On Friday evening, the Wall Street Journal published an article about the Trump administration’s negotiations with Russia over Ukraine that illuminated the administration’s approach to the world at home, as well as overseas.
It’s time for me to come clean on this: I kept calling this chaos “incompetence,” but this piece from Dr. Richardson makes the pattern obvious…“peace” as a payout plan and government run like an ATM for the Epstein class.
The WSJ leak and these receipts on AI/crypto, pardons, and donors tie it together: deals for friends, higher bills for everyone else.
You can feel it at the register with tariffs and energy up while the rules bend for the well-connected.
The fix is boring and brave: protect Ukraine without kickbacks, enforce the law on the wealthy, rebuild the safety net, and show the math in daylight. www.xplisset.com
I’m sensing a way to emerge from this catastrophe mess we have entered. As expected, the MAGAets have gone too far and we must take full advantage. The goal is to build a super majority so we can pass legislation that will reverse the madness. With a super majority, we can enlarge the Supreme Court. This must be done. We need to move toward a new FDR lie era. But I caution that we also must reevaluate some of our modern day issues that divide us and prevent us from winning big.
Yes, but the question is how to achieve a super majority?
Answer:
Metaphorically speaking, supporters of egalitarian democracy are the bull, supporters of authoritarian autocracy are the matador, and the bull needs to stop pointing its horns at the cape and start pointing them at the matador.
Thank you! Yes Supreme Court impeachments as well as president and vice president! Big job ahead senate and house! You can do it! Clean up the USA back to reasonable rules/laws!
Unfortunately it has taken over half a century for the republicans to get us to exactly where they wanted us. I too will probably not see a complete return to the Democratic country we deserve. I have no children or grandchildren but I certainly hope everyone else’s future will be brighter and will continue to do what I’m able to help.
I've read Alice B. Toklas' autobiography 5-6 times. I know that Gertrude and Alice didn't sit around clutching their pearls and admiring all those paintings. They bought a car and took action.
Alice, I'm 10 years older than you...so I'm even closer to my end time. And my greatest hope is to have enough time to enjoy at least some clean-up of this awful mess.
Ending income inequality is easier than ending all forms of discrimination.
Northern Europe has a much smaller income gap than the US, for instance. They achieved it through strong unions, strong regulations, high taxes, and free education.
It's basically the exact opposite of everything that the GOP calls "Big" and "Beautiful".
Biden/Harris know this. It's how they cut childhood poverty in the US in half, in only four years. But you can't solve all problems created by the GOP in four years, so we HAVE to be in it for the long haul rather than no longer voting or switching parties every two or four years.
Discrimination is something the law can fight against and should fight against, but it's not enough. We need a change in people's mentalities. That will only happen to the extent that they feel happier and less threatened, and, of course, to the extent that they are well-educated.
That brings us to the last problem: low levels of quality of education in the US. Studies show that a whopping 40% of America's fourth graders don't even have basic reading skills. That's almost one out of two. One out of five Americans is illiterate (in many Northern European countries, it's not even one out of one hundred). At the same time, the humanities are bleeding students.
Why is this happening?
US education is no longer about transmission, it's about validating whatever each individual student feels or thinks. It's no longer about debating the truth, it's about creating "safe spaces" at campuses, defined as... places where no one will contradict you. And since the 1990s, the humanities have become entirely politicized. All you learn is how to judge all previous generations. There is no real study of the arts and literature (or, for that matter, philosophy) anymore.
That's how you end up with a wealthy elite that has no real moral education or knowledge of history (anyone who knows history knows what a terrible idea it is to placate someone like Trump and turn against the entire democratic world, only to add a few more billions to the billions of dollars/roubles you already have...). It's also how you end up with citizens who become extremely judgmental towards whomever they perceive as The Other (Trump voters as perceived by certain progressives, and most minorities as perceived by Trump voters).
Fascism is never installed in a society overnight. First, the fabric of society, its culture, its spirituality needs to become hollowed out. That's exactly what happened over the last decades, in parallel with the installation of neoliberalism by the GOP. And it's not the ridiculous concept of "Christian" nationalism that will lead to a revival of spirituality (= any study and activity that makes life meaningful, including the practice of love and compassion (with or without belief in a god)).
Critical thinking and therefore, critical reading, are democratic acts. How does the typical U.S. person respond when they hear something is a communist or socialist act? They vote against it. The countries that are highly democratic, embrace capitalism with a human face, and sustain a good quality of life measurement in income, housing, food, and education are the Democratic Socialist countries like Scandanavia or Ireland (for examples). In the U.S.? Unions fought for 40 hour work weeks before overtime pay kicks in, weekends, healthcare, safe work conditions, vacation time, and are called socialist or communist (the two words are interchangeable to many) and union membership plummets. Women want the right to vote, generations later women want equal pay and equity and to have control over their own bodies and they are labeled anti family socialists. People of color demand equal rights and they are socialist or communists, same for environmentalists. We live in a society where sound bites (and now social media) wins over critical thinking and the simple act of doing research to learn facts. Critical thinking is a democratic act, and so no wonder our democracy is unraveling. From democracy to anocracy and kleptocracy - not a good outcome.
"US education is no longer about transmission, it's about validating whatever each individual student feels or thinks. It's no longer about debating the truth, it's about creating "safe spaces" at campuses, defined as... places where no one will contradict you. And since the 1990s, the humanities have become entirely politicized. All you learn is how to judge all previous generations. There is no real study of the arts and literature (or, for that matter, philosophy) anymore.”
US Education is a far more varied activity than you portray.
Sorry, but you lost me when you basically said DEI is the problem with education. I hope you meant that, as always, the right clutched its pearls because reality hurt their fee fees.
Are you making me Professor Meow? Do you really think we are that racist? Where and when? If I put a sign out on my house for sale saying no Blacks need apply, I would be nailed to a cross. I don’t know. Many of my clients are professional African American and most of them have far greater asset base than I so may be I’m just jaded by my experiences. I’m not suggesting that racism does t exist it does. MAGAs try and tell us they are not racist but they are. They are sweet talking putting a dark-skin Indian American formerly recognized as an Indian untouchable class from India and make him FBI director. Go figure. We are living in an extremely biforcated society. We need to almost use a Madison Avenue approach to packaging a new FDR-kind of future. Do we express higher taxes for the wealthy? No. Better to express progressive tax structure that will inevitably serve to provide society with universal health care for all. I now need to reevaluate which health care plan is best for me. Do I keep my new Medicare plan and pay for the extras or return to the fraud Medicare Advantage that I dropped last year knowing that if I became seriously ill, the private insurance may deny, and delay coverage until I dropped dead.
Oh please, I need to begin working. I’m not retired.bye bye for now, lol.
I love, enjoy and appreciate persons of all races and MOST human beings in general.
What I oppose is when one group which appoints itself to be superior, attempts to force others to comply with its ways or else, consequences will ensue.
This is when , if my enemy is larger than me.....and I do not see support for defeating this enemy....I look for a safer place for myself and for my family.
I also realize that in the world, in these days ...dominating governments are joining powers (at least on the outside) to profit themselves....NOT THE PERSONS THEY GOVERN!
Mob forces are growing all around us. Will they destroy themselves with their greed as they also try to destroy us for NOT complying?
Whether we have Medicare or not will be "small potatoes". I hope we are able to secure safe "shots" to protect us from deadly common diseases. Some believe these are no longer needed....just let the extra population die off....MORE FOR US!!!!
Right -I am looking at getting off Medicare Advantage, and going back to “traditional,” or whatever it’s called … but, we can’t afford it. So, much empathy.
It will take time but will end sometime. I am not concerned with Trump and his family amassing massive wealth because they will not live to spend it all. We all die and are subject to judgment.
Even in the FDR era, enlarging the Supreme Court went nowhere. As much as the idea seems to have merit, the only thing it would actually do is increase the various ways in which SCOTUS even now interprets the Constitution, without altering the possibilities of the same kinds of swings we are seeing with the current nine.
There are two different problems with the current SC: (1) the fact that two-thirds of the Justices are "conservative", when only one third of the American people is, so it's not representative, and (2) the fact that those same 6 Justices adhere to a very specific interpretation of the law, called "unitary executive theory", which is just a fancy name for fascism, a political regime that gives all the power to the executive and subordinates the legislative and judicial branches of government to the executive. That, in the US, is unconstitutional (the Constitution stipulates three independent and coequal branches of government), so with a well-functioning SC, the Constitution would be enforced. That's not the case today.
Knowing that Justices are appointed for life, there's only one way to restore its constitutional function, and that is by adding more Justices, so that those adhering to (potentially different but) constitutional theories of interpreting the law become the majority again.
That's not an "eternal" solution, of course. In theory, over time a neofascist GOP could then again populate the SC with a majority of neofascist Justices who don't care about the Constitution. The whole point is that it would take TIME to do so, however. Whereas right now, it's exactly what IS already going on.
I’m not so sure about the 'unitary executive theory bit. Rather, between the ‘originalism' of the six conservatives (primarily responsible for their rulings in Dobbs, Heller, and Trump v USA) and their insistence on ruling for the general case (the Presidency itself) instead of in terms of Trump himself, they have sidestepped the demands of the moment for a sort of ’safe space’.
I do not think they can sustain that space for too much longer. Trump is already making that impossible for all their efforts to avoid his depredations.
I would indeed agree to and advocate for term limits, which would resolve the life tenure problem.
And BTW, the Founders did not intend to create three co-equal branches. In their minds, the Congress was intended to be the dominant body, the executive somewhere in the middle, and SCOTUS the weakest of the three. Remember that they did not give SCOTUS the power of judicial review, which power is now the focus of so much controversy.
Should we make crypto illegal like booze was? Remember Thunder Road? Does crypto require ingredients? I can make mud pies can I make crypto? Is there counterfeit opportunity here? Who’s boots do I lick to get started?
Oh, it's easier than that. Just come up with a catchy name for a crypto coin, promote it & watch the dough come flying in. Well, only if you know a couple of billionaires who want in on the grift.
~~~I sometimes wonder what the populous thought when "checks"; "bank notes"; "bank accounts" were invented? Prior to that people either bartered or literally had "cold, hard cash" in the form of coins that they could hold, collect, squirrel away. Do you wonder what they thought about when paper money was invented, bank accounts were created, & checks & bank notes became legal tender? Surely they must have felt akin to how we feel about crypto. It took faith to create a banking system of paper currency & accounts. That was as ethereal to them as crypto is to us. But today there can be no faith in crypto because it has not been created by governments or banks until now. Now anyone with a little backing & knowhow can create their own "money" & lure others into using their real money to invest in crypto. It's a shell game of enormous proportions.
What hasn't the world, or human ingenuity "invented" that has not led to criminal activity? I would add that the car has abetted the bank robber, kidnapper, car jacker, murderer...
I am not following your point here? The automobile is a concrete item useful for the everyday person in countless ways. Yes you can run over a child with it. But crypto? How will this evolve to benefit the people? Working folks who can’t afford to throw $100,000 ( minimal) at a high risk investment.
Correct.... but it has been used in criminal, nefarious ways. Not comparing the car to crypto, but making an analogy to the ways human made/invented things can do harm. People volunteer to invest in crypto, so some may be injured, bankrupted by it and some will prosper. Not looking for an argument....
Yes that very thought went rampant through my brain. I was lucky to escape it since I found a can of confederate money in an old log barn in Rosevelt Utah 65 years ago. They wouldn’t even sell me a cinnamon popsicle for the whole can full.
Is it like propane then? Can I haul it around in tanks and the end user hooks it up to regulators to use as needed? Is it hazardous? Maybe we can sell crypto air and water as well. How about crypto Reeses Cups? I would fill my car trunk with crypto Reese’s cups.
Pat, I think you're alluding to the fact through humor.
I have been saying since I first learned of cryptocurrency that the problem with it is, unlike every other commodity that has been used for legal and illegal purposes, crypto doesn't exist.
It is a series of ones and zeroes that, themselves, have no substance and no value. Crypto only has value when it is tied to something else that does have value, such as the U.S. Dollar.
When the dollar was severed from the Gold Standard, many objected, and rightly so. But dollars can still be accounted for through bookkeeping and other forms of tracking. By contrast, the whereabouts of crypto cannot be known because it is "protected" by blockchain formulae, which is really a scheme to conceal the fact that crypto is not anywhere because it doesn't exist.
Which is why it's the currency of choice for criminals like the Trump crime syndicate.
The first time someone told me about crypto, I laughed and walked away. I've seen nothing to change my mind. It's an obvious scam similar to a MLM scheme. Only the people at the very top profit.
Gold is an excellent electrical conductor. Works great as teeth. More durable than colored beads and shells. Easily worked into objects like wall decorations and jewelry. But like the dollar and crypto has no intrinsic value other than many accept it as value in and of itself.
As you have noted accounting, aka transparency, is the process that separates crypto from alternate systems rendering it of great advantage to men like our president.
I love, Xplisset, how Heather puts "the Epstein class" in quotation marks, while you do not.
So the name for all these murderers (Putin's side, Netanyahu's side, Mohammed bin Salman's side), and all the rapists, techie billionaires, and other corporate predators (Donald's side) goes that quickly from being encapsulated in quotation marks, to then being freed (by you) as general descriptor for the larger public.
Nice.
Might some Dems & independents -- even Don Bacon republicans -- cohere against this building hegemony against us, against all decent peoples worldwide?
The 2024 edification for an election selection looking only for an erection should be don't look where you shouldn't. It appears our lesson for 2026 and 28 must be look only at “winning is everything.” Thus in selecting a candidate look where the swing voters mind is looking. Or maybe if we have time swing their minds well beforehand. I want to believe Trump and his actions is doing that for us, that some are learning their lesson, but lets not depend on any such belief. We have work to do and we need to look closely at the nature of the beast – that American swing voter.
Exactly my reaction when I heard him reply. Not too rich like Pritzker, not too manicured like Newsom, more seasoned than AOC, more forceful than Buttigieg...Need I go on?
I’m in TN. It appears that Aftyn may be even with Van Epps (whose ex-wife says he’s an idiot, btw). However, Republicans prefer to vote on Election Day itself, though early voting favored Aftyn. There is a national spotlight on this race. (She has a great ad involving bull-riding machines, perfect for Nashville.)
Perhaps, but the city of Nashville itself is blue. It’s the gerrymandered district itself that includes counties from the TN-KY line to nearly the TN-AL state line.
One doesn't start a war overnight. trump has been laying the groundwork for one in Venezuela for some time now. Like his parade it will be a pathetic joke but it will give him the excuse he needs to call off the election.
I think there will be the fraud of elections like what happens in Hungary. Maybe not as obvious a fix as Russia, but a suppressed media along with voter intimidation/suppression may very be what we see in 2026 with it being even worse in 2028. Winning an elections gives those in power legitimacy, like what happened in 2024. I am still not convinced that that was a fair election free from some forms of interference.
Good catch on the quotes Phil, by ‘Epstein class’ I mean the narrow, well-documented network HCR cites, not ‘the public.’ My aim is precision plus daylight: policy for donors while costs rise for everyone else. And yes, of course, I’m for a cross-party coalition around law, transparency, and lower bills
Xplisset, I agree with your rigor re: defining the 'Epstein class', but I do think the 'general public' will do precisely the opposite. I see signs such as "Eat The Epstein Class" at the next No Kings rallies. One reason for this may be they rightly identify the Epstein Class as the group behind the degradation of economic opportunity, lack of access to education, increasing inflation, authoring rules and laws that benefit the well healed and hurt the rest of us (99.9%, it turns out), and generally exploiting us for their own ends. Enough Americans are now engaged in this debate to create real change. One powerful tool used in all real change is to accurately name the things we are opposed to in order to organize how we think about them. Now we have a name. We can do more than just complain about the mouthpiece.
If I may offer an editorial suggestion, we can discuss the Epstein Mafia without quotation marks by using the foregoing term or labeling it the Epstein Plutocracy, the Epstein Oligarchy, the Epstein Pervocracy (my favorite), the Epstein Cabal, the Epstein Cult and the Epstein Imperium.
Heather's term 'Epstein class' REALLY caught my attention and even opened my eyes wider to see how Trump uses his goal to enrich this class as his guiding principle for domestic and foreign policy.
Yes. The "Epstein Class" struck me as pure genius. I think the anti Epstein movement has been launched. "Epstein" can be applied to many entities. Like the "Epstein Party" aka Republicans. Sorry, MAGA, now you own it.
Oh, I love, love, love that! The Epstein Party. Imagine a ballot with that in paren's after a candidates name. tom emmer (E-MN). I think now I'll send him a little note and ask him what HE thinks about that.
Loren, although all your suggestions are apt for their accuracy, as a marketing professional, I offer this counsel: They will not resonate with the masses and therefore, are not viable.
"Epstein Class" is a term everyone can understand, from the functionally illiterate to the possessor of multiple doctorates.
Mr. Rowett: As I said below, I think Epstein Class -- with or without quotation marks -- is too bland, thus insufficiently pejorative and inadequately damning. Were we in a professional situation, I'd suggest we focus-group it (the late Blanka Eckstein was a dear friend). But I absolutely agree the concept -- ultimately of a subset of the ruling class fanatically committed to self-aggrandizement by ecogenocidal perpetuation of the Epstein-caliber Evil -- is genuinely brilliant, quite possibly our most useful Resistance-concept to date. Nevertheless, though I applaud its intellectual brilliance, the term itself does nothing for me emotionally -- and if we are to win this war, we need language that not only evokes and sustains anger but includes the implied truth our assailants are so Evil as to be forever unforgivable.
Such recognition is vital not just for victory but for the successful post-victory reforms and prosecutorial elimination of MAGATry. However, it is also a recognition that Mr. Pudup -- vehemently anti-socialist defender of capitalism that he is -- seems to fear and loathe. By contrast, I acknowledge it as vital to ridding ourselves of the self-resurrecting menace of the Ayn-Rand/Epstein sociopathy that history repeatedly proves is capitalism's ultimately defining trait: the fly-in-the-ointment the capitalists and their servants relentlessly work to hide until capitalism is able to impose its intended ecogenocidal tyranny at will. (See: Monbiot & Hutchison, "Invisible Doctrine: the Secret History of Neoliberalism" as PDF, https://tinyurl.com/4c6k3s4v also https://www.thenation.com/article/world/chicago-boys-chile-neoliberalism/ )
Loren, all that you long for can be addressed by the wonks after we rid ourselves of the pestilence. But in this moment, we must persuade Joe Six Pack that his heroes are selling him beers with false bottoms.
I too think “Epstein class” is a perfect descriptor for these people. It knows no party (Epstein after all, was a Democrat), but it encapsulates the rapacious greed, sense of entitlement, and willingness to satisfy those feelings by any means necessary. Let the Epstein class (no quotes intentional here) become so part of the common vernacular that when somebody says it, everyone else knows exactly what they mean.
Agreed, Chris. One might say that the Epstein Class is synonymous with the "One Percenters," but the latter merely implies that its members are extremely wealthy. It doesn't carry the additional context that its members are not only extremely wealthy, but also entitled, self-dealing, protected by cronyism and profoundly callous to the effects of their behavior on others.
Chris, the Epstein class is exactly what we have and you describe this class perfectly. These types have always existed getting all the wealth while the serfs and peasants did all the work. What bothers me is the lethal technology that they now have to enforce and suppress.
As did Loren, also replying here, I want to thank you for the link.
I remember this shortness of breath the photographer (and video maker) mentions in this video -- I remember it as a 12-year-old boy on some days in Los Angeles in 1959, when the smog was heavy in Highland Park (near Pasadena), where I was living then.
Superbly revealing video. Thank you very much, Ms. Winfield, with a salute of recognition and gratitude. May all of us view this vital documentation of the truly ecogenocidal magnitude of the MAGAT threat -- not just to the (former) U.S., but to our entire species, all other life and indeed to our Mother Earth herself.
Perhaps the hegemony is cracking apart rather than building. MTG leaving, Republican congressmembers and senators starting to grow a spine and criticize the president openly,
PS: I think HCR used quotation marks because she was giving credit to the person who coined the term...just sayin'
Those spineless congresspeople know that they need to distance themselves from a growing unpopular trump for their reelections. Being tied to trump when it helps untie when it doesn't. Still spineless!!
Trump is a murderer along with Putin, Netanyahu, and MBS because of the boat people off of Venezuela and the young woman in the National guard killed in Washington recently.
While citing this is not an ounce of difference from yesteryears. The names are different but not the MO. The GOP has repeatedly done this year in to decades out -the Dems gain/get back (in)/clean up the mess. The GOP gleans the mistakes , restructures, rewords, reapplies and rewards the ‘elite’ and it all cycles again.
While the vast amounts of enrichment for ‘a few’ more is obvious..the underlings …noting no italics…keep coming to America ‘to get rich’ , supporting ‘the promise’. Might as well call them The Troddens, huh?
Since Feudal.
Since before BC……
it doesn’t surprise me
it’s the same and always has been…
To bring the whole up to comfort level, educate, and care for the needy has made a few countries stable ,happy, desired, model places but doesn’t change the greedy from wanting more…nor stop the cycles of control for ‘the elite’.
History of this pattern is at our fingertips . The Robin Hoods or Heros are few but usually keep the fairy tales ,movies, and dreamers -cheering on.
Everyone loves a good story.
Whether it’s a radical right ( or left?) peace is not a goal (though more and more cleverly thrown out in promises “Trust Me” ) … it’s really control tactics re-dressed.
It might be ‘’we’ve lost our moral compass’’ so push the story, the control of religion.
It might be “if we just even out of the money”
The principle of unity, caring, love is reserved for the besties and dressed up in a promised story..
This weekend there have been a lot of discussion of the Trump Regime's pay to play foreign policy including the tariffs. Putin dangled the right riches to Witkoff, Kushner and Trump, who will all benefit from this. Not sure about Marco Rubio, who is there with Witkoff and Kushner to negotiate with Ukraine.
Here is Dean Blundell's discussion of how this is destroying our alliance with Europe.
I have been exchanging correspondence with Don Bacon (R-NE) for several years. He is despised by most of his constituents in the metro Omaha area because he says one thing and then 99% of the time votes with the Republicans.
But I do know that he hates Putin and Russia for invading Ukraine. He has never wavered from that position. And he also is one of the few politicians that actually takes the time to respond to emails and they aren't always form letters. But he did vote for the OBBBA which is one of the worst pieces of legislation for Americans (other than oligarchs) ever passed.
"On ABC’s This Week this morning, Representative Don Bacon (R-NE), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said to host Jonathan Karl: “Putin’s the invader, he’s the dictator, he’s murdered all his opponents. But I just don’t see that moral clarity coming from the White House. We saw that Wall Street Journal article yesterday that many people around the president are hoping to make billions of dollars—these are all billionaires in their own right—from…Russia, if they get a favorable agreement with Ukraine. That alarms me tremendously. I want to see America being the leader of the free world, standing up for what’s right, not for who can make a buck…. I don’t want to see a foreign policy based on greed. I want to see it based on doing the right thing.”
Let's wait for some action from Don Bacon before giving him the benefit of the doubt. At last count, there was already one concern ninny in the Senate from Maine. I don't think there's a vacancy for two, but happy to be proved wrong. Put your actions where your mouth is, Senator. "Don't see moral clarity" from the White House -- a true belly laugh there.
If Bacon had real balls he’s be calling on the dictator’s second banana to invoke the 25th. Talk is cheap, Don. For once in your lousy little life, do the real right thing.
Don Bacon stands up for Ukraine. I agree with that; however, he kicked ordinary Americans in the gut by voting for the One Big Bad bill. No wonder his constituents despise him. Then he talks about doing the right thing?! Oh please!
MLMinET, and our income taxes go where?!? Not into programs or Fed employees WE hire.
Most of those have been vaporized.
What’s left looks like a Halloween skeleton. According to Christopher Armitage on substack our states have the necessary powers to bring criminal charges against people who are violating the constitution. I’m calling my state AG
this morning to do just that; also my governor, who’s was the state attorney general before elected as governor.
You may know all this of course. But just in case….i think we all need to encourage our states to maximize
We cannot lead when we have Donald Trump and his money worshipping children and like followers in control of our government. They are in the "safe" and taking everything they can for themselves and "buying the favor" of our enemies until they can't. Building a ballroom!!!!
They are opening the doors for us to be "taken over"....just one more country to put money above us....the people....in order to gain money and power and property...FOR THEMSELVES!!! How long do we live? It will not be forever, but how long for us and other countries to recover...if ever????
Meanwhile what about the future of our country, our elderly, those who live a life of "need". Though we remain imperfect, we have had individuals and organizations who have created places of care for those in need and we have had kind and giving supporters for those institutions. What will be the future ?
The care and education of our young ones ....new lives being born everyday....is nowhere to be seen....although good people are doing what they can do under difficult situations.
I see no kindness or compassion within our current governance.
I have noticed that Rubio often looks down at the floor when he is sitting on the sofa in the Oval Office. Otherwise, he looks very unhappy when he is looking up.
Awkward but unwilling to jeopardize all the positions he currently hopes perhaps?
When describing the unpleasant consequences of a few moments' gratification, a friend of mine says it this way: "This is the f*ckin' you get for the f*ckin' you got."
Believe me, I have zero zilch nada zip sympathy for him. I hope I didn’t imply that I do! I just happen to notice his body language when he’s sitting with his boss.
My calculus includes the scores of innocent civilians his drunken Hegseth has killed in the Caribbean, the thousands his thug ICE have immorally grabbed from American communities, the tens of thousands his ally Netanyahu has killed in Gaza (and the West Bank), the hundreds of thousands his ally Putin has killed in Ukraine, and the millions his fellow corporate predators have ruined in the U.S.
And don't forget the unnumbered thousands or millions around the world suffering now from the stripping of USAID early in this second iteration of irresponsible government.
Yes seems like the whole of the billionaire robber baron class or epstein cabal are so empowered they don't hide their crimes and wholesale rapacious behaviors anymore. Swindle the working poor, cheat what's left of the middle class, rape women and children in broad daylight, Steal our savings and retirement, start wars to cause the greatest amount of suffering then make billions or even trillions off that...where does it end...
I have absolutely zero sympathy for Rubio. He was the one person who was capable of being the adult in the room and he chose the other more craven path. Let him rot and ruminate over his bad career decision for all eternity.
The EU, Great Britain, Canada, etc, cashing in on US bond debt may have the effect of making the Euro the world's reserve currency, not the Dollar. This would make borrowing much more expensive for the US government, and make us a smaller presence on the world stage. Dictators ALWAYS make the countries they rule weaker. Looks like DT is going to do that the the US, in a big, long term way :(
Thank you for this, Ms., Weide. As I have been saying all along, the MAGAT infestation is every bit as fanatical as its Original Nazi forefather, which means that -- like its German predecessor -- it cannot be cured without outside intervention, which I recognized as prohibited by the longstanding U.S. "Better-Dead-Than-Red" policy of destroying the world to avoid surrender.
But I was thinking in terms of the conquest of Germany in 1945 and thus too narrowly; the possibility of effective economic intervention had never occurred to me; Dean Blundell's discussion, for which also thanks, was both enlightening and optimism-building. And I would not be at all surprised if it were subsequently disclosed the impetus for this strategy originated in Whitehall or Ottawa; though the British Empire is long dead, its centuries of strategic seasoning yet prevail, particularly in the realm of intelligence, which is why to grievously back-stab the UK, its close kindred and their allies remains among our planet's most self-destructive follies.
Nevertheless, I fear we must also focus on Trump's threat to invade and conquer Canada and therefore ask ourselves what if -- in retaliation for Euro-Canadian economic self-defense -- his Deciders order their puppet Führer to push the doomsday button on all the participants. (And, yes, I cannot doubt the MAGATs are that Evil; moreover, the historical precedent exists: Japan attacked the United States in retaliation for a purely economic measure, an oil embargo imposed in July 1941.)
We also need our military to rise to the occasion. Did Trump get rid of enough leadership? I am not sure. What about the rank and file?
Ruth Ben-Ghiat has been saying that Trump is basically pulling back from our being a global power to a regional one. That includes the Western Hemisphere. He is planning on leaving Europe to Putin and Asia to Xi. He wants to rule the Western Hemisphere and make money off of all that is in it.
To what purpose does he want to make money? He is old and feeble and has more than he can possibly spend in his remaining time. He does not appear to love his wife or offspring (who also have more than they can possibly spend), so I doubt leaving an inheritance matters to him. He just craves more - more money, more power, more publicity, . . . I think hoarding whatever he can at the expense of others gives him a rush. The cruelty is the point.
Isn't that the essence of a psychopathic personality? Malignant narcissism so deeply ingrained it can no longer even remember why it wants what it wants?
This is so difficult for all of us because we're' not monsters, thank God. For me, understanding how monsters really think is something of a bridge too far. I do they know must be stopped, however.
If how much money a man has reflects the size of his … um, manhood … these guys, 47 especially, can never have enough. Look at Elon, the richest man in the the world and still demands a $1 trillion pay package.
He is clearly not in charge and one wonders how much he really was. Originally his run was a way to make money and all those supporters at his tower and escalator paid. Someday I hope all of the financial rat lines will be traced and uncovered.
DT is a greedy narcissistic psychopath and/or sociopath, and the only thing his brain thinks about are things that build his ego. How much he is worth is some Manosphere idea of manliness that Trump embraces.
Marsie, I have spent decades in or associated with retailing, which is, of course, the purest form of capitalism.
Retail, and by extension, capitalism, is obsessed with "more." The mantra is "BLY." (Beat Last Year) Ever-so-polite economists call this "growth."
This obsession with MORE affects (or infects) the minds of those who participate in capitalism and are not restrained by other influences, such as meaningful human relationships.
"Enough" isn't in the vocabulary of the unrestrained capitalist. I would say that MORE is the point. If harm comes to others, the unrestrained capitalist doesn't care.
Took the words right outta my mouth, Dale! Yes, so many (‘Rump is just really blatant about it—struts it, actually) are infected with what I call the more-more-more parasite. Too much is never enough, and no, it seems they can’t comprehend the true concept of “enough”. One wealthy person, MacKenzie Scott (Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife), seems to embrace the “enough” idea and is widely sharing her wealth while Jeff seemingly pursues even “more” & does so ostentatiously. Here is one online article (there are a number of interesting studies of wealth/greed out there): https://truthout.org/articles/greed-as-a-mental-health-disorder/
If "growth" measures people and skills, if it applies to school activities such as essay writing, then it takes in things such as wider referencing, more apt quoting of others, and similarly humane literacy.
If it applies to school activities such as standardized testing, then the only value or index applying is, as you say, MORE. More points, getting ahead of and above others, as if all are but units and nothing more anyway.
One of the subversive consequences of the end of the draft and the creation of the all-volunteer army is that Caucasian enlisted personnel are almost 100 percent Christonazified, largely due to the fanatically eager participation of the Christonazi churches in recruiting.
Remember too why the draft was discontinued. It was not -- say again (not) -- a sudden spasm of humanitarianism by a government that was already 100 percent captured by capitalism; it was instead the capitalists' realization that the U.S. draft was doing exactly what the Tsarist Russian draft had done -- it was training the (socialist) revolution.
Are you talking about the Russian army, because Caucasians are people in the Caucasus. That would be some Americans coming from there, but not all White Americans. The idea of "Whiteness" is ridiculousness that the world needs to move beyond, but as long as the concept gives preferential status to people, no matter what their other qualities, we will have the racist world that we have where color of skin is a measurement of a person's worth.
Linda, the way I read it is that today's military is mostly white Americans based on their (as Loren says) "Christonazified" experiences in their houses of "worship".
Interesting because my birth year was the last one I think for the draft registration. Some pacifists were wary and that was when the intial idea of two year service fir all with various option began being talked about. With two different groups of people my baby boom ages there was wide agreement. Some COs were treated badly in the past abd this option just works for everyone if we can reach that point of return.
Mar O'Mally. During the Kennedy years, we came close to a 2 year national service for all youth. It could be military, parks, sr citizen aids or many other forms of public service. Mormons require a period post high school of service abroad. I feel elites killed it but the time for some form of transition will come again.
Ruth is likely right. I worked on a Future of Border Security project earlier this year. All but one of the scenarios showed a strong move to a regionalized world. The only ine that didn't was the American collapse scenario. China became the world hegemon in that one
Shamefully, I have thought of an escape...but to where?
Trump's minions are everywhere. People are really afraid of him. Another life that is in his way is probably soon ...NOT in his way....for one reason or another.
I truly believe for the old failing fellow, it is his dream to rule the world!!!!
I am not communist but I have actually been proud of China. At least it did not
comply immediately.
My question is...are we not a Democracy? WHY DO WE NOT REPLACE THIS BATCH OF FOOLS WITH MEN AND WOMEN WHO LOVE AND RESPECT THIS COUNTRY AND CARE FOR ITS PEOPLE AND LANDS!!!!!
It's not incompetent, except for how blatant and open it is. They attempt "smoke and mirrors" with their posts and videos...but the truth is not that hard to figure out. Hitler took his time building up his power and control...Trump isn't that patient and he has to be at the center of everything. He obviously never read "The Art of War."
Would you be willing to write a short letter to the six members of the Joint Chiefs? Express your desire that patriotic and ethical military personnel must not be led by charlatans.
I know that it's been called a leak by the WSJ and others, but really it's been so bleedin' obvious from the outset that Trump wanted a deal with Russia and cared little for Ukraine. Almost from the time of his first impeachment for trying to strongarm Zelensky into digging up dirt on Biden and his son, Hunter he was been so disposed. That wretched embarrassment of an Oval Office meeting with Zelensky in February; the fact that he's suspended shipments of arms to Ukraine three times already since he became president; the red carpet rolled out to Putin in Alaska in August; and his most recent ultimatum to the Ukrainians to accept the Russian plan - they all point to the same thing. Don Bacon is some kind of fool if he hasn't already seen the writing on the wall.
I agree, but this administration has been leaking like a sieve. Hegseth has been carrying out polygraph tests to identify leakers in the Pentagon until he was told to stop by the White House. Kash Patel at the FBI has been using these tests to determine the loyalty of staff to him rather than for the protection of national security. And then there was Signalgate. Trump is perhaps the biggest security risk in the government because he doesn't believe that the rules apply to him. He once told Hannity that he could de-classify documents by thinking of it. Al those documents siezed from Mar a Lago by the FBI have been returned to Trump.
Yes. And, to whom has he sold those documents? Could be anyone in any country. No wonder no one is sharing real intel with the US any more. It is just too dangerous.
Let’s be blunt: 47 has always been enamored of and obsessed with his adoration of Putin. It creates reflected glory for 47, the only kind of glory he’ll ever have. Some of us have known this since 2015; others are just now waking up.
It's only ever earned him general obloquy and an impeachment. Many people believe that there's got to be something more to it but no one has ever been to nail it down.
Xplisset, YES! And then shore up our venerable Constitution where it needs it (mostly, greater clarity) and redesign capitalism to distribute wealth fairly (no, not equally) thus eliminating poverty while maintaining serious economic rewards for good ideas, hard work and dedication to the common good.
There is a big difference between being able to afford every luxury (a few million $$ a year should suffice for any true patriot) and personally owning more wealth than most nations do.
Yup, extremely progressive taxation, no loopholes and reliable enforcement of tax laws will permit us to have a full-service social safety net, end hunger worldwide and render wars ... obsolete. No space here for racism, misogyny, xenophobia or any other kind of discrimination.
Oh, and maybe some antitrust laws with teeth and strictly applied.
Yes, the devil will be in the details, but we have a World to save and time is running out. Time to stop wondering if climate disaster will be worse than nuclear holocaust or vice versa.
Yes, Anne-Louise, Article 2, section 1 of the Constitution is a big problem and needs to be changed to simple electoral majority for national Federal elections (presidency and vice-presidency), and for US House and Senate elections. Every citizen of voting age should be automatically registered to vote (as in Italy), and as nearly as possible every vote should have the same value: 1 person, 1 vote.
Election day should be a separate national holiday, ideally a Wednesday to avoid the temptation of people adding it to a three day weekend. The formula for establishing House districts should be laid out in the Constitution as well. No more gerrymandering!
In addition, I would establish a national database with a permanent and publicly accessible record of who votes and who doesn't. It would be embarrassing to participate in political debate for those who refuse to vote.
Finally, the Senate should either be eliminated or changed so that the number of Senators is proportional to state population.
Then we can say we have a real democracy.
(and let's ditch the filibuster while we're at it...)
And let's start teaching civics in classrooms again. Let's teach that living in a peaceful and fair democracy requires participation from all citizens.
The Framers had three primary fears; a standing army, a monarchy and direct democracy, aka mob rule. [So far we may have two of the three.]
The college is a backstop to prevent mob rule; it protects the interests of small states. We are after all a National-Federalist system. Indeed as far back as Ancient Greece, Aristotle, and in Rome, Polybius warned against direct democracy.
So too for the Senate. The Constitutional Convention Debates and Federalist Papers both make the valid argument for each.
As much as we question the college, it is a better system than any proposed alternative.
I agree with you as to why the founders were unenthusiastic about direct democracy (can representative democracy be considered "direct"?) and afraid of mob rule, but I think Trump has brought us closer to mob rule than any other President in my lifetime, while the votes of citizens in all but a key handful of "swing" states have become a nearly meaningless foregone conclusion.
It should not be possible for a minority of Americans to select a President against the wishes of the majority.
Also, while the founders wrote a brilliant, original and durable document that has often served us well, we should acknowledge that they were all white men of property, many of whom unashamedly owned slaves (as did the ancient Greeks) and never intended for the power to be in the hands of all citizens, least of all Blacks, women, or Native Americans.
Frankly, the idea that the Constitution should be somehow immutable, a kind of sacred cow to be worshipped never occurred even to the founders who remembered to include a mechanism for amendments.
Clearly there is nothing in the Constitution adequate to protect us from modern AI-fueled billionaire oligarchs buying political power while controlling our ultramodern means of communication to brainwash and frighten inadequately schooled citizen voters (and non-voters).
Doing nothing about this state of affairs will be the death of us all.
The Framers had three primary fears; a standing army, a monarchy and direct democracy, aka mob rule. [So far we may have two of the three.]
The college is a backstop to prevent mob rule; it protects the interests of small states. We are after all a National-Federalist system. Indeed as far back as Ancient Greece, Aristotle, and in Rome, Polybius warned against direct democracy.
As much as we question the college, it is a better system than any proposed alternative.
Keep up the communication, Kathryn, among us -- we on Heather's site.
Many here afford invaluable perspectives, insights, references to key other things we can read, or videos we can see. Many of these latter also feature the best souls who also have Substacks of their own.
These conversations seep out into the wider world of friends and family -- who hunger for the human decencies "the Epstein class" can only rape.
Act Blue takes about .04 %. So on a $5 donation they keep 20 cents.
It's just my opinion but that's worth the contribution to keep Act Blue operating. FYI, they are being targeted by the Department of Justice on Trump's orders; reason enough to also support them.
👋Hi Kathryn, fellow cat lover and gardener. Your name here is new to me, to I checked. 5 month subscriber. WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME!
And to answer your question--call Congress, keep the faith that we will overcome. Because people are waking up big time and the pendulum is swinging in our favor.
Thank you. I have and do write to my reps in Congress. I have on my list to write to other states’ reps as well since most of mine are doing a pretty fine job already…Padilla, Schiff, Swalwell. Young Kim is useless, but soon to be edged out by our redistricting to counter TX! Thank God!
The Dem's have had all branches of government too at times and still crickets. We could have enlarged the courts. We could have made Roe the rule of the land. We could have made gerrymandering illegal. Why didn't we?
Manchin and Sinema are the culprits the last time. I don’t recall what happened before. But rest assured, if we are given another opportunity, we will NOT FAIL our country again! I think we are all too well aware of the consequences now, and failure is NOT AN OPTION!
The key word is daylight. The odd aspect of it all is that Trump isn't hiding anything. It's a little complicated, but it's all out there. It's still a clear choice between good and evil. Trump is betting that we don't care about hurting others, that good old fashioned American greed will when the day and that Putin will choose wealth in lieu of murdering Ukrainians. The truth is that Putin and Trump want both. They are all about greed and both are ruthless killers.
Related - I have cringed for a long time when I read people calling Trump stupid. He is not stupid, but he is evil. The Robber Barons missed out in not having classes with Trump and his merry band of sycophants. My real anger is that there is no resistance with teeth. I am of course not talking about the demonstrations such as NO KINGS, I am talking about SCOTUS, and both parties. The Republicans, aka Maga now, allowed this all to happen, they are equally at fault. That party , the GOP, died when John McCain died. For all of her pontificating MTG went from upper middle class to exceedingly rich helping Maga. The Dems are rudderless and continue to think whining instead of acting is good enough. I have a tad of hope in some of the next generation leaders but they are not in charge yet. With the Dems I envision not only a firm hand missing on the tiller, I am not convinced they even have a tiller or if they do, knowing its purpose. Still, I have hope that they are the one party that can find its way, yeah I am an optimist at heart. The other issue is the electorate. Unles they are personally harmed, ethics and morality, justice and the rule of law, doesn't matter to them. It used to, no way a generation ago a person like Trump would have been elected -ask Gary Hart! Trump is getting cornered and a cornered rat is at its most dangerous. Be prepared, and this time be certain he can't escape his own evil undoing.
“Russia has so many vast resources, vast expanses of land,”
This has bedeviled me for a long time. If he were such a great man why hasn't he built with his own country's assets? Stealing from your neighbor just makes you a lazy, dimwitted low class thug.
It’s not so much the resources as it is the population. I mean literally Russia needs bodies as they are reaching a critical point where the birth rate is collapsing.
Two things to consider: the Russian birth rate is declining, yet there is still an increase in their population. It may be true, but it isn't likely the primary cause for the invasion of a sovereign state. Second, you may be attributing too much reason to Putin's motives. Remember, this a man who said the greatest catastrophe of the last century wasn't the Second World War with it's industrialized killing, it was the demise of the Soviet Union.
There's no guess work involved, we needn't ponder motives, nor speculate; listen to what the man says, Putin's stated goal is restoration of the Russian Empire.
"Epstein class", a new term I learned today. It speaks volumes about this administrations seemingly guiding principles for their goal in governance: enriching the Epstein Class or as you put it "government run like an ATM for the Epstein class." Those of us opposing the greedy take over of our government by the Grifter in Chief should run with this to help bring bring light to this billionaire enriching chaos.
Spot on Xavier, thank you for your words and the link to your substack writings.
trump promised to "drain the swamp," however swamps are valuable sources of fresh water for a lot of critters, including being breeding grounds and habitats as well. I think it's the sewers that need to be drained - habitat for rats, sewage and other disgusting stuff.
"“I’ve always represented the common American man and woman as a member of the House of Representatives which is why I’ve always been despised in Washington DC and never fit in,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) began her resignation letter." ACO says the same message. Why one is a R and the other is D?
If you think for a minute that Putin isn’t going to mine this for every ruble he can get his hands in you are naive. Putin will end up with more than anyone. He will cut everyone else out if he can. Then he will attack the rest of Ukraine to take it too.
The bottom line for Ukraine, indeed. No piece of paper Donald Trump asks anybody to sign is worth more than a stake in Trump Steaks. It's all a smoke screen meant to benefit Putin and Trump -- absolutely nothing to do with "peace" but everything to do with "profit."
Worse, by limiting Ukraine's standing army, it immobilizes the country while allowing Russia to prepare for its 'Third War.' This -- not the past two (the invasion of Crimea and the set-up of two phony Russian republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the Donbas in 2014, and the full-scale invasion in 2022) -- is what everyone in Ukraine is thinking about.
The choices are grim. They involve inflicting as much pain as possible on Russia (and there's been quite a lot of pain) or surrendering to both Putin and Trump and face the inevitable third attack and dismemberment at some point later on. All eyes on Europe...will they be strong enough to tell both America and Russia to go screw themselves? Because piece-loving Putin will not stop with Ukraine. He wants piece in Poland too. And Moldova. And Romania. And Baltics. And crypto-wars against Germany, Britain, Sweden....Many, many pieces indeed.
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Hover on that blue circle with the flower (I think it is?) inside to the right of their name.
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Chris, I don't think we are seeing a recreation of WWI here. It is something different. However according to Jacob Kaarsbo, this is just not a real peace negotiation and there will be no peace. The people Trump has negotiating with Ukraine are just pretend negotiators to make it look like something is going on, and of course to waste everyone's time.
I should have mentioned the technology of our time and the world wide effect on civilization. I've lived through the fear of nuclear war since the 50's and now it seems that leaders are acting as though it would be a casual event. Greed is fueling the possibility of a nuclear exchange. Thanks for the reply Linda. I'm on board with what you have to say.
Many countries are increasing their arms purchases, sales & production — plus enticing or conscripting citizens into military service due to seeing decline in U.S. support :
It Comes T This. It’s all so greedy. Just like our orange buffoon grabbing of everything, and his destruction of everything that this country has come to value. Instead of valuing the soul of this country he’s destroying at peace by peace.
Russia also has $100 million at least in bank money that has been frozen since the invasion and Putin wants that back ASAP because the Russian economy is in the crapper already. I would like to know who is giving missiles and other weapons like drones to Russia on credit because they cant pay for those weapons at this time.
Other than manufacturing their own, Russia “maintains access to advanced western components through imports from other nations, such as 🔹Turkey, China, and the United Arab Emirates.
Russian customs data indicates that 70% of imported semiconductors, which Russia uses for missiles, drones, and other weapons, are sourced from the 🔹United States, through circuitous routes. 🔹China has also emerged as a lifeline for direct imports of dual-use equipment, providing 90% of Russia's imports of high priority G7 export-controlled products in 2023.” wiki
Also, ‘War, what is it good for?!’ — the economy? many countries are increasing their arms purchases, sales & production — plus enticing or conscripting citizens into military service due to seeing decline in U.S. support :
We shall see. Trump is operating against the interests of the American people. Russia is too. What can we do? We can complain to Congress. Midterms are coming up. They need to think about dissatisfaction. Also, would be good to make this one of the campaign issues. Of course MAGA does not care. They still think the US is funding Ukraine, which it is not.
The answer to your question about who finances Russia is (1) China/ India/ Hungary & Slovakia (“embarrassing!” as Trump sums it up correctly), and (2) the Global South. Whatever else he achieves, Trump isn’t ‘peeling off Russia from China’ or the Global South. I doubt that Trump has ever thought about the advice to ‘stop digging’ the hole which is going to swallow you up’.
Axios just reported on “peace deal” negotiations that took place in Miami at Witkoff’s golf club. The American team consisted of Witkoff, Marco Rubio, and Jared Kushner with Ukrainians led by national security adviser Rustem Umerov, military chief of staff Gen. Andrii Hnatov, and deputy head of military intelligence Vadym Skibitskyi.
The discussions were “intense” and focused exclusively on where the border between Ukrainian and Russian-held territory would be drawn. That is the critical issue for Ukraine because Putin wants to take territory that he has not won because it is heavily fortified. It defends the industrial heartland of Ukraine. If Putin gets it in the “peace deal” it will be like leaving your front door open and inviting the looters in.
It is important to understand the context in which the meeting was held.
Zelensky is being undermined by a corruption scandal at home that forced the resignation of his chief of staff and the principal negotiator the day before.
According to a June 2025 analysis from the Institute of the Study of War:
"A detailed assessment by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) argues that Russia’s theory of victory is to grind forward slowly and force concessions by 2026, but also notes that Russia has “almost certainly” not demonstrated the capacity for large-scale successful offensives needed to achieve decisive territorial goals in the near term."
However, earlier last week, the context changed. The NY Times reported that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll had been sent to Kyiv to brief Ukrainians and European allies about Russian stockpiling of missiles.
"For years, Moscow fired missiles into Ukraine roughly as fast as it could make them. But now Russia is building enough to amass a growing stockpile of long-range weaponry, Daniel P. Driscoll, the U.S. Army secretary, told the assembled diplomats, according to two Western officials.
The implication was clear, the officials said: A settlement is needed quickly because of a rising missile threat that could deliver a knockout blow to Ukraine and spill over its borders."
Here is the final takeaway from Sunday’s meeting from the Ukrainian side . My comments are in parentheses.
“It was intense but not negative. (The Americans are taking a hard line that we have to accept Putin’s conditions on the border. The “not negative” means there was no progress whatsoever. The Ukrainians held firm in the face of it. ) We really appreciate serious U.S. engagement. (The word really gives it away. Replace really with the word “would”. America is completely aligned with Russian interests.) Our position is that we have to make everything to help U.S. succeed (U.S. business interests are paramount. This is a public declaration by Ukraine that the “peace deal” is really about enriching Trump and his cronies. The “we have” acknowledges the coercion being applied. ) without losing our country (Ukraine makes it clear what is at stake for them.) and preventing another aggression (Putin will never honor any “deal” or “peace plan”. Once he has rebuilt and rearmed he will come for the the rest of Ukraine.) from happening,” one of the Ukrainian officials wrote to Axios after the meeting.
Here is what Jacob Kaarsbo, former Danish intelligence officer says about those peace talks. Like the details are unimportant because this is the pretend negotiating team. That is what Zelensky gets.
Ukrainians are certainly gold medalists when it comes to negotiating one difficult hand after another with skill and aplomb. But it all has the feel of playing for time. Should they sign a phony "peace deal" (i.e., Russian-American profit deal), their goose is truly cooked. For Russia would limit Ukraine's army while re-grouping for the "Third War" -- the one yet to come, the one that literally everyone in Kyiv is worried about.
So much is truly in Europe's hands. And almost every country there pledging to 'bear any burden, pay any price' also finds itself in the midst of serious domestic upheaval.
Thanks for the link. So interesting to see what Europeans are thinking. Media here aren’t covering it in any depth. Too much focus on the Trump distractions like blowing up boats and committing war crimes. But WSJ and NYT are getting back to some decent investigative reporting, so this is a tiny glimmer of hope.
At this point Trump is not even supplying anything to Ukraine through the sell it to the Europeans and have them pass it on channel. Zelensky has to buy time to clean up the corruption mess, at least partially engineered by Russia, before he and Europe walk away from the US. I don’t think they would publicaly declare a complete rupture. Just continue to stroke Trump’s ego, but make plans that do not depend on the US.
Tommorrow will be a critical day if the Democrat wins the special House election. It will split the Republican party. The real key to detrailing the Trump train is for Democrats to flip the House before the midterm primaries. and take back the power of the purse, and the power to declare war and make actual treaties instead of deals.
It will also be an enormous boost to Dems in TN. All of us in this state have suffered under a Republican gov and trifecta that says “yassir” to Trump whenever he scratches his butt. Not to mention the religious fanatics. We are also the home of sell-out Marsha Blackburn (who wants to be gov! Wonder if she knows she’ll have to show up in this state??).
Hi Laura. On this side of the Atlantic (Europe), the consensus is clear re: Russia’s invasion and bombing of Ukraine: Russia (Putin) will tolerate no autonomy in any part of Ukraine. He means to subject it all. This is the perspective of Europeans (I include Ukrainians in the term ‘Europeans’. They’ve earned the right x many times over). So, the US Administration’s approach to this war is understood as entirely wrong. Pacifism is strong here. Most have a deep seated respect for the power of destruction brought by war. What is happening, I think, is an awareness that war might/ could come our way, no matter how much we reject it. This change is slow (too slow maybe?) and there is an asynchrony between those who live nearest to Russia and those in Western Europe (France & Germany particularly) who hope it doesn’t reach their borders. But it’s happening. Have no doubt how much each misstep by the US Administration hits home in our hearts. One of Russia’s (Putin’s) strategic aims is to peel off the US from the EU/ European NATO members. Boy!, is Trump helping him there! I pray that we will stop Trump from delivering Europe to Putin. Yours, in regard, Anthony (UK).
laura, I agree. And honestly, I believe though his army is failing, Putin is smarter than Trump.
It seems a year or so ago, it was widely suggested that Putin was very ill. I think he had hand bruises as well. Wonder what it going on there?
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Let tonight’s letter be THE WAKE-UP CALL Americans need… the it’s not just authoritarian rule in America we should worry about but THE GLOBAL ALIGNMENT OF AN ENTITLED CLASS OF AMORAL SUPER WEALTHY MEN who want to plunder the world’s wealth of natural resources while not caring if the rest of us live or die!
This corruption runs deep and has been researched by Sarah Kendzior for years. All should read her two bestselling books “Hiding In Plain Sight” and “They Knew”!
You’re welcome. Sarah has suffered emotionally from being right so early and largely dismissed for seeing things others had not seen and found hard to believe. But now people are coming to see she was right. Her Substack is trending now… becoming more popular… and not a moment too soon!
My call to arms for anyone reading this - Speak up. Unrelentingly. ❤️🩹🤍💙
There’s a calendar on my spreadsheet so we can target our calls/letters/emails/faxes to flood offices in an organized manner.
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Nokings) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Add a comment to help keep this bumped ✊ New eyes seeing this means new ripples for change! 🤞
Megan, between you and Dr. Richardson we have the tools we need to combat kleptocracy. We must tirelessly use these tools. Thank you for your hard work and perseverance!
I do appreciate this list; I encourage Readers to find (R) congress critters that are on committees that you can articulate a direct impact on you or your state, and use this list to contact them. In their very positions, they represent you and your interests, even if they live in another state.
Megan, perhaps you might have noticed I started welcoming all the new people I discover have joined on in the last half year. I am SO GRATEFUL that you continue to post this every day, because MORE AND MORE of us like minded folks are fed up and taking action.
I’m not always, but if I catch her Facebook post before I go to bed then typically within 30 minutes she then posts on here, so I check wayyyy more frequently in order to comment within minutes of her post. If she doesn’t post before I go to bed, I don’t typically comment because mine will be buried in hundreds of comments.
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo suggested Friday that the deep unpopularity of AI comes in part from the fact that it has become a symbol “of a society in which all the big decisions get made by the tech lords, for their own benefit and for a future society that doesn’t really seem to have a place for most of the rest of us.”
And unlike the robber barons of old, who actually built stuff like railroads, steel, textile and grain mills, telegraph, communication and electrical systems, these guys build nothing, suck up huge amounts of electricity (much of it dirty) doing so, mostly produce "wares" bought and sold only to themselves, like cryptocurrency, which further undermines government accountability and benefits mostly dark money, drug and weapon smuggling networks. The robber barons actually hired people (admittedly not for much), while these self-obsessed thieves seek to fire as many as they can, while divorcing the rest of us from social safety nets.
Who wanted this again? I don't recall anybody asking me.
I volunteer at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens and always wonder at the (railroad) wealth that built it - but then turned around and left it for generations to come to learn and enjoy. Admittedly, I have other thoughts about it, like built on land inhabited for thousands of years by native peoples; but indeed in contrast to the robber barons of yore, the ones of now are a useless destructive lot leaving future generations with a poop pile to clean up.
So many museums, theaters, galleries, hospitals, opera companies and symphony orchestras, research programs and endowments at universities owe their existence to the guilty conscience of these titans of industry -- to say nothing of the man who invented dynamite -- Alfred Nobel.
I am suddenly reminded that the Fat Orange Pig never gave a dime to anything or anybody that wasn't a shell front scam benefiting only himself.
Has everyone forgotten about Marx and his prediction that capitalism would develop to its logical conclusion: a global autarky that finally disregards international borders and just carries on extracting wealth with no boundaries. I’m kinda tired of focusing only on fascism and Hitler.
Also, so far Prof Cox has not mentioned the pardon of Hernandez, the former president of Honduras. That seems to me to presage Trump’s entry into the narco trade and acceptance of drug money. What next?
Fashion moll Kristi Noem admitted on Meet the Press she violated court orders.
White House (& gold-glitz-smeared oval office) released video shows blatantly illegal murder on the high seas drunken smug boy Hegseth ordered.
The lawless, dehumanized cycles continue, from demolition of a key part of the White House that scorned any oversight or due process, to ongoing raids by masked ICE thugs disrupting American communities with racial violence but to titillate our most criminal, dark hole inhabiting white supremacists.
Worse, the most coherent mood emerging now shifts from the fat, doddering orange felon to the full range of billionaires and other elites flagrantly now flaunting their impunity – a contempt for the bottom 90% to match their years-long rapes of the underage girls so many deemed it their droit du seigneur.
Quick. Return humanities to schools. The longer the delay in doing this the more the billionaires justify all their school instruments that just neuter all the bottom 90% as otherwise just the numbers AI assigns.
Phil, I’m with you and her post piles up the receipts.
WSJ shows the “peace” push as a Russia-drafted business plan for friends; NYT maps David Sacks shaping policy while the same circles profit; a PE fraudster got a quick commutation; Epstein-estate docs show the inner ring looking out for itself while tariffs and AI-driven energy costs land on us.
That’s not random Phil, it’s kleptocracy. The answer is daylight, equal law for the rich too, and relief you can see at the register. www.xplisset.com
The effects of social and government corruption manifests in innumerable direct and indirect ways, from imposing a far less life sustaining environment on future generations to increasing distrust, anger and pessimism weighing on our culture, while our lifetimes tick away.
Money in itself isn't evil, it's a tool of social reciprocity. But any tool can be a weapon in the wrong hands, and used in antisocial ways without conscience, legal safeguards, and public vigilance. Extreme avarice without regard to harms imposed on others is historically and currently a prime source of social evils. We as a society seemed to "get" that in FDR's era, yet lost track.
Has everyone forgotten about Marx and his prediction that capitalism would develop to its logical conclusion: a global autarky that finally disregards international borders and just carries on extracting wealth with no boundaries. I’m kinda tired of focusing only on fascism and Hitler.
Also, so far Prof Cox has not mentioned the pardon of Hernandez, the former president of Honduras. That seems to me to presage Trump’s entry into the narco trade and acceptance of drug money. What next?
And _still_ would 1/3 of the American population vote for this orange goblin clown, full well knowing he’s a grifter, a fraud, a convicted rapist and abuser of underage girls. I wouldn’t be surprised if these people would actually send their own children to be “blessed” by “Dear Leader”…
I think 2/3rds of supporters don’t pay attention to much attention outside the vibe of their clique. Not a lot of independent thought going on in the land. Actually, I think the message in lower schools is that it’s an unAmerican activity.
Thank you, Heather, for this fabulous expose of the Epstein class. Our current government is an oligarchic (Epstein class) kleptocratic (stealing from the rest of us) kakistocracy (government run by the worst, least competent and most unscrupulous people). Next question is: Who is the FDR for our time? And, the Francis Perkins... Then the next question is what do we need to update the U.S. Constitution so this doesn't happen again and have a more perfect union where everyone thrives. In Solidarity!
" . . . a more perfect union where everyone thrives," Cathy?
Yes, if the U.S. centers on schools run only by the best college grad teachers -- and run by nobody else -- and teachers may freely eject standardized testing from their schools as the Finnish teachers most wisely did.
Agree that we need to focus on education. State legislators, etc., should not define what is taught. Students need to be taught how to think -- not what to think. I'm not a fan of standardized testing since it encourages teachers to teach to the test rather than how to think. We need to teach civics again. And, resilience. Texas doesn't want to teach white boys the truth about slavery, for example, since that might hurt their feelings! That just makes them wimps!
Bless you and I did sleep well and as usual, a new day brings new hope. You are so right about having dreams, or better, visions of what can be to strive for.
Today’s letter could not be more timely and on point.
Two things jump out. First is the AI bubble. If it were not for the “Magnificent Seven”: Alphabet Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, the stock market would be down over the past five years. AI is not going away, but the amount of excess capital flowing into AI means there is less available for projects that help the average person. It is unsustainable.
Secondly, the voracious appetite for energy to power AI data centers and mining cryptocurrencies is undermining our efforts to battle climate change. It is a boon for Exxon-Mobile, but not for the planet.
Once artificial intelligence replaces genuine intelligence, we will become prisoners of ultra rich. Entry level white collar jobs will become fewer and fewer, which will lead to a disaffected younger workforce.
And, just wait until AI masters disinformation… you ain’t seen nothing yet!
“Russia has so many vast resources, vast expanses of land,” Witkoff told journalists. Just give Trump a great big piece of that, he explained, and Trump will back off, let Russia take what it wants of Ukraine, and call it peace. If all countries offered Trump such nice big juicy deals, world peace would finally be a reality. As Witkoff stated: "If we do all that [i.e., strike deals for say, rare-earth minerals mining] . . . and there’s upside for everybody [i.e., Trump and his cronies like Witkoff and Jared Kushner], that’s going to naturally be a bulwark against future conflicts there.” The magic Trump formula for peace is simple: gimme a piece of your pie. All he needs is a bean brain like Witkoff to explain it.
One of the most frequent pro-Trump talking points I heard repeated, even in his present terms is the claim that Trump is so rich that he can't be corrupted. How does one figure?
America is the leader of the "free world". Not whilst under this regime at least. Telling a democratic country that has been illegally invaded, to simply surrender proves that point. Not turning up to the G20. Randomly taking out fishing boats that may or may not be doing anything wrong... etc etc.
I seriously hope it can regain that status, but thats along way off at the moment.
Frank, you’re not wrong on this. Telling Ukraine to swallow a Russia-drafted “peace” plan and ghosting the G20 ain’t leadership, it’s abdication.
As Dr. Richardson has written , “Democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint.” 
Her piece her shows the pattern: Now, real leadership is simple: show up for partners, enforce rules equally, and make life cheaper at home. www.xplisset.com
"People gathered to show solidarity with the earthquake victims."
2. An entire union or consolidation of interests and responsibilities; fellowship; community.
3. A bond of unity between individuals, united around a common goal or against a common enemy, such as the unifying principle that defines the labor movement.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
You’re right. Solidarity is the word. Abroad: stand with Ukraine without kickback deals. At home: one set of rules for the powerful and lower costs for everyone else. Appreciate the nudge to center it.
So my wife just played audio of a speech delivered by Sen. Sanders which hit a number of nails on the head. Worthy of the history books in my opinion. It begins with the words,
"Mr. SANDERS. Let me thank Senator Merkley for today pointing a finger
at one of the great crises our country--one of the greatest crises our
country has faced, I think, since the Civil War; and that is that,
every day, we have a President who is moving this country into an
I couldn't agree with you more, J.L. I am hopeful we will jump off that highway, not just step. But the recent breaking of things that we cherished has shown us where the fault lines are. So we need not only to repair, but to rebuild anew on stronger foundations. For me, that has to start with Supreme Court reform. We can do our best to fix things, but without an expanded SCOTUS that is subject to an enforceable code of ethics (and perhaps with age limits on voting status) it will be wasted effort.
My feeling has been that the approval process is what’s at fault. It’s far too go along get along. A lot of unrelated horse trading in the background. Too much ass curation is going on.
Maybe some horse-trading going on, I don't really knpw. But I think the approval process is just for show. Justices should be approved or not based on their published opinions before their nomination. Maybe the Congress-critters are just too lazy to do the work (or rather, to have their staffers do it). No prospective SC justice is ever going to tell the truth in his/her interview. They'd never get approved otherwise.
True, truths told don’t even compare well with hen’s teeth. Lady justice is blind for good reason. Most politicians would have as hard a time with legal briefs as they do making coherent written sentences.
Horse trading, you would like help with easing or obstructing confirmation. Ok, I’ve got an ask.
And Puppy Killer Noem states that she will only follow what she considers "legitimate" court orders -- in other words, she'll follow what she wants and damn the ones she doesn't want to follow.
"Historically, animal cruelty has been considered an isolated issue, but recent research shows a well-documented link that it is a predictive or co-occurring crime with violence against humans (including intimate partners, children, and elders) and is associated with other types of violent offenses. Increased awareness of this linkage and a collaborative approach to these investigations strengthens the identification and reduction of such crimes."
It is natural to want to prosper, yet some who proper most seem to want to see others suffer.
"This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
The difference between Trump and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is when Roosevelt promised “a new deal for the American people,” he followed through on that promise. Trump has promised everything to everyone, but follows through only on what advances or enriches himself or what advances or enriches those will advance and enrich him.
Project 2025, which has been public for a couple years now, is a blueprint for one-man rule over the nation. The fact that that authority is unlimited and certainly encompasses national elections, tells us all we need to know to understand what that means.
Hand that authority to someone as hollow and crass as lifetime grifter Drumpf and … well here we are. I don’t believe that people didn’t see this coming, didn’t watch it arrive a second time in January 2025. Except there are people who are still asleep, imagining it’s all a bad dream that vanishes at dawn.
Newsflash, Marjorie Taylor Greene has not seen the light. She’s seen the paycheck. She’s still as corrupt as the first day we realized this cartoon character was in Congress.
Mamdani didn’t charm Drumpf, as if there was a come to Jesus moment in the Oval Office.
I understand these temporary fantasies are like analgesic relief from the constant and growing sense of very dark pressure … the seeming paralysis in both Houses of Congress, the apparent impotence of the courts to put actual teeth behind their decisions. Analgesics don’t last and they don’t cure anything.
Writing and calling all our representatives will get a result. Those people aren’t all eager to join the puppet parade. Support the legal actions in the courts. If you have money, experience or expertise, offer it. Support journalism as many here already do. If you witness something or have information, make it known. Reaching out to military, both veteran and active, to stand up for the country they swore to defend. Reaching out to local authorities and police, reassure them of your support when they represent the community. In all contacts, bear in mind the goal is to bring everybody in, to be strongly on the peoples’ side. Don’t forget neighbors. When frustrated, chill. Changing fixed minds is a subtle process. Politics is not about thought and ideas. It emotional. That’s the basic level of decision making.
Hey! If you are able, go to all the demonstrations you can. Even in suburbs and further out there are often smaller demonstrations of a hundred or less. They may be less than 20 minutes away. However deeply you feel your angst, bring peace in your heart. And be prepared. Have a mask in your pocket.
No, Bill. No as to your "Writing and calling all our representatives will get a result."
MAGA taking money from AIPAC and from lobbists gets results.
Dems answering "writing and calling" with boilerplate platitudes does not. It only gets more of the same Dems who from their dehumanized college days got only from that their being as profoundly out-of-touch as most Dems are so incoherently now.
You’re right. I hadn’t considered the platitudes. Mostly I don’t hear them much. But then I’m not dealing with many thousands of people. Neither do politicians.
Most people that call get to leave voicemail. Registered mail is nice; it requires a signature. These are opened by staffers, quickly categorized and sorted. Rarely they may be asked to pull a few samples for the politician to view, but really if anything it’s the stats from the sort. Not all in the Houses even go this far. Their ears are elsewhere. But in an election year they do hear the wind in the grass.
In short, the calls, the letters, all becomes a number.
If you’ve got the money, funding your politician does have sway sometimes. Go for it. Time is short. And for a long time, most everyone has been far too incoherent.
If some wish for a "one man" rule, it would NOT be TRUMP. He is so lacking....are there enough qualified persons to fill in the many "blanks"?
When a "leader" and those who are using him to take over the USA and locations of valuable minerals for their own gain, throughout the world, most humans will suffer.
Even our "set aside precious parks" will be destroyed if oil is found.
What will remain for those following us?
Of course, the scavengers of our earth and its riches only care for lining their pockets NOW.
There has been one man rule for millennia. I say it in one breath. In the next breath I say there has never been one man rule ever. First comes the useful illusion. Closely followed by truth. Power is granted and supported until it isn’t.
BTW, Drumpf is the short timer they chose. Realizing that kinda betrays the timelines of their plan.
Well, Ha! This old, infirm person can’t even use her texting well! What I wanted to say was we read the “newspapers” online, watch TV, then listen to commentary on YouTube. I’m more stout hearted than my husband when it comes to that. Still, when I read Heather Cox Richardson is still have my breath taken away! There is a small, indistinct smell of a change in the weather. I sure hope my senses are not deceiving me. Time will tell. I hope it isn’t a long time!
It won't happen overnight Betsy B, but I sense that the tide has turned, and that we can turn this ship around. Life on this planet depends on it. My children and grandkids help me keep the hope alive, and I have faith that my fellow Americans are waking up. We have HCR to remind us that this ship has endured rough seas before.
Wow! Some days when I read HCR’s post I feel overwhelmed with the breadth of greed and corruption in not only our country, but the world. Is there any hope for WE THE PEOPLE?
My fear is this regime has YEARS to go before we can start turning the ship around. Yes, winning back majorities in both Houses of Congress in the midterms will slow them down, but having allowed them to install a bought-and-paid-for Supreme Court makes reestablishing the Rule of Law next to impossible. I feel hopeless.
Not hopeless unless we give up hope. Winning majorities in Congress will be an important first step. Taking the Presidency will be the next. SCOTUS reform will have to be undertaken urgently, but its prospects for success will depend on the size of what we hope will be those Congressional majorities.
Reduce the size of SCOTUS to 5. Increase their staffing. Eliminate Roberts, Alito, Thomas … you pick the 4th. We can always increase the size again another day if desired.
It’s time for me to come clean on this: I kept calling this chaos “incompetence,” but this piece from Dr. Richardson makes the pattern obvious…“peace” as a payout plan and government run like an ATM for the Epstein class.
The WSJ leak and these receipts on AI/crypto, pardons, and donors tie it together: deals for friends, higher bills for everyone else.
You can feel it at the register with tariffs and energy up while the rules bend for the well-connected.
The fix is boring and brave: protect Ukraine without kickbacks, enforce the law on the wealthy, rebuild the safety net, and show the math in daylight. www.xplisset.com
Yes, "boring & brave" stop the "unscrupulous" crypto currency kleptocracy.
Crypto - Don't do crime without it.®
I’m sensing a way to emerge from this catastrophe mess we have entered. As expected, the MAGAets have gone too far and we must take full advantage. The goal is to build a super majority so we can pass legislation that will reverse the madness. With a super majority, we can enlarge the Supreme Court. This must be done. We need to move toward a new FDR lie era. But I caution that we also must reevaluate some of our modern day issues that divide us and prevent us from winning big.
With a super majority we can IMPEACH certain members of the Supreme Court. THAT would send a LOUD message.
Yes, but the question is how to achieve a super majority?
Answer:
Metaphorically speaking, supporters of egalitarian democracy are the bull, supporters of authoritarian autocracy are the matador, and the bull needs to stop pointing its horns at the cape and start pointing them at the matador.
And put the bull on steroids!
And with a super majority we could put the likes of petey hegseth behind bars for murder.
Yes please. Yesterday would have been good.
Thank you! Yes Supreme Court impeachments as well as president and vice president! Big job ahead senate and house! You can do it! Clean up the USA back to reasonable rules/laws!
Bill, it may happen over a long period of time, but at 74, I can’t wait for pigs to fly down Main St.
Unfortunately it has taken over half a century for the republicans to get us to exactly where they wanted us. I too will probably not see a complete return to the Democratic country we deserve. I have no children or grandchildren but I certainly hope everyone else’s future will be brighter and will continue to do what I’m able to help.
Best of luck to the rest of us. ❤️🩹
I've read Alice B. Toklas' autobiography 5-6 times. I know that Gertrude and Alice didn't sit around clutching their pearls and admiring all those paintings. They bought a car and took action.
I've got Alice B's recipe book... no pearl-clutching there either.
Perfect! I’ll be Thelma, you be Louise😎😇😅
Alice, I'm 10 years older than you...so I'm even closer to my end time. And my greatest hope is to have enough time to enjoy at least some clean-up of this awful mess.
How can we end racism and income inequality?
Ending income inequality is easier than ending all forms of discrimination.
Northern Europe has a much smaller income gap than the US, for instance. They achieved it through strong unions, strong regulations, high taxes, and free education.
It's basically the exact opposite of everything that the GOP calls "Big" and "Beautiful".
Biden/Harris know this. It's how they cut childhood poverty in the US in half, in only four years. But you can't solve all problems created by the GOP in four years, so we HAVE to be in it for the long haul rather than no longer voting or switching parties every two or four years.
Discrimination is something the law can fight against and should fight against, but it's not enough. We need a change in people's mentalities. That will only happen to the extent that they feel happier and less threatened, and, of course, to the extent that they are well-educated.
That brings us to the last problem: low levels of quality of education in the US. Studies show that a whopping 40% of America's fourth graders don't even have basic reading skills. That's almost one out of two. One out of five Americans is illiterate (in many Northern European countries, it's not even one out of one hundred). At the same time, the humanities are bleeding students.
Why is this happening?
US education is no longer about transmission, it's about validating whatever each individual student feels or thinks. It's no longer about debating the truth, it's about creating "safe spaces" at campuses, defined as... places where no one will contradict you. And since the 1990s, the humanities have become entirely politicized. All you learn is how to judge all previous generations. There is no real study of the arts and literature (or, for that matter, philosophy) anymore.
That's how you end up with a wealthy elite that has no real moral education or knowledge of history (anyone who knows history knows what a terrible idea it is to placate someone like Trump and turn against the entire democratic world, only to add a few more billions to the billions of dollars/roubles you already have...). It's also how you end up with citizens who become extremely judgmental towards whomever they perceive as The Other (Trump voters as perceived by certain progressives, and most minorities as perceived by Trump voters).
Fascism is never installed in a society overnight. First, the fabric of society, its culture, its spirituality needs to become hollowed out. That's exactly what happened over the last decades, in parallel with the installation of neoliberalism by the GOP. And it's not the ridiculous concept of "Christian" nationalism that will lead to a revival of spirituality (= any study and activity that makes life meaningful, including the practice of love and compassion (with or without belief in a god)).
"...low levels of quality of education in the US."
BINGO! <hits nail on head>
Critical thinking and therefore, critical reading, are democratic acts. How does the typical U.S. person respond when they hear something is a communist or socialist act? They vote against it. The countries that are highly democratic, embrace capitalism with a human face, and sustain a good quality of life measurement in income, housing, food, and education are the Democratic Socialist countries like Scandanavia or Ireland (for examples). In the U.S.? Unions fought for 40 hour work weeks before overtime pay kicks in, weekends, healthcare, safe work conditions, vacation time, and are called socialist or communist (the two words are interchangeable to many) and union membership plummets. Women want the right to vote, generations later women want equal pay and equity and to have control over their own bodies and they are labeled anti family socialists. People of color demand equal rights and they are socialist or communists, same for environmentalists. We live in a society where sound bites (and now social media) wins over critical thinking and the simple act of doing research to learn facts. Critical thinking is a democratic act, and so no wonder our democracy is unraveling. From democracy to anocracy and kleptocracy - not a good outcome.
🎯
"US education is no longer about transmission, it's about validating whatever each individual student feels or thinks. It's no longer about debating the truth, it's about creating "safe spaces" at campuses, defined as... places where no one will contradict you. And since the 1990s, the humanities have become entirely politicized. All you learn is how to judge all previous generations. There is no real study of the arts and literature (or, for that matter, philosophy) anymore.”
US Education is a far more varied activity than you portray.
Well, bless your heart.
Sorry, but you lost me when you basically said DEI is the problem with education. I hope you meant that, as always, the right clutched its pearls because reality hurt their fee fees.
Are you making me Professor Meow? Do you really think we are that racist? Where and when? If I put a sign out on my house for sale saying no Blacks need apply, I would be nailed to a cross. I don’t know. Many of my clients are professional African American and most of them have far greater asset base than I so may be I’m just jaded by my experiences. I’m not suggesting that racism does t exist it does. MAGAs try and tell us they are not racist but they are. They are sweet talking putting a dark-skin Indian American formerly recognized as an Indian untouchable class from India and make him FBI director. Go figure. We are living in an extremely biforcated society. We need to almost use a Madison Avenue approach to packaging a new FDR-kind of future. Do we express higher taxes for the wealthy? No. Better to express progressive tax structure that will inevitably serve to provide society with universal health care for all. I now need to reevaluate which health care plan is best for me. Do I keep my new Medicare plan and pay for the extras or return to the fraud Medicare Advantage that I dropped last year knowing that if I became seriously ill, the private insurance may deny, and delay coverage until I dropped dead.
Oh please, I need to begin working. I’m not retired.bye bye for now, lol.
Bill Katz,
I love, enjoy and appreciate persons of all races and MOST human beings in general.
What I oppose is when one group which appoints itself to be superior, attempts to force others to comply with its ways or else, consequences will ensue.
This is when , if my enemy is larger than me.....and I do not see support for defeating this enemy....I look for a safer place for myself and for my family.
I also realize that in the world, in these days ...dominating governments are joining powers (at least on the outside) to profit themselves....NOT THE PERSONS THEY GOVERN!
Mob forces are growing all around us. Will they destroy themselves with their greed as they also try to destroy us for NOT complying?
Whether we have Medicare or not will be "small potatoes". I hope we are able to secure safe "shots" to protect us from deadly common diseases. Some believe these are no longer needed....just let the extra population die off....MORE FOR US!!!!
These are strange times.
Medicare disAdvantage- gag me.
Right -I am looking at getting off Medicare Advantage, and going back to “traditional,” or whatever it’s called … but, we can’t afford it. So, much empathy.
It will take time but will end sometime. I am not concerned with Trump and his family amassing massive wealth because they will not live to spend it all. We all die and are subject to judgment.
Even in the FDR era, enlarging the Supreme Court went nowhere. As much as the idea seems to have merit, the only thing it would actually do is increase the various ways in which SCOTUS even now interprets the Constitution, without altering the possibilities of the same kinds of swings we are seeing with the current nine.
There are two different problems with the current SC: (1) the fact that two-thirds of the Justices are "conservative", when only one third of the American people is, so it's not representative, and (2) the fact that those same 6 Justices adhere to a very specific interpretation of the law, called "unitary executive theory", which is just a fancy name for fascism, a political regime that gives all the power to the executive and subordinates the legislative and judicial branches of government to the executive. That, in the US, is unconstitutional (the Constitution stipulates three independent and coequal branches of government), so with a well-functioning SC, the Constitution would be enforced. That's not the case today.
Knowing that Justices are appointed for life, there's only one way to restore its constitutional function, and that is by adding more Justices, so that those adhering to (potentially different but) constitutional theories of interpreting the law become the majority again.
That's not an "eternal" solution, of course. In theory, over time a neofascist GOP could then again populate the SC with a majority of neofascist Justices who don't care about the Constitution. The whole point is that it would take TIME to do so, however. Whereas right now, it's exactly what IS already going on.
I’m not so sure about the 'unitary executive theory bit. Rather, between the ‘originalism' of the six conservatives (primarily responsible for their rulings in Dobbs, Heller, and Trump v USA) and their insistence on ruling for the general case (the Presidency itself) instead of in terms of Trump himself, they have sidestepped the demands of the moment for a sort of ’safe space’.
I do not think they can sustain that space for too much longer. Trump is already making that impossible for all their efforts to avoid his depredations.
I would indeed agree to and advocate for term limits, which would resolve the life tenure problem.
And BTW, the Founders did not intend to create three co-equal branches. In their minds, the Congress was intended to be the dominant body, the executive somewhere in the middle, and SCOTUS the weakest of the three. Remember that they did not give SCOTUS the power of judicial review, which power is now the focus of so much controversy.
J L: You win the internet today!
Should we make crypto illegal like booze was? Remember Thunder Road? Does crypto require ingredients? I can make mud pies can I make crypto? Is there counterfeit opportunity here? Who’s boots do I lick to get started?
Oh, it's easier than that. Just come up with a catchy name for a crypto coin, promote it & watch the dough come flying in. Well, only if you know a couple of billionaires who want in on the grift.
~~~I sometimes wonder what the populous thought when "checks"; "bank notes"; "bank accounts" were invented? Prior to that people either bartered or literally had "cold, hard cash" in the form of coins that they could hold, collect, squirrel away. Do you wonder what they thought about when paper money was invented, bank accounts were created, & checks & bank notes became legal tender? Surely they must have felt akin to how we feel about crypto. It took faith to create a banking system of paper currency & accounts. That was as ethereal to them as crypto is to us. But today there can be no faith in crypto because it has not been created by governments or banks until now. Now anyone with a little backing & knowhow can create their own "money" & lure others into using their real money to invest in crypto. It's a shell game of enormous proportions.
What hasn't the world, or human ingenuity "invented" that has not led to criminal activity? I would add that the car has abetted the bank robber, kidnapper, car jacker, murderer...
I am not following your point here? The automobile is a concrete item useful for the everyday person in countless ways. Yes you can run over a child with it. But crypto? How will this evolve to benefit the people? Working folks who can’t afford to throw $100,000 ( minimal) at a high risk investment.
Correct.... but it has been used in criminal, nefarious ways. Not comparing the car to crypto, but making an analogy to the ways human made/invented things can do harm. People volunteer to invest in crypto, so some may be injured, bankrupted by it and some will prosper. Not looking for an argument....
Yes that very thought went rampant through my brain. I was lucky to escape it since I found a can of confederate money in an old log barn in Rosevelt Utah 65 years ago. They wouldn’t even sell me a cinnamon popsicle for the whole can full.
Use it to start a new crypto!! Rebelcoin you will be a billionaire in weeks. 😜
No, regulate it.
Is it like propane then? Can I haul it around in tanks and the end user hooks it up to regulators to use as needed? Is it hazardous? Maybe we can sell crypto air and water as well. How about crypto Reeses Cups? I would fill my car trunk with crypto Reese’s cups.
Pat, I think you're alluding to the fact through humor.
I have been saying since I first learned of cryptocurrency that the problem with it is, unlike every other commodity that has been used for legal and illegal purposes, crypto doesn't exist.
It is a series of ones and zeroes that, themselves, have no substance and no value. Crypto only has value when it is tied to something else that does have value, such as the U.S. Dollar.
When the dollar was severed from the Gold Standard, many objected, and rightly so. But dollars can still be accounted for through bookkeeping and other forms of tracking. By contrast, the whereabouts of crypto cannot be known because it is "protected" by blockchain formulae, which is really a scheme to conceal the fact that crypto is not anywhere because it doesn't exist.
Which is why it's the currency of choice for criminals like the Trump crime syndicate.
The first time someone told me about crypto, I laughed and walked away. I've seen nothing to change my mind. It's an obvious scam similar to a MLM scheme. Only the people at the very top profit.
Gold is an excellent electrical conductor. Works great as teeth. More durable than colored beads and shells. Easily worked into objects like wall decorations and jewelry. But like the dollar and crypto has no intrinsic value other than many accept it as value in and of itself.
As you have noted accounting, aka transparency, is the process that separates crypto from alternate systems rendering it of great advantage to men like our president.
Have you heard of Tales of the Crypto? I still get the shivers.
I love, Xplisset, how Heather puts "the Epstein class" in quotation marks, while you do not.
So the name for all these murderers (Putin's side, Netanyahu's side, Mohammed bin Salman's side), and all the rapists, techie billionaires, and other corporate predators (Donald's side) goes that quickly from being encapsulated in quotation marks, to then being freed (by you) as general descriptor for the larger public.
Nice.
Might some Dems & independents -- even Don Bacon republicans -- cohere against this building hegemony against us, against all decent peoples worldwide?
Elections have consequences has never meant more than now!
The 2024 edification for an election selection looking only for an erection should be don't look where you shouldn't. It appears our lesson for 2026 and 28 must be look only at “winning is everything.” Thus in selecting a candidate look where the swing voters mind is looking. Or maybe if we have time swing their minds well beforehand. I want to believe Trump and his actions is doing that for us, that some are learning their lesson, but lets not depend on any such belief. We have work to do and we need to look closely at the nature of the beast – that American swing voter.
Mark Kelly...a model of courage, character, and credibility.
A leader literally forged in fire.
Perhaps a presidential candidate??
I hope so. An American hero from cowboy country...
Exactly my reaction when I heard him reply. Not too rich like Pritzker, not too manicured like Newsom, more seasoned than AOC, more forceful than Buttigieg...Need I go on?
Do you think there will be elections?
Yes next Tuesday, tomorrow in a Tennessee Congressional District that trump won by 22 points.
The Dem, AFTYN BENN, is 2 points behind with 5 percent undecided per The Hill.
I’m in TN. It appears that Aftyn may be even with Van Epps (whose ex-wife says he’s an idiot, btw). However, Republicans prefer to vote on Election Day itself, though early voting favored Aftyn. There is a national spotlight on this race. (She has a great ad involving bull-riding machines, perfect for Nashville.)
Bryan, it would be nice if Benn could pull this off. It would certainly send a message.
But the crackers who hate the libs will vote for some Guardian of Pedophiles over Benn.
Perhaps, but the city of Nashville itself is blue. It’s the gerrymandered district itself that includes counties from the TN-KY line to nearly the TN-AL state line.
Definitely. What matters is who counts the votes.
One doesn't start a war overnight. trump has been laying the groundwork for one in Venezuela for some time now. Like his parade it will be a pathetic joke but it will give him the excuse he needs to call off the election.
Everything with Trump is about him and/or his pocketbook.
I think there will be the fraud of elections like what happens in Hungary. Maybe not as obvious a fix as Russia, but a suppressed media along with voter intimidation/suppression may very be what we see in 2026 with it being even worse in 2028. Winning an elections gives those in power legitimacy, like what happened in 2024. I am still not convinced that that was a fair election free from some forms of interference.
Yes but they will not be honored.
Please don't go down this path. Keep fighting!
That huge monster ballroom attached to the White House: barracks.
Well sure, but my understanding is that, based on what "plans" exist, that "ballroom" is simply not possible. We'll see.
What do we expect electing a felon child rapist that works for and protects other felons and child rapists...
Good catch on the quotes Phil, by ‘Epstein class’ I mean the narrow, well-documented network HCR cites, not ‘the public.’ My aim is precision plus daylight: policy for donors while costs rise for everyone else. And yes, of course, I’m for a cross-party coalition around law, transparency, and lower bills
Xplisset, I agree with your rigor re: defining the 'Epstein class', but I do think the 'general public' will do precisely the opposite. I see signs such as "Eat The Epstein Class" at the next No Kings rallies. One reason for this may be they rightly identify the Epstein Class as the group behind the degradation of economic opportunity, lack of access to education, increasing inflation, authoring rules and laws that benefit the well healed and hurt the rest of us (99.9%, it turns out), and generally exploiting us for their own ends. Enough Americans are now engaged in this debate to create real change. One powerful tool used in all real change is to accurately name the things we are opposed to in order to organize how we think about them. Now we have a name. We can do more than just complain about the mouthpiece.
If I may offer an editorial suggestion, we can discuss the Epstein Mafia without quotation marks by using the foregoing term or labeling it the Epstein Plutocracy, the Epstein Oligarchy, the Epstein Pervocracy (my favorite), the Epstein Cabal, the Epstein Cult and the Epstein Imperium.
Heather's term 'Epstein class' REALLY caught my attention and even opened my eyes wider to see how Trump uses his goal to enrich this class as his guiding principle for domestic and foreign policy.
I say we unify around this term.
Yes. The "Epstein Class" struck me as pure genius. I think the anti Epstein movement has been launched. "Epstein" can be applied to many entities. Like the "Epstein Party" aka Republicans. Sorry, MAGA, now you own it.
Oh, I love, love, love that! The Epstein Party. Imagine a ballot with that in paren's after a candidates name. tom emmer (E-MN). I think now I'll send him a little note and ask him what HE thinks about that.
Like Like Like Like Like Like Like
Like Like Like Like Like Like Like
people understand class warfare...pervocracy not so much...
Loren, although all your suggestions are apt for their accuracy, as a marketing professional, I offer this counsel: They will not resonate with the masses and therefore, are not viable.
"Epstein Class" is a term everyone can understand, from the functionally illiterate to the possessor of multiple doctorates.
Don't let perfection be the enemy of excellence.
I am jotting this "Epstein Class" down to remember for potential messages in the postcarding I do for voting.
Mr. Rowett: As I said below, I think Epstein Class -- with or without quotation marks -- is too bland, thus insufficiently pejorative and inadequately damning. Were we in a professional situation, I'd suggest we focus-group it (the late Blanka Eckstein was a dear friend). But I absolutely agree the concept -- ultimately of a subset of the ruling class fanatically committed to self-aggrandizement by ecogenocidal perpetuation of the Epstein-caliber Evil -- is genuinely brilliant, quite possibly our most useful Resistance-concept to date. Nevertheless, though I applaud its intellectual brilliance, the term itself does nothing for me emotionally -- and if we are to win this war, we need language that not only evokes and sustains anger but includes the implied truth our assailants are so Evil as to be forever unforgivable.
Such recognition is vital not just for victory but for the successful post-victory reforms and prosecutorial elimination of MAGATry. However, it is also a recognition that Mr. Pudup -- vehemently anti-socialist defender of capitalism that he is -- seems to fear and loathe. By contrast, I acknowledge it as vital to ridding ourselves of the self-resurrecting menace of the Ayn-Rand/Epstein sociopathy that history repeatedly proves is capitalism's ultimately defining trait: the fly-in-the-ointment the capitalists and their servants relentlessly work to hide until capitalism is able to impose its intended ecogenocidal tyranny at will. (See: Monbiot & Hutchison, "Invisible Doctrine: the Secret History of Neoliberalism" as PDF, https://tinyurl.com/4c6k3s4v also https://www.thenation.com/article/world/chicago-boys-chile-neoliberalism/ )
What do you think of "The Epstein Crowd"?
Loren, all that you long for can be addressed by the wonks after we rid ourselves of the pestilence. But in this moment, we must persuade Joe Six Pack that his heroes are selling him beers with false bottoms.
Thanks for untwisting the panties Loren.
Loren: Your favorite stuck a real chord with me..
epstein cabal works for me!
I too think “Epstein class” is a perfect descriptor for these people. It knows no party (Epstein after all, was a Democrat), but it encapsulates the rapacious greed, sense of entitlement, and willingness to satisfy those feelings by any means necessary. Let the Epstein class (no quotes intentional here) become so part of the common vernacular that when somebody says it, everyone else knows exactly what they mean.
Agreed, Chris. One might say that the Epstein Class is synonymous with the "One Percenters," but the latter merely implies that its members are extremely wealthy. It doesn't carry the additional context that its members are not only extremely wealthy, but also entitled, self-dealing, protected by cronyism and profoundly callous to the effects of their behavior on others.
Chris, the Epstein class is exactly what we have and you describe this class perfectly. These types have always existed getting all the wealth while the serfs and peasants did all the work. What bothers me is the lethal technology that they now have to enforce and suppress.
I agree, Ms. Winfield; I fear Epstein Class -- with or without quotes -- is too bland and therefore insufficiently pejorative.
Not if you always spit on the ground after you say it 'Patooie'.
That's how Norwegians' use "Quisling' - patooie!
As did Loren, also replying here, I want to thank you for the link.
I remember this shortness of breath the photographer (and video maker) mentions in this video -- I remember it as a 12-year-old boy on some days in Los Angeles in 1959, when the smog was heavy in Highland Park (near Pasadena), where I was living then.
Superbly revealing video. Thank you very much, Ms. Winfield, with a salute of recognition and gratitude. May all of us view this vital documentation of the truly ecogenocidal magnitude of the MAGAT threat -- not just to the (former) U.S., but to our entire species, all other life and indeed to our Mother Earth herself.
Phil,
Perhaps the hegemony is cracking apart rather than building. MTG leaving, Republican congressmembers and senators starting to grow a spine and criticize the president openly,
PS: I think HCR used quotation marks because she was giving credit to the person who coined the term...just sayin'
Those spineless congresspeople know that they need to distance themselves from a growing unpopular trump for their reelections. Being tied to trump when it helps untie when it doesn't. Still spineless!!
Trump is a murderer along with Putin, Netanyahu, and MBS because of the boat people off of Venezuela and the young woman in the National guard killed in Washington recently.
While citing this is not an ounce of difference from yesteryears. The names are different but not the MO. The GOP has repeatedly done this year in to decades out -the Dems gain/get back (in)/clean up the mess. The GOP gleans the mistakes , restructures, rewords, reapplies and rewards the ‘elite’ and it all cycles again.
While the vast amounts of enrichment for ‘a few’ more is obvious..the underlings …noting no italics…keep coming to America ‘to get rich’ , supporting ‘the promise’. Might as well call them The Troddens, huh?
Since Feudal.
Since before BC……
it doesn’t surprise me
it’s the same and always has been…
To bring the whole up to comfort level, educate, and care for the needy has made a few countries stable ,happy, desired, model places but doesn’t change the greedy from wanting more…nor stop the cycles of control for ‘the elite’.
History of this pattern is at our fingertips . The Robin Hoods or Heros are few but usually keep the fairy tales ,movies, and dreamers -cheering on.
Everyone loves a good story.
Whether it’s a radical right ( or left?) peace is not a goal (though more and more cleverly thrown out in promises “Trust Me” ) … it’s really control tactics re-dressed.
It might be ‘’we’ve lost our moral compass’’ so push the story, the control of religion.
It might be “if we just even out of the money”
The principle of unity, caring, love is reserved for the besties and dressed up in a promised story..
It’s survival for the trodden rest
This weekend there have been a lot of discussion of the Trump Regime's pay to play foreign policy including the tariffs. Putin dangled the right riches to Witkoff, Kushner and Trump, who will all benefit from this. Not sure about Marco Rubio, who is there with Witkoff and Kushner to negotiate with Ukraine.
Here is Dean Blundell's discussion of how this is destroying our alliance with Europe.
https://open.substack.com/pub/deanblundell/p/breaking-canada-and-the-eu-exploring?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I have been exchanging correspondence with Don Bacon (R-NE) for several years. He is despised by most of his constituents in the metro Omaha area because he says one thing and then 99% of the time votes with the Republicans.
But I do know that he hates Putin and Russia for invading Ukraine. He has never wavered from that position. And he also is one of the few politicians that actually takes the time to respond to emails and they aren't always form letters. But he did vote for the OBBBA which is one of the worst pieces of legislation for Americans (other than oligarchs) ever passed.
"On ABC’s This Week this morning, Representative Don Bacon (R-NE), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said to host Jonathan Karl: “Putin’s the invader, he’s the dictator, he’s murdered all his opponents. But I just don’t see that moral clarity coming from the White House. We saw that Wall Street Journal article yesterday that many people around the president are hoping to make billions of dollars—these are all billionaires in their own right—from…Russia, if they get a favorable agreement with Ukraine. That alarms me tremendously. I want to see America being the leader of the free world, standing up for what’s right, not for who can make a buck…. I don’t want to see a foreign policy based on greed. I want to see it based on doing the right thing.”
Let's wait for some action from Don Bacon before giving him the benefit of the doubt. At last count, there was already one concern ninny in the Senate from Maine. I don't think there's a vacancy for two, but happy to be proved wrong. Put your actions where your mouth is, Senator. "Don't see moral clarity" from the White House -- a true belly laugh there.
ICTT--your last sentence--I rolled my eyes so hard at Bacon's statement that I think I gave myself a migraine.
I won't get through many comments today. OUCH.
If Bacon had real balls he’s be calling on the dictator’s second banana to invoke the 25th. Talk is cheap, Don. For once in your lousy little life, do the real right thing.
Don Bacon stands up for Ukraine. I agree with that; however, he kicked ordinary Americans in the gut by voting for the One Big Bad bill. No wonder his constituents despise him. Then he talks about doing the right thing?! Oh please!
He is probably, like Susan Collins, concerned.
Yes. I read that Bacon said that. Good for him! I think we can all agree with that position.
Use Megan’s spreadsheet, look up Bacon, and call his office to tell him to stick to his position.
Brava! Actions we can take.
MLMinET, and our income taxes go where?!? Not into programs or Fed employees WE hire.
Most of those have been vaporized.
What’s left looks like a Halloween skeleton. According to Christopher Armitage on substack our states have the necessary powers to bring criminal charges against people who are violating the constitution. I’m calling my state AG
this morning to do just that; also my governor, who’s was the state attorney general before elected as governor.
You may know all this of course. But just in case….i think we all need to encourage our states to maximize
their independent powers now!
GL Loft,
We cannot lead when we have Donald Trump and his money worshipping children and like followers in control of our government. They are in the "safe" and taking everything they can for themselves and "buying the favor" of our enemies until they can't. Building a ballroom!!!!
They are opening the doors for us to be "taken over"....just one more country to put money above us....the people....in order to gain money and power and property...FOR THEMSELVES!!! How long do we live? It will not be forever, but how long for us and other countries to recover...if ever????
Meanwhile what about the future of our country, our elderly, those who live a life of "need". Though we remain imperfect, we have had individuals and organizations who have created places of care for those in need and we have had kind and giving supporters for those institutions. What will be the future ?
The care and education of our young ones ....new lives being born everyday....is nowhere to be seen....although good people are doing what they can do under difficult situations.
I see no kindness or compassion within our current governance.
G. Loft-you will not see it from this administration.
Rubio is 'cover'. A useful idiot.
Marco Dead-Eyes
L'il Marco wannabe Big Marco and it ain't never gonna happen.
He can stand alongside Mike Pence and a ever lengthening list of people who seen their opportunities and forgot to dope slap themselves.
Yes, its fascinating that he blundered into that the way he did. You'd think that after nearly a year, he'd have figured out what was going on.
I have noticed that Rubio often looks down at the floor when he is sitting on the sofa in the Oval Office. Otherwise, he looks very unhappy when he is looking up.
Awkward but unwilling to jeopardize all the positions he currently hopes perhaps?
He's beginning to look hollowed out. Selling your soul takes a toll.
Rebecca, so true!
Got what he asked for?
When describing the unpleasant consequences of a few moments' gratification, a friend of mine says it this way: "This is the f*ckin' you get for the f*ckin' you got."
I suspect trump has something VERY damaging on him. This is payback for the little hands comment.
Believe me, I have zero zilch nada zip sympathy for him. I hope I didn’t imply that I do! I just happen to notice his body language when he’s sitting with his boss.
When your balls roll out your pant leg you notice.
Maybe he did ....but he's in too deep?
I don't care at all how he feels, T.
My calculus includes the scores of innocent civilians his drunken Hegseth has killed in the Caribbean, the thousands his thug ICE have immorally grabbed from American communities, the tens of thousands his ally Netanyahu has killed in Gaza (and the West Bank), the hundreds of thousands his ally Putin has killed in Ukraine, and the millions his fellow corporate predators have ruined in the U.S.
Mr Balla:
Good!
And don't forget the unnumbered thousands or millions around the world suffering now from the stripping of USAID early in this second iteration of irresponsible government.
\Vince S
Yes seems like the whole of the billionaire robber baron class or epstein cabal are so empowered they don't hide their crimes and wholesale rapacious behaviors anymore. Swindle the working poor, cheat what's left of the middle class, rape women and children in broad daylight, Steal our savings and retirement, start wars to cause the greatest amount of suffering then make billions or even trillions off that...where does it end...
Not to mention all the people in ICE custody who died/were killed. "Christians," my shiny metal ass. 😠 🤬
I have absolutely zero sympathy for Rubio. He was the one person who was capable of being the adult in the room and he chose the other more craven path. Let him rot and ruminate over his bad career decision for all eternity.
T_Allen--I agree. I wonder if he has a smidgen of guilt thus explaining the dead-eyes, which I agree he has.
(You are a one week subscriber, I see. WELCOME to the forum! It's good to have you here!)
Or in on the whole thing until Trump boots him out?
The EU, Great Britain, Canada, etc, cashing in on US bond debt may have the effect of making the Euro the world's reserve currency, not the Dollar. This would make borrowing much more expensive for the US government, and make us a smaller presence on the world stage. Dictators ALWAYS make the countries they rule weaker. Looks like DT is going to do that the the US, in a big, long term way :(
Everything Trump touches dies.
Not fast enough.
That might explain the tiny mushroom.
Thank you for this, Ms., Weide. As I have been saying all along, the MAGAT infestation is every bit as fanatical as its Original Nazi forefather, which means that -- like its German predecessor -- it cannot be cured without outside intervention, which I recognized as prohibited by the longstanding U.S. "Better-Dead-Than-Red" policy of destroying the world to avoid surrender.
But I was thinking in terms of the conquest of Germany in 1945 and thus too narrowly; the possibility of effective economic intervention had never occurred to me; Dean Blundell's discussion, for which also thanks, was both enlightening and optimism-building. And I would not be at all surprised if it were subsequently disclosed the impetus for this strategy originated in Whitehall or Ottawa; though the British Empire is long dead, its centuries of strategic seasoning yet prevail, particularly in the realm of intelligence, which is why to grievously back-stab the UK, its close kindred and their allies remains among our planet's most self-destructive follies.
Nevertheless, I fear we must also focus on Trump's threat to invade and conquer Canada and therefore ask ourselves what if -- in retaliation for Euro-Canadian economic self-defense -- his Deciders order their puppet Führer to push the doomsday button on all the participants. (And, yes, I cannot doubt the MAGATs are that Evil; moreover, the historical precedent exists: Japan attacked the United States in retaliation for a purely economic measure, an oil embargo imposed in July 1941.)
We also need our military to rise to the occasion. Did Trump get rid of enough leadership? I am not sure. What about the rank and file?
Ruth Ben-Ghiat has been saying that Trump is basically pulling back from our being a global power to a regional one. That includes the Western Hemisphere. He is planning on leaving Europe to Putin and Asia to Xi. He wants to rule the Western Hemisphere and make money off of all that is in it.
To what purpose does he want to make money? He is old and feeble and has more than he can possibly spend in his remaining time. He does not appear to love his wife or offspring (who also have more than they can possibly spend), so I doubt leaving an inheritance matters to him. He just craves more - more money, more power, more publicity, . . . I think hoarding whatever he can at the expense of others gives him a rush. The cruelty is the point.
Isn't that the essence of a psychopathic personality? Malignant narcissism so deeply ingrained it can no longer even remember why it wants what it wants?
This is so difficult for all of us because we're' not monsters, thank God. For me, understanding how monsters really think is something of a bridge too far. I do they know must be stopped, however.
Pretty much what I said in response. Sorry I did not see your comment first.
If how much money a man has reflects the size of his … um, manhood … these guys, 47 especially, can never have enough. Look at Elon, the richest man in the the world and still demands a $1 trillion pay package.
He is clearly not in charge and one wonders how much he really was. Originally his run was a way to make money and all those supporters at his tower and escalator paid. Someday I hope all of the financial rat lines will be traced and uncovered.
DT is a greedy narcissistic psychopath and/or sociopath, and the only thing his brain thinks about are things that build his ego. How much he is worth is some Manosphere idea of manliness that Trump embraces.
Marsie, I have spent decades in or associated with retailing, which is, of course, the purest form of capitalism.
Retail, and by extension, capitalism, is obsessed with "more." The mantra is "BLY." (Beat Last Year) Ever-so-polite economists call this "growth."
This obsession with MORE affects (or infects) the minds of those who participate in capitalism and are not restrained by other influences, such as meaningful human relationships.
"Enough" isn't in the vocabulary of the unrestrained capitalist. I would say that MORE is the point. If harm comes to others, the unrestrained capitalist doesn't care.
Took the words right outta my mouth, Dale! Yes, so many (‘Rump is just really blatant about it—struts it, actually) are infected with what I call the more-more-more parasite. Too much is never enough, and no, it seems they can’t comprehend the true concept of “enough”. One wealthy person, MacKenzie Scott (Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife), seems to embrace the “enough” idea and is widely sharing her wealth while Jeff seemingly pursues even “more” & does so ostentatiously. Here is one online article (there are a number of interesting studies of wealth/greed out there): https://truthout.org/articles/greed-as-a-mental-health-disorder/
Interesting, Dale.
If "growth" measures people and skills, if it applies to school activities such as essay writing, then it takes in things such as wider referencing, more apt quoting of others, and similarly humane literacy.
If it applies to school activities such as standardized testing, then the only value or index applying is, as you say, MORE. More points, getting ahead of and above others, as if all are but units and nothing more anyway.
One of the subversive consequences of the end of the draft and the creation of the all-volunteer army is that Caucasian enlisted personnel are almost 100 percent Christonazified, largely due to the fanatically eager participation of the Christonazi churches in recruiting.
Remember too why the draft was discontinued. It was not -- say again (not) -- a sudden spasm of humanitarianism by a government that was already 100 percent captured by capitalism; it was instead the capitalists' realization that the U.S. draft was doing exactly what the Tsarist Russian draft had done -- it was training the (socialist) revolution.
Are you talking about the Russian army, because Caucasians are people in the Caucasus. That would be some Americans coming from there, but not all White Americans. The idea of "Whiteness" is ridiculousness that the world needs to move beyond, but as long as the concept gives preferential status to people, no matter what their other qualities, we will have the racist world that we have where color of skin is a measurement of a person's worth.
Linda, the way I read it is that today's military is mostly white Americans based on their (as Loren says) "Christonazified" experiences in their houses of "worship".
Caucasian is also a proper synonym for the white race and that is how I used it.
Interesting because my birth year was the last one I think for the draft registration. Some pacifists were wary and that was when the intial idea of two year service fir all with various option began being talked about. With two different groups of people my baby boom ages there was wide agreement. Some COs were treated badly in the past abd this option just works for everyone if we can reach that point of return.
Mar O'Mally. During the Kennedy years, we came close to a 2 year national service for all youth. It could be military, parks, sr citizen aids or many other forms of public service. Mormons require a period post high school of service abroad. I feel elites killed it but the time for some form of transition will come again.
Ruth is likely right. I worked on a Future of Border Security project earlier this year. All but one of the scenarios showed a strong move to a regionalized world. The only ine that didn't was the American collapse scenario. China became the world hegemon in that one
Loren Bliss,
Shamefully, I have thought of an escape...but to where?
Trump's minions are everywhere. People are really afraid of him. Another life that is in his way is probably soon ...NOT in his way....for one reason or another.
I truly believe for the old failing fellow, it is his dream to rule the world!!!!
I am not communist but I have actually been proud of China. At least it did not
comply immediately.
My question is...are we not a Democracy? WHY DO WE NOT REPLACE THIS BATCH OF FOOLS WITH MEN AND WOMEN WHO LOVE AND RESPECT THIS COUNTRY AND CARE FOR ITS PEOPLE AND LANDS!!!!!
Wow.
Good point , Linda, fitting the old ‘mold’ - that the alliances get weakened.
It's not incompetent, except for how blatant and open it is. They attempt "smoke and mirrors" with their posts and videos...but the truth is not that hard to figure out. Hitler took his time building up his power and control...Trump isn't that patient and he has to be at the center of everything. He obviously never read "The Art of War."
I think that the leaks suggest that higher ups in the military are not happy with the direction he is taking the US.
Ms Weide:
Would you be willing to write a short letter to the six members of the Joint Chiefs? Express your desire that patriotic and ethical military personnel must not be led by charlatans.
Their names:
General J Daniel Caine, USAF
General Randy A George, USA
Admiral Daryl L Caudle, USN
General Kenneth S Wilsbach, USAF
General Eric M Smith, USMC
Admiral Kevin E Lunday, USCG
All but Adm Lunday may be addressed
c/o The Pentagon
1400 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1400
Adm Lunday's address is
Commandant (CG DCO NCC)
U S Coast Guard Stop 7318
2703 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE
Washington, DC 20593-7318
\Vince S
Only Mein Kampf
I know that it's been called a leak by the WSJ and others, but really it's been so bleedin' obvious from the outset that Trump wanted a deal with Russia and cared little for Ukraine. Almost from the time of his first impeachment for trying to strongarm Zelensky into digging up dirt on Biden and his son, Hunter he was been so disposed. That wretched embarrassment of an Oval Office meeting with Zelensky in February; the fact that he's suspended shipments of arms to Ukraine three times already since he became president; the red carpet rolled out to Putin in Alaska in August; and his most recent ultimatum to the Ukrainians to accept the Russian plan - they all point to the same thing. Don Bacon is some kind of fool if he hasn't already seen the writing on the wall.
A leak is a good thing. I have been waiting for leaks. It is an indication of dissatisfaction from within.
I agree, but this administration has been leaking like a sieve. Hegseth has been carrying out polygraph tests to identify leakers in the Pentagon until he was told to stop by the White House. Kash Patel at the FBI has been using these tests to determine the loyalty of staff to him rather than for the protection of national security. And then there was Signalgate. Trump is perhaps the biggest security risk in the government because he doesn't believe that the rules apply to him. He once told Hannity that he could de-classify documents by thinking of it. Al those documents siezed from Mar a Lago by the FBI have been returned to Trump.
Yes. And, to whom has he sold those documents? Could be anyone in any country. No wonder no one is sharing real intel with the US any more. It is just too dangerous.
I don't know if he's sold any classified documents, but he has shown them to people in the belief that it was okay to do so.
Returned to him? WTAF.
Yes, I know. I could scarcely believe it myself.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/28/fbi-hands-back-property-trump/80886861007/
https://substack.com/home/post/p-180076593
Thanks for this link. It is an interesting article, and confirms my understanding that someone high up in the military is fed up, thus the leaks.
I agree.
Let’s be blunt: 47 has always been enamored of and obsessed with his adoration of Putin. It creates reflected glory for 47, the only kind of glory he’ll ever have. Some of us have known this since 2015; others are just now waking up.
It's only ever earned him general obloquy and an impeachment. Many people believe that there's got to be something more to it but no one has ever been to nail it down.
I intended to capture everything in my comment. Who knows precisely why. Probably several reasons.
Sadly, all circumstantial.
Xplisset, YES! And then shore up our venerable Constitution where it needs it (mostly, greater clarity) and redesign capitalism to distribute wealth fairly (no, not equally) thus eliminating poverty while maintaining serious economic rewards for good ideas, hard work and dedication to the common good.
There is a big difference between being able to afford every luxury (a few million $$ a year should suffice for any true patriot) and personally owning more wealth than most nations do.
Yup, extremely progressive taxation, no loopholes and reliable enforcement of tax laws will permit us to have a full-service social safety net, end hunger worldwide and render wars ... obsolete. No space here for racism, misogyny, xenophobia or any other kind of discrimination.
Oh, and maybe some antitrust laws with teeth and strictly applied.
Yes, the devil will be in the details, but we have a World to save and time is running out. Time to stop wondering if climate disaster will be worse than nuclear holocaust or vice versa.
Get rid of the antiquated but not venerable Electoral College which prevents a true election.
Yes, Anne-Louise, Article 2, section 1 of the Constitution is a big problem and needs to be changed to simple electoral majority for national Federal elections (presidency and vice-presidency), and for US House and Senate elections. Every citizen of voting age should be automatically registered to vote (as in Italy), and as nearly as possible every vote should have the same value: 1 person, 1 vote.
Election day should be a separate national holiday, ideally a Wednesday to avoid the temptation of people adding it to a three day weekend. The formula for establishing House districts should be laid out in the Constitution as well. No more gerrymandering!
In addition, I would establish a national database with a permanent and publicly accessible record of who votes and who doesn't. It would be embarrassing to participate in political debate for those who refuse to vote.
Finally, the Senate should either be eliminated or changed so that the number of Senators is proportional to state population.
Then we can say we have a real democracy.
(and let's ditch the filibuster while we're at it...)
And let's start teaching civics in classrooms again. Let's teach that living in a peaceful and fair democracy requires participation from all citizens.
Be careful what you ask for.
The Framers had three primary fears; a standing army, a monarchy and direct democracy, aka mob rule. [So far we may have two of the three.]
The college is a backstop to prevent mob rule; it protects the interests of small states. We are after all a National-Federalist system. Indeed as far back as Ancient Greece, Aristotle, and in Rome, Polybius warned against direct democracy.
So too for the Senate. The Constitutional Convention Debates and Federalist Papers both make the valid argument for each.
As much as we question the college, it is a better system than any proposed alternative.
Agreed Election Day should be a federal holiday.
Gary, thanks for your reply.
I agree with you as to why the founders were unenthusiastic about direct democracy (can representative democracy be considered "direct"?) and afraid of mob rule, but I think Trump has brought us closer to mob rule than any other President in my lifetime, while the votes of citizens in all but a key handful of "swing" states have become a nearly meaningless foregone conclusion.
It should not be possible for a minority of Americans to select a President against the wishes of the majority.
Also, while the founders wrote a brilliant, original and durable document that has often served us well, we should acknowledge that they were all white men of property, many of whom unashamedly owned slaves (as did the ancient Greeks) and never intended for the power to be in the hands of all citizens, least of all Blacks, women, or Native Americans.
Frankly, the idea that the Constitution should be somehow immutable, a kind of sacred cow to be worshipped never occurred even to the founders who remembered to include a mechanism for amendments.
Clearly there is nothing in the Constitution adequate to protect us from modern AI-fueled billionaire oligarchs buying political power while controlling our ultramodern means of communication to brainwash and frighten inadequately schooled citizen voters (and non-voters).
Doing nothing about this state of affairs will be the death of us all.
Just as with voting districts, Electors should be chosen by a non-partisan group.
That's how it was accomplished in our early years.
Although there is no such thing as a non-partisan group, where could that be found?
AMEN.
Be careful what you ask for.
The Framers had three primary fears; a standing army, a monarchy and direct democracy, aka mob rule. [So far we may have two of the three.]
The college is a backstop to prevent mob rule; it protects the interests of small states. We are after all a National-Federalist system. Indeed as far back as Ancient Greece, Aristotle, and in Rome, Polybius warned against direct democracy.
As much as we question the college, it is a better system than any proposed alternative.
If we don’t get rid of it at least make it proportional in ALL states.
It is proportional in all states.
And reverse the toxic Citizens United decision and crack down on nepotism and establish a 'pardon review committee'.
America is more than ready for a *boring and brave new deal.*
It’s feeling like now or never.
Hopefully Dems are able to make that message resonate.
But HOW? They have all the power and control. Their M.O. is “whatcha gonna do about it?” And truly, what CAN we do!
Keep up the communication, Kathryn, among us -- we on Heather's site.
Many here afford invaluable perspectives, insights, references to key other things we can read, or videos we can see. Many of these latter also feature the best souls who also have Substacks of their own.
These conversations seep out into the wider world of friends and family -- who hunger for the human decencies "the Epstein class" can only rape.
For one contribute to Mark Kelly's defense... even just $5.
Thx Gary! Contribution on the way!
Do you know how much of our contributions will go to MK defense?
Act Blue takes about .04 %. So on a $5 donation they keep 20 cents.
It's just my opinion but that's worth the contribution to keep Act Blue operating. FYI, they are being targeted by the Department of Justice on Trump's orders; reason enough to also support them.
I didn't know that figure, Gary, so thank you!
👋Hi Kathryn, fellow cat lover and gardener. Your name here is new to me, to I checked. 5 month subscriber. WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME!
And to answer your question--call Congress, keep the faith that we will overcome. Because people are waking up big time and the pendulum is swinging in our favor.
Thank you. I have and do write to my reps in Congress. I have on my list to write to other states’ reps as well since most of mine are doing a pretty fine job already…Padilla, Schiff, Swalwell. Young Kim is useless, but soon to be edged out by our redistricting to counter TX! Thank God!
The Dem's have had all branches of government too at times and still crickets. We could have enlarged the courts. We could have made Roe the rule of the land. We could have made gerrymandering illegal. Why didn't we?
Roe was the Rule of the Land...the rule changed.
Gerrymandering will always be with us as long as we have a House membership dependent on population. [Not a criticism; a fact.]
The key is whether gerrymandering is political or accomplished by non-partisan boards as some states do.
Manchin and Sinema are the culprits the last time. I don’t recall what happened before. But rest assured, if we are given another opportunity, we will NOT FAIL our country again! I think we are all too well aware of the consequences now, and failure is NOT AN OPTION!
The key word is daylight. The odd aspect of it all is that Trump isn't hiding anything. It's a little complicated, but it's all out there. It's still a clear choice between good and evil. Trump is betting that we don't care about hurting others, that good old fashioned American greed will when the day and that Putin will choose wealth in lieu of murdering Ukrainians. The truth is that Putin and Trump want both. They are all about greed and both are ruthless killers.
Related - I have cringed for a long time when I read people calling Trump stupid. He is not stupid, but he is evil. The Robber Barons missed out in not having classes with Trump and his merry band of sycophants. My real anger is that there is no resistance with teeth. I am of course not talking about the demonstrations such as NO KINGS, I am talking about SCOTUS, and both parties. The Republicans, aka Maga now, allowed this all to happen, they are equally at fault. That party , the GOP, died when John McCain died. For all of her pontificating MTG went from upper middle class to exceedingly rich helping Maga. The Dems are rudderless and continue to think whining instead of acting is good enough. I have a tad of hope in some of the next generation leaders but they are not in charge yet. With the Dems I envision not only a firm hand missing on the tiller, I am not convinced they even have a tiller or if they do, knowing its purpose. Still, I have hope that they are the one party that can find its way, yeah I am an optimist at heart. The other issue is the electorate. Unles they are personally harmed, ethics and morality, justice and the rule of law, doesn't matter to them. It used to, no way a generation ago a person like Trump would have been elected -ask Gary Hart! Trump is getting cornered and a cornered rat is at its most dangerous. Be prepared, and this time be certain he can't escape his own evil undoing.
“Russia has so many vast resources, vast expanses of land,”
This has bedeviled me for a long time. If he were such a great man why hasn't he built with his own country's assets? Stealing from your neighbor just makes you a lazy, dimwitted low class thug.
It’s not so much the resources as it is the population. I mean literally Russia needs bodies as they are reaching a critical point where the birth rate is collapsing.
Two things to consider: the Russian birth rate is declining, yet there is still an increase in their population. It may be true, but it isn't likely the primary cause for the invasion of a sovereign state. Second, you may be attributing too much reason to Putin's motives. Remember, this a man who said the greatest catastrophe of the last century wasn't the Second World War with it's industrialized killing, it was the demise of the Soviet Union.
There's no guess work involved, we needn't ponder motives, nor speculate; listen to what the man says, Putin's stated goal is restoration of the Russian Empire.
A text book case of Little Man Syndrome.
A GREAT leader would work on fixing that. putin is only great in his own mind. In fact, he is nothing more than a two-bit thug.
'a petty criminal who isn't particularly talented or intimidating'.
"Epstein class", a new term I learned today. It speaks volumes about this administrations seemingly guiding principles for their goal in governance: enriching the Epstein Class or as you put it "government run like an ATM for the Epstein class." Those of us opposing the greedy take over of our government by the Grifter in Chief should run with this to help bring bring light to this billionaire enriching chaos.
Spot on Xavier, thank you for your words and the link to your substack writings.
The 'pattern' re Venezuela should be pretty obvious by now also. War and no election.
trump promised to "drain the swamp," however swamps are valuable sources of fresh water for a lot of critters, including being breeding grounds and habitats as well. I think it's the sewers that need to be drained - habitat for rats, sewage and other disgusting stuff.
"“I’ve always represented the common American man and woman as a member of the House of Representatives which is why I’ve always been despised in Washington DC and never fit in,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) began her resignation letter." ACO says the same message. Why one is a R and the other is D?
If you think for a minute that Putin isn’t going to mine this for every ruble he can get his hands in you are naive. Putin will end up with more than anyone. He will cut everyone else out if he can. Then he will attack the rest of Ukraine to take it too.
The bottom line for Ukraine, indeed. No piece of paper Donald Trump asks anybody to sign is worth more than a stake in Trump Steaks. It's all a smoke screen meant to benefit Putin and Trump -- absolutely nothing to do with "peace" but everything to do with "profit."
Worse, by limiting Ukraine's standing army, it immobilizes the country while allowing Russia to prepare for its 'Third War.' This -- not the past two (the invasion of Crimea and the set-up of two phony Russian republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the Donbas in 2014, and the full-scale invasion in 2022) -- is what everyone in Ukraine is thinking about.
The choices are grim. They involve inflicting as much pain as possible on Russia (and there's been quite a lot of pain) or surrendering to both Putin and Trump and face the inevitable third attack and dismemberment at some point later on. All eyes on Europe...will they be strong enough to tell both America and Russia to go screw themselves? Because piece-loving Putin will not stop with Ukraine. He wants piece in Poland too. And Moldova. And Romania. And Baltics. And crypto-wars against Germany, Britain, Sweden....Many, many pieces indeed.
Piece-loving vs Peace-loving….Perfect, ICTT!
According to Dean Blundell, Europe plans to let actions speak.
https://open.substack.com/pub/deanblundell/p/breaking-canada-and-the-eu-exploring?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Thanks Linda for posting the link to Daniel Blundell’s post.
👋 Hi Anthony! You're a new subscriber, and it appears you live overseas. THANKS for joining on here! You are helping a sane movement grow because of that. WELCOME!!
😊Thanks Miselle.
How do you tell if a subscriber is NEW?
Hover on that blue circle with the flower (I think it is?) inside to the right of their name.
Jay Jay Eh, I see you're relatively new as well. If I have not already done so, please let me WELCOME you to the LFAA comment forum! Thanks for becoming a paid subscriber to HCR and helping promote our democracy minded forum!
I think we're heading for the inevitable big bang. Barbara Tuchman describes it in her book The Guns of August.
Chris, I don't think we are seeing a recreation of WWI here. It is something different. However according to Jacob Kaarsbo, this is just not a real peace negotiation and there will be no peace. The people Trump has negotiating with Ukraine are just pretend negotiators to make it look like something is going on, and of course to waste everyone's time.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jacobkaarsbo/p/morning-intel-brief-221?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I should have mentioned the technology of our time and the world wide effect on civilization. I've lived through the fear of nuclear war since the 50's and now it seems that leaders are acting as though it would be a casual event. Greed is fueling the possibility of a nuclear exchange. Thanks for the reply Linda. I'm on board with what you have to say.
Many countries are increasing their arms purchases, sales & production — plus enticing or conscripting citizens into military service due to seeing decline in U.S. support :
THE OBSERVER — https://apple.news/A3q5Bv1JiT-uR67IFaS3z0Q
It Comes T This. It’s all so greedy. Just like our orange buffoon grabbing of everything, and his destruction of everything that this country has come to value. Instead of valuing the soul of this country he’s destroying at peace by peace.
Russia also has $100 million at least in bank money that has been frozen since the invasion and Putin wants that back ASAP because the Russian economy is in the crapper already. I would like to know who is giving missiles and other weapons like drones to Russia on credit because they cant pay for those weapons at this time.
Other than manufacturing their own, Russia “maintains access to advanced western components through imports from other nations, such as 🔹Turkey, China, and the United Arab Emirates.
Russian customs data indicates that 70% of imported semiconductors, which Russia uses for missiles, drones, and other weapons, are sourced from the 🔹United States, through circuitous routes. 🔹China has also emerged as a lifeline for direct imports of dual-use equipment, providing 90% of Russia's imports of high priority G7 export-controlled products in 2023.” wiki
Also, ‘War, what is it good for?!’ — the economy? many countries are increasing their arms purchases, sales & production — plus enticing or conscripting citizens into military service due to seeing decline in U.S. support :
THE OBSERVER — https://apple.news/A3q5Bv1JiT-uR67IFaS3z0Q
* Russia’s frozen assets are up to $250 Billion, by some estimates.
We shall see. Trump is operating against the interests of the American people. Russia is too. What can we do? We can complain to Congress. Midterms are coming up. They need to think about dissatisfaction. Also, would be good to make this one of the campaign issues. Of course MAGA does not care. They still think the US is funding Ukraine, which it is not.
And, I hear they may be losing some sources of money in Mali. There is an article in The Insider, and Independent news source in English and Russian.
https://theins.ru/en/politics/286991
As Dean Blundell and others have pointed out there is a lot of corruption and Europe is recognizing how Trump's foreign policy is all about grift.
https://open.substack.com/pub/deanblundell/p/breaking-canada-and-the-eu-exploring?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
The answer to your question about who finances Russia is (1) China/ India/ Hungary & Slovakia (“embarrassing!” as Trump sums it up correctly), and (2) the Global South. Whatever else he achieves, Trump isn’t ‘peeling off Russia from China’ or the Global South. I doubt that Trump has ever thought about the advice to ‘stop digging’ the hole which is going to swallow you up’.
Axios just reported on “peace deal” negotiations that took place in Miami at Witkoff’s golf club. The American team consisted of Witkoff, Marco Rubio, and Jared Kushner with Ukrainians led by national security adviser Rustem Umerov, military chief of staff Gen. Andrii Hnatov, and deputy head of military intelligence Vadym Skibitskyi.
The discussions were “intense” and focused exclusively on where the border between Ukrainian and Russian-held territory would be drawn. That is the critical issue for Ukraine because Putin wants to take territory that he has not won because it is heavily fortified. It defends the industrial heartland of Ukraine. If Putin gets it in the “peace deal” it will be like leaving your front door open and inviting the looters in.
It is important to understand the context in which the meeting was held.
Zelensky is being undermined by a corruption scandal at home that forced the resignation of his chief of staff and the principal negotiator the day before.
According to a June 2025 analysis from the Institute of the Study of War:
"A detailed assessment by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) argues that Russia’s theory of victory is to grind forward slowly and force concessions by 2026, but also notes that Russia has “almost certainly” not demonstrated the capacity for large-scale successful offensives needed to achieve decisive territorial goals in the near term."
However, earlier last week, the context changed. The NY Times reported that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll had been sent to Kyiv to brief Ukrainians and European allies about Russian stockpiling of missiles.
"For years, Moscow fired missiles into Ukraine roughly as fast as it could make them. But now Russia is building enough to amass a growing stockpile of long-range weaponry, Daniel P. Driscoll, the U.S. Army secretary, told the assembled diplomats, according to two Western officials.
The implication was clear, the officials said: A settlement is needed quickly because of a rising missile threat that could deliver a knockout blow to Ukraine and spill over its borders."
Here is the final takeaway from Sunday’s meeting from the Ukrainian side . My comments are in parentheses.
“It was intense but not negative. (The Americans are taking a hard line that we have to accept Putin’s conditions on the border. The “not negative” means there was no progress whatsoever. The Ukrainians held firm in the face of it. ) We really appreciate serious U.S. engagement. (The word really gives it away. Replace really with the word “would”. America is completely aligned with Russian interests.) Our position is that we have to make everything to help U.S. succeed (U.S. business interests are paramount. This is a public declaration by Ukraine that the “peace deal” is really about enriching Trump and his cronies. The “we have” acknowledges the coercion being applied. ) without losing our country (Ukraine makes it clear what is at stake for them.) and preventing another aggression (Putin will never honor any “deal” or “peace plan”. Once he has rebuilt and rearmed he will come for the the rest of Ukraine.) from happening,” one of the Ukrainian officials wrote to Axios after the meeting.
Here is what Jacob Kaarsbo, former Danish intelligence officer says about those peace talks. Like the details are unimportant because this is the pretend negotiating team. That is what Zelensky gets.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jacobkaarsbo/p/morning-intel-brief-221?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Ukrainians are certainly gold medalists when it comes to negotiating one difficult hand after another with skill and aplomb. But it all has the feel of playing for time. Should they sign a phony "peace deal" (i.e., Russian-American profit deal), their goose is truly cooked. For Russia would limit Ukraine's army while re-grouping for the "Third War" -- the one yet to come, the one that literally everyone in Kyiv is worried about.
So much is truly in Europe's hands. And almost every country there pledging to 'bear any burden, pay any price' also finds itself in the midst of serious domestic upheaval.
The stars are not yet aligning on this one...
Hi ICTT. Thanks for your sense of humour (“the stars are not yet …”), humour helps and is appreciated in troubled situations! Yours, Anthony.
Gotta laugh somehow. Somehow gotta laugh!
Thanks for the link. So interesting to see what Europeans are thinking. Media here aren’t covering it in any depth. Too much focus on the Trump distractions like blowing up boats and committing war crimes. But WSJ and NYT are getting back to some decent investigative reporting, so this is a tiny glimmer of hope.
At this point Trump is not even supplying anything to Ukraine through the sell it to the Europeans and have them pass it on channel. Zelensky has to buy time to clean up the corruption mess, at least partially engineered by Russia, before he and Europe walk away from the US. I don’t think they would publicaly declare a complete rupture. Just continue to stroke Trump’s ego, but make plans that do not depend on the US.
Tommorrow will be a critical day if the Democrat wins the special House election. It will split the Republican party. The real key to detrailing the Trump train is for Democrats to flip the House before the midterm primaries. and take back the power of the purse, and the power to declare war and make actual treaties instead of deals.
It will also be an enormous boost to Dems in TN. All of us in this state have suffered under a Republican gov and trifecta that says “yassir” to Trump whenever he scratches his butt. Not to mention the religious fanatics. We are also the home of sell-out Marsha Blackburn (who wants to be gov! Wonder if she knows she’ll have to show up in this state??).
Well, as a European I ought to stay out of US national politics … but my prayer is ‘Go the D…….s!’ 👍
… and the Baltic States, and Poland, and the Czech Republic, then Germany… etc etc., until his so desired “Eurasian Empire” is complete.
Hi Laura. On this side of the Atlantic (Europe), the consensus is clear re: Russia’s invasion and bombing of Ukraine: Russia (Putin) will tolerate no autonomy in any part of Ukraine. He means to subject it all. This is the perspective of Europeans (I include Ukrainians in the term ‘Europeans’. They’ve earned the right x many times over). So, the US Administration’s approach to this war is understood as entirely wrong. Pacifism is strong here. Most have a deep seated respect for the power of destruction brought by war. What is happening, I think, is an awareness that war might/ could come our way, no matter how much we reject it. This change is slow (too slow maybe?) and there is an asynchrony between those who live nearest to Russia and those in Western Europe (France & Germany particularly) who hope it doesn’t reach their borders. But it’s happening. Have no doubt how much each misstep by the US Administration hits home in our hearts. One of Russia’s (Putin’s) strategic aims is to peel off the US from the EU/ European NATO members. Boy!, is Trump helping him there! I pray that we will stop Trump from delivering Europe to Putin. Yours, in regard, Anthony (UK).
laura, I agree. And honestly, I believe though his army is failing, Putin is smarter than Trump.
It seems a year or so ago, it was widely suggested that Putin was very ill. I think he had hand bruises as well. Wonder what it going on there?
(You are a new paid subscriber. 👋THANKS for supporting this community, and WELCOME! It's good to have you here! Together, this big tent is growing and growing and becoming a force to be reckoned with!)
… and then onto Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
Let tonight’s letter be THE WAKE-UP CALL Americans need… the it’s not just authoritarian rule in America we should worry about but THE GLOBAL ALIGNMENT OF AN ENTITLED CLASS OF AMORAL SUPER WEALTHY MEN who want to plunder the world’s wealth of natural resources while not caring if the rest of us live or die!
This corruption runs deep and has been researched by Sarah Kendzior for years. All should read her two bestselling books “Hiding In Plain Sight” and “They Knew”!
www.sarahkendzior.com
I read “Hiding in Plain…” a couple of years ago. Spellbounding! Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money” also.
Thanks for letting me know! Please follow Sarah on Substack too! https://substack.com/@sarahkendzior?r=2hk55&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
Thanks Steve; Kendzior is an excellent source. Her free Substack is worth the time.
You’re welcome. Sarah has suffered emotionally from being right so early and largely dismissed for seeing things others had not seen and found hard to believe. But now people are coming to see she was right. Her Substack is trending now… becoming more popular… and not a moment too soon!
Both/And
My call to arms for anyone reading this - Speak up. Unrelentingly. ❤️🩹🤍💙
There’s a calendar on my spreadsheet so we can target our calls/letters/emails/faxes to flood offices in an organized manner.
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Nokings) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Add a comment to help keep this bumped ✊ New eyes seeing this means new ripples for change! 🤞
Megan, I am right there with you. I go to protests/rallies every single week. This is how we arm ourselves.
Megan, between you and Dr. Richardson we have the tools we need to combat kleptocracy. We must tirelessly use these tools. Thank you for your hard work and perseverance!
I do appreciate this list; I encourage Readers to find (R) congress critters that are on committees that you can articulate a direct impact on you or your state, and use this list to contact them. In their very positions, they represent you and your interests, even if they live in another state.
Megan, perhaps you might have noticed I started welcoming all the new people I discover have joined on in the last half year. I am SO GRATEFUL that you continue to post this every day, because MORE AND MORE of us like minded folks are fed up and taking action.
I appreciate all you do. Kudos, warrior!!
Thank you!
How are you always the oldest commenter?
I’m not always, but if I catch her Facebook post before I go to bed then typically within 30 minutes she then posts on here, so I check wayyyy more frequently in order to comment within minutes of her post. If she doesn’t post before I go to bed, I don’t typically comment because mine will be buried in hundreds of comments.
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo suggested Friday that the deep unpopularity of AI comes in part from the fact that it has become a symbol “of a society in which all the big decisions get made by the tech lords, for their own benefit and for a future society that doesn’t really seem to have a place for most of the rest of us.”
Stage 4 Reagnomics
And unlike the robber barons of old, who actually built stuff like railroads, steel, textile and grain mills, telegraph, communication and electrical systems, these guys build nothing, suck up huge amounts of electricity (much of it dirty) doing so, mostly produce "wares" bought and sold only to themselves, like cryptocurrency, which further undermines government accountability and benefits mostly dark money, drug and weapon smuggling networks. The robber barons actually hired people (admittedly not for much), while these self-obsessed thieves seek to fire as many as they can, while divorcing the rest of us from social safety nets.
Who wanted this again? I don't recall anybody asking me.
I volunteer at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens and always wonder at the (railroad) wealth that built it - but then turned around and left it for generations to come to learn and enjoy. Admittedly, I have other thoughts about it, like built on land inhabited for thousands of years by native peoples; but indeed in contrast to the robber barons of yore, the ones of now are a useless destructive lot leaving future generations with a poop pile to clean up.
So many museums, theaters, galleries, hospitals, opera companies and symphony orchestras, research programs and endowments at universities owe their existence to the guilty conscience of these titans of industry -- to say nothing of the man who invented dynamite -- Alfred Nobel.
I am suddenly reminded that the Fat Orange Pig never gave a dime to anything or anybody that wasn't a shell front scam benefiting only himself.
Has everyone forgotten about Marx and his prediction that capitalism would develop to its logical conclusion: a global autarky that finally disregards international borders and just carries on extracting wealth with no boundaries. I’m kinda tired of focusing only on fascism and Hitler.
Also, so far Prof Cox has not mentioned the pardon of Hernandez, the former president of Honduras. That seems to me to presage Trump’s entry into the narco trade and acceptance of drug money. What next?
Fashion moll Kristi Noem admitted on Meet the Press she violated court orders.
White House (& gold-glitz-smeared oval office) released video shows blatantly illegal murder on the high seas drunken smug boy Hegseth ordered.
The lawless, dehumanized cycles continue, from demolition of a key part of the White House that scorned any oversight or due process, to ongoing raids by masked ICE thugs disrupting American communities with racial violence but to titillate our most criminal, dark hole inhabiting white supremacists.
Worse, the most coherent mood emerging now shifts from the fat, doddering orange felon to the full range of billionaires and other elites flagrantly now flaunting their impunity – a contempt for the bottom 90% to match their years-long rapes of the underage girls so many deemed it their droit du seigneur.
Quick. Return humanities to schools. The longer the delay in doing this the more the billionaires justify all their school instruments that just neuter all the bottom 90% as otherwise just the numbers AI assigns.
Phil, I’m with you and her post piles up the receipts.
WSJ shows the “peace” push as a Russia-drafted business plan for friends; NYT maps David Sacks shaping policy while the same circles profit; a PE fraudster got a quick commutation; Epstein-estate docs show the inner ring looking out for itself while tariffs and AI-driven energy costs land on us.
That’s not random Phil, it’s kleptocracy. The answer is daylight, equal law for the rich too, and relief you can see at the register. www.xplisset.com
The effects of social and government corruption manifests in innumerable direct and indirect ways, from imposing a far less life sustaining environment on future generations to increasing distrust, anger and pessimism weighing on our culture, while our lifetimes tick away.
Money in itself isn't evil, it's a tool of social reciprocity. But any tool can be a weapon in the wrong hands, and used in antisocial ways without conscience, legal safeguards, and public vigilance. Extreme avarice without regard to harms imposed on others is historically and currently a prime source of social evils. We as a society seemed to "get" that in FDR's era, yet lost track.
You're darned Putin! Oh wait...
Has everyone forgotten about Marx and his prediction that capitalism would develop to its logical conclusion: a global autarky that finally disregards international borders and just carries on extracting wealth with no boundaries. I’m kinda tired of focusing only on fascism and Hitler.
Also, so far Prof Cox has not mentioned the pardon of Hernandez, the former president of Honduras. That seems to me to presage Trump’s entry into the narco trade and acceptance of drug money. What next?
Narco dollars spend the same as any others. Ask the banks
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs
And _still_ would 1/3 of the American population vote for this orange goblin clown, full well knowing he’s a grifter, a fraud, a convicted rapist and abuser of underage girls. I wouldn’t be surprised if these people would actually send their own children to be “blessed” by “Dear Leader”…
I think 2/3rds of supporters don’t pay attention to much attention outside the vibe of their clique. Not a lot of independent thought going on in the land. Actually, I think the message in lower schools is that it’s an unAmerican activity.
Even plutocrats lean-in on fraternity.
If testing billionaires fix most points as most American, Bill, anything else is unAmerican.
Do you mean to say that Metamucillini and The Grim Raper are one and the same?
"The Grim Raper"... OMG. Can I steal that one?
Of course you can. I would be honored.
:D
Some I know would
I'm not surprised, but still shocked.
As prepared as I was for more hell, it has indeed been a shocker.
Thank you, Heather, for this fabulous expose of the Epstein class. Our current government is an oligarchic (Epstein class) kleptocratic (stealing from the rest of us) kakistocracy (government run by the worst, least competent and most unscrupulous people). Next question is: Who is the FDR for our time? And, the Francis Perkins... Then the next question is what do we need to update the U.S. Constitution so this doesn't happen again and have a more perfect union where everyone thrives. In Solidarity!
" . . . a more perfect union where everyone thrives," Cathy?
Yes, if the U.S. centers on schools run only by the best college grad teachers -- and run by nobody else -- and teachers may freely eject standardized testing from their schools as the Finnish teachers most wisely did.
Agree that we need to focus on education. State legislators, etc., should not define what is taught. Students need to be taught how to think -- not what to think. I'm not a fan of standardized testing since it encourages teachers to teach to the test rather than how to think. We need to teach civics again. And, resilience. Texas doesn't want to teach white boys the truth about slavery, for example, since that might hurt their feelings! That just makes them wimps!
Gotta get your widdle pet bugaboo in there, doncha? No matter what, gotta wedge it all in there somehow. That'll show 'em! 🙄
It seems like a pipe dream right now. I have to stop reading now or I’ll never sleep.
Nearly 4am here in Mexico......going to bed, I saw Heather's new post....so, back to my Mac.
It's one of her best ever, Judith.
When you wake up, please respond generously to many commenters already here.
We need dreams of what can be so we strive for them! Hope you had a good night's sleep.
Bless you and I did sleep well and as usual, a new day brings new hope. You are so right about having dreams, or better, visions of what can be to strive for.
Today’s letter could not be more timely and on point.
Two things jump out. First is the AI bubble. If it were not for the “Magnificent Seven”: Alphabet Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, the stock market would be down over the past five years. AI is not going away, but the amount of excess capital flowing into AI means there is less available for projects that help the average person. It is unsustainable.
Secondly, the voracious appetite for energy to power AI data centers and mining cryptocurrencies is undermining our efforts to battle climate change. It is a boon for Exxon-Mobile, but not for the planet.
Once artificial intelligence replaces genuine intelligence, we will become prisoners of ultra rich. Entry level white collar jobs will become fewer and fewer, which will lead to a disaffected younger workforce.
And, just wait until AI masters disinformation… you ain’t seen nothing yet!
“Russia has so many vast resources, vast expanses of land,” Witkoff told journalists. Just give Trump a great big piece of that, he explained, and Trump will back off, let Russia take what it wants of Ukraine, and call it peace. If all countries offered Trump such nice big juicy deals, world peace would finally be a reality. As Witkoff stated: "If we do all that [i.e., strike deals for say, rare-earth minerals mining] . . . and there’s upside for everybody [i.e., Trump and his cronies like Witkoff and Jared Kushner], that’s going to naturally be a bulwark against future conflicts there.” The magic Trump formula for peace is simple: gimme a piece of your pie. All he needs is a bean brain like Witkoff to explain it.
One of the most frequent pro-Trump talking points I heard repeated, even in his present terms is the claim that Trump is so rich that he can't be corrupted. How does one figure?
Yeah pretty amusing when the data (DECADES OF DATA) show corruption is the only thing he was ever good at.
When people discover their natural gifts they pursue them unto the death.
😂
Thanks Constance. Now I know what I was searching for to describe my doubts about the appointment of Steve Witkoff as US negotiator: ‘bean brain’ 😂
America is the leader of the "free world". Not whilst under this regime at least. Telling a democratic country that has been illegally invaded, to simply surrender proves that point. Not turning up to the G20. Randomly taking out fishing boats that may or may not be doing anything wrong... etc etc.
I seriously hope it can regain that status, but thats along way off at the moment.
Frank, you’re not wrong on this. Telling Ukraine to swallow a Russia-drafted “peace” plan and ghosting the G20 ain’t leadership, it’s abdication.
As Dr. Richardson has written , “Democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint.” 
Her piece her shows the pattern: Now, real leadership is simple: show up for partners, enforce rules equally, and make life cheaper at home. www.xplisset.com
solidarity /sŏl″ĭ-dăr′ĭ-tē/
noun
1. Unity of purpose, interest, or sympathy.
"People gathered to show solidarity with the earthquake victims."
2. An entire union or consolidation of interests and responsibilities; fellowship; community.
3. A bond of unity between individuals, united around a common goal or against a common enemy, such as the unifying principle that defines the labor movement.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
You’re right. Solidarity is the word. Abroad: stand with Ukraine without kickback deals. At home: one set of rules for the powerful and lower costs for everyone else. Appreciate the nudge to center it.
So my wife just played audio of a speech delivered by Sen. Sanders which hit a number of nails on the head. Worthy of the history books in my opinion. It begins with the words,
"Mr. SANDERS. Let me thank Senator Merkley for today pointing a finger
at one of the great crises our country--one of the greatest crises our
country has faced, I think, since the Civil War; and that is that,
every day, we have a President who is moving this country into an
authoritarian form of society."
https://www.congress.gov/119/crec/2025/10/21/171/174/CREC-2025-10-21-pt2-PgS7667-2.pdf
Starts at right side of page S7683
It is a bit worn, but I love my 3rd edition!
while I remain cautiously hopeful we can step off the highway to hell, I am uncertain that all that has been recently broken can be fully repaired.
I couldn't agree with you more, J.L. I am hopeful we will jump off that highway, not just step. But the recent breaking of things that we cherished has shown us where the fault lines are. So we need not only to repair, but to rebuild anew on stronger foundations. For me, that has to start with Supreme Court reform. We can do our best to fix things, but without an expanded SCOTUS that is subject to an enforceable code of ethics (and perhaps with age limits on voting status) it will be wasted effort.
My feeling has been that the approval process is what’s at fault. It’s far too go along get along. A lot of unrelated horse trading in the background. Too much ass curation is going on.
Maybe some horse-trading going on, I don't really knpw. But I think the approval process is just for show. Justices should be approved or not based on their published opinions before their nomination. Maybe the Congress-critters are just too lazy to do the work (or rather, to have their staffers do it). No prospective SC justice is ever going to tell the truth in his/her interview. They'd never get approved otherwise.
True, truths told don’t even compare well with hen’s teeth. Lady justice is blind for good reason. Most politicians would have as hard a time with legal briefs as they do making coherent written sentences.
Horse trading, you would like help with easing or obstructing confirmation. Ok, I’ve got an ask.
You know that rider on the square pretzel bill?
It will take determination and time to fix it … long lasting determination.
The stuff democracy is made of.
Would be a miracle. The wrecking ball is fast, construction is not. They know that
And Puppy Killer Noem states that she will only follow what she considers "legitimate" court orders -- in other words, she'll follow what she wants and damn the ones she doesn't want to follow.
I wonder if Noem named that puppy Lazarus.
If he were named Nosferatu it would be just
"Historically, animal cruelty has been considered an isolated issue, but recent research shows a well-documented link that it is a predictive or co-occurring crime with violence against humans (including intimate partners, children, and elders) and is associated with other types of violent offenses. Increased awareness of this linkage and a collaborative approach to these investigations strengthens the identification and reduction of such crimes."
https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/the-link-between-animal-cruelty-and-human-violence
Post-constitutional proclamations.
It is natural to want to prosper, yet some who proper most seem to want to see others suffer.
"This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
-- Dwight Eisenhower
The difference between Trump and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is when Roosevelt promised “a new deal for the American people,” he followed through on that promise. Trump has promised everything to everyone, but follows through only on what advances or enriches himself or what advances or enriches those will advance and enrich him.
Thanks Constance. Succinct and simple, well worded. Anthony.
Tell a lie three times and people will believe it.
Exactly. I can’t think of one thing he has added to help the American people. He has only taken away.
Project 2025, which has been public for a couple years now, is a blueprint for one-man rule over the nation. The fact that that authority is unlimited and certainly encompasses national elections, tells us all we need to know to understand what that means.
Hand that authority to someone as hollow and crass as lifetime grifter Drumpf and … well here we are. I don’t believe that people didn’t see this coming, didn’t watch it arrive a second time in January 2025. Except there are people who are still asleep, imagining it’s all a bad dream that vanishes at dawn.
Newsflash, Marjorie Taylor Greene has not seen the light. She’s seen the paycheck. She’s still as corrupt as the first day we realized this cartoon character was in Congress.
Mamdani didn’t charm Drumpf, as if there was a come to Jesus moment in the Oval Office.
I understand these temporary fantasies are like analgesic relief from the constant and growing sense of very dark pressure … the seeming paralysis in both Houses of Congress, the apparent impotence of the courts to put actual teeth behind their decisions. Analgesics don’t last and they don’t cure anything.
Writing and calling all our representatives will get a result. Those people aren’t all eager to join the puppet parade. Support the legal actions in the courts. If you have money, experience or expertise, offer it. Support journalism as many here already do. If you witness something or have information, make it known. Reaching out to military, both veteran and active, to stand up for the country they swore to defend. Reaching out to local authorities and police, reassure them of your support when they represent the community. In all contacts, bear in mind the goal is to bring everybody in, to be strongly on the peoples’ side. Don’t forget neighbors. When frustrated, chill. Changing fixed minds is a subtle process. Politics is not about thought and ideas. It emotional. That’s the basic level of decision making.
Hey! If you are able, go to all the demonstrations you can. Even in suburbs and further out there are often smaller demonstrations of a hundred or less. They may be less than 20 minutes away. However deeply you feel your angst, bring peace in your heart. And be prepared. Have a mask in your pocket.
No, Bill. No as to your "Writing and calling all our representatives will get a result."
MAGA taking money from AIPAC and from lobbists gets results.
Dems answering "writing and calling" with boilerplate platitudes does not. It only gets more of the same Dems who from their dehumanized college days got only from that their being as profoundly out-of-touch as most Dems are so incoherently now.
You’re right. I hadn’t considered the platitudes. Mostly I don’t hear them much. But then I’m not dealing with many thousands of people. Neither do politicians.
Most people that call get to leave voicemail. Registered mail is nice; it requires a signature. These are opened by staffers, quickly categorized and sorted. Rarely they may be asked to pull a few samples for the politician to view, but really if anything it’s the stats from the sort. Not all in the Houses even go this far. Their ears are elsewhere. But in an election year they do hear the wind in the grass.
In short, the calls, the letters, all becomes a number.
If you’ve got the money, funding your politician does have sway sometimes. Go for it. Time is short. And for a long time, most everyone has been far too incoherent.
Bill Pierce,
If some wish for a "one man" rule, it would NOT be TRUMP. He is so lacking....are there enough qualified persons to fill in the many "blanks"?
When a "leader" and those who are using him to take over the USA and locations of valuable minerals for their own gain, throughout the world, most humans will suffer.
Even our "set aside precious parks" will be destroyed if oil is found.
What will remain for those following us?
Of course, the scavengers of our earth and its riches only care for lining their pockets NOW.
There has been one man rule for millennia. I say it in one breath. In the next breath I say there has never been one man rule ever. First comes the useful illusion. Closely followed by truth. Power is granted and supported until it isn’t.
BTW, Drumpf is the short timer they chose. Realizing that kinda betrays the timelines of their plan.
Well, Ha! This old, infirm person can’t even use her texting well! What I wanted to say was we read the “newspapers” online, watch TV, then listen to commentary on YouTube. I’m more stout hearted than my husband when it comes to that. Still, when I read Heather Cox Richardson is still have my breath taken away! There is a small, indistinct smell of a change in the weather. I sure hope my senses are not deceiving me. Time will tell. I hope it isn’t a long time!
It won't happen overnight Betsy B, but I sense that the tide has turned, and that we can turn this ship around. Life on this planet depends on it. My children and grandkids help me keep the hope alive, and I have faith that my fellow Americans are waking up. We have HCR to remind us that this ship has endured rough seas before.
"I just don’t see that moral clarity coming from the White House..."
Another 'concerned' GOP ninny (from Nebraska this time) pouring his tiny heart out in the Senate.
These guys just crack me up....
😂…something’s giving …🤣
Wow! Some days when I read HCR’s post I feel overwhelmed with the breadth of greed and corruption in not only our country, but the world. Is there any hope for WE THE PEOPLE?
My fear is this regime has YEARS to go before we can start turning the ship around. Yes, winning back majorities in both Houses of Congress in the midterms will slow them down, but having allowed them to install a bought-and-paid-for Supreme Court makes reestablishing the Rule of Law next to impossible. I feel hopeless.
Not hopeless unless we give up hope. Winning majorities in Congress will be an important first step. Taking the Presidency will be the next. SCOTUS reform will have to be undertaken urgently, but its prospects for success will depend on the size of what we hope will be those Congressional majorities.
Don't give up the ship. Man a bilge pump. Help to shore up and plug the leaks. Lend a hand to fix the rudder. Man your station.
Reduce the size of SCOTUS to 5. Increase their staffing. Eliminate Roberts, Alito, Thomas … you pick the 4th. We can always increase the size again another day if desired.