309 Comments

In the parking lot of my local grocery store, a nice elderly man offered to put my cart in the rack for me. I thanked him, and he then asked how I was doing. I mentioned how lousy most of the produce looked and how high prices have gotten, and he then told me this: "Just you wait and see, EVERYTHING is going to get better very soon! HE is getting great people in all those cabinet positions, and they will be fantastic!" I told him I really didn't want to discuss that, and wished him a good night. Of course, what I really wanted to say was this: "Are you fucking kidding me? Do you have any fucking idea how brainwashed you are?!? The orange monster and his minions are going to destroy this country! Just YOU wait and see how bad things will get when you lose social security, Medicare, and have to pay so much more for pretty much everything!" This is what freaks me out the most: these people are hearing nothing but propaganda from their right-wing bullshit "news" sources, and that isn't going to change. They won't realize how screwed they are until it's too late, but they'll probably blame it on Democrats, or anything other than their CHOSEN ONE! Sorry for my rant......sometimes I just can't handle this shit.

Expand full comment

I had a similar experience, guy with autistic child jewish wife, explain to me how Harris paid the celebrities to endorse her. It was a Fox Noise item that was proven totally false. Guy said he heard Democratic officials admit it! I said nothing. If 400,000 excess American deaths because of poor pandemic response did not 'break through', if Ivermectin and bleach work for you instead of a Nobel Prize winning vaccine, I cannot think of anything persuasive.

Expand full comment

My sister lives in a red-neck backwater town in Missouri and survives on a widows pension and life-saving medications and medical care. I scream and shout to everyone about what this band of freebooting maniacal marauders are planning to do to America's most vulnerable, except her. She has no idea what is going on politically, thank God. May ignorance be bliss for some, I say.

Expand full comment

I throw my hands up. The death of America is at hand. I have repeated to everyone’s distain here that I would put my trust in the good generals temporarily suspending the constitution and end the Trump MAGA era. But no one agrees. We don’t or won’t have a nation anyway so why not put our faith in our military to save us. The incoming trash will be worst than you could imagine.

Expand full comment

Wait til the military are mass deployed to extrade how many immigrants? as Heather rightly noted, are integral to the economy, and also report few crimes per capita than the general American population. Turns out crime rates run higher in poorer American states which lean Maga, educational and economic outcomes run lower, where Evangelicals rule the roost.

Expand full comment

Frank, I’m not against immigration. Both sides of my family were them. I was however, totally disgusted how Biden slept on the job for three years not doing a damn thing. He could have invoked the Insurrection Act. He could have created an executive order. He did shit for three years. I’m not saying this was the only reason Harris lost but it was a big one. Let’s stop kidding ourselves. I hate Trump with a passion. So much so that I put my first book on cats side to write about Trump. Now I must write Part II and add it into my 4 year old book. No nation on earth allows unmitigated rushing the border as we did. Stop deceiving yourselves you and others. And if you don’t believe me, read about UK and Brixit. Read about Pen almost winning in France. Read about the far right Germans now the 2nd most popular political group. And all of them on the topic of migration. Snap out of it. We lost largely on this issue. If I did t hate Trump so much I might have voted for the monster — the 2nd rate mafia wannabe. (Not really but so many did.)

Expand full comment

Elected or not, Trump and co are domestic terrorists by their own admission and should be treated as such. I agree they should be stopped. If the shoe was on the other foot there’d be retaliation ‘to an extent never before seen before in this country’ to use Trump’s repeated throw away line.

Expand full comment

So right, 100, mean for me to say that covid didn't kill off "enough Republican voters. Sadly, that vaccine "hesitancy" also extended to Blacks, who also disproportionly died from Covid - likely men more than women.

Expand full comment

We no longer have a government. We have a cult.

Expand full comment

We have opposition Democrats. And they will stand tall. They must, and we must support them.

Expand full comment

They need to read this and immediately ACT accordingly. https://substack.com/inbox/post/151721941?r=1nic41&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true

Still waiting to hear about validity of the Greg Palast claim that 2.7 million votes were ditched. According to the Philly papers, where a hand recount is taking place, we lost Pa in Biden's home area, former Biden supporters. Not Gen Z. Not Blacks. Lost 2 Pa Dem house seats.

Expand full comment

"They claim a mandate, although as final vote tallies are coming in, it turns out that Trump did not win 50% of the vote, and CNN statistician Harry Enten notes that his margin comes in at 44th out of the 51 elections that have been held since 1824."... Less than 50% is not a Majority... Kamala may have Capitulated too Early... I have also read that Kamala received about 10,000,000 Votes less than Joe Biden did 2020... Those 10,000,00+ Voters stayed Home... DJT received less than a 1,000,000 more Votes than he did in 2020... Per AOC, Kamala should have listened less to the Obama Era insiders, and more to the 'GrassRoots'.... Reuben Gallego impressed me by visiting all the Major Indigenous Enclaves in AZ during his Campaign... They Turned Out For Him... DJT is Mean, Vindictive, and Cruel.. DJT will try to undo all of Joe Biden's accomplishments... Failing that he will try to take Credit for them... DJT is deteriorating noticeably faster now... DJT will cause Chaos in order to mask his Ineptitude... DJT is the "Stable Genius" Businessman who declared Bankruptcy 5-Times... As long as DJT is on the Main Stage, he will cause Chaos... His Minions have been chosen for their Subservience to DJT, not their Competence...

Expand full comment

Many of the Dem voters didn’t “stay home “, they were prevented from voting by new voter suppression laws.

Expand full comment

The suppression included massive voter registration purges and dozens of lawsuits to make voting more difficult and/or to count fewer votes. The GQP has been shamelessly suppressing voting.

Expand full comment

That as Well... Many of the Indigenous Communities were affected by that Kristi Noem, Gov. of SD, is banned from many of Indigenous Communities in SD for Voter Suppression among other things there...

Expand full comment

Abby, you make a good point and it makes one wonder why we haven't heard more about "the big purge."

The corporate media could care less about voter suppression. And there have been millions purged across the country. Does anyone think that these prunes haven't led to disenfranchisement among marginalized voters?

Expand full comment

so true.

Expand full comment

The group "anonymous" believe that there were votes in swing states that only voted for president, no judges, amendments etc. There were 60 bomb threats at polling stations were everyone except was forced to leave. During the last hurricane, Musk set up starlink satellite over those areas of the country and could have manipulated the vote. (Musk claimed victory before the votes were counted.) Normally, less than <1 would have voted for just president but some how 11% did. They claim the numbers do not make any sense. We need a hand count in all swing states. If the election was truly stolen, there will not be physical ballots bc it was done electronically. All ballots in swing states need to be hand counted. Musk brags that anything can be hacked. I think he's bragging about what he has done.

Expand full comment

Has anyone seen JD or Melania? Apparently Musk had a shouting match with one of Trump's advisors in Mar-a-Lago a couple of days ago.

Good-bye.advisor! And Musk? The inevitable Trump-Musk divorce can't happen soon enough.

Expand full comment

Trump won’t be able to tolerate Musk. There can only be one Narcissist-In-Chief at a time. I give him till, say, March.

Expand full comment

It Is InEvitable... Ask Roger Stone, or Steve Bannon...

Expand full comment

I'm sorry, but for me, it's more like a junta in development.

Expand full comment

Yes, an oligarchy run not on evidence or intelligence, but on greed and hubris. Hang on to your wallets, sanity, and loved ones.

Expand full comment

Ideologues in red, MAGA red, that is.

Expand full comment

A data scientist, Stephen Spoonamore, strongly suspects a hack took place during the 2024 election. He speaks of tremendous numbers of “bullet votes” for Trump, occurring in just the swing states. A bullet vote is where there is only one selection in one race out of the entire ballot.

For example in Arizona and Nevada, 5% and 7% of the ballots were people who only voted for Trump.

He explains how easily it could occur particularly with the ability of Starlink, headed by Elon Musk. He also explains that a hand recount would clear this up.

Mr. Spoonamore is imploring Kamila Harris to request a HAND RECOUNT as only she can do. He states that a hand recount will determine the correct number of votes for the 2024 presidential election.

People interested in pushing for Harris to have a hand recount should contact SMARTELECTIONS.US

https://youtu.be/RJR5uQpweko?si=TkumDVYkuikthlKn

Stephen Spoonamore substack.com/@spoonamore

Stephen Spoonamore Twitter/Threads/BlueSky: @spoonamore SUBSCRIBE

Expand full comment

I sent his substack article to Senator Angus King. I'm sure all of the Senators are aware.

PA is doing a recount of their Senate race. If Shapiro can couple that with a PA Presidential recount, then perhaps some of the shenanigans mentioned by Spoonamore will come to light. And if they do in PA, then that could lead to recounts in the other swing states.

Expand full comment

The answer is simple, look at the social media post for Trump, according to those lies everything from inflation to the stock market was described as horrible. Based on these lies the momentum went through the roof. If we don't change our message to small burst on social media we will not reach the majority of people. CBS, ABC news and maybe even HCR should have reposted the list of lies and exposed those Facebook post for what they were. Dems lost on economy and immigration. Biden has done a great job, with 7% interest rates but that info is not posted where most people can see it.

Expand full comment

I Blame the media

Expand full comment

I have been making this point in NYT comment sections and they will not print my comments, except when I say anything but the media is complicit. Considering dropping the NYT for the Guardian now. What a shame, because some of their articles are beautiful.

Expand full comment

Not to mention the money muskrat was passing around. How many $50 bills were given out to get those bullet ballots?

Never forget:

I don't need anymore votes, I have all the votes I need.

Said months before the election and then he proceeded to do things to turn voters away. Not logical for this result.

Expand full comment

I’m right there with you, sister. I can’t believe how brainwashed my neighbors are, either. I’ve mentioned to a few of them the MAGA plan to cut SS and Medicare, and I get looks of incredulity.

Expand full comment

That is why we have to change our delivery method. Short list of what we are doing right and what they are lying about BTW, MAGA is not cutting social security they are going to defund it, same result. Bush took at 1.3 billion (someone can sure up that number) to cut tax for rich and pay for his war

Expand full comment

Bush blew up the deficit by attempting to pay for a two theater war without raising extra revenue, and by instituting Medicare D without the ability to negotiate drug prices.

Expand full comment

I know we all want to yell...but just ask him why he believes that ? Based on what information ? and see what he says...then follow up

Expand full comment

He's not real. Ignore.

Expand full comment

who is not real ? There's too many people in this thread.

Expand full comment

Mike, you're just being silly. After 10 years, we all know Trump doesn't do facts. Maybe alternative facts once in a while, but not real facts.

Expand full comment

Gary, I've heard Trump/Fox talking points coming out of my sister's mouth...and my sister is a lovely human being...and I ask her why she thinks that? She tells me friends or the TV...and I tell her what I believe is true and why. We will discuss it and she usually walks away with a new outlook. I'm just advocating that people try that approach rather than saying nothing, or yelling. It won't always work...but sometimes it does.

Expand full comment

My dad is in the demographic you would think would support Trump, but my family and I all detest him and we voted for Kamala Harris. My dad watches Mika and Morning Joe and I’m disgusted at their capitulation to the Orange Menace.

Expand full comment

My standard reply to these buffoons is "I hope you get everything you voted for". Usually gets a momentary blank stare, a 'glitch', if you will, that is absolutely priceless.

Expand full comment

"I hope you have the day you deserve" is my favorite customer service sign off. Same vibe, I love it.

Expand full comment

I would say, yes Biden's policies are taking effect.

Expand full comment

I just listened to a talk by Carol Off, a noted Canadian author and journalist, who showed how "how well the economy is doing" is strongly partisan and subjective, regardless of the state of the real economy. Great example, sad to say, you just provided, Jill. In a way , you might want to hope MAGA carries out its extreme social support cuts in order to finance its extension of tax cuts to the wealthy, with enough "buyers' remorse" come the mid terms, Trump will be isolated in the WH against Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

Expand full comment

I read an article recommended by another user here from the Journal of Democracy which was enlightening and spoke on the importance of perspective vs reality.

It doesn't fully focus on that topic, but it was a very intriguing read.

https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/misunderstanding-democratic-backsliding/

Expand full comment

No apologies needed. Your take on this is right on the money!

Expand full comment

exactly how I feel, thanks for airing it out!

Expand full comment

You have been brainwashed my friend with lies and deception. Trump is actually going to make Social Security stronger by not taxing it to those who are already receiving it I already pay income tax and 85% of my Social Security I don’t know who told you all this stuff and who you’re listening to, but you oughta turn it off and face reality as to why Donald Trump is back in the White House again liberals are gonna have to learn how to be a little bit more introspective from now on dozens of things are changing for the better before Trump is taking Office if you would like a list of seven or eight of them get back to me and I will certainly let you know but I don’t think you’ll be happy to hear them because they’re all good for America

Expand full comment

It’s all fun and games until the Convicted Orange Felon starts executing his political enemies. Remember, it took Hitler only a few months before he had the concentration camps up and running.

Hope you can stay on the right side of the fence, Rick. Beware, though: your neighbour might, unbeknownst to you, report you to the Ministry of Information as “woke”, a supporter of Black lives or a climate change believer, just for a $100 bounty, and you’ll be in jail before you know it. Because that is how fascist regimes work. “In the end, they came for me…” Good luck.

Expand full comment

That all you got.? The convicted Orange felon. Wow. I thought this was an adult comment room. By the way, he’s not actually convicted until he’s sentenced and it doesn’t appear that that’s gonna happen but that’s another story. But to advance that story I must tell you that he is the victim of what you just state he’s going to do. He is the victim of what they call Lawfare and weapon Ing the department of Justice and it is sickening because it’s not happened to any president in American history.

Very soon I believe woke will be dead or at least dormant for a while and unfortunately almost all the climate change predictions have been incorrect Actually, for the last hundred years, they’ve all been incorrect. But you won’t know that because people that believe in climate change actually believe we can change the climate number one but number two that we can actually predict the future we can’t predict the weather three days from now we can’t predict the number of storms that we’re going to have and where they’re going to initiate and most importantly of all we can’t stop them

There’s a company coming out with a new product for liberals who believe in climate change it’s a two part futuristic game that includes a crystal ball and a Ouija board It’s going to go on sale soon so you might want to pick it up

Some other things that are going to die are beliefs that men should play women’s sports that DEI is actually a viable program. By the way, did you notice when you use the word fascist that two of your liberal heroes from morning? Joe went to see the fascist the Hitler himself in the flesh. Dutch they have been lying to you. The closest anyone’s come to what happened in this past election on the Liberal side is coming from Bill Maher. But the reason that this election just happened should be evident to everybody that has an open mind. Alas, it doesn’t appear to be the case.

And one more thing if Democrats/liberals want to be successful in future elections you’ll stop using the following words. Racism, sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, fascist Hitler, and a few other similar words

Since you’re probably not involved with a number of conservatives and me being an independent voter for the last 40 years, I talked to people on both sides of the ledger The second there is a competent, intelligent middle of the road woman who runs for the presidency, regardless of her race, religion, sexual orientation or other factors you try to point to above she will be elected en masse by an overwhelming majority of the population. so stop wasting your time using these meaningless words that just push people away and only meaningful to those who believe this nonsense watch and see and you’ll think of me someday when the first woman becomes president and gets 65 to 70% of the vote or more

I know you don’t believe that Kamala Harris could’ve actually been the leader of the free world so she was not the person, but she’s not far off

Most of the TV networks right now are saying we’re having difficulty trying to figure out what caused this election but I think people looking in a mirror and grabbing a conscience know the answer and will listen to themselves rather than the lies and deceptions they hear on legacy media Hope you have a nice night tomorrow morning is a bright shining star and January 20 will be the first day of the rebirth of this country

Expand full comment

Wow. So this is what a cultist looks like.

Expand full comment

He's a troll. Don't feed it

Expand full comment

He's definitely a troll. Still can't believe these trolls are so eager to post their sh•t that they are willing to pay for it...

Expand full comment

Exactly, Miselle. Nothing good can come from engaging with that nonsense.

Expand full comment

Rick, If you are not reading and understanding the well researched and fact checked info printed here by HCR, why are you here? We are here to receive fact checked and truthful info from a scholar.

Expand full comment

He's a troll. Don't feed it.

Expand full comment

Now that’s a troll. I’ve been accused of being one and I’m not. But this character probably lives alone and this is his little safe place to post.

Expand full comment

No. Donald trump was CONVICTED by a jury of his peers in 2 separate trials in New York. His sentencing is a completely different matter.

Expand full comment

Rick - when you learned how to write did you sleep through the session on punctuation? Or does your keyboard not have punctuation keys?

Expand full comment

Sorry I don’t wanna keep repeating myself, but I voice text everything and I feel as I’ve said other posts here I look at content substantially more important that form. And I think and I believe I’m right that most of the people here can figure it out. They’re intelligent enough to do that. Enough said. Content over every time

Unless you happen to be writing your thesis on life in grad school

Expand full comment

Almost just like e e cummings.

Except he thought that style and content were both important.

I'm sorry that you have a disability that keeps you from typing. We'll all have to work extra hard to try to make sense of what you post.

Expand full comment

Most of us don't bother reading his drivel.

Expand full comment

For the love of Pete, don’t encourage the troll.

Expand full comment

We're listening to the man himself.

We're listening to the people he listens to.

I'm sorry you were fooled, but please, for the love of the goddess, stop making it our problem too.

Expand full comment

You are like the air people breathe in New Delhi: fool of scheiße, barely tolerable, and always around. 🤬

Expand full comment

He's a troll. Don't feed it.

Expand full comment

Yeah, did you see the smog in India today? Pretty bad huh? And that has to do with this topic why? Kind of tough when you have over 1 billion people living in a one country with all the advancements that they’re going through India has caught up to a lot of other less civilized nations and they’ll be cleaning up their act soon brilliant people, great civilization, and heading in the right direction despite the smog, I would suggest to you that you listen more and open your eyes to reality as to what just occurred in the United States

Unless you want to insult half the population as did Hillary to no benefit, Trump is back in the White House for just a few reasons most of them having to do with the most recent administration that drove this country into a ditch. And went far left and far too woke. I think you’ll snap out of it and I hope for your sake you do.

Expand full comment

Congratulations. You have just shown us all how easy it is to mansplain even on the ‘interweb’ 🐈‍⬛

Expand full comment

Please don't feed the troll.

Expand full comment

I hope I live long enough to vote for a Leftist candidate for President. My biggest disappointment with the Democratic Party is that most are not Progressive enough. The Democrats allowed the Republicans to pull the political center inexorably to the right, going back at least to William F. Buckley in the 1950s. Read Nixon's State of the Union address from 1972. He crowed about the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. That's where the center was in '72. I wish the Democrats would talk and act like Democrats, caring about the health and wellbeing of the People.

Expand full comment

Good luck.

Expand full comment

Trump has already tried to defund SS. Trump said in an interview on Fox News he is defunding SS because under him we are not going to need it. In 2022 undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion, or roughly $9,000 per person, in payroll taxes for social security. They cant' collect SS. Removing these people are going to help defund Social Security.

Expand full comment

"face reality as to why Donald Trump is back in the White House"

His opponent was a black female. That is the reality.

Expand full comment

I don't know if I can survive the daily barrage of Trump and Republican insanity again...I'll be 80 before this "administration" is done.

Expand full comment

I'm with you on that one. So many have worked hard for what rights we had. I don't know if it is possible for me to get over the anger and disappointment. I will be 78 by that time and I think it is time to jump ship and move to a country that respects their people...ALL their people!

Expand full comment
2 hrs ago·edited 2 hrs ago

Collete, which country? I’ll follow you.

Expand full comment

It is going to be so much worse. First of all, the leaders in the Intelligence Community turned in their resignations. See Jeff Stein of Spy Talk. https://open.substack.com/pub/spytalk/p/breaking-top-intelligence-igs-resign?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&comments=true

As of now US bases, embassies, planes, ships, people are all less safe because we are going to totally lose the chain of command with intelligence, let alone access to intel from our allies. Stein said the day before that MI6 is thinking of not sharing intel. I am sure the EU is discussing that too.

Musk told the EU that if they ban X, the US will pull out of NATO. Well, Trump is going to play the NATO card, and he may move troops, or bring them back home, but he is not developing trade partners this way. China and India are going to benefit from this, as well as African and other Asian countries. Everyone is preparing for his tariffs too. Here is an article discussing Trump's international policy.

https://pardot.csis.org/webmail/906722/3169409788/7fb3790e127db1fea8017946c5ab47fd41a1bf3a700f6568ba7dba887d14a0e4

I know from reading Project 2025, that nothing I am reading about appointments is surprising. And, knowing from people like Prof. Timothy Snyder that Trump and Musk are Russian assets and in cahoots with Putin, it is clear to me that he wants to hand the US to Putin and Xi on a silver platter. The whole world got less safe.

I am living in Europe. My American friends and I are wondering how we can access media we are used to using if the platforms like Substack get shut down. Is there a non-US based platform that the people we follow will be able to write on? Also, most of my friends here in Germany have VPNs, and I am getting one too. Most of my friends use Signal and not What's App, or have both. That is what my family uses too, but still, we know that many of the founders of Signal were initial on WhatsApp (others were from Yahoo). So even though it is freeware, they sold it to Meta. They profited from the sale. The Signal guys also helped Meta create the same encryption on their platform, so the encryption is pretty much the same. Signal is also based in the US. There is a mutualistic relationship between the two companies. A friends says she thinks Signal is marginally better, but not much.

My friend here is also talking about trying out Threema. It’s a Swiss company. It’s a paid app. It’s $5.99. I like a paid app model. I am worried that Musk will get rid of competition for his platform, and he now owns Trump. It was used to spread a lot of disinformation. Here is Prof. Snyder talking about that too. https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-phantom-campaign

Robert Hubbell also talked about how as the votes continue to be counted Trump now has less than 50% of the votes cast. Which given that 93 million eligible voters did not vote in this past election is less than a third of the eligible voters.

Expand full comment

I wouldn't share intel with us either if I was from any of those allied nations that are looking warily at this once inspiring nation that had so much promise and influence on the world stage. If the American century wasn't already over then it most certainly will be soon after January 20, 2025...

Expand full comment

Agreed! In fact, the smart ones will be snapping up our Intel people. Next we will see what happens with the DOD. DT cannot take over and destroy the Constitution with the White Supremacist militias alone. I am waiting to see what happens with the military leadership because they also have their own intelligence department which is discussed as the one to lean on in Project 2025. If they resign that is it.

Expand full comment

Which is why I have called for a military coup before it’s too late. I would take my chances with the good generals and staff before the good ones go and the bad ones rule. Most likely, it’s all too late.

Expand full comment

I am not saying coup. I am saying that if they refuse to enforce what Trump is doing as it violates the constitution then we will see that they serve the constitution and not the man.

Expand full comment

When the Intel Chiefs Resign, this is Bad... When informed Concerned Citizens have to Hide, that is Bad... DJT, and his Minions Flood the Zone with Bull*....

Expand full comment

Try Blue Sky

Expand full comment

I am not on X or Facebook or any of those so I won't be going to Blue Sky, but a friend of mine got convinced to leave X to go to Blue Sky. However, Blue Sky's days could be numbered. It is a US based platform, and if Musk decides he does not like the Competition he can shut it down directly through Brendan Carr of FCC infamy, or if Trump gets the Republicans to pass HR 9495 they he can claim it is just a social danger picking apart some items and then it is gone. Read what Carr has to say about what social platforms have to be. https://newrepublic.com/post/188529/donald-trump-war-press-fcc-project-2025

Any US based platform is currently at risk. People should spend some energy looking for other sources, or creating them and basing them elsewhere.

Expand full comment

Anyone see this story reported by Rolling Stone for one-

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ryan-walters-demands-oklahoma-school-pray-trump-1235170916/

The education secretary of OK is trying to force kids to watch a video of himself where he demands students to pray for Trump.

Support the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Make everyone aware of the Fascist Project 2025 plan to turn the US into a theocracy. It's happening.

Expand full comment

We will be 85. I wonder what number my husband's SS card holds. I don't get SS because of the type of teacher retirement I have from California. Drunk on power. They all are. And, sadly, I believe this is the tip of the iceberg. We'll see. The only dim light, is that we can flip thing in just two years. And "he" knows that. I don't know what the answer is for now. I am reading that resistanced doesn't work. We are acting locally - suiting up and showing up and being supportive of our City Council, County Commissioners and our School Boards.

Expand full comment

Actually you’ll be older than 80 before this is done. Because first of all this is gonna be the best years Of America has ever seen so you should live longer and I’ll give you a to even rejoice Trump could resign his presidency 2 1/2 for three years in JD Vance becomes president and does a good job and serves eight more years by which time you’ll be 88

Expand full comment

Take a lap, son, and go out for the junior varsity bot team.

Expand full comment

Well, I’m guessing I’d hate to be your son and I’m not a bot which makes it worse for you because now you have to come up with some rational dialogue. Rather than just throwing insults and making stupid decisions about what America should do as far as Ukraine where we should’ve never been in the first place you’re obviously young and naïve, but you’ll learn and that’s coming very very soon

It’s only been less than two weeks and already the world is waking up. Optimistic burdens lifted off their shoulders and other governments are taking note.

Just today, the socialist leader of Canada Justin Trudeau announced he was making severe cuts in allowances of the number of immigrants into Canada. Uh oh. Berkeley has announced that it’s going to be cleaning up its homeless encampments Israel is cheering the entry of Trump as president and rightfully so Madison Square Garden gave him a roaring standing ovation right in the heart of the beast of Liberal dominance once upon a time

The ever insulting cast of morning Joe went tomorrow, Lago today and was welcomed by Hitler. He actually welcome them there after they called him every name in the book for the past year and a half and Joe and Mika who are now down to about 95,000 viewers and realizing they were on the wrong track have gone down there to try to save their careers and their program. The Trump dance is everywhere. Athletes politicians businessman, even the NFL players are now doing the Trump dance. And Colin Kaepernick will die in infamy

People are now putting Trump signs on their lawns after the election.

And even the New York Times is welcoming, Maha and said that this is a great thing that RFK Junior will be working to make children healthy again as Trump has installed not one but two Democrats in his cabinet. Even Cory Booker says the same thing. So get on board or get left behind insults aren’t working the basket of the portables. I’m sorry the basket of 76 million deplorable’s have spoken. The sun will begin to rise again on America and it’s greatness welcome to the New World

Expand full comment

It took me a minute to translate "went tomorrow, Lago today". AI botspeak isn't improving. "Basket of the portables"??? No, no - da English no first language, think I. Worse than those captains. Er, captions.

Expand full comment

Thank You, Anne-Louise! I wanted to be charitable about the broken English, but now I see that I was wrong. AI is getting better, I think, but there is still lots of room for improvement.

Expand full comment

The strange phrasing, very uniform poor punctuation style, general cadence, and the order the grievances are listed - Ukraine first - leads me to believe this is a Russian bot we are dealing with.

Also, I counted 9 fairly long posts and 4 shorter ones, all with the same time stamp. A human could do this, but it isn't likely.

Expand full comment

PS I am certainly not a bot. Sorry to disappoint you.

Expand full comment

...said the bot

ha ha

Expand full comment

🤦🏻‍♀️….sigh, don’t know which is worse.

Expand full comment

I’m sorry for that. I voice text everything and because I have so many responses to attend to I kind of focus on something that a lot of so-called educated people inappropriately prioritize. I’m a big believer in content over form. Missing a capital letter or a period at the end of a sentence or a word that can be spelled differently, or run into another word is immaterial minutia. I would like to respect the people here and therefore think that they could probably figure it out since they’re intelligent. And I’m guessing the little ditties that you mentioned above, you were able actually to figure out that I meant basket of deplorable and when I said, while voice texting, I went to Mar-a-Lago that the computer picked up the way it looks to you there but I have confidence and faith in you that you understood it and I’ll leave it at that. I continue to voice text and misspell or poorly punctuated sentence but I don’t look at that as important as getting the content across and I don’t necessarily have the time to go back and correct it like I’m in 10th grade English diagramming a sentence. I apologize if that’s not acceptable with you and you can certainly choose just to disregard any missive that I send but it’s more important that you understand the meaning and in fact, if you’d like to refute or dispute or to have a meaningful dialogue about it, I’m here

Expand full comment

Thank you for apologizing. Now I think it's your nap time.

Expand full comment

Um why are you here? You don’t see us over on your MAGA pages spewing ignorance. Go play with your friends. The adults are talking.

Expand full comment

Dude? You're in over you head and our of your league. Take a hike and on you way out? Apologize to your betters. Which would be everyone on this thread.

Expand full comment

You see and that’s exactly why I’m here. Because otherwise, this would be nothing more than vast majority of liberal lemmings commiserating themselves because not only will Donald Trump be president that they hate for no reason, but they will have to see him every day just like when you break up with somebody and you have to see them anyway because they work in the same office, etc. I’m here as a Opposing view just like in a courtroom where you might think a man is guilty after the prosecution states their case until you hear that the perpetrator was somewhere else in the world and couldn’t have caused the crime A lot of you here need that view because for the next four years, you’re going to be seeing it every day and it be much happier for you to try to understand what just happened in this last election in four years when things are better, I’m hoping you’ll be open-minded enough to celebrate America and his and our success By the way, dude if I’m out of your league and I should take a hike is it because you don’t like what you’re hearing because you can’t refute and deal with the truth ? Governments and people all over the planet and in the US I’ve already recognized what Trump brings and I’m making changes almost immediately. Including the European Union Canada The Liberal networks and even Berkeley of all places places that is now commented that they’re going to start cleaning up their homeless in encampments. It’s a new day. When you only hear one side of a argument, you have nothing else to believe at least 76 million people don’t believe like you you might want to give that a thought 49 out of 50 states got redder. We’re in for a beautiful ride. Try to enjoy it. Don’t be a fatalist and don’t be prejudiced which means prejudging what will happen because you’ve obviously most of you are forgotten that Trump was already president and if not for Covid would still be an office today because of his policies and because prices were low there were no world wars crime was low cost of living was cheap, and the border was secure if you don’t like that, then you’re out of your own league

Expand full comment

Sorry, even the New York Times and Cory Booker, not exactly a Trump sycophant, have welcomed Trump’s placing RFK Junior in his post to make our food healthier. And none other than the Trump haters themselves on morning Joe we’re welcomed today by Hitler himself, despite the fact that all they did was call him names for the last two years and insult him, and now they went down there to talk to him face-to-face, and he opened his arms to them, despite their lies and hate and what they call a meaningful conversation in trying to salvage their careers and the network that has no more viewers. Not sure if this is accurate but I heard they only have 95,000 viewers now and of course you know that CNN and MSNBC lost 40% of reviewer ship the day after the election oops

Expand full comment

Rick, you have no hope of influencing anyone here. Your screed is like noise carried on the wind, drifting in from the street.

Expand full comment

Don't feed the troll please.

Expand full comment

Well that’s a pity. Because an old saying I learned in college was minds are like parachutes they work better if they’re open. I really don’t care if you listen or not I know how happy the world is right now optimistic hopeful and welcoming the freedom and the change that is coming. I’m sorry if you don’t feel that way and get left behind, but that’s certainly your choice.

Expand full comment

You. Are. Joking. Report back in a year.

Expand full comment

It won’t take that long. You’ll see it almost immediately Someone pointed out to me today that I beginning to understand more about the freak out that you liberals are having right now it’s like somebody broke up with you in a long-term relationship and not only do you hate them now but you have to see them every day because they live or work near you Fatalism and pessimism does no good for the body or the soul or the mind worst of all is negative in advance because it usually doesn’t turn out as bad as you think and it might even turn out great 76 million people think it will

Expand full comment

You seem to be having some kumbaya moment that you want us all to join in. But we've been continually bombarded by his hateful rhetoric and maniacal rantings for nearly a decade. We've already seen what a horror show the first trump term was. It would appear that some of those 76 million trump voters might be amnesiacs and I'm pretty sure many of them will not like how things turn out.

Expand full comment

Dude. Why are you here?

Expand full comment

He's a troll.

Expand full comment

Have tried to explain it over and over. The adults are not talking the adults are commiserating, crying, weeping, using up boxes of tissues, etc. that’s what you’re doing. I’m here as a voice of reason to push back so that you realize there’s always two sides to an argument. And you don’t see the same vision as 76 million Americans. Deplorable didn’t work too well for Hillary or anyone else that tried anything similar. Even Bill Maher has a better understanding of what happened here but you don’t wanna listen. You don’t wanna open your mind. You don’t wanna think positive thoughts you just wanna be negative in advance and fatalistic not good for the soul mind or the body. I’m just here as a balance not trying to insult anybody or throw anybody under a bus just that it’s better when you know all the facts all the sides and why things happened as they just did and it doesn’t appear here that you’re willing to welcome the rationale behind Donald Trump’s return to the White House. we are all in for a great ride and then the process most everyone is going to win just like they did and Trump’s first term before Covid hit a once in a century global pandemic so smile, and be happy, and one thing you obviously haven’t learned by your lineup above it doesn’t do you any favors, talking down or condescending to somebody especially when you have no idea who they are

Expand full comment

I am not condescending. I am dismissive.

Expand full comment

It’s a free world in America. Especially now.

Expand full comment

Personally, I've been free for my entire long life -- apart from the years in the Army, half a century ago. We've heard " 'Tis an ill wind that blows no good". I don't see any good coming from the 47th president.

Expand full comment

You must be one of those well off top 5%.

Expand full comment

Rick - The benefits you name are short-term fixes. They seem to work for a while but ultimately make things worse.

Expand full comment

Please don't feed the troll.

Expand full comment

Good luck.

Expand full comment

The voters who put trump in are about to get a big surprise come Q1 of 2025. I expect to see a blue wave at the midterms and maybe the third impeachment of the orange Mussolini. Hopefully!!!

Expand full comment

The M.A.G.A.s -- particularly those whose grandparents were Democrats -- vote against their interests. Pity that they did not recognize a Great Society President when one finally came into the 0val 0fiice.

" . . . . in September, Ramaswamy said as an example: 'If your Social Security number ends in an odd number, you’re out. If it ends in an even number, you’re in. There’s a 50 percent cut right there. Of those who remain, if your Social Security number starts in an even number, you’re in, and if it starts with an odd number, you’re out. Boom. That’s a 75 percent reduction done.'” What this simple bubble-head overlooks is that we and our employers paid into Social Security.

Expand full comment

Ramaswamy's words strike me as issuing from a psychopath. Or sociopath at the very least. Talking about people's lives as though we are utterly worthless.

Expand full comment

Absolutely! People with NPD, sociopaths, etc. are naturally drawn to positions of power. And people eat up their lies and charm like a chocolate donut. They have no empathy so it’s easy for them. We are chattel. Not human, but a means to an end.

Expand full comment

It is also almost impossible to get rid of them once they have access to levers of power to abuse others with. They perceive all life as a series of simplistic black and white transactions. They can not comprehend love or empathy, experiencing the former as purely personal passion and the latter as weakness or cowardice. So whenever you try to talk to them with empathy or love they will perceive you as either a potential predatory threat out to get something from them (like they are to you) or as a troublesome burden to be caste off. One dimensional human beings.

Expand full comment

There’s no recognition on the part of the sociopath that having millions of American suddenly homeless and starving is going to be a problem for the MAGAts.

Expand full comment

Nasty piece of work.

Expand full comment

Ned I've got an odd number end...so I guess that I'm out. I hope that my AARP dues are good for some real lobbying and arm twisting from that nice office next to the Capitol.

Expand full comment

You and me, both, Mike.

Expand full comment

I've worked AARP events in DC where they get a lot of folks together in a big venue, talk about a specific issue and then they go up to the Hill and start meeting with individual Senators and Congress people...many times it's their staff people and tell them why they want a specific vote on something. It's very impressive.

Expand full comment

He doesn’t understand how SSN’s work. The first number is dependent on the state it was issued.

Expand full comment

Christy, it’s kinda clear he doesn’t understand A LOT!!!!

Expand full comment

Unbelievable that this kid has been listened to. Social Security is our money. It was held from our earnings. Maybe Vivek should visit the senior centers in central Ohio, starting in Upper Arlington where he lives, and tell those seniors his “simple” ideas . Listening to the people is always important. Taking their hard-earned Social Security , then Medicare next…?

Expand full comment

That would be great. One less Vivek in the world . . . in a hurry.

Expand full comment

You just suggested a likely deterant to Trump - a likelihood of third impeachment in after 2026 election. DEMS should start planning for it now.

Expand full comment

The cognitive dissonance….this is the zombie apocalypse.

Expand full comment

So many cuts, damages, attacks on the American people by the mob taking office in January.

Speaking of mobs, reckless, stupid ones, I've been reading Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s 1940 “The Oxbow Incident.”

Sometime in the 1950s I’d seen, as a boy, the 1943 movie version, directed by William Wellman, starring Henry Fonda.

It describes today. How mob stupidity can rule.

Then, in the fiction, 27 men and one woman from a western mountain town hunt, apprehend, and hang three men for rustling and murder.

The three hanged are all innocent, but the mob has ruled, just as in America today another mob has put criminality atop the U.S.

Travesties – the hanging in the novel and the movie, and the apparent majority voting for obvious rapist, con man, business fraud, hate monger, misogynist, and ally of the world’s most corrupt dictators, oligarchs, and election hackers.

Worse: how American schools now produce such mobs.

Expand full comment

"the apparent majority voting for obvious rapist, con man, business fraud, hate monger, misogynist, and ally of the world’s most corrupt dictators, oligarchs, and election hackers" says it all. I have worn black every day since the day after the election.

Expand full comment

I’d been thinking of wearing black as well, Susan, but haven’t quite pulled it off every day…. even thought of a black arm band to wear for the next 4 years. Sometimes I think I am sleeping and experiencing a nightmare. As Spock would say, TFFFG’s winning “is illogical”. And yet, here we are.

Expand full comment

I have that thought too, especially on J20th & J6th

Expand full comment

They are planning a "Peoples March on Washington" on Jan 18, 2025. I had similar thoughts of wearing a black arm band, and that seems just the place to do it.

It seems like 2017 again with it very hard to find affordable hotel rooms but we will find a way to be there if at all possible. Back in 2017 we were looking forward to Hillary being sworn in, but would have been happy to make it to the Women's March the next day (which I believe had around 400,000 join in).

We ended up going to one in Riverside California instead, so any next year in Washington DC have become an even higher priority to make a new record for the largest protest ever.

Expand full comment

Phil, While you’re probably aware of this figure, I would note, based on a trusted source The New Yorker, the literacy index of over half of all adults in the States (presumably eligible voters) is below a 6th grade level. I note this statistic not only in response to your final statement but also because it’s included in the most illuminating post-election analysis I have encountered: Nathan Heller’s New Yorker piece titled Republican Victory and the Ambience of Information, “a must-read,” according to Lawrence O’Donnell, “about the election after the election.”

The foregoing notwithstanding, still, I see no choice but to hitch my wagon to a new pro-democratic organization “Governors Safeguarding Democracy,” a coalition intent on protecting an individual or citizen’s rights from the things the Trump Administration wants to do federally. I further would note I understand it’s been suggested that our Blue governors’ group develop its own democratic social media platform and base it outside the U.S. as an international platform for democratic governments everywhere.

Expand full comment

Remember the enlightenment? I'm calling the MAGA era the 'endarkenment'.

Expand full comment

"They claim a mandate, although as final vote tallies are coming in, it turns out that Trump did not win 50% of the vote, and CNN statistician Harry Enten notes that his margin comes in at 44th out of the 51 elections that have been held since 1824."... Less than 50% is not a Majority... Kamala may have Capitulated too Early... I have also read that Kamala received about 10,000,000 Votes less than Joe Biden did 2020... Those 10,000,00+ Voters stayed Home... DJT received less than a 1,000,000 more Votes than he did in 2020... Per AOC, Kamala should have listened less to the Obama Era insiders, and more to the 'GrassRoots'.... Reuben Gallego impressed me by visiting all the Major Indigenous Enclaves in AZ during his Campaign... They Turned Out For Him... DJT is Mean, Vindictive, and Cruel.. DJT will try to undo all of Joe Biden's accomplishments... Failing that he will try to take for them... DJT is deteriorating noticeably faster now... DJT will cause Chaos in order to mask his ineptitude... DJT is the "Stable Genius" Businessman who declared Bankruptcy 5-Times... As long as DJT is on the Main Stage, he will cause Chaos... His Minions have been chosen for their Subservience to DJT, not their Competence...

Expand full comment

The 1943 version of "The Oxbow Incident" was one my mother made sure we saw as a young teenager. Wellman is well described in "Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick," (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOmJq7C67U0&t=724s ), and a few presentations by William Wellman Jr using it and what I learned a few times after the presentations with small gatherings to find out even more about his father and his own life experiences (playing baseball with Robert Redford as teenagers, for example).

Wellman Jr also remembered Ernie Pyle stopping by to discuss "The Story of GI Joe" movie then being made. Ernie Pyle was on his way to the war in the Pacific, and if memory serves had doubts about Burgess Meredith being cast as him until he met him at the Wellman's home. That was personal to me since I had a coworker who said he was Ernie Pyle's nephew (though I can't find proof of that).

William Wellman was a WWI pilot who's experience helped winning the first academy Award for Best Picture with "Wings" in 1927. His last movie was Lafayette Escadrille and particularly close to his own WWI experience. His son filled us in on a trip he took to Paris with his dad in which he hinted there was a woman he was involved with which might have been the Renee in the movie. He was not allowed by the studio to finish the movie the way he wanted to as it was seen as too depressing. On that trip, I think they stopped by the St-Gervais-et-St-Protais Church, where it seems two women known to his father (perhaps including the real Renee, whom he have actually been secretly married to) were killed by a shell from the Paris gun with a range of an incredible 75 miles. Wellman Jr left us with the impression that his father was so upset by not being able to finish the movie the way he wanted that he quit the industry completely.

He didn't always have a choice on the films he was contracted to make but he poured incredible passion into the ones he really wanted to make, to me like "The Oxbow Incident" and "The Story of GI Joe."

Expand full comment

Back in the 80s, first year teaching, I taught that. Today I'm not sure most younger teachers have even heard of it.

Expand full comment

Now CONSeravtive legislatures are writing vigilante laws to create more chaos. They are using following the policies Lenin and Stalin used, then Hitler used. Turn the populous on itself while they pillage the public funds.

Expand full comment

In order to wrap our brains around the question "How is Trump getting away with this?," it's time for people to read systemic corruption expert Sarah Kendzior's two best selling books "Hiding In Plain Sight" and "They Knew". Like forensic psychiatrist Bandy Lee (who was banned from news interview shows for telling the truth about Trump's ability in infect all of society with his destructive form of mental illness), Sarah Kenzior was banned from MSNBC for telling too many hard truths.

Sarah knows there is a global effort to not just tear down democratic governments but to also crash America's economy... so that (just as hedge fund managers do with corporations) the extremely rich and powerful can break America up and sell off its parts. Here is an article about Sarah from 2022. She was 44 years old at the time and her book "They Knew" was just being released. She knows what she's talking about. It would be wise for the rest of us to know what she knows too. And you can find her on Substack.

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2022/09/nonfiction-book-explains-the-oligarchs-plot-to-break-up-the-u-s-to-make-it-easier-to-sell-off-its-parts/

Expand full comment

I didn’t know she was banned by MSNBC but I gave them up awhile back. Sarah Kendzior thinks outside the box. Read all her books as soon as they were published. Great recommendations.

Expand full comment

I’m happy you also know her work.

Expand full comment

Hi, Steve Brant -

Thanks for the book references. I'm reading as much as I can to try to calm my brain and understand what's happening. I'm also getting a CCW license and will be putting in a lot of range time.

Expand full comment

You're welcome, Joel.

I appreciate that you're reading as much as you can... and getting a CCW license.

By the way, Sarah's Substack is worthwhile too... and gives you her latest thinking in smaller doses. But her books are the foundation for understanding how bad things really are. The bottom line for me (and her and others): No one is going to save us but us. Not Jack Smith, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Judge Chutkan, etc. No one but us.

https://substack.com/@sarahkendzior

Expand full comment

Joel, I have a long time friend, now retired, who recently bought acreage in a “red” part of Michigan (he doesn’t mind being a voice in the wilderness!). He’s a conservative-progressive (I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it would make sense if you knew him). He was in Coast Guard and takes his oath to the Constitution VERY seriously. He went, in the late 90’s or early 2000’s to Palestine & Israel to see for himself what was going on….participated in a peace march in Gaza & was very moved by the Palestinian’s plight even then. He then traveled to a number of countries in South America to learn more about them. At one point, during a break in his travels, he called me to let me know he was taking a week long arms course in NV, AZ or NM (I forget which) which included active shooter drills, “clearing” or securing buildings, etc…..a whole gamut of scenarios, not unlike a police academy. He found it very interesting & instructive, but did note that most of the participants (who all happened to be male) fell to the right, sometimes the far right, of the political spectrum. Come to think of it, he has always reminded me of a Boy Scout….”always be prepared”. Haven’t seen him in many years…but we stay in touch via long phone calls.

Expand full comment

I believe that would be ALICE training (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate).

I stopped by the college I worked at, soon after the Valentine's Day (Parkland High School) shootings, and talked to the Lab teaching assistant that replaced me about what I planned for any active shooter problems. I had told the Campus Police what I was doing and asked what they would support or recommend. They suggested the ALICE training but were not encouraged by the few that seemed to want to take the courses.

The new lab tech showed me the improved doors and locks they put in as one of the college's attempts to limit risks, and I showed him and some students the roll around displays I'd made of two jet engine compressor halves so each could be used as a mobile shield to protect any of us that would try to distract a shooter by charging the shooter to give others a chance to escape, or especially for the former Law Enforcement Officers or Veteran students, to grab objects I left distributed around the lab and throw them at the person to keep them from concentrating on just one of us. Fire extinguishers were pointed out as possible ways to limit the person's vision if the shooter got close enough or we could get close enough to physically disarm the person. I particularly advised our young women students to use the fire extinguishers as their defense especially since they were located by the exit doors so they would also be better able to escape. I would trust at least one or two others to work together to keep any shooter busy and most concerned by the best protected persons actively moving against the shooter while others helped everyone else escape.

I've been in a few situations in Vietnam and here where several of us were unarmed facing what turned out to be less threatening situations than those school incidents, but have always been determined to use whatever we could to prevent being relatively helpless in saving others and ourselves. We, singly or with others, all of us unarmed were able to pursuade people in 4 incidents that I was into hand over weapons voluntarily.

I'm inspired by the teachers that did whatever they could, and took bullets for their students as the least they could do with no other options. During the Virginia Tech shooting that left 32 dead, we had students and a relative that had graduated from there, and remembered Professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust Survivor who gave his life blocking the door to the room as he told students to get out through the windows. See rticles.latimes.com/2007/apr/18/nation/na-heroes18

P.S. I haven't kept any weapons after Vietnam and don't want to live in a country so bad that I might need them for protection from people.

Expand full comment

And Naomi Klien the Shock Doctrine.

Expand full comment

Note to trump voters: We told you so.

Expand full comment

I’m waiting for the inevitable schadenfreude.

Expand full comment

DE, I find it interesting the reporting of the number of online searches for “how to change my vote”. Seems, for some, the remorse has already set in. And don’t get me started on those who chose TFFFG over Harris because of the current Admin’s stance on Israel/Gaza (not that I agree w/ their stance)….but come on….to think he’d somehow be better? His stance was plain as day & folks chose to ignore it. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Expand full comment

By an odd coincidence, I finally, at the age of seventy-two, read Ray Bradbury's classic, "Someting Wicked This Way Comes". It's the perfect book for Trump 2.0. I think I'll take a week or so and then start it again.

Our country is about to be tested as never before. As pointed out in tonight's newsletter, fewer than half of us voted for Trump, but he will do everything he can to convince us he is all-powerful. He isn't.

I'm lucky. Since I was born in 1952, I lived in the best United States that has ever been. Now I will, I hope, survive its worst.

See you on the barricades.

Expand full comment

See you there. On Whatever barricades we can construct, out of whatever art or craft or trade we are good at. I’ve heard it said recently that marches in the streets will do nothing, but seems like no doubt many are being organized, and the barricades will be thronged by us older folk along with the younger. We will see. I am still training my feet for marching and don’t see any reason to put heavy boots away for probably the next 5 years. Undoing, fixing the damage that will be done, and how to mitigate as much damage to the soul and spirit of the USA as it happens, to say nothing of the physical suffering of families torn apart, hardworking people tossed on the street, children dying from bad health advice.

Expand full comment

Joel, I am ready to resist and persist! I am a few years older than you, but still have some piss & vinegar when my dander is up. I may not be able to kick ‘em in the ass anymore, but I can probably reach their shins! Living in a rural area in a mostly blue state, there is little “on the ground” engagement, so do what I can otherwise….still, it’s a helpless sort of feeling not to be in the streets once again shouting “hell no!”. ☮️🗽🇺🇸

Expand full comment

"Ship of Fools" is a 1962 novel by Katherine Anne Porter. The movie was released in 1965. It received eight Oscar nominations and won two. The story takes place on an ocean liner bound for Germany from Mexico in 1933. (quotes from reviews) "Many of the passengers bound for Nazi Germany are happy, some are apprehensive, while others downplay the significance of Germany’s fascist politics." /// "Aboard ship, there is no sense at all of the potential for evil in the character of German nationalism, with its commitments not only to the purity of order but to the purity of chaos and self-immolation." /// "Running down the middle of this story, the road to Nazism soon becomes indistinguishable from the highway to hell."

Expand full comment

I remember seeing that movie and walking out not really understanding it, being too young at the time. Now I wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Expand full comment

Memo to Representative Mike Simpson (R-ID): You're a fucking coward. Grow some balls. Stop whining. Step up to your oath of office. Do the job you're being paid handsomely to do.

To the rest of the Rs in the shambles that passes nowadays for Congress: If you do not uphold this country's most fundamental governing principles -- and you are showing many signs that you will not -- the injustices to follow and the blood that will be spilled will be on your hands. It will stain you forever. You will be traitors to your country and its ideals forever.

To everyone who voted for the incoming administration: This is on you. You abetted a gang of cruel, criminal, racist, misogynist fascists who are poised to ride roughshod over everything this country stands for, in the hope that the price of your eggs or the cost of your clothes would be slightly lower for a little while. You didn't apply even the slightest common sense to the information available, and you let yourself be gulled by the most obvious lies perpetrated by the most obviously self-interested liars. Don't come crying when you discover that the special-ed classes for your special-needs child have been cut, or your 12-year-old daughter or granddaughter who got pregnant via rape cannot get an abortion or reproductive-health medical care, or your health insurance has left you hung out to dry, or your government-provided support checks have dried up and blown away like tumbleweeds, or everything costs 20% more because of the tariffs your fraudulent rapist cult hero imposed, or you can't find half the meat and produce you usually buy because so many workers who bring those products to market have been deported. And that's just the start. There's going to be much more. And you brought it on. You own it.

Expand full comment

When Gaetz is out of the running, ( I hope, I hope), what crazy will come next? I have a hard time understanding why republicans think his luny appointments are good for anything except trump’s ego. It will be interesting to see if any of them stand up to Cheetolini. I have my doubts.

Expand full comment

Trump is putting on his “All Culture War, All the Time” show to distract voters from watching their tax dollars flow upwards into Elon’s and Jeff’s and other already wealthy pockets. We have to name it over and over and remind people to “Follow the Money!”

Expand full comment

"A dying mule kicks the hardest."

—South African Proverb

Expand full comment

Wondering when we'll hear that Trump's pick for Sec of Commerce is the "Pillow Guy?"

Expand full comment

I thought he would get the nod for Surgeon General!

Expand full comment

When I hit that heart, that’s just to send my appreciation to you. What I’m reading, though, is making me sick to my stomach! What were people thinking when they voted for him? Did they think it was a joke? If you know of any group or organization that is working to fight this, would you let me know? Do Republican senators and representatives need courage to fight this infection? If they heard from enough of us, do you think that could stop this? I live in Florida. The Republican leaders are mostly infected. They ban books. They’ve weaponized the courts. The governor spent tax money for ads that were political. They have decimated public schools in the name of choice. I wonder how they’d live if they didn’t have tourism funds.

I am so discouraged and angry!

Please keep writing. Please find some hope. And thank you.

Expand full comment

Dana, all I can think of is the adherents to the Burn-It-Down-Bannonites who want the whole thing to implode/go up in flame/become toast…. Ah, the glory of Rome burning…what a spectacle….no one, really, thinks of the day(s) after.

Expand full comment

And when the shit hits the fan and “Americans” who voted for the fascist start to whine because our social programs have been cut …I’m gonna say “fuck off and wallow in your own pile of orange shit.”

No mercy for what they have done.

Expand full comment