Today began with news that New York attorney general Letitia James is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop former president Trump from continuing with the fraudulent practices she filed a $250 million lawsuit in September to end. Apparently, the day James filed the lawsuit, the Trump Organization registered the “Trump Organization II,” which James claims is acting in some of the same ways the old organization does. Investigators warn that Trump might shift his assets from the old entity to the new one to avoid liability. Trump lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement: "We have repeatedly provided assurance, in writing, that the Trump Organization has no intention of doing anything improper.”
Pelosi is a woman with a direct gaze, confidence, education, an excellent command and use of the english language, courage, enough money and mostly an honest approach to her job.
No wonder Republicans hate her so much.
She can think for herself.
Pelosi, just walking down the hall, frightens a Republican man into the men's bathroom to avoid her.
She is not a coward, like a Republican man, cowering at the thought of a Trump tweet all day every day. Whining and crawling to Trump's feet to kiss them and begging for approval and mercy.
My thoughts exactly. Contrast what we saw Coward Kev saying right after January 6th with his rush to Tsar-a-Logo to kiss death star's butt. A reminder too to donate, work on campaigns to get out the vote, and vote D. Can you imagine that as Speaker and third in line. Or any of the rest of them.
Don't forget the woman (name?) who said she didn't care if Walker had aborted an endangered baby eagle (or something like that) she wants to take over the senate!!! So I guess he's just a pretty face to them?
Oh yes - she did to Trump what all national level leaders should have done early in his presidency which was to stand up to him in plain sight, in the White House, call him out for what he is, and walk out and never do business with him again. I'll never forget it.
The indelible image of her strutting in victorious confidence out of the White House in her red coat, high heels, and sun glasses will stay with me forever. It symbolized, “I am woman; hear me roar!” So glad those tapes emerged yesterday. Interesting that McConnell was there too looking lost and useless.
I too will never forget that. I sort of knew already back then, but it was re-enforced to me, that that woman would have made a wonderful president. Think where we might be as a country to have the likes of Pelosi or Hillary at the reins - powerful, pure in heart, intelligent, fearless, and politically savvy.
and that her daughter, in all that chaos, had the presence of mind to video tape those critical moments and statements by her mom and other leaders... runs in the family.
I learned this morning that Alexandra Pelosi is a filmmaker so her presence of mind is not at all unexpected. I'm sure she has a huge amount of footage covering Speaker Pelosi's and others' actions and reactions once the Capitol was breached.
McConnell was probably intimidated by Speaker of the House Pelosi taking control of the situation as best she could. McConnell just looked stunned and was completely useless.
Yessir. The Republican reaction to Pelosi is similar to that taken against HRC. Both women are fearsome adversaries and great advocates for everything great about our country. And they would wipe clean (or at least threaten to) the corruption so rife in the Republican party. So the strategy is to fight them tooth and nail in every way possible, for as long as it takes. Throw up so much sh_t against the wall that some of it might stick. What a fu_king shame - to kneecap potential historically great leaders like that. Until the day I die, I will always be bewildered that the worst president of all time won against who could well have been the best president of all time.
If not the greatest, at least one of the best. A true patriot, an intelligent politician, married to another whom she loved and, I suspect, still loves. Maligned forever by Republicans who feared her as the current crowd fear the Speaker.
'SALEM, OREGON – In what may end up being the most head-spinning race of the midterm cycle, another Republican who, like embattled Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, paid for a former girlfriend’s abortion, and who is already threatening to contest the results of the election should he lose, may be poised to sweep a Democratic-leaning district in central Oregon.'
'So far, all indicators suggest Mike Erickson, a millionaire businessman and scandal-plagued perennial candidate for public office, is outpacing the fundamentals in his race against state representative Andrea Salinas. The two are squaring off for Oregon’s new Sixth Congressional District, which stretches west from the state capital, Salem, and takes in a slice of the southwestern Portland exurbs.'
'Salinas, a policy-focused progressive who worked for the late Majority Leader Harry Reid and other members of Congress, has yet to define herself and her opponent to voters after emerging from a primary that featured unprecedented amounts of outside spending and the interference of the national party. Her lack of name recognition has grown increasingly concerning with only days remaining before ballots are sent out in Oregon’s vote-by-mail election.'
'Erickson, meanwhile, has used his personal fortune to put millions of dollars in ads on the airwaves following a relatively easy primary election. Salinas’s own polling, which shows her with a razor-thin lead, admits that name recognition is still a significant barrier for her candidacy.' (AmericanProspect)
I'm thinking 'name recognition' problem. She may need more or be lacking as a candidate, but, clearly, money is needed for air time and getting herself out there in a major way. Thanks, Ally.
Hi Fern, hope you don`t mind an unsolicited thought. I know nothing about the Oregon race but I do have personal experience with campaigns.
A coalition asked me to run in the Dem Primary for Congress in 1984 against a long time, boll weevel democrat incumbent who had piles more money than I had and it was late in the race as the only other contender had dropped out suddenly. But in half of my congressional district I had huge name recognition from having been a TV news reporter/anchor. This was invaluable as I had no money for expensive tv ads. The best thing Andrea can do now is to get free air time by being where tv cameras are likely to be and also by having some good responses ready for all that is happening nationally and letting local tv/radio stations know. They are always looking for stuff on weekends especially, That will get to the older demographics. For the other ages she has got to be on social media, commenting, re-tweeting, being a presence. Time consuming but no way around it. Also, she doesn't have time to canvas all the neighborhoods in person. The other thing I would do is use her first name big time....begins with an "A" and people will remember Andrea more easily than Salinas. They have to connect with a name not a face on the ballot.
(I lost but in 6 weeks got 39% of the vote with less than $100,000 to spend.) Just a few thoughts.
Me too! Nancy was the youngest of 7 children and the only girl in her family. She became the first female Speaker of the House and was elected Speaker twice. John Boehner said she’s the greatest Speaker in US history. Not to mention, any woman her age wearing those 6” heels. Such a badass.
While I highly admire both women, I do think it is "high" time we put the "in heels" (and backwards) standard of women's strength firmly back in history with feet binding and "barefoot and pregnant."
I thought of the five children too. And that one of them was around to film one of her mother’s finest hours. The cool she showed in the safe room could inspire men in foxholes. No wonder the escapes to the men’s room!
Me too! I used to live in her district in San Francisco. I voted for her the first time she ran in 1986 and every election thereafter until I moved to Connecticut in 2003. Before I retired, I used to take enormous pleasure in informing my more conservative fellow construction workers of that fact whenever they would rant about "...that #%*@!?& Nancy Pelosi!"
Totally! So many ppl dislike her. I think it’s because she knows her stuff cold. Same with Kamala Harris. I saw her question Barr and she wouldn’t let him get off with his puerile diversions.
Intelligent capable women scare the poop out of a lot of people. We had a very intelligent capable woman here in Salem who was a prof at the local university and ultimately was on the Oregon Supreme Court. I heard one of my intelligent but often unthinking female colleagues call her a "ball crusher." And that expresses exactly why these types of women are feared and disliked.
One of her daughters was interviewed awhile back and said of her mother: "She'll cut your head off and you won't even know you're bleeding." And how many kids did she have? Five or six? No wonder she appeared so calm and collected in the video the committee showed!
“I hope he comes, I’m gonna punch him out… I’ve been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I’m gonna punch him out, I’m gonna go to jail, and I’m gonna be happy.”
With her take-charge performance on January 6, Nancy Pelosi becomes The Greatest Speaker Ever. None of the other contenders, not even Thomas Reed, can match her - none of them ever had to face down The Enemy Domestic, quartered at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
It is just as you say. And as an additional slap in the face to this wannabe tough guy, Pelosi acknowledges repercussions and accepts them. That’s real toughness.
Do you remember how, during one interview in 2016, the Orange Sadist was asked an example of something that he had done wrong, and for which he had apologized -- and his answer was that he has never apologized to anyone for anything, because he's never done anything wrong? I was chilled to the bone.
Classic. But unfortunately only one of many "malignant narcissists" (the absolute worst kind of narcissism). Count Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, pukin, and kim jung il as just a few of his comrades in arms.
In the face of real danger, she never falters, never shows fear, uncertainty or distress. She takes charge with natural authority, without belligerence. Amazing piece of evidence.
Wonder woman’s got nothin’ on Nancy Pelosi! Badass super shero in 👠! (Grateful to her daughter for the video evidence of what true leader looks and acts like, even in the face of terrible danger....)
A punch in the nose (unless Speaker Nancy has a right cross which will drop him in his tracks!) is simply not enough. Trump is a cancer which needs to be excised from the body politick.. Please pass a scalpel.
On the other hand, an *approprate* stretch in federal prison for thats scum would suit me fine.
The January 6 Committee, Chair Thompson and Vice Chair Cheney prevailed. Virtue prevailed. Evil failed. The Book of Job was staged and Former President Trump was overruled by SCOTUS in a single sentence allowing the FBI and DOJ to progress. As HCR makes clear, Trump is the prime mover of the evil that nearly destroyed us. DOJ was discussed.
And our dog Gus has never felt better. My wife has recovered. And so, we live to fight another day.
Indeed. Seeking a cat and a female Border Collie.. to complete things. Cat and mouse, a rat catcher. Friends with the dog, four for the bridge game of life - aging in place: www.lewisfamilyfarm.com hoping.... for family.
Went through your very nice website. Kudos on the design. Kudos on your business. And I watched the biome videos. I am on the same page with you. For more reasons than there is space on this page.
Our other dilemma, here in MA, is PFAs. Forever chemicals in our water. Oh how sad the future is for our progeny and theirs.
Yes. Sad. Photosynthesis can do it - sometimes. But buried toxins need an ice age followed by heat and sun exposure. Darwin, Einstein, Franck, and Freddy The Pig.
'We are surrounded by natural beauty. To the west lie the high peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. To the east, the Green Mountains of Vermont.'
'The Lewis Family Farm is devoted to the principles of organic, sustainable agriculture. Our herd of USDA-certified grass (forage) fed cattle is born and raised here. Hereford, Black Angus, Black Baldie, Murray Grey, and British White. '
Didn't realize you are so close we are almost neighbors, Sandy! Love what you are doing there. It is an expression of what is so important to me that I spent a large portion of my life working with people like you to help shift the direction agriculture had been going. Seeing your website makes my heart happy.
Slept 4 to 9... rain stopped. WiFi weak. Dog food running out. Mass killings are caused. We have a cause. It is not guns, but guns are essential. The oracle knows. Delphi is here. Stay tuned.
I have a fantasy related to dripping water that suddenly, after continual dripping, causes a flawed rock to split.
Trump’s bizarre megalomania has transformed facts into falsehoods, law and order into lawlessness and disorder, the Constitution into insidious conspiracy, and democracy into disarray.
The House January 6th House Committee has provided astonishing evidence of the dangers and rottenness of Trump and his Mafiosos.
My fantasy is that, at long last, the culmination of Trump’s calumny, like the flawed rock subjected to dripping water, will suddenly result in the erosion and then splintering of Trumpamania, which I find so frightening and anti-American.
You may think this is simply a fantasy and you may be right. However, after McCarthyism infected America for years, quite suddenly it splintered like a shattered stone.
“Imagine” is a great song. I also think of Yellow Submarine being about the magnuts. We all live in a yellow submarine. And our friends are all aboard. Many more of them live next door. Sky of blue, sea of green. Every one of us has all we need. Just like the people he appointed to his administration, thinking of Minuchin, Chao, DeVos... the cabinet of greedy and silent brown noses.
The J6th Committee has kept a searchlight trained on the despotic coup attempt long enough and deep enough to begin to penetrate public awareness. The anti-democratic corruption of the Republican Party has been underway for decades and should have been outed sooner, but J6th has now breached the wall, if we follow though.
From what I have seen, bullies can be found in any schoolyard and every society and government; and only constant vigilance and effort keeps them at bay. The horrors of history occur when they gain the upper hand. The disgrace of Joe McCarthy won a critical battle, but the war goes on, and the urge to bully takes numerous forms that victimize some far more than others. Resolute solidarity against the bullying of anyone is our most critical defense.
"Resolute solidarity against the bullying of anyone is our most critical defense."
This sentence is well written and, from my perspective, exactly true.
I would only add: My own experience in Public schools in a part of the country that allowed boys to work out their own issues with each other without much interference on school property: "Resolute" is a correct word for what is needed with a bully, but, for the more aggressive, confident, violent and privileged bullies, "resolute" is not enough.
A resolute, violent, abusive bully will continue his ways until someone else beats him bad enough to spend, perhaps, a couple of days in a hospital with his parents wondering if he has permanent brain damage.
This, of course, may result in the wayward student who had tired of the bullying and took retribution spending a couple days in the county jail, if said bully's parents, initially not knowing what their son was doing, press charges.
But, once someone explains to the judge what the bully was doing to bring on his quality time in the hospital? Well, ...... the jail door swung open.
Well worth the whole experience.
This is precisely the point we are at with Trump.
Only, we are missing the part where Trump ends up in the hospital badly beaten and wondering if he has more brain damage than that big deficit he had at birth.
Perhaps the Justice Department will bring that on. Perhaps not.
But, if not, Trump will be back and back and back.
Indeed, I did spend two days in county jail once for leveraging a one foot length of 1/4" steel sucker rod in an encounter with a senior football player (I was a junior) who was touching my sister at her locker. Repeatedly. Touching is a nice word for what he was doing.
Upon the judge hearing from other students what the kid was doing, I was set free and the judge told the kids parents not to waste time pressing charges.
What’s the deal with football players? My adversary was Captain, stood a foot higher and outweighed me by 30 pounds. I knew I was gonna take a beating, but he didn’t think I was up for the confrontation. No one bothered me after that
Me thinks there is already brain damage before the beat down. And his own malignant narcissism will have been torturing him for years - as in, I'm never enough. But that may not be as satisfying as Pelosi punching him in the kisser on all our behalf.
Ha. Ha hah. You gave me mirth and admiration. It is in our DNA to accost bullies. What the judge told me just after he fined me 500 bucks and gave me 2 years probation w as a solemn thank you for defending our children when no one else did. I salute stand up men and women here. To you, Mike and the others on this page and especially Nancy P.
There are situations when fighting an attack for all you're worth makes total sense, but literally beating Trump is unlikely to bring down the forces that elevated him to the presidency. If we really protected and enforced "equal justice under law" instead of tolerating or even encouraging institutionalized biases in our legal system, Trump and his ilk would never come to power. We still have a chance to use our tattered legal infrastructure to make Trump et al accountable for at least some of his more egregious crimes. That takes solidarity. Any successful pushback of tyranny does, including full out street-fight revolutions, which are never guaranteed to be successful, and incur tremendous human costs. That's the very last ditch option.
"What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or the strength our gallant and disciplined army? These are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of those may be turned against our liberties, without making us weaker or stronger for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises." - Lincoln
Thank goodness for brave women like Melania who made cyberbullying her cause! And bravely stayed married to a sexual predator who cheated on his wives and mistresses and bragged about it. (Satire and ire 😂😂😱)
Here here, worked at jr. High. Had a principal who shined the light on them in the lunch room, the bus stops, and the gym. Anywhere he heard of such. Word got around,
“Baby if you need me, like I know I need you, there’s just one thing, I’ll ask you to do, take my hand and lead me, through that hole in your garden wall, and pull me through, pull me through”
What scares me is the fact that if (hoping reality sets in) the gop makes inroads in the midterms, that the unholy ghost of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) will rear its ugly head and rhetoric.
I was thinking about HUAC. Tyrants always need an internal enemy, blacks, Jews, Liberals, religious heretics, whatever to keep the base distracted, frightened, and angry, while using them for self-centered ends.
But McCarthyism didn't go away, Keith. All that happened was McCarthy died of an alcoholic heart attack. You and I were both around to see it wasn't gone 60 years ago. It became Goldwaterism. Read David Corn's "American Psychosis."
Direct line from McCarthy to TRump - a line drawn by a guy name Cohn....who was a role model for Stone and Bannon.
Here's the guiding concept of this. They keep lying. We keep telling the truth - louder, with evidence and persistence. Wear down the liars. Truth, truth, truth, over and over and over. Never get tired. Never get discouraged. Never stop. Never. Ever.
Eisenhower disliked but tolerated Joe McCarthy for political reasons, but eventually asked the Senate to rein him in. Democracy can withstand lies and liars, but not toleration of major lies and liars, especially if weaponized lies.. When Nixon got caught int the "coverup", even a number of prominent Republicans were ready to impeach him had he not resigned. Yet, subsequent to that, the Big Lie strategy went Republican Party-wide, and social resistance was meager. A Nixon-sized scandal is dwarfed many times over by multiple crimes of Trump and his enabling party. The J6th Committee is a critical reality check.
Bill, when I find my spirit flagging, I listen to Jackson Browne’s ‘Til I Go Down’ (and a little dancing along doesn’t hurt either)—sigh, have listened to it A LOT in the last 6 years! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw It revs my engine and provides the juice to keep on keeping on.
Just a reincarnation of evil, even as a young voter, I was sickened, especially by the pretense of virtue. “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in the pursuit of Justice is no virtue.” Or words to that effect. Let’s pursue Justice with all the fervor we can muster. Jail for the orange clown. Thanks Barry. Hahaha
And yet as repellent as I found many of Goldwater's positions to be, I did not see him as the one of the kind of sociopaths who have risen to prominence in the Republican Party today.
TC After the Army Congressional hearing (“have you no sense of decency sir?) and the Edward R. Murrow programs, McCarthy was a shattered person who was admonished with a modest censure by the Senate. Granted that the Birch Society breathed new life into the psyche of McCarthyism, but this particular bastard was mortally wounded before his alcoholic death.
Keith, I always like your comments better then mine, and your replies are almost always unbeatable -- that's surely the case this time. Thank you, teacher Wheellock.
Fern Like exquisite wine, you are aging well. As I am celebrating my 89th birthday week, I wonder when wine might spoil from being over ripe. As Admiral Farragett said “Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead.”
Keith's fantasy made no claim for the disappearance of fascism but the parallelism between McCarthy, Roy Cohn and Trump. How does Roger Stone fit into this parallelism -- an American -- a German -- a Russian -- certainly not an original?
'Trump Sends January 6th Committee a Note from His Podiatrist'
'WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Minutes after the congressional committee investigating the January 6th insurrection voted unanimously to subpoena the former President, Donald J. Trump responded by submitting a note from his podiatrist.'
'The foot specialist, Dr. Harland Dorrinson, indicated in the note that Trump’s chronic bone-spur issues, which had been asymptomatic in recent years, had suddenly “been acting up again.”
“This afternoon, Mr. Trump began experiencing unbearable pain consistent with bone-spur inflammation,” the podiatrist wrote. “For this reason, I cannot in good conscience give him permission to testify.”
'The podiatrist’s note did not appear to discourage one committee member, Representative Liz Cheney, who volunteered to hoist Trump onto a luggage trolley and wheel him into the hearing room.' (Satire,NewYorker)
Oh thank you!!! Something to laugh about during these scary times. Here's another, Stephen Colbert in his monologue last night, referring to Mr. Bannon's (or was it Stone) "There will be hell to pay." Give us a new nickname for the former guy, "Hell Toupee."
I'm glad you included the Americans infected with trumpmania. Even as he (hopefully now) falls, they will always be with us. They may return to seething under rocks, but through social media, they will always be more empowered than before. I'll forever support and be with the forces of love, light, and creation - but the forces of hate, darkness, and destruction will also be forever. I find I need to retreat to a philosophical space now and again to keep my sanity.
Well I hope it is more than a fantasy. We all watched, excerpts are being shown on TV, except Fox News and the other hyper-right news sites. I checked Fox real time, and it was not being aired. So the echo chamber will kick in again. The deplorables didn't even watch. Perhaps independents and other disaffected citizens didn't either - it wasn't in prime time and people were at work. I fear the needle won't move. Were I to ask my friends and acquaintances what they thought of the hearing, I think most would say they were unaware of it. But I live in TN. What I saw yesterday in the hearing put a huge exclamation point on what we progressives already knew, and made it just a no-brainer who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. Oh - and the list of bad guys just grew - to include a whole lot of SS and FBI types who looked the other way. My brain says that every Republican leader should go down in flames come this November, no contest. To see such corruption should be a non-partisan issue, and a deal breaker for voters. But in all likelihood the bad guys are going to win!!!! WTF - what has happened to our nation?
Great reminder! Thank you. The damage one evil person can do can overshadow the good another can do. May we keep our best politicians until we are strong enough to fight the McConnells, the Cruzes, the Scalises, the Ron Johnsons, the Meadows and their ilk.
I hope you are correct. I wonder how people can continue live with so much festering hatred and fear consuming them. MAGAts seem drunk on a poison that eventually could take them out - if not blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, then by associating with armed and dangerous fringe lunatics. Perhaps this poison will have the same effect of water on stone. It will either wear them down, take them down, or they'll be forced to give it up in order to survive.
Reading Andy Borowitz's Profiles in Ignorance and Ronald Reagan's 1980 candidacy. Advisors included Roy Cohn, Roger Ailes, Roger Stone, and Paul Manafort. His campaign slogan "Let's Make America Great Again." Who says you can't fool the American sheep and their progeny twice. Disturbing read when you back it with Confidence Man, Unthinkable, the J6 Hearings, and LFAA.
In a sense, Speaker Pelosi's comment, "I'm gonna punch him out," brings things full circle in a weird, wish fulfillment way. At a June or July 2015 rally in Las Vegas, Trump, whose candidacy I had not taken seriously or paid much attention to up until that point, commented as a protestor was being extricated from the arena, that he longed for "the good old days," when you could simply "punch the guy out" and watch him get carried out of the hall. I was chilled by the remark, because in the instant I knew Donald J. Trump, a possible contender for the highest office in the land, had just legitimized violence and given every playground bully in the country permission to act on their worst impulses. And now, Nancy Pelosi is on record wanting to give Donald Trump exactly what he longed for, only he would be the recipient of the knock out punch, not the observer. I say, "Have at it, Nancy. Fulfill his dreams." If they were ever put in a ring together, my money would be on Madame Speaker of the House, every single time.
Haberman's book is great; she reads the Audible version which I highly recommend. The book is so compelling that even though I thought I couldn't give DJT a minute more of my brain, I can't stop listening. Maggie is as formidable a reporter as Pelosi is speaker.
Mike I applaud Ms. Haberman as a constant spotlight into the Trump sewer. Like distinguished investigative reporters of Hitler, Putin, and other sewer rats, she has been able to chronicle Trump with admirable professionalism.
And she has never had to take a shower to wash off the Trump shit. I am reminded of that St. John sewage company’s ad: “We’re Number 1 in Number 2.” That should be Ms. Haberman’s proud legacy.
She has been called out for not sharing her info with news stories that might have an impact on public opinion and actually judicial proceedings. But there is a great response to this notion in an article in WaPo : Quit Dragging Maggie Haberman for her Trump book.
HE knows he’s a LOSER. I knew a kid like that as a jr high counselor. Just was great at instigating others and would sit back and watch the chaos. He was a sad case, chump is not. COWARD by any measure…
I was one of those people who was POed at her for not reporting some of the things in the book at the time she learned them. I saw an interview where she explained that, to an acceptable level. I read reviews by other Haberman Doubters saying the book was a must-read, so I bought it. It arrived yesterday and I've read Chapter One. Just for what was there, the book has paid for itself.
Yes, we need to read this - it's all about how he became what he is. We need to understand that.
And "The Divider" by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser is also "must-read." I thought I had obsessed to the point I was aware of everything 2017-2021, but it turns out I was far from aware of it. As bad as you know it all was, they prove it was worse.
At first I thought, Nancy - two wrongs don't make a right. But then, in her brilliance she says, "and I'll go to jail. And be happy". Okay - willing to take the consequences - EVEN BRAVER!!!
Paul Barnes - "Trump, ... commented as a protestor was being extricated from the arena, that he longed for 'the good old days,' when you could simply 'punch the guy out' and watch him get carried out of the hall."
It felt like a sea change today. Like many, I was glued to the TV for a good part of it while the news came in; first with the House Select Committee’s final public hearing with its laser focus on DJT and the bombshell subpoena announcement, then the terse SCOTUS backhand to his latest ploy to drag out the classified documents debacle. While all the pieces have taken months (years) to converge, it just felt like the perfect storm brewing, and not a good one for Trump and his party. And just in time for the midterms. Did anyone else get that feeling?
The cracks in the dam started growing and expanding past being hairline cracks. Trump's going to be drowned in his own shit when the dam breaks sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Well, even if Republicans gain majorities in Congress, they can't do anything until Congress reconvenes in January and they're sworn in. I pray that enough voters are coming to understand the threats to their own lives if that happens, that Democrats will retain majorities.
Me too. And I'm posting as much as I can on Twitter to answer the lies and propose bite size bits of truth. Without snark or put downs (that part is hard) if I"m answering a private citizen but with some force if I"m answering a GOP politician. I believe in the energy of truth as stronger than that of lies, and I've gotten some responses that make me think it's worth the effort.
'Justice Dept. asks appeals court to end Mar-a-Lago special master' BREAKING NEWS, WAPO
'Prosecutors said the unclassified documents seized at Mar-a-Lago also are critical to their classified-documents investigation'
'The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to reverse a Florida judge’s order appointing a special master to review documents seized from Donald Trump’s home and club, arguing that the former president had no right to possess the seized materials after he left office and that there was no legal basis for an outside review.'
Prosecutors argued in Friday’s 53-page filing that Trump has no right to assert either form of privilege over the government documents, rendering the review by a Brooklyn-based federal judge, Raymond J. Dearie, unnecessary.(WAPO)
Damn, is Clarence trying for redemption. Too late simpering toadie. I don’t count my chickens before they hatch. Been burned too many times. If Rupert would let Fox say what the WSJ said, i’d start believing in miracles. Also if MSM would focus on the truth of the day, I’d be shocked; and, if my measly donations bought as many votes as dark money, I’d be a believer in real democracy again. May it be so…
Jeri, the last I read, the court had not released any info on their action, just the one liner. That was probably to protect any of the Justices that weighed in against Trump from backlash. So we have no idea if there was any support for Trump on the court. But if there was, I'd bet Clarence Thomas was at the top of the list.
In fact she can't possibly have risen to the rank of Speaker, twice, without the ability to hear criticism. But a wise opponent (which Trump isn't, to be sure) knows that it is rarely a good idea to disrespect a woman in her own House.
I am reminded of a story from a college roommate who grow up on a farm in northern Illinois. Kurt tells the story about a rooster they had when he was 5. This rooster liked to come up from behind you and peck you in the back of the leg. Kurt was playing in the farm yard when his grandmother was walking across the yard and this rooster did this to her. His grandmother reached around and grabbed the rooster and rung his neck. Kurt said after that he never talked back to his grandmother. That rooster became chicken soup.
Thank you HCR for sharing this continuing journey. Putting it together, letter after letter. So many of us have been riveted to every step of the quest to hold TFG accountable for his attempt to destroy our Democracy, through Insurrection and his daily cheating and lying. What the people have seen from the beginning of his announcement to run for president 2016 is a person not used to losing, a child who knows how to get his way. No matter what. Cheating and lying and surrounding himself with cheaters , liars, enablers, crooks, and already experienced in buying power and fame. In broad daylight. Until today. In today’s hearing even a repub could say No one is above the law. Shocking (or not) to see the evidence of TFG not only planning and watching the violence but not stopping it. Gratitude to the Committee skillfully putting it all together for the American people. And courts not nullifying the election. 62 times. Now we will see what is next. DJT we’re not finished yet.
My 80+ year old life long Republican aunt told me during the 2016 Presidential election as Donald Trump was succeeding in the Republican primaries that she wished someone would shoot that man. This was after Trump said he could shoot someone and not lose a supporter.
So much for the character and integrity of Trump supporters. They are all Manchurian candidates in total robotic mode to destroy our democracy and nation as much under Trump's spell as too many Russians are under Putin's spell, and enough Germans were under Hitler's spell. There is not a challenge, failure, difficulty today, climate change to inflation to world tensions that hasn't been worsened if not caused by Trump and his fellow world travelers of authoritarianism.
I object, again, to the notion that Trump supporters are zombies operating under a spell. To the contrary: almost all of them are white Americans who are desperately afraid of losing the advantages they have always held over people with some nonEuropean ancestry, and they will do whatever is necessary to preserve those advantages, including putting their government in the hands of oligarchic autocrats. They know exactly what they are doing and why. They delude themselves that the people they want to put in charge won’t turn on them once the government is under autocratic control, but they are not brainwashed by external forces.
I am surrounded by Trumpers in farm country. They sincerely believe the countless lies told to them. They believe all of it is being orchestrated by a cabal of Jews to achieve global dominance, and only they know the truth. Most also believe this is the End Times, and they WANT the destruction of everything so Jesus will return. It is most definitely like zombies operating under a spell.
Rex's & Holly's descriptions seem both correct, and surprisingly similar to the Mormon's during theie journey westward with founder Joseph Smith, and then Brigham Young. The stealing, killing, blood atonements of their defectors, and of course the Mountain Meadows massacre and endless coverup, blaming "indians" and then John D. Lee, one of their militia leaders Many of the participating Mormons were recent recruits from Britain and northern Europe looking for salvation in a new religion and country with demanding and commanding leadership.
Here ye! Here ye! Grab yer rifles avenging angels. We ride under the banner of the angel Macaroni. We ride to burn out and kill old Jim Bridger. Brigham hisself has made the assignment. Pardons to all who kill in his name.
Cults are not "zombies operating under a spell", they are under the influence of a charismatic leader that appeals to the things that they hold central to their fundamental identities. I have dealt with several versions of cult members, from Rajneeshies from the town that Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh essentially bought and took over in central Oregon to members of the Freeman movement. Not zombies at all, just people who believe in an outlandish cause.
I defer to your knowledge of cults, but we are talking about at least 74 million Americans. Surely such a group is too large to fall into the cult category. And even if it were a cult, it’s cause would be preseving white advantages or, put another way, continuing systemic oppression of Americans with nonEuropean ancestors, a despicable cause in any case. Furthermore, it seems to me that calling a group a cult relieves them of some of their personal responsibility for their views and actions. Trump supporters deserve full blame for their views and actions.
That would be okay if it didn’t get them off the hook, even a little bit, but I’m afraid it does get them off the hook, at least a little bit. How about we call them vile creatures that we must soundly outvote or suffer grave consequences at the hands of their leaders.
Rex, this is an ages old phenomenon. Were the German people vile? Were the Japanese vile? Are the Americans vile? Were the English vile? Sorry Olof the Vikings were vile. We have been subject to our own Tokyo Rose For 4 decades and have been successfully brain washed. Normal citizens are now trained to rise in anger at the democrats. We let it go unchecked not realizing it was a professional hit. So here we are now. I have no idea how to undo the damage. I’m certainly not going to suggest we go through the trauma of our near relatives. I’ll give you vile as it pertains to the leadership. Maybe Heather gave us the key. In as much as Lincoln’s cure of changing the identity of the party was a success. If we do that we can maybe shake out a wider loop.
I AGREE Rex but for different reasons. We need to remind ourselves of how many former Trumpers jumped ship at various points (see all the Repubs testifying before the Committee) as it became ever more clear what a compromised man he was, compromised by his relentless narcissism and pathological immaturity. We need to keep reminding ourselves that most of Trump's followers are driven by feelings, not facts. Trump dealt in his ability to evoke very strong feelings in others without any regard for facts. Many, if not most, people are driven by unexamined feelings whose origins they don't fully understand; it's what keeps mental health professionals SO busy!
The Trumpers that have jumped ship have only jumped from Trumps’ ship. I do not believe they have changed their ideology. They will jump on the next ship that arrives that suits their desires to destroy democracy.
All of us are driven more by feelings than facts. It’s true than many former Trumpers have had the decency to let facts overrule feelings in this case and have jumped ship for that reason, but “many” in this case is a miniscule percentage, so it doesn’t affect the outcome of elections.
Radicalization might be better term than brainwashing. Influence has a spectrum, non binary, affects people differently. Those that have been influenced to the max degree have been radicalized. Much of this happens on SM, and Russia’s IRA has not ceased operations on FB and Twitter. These efforts are supported/echoed by elected and conservative pundits who should know better. Framing it this way, there seems three groups. Those that make the kool aid, those that sell and serve the kool aid and those that drink it. As it continues, the lines have gotten a lot more murky. Satisfying the thirst creates more and more demand.
Yes. Radicalization is a better description of the phenomenon. What I object to is verbiage that lets them off the hook, even a little bit. They are despicable people, every one of them. And regardless of terminology, there are at least 74 million of them, a high percentage of whom have assault weapons that they are willing to use against people who oppose them. The 74 million are both dangerous and vile. It is up to the rest of us to call them to account.
There are great numbers of Republicans that are not Trump supporters or voting because of racial prejudice. They are voting for their own financial security, for continued possession of their fortunes. I know them and have enjoyed so many of my 80+ years with some, but there is no ability to discuss the issues with them. I can only preach by my example of public performance. These are the voters that so disappoint and infuriate. (There is the chance that in the privacy of the voting booth that they do the right thing.)
Great numbers, yes, but minuscule percentages. I would agree that obscene greed is less vile than supporting systemic oppression of people with nonEuropean ancestors. Still plenty vile, though. More white women than usual may do the right thing in the voting booth this year because SCOTUS goared their bull this time. I’m hopeful that this will help.
The same characteristics that make people susceptible to religious beliefs are the ones that allow people to be swayed by the lies of the Republican leadership. Both involve someone else doing the thinking for them and both appeal to and fan the flames of people's fears.
That may be the case, probably is the case, however, the less we try to hear their fears and the less we try to understand the more likely origins of those fears in their personal lives, the less chance we have to affect them and their feelings.
Although there's some truth to what you say, prejudices are very difficult to change, once hardened into the defensive structure they use to deal with those fears. And, it's also very challenging to convey understanding to people who are convinced you're the enemy. It would mean that they were being disloyal to their group and their families. It's like trying to help people get free of a cult. One chance we do have is to help sway those who are undecided or questioning, but those who have closed their minds to anything but what they believe, are too difficult to reach.
I have no argument with your analysis except to ask: how you tell the two apart, the ones who have hardened defensive structures and those who are undecided or questioning?
There's no definitive answer, but there can be differences in how people respond when you address the issues with them. Those who need to maintain their defenses would probably react strongly immediately, obfuscate or ignore altogether what is being said. Those who may be open to adjusting their views might be more amenable to persistent, friendly, empathic approaches.
The hearts-and-minds project can proceed at its own pace but is far too long term to have any effect in saving American democracy. The save-democracy project has deadlines to meet, one of which is next month.
And let us not forget something at the heart of all this fine mess - the gob smacking amount of money from a handful of billionaires and corporations sloshing around in conservative “think tanks” and underwriting republican PACs. Unbelievable amounts of money to rid themselves of the headaches of regulation and taxation. I fear that if we cannot rid our politics of this “free speech” money, that our experiment in representative democracy is doomed.
Nancy Pelosi was remarkably calm, cool and in control even as her life was in imminent danger. She demonstrated great leadership, true courage and grace under pressure. This was not a drill. it was the real deal. She is a great patriot and exceptional leader.
It is just so depressing to watch Republican leaders including Grassly, Thune, MCCarthy, Scalise, McConnell, and others meekly stand with her in support and know that they soon would refuse to condemn Trump much less vote to impeach or convict him. If the Democrats lose the house and Senate in the midterm elections, I really fear our national democracy will die. Kaput. Over
Robert Dale, those politicians you mentioned scooted out of sight of the 1/6 rioters. If those raging people had caught ANY member of the House or Senate, they would likely have hurt them seriously before the politicians were recognized. A lot of Congress critters are elderly; they would not have withstood a physical attack well. They continue to support a man who would casually have had his followers kill them. Appeasement of evil never ends well.
Pretty tricky, using all Republicans and tRUMP supporters to make their case. Hard for the GOP and TFG to make the claim its partisan. Maybe they'll turn on each other like rabid dogs (apologies to rabid dogs)
It was harrowing to watch the Democratic leadership in the persons of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader, exercising great leadership in trying to get outside help to rescue the United States Capitol, and people trapped inside, from the raging mob instigated by then-President Donald Trump as they invaded the building. Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer were calling from a secure area of Fort McNair, located approximately three miles south of the Capitol which is located proximate to the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. Even though the congressional representatives were then located within the safe and secure confines of a military facility, the tone of the recorded telephone conversations between the Speaker and Majority Leader with political leaders outside the District of Columbia was urgent and concerned, because nobody was able to get through to either the White House or the Pentagon to get President Trump to call upon his followers then raging inside the capitol building to stand down and withdraw. The video recordings were made by Speaker Pelosi's daughter, who is a professional documentary filmmaker. Earlier portions of the House Select Committee to investigate the attack on the capitol made it crystal clear that the president had sent his fired up supporters to march on the capitol at a time when he knew to an absolute certainty that he had lost the presidential election, and that he had exhausted all other avenues to change the outcome of the recent presidential election by lawful and peaceful means. Trump was overheard urging his Chief of Staff and members of his reelection campaign staff to withhold any formal announcement that he, the president, had lost his bid for reelection. Instead, Trump's speech to his assembled followers massed on the White House South Lawn falsely claimed that the election had been 'stolen' by his political adversaries.
Had this been the conclusion of a criminal trial, what we saw yesterday was a brilliant and compelling marshaling of the facts and summation and closing argument to a trial jury to convict Trump of the various criminal offenses that he most likely would have been charged in a formal indictment to have committed against the government of the United States.
My personal view is that the entire series of televised hearings and expository presentations will stand the test of time, much like the compelling documentaries that Ken Burns has produced over the past several decades. The presentation was masterful, and were not to have been created in a partisan political context, the entire series would be strong candidates for any number of documentary awards. My view is that it some point in the near future, such accolades may indeed be awarded on their intrinsic merit alone.
Alpha male, my arse. A Fox creation; before that a Roy Cohen creation. And the cult bowed down, so did sycophants and the deliberately ignorant. What a shitshow Ametica
Yes and Amen to that! DJT is a total façade...a creation of Fred Trump's imagination and Roy Cohn's bag of dirty tricks and of the psychologically damaged man himself; DJT is many things but an "alpha male", he is not.
Don't forget to list Mark Burnett, the creator of "The Apprentice," as one of those who gave Trump the national facade of a successful, strong businessman instead of the weak, incompetent developer that Trump was as he greased his way from one failure to another. Trump played a role on that TV show that was nothing like his real life, but to this day, many of his followers say they voted for him because "he is such a great businessman."
Dear God, how I love and admire Nancy Pelosi!
Pelosi is a woman with a direct gaze, confidence, education, an excellent command and use of the english language, courage, enough money and mostly an honest approach to her job.
No wonder Republicans hate her so much.
She can think for herself.
Pelosi, just walking down the hall, frightens a Republican man into the men's bathroom to avoid her.
"Pelosi, just walking down the hall, frightens a Republican man into the men's bathroom to avoid her."
She has more cajones than they do. In some cases, a lot more.
She is not a coward, like a Republican man, cowering at the thought of a Trump tweet all day every day. Whining and crawling to Trump's feet to kiss them and begging for approval and mercy.
No.
You are correct.
What kind of person would condemn Trump and then go grovel at his feet?
Harvey,
Well, Kevin McCarthy is one good example.
Elise Stefanik, Marco Rubio, Lyndsey Graham, JD Vance...
My thoughts exactly. Contrast what we saw Coward Kev saying right after January 6th with his rush to Tsar-a-Logo to kiss death star's butt. A reminder too to donate, work on campaigns to get out the vote, and vote D. Can you imagine that as Speaker and third in line. Or any of the rest of them.
Add Steve Scalise to this wall of shame.
Cancun Cruz.
Mitch McConnell.
A power-hungry hypocrite.
Um, Kevin McCarthy and Lindsey Graham, to name a couple of prime examples, so we know what kind.
A Republican one.
A wuss.
JD Vance, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham; the list goes on.
That’s a theoretical question, right? 🤣
I think you meant rhetorical.
Don't forget the woman (name?) who said she didn't care if Walker had aborted an endangered baby eagle (or something like that) she wants to take over the senate!!! So I guess he's just a pretty face to them?
Oh yes - she did to Trump what all national level leaders should have done early in his presidency which was to stand up to him in plain sight, in the White House, call him out for what he is, and walk out and never do business with him again. I'll never forget it.
Love the image of her punching death star out. And there she was working the phones and trying to get someone to do something.
cajones = drawers (as in desk drawers)
cojones = what you're trying to say
(Someone else made this same mistake some time ago here, so don't feel bad.)
His cajones (desk drawers) contain stolen confidential documents.
His cojones (balls) contain his brains.
It's 'cojones', and you're quite right.
Thanks for the correction.
The indelible image of her strutting in victorious confidence out of the White House in her red coat, high heels, and sun glasses will stay with me forever. It symbolized, “I am woman; hear me roar!” So glad those tapes emerged yesterday. Interesting that McConnell was there too looking lost and useless.
I too will never forget that. I sort of knew already back then, but it was re-enforced to me, that that woman would have made a wonderful president. Think where we might be as a country to have the likes of Pelosi or Hillary at the reins - powerful, pure in heart, intelligent, fearless, and politically savvy.
and that her daughter, in all that chaos, had the presence of mind to video tape those critical moments and statements by her mom and other leaders... runs in the family.
I learned this morning that Alexandra Pelosi is a filmmaker so her presence of mind is not at all unexpected. I'm sure she has a huge amount of footage covering Speaker Pelosi's and others' actions and reactions once the Capitol was breached.
"...McConnell was there too looking lost and useless."
How ironic. Karma! TFG was McConnell's monster as much, maybe more, as anyone else's.
I love how she said that she wished he would come over there and trespass on the grounds and she would punch him out!
McConnell was probably intimidated by Speaker of the House Pelosi taking control of the situation as best she could. McConnell just looked stunned and was completely useless.
McConnell is not smart enough to react to new events in real time effectively.
Hence, his dazed look and no reaction on Jan 06.
Yessir. The Republican reaction to Pelosi is similar to that taken against HRC. Both women are fearsome adversaries and great advocates for everything great about our country. And they would wipe clean (or at least threaten to) the corruption so rife in the Republican party. So the strategy is to fight them tooth and nail in every way possible, for as long as it takes. Throw up so much sh_t against the wall that some of it might stick. What a fu_king shame - to kneecap potential historically great leaders like that. Until the day I die, I will always be bewildered that the worst president of all time won against who could well have been the best president of all time.
If not the greatest, at least one of the best. A true patriot, an intelligent politician, married to another whom she loved and, I suspect, still loves. Maligned forever by Republicans who feared her as the current crowd fear the Speaker.
After reading the quote that ends today’s letter, who could be surprised that Republicans flee her? Second laugh of the day. Go, Nancy!
I don't usually editorialize in my daily sharing of HCR to Twitter and FB but today I just had to add, Pelosi rules!!!
It's HCR last time I checked.
OOPS, and thank you! Typing too fasr, I mean fast. Corrected!
Exactly so.
What do you think, Ally? Any comment?
'SALEM, OREGON – In what may end up being the most head-spinning race of the midterm cycle, another Republican who, like embattled Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, paid for a former girlfriend’s abortion, and who is already threatening to contest the results of the election should he lose, may be poised to sweep a Democratic-leaning district in central Oregon.'
'So far, all indicators suggest Mike Erickson, a millionaire businessman and scandal-plagued perennial candidate for public office, is outpacing the fundamentals in his race against state representative Andrea Salinas. The two are squaring off for Oregon’s new Sixth Congressional District, which stretches west from the state capital, Salem, and takes in a slice of the southwestern Portland exurbs.'
'Salinas, a policy-focused progressive who worked for the late Majority Leader Harry Reid and other members of Congress, has yet to define herself and her opponent to voters after emerging from a primary that featured unprecedented amounts of outside spending and the interference of the national party. Her lack of name recognition has grown increasingly concerning with only days remaining before ballots are sent out in Oregon’s vote-by-mail election.'
'Erickson, meanwhile, has used his personal fortune to put millions of dollars in ads on the airwaves following a relatively easy primary election. Salinas’s own polling, which shows her with a razor-thin lead, admits that name recognition is still a significant barrier for her candidacy.' (AmericanProspect)
It’s hard to say. That area is primarily urban, but there are enough wealthy RepubliQans to make it unpredictable.
I'm thinking 'name recognition' problem. She may need more or be lacking as a candidate, but, clearly, money is needed for air time and getting herself out there in a major way. Thanks, Ally.
Hi Fern, hope you don`t mind an unsolicited thought. I know nothing about the Oregon race but I do have personal experience with campaigns.
A coalition asked me to run in the Dem Primary for Congress in 1984 against a long time, boll weevel democrat incumbent who had piles more money than I had and it was late in the race as the only other contender had dropped out suddenly. But in half of my congressional district I had huge name recognition from having been a TV news reporter/anchor. This was invaluable as I had no money for expensive tv ads. The best thing Andrea can do now is to get free air time by being where tv cameras are likely to be and also by having some good responses ready for all that is happening nationally and letting local tv/radio stations know. They are always looking for stuff on weekends especially, That will get to the older demographics. For the other ages she has got to be on social media, commenting, re-tweeting, being a presence. Time consuming but no way around it. Also, she doesn't have time to canvas all the neighborhoods in person. The other thing I would do is use her first name big time....begins with an "A" and people will remember Andrea more easily than Salinas. They have to connect with a name not a face on the ballot.
(I lost but in 6 weeks got 39% of the vote with less than $100,000 to spend.) Just a few thoughts.
Me too! Nancy was the youngest of 7 children and the only girl in her family. She became the first female Speaker of the House and was elected Speaker twice. John Boehner said she’s the greatest Speaker in US history. Not to mention, any woman her age wearing those 6” heels. Such a badass.
I marched with her in Los Angeles once. She and Maxine Waters marched 5 miles in heels.
While I highly admire both women, I do think it is "high" time we put the "in heels" (and backwards) standard of women's strength firmly back in history with feet binding and "barefoot and pregnant."
Yes!
Now that's epic!
Like taking the Camino del Dolores.
!!!!!
Having five children helped develop those skills, too. She brooked no insurrections - in D.C. or at home!
I thought of the five children too. And that one of them was around to film one of her mother’s finest hours. The cool she showed in the safe room could inspire men in foxholes. No wonder the escapes to the men’s room!
Pelosi's daughter is a professional videographer, and was there in part to document the proceedings. Historians will be grateful!
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/23/alexandra-pelosi-nancy-pelosi-documentary
And from a political family which I didn't know until I read a bio of Eleanor Roosevelt.
"Dear God, how I love and admire Nancy Pelosi!"
Me too! I used to live in her district in San Francisco. I voted for her the first time she ran in 1986 and every election thereafter until I moved to Connecticut in 2003. Before I retired, I used to take enormous pleasure in informing my more conservative fellow construction workers of that fact whenever they would rant about "...that #%*@!?& Nancy Pelosi!"
I kinda know how you feel. For many years my congressman was the inimitable Barney Frank.
I live in NY now, but grew up in MA. Love Barney Frank!❤️
I know someone who lived next door to her in San Francisco and thought she was terrific.
Totally! So many ppl dislike her. I think it’s because she knows her stuff cold. Same with Kamala Harris. I saw her question Barr and she wouldn’t let him get off with his puerile diversions.
Intelligent capable women scare the poop out of a lot of people. We had a very intelligent capable woman here in Salem who was a prof at the local university and ultimately was on the Oregon Supreme Court. I heard one of my intelligent but often unthinking female colleagues call her a "ball crusher." And that expresses exactly why these types of women are feared and disliked.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!
Her punch would have been for all of us. We could then all march off to jail with her!
LOL!
Brava, Speaker Pelosi!
One of her daughters was interviewed awhile back and said of her mother: "She'll cut your head off and you won't even know you're bleeding." And how many kids did she have? Five or six? No wonder she appeared so calm and collected in the video the committee showed!
You mean she can deal with a bunch of tantrumming kids.
Fearless!
What you said, times five.
She is a true leader, which is why the GOP is so afraid of her.
Loved the video where when told trump was coming to the Capitol...She said "good I am going to punch him out!!!!"
“I hope he comes, I’m gonna punch him out… I’ve been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I’m gonna punch him out, I’m gonna go to jail, and I’m gonna be happy.”
With her take-charge performance on January 6, Nancy Pelosi becomes The Greatest Speaker Ever. None of the other contenders, not even Thomas Reed, can match her - none of them ever had to face down The Enemy Domestic, quartered at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
It is just as you say. And as an additional slap in the face to this wannabe tough guy, Pelosi acknowledges repercussions and accepts them. That’s real toughness.
Chump bragged that he would never accept blame if he did something wrong, he would just find somebody else to blame. Should have been a no-brainer
Do you remember how, during one interview in 2016, the Orange Sadist was asked an example of something that he had done wrong, and for which he had apologized -- and his answer was that he has never apologized to anyone for anything, because he's never done anything wrong? I was chilled to the bone.
He's the most classic narcissist of all time!
Classic. But unfortunately only one of many "malignant narcissists" (the absolute worst kind of narcissism). Count Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, pukin, and kim jung il as just a few of his comrades in arms.
I'd add Bolsonaro, the strong man of the Amazon, to that black list.
So he does sometimes accidentally tell the truth!
In the face of real danger, she never falters, never shows fear, uncertainty or distress. She takes charge with natural authority, without belligerence. Amazing piece of evidence.
Wonder woman’s got nothin’ on Nancy Pelosi! Badass super shero in 👠! (Grateful to her daughter for the video evidence of what true leader looks and acts like, even in the face of terrible danger....)
Kudos to her daughter for capturing her mom in action for posterity and truth of what they all were facing during those harrowing moments.
The Greatest Badass Ever
I agreed with her (somewhat colorfully) and got myself a 24 hour Twitter time-out.
Twitter times out Democrats and not Russian hackers or white suprematists or fox 🦊 liars?
A punch in the nose (unless Speaker Nancy has a right cross which will drop him in his tracks!) is simply not enough. Trump is a cancer which needs to be excised from the body politick.. Please pass a scalpel.
On the other hand, an *approprate* stretch in federal prison for thats scum would suit me fine.
I don't do twitter much, but I did this one. And I learned how to take an audio clip and make it my ringtone. ;-]
Like the "E.D." ( layers and layers to play with).
The January 6 Committee, Chair Thompson and Vice Chair Cheney prevailed. Virtue prevailed. Evil failed. The Book of Job was staged and Former President Trump was overruled by SCOTUS in a single sentence allowing the FBI and DOJ to progress. As HCR makes clear, Trump is the prime mover of the evil that nearly destroyed us. DOJ was discussed.
And our dog Gus has never felt better. My wife has recovered. And so, we live to fight another day.
Going to bed.
A happy dog and a healthy wife makes for a happy life.
Indeed. Seeking a cat and a female Border Collie.. to complete things. Cat and mouse, a rat catcher. Friends with the dog, four for the bridge game of life - aging in place: www.lewisfamilyfarm.com hoping.... for family.
Went through your very nice website. Kudos on the design. Kudos on your business. And I watched the biome videos. I am on the same page with you. For more reasons than there is space on this page.
Our other dilemma, here in MA, is PFAs. Forever chemicals in our water. Oh how sad the future is for our progeny and theirs.
Yes. Sad. Photosynthesis can do it - sometimes. But buried toxins need an ice age followed by heat and sun exposure. Darwin, Einstein, Franck, and Freddy The Pig.
Freddy the Detective.
Wonderful to learn about the LEWIS FAMILY FARM.
'We are surrounded by natural beauty. To the west lie the high peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. To the east, the Green Mountains of Vermont.'
'The Lewis Family Farm is devoted to the principles of organic, sustainable agriculture. Our herd of USDA-certified grass (forage) fed cattle is born and raised here. Hereford, Black Angus, Black Baldie, Murray Grey, and British White. '
Didn't realize you are so close we are almost neighbors, Sandy! Love what you are doing there. It is an expression of what is so important to me that I spent a large portion of my life working with people like you to help shift the direction agriculture had been going. Seeing your website makes my heart happy.
Leads to a happy family 🐶🐾
Good dog and wife News, bad chump news. Good dreams
Sleep well!
Sleepless in Seattle and Essex..
Thanks..
Glad all is well, Sandy.
It ain’t over till..
Good news, Sandy. Hope all remain well.
Slept 4 to 9... rain stopped. WiFi weak. Dog food running out. Mass killings are caused. We have a cause. It is not guns, but guns are essential. The oracle knows. Delphi is here. Stay tuned.
💙💜💚
Happy to hear about the good news about your wife and Gus.
🤣 Thank you. Watching MSNBC early this morning. Everyone was like Gus. Now back to writing GOTV postcards.
I have a fantasy related to dripping water that suddenly, after continual dripping, causes a flawed rock to split.
Trump’s bizarre megalomania has transformed facts into falsehoods, law and order into lawlessness and disorder, the Constitution into insidious conspiracy, and democracy into disarray.
The House January 6th House Committee has provided astonishing evidence of the dangers and rottenness of Trump and his Mafiosos.
My fantasy is that, at long last, the culmination of Trump’s calumny, like the flawed rock subjected to dripping water, will suddenly result in the erosion and then splintering of Trumpamania, which I find so frightening and anti-American.
You may think this is simply a fantasy and you may be right. However, after McCarthyism infected America for years, quite suddenly it splintered like a shattered stone.
McCarthy and Trump linked through Roy Cohn.
Clap your hands, if you believe.
"Imagine...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one"
https://youtu.be/cZJoyUHMmQQ
“Imagine” is a great song. I also think of Yellow Submarine being about the magnuts. We all live in a yellow submarine. And our friends are all aboard. Many more of them live next door. Sky of blue, sea of green. Every one of us has all we need. Just like the people he appointed to his administration, thinking of Minuchin, Chao, DeVos... the cabinet of greedy and silent brown noses.
Love that song and believe it deep in my bones!
Me too.
Perfect.
A fav
The J6th Committee has kept a searchlight trained on the despotic coup attempt long enough and deep enough to begin to penetrate public awareness. The anti-democratic corruption of the Republican Party has been underway for decades and should have been outed sooner, but J6th has now breached the wall, if we follow though.
From what I have seen, bullies can be found in any schoolyard and every society and government; and only constant vigilance and effort keeps them at bay. The horrors of history occur when they gain the upper hand. The disgrace of Joe McCarthy won a critical battle, but the war goes on, and the urge to bully takes numerous forms that victimize some far more than others. Resolute solidarity against the bullying of anyone is our most critical defense.
JL,
"Resolute solidarity against the bullying of anyone is our most critical defense."
This sentence is well written and, from my perspective, exactly true.
I would only add: My own experience in Public schools in a part of the country that allowed boys to work out their own issues with each other without much interference on school property: "Resolute" is a correct word for what is needed with a bully, but, for the more aggressive, confident, violent and privileged bullies, "resolute" is not enough.
A resolute, violent, abusive bully will continue his ways until someone else beats him bad enough to spend, perhaps, a couple of days in a hospital with his parents wondering if he has permanent brain damage.
This, of course, may result in the wayward student who had tired of the bullying and took retribution spending a couple days in the county jail, if said bully's parents, initially not knowing what their son was doing, press charges.
But, once someone explains to the judge what the bully was doing to bring on his quality time in the hospital? Well, ...... the jail door swung open.
Well worth the whole experience.
This is precisely the point we are at with Trump.
Only, we are missing the part where Trump ends up in the hospital badly beaten and wondering if he has more brain damage than that big deficit he had at birth.
Perhaps the Justice Department will bring that on. Perhaps not.
But, if not, Trump will be back and back and back.
Was this you? If so, I have a similar story of a ninth grade me. I was sacred $hitless, and ended up with a busted hand, but the “spell” was broken
Very good Dave.
Indeed, I did spend two days in county jail once for leveraging a one foot length of 1/4" steel sucker rod in an encounter with a senior football player (I was a junior) who was touching my sister at her locker. Repeatedly. Touching is a nice word for what he was doing.
Upon the judge hearing from other students what the kid was doing, I was set free and the judge told the kids parents not to waste time pressing charges.
What’s the deal with football players? My adversary was Captain, stood a foot higher and outweighed me by 30 pounds. I knew I was gonna take a beating, but he didn’t think I was up for the confrontation. No one bothered me after that
Me thinks there is already brain damage before the beat down. And his own malignant narcissism will have been torturing him for years - as in, I'm never enough. But that may not be as satisfying as Pelosi punching him in the kisser on all our behalf.
Ha. Ha hah. You gave me mirth and admiration. It is in our DNA to accost bullies. What the judge told me just after he fined me 500 bucks and gave me 2 years probation w as a solemn thank you for defending our children when no one else did. I salute stand up men and women here. To you, Mike and the others on this page and especially Nancy P.
True
There are situations when fighting an attack for all you're worth makes total sense, but literally beating Trump is unlikely to bring down the forces that elevated him to the presidency. If we really protected and enforced "equal justice under law" instead of tolerating or even encouraging institutionalized biases in our legal system, Trump and his ilk would never come to power. We still have a chance to use our tattered legal infrastructure to make Trump et al accountable for at least some of his more egregious crimes. That takes solidarity. Any successful pushback of tyranny does, including full out street-fight revolutions, which are never guaranteed to be successful, and incur tremendous human costs. That's the very last ditch option.
"What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or the strength our gallant and disciplined army? These are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of those may be turned against our liberties, without making us weaker or stronger for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises." - Lincoln
Thank goodness for brave women like Melania who made cyberbullying her cause! And bravely stayed married to a sexual predator who cheated on his wives and mistresses and bragged about it. (Satire and ire 😂😂😱)
They paid a Think Tank to decided what issue she should tackle. Didn’t get much traction. Neither did her jacket act
Slinked off to obscurity after Vanity Fair ignored her dresses
And bullied constantly (and still tries).
That sarcasm font did the trick!! <snark> Love the comment!
Here here, worked at jr. High. Had a principal who shined the light on them in the lunch room, the bus stops, and the gym. Anywhere he heard of such. Word got around,
And all this because of skin color and money.
From Jackson Browne
“Your Bright Baby Blues”
“Baby if you need me, like I know I need you, there’s just one thing, I’ll ask you to do, take my hand and lead me, through that hole in your garden wall, and pull me through, pull me through”
What scares me is the fact that if (hoping reality sets in) the gop makes inroads in the midterms, that the unholy ghost of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) will rear its ugly head and rhetoric.
I was thinking about HUAC. Tyrants always need an internal enemy, blacks, Jews, Liberals, religious heretics, whatever to keep the base distracted, frightened, and angry, while using them for self-centered ends.
But McCarthyism didn't go away, Keith. All that happened was McCarthy died of an alcoholic heart attack. You and I were both around to see it wasn't gone 60 years ago. It became Goldwaterism. Read David Corn's "American Psychosis."
Direct line from McCarthy to TRump - a line drawn by a guy name Cohn....who was a role model for Stone and Bannon.
Here's the guiding concept of this. They keep lying. We keep telling the truth - louder, with evidence and persistence. Wear down the liars. Truth, truth, truth, over and over and over. Never get tired. Never get discouraged. Never stop. Never. Ever.
Rupert Murdoch and Roy Cohn were friends. Cohn introduced Murdoch to Reagan.
The Chinese Water Torture Theory of Victory
Eisenhower disliked but tolerated Joe McCarthy for political reasons, but eventually asked the Senate to rein him in. Democracy can withstand lies and liars, but not toleration of major lies and liars, especially if weaponized lies.. When Nixon got caught int the "coverup", even a number of prominent Republicans were ready to impeach him had he not resigned. Yet, subsequent to that, the Big Lie strategy went Republican Party-wide, and social resistance was meager. A Nixon-sized scandal is dwarfed many times over by multiple crimes of Trump and his enabling party. The J6th Committee is a critical reality check.
Bill, when I find my spirit flagging, I listen to Jackson Browne’s ‘Til I Go Down’ (and a little dancing along doesn’t hurt either)—sigh, have listened to it A LOT in the last 6 years! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw It revs my engine and provides the juice to keep on keeping on.
Dr My Eyes
Just a reincarnation of evil, even as a young voter, I was sickened, especially by the pretense of virtue. “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in the pursuit of Justice is no virtue.” Or words to that effect. Let’s pursue Justice with all the fervor we can muster. Jail for the orange clown. Thanks Barry. Hahaha
And yet as repellent as I found many of Goldwater's positions to be, I did not see him as the one of the kind of sociopaths who have risen to prominence in the Republican Party today.
TC After the Army Congressional hearing (“have you no sense of decency sir?) and the Edward R. Murrow programs, McCarthy was a shattered person who was admonished with a modest censure by the Senate. Granted that the Birch Society breathed new life into the psyche of McCarthyism, but this particular bastard was mortally wounded before his alcoholic death.
Keith, I always like your comments better then mine, and your replies are almost always unbeatable -- that's surely the case this time. Thank you, teacher Wheellock.
Fern Like exquisite wine, you are aging well. As I am celebrating my 89th birthday week, I wonder when wine might spoil from being over ripe. As Admiral Farragett said “Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead.”
… and I leave you, temporarily, with a long laugh capping this exchange and HAPPY BIRTHDAY -- HUGS GALORE. 🎉🎈🎉
And then Reaganism.
Keith's fantasy made no claim for the disappearance of fascism but the parallelism between McCarthy, Roy Cohn and Trump. How does Roger Stone fit into this parallelism -- an American -- a German -- a Russian -- certainly not an original?
"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands
If you're happy and you know it clap your hands
If you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it
If you're happy and you know it clap your hands...."
Keep this song in your head all day today :)
Bill Love your song. I actually had Peter Pan in mind.
For the record, I clapped!! (I also thought of Peter Pan!).
Thanks, ummm, I think
👏🏻👏🏻🤗
'Trump Sends January 6th Committee a Note from His Podiatrist'
'WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Minutes after the congressional committee investigating the January 6th insurrection voted unanimously to subpoena the former President, Donald J. Trump responded by submitting a note from his podiatrist.'
'The foot specialist, Dr. Harland Dorrinson, indicated in the note that Trump’s chronic bone-spur issues, which had been asymptomatic in recent years, had suddenly “been acting up again.”
“This afternoon, Mr. Trump began experiencing unbearable pain consistent with bone-spur inflammation,” the podiatrist wrote. “For this reason, I cannot in good conscience give him permission to testify.”
'The podiatrist’s note did not appear to discourage one committee member, Representative Liz Cheney, who volunteered to hoist Trump onto a luggage trolley and wheel him into the hearing room.' (Satire,NewYorker)
😅🤣😂🤣😅🤣😂
Thanks, as always, Fern!!
Oh thank you!!! Something to laugh about during these scary times. Here's another, Stephen Colbert in his monologue last night, referring to Mr. Bannon's (or was it Stone) "There will be hell to pay." Give us a new nickname for the former guy, "Hell Toupee."
OMG! We finally have medical confirmation that Trump is lame!
Borowitz is the diagnostician, not the podiatrist!
And she *would* do it!
She'd be smiling all the way, and smiling hasn't appeared very often on her face these days or, perhaps, ever.
Have you no decency, MAGAts?
Aye, no decency. No critical thinking skills. Only hatred.
(MAGAts): NO! What's that??
The author's innocence raises amusement.
I'm glad you included the Americans infected with trumpmania. Even as he (hopefully now) falls, they will always be with us. They may return to seething under rocks, but through social media, they will always be more empowered than before. I'll forever support and be with the forces of love, light, and creation - but the forces of hate, darkness, and destruction will also be forever. I find I need to retreat to a philosophical space now and again to keep my sanity.
Thank-you Keith, thank-you Margaret Chase=Smith, thank-you Nancy Pelosi.
Well I hope it is more than a fantasy. We all watched, excerpts are being shown on TV, except Fox News and the other hyper-right news sites. I checked Fox real time, and it was not being aired. So the echo chamber will kick in again. The deplorables didn't even watch. Perhaps independents and other disaffected citizens didn't either - it wasn't in prime time and people were at work. I fear the needle won't move. Were I to ask my friends and acquaintances what they thought of the hearing, I think most would say they were unaware of it. But I live in TN. What I saw yesterday in the hearing put a huge exclamation point on what we progressives already knew, and made it just a no-brainer who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. Oh - and the list of bad guys just grew - to include a whole lot of SS and FBI types who looked the other way. My brain says that every Republican leader should go down in flames come this November, no contest. To see such corruption should be a non-partisan issue, and a deal breaker for voters. But in all likelihood the bad guys are going to win!!!! WTF - what has happened to our nation?
Can we be like drops of water falling on the stone
Splashing, breaking, dispersing in air
Weaker than the stone by far but be aware
That as time goes by the rock will wear away
And the water comes again - Holly Near
👏🏻
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 👋🏼🎃💩
Great reminder! Thank you. The damage one evil person can do can overshadow the good another can do. May we keep our best politicians until we are strong enough to fight the McConnells, the Cruzes, the Scalises, the Ron Johnsons, the Meadows and their ilk.
Clapping..
I hope you are correct. I wonder how people can continue live with so much festering hatred and fear consuming them. MAGAts seem drunk on a poison that eventually could take them out - if not blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, then by associating with armed and dangerous fringe lunatics. Perhaps this poison will have the same effect of water on stone. It will either wear them down, take them down, or they'll be forced to give it up in order to survive.
Reading Andy Borowitz's Profiles in Ignorance and Ronald Reagan's 1980 candidacy. Advisors included Roy Cohn, Roger Ailes, Roger Stone, and Paul Manafort. His campaign slogan "Let's Make America Great Again." Who says you can't fool the American sheep and their progeny twice. Disturbing read when you back it with Confidence Man, Unthinkable, the J6 Hearings, and LFAA.
Fred Agree. Borowitz’s PROFILES IN IGNORANCE reads like deja vu, even with him thankfully skipping Newt Gingrich.
In a sense, Speaker Pelosi's comment, "I'm gonna punch him out," brings things full circle in a weird, wish fulfillment way. At a June or July 2015 rally in Las Vegas, Trump, whose candidacy I had not taken seriously or paid much attention to up until that point, commented as a protestor was being extricated from the arena, that he longed for "the good old days," when you could simply "punch the guy out" and watch him get carried out of the hall. I was chilled by the remark, because in the instant I knew Donald J. Trump, a possible contender for the highest office in the land, had just legitimized violence and given every playground bully in the country permission to act on their worst impulses. And now, Nancy Pelosi is on record wanting to give Donald Trump exactly what he longed for, only he would be the recipient of the knock out punch, not the observer. I say, "Have at it, Nancy. Fulfill his dreams." If they were ever put in a ring together, my money would be on Madame Speaker of the House, every single time.
Particularly since Trump is a physical coward.
And a mental coward.
As noted by Maggie Haberman's new book, Trump shrinks from/runs from direct confrontation in any form.
Haberman's book is great; she reads the Audible version which I highly recommend. The book is so compelling that even though I thought I couldn't give DJT a minute more of my brain, I can't stop listening. Maggie is as formidable a reporter as Pelosi is speaker.
I sort of feel sorry for Ms. Haberman. So much of her life dedicated to ...... Trump.
So, I hope the book sells well.
Mike I applaud Ms. Haberman as a constant spotlight into the Trump sewer. Like distinguished investigative reporters of Hitler, Putin, and other sewer rats, she has been able to chronicle Trump with admirable professionalism.
And she has never had to take a shower to wash off the Trump shit. I am reminded of that St. John sewage company’s ad: “We’re Number 1 in Number 2.” That should be Ms. Haberman’s proud legacy.
She has been called out for not sharing her info with news stories that might have an impact on public opinion and actually judicial proceedings. But there is a great response to this notion in an article in WaPo : Quit Dragging Maggie Haberman for her Trump book.
My next Audible credit is going to that book. I am listening “The Divider” now
Yes, the Divider is excellent. As much as we thought we knew, we knew nothing.
Me too.
HE knows he’s a LOSER. I knew a kid like that as a jr high counselor. Just was great at instigating others and would sit back and watch the chaos. He was a sad case, chump is not. COWARD by any measure…
I was one of those people who was POed at her for not reporting some of the things in the book at the time she learned them. I saw an interview where she explained that, to an acceptable level. I read reviews by other Haberman Doubters saying the book was a must-read, so I bought it. It arrived yesterday and I've read Chapter One. Just for what was there, the book has paid for itself.
Yes, we need to read this - it's all about how he became what he is. We need to understand that.
And "The Divider" by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser is also "must-read." I thought I had obsessed to the point I was aware of everything 2017-2021, but it turns out I was far from aware of it. As bad as you know it all was, they prove it was worse.
And an emotional coward.
Remember his disability - bone spurs.
The difference between Pelosi's comment and tfg's is that she recognizes consequences before the act and is willing to accept them.
One more difference - Ms. Pelosi was going to do it herself, not rile up her cult followers to do it for her,
At first I thought, Nancy - two wrongs don't make a right. But then, in her brilliance she says, "and I'll go to jail. And be happy". Okay - willing to take the consequences - EVEN BRAVER!!!
And she would do it in her high heels!
Paul Barnes - "Trump, ... commented as a protestor was being extricated from the arena, that he longed for 'the good old days,' when you could simply 'punch the guy out' and watch him get carried out of the hall."
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/trump-on-protester-id-like-to-punch-him-in-the-face
It felt like a sea change today. Like many, I was glued to the TV for a good part of it while the news came in; first with the House Select Committee’s final public hearing with its laser focus on DJT and the bombshell subpoena announcement, then the terse SCOTUS backhand to his latest ploy to drag out the classified documents debacle. While all the pieces have taken months (years) to converge, it just felt like the perfect storm brewing, and not a good one for Trump and his party. And just in time for the midterms. Did anyone else get that feeling?
The cracks in the dam started growing and expanding past being hairline cracks. Trump's going to be drowned in his own shit when the dam breaks sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Oh, l wish. If the media would stop giving his every move airtime it would help.
“ Trump's going to be drowned in his own shit when the dam breaks sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Do you think that this will be the case if (God forbid) Republicans take back the senate?
Well, even if Republicans gain majorities in Congress, they can't do anything until Congress reconvenes in January and they're sworn in. I pray that enough voters are coming to understand the threats to their own lives if that happens, that Democrats will retain majorities.
Me too. And I'm posting as much as I can on Twitter to answer the lies and propose bite size bits of truth. Without snark or put downs (that part is hard) if I"m answering a private citizen but with some force if I"m answering a GOP politician. I believe in the energy of truth as stronger than that of lies, and I've gotten some responses that make me think it's worth the effort.
Lookimg forward to that present under the tree!
'Justice Dept. asks appeals court to end Mar-a-Lago special master' BREAKING NEWS, WAPO
'Prosecutors said the unclassified documents seized at Mar-a-Lago also are critical to their classified-documents investigation'
'The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to reverse a Florida judge’s order appointing a special master to review documents seized from Donald Trump’s home and club, arguing that the former president had no right to possess the seized materials after he left office and that there was no legal basis for an outside review.'
Prosecutors argued in Friday’s 53-page filing that Trump has no right to assert either form of privilege over the government documents, rendering the review by a Brooklyn-based federal judge, Raymond J. Dearie, unnecessary.(WAPO)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/14/maralago-appeal-special-master-documents/
Thank you.
Damn, is Clarence trying for redemption. Too late simpering toadie. I don’t count my chickens before they hatch. Been burned too many times. If Rupert would let Fox say what the WSJ said, i’d start believing in miracles. Also if MSM would focus on the truth of the day, I’d be shocked; and, if my measly donations bought as many votes as dark money, I’d be a believer in real democracy again. May it be so…
or does he know that this is not the time...let things cool off then resume as per the plan?
Jeri, the last I read, the court had not released any info on their action, just the one liner. That was probably to protect any of the Justices that weighed in against Trump from backlash. So we have no idea if there was any support for Trump on the court. But if there was, I'd bet Clarence Thomas was at the top of the list.
That video might have won Nancy Pelosi another term as speaker... It'll certainly make ME pause the next time I'm about to criticize her.
In fact she can't possibly have risen to the rank of Speaker, twice, without the ability to hear criticism. But a wise opponent (which Trump isn't, to be sure) knows that it is rarely a good idea to disrespect a woman in her own House.
Great line! “….. it is rarely a good idea to disrespect a woman in her own House.”
👋 👋 👋 👋 👋 👋 👋
I am reminded of a story from a college roommate who grow up on a farm in northern Illinois. Kurt tells the story about a rooster they had when he was 5. This rooster liked to come up from behind you and peck you in the back of the leg. Kurt was playing in the farm yard when his grandmother was walking across the yard and this rooster did this to her. His grandmother reached around and grabbed the rooster and rung his neck. Kurt said after that he never talked back to his grandmother. That rooster became chicken soup.
Farm women are tough! (From the daughter and granddaughter of Kansas farmers)
😳
As long as she keeps young, eager, progressive members under her thumb, I will continue to criticize her.
She doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful.
Thank you HCR for sharing this continuing journey. Putting it together, letter after letter. So many of us have been riveted to every step of the quest to hold TFG accountable for his attempt to destroy our Democracy, through Insurrection and his daily cheating and lying. What the people have seen from the beginning of his announcement to run for president 2016 is a person not used to losing, a child who knows how to get his way. No matter what. Cheating and lying and surrounding himself with cheaters , liars, enablers, crooks, and already experienced in buying power and fame. In broad daylight. Until today. In today’s hearing even a repub could say No one is above the law. Shocking (or not) to see the evidence of TFG not only planning and watching the violence but not stopping it. Gratitude to the Committee skillfully putting it all together for the American people. And courts not nullifying the election. 62 times. Now we will see what is next. DJT we’re not finished yet.
My 80+ year old life long Republican aunt told me during the 2016 Presidential election as Donald Trump was succeeding in the Republican primaries that she wished someone would shoot that man. This was after Trump said he could shoot someone and not lose a supporter.
So much for the character and integrity of Trump supporters. They are all Manchurian candidates in total robotic mode to destroy our democracy and nation as much under Trump's spell as too many Russians are under Putin's spell, and enough Germans were under Hitler's spell. There is not a challenge, failure, difficulty today, climate change to inflation to world tensions that hasn't been worsened if not caused by Trump and his fellow world travelers of authoritarianism.
I object, again, to the notion that Trump supporters are zombies operating under a spell. To the contrary: almost all of them are white Americans who are desperately afraid of losing the advantages they have always held over people with some nonEuropean ancestry, and they will do whatever is necessary to preserve those advantages, including putting their government in the hands of oligarchic autocrats. They know exactly what they are doing and why. They delude themselves that the people they want to put in charge won’t turn on them once the government is under autocratic control, but they are not brainwashed by external forces.
I am surrounded by Trumpers in farm country. They sincerely believe the countless lies told to them. They believe all of it is being orchestrated by a cabal of Jews to achieve global dominance, and only they know the truth. Most also believe this is the End Times, and they WANT the destruction of everything so Jesus will return. It is most definitely like zombies operating under a spell.
Rex's & Holly's descriptions seem both correct, and surprisingly similar to the Mormon's during theie journey westward with founder Joseph Smith, and then Brigham Young. The stealing, killing, blood atonements of their defectors, and of course the Mountain Meadows massacre and endless coverup, blaming "indians" and then John D. Lee, one of their militia leaders Many of the participating Mormons were recent recruits from Britain and northern Europe looking for salvation in a new religion and country with demanding and commanding leadership.
Here ye! Here ye! Grab yer rifles avenging angels. We ride under the banner of the angel Macaroni. We ride to burn out and kill old Jim Bridger. Brigham hisself has made the assignment. Pardons to all who kill in his name.
This conspiracy of Jews goes back forever. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Thanks for your perspective, Holly.
You've described my son and his family/community accurately. Sad.
Cults are not "zombies operating under a spell", they are under the influence of a charismatic leader that appeals to the things that they hold central to their fundamental identities. I have dealt with several versions of cult members, from Rajneeshies from the town that Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh essentially bought and took over in central Oregon to members of the Freeman movement. Not zombies at all, just people who believe in an outlandish cause.
I defer to your knowledge of cults, but we are talking about at least 74 million Americans. Surely such a group is too large to fall into the cult category. And even if it were a cult, it’s cause would be preseving white advantages or, put another way, continuing systemic oppression of Americans with nonEuropean ancestors, a despicable cause in any case. Furthermore, it seems to me that calling a group a cult relieves them of some of their personal responsibility for their views and actions. Trump supporters deserve full blame for their views and actions.
I don’t disagree. How about something akin to “mass hysteria” to explain why otherwise reasonable people are on this bandwagon.
That would be okay if it didn’t get them off the hook, even a little bit, but I’m afraid it does get them off the hook, at least a little bit. How about we call them vile creatures that we must soundly outvote or suffer grave consequences at the hands of their leaders.
Rex, this is an ages old phenomenon. Were the German people vile? Were the Japanese vile? Are the Americans vile? Were the English vile? Sorry Olof the Vikings were vile. We have been subject to our own Tokyo Rose For 4 decades and have been successfully brain washed. Normal citizens are now trained to rise in anger at the democrats. We let it go unchecked not realizing it was a professional hit. So here we are now. I have no idea how to undo the damage. I’m certainly not going to suggest we go through the trauma of our near relatives. I’ll give you vile as it pertains to the leadership. Maybe Heather gave us the key. In as much as Lincoln’s cure of changing the identity of the party was a success. If we do that we can maybe shake out a wider loop.
I agree. It is the "other' that is propelling the autocrats around the world.
I AGREE Rex but for different reasons. We need to remind ourselves of how many former Trumpers jumped ship at various points (see all the Repubs testifying before the Committee) as it became ever more clear what a compromised man he was, compromised by his relentless narcissism and pathological immaturity. We need to keep reminding ourselves that most of Trump's followers are driven by feelings, not facts. Trump dealt in his ability to evoke very strong feelings in others without any regard for facts. Many, if not most, people are driven by unexamined feelings whose origins they don't fully understand; it's what keeps mental health professionals SO busy!
The Trumpers that have jumped ship have only jumped from Trumps’ ship. I do not believe they have changed their ideology. They will jump on the next ship that arrives that suits their desires to destroy democracy.
Absolutely correct. And one of the scariest parts of this whole tragic era.
Remember, Cassidy Hutchinson applied for a job at Mara Ego, and numerous Repubs have pledged to vote for TFG should he run again.
All of us are driven more by feelings than facts. It’s true than many former Trumpers have had the decency to let facts overrule feelings in this case and have jumped ship for that reason, but “many” in this case is a miniscule percentage, so it doesn’t affect the outcome of elections.
Radicalization might be better term than brainwashing. Influence has a spectrum, non binary, affects people differently. Those that have been influenced to the max degree have been radicalized. Much of this happens on SM, and Russia’s IRA has not ceased operations on FB and Twitter. These efforts are supported/echoed by elected and conservative pundits who should know better. Framing it this way, there seems three groups. Those that make the kool aid, those that sell and serve the kool aid and those that drink it. As it continues, the lines have gotten a lot more murky. Satisfying the thirst creates more and more demand.
Yes. Radicalization is a better description of the phenomenon. What I object to is verbiage that lets them off the hook, even a little bit. They are despicable people, every one of them. And regardless of terminology, there are at least 74 million of them, a high percentage of whom have assault weapons that they are willing to use against people who oppose them. The 74 million are both dangerous and vile. It is up to the rest of us to call them to account.
There are great numbers of Republicans that are not Trump supporters or voting because of racial prejudice. They are voting for their own financial security, for continued possession of their fortunes. I know them and have enjoyed so many of my 80+ years with some, but there is no ability to discuss the issues with them. I can only preach by my example of public performance. These are the voters that so disappoint and infuriate. (There is the chance that in the privacy of the voting booth that they do the right thing.)
Great numbers, yes, but minuscule percentages. I would agree that obscene greed is less vile than supporting systemic oppression of people with nonEuropean ancestors. Still plenty vile, though. More white women than usual may do the right thing in the voting booth this year because SCOTUS goared their bull this time. I’m hopeful that this will help.
The same characteristics that make people susceptible to religious beliefs are the ones that allow people to be swayed by the lies of the Republican leadership. Both involve someone else doing the thinking for them and both appeal to and fan the flames of people's fears.
And both involve people making up stuff unsupported by even a shred of credible evidence.
That may be the case, probably is the case, however, the less we try to hear their fears and the less we try to understand the more likely origins of those fears in their personal lives, the less chance we have to affect them and their feelings.
Although there's some truth to what you say, prejudices are very difficult to change, once hardened into the defensive structure they use to deal with those fears. And, it's also very challenging to convey understanding to people who are convinced you're the enemy. It would mean that they were being disloyal to their group and their families. It's like trying to help people get free of a cult. One chance we do have is to help sway those who are undecided or questioning, but those who have closed their minds to anything but what they believe, are too difficult to reach.
I have no argument with your analysis except to ask: how you tell the two apart, the ones who have hardened defensive structures and those who are undecided or questioning?
There's no definitive answer, but there can be differences in how people respond when you address the issues with them. Those who need to maintain their defenses would probably react strongly immediately, obfuscate or ignore altogether what is being said. Those who may be open to adjusting their views might be more amenable to persistent, friendly, empathic approaches.
The hearts-and-minds project can proceed at its own pace but is far too long term to have any effect in saving American democracy. The save-democracy project has deadlines to meet, one of which is next month.
Thank-you, Mr. Page, you put that so much better than I could! Yes, those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.
Under the spell, a cult don’t you say. How much more proof do we need how that turns out.
And let us not forget something at the heart of all this fine mess - the gob smacking amount of money from a handful of billionaires and corporations sloshing around in conservative “think tanks” and underwriting republican PACs. Unbelievable amounts of money to rid themselves of the headaches of regulation and taxation. I fear that if we cannot rid our politics of this “free speech” money, that our experiment in representative democracy is doomed.
Absolutely right! The Dark Money is the fentanyl in this plague.
There is news about local Wisconsin millionaires doing exactly that. Millions to support deniers.
Nancy Pelosi was remarkably calm, cool and in control even as her life was in imminent danger. She demonstrated great leadership, true courage and grace under pressure. This was not a drill. it was the real deal. She is a great patriot and exceptional leader.
It is just so depressing to watch Republican leaders including Grassly, Thune, MCCarthy, Scalise, McConnell, and others meekly stand with her in support and know that they soon would refuse to condemn Trump much less vote to impeach or convict him. If the Democrats lose the house and Senate in the midterm elections, I really fear our national democracy will die. Kaput. Over
Robert Dale, those politicians you mentioned scooted out of sight of the 1/6 rioters. If those raging people had caught ANY member of the House or Senate, they would likely have hurt them seriously before the politicians were recognized. A lot of Congress critters are elderly; they would not have withstood a physical attack well. They continue to support a man who would casually have had his followers kill them. Appeasement of evil never ends well.
We see them!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/kevin-mccarthy-steve-scalise-jan6-pelosi-trump-1751800%3famp=1
You are so right, they have bet it all.
I’m afraid also, but I’m going to be Brave Like Nancy and Ruth and Elizabeth and Amy and Katie.
We are Women, hear us Roar.
I love Nancy Pelosi more now than I did a year ago. She has earned much respect too. Chuck Schumer too.
Pretty tricky, using all Republicans and tRUMP supporters to make their case. Hard for the GOP and TFG to make the claim its partisan. Maybe they'll turn on each other like rabid dogs (apologies to rabid dogs)
Insiders know where the bodies are buried.
It was harrowing to watch the Democratic leadership in the persons of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader, exercising great leadership in trying to get outside help to rescue the United States Capitol, and people trapped inside, from the raging mob instigated by then-President Donald Trump as they invaded the building. Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer were calling from a secure area of Fort McNair, located approximately three miles south of the Capitol which is located proximate to the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. Even though the congressional representatives were then located within the safe and secure confines of a military facility, the tone of the recorded telephone conversations between the Speaker and Majority Leader with political leaders outside the District of Columbia was urgent and concerned, because nobody was able to get through to either the White House or the Pentagon to get President Trump to call upon his followers then raging inside the capitol building to stand down and withdraw. The video recordings were made by Speaker Pelosi's daughter, who is a professional documentary filmmaker. Earlier portions of the House Select Committee to investigate the attack on the capitol made it crystal clear that the president had sent his fired up supporters to march on the capitol at a time when he knew to an absolute certainty that he had lost the presidential election, and that he had exhausted all other avenues to change the outcome of the recent presidential election by lawful and peaceful means. Trump was overheard urging his Chief of Staff and members of his reelection campaign staff to withhold any formal announcement that he, the president, had lost his bid for reelection. Instead, Trump's speech to his assembled followers massed on the White House South Lawn falsely claimed that the election had been 'stolen' by his political adversaries.
Had this been the conclusion of a criminal trial, what we saw yesterday was a brilliant and compelling marshaling of the facts and summation and closing argument to a trial jury to convict Trump of the various criminal offenses that he most likely would have been charged in a formal indictment to have committed against the government of the United States.
My personal view is that the entire series of televised hearings and expository presentations will stand the test of time, much like the compelling documentaries that Ken Burns has produced over the past several decades. The presentation was masterful, and were not to have been created in a partisan political context, the entire series would be strong candidates for any number of documentary awards. My view is that it some point in the near future, such accolades may indeed be awarded on their intrinsic merit alone.
And May they affect a voter or two.
And Liz Cheney's warning speeches during the Committee's work will be saved and quoted in history-- especially if we end up in a post democracy world.
Funny how “alpha male” Trump always seems to hide behind his lawyers and statements on social media..........
Just a lazy, fragile, spoiled brat with a very large amount of money. It is very disturbing how far that can take one in the country.
Alpha male, my arse. A Fox creation; before that a Roy Cohen creation. And the cult bowed down, so did sycophants and the deliberately ignorant. What a shitshow Ametica
Yes and Amen to that! DJT is a total façade...a creation of Fred Trump's imagination and Roy Cohn's bag of dirty tricks and of the psychologically damaged man himself; DJT is many things but an "alpha male", he is not.
Don't forget to list Mark Burnett, the creator of "The Apprentice," as one of those who gave Trump the national facade of a successful, strong businessman instead of the weak, incompetent developer that Trump was as he greased his way from one failure to another. Trump played a role on that TV show that was nothing like his real life, but to this day, many of his followers say they voted for him because "he is such a great businessman."
He wanted John Kelly to fire Javanka!
Good woman, Nancy Pelosi.