There is big news today out of Russia, where the legislative body abruptly passed harsh penalties on those who don’t report to military duty, who surrender, or who refuse to fight against Ukraine.
So much is packed into tonight’s letter! First, Dearie has Trump’s number. Kise, the $3mil-up-front attorney, is bombing big time against the DOJ. I just hope “Loose Cannon” does not fire Dearie, which she has the authority to do, apparently. If she does, then we will see that she is bought and paid for by the Pro-Rape Party and Leonard Leo. Second, Putin is scraping the bottom of the barrel for soldiers. The fact that there is an age range of 18-60 says a lot. Between the west and other foreign sources, Ukraine may just beat Russia down. At least, I hope so. The best news was that Iranian women are fighting back against their elderly dictator. Hooray for them! Sheldon Whitehouse, one of my faves, has his brilliant DISCLOSE Act coming to the Senate. I love that Dems have found their cojones and are fighting back. AND a Texas Sheriff department in Bexar County, who’s head is of Latin descent, is investigating DeSantis and Abbott’s little hateful human trafficking scheme. Hope they drown in lawsuits after lawsuits. We are on the move, people! #YESWECAN
Thank You Marlene. I am watching The Holocaust documentary on PBS in the evenings and trying hard to keep past and present separate in my 5:00 a.m. head, but they are combining and conflagrating. This summary helps. Although maybe past IS present.
Mary Pat, as William Faulkner said, “The past is not dead; it’s not even past.” The same evil that produced WWII and the Holocaust rears its head again and again. We must be on guard always.
Forever vigilant has been my mindset for years. As a gay male (a fact I do not announce very often), I am well aware of the backlash and hatred now being fomented against LGBTQ+ culture. Those who "claim" a Scriptural validation for their hatred have not studied or read Scripture.
You are exactly right about Scripture, Keith. Having nothing to do with any particular religious beliefs, or lack of, I can say absolutely that we live in a bible illiterate culture. People don't read Scripture. They listen to someone's interpretation of Scripture. Big difference. Relevant only because, purely personally, realizing that fact inspired me to write and teach a course in The Hebrew Bible as Literature for 30 years. Relevant on topic because there has never been a time, since the advent of Christianity, when Scripture-based bigotry and great and terrible violence, has been absent from western culture. When the bibles come out, yes, it's time to lay low. What a terrible thing that is.
I learned much about what Holy Scripture does NOT say during my graduate study at Seminary. I also learned what Scripture DOES say. That it in and of itself is convoluted and self-contradictory. Along the way, I studied some Buddhism. "Some", so as not to overstate the reality or truth. There is Buddhistic thought in the Teachings of Jesus, a fact that has led some scholars to suggest that during his teen years, Jesus went East to study Buddha. I also learned during completion of my graduate study how I seemed to know even LESS. One cannot assert carrying the Mantel of God while at the same time being judgmentally self-righteous.
I grew up in farm country, went to Sunday School/Church every Sunday. Was a Boy Scout, sang in choir, became secretary for youth leadership and active in fundraising. I remember vividly when age 16 walking out of the narthex, overhearing one of the older farmers remarking to his wife after he had had a jovial "chat" with another farmer: "I sure as hell hope I do not run into that s.o.b. again until next Sunday. Honestly, I was stunned.
It is remarkable how difficult it is for the readers of my month-old Publication to read the text as a piece of literature, to set aside their automatic reaction that reading it that way is disrespectful--or worse--toward their faith. Once they "get it" they seem to enjoy it. Interestingly enough, the high school seniors in the independent schools where I taught it as a senior elective were almost entirely open-minded and very enthusiastic. I'm not sure I understand the dynamic. Whatever it is about that text, it has kept me dug in deep. I don't think a day has gone by that I'm not in there at least a bit. After three decades that's where all my metaphors come from.
As for the convolution and contradictions, a lot of that is explained by the history of the composition and final redaction of the whole thing.
Anyway, very interesting to read someone else's experience of -- whatever else it is in whatever religious faith--the most influential piece of symbolic literature in western culture.
Dean, I'm with you... most folks don't bother to read, just go along with whoever is making loud claims. This is part of the big problem, Americans know only what they have been told whether it is biblical or the Constitution. Go ahead, take a few minutes and actually read either document... you'll be surprised!
Yes, for all our famous pioneering spirit and energy to blaze across the frontier we seem to lack the energy for settling down to the mundane tasks of reading, writing and 'arithmetic. Like children, we are easily distracted and I'm not sure we can blame it all on our youth as a country.
Saw an interview of Ken Burns on All In with Chris Hayes. Ken Burns rushed the release of the documentary to happen this year rather than next year, as was scheduled, due to what is happening in our country now. The parallels are frightening: America First, being replaced, etc.
Hi, Bonnie, and thank you. I remember the time when I was a bit huffy, you could say indignant, at the comparison of Trump and his administration with Hitler and Nazi Germany.
That seems like a long time ago. It isn't a stretch and I hope a lot of people are seeing the dots connect as I am. It's an eerie and detailed comparison
Citizen 60-try going to the top of the page and look to the left of the search bar-you'll see an incomplete circle w/an arrow @ the end. Click on that. Once you do that, the page is refreshed and the page will show up again & you should be able to get the heart to work. It may last for only a time or two-then refresh the page again.
MaryPat...I too watched the U.S. and the Holocaust (streamed all 3 parts) and am having trouble sleeping. I thought I already knew enough about it. Oh no...so much to learn. Powerful documentary.
MK, this is what I lived throughout my life having parents who were Holocaust victims. We were reminded of the persecutions every day. Grateful my parents are not alive to witness what is happening in the country that they loved so much.
I'm so, so deeply sorry that your parents were victims of the Holocaust. And I'm equally sorry for the difficulty that legacy must have caused in your life. Despite having heard about it since I was in grade school, and been outraged and horrified at the atrocities and hatred involved, I still can't grasp the enormity of the event nor the amount of immorality and wickedness present in all of the perpetrators. The periodic rearing up of the monstrous evil of hatred for Jews and other minorities makes it clear we must not just say "never again." We must always teach all school children at some point or various points, before they graduate high school, about the crimes in world history perpetrated against minorities by politically ambitious criminals who stir up fear and hatred of "the other" as a stepping stone to power. Citizens of democracies need to learn what "the next Hitler or Donald Trump" look like as those mentally ill authoritarians crawl and connive their way up "the ladder," before they gain status and authority. They need to be shamed and shunned early in their criminal careers.
Wishing you (and everyone supporting democracy and love) peace, health and prosperity.
Thank you so much, CC, for your kind words. I do hope and pray enough people are paying attention to what can happen here. The younger people who can vote are certainly taking it all in. They will be our future.
MaryPat, that's exactly what I told my husband last night as we watched the first part of The Holocaust. If the fashion was different, it could be what's happening today.
So the more I think about it, I have two emotions. Very sad that it appears to have never gone away but very happy that for 80+ years we were able to rise above it. Heather's letters always help by comparing today to history and know we survived.
This Holocaust Series is chilling. That we have Americans who share the horror of the extermination is terribly, terrilby disturbing. "Jews will not replace us", the White Supremacist mantra, makes absolutely no sense. I have lifelong friends who are Jews. Many wealthy Jews have been major benefactors to hospitals, colleges/universities (I studied at one) and public radio/TV programs.
I have known about the hatred in our Republic for many years, having been a member of the SPLC, Southern Poverty Law Center. Those homegrown terrorist groups have morphed. I fear we have been too casual about their potency.
I too, have been a member of SPLC for over 25 years as well as ACLU. Yes, homegrown terrorism has morphed...three-fold!
Keltik, many gays were rounded up, as well as gypsies to be exterminated along with Jews. Those who helped in Resistance were also killed. For what? A race, a way of life that didn’t appeal to a white crazed male?? The US doesn’t have a pretty record of eliminating these people from having power. Our time is NOW!
I just caught a missing "t" in Poverty! I am all too familiar with the "fear of queer", having coming out in May 1968 with my first partner. The self-defined moral-purist Christofascists must be challenged at every turn. Vigilance is mandatory.
Yes. I belong to the organization POPULATION CONNECTION. In their latest magazine, there are articles about the new statistics about world and U.S. populations. From the 'In The News' section, here are some items from "U.S. Birth Rate Up Again, but Aging Trend Remains":
"According to preliminary data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 3,659,289 births in 2021, and increase of about 46,000, or 1 percent, from 2020. The CDC's analysis found that during the initial Covid-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020, there was a sharp decline in conceptions that led to fewer births. But conception began increasing again by the summer of 2020 as unemployment decreased and families received government benefits.
"Nevertheless, the birth rate in 2021 was still lover than in 2019, reflecting an ongoing trend towards smaller families. The declining U.S. birth rate is leading to population again--new Census data shows that since 2000, the national median age has increased by 3.4 years to 38.8. The Northeast was the oldest region in 2021, with a median age of 40.4, followed by the Midwest (39.0), the South (38.6), and the West (37.7). The Center data also revealed that the country is becoming more diverse, with all races and ethnicity groups growing between 2020 and 2021 except for the white population, which declined by 0.03 percent.
"Pandemic disruptions affected the quality of the 2020 Census, with research published in May this year showing household populations were overcounted in eight states (Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Utah.), yet undercounted in six states (Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas). However the Census Bureau concluded that the national total in the 2020 Census was largely accurate. Overall, the U.S. population increased from 331, 501,080 on July 1, 2020, to 331,893,745 on July 1, 2021."
We also must remember that Germany's Hitler had over 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, not to mention the millions more of soldiers and civilians on both sides that died during WWII, which also includes the nuclear bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all of which was caused by Hitler. But during Stalin's reign over Russia, it has been estimated that he had over 200 million people murdered. What Hitler caused kind of pales to what Stalin did. But in either case, those were awful (put in any other worse word) acts.
But since WWII, humans have continued to kill, kill, kill, not only by wars, but also by starvation, denial of people's rights of freedom and corporations ruling what happens. And now with the obvious climate change that is being ignored by those corporations and world governments, our population on the plane, which is supposed to reach 8 Billion on November 15, 2022, could end the existence of all of us in a very short time. Just a thought.
The estimates of people murdered under Stalin's reign are difficult to precisely determine. But the numbers are more likely 15 to 20 million, not 200 million. But as someone said, "one death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic."
Agreed. I should also point out what the weather had to do with Hitler's attempted invasion of Russia in WWII. It was the dreaded Russian Winter that mostly wiped out the German army in its attempt to take Stalingrad. Hitler was no student of history, as the same Winter had stopped Napoleon's army trying to do the same thing. There are great examples of how the climate controls and limits us.
Dang right we can, Marlene. Thank you for your sizzle on the comment griddle today.
I’ll add that the claim of “political theater” coming out the DeSantis trap of a mouth is stupidity even for him. Cracks everywhere in the Republican increasingly thin veneer of believability. No amount of money can fix that kind of stupidity.
DeSantis's stunt was boneheaded, even by right-wing standards. Perhaps anxiety about him managing to accend to the Oval Office is misplaced, if that sorry operation is indicative of how he or his cronies would manage a presidential campaign. Let's see how he manages federal courts (I assume they filed in Massachusetts.)
Yet the Republican insanity continues. Here in Georgia, there's an ad by Herschel Walker's ex-wife playing over and over. In it she says, "The first time he threatened to kill me he put a gun to my head and said he was going to blow my brains out." He also said that China is pushing all the bad air over to us. He is leading Democratic incumbent Warnock in the polls.
Thing is...Republicans in GA, even though Walker is an embarrassment to anyone with a brain, are now accepting that they can elect him with the understanding that he will vote for, rubber-stamp, any and all measures voted on by Senate Republicans. That's ALL they want him for. It's a given he won't begin to be able to actually understand any of the things he'd vote for or against, but just so he votes with all the rest of the GOP is all that matters. Both Warnock and Ossoff, our current Senators, have worked to initiate certain causes and are vocal in their support of a range of legislation. Walker would be totally out of his league in a similar situation, since the man doesn't possess "the sense to come in out of the rain", as they say here. There mere thought of having this clueless goom-bah as our Senator makes me want to hurl.
I wonder if the polling is finding the woman who are likely to show up over forced-childbirth. I have my fingers crossed. I wouldn't blow off polling, but I wouldn't put money on it. In fact I'd bet against it if we had legal betting in Ohio!
I just wish Abbutt was locked up before this election. In an orange suit and trying to find his jailhouse gang. So need a blue Democratic wave win here! From Beto on down!
Why do people have to use an attractive part of the human body--a secondary sex characteristic, no less, as an insult? The derriere originally evolved so we could run, along with the achilles tendon, hairlessness, and the nuchal ligament (as no other primate can do). The running enabled hunter-gatherers to catch prey animals, as Harvard's Daniel Lieberman has written.
Correction, Sheriff Javier Salazar is the sheriff of Bexar County (San Antonio area), not Harris County / Houston! Go, Sheriff Salazar, DeSantis is a repulsive, immoral miscreant and should be disqualified from ever holding public office again!
Thank you Marlene for summing up the scheming repub attacks on worldwide Democracy. For those who need more examples, tune in to the PBS Ken Burns special on the Holocaust. It’s everyone’s History. Just to add: what was shocking in the Ken B special is/was the antisemitism here in the US government and population that prevented the rescue and end of Hitler’s murderous attacks. USA culpable and responsible for prolonging the deaths and destruction.
I’m especially heartbroken as that truth is revisited. I was unaware of how desperately Anne Frank’s family tried -in vain- to immigrate to the USA. I also was unaware of how much Hitler & co used the American practice of genocide of Indigenous Americans, and our Jim Crow Laws as a template for his Final Solution.
Hale, Excellent books and eye opening for many Americans. “Caste” is the newest. Wilkerson’s first book “Warmth of Other Suns” was written in 2010. We read it in our book group, primarily white well educated Christian women, who were shocked. Being Jewish I was surprised, educated, but not shocked. And as a non-Christian and experiencing antisemitism I thought I understood. But really, there’s a difference. I’m not minimizing antisemitism. But White Privilege is real. That’s why the Nazis forced Jews to wear the Yellow Star. Humans.
Yes, this is the history, part of Critical Race Theory, CRT, half of the states in USA are banning. Banning TRUTH that few of us were taught in school.
Having recognized that, like Queen Elizabeth (I am 8 years younger), WWII formed both of us (the “Great Generation”), seeing what she achieved and reflecting on what I have done, as a former teacher, I think the Right’s “objections” to teaching the truths of history are a crock…
Agreed. Just weary of so much BS. Before DT, I didn’t use this language. Brought up to eschew it. Still tending not to write the obscenities I am speaking these days.🤣
(He's also all about cleaning up the oceans (not surprising since there's so much coastline for RI. ) Have you seen his 14 part You Tube series called The SCHEME? Well worth the watching.
Watched several. Well done and informative. We’re in serious trouble unless we can find a way to limit outrageous spending support by unethical and self-serving wealthy people.
Watched several. Well done and informative. We’re in serious trouble unless we can find a way to limit outrageous spending support by unethical and self-serving wealthy people.
Ages 18-60? Sound like anyone we know who shot themselves in Germany in the 40's? Pretty soon we will see even younger people being called up.
I was glad to see the Iranian women protesting, even happier to see that men are protecting them so they can protest because without those men, in that society, they would all be marched off by the morality police.
Marlene, I think the $3m lawyer is finding that his client tells more lies than he imagined, and is unable to "defend " tRump without perjuring himself. It seems he's not willing to lose his law license over the orange ass-cactus.
Please do not associate the derriere with FPOTUS. It's an attractive part of the human body, and evolved so that our hunter gatherer ancestors could run (no other primate has a rump like ours; no other primate runs), along with the nuchal ligament and the achilles tendon, as Harvard's Daniel Lieberman has written. It is in fact, a secondary sex characteristic. Twisting a name to turn it into something ugly, or calling a person names (orange ass-cactus) undermines, and takes attention away from the important you are saying in your comment.
I negected to say that the running was in order to catch prey, and they could run for hours, whereas the prey animals, covered with hair, and not built for marathon type running, could run fast, but only in spurts, and then they'd run out of steam.
There have actually been events where really good long distance runners have chased horses, and eventually caught them.
'After making its way across parts of the Caribbean as a tropical storm, Hurricane Fiona intensified into a Category 1 storm just as it slammed into Puerto Rico's southern coast on Sunday. All of the territory was left without power just two days before the fifth anniversary of the devastating Hurricane María. The storm moved slowly across the island dumping upwards of 30 inches of rain, which caused catastrophic damage including landslides in some regions.'
'WCK's #ChefsForPuertoRico team—whose roots date back to our María response—prepared sandwiches ahead of the storm making landfall, and then as soon as it was safe to do so, we began cooking. Within hours, our team was providing nourishing meals from our Field Kitchen in San Juan. Now also partnering with local restaurants and food trucks, we are serving 10,000 meals a day. Our capacity will continue to grow as we establish additional kitchens in the south of the island.'
AND MORE!
Critical food for liberated towns around Kharkiv
'After six long months of Russian occupation, the Ukrainian military liberated a large region near Kharkiv last week. WCK’s Relief Team immediately jumped in to support communities that have been living under occupation, bringing fresh food and meal kits as soon as it was safe to do so.'
'Remnants of Typhoon Merbok hit Alaska’s coastal communities
The remnants of Typhoon Merbok hit Alaska's western coast over the weekend, bringing heavy winds and causing severe flooding. Some homes were pushed off their foundations and critical infrastructure supplying water and power was damaged. To support families, WCK has been flying water, sandwiches, fresh fruit, and supplies to communities including Golovin, Unalakleet, and Hooper Bay. Thankfully all airstrips are in use, so we've been able to reach people in need of support. '
I'm well but lonesome for my wife. I'm still in Regina as she can cope better without me in an emergency but plan on going back in thenew year sometime.
Another is Team Rubicon, a volunteer group that recruits veterans (and others), utilizing veterans’ skills to respond to disasters. They clear roads etc. and medical teams treat patients.
Bermuda may very likely be Fiona's next target. I hate to think of the damage that will happen to that beautiful place. I remember the pink sands, caves, and multiple historic forts. There's even replica crown jewels @ Ft St Catherine. By the weekend, Nova Scotia may well be impacted.
No one else would take Trump as a client without the world’s largest retainer with Trump’s record of not paying—in addition to being a difficult client
After the religious authorities in Iran took over the rate of multiple sclerosis went up among women. The likely cause: they weren't getting nearly enough vitamin D with their skin always totally covered. (Note: getting D from the sun is seasonal. If your shadow is longer than you are, the atmosphere is filtering out the D. The official recs on D--600-800 IU/day are way low, too. Start around 2000/day. Look for a blood level (six weeks after starting--it takes a long time to rise fully--of 40-plus NG/ML)
Marlene: While I understand your emotional reasoning behind this statement -- "The best news was that Iranian women are fighting back against their elderly dictator. Hooray for them!" -- it goes without saying that 5 people have already been killed and over 75 have been injured. It is no joke in Iran to stand up to the regime. Many more will die. Unfortunately, Iranian women have always been the ones to stand up to the regime ...
I know, Rowshan, and it is painful to realize that those who stand up to these regimes, will or have died. But they do it knowing that their lives may be sacrificed and that is what I admire about them. Of course, aren’t most women standing up to these horrid so-called “princes of power”?
Robert Hubbell has a nice simple explanation of the main thing that happened to El Jefe del Merde a Loco in court today:
As many commentators note, the question of classification is irrelevant to the potential criminal charges that might be brought against Trump. But their classification status is relevant to Trump’s claim that he has a right to possess those documents. The government claims that it is impossible for Trump to have a possessory interest in classified documents. Trump responds that he might have declassified the documents because he had the authority to do so (when he was president). Dearie cut through the legal fog by asking a simple question: Did Trump actually declassify those documents? If not, Trump can have no possessory interest in classified documents.
Most importantly, Judge Dearie suggested that if Trump fails to produce any evidence of a possessory interest in the classified documents, then neither Trump’s attorneys nor the judge need review the documents. Dearie thus established a threshold evidentiary burden for Trump to overcome before reviewing classified documents. As Judge Dearie put it, “You can’t have your cake and eat it.”
A good explanation of why El Jefe's clowns want to see the documents is they think he lied to them about what the documents are.
The really funny thing is, El Jefe's clowns picked Judge Dearie (what an appropriate name) because they thought his time on the FISA court meant he would "question the FBI."
And best of all, El Jefe del Merde a Loco has to pay for all of this himself - and he can't stiff the federal courts.
And of course Dearie must know about the time honored declassification practice of visualizing in your mind that you are clicking your heels together three times and chanting: “I declassify thee, I declassify thee, I declassify thee!” ?
My response too. If I think about doing a certain thing, then I have done it. I have thought about doing some nefarious things to the a**hat across the street, so I guess I am guilty. What nonsense.
And because i thought about doing a sinful thing, i am just as sinful as the person who actually does the sin in question? This was the argument that i could not buy, 55 years ago, as taught by nuns in my crash course in catholicism. I failed.
You bring back memories of grade school... the nuns are probably still teaching that, in that same school, seventy years on (and I failed the course, too).
You are correct Lin, Judge Dearie has judicial experience & in the FISA court no less.
The Judge has the U.S.national security framework firmly in his judicial mind & the classic Federal judicial temperament to go with it. Been there done that.
What BS, I think about a lot of things, hardly a done deal, but then I never expect it to be. That one could posit such is evidence of brain rot, is it not. Or last ditch Machiavellian diatribe…
Do wonder how tfg legal team will pivot off this? Teflon is really effective. I await Dearie's next 5 or so rulings. Did he establish a threshold for tfg or merely set up an impression of impartiality? One data point does not show the trajectory.
I concur with your comments & question Fred. All the Special Master really does is report to the Trial Court, Judge Cannon but, that report will become part of the Appellate record & will be available to higher reviewing Courts (plural). I will have to review the Transcript of the SM Hearing but, I thought I heard tfg's one spokesperson refer to him as "the president" as in the Big Lie. Could be lunacy. I am more interested in the Government's next submission to Judge Dearie.
Lol, I have discovered that commenting at 4 in the morning elevates my comments high enough in the mix to actually be seen. Normally there are 300 comments ahead of mine and earlybird regulars have already signed out
However in respect to your suggestion, I’ll be returning to 6am dreamscream tomorrow
Follow me at Dave Fake News, my long running FB absurdity column
Musicians rely on dreams. Without dreams, Keith Richards would not have written “Satisfaction”
Suffering the weighty burden is implicit to the craft. Facing the darkness of closed eyelids with trepidation is our stock in trade
“Sometimes the dreams are those of Hope. We must soldier on and pray that we survive the notorious and revel in the sublime, sharing each as our significant or meager contribution to the task of enlightening our surroundings” (author known but requests anonymity)
It seems to me that the proper, legal process of declassification would require documentation that would leave a significant paper trail that would be relatively easy for TFG’s legal team to access. Such documentation would include an inventory and dates of declassification. It seems to me as well that process would result in documents being removed from file jackets labeled “Classified”.
If any of these documents were declassified, authorities would have known. He should have never had these documents and the documents that he was keeping should have been immediately returned. All of them. PERIOD!!! He is no longer President.
thanks be to God!!! TFG's cronies think we, the American people who have fought to live in a democracy and fought as well in support of others to live in freedom are so foolish!!!
According to legal experts on the matter as reported on MSNBC, the process of declassification is lengthy and complex. The agency which created the document has to agree. The document is then sent to all other agencies which might be affected by the declassification and they have to agree. Once all parties agree, the document is marked "declassified" and is available to be reviewed by the public. As noted by one, whatever value the document may have had while being "classified" is lost once it is made public. But as also noted by many here, classified or not, the documents belong to the government and having them or withholding them is a crime. They were literally stolen.
Exactly right - there is an established procedure and a paper trail. Presidents cannot unilaterally declassify a classified document!
Let's not forget that there's a legitimate reason to classify documents. Rarely is there a legitimate reason to declassify. When it happens, it is usually when it simply doesn't matter anymore - i.e. its ancient history and most of the parties are no longer alive and there in danger.
What Trump and his team are doing is kicking the can down the road until Republicans regain some power and try to make this all go away. That could happen in a few months. In my view given all we know and given the seriousness of the crime, Republicans could be putting themselves in grave jeopardy if they make an attempt to defend a traitor - a traitor who betrayed the national security of the United States of America. I hope they try if given the chance because I want the Republican Party to be sent to the dustbin of history far more than punishing the megalomaniac Trump. Trump is evil; the Republican Party is dangerous and can do far more damage than what they have done already.
You are correct. And there are many people involved in this scheme: he could not have done all this alone. The names will come out, just like the identities of the insurrectionists have.
If they had been declassified, which indeed requires a documentation process, the intelligence agencies would have blared warnings. The documents would have become public records. Imagine that.
Claims that these top secret records were declassified are nothing more than a smokescreen, a diversion. Or, more accurately, a traitor's lie.
That wasn't necessary. The defeated former president accomplished it by waiving his magic wand (probably swiped from a table at a garage sale) at the documents and saying the magic words, 'I dub thee unclassiafied.' His attorneys will produce evidence backing the validity of this method well documented by the brothers Grimm.
Thank you for putting those links up. The thing I like about the opportunity to read them is to appreciate Heathers’ letters even more. She captured the essence of both links in one tight letter!
'Donald Trump, 3 of his children sued for business fraud by New York AG
Lawsuit alleges $250 million fraud, seeks to bar the Trumps from serving as executives of any company operating in New York'
'The suit asks the New York Supreme Court to bar Trump, as well as Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump, from serving as executives at any company in New York, and to bar the Trump Organization from acquiring any commercial real estate or receiving loans from any New York-registered financial institution for five years.' (WAPO)
'It seeks to recover more than $250 million in what James’s office says are ill-gotten gains received through the alleged deceptive practices. While the lawsuit itself is not a criminal prosecution, James (D) said she has referred possible violations of federal law to the Justice Department and the IRS.' (WAPO)
'The 220-page lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, lays out in new and startling detail how, according to Ms. James, Mr. Trump’s annual financial statements were a compendium of lies. The statements, yearly records that include the company’s estimated value of his holdings and debts, wildly inflated the worth of nearly every one of his marquee properties — from Mar-a-Lago in Florida to Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street in Manhattan, according to the lawsuit.' (NYTimes) See link below.
"If he thought about it, it was done." Because I really do believe that laughter is a great medicine, here is an old George Carlin routine "Confession" where he gave a teenage boy's understanding of committing sins of desire vs. action. He came to a hilarious conclusion about midway through the video. (The next section is a bit more graphic about teenage boys and sin, which also cracked me up, but I just wanted to warn you.) Enjoy!
Before reading LFAA today, I sat through a video about the latest threat to voting produced by the Republican Party. Link is from the NYT. The precinct level plot to determine which votes get counted. The role of vote challengers to secure data to prove fraud in Democratic districts and counties. As a pollworker, this is frightening. I hope Heather goes into this. Link here for your perusal, all.
Article about this locally and also on the TV news. The sec of state is proposing a person in her office who would take this burden off county election offices...here in Oregon. Small group of people causing major headaches.
Writing this had to be a huge task. Thank you for the very detailed summation. Reading this, although most enlightening, is frustrating as well as frightening.
The amount of time consuming lawsuits is surreal. So many have absolutely no merit and are a way to play out the clock and tie up our courts. Isn’t past due time for Biden & Team to pack the Supreme Court? And while we’re at it—find the tools it takes to get rid of DeJoy. There are less than 50 days until midterms. Just think of the amount of destruction he can do!
Enough! I’m going to try getting a good night’s sleep here in SF.
OH! I had not heard or seen that brilliant, apropos name for "D.C."!!! Thank You Lynell!
"The Washington, D.C. Admission Act would create the state of "Washington, Douglass Commonwealth" (named after Frederick Douglass). As a state, the Douglass Commonwealth would receive two senators and one representative in the House of Representatives based on population." (Wikipedia)
TeeHee, MaryPat! I read sometime last year that they wanted to keep the "D.C." in D.C.,-- but weren't enamored with honoring Columbus (Columbia), hence, "Douglass Commonwealth;" and also -- so they wouldn't need to go to the expense of changing out the name all around the city.
I was thinking that too and that if they had had real help after Maria, they would be in better shape this time. At least FEMA has warehouses there now. Glad to see also that death star's attorneys are not fooling the Special Master. Even for a lot of money, I can't understand why anyone would agree to represent him at this point.
Hey, Barbara. The short answer as I know it is December will see the end of two DeJoy allies who are on the USPS Board of Governors. Hopefully, President Biden will then appoint two new Governors that will give the Board a majority of Democrats who can then send DeJoy packing. Here's a deep dive into our no joy DeJoy woes. In the meantime, I'm hoping it won't be too late for the USPS to have a 100% electric vehicle fleet.
"As The American Prospect's David Dayen explained Wednesday, the president may soon have an opportunity to pave the way for DeJoy's removal by nominating two DeJoy opponents to postal governor spots that will be open in December, when the terms of Republican William Zollars and Democrat Donald Lee Moak—allies of the postmaster general—expire."
Interestingly, there's a Democrat on the Board of Governors who is a DeJoy ally, so no help from him. But hopefully, Biden will fix that come the end of December; then it's full speed ahead for the USPS...Morning, Ally!
Many thanks, BK, for this awesome news! I note these articles were written before President Biden signed the IRA into law. So there should be no excuse not to have a 100% U.S. EV fleet! (Will be subscribing to these websites so I can keep myself updated)
Also, just FYI, for over a year I wrote "Save the USPS!" on all my envelopes. When the USPS got "saved," I started writing "Electrify the USPS!" instead. Who knew this would work? LOL!
DeJoy is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s not easy or he would have been gone a year ago. How can republicans support destruction of the P.O., opposition to voting rights, and be anti-democracy. By calling these things the opposite, of course. And the film flam continues…
Pretty much, Mike. I hadn't taken that assessment of the PO. I was just assuming they wanted private industry to take over and make money, rather than provide a service.
It is partly that as well. My LMT is a ex postal worker and he has explained the inner workings of the PO to me. He is an upright guy who doesn't mince words, so he was a thorn in the side of those who didn't care that they were supposed to provide a service.
Republicans have long sought to completely privatize USPS. I'm sure they would argue that the U.S. Constitution directive to establish a postal system says nothing about it not being established as private business.
Thank you HCR for your detailed analysis which makes this horrible reality show a lot more understandable. To Leonard Lubinsky: it's seemed like a reality show from the beginning to me. I stopped watching the first one the head magnut starred in when he fired someone for taking responsibility for a mistake. Great way to describe the delusion.
Yes, thank you. Dan Rather’s letter is a must read: “The truth is what it is. It is damning. It is dangerous. And it is the direct result of those who are undermining our democracy.
What will $1.6 billion buy you on Mount Desert Island, Maine? Or maybe if you have $1.6 billion+ and your name is Leonard Leo then you needn't spend a penny to get some government officials to hop-to to your demands, or perhaps anticipate your wishes. And others apparently to join in a cover up.
In this small corner of this fallen world, we may be witnessing a microcosm of the sort of corruption which writ large gives us the American Republican Party, and writ worse - but for the fortitude of Democrats and perhaps only until January 2023 - the governments of Hungary, Russia, and Iran.
As the 'google Leonard Leo = Corrupt Government' chalk paint graffiti public outreach project winds down, here is a report.
Although there are material standards for permanency in paint, I do not believe there are legal or scientific standards which define 'temporary." I can report that a simple mixture of school and/or sidewalk chalk blended with water makes a chalk paint of a very surprisingly satisfying durability. Eventually it wears away with raining and walking on; a little simple kitchen science can speed up the process.
As for the situation on MDI. My reading is that after an appalling misstep in complying with Leonard Leo's instigation of an arrest, on an unusual interpretation and possibly unique application of an ordinance, the police leadership stepped back and stood up for the law. (Sort of like the US Army chiefs stepping back after the Trump Bible debacle.) The outreach project benefitted in that, from the start, police leadership declared it to be protected by the First Amendment and compliant with the Maine Criminal code - although they had to rein in a few Leo allied rogue cops. Enter the Bar Harbor Town Manager who - after some complaints presumably from Leo and with no jurisdiction as the local law is silent on graffiti - initiated a campaign of intimidation, misinformation, and erasure.
Where we are now, is that the Bar Harbor Town Council is ignoring requests for information about the Town Manager's actions, suggesting they may have been complicit in the campaign as well as the cover-up. Only they know, for now. Although the Town Manager is the public access officer - tragedy or farce - there are other paths to Freedom of Access compliance.
You can follow this on another excellent Maine based Substack blog, Lincoln Millstein's The QuietSide Journal - which covers a lot of ground and some surrounding waters here. https://theqsjournal.substack.com/
“💙💙💙👏👏👏“Sutherland makes a unilateral executive order that she needs to be held accountable for what she is doing. This is a baseless claim, but a dangerous assertion. There is no accountability attaching to my acting within my constitutionally protected rights and within the Maine Criminal Code - the first of which Sutherland has no authority to violate and the second of which Sutherland has no authority to enforce. On whom is Sutherland placing the responsibility of holding me accountable. His audience?”
Seeing clips of the Nazi arm raises in rallies with Trump in Ohio and mastriano in Pennsylvania the past few days filled me with dread. Desantis’ action shocked me with its bold dehumanization of migrants. It’s been a rough few days with so much that is evil on full display.
But this letter...coupled with Dan Rather’s post...this letter has me filled with such hope!
Hope that truth will out. Hope that truth will put allow transparency into dark money. Hope that trump and his cohort will be held accountable. Hope that truth will be shared and HEARD by more people. Hope that both Putin and Trump will be sidelined. Hope that more countries will embrace freedom for all. Where there is truth, there is hope. Hope, sweet hope. Thank you, Professor-your letters are not only a source of truth, for also a source of hope. Thank you.
Not sure if this was an attempt at humor or actual reporting but in the video clip I saw the former asked his crowd if they wanted his one hour rally or two and they all raised their hands high with 1 finger in response.
They have been orchestrating such for decades; I have been appalled by the tv version, but even more appalled by the political version, which is fictional screenwriting (propaganda) at the Oscar-level.
Gratitude for your clarity, Dear Heather. Turmoil rules over much of our world. Grateful for your generosity and capacity for truth. The UN gathering furthers the notions of truth and the needs of our shared Mother Earth. May we each and all be blessed
At first blush, it would appear that Judge Dearie is giving Trump a whopping spoonful of becareful what you wish for. We will see if he stays the course.
Does anyone else find DeSantis calling the investigation into his own political theater of flying people to another state under false pretense, "political theater" alittle rich ? It's dripping in irony.
I never thought I would live to see the day where "Russia" and " is staggering " would be used in the same sentence.
The De Santis business has been (to me) like a punch in the midriff. Martha's Vineyard was neutralised by the decent way the inhabitants received them, but dumping on the VP's doorstep busloads of migrants who have been lied to and thus missed their hearing is harder to manage.
"Dumping" is a good, versatile word in this context. DeSantis has engaged in the time-honored juvenile practice of taking a "dump" on an enemy's doorstep as a kind of "counting coup." By using asylum seekers as his "dump," he loudly broadcasts what he thinks of them.
DeSantis' stunt was a double-edged shiv. The obscene dehumanization of the asylum seekers was one side, but the other was equally obscene. He aimed to paint the wealthy residents of Martha's Vineyard as snobs, "better thans" who would reject "those people" while news cameras rolled. Epic fail.
It's dripping in hypocrisy - like always. Republicans are now soaked in hypocrisy after decades of blaming/accusing others for which they are even more guilty of.
Citizens United will go down in the annals of American jurisprudence as among the very top corrupters of our politics. I can’t imagine what Roberts was thinking. It looks like the dark money forces won big time, doesn’t it?
John Roberts tries to be the Federalist Society with a human face. It doesn't really work. Tear away the facade and he's exactly the anti-democracy judge Bush thought he was appointing.
Morale has to be at an all-time low on the right and not only here. Here morale is low for former Trump staffers, lawyers and supporters. Morale is low for Republicans in D.C. Elsewhere morale is not only low for Russian citizens over a 3 day war now closing in on a year but it's not as low as the soldiers being forced to fight it.
Russia is seeing it's position on the world stage dropping and the move by Kazakhstan to check for Russian bound EU sanctioned goods is proof. That Kazakhstan is making moves toward a liberal democracy makes it a double shot.
Morale has to be low for Iranian leaders as women rip off their hijabs with protection from male supporters who stand between the women and the police.
It's like dominos dropping in slow motion. As we move into fall expect the pace to quicken. Around the world democracy is finding its legs. Fascists are getting sloppy, low morale will do that to ya.
The Marthas' VIneyard covert interstate human trafficking & dumping Class Action is Case Number 1-22-cv-11550, Alianza Americas, Yanet, Pablo & Jesus DOE vs. Donald Desantis, State of Florida, et al.
MP S: FYI, Substack & HCR sent me three (3) one month free subscriptions. One Sub has already been taken quickly with no problem interacting with Substack. I thought I would email you the remaing two free 1 month Subs on the front lines in Michigan. Distribute as you see fit. If OK, I will send you the freebie email from Substack?
It would be really nice to get some good news this week. I think that some former SSR states that have felt unable to make any moves that might piss off Putz-in will be taking very cautious steps away from Russian dominance (and yes: I imagine them as Looney Tunes tiptoe-ing) and the reason is because of President Biden's dogged determination to shore up the alliances of democratic regimes. Once again: his many years in the Senate and his experience as VP to a nice guy who was terrified to upset anyone for fear of being catalogued as an Angry Black Man has led him to enact strategies that have no doubt been developing for a long time. The thing I like about Biden is that he can admit that some of the things he did in his long career were awful (Anita Hill, for instance) and he recognizes that his actions have consequences. So he is trying to do better. As a pragmatist, he is never going to please the ideologues of the Dem Party, but since the ideologues on both sides fantasize about blowing everything up with no regard for reality, I am fine with that. I might dream of a More Perfect Union, but I am willing to settle for a Dem majority in House and Senate come November 9th. We have to keep supporting this administration by electing as many Dems as possible, not just on a national level but locally as well.
Well said. Biden is growing into the office, and may well be as influential a President as FDR, when the final analysis is written. We have work to do to get out the vote to give him the Congress he needs to fulfill that promise.
Russia (I am going to say) has not been great since record keeping began. But, great people they have produced. Together with great achievements in technology and science. The system they employ (to control humans) is hardly governing. It is phoney. Their people are kept in the dark and fed manure....like mushrooms. Our own (R)eprobate Party is also good with that. While the rest of us continue to experience diminishing returns, thanks to them (the R party). Only now, are we beginning to see a parallel here. If I may. While the Russians are "recruiting" or trying to, from their vast network of Labor Camps... our own "R" party has been busy gathering reprobates (Abbot, Cruz, Jordan, DeSantis, Hannity, Cannon, ad infinitum) to help spread their manure, and battle the Liberals.
Todays "Letter" is something to be read. Thank you Ms Heather! Thank you so very much.
Today’s letter is a complicated yet clear picture of good versus evil, in the USA and in countries around the world. Ken Burns’ PBS special on the Holocaust and fascism is a haunting connection to the continuing struggle and fight for Democracy and freedom. The tragedy of human loss, of violence and destruction versus humanity’s unstoppable struggle is both heartbreaking and reassuring. And it’s not just foreign countries we must fight against, it’s Fascism here in our country. I cried watching history and my own family’s loss and immigration experiences, and yours, knowing that we are living history in present time. An incalculable loss and threat of humanity and resources on this planet. And we have only the choice of continuing the struggle.
Watching Ken Burn’s “The Holocaust” is sobering. I have known the contours of this history, but the US details? Not so much. I was taught that we were resistant to getting involved in another war. I chalked that up to an effect of the Great Depression. And while there were elements of that at play, the role of good ‘ol human xenophobia was so much at the center of it all. If it were white xtians getting rounded up and slaughtered by Germans, I doubt we would have narrowed the needle hole for that thread of immigration. The doors would have been busted wide open, red carpet rolled out, and a gift basket waiting. And there were American’s arguing against our inhuman isolationism. And there was news coverage of what was happening and what Hitler was doing. America was not ignorant of the slaughter. I was always under the impression that we were, that we did not know about the slaughter until the camps were liberated. So like today, they KNEW what is going on. And like today, there are forces at play to thwart humane responses, whether it be for Democracy’s survival, or the Earth’s. These fights we are in never end. Lift a glass to kindness when we see it, but never think the fight is over.
Michele, good summary of the Ken Burns special. How could I not say it! Antisemitism. ANTISEMITISM , the ancient annihilation and hate of the Jews. In our government preventing years of action. And more… the Nazi’s research into the USA Racist Playbook, Slavery, enslaving humans. NO Blacks; White Only. Continuing killing to make this a white Christian world. America looking the other way because here in the USA we were the example. Who was willing to give up the Whites Only, Christians only system? We had to be directly attacked in Pearl Harbor. And then we ended the war (temporarily) dropping the most destructive weapon known to humanity. At least then. And now White Supremacy here, supported by repubs in myriad and open ways. We didn’t invent slavery. Humankind from recorded history enslaved humans. If we need more information there is a library full of proof. How can we sleep?
I watch "Finding Your Roots" and have been surprised & puzzled & appalled at how far back & in so many countries antisemitism played into people's immigration to the US. And it still does....
I've never understood Antisemitism. But I got a hint of something in a peculiar little book I read about Genghis Kahn. I don't know how accurate it is in the details, but Genghis Kahn lived and ruled in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, and conquered and ruled much of the North in Europe. His military prowess is legendary, and his tactics brutal -- much of his success in battle had to do with the fact that his enemies knew his name, and were scared shitless. He would capture soldiers and farmers in the field, and then drive them into the moats surrounding walled Asian cities until they leveled it to where he could advance his siege towers to the wall over their bodies. Survivors of any battles he engaged in were few.
At one point, he decided to venture into Western Europe. He didn't stay long -- his might was in horsemen, and soft tilled earth was not much to his liking -- but he did execute some raids, and scared the shit out of the Western Europeans before he headed back north and east.
According to this author, there was a huge amount of speculation about who on earth this fellow was, and fear that he would come back, and what did he want anyway? One of the speculations was that this was one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. This may have fed the fires of 12th century Medieval European antisemitism, which is often cited when talking about Hitler's antisemitism.
Wherever it came from, antisemitism is one of those enduring stains on human intelligence.
So much is packed into tonight’s letter! First, Dearie has Trump’s number. Kise, the $3mil-up-front attorney, is bombing big time against the DOJ. I just hope “Loose Cannon” does not fire Dearie, which she has the authority to do, apparently. If she does, then we will see that she is bought and paid for by the Pro-Rape Party and Leonard Leo. Second, Putin is scraping the bottom of the barrel for soldiers. The fact that there is an age range of 18-60 says a lot. Between the west and other foreign sources, Ukraine may just beat Russia down. At least, I hope so. The best news was that Iranian women are fighting back against their elderly dictator. Hooray for them! Sheldon Whitehouse, one of my faves, has his brilliant DISCLOSE Act coming to the Senate. I love that Dems have found their cojones and are fighting back. AND a Texas Sheriff department in Bexar County, who’s head is of Latin descent, is investigating DeSantis and Abbott’s little hateful human trafficking scheme. Hope they drown in lawsuits after lawsuits. We are on the move, people! #YESWECAN
Thank You Marlene. I am watching The Holocaust documentary on PBS in the evenings and trying hard to keep past and present separate in my 5:00 a.m. head, but they are combining and conflagrating. This summary helps. Although maybe past IS present.
Mary Pat, as William Faulkner said, “The past is not dead; it’s not even past.” The same evil that produced WWII and the Holocaust rears its head again and again. We must be on guard always.
Forever vigilant has been my mindset for years. As a gay male (a fact I do not announce very often), I am well aware of the backlash and hatred now being fomented against LGBTQ+ culture. Those who "claim" a Scriptural validation for their hatred have not studied or read Scripture.
You are exactly right about Scripture, Keith. Having nothing to do with any particular religious beliefs, or lack of, I can say absolutely that we live in a bible illiterate culture. People don't read Scripture. They listen to someone's interpretation of Scripture. Big difference. Relevant only because, purely personally, realizing that fact inspired me to write and teach a course in The Hebrew Bible as Literature for 30 years. Relevant on topic because there has never been a time, since the advent of Christianity, when Scripture-based bigotry and great and terrible violence, has been absent from western culture. When the bibles come out, yes, it's time to lay low. What a terrible thing that is.
I learned much about what Holy Scripture does NOT say during my graduate study at Seminary. I also learned what Scripture DOES say. That it in and of itself is convoluted and self-contradictory. Along the way, I studied some Buddhism. "Some", so as not to overstate the reality or truth. There is Buddhistic thought in the Teachings of Jesus, a fact that has led some scholars to suggest that during his teen years, Jesus went East to study Buddha. I also learned during completion of my graduate study how I seemed to know even LESS. One cannot assert carrying the Mantel of God while at the same time being judgmentally self-righteous.
I grew up in farm country, went to Sunday School/Church every Sunday. Was a Boy Scout, sang in choir, became secretary for youth leadership and active in fundraising. I remember vividly when age 16 walking out of the narthex, overhearing one of the older farmers remarking to his wife after he had had a jovial "chat" with another farmer: "I sure as hell hope I do not run into that s.o.b. again until next Sunday. Honestly, I was stunned.
It is remarkable how difficult it is for the readers of my month-old Publication to read the text as a piece of literature, to set aside their automatic reaction that reading it that way is disrespectful--or worse--toward their faith. Once they "get it" they seem to enjoy it. Interestingly enough, the high school seniors in the independent schools where I taught it as a senior elective were almost entirely open-minded and very enthusiastic. I'm not sure I understand the dynamic. Whatever it is about that text, it has kept me dug in deep. I don't think a day has gone by that I'm not in there at least a bit. After three decades that's where all my metaphors come from.
As for the convolution and contradictions, a lot of that is explained by the history of the composition and final redaction of the whole thing.
Anyway, very interesting to read someone else's experience of -- whatever else it is in whatever religious faith--the most influential piece of symbolic literature in western culture.
"The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know." ― Albert Einstein
Dean, I'm with you... most folks don't bother to read, just go along with whoever is making loud claims. This is part of the big problem, Americans know only what they have been told whether it is biblical or the Constitution. Go ahead, take a few minutes and actually read either document... you'll be surprised!
Yes, for all our famous pioneering spirit and energy to blaze across the frontier we seem to lack the energy for settling down to the mundane tasks of reading, writing and 'arithmetic. Like children, we are easily distracted and I'm not sure we can blame it all on our youth as a country.
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Yes.
Putin is proving to be as much a despicable monster as Hitler & Stalin.
In fact, Stalin is Putin's model.
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Saw an interview of Ken Burns on All In with Chris Hayes. Ken Burns rushed the release of the documentary to happen this year rather than next year, as was scheduled, due to what is happening in our country now. The parallels are frightening: America First, being replaced, etc.
Yes, the interview was interesting. And the parallels are frightening, especially re: America First and being replaced.
Hi, Bonnie, and thank you. I remember the time when I was a bit huffy, you could say indignant, at the comparison of Trump and his administration with Hitler and Nazi Germany.
That seems like a long time ago. It isn't a stretch and I hope a lot of people are seeing the dots connect as I am. It's an eerie and detailed comparison
Hopefully, those watching are especially those that need to be enlightened! They are probably watching sports or westerns!
Yes. Joanne, I saw that also and am very grateful that he and his co-writers/producers decided to release this documentary at this time.
Attempted like
Citizen 60-try going to the top of the page and look to the left of the search bar-you'll see an incomplete circle w/an arrow @ the end. Click on that. Once you do that, the page is refreshed and the page will show up again & you should be able to get the heart to work. It may last for only a time or two-then refresh the page again.
MaryPat...I too watched the U.S. and the Holocaust (streamed all 3 parts) and am having trouble sleeping. I thought I already knew enough about it. Oh no...so much to learn. Powerful documentary.
MK, this is what I lived throughout my life having parents who were Holocaust victims. We were reminded of the persecutions every day. Grateful my parents are not alive to witness what is happening in the country that they loved so much.
I'm so, so deeply sorry that your parents were victims of the Holocaust. And I'm equally sorry for the difficulty that legacy must have caused in your life. Despite having heard about it since I was in grade school, and been outraged and horrified at the atrocities and hatred involved, I still can't grasp the enormity of the event nor the amount of immorality and wickedness present in all of the perpetrators. The periodic rearing up of the monstrous evil of hatred for Jews and other minorities makes it clear we must not just say "never again." We must always teach all school children at some point or various points, before they graduate high school, about the crimes in world history perpetrated against minorities by politically ambitious criminals who stir up fear and hatred of "the other" as a stepping stone to power. Citizens of democracies need to learn what "the next Hitler or Donald Trump" look like as those mentally ill authoritarians crawl and connive their way up "the ladder," before they gain status and authority. They need to be shamed and shunned early in their criminal careers.
Wishing you (and everyone supporting democracy and love) peace, health and prosperity.
Thank you so much, CC, for your kind words. I do hope and pray enough people are paying attention to what can happen here. The younger people who can vote are certainly taking it all in. They will be our future.
The US and the Holocaust is indeed very powerful and I am surprised that the GQP has not been screaming it's hydra head off about it.
MaryPat, that's exactly what I told my husband last night as we watched the first part of The Holocaust. If the fashion was different, it could be what's happening today.
So the more I think about it, I have two emotions. Very sad that it appears to have never gone away but very happy that for 80+ years we were able to rise above it. Heather's letters always help by comparing today to history and know we survived.
It's one of the things that keeps me going, frankly. Been here, done that, came out strong.
This Holocaust Series is chilling. That we have Americans who share the horror of the extermination is terribly, terrilby disturbing. "Jews will not replace us", the White Supremacist mantra, makes absolutely no sense. I have lifelong friends who are Jews. Many wealthy Jews have been major benefactors to hospitals, colleges/universities (I studied at one) and public radio/TV programs.
I have known about the hatred in our Republic for many years, having been a member of the SPLC, Southern Poverty Law Center. Those homegrown terrorist groups have morphed. I fear we have been too casual about their potency.
I too, have been a member of SPLC for over 25 years as well as ACLU. Yes, homegrown terrorism has morphed...three-fold!
Keltik, many gays were rounded up, as well as gypsies to be exterminated along with Jews. Those who helped in Resistance were also killed. For what? A race, a way of life that didn’t appeal to a white crazed male?? The US doesn’t have a pretty record of eliminating these people from having power. Our time is NOW!
I just caught a missing "t" in Poverty! I am all too familiar with the "fear of queer", having coming out in May 1968 with my first partner. The self-defined moral-purist Christofascists must be challenged at every turn. Vigilance is mandatory.
Absolutely!!
Yes. I belong to the organization POPULATION CONNECTION. In their latest magazine, there are articles about the new statistics about world and U.S. populations. From the 'In The News' section, here are some items from "U.S. Birth Rate Up Again, but Aging Trend Remains":
"According to preliminary data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 3,659,289 births in 2021, and increase of about 46,000, or 1 percent, from 2020. The CDC's analysis found that during the initial Covid-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020, there was a sharp decline in conceptions that led to fewer births. But conception began increasing again by the summer of 2020 as unemployment decreased and families received government benefits.
"Nevertheless, the birth rate in 2021 was still lover than in 2019, reflecting an ongoing trend towards smaller families. The declining U.S. birth rate is leading to population again--new Census data shows that since 2000, the national median age has increased by 3.4 years to 38.8. The Northeast was the oldest region in 2021, with a median age of 40.4, followed by the Midwest (39.0), the South (38.6), and the West (37.7). The Center data also revealed that the country is becoming more diverse, with all races and ethnicity groups growing between 2020 and 2021 except for the white population, which declined by 0.03 percent.
"Pandemic disruptions affected the quality of the 2020 Census, with research published in May this year showing household populations were overcounted in eight states (Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Utah.), yet undercounted in six states (Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas). However the Census Bureau concluded that the national total in the 2020 Census was largely accurate. Overall, the U.S. population increased from 331, 501,080 on July 1, 2020, to 331,893,745 on July 1, 2021."
Thanks for that breakdown and hooray for diversity!!
We also must remember that Germany's Hitler had over 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, not to mention the millions more of soldiers and civilians on both sides that died during WWII, which also includes the nuclear bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all of which was caused by Hitler. But during Stalin's reign over Russia, it has been estimated that he had over 200 million people murdered. What Hitler caused kind of pales to what Stalin did. But in either case, those were awful (put in any other worse word) acts.
But since WWII, humans have continued to kill, kill, kill, not only by wars, but also by starvation, denial of people's rights of freedom and corporations ruling what happens. And now with the obvious climate change that is being ignored by those corporations and world governments, our population on the plane, which is supposed to reach 8 Billion on November 15, 2022, could end the existence of all of us in a very short time. Just a thought.
The estimates of people murdered under Stalin's reign are difficult to precisely determine. But the numbers are more likely 15 to 20 million, not 200 million. But as someone said, "one death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic."
Whatever the number really was, it was horrific.
Agreed. I should also point out what the weather had to do with Hitler's attempted invasion of Russia in WWII. It was the dreaded Russian Winter that mostly wiped out the German army in its attempt to take Stalingrad. Hitler was no student of history, as the same Winter had stopped Napoleon's army trying to do the same thing. There are great examples of how the climate controls and limits us.
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Me, too, MaryPat, and was awake in the middle of the night full of anguish and worry. One more episode to go. It’s hard, but necessary, to watch.
Dang right we can, Marlene. Thank you for your sizzle on the comment griddle today.
I’ll add that the claim of “political theater” coming out the DeSantis trap of a mouth is stupidity even for him. Cracks everywhere in the Republican increasingly thin veneer of believability. No amount of money can fix that kind of stupidity.
Unita! 🗽
DeSantis's stunt was boneheaded, even by right-wing standards. Perhaps anxiety about him managing to accend to the Oval Office is misplaced, if that sorry operation is indicative of how he or his cronies would manage a presidential campaign. Let's see how he manages federal courts (I assume they filed in Massachusetts.)
Bone-headed and CRUEL!
Yet the Republican insanity continues. Here in Georgia, there's an ad by Herschel Walker's ex-wife playing over and over. In it she says, "The first time he threatened to kill me he put a gun to my head and said he was going to blow my brains out." He also said that China is pushing all the bad air over to us. He is leading Democratic incumbent Warnock in the polls.
Thing is...Republicans in GA, even though Walker is an embarrassment to anyone with a brain, are now accepting that they can elect him with the understanding that he will vote for, rubber-stamp, any and all measures voted on by Senate Republicans. That's ALL they want him for. It's a given he won't begin to be able to actually understand any of the things he'd vote for or against, but just so he votes with all the rest of the GOP is all that matters. Both Warnock and Ossoff, our current Senators, have worked to initiate certain causes and are vocal in their support of a range of legislation. Walker would be totally out of his league in a similar situation, since the man doesn't possess "the sense to come in out of the rain", as they say here. There mere thought of having this clueless goom-bah as our Senator makes me want to hurl.
The polls sure as hell better be wrong.
Agreed…
That is a sad state of affairs. Name recognition and football as god.
Maybé Walker needs to have a brain scan to test for impact injury. He is definitely a loose canon.
Who in the world with brains could want Walker over Warnock? How can the polls be accurate? Incredible!
You answered your own question
Yes I agree, Allen. Do not believe in the polls! They have known to be wrong.
I wonder if the polling is finding the woman who are likely to show up over forced-childbirth. I have my fingers crossed. I wouldn't blow off polling, but I wouldn't put money on it. In fact I'd bet against it if we had legal betting in Ohio!
Richard, copied this off FB and made a bumper sticker of it for my car!
ROE-VEMBER is coming!! ELECTIONS MATTER. VOTE
ROE ROE ROE YOUR VOTE!
Brava, Christine!
Christine, I sure anticipate a DeSantis demise and fall from power, soon!
I just wish Abbutt was locked up before this election. In an orange suit and trying to find his jailhouse gang. So need a blue Democratic wave win here! From Beto on down!
Denise, mailing another donation to Beto today. Amazing man!
“Abbutt”…❤️ That!!😁
First time I've seen that spelling of the sad little troll still in the governor's seat in Texas, Denise. Thanks for the laugh.
Yes! Please!
Why do people have to use an attractive part of the human body--a secondary sex characteristic, no less, as an insult? The derriere originally evolved so we could run, along with the achilles tendon, hairlessness, and the nuchal ligament (as no other primate can do). The running enabled hunter-gatherers to catch prey animals, as Harvard's Daniel Lieberman has written.
Correction, Sheriff Javier Salazar is the sheriff of Bexar County (San Antonio area), not Harris County / Houston! Go, Sheriff Salazar, DeSantis is a repulsive, immoral miscreant and should be disqualified from ever holding public office again!
Yay Sheriff Javier Salazar, proud of him here in San Antonio! Also Beto for standing up to Gov Abbott!
Ohhh, Thank you!! Will correct that too, on my post.
Thank you Marlene for summing up the scheming repub attacks on worldwide Democracy. For those who need more examples, tune in to the PBS Ken Burns special on the Holocaust. It’s everyone’s History. Just to add: what was shocking in the Ken B special is/was the antisemitism here in the US government and population that prevented the rescue and end of Hitler’s murderous attacks. USA culpable and responsible for prolonging the deaths and destruction.
I’m especially heartbroken as that truth is revisited. I was unaware of how desperately Anne Frank’s family tried -in vain- to immigrate to the USA. I also was unaware of how much Hitler & co used the American practice of genocide of Indigenous Americans, and our Jim Crow Laws as a template for his Final Solution.
I learned that from Caste and the Warmth of Other Sons by Isabel Wilkerson. I urge all Americans to read these books.
Hale, Excellent books and eye opening for many Americans. “Caste” is the newest. Wilkerson’s first book “Warmth of Other Suns” was written in 2010. We read it in our book group, primarily white well educated Christian women, who were shocked. Being Jewish I was surprised, educated, but not shocked. And as a non-Christian and experiencing antisemitism I thought I understood. But really, there’s a difference. I’m not minimizing antisemitism. But White Privilege is real. That’s why the Nazis forced Jews to wear the Yellow Star. Humans.
Yes, Irenie, yes…😞. It is why you and I fight against injustices of any kind. We know the heartache and despair.
Yes, this is the history, part of Critical Race Theory, CRT, half of the states in USA are banning. Banning TRUTH that few of us were taught in school.
Having recognized that, like Queen Elizabeth (I am 8 years younger), WWII formed both of us (the “Great Generation”), seeing what she achieved and reflecting on what I have done, as a former teacher, I think the Right’s “objections” to teaching the truths of history are a crock…
Virginia:
There are stronger words for this. I would call them lies or in stronger words BS.
Agreed. Just weary of so much BS. Before DT, I didn’t use this language. Brought up to eschew it. Still tending not to write the obscenities I am speaking these days.🤣
Thank you, Marlene. Excellent recap. Agree about Sheldon Whitehouse. He has been relentless in his pursuit of dark money.
I adore Sheldon Whitehouse. I met a couple of his constituents on a trip over the summer. I raved about him. I had to tell them who he was . . .
Whitehouse is amazing, and can be charismatic; he should be doing a white board presentation each week on national TV.
That’s sad from the smallest state. In Florida(sigh) 40+ years but born and raised in Rhode Island. 💙Whitehouse.
(He's also all about cleaning up the oceans (not surprising since there's so much coastline for RI. ) Have you seen his 14 part You Tube series called The SCHEME? Well worth the watching.
Watched several. Well done and informative. We’re in serious trouble unless we can find a way to limit outrageous spending support by unethical and self-serving wealthy people.
Watched several. Well done and informative. We’re in serious trouble unless we can find a way to limit outrageous spending support by unethical and self-serving wealthy people.
In the case of Iran - to see how it came to this - read
BLOOD AND OIL: Memoirs of a Persian Prince. An autobiography coauthored by his daughter, Farmanfarmaian. No one comes out clean - especially the USA.
Ages 18-60? Sound like anyone we know who shot themselves in Germany in the 40's? Pretty soon we will see even younger people being called up.
I was glad to see the Iranian women protesting, even happier to see that men are protecting them so they can protest because without those men, in that society, they would all be marched off by the morality police.
"Putin is scraping the bottom of the barrel for soldiers"
'Putin's Chef' a catering oligarch and Wagner Group honcho is evidently recruiting in jails: survive Ukraine and be free, desert and be shot.
Yes, lin, I read about that also.
Marlene, I don’t know how much Trusty won’t be paid, but the $3 mil advance guy is Chris Kise of Florida.
Thank you, Grace. I stand corrected and did change it on my post.
lin, is that you of sidewalk chalking fame? I have wondered how you fared after being confronted by the local leonard leo constables.
Marlene, I think the $3m lawyer is finding that his client tells more lies than he imagined, and is unable to "defend " tRump without perjuring himself. It seems he's not willing to lose his law license over the orange ass-cactus.
Please do not associate the derriere with FPOTUS. It's an attractive part of the human body, and evolved so that our hunter gatherer ancestors could run (no other primate has a rump like ours; no other primate runs), along with the nuchal ligament and the achilles tendon, as Harvard's Daniel Lieberman has written. It is in fact, a secondary sex characteristic. Twisting a name to turn it into something ugly, or calling a person names (orange ass-cactus) undermines, and takes attention away from the important you are saying in your comment.
I negected to say that the running was in order to catch prey, and they could run for hours, whereas the prey animals, covered with hair, and not built for marathon type running, could run fast, but only in spurts, and then they'd run out of steam.
There have actually been events where really good long distance runners have chased horses, and eventually caught them.
'WCK (World Central Kitchen) follows the path of Hurricane Fiona with fresh meals for impacted communities'
https://wck.org/
'After making its way across parts of the Caribbean as a tropical storm, Hurricane Fiona intensified into a Category 1 storm just as it slammed into Puerto Rico's southern coast on Sunday. All of the territory was left without power just two days before the fifth anniversary of the devastating Hurricane María. The storm moved slowly across the island dumping upwards of 30 inches of rain, which caused catastrophic damage including landslides in some regions.'
Please help!
https://wck.org/
'WCK's #ChefsForPuertoRico team—whose roots date back to our María response—prepared sandwiches ahead of the storm making landfall, and then as soon as it was safe to do so, we began cooking. Within hours, our team was providing nourishing meals from our Field Kitchen in San Juan. Now also partnering with local restaurants and food trucks, we are serving 10,000 meals a day. Our capacity will continue to grow as we establish additional kitchens in the south of the island.'
AND MORE!
Critical food for liberated towns around Kharkiv
'After six long months of Russian occupation, the Ukrainian military liberated a large region near Kharkiv last week. WCK’s Relief Team immediately jumped in to support communities that have been living under occupation, bringing fresh food and meal kits as soon as it was safe to do so.'
'Remnants of Typhoon Merbok hit Alaska’s coastal communities
The remnants of Typhoon Merbok hit Alaska's western coast over the weekend, bringing heavy winds and causing severe flooding. Some homes were pushed off their foundations and critical infrastructure supplying water and power was damaged. To support families, WCK has been flying water, sandwiches, fresh fruit, and supplies to communities including Golovin, Unalakleet, and Hooper Bay. Thankfully all airstrips are in use, so we've been able to reach people in need of support. '
AND MORE! Please help!
https://wck.org/
WCK did a fantastic job in Poland when millions of people were flooding out of Ukraine. They need money but also need volunteers.
Hi, Allen! How (and where, if comfortable sharing) are you these days? 💙
I'm well but lonesome for my wife. I'm still in Regina as she can cope better without me in an emergency but plan on going back in thenew year sometime.
I bet you are! Tanya (sp?) went back home to Ukraine?
Yes. Early August. She was hoping to come back but decided to stay. Home is home
WCK is worth donating to; they do amazing things.
Another is Team Rubicon, a volunteer group that recruits veterans (and others), utilizing veterans’ skills to respond to disasters. They clear roads etc. and medical teams treat patients.
Www.teamrubicon.org
Thank you, Fern, for heralding the WCK Team. Heading over there now to add my help.
🍎🥦🥕 Thank you, Lynell.
Thank you for the reminder, Fern. Just donated.
Contribution sent. Thanks for keeping WCK in the forefront.
Love WCK! Thanks for posting, even just as a reminder, dear Fern!
Bermuda may very likely be Fiona's next target. I hate to think of the damage that will happen to that beautiful place. I remember the pink sands, caves, and multiple historic forts. There's even replica crown jewels @ Ft St Catherine. By the weekend, Nova Scotia may well be impacted.
I think it’s Kise who is the $3M attorney.
MLMinET
Yup
Trump put down a $3 million paid in full in advance as a retainer for attorney Christopher M. Kise
No one else would take Trump as a client without the world’s largest retainer with Trump’s record of not paying—in addition to being a difficult client
Yikes! You’re right! Slip of the fingers…I will change that and thanks for the “heads-up”!
Excellent recap, Marlene...Morning!
Morning Lynell! Thanks!
After the religious authorities in Iran took over the rate of multiple sclerosis went up among women. The likely cause: they weren't getting nearly enough vitamin D with their skin always totally covered. (Note: getting D from the sun is seasonal. If your shadow is longer than you are, the atmosphere is filtering out the D. The official recs on D--600-800 IU/day are way low, too. Start around 2000/day. Look for a blood level (six weeks after starting--it takes a long time to rise fully--of 40-plus NG/ML)
Marlene: While I understand your emotional reasoning behind this statement -- "The best news was that Iranian women are fighting back against their elderly dictator. Hooray for them!" -- it goes without saying that 5 people have already been killed and over 75 have been injured. It is no joke in Iran to stand up to the regime. Many more will die. Unfortunately, Iranian women have always been the ones to stand up to the regime ...
I know, Rowshan, and it is painful to realize that those who stand up to these regimes, will or have died. But they do it knowing that their lives may be sacrificed and that is what I admire about them. Of course, aren’t most women standing up to these horrid so-called “princes of power”?
Robert Hubbell has a nice simple explanation of the main thing that happened to El Jefe del Merde a Loco in court today:
As many commentators note, the question of classification is irrelevant to the potential criminal charges that might be brought against Trump. But their classification status is relevant to Trump’s claim that he has a right to possess those documents. The government claims that it is impossible for Trump to have a possessory interest in classified documents. Trump responds that he might have declassified the documents because he had the authority to do so (when he was president). Dearie cut through the legal fog by asking a simple question: Did Trump actually declassify those documents? If not, Trump can have no possessory interest in classified documents.
Most importantly, Judge Dearie suggested that if Trump fails to produce any evidence of a possessory interest in the classified documents, then neither Trump’s attorneys nor the judge need review the documents. Dearie thus established a threshold evidentiary burden for Trump to overcome before reviewing classified documents. As Judge Dearie put it, “You can’t have your cake and eat it.”
A good explanation of why El Jefe's clowns want to see the documents is they think he lied to them about what the documents are.
The really funny thing is, El Jefe's clowns picked Judge Dearie (what an appropriate name) because they thought his time on the FISA court meant he would "question the FBI."
And best of all, El Jefe del Merde a Loco has to pay for all of this himself - and he can't stiff the federal courts.
re: declassification
There does not seem to be any evidence that Trump followed the necessary protocols to declassify documents.
Trump DOD appointee Kash Patel has argued that as long as Trump thought about declassifying them, they were declassified.
Unlike Cannon, Dearie actually has experience on the bench.
And of course Dearie must know about the time honored declassification practice of visualizing in your mind that you are clicking your heels together three times and chanting: “I declassify thee, I declassify thee, I declassify thee!” ?
Love the humor Michele, a form of truth telling. I was on the chaotic public calI-in line for the Hearing; I do like Dearie's deadpan delivery.
"As long as chump thought about declassifying them? Another WTF moment.
My response too. If I think about doing a certain thing, then I have done it. I have thought about doing some nefarious things to the a**hat across the street, so I guess I am guilty. What nonsense.
I think about going to the gym every morning...
🤣
That is scary. As many times as I have thought about……………………….Rump, et al
I would surely……..well, you know
thoughts about tfg, and others, in my mind... I guess I'm in trouble!
Well, TFG did say that the value of his real estate changed with his moods. It’s all in that noggin.
And because I think about becoming Santa Claus, I am Santa Claus?
And because i thought about doing a sinful thing, i am just as sinful as the person who actually does the sin in question? This was the argument that i could not buy, 55 years ago, as taught by nuns in my crash course in catholicism. I failed.
You bring back memories of grade school... the nuns are probably still teaching that, in that same school, seventy years on (and I failed the course, too).
I figured I was screwed either way, so might as well do the deed. Some lesson, eh?
You are correct Lin, Judge Dearie has judicial experience & in the FISA court no less.
The Judge has the U.S.national security framework firmly in his judicial mind & the classic Federal judicial temperament to go with it. Been there done that.
What BS, I think about a lot of things, hardly a done deal, but then I never expect it to be. That one could posit such is evidence of brain rot, is it not. Or last ditch Machiavellian diatribe…
Do wonder how tfg legal team will pivot off this? Teflon is really effective. I await Dearie's next 5 or so rulings. Did he establish a threshold for tfg or merely set up an impression of impartiality? One data point does not show the trajectory.
I concur with your comments & question Fred. All the Special Master really does is report to the Trial Court, Judge Cannon but, that report will become part of the Appellate record & will be available to higher reviewing Courts (plural). I will have to review the Transcript of the SM Hearing but, I thought I heard tfg's one spokesperson refer to him as "the president" as in the Big Lie. Could be lunacy. I am more interested in the Government's next submission to Judge Dearie.
I just had a horrible thought
FPOTUS convicted. TWannabe DeathSantis runs for President using the promise that “if elected”, he will pardon the Criminal in Chief
Before he can get elected,
DeathSantis is then convicted of kidnapping, forcing the GOP to find a new Dictator Hopeful to run on the same platform; “Pardons for our Martyrs”
Tucker Carlson decides to run and adopts “The Hunger Games” as his mantle. Republicans resoundingly board the ship
Then I woke up
Damn that last crumble of cheese
Dave, just take 2 Alka seltzer and go back to bed, please.
Lol, I have discovered that commenting at 4 in the morning elevates my comments high enough in the mix to actually be seen. Normally there are 300 comments ahead of mine and earlybird regulars have already signed out
However in respect to your suggestion, I’ll be returning to 6am dreamscream tomorrow
Follow me at Dave Fake News, my long running FB absurdity column
Will look for you, Dave, whatever hour I end up...up!
Oh oh, the pressure is on now lol
It can be a burden as well as a blessing, Dave. I am confident you can handle it.😏
Yikes, Dave. Think of more so that we can be forewarned!
No more dreams
Musicians rely on dreams. Without dreams, Keith Richards would not have written “Satisfaction”
Suffering the weighty burden is implicit to the craft. Facing the darkness of closed eyelids with trepidation is our stock in trade
“Sometimes the dreams are those of Hope. We must soldier on and pray that we survive the notorious and revel in the sublime, sharing each as our significant or meager contribution to the task of enlightening our surroundings” (author known but requests anonymity)
Doctor My Eyes
Or as the Sage Tyler once wrote, “Dream On”
✌️🎸
You’re funny!
It seems to me that the proper, legal process of declassification would require documentation that would leave a significant paper trail that would be relatively easy for TFG’s legal team to access. Such documentation would include an inventory and dates of declassification. It seems to me as well that process would result in documents being removed from file jackets labeled “Classified”.
You mean a sane, logical process? How quaint in chump world…
Declassified or not, they are still the property of the US., not Trump.
If any of these documents were declassified, authorities would have known. He should have never had these documents and the documents that he was keeping should have been immediately returned. All of them. PERIOD!!! He is no longer President.
thanks be to God!!! TFG's cronies think we, the American people who have fought to live in a democracy and fought as well in support of others to live in freedom are so foolish!!!
According to legal experts on the matter as reported on MSNBC, the process of declassification is lengthy and complex. The agency which created the document has to agree. The document is then sent to all other agencies which might be affected by the declassification and they have to agree. Once all parties agree, the document is marked "declassified" and is available to be reviewed by the public. As noted by one, whatever value the document may have had while being "classified" is lost once it is made public. But as also noted by many here, classified or not, the documents belong to the government and having them or withholding them is a crime. They were literally stolen.
Exactly right - there is an established procedure and a paper trail. Presidents cannot unilaterally declassify a classified document!
Let's not forget that there's a legitimate reason to classify documents. Rarely is there a legitimate reason to declassify. When it happens, it is usually when it simply doesn't matter anymore - i.e. its ancient history and most of the parties are no longer alive and there in danger.
What Trump and his team are doing is kicking the can down the road until Republicans regain some power and try to make this all go away. That could happen in a few months. In my view given all we know and given the seriousness of the crime, Republicans could be putting themselves in grave jeopardy if they make an attempt to defend a traitor - a traitor who betrayed the national security of the United States of America. I hope they try if given the chance because I want the Republican Party to be sent to the dustbin of history far more than punishing the megalomaniac Trump. Trump is evil; the Republican Party is dangerous and can do far more damage than what they have done already.
You are correct. And there are many people involved in this scheme: he could not have done all this alone. The names will come out, just like the identities of the insurrectionists have.
If they had been declassified, which indeed requires a documentation process, the intelligence agencies would have blared warnings. The documents would have become public records. Imagine that.
Claims that these top secret records were declassified are nothing more than a smokescreen, a diversion. Or, more accurately, a traitor's lie.
That wasn't necessary. The defeated former president accomplished it by waiving his magic wand (probably swiped from a table at a garage sale) at the documents and saying the magic words, 'I dub thee unclassiafied.' His attorneys will produce evidence backing the validity of this method well documented by the brothers Grimm.
Yes TC. You and the Professor and RHubbell have revved up the griddle this morning. Sizzlin’!
Here are links to both Substack pieces to complement today’s LFAA.
p.s. first time I read “El Jefe del Merde a Loco” was an LOL. Ha!
https://tcinla757.substack.com/p/el-jefe-del-merde-a-loco-gets-smacked
https://open.substack.com/pub/roberthubbell/p/special-master-brings-down-the-hammer?r=l2aa7&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
🗽
Thank you for putting those links up. The thing I like about the opportunity to read them is to appreciate Heathers’ letters even more. She captured the essence of both links in one tight letter!
'Donald Trump, 3 of his children sued for business fraud by New York AG
Lawsuit alleges $250 million fraud, seeks to bar the Trumps from serving as executives of any company operating in New York'
'The suit asks the New York Supreme Court to bar Trump, as well as Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump, from serving as executives at any company in New York, and to bar the Trump Organization from acquiring any commercial real estate or receiving loans from any New York-registered financial institution for five years.' (WAPO)
'It seeks to recover more than $250 million in what James’s office says are ill-gotten gains received through the alleged deceptive practices. While the lawsuit itself is not a criminal prosecution, James (D) said she has referred possible violations of federal law to the Justice Department and the IRS.' (WAPO)
'The 220-page lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, lays out in new and startling detail how, according to Ms. James, Mr. Trump’s annual financial statements were a compendium of lies. The statements, yearly records that include the company’s estimated value of his holdings and debts, wildly inflated the worth of nearly every one of his marquee properties — from Mar-a-Lago in Florida to Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street in Manhattan, according to the lawsuit.' (NYTimes) See link below.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/21/nyregion/trump-fraud-lawsuit-letitia-james/b118ef47-718c-515f-a1cc-2122b5de324e?smid=url-share
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you
Stay with us, Dave, for MORE!
Oh yes. Can you believe it.....fraud committed by death star and his criminal family/s. Compendium of lies....who knew???
Love Letitia James — that fiery delivery she gave today tells me she’s not going to play!
I read that he will pay legal fees from his "Save American Fund" funded by donors!!! Sorry, I don't remember the source....
It's true.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/15/trumps-save-america-paid-3-million-to-cover-top-lawyers-legal-work-00056968
"If he thought about it, it was done." Because I really do believe that laughter is a great medicine, here is an old George Carlin routine "Confession" where he gave a teenage boy's understanding of committing sins of desire vs. action. He came to a hilarious conclusion about midway through the video. (The next section is a bit more graphic about teenage boys and sin, which also cracked me up, but I just wanted to warn you.) Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/iEyJ0XZoKSU Blessings,
Before reading LFAA today, I sat through a video about the latest threat to voting produced by the Republican Party. Link is from the NYT. The precinct level plot to determine which votes get counted. The role of vote challengers to secure data to prove fraud in Democratic districts and counties. As a pollworker, this is frightening. I hope Heather goes into this. Link here for your perusal, all.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/21/opinion/republicans-democracy-elections-bannon.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20220921&instance_id=72527&nl=opinion-today®i_id=79261124&segment_id=107677&te=1&user_id=c152cac408a22aa483275c304116079d
Article about this locally and also on the TV news. The sec of state is proposing a person in her office who would take this burden off county election offices...here in Oregon. Small group of people causing major headaches.
Nice to hear from you Allen, Hope you all do well.
Thanks for clarification, TC. I admit to losing track of some of Trump team's arguments. I mean they are so absurd as to be mind-boggling.
Glory
Even if they were declassified, Trump has no legitimate claim to them.
TCinLA, I love it!!! El Jefe del Mierde a Loco !!!!!!!
Love the the name. Love what Judge Dearie has done so far.
Writing this had to be a huge task. Thank you for the very detailed summation. Reading this, although most enlightening, is frustrating as well as frightening.
The amount of time consuming lawsuits is surreal. So many have absolutely no merit and are a way to play out the clock and tie up our courts. Isn’t past due time for Biden & Team to pack the Supreme Court? And while we’re at it—find the tools it takes to get rid of DeJoy. There are less than 50 days until midterms. Just think of the amount of destruction he can do!
Enough! I’m going to try getting a good night’s sleep here in SF.
I'm thinking it is also time to begin steps to make Puerto Rico a state.
As well as a new Washington, Douglass Commonwealth!!
OH! I had not heard or seen that brilliant, apropos name for "D.C."!!! Thank You Lynell!
"The Washington, D.C. Admission Act would create the state of "Washington, Douglass Commonwealth" (named after Frederick Douglass). As a state, the Douglass Commonwealth would receive two senators and one representative in the House of Representatives based on population." (Wikipedia)
TeeHee, MaryPat! I read sometime last year that they wanted to keep the "D.C." in D.C.,-- but weren't enamored with honoring Columbus (Columbia), hence, "Douglass Commonwealth;" and also -- so they wouldn't need to go to the expense of changing out the name all around the city.
Good stuff in the works. Love the Biden administration. 💜
🗽
💙💙💙
💙
Thank Heavens the Puerto Ricans don’t have to gather for a Tyrant photo op where said Tyrant throws paper towels at the crowd.
I was thinking the same thing!!!
Such an ignominious act by djt...
I was thinking that too and that if they had had real help after Maria, they would be in better shape this time. At least FEMA has warehouses there now. Glad to see also that death star's attorneys are not fooling the Special Master. Even for a lot of money, I can't understand why anyone would agree to represent him at this point.
PR citizens have voted to reject becoming a US State more than once.
They have a point.
Hey, Barbara. The short answer as I know it is December will see the end of two DeJoy allies who are on the USPS Board of Governors. Hopefully, President Biden will then appoint two new Governors that will give the Board a majority of Democrats who can then send DeJoy packing. Here's a deep dive into our no joy DeJoy woes. In the meantime, I'm hoping it won't be too late for the USPS to have a 100% electric vehicle fleet.
"As The American Prospect's David Dayen explained Wednesday, the president may soon have an opportunity to pave the way for DeJoy's removal by nominating two DeJoy opponents to postal governor spots that will be open in December, when the terms of Republican William Zollars and Democrat Donald Lee Moak—allies of the postmaster general—expire."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/08/18/biden-urged-take-steps-finally-get-rid-dejoy-he-plows-ahead-job-cuts
Morning Fab.
Sizzle on the griddle, Lynell.
🗽
Morning, Christine! Seems like a hot time in the old town tonight!
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=hot+time+in+the+old+town+tonight&view=detail&mid=7F15A4F9B1793E4F891B7F15A4F9B1793E4F891B&FORM=VIRE
Hahahahahahahaha!
I like that phrase!
Makes me hungry every time I read one of her posts!
Getting rid of DeJoy cannot happen soon enough. He deserves the same treatment as Republicans who wouldn’t certify the election.
Morning, Lynell! I didn't realize we still needed two more RepubliQans/NoJoy supporters gone.
Interestingly, there's a Democrat on the Board of Governors who is a DeJoy ally, so no help from him. But hopefully, Biden will fix that come the end of December; then it's full speed ahead for the USPS...Morning, Ally!
Many thanks, BK, for this awesome news! I note these articles were written before President Biden signed the IRA into law. So there should be no excuse not to have a 100% U.S. EV fleet! (Will be subscribing to these websites so I can keep myself updated)
Also, just FYI, for over a year I wrote "Save the USPS!" on all my envelopes. When the USPS got "saved," I started writing "Electrify the USPS!" instead. Who knew this would work? LOL!
DeJoy is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s not easy or he would have been gone a year ago. How can republicans support destruction of the P.O., opposition to voting rights, and be anti-democracy. By calling these things the opposite, of course. And the film flam continues…
Jeri.
How can Republicans support destruction of PO?
Well. IF you cannot read, then, no need for PO.
George Washington prioritized the PO so rural areas could stay informed.
Getting rid of it and replacing it with Fox News?
Hmmm.
Pretty much, Mike. I hadn't taken that assessment of the PO. I was just assuming they wanted private industry to take over and make money, rather than provide a service.
It is partly that as well. My LMT is a ex postal worker and he has explained the inner workings of the PO to me. He is an upright guy who doesn't mince words, so he was a thorn in the side of those who didn't care that they were supposed to provide a service.
Republicans want to privatize the post office. Making the Constitutionally mandated one dysfunctional to the greatest extent possible is step 1.
And once privatized, the resulting expectation is a new source of donors/donations for the Republican Party.
Republicans have long sought to completely privatize USPS. I'm sure they would argue that the U.S. Constitution directive to establish a postal system says nothing about it not being established as private business.
Regarding DeJoy. NY Times outlines (today) the amount of money he has stolen from us since getting his job. My link won’t paste. Not sure why.
More than $200 million dollars.
At least Trump was consistent: ONLY crooks, grifters, thieves, mobsters, and gang members were part of his administration.
Or in the words of Republicans: Trump ran the government like a “business”.
GET RID OF DEJOY, pay for stamps, AND GO TO THE POST OFFICE AGAIN.
Please get that commercial killed. Think of our fellow Americans in tiny towns where the USPO is the center of socializing.
Until the votes to get through the Senate are there packing the Senate will be difficult.
We the People will will have a greater representative majority in the Senate after November.
🗽
VOTE NOVEMBER 8
Thank you HCR for your detailed analysis which makes this horrible reality show a lot more understandable. To Leonard Lubinsky: it's seemed like a reality show from the beginning to me. I stopped watching the first one the head magnut starred in when he fired someone for taking responsibility for a mistake. Great way to describe the delusion.
Dan Rather wrote an important column tonight about what reporters should do. https://steady.substack.com/p/why-am-i-speaking-out?r=3oeb6&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Yes, Dan’s letter tonight was excellent!
Always steady
Yes, thank you. Dan Rather’s letter is a must read: “The truth is what it is. It is damning. It is dangerous. And it is the direct result of those who are undermining our democracy.
Not the ones calling them out on it.”
Yes, a great column by Dan. It is a must-read.
What will $1.6 billion buy you on Mount Desert Island, Maine? Or maybe if you have $1.6 billion+ and your name is Leonard Leo then you needn't spend a penny to get some government officials to hop-to to your demands, or perhaps anticipate your wishes. And others apparently to join in a cover up.
In this small corner of this fallen world, we may be witnessing a microcosm of the sort of corruption which writ large gives us the American Republican Party, and writ worse - but for the fortitude of Democrats and perhaps only until January 2023 - the governments of Hungary, Russia, and Iran.
As the 'google Leonard Leo = Corrupt Government' chalk paint graffiti public outreach project winds down, here is a report.
For those interested in the First Amendment, and who isn't, some legal scholars put 'chalking' in a separate category from graffiti (which they define as using permanent paint.) Here is a fascinating and formidable law review by Marie A. Failinger https://wvlawreview.wvu.edu/files/d/2a9f11ed-dc2f-4002-a5b2-90ec77d0fe73/failinger.pdf
Although there are material standards for permanency in paint, I do not believe there are legal or scientific standards which define 'temporary." I can report that a simple mixture of school and/or sidewalk chalk blended with water makes a chalk paint of a very surprisingly satisfying durability. Eventually it wears away with raining and walking on; a little simple kitchen science can speed up the process.
As for the situation on MDI. My reading is that after an appalling misstep in complying with Leonard Leo's instigation of an arrest, on an unusual interpretation and possibly unique application of an ordinance, the police leadership stepped back and stood up for the law. (Sort of like the US Army chiefs stepping back after the Trump Bible debacle.) The outreach project benefitted in that, from the start, police leadership declared it to be protected by the First Amendment and compliant with the Maine Criminal code - although they had to rein in a few Leo allied rogue cops. Enter the Bar Harbor Town Manager who - after some complaints presumably from Leo and with no jurisdiction as the local law is silent on graffiti - initiated a campaign of intimidation, misinformation, and erasure.
Where we are now, is that the Bar Harbor Town Council is ignoring requests for information about the Town Manager's actions, suggesting they may have been complicit in the campaign as well as the cover-up. Only they know, for now. Although the Town Manager is the public access officer - tragedy or farce - there are other paths to Freedom of Access compliance.
You can follow this on another excellent Maine based Substack blog, Lincoln Millstein's The QuietSide Journal - which covers a lot of ground and some surrounding waters here. https://theqsjournal.substack.com/
“💙💙💙👏👏👏“Sutherland makes a unilateral executive order that she needs to be held accountable for what she is doing. This is a baseless claim, but a dangerous assertion. There is no accountability attaching to my acting within my constitutionally protected rights and within the Maine Criminal Code - the first of which Sutherland has no authority to violate and the second of which Sutherland has no authority to enforce. On whom is Sutherland placing the responsibility of holding me accountable. His audience?”
You Go Girl!!
ThankYou!
Lin, you are coming out, smelling like a rose!👏🏼👏🏼🌹
ThankYou.
It is really the MDI activist community who've sustained a protest - outreach and push back - for years.
And investigate reporting by
The QuietSideJournal.
No matter what, you are directly involved and I applaud you!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Seeing clips of the Nazi arm raises in rallies with Trump in Ohio and mastriano in Pennsylvania the past few days filled me with dread. Desantis’ action shocked me with its bold dehumanization of migrants. It’s been a rough few days with so much that is evil on full display.
But this letter...coupled with Dan Rather’s post...this letter has me filled with such hope!
Hope that truth will out. Hope that truth will put allow transparency into dark money. Hope that trump and his cohort will be held accountable. Hope that truth will be shared and HEARD by more people. Hope that both Putin and Trump will be sidelined. Hope that more countries will embrace freedom for all. Where there is truth, there is hope. Hope, sweet hope. Thank you, Professor-your letters are not only a source of truth, for also a source of hope. Thank you.
Not sure if this was an attempt at humor or actual reporting but in the video clip I saw the former asked his crowd if they wanted his one hour rally or two and they all raised their hands high with 1 finger in response.
May I ask which finger? Lol
🤣
DeSantis called “political theater?" It just might turn into a reality show.
Already there. Like Reagan, tfg/man baby only knows he needs to be the star.
Exactly
They have been orchestrating such for decades; I have been appalled by the tv version, but even more appalled by the political version, which is fictional screenwriting (propaganda) at the Oscar-level.
Gratitude for your clarity, Dear Heather. Turmoil rules over much of our world. Grateful for your generosity and capacity for truth. The UN gathering furthers the notions of truth and the needs of our shared Mother Earth. May we each and all be blessed
Well said, Kim.
Missing conversations. My beloved fell and broke both bones at the R wrist...rather preoccupied. Trust you and yours are well.
We had her Dad’s memorial service last weekend. We’re slowly recovering.
Dang, that is a hard fall. Speedy healing.
So sorry for your loss. Perhaps time? An old nurse here, accustomed to demise. Thanks for the healing energy!
Yes it was. 86 and with dementia.
Thank you Heather.
At first blush, it would appear that Judge Dearie is giving Trump a whopping spoonful of becareful what you wish for. We will see if he stays the course.
Does anyone else find DeSantis calling the investigation into his own political theater of flying people to another state under false pretense, "political theater" alittle rich ? It's dripping in irony.
I never thought I would live to see the day where "Russia" and " is staggering " would be used in the same sentence.
How the world is changing before our eyes.
Be safe. Be well.
The De Santis business has been (to me) like a punch in the midriff. Martha's Vineyard was neutralised by the decent way the inhabitants received them, but dumping on the VP's doorstep busloads of migrants who have been lied to and thus missed their hearing is harder to manage.
"Dumping" is a good, versatile word in this context. DeSantis has engaged in the time-honored juvenile practice of taking a "dump" on an enemy's doorstep as a kind of "counting coup." By using asylum seekers as his "dump," he loudly broadcasts what he thinks of them.
DeSantis' stunt was a double-edged shiv. The obscene dehumanization of the asylum seekers was one side, but the other was equally obscene. He aimed to paint the wealthy residents of Martha's Vineyard as snobs, "better thans" who would reject "those people" while news cameras rolled. Epic fail.
You be safe as well, Fab.
🗽💜
It's dripping in hypocrisy - like always. Republicans are now soaked in hypocrisy after decades of blaming/accusing others for which they are even more guilty of.
Hope and freedom may just prevail. As Pete Seeger sang,
When tyrants tremble in their fear
And hear their death knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near
How can I keep from singing?
https://youtu.be/bcELg2BcvlE
Thank you SO MUCH FOR THIS LINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fabulous.
Citizens United will go down in the annals of American jurisprudence as among the very top corrupters of our politics. I can’t imagine what Roberts was thinking. It looks like the dark money forces won big time, doesn’t it?
John Roberts tries to be the Federalist Society with a human face. It doesn't really work. Tear away the facade and he's exactly the anti-democracy judge Bush thought he was appointing.
I feel he’s the most flexible of the Federalist Society’s appointees. That’s not saying much, but it’s something.
Citizens United has made me a great fan of voter funding with limits on what each individual donor can donate to one candidate.
And somehow curb the creation of PACs and the revelation of the donors
And make revelation of the donors required
Morale has to be at an all-time low on the right and not only here. Here morale is low for former Trump staffers, lawyers and supporters. Morale is low for Republicans in D.C. Elsewhere morale is not only low for Russian citizens over a 3 day war now closing in on a year but it's not as low as the soldiers being forced to fight it.
Russia is seeing it's position on the world stage dropping and the move by Kazakhstan to check for Russian bound EU sanctioned goods is proof. That Kazakhstan is making moves toward a liberal democracy makes it a double shot.
Morale has to be low for Iranian leaders as women rip off their hijabs with protection from male supporters who stand between the women and the police.
It's like dominos dropping in slow motion. As we move into fall expect the pace to quicken. Around the world democracy is finding its legs. Fascists are getting sloppy, low morale will do that to ya.
May your words prove to have long power. Then the human race may get together to save itself - or at least have a good try.
The Marthas' VIneyard covert interstate human trafficking & dumping Class Action is Case Number 1-22-cv-11550, Alianza Americas, Yanet, Pablo & Jesus DOE vs. Donald Desantis, State of Florida, et al.
MP S: FYI, Substack & HCR sent me three (3) one month free subscriptions. One Sub has already been taken quickly with no problem interacting with Substack. I thought I would email you the remaing two free 1 month Subs on the front lines in Michigan. Distribute as you see fit. If OK, I will send you the freebie email from Substack?
It would be really nice to get some good news this week. I think that some former SSR states that have felt unable to make any moves that might piss off Putz-in will be taking very cautious steps away from Russian dominance (and yes: I imagine them as Looney Tunes tiptoe-ing) and the reason is because of President Biden's dogged determination to shore up the alliances of democratic regimes. Once again: his many years in the Senate and his experience as VP to a nice guy who was terrified to upset anyone for fear of being catalogued as an Angry Black Man has led him to enact strategies that have no doubt been developing for a long time. The thing I like about Biden is that he can admit that some of the things he did in his long career were awful (Anita Hill, for instance) and he recognizes that his actions have consequences. So he is trying to do better. As a pragmatist, he is never going to please the ideologues of the Dem Party, but since the ideologues on both sides fantasize about blowing everything up with no regard for reality, I am fine with that. I might dream of a More Perfect Union, but I am willing to settle for a Dem majority in House and Senate come November 9th. We have to keep supporting this administration by electing as many Dems as possible, not just on a national level but locally as well.
Well said. Biden is growing into the office, and may well be as influential a President as FDR, when the final analysis is written. We have work to do to get out the vote to give him the Congress he needs to fulfill that promise.
James, I agree.
Russia (I am going to say) has not been great since record keeping began. But, great people they have produced. Together with great achievements in technology and science. The system they employ (to control humans) is hardly governing. It is phoney. Their people are kept in the dark and fed manure....like mushrooms. Our own (R)eprobate Party is also good with that. While the rest of us continue to experience diminishing returns, thanks to them (the R party). Only now, are we beginning to see a parallel here. If I may. While the Russians are "recruiting" or trying to, from their vast network of Labor Camps... our own "R" party has been busy gathering reprobates (Abbot, Cruz, Jordan, DeSantis, Hannity, Cannon, ad infinitum) to help spread their manure, and battle the Liberals.
Todays "Letter" is something to be read. Thank you Ms Heather! Thank you so very much.
Today’s letter is a complicated yet clear picture of good versus evil, in the USA and in countries around the world. Ken Burns’ PBS special on the Holocaust and fascism is a haunting connection to the continuing struggle and fight for Democracy and freedom. The tragedy of human loss, of violence and destruction versus humanity’s unstoppable struggle is both heartbreaking and reassuring. And it’s not just foreign countries we must fight against, it’s Fascism here in our country. I cried watching history and my own family’s loss and immigration experiences, and yours, knowing that we are living history in present time. An incalculable loss and threat of humanity and resources on this planet. And we have only the choice of continuing the struggle.
Watching Ken Burn’s “The Holocaust” is sobering. I have known the contours of this history, but the US details? Not so much. I was taught that we were resistant to getting involved in another war. I chalked that up to an effect of the Great Depression. And while there were elements of that at play, the role of good ‘ol human xenophobia was so much at the center of it all. If it were white xtians getting rounded up and slaughtered by Germans, I doubt we would have narrowed the needle hole for that thread of immigration. The doors would have been busted wide open, red carpet rolled out, and a gift basket waiting. And there were American’s arguing against our inhuman isolationism. And there was news coverage of what was happening and what Hitler was doing. America was not ignorant of the slaughter. I was always under the impression that we were, that we did not know about the slaughter until the camps were liberated. So like today, they KNEW what is going on. And like today, there are forces at play to thwart humane responses, whether it be for Democracy’s survival, or the Earth’s. These fights we are in never end. Lift a glass to kindness when we see it, but never think the fight is over.
Michele, good summary of the Ken Burns special. How could I not say it! Antisemitism. ANTISEMITISM , the ancient annihilation and hate of the Jews. In our government preventing years of action. And more… the Nazi’s research into the USA Racist Playbook, Slavery, enslaving humans. NO Blacks; White Only. Continuing killing to make this a white Christian world. America looking the other way because here in the USA we were the example. Who was willing to give up the Whites Only, Christians only system? We had to be directly attacked in Pearl Harbor. And then we ended the war (temporarily) dropping the most destructive weapon known to humanity. At least then. And now White Supremacy here, supported by repubs in myriad and open ways. We didn’t invent slavery. Humankind from recorded history enslaved humans. If we need more information there is a library full of proof. How can we sleep?
I watch "Finding Your Roots" and have been surprised & puzzled & appalled at how far back & in so many countries antisemitism played into people's immigration to the US. And it still does....
Centuries!
And it still does, indeed!
I've never understood Antisemitism. But I got a hint of something in a peculiar little book I read about Genghis Kahn. I don't know how accurate it is in the details, but Genghis Kahn lived and ruled in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, and conquered and ruled much of the North in Europe. His military prowess is legendary, and his tactics brutal -- much of his success in battle had to do with the fact that his enemies knew his name, and were scared shitless. He would capture soldiers and farmers in the field, and then drive them into the moats surrounding walled Asian cities until they leveled it to where he could advance his siege towers to the wall over their bodies. Survivors of any battles he engaged in were few.
At one point, he decided to venture into Western Europe. He didn't stay long -- his might was in horsemen, and soft tilled earth was not much to his liking -- but he did execute some raids, and scared the shit out of the Western Europeans before he headed back north and east.
According to this author, there was a huge amount of speculation about who on earth this fellow was, and fear that he would come back, and what did he want anyway? One of the speculations was that this was one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. This may have fed the fires of 12th century Medieval European antisemitism, which is often cited when talking about Hitler's antisemitism.
Wherever it came from, antisemitism is one of those enduring stains on human intelligence.