Mr. Trump's dementia becomes more apparent with each passing day. And yet they are busily remaking DC, America, and the world like a regime that has no worries about the midterms. And THAT should worry all of us.
Fortunately, Ukraine is kicking Russia's ass right now by bombing oil loading ports and tankers, wiping out Russian ships, destroying oil storage and refineries, taking out an average of 1000 Russians a week, destroying chemical factories and chasing the Russians out of Crimea. Putin is so worried about a coup he has shut down the Internet in public places across Moscow.
While the world is looking at loosing 15-20% of the oil due to Trump's Iran War, Russia exports have been reduced by almost half. An world wide recession is coming thanks to Trump and if you think $4.50 a gallon is bad, it's likely to get much much worse.
Are any journalists talking about the ecological disasters that are being created by the Iran War and the Russian War on Ukraine. Hundreds of square miles of Russia have become so polluted that they are uninhabitable.
vox populi, yes it is the troika of Putin, Netanyahu, and Trump with the oligarchic support that is fueling all three. And, as men, they just can't stop the posturing and fighting because well, they might be seen as wimps (OK, we already know they are wimps with weapons). How do we stop this insanity when in all three countries, there are men, mostly white men, who think all this is just fine and something really much worse will happen if we don't support these appalling jerks. Or, maybe it is just that the oligarchs think they can pick up the pieces and still be as rich as ever with no accountability for their actions. I hope they are taken to task and lose huge portions of their wealth, especially Musk, Vought, Theil, and the Murdoch and Ellison families because without these, so much of what has happened would not have happened.
Putin, Netanyahu and Trump are not men, they are narcissists - just like Musk (oh, sorry, "Eeeelon"), Thiel, Vought and the other members of the fascist narcissist club.
Supported by black-robed guys Roberts, Alito and Uncle Thomas. And by a host of oligarchs around the world who also believe themselves to be the only creatures who are important.
Richardson gets her stuff in a twist. over Trump's puerile insult of Jeffries and you call a respected Supreme Court Justice "Uncle Thomas"? How about Auntie Katanji?
I agree they are not real men. However it happened, they are now automatons ... self-operating machines designed to follow a predetermined sequence of operations automatically and irrespective of the consequences.
After MLK's dream of a nation where people are judged by the content of their character has been realized, the judgment for the entire current leadership of the Republican Party will be a grand total of zero character.
We have to remember that there are a few who still represent the Republican Party, while recognizing its “problems.” Greed and racism are not only Republican characteristics. But craziness primarily is. To be at war with Europe, NATO, your fellow Americans, and embracing Vladimir Putin while building gulags to fill with anyone you can pick up, is the mark of oligarchic insanity.
Something I read last week was came from a journalist who personally knows Bezos and many of the Wall Street money guys. He said that due to their excessive wealth money is free to the billionaire class-- free in the sense they can buy anything they want without caring for the price. or who they might hurt by purchasing it. And they can furlough thousands of people because their employees are just game board pieces to them. Okay, I'm paraphrasing (a-lot) but one is worth $200 million they can lose 95% of it and they are still rich.
And yet the Republicans in the Senate and House are owned by these so-called oligarchs. They assume that they give a damn about a 5% cut in their taxes. But they were willing to give them tax cuts at the cost of adding an additional $1 trillion of debt to our already out of control debt.
Rickey, this is what one would expect of a disgusting racist like Trump and the racism of the rest of the white house toddler pool. There is nothing about any of them to commend. They would decide on wrecking public space in a majority minority community for no other reason than that they think they can. We need to find ways to stop them because we don't need anything else that makes Trump look like he is anything more than a thug with dementia. The people of DC deserve public spaces not infected by Trumplandia!
And can anyone tell me why these same rich oligarchs are willing to spend even more $ to dispute the one-time tax of 5% on their holdings. Evil thinking can only be at the root of it--I want all my money and I do not want to see anyone get food, clothing, education, health care, affordable housing. It is all seen as a threat to their wealth but mostly it is their very fragile egos and, yes, masculinity.
Beryl, I think of it as EVIL! The word needs to be attached to what these folks are doing because it actually is evil, and being done mostly by men who call themselves christians; they're that, maybe, but in name only.
Your comment is somewhat confusing. Billionaires are they key to our economy, which means they are a source of income for tens of millions of people. Without Amazon and Google, life becomes tedious. They are immense successes for a reason. Layoffs are usually determined by staff based on facts of consumer demand, not as a game.
That a journalist "knows Bezos" means...what? That Bezons confides in him/her? That he calls the journalist before making decisions?
As for taxes, they favor people with higher incomes because people with higher incomes pay by far the most taxes. Per 2024 data: the top 5% of earners reported 38.1% of total AGI but paid 62.7% of all income taxes. The bottom 50% of earners reported 10.2% of AGI but paid 2.3% of all income taxes."
Per the same data, for New York: the 41,000 filers in the NYC city’s top 1% pay more than 40% of all its income taxes. The 450,000 filers in the top 10% pay about two-thirds of all income taxes.
Nationally, for 2022, the top 10% of earners pay 70% -- 70% -- of the cost of government. So of course tax cuts help them.
And no politician is "owned by anyone. Surer, big donors get their phone calls answered. But the cost of campaigns is such that no one or small group can get anyone elected.
Yuor observations seem more emotional than factual.
I generally like to WELCOME new subscribers to the Forum, but we do get some new folks that like to troll. We had one appear a few weeks ago--seems to have disappeared. Perhaps the incendiary tone they put forth showed everyone they were, indeed, a troll.
Now I haven't gotten too far into the comments today, and I notice you aren't quite "a troll" but amazingly, seem to be attempting to create discord by your comments. I suggest, sir or madam, you are barking up the wrong tree here.
I am so tired of the "billionaires pay the most taxes" line, and I rarely use these terms here as people know, but it is BULL SHIT.
It is simply RIDICULOUS to cry that those with the most pay the most. OF COURSE THEY DO. I used to be bff with a woman who was a reasonable person, UNTIL she inherited a 8 figure (YES, EIGHT) sum. Suddenly, she was all about lowering taxes on wealth. Funny how pointing out that for a person having billions having higher tax WILL NOT change their lifestyle in ANY manner, but it can be devastating to the average American trying to live the "dream".
Without Amazon and Google, life becomes "tedious"?!? Apparently the comment section must have you yawning!!
YOUR observations seem more fueled by the RIGHT than factual.
While your arguments might work with the MAGA, or even the average American who reportedly spends an average of FOUR MINUTES a week on politics, those who read HCR and comment are quite well informed. Again, your BULL SHIT isn't going to work here, and cloaking it in "reasonable" comments isn't going to sway anyone here for very long. Yes, you will get those who think you're some new voice worth reading, but eventually you'll be blocked or ignored, the latter of which I intend to do, and suggest others do as well.
WOW! A completely naive take on how any economy works. Congratulations on being the water carrier for the uber greedy proponents of unregulated, unbridled capitalism that makes some people too powerful, and ALWAYS leads to eventual revolution.
How many politicians do you own A? Because most of us don't have a lot leftover to donate to the politicians we are pulling for that will stand up to the klepto class. Elon donates $200 million and we donate $50. Hardly a fair fight. You're rather naive to actually believe that politicians aren't owned by the wealthy and the large corporations.
As Miselle replied, the people that comment here are well informed and understand how the system works, so please continue to comment, but Substack has given us the ability to block trolls. A few have come here with their Trumpian idiocy, but don't stick around because everyone either blocks them or ignores their bullshit.
Billionaires are the end of our economy. They have ruined America and if not stopped will be the end of millions of people and ultimately the end of this country
When it comes to losing wealth I would put the trump family at the top of the list as the grift and graft have gone on far too long and too much to their advantage.
If true, and I don't doubt that it is, it will be a start to rectifying much of this disaster and hopefully bringing Trump and his sycophants to some form of justice that is all too well deserved. Meanwhile, as I write and we all read HCR's letter, Louisiana and Alabama are rigging their elections, proving the low intellect inherent within those state government. The majority on the SCOTUS should not be forgotten in all of this malfeasance. When and if the left takes control again, addressing SCOTUS should be on the next docket.
"It's going to be very difficult to bring Musk, Vought, Theil and the Murdoch and Ellison families to heel." Why would you? Musk created the electric car industry. Theil is behind Palantir, an extraordinary company. Murdoch provides thousands of jobs to journalists. Larry Ellison's Oracle is behind a massive amount of essential technologies. Why bring them "to heel"?
What you describe is true. My question: at what cost to the individual consumer and public at large? Elon Musk, in 2025 paid $0.00 in federal taxes; Peter Theil in 2019 to 2021 paid $0.00 and yet accumulated over $5 billion in those same years. I have no problem with the Murdochs if they report the news fairly and truthfully; there is plenty of evidence that they don't and in fact did not in the past. Supporting the likes of Donald Trump only promotes the fascist ideals (and this is not opinion, but fact if one simply looks closely at the way Homeland Security has done its work. FOX news subjects its listeners with opinion and calls it news. News is objective; news is truthful (or supposed to be.) FOX has failed on multiple counts. It is specifically why it is called FAUX news. Larry Ellison has unleashed, along with folks like Musk, AI technology which in essence will only control human production and most likely human **values**. There is every reason to fear, even according to Elon Musk himself, that AI will most likely replace the human element in jobs. In truth, I have nothing against AI as long as it keeps step with human needs and not at the cost of human needs. Now, is what Ellison, Musk, and the rest doing against the present laws pertaining to their businesses? The answer is no. But in each case, it only further sets everyone on their heels leading to an outcome, at least I believe, at making life worse for the average man, woman, and child. As for Mr. Musk, I do hope he is brought forward to answer for the illegal infiltration of government agencies at the cost and to the cost of the public at large. As for the Murdochs, they run a "news" agency and are protected by the 1st amendment. Bully for them; but don't think for one moment that they haven't done their share of damage.
A, Musk didn't create anything; he used his wealth gained from family wealth mining emeralds in South Africa, probably with slave labor to invest in corporations he thought would advance. He was a pretty good judge of where to invest. That does not make him brilliant or anything else but lucky and greedy! That is not a model for anyone to follow these days, particularly when they not only ignore global warming but work to enhance it. Musk will be among us on earth when the climate tips, but he thinks he can keep pumping out air conditioning that will protect his sorry soul, but who is going to maintain that for him!
FROM YOUR MOUTH TO ALL THE EARS OF THE LAZY, MISINFORMED, ILLITERATE, BILIGERANT AMERICANS THAT ARE SO DUMB, THEY CAN'T EVEN THINK OUTSIDE THE FOX BOX and make a truly informed decision and VOTE FOR THEIR OWN WELL-BEING!!! We are being led by a narcissistic, CHILDISH psychopath that knew he didn't have a clue about what he was doing; so he used all the nasty and wealthy oligarchs, christian nationalists, proud boys, PUTIN, KKK, neo-nazi nuts to implement this ILLEGAL, ILLEGITIMATE, INSANE DISASTER!!
The BIG PICTURE is that Project 2025...is not only the END OF OUR DEMOCRACY, but potentially the END of the U.S.A. as we know it. The idiot in chief apparently has NO IDEA why our troops are stationed in Germany!
Our country is being PUT AT RISK because of this want-to-be king! He follows Putin's orders EVERY. DAMN. TIME!
You may ask yourself WHY?????
EPSTEIN!!!!! It's being proven to be an INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL CASE OF ENORMOUS SIZE. 🤬☠👿🤬☠👿
Honestly, I have had it with old white men (hubby excluded-really good guy). If you are a white male republican over 40 and in government - I will do everything I can with my vote to get you out. BTW, females are not excluded from this, but I'm guessing that if they take more wins, females will be put in their "place" once and for all. For over 50 years, I voted for the person I thought would do the best job in office - never straight ticket. However, white male republican superiority towards others sickens me and I will NEVER vote for the party of "less government" again.
I know the ecological devastation must be awful and protections here are being stripped. Since there is no news on this area I always assumed it has to be bad and the war and the use of our so called president and his administration just a cover up so people do not see how bad things are in Russia.
Of course, after I wrote that there I saw a story about the ecological damage occurring in the Black Sea town of Tuapse where it is "raining" oil over much of the city.
It's true. Not just Tuapse is burning, but so is Novorossisk. Numerous attacks against the Black Sea fleet in Crimea have surged in recent days. There have been drone attacks in around St. Petersburg and Ryazan, all to some of the largest oil terminals and storage facilities in the country, particularly for jets, tanks. Ukraine is making it clear -- we will ensure you do not profit by what is happening, and we will remove the ability for you to wage war.
Ukraine has done an incredible job of using drone technology for so many different purposes. Maybe you saw the picture taken from a drone where a group of 15-25 Russian soldiers had their arms up surrendering to a small group of drones. To me, it looked dystopian, but it was real.
Their portable drone killing lasers are amazing and impossible to detect in use apparently. They developed it for a fraction of what it cost the US to develop similar technology.
Necessity is the mother of invention they say, and when Trump and JD pulled the plugged on supplied munitions to Ukraine, they were already experts in drone warfare. And, they are getting better all the time.
Any country would be smart to buy drones from Ukraine. Unfortunately, Trump and JD aren't.
And then there was Louisiana v. Callais. Consider the power of the Roberts Court. We are a "Government of Law", but the Roberts Court has the power to say what the Law is and they lie when doing so. Those crazy ass Trumpstein post are a diversion tactic to keep us talking about anything but that Roberts Court's corporatist fascist Lie, our biggest problem: a systematic corporatist takeover of America. Oh, and also ignore the side-stepping over Trump taking away the War Power of Congress?
But wait! Look! Up on the Nasdaq MarketSite tower! Their flipping us the bird! It’s a crashing Yellow plane! It’s Operation Epic Inflation! Yes, it’s Operation Epic Inflation which changed the course of the economy faster than a speeding bullet, is more deadly to free enterprise than Covid-19. And which, disguised as Trumponomics (A financial crisis resulting from unconstitutional Tariffs and Wars by a bad-mannered pathological lying narcissist) has closed the doors of businesses which survived a pandemic, including this week “Lammes Candies”, a Texan mainstay for 141 years. Plus forced the closing of many locations of Saks Global (57), Grocery Outlet (36), Pizza Hut (250), Kroger (60) and CVS (271). Brought to you by the recently “terminated” Operation Epic Fury. Join us soon for the “Epic” sequel, “Operation Epic Exodus”. A drama fit for Reality TV including treats of mass destruction and deaths, the clock ticking away to Election Day, the world economy loosing 20% of the oil (if you think $4.50 a gallon is bad, it's likely to get much much worse on everything that is transported -- Epic Inflation II), and the splintering of the co-conspirator fascist party dba the GOP, aka, R.I.N.O., thereby forcing TrumpStein to tuck his tail up his hind end and skedaddle out of the Middle East. It is sure to have the same poor Ratings as Epic Fury and our Epic Jackass himself. Nevertheless, never trust the polls. Take to the streets to let them know we are not scared but mad as hell. Get involved in the campaign of the Democrat nearest you who has a close race against a R.I.N.O. Register Democrats and assure they vote. Do what you do best. Get the vote out. Oh, for more on the Roberts Court Lies (our biggest problem) download, read and discuss the Memorandum at UnitedWeAmend.org.
n 2019, Greta Thunberg spoke at a climate conference at the UN. She was only 16 years of age. I printed her speech and turned it into a lyrical composition. Please enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5lXby9apjI
Mostly from Quora.Comhttps://www.quora.com/?qv_src=email and a couple of Miltary channels on YouTube like The Military Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY3EISZgZfQ and a few others.
Yes, where are the news reports about all of this! I have almost completely stopped listening to TV news. Maybe peak at Maddow and O'Donnell now and then; otherwise, they don't report what you obviously know about Ukraine and Russia (but I didn't--thank you for the information). The Meet the Press and 60 Minutes broadcasts are full of nothing but easy reportings and softball interviews. I hope they notice that their ratings are dropping, at least hope they are dropping.
I listen to Progress Radio (XM 127) and MSNOW (XM 118) in the car quite often. We canceled cable a few years ago in spite of the fact that Spectrum was offering it to us for free. Plus, if we kept cable for a year, not only was it free, but they knocked $10 off a month on our Internet service.
My point is that cable is dying a slow death. The specialty stations like DIY and Magnolia, are canceling long running programs due to lack of funding.
Trump and his buddies can own and control the MSM but they can't make us watch it or listen to it.
Thank you for the reminderWhen there are no farms left…. Then there is climate change. I made a “bad” joke years ago that is even more appropriate now: salads made with greenbacks, lacking salad dressing. Need I say more?
I am in Europe and am so mad that Trump gets to prioritize Putin's needs over that of the US and the US allies. I am grateful to Martin Belderson for his reports on Ukraine, because they show what standing up to Russia without the US looks like.
A Kaufmann deserves a solid answer or six. They are easy enough to provide and some have been offered already (billionaires SHOULD be paying more, as that is what progressive taxation is designed to do - take more from those who can spare it and less from those who are barely scraping by on what they have; tax shares computed on income tax alone are misleading as wage earners pay a lower percentage of their higher incomes in FICA taxes, that is, social security and medicare taxes because of the cap on taxable income. That cap has stayed the same despite the lower value of each dollar, so that now even middle income earners reach the cap. The cap is also on individual incomes, so a two earners in one family have to BOTH reach the cap to start enjoying the high income bonus, while a single earner who reaches the cap and supports a non-earning spouse gets the break on all the rest of their earnings. Guess what gender such a high-earning single earner is likely to be. And note that FICA taxes combine with childcare costs for a dual earner family, lowering their disposable income further. The childcare for a high-earner who can support a spouse to do it “for free” is granted the same income tax treatment as the childcare costs of the dual earner family.
So yes, the wealthier OUGHT to be paying more, but they aren’t when the full tax picture is considered. And furthermore, few billionaires are drawing incomes through taxable wages at all, but taking out “loans” based on their corporate holdings, which are then sources of deductible interest payments, while their wealth continues to grow in their holdings (often now at a higher rate than the interest they pay). So when the corporation manages to off-shore profits on paper, they pay $0 income tax, and both the corporation and its major shareholders escape the income tax as well as FICA.
So we are left trying to shrink our government to fit the budget left when billionaires and corporations are not paying their fair share. And since this is literally impossible, the nation has to borrow to stay afloat (as do many lower income families, ending up with an albatross of credit card debt just trying to pay rent and buy groceries). Then “debt limits” start making it impossible to meet basic needs. And our homeless population and food insecure population and medically precarious population grows.
Either we starve the working people of this country and their children, as in the worst days of early industrialization, or we start forcing the billionaires and multi-billionaires and trillionaires (whose ranks keep growing) to pay their fair share for the country as a whole. They can’t live here and force us to keep supporting them.
I get several emails daily from Quora.com and Quora Digest. Also there are several YouTube people that post quite often. If you search for "Ukraine War Today" or sometimes just "Ukraine War" you should get several hits. Some of the sites are pure propaganda, especially the Russian ones. And then Al Jazeeri is good and the BBC but they don't often have much current information. There are also some substack posts but I don't usually look at those.
I hope Europe continues to stand strong with Ukraine, holding back the Russian menace until we change congress and the White House to a sane government.
This information about Ukraine and Putin is welcome. I haven't heard anyone talk about the ecological disasters---why would they? Ecology is for wimps. Interestingly (maybe) is the fact that this oil crisis from Trump's Iran War may be accelerating the move to clean energy---at least in China. My husband said the folks who put up windmills should give Trump a nice gold award for a boost in business. Hah. Hard to guess what will get us first, a severe recession, a spate of terrorist attacks, the climate crisis or World War III. And, yes, I'm pretty much always this perky.
Putin was in his early career in East Germany. Many of the medical hospital units are in Germany. I agree with you and Timothy Snyder. This is beyond the pale. I cannot see how some are so unconcerned and feckless.
Well yes but this has been along time coming because forces were put in play decades ago. And if you look at the Histiry of our indigenous peoples all the lies, broken promises and treaties this is part and parcel of our country. We need to change and change in many many ways. I have my moments of despair and then other times can focus on what znIbwant to see happen. New maps everywhere ,ERA passed, a change in term limits, a change in numbers of Congress and SCOTUS. Lots and still I think perhaps maybe.
I'm going with "I want". I often hit the "z" key when aiming for the shift key. "nlb" I can't explain, although "lb" live next to each other on the keyboard. (These are a couple errors I make all the time; they are exacerbated if the writer is on a touch screen device.)
That's not exactly the case. The GOP's ideologues side with the IDEOLOGY that Putin believes in. That's much much worse than becoming a vassal state. It means that from now on, the US is no longer the leader of the free, pro-democracy world. It wants to become the leader of the neofascist world, and, just like it did before, impose its own ideology on all other countries.
That is true. But it is also true that it is Putin who commands Trump, not the other way around. So, Putin rules the US with Trump as his proxy. And the reason this works is what you said: that the Grand Old Party has become the Great New Fascist party. The 'Republican' senators simply DON'T MIND being ruled by Putin.
We do know that the neofascist GOP leaders write his executive orders and are the brains behind it all. That's on the one hand the neofascist tech billionaires (represented by Vance), and on the other hand the "Christian" nationalist Heritage Foundation (represented by... Vance).
What happened inside the GOP is THE best thing that could ever happen to Putin. He basically doesn't have to do anything, since the US is now actively convinced that fascism is better than democracy.
I really don't understand how this is taking so long for people to understand.
Perhaps it's because of posts like these, posts that only mention Trump-Putin interactions and rarely discuss the ideological shift INSIDE the GOP - both leadership and rank and file.
It is not the case AT ALL that the Senators "don't mind" ideologically siding with Putin, so actively installing neofascism in the US. It's that they WANT it. Under Biden, the last ones still resisting it were thrown out of the party of made inoffensive. And as Kamala Harris correctly repeated during her book tour: this has been decades in the making. And it's 100% American. Putin merely reaps the benefits of this intra-American revolution, that's all.
By 2001, before Viktor Orban, before Project 2025, before Trump, KKK Grand Wizard and GOP political gadfly David Duke was selling American racist right wing religious extremists the idea that Vladimir Putin is the Great White Hope of Christian Nationalism and European civilization. By 2013, such embrace of Putin was amplified by more mainstream GOP leadership such Pat Buchanan.
But wait, there's more. Not surprisingly, in 2016 and 2020 David Duke endorsed Putin fanboy Trump but then in 2024 Duke endorsed Putin fangirl Jill Stein (whose followers helped elect Trump twice.)
"Based on reports and polling data, a segment of Republican politicians and conservative commentators has increasingly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin, viewing him as a defender of "traditional values" or "Christian values," particularly within the context of cultural issues. "
It's true that this started decades ago. Key words: Powell Memorandum and heritage Foundation. Reagan was the start, Trump is the end product. But don't forget that Putin was instrumental for Trump to win both of his elections - and Vlad doesn't do anything for free, Donnyboy has to pay it back somehow. And not only that, I'm convinced that Vlad has some 'compromat' on Donnyboy, too...
Dutch Mike, call me "Johnny One Note," but you left out one key word: evangelicalism.
Fueled by "Prosperity Gospel" (God blesses the worthy with health and wealth), that movement began building up steam during the Great Depression. This anti-science, anti-secular, anti-education, anti-government world-view softened the ground for the seeds of the Powell memo and Heritage Foundation's "Mandate for Leadership" to germinate and take root.
I would suggest that Reagan wasn't necessarily the start. Rather, he was the "proof of concept" that an intellectually challenged, manipulable spokesmodel could be installed in the White House to do the bidding of his handlers. Bush 2.0 was the "crash test dummy" and Donald is the "production model."
It's the neofascist GOP who vitally needs a clown in chief like Trump to distract us 24/7 from what they're doing and why. And it's a neofascist GOP that Putin needs.
"As Trump’s popularity has sunk to new lows, he has renewed his efforts to remake Washington, D.C., into a monument to himself, almost as if he is trying to anticipate history by making future Americans think that he must have been great because of all the tributes to him in the capital."
If only some wealthy philanthropist would fund a research project to create an anti-ego potion that could be surreptitiously dropped into someone's diet coke to suppress their narcissistic excesses.
Like many of the civil war statues that were knocked down so will all the gold shit be destroyed (and there will be major celebrations). It may take several years but democracy is prevailing 😊😊😊
Liverpool, I am hoping for a drug that can be sprayed widely that would stop the male need for war, for injuring, torturing, and killing people, for destroying everything they can, and the rest of that stupidity!
Yup! Since I am in Europe I need Europe to believe in itself the way that Ukraine has grown to. I am grateful to Martin Belderson for his reports on Ukraine, because they show what standing up to Russia without the US looks like.
Maybe it's part of long game. Not wanting to burn all the bridges to America because they hope that after Trump there will be a more 'normal' president again. But I doubt it. The American system is so broken, I don't see it recover within the coming 50 years.
I thought we had to worry about getting to 2028. Now I, too, am more worried about making it to the midterms. The Republicans in Congress are completely complicit at this point, despite the mice squeaking about congressional oversight on the withdrawal of troops from Germany. The war powers act deadline being allowed to expire without congressional action was the signal that there are no guardrails left in Congress, Trump is going to go after the filibuster hard so he can get SAVE Amerika enacted, and a slew of other laws to remake our country. He has told us so.
The SCOTUS decision on Callais made it clear that they will support Trump on whatever he wants, so there are no guardrails left there either.
We always knew that things would get worse before they could get better, but the worst is coming fast down the track.
Democracies die slowly, then all at once. It feels like we are on the verge of institutional collapse. What are the next steps? Continual mass protests? Trump is trying to provoke violence against Jeffries. Will that be what his demented vision is for Amerika's future? Democratic leadership physically attacked or jailed on a pretext? And after that???
Continual mass protests are definitely needed. Focusing on the election is definitely needed. Fear that they can shut down the election or disrupt it by illegal means are just fears and I think are highly unlikely. The requirements to do that are massive and the potential benefits given the way our country works (with states and districts, all using different voting mechanisms, and no central authority) are minimal. But we can NOT be passive and assume things will work out. Pressure must be applied and focus kept on all the possible places things can be screwed with to impact the election results. The potential damage to the country is too great to ignore.
And Democrats need to get more aggressive. The days of lumbering along through the courts are not remotely enough. We need aggressive LEADERSHIP and we need it NOW! No more strongly worded letters! Let’s hit the streets and ACT like we want to SAVE this county!
So you want a democracy ("demos" = people, "kratein" = govern, so a society where the people govern) but then you refuse to ask what you can do for your country and want to ask the only ones whose political power "we the people" took away entirely in 2024 what they will do for us... ?
This IS the problem, in the US.
And by the way, all the fights in courts are absolutely crucial to slow down the installation of neofascism. So we should be applauding Democrats rather than indulging in the typical Dem-bashing...
I totally applaud what is being done in the courts. I praise Marc Elias ALL. THE. TIME! And I understand courts are the best and only way to slow the bastards down a bit. But we must be doing MORE.
With the exception of a handful of Dems in Congress, nobody is doing anything to LEAD. People out here in America who are horrified by what is going on feel helpless and small. What can we do as a lone individual? That’s what leaders are for, but no one is organizing or writing a Project 2029 for when Dems take back power or doing anything. While crazy pants in the WH sends out post after post on his LiesSocial, his minions are tearing down every good thing about this country and stealing the taxpayers blind. I cannot believe there isn’t more they could be doing. If it weren’t for Substack and a few of the wonderful writers and great minds here, I wouldn’t know half of what’s actually going on and I’m a need junkie. Where are our Congress people? Why are they not out sounding the alarm, informing the public?
Dems still have no platform. We are still just “against Trump.” What are we FOR?
Let’s get a plan going. Let’s give Americans something to look forward to besides just getting rid of the FatOrangeGuy. The bad guys are running circles around us and we are allowing it. Yawn all you want, but things are SERIOUS and I’m frustrated with our Party!
I'm sorry, but your assessment of what Democrats do in Congress is demonstrably false. Just go to C-SPAN and check, before you indulge in Dem-bashing at the very moment when we need EVERYONE to be well-informed and massively support Democrats, at all levels.
As to Project 2029: that's basically the Constitution! What is at stake, right now, is democracy itself, it's the US Constitution itself.
And the whole idea that Democrats would NEED a version of Project 2025 is false to begin with. Do you know how many outstanding bills Nancy Pelosi managed to pass in the House and that need only ONE thing to be signed into law, namely "we the people" finally sticking with them election after election, and giving them the supermajorities needed to pass them?
The problem is not and has never been a lack of plans or ideas or leadership, on the left.
The problem on the left is that citizens forgot how to engage in their democracy and keep it alive.
Instead, you think that being "frustrated with your Party" is somehow good enough. This IS how we destroy a democracy and turn it into a spectator sport instead.
I do understand that you feel alone and helpless. Social media created those feelings, for millions of Americans. They're also FALSE. The Constitution still gives you the power to fact-check the news, understand how great it is what Democrats are doing (even though the media don't report on it), and then do THE most important job of a citizen in a democracy: TALK about politics and the GOOD things out there done by Democrats and planned by Democrats with neighbors, family members, in church, on the work floor, at the kitchen table etc. It's this crucial debate culture that has disappeared, over the last few decades, including on the left. Only WE can restore it. No "leader" can do that for us.
Kathryn, the first thing you can do along with some of us are register and urge some of the 90k people who did not vote in 2024 to vote in the midterms.
Then you can constantly suggest to everyone you know to regularly check their voting registration status at vote.org.
What is Trump planning to do with the troops he is withdrawing from Europe? I know about the Posse Comitatus Act, but when does Trump obey the law? Would he bring them home for the Midterms, supposedly to protect the polls?
SAVE Amerika does have national implications for the midterms, and even if it is on its face unconstitutional. There is no guarantee that SCOTUS will not still rule that it is enforceable.
Landry’s “suspension” of the primaries in Louisiana is another test of how far the right-wing District Courts will go in teeing up cases for the SCOTUS majority to rule on.
SAVE Amerika has another purpose. Trump and his minions will use it as an excuse to weaken/abolish the filibuster to protect “election integrity.” There is no need for the filibuster if there will not be free and fair elections in the future. Trump already told his MAGA core that they would never have to vote again. If that happens, the last slim reed of power would be for a handful of Republicans to stop action in the House by joining all Democrats to deny a quorum so no legislative actions could be taken. It would not stymie Trump’s ability to get nominees confirmed by the Senate.
I take every one of Trump’s statements/memes as a clear indication of his puppeteers’ intentions. He is tripping on demonstrating his power by being transparent about his corruption and reveling when there are no successful attempts to hold him accountable.
Trump’s puppeteers are creating a crescendo of chaos to break the will of the people, with the economic pressure from the war with Iran, which they have no intention of settling, and the resulting cut-backs to the social safety net to pay for it. Transparently rigging the midterms and likely generating claims of violence to bring out the military are designed to make people feel powerless. The Comey seashells indictment is another test of what Trump’s minions can get away with.
Epstein Fury has achieved one of its main objectives in Amerika: distraction. All of the Arc de Trump and East Wing destruction is part of the distraction campaign. Even Heather is being distracted by the color of the paint on the reflecting pool. We can’t allow ourselves to be distracted.
Where is Trump still vulnerable?
Trump’s vulnerabilities are corruption and criminal conduct that are prosecutable in blue-state courts for actions not covered by presidential immunity. The Epstein files are the key. We can’t be distracted from that.
I am less worried about a shut down than the "fixing". In order to give legitimacy to their government, they need to "win" the election. Competitive authoritarianism as Anne Applebaum and Ruth Ben-Ghiat term it.
Thanks to every American who has and who will continue in public protest against those who are working daily to remove our freedoms and with that our country.
Thank you, Georgia for your informed and patriotic comments. Your contributions are appreciated and inspiring.
We should continue with our marches and every outward display possible that rebukes this administration that is attempting to "remake" us into a Dictatorship.
We should stand with our fellow Democracies world-wide while we can. We must support and strengthen one another. Everyday that we allow to go by without opposing these evil forces means suicide for the values and freedoms to which our forefathers sacrificed their lives. We must not fail our future generations by neglect towards our duty to stand up against oligary/dictatorship!
I would like to see action beyond Congressionsl hearings. They have evolved into reality tv with scripted responses. Why waste energy it’s been years since a Congressional hearing was as honest as possible if ever but there were times like the Church committee .Congress needs to create a true action plan.
Thank you for reminding us of the Church Committee. Wasn’t he from Idaho? Now with the body slamming governor? And there was the senator from NC, Sam Ervin, who led the Watergate hearings. NC was purple in those days. May it return to that!
Georgia, that is so scary, just as Trump's handlers want. If we are all paralyzed with fear, they can just move in and take over. The problem is that there are 340 + million Americans and we are nearly at the breaking point, and if we can get the word out more clearly that this is nearly entirely Trump's fault with his rich white friends, maybe we can get more people refusing to do Trump's demented bidding. Fear though is powerful which is why it has been used to control people for so much of human history. Well, there have always been those who stood against the fear. It is just going to have to be a whole lot more standing against it this time.
I don’t think we are at a breaking point but the fabric is wrinkled worn and that smell one gets from ironing when you let or forget the iron on the linen a-bit too long. But something or some people have to react it’s physics though on a political level.
It’s been installing for a long time. I still think we might come out and our collapse and rebuild. Fear is a tool. So I try it let it pass and move in.
Oh I am SURE that it is not only possible to rebuild, it's even still 100% possible to stop the installation of neofascism (only in the early stages, although they're moving fast) and reinstall and then strengthen democracy. What I meant is that America's democracy is at a breaking point, so NOW is the time to wake up, rather than to continue to imagine that all this would be the result of one frail, old, insecure, ignorant man.
The first thing to do is to make sure that those who don't vote vote and that traditional GOP voters finally wake up from almost three decades of propaganda an see that IF they want to keep American democracy alive (which polls show most of them still do), then they HAVE to for once refuse to vote for Republicans and vote for Democrats instead.
I once called for the once good generals to take over the government and prevent Trump from ruling and I’m sorry they didn’t. That was our better option. Your fears are justified.
Susan Collins is sending out weekly propaganda via USPS. In small print it says the ads are sponsored by One America. When you check out One America.org they brag about supporting Trump's agenda and Thune.
You would never get that from the ads. All of them insult our intelligence by telling us about Collins has brought millions of dollars to the hospitals and fire departments. Last time I looked that is her job.
I completely agree with what you’ve written, Georgia. No.guardrails. None. Even SCOTUS prefers fascism under Trump. Never thought I’d type words like that.
Georgia, the funny thing is that we never really had any guardrails to begin with. We thought we did, but our systems were antiquated for this 21st Century. Our Constitution has only been amended something like 26 times in 250 years while other countries have changed their laws hundreds of times.
America needs to know what is the Dems plan for when trump does NOT 1. accept the mud term results of a HUGE Dem win and 2. that he won't leave in 2028.
Repeating my mantra, yes, we need to remove him, but the only course is to do so legally, which means either by election or impeachment or 25th amendment. No other course of removal is legitimate. Always keep that in mind. Given the options, focusing on the upcoming '26 mid-terms and the '28 election are the best choices, at least IMHO.
I am as afraid as Georgia Fisanick that we will have to endure much worse before the midterms. Republicans need to be able to understand how dangerous this all is, not just for our country, but the whole world. Can the democrats not find enough republicans who can to see the damage and find their conscience? Yes, each one of these republicans and some SCOTUS judges are complicit! But Trump is waiting for a spark so he can declare Martial Law, then do whatever he wants.
Declaring martial law is not simple. He will be sued all across the country by concerned AGs and various groups and even companies. There will be injunctions. And I have real doubt that the Supreme Court, even though they are willing to give him political cover for legitimate things (like supporting his redistricting efforts) will draw the line at supporting a clearly unsupportable martial law declaration. Does this country LOOK like it needs martial law declared? I seriously doubt it, and I doubt it will happen at least not before the next election.
The GOP can do some nefarious things to impact the election, but if the Dems and supporters remain solid, I think that will be too little to work. But it will be close, that is certain.
NOT GIVING HIM the "spark" is key. If protests turn violent, then he could use that as an excuse. So far, we have maintained reasonable control, even in the face of things like unjustified shootings of civilian protestors. That's what needs to continue at last until the next election is over.
As I said elsewhere, the 25th amendment was not intended to be used to unseat a "king" in the White House who is mentally unstable. It requires at least half the cabinet officers and the VP to vote to remove him, and then a confirming vote by 2/3 of BOTH the House and the Senate. The main purpose of that amendment was to provide a legal path to replace the President temporarily when he is TRULY "incapacitated", i.e., not able to function at all and can't give orders or anything. It doesn't seriously contemplate a President who CAN give orders, just crazy ones. So if the President has a heart attack, then the 25th amendment works to HELP. If the President is certifiable (as he well may be now), he will simply deny it and require the 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress which are virtually impossible to get, especially when his own party is in control of both houses.
Impeachment is possible in the House, as it would just take a few GOP votes to swing with the Dems to get a majority, but it takes 2/3 of the Senate to remove the President, and right now that means winning TWENTY GOP Senators, so unlikely as to be impossible. Even if the Dems win 5 seats and have a 52-48 majority after the next election, it will still take another 15 GOP Senators to convict on an impeachment. NOT going to happen (sadly, but that's the truth).
So focus on the elections. That is where the power of the people really lie and its the best way to take back the country.
Jon, I know all that. People here know all that. I'm saying that 25thAmendmentNow trending on social media lets far lower information voters know that everyone thinks he's demented and crazy enough to remove. We NEED those people to be thinking, hmm, maybe I won't vote for him this time after all.
Members of the Republican Party have been working on plans to "take over and transform our country" for a while. In my opinion, we have had trusted leaders in the past...even though some were as corrupt as those we find in office today.....but the best ones, stood for America and all of her people, because those leaders had inborn and daily fed CHARACTER! Good character is not bought. It is an inborn strength that takes rejection and loss from those who would use unbridled power to gain personal wealth....ie increased taxes, higher cost of fuel and groceries ie basic. daily needs.
The increase in gas/fuel prices affects our schools ie increased cost of fuel for buses, every form of transportation that uses gas.
True leaders care for and protect those who struggle the most. When we care for those who have the greatest needs, we are improving the lives and character of everyone.
Right. The cabinet won't invoke the 25th. Trumpniks must be defeated in the midterms and the trump must be impeached, convicted, removed and confined in a secure facility as soon as the new Congressional session begins in January.
Trump may be impeached after the mid-terms if the Dems secure control of the House, but the chances of convicting and removing him by a 2/3 vote in the Senate are about as remote as me being the winning quarterback in the next Super Bowl. Its POSSIBLE, but highly (and I mean HIGHLY) unlikely.
He and none of his associates (unless he has decided he hates them by then) will ever see the inside of a Federal prison, and certainly not during his term in office.
Jon Rosen: Remove him legally? That is a futile hope until November 2, 2026, (and then waiting for Jan. 1, 2027 when the new members of Congress are sworn in. And a midterm victory for Democrats isn't guaranteed. Given this president's lawlessness and growing proclivity for using violence, there is well-founded fear about whether we'll have elections at all, and if we do whether they'll be sufficiently free and fair. (1) Will the president try to impose martial law and cancel elections? (2) Will he somehow manage to persuade Republicans to kill the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act? (3) Will the new gerrymandering options the Court just made possible manage to pervert whatever electoral strength the Dems might gain?
The bottom line is, there is no chance at all of removing the president legally until Jan. 1, 2027, when (if) elections return the Dems to control of the House and Senate. And this impetuous president could do a lot of harm between now and election day. I guess we can hope for a miracle in the form of a mass conversion of GOP members of Congress to honor their oaths of office, or for an act of God.
We're playing by the rules while "he" never does. Regardless of whichever law or legal body thwarts him, he disregards or defies these. My only point is, To caution that we must use only legal avenues to remove this unsound, unfit man from the Oval Office, is to almost guarantee he won't be removed before Jan. 20, 2029, if then. I'm not espousing violence, rather, mass acts of civil disobedience --i.e. UNLAWFUL acts, a la Gandhi's Salt March. Blocking roadways and airport access. Shutting down important sporting events. You too, Jon, have advocated in previous posts for mass civil action and protests, but then you say we should use only legal means. So I'm not sure where you are on the issue of removal from office.
Massive civil protests are NOT the same as massive civil disobedience. And civil disobedience is a long way from coup d'tat and assassination.
I generally discourage civil disobedience in the forms of sit-ins where other people are blocked from being able to do what they want to do. I acknowledge that there are times when it is necessary but you need to be cautious or you generate a large counter-action. The civil rights movement was fairly selective in its disobedience and anyone who participated knew that they could end up in jail and with a criminal record because what they were doing was technically in violation of the law.
And there is a difference between protesting by marching in front of an event, and "shutting down" the event by making it impossible to conduct.
With respect to Trump, there is NO chance to remove the president legally unless the Democrats take back the House by at least a few votes or more, and more important, take back the Senate by probably at least 15 votes. The latter is virtually impossible, as while I think we can impeach Trump after Jan 3, 2027 when the new Congress is installed, we will never have enough votes in the Senate to remove him from office (requiring 67 Senate votes, 2/3 of the total + 1). So expecting for him to be removed before he leaves on Jan 20, 2029, I think is daydreaming.
Like it or not (and I don't), this country VOTED for him to be President until Jan 20, 2029, and unless we have the votes to impeach him, he will be there until that date. I absolutely urge us to continue to use legal means and political means to create obstacles to his outrageous behavior, but don't think that will make him leave.
And he will pardon himself and all his minions on Jan 19, 2029, so that no one in his administration will ever be held federally liable for any of their actions. That's the way our Constitution is written. If we want something different, we will have to change it.
I don't disagree with the facts or analyses you present, Jon. Nevertheless I probably come down in favor of civil disobedience beyond civil protests. (Even I am not in favor of assassinations or violence, which coups d'etats virtually always are.) Mass acts of civil disobedience may interfere with people's freedom to go about their chosen activities, true. In the end it may be a matter of competing interests or priorities. If community freedoms are being restricted by a despotic government, are some individuals justified in limiting the freedom of other members of the community to overcome the greater oppression? I think as long as we're willing to take the consequences of our decisions, our acts are justified. Maybe we're at the level of individual conscience at work.
Yes, he won the election, even if by a small percentage of the popular vote. (Personally I don't think we'll ever know whether there was funny business or not in the 2024 election.) Deference is given to the winner of elections, however marginal the win is. But this particular winner has trashed the very system he was elected to uphold. This is not a normal president, not a normal presidency, not normal times. What's needed: a political revolution or merely regime change? I think civil disobedience in the times we're living in is justifiable, maybe imperative. But of course others disagree with this conclusion.
Look Everyone!!! Our TV personality, King Trump, wrote a clear script for the Iranians and they JUST WON'T FOLLOW THE SCRIPT!!🤯. What's the f...ing matter with these mullahs?? The King has only slotted them into a few episodes and they keep pushing script creep. If they get the King really pissed, he might have to kick their whole culture out of human history.
So we come to the central problem: Why is the Republican majority in congress NOT DOING THEIR JOB of OVERSIGHT??? We are all endangered by this rampant corruption, ineptitude and inhumanity. We will be paying for this for decades. Republican self interest rises above the obligation to serve the American people ( at least not those who lack $billions in assets.)
I cannot believe that major news sources are not headlining this insanity. This is the supposed president. I hope everyone here will amplify this dementia breakdown across all their platforms, just as HCR posted:
At 11:03 he posted an AI-generated image of himself, alongside Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, all shirtless, along with an unidentifiable woman in a bikini, appearing to be relaxing in a swimming pool. But the “swimming pool” was the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Then, at 11:04, rump posted an image of First Lady Melania Trump grinning at the press conference Trump held after the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, when he said that incident proved he needed his proposed ballroom for his security.
Then, at 11:13, rump posted an image of House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who is Black, holding a baseball bat. The caption calls Jeffries “low IQ,” “a THUG,” and “a danger to our Country.”
Then, at 11:15, he posted an image of himself smiling and holding six wild cards from the game Uno. The caption read, “I HAVE ALL THE CARDS.”
Then, at 11:22, he posted a profile image of himself in gold.
Then, at 11:26, he posted an image showing him standing near Mt. Rushmore, with the angle arranged to make his head the fifth sculpture on the mountain, so from left to right they were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and Donald Trump.
Then, at 11:32, he posted an image of himself and the first lady.
Then, at 11:37, he posted an image of himself and King Charles III.
Then, at 11:40, he posted an image of what appeared to be the reflecting pool full of algae next to one that appeared to be the reflecting pool clean and with a bright blue color. Above the dirty image was the label “Hussein Obama,” and below it, the caption “Photo taken Sept[ember] 29, 2012”; the clean one was labeled with “Trump” and “Coming Soon.” Over the two together, the caption read: “This is what our Country was before, and after, “TRUMP!”
Then, at 11:41, he posted an AI image of the reflecting pool appearing bright blue, under the caption “American Flag Blue.”
Then, at 11:45, he posted another AI image of the reflecting pool appearing bright blue under the caption “American Flag Blue.”
Alexandra, our media are now owned by corporate America, and they see no benefit in telling the truth to anyone. They and their rich bullies want to control everything here for their own benefit. They are beyond addicted to money and power and cannot stop themselves even if they wanted to and they don't want to.
Ruth, agree and it is so sad. It is why we need corporate money out of politics and government. Such selfish, greedy scum how do those CEOs live with themselves. They must be soulless. Maybe after making all that money, that is what happens to those CEOs and elite 1 %.
Alexandra, I agree. During the 2024 debate between Biden and tRump, corporate media played Biden's face and concerning responses over and over again. During that debate tRump lied and made ridiculous statements. That was not shown. Of course, we had no idea how crazy tRump's statements and actions would soon come.
You summed it up nicely…a freak show presidency. and our Republican majority are either refusing or are unable to acknowledge (IMHO )the dangerous waters we are in by exercising their right to executive oversight.
Dementia is too kind a word for it - Trump is and always has been a psychopath. The power he has, the sycophants who fawn over him, the Republicans who egg him on with their compliance, the ‘news’ sources that sane wash his inanity - it all feeds that monster, and the dementia just adds seasoning to the mess
Both things may be true at the same time. DJT may (likely) have dementia; the project/plan is Project 2025. His handlers crafted it and he has been their useful idiot. The plan will continue with or without DJT, unless and until it is stopped.
Well yes but most people who had to deal and live with dementia like my mother in law are not white collar crime members. And the supposed dx that often comes up is not the type that most people have. The Alzheimer’s Association folks and gerontologists should all be speaking up.
How does the republican congress sit back and watch tRump’s deranged behavior. They were all over “sleepy joe.” Hypocrisy, grift, and LIES are the key stones of the current GOP.
Janell, it is deliberate blindness to what is going on. I am not hearing of much discomfort though, probably because they have been told their blindness will clear as soon as they do the bidding of Vought and the rest of the Project 2025 oligarchic bullies when their campaigns are dripping with money demanded by the Klan and "sacrificed" by the big money fools. It is going to be hard to get people/Republicans who were recruited for office because of their inability to do the right thing, to do the right thing for this nation. My senator, McCormick, not even from my state, and doesn't live here, is a perfect example of that, and there are plenty of others. It is really hard to name any exceptions.
I worry that the constant and serial postings about important and trivial things reflect a real disturbance in the cranium of our leader. I expect he's not inherently adept at AI so I suspect that Steven Cheung is toiling away at his desk and just offering up a portfolio of images every single day from which Trump can pick at any time of the day or night.
Swbv, yes Vought is living his best dream. He thinks he is nearly god since he supposedly wrote most of Project 2025 and it is working as his rich buddies planned. Unfortunately for him, Trump started a war, so people are pissed off with the supposed saviors of America, Trump, Vought, and his dreamers. The rest of us need to get the word out in every way possible to let folks know for sure that their troubles are actually Trumpian and Vought/rich guy directed and that voting Democratic this time is their best hope for something better. Republicans who have been taken over by the anti-America forces care nothing for any of us. To them, we are just potential slaves who should be able to be pushed around and harmed whenever those guys choose. The question now is for how long will we tolerate this evil? This nation suffered enslavement of a significant portion of the population and it was good for no one but the very rich whom we need stopped. It would be interesting to see how many of those Vought/Musk/bezos/Theil/Ellison-level rich guys could make it on the median wage of their employees. I bet they would go nuts in 2 days because they have no clue how to actually work and they wouldn't know how to get food or housing or anything else without massive help. Why in heaven's name are we allowing these pathetic examples of humanity to be in charge of anything!!
The quadrumvirate of evil: Trump/ Vought / Miller / Vance
Nearly all our current troubles and the threat to our future election independence can be traced directly back to the successful scheming of this quadrumvirate
Swbv, Susie can't help them or rather she is helping a whole lot. She is one of the boys and will do whatever she is told so she can think she belongs in their world. She is the gatekeeper and makes sure the boys behave while they are doing their dirty work to harm this nation. I have heard no evidence of anything to challenge that understanding.
In an age where the world is on fire, President Trump is giving us the ultimate distraction: a relentless stream of late‑night social media posts that scream “look at me” with all the subtlety of a reality TV finale.
The other night, the world was blessed with AI-generated images that turned the Oval Office into a self‑love showcase. Picture this: Trump, shirtless and bronzed, flanked by a cabinet that looks like it was designed by someone with an unhealthy relationship with Photoshop. And as if that wasn’t enough of a spectacle, he gifted us a picture of himself on Mount Rushmore. Why have a legacy when you can just upload one, right?
But the showstopper? A post featuring his hand clutching an absurdly exaggerated “I HAVE ALL THE CARDS” Uno deck. It’s as if he’s trying to turn political discourse into a game of Go Fish. The message is clear: “I hold all the power, and I’m here for the funny.” But nothing says “presidential” quite like a meme-worthy reflecting pool filled with flags that only a caricature of America could produce.
What’s most remarkable here isn’t just the absurdity of the images, but the audacity to reframe the presidency as one long meme campaign. It’s like a history book slowly transforming into a high-budget TikTok. At this point, we’re less concerned about what’s happening in the world and more worried about when Trump will drop his next “World’s Greatest” filter.
Trump is not legally insane, and probably not medically demented. Some kind of nut? Sure. Power-crazy? Obviously. What's going on now is i a little more outrageous, but it shouldn't surprise anyone. It's who he is, was and will be.
Trump told us freely at the start that he likes to operate on whim and impulse. He didn't say the word reckless, but reckless is what that means. He's only displaying it and reminding us of it while his devoted masses shout prayers of praise.
Arnold, I disagree. He has dementia and his staff and toddler pool of sycophants know it. He may also have other health problems that we don't have specifics about. Yes, Trump is an idiot, a fool, and an evil sociopathic jerk, but he is also living with dementia and some kind of medical condition, possibly heart-related. Having lived with someone with dementia it was clear to me he was experiencing it back in 2019 and it has not improved, just as dementia doesn't improve.
I would not call it dementia before mental illness. Dementia in our society is a kind of excuse, that he can't help himself, doesn't know what day it is, etc. But I won't give him that out. He has always shown personality disorder in all his pompous, boisterous, bullying and self-serving ways. He is so lost in narcissism that he no longer functions as president. And this self-dealing is his choice, his failing, his obsession. He is not debilitated, he is criminal.
A dozen phone calls to Putin, yet he hasn’t addressed Congress on his illegal war, much less anything else. It’s blatantly clear who pulls the strings on the criminal puppet in the White House. Maybe because Putin has the full Epstein files and Congress doesn’t?
IronmanNC, I think a lot of people have suspected that Putin has the files and keeps reminding his Baby Donnie that he has them and tells him and his handlers what they have to do to "protect" their baby. I must say, it is disgusting that we are being led by a guy who has already wrecked his own country and is now working really hard to wreck ours. It seems to me that is treason and we need to begin framing it in that light. We need to get people out in every voting precinct and district who can ask the question, how do you like our country being dictated to by Putin of Russia and the rich white boys who control our economy? How is that working for you!
You know what? Your questions are insincere and vacuous, IMO! I’m DONE trying to discuss the ways Dems need to change with you. You simply either aren’t willing or are incapable of getting the message. So, buhbye. Have a nice life pretending everything is hunky dory with the Dems. I adamantly DISAGREE (and so do 58% of Dems and Dem-leaning Independents per a CNN poll! 62% of Dems support a change in leadership! Put THAT in your delusion and smoke it!)
He is demented, yes. The problem with trump is not that he may be developing dementia as he ages. The problem is that he has always been a mean, unintelligent, racist, vindictive, cheating, self-centered, uncaring, power-hungry, misogynist malignant narcissist. And he is destroying our country. We should not give him cover or remotely normalize his behavior behind a disease that affects far too many elders.
Heather documents the madness and the megalomania, rather than burying it under “policy” or some other meaningless category the way too many still do. True prophets don’t sugar-coat the truth.
We’ve had bad leaders before, been ruled by bad parties before. But never have the two been so crystallized together in a single, deranged, cruel, criminal union like this.
And yet he still holds that office. Our government needs an overhaul so he and his enablers are stopped and this never happens again. Are Republicans actually smarter than Democrats? They’re getting away with crumpling our constitution. Where are the leaders that will stop him now? It’s already too late. Is not HCR’s letter tonight proof of that? Ok, I’ll admit it: I’m horrified and scared for our country and the world.
You’re far from alone in your fears. But they are losing many battles as well, some small, some not so small. So much still depends on us, on our willingness to persevere when despair wants to seize our hearts. And remember that what seizes their hearts is mostly fear and terror of abandonment. If he goes, most of them will follow and fall like dominoes.
If Trump loses momentum, it will leave a vacuum and opportunities, perhaps, for putting some brakes on the right's railroaded agendas. But the Same Old Serpent has always lurked in the halls of Big Money, and that will remain. From slavery, to child labor and owing ones soul to the company store, to "gig employment", "student loans", and ICE, SOS is behind the curtains. Even in wars.
I don't know what's the point of saying that, except to dissuade anybody from doing anything. You might as well just say Satan exists. But so what?
The facts are that there is are genuine spiritual re-awakenings that take place once very 70 or 80 years or so in American history, with tremendous implications for politics and society. This has been true from the 1600s on. We are a little overdue for the next one, but Heather and many others can see it coming.
I saw a Nova science episode on PBS, and others make the argument, that over the long haul, humans have become more humane time, and I see many indications that this is true. Even with increasing shifts to the right in this country, you see the shifts in my lifetime, with a two term black president, a female candidate for president who won the popular vote, and openly gay candidates that indicates inclusion continues. I fervently cling to the potential of a new enlightenment based of truth and egalitarianism, the regime's hated "woke".
And also I see great peril in abuses of power, peril that could enslave, decimate, and even end our species. That said, a remain a cautious optimist, or I would not bother interacting here. It seems to me that evil is self-centered abuse of power, and corruption is abuse of entrusted power. The founders and framers held high ideals that they did not always live up to, which seems pretty common, but they actually built a "blueprint" for government around those ideals. They were canny enough to guard against likely abuses, though I gather that they did not fully anticipate our circumstances with Trump. Trump is however on our watch. As I have said before the Constitution is our recipe, but we the living bake the cake; and adapt liberating principles to our emerging circumstances. We do or don't breathe life into those principles, and guard them from misuse.
My point above is that money is a source of power, and can be deployed abusively, as can any form of coercive power. There are those who will murder for hire, and those that will pay for it. As money can be obtained in virtuous and evil ways, it can also purchase good or evil outcomes, and that can be illustrated. Yet Republicans since at least Reagan have pushed the notion that those with large stores of money should not have their behavior regulated, which seems to me to be a patent recipe for corruption and sociopathy, both of which are visibly now on the rise. We saw that historically in conquest and slavery in the early days of our nation, and we saw it as plutocratic abuses in the Gilded Age.
And since then, we saw decades of reforms, many of which were reversed, diluted or sidelined since Reagan. Yet, it seems to me, that the public has since gone with pressing lesser priorities than the "big one" of containing plutocracy. We did it once, but now most politicians seem to find that is radioactive; perhaps not for the best of reasons. Are there not a great many ways that those with the resources of a small nation are shaping our culture and it's ground rules to it's liking against our will? Externalizing their costs and liabilities onto the public and posterity? For real. Seems to me this is the one ring to rule them all.
Heather has lost her ever loving mind. This is the stuff she's reporting on.? and it's 1117. Trump went to the bathroom. He unzipped his fly and put it near the urinal.
And then at 11:18, he put it back and then 1119. He walked eight steps over to Melania and then Melania smiled. This is the shit you idiots to listen to.
She needs to be reporting on the lunacy of the left and it's ultra and putrid hatred for no reason at all no rationale no common sense just hate profuse hate.
Grandparents house her post was nothing more than farting from her mouth. Meaningless, meaningless, meaningless no substance nothing I could've read that in the funny pages
troll. I don't remember her mentioning trump's bathroom habits. The fact he is posting self-aggrandizing memes of him as Jesus supporting the Red Cross, arms around Jesus just like he did with Epstein should be of some concern.
Oligarchs have largely captured major media and overpowered antitrust. We the people kinda let that happen. It makes a big difference; Woodward and Bernstein compared to "sanewashing". That said, Democratic Party leadership seems to have been playing a defensive game since Reagan was elected. We won some lost some, but for the better part of half a century political boundaries have moved toward plutocracy. Now plutocrats have mounted a coup, and it will take pretty focused leadership to stop them. The good news is the public discontentment with the Regime, but that unstable energy needs a lucid way forward to back.
Well, every time you've taken credit and taken charge, you've taken a shit on America. Maybe that's why you haven't had the leadership. Everybody who's your candidate now slick willey from California. reelect cackling kneepads.? withA your leadership is wacko
Debbie, what exactly would you change? I am not asking because I doubt your concern, but because there are limited things we can do, even in an overhaul. I am not sure the system is even totally bad, its just in the hands of bad actors right now, and no matter WHAT system you put in place, it is almost ALWAYS possible for bad actors to take over, either by deceit or by straight-out appealing to people's base instincts.
My biggest real concern is the unlimited pardon power in the Constitution, that almost certainly must be eliminated to at least remove the potential for the people being in power to be able to pardon themselves and their cronies just before leaving office and leaving no option to go after them once that happens.
I am not convinced that removing the electoral college would help. Trump won the popular vote in 2024 so even if we went to a straight popular vote, he would still have been elected. And small states, having some level of power right now, will probably resist any wholesale elimination of the EC. Maybe we can make adjustments to it to encourage or require proportional vote allocation which would make it harder for a minority candidate to win enough votes in enough small states to win the election despite the popular vote (as Trump did in 2016).
“I am not convinced that removing the electoral college would help.”
I am. If not for the Electoral College, the demented criminal wouldn’t have been elected in 2016. On the other hand, maybe this country needs exactly what it’s getting, either a wake-up call to the tens of millions who have taken our freedom for granted or the wholesale collapse of a country that had already squandered all it had been granted.
The past is the past. We have had the EC for 230 years. It has worked mostly, failed a few times (if you consider the popular vote to be the critical factor) but remember it is also intended to provide some balance based on states as well as population. In 2016 more states voted for Trump than for Clinton and from that perspective the EC worked.
It always depends on what you think is the most important factor in an election. We have never elected Presidents based on the popular vote for a reason and if you don't like those reasons of course you hate the EC. But many disagree and changing the current system won't happen anytime soon.
My problem with the EC, despite that I think it’s a cockamamie idea and not surprising no other country in the world has anything remotely like it, is Winner-take-all. Winner-take-all was never part of the original equation when this scheme was cooked up back then. It is completely undemocratic and indefensible to award all electoral votes to the candidate who won, regardless of the margin of victory, as it completely disenfranchises the votes of those who voted for the losing candidate. If we’re stuck with the damned thing, at least apportion the electoral votes in accordance with the popular votes. Virginia’s 13 EC votes would be split 7 and 6 in a race where Candidate A received 53% of the Virginia total popular votes. Candidate B gets the credit for the 47% who cast their ballots in his name. What could be more fair, and democratic, than that?
First of all, many (most?) countries use a parliamentary system in which the people do not vote for the single political leader (typically a prime minister) at all, let alone by popular vote. In England, for instance, the parliament is voted on by the individual districts (much like our House of Representatives) and the parliament chooses the prime minister. I personally think this is a LOT like our electoral system and it is the system on which we based ours, but we eliminated the royalty part of it.
Representative democracy is actually quite common in the world, as most countries do NOT trust the vote of the people. We actually ADDED a more "popular" mechanism for choosing the President, by having a SEPARATE group of "electors" to vote on the President rather than having the House (and possibly the Senate) do the voting.
I agree (as I have said before) that the winner take all concept in various states is a serious problem. Two states (Maine and Nebraska) do NOT use winner take all, but rather elect their "House district" electors by the vote in each district and then have their two "Senate" electors elected by the popular vote in the whole state.
There are plenty of ways we could modify our current system to make it MORE equitable but unless we went to a strictly national popular vote their is virtually ALWAYS a chance that a President selected by the electoral college could be a minority-popular-vote President (as Trump was in 2016 and a few others have been over the years). And a strictly national popular vote has its own perils, i.e., a majority vote that brought in a President bent on destroying the rights of the minority (oh, we just did that LOL!)
Historically, to get the states to ratify the Constitution certain compromises were crafted, including the Electoral College. Smaller states feared that a direct vote for the president would give too much power to the more populous states. It was actually a reasonable attempt to ensure confidence in the new nation's system of governance.
Technically, all states having the same number of senators makes sense. What does not make sense is the limit of 435 apportioned as it is. Each representative from Wyoming represents about 9,000 people. Each representative from California represents about 704,500 people. That is not equal representation.
Ally you are smarter than that. Wyoming has a population of 600,000. It has THREE EC votes. Each EC vote represents almost 200,000 votes in WY.
I admit it is not perfect but it's NOT as skewed as you suggest! If WY electoral votes represented 9000 votes each, it would have 60+ electoral votes which is more than CA has!
Changes to the EC and a requirement that EC votes be allocated proportionally rather than winner take all could make the system much fairer and still provide some of the "minority protections" it currently provides.
First it really doesn't happen like that much. Most billionaires pay federal income tax. Probably a LOT more than you pay. Most do NOT pay proportionately though that IS true. They have more deductions and exceptions so they pay s smaller PERCENTAGE than many regular wage earners because of that.
Yes the system isn't always fair but to say billionaires never pay taxes is pretty dumb and not true.
I did say some, and that much is true. And taxation is way less fair than it was some decades ago, which is my point. Warren Buffet complained (and claimed he used no dodgy tax tricks tom do it) that the woman who emptied his waste basket every day paid more of her income in taxes than he did, and yes, there are some very wealthy people who support fairer taxation. It seems to me that's not a small thing.
I too am afraid and also disgusted that our checks and balances and “ guardrails “ have been left vulnerable over the last five decades. The Republicans are despicable and soulless and smug and what protection do we have- the Democrats?
Why would we want to stop a duly elected President? It's as if you are saying that half the country is not entitled to their choice of President. And it's almost like you want to overthrow a legal, duly elected government, because you don't "like" the person who won? The rest of us do want him to continue, regardless of the inversion of reality that the Left clings so tightly to, to justify their hate. If you think this is "fascism" and you are so "scared" for your own safety, then this is exactly what the Left wants you to think. They have you exactly where they want you and you fell for it. Based on nothing. Fiction. Lies. Repeated over and over for ten years.
Oh how I yearn for a President who isn’t crazy, a Congress that isn’t scared or lazy, and a Cabinet that isn’t full of incompetent and evil people! In my dreams….
The other day, he announced a 25 percent tariff on vehicles imported from the European Union even after the Supreme Court ruled that his unilateral tariffs were illegal. Perhaps he thinks the clear language granting tariff-granting authority to Congress doesn’t apply to him. Imagine that.
Collette, I have been shocked almost daily since 2016, and should be used to EXPECTING to be shocked, but such garbage as his "Truth" Social posts on Friday leave my heart so weary, because there are so many who never were, and never will be, shocked at what Trump has done and is doing to our country. I'm so angry that he keeps doing shocking things and nobody can really stop him. I do appreciate those judges, lawyers, independent podcasters, and average Americans who have rallied to protest his grotesque words and illegal actions. Who would ever have thought that a president of our United States could have gotten away with, been excused for, and worse, applauded for such corrupt and vile actions. So, I may not be all that shocked, but I'm astounded that he has gotten this far practically unscathed.
Perhaps it would serve me to stick closer to the facts, which I do on occasion, but also often use exaggeration in the manner of an political cartoon. I make no claim to legal expertise, nor that the US officially has a king, but I think it is fair to say the Republicans on the Supreme Court have encouraged over-reach and lawlessness on the part of Trump, even if they have not always vindicated his policies. Former federal judge J Michael Luttig seems to think so
True. And nobody is really even trying to stop him. We rant and rave and he just laughs. He knows there is no group that has the wherewithal to really challenge him. Meryl Streep is trying but can only do so much. But at least she has done something. Hopefully if the Dems take the House they will challenge our new autocracy. The media has succumbed. And then there is the debacle of the Opera gala. Imagine so many estimable people fawning over the human disgrace that is Jeff Bezos. Let’s give a bow of respect to the Mayor of New York. We need a lot more like him.
There is a certain perfection to Trump’s criminality and con artistry. There’s never been a line he wouldn’t cross or a lie he wouldn’t tell. But the hood-winked masses that both vigorously and also begrudgingly supported him are slowly (far too slowly) realizing the severity of their mistake. May we learn well the hard lessons of this era (read:error) and do whatever is necessary to return the levers of power to steady, responsible, ethical leadership.
and bad think tanks and bad media and bad lobbyists and bad oligarchs ... we're in a perfect storm of badness here. russ vought and his gang published project 2025 telling us exactly what they were about to do. too many americans didn't believe it. or didn't believe they could get away with it.
if enough people go on acting that way it's going to be a long sixteen years ...
Yes, that's about what you'd expect from the Donold the dealmaker, businessman that's bankrupted 6 businesses and gets worse results and less leverage than what existed before his strongarming attempts and bullying tactics destroyed so many trade agreements, treaties and ceasefire farces.
I bet he has never played that game. My sense he has never played many games because in Child Therapy 101 one of the issues of children is game playing. With someone like the so called president games LD be part of the therapy. Taking your turn. Learning to lose well. Playing games not for winning or losing but to be with friends and enjoy chance .Kind of like the old Robert ? book about kindergarten. And the fact he has to say he has all the cards means he doesn’t have all the cards. He is living in fear .
Thanks for his last name and the specifics. The history of kindergarten and day nurseries very important. Some of the thinking began in Germany then England then the United States. Day Nurseries were part of the original public housing movement post WWII when at that time even medical residents and their families lived in the complexes.
Maria Montessori, Lillian Wald, Rudolph Steiner among many people who brought the concept of respect for young children and community socialization laced with kindness into the fore.
The lack of resupply to American navy and marines and Hegseth’s banning of care packages is creating food shortages. “For lack of horseshoe nails, the war was lost.”
Yes, at the heart of Heather's today -- her reference to Timothy Snyder's "superpower suicide."
This involves not just the escalating chaos Heather also details, but more vitally, according to Timothy Snyder, the total corruption criminal Donald both inhabits and feeds.
Can Dems – especially newer, younger ones – cohere around corruption?
In his talk on superpower suicide, which he gave at the Council on Foreign Relations, he explained that we sink in the corruption, and lose our freedom, in proportion to the state ceasing to provide practical benefits: health care, travel infrastructure, reasonable-costing and environmentally friendly fuel, reliable journalism, consumer finance protections, day care, good food, and education allowing social mobility.
It’s not just criminal Donald who’s annulled the state’s practical services, but his criminality also allied to the cynical social media billionaires, the normalizing, dehumanizing mainstream media, A.I., and the racist, fascist tilt of the formerly “supreme” court.
Our suicide ensues as the corrupt grow and services shrink, the two paired.
It’s not only America’s suicide. It will take the rest iof the West with it. I’ve said it before: the reelection of Trumpty-Dumpty will usher in the end of Western civilization. I still hope to be priven wrong, though.
Hello Dutch Mike.... Is the USA's Superpower Suicide abetted by Netanyahu?... How does the Iran War benefit the USA, and most of the World?... It was initiated for Short-Term Political Gain for Netanyahu who Pressured DJT into this War... Epstein Files?... What is forgotten was Iran was over a Decade away from a deployable device, while Israel has at least 200 of them.... I don't believe that the Iranians believe in assured self-Destruction.. 'Spirit' Airlines ceased operations yesterday, as this War goes on, more Dominoes Will Fall...
I was about to make a comment on the absence of the word "Epstein" in Dr. Richardson's chronicle of the day's madness. Yours is the first one I've seen. There is a lot going on at once, and Dr. Richardson makes an admirable effort to record the most notable events. But the absence of the word "Epstein" makes me think the obstruction/distraction effort is succeeding, although at what cost to the world remains to be seen. We have three multi-billion-dollar floating targets on station in the ME and are about to remove some of their support (other, smaller floating targets) to escort vessels that are willing to run the Strait in defiance of Iranian efforts to keep it closed. What could go wrong? Hey, at least we won't be paying attention to the Epstein class for a while.
Hello James... Alisa Valdes-Rodriquez has been doing Stellar Investigatory Work on Jeffry's Web.... Essentially it was a Honey-Trap Kompromat Operation run by the Israelis, and the Russians.... Ghisaine Maxwell, her Father & Two older Sisters, were Israeli Assets... Jeffrey's Web was Wide & Deep... It ran for a long time, and snared many... There are Sleeping Monsters Out There..
Good morning, Apache. That there are monsters out there I do not doubt. I hope they are not sleeping well, knowing that since information about their activities exists, it will be disclosed sooner or later. May it be sooner. The relentless efforts by those in power to keep that information from the public is ample demonstration of its damaging nature. I suspect it involves a lot more than “mere” statutory rape.
Hello James... Read Alisa Valdes-Rodriquez's Investigations of the Epstein Files, and then Ponder the Origins of this Iran War.... Monsters that cannot be named lurk, and are powerful...
Yes. And it seems that gas prices up 30% , billions wasted in a completely needless war, ICE goons shooting innocent citizens in the face, the White House torn down and America becoming an international laughing stock isn't enough to wake them up.
It isn't, Dutch Mike. They do not get the same information that we do, and when confronted with a counter to their MAGAt foundational information, they reply with a resounding and well articulated "TDS" (which in their world stands for 💩 derangement syndrome.)
With all the new alliances being formed by the other countries, I am more hopeful of the Western civilizations to be continuing, than I am of the US to continue to be that beacon Reagan spoke of. A lot of heads of State from all over Europe and Carney from Canada are in Yerevan Armenia at the moment, to strengthen ties.
Some of my friends and I discuss this issue quite a bit. I believe that there was a civilization like ours many millions of years back. However, if the same kind of homosapiens come back, and the "human nature" is left as it is, we will continue to love/hate, create/destroy and make the same mistakes over and over again... I agree that we are living better lives now than ever before in our history, but we don't have a clue how much of a "better" we can get to. For some reason, we seem to retreat as easily as we progress.
I find that a very interesting theory! But I'd say we _do_ have an idea of how much of a "better" we can get to. To be honest, throughout our history, all of our sages, mystics, gurus and messiahs have told us so, and it is the same message over and over again: love one another.
But homosapiens carry "human nature" with them every cycle of civilization. I agree loving one another is a beginning, but humans cannot get hatred, resentment, bias, anger , greed .................(feel free to fill in) from the equation. If we are a simulation of some sort, it was very smart to add these feelings so we destroy each other and probably eventually ourselves.
The "Party of Lincoln" is now officially Corruption Incorporated, and corruption is flooding the nation, though not without a fight. Thank you for calling corruption by it's proper name. On the 250th Anniversary of grievances against another king, it is high time to speak out in favor of preserving unalienable human rights. That government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
I can't understand why you misrepresent Snyder's circumstances as you do. The US needs Snyder amongst others right now, and it needs him desperately. Why not present *all* the facts and then explain why you, as another human being, would make different choices. That would be an honest response.
Sorry. He lives in Canada. He travels extensively in US and Ukraine. Hes prolific and talented. Im sorry if you're upset. Virtually nobody reads what I write here.
All Snyder himself has said was that it was for family reasons, that he was doing it for his children. He's been very private about his reasons for taking a job at UT, though I gather it was a prestigious job.
Both he and his wife have spoken about it, each on at least one occasion that I listened too. Perhaps in response to the misinformation/disinformation campaign, I don't know their motivation but both were around the time it noticed the campaign picking up
But he did move his whole family to Canada. To Toronto. There may have been good reasons to do so, but still- when he did that I was disappointed. He's the one who told us all not to surrender in advance.
I may have misunderstood but I thought Prof. Snyder’s spouse had received an appointment to a Canadian university, so the family relocated. Please correct me if I’m mistaken.
Yes, he does have a spouse, and she is highly regarded in her own right. In respect for her work and contributions, she was rewarded with a juicy job in Canada. Smart guys like Prof. Snyder marry smart partners and honor their work and the entirety of their lives.
As a country, we would greatly benefit if many Americans would leave the USA and got a taste of how life is lived in other countries and cultures. We would discover that we all love our children and will do almost anything to clothe, feed, and educate them. We would discover that all of the world dislikes and is revolted by greedy, lying men who cheat, steal, rape, and create wars that rob us all of our treasure and our family. It is universal, and if the US can't remember to treat its children and their mothers with love and respect, then we are no longer a country to be admired and respected, and we will lose our bright lights to other countries that understand love and unity.
Again, you present half the story so misrepresesent the situation. This tell half the story business is a very JD Vanxe way of manipulating people and anybody supporting democracy needs to be above such tactics. Honesty is critical to rebuilding democracy in a country that has chosen to flirt with fascism.
That's not quite what happened. You may disagree with the choice the family made, but at least be honest about what happened since you are making an accusation about surrendering in advance.
If I live for 200 years, I will never understand why 70+ million Americans voted for this man. Of course, it might have been racism and misogyny -- living in the hearts and minds of millions. God awful!
Almost forgotten or overlooked in the flurry of feces MAGA and its allies keep spewing our way is news of the Eighth Meeting of the European Political Community in Yerevan, Armenia, taking place right now. 28 heads of state or government, including those of Ukraine, Turkey and Canada, are there creating a blueprint for future regional and economic security that does not involve either Russia or the United States.
New forces are coalescing in the vacuum left behind by America’s suicidal retreat from the world and descent into cult madness. Not that any of this could have been predicted — and was predicted — by virtually anyone with a modicum of political and historical awareness, however.
Some things can be restored once this seashell-obsessed moron finally 8647s himself through hamberders and dementia. Some things are like toothpaste, though, and not going back in the tube. Too many ships have left port, and they’re not coming back for stragglers.
Is there a way to pursue and hold accountable the Trump minions who have broken the law? Is there a way to contain the damage now? The far right has gone past the point of no return. I don’t expect capitulation on the part of Republican fascists who have transgressed the law. I accept the fact that their goal is to create chaos and economic destruction in order to bring political change. The country is systematically being weakened as if in preparation of takeover by foreign interests. Trump has consistently destroyed stability to such an extent that it has become his mantra. Even in remote Idaho far from the levers of power both democrats and republicans are recognizing that we are headed to hell by design. His consistent signature is destroying all things American.
Yes: 47 is the fascist mafia oligopolists neutron bomb. Timothy Snyder is right, this engineered superpower suicide is a hostile takeover in progress. General strike & massive strategic boycotting against oligopolists is our first defense but our constitution & economic system of extractive capitalism & wealth supremacy must be reformed to prevent them from continuing to repeat their aggression against democracy and decency.
John Idaho is about forty some percent declared republican in political persuasion. On any given day more than half of us are not. Extremely independent is my characterization of my fellow Idahoans. One curses them and they curse one back. Just like regular folks. Our political machinery is pay per view republican. The hen house in Boise reeks of chicken shit. The current residents with rare exceptions have been thoroughly purchased. There is no brave voice, no candle in the window that suggests incumbents have any connection to constituents, republican or otherwise. Controlling business and monetary gain in affiliation with Donald Trump is their future. The thing that separates our so- called representatives from Lincoln is the lack of character, lack of shame, the lack of decency, the lack of empathy, the lack of intelligence and the loss of the horse sense that Idaho mothers imbued into their children. We are watching a nation stumbling much like all republicans are waking up to across America. We know it isn’t the goddamned liberals or the goddamned democrats, or the goddamned immigrants who are wringing the nation’s blood out of the constitution.
From Gladiator. “ People should know when they’ve been conquered”. So my question is what if that was us, would we know? But if this is not a war, what constitutes winning?
Hello Dutch Mike... I would lay blame more on AIPAC, and the Israel Lobby.... Of the 635+1 Members of Congress, according to reports, over 1/2 receive AIPAC Money... Russia benefits from this of course... Munitions used against Iran are not used to benefit Ukraine.. DJT's tantrums against NATO because they don't follow DJT into Iran help Russia, and the Chinese Watch, and Learn...
Look Everyone!!! Our TV personality, King Trump, wrote a clear script for the Iranians and they JUST WON'T FOLLOW THE SCRIPT!!🤯. What's the f...ing matter with these mullahs?? The King has only slotted them into a few episodes and they keep pushing script creep. If they get the King really pissed, he might have to kick their whole culture out of human history.
Just reading about this sick little man's emanations makes me nauseous.
Maybe because I'm a survivor. And I know that what Put him in office is more of the same. Scared, sci-kkko Men born of the worst of humanity, in a system that has been honed to award the most insecure, power driven, unfeeling, craven narcissists to the pinnacles of power.
Please make it stop.
Please everyone, but especially MEN, end this horror.
Don't just write on here.
Go speak to the people you know. The people in your life who don't know what to do, or who to vote for, or how to prepare the for coming Crash. A Crash like the one that brought us Hitler, and FDR. Pray for an FDR.
Please Do Not Comply In Advance with the Bro mind control game of "AI is inevitable."
We Can't Let It Be.
I'm done. I have been saying "we can't let this happen" since Reagan won.
I am tired.
Please. We're all pretty old on here, I'd say.
Talk to the old ones who still call themselves "fiscal Republicans."
I believe I am making progress with my stepdad. He'll be 90 next week.
He didn't vote for Trump in 2024. I want him to speak to his friends (the younger ones, who are still alive) and tell them 'Yeah, well, we went too far. We let it go too far. And now we need to VOTE BLUE and maybe our grandchildren will speak to us again before we die."
I look forward to the time the orange felon's legacy is demolished. We need a robust DoJ to investigate the felon's enablers including 6 on the supreme court.
Neither do I! But I have realized my Dorothy Day , Catherine Dougherty , Rev . George Higgins, Berrigan brothers and Ploughshare group , Thomas Merton, Telliard de Chardin, type of Catholicism more an aberration than the norm. My mother went in the 1970’s a Christ Renews His Parish program. She would come back devastated by two things . One that the church she loved was not part of many people and their experience in church was sometimes very abusive. The strengths my late husband ( a former seminarian - six years) saw at times faded and kept on fading. There seemed to be a palatable pall over any creative non tradition none toe the line liturgy or priest. On his deathbed he went back. It has its solace but in my eyes co-opted by Opus Dei and its thinking and actions and hidden power base.
Seven of the nine Justices have some degree of Roman Catholicism in their background (with (five calling themselves practicing Catholics). As a once-faithful adherent to the Church's teachings, I find it hard to comprehend how they square the moral teachings found in the Gospels with how they rule in matters affecting people's lives.
Mary, I wasn't overly impressed much by the new Pope until he said that It was time to realize that sex shouldn't be the moral issue that the Church focuses on, it should focus on peace and justice issues. (Oh, and until he opposed our president's immigration and war policies.) I'm not quoting him exactly but that was the gist, if I understood him correctly. In recent centuries the Church has seemed to put obedience and sexual denial at the top of its list of virtues, which doesn't seem very Christ-like.
PS: Nice to see someone refer to Catherine Dougherty! Others are much better known, and she was very conservative, but did good for many. One of the best prayers I've ever heard was the grace said at Combermere: "Lord, give food to the hungry and a hunger for you to us who have food."
I am interested if Pope Leo will come through. Rev James Martin has been on the screen lately as well. The institutional church could actually do something’s ala The Shoes of the Fischerman and the old tools of excommunication . There are many Roman Catholics who are more Roman in all of their thinking and actions then Catholic.
His book on Roman Catholicism frontline in the released edition has a photo of a Methodist Church. Gareth Gore has met with Pope Leo and we shall see. The Opus Dei thread runs back to the FBI agent turned spy Robert Hansen and Russia.
Wouldn’t that be an interesting development? Homan, Rubio, Vance, Vought, C Thomas, Alito (I believe), Bill Barr, just for a few—all ‘Catholic.’ In quotes because I do not recognize their brand of Catholicism.
We don’t need any more evidence that Trump is nuts. Nor do we need any more evidence that his administration is staffed by grifters and market manipulators.
I am dismayed by the apparent solid core of willful ignorance and prideful stupidity that still, still!, supports him. This demographic is a bag of rocks tied to the leg of American progress into the 21st century.
I think it's that core group of white americans who are terrified of losing "whiteness" ie privilege, since they've been brainwashed to believe that when Caucasians are a minority, their precious "culture" will be erased (as will they). They don't actually have much "privilege" since poor whites are as invisible as any other un-privileged group. Bottom line: it's fear.
I agree. I also think there is a strong aversion to admitting they were completely fooled by the best con man this country ever produced. I think it’s very much like the denial of drunks and drug addicts
Trump’s social media posting flurry described by Heather reminds me of the “alien hand syndrome” of Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers) in the movie by the same name, where he struggled to keep his gloved hand from rising in a Nazi salute and shouting “Mein Fuhrer!” Trump is having trouble suppressing his psychological obsession with power which is revealed when it bursts out in a storm of strongman social media posts.
Note that when the cost of fuel/energy for production and transportation spike, then the cost of almost everything goes up (inflation) because these costs are incorporated into the prices you see as a consumer.
In this Doctor StrangeJesus topsy-turvy world, I wonder if whiskey Pete, skeevy Stevie Miller, little Marco or JD will ever be told that there's no fighting in the War Room...
Mr. Trump's dementia becomes more apparent with each passing day. And yet they are busily remaking DC, America, and the world like a regime that has no worries about the midterms. And THAT should worry all of us.
What should worry us is that Anerica has become a vassal state of Russia, doing exactly what Putin wants.
Fortunately, Ukraine is kicking Russia's ass right now by bombing oil loading ports and tankers, wiping out Russian ships, destroying oil storage and refineries, taking out an average of 1000 Russians a week, destroying chemical factories and chasing the Russians out of Crimea. Putin is so worried about a coup he has shut down the Internet in public places across Moscow.
While the world is looking at loosing 15-20% of the oil due to Trump's Iran War, Russia exports have been reduced by almost half. An world wide recession is coming thanks to Trump and if you think $4.50 a gallon is bad, it's likely to get much much worse.
Are any journalists talking about the ecological disasters that are being created by the Iran War and the Russian War on Ukraine. Hundreds of square miles of Russia have become so polluted that they are uninhabitable.
Thanks DonOld, Bibi and Putin.
vox populi, yes it is the troika of Putin, Netanyahu, and Trump with the oligarchic support that is fueling all three. And, as men, they just can't stop the posturing and fighting because well, they might be seen as wimps (OK, we already know they are wimps with weapons). How do we stop this insanity when in all three countries, there are men, mostly white men, who think all this is just fine and something really much worse will happen if we don't support these appalling jerks. Or, maybe it is just that the oligarchs think they can pick up the pieces and still be as rich as ever with no accountability for their actions. I hope they are taken to task and lose huge portions of their wealth, especially Musk, Vought, Theil, and the Murdoch and Ellison families because without these, so much of what has happened would not have happened.
Putin, Netanyahu and Trump are not men, they are narcissists - just like Musk (oh, sorry, "Eeeelon"), Thiel, Vought and the other members of the fascist narcissist club.
Supported by black-robed guys Roberts, Alito and Uncle Thomas. And by a host of oligarchs around the world who also believe themselves to be the only creatures who are important.
Those black robes have faded to a bright white.
They believe they are the new gods. But really.
Richardson gets her stuff in a twist. over Trump's puerile insult of Jeffries and you call a respected Supreme Court Justice "Uncle Thomas"? How about Auntie Katanji?
I agree they are not real men. However it happened, they are now automatons ... self-operating machines designed to follow a predetermined sequence of operations automatically and irrespective of the consequences.
After MLK's dream of a nation where people are judged by the content of their character has been realized, the judgment for the entire current leadership of the Republican Party will be a grand total of zero character.
We have to remember that there are a few who still represent the Republican Party, while recognizing its “problems.” Greed and racism are not only Republican characteristics. But craziness primarily is. To be at war with Europe, NATO, your fellow Americans, and embracing Vladimir Putin while building gulags to fill with anyone you can pick up, is the mark of oligarchic insanity.
What is your definition of "real men"?
Miller! Don’t forget the puppeteer!
Something I read last week was came from a journalist who personally knows Bezos and many of the Wall Street money guys. He said that due to their excessive wealth money is free to the billionaire class-- free in the sense they can buy anything they want without caring for the price. or who they might hurt by purchasing it. And they can furlough thousands of people because their employees are just game board pieces to them. Okay, I'm paraphrasing (a-lot) but one is worth $200 million they can lose 95% of it and they are still rich.
And yet the Republicans in the Senate and House are owned by these so-called oligarchs. They assume that they give a damn about a 5% cut in their taxes. But they were willing to give them tax cuts at the cost of adding an additional $1 trillion of debt to our already out of control debt.
The new golf course would erase the area’s public bike paths and open recreational space. This is their attitude.
Rickey, this is what one would expect of a disgusting racist like Trump and the racism of the rest of the white house toddler pool. There is nothing about any of them to commend. They would decide on wrecking public space in a majority minority community for no other reason than that they think they can. We need to find ways to stop them because we don't need anything else that makes Trump look like he is anything more than a thug with dementia. The people of DC deserve public spaces not infected by Trumplandia!
Essentially correct. The concept of adding to a healthy society has become old fashion. It’s an extremely selfish world out there now.
Yeah, it's actually $1 trillion of debt added every 5 months along with Interest on the debt now over $1 trillion a year.
I don't disagree that "it's an extremely selfish world out there now." But it's obvious when you are wealthy and you choose to give back nothing.
And can anyone tell me why these same rich oligarchs are willing to spend even more $ to dispute the one-time tax of 5% on their holdings. Evil thinking can only be at the root of it--I want all my money and I do not want to see anyone get food, clothing, education, health care, affordable housing. It is all seen as a threat to their wealth but mostly it is their very fragile egos and, yes, masculinity.
Beryl, I think of it as EVIL! The word needs to be attached to what these folks are doing because it actually is evil, and being done mostly by men who call themselves christians; they're that, maybe, but in name only.
Your comment is somewhat confusing. Billionaires are they key to our economy, which means they are a source of income for tens of millions of people. Without Amazon and Google, life becomes tedious. They are immense successes for a reason. Layoffs are usually determined by staff based on facts of consumer demand, not as a game.
That a journalist "knows Bezos" means...what? That Bezons confides in him/her? That he calls the journalist before making decisions?
As for taxes, they favor people with higher incomes because people with higher incomes pay by far the most taxes. Per 2024 data: the top 5% of earners reported 38.1% of total AGI but paid 62.7% of all income taxes. The bottom 50% of earners reported 10.2% of AGI but paid 2.3% of all income taxes."
Per the same data, for New York: the 41,000 filers in the NYC city’s top 1% pay more than 40% of all its income taxes. The 450,000 filers in the top 10% pay about two-thirds of all income taxes.
Nationally, for 2022, the top 10% of earners pay 70% -- 70% -- of the cost of government. So of course tax cuts help them.
And no politician is "owned by anyone. Surer, big donors get their phone calls answered. But the cost of campaigns is such that no one or small group can get anyone elected.
Yuor observations seem more emotional than factual.
"A KAUFFMANN"
I generally like to WELCOME new subscribers to the Forum, but we do get some new folks that like to troll. We had one appear a few weeks ago--seems to have disappeared. Perhaps the incendiary tone they put forth showed everyone they were, indeed, a troll.
Now I haven't gotten too far into the comments today, and I notice you aren't quite "a troll" but amazingly, seem to be attempting to create discord by your comments. I suggest, sir or madam, you are barking up the wrong tree here.
I am so tired of the "billionaires pay the most taxes" line, and I rarely use these terms here as people know, but it is BULL SHIT.
It is simply RIDICULOUS to cry that those with the most pay the most. OF COURSE THEY DO. I used to be bff with a woman who was a reasonable person, UNTIL she inherited a 8 figure (YES, EIGHT) sum. Suddenly, she was all about lowering taxes on wealth. Funny how pointing out that for a person having billions having higher tax WILL NOT change their lifestyle in ANY manner, but it can be devastating to the average American trying to live the "dream".
Without Amazon and Google, life becomes "tedious"?!? Apparently the comment section must have you yawning!!
YOUR observations seem more fueled by the RIGHT than factual.
While your arguments might work with the MAGA, or even the average American who reportedly spends an average of FOUR MINUTES a week on politics, those who read HCR and comment are quite well informed. Again, your BULL SHIT isn't going to work here, and cloaking it in "reasonable" comments isn't going to sway anyone here for very long. Yes, you will get those who think you're some new voice worth reading, but eventually you'll be blocked or ignored, the latter of which I intend to do, and suggest others do as well.
WOW! A completely naive take on how any economy works. Congratulations on being the water carrier for the uber greedy proponents of unregulated, unbridled capitalism that makes some people too powerful, and ALWAYS leads to eventual revolution.
How many politicians do you own A? Because most of us don't have a lot leftover to donate to the politicians we are pulling for that will stand up to the klepto class. Elon donates $200 million and we donate $50. Hardly a fair fight. You're rather naive to actually believe that politicians aren't owned by the wealthy and the large corporations.
As Miselle replied, the people that comment here are well informed and understand how the system works, so please continue to comment, but Substack has given us the ability to block trolls. A few have come here with their Trumpian idiocy, but don't stick around because everyone either blocks them or ignores their bullshit.
Billionaires are the end of our economy. They have ruined America and if not stopped will be the end of millions of people and ultimately the end of this country
New troll I assume. Welcome to the block list.
When it comes to losing wealth I would put the trump family at the top of the list as the grift and graft have gone on far too long and too much to their advantage.
Where is the voice of the American public with all of this. The voice of the American public is only as strong as the leadership who listens to them. It's going to be very difficult to bring Musk, Vought, Theil and the Murdoch and Ellison families to heel if we don't have the right women and men in seats of power. We can take some comfort in knowing that the MAGA movement is crumbling from within according to Jack Cocchiarella. https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/mass-firing-hits-then-trump-s-position-takes-a-turn/vi-AA22lXa0?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=69f8a07de80e41d6bde9112ec78d3f77&ei=59.
If true, and I don't doubt that it is, it will be a start to rectifying much of this disaster and hopefully bringing Trump and his sycophants to some form of justice that is all too well deserved. Meanwhile, as I write and we all read HCR's letter, Louisiana and Alabama are rigging their elections, proving the low intellect inherent within those state government. The majority on the SCOTUS should not be forgotten in all of this malfeasance. When and if the left takes control again, addressing SCOTUS should be on the next docket.
"It's going to be very difficult to bring Musk, Vought, Theil and the Murdoch and Ellison families to heel." Why would you? Musk created the electric car industry. Theil is behind Palantir, an extraordinary company. Murdoch provides thousands of jobs to journalists. Larry Ellison's Oracle is behind a massive amount of essential technologies. Why bring them "to heel"?
Putin's Troll.
What you describe is true. My question: at what cost to the individual consumer and public at large? Elon Musk, in 2025 paid $0.00 in federal taxes; Peter Theil in 2019 to 2021 paid $0.00 and yet accumulated over $5 billion in those same years. I have no problem with the Murdochs if they report the news fairly and truthfully; there is plenty of evidence that they don't and in fact did not in the past. Supporting the likes of Donald Trump only promotes the fascist ideals (and this is not opinion, but fact if one simply looks closely at the way Homeland Security has done its work. FOX news subjects its listeners with opinion and calls it news. News is objective; news is truthful (or supposed to be.) FOX has failed on multiple counts. It is specifically why it is called FAUX news. Larry Ellison has unleashed, along with folks like Musk, AI technology which in essence will only control human production and most likely human **values**. There is every reason to fear, even according to Elon Musk himself, that AI will most likely replace the human element in jobs. In truth, I have nothing against AI as long as it keeps step with human needs and not at the cost of human needs. Now, is what Ellison, Musk, and the rest doing against the present laws pertaining to their businesses? The answer is no. But in each case, it only further sets everyone on their heels leading to an outcome, at least I believe, at making life worse for the average man, woman, and child. As for Mr. Musk, I do hope he is brought forward to answer for the illegal infiltration of government agencies at the cost and to the cost of the public at large. As for the Murdochs, they run a "news" agency and are protected by the 1st amendment. Bully for them; but don't think for one moment that they haven't done their share of damage.
A, Musk didn't create anything; he used his wealth gained from family wealth mining emeralds in South Africa, probably with slave labor to invest in corporations he thought would advance. He was a pretty good judge of where to invest. That does not make him brilliant or anything else but lucky and greedy! That is not a model for anyone to follow these days, particularly when they not only ignore global warming but work to enhance it. Musk will be among us on earth when the climate tips, but he thinks he can keep pumping out air conditioning that will protect his sorry soul, but who is going to maintain that for him!
FROM YOUR MOUTH TO ALL THE EARS OF THE LAZY, MISINFORMED, ILLITERATE, BILIGERANT AMERICANS THAT ARE SO DUMB, THEY CAN'T EVEN THINK OUTSIDE THE FOX BOX and make a truly informed decision and VOTE FOR THEIR OWN WELL-BEING!!! We are being led by a narcissistic, CHILDISH psychopath that knew he didn't have a clue about what he was doing; so he used all the nasty and wealthy oligarchs, christian nationalists, proud boys, PUTIN, KKK, neo-nazi nuts to implement this ILLEGAL, ILLEGITIMATE, INSANE DISASTER!!
The BIG PICTURE is that Project 2025...is not only the END OF OUR DEMOCRACY, but potentially the END of the U.S.A. as we know it. The idiot in chief apparently has NO IDEA why our troops are stationed in Germany!
Our country is being PUT AT RISK because of this want-to-be king! He follows Putin's orders EVERY. DAMN. TIME!
You may ask yourself WHY?????
EPSTEIN!!!!! It's being proven to be an INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL CASE OF ENORMOUS SIZE. 🤬☠👿🤬☠👿
Ruth, It really suck that I am not able to "like" your post from now to kingdom come. Really sucks. Thanks though from the depths of my soul.
Honestly, I have had it with old white men (hubby excluded-really good guy). If you are a white male republican over 40 and in government - I will do everything I can with my vote to get you out. BTW, females are not excluded from this, but I'm guessing that if they take more wins, females will be put in their "place" once and for all. For over 50 years, I voted for the person I thought would do the best job in office - never straight ticket. However, white male republican superiority towards others sickens me and I will NEVER vote for the party of "less government" again.
I know the ecological devastation must be awful and protections here are being stripped. Since there is no news on this area I always assumed it has to be bad and the war and the use of our so called president and his administration just a cover up so people do not see how bad things are in Russia.
Of course, after I wrote that there I saw a story about the ecological damage occurring in the Black Sea town of Tuapse where it is "raining" oil over much of the city.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/30/europe/russia-tuapse-oil-refinery-strikes-pollution-intl-cmd
It's true. Not just Tuapse is burning, but so is Novorossisk. Numerous attacks against the Black Sea fleet in Crimea have surged in recent days. There have been drone attacks in around St. Petersburg and Ryazan, all to some of the largest oil terminals and storage facilities in the country, particularly for jets, tanks. Ukraine is making it clear -- we will ensure you do not profit by what is happening, and we will remove the ability for you to wage war.
Ukraine has done an incredible job of using drone technology for so many different purposes. Maybe you saw the picture taken from a drone where a group of 15-25 Russian soldiers had their arms up surrendering to a small group of drones. To me, it looked dystopian, but it was real.
Their portable drone killing lasers are amazing and impossible to detect in use apparently. They developed it for a fraction of what it cost the US to develop similar technology.
Necessity is the mother of invention they say, and when Trump and JD pulled the plugged on supplied munitions to Ukraine, they were already experts in drone warfare. And, they are getting better all the time.
Any country would be smart to buy drones from Ukraine. Unfortunately, Trump and JD aren't.
It is a strategic victory. See what Martin Belderson says about it here.
https://underreported.substack.com/p/the-under-reported-war-issue-32?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
He makes me hopeful for Ukraine as does Dean Blundell.
https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/breaking-putin-is-hiding-in-a-bunker?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦
This is how I view it. It is a strategic victory. See what Martin Belderson says about it here.
https://underreported.substack.com/p/the-under-reported-war-issue-32?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
He makes me hopeful for Ukraine as does Dean Blundell.
https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/breaking-putin-is-hiding-in-a-bunker?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
There has been oil raining on Tehran too from the US.
And then there was Louisiana v. Callais. Consider the power of the Roberts Court. We are a "Government of Law", but the Roberts Court has the power to say what the Law is and they lie when doing so. Those crazy ass Trumpstein post are a diversion tactic to keep us talking about anything but that Roberts Court's corporatist fascist Lie, our biggest problem: a systematic corporatist takeover of America. Oh, and also ignore the side-stepping over Trump taking away the War Power of Congress?
But wait! Look! Up on the Nasdaq MarketSite tower! Their flipping us the bird! It’s a crashing Yellow plane! It’s Operation Epic Inflation! Yes, it’s Operation Epic Inflation which changed the course of the economy faster than a speeding bullet, is more deadly to free enterprise than Covid-19. And which, disguised as Trumponomics (A financial crisis resulting from unconstitutional Tariffs and Wars by a bad-mannered pathological lying narcissist) has closed the doors of businesses which survived a pandemic, including this week “Lammes Candies”, a Texan mainstay for 141 years. Plus forced the closing of many locations of Saks Global (57), Grocery Outlet (36), Pizza Hut (250), Kroger (60) and CVS (271). Brought to you by the recently “terminated” Operation Epic Fury. Join us soon for the “Epic” sequel, “Operation Epic Exodus”. A drama fit for Reality TV including treats of mass destruction and deaths, the clock ticking away to Election Day, the world economy loosing 20% of the oil (if you think $4.50 a gallon is bad, it's likely to get much much worse on everything that is transported -- Epic Inflation II), and the splintering of the co-conspirator fascist party dba the GOP, aka, R.I.N.O., thereby forcing TrumpStein to tuck his tail up his hind end and skedaddle out of the Middle East. It is sure to have the same poor Ratings as Epic Fury and our Epic Jackass himself. Nevertheless, never trust the polls. Take to the streets to let them know we are not scared but mad as hell. Get involved in the campaign of the Democrat nearest you who has a close race against a R.I.N.O. Register Democrats and assure they vote. Do what you do best. Get the vote out. Oh, for more on the Roberts Court Lies (our biggest problem) download, read and discuss the Memorandum at UnitedWeAmend.org.
The hate of the white male dominated extreme right wing goes very, very deep.
They are fighting hard for the Confederacy.
though astounding proportions of white women vote for trump - a majority of them in 2016 despite the Access Hollywood tape.
n 2019, Greta Thunberg spoke at a climate conference at the UN. She was only 16 years of age. I printed her speech and turned it into a lyrical composition. Please enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5lXby9apjI
Yes, Greta Thunberg.
Corrected
Yes, that is what I worry about the most: our earth. There is no Plan(et) B.
Old narcissistists who will destroy the world for their own ego.
According to some reports, Trump has begun comparing himself to Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte and Alexander the Great!
It didn’t end well for any of them, eh Brute’
sounds like full blown Sundowners Syndrome to me.
Spot on! Delusions in full color!
Yup. That is why someone in Trump's sphere should shut down "Truth Social" until morning.
Bozo the Clown, Elmer Fudd, Boris & Natasha, Jabba the Hutt, ......
Exactly!
The three most toxic humans to invade the earth, ever.
In every sense of the word.
GJ Loft, where are you getting information about Russia's losses?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/1/ukraine-begins-to-flex-muscle-as-an-emerging-air-power-angering-russia
All international free and high quality media have confirmed this. An example:
https://www.bbc.com/news/war-in-ukraine
Mostly from Quora.Comhttps://www.quora.com/?qv_src=email and a couple of Miltary channels on YouTube like The Military Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY3EISZgZfQ and a few others.
Yes, where are the news reports about all of this! I have almost completely stopped listening to TV news. Maybe peak at Maddow and O'Donnell now and then; otherwise, they don't report what you obviously know about Ukraine and Russia (but I didn't--thank you for the information). The Meet the Press and 60 Minutes broadcasts are full of nothing but easy reportings and softball interviews. I hope they notice that their ratings are dropping, at least hope they are dropping.
I listen to Progress Radio (XM 127) and MSNOW (XM 118) in the car quite often. We canceled cable a few years ago in spite of the fact that Spectrum was offering it to us for free. Plus, if we kept cable for a year, not only was it free, but they knocked $10 off a month on our Internet service.
My point is that cable is dying a slow death. The specialty stations like DIY and Magnolia, are canceling long running programs due to lack of funding.
Trump and his buddies can own and control the MSM but they can't make us watch it or listen to it.
Thank you for the reminderWhen there are no farms left…. Then there is climate change. I made a “bad” joke years ago that is even more appropriate now: salads made with greenbacks, lacking salad dressing. Need I say more?
I am in Europe and am so mad that Trump gets to prioritize Putin's needs over that of the US and the US allies. I am grateful to Martin Belderson for his reports on Ukraine, because they show what standing up to Russia without the US looks like.
https://underreported.substack.com/p/the-under-reported-war-issue-32?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
A Kaufmann deserves a solid answer or six. They are easy enough to provide and some have been offered already (billionaires SHOULD be paying more, as that is what progressive taxation is designed to do - take more from those who can spare it and less from those who are barely scraping by on what they have; tax shares computed on income tax alone are misleading as wage earners pay a lower percentage of their higher incomes in FICA taxes, that is, social security and medicare taxes because of the cap on taxable income. That cap has stayed the same despite the lower value of each dollar, so that now even middle income earners reach the cap. The cap is also on individual incomes, so a two earners in one family have to BOTH reach the cap to start enjoying the high income bonus, while a single earner who reaches the cap and supports a non-earning spouse gets the break on all the rest of their earnings. Guess what gender such a high-earning single earner is likely to be. And note that FICA taxes combine with childcare costs for a dual earner family, lowering their disposable income further. The childcare for a high-earner who can support a spouse to do it “for free” is granted the same income tax treatment as the childcare costs of the dual earner family.
So yes, the wealthier OUGHT to be paying more, but they aren’t when the full tax picture is considered. And furthermore, few billionaires are drawing incomes through taxable wages at all, but taking out “loans” based on their corporate holdings, which are then sources of deductible interest payments, while their wealth continues to grow in their holdings (often now at a higher rate than the interest they pay). So when the corporation manages to off-shore profits on paper, they pay $0 income tax, and both the corporation and its major shareholders escape the income tax as well as FICA.
So we are left trying to shrink our government to fit the budget left when billionaires and corporations are not paying their fair share. And since this is literally impossible, the nation has to borrow to stay afloat (as do many lower income families, ending up with an albatross of credit card debt just trying to pay rent and buy groceries). Then “debt limits” start making it impossible to meet basic needs. And our homeless population and food insecure population and medically precarious population grows.
Either we starve the working people of this country and their children, as in the worst days of early industrialization, or we start forcing the billionaires and multi-billionaires and trillionaires (whose ranks keep growing) to pay their fair share for the country as a whole. They can’t live here and force us to keep supporting them.
Add Viktor Orban to that triad. Fortunately the Hungarians have demonstrated that if we show up, we can take our country back from the oligarchs!
GJ Loft, Where else might I read about Ukraine kicking the Bear's ass? What you describe is very good news and I'd like to soak up some more of it.
I get several emails daily from Quora.com and Quora Digest. Also there are several YouTube people that post quite often. If you search for "Ukraine War Today" or sometimes just "Ukraine War" you should get several hits. Some of the sites are pure propaganda, especially the Russian ones. And then Al Jazeeri is good and the BBC but they don't often have much current information. There are also some substack posts but I don't usually look at those.
I hope Europe continues to stand strong with Ukraine, holding back the Russian menace until we change congress and the White House to a sane government.
This information about Ukraine and Putin is welcome. I haven't heard anyone talk about the ecological disasters---why would they? Ecology is for wimps. Interestingly (maybe) is the fact that this oil crisis from Trump's Iran War may be accelerating the move to clean energy---at least in China. My husband said the folks who put up windmills should give Trump a nice gold award for a boost in business. Hah. Hard to guess what will get us first, a severe recession, a spate of terrorist attacks, the climate crisis or World War III. And, yes, I'm pretty much always this perky.
Putin was in his early career in East Germany. Many of the medical hospital units are in Germany. I agree with you and Timothy Snyder. This is beyond the pale. I cannot see how some are so unconcerned and feckless.
What's even scarier is that, still, millions of Americans are cheering for it.
Well yes but this has been along time coming because forces were put in play decades ago. And if you look at the Histiry of our indigenous peoples all the lies, broken promises and treaties this is part and parcel of our country. We need to change and change in many many ways. I have my moments of despair and then other times can focus on what znIbwant to see happen. New maps everywhere ,ERA passed, a change in term limits, a change in numbers of Congress and SCOTUS. Lots and still I think perhaps maybe.
Heather is part of a great collaborative piece here:
https://www.democracyundersiegedoc.org/videos/v/democracy-under-siege-55-minute-version?fbclid=IwY2xjawRlcklleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeAN8Nt18kZsb4gXPG-t0YMEN0ZTvX9k1vB7us8LY_hbinJPqrBplg-7xOtbI_aem_Q4wXVazmkWRWUZXMyinH4w
I also saw that and have sent it to everyone I know! Unconscionable that they cannot get US film distribution.
What is/are znlbwant?
I'm going with "I want". I often hit the "z" key when aiming for the shift key. "nlb" I can't explain, although "lb" live next to each other on the keyboard. (These are a couple errors I make all the time; they are exacerbated if the writer is on a touch screen device.)
The under-educated, the less curious, the xenophobic spawn of Confederate Flag wavers? A Bronx Cheer upon them
That's not exactly the case. The GOP's ideologues side with the IDEOLOGY that Putin believes in. That's much much worse than becoming a vassal state. It means that from now on, the US is no longer the leader of the free, pro-democracy world. It wants to become the leader of the neofascist world, and, just like it did before, impose its own ideology on all other countries.
That is true. But it is also true that it is Putin who commands Trump, not the other way around. So, Putin rules the US with Trump as his proxy. And the reason this works is what you said: that the Grand Old Party has become the Great New Fascist party. The 'Republican' senators simply DON'T MIND being ruled by Putin.
We don't have any proof of that.
We do know that the neofascist GOP leaders write his executive orders and are the brains behind it all. That's on the one hand the neofascist tech billionaires (represented by Vance), and on the other hand the "Christian" nationalist Heritage Foundation (represented by... Vance).
What happened inside the GOP is THE best thing that could ever happen to Putin. He basically doesn't have to do anything, since the US is now actively convinced that fascism is better than democracy.
I really don't understand how this is taking so long for people to understand.
Perhaps it's because of posts like these, posts that only mention Trump-Putin interactions and rarely discuss the ideological shift INSIDE the GOP - both leadership and rank and file.
It is not the case AT ALL that the Senators "don't mind" ideologically siding with Putin, so actively installing neofascism in the US. It's that they WANT it. Under Biden, the last ones still resisting it were thrown out of the party of made inoffensive. And as Kamala Harris correctly repeated during her book tour: this has been decades in the making. And it's 100% American. Putin merely reaps the benefits of this intra-American revolution, that's all.
By 2001, before Viktor Orban, before Project 2025, before Trump, KKK Grand Wizard and GOP political gadfly David Duke was selling American racist right wing religious extremists the idea that Vladimir Putin is the Great White Hope of Christian Nationalism and European civilization. By 2013, such embrace of Putin was amplified by more mainstream GOP leadership such Pat Buchanan.
But wait, there's more. Not surprisingly, in 2016 and 2020 David Duke endorsed Putin fanboy Trump but then in 2024 Duke endorsed Putin fangirl Jill Stein (whose followers helped elect Trump twice.)
2001
David Duke, To Russia With Hate - CBS News
.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-duke-to-russia-with-hate/.
2025
Republican Russophilia: how Trump Putin-ised a party of cold war hawks | US foreign policy | The Guardian
.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/15/republicans-russia-putin-trump.
"Based on reports and polling data, a segment of Republican politicians and conservative commentators has increasingly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin, viewing him as a defender of "traditional values" or "Christian values," particularly within the context of cultural issues. "
Google AI
Wow... I didn't know this part of the story yet. It's getting worse by the day... .
As to Jill Stein: are you being sarcastic, or do you believe that she truly admires Putin (who's not exactly protecting the environment)?
She is just a Russian shill and a loser. Here is what Dean Blundell says about Putin.
https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/breaking-putin-is-hiding-in-a-bunker?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
It's true that this started decades ago. Key words: Powell Memorandum and heritage Foundation. Reagan was the start, Trump is the end product. But don't forget that Putin was instrumental for Trump to win both of his elections - and Vlad doesn't do anything for free, Donnyboy has to pay it back somehow. And not only that, I'm convinced that Vlad has some 'compromat' on Donnyboy, too...
Dutch Mike, call me "Johnny One Note," but you left out one key word: evangelicalism.
Fueled by "Prosperity Gospel" (God blesses the worthy with health and wealth), that movement began building up steam during the Great Depression. This anti-science, anti-secular, anti-education, anti-government world-view softened the ground for the seeds of the Powell memo and Heritage Foundation's "Mandate for Leadership" to germinate and take root.
I would suggest that Reagan wasn't necessarily the start. Rather, he was the "proof of concept" that an intellectually challenged, manipulable spokesmodel could be installed in the White House to do the bidding of his handlers. Bush 2.0 was the "crash test dummy" and Donald is the "production model."
It's the neofascist GOP who vitally needs a clown in chief like Trump to distract us 24/7 from what they're doing and why. And it's a neofascist GOP that Putin needs.
“Dark Money”. Jane Mayer
Dark Money opened my eyes to all of this crazy.
So did this:
Heather is part of a great collaborative piece here:
https://www.democracyundersiegedoc.org/videos/v/democracy-under-siege-55-minute-version?fbclid=IwY2xjawRlcklleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeAN8Nt18kZsb4gXPG-t0YMEN0ZTvX9k1vB7us8LY_hbinJPqrBplg-7xOtbI_aem_Q4wXVazmkWRWUZXMyinH4w
We will stop it. Even if it means marching on Washington for days on end.
"As Trump’s popularity has sunk to new lows, he has renewed his efforts to remake Washington, D.C., into a monument to himself, almost as if he is trying to anticipate history by making future Americans think that he must have been great because of all the tributes to him in the capital."
If only some wealthy philanthropist would fund a research project to create an anti-ego potion that could be surreptitiously dropped into someone's diet coke to suppress their narcissistic excesses.
Maybe a high dose of estrogen would do the trick?
What goes up must come down. Prepare the wrecking balls, sledgehammers, bulldozers and bonfires for when he's gone.
Like many of the civil war statues that were knocked down so will all the gold shit be destroyed (and there will be major celebrations). It may take several years but democracy is prevailing 😊😊😊
Brown, it would be so much better for us and our planet if we could stop them before they are built! I wish we could figure out how to do that!
Liverpool, I am hoping for a drug that can be sprayed widely that would stop the male need for war, for injuring, torturing, and killing people, for destroying everything they can, and the rest of that stupidity!
As a May Day sign said “PLANNED PUTINHOOD”.
And Netanyahu, who convinced djt to join Israel in attacking Iran on a whim, for no reason that the regime can explain.
Yup! Since I am in Europe I need Europe to believe in itself the way that Ukraine has grown to. I am grateful to Martin Belderson for his reports on Ukraine, because they show what standing up to Russia without the US looks like.
https://underreported.substack.com/p/the-under-reported-war-issue-32?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Thanks for that info! And yes, Europe can learn a lot from Ukraine...
It can if it can let go of depending on Trump.
Maybe it's part of long game. Not wanting to burn all the bridges to America because they hope that after Trump there will be a more 'normal' president again. But I doubt it. The American system is so broken, I don't see it recover within the coming 50 years.
I thought we had to worry about getting to 2028. Now I, too, am more worried about making it to the midterms. The Republicans in Congress are completely complicit at this point, despite the mice squeaking about congressional oversight on the withdrawal of troops from Germany. The war powers act deadline being allowed to expire without congressional action was the signal that there are no guardrails left in Congress, Trump is going to go after the filibuster hard so he can get SAVE Amerika enacted, and a slew of other laws to remake our country. He has told us so.
The SCOTUS decision on Callais made it clear that they will support Trump on whatever he wants, so there are no guardrails left there either.
We always knew that things would get worse before they could get better, but the worst is coming fast down the track.
Democracies die slowly, then all at once. It feels like we are on the verge of institutional collapse. What are the next steps? Continual mass protests? Trump is trying to provoke violence against Jeffries. Will that be what his demented vision is for Amerika's future? Democratic leadership physically attacked or jailed on a pretext? And after that???
Continual mass protests are definitely needed. Focusing on the election is definitely needed. Fear that they can shut down the election or disrupt it by illegal means are just fears and I think are highly unlikely. The requirements to do that are massive and the potential benefits given the way our country works (with states and districts, all using different voting mechanisms, and no central authority) are minimal. But we can NOT be passive and assume things will work out. Pressure must be applied and focus kept on all the possible places things can be screwed with to impact the election results. The potential damage to the country is too great to ignore.
And Democrats need to get more aggressive. The days of lumbering along through the courts are not remotely enough. We need aggressive LEADERSHIP and we need it NOW! No more strongly worded letters! Let’s hit the streets and ACT like we want to SAVE this county!
Yawn.
So you want a democracy ("demos" = people, "kratein" = govern, so a society where the people govern) but then you refuse to ask what you can do for your country and want to ask the only ones whose political power "we the people" took away entirely in 2024 what they will do for us... ?
This IS the problem, in the US.
And by the way, all the fights in courts are absolutely crucial to slow down the installation of neofascism. So we should be applauding Democrats rather than indulging in the typical Dem-bashing...
I totally applaud what is being done in the courts. I praise Marc Elias ALL. THE. TIME! And I understand courts are the best and only way to slow the bastards down a bit. But we must be doing MORE.
With the exception of a handful of Dems in Congress, nobody is doing anything to LEAD. People out here in America who are horrified by what is going on feel helpless and small. What can we do as a lone individual? That’s what leaders are for, but no one is organizing or writing a Project 2029 for when Dems take back power or doing anything. While crazy pants in the WH sends out post after post on his LiesSocial, his minions are tearing down every good thing about this country and stealing the taxpayers blind. I cannot believe there isn’t more they could be doing. If it weren’t for Substack and a few of the wonderful writers and great minds here, I wouldn’t know half of what’s actually going on and I’m a need junkie. Where are our Congress people? Why are they not out sounding the alarm, informing the public?
Dems still have no platform. We are still just “against Trump.” What are we FOR?
Let’s get a plan going. Let’s give Americans something to look forward to besides just getting rid of the FatOrangeGuy. The bad guys are running circles around us and we are allowing it. Yawn all you want, but things are SERIOUS and I’m frustrated with our Party!
I'm sorry, but your assessment of what Democrats do in Congress is demonstrably false. Just go to C-SPAN and check, before you indulge in Dem-bashing at the very moment when we need EVERYONE to be well-informed and massively support Democrats, at all levels.
As to Project 2029: that's basically the Constitution! What is at stake, right now, is democracy itself, it's the US Constitution itself.
And the whole idea that Democrats would NEED a version of Project 2025 is false to begin with. Do you know how many outstanding bills Nancy Pelosi managed to pass in the House and that need only ONE thing to be signed into law, namely "we the people" finally sticking with them election after election, and giving them the supermajorities needed to pass them?
The problem is not and has never been a lack of plans or ideas or leadership, on the left.
The problem on the left is that citizens forgot how to engage in their democracy and keep it alive.
Instead, you think that being "frustrated with your Party" is somehow good enough. This IS how we destroy a democracy and turn it into a spectator sport instead.
I do understand that you feel alone and helpless. Social media created those feelings, for millions of Americans. They're also FALSE. The Constitution still gives you the power to fact-check the news, understand how great it is what Democrats are doing (even though the media don't report on it), and then do THE most important job of a citizen in a democracy: TALK about politics and the GOOD things out there done by Democrats and planned by Democrats with neighbors, family members, in church, on the work floor, at the kitchen table etc. It's this crucial debate culture that has disappeared, over the last few decades, including on the left. Only WE can restore it. No "leader" can do that for us.
Yes WE can!!
Kathryn, the first thing you can do along with some of us are register and urge some of the 90k people who did not vote in 2024 to vote in the midterms.
Then you can constantly suggest to everyone you know to regularly check their voting registration status at vote.org.
Yes, the dem-bashing is a self-inflicted wound. 'Superpower suicide' stuck with me.
What is Trump planning to do with the troops he is withdrawing from Europe? I know about the Posse Comitatus Act, but when does Trump obey the law? Would he bring them home for the Midterms, supposedly to protect the polls?
SAVE Amerika does have national implications for the midterms, and even if it is on its face unconstitutional. There is no guarantee that SCOTUS will not still rule that it is enforceable.
Landry’s “suspension” of the primaries in Louisiana is another test of how far the right-wing District Courts will go in teeing up cases for the SCOTUS majority to rule on.
SAVE Amerika has another purpose. Trump and his minions will use it as an excuse to weaken/abolish the filibuster to protect “election integrity.” There is no need for the filibuster if there will not be free and fair elections in the future. Trump already told his MAGA core that they would never have to vote again. If that happens, the last slim reed of power would be for a handful of Republicans to stop action in the House by joining all Democrats to deny a quorum so no legislative actions could be taken. It would not stymie Trump’s ability to get nominees confirmed by the Senate.
I take every one of Trump’s statements/memes as a clear indication of his puppeteers’ intentions. He is tripping on demonstrating his power by being transparent about his corruption and reveling when there are no successful attempts to hold him accountable.
Trump’s puppeteers are creating a crescendo of chaos to break the will of the people, with the economic pressure from the war with Iran, which they have no intention of settling, and the resulting cut-backs to the social safety net to pay for it. Transparently rigging the midterms and likely generating claims of violence to bring out the military are designed to make people feel powerless. The Comey seashells indictment is another test of what Trump’s minions can get away with.
Epstein Fury has achieved one of its main objectives in Amerika: distraction. All of the Arc de Trump and East Wing destruction is part of the distraction campaign. Even Heather is being distracted by the color of the paint on the reflecting pool. We can’t allow ourselves to be distracted.
Where is Trump still vulnerable?
Trump’s vulnerabilities are corruption and criminal conduct that are prosecutable in blue-state courts for actions not covered by presidential immunity. The Epstein files are the key. We can’t be distracted from that.
I am less worried about a shut down than the "fixing". In order to give legitimacy to their government, they need to "win" the election. Competitive authoritarianism as Anne Applebaum and Ruth Ben-Ghiat term it.
Georgia Fisanick,
Thanks to every American who has and who will continue in public protest against those who are working daily to remove our freedoms and with that our country.
Thank you, Georgia for your informed and patriotic comments. Your contributions are appreciated and inspiring.
We should continue with our marches and every outward display possible that rebukes this administration that is attempting to "remake" us into a Dictatorship.
We should stand with our fellow Democracies world-wide while we can. We must support and strengthen one another. Everyday that we allow to go by without opposing these evil forces means suicide for the values and freedoms to which our forefathers sacrificed their lives. We must not fail our future generations by neglect towards our duty to stand up against oligary/dictatorship!
I would like to see action beyond Congressionsl hearings. They have evolved into reality tv with scripted responses. Why waste energy it’s been years since a Congressional hearing was as honest as possible if ever but there were times like the Church committee .Congress needs to create a true action plan.
Thank you for reminding us of the Church Committee. Wasn’t he from Idaho? Now with the body slamming governor? And there was the senator from NC, Sam Ervin, who led the Watergate hearings. NC was purple in those days. May it return to that!
Georgia, that is so scary, just as Trump's handlers want. If we are all paralyzed with fear, they can just move in and take over. The problem is that there are 340 + million Americans and we are nearly at the breaking point, and if we can get the word out more clearly that this is nearly entirely Trump's fault with his rich white friends, maybe we can get more people refusing to do Trump's demented bidding. Fear though is powerful which is why it has been used to control people for so much of human history. Well, there have always been those who stood against the fear. It is just going to have to be a whole lot more standing against it this time.
I don’t think we are at a breaking point but the fabric is wrinkled worn and that smell one gets from ironing when you let or forget the iron on the linen a-bit too long. But something or some people have to react it’s physics though on a political level.
Uh... the GOP is installing neofascism in the US and you still wouldn't call that a "breaking point"... ?
It’s been installing for a long time. I still think we might come out and our collapse and rebuild. Fear is a tool. So I try it let it pass and move in.
Oh I am SURE that it is not only possible to rebuild, it's even still 100% possible to stop the installation of neofascism (only in the early stages, although they're moving fast) and reinstall and then strengthen democracy. What I meant is that America's democracy is at a breaking point, so NOW is the time to wake up, rather than to continue to imagine that all this would be the result of one frail, old, insecure, ignorant man.
The first thing to do is to make sure that those who don't vote vote and that traditional GOP voters finally wake up from almost three decades of propaganda an see that IF they want to keep American democracy alive (which polls show most of them still do), then they HAVE to for once refuse to vote for Republicans and vote for Democrats instead.
Mary, what exactly does the 'breaking point' look like to you?
I don’t know! It seems we’re at multiple log jams but the blockage has not caused collapse yet. I can hear the creaking. We shall see.
I once called for the once good generals to take over the government and prevent Trump from ruling and I’m sorry they didn’t. That was our better option. Your fears are justified.
I can’t agree with a junta taking over ever.
I know it’s hard to fathom. But watch what happens next. I think you will change your mind.
Yep Bill. My beef is we let him near the ballot. Would we have done so if the laws on the books had been enforced?
Susan Collins is sending out weekly propaganda via USPS. In small print it says the ads are sponsored by One America. When you check out One America.org they brag about supporting Trump's agenda and Thune.
You would never get that from the ads. All of them insult our intelligence by telling us about Collins has brought millions of dollars to the hospitals and fire departments. Last time I looked that is her job.
I completely agree with what you’ve written, Georgia. No.guardrails. None. Even SCOTUS prefers fascism under Trump. Never thought I’d type words like that.
Georgia, the funny thing is that we never really had any guardrails to begin with. We thought we did, but our systems were antiquated for this 21st Century. Our Constitution has only been amended something like 26 times in 250 years while other countries have changed their laws hundreds of times.
We can file a complaint against John Roberts for disbarment. Read this very interesting way of doing it: https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/i-filed-for-robertss-disbarment-then?r=3ff5b&utm_medium=ios
America needs to know what is the Dems plan for when trump does NOT 1. accept the mud term results of a HUGE Dem win and 2. that he won't leave in 2028.
🤬🤬🤬
Heather is part of a great collaborative piece here:
https://www.democracyundersiegedoc.org/videos/v/democracy-under-siege-55-minute-version?fbclid=IwY2xjawRlcklleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeAN8Nt18kZsb4gXPG-t0YMEN0ZTvX9k1vB7us8LY_hbinJPqrBplg-7xOtbI_aem_Q4wXVazmkWRWUZXMyinH4w
He is out of his mind! He always has been but now with reality setting in, he is crumbling. He needs to be removed from office asap!
Repeating my mantra, yes, we need to remove him, but the only course is to do so legally, which means either by election or impeachment or 25th amendment. No other course of removal is legitimate. Always keep that in mind. Given the options, focusing on the upcoming '26 mid-terms and the '28 election are the best choices, at least IMHO.
I am as afraid as Georgia Fisanick that we will have to endure much worse before the midterms. Republicans need to be able to understand how dangerous this all is, not just for our country, but the whole world. Can the democrats not find enough republicans who can to see the damage and find their conscience? Yes, each one of these republicans and some SCOTUS judges are complicit! But Trump is waiting for a spark so he can declare Martial Law, then do whatever he wants.
Declaring martial law is not simple. He will be sued all across the country by concerned AGs and various groups and even companies. There will be injunctions. And I have real doubt that the Supreme Court, even though they are willing to give him political cover for legitimate things (like supporting his redistricting efforts) will draw the line at supporting a clearly unsupportable martial law declaration. Does this country LOOK like it needs martial law declared? I seriously doubt it, and I doubt it will happen at least not before the next election.
The GOP can do some nefarious things to impact the election, but if the Dems and supporters remain solid, I think that will be too little to work. But it will be close, that is certain.
NOT GIVING HIM the "spark" is key. If protests turn violent, then he could use that as an excuse. So far, we have maintained reasonable control, even in the face of things like unjustified shootings of civilian protestors. That's what needs to continue at last until the next election is over.
Agree, but it lays the groundwork to have 25TH AMENDMENT NOW trending on every social media platform out there.
As I said elsewhere, the 25th amendment was not intended to be used to unseat a "king" in the White House who is mentally unstable. It requires at least half the cabinet officers and the VP to vote to remove him, and then a confirming vote by 2/3 of BOTH the House and the Senate. The main purpose of that amendment was to provide a legal path to replace the President temporarily when he is TRULY "incapacitated", i.e., not able to function at all and can't give orders or anything. It doesn't seriously contemplate a President who CAN give orders, just crazy ones. So if the President has a heart attack, then the 25th amendment works to HELP. If the President is certifiable (as he well may be now), he will simply deny it and require the 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress which are virtually impossible to get, especially when his own party is in control of both houses.
Impeachment is possible in the House, as it would just take a few GOP votes to swing with the Dems to get a majority, but it takes 2/3 of the Senate to remove the President, and right now that means winning TWENTY GOP Senators, so unlikely as to be impossible. Even if the Dems win 5 seats and have a 52-48 majority after the next election, it will still take another 15 GOP Senators to convict on an impeachment. NOT going to happen (sadly, but that's the truth).
So focus on the elections. That is where the power of the people really lie and its the best way to take back the country.
Jon, I know all that. People here know all that. I'm saying that 25thAmendmentNow trending on social media lets far lower information voters know that everyone thinks he's demented and crazy enough to remove. We NEED those people to be thinking, hmm, maybe I won't vote for him this time after all.
Good point.
Jon Rosen,
Members of the Republican Party have been working on plans to "take over and transform our country" for a while. In my opinion, we have had trusted leaders in the past...even though some were as corrupt as those we find in office today.....but the best ones, stood for America and all of her people, because those leaders had inborn and daily fed CHARACTER! Good character is not bought. It is an inborn strength that takes rejection and loss from those who would use unbridled power to gain personal wealth....ie increased taxes, higher cost of fuel and groceries ie basic. daily needs.
The increase in gas/fuel prices affects our schools ie increased cost of fuel for buses, every form of transportation that uses gas.
True leaders care for and protect those who struggle the most. When we care for those who have the greatest needs, we are improving the lives and character of everyone.
Jon, and as you stated, VOTE!!!!
Wishing him dead daily has been ineffective. But it is cathartic.
Right. The cabinet won't invoke the 25th. Trumpniks must be defeated in the midterms and the trump must be impeached, convicted, removed and confined in a secure facility as soon as the new Congressional session begins in January.
Trump may be impeached after the mid-terms if the Dems secure control of the House, but the chances of convicting and removing him by a 2/3 vote in the Senate are about as remote as me being the winning quarterback in the next Super Bowl. Its POSSIBLE, but highly (and I mean HIGHLY) unlikely.
He and none of his associates (unless he has decided he hates them by then) will ever see the inside of a Federal prison, and certainly not during his term in office.
NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
Jon Rosen: Remove him legally? That is a futile hope until November 2, 2026, (and then waiting for Jan. 1, 2027 when the new members of Congress are sworn in. And a midterm victory for Democrats isn't guaranteed. Given this president's lawlessness and growing proclivity for using violence, there is well-founded fear about whether we'll have elections at all, and if we do whether they'll be sufficiently free and fair. (1) Will the president try to impose martial law and cancel elections? (2) Will he somehow manage to persuade Republicans to kill the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act? (3) Will the new gerrymandering options the Court just made possible manage to pervert whatever electoral strength the Dems might gain?
The bottom line is, there is no chance at all of removing the president legally until Jan. 1, 2027, when (if) elections return the Dems to control of the House and Senate. And this impetuous president could do a lot of harm between now and election day. I guess we can hope for a miracle in the form of a mass conversion of GOP members of Congress to honor their oaths of office, or for an act of God.
We're playing by the rules while "he" never does. Regardless of whichever law or legal body thwarts him, he disregards or defies these. My only point is, To caution that we must use only legal avenues to remove this unsound, unfit man from the Oval Office, is to almost guarantee he won't be removed before Jan. 20, 2029, if then. I'm not espousing violence, rather, mass acts of civil disobedience --i.e. UNLAWFUL acts, a la Gandhi's Salt March. Blocking roadways and airport access. Shutting down important sporting events. You too, Jon, have advocated in previous posts for mass civil action and protests, but then you say we should use only legal means. So I'm not sure where you are on the issue of removal from office.
Massive civil protests are NOT the same as massive civil disobedience. And civil disobedience is a long way from coup d'tat and assassination.
I generally discourage civil disobedience in the forms of sit-ins where other people are blocked from being able to do what they want to do. I acknowledge that there are times when it is necessary but you need to be cautious or you generate a large counter-action. The civil rights movement was fairly selective in its disobedience and anyone who participated knew that they could end up in jail and with a criminal record because what they were doing was technically in violation of the law.
And there is a difference between protesting by marching in front of an event, and "shutting down" the event by making it impossible to conduct.
With respect to Trump, there is NO chance to remove the president legally unless the Democrats take back the House by at least a few votes or more, and more important, take back the Senate by probably at least 15 votes. The latter is virtually impossible, as while I think we can impeach Trump after Jan 3, 2027 when the new Congress is installed, we will never have enough votes in the Senate to remove him from office (requiring 67 Senate votes, 2/3 of the total + 1). So expecting for him to be removed before he leaves on Jan 20, 2029, I think is daydreaming.
Like it or not (and I don't), this country VOTED for him to be President until Jan 20, 2029, and unless we have the votes to impeach him, he will be there until that date. I absolutely urge us to continue to use legal means and political means to create obstacles to his outrageous behavior, but don't think that will make him leave.
And he will pardon himself and all his minions on Jan 19, 2029, so that no one in his administration will ever be held federally liable for any of their actions. That's the way our Constitution is written. If we want something different, we will have to change it.
I don't disagree with the facts or analyses you present, Jon. Nevertheless I probably come down in favor of civil disobedience beyond civil protests. (Even I am not in favor of assassinations or violence, which coups d'etats virtually always are.) Mass acts of civil disobedience may interfere with people's freedom to go about their chosen activities, true. In the end it may be a matter of competing interests or priorities. If community freedoms are being restricted by a despotic government, are some individuals justified in limiting the freedom of other members of the community to overcome the greater oppression? I think as long as we're willing to take the consequences of our decisions, our acts are justified. Maybe we're at the level of individual conscience at work.
Yes, he won the election, even if by a small percentage of the popular vote. (Personally I don't think we'll ever know whether there was funny business or not in the 2024 election.) Deference is given to the winner of elections, however marginal the win is. But this particular winner has trashed the very system he was elected to uphold. This is not a normal president, not a normal presidency, not normal times. What's needed: a political revolution or merely regime change? I think civil disobedience in the times we're living in is justifiable, maybe imperative. But of course others disagree with this conclusion.
Look Everyone!!! Our TV personality, King Trump, wrote a clear script for the Iranians and they JUST WON'T FOLLOW THE SCRIPT!!🤯. What's the f...ing matter with these mullahs?? The King has only slotted them into a few episodes and they keep pushing script creep. If they get the King really pissed, he might have to kick their whole culture out of human history.
So we come to the central problem: Why is the Republican majority in congress NOT DOING THEIR JOB of OVERSIGHT??? We are all endangered by this rampant corruption, ineptitude and inhumanity. We will be paying for this for decades. Republican self interest rises above the obligation to serve the American people ( at least not those who lack $billions in assets.)
I cannot believe that major news sources are not headlining this insanity. This is the supposed president. I hope everyone here will amplify this dementia breakdown across all their platforms, just as HCR posted:
At 11:03 he posted an AI-generated image of himself, alongside Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, all shirtless, along with an unidentifiable woman in a bikini, appearing to be relaxing in a swimming pool. But the “swimming pool” was the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Then, at 11:04, rump posted an image of First Lady Melania Trump grinning at the press conference Trump held after the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, when he said that incident proved he needed his proposed ballroom for his security.
Then, at 11:13, rump posted an image of House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who is Black, holding a baseball bat. The caption calls Jeffries “low IQ,” “a THUG,” and “a danger to our Country.”
Then, at 11:15, he posted an image of himself smiling and holding six wild cards from the game Uno. The caption read, “I HAVE ALL THE CARDS.”
Then, at 11:22, he posted a profile image of himself in gold.
Then, at 11:26, he posted an image showing him standing near Mt. Rushmore, with the angle arranged to make his head the fifth sculpture on the mountain, so from left to right they were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and Donald Trump.
Then, at 11:32, he posted an image of himself and the first lady.
Then, at 11:37, he posted an image of himself and King Charles III.
Then, at 11:40, he posted an image of what appeared to be the reflecting pool full of algae next to one that appeared to be the reflecting pool clean and with a bright blue color. Above the dirty image was the label “Hussein Obama,” and below it, the caption “Photo taken Sept[ember] 29, 2012”; the clean one was labeled with “Trump” and “Coming Soon.” Over the two together, the caption read: “This is what our Country was before, and after, “TRUMP!”
Then, at 11:41, he posted an AI image of the reflecting pool appearing bright blue, under the caption “American Flag Blue.”
Then, at 11:45, he posted another AI image of the reflecting pool appearing bright blue under the caption “American Flag Blue.”
It was some 43 minutes.
This is one reason why we Jimmy Kimmel.
YES. And all the late night shows. It's the most incisive political reporting there is out there.
Trump’s deck is obviously missing a few cards. Facebook sites are full of bot comments (folks with one post a year) attacking any criticism of Trump.
Time to delete Facebook?
I just post good stuff from here on Facebook but I never go on there myself.
Alexandra, our media are now owned by corporate America, and they see no benefit in telling the truth to anyone. They and their rich bullies want to control everything here for their own benefit. They are beyond addicted to money and power and cannot stop themselves even if they wanted to and they don't want to.
Ruth, agree and it is so sad. It is why we need corporate money out of politics and government. Such selfish, greedy scum how do those CEOs live with themselves. They must be soulless. Maybe after making all that money, that is what happens to those CEOs and elite 1 %.
Alexandra, I agree. During the 2024 debate between Biden and tRump, corporate media played Biden's face and concerning responses over and over again. During that debate tRump lied and made ridiculous statements. That was not shown. Of course, we had no idea how crazy tRump's statements and actions would soon come.
You summed it up nicely…a freak show presidency. and our Republican majority are either refusing or are unable to acknowledge (IMHO )the dangerous waters we are in by exercising their right to executive oversight.
He owns all the news and has a law suit against BBC
Dementia is too kind a word for it - Trump is and always has been a psychopath. The power he has, the sycophants who fawn over him, the Republicans who egg him on with their compliance, the ‘news’ sources that sane wash his inanity - it all feeds that monster, and the dementia just adds seasoning to the mess
it is not dementia. It is a plan. I wish people would stop calling it dementia because people with dementia are not necessarily dangerous to humanity!
Both things may be true at the same time. DJT may (likely) have dementia; the project/plan is Project 2025. His handlers crafted it and he has been their useful idiot. The plan will continue with or without DJT, unless and until it is stopped.
I am afraid you are right Signe K.... May the Universe and any higher being you trust in help us all.
Well yes but most people who had to deal and live with dementia like my mother in law are not white collar crime members. And the supposed dx that often comes up is not the type that most people have. The Alzheimer’s Association folks and gerontologists should all be speaking up.
Right. A demented psychopath is even worse.
How does the republican congress sit back and watch tRump’s deranged behavior. They were all over “sleepy joe.” Hypocrisy, grift, and LIES are the key stones of the current GOP.
Janell, it is deliberate blindness to what is going on. I am not hearing of much discomfort though, probably because they have been told their blindness will clear as soon as they do the bidding of Vought and the rest of the Project 2025 oligarchic bullies when their campaigns are dripping with money demanded by the Klan and "sacrificed" by the big money fools. It is going to be hard to get people/Republicans who were recruited for office because of their inability to do the right thing, to do the right thing for this nation. My senator, McCormick, not even from my state, and doesn't live here, is a perfect example of that, and there are plenty of others. It is really hard to name any exceptions.
Depressing
Absolutely! Regarding whatever (bad word!) Trump commits, I always say, what if Biden, or heck--ANY other POTUS did that?
I worry that the constant and serial postings about important and trivial things reflect a real disturbance in the cranium of our leader. I expect he's not inherently adept at AI so I suspect that Steven Cheung is toiling away at his desk and just offering up a portfolio of images every single day from which Trump can pick at any time of the day or night.
We need a grown-up in the room. Susie?
Susie may be a grownup, but she's all on board with the hostile takeover of our country by Project 2025.
Well.... yes. Russ Vought is living his best dream.
Swbv, yes Vought is living his best dream. He thinks he is nearly god since he supposedly wrote most of Project 2025 and it is working as his rich buddies planned. Unfortunately for him, Trump started a war, so people are pissed off with the supposed saviors of America, Trump, Vought, and his dreamers. The rest of us need to get the word out in every way possible to let folks know for sure that their troubles are actually Trumpian and Vought/rich guy directed and that voting Democratic this time is their best hope for something better. Republicans who have been taken over by the anti-America forces care nothing for any of us. To them, we are just potential slaves who should be able to be pushed around and harmed whenever those guys choose. The question now is for how long will we tolerate this evil? This nation suffered enslavement of a significant portion of the population and it was good for no one but the very rich whom we need stopped. It would be interesting to see how many of those Vought/Musk/bezos/Theil/Ellison-level rich guys could make it on the median wage of their employees. I bet they would go nuts in 2 days because they have no clue how to actually work and they wouldn't know how to get food or housing or anything else without massive help. Why in heaven's name are we allowing these pathetic examples of humanity to be in charge of anything!!
The quadrumvirate of evil: Trump/ Vought / Miller / Vance
Nearly all our current troubles and the threat to our future election independence can be traced directly back to the successful scheming of this quadrumvirate
Crass of me to say, but yes -- his wet dream.
Swbv, Susie can't help them or rather she is helping a whole lot. She is one of the boys and will do whatever she is told so she can think she belongs in their world. She is the gatekeeper and makes sure the boys behave while they are doing their dirty work to harm this nation. I have heard no evidence of anything to challenge that understanding.
Just a little late.
And...
In an age where the world is on fire, President Trump is giving us the ultimate distraction: a relentless stream of late‑night social media posts that scream “look at me” with all the subtlety of a reality TV finale.
The other night, the world was blessed with AI-generated images that turned the Oval Office into a self‑love showcase. Picture this: Trump, shirtless and bronzed, flanked by a cabinet that looks like it was designed by someone with an unhealthy relationship with Photoshop. And as if that wasn’t enough of a spectacle, he gifted us a picture of himself on Mount Rushmore. Why have a legacy when you can just upload one, right?
But the showstopper? A post featuring his hand clutching an absurdly exaggerated “I HAVE ALL THE CARDS” Uno deck. It’s as if he’s trying to turn political discourse into a game of Go Fish. The message is clear: “I hold all the power, and I’m here for the funny.” But nothing says “presidential” quite like a meme-worthy reflecting pool filled with flags that only a caricature of America could produce.
What’s most remarkable here isn’t just the absurdity of the images, but the audacity to reframe the presidency as one long meme campaign. It’s like a history book slowly transforming into a high-budget TikTok. At this point, we’re less concerned about what’s happening in the world and more worried about when Trump will drop his next “World’s Greatest” filter.
Organize the turnout for elections & VOTE just like voters did in Pearland, Texas.
Brian: This my friend is the winning message today.
Trump is not legally insane, and probably not medically demented. Some kind of nut? Sure. Power-crazy? Obviously. What's going on now is i a little more outrageous, but it shouldn't surprise anyone. It's who he is, was and will be.
Trump told us freely at the start that he likes to operate on whim and impulse. He didn't say the word reckless, but reckless is what that means. He's only displaying it and reminding us of it while his devoted masses shout prayers of praise.
Arnold, I disagree. He has dementia and his staff and toddler pool of sycophants know it. He may also have other health problems that we don't have specifics about. Yes, Trump is an idiot, a fool, and an evil sociopathic jerk, but he is also living with dementia and some kind of medical condition, possibly heart-related. Having lived with someone with dementia it was clear to me he was experiencing it back in 2019 and it has not improved, just as dementia doesn't improve.
I would not call it dementia before mental illness. Dementia in our society is a kind of excuse, that he can't help himself, doesn't know what day it is, etc. But I won't give him that out. He has always shown personality disorder in all his pompous, boisterous, bullying and self-serving ways. He is so lost in narcissism that he no longer functions as president. And this self-dealing is his choice, his failing, his obsession. He is not debilitated, he is criminal.
🤢🤮
I cannot agree more.
A dozen phone calls to Putin, yet he hasn’t addressed Congress on his illegal war, much less anything else. It’s blatantly clear who pulls the strings on the criminal puppet in the White House. Maybe because Putin has the full Epstein files and Congress doesn’t?
IronmanNC, I think a lot of people have suspected that Putin has the files and keeps reminding his Baby Donnie that he has them and tells him and his handlers what they have to do to "protect" their baby. I must say, it is disgusting that we are being led by a guy who has already wrecked his own country and is now working really hard to wreck ours. It seems to me that is treason and we need to begin framing it in that light. We need to get people out in every voting precinct and district who can ask the question, how do you like our country being dictated to by Putin of Russia and the rich white boys who control our economy? How is that working for you!
MAGAS don’t seem to care that Trump cozies up to Putin all the time. Why? They claim to be such avid patriots! Very strange!
You know what? Your questions are insincere and vacuous, IMO! I’m DONE trying to discuss the ways Dems need to change with you. You simply either aren’t willing or are incapable of getting the message. So, buhbye. Have a nice life pretending everything is hunky dory with the Dems. I adamantly DISAGREE (and so do 58% of Dems and Dem-leaning Independents per a CNN poll! 62% of Dems support a change in leadership! Put THAT in your delusion and smoke it!)
He is demented, yes. The problem with trump is not that he may be developing dementia as he ages. The problem is that he has always been a mean, unintelligent, racist, vindictive, cheating, self-centered, uncaring, power-hungry, misogynist malignant narcissist. And he is destroying our country. We should not give him cover or remotely normalize his behavior behind a disease that affects far too many elders.
Heather documents the madness and the megalomania, rather than burying it under “policy” or some other meaningless category the way too many still do. True prophets don’t sugar-coat the truth.
We’ve had bad leaders before, been ruled by bad parties before. But never have the two been so crystallized together in a single, deranged, cruel, criminal union like this.
And yet he still holds that office. Our government needs an overhaul so he and his enablers are stopped and this never happens again. Are Republicans actually smarter than Democrats? They’re getting away with crumpling our constitution. Where are the leaders that will stop him now? It’s already too late. Is not HCR’s letter tonight proof of that? Ok, I’ll admit it: I’m horrified and scared for our country and the world.
You’re far from alone in your fears. But they are losing many battles as well, some small, some not so small. So much still depends on us, on our willingness to persevere when despair wants to seize our hearts. And remember that what seizes their hearts is mostly fear and terror of abandonment. If he goes, most of them will follow and fall like dominoes.
If Trump loses momentum, it will leave a vacuum and opportunities, perhaps, for putting some brakes on the right's railroaded agendas. But the Same Old Serpent has always lurked in the halls of Big Money, and that will remain. From slavery, to child labor and owing ones soul to the company store, to "gig employment", "student loans", and ICE, SOS is behind the curtains. Even in wars.
I don't know what's the point of saying that, except to dissuade anybody from doing anything. You might as well just say Satan exists. But so what?
The facts are that there is are genuine spiritual re-awakenings that take place once very 70 or 80 years or so in American history, with tremendous implications for politics and society. This has been true from the 1600s on. We are a little overdue for the next one, but Heather and many others can see it coming.
Thank you for inspiring words
I saw a Nova science episode on PBS, and others make the argument, that over the long haul, humans have become more humane time, and I see many indications that this is true. Even with increasing shifts to the right in this country, you see the shifts in my lifetime, with a two term black president, a female candidate for president who won the popular vote, and openly gay candidates that indicates inclusion continues. I fervently cling to the potential of a new enlightenment based of truth and egalitarianism, the regime's hated "woke".
And also I see great peril in abuses of power, peril that could enslave, decimate, and even end our species. That said, a remain a cautious optimist, or I would not bother interacting here. It seems to me that evil is self-centered abuse of power, and corruption is abuse of entrusted power. The founders and framers held high ideals that they did not always live up to, which seems pretty common, but they actually built a "blueprint" for government around those ideals. They were canny enough to guard against likely abuses, though I gather that they did not fully anticipate our circumstances with Trump. Trump is however on our watch. As I have said before the Constitution is our recipe, but we the living bake the cake; and adapt liberating principles to our emerging circumstances. We do or don't breathe life into those principles, and guard them from misuse.
My point above is that money is a source of power, and can be deployed abusively, as can any form of coercive power. There are those who will murder for hire, and those that will pay for it. As money can be obtained in virtuous and evil ways, it can also purchase good or evil outcomes, and that can be illustrated. Yet Republicans since at least Reagan have pushed the notion that those with large stores of money should not have their behavior regulated, which seems to me to be a patent recipe for corruption and sociopathy, both of which are visibly now on the rise. We saw that historically in conquest and slavery in the early days of our nation, and we saw it as plutocratic abuses in the Gilded Age.
And since then, we saw decades of reforms, many of which were reversed, diluted or sidelined since Reagan. Yet, it seems to me, that the public has since gone with pressing lesser priorities than the "big one" of containing plutocracy. We did it once, but now most politicians seem to find that is radioactive; perhaps not for the best of reasons. Are there not a great many ways that those with the resources of a small nation are shaping our culture and it's ground rules to it's liking against our will? Externalizing their costs and liabilities onto the public and posterity? For real. Seems to me this is the one ring to rule them all.
And, I believe, fear (terror) of prosecution.
Heather has lost her ever loving mind. This is the stuff she's reporting on.? and it's 1117. Trump went to the bathroom. He unzipped his fly and put it near the urinal.
And then at 11:18, he put it back and then 1119. He walked eight steps over to Melania and then Melania smiled. This is the shit you idiots to listen to.
She needs to be reporting on the lunacy of the left and it's ultra and putrid hatred for no reason at all no rationale no common sense just hate profuse hate.
Obviously, you have no reading comprehension.
Rick is a troll. Best to ignore him.
So David, I’m still still waiting. I guess you don’t have any reading. Comprehension
Grandparents house her post was nothing more than farting from her mouth. Meaningless, meaningless, meaningless no substance nothing I could've read that in the funny pages
Heather's post was nothing more than mouth farts.
Go ahead and share some facts with with meaning from her post give it a shot Dave
Try me pal
troll. I don't remember her mentioning trump's bathroom habits. The fact he is posting self-aggrandizing memes of him as Jesus supporting the Red Cross, arms around Jesus just like he did with Epstein should be of some concern.
Rots of ruck
If you keep this up, someone might show some video or photos of you on Epstein Island with other women and your family is not gonna like it.
And a couple of men at the same time.
Oligarchs have largely captured major media and overpowered antitrust. We the people kinda let that happen. It makes a big difference; Woodward and Bernstein compared to "sanewashing". That said, Democratic Party leadership seems to have been playing a defensive game since Reagan was elected. We won some lost some, but for the better part of half a century political boundaries have moved toward plutocracy. Now plutocrats have mounted a coup, and it will take pretty focused leadership to stop them. The good news is the public discontentment with the Regime, but that unstable energy needs a lucid way forward to back.
Well, every time you've taken credit and taken charge, you've taken a shit on America. Maybe that's why you haven't had the leadership. Everybody who's your candidate now slick willey from California. reelect cackling kneepads.? withA your leadership is wacko
Debbie, what exactly would you change? I am not asking because I doubt your concern, but because there are limited things we can do, even in an overhaul. I am not sure the system is even totally bad, its just in the hands of bad actors right now, and no matter WHAT system you put in place, it is almost ALWAYS possible for bad actors to take over, either by deceit or by straight-out appealing to people's base instincts.
My biggest real concern is the unlimited pardon power in the Constitution, that almost certainly must be eliminated to at least remove the potential for the people being in power to be able to pardon themselves and their cronies just before leaving office and leaving no option to go after them once that happens.
I am not convinced that removing the electoral college would help. Trump won the popular vote in 2024 so even if we went to a straight popular vote, he would still have been elected. And small states, having some level of power right now, will probably resist any wholesale elimination of the EC. Maybe we can make adjustments to it to encourage or require proportional vote allocation which would make it harder for a minority candidate to win enough votes in enough small states to win the election despite the popular vote (as Trump did in 2016).
“I am not convinced that removing the electoral college would help.”
I am. If not for the Electoral College, the demented criminal wouldn’t have been elected in 2016. On the other hand, maybe this country needs exactly what it’s getting, either a wake-up call to the tens of millions who have taken our freedom for granted or the wholesale collapse of a country that had already squandered all it had been granted.
The past is the past. We have had the EC for 230 years. It has worked mostly, failed a few times (if you consider the popular vote to be the critical factor) but remember it is also intended to provide some balance based on states as well as population. In 2016 more states voted for Trump than for Clinton and from that perspective the EC worked.
It always depends on what you think is the most important factor in an election. We have never elected Presidents based on the popular vote for a reason and if you don't like those reasons of course you hate the EC. But many disagree and changing the current system won't happen anytime soon.
My problem with the EC, despite that I think it’s a cockamamie idea and not surprising no other country in the world has anything remotely like it, is Winner-take-all. Winner-take-all was never part of the original equation when this scheme was cooked up back then. It is completely undemocratic and indefensible to award all electoral votes to the candidate who won, regardless of the margin of victory, as it completely disenfranchises the votes of those who voted for the losing candidate. If we’re stuck with the damned thing, at least apportion the electoral votes in accordance with the popular votes. Virginia’s 13 EC votes would be split 7 and 6 in a race where Candidate A received 53% of the Virginia total popular votes. Candidate B gets the credit for the 47% who cast their ballots in his name. What could be more fair, and democratic, than that?
First of all, many (most?) countries use a parliamentary system in which the people do not vote for the single political leader (typically a prime minister) at all, let alone by popular vote. In England, for instance, the parliament is voted on by the individual districts (much like our House of Representatives) and the parliament chooses the prime minister. I personally think this is a LOT like our electoral system and it is the system on which we based ours, but we eliminated the royalty part of it.
Representative democracy is actually quite common in the world, as most countries do NOT trust the vote of the people. We actually ADDED a more "popular" mechanism for choosing the President, by having a SEPARATE group of "electors" to vote on the President rather than having the House (and possibly the Senate) do the voting.
I agree (as I have said before) that the winner take all concept in various states is a serious problem. Two states (Maine and Nebraska) do NOT use winner take all, but rather elect their "House district" electors by the vote in each district and then have their two "Senate" electors elected by the popular vote in the whole state.
There are plenty of ways we could modify our current system to make it MORE equitable but unless we went to a strictly national popular vote their is virtually ALWAYS a chance that a President selected by the electoral college could be a minority-popular-vote President (as Trump was in 2016 and a few others have been over the years). And a strictly national popular vote has its own perils, i.e., a majority vote that brought in a President bent on destroying the rights of the minority (oh, we just did that LOL!)
Historically, to get the states to ratify the Constitution certain compromises were crafted, including the Electoral College. Smaller states feared that a direct vote for the president would give too much power to the more populous states. It was actually a reasonable attempt to ensure confidence in the new nation's system of governance.
Well, the can get get rid of corporations as "persons".
Tte Santa Clara County, CA case that is the foundation of Citizen United law can be shredded.
Jon I believe the electoral college must go. It is not fair when CA has the same 2 reps as Maine.
Watch this if you can. Heather is part of a great collaborative piece:
https://www.democracyundersiegedoc.org/videos/v/democracy-under-siege-55-minute-version?fbclid=IwY2xjawRlcklleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeAN8Nt18kZsb4gXPG-t0YMEN0ZTvX9k1vB7us8LY_hbinJPqrBplg-7xOtbI_aem_Q4wXVazmkWRWUZXMyinH4w
Technically, all states having the same number of senators makes sense. What does not make sense is the limit of 435 apportioned as it is. Each representative from Wyoming represents about 9,000 people. Each representative from California represents about 704,500 people. That is not equal representation.
To say the least. And every one of use is theoretically a constituent of the president/VP, the officers we all vote on together.
Ally you are smarter than that. Wyoming has a population of 600,000. It has THREE EC votes. Each EC vote represents almost 200,000 votes in WY.
I admit it is not perfect but it's NOT as skewed as you suggest! If WY electoral votes represented 9000 votes each, it would have 60+ electoral votes which is more than CA has!
Changes to the EC and a requirement that EC votes be allocated proportionally rather than winner take all could make the system much fairer and still provide some of the "minority protections" it currently provides.
OK. I was not talking about the House of Representatives, not the Electoral College.
Numbers are hard for me. Words are not.
Oops, I just found this. Now we’re on the same page.
Why can’t we refuse to pay federal taxes? WHY, WHY, WHY?
Because you can be put in jail? That's one reason.
why do some billionaires pay none?
First it really doesn't happen like that much. Most billionaires pay federal income tax. Probably a LOT more than you pay. Most do NOT pay proportionately though that IS true. They have more deductions and exceptions so they pay s smaller PERCENTAGE than many regular wage earners because of that.
Yes the system isn't always fair but to say billionaires never pay taxes is pretty dumb and not true.
I did say some, and that much is true. And taxation is way less fair than it was some decades ago, which is my point. Warren Buffet complained (and claimed he used no dodgy tax tricks tom do it) that the woman who emptied his waste basket every day paid more of her income in taxes than he did, and yes, there are some very wealthy people who support fairer taxation. It seems to me that's not a small thing.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-1-2024?utm_source=publication-search
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/13/wealthiest-americans-tax-income-propublica-investigation
I too am afraid and also disgusted that our checks and balances and “ guardrails “ have been left vulnerable over the last five decades. The Republicans are despicable and soulless and smug and what protection do we have- the Democrats?
Why would we want to stop a duly elected President? It's as if you are saying that half the country is not entitled to their choice of President. And it's almost like you want to overthrow a legal, duly elected government, because you don't "like" the person who won? The rest of us do want him to continue, regardless of the inversion of reality that the Left clings so tightly to, to justify their hate. If you think this is "fascism" and you are so "scared" for your own safety, then this is exactly what the Left wants you to think. They have you exactly where they want you and you fell for it. Based on nothing. Fiction. Lies. Repeated over and over for ten years.
Heather is part of a great collaborative piece here:
https://www.democracyundersiegedoc.org/videos/v/democracy-under-siege-55-minute-version?fbclid=IwY2xjawRlcklleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeAN8Nt18kZsb4gXPG-t0YMEN0ZTvX9k1vB7us8LY_hbinJPqrBplg-7xOtbI_aem_Q4wXVazmkWRWUZXMyinH4w
Oh how I yearn for a President who isn’t crazy, a Congress that isn’t scared or lazy, and a Cabinet that isn’t full of incompetent and evil people! In my dreams….
Who more than self their county love. We ask it of soldiers. Why not presidents?
Well said, JL.
From America the Beautiful:
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine
Seems appropriate here!!
Heroes are those who go to great length to aid others, like in the song. Who do "Republicans" now aid, or for that matter, persecute?
Aid is the wealthy
Persecute is a huge category.
True that!
I'd be happy to have one that doesn't post anything on social media.
The other day, he announced a 25 percent tariff on vehicles imported from the European Union even after the Supreme Court ruled that his unilateral tariffs were illegal. Perhaps he thinks the clear language granting tariff-granting authority to Congress doesn’t apply to him. Imagine that.
And this is shocking to no one….
Collette, I have been shocked almost daily since 2016, and should be used to EXPECTING to be shocked, but such garbage as his "Truth" Social posts on Friday leave my heart so weary, because there are so many who never were, and never will be, shocked at what Trump has done and is doing to our country. I'm so angry that he keeps doing shocking things and nobody can really stop him. I do appreciate those judges, lawyers, independent podcasters, and average Americans who have rallied to protest his grotesque words and illegal actions. Who would ever have thought that a president of our United States could have gotten away with, been excused for, and worse, applauded for such corrupt and vile actions. So, I may not be all that shocked, but I'm astounded that he has gotten this far practically unscathed.
$COTUS ruled the the KING can do no wrong.
JL, no attorney would paraphrase the SCOTUS ruling as you just did. Flat error.
You must "distinguish" facts & law. It's called "lawyering".
Perhaps it would serve me to stick closer to the facts, which I do on occasion, but also often use exaggeration in the manner of an political cartoon. I make no claim to legal expertise, nor that the US officially has a king, but I think it is fair to say the Republicans on the Supreme Court have encouraged over-reach and lawlessness on the part of Trump, even if they have not always vindicated his policies. Former federal judge J Michael Luttig seems to think so
True. And nobody is really even trying to stop him. We rant and rave and he just laughs. He knows there is no group that has the wherewithal to really challenge him. Meryl Streep is trying but can only do so much. But at least she has done something. Hopefully if the Dems take the House they will challenge our new autocracy. The media has succumbed. And then there is the debacle of the Opera gala. Imagine so many estimable people fawning over the human disgrace that is Jeff Bezos. Let’s give a bow of respect to the Mayor of New York. We need a lot more like him.
The ‘Opera gala’?
There is a certain perfection to Trump’s criminality and con artistry. There’s never been a line he wouldn’t cross or a lie he wouldn’t tell. But the hood-winked masses that both vigorously and also begrudgingly supported him are slowly (far too slowly) realizing the severity of their mistake. May we learn well the hard lessons of this era (read:error) and do whatever is necessary to return the levers of power to steady, responsible, ethical leadership.
That’s what a divider does! Mission accomplished and becoming more dangerous.
Whose knee jerks first..an epic backfire perchance -as if the blue wins aren’t a clue…we knew!
Stay the course mates .Someone ‘s got to take the wheels quickly ,when the dust …as in ‘all he touches turns to dust ‘…clears.
Let’s.Be.Very.Clear.
💙
We cannot blame Trump alone. We must blame enablers - the Senate, the House and SCOTUS.
and bad think tanks and bad media and bad lobbyists and bad oligarchs ... we're in a perfect storm of badness here. russ vought and his gang published project 2025 telling us exactly what they were about to do. too many americans didn't believe it. or didn't believe they could get away with it.
if enough people go on acting that way it's going to be a long sixteen years ...
Boys, You said it.
It's also worth noting that in Uno, the winner is the one who gets rid of all their cards. The one with "all the cards" is losing badly at the game.
Yes, that's about what you'd expect from the Donold the dealmaker, businessman that's bankrupted 6 businesses and gets worse results and less leverage than what existed before his strongarming attempts and bullying tactics destroyed so many trade agreements, treaties and ceasefire farces.
I bet he has never played that game. My sense he has never played many games because in Child Therapy 101 one of the issues of children is game playing. With someone like the so called president games LD be part of the therapy. Taking your turn. Learning to lose well. Playing games not for winning or losing but to be with friends and enjoy chance .Kind of like the old Robert ? book about kindergarten. And the fact he has to say he has all the cards means he doesn’t have all the cards. He is living in fear .
Robert Fulgham, Mary 👍🏽💟☮️
“Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt someone.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies & cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life.
Learn some and think some.
And draw and paint and sing and dance.
And play and work everyday some.
Take a nap every afternoon
When you go out into the world watch out for traffic.
Hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.”
I would add in two more;
Wash your hands after you flush, also
AND
Vote Blue 💙🩵💙
Thanks for his last name and the specifics. The history of kindergarten and day nurseries very important. Some of the thinking began in Germany then England then the United States. Day Nurseries were part of the original public housing movement post WWII when at that time even medical residents and their families lived in the complexes.
Maria Montessori, Lillian Wald, Rudolph Steiner among many people who brought the concept of respect for young children and community socialization laced with kindness into the fore.
A great book, a great lesson.
trump has NEVER been a team player.
Because he didn't like teams, or because no team wanted him. Which came first, I wonder...
I bet it was trump's massive insecurities.
ALL bullies are SO weak, insecure, narcissistic, and paranoid.
They want you to be just like them!
Only people with self respect and respect for others are good in teams…any teams!
Great point! Ah, he changes the rules on everything’s.
Or just ignores them. That's what rule of law, with the consent of the governed, was supposed to fix; but it only works when we collectively live it.
Thanks for that, Justin.
"Uno"
No I didn'tno. It figures.
Excellent question! Where are you Republicans when your dear leader is certainly insane and threatening the entire world?
Zonked out on very bad a$$id.
The lack of resupply to American navy and marines and Hegseth’s banning of care packages is creating food shortages. “For lack of horseshoe nails, the war was lost.”
Yes, at the heart of Heather's today -- her reference to Timothy Snyder's "superpower suicide."
This involves not just the escalating chaos Heather also details, but more vitally, according to Timothy Snyder, the total corruption criminal Donald both inhabits and feeds.
Can Dems – especially newer, younger ones – cohere around corruption?
In his talk on superpower suicide, which he gave at the Council on Foreign Relations, he explained that we sink in the corruption, and lose our freedom, in proportion to the state ceasing to provide practical benefits: health care, travel infrastructure, reasonable-costing and environmentally friendly fuel, reliable journalism, consumer finance protections, day care, good food, and education allowing social mobility.
It’s not just criminal Donald who’s annulled the state’s practical services, but his criminality also allied to the cynical social media billionaires, the normalizing, dehumanizing mainstream media, A.I., and the racist, fascist tilt of the formerly “supreme” court.
Our suicide ensues as the corrupt grow and services shrink, the two paired.
It’s not only America’s suicide. It will take the rest iof the West with it. I’ve said it before: the reelection of Trumpty-Dumpty will usher in the end of Western civilization. I still hope to be priven wrong, though.
Hello Dutch Mike.... Is the USA's Superpower Suicide abetted by Netanyahu?... How does the Iran War benefit the USA, and most of the World?... It was initiated for Short-Term Political Gain for Netanyahu who Pressured DJT into this War... Epstein Files?... What is forgotten was Iran was over a Decade away from a deployable device, while Israel has at least 200 of them.... I don't believe that the Iranians believe in assured self-Destruction.. 'Spirit' Airlines ceased operations yesterday, as this War goes on, more Dominoes Will Fall...
I was about to make a comment on the absence of the word "Epstein" in Dr. Richardson's chronicle of the day's madness. Yours is the first one I've seen. There is a lot going on at once, and Dr. Richardson makes an admirable effort to record the most notable events. But the absence of the word "Epstein" makes me think the obstruction/distraction effort is succeeding, although at what cost to the world remains to be seen. We have three multi-billion-dollar floating targets on station in the ME and are about to remove some of their support (other, smaller floating targets) to escort vessels that are willing to run the Strait in defiance of Iranian efforts to keep it closed. What could go wrong? Hey, at least we won't be paying attention to the Epstein class for a while.
Hello James... Alisa Valdes-Rodriquez has been doing Stellar Investigatory Work on Jeffry's Web.... Essentially it was a Honey-Trap Kompromat Operation run by the Israelis, and the Russians.... Ghisaine Maxwell, her Father & Two older Sisters, were Israeli Assets... Jeffrey's Web was Wide & Deep... It ran for a long time, and snared many... There are Sleeping Monsters Out There..
Maxwell will soon be released in exchange for her testimony that Donald Trump was never involved with raping underage girls. My guess.
Good morning, Apache. That there are monsters out there I do not doubt. I hope they are not sleeping well, knowing that since information about their activities exists, it will be disclosed sooner or later. May it be sooner. The relentless efforts by those in power to keep that information from the public is ample demonstration of its damaging nature. I suspect it involves a lot more than “mere” statutory rape.
Hello James... Read Alisa Valdes-Rodriquez's Investigations of the Epstein Files, and then Ponder the Origins of this Iran War.... Monsters that cannot be named lurk, and are powerful...
I'm afraid that we're preaching to the choir. I'm afraid it's going to take something very painful to wake Americans up. I'm afraid.
Yes. And it seems that gas prices up 30% , billions wasted in a completely needless war, ICE goons shooting innocent citizens in the face, the White House torn down and America becoming an international laughing stock isn't enough to wake them up.
It isn't, Dutch Mike. They do not get the same information that we do, and when confronted with a counter to their MAGAt foundational information, they reply with a resounding and well articulated "TDS" (which in their world stands for 💩 derangement syndrome.)
Yep, they are completely brain-washed. I think most of them would rather die than give up their MAGA cult belief...
Accurate assessment!
With all the new alliances being formed by the other countries, I am more hopeful of the Western civilizations to be continuing, than I am of the US to continue to be that beacon Reagan spoke of. A lot of heads of State from all over Europe and Carney from Canada are in Yerevan Armenia at the moment, to strengthen ties.
True, but it would still mean the end of Western civilization as we know it ;) Something new will emerge - and maybe it will be better, who knows.
Some of my friends and I discuss this issue quite a bit. I believe that there was a civilization like ours many millions of years back. However, if the same kind of homosapiens come back, and the "human nature" is left as it is, we will continue to love/hate, create/destroy and make the same mistakes over and over again... I agree that we are living better lives now than ever before in our history, but we don't have a clue how much of a "better" we can get to. For some reason, we seem to retreat as easily as we progress.
We have short memories.
And are not properly educated.
I find that a very interesting theory! But I'd say we _do_ have an idea of how much of a "better" we can get to. To be honest, throughout our history, all of our sages, mystics, gurus and messiahs have told us so, and it is the same message over and over again: love one another.
But homosapiens carry "human nature" with them every cycle of civilization. I agree loving one another is a beginning, but humans cannot get hatred, resentment, bias, anger , greed .................(feel free to fill in) from the equation. If we are a simulation of some sort, it was very smart to add these feelings so we destroy each other and probably eventually ourselves.
The "Party of Lincoln" is now officially Corruption Incorporated, and corruption is flooding the nation, though not without a fight. Thank you for calling corruption by it's proper name. On the 250th Anniversary of grievances against another king, it is high time to speak out in favor of preserving unalienable human rights. That government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
He moved to Canada
The Council on Foreign Relations is in the U.S., JBR.
He spends more time in the U.S., and in Europe (including Ukraine) than he does in Canada. Many forums, interviews, and various other stages.
Right. Hes active. And im sure Toronto is great. Thanks.
I dont know if moving was for better job. PB. To me it spend like statement that Canada was a better place to live, pure speculation
I can't understand why you misrepresent Snyder's circumstances as you do. The US needs Snyder amongst others right now, and it needs him desperately. Why not present *all* the facts and then explain why you, as another human being, would make different choices. That would be an honest response.
Sorry. He lives in Canada. He travels extensively in US and Ukraine. Hes prolific and talented. Im sorry if you're upset. Virtually nobody reads what I write here.
No apology necessary. Just explain the whole story of how he came to be living in Canada.
All Snyder himself has said was that it was for family reasons, that he was doing it for his children. He's been very private about his reasons for taking a job at UT, though I gather it was a prestigious job.
Both he and his wife have spoken about it, each on at least one occasion that I listened too. Perhaps in response to the misinformation/disinformation campaign, I don't know their motivation but both were around the time it noticed the campaign picking up
But he did move his whole family to Canada. To Toronto. There may have been good reasons to do so, but still- when he did that I was disappointed. He's the one who told us all not to surrender in advance.
I may have misunderstood but I thought Prof. Snyder’s spouse had received an appointment to a Canadian university, so the family relocated. Please correct me if I’m mistaken.
Yes, he does have a spouse, and she is highly regarded in her own right. In respect for her work and contributions, she was rewarded with a juicy job in Canada. Smart guys like Prof. Snyder marry smart partners and honor their work and the entirety of their lives.
As a country, we would greatly benefit if many Americans would leave the USA and got a taste of how life is lived in other countries and cultures. We would discover that we all love our children and will do almost anything to clothe, feed, and educate them. We would discover that all of the world dislikes and is revolted by greedy, lying men who cheat, steal, rape, and create wars that rob us all of our treasure and our family. It is universal, and if the US can't remember to treat its children and their mothers with love and respect, then we are no longer a country to be admired and respected, and we will lose our bright lights to other countries that understand love and unity.
I believe he did also. Maybe first. Doesn’t matter; he’s still active in US politics. He went to Ohio, where he’s from, to protest in March.
Again, you present half the story so misrepresesent the situation. This tell half the story business is a very JD Vanxe way of manipulating people and anybody supporting democracy needs to be above such tactics. Honesty is critical to rebuilding democracy in a country that has chosen to flirt with fascism.
That's not quite what happened. You may disagree with the choice the family made, but at least be honest about what happened since you are making an accusation about surrendering in advance.
He’s smart. Plus, his wife got a job at a Canadian university.
If I live for 200 years, I will never understand why 70+ million Americans voted for this man. Of course, it might have been racism and misogyny -- living in the hearts and minds of millions. God awful!
"They’ll be doing this to me!”
Let hope so. With backup.
That's all folks!
Love the Looney Tunes reference!
Our signoff song with the One More Time Marching Band. It was complete with dancing sousaphones (both of us)!
Sounds like great fun.
Came here to say this!
Comedy and tragedy. : ) + : (
Almost forgotten or overlooked in the flurry of feces MAGA and its allies keep spewing our way is news of the Eighth Meeting of the European Political Community in Yerevan, Armenia, taking place right now. 28 heads of state or government, including those of Ukraine, Turkey and Canada, are there creating a blueprint for future regional and economic security that does not involve either Russia or the United States.
New forces are coalescing in the vacuum left behind by America’s suicidal retreat from the world and descent into cult madness. Not that any of this could have been predicted — and was predicted — by virtually anyone with a modicum of political and historical awareness, however.
Some things can be restored once this seashell-obsessed moron finally 8647s himself through hamberders and dementia. Some things are like toothpaste, though, and not going back in the tube. Too many ships have left port, and they’re not coming back for stragglers.
"seashell-obsessed moron" PERFECT.
How did we let this lunatic become our president...twice?
Because the average American hasn't got the brains to find their ass with both hands on a clear day with a 2 hour advance notice.
And if you suggest to them that they might want to examine the issues in a little more depth, they call you an elitist and yell “Murica”!
Thank you for my laugh this morning.
Thanks for documentation of Trump's idiotic, moronic nonsense, clearly the rambling of a mind not in contact with reality.
Is there a way to pursue and hold accountable the Trump minions who have broken the law? Is there a way to contain the damage now? The far right has gone past the point of no return. I don’t expect capitulation on the part of Republican fascists who have transgressed the law. I accept the fact that their goal is to create chaos and economic destruction in order to bring political change. The country is systematically being weakened as if in preparation of takeover by foreign interests. Trump has consistently destroyed stability to such an extent that it has become his mantra. Even in remote Idaho far from the levers of power both democrats and republicans are recognizing that we are headed to hell by design. His consistent signature is destroying all things American.
Yes: 47 is the fascist mafia oligopolists neutron bomb. Timothy Snyder is right, this engineered superpower suicide is a hostile takeover in progress. General strike & massive strategic boycotting against oligopolists is our first defense but our constitution & economic system of extractive capitalism & wealth supremacy must be reformed to prevent them from continuing to repeat their aggression against democracy and decency.
John Idaho is about forty some percent declared republican in political persuasion. On any given day more than half of us are not. Extremely independent is my characterization of my fellow Idahoans. One curses them and they curse one back. Just like regular folks. Our political machinery is pay per view republican. The hen house in Boise reeks of chicken shit. The current residents with rare exceptions have been thoroughly purchased. There is no brave voice, no candle in the window that suggests incumbents have any connection to constituents, republican or otherwise. Controlling business and monetary gain in affiliation with Donald Trump is their future. The thing that separates our so- called representatives from Lincoln is the lack of character, lack of shame, the lack of decency, the lack of empathy, the lack of intelligence and the loss of the horse sense that Idaho mothers imbued into their children. We are watching a nation stumbling much like all republicans are waking up to across America. We know it isn’t the goddamned liberals or the goddamned democrats, or the goddamned immigrants who are wringing the nation’s blood out of the constitution.
I had the B-52s in mind; kinda makes a good, action theme song for the Trump Vance - TV47 Bad Fake Reality TV show: https://youtu.be/BxHyliIspkA?si=35b2Ll7G1ZYc0Fnr
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/is-there-a-legal-strategy-that-could?r=3msls&utm_medium=ios
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/is-there-a-legal-strategy-that-could?r=3msls&utm_medium=ios
From Gladiator. “ People should know when they’ve been conquered”. So my question is what if that was us, would we know? But if this is not a war, what constitutes winning?
Yep, you’ve been conquered by Russia; not by boots on the ground, but by money and social media. America is now doing exactly what Putin dictates.
Hello Dutch Mike... I would lay blame more on AIPAC, and the Israel Lobby.... Of the 635+1 Members of Congress, according to reports, over 1/2 receive AIPAC Money... Russia benefits from this of course... Munitions used against Iran are not used to benefit Ukraine.. DJT's tantrums against NATO because they don't follow DJT into Iran help Russia, and the Chinese Watch, and Learn...
And misinformation
Hey, if you don't define what "winning" means, you don't have to take a loss.
🏆
Look Everyone!!! Our TV personality, King Trump, wrote a clear script for the Iranians and they JUST WON'T FOLLOW THE SCRIPT!!🤯. What's the f...ing matter with these mullahs?? The King has only slotted them into a few episodes and they keep pushing script creep. If they get the King really pissed, he might have to kick their whole culture out of human history.
I don't know how you do it, Dr.
Just reading about this sick little man's emanations makes me nauseous.
Maybe because I'm a survivor. And I know that what Put him in office is more of the same. Scared, sci-kkko Men born of the worst of humanity, in a system that has been honed to award the most insecure, power driven, unfeeling, craven narcissists to the pinnacles of power.
Please make it stop.
Please everyone, but especially MEN, end this horror.
Don't just write on here.
Go speak to the people you know. The people in your life who don't know what to do, or who to vote for, or how to prepare the for coming Crash. A Crash like the one that brought us Hitler, and FDR. Pray for an FDR.
Please Do Not Comply In Advance with the Bro mind control game of "AI is inevitable."
We Can't Let It Be.
I'm done. I have been saying "we can't let this happen" since Reagan won.
I am tired.
Please. We're all pretty old on here, I'd say.
Talk to the old ones who still call themselves "fiscal Republicans."
I believe I am making progress with my stepdad. He'll be 90 next week.
He didn't vote for Trump in 2024. I want him to speak to his friends (the younger ones, who are still alive) and tell them 'Yeah, well, we went too far. We let it go too far. And now we need to VOTE BLUE and maybe our grandchildren will speak to us again before we die."
So yeah.
That's what I think.
Good luck and good night.
I look forward to the time the orange felon's legacy is demolished. We need a robust DoJ to investigate the felon's enablers including 6 on the supreme court.
Neither do I! But I have realized my Dorothy Day , Catherine Dougherty , Rev . George Higgins, Berrigan brothers and Ploughshare group , Thomas Merton, Telliard de Chardin, type of Catholicism more an aberration than the norm. My mother went in the 1970’s a Christ Renews His Parish program. She would come back devastated by two things . One that the church she loved was not part of many people and their experience in church was sometimes very abusive. The strengths my late husband ( a former seminarian - six years) saw at times faded and kept on fading. There seemed to be a palatable pall over any creative non tradition none toe the line liturgy or priest. On his deathbed he went back. It has its solace but in my eyes co-opted by Opus Dei and its thinking and actions and hidden power base.
Seven of the nine Justices have some degree of Roman Catholicism in their background (with (five calling themselves practicing Catholics). As a once-faithful adherent to the Church's teachings, I find it hard to comprehend how they square the moral teachings found in the Gospels with how they rule in matters affecting people's lives.
Mary, I wasn't overly impressed much by the new Pope until he said that It was time to realize that sex shouldn't be the moral issue that the Church focuses on, it should focus on peace and justice issues. (Oh, and until he opposed our president's immigration and war policies.) I'm not quoting him exactly but that was the gist, if I understood him correctly. In recent centuries the Church has seemed to put obedience and sexual denial at the top of its list of virtues, which doesn't seem very Christ-like.
PS: Nice to see someone refer to Catherine Dougherty! Others are much better known, and she was very conservative, but did good for many. One of the best prayers I've ever heard was the grace said at Combermere: "Lord, give food to the hungry and a hunger for you to us who have food."
I am interested if Pope Leo will come through. Rev James Martin has been on the screen lately as well. The institutional church could actually do something’s ala The Shoes of the Fischerman and the old tools of excommunication . There are many Roman Catholics who are more Roman in all of their thinking and actions then Catholic.
I understand that rubio is going to meet with Pope Leo XIV...not vance.
vance has a book coming out in June about how he found Catholicism...yet vance doesn't even have the balls to face Pope Leo XIV in person.
His book on Roman Catholicism frontline in the released edition has a photo of a Methodist Church. Gareth Gore has met with Pope Leo and we shall see. The Opus Dei thread runs back to the FBI agent turned spy Robert Hansen and Russia.
> photo of a Methodist church — can’t make this stuff up. 😂
Wouldn’t that be an interesting development? Homan, Rubio, Vance, Vought, C Thomas, Alito (I believe), Bill Barr, just for a few—all ‘Catholic.’ In quotes because I do not recognize their brand of Catholicism.
We don’t need any more evidence that Trump is nuts. Nor do we need any more evidence that his administration is staffed by grifters and market manipulators.
I am dismayed by the apparent solid core of willful ignorance and prideful stupidity that still, still!, supports him. This demographic is a bag of rocks tied to the leg of American progress into the 21st century.
I think it's that core group of white americans who are terrified of losing "whiteness" ie privilege, since they've been brainwashed to believe that when Caucasians are a minority, their precious "culture" will be erased (as will they). They don't actually have much "privilege" since poor whites are as invisible as any other un-privileged group. Bottom line: it's fear.
I agree. I also think there is a strong aversion to admitting they were completely fooled by the best con man this country ever produced. I think it’s very much like the denial of drunks and drug addicts
Ralph, that is an interesting comparison. <scurries off to ponder it>
Trump’s social media posting flurry described by Heather reminds me of the “alien hand syndrome” of Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers) in the movie by the same name, where he struggled to keep his gloved hand from rising in a Nazi salute and shouting “Mein Fuhrer!” Trump is having trouble suppressing his psychological obsession with power which is revealed when it bursts out in a storm of strongman social media posts.
WHY GAS PRICES ARE SO HIGH DEMYSTIFIED.
Anthony Davis of LegalAF Global has given a recent (5/3/26) short podcast that is the best factual explanation I have heard of why gas prices are so high in the U.S. when the U.S. is producing the most oil of any country and has no shortage of oil. If you are interested: https://substack.com/@legalaf/note/p-196171281?r=1d2cea&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Note that when the cost of fuel/energy for production and transportation spike, then the cost of almost everything goes up (inflation) because these costs are incorporated into the prices you see as a consumer.
Trump frequently reminds me of Dr. Strangelove.
In this Doctor StrangeJesus topsy-turvy world, I wonder if whiskey Pete, skeevy Stevie Miller, little Marco or JD will ever be told that there's no fighting in the War Room...