being connected to the world. Country after Country are pulling their students out of the United States’ finest Universities and Little Marco has doubled down. From The New York Times just 3 hours ago - “US Will Aggressively Revoke Visas of Chinese Students, Rubio Says”. How does this help our standing in the world???We will never forget nor forgive. Oh and do you think the Chinese are going to look favorably on the $768.6 billion of our debt they are holding? What happens when they decide to dump their Treasury holdings? Massively impact the bond market triggering higher interest rates. Then the US government would have to pay more to borrow money impacting national budget. More consequences.
Pam, Rubio is a despicable human being among a host of despicable human beings. He is the son of immigrants, then turns on immigrants. I guess he thinks of himself as one of the "good" ones, the "white" ones. I am still appalled that the entire senate approved that jerk. People knew he was a jerk, so why would they give the job to him with no dissent? Rubio wants to prove he is a big man while in reality he is proving he is totally unqualified for the job he is in and fits perfectly the name Trump gave him in the campaign, "Little Marco" said with derision. He must be a really good smoocher of the Trump Rump, though so he got the job. What Rubio does not realize is that he is being used by this regime to do their dirty work and they know he is stupid enough to go along with all of it and to blurt out just how rotten what he is doing actually is. Gag!
🪞"Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who's the scariest of all?
Trump, Rubio, or Vance?
Kristi Noem, by any chance?"
🪞"Since you asked, I'll answer you.
They're ALL corrupt,
And that is true."
Miller, Lutnick, Kennedy, Bondi, Bessent, Vought, Gabbard
Pam, I love that rhyme. We should maybe get it onto signs to say "whose the evilest of all." Rottenist would work too.
Ruth you nailed it perfectly- been up since 4 watching the markets as they Rally on Trump losing by the US Court of International Trade- all Tariffs illegal. To watch these guys continually lie, (Rump, Lutnick, Hassett, Rubio etc) and cause irreparable harm to companies and relationships/ astounding. Now the money has to be returned to the people who already paid. How? When will the madness end?
Part of the "pull up the ladder crowd".
Don’t you know 👍🏻👍🏻🎯
Rubio is running for President and desperately needs the MAGA base. He has given up every ounce of dignity and integrity and turned his back on Christian teachings that he was always so ready to tweet out and lecture us on. Just another sniveling, greedy loser.
He's running for President?? Hadn't heard that one. Wow. I know he's ambitious, but his "thinking" is REALLY been messed up and on so many levels.
Rubio suffers from what I call” small man syndrome “.He has an inflated sense of self in trying to compensate for his being small in stature.He’s pathetic.
I would say that C J Roberts suffers from a similar “small man syndrome”, though small as in racial inferiority, so compensates by using his power to ‘win white friends and influence white people’, people who wouldn’t give him the time of day otherwise, including his white wife. He needs to take a long hard look at the man in the mirror.
Little Marco is only doing EXACTLY as told. Look at him when he was in the Zelensky ambush, trying to sink as far down into the sofa cushions as possible out of embarrassment. That demeanor holds in most other situations too. Regardless of his qualifications, he has agreed to behave as a simple puppet, period. The words, phrases, and delivery tone he uses are what he's been told to employ. If his parents are living, I feel really sorry for them. They fled Cuba in order to get OUT of the situation we are headed for. Marco should be ashamed of himself.
Ruth, your description of Rubio is like a clone of Stephen Miller.
China is holding that huge card and will play it when it becomes most advantageous. Xi is no dummy.
Yup. I've been watching for any sign that they might be ready to play that card. To use one of his favorite sayings, "He doesn't have the cards" to stop them.
Yup, and it's more than some nuclear threat. Because the "fall-out" would be worse. We'd still be alive to experience it.
Marco is a hypocrite, pure and simple. Unfortunately, he has a lot of company.
Protest Rubio to CANF and Norman Braman.
I hold Rubio in the highest contempt. The rest of the cabinet is a bunch of incompetent fools, but Rubio is not a fool. He knows what he is doing, and what he is doing is the Devil’s work.
Martin, yep, Rubio is simply evil! I have tried to come up with other words, but that one keeps returning when I think of him, betraying immigrants when he is the sone of immigrants who came here for the same reasons the people he is trying to kick out came here. EVIL!
Can this administration possibly get more creative in shooting itself in the foot than dragging out this tariff game and banning foreign students--revoking Chinese students' visas in particular?
I am convince beyond any trace of doubt that the underlying cruelty here is the doings of Stephen Miller who is really the one running the show....
I agree. Musk is gone, and miller is still there. I suggest people stop focusing on trump and pay close attention to miller. My partner seems to be obsessed with <Game Of Thrones>. This time I am focusing on Little Finger. Uncanny analogy.
Sophia, I am with you 100% related to Steve Miller. He is scum except that is an insult to scum. I heard him interviewed recently and he lied about the immigrants, about tariffs, foreign students and more and although I couldn't see it, with a straight face. He too is simply EVIL, along with his puppet Trump. I knew that for a long time, particularly when he set up the plan to separate children from their parents with no records of where the children are and whose children they are. He should be in jail for that because it is a kind of kidnaping and the last I heard, that is illegal, pretty much everywhere, well, except in Trump's Klan.
Nothing can top the what-is-more-evil department than purposefully conjuring up a plan to separate children from their parents without recording their whereabouts. NOTHING. I know rhat you're not supposed to wish ill on another person but in the case of Miller my imagination has no bounds....
I agree, and would add let's not forget Senator Mitch McConnell. Trump should have been impeached the first go around.
I hold him responsible for everything bad that has happened with tfg—he was on board even before Roberts, et al.
Not just TFG. He’s such a massive racist he started tearing the country to shreds under Obama.
Yes, you’re right. I’d forgotten somehow.
McConnell should never have been allowed to steal a Supreme Court seat for the right.
That, too.
Yeah if the Senate had done its job the first time around and impeached and removed this” scum”, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
The bumper sticker "DITCH MITCH" is still on my car and I'm nowhere near KY.
A thousand times yes to this. This scumbag court and its Pontius Pilate (great analogy, Kazz) are ultimately responsible for giving away our democracy, officially granting the title of dictator to the biggest scumbag of them all.
Don't mince words. 🤪
Maybe we should all send Roberts bars of soap so he can wash his hands of democracy?
"the Pontius Pilate of American democracy." I love that Kazz!
Ditto
And consider—Roberts would rather have this regime than a lawful administration. He’s certainly given tfg all the power he wanted. What kind of “judge” would hand the bazooka to the shooter.
Citizens United, Roe v. Wade - what more could they have done to undo a once great country?
Well, just for good measure... the immunity ruling..
Harvey, give immunity to a dictator wannabee with dementia! that's going to take us down pretty far too.
Kazz, I remember in the heady, early days of John Roberts as CJ and him discussing what his "legacy" was going to be, and how "The Roberts Court" would be remembered. I used to think that he had a reason for that wondering; if he would be held in the same light as the Warren Court has been. Now, with knowledge of his immersion in the Federalist Society, I wonder if he had any inkling that he was going to be the one guy who, ultimately, had the power to destroy our democracy.
Ally, so true. I’m sure CJ Roberts thinks he’s a great man, but really, knowing right from wrong, and choosing wrong, is a great weakness.
Ally House, I suspect Roberts was hoping because the Fed. Soc. wants to take over everything and Johnny gave them a few legs up toward their goal, then whines that he is worried about whether the SC is respected. I can tell him as though it would matter, that it is not and it is mostly his doing. Congrats Johnny! It's too bad 3 good Justices: Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson are being dragged down too. The rest of the Court is right there with their Johnny, voting to do as much damage as possible to placate their Baby Donnie and their master Leo.
Kazz, I don't know if I have to read you first or Heather's letter. Both are excellent.;-)
YES. . and as if the Citizens United decision wasn't damaging enough. Makes one wonder how long roberts and the other two have been in on the long range game plan we're now seeing in outright action...
MM, I am suspecting it has been from their law school days when they got connected to The Federalist Society, a creepy bunch of mostly white men who think themselves smarter, more clever than anyone else which means they should rule. They're not, just more creepy, ruthless, and unable to empathize with anyone. Those in charge are also rich white men. Enough said there!
Well said! Thank you Kazz.
Now we must impeach him before another far right conspiracy undermines our entire purpose of keeping our freedoms free.
Out of control criminal greed does not mean freedom. It means power. Two very different outcomes.
It behoves me to think I wouldn’t physically attack a U.S. Marshall in my city if I saw them attacking others..
Take it easy Bill !!!!
If everyone responded as such, they would back off. Or maybe they wouldn’t. We are becoming accustomed to this. We are beginning to accept this as normal and it isn’t normal. And local police need to begin protecting its residents. This is behavior outside the law. It reminds me of once I saw a teen girl being stalked by a guy driving slowly down Main Street. At the point where he existed his car and ran toward her, my car was in a middle of an intersection and I jumped out leaving the door open and ran towards the girl. The stalker happened to be the girl’s father but that didn’t excuse his behavior. Not much difference here with our new homegrown stormtroopers. They need to be stopped.
In Nashville the TN Highway Patrol and ICE have teamed up to stop “suspicious” people on faux traffic violations—bc ICE isn’t allowed to do that—and then ICE takes over. Bill Lee is as sycophantic as TN’s congressional reps (except for Cohen from Memphis, a Dem).
I agreed with you but be careful, that's it Bill
But Bill all of us feel as you do.
And if everyone employs the same resistance, then we elevate this to actionable resistance.
Kazz, I have to point out that while drawing and quartering is a tempting idea, it is also unconstitutional. Someone in this country has to follow the Constitution, even if it isn't the President or the Supreme Court.
True, that, Kazz. As one sees each day, ill Dootch-bag (portmanteau of il Duce, ill, and douche-bag) has nowhere to go but down.
Kazz, well said!!
God, have you got the key part here, J L.
The oaf, the barbarian -- we all understand.
But for the press all to have been besotted sycophants themselves (10 years of ceaseless insane sensationalism -- it pays, it pays, it pays)? That's the great hooker.
All know testing sank our schools. All know who've read any Orwell, or Timothy Snyder, or Joan Didion, or Hannah Arendt, or Pasternak, or Auden, or Brodsky, or A. J. Liebling, or E. B. White, or Miklos Radnoti) that if we're civilized -- if our schools raise us to those standards -- none allows the rule of such abstractions or group identity (racial, nationality, sectarian, or consumer demo) logic and categories as testing promotes.
Ok, Phil—testing “sank” our schools OR testing “has sunk” our schools.
Ah, yes, MLMinET -- I can go to the three dots now and correct.
Welp.., in 25 words or less, what would you propose? Need more time?
Sorry, don’t understand your comment.
Just a question. If we don't use a standardized type of test or just a "test" what might one suggest be done?
Clicks = $$$$. The NY Times was in financial straights until DonOld Dementia came down the golden elevator. The corporate media relies on Clicks to sell their BS to the masses.
Democrats don't do clickbait very well and until they stand up to Trump with threats and hatred (unfortunately) they will always lose the media battle. The sane-washing of Trump's and the Republican political cabal shows the media's fearful and greedy response to losing the clickbait battle.
Yes, but let’s remember to include the key descriptor, “corporate” when we describe our failed media. Bezos, the ass, has been the most glaring example, but all owners are complicit. Greedy, soulless bastards.
Gina, you nailed it with the one word, greedy”. They are fearful of losing even a dollar of their greed. Interesting, no one tells them, they can’t take it with them. Greed and Power are killing this nation. I wish I had a solution but I know one thing, congress needs now to be called out every day for their abdication of the power they have to stop this madness
Trump wants to believe that God has saved and sent him to rule. If there is a God it will rain biggly on his parade. In the meantime, we will demonstrate biggly on that day.
I am finishing up a book about the policy Britain undertook in Kenya against the Mau Mau. It paints of picture of purposeful genocide of the Kikuyu people. It wasn't enough for Britain to steal their land. They needed to subdue the people. And it was covered up by the British government. Reading history like this convinces me that there isn't a God. Certainly not a God that fulfills my idea of what a God should be. And this story is repeated over and over in human history. If God does exist, God is surely a man. So, if Don TACO is felled, it will be because of a woman.
I hope there will be plenty of lightning and hail. Right over the Presidential stand.
Let’s hope our side is peaceful. I would bet the would-be king has his proud boys standing by to make sure there is violence. Then we’ll have martial law.
I'm wondering if they're going to try to stage something. 🤔
I do believe that is going to happen - and all hell will break out in terms of the declaration of martial law that this administration is dying to impose. I think it’s being planned.
I just bought my No Kings shirt! I will be there!
Harvey, I am compelled to offer a slight correction. Trump has few beliefs other than the power of WEALTH.
The source of this myth that "God saved him and sent him to rule" is the cabal of christian nationalist handlers who've used it to facilitate the unquestioning allegiance of the evangelical and evangelical-adjacent base of the Trump Party, thus enabling the handlers to continue injecting christian nationalist policy into the bloodstream of U.S. government.
He doesn’t actually believe that but his followers are so delusional they believe it…sad
Maybe it would rain so hard, the attendance would go down. We also know that planes and helicopters can't fly in really bad weather (at least according to the first term White House minions).
Like your use of irony there, J. L.
Yes. Thus, we the people will be marching all over the world. Instead of marching in one of the German Democrats Abroad and Indivisible Deutschland collaborative marches on June 14, in Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, I am here in the US and will be marching in my Blue city in my Blue state. No Tyrants, No Kings!
Do people still watch their local news? If they do, are any of the local stations publicizing where and when the protests are going to be held in our communities.
If you don't or can't be part of the protests, just driving by and giving a thumbs up shows support for the cause.
Or drive by and honk your horn. That rallies the protesters AND let’s all the car riders nearby know that there is lots of support for the resistance. That’s particularly helpful for protests in places assumed to be red. I live in Georgia and am speaking from experience.
At the last protest I was at, people were driving by honking and several had signs they held out the windows. It was awesome. I now carry a sign in my car.
Even a baby in a car seat waved at us. A cause for a smile.
GJ- Yes here in southern ME we still watch local news. WCSH has not mentioned where or when protests are going to be! I gave up on National networks but watched beginning of NBC this AM. They mentioned the tariff scam, but very matter of fact “nothing to see here”, “will be in courts for long time”, etc! Hello- we have a felon wannabe dictator in charge!
I stand with a group every Tuesday AM on our Main St with our protest signs! People honking their horns in support is greatly appreciated. We get the middle finger, thumb down, trucks intentionally speeding by emoting black exhaust, but they are in the minority! Please continue supporting us who stand out at rallies- I know people work and have children, so call or write your reps! Everything helps!
I swear some of those trumpers try to play chicken with us and come as close and as fast as they can to us. Trumpers are violent.
Rachel, for one, is giving lots of air time to demonstrations.
Miadas touch is my news source. I like to hear from people smarter than I am. Like Heather's posts.
Just wish Meidas wouldn’t drown me in messages every.single.day., including hyped up hysteria.
I just wish they would get to the point instead of rambling. I just move the red line along and skip the beginning.
Agreed. Regrettably (in my opinion), the Meidas Network has taken on some of the odor of corporate media by spending a lot of resources trying to make their outlet as dominant as the corporate outlets through excessive self-promotion and hyperbole.
While I agree that the voices of the truth-tellers need to be heard as widely as the corporate sycophants, I don't agree with using the same techniques.
I have had to take control of my time and energy. If that means eliminating some truthful-but-intrusive sources, so be it.
To paraphrase that famous quote from Field of Dreams, "If you tell the truth, they will come."
On face Book there is a Women's March site. It said that the big rally was going to be in Wisconsin. Try Indivisible. Theyn do rallies like the Hands Off ones. They weren't specific, Best to keep it away from DC. trump will take credit for all of his admirers attending.
In our small group demonstrations along the side of the road, we gets lots of horns and thumbs up. Then there are the idiots with the finger and shouts of fascist or communist. Just shows their ignorance.
@Linda Weide - I count you among the rescuers Mr. Fred Rogers lauded when, in a disaster, he said "Look for the helpers."
Excellent reminder of Mr Rogers often teaching all of us how our government actually is supposed to work!
Instead of marching in my glowing red state (FL) I’ll be in New England for a grandchild’s HS graduation. On that day, I hope my family (who are fervently PRO-Democracy, ANTI-PINO) will find time to join with me up there for a protest. I can’t let this particular date go by without my voice being heard.
Ah, too old to travel I got to see the whole graduation of my oldest Grandchild. On You Tube Live.
Jan had to look up anti Pino, or "against."
Welcome home, Linda -- though, too, you've many good homes, as a person of the world.
Nice to have you back!
Definitely a 'go big or go home' situation. Unfortunately their homes (the press) were threatened and they stayed home to protect them. One cannot venture out onto the street alone. This mess will have to coalesce.
As will I, Linda.
Happy you are home and writing.
The MAGApublican house and senate will remain supine while the executive rifles everyone's pockets for spare change to funnel up to the oligarchs, then descending on the poor to add insult to injury. This is all a replay of books, flims, and reality of the 1930's, etc... We know where this is going, What will you do? What will WE do? The MSM is dead in the water.
He is more than rifling our pockets, he is robbing us of our data, and thus our identity.
https://theintercept.com/2025/05/22/intel-agencies-buying-data-portal-privacy/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter
I wrote about it back in February. Our personal information was very compartmentalized for security reasons. Musk is making it easier to access and use against us like China does.
Rickey, back when Homeland Security was created, I remember a tech safety expert, who was a former cyber criminal who had done his time and turned around to teach people how to protect themselves gave a talk about how things should not be centralized there because it would make it easier to hack and do great damage. So, exactly what you are saying. Three days ago Andra Watkins, who has been doing a lot of discussion of protecting ourselves from this government, shared a link to an Atlantic article about identity protection.
https://open.substack.com/pub/andrawatkins/p/more-online-privacy-resources?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I have also been following Zev Shalev's scary series on the New Feudalism.
https://www.narativ.org/s/the-new-feudalism
I have to take some of this in small doses, but having buffoons who do not even fully understand what they are doing running the country is quite damaging for all of us.
I remember that many, many warnings that were stated about the Patriot Act when it was passed. Too many of our elected federal officers were all in on it as well. Why? Simple- power. Now we have an unscrupulous group of people in the government that will ruthlessly use this power as stated by JD Vance.
MSM?
Mainstream media. A term that is rapidly losing meaning as fewer people than ever actually read newspapers. I think MSM is now social media, where there is everything and the opposite of everything and no way to distinguish fact from fiction, especially for the less educated. I know, sounds elitist, but the damage done to our democracy is obvious. What to do?
The main newspaper in my area features a local chef as their top story in the Sunday edition. With huge 8 x 11 photos. Does that tell you how low newspapers have sunk? It's a worthless rag.
Ours is just as bad. SW MO Ozarks. Deep red area.
Linda, others have explained. But please allow me to summarize and opine.
As others have noted, MSM refers to mainstream media, which is no longer an accurate reference to these outlets for a couple reasons.
First, this media is no longer "mainstream" because this group of media outlets disburses a news product that is NOT consumed by the majority of news consumers. Rather, their product is consumed by a minority of news consumers who want "news coverage" that glorifies their orange idol, or they're just too lazy to seek out truthful outlets that aren't subsidized by national advertisers.
Second, these media outlets are better described as "corporate media" because they are owned by moguls or syndicates who are more interested in protecting their profitability than telling the truth. The content they dispense is either not news at all, or stories that have been so slanted and edited, they are hardly recognizable as accounts of what took place that day.
This distortion is all in service to appeasing the orange tyrant in the White House who abuses his power to seek revenge against entities that he feels have slighted him.
The increasingly popular term used to describe "anti-corporate" media is "independent media," mainly because these outlets are not owned by moguls or corporations, and they truthfully report the news, independent of how the truth might offend some individuals.
No Linda. I was responding to, "The MAGApublican house and senate will remain supine while the executive rifles everyone's pockets for spare change to funnel up to the oligarchs, then descending on the poor to add insult to injury."
Main Street Media (perhaps?).
MainStream Media
Main Stream Media
I do strongly suspect that parade would be when, perhaps even where, he would have provocateurs along the lines of James O'Keefe's crews (he's become too recognizable to do much of the same himself). He seems to have been itching to do it for quite a while, but frustrated by the numbers of peaceful protestors and too few real vandals doing things like torching Teslas (something I suspect could have been done by provocateurs, or really counter-productive trouble makers).
The last thing we need is to give him an excuse to declare the national emergency he wants to justify the ultimate power he wants to be able to use.
We need to protest all over the country on June 14th. Trump's parade is going to be sharing the headlines with the protestors. And so far, the only ones doing it non-peacefully are the MAGAs.
Thank you GJ. Did I forget to add "MAGAs" when I referred to $hithead$.. awful sorry, mate!
We saw the provocateurs in the Twin Cities after George Floyd’s murder. White vans with no/obscured license plates, Boogie Boys in Hawaiian shirts….. I assume this parade has provocateurs already standing back and standing by. Look for vandalism and arson. Those were very effectively used after Floyd. Lots of media attention.
So far, the element of our population with darker skin has been doing an admirable job of making their presence known without violence. Beware the "provocateurs", those $hithead$ are out there, it just looks bad for Bondi when they are exposed.
Phil, I would love to see all the tanks and other vehicles for Trump's dictator parade sabotaged so they won't move. Every maligned soldier and marine should be right there to do the deed, particularly the trans military, women, and any other service member who gives a damn about this nation. That would be such a show as would be truly awesome!
Or someone stands in front of a tank and as he is hauled away, others replace him?
Tiananmen redux
Ya Ruth.., can you imagine three or four tanks just kind of running amuck, all of a sudden? Whoaaa! What a disaster. I've a couple friends who were "tankers" (tank drivers) during SEA. I think it was at the Base Exchange in Tuy Hoa where a couple of them destroyed the freshly paved parking lot on hot afternoon on a beer-run. Anyone out there remember that.., it was in 68' I think? Maybe give Ralph Zumbro (Tank Sergeant. Presidio Press, ISBN: 0-89141-265-4), a call. Takes a tank to stop a tank. Good luck.
I agree that June 14th is not a day to protest downtown. With 6500 troops (including the National Guard) planned to be on site, and pro-Trump instigators poised for trouble, a set up for the imposition of martial law is clear. Resisters should be encouraged to stay away. I plan to be miles away from my ‘inside the beltway’ Md. home on that day. I’ll be in Bath, Maine, commemorating the life of a dear friend.
Yes. This is what is happening. There will be peaceful protests all over EXCEPT for DC. NO KINGS DAY! Take back the American Flag! Patriots will be peacefully gathered everywhere but at that anti-American Republican parade.
Good grief, Phil this is all so sickening, all the way down to having our intelligence insulted by little Mrs BB (barbie bull--t in the Press House). I mean, having our faces shoved into the gutter for standing up for the principle, in this case Abrego, by insinuating we want to protect drugsters and rapists. Only to have T-Rump play 'catch-and-release' of those already incarcerated for such crimes. If that isn't a WTF "issue" nothing is. And, apparently..., "nothing" covers it. But, what seems worse is our Courts have ruled on this illegality (blatant illegality), but the people directing and carrying out the actions.., clearly "illegal actions" just seem to face no personal consequence. Take Homan and Noem.., "we're coming to get you"..! Like, I hate to say it, but WT..?! However, that's nothing, compared to threatening other countries (tariffs, invasion!) causing them to break their own oaths to their people. Habeas corpus is serious. But here in real life, when I watch someone break a window, they are clearly guilty and must be 'restrained' (locked up) before they can do more damage, because they are clearly guilty.. GUILTY.., of bad behavior. Holding the present group of clowns in check is where we have fallen short. So "short" that there is an actual felon in charge. Failure to lock that POS up is an example of what is wrong.., 70X (times) wrong. Suffer and permit. We have an emergency alright. We appear to have lost the Federal Marshal service. The Whitehouse police have been compromised. Our local police departments are being ICE'd over (one by two). And our girl Noem, she's as numb as they come, can't think of what habeas corpus means. Gag me!
Good prediction Phil. Wanna bet that the Heritage guys, Stephen Gobbells Miller and others are planning this?
Phil Balla,
Agree!
I, as many of my fellow Americans are tired of hearing about the day today dismantling of the rules and laws within our Constitution and the lack of common sense, decency and fair play taking place within our government. as well as the foul behavior of leaders of industry and business within our country.
This is not the American way!!!
As for June 14....What a JOKE!!!! What a waste of taxpayers dollars!!!!
I would like to ignore his whole damn birthday. He thrives on attention. I would like to give him nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
Phil, what is your source for saying he will plant false flags?
Meanwhile, I have come to the conclusion that he is simply trying to kill us all. Literally. (Except the billionaire cronies, of course.) I had to turn off the news on the way to work yesterday. It was overwhelming.
His history, Jocelyn. All consistent.
His history with Putin and Putin's agents, hackers, and assassins.
His history with Mohammed bin Salman, Netanyahu, Erdogan, and Sisi.
His history with the top criminals he's pardoned and the groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers those criminals helped fund and organize.
His history with U.S. mobsters and their chief finance criminals he's also pardoned.
OK. Fair points.
And let us not forget the Supreme Court. These seeds were planted decades ago and fertilized ever since. Once again thank you for nailing it
How about when commenting on what they are doing, we all make a habit of also comment on what we are doing personally to stop them. Expressing one's pessimism feels good in the moment, but it can also be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Good point. I teach 8th grade American History and since Trump took office, part of my lessons include the structure of the Constitution and how the Trump administration is trying to destroy it. One of my students heard her Science teacher talking about how birthright citizenship was illegal and told him that it came from the 14th amendment to the Constitution, so could not be removed by executive order. Made me feel good.
They say that saving one life is equivalent to saving the world. I'm with them. Good for you, Joel. You saved the world.
May I suggest that you beyond that by clicking on the following link and listening to the conversation between Nicholle Wallace and General Stanley McCrystal beginning at about 27 minutes into the podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-importance-of-character/id1367201919?i=1000709499357
I'll do that, thanks. And thanks for the kind words.
I'll see you on the barricades.
Phil, excellent comment, good work.
All this didn't start with trump. He represents the culmination which started in antebellum America. We have endured and still endure serious divisions of race, class and gender, rural versus urban, red state versus blue, Christian versus non-Christian, etc. Americans no longer speak the same language and we don't communicate well. Within our borders reside literate and illiterate cultures, shameful in a nation with an excellent education system. (And some whose English language skills are too poor to grasp the nuances of government policy. Trying to be careful - this is not immigrant bashing.) Too many Americans are hedonists not thoughtful or interested in the rigors of understanding public policy. Although name calling is cathartic it is not productive. (Although we have created a lexicon of clever words and phrases to describe our dear leader.) Institutions won't save us because they have been mostly shuttered and can no longer combat the power elites or the pompous, grandiose rants of a dictator. Furthermore, he is EXACTLY the wrong person to be in charge as the US deals with its debt problem. He is creating the emergency he claims he is trying to prevent. He is the president whose business life was defined by bad debt. (NY banks refused to lend him money due to his bad debt.) Didn't he promise in 2016 to zero out the deficit and national debt??? but didn't. Instead the BBB, now before Congress, will add trillions to our national debt. Most Americans are financially illiterate (blind, dumb and indifferent) and so is Navarro. (Then you've got your single issue voters who vote for Trump because he belongs to the party that doesn't want to murder fetuses.) An accepted truism is "If you're already in a deep hole, stop digging!" I provide a link of required listening. (While you're at it read Nassim Taleb's book The Black Swan and Michael Lewis's The Big Short - if you haven't already.) https://youtu.be/vWHkTLzeGPk?si=PjAolZToUp1r7xYJ
Like all you say, Stephanie, except your ref to "a nation with an excellent education system."
Even that was true, though, from the Justin Morrill land grant act of 1862 till the Powell memo of 1971 and its far-right aftermath.
Let's focus on what voters can do to stop Trump. Professor wrote yesterday what matters is how the people organize against Trump and MAGA. I am writing to my DEM senators and congress person for specific issues, but am thinking of suggesting that DEMs should annouce they are the party of fighting soldiers for democracy. Because fighting for democracy was the beginning of America and the task inherent to the cititizenship of America.
Is he "chickening out"? Or is it market manipulation?
As to the courts ruling against the regime--who will enforce it this time?
Market manipulation, I would strongly suggest.
I can see an algorithm for short selling with Whitehouse announcements.
It may be market manipulation, but is Trump really that clever? Plus the way the markets have reacted under Trump is illogical and subject to overselling when something negative happens.
Most of us don't have access to the information that is driving the market day by day and many have taken huge hits to their portfolios and retirement funds. But Fidelity and the other large brokerage houses do and they have a huge advantage over the average investor. But the MSM doesn't report on how the average investor is doing. They care about the fund managers and their results.
No, the dictator is not that clever, even while taking advantage of market swings. I think the Russians nailed it the other day in response to his whining about Putin and Ukraine. “Overly emotional” is exactly what goes on under that golden squirrel he coifs every day. There isn’t an ounce of logic or thought in anything he does. His entire life has been one emotional response after another to whatever is gong on around him. He is incapable of critical thought. And he sits on the world’s biggest arsenal of nukes. That alone should keep us all up at night.
I think he thrashes about and proclaims - this tariff goes up / that tariff goes down / just because he can and because it makes him feel powerful and gets him the attention he endlessly craves.
Actually, Trump is a thorough and complete WEENY!
As far as market manipulation goes, I think he is. He's an expert scammer.
TAMM - Trump Always Manipulates Market
They were obviously manipulating the market the first time. Now all the investors know the game and have their buy/sell orders ready to go.
He did everything he could to manipulate the market as 45 but now as 47 he’s so blatantly obvious that he has all the millionaires profiting with him. I sold every penny of my stocks when he took office to avoid the constant stress of what was happening with my retirement funds. He’s decimating the working class and enriching his cronies and one day there will be no one to work for them. Unemployment is up, there’s no one to work the farms and they’re grabbing up immigrants who are following our laws to increase their deportation numbers all while letting the real criminals go free. I can’t wait for a good legal case to use the pardon/commutation of the drug kingpin against him on the whole tariffs scam.
My thoughts exactly
I’m worried about that too. He ignores judges.
A huge shout-out to White House correspondent Meghan Cassella who confronted the Bloviating Turd yesterday with Wall Street's latest "TACO" acronym for his take.
The Toddler-in-Chief rage-babbled his usual 'I didn't do it! I didn't do it! I didn't do it!' response before arriving at his favorite epithet for strong, intelligent women who dare confront him: "nasty." Eyes puffy, speech slurred, heard "chicken" but thought it was "kickin'" --- the dementia is so clearly strong with that one.
Why is it the women are the ones with the balls, while the men mostly stand around playing with themselves? Inquiring minds want to know.
Over and over and over - the women are standing up to him. Some men too, to be fair. But he hates a strong woman and he especially hates a strong woman of color.
Lauriemcf, figuratively speaking, he's obsessed. Skin color isn't the biggy. Figures are all that appear to count in his convoluted-mind. Dollar signs or the other kind. Hair color doesn't figure in.., except for his own.
Rich old white men are destroying our country. We need diverse women of color to lead us to a progressive future. That is why AOC/Crockett is the strongest and most inclusive ticket for 2028: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/aoc-crockett-2028
Pretty simple really..., and "It's Come to This": Women are the ones with "mens" 'balls in hand' in many cases. Men succumb to the attention. In T-Rumps case, it was the tit-factor that took him for a ride. His wife, apparently had a different 'grip' on things. No?
Everything coming out of the White House since January reads like a rap sheet or a police blotter. Words can't even describe the feelings of revulsion and sadness knowing this building has become nothing more than a den of thieves breaking laws, robbing banks, stealing identities, embezzling, racketeering and extorting, while yelling --- Jimmy Cagney-style ---'come and get me, ya dirty screw!' at every judge and cop in the country.
Remember that "hellscape" Trump painted of America during his campaign? That wasn't a description of current state of events, it was a _promise_.
vivid
I was a high school teacher in Chicago which was totally dominated by Larry Hoover’s Gangster Disciples which he ran from prison. My students were recruited by the DGs and had no choice either join or be beaten up or worse . I remember a mother crying about her older son who was a GD and asking me what she could do to protect her younger son from the gang. Heartbreaking. Some mothers sent their sons to live with relatives in other states to get them away from the Gangster Disciples . I guess Trump thinks immigrant workers are more dangerous than Larry Hoover and his DGs .
You make this tragedy real. Multiple bad choices face more people every day.
Maureen, maybe Trump himself is a Gangster Disciple.......
Horrible time that was, Maureen. That last sentence, though...ouch.
Uh
Are you worried that the “Deep State” and its collaborators might face more than arrest? And, rushing through a deal with VietNam that involves a luxury resort including not just one but THREE 18 hole golf courses is way out of line. How can this even be? Thank you once again for your bravery and consistency in keeping us better informed than we would be if we didn’t include you in our daily reading. In this house we read you out loud, over breakfast.
Dr. Richardson neatly notes that Vietnamese government authorities are violating their own laws to bribe Trump. This is quintessentially Vietnamese behavior (realism combined with utter pragmatism) wrapped in a Leninist jacket (authority checked only within the Party). This is the first I've heard of this project, so I haven't researched the proposed location of the luxury resort. It will be interesting to see whose land is going to be taken to build these superfluous golf courses, how they will react, and how the protests, if any, will be handled. Protests of land grabs have been allowed in the past as a way of letting victims blow off steam, as long as they are not violent.
Hope the Vietnamese people react with protests demanding respect for themselves and for the laws in their country.
Ricardo, I think protests, if any materialize, will be confined to those directly affected by the land grab. And they will be enhanced if the protesters feel that they have been disrespected personally by the authorities as well as robbed. Law, and the attitude toward the law, is complex in Vietnam. Most laws are seen as necessary for a stable society, but some often appear to be arbitrary and confusing. And all laws offer an opportunity for enforcement agencies and individuals to profit by illegal means. In addition, Vietnamese will often try, and expect to find, a way to get around any law. That's common in many societies, including here in the US, but it seems especially prevalent in Vietnam.
You might be right James, after all the Vietnamese people didn't have a single day of their life, for generations, of living democratically. Different case in the US and apparently with similar results. Also we should consider that in the case of grabbing land to please trump's family in exchange for favorable tariffs, the Vietnamese people fought for generations against China, France, Japan, the French again and then the US and their own people in the south. All you need is a cause, a spark and a leader and people to respond and they have a lot of experience doing that.
I've been in Vietnam once and very superficially I can say they are wonderful people. Thanks for your comment James.
It is about time the courts stopped these unconstitutional tariffs.
The chaos created is not worth any possible gains. The convoluted excuses given by Bessent and Lutnick seemed so feeble.
I love the TACO acronym.
Let’s hope more Americans wake up to the damage being done including an almost complete erosion of any ethical standards.
Chaos is his fun. Sociopaths thrive on the chaos they create.
"Never wrestle in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty, but the pig enjoys it."
Not only is 47 eager to bring back public executions, and to hurt in every way possible those he feels are not giving him enough adoration, but in the background making things happen is Stephen Miller, who for the life of me seems the embodiment of evil.
Miller is feeding the beast. He is a psychopathic monster on a power trip.
Miller is a Nazi, through and through. He was always like this. Born evil.
I love the acronym too. Jeff Tiedrich has a great meme to go with the TACO acronym in his piece yesterday. It is at the end.
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/be-nice-to-donny-vlad-youre-making?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Phil, and I hope that "all those hundreds nations waiting in line to sign tariff agreements "with the the scum bag president, start laughing in his face.
We cannot rely on yen courts. This will have to be a mass movement by the majority of citizens in the US.
Yes, the courts are ruling correctly but it is also true they really have no enforcement power. Will a Marshall walk onto the WH and Arrest Miller for contempt? Can he even be held accountable since he is giving orders but is not a part officially of the WH…just an advisor. Another way Heritage found to skirt the laws.
Will the Marshall be fired, his boss told to stand down.
Two terrifying things have happened in less than a year. That ridiculous SCOTUS ruling in Trumo UsA giving him benefit of the doubt immunity for crimes and this new proposal form Congress about a obstructing courts to enforce their rulings of the executive branch and I believe it’s the entire branch gets to break the laws, defy orders and nothing can be enforced.
That leaves one branch in charge with a dementia-riddled puppet and Lord knows who is actually running it….is it Heritage, with Vought in charge of policy and Miller in charge of brute enforcement of illegal policy? I’m guessing it isn’t the techies. I believe they are just aiding and abetting illegal policy through their massive control of information in exchange to be wildly rich and able to live out weird fantasies. I’d lump religion in with that. They have never been more powerful in 1/2 a century and might be taking over ‘-12 if Heritage courts can reason a way to give public dollars to religious schools.mthat K case is only sort of settled. They are waiting for a better one to give shade to the Lseazy Six. It certainly isn’t Vance in charge and the Trumo kids are just playing hungry hungry hippo trying to grab as much cash until the house falls. Either there is an election and the power is stripped, making them useless AGAIN. or he dies and the next guy who despised them like most of the party does kicks them to the curb.
I’m guessing it’s the Voughts, McGahns, Leo’s running the show. They’ve been at if forever and know policy just haven’t figured out how to present completely unconstitutional behavior in courts tasked with upholding it. I mean Alito was basically co counsel in Trump V the Us. Way more psychotic and dangerous than Thomas
The courts have been ruling all along against him. And yet where is Abrega Garcia? Where is the evidence demanded by judges I. The extortion cases of law firms and deportees? They have not complied at all.
And this June 14 parade to honor a single leader is not about giving the baby man a birthday party with toy soldier.
It’s for Miller, Vought, Bondi, Vance to make a very clear threat to ALL of America, Courts included, they have the army and you don’t. So either go along of these tanks, soldiers and force are coming for you.
That pardon which I’m sure Trump knew nothing about is about siding with hamsters over the law.
The Heritage, Tech, oligarchs are the masters of propaganda don messaging. Even if not a single eruption happens, this is to let the American people know this force is in the executive hands. Not just tariff threats or grant money, this is we will shoot you in your ride, classroom, street and court and “YOU AND WHAT ARMY WILL STOO IT”.
That judges are looking for protection from other sources beside the government policing entities when they are the holders of the constitutional law says everything. We need a strong voice and plan for the MAJORITY to take to the Steve.
And stay out of DC June 14. They’ll manipulate the footage. And also, never forget….when these people want to do something illegal, they first accuse falsely the other side.
Antofagasta was the real culprit of 1/6….umm?
nits Semiticism is why they are crushing universities…..they break bread with Neo Nazi.
Immigrants are rapists based on zero evidence but the foreign Tate brothers, with lots of evidence, are welcomed in because they spit this nonsense and 19 year old Baron thinks they’re cool
Except I love tacos……
I do not uinderstand why every American cannot see that he is just a conman and a fraudster. Every thing he does/has done only benefits himself. Even the Proud Boys as disgusting as they are, believe in SOMETHING. I'm not sure he believes in anything accept himself and hogging more for himself. He is just like some kind of raging 1000 pound ID come to life who just want to FEED itself with no ego or super ego to get in the way.
That’s the question I’ve been asking myself since this nightmare began-why does any normal American believe he is “for” them? I’ve never seen any evidence of it.
There is a psychological phenomena where the victim of a con refuses to condemn the con artist - even in the face of undeniable evidence. The suckers of Ponzi schemes sometimes still support the perpetrator - because to admit they have been scammed is too much to handle. So they refuse to budge...
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
-Carl Sagan
When Trump stops the beating, it will feel so good!
Margaret, if you are a normal American, you don't believe he is for you.
There is no evidence to be found.
Same thought process as women who allow themselves to be beaten up by males.
The con is one of America's greatest enterprises and entertainments, since before there was a nation. We are descended from rubes.
Most immigrants came to the USA for $$$. And I know that America's real religion is money, but I think most Americans, even though they love money, love other things more or at least, as much. But since 77 million voted for this con with literally no redeeming qualities for a second time, I'm beginning to wonder.
“Rubes!”
In my family the story goes, en route to America, my Scotch/Irish ancestor threw his life savings overboard because he was told it was worthless and he would be showered with wealth once in the USA. Dang.
I've read that back then there was a large reverse migration of expat Euros back to the Continent after they'd had a taste of the crap conditions of life in this here paradise.
Ouch Bern....
Yeah...
Rubes and the Cons. A match made in hell, as we are finding out.
I read a great article on Substack that talked about how Trump supporters are essentially having a trauma response. They were bullied by their parents, they bullied others and they see him as an extension of their parents and their trauma formed values. I’m not doing a great job of explaining it but the article proposed an answer to the question of how and why.
Fits with my oft-deployed blaming of the parents for not givin' their spawn a proper fetchins up.
MAGAs don’t read anything but Fox News or other such sources.
So they don’t know what’s happening.
Manufactured and concocted FAKE from Fox?
“‘Congress manifestly is not permitted to abdicate or to transfer to other the essential legislative functions with which it is thus vested,’ the court writes.”
The Republican congressional majority has done just that; ceding its constitutional law-making and executive oversight authority to the Trump White House. At the very least, they are guilty of malfeasance, but, to my mind, they are much closer to treason.
The wording was a very specific, double-slap: first to Congress for abdicating its functions; second to the Executive for aggrandizing them. A real two-fer.
This reads like a grade B movie for low-functioning individuals. He has no decency, let alone any taste.
While this is the sordid part what we are in is a fascist coup. We need to not get distracted by the Grade B movie part and realize that behind his sordidness there are people effectively dismantling our Government, way of life and Democracy.
I sincerely hope, pray and beg for people to protest on June 14 in the NO KINGS event all across America.
Take Care.
I believe June 14th will be larger than all protests before. We would be hard pressed to find someone not offended or affected by the MAGA madness.
And sadly, the worst is yet to come as SO many agencies that are life lines have been effectively crippled by defunding and firings. Even if the courts rule those actions unconstitutional, the refunding and rehiring is delayed by appeals and refusals to obey the courts.
I expect that we will have to protest over and over....something I could never have imagined.
My worry is that the Fascists will ultimately defy even the most clear and direct court orders and that the Judiciary will be attacked. The Mad King has already villainized them in his garbled diatribes setting the stage for more intimidation and who knows what. Many judges and SCOTUS are about to be tested. If they are defied, what will they do?
And if the Orange Menace goes full rogue with military involvement....?
My sign may be the same as last time: NO KING, FREE GARCIA
We are far from through this. Just as we brought down Tesla we can bring these fascists down. History has shown the power of protests.
I believe he is planning on June 14 being his full blown fascist display. We the people can stop him.
I hope there is a 20-hour-long gullywasher in DC that day, with a soupçon of hail.
We almost got lucky with the inauguration, which was at least moved indoors. I am hoping with you, though.
I believe it was moved indoors to escape the humiliation of a small crowd.
Bill Alstrom,
Most of us agree within this space Heather has created regarding the sad state of affairs in D.C.
There are far too many who have not waked up to reality. There are too many who will support Trump's parade. There are many who have tasted "the green" and the power and pretty shinny things that come with it. They are "Trump groupies" and as long as they can ride along within his power, and garner the advantages along the way, they will not leave.
There are more of us than them. And we will win.
Take care and protest !!!!!
Yeah!!!
Kem, since you mention taste, he now lives surrounded by fake gold, as fake as he is.
On a Mission from God! DJT is stealing lines from the Blues Brothers?
Straight out of Elwood’s mouth
He's Don the Con, no originality, all he does is steal.
And half of the voters voted for the thief. Go figure horkai.
No, only about 1/3
Ok ML, you caught me magnifying everything like the scumbag president but at least I apologize 😉
I always sneak "half of those who voted" because the largest voting block in the last election were those voting eligible who did not/could not/were blocked from voting.
Point well taken Ally.😉
Don TACO
I hope the Menace doesn't try to sing.
🐔🤣
Yes.
Use this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to your own reps, 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?usp=drivesdk
Thank you Megan!
You’re welcome! Thanks for speaking up right now!
"While Trump’s pardons of Republicans convicted of tax crimes seem in keeping with his favoring of the wealthy, Trump’s commutation of the sentence of a gang kingpin seems an odd counterpoint to his administration’s stance on undocumented immigrants."
Still kindred spirits.
Oh, there’s a payoff in it somewhere for him. Of that I have absolutely no doubt.
You can bet anything on that Reader and be 100% you'll be the winner.
All the cons and creeps and criminals are going to be issued brownshirts.
This is how Trump gets his Brown shirts, or Black shirts, or both.
https://www.historyhit.com/hitlers-bullyboys-the-role-of-the-sa-in-nazi-germany/
https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095510345
Take your pick. Fascist thug enforcers will do too.
Great article Linda; Thanks.
A most bizarre menagerie of felons, sycophantic sadists, unscrupulous billionaires and oligarchs, Nazis/white supremacists and fascists(some are all of those at once) looking much more like actual Bond villains as this regime plods on.
And guess who's been appointed the Pardon Attorney at the DoJ?
https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-pardons-ed-martin-de43fc3e38ac1e21461c0f30d93b4186
No surprise there, but can he do anything about it and does anyone care?
In January, 2021 Trump pardoned or commuted eight Medicare and Medicaid fraudsters who had stolen over $2 billion from us combined.
The MSM doesn't give a damn about who Trump pardons.
It's like Trump has killed hundreds of thousands of people with his terrible decisions and the MSM doesn't report it, but if any of us shot someone famous, every news outlet would report it for days.
His not-so-subtle (when has he ever been subtle?) message that The Grift is On. Steal, cheat, sell drugs: you’re one of us.
I find that the serious newspapers and media outlets invariably do cover most things, even if they are reporting them second-hand, so to speak. The problem is that they don't cover them consistently so that find one story in the NYT, another on Axios etc. The Guardian does a Trump briefing page every morning that I go to first and then pursue the HTML links to sources and to other stories. I think it's inevitable when you have a president in White Queen mode every single day. On the pardon issue, for example, NBC reported on the white collar pardons.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trumps-pardons-highlight-justice-departments-pullback-public-corruptio-rcna209202
The law firms were all noting the change in the Department of Justice's priorities that indicated a more relaxed appraoch to white collar crime. It's then not to hard to put two and two together.
Similarly, I found this link on today's briefing page.
https://www.notus.org/health-science/make-america-healthy-again-report-citation-errors
I haven't checked if it's been picked up by other media but honestly what could one expect when there has been so much craziness at HHS? The SARS-CoV-2 booster jab announcement; the decision to ban government scientists from publishing in eminent health journals like the Lancet; the decision to import avian flu from Canada in a herd of ostriches that will be moved to a ranch in Florida owned by Mehmet Oz.
It's just a shitstorm of stupidity.
This is the darkest closing of one of your posts in the six years of your posting LFAA, but I congratulate you, for anything else than your conclusion would have been banal and silly! Thanks!
The Trump Organization and Congressional Republicans are an organized crime syndicate. The SCOTUS majority in the Trump vs US decision makes them complicit. Musk-DOGE & mercenaries for oligarchs in The Heritage Foundation Project 2025 are illegally dismantling and/or blocking the mechanisms of democracy. It is a recreationn of the fascist mafia state oligarghy that controls The Russian Federation. It’s not fake reality TV or TV crime drama or another version of The Godfather. 77+ million Americans chose to be manipulated by gangsters.
Thank you Donna. Here’s the expanded version on my page: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnrich/p/how-do-we-change-the-channel?r=41pd0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false <> ps: Sorry if this is a repeat. I waffled sideways trying to get the right link plugged in here and wobbled around in Substack-land trying to get back to this connection.
Thank you, Cassidy. Here’s the expanded version on my substack page, with references: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnrich/p/how-do-we-change-the-channel?r=41pd0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Thank you Donna. Here’s the expanded version with references on my page: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnrich/p/how-do-we-change-the-channel?r=41pd0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
It has turned out that the Republican lawyers who became judges are doing much more for our democracy than the Republican lawyers who are in the legislative branch of government. The latter group are worthless for our constitution yet both are supposed to uphold it.