Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's order that "800 of the military’s top generals and admirals, along with their senior enlisted advisors...come to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, next week" is not just highly unusual; it is highly suspicious as well. Some well-informed sources believe that it's going to be more than just a pep rally, and a few even suggest that the assembled commanders will be required to take a new oath that focuses on the national leader, Donald Trump, and omits mention of allegiance to the Constitution and the UCMJ. Let us hope that these sources are wrong. Let us also hope that if they are right, the assembled military will remember the oath of allegiance they have already taken and will refuse to bow down to dictatorship.
I simply cannot conceive that senior military commanders in this country would ever take such an oath. I cannot believe Kegsbreath would be both that stupid and arrogant as to demand it.
Then again, I couldn't conceive of how a twice-impeached for obstruction of justice, forever-disgraced, 34-times convicted felon who stood in front of 80 million people on TV with a straight face, telling them that Haitians were eating cats and dogs in Springfield, could ever get elected to the White House, not once, but TWICE.
I'm hard pressed to imagine that, given the ongoing purge of top military brass of anyone with a Democratic persuasion, that there is anyone left in the military who would object to taking such an oath. Any such person has likely either been already removed, or sidelined, and I have no question in my mind that the presence of the FBI at this meeting is purely to arrest, execute, or detain anyone who fails to take that oath.
This is it, the first steps of the Republican overthrow of Democracy, and its literally taking place to shield the fact that the President of the United States is a pedophile. They know the only way they can continue is under the power of a military coup, and they know they can arrange it, and the entirety of the US military structure is currently under the command a drunk Fox news talking head and a traitor.
Whatever happens, don't lose sight of the fact that this is not just what Donald Trump wants, this is what Republicans want.
I imagine there are quite a few -- more than a few -- who would object to taking such an oath. No military officer I've ever heard of takes that oath lightly, especially the higher in rank s/he ascends, along with greater responsibility to one's troops, to country. And no, "they" do not "know" they can arrange a military coup (whatever that even really means). Competence has never been these people's friend. We have already seen multiple instances where their notorious absence of planning and forethought (let alone wisdom) has cost them dearly. They often behave on pure impulse, often idiotically, then play clean-up afterward.
Many posters here love to rocket themselves straight off the cliff in their feverish speculation about how everything is lost because it all will go perfectly for "them." I seriously doubt it. The 'best-laid plans o' mice and men gang aft agley' Robert Burns aphorism has great relevance right now. History is filled with examples where those with the worst intentions failed -- for want of a nail, etc. We can recognize great danger without rushing to play Cassandra, taking what steps we can to mobilize against it.
I had a boss (who co-founded a $multibillion business) who coached us by saying:
"If you are not making any mistakes, you are not doing enough!"
As to the Hegseth meeting, I wonder if this could be the straw that breaks the camels back. A military split between worshipping a dictator or the Constitution. I've never been in support of a military coup. But if Hegseth asks for an oath of allegiance to Trump, the Generals and Admirals should arrest him and throw him in the brig. Enough.
Of course. I am sure there is a good reason why we are assembling ALL our top military leaders and their staffs in ONE ROOM!!! Seriously? And announcing it to the entire world days in advance? Seriously???
I thought Kegsbreath was incompetent. But isn't this just what an enemy would love to see? Talk about a stupid ass, self created target! This is nuts!
Requiring the flag officers to take an oath to the president would be an illegal order. To repeat my last comment, I agree that Hegseth should be arrested and jailed. The UCMJ may have a provision for this, if not, make a citizen's arrest.
The Donald’s assertions that the left is weak in fighting compared to the “tough” right, is delusional in itself. “It’s not the dog in the fight that counts, it’s the fight in the dog!” My belief is that many, many on the left will show their prowess for the sake of this nation than the orange moron believes will stand. I suspect many on the right will see the wisdom of taking this stand against authoritarianism. As usual, Trump et.al. will overplay their hand and then scramble back to make the usual excuses for which they are famous.
Agreed. I have faith in them. Can't wait to see Kegsbreath and the Dumpster with egg all over their faces....not that with the Dumpster it will look much different from its usual orange self.
ICCT--THANK YOU! I am sending a virtual hug your way! I started by posting a comment this morning (which is down below, somewhere) about how if the comments vomitted more terror onto what I already feel, I'd quit reading. One up above almost did it for me, and I'm skipping quite a few others in self preservation. I'm glad I "know" you and look for your take on matters.
Virtual hug in return, Miselle. While lots of posters are legitimately angry, outright fury tends either to sharpen your wits or dissipate them altogether. Choosing to wallow in self-justified rage has never been attractive to me because crises are the one time when you need all your wits about you gathered in one place!
It's Come to This, I'm fervently hoping that your analysis is correct. Common sense tells me that it is, but given the last almost 10 years, I've become more and more panicked, realizing that this show is not the brainchild of the cretin occupying the White House, but of a much darker cabal. Hopefully, these military leaders will have enough sense, regardless of their party preference, to stand together and refuse any such command. They have seen authoritarian takeovers up close and know the horror that will follow.
Hello ICTT... I agree with your assessment of how ascending Rank tempers a Person... The Military does take their Oaths seriously.... Mark Milley is a Good Example.... Notice how DJT Fired the IGs, and first 2-Layers of Military Command?... DJT reached down for a FOX News Host, and a Retired 3-Star Reserve General to take their place... We'll see how this Works Out... I don't have great expectations for Mad-Dog Hegseth.... Cain?....
When I once called for the good generals to save the nation by stopping the trump administration with a military coup, I was chastised. Does anybody want to chastise me now? Yes I know, a military coup violates the “constitution “ so the fuck what. It’s destroyed with the administration but now it’s thoroughly destroyed. Who are you kidding? Oh the democrats will have a majority? A majority of what? A congress with no power. A Supreme Court that has given the Thug in Chief a Tyrant’s blessing? The Goose is Cooking and it’s almost ready. As of September 30, the government ceases to exist.
Now please tell me that my good generals would have done wrong. I’m waiting.
From "Donald's Vanity Tantrums" written during the first term:
A Fireside Chat
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began a series of informal radio chats to the American public during a turbulent time in the 1930s. The radio back then was to communicating as Twitter is today. Here is an excerpt:
“My fellow Americans, it is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we rebuild our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors. …I do not share these fears.”
Trump demands a quaint, televised, fireside chat to compete with FDR. Here is a sneak preview:
“My friends, Hillary Clinton will never see the inside of the White House again as long as I live.
“You people love me so much that I know you want to keep me as your president for life. The Constitution now allows this extended appointment of the executive branch. Our blessed homeland needs me to lead it. I have authorized The Enabling Act, borrowed from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s proposal to restrict powers of the Reichstag in 1933. His SS troops made legislators give up their civil liberties and transfer state powers to the Reich government. I’m pleased to tell you that the Democrats will sign away their legislative powers while my ICE agents surround the House of Representatives. I have the power to dissolve Congress and allow my Cabinet to pass much needed laws to Make America Great Again. And I pledge to you that all fake impeachment activity to convict me has ended.
“I also pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. And we will remove all undocumented immigrants that are poisoning the blood of our country. And we will remove the portrait of African-born Barack Hussein Obama from the White House wall.
“My first act tomorrow will be to have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Shiftless Adam Schiff picked up for questioning to ascertain their patriotism for the United States.
“I know I’ve been accused of a quid pro quo with Ukraine. There is nothing wrong with finding the truth about liars and cheats like Slow Joe Biden. And there’s nothing wrong asking a nation to help with uncovering wrongdoing by a corrupt man. As your President for Life, I will always tell you the truth. When I make a promise to you, I keep it.
“This concludes the first of my fireside chats. I can’t wait to tell you what I have in store for other scum Trump haters.”
I'm with you. The top of my grievance list is why we ever allowed him the keys to the WH in January, let alone on the ballot. I knew then I would have preferred whatever consequences that brought us.
After these months of horror each and every day, I have finally cut ties with those friends who still support this insanity. They call themselves Christian’s but don’t see the hypocrisy of hating their neighbors, the hate and horrible demonizing done by this administration, and the demented speeches given before the world.
I'm feeling the same, and it has cost me formerly valued friends. I'm at sixes and seven about whether to continue this behavior, as the only road to sanity will be by the power of example and the expression of logical discussion, two things that are precluded by the complete avoidance of contrasting views by others.
Bill, despite repeated requests, and after all this time to think about it, you still haven't told me what happens on the day after your military coup. The military doesn't do "Ready! Fire! Aim!"
If everybody in government, in Justice and in the military does his or her job in accordance with the oath they each took, there is no reason for treason. There are still people following their oath, and I have faith that We Shall Overcome.
"Now please tell me that my good generals would have done wrong. I’m waiting.”
Your good generals, right? And which ones are they? And who are you to decide who they should be? Are we looking at the Army of Katz? Should they first take an oath to you?
I’m half kidding. But Bill, for all your passion, you alone are not “We the People”. And if “We the People” are not sufficiently willing to halt what Trump and his myrmidons are doing, then no collection of generals of any stripe are going to do so.
Listen up, my man. After Trump is through with you including a stint at the Clockwork Orange (presidential facial colors) Institute for Mind Control for ole stalwarts like yourself, you will wish my ghostly good generals had taken over and stopped the direction we are most on surely course. Oh, after release from the institutd, your eyelids will be a little sore from the clothespins that were used to keep your eyes opened for the behavior modification class. 😜😜😜😜😜😜😜
Some are not fearful enough, and some are over fearful. Threading a middle course is anything but easy, but Franklin was right. “Passion rules, and she seldom rules wisely”
You forgot to mention: THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION. MAKE AMERICA 🇺🇸 GREAT AGAIN! (My belief is that he’ll throw the flag in for an imagined extra weight.)
The Felon is surrounded by Project 2025 master minds of evil. He is not alone. If this meeting is an oath to the President or get fired come to Jesus meeting, may Jesus be the military's shining light.
Indeed. The real Jesus. Suffer the little children to come unto me. The oppressed, the poor, the sad. Christian Nationalists have NOTHING to do with Jesus, except to use his name in vain.
Thank you for sharing this. Really-you wrote words I desperately needed to read. Living in Florida, I know folks with military members who would indeed sign an oath of felon47 allegiance. Thank you!!!
Remember that Trump had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get an unqualified, incompetent alcoholic to serve as Secretary of Defense, because there are vanishingly few commanders of quality who will sacrifice their oath in order to serve a narcissistic madman.
My Grandfathers Served in world war 2. My father served in Vietnam. All of them understood that disobeying a lawful order meant at BEST a goodly length of time in the brig and a dishonorable discharge. More likely was a bullet from the nearest officers gun.
Pretty much exactly the same choice Hegseth is offering the military flag leadership. All of those same men taught me numerous times that there were always people giving illegal orders and plenty of people who didn't stop to question them.
Anyone who thinks the military is going to "save america from itself" are the delusional ones.
And I know plenty who would JUMP at the chance to sign that oath. So what? Anyone who is still in command unde the Cheeto is complicit. Anyone who voluntarily sign up to serve under Trump is complicit.
This extraordinary act at a time this administration is besieged by the consequences of its own chaos, may be a desperate act in the dictators playbook: seize control of the military and the monopoly of violence. Loyalty oaths, if rejected, a mass purge and incarceration. Disband and a radical downsizing removes the source of counter coup forces. He only needs sufficient force to wield against unprepared Americans. Hegseth does not understand or care about global presence. Just creating a military of oppression for the America First regime. Who benefits? Putin & Xi by American collapse. Trump does not care if it harms America and a bonus gift to his dictator allies.
Hegseth has already purged senior leadership at the pentagon and gutted JAG. He has corrupted the Naval commanders of the Caribbean flotilla who have demonstrated their willingness to obey illegal orders and repeatedly do extrajudicial killings on any designated enemy. That was the test to normalize extrajudicial killings by corrupted military for the press and public.
America failed to stop this or hold any accountable. Now he will have loyal troops to complete Trump’s domestic urban conquest in American cities designated a Democrat “terrorists.”
The extremist forces Trump has released do not care what norms and institutions they break in order to secure power. This has all the markings of the extremist purge of any constitutionalist loyalists in the entire military command in one fell swoop. Hegseth does not have the intelligence required to pull this coup off, nor understanding of the institution he wishes to break and corrupt, but that does not mean he will not try.
While extreme, this scenario is consistent with what we know of Trump and his extremist supporters. If they are desperate enough, this command gathering of ALL military leadership may be the Hail Mary drive to complete this coup. Denial of this possibility means we will be unprepared to resist,and gives more power to a move like this. Think. Who remains in this government powerful enough to stop this? The FBI? CIA? Congress? The 800 officers and staff who will be kettled and unarmed and divided from their troops?
Expect chaos at the time of a deliberate government shut down. No Epstein files…
Katyn is indeed dark history, as dark as any ever conceived in living history. We are not there in our times. Our nightmare of this regime will pass. Tommorow Will Come.
What if armed forces personnel refuse to go to this meeting? Or do whatever anti-US constitutional act is called for at this “meeting”? Don’t they have some power to stop this outrageous nonsense? How many are General Milley deep down and think like he did at that Black Lives Matter-like pseudo demonstration Dump the Bible wielding diktator called for? I have to believe these people are well educated , smart and savvy. Don’t people think many know each other and are going to try to prepare for some underhanded gang boss like Hollywood generated brainwashing or massacre-like event? I have to believe many who do go will have their eyes wide open. Military personnel may have great respect for their duty but they and their leaders are not sheep.
They must attend the meeting. The meeting in itself is not illegal. There are no adults in the room in this administration. Trump learned from Milley to only surround himself with sycophants. Hegseth has fired the senior military leadership and the JAG officers who determine the legality of orders and contain most mischief. That is not this military. This meeting is the next level of decapitation- the field officer corps. Until there are actual illegal orders, there is no grounds for disobedience.
There are many ways to destroy the existing structure/function/coherence of the military with a change of mission, massive draw downs, and redeployments, which select for Hegseth/Trump loyalists while pressuring Constitutional loyalists to resign and leave. All leave the country more vulnerable and weaker. It fits the deliberate destructive design of the civilian administrative structure.
Again, watch what they do. Hegseth has already found Naval officers willing to obey illegal orders using naval forces for extrajudicial killings of declared enemies (without proof) on international waters. Multiple times. With no pushback. Naval officers, even without JAG advice, know it is illegal to murder civilians. Yet they did. And there is no JAG or senior command to hold them accountable.
Hegseth found Marine officers willing to occupy LA against Posse Comitatus. Would they have fired live ammunition on unarmed American civilians? We do not know, yet.
Corrupt people recognize each other and Hegseth is building a personal command of extremist loyalists to Trump to create an armed force to be used against the “terrorist” opposition as defined minute by minute by Trump. It is the standard operating procedure of dictators to gain the power they need to threaten and intimidate and passify the population. We have ample evidence that this is no innocent meeting. Note he is aggressively moving to limit press coverage of the military.
This administration is testing the limits of what they can get away with and normalizing the illegal use of the US military.
In this setting, it is unwise to look at this extraordinary mandatory meeting to have a normal or sane reason or purpose. These are not normal times. This administration is doing everything necessary to consolidate power. Dictatorships must control their military in order to stay in power. This is how it is done.
Sorry if this is discouraging, but not enough attention is being paid to what Hegseth is doing to the US military. We cannot afford to allow this administration to corrupt our armed forces.
Thanks for your insight. I admit to being totally naive about such matters. So can you suggest any approach to containing or stopping or mitigating what you describe? If what you wrote is true it seems "they" may have moved far and fast to consolidate power well under the radar of people like me who are looking toward some kind of peaceful resistance. I am a sort of child of the 60s when I was in college and so don't have many years left. I didn't do a lot then though my sympathies were similar. So now I've been wondering if there is anything more significant I could do to help stop this onslaught and government/national smsesteuctive take over.
This does not make sense to me. but more than that it's spreading your defeatism negativism and projection of consequences that supposes everyone else, the majority, rolling over. So you say this is about preventing the revelations in the Epstein files first and then a complete overthrow? Your imaginings are harmful deflating, despair producing, a killer, especially for the vulnerable.
And yet you get all these "likes".
I am not denying where we are- in a battle- but this comment- and I see too many- really disappoints.
We are now battling an unrelenting attempt to consolidate power and broaden it for sure. Those MAGAs fighting for this are persistent but not together and not even that smart except in their study of past methods the ultimate results of which they ignore. They are counting on your and those like your imaginings, the fear it projects, the acquiescence, resulting and what it furthers *for them".
We are not rolling over. People, individually, reach their tipping points, including Republicans and more than that the majority- the American people.
It's a little more than 8 months in.
I look forward to having what to celebrate on our 250th.
Best Wishes and thank you for your attention to this matter.
Thanks. This is not about fear mongering, but understanding risk coming from the chaos of this administration. Dictators must control the military. This looks like a move towards that. Yes, many of these fine officers will refuse illegal orders. And isolated at Quantico while surrounded by hand-picked FBI loyalists, many dictators would arrest/detain or kill those who resist to intimidate the rest. We shall find out. But is it not better to anticipate the danger of this extraordinary move and be ready to support the officers who chose to uphold the constitution if that is the choice they are given? Do you trust this administration to be reasonable or play by the rules and norms when their power is at stake? I wish you well and I hope this is just a pep talk by an incompetent drunk wanting attention.
I read what you wrote above. I don't know what your pay grade is. This particular matter and much else is above mine. I am following as best I can and learning, reading listening. Some things you say seem right enough about what is happening, the incompetence of these people, the chaos. They are actually destroying the ground they stand on- more stupidity does not exist. We have concern and there needs to be strong pushback. We need people aroused and on board. But then there is this overlay of your storytelling about it the possible worst which can lead to serious despair- when we do not know. The situation is maybe even worse than what we think or this will collapse...or it's somewhere in between that if we push back will be kicked out, rejected and have taught us to be more awake and partake if we want a democracy.
I read you as fear-mongering. After each fact or factoid you give the possible worst to come- as if you know already.
The bottom line is that they are up to no good ongoing every day something else, seemingly uncoordinated, going nowhere or nowhere good. People are feeling the effects more and more. This calls for strong resistance, not more anxiety producing suppositions, and not either denials and hiding under the bed. So we cannot trust this administration at all.. bottom line. Now we need to do everything we can and battle and to keep our spirits in tact..
Thanks for you comments, Potter. My intention is not to alarm, just to point out trends in this extraordinary time. Americans have not lived in a military dictatorship, but I have. To ignore what is happening on the ground, and not understand the implications, does not lead to realistic resistance. There is a case for vigilance to inform resistance. The chaos and uncertainty is deliberately being manufactured by this administration in order to shock and awe and pacify all opposition. To despair is to let them win.
The difficulty with what is happening in the military is very complex for civilians and even our politicians to understand or to counter. It easily goes under the radar especially with all the ongoing disorienting manufactured chaos. But, objectively these latest actions are dangerous. It means that unifying and creating a strong resistance movement now is even more important. But read the history of Chilean opposition to know we must stop this administration before this administration achieves the monopoly of violence.
These steps in the escalation to full tyranny are predictable based on the logic of power and history. I am not making predictions, just saying these moves are inherent in military coups. We will know soon whether the officer corps takes on Hegseth and his base, but that would be open rebellion. Their senior leadership has already been neutralized or eliminated. And there is no indication the military, yet, has the stomach for active opposition. We will know soon.
It would be helpful for me to hear your ideas for how to restrain Hegseth’s corruption of the military. When the US Navy kills without legal provocation or declaration of war, it demonstrates that, as much as we would like to believe in the incorruptibility of our soldiers, Hegseth has already been successful corrupting that command to the point of obeying illegal lethal orders. The only question is how and who will stop him corrupting larger segments, and destroying the rest. Your suggestions will help us ground this conversation and create a plan of resistance. Thank you again for your comments.
Potter, a man whose hands are firmly in the clay. Well grounded one might say. The sky is falling, the sky is falling. Awk! I don’t believe that fifth grade pap either. We'll wait for his next literary installment. After more than two centuries our military has suddenly soured and curdled. Ouch. Not what I found in the military as the blood actually did curdle around us. Our leadership was broad shouldered genius. I say that because when the going was hard they found the way to do it. And again they are our children our sons and daughters our neighbors and our compatriots. Do not doubt that Mr. “Suckers and losers” has left that impression nationwide.
Clayton, this is hardly the first steps of the right-wingers to overthrow our democracy, they have been plotting and implementing this coup for decades, all the gerrymandering, steps taken to eliminate voters rights by shrinking voter rolls to disenfranchise eligible voters. Right-wing organization ALEC working to pass legislation at the state level to push a Constitutional convention to rewrite the Constitution to represent the very things represented in Project 2025. The right-wing Senate's refusal to consider President Obama's Supreme Court appointment was led by Mitch McConnell. The Supreme Court went on to strip measures in the voters rights bill and rule that the ultra-rich and multinational corporations can donate unlimited, unregulated funds to politicians. All before trump declared his run for president.
They aren't just trying to shield trump from the Epstein scandal, the whole right-wing is responsible for this fascist coup.
Its not my intention to infer that this coup hasn't been building since the Reagan administration at least, and probably a great deal longer. But we are in agreement there are no innocent Republicans to be found amongst those who've lent thier allegiance, support, or vote to Trump. That this usurpatoon has been the basic goal of the Heritage foundation and those it has nominated and supported is best illustrated by thier ability to put together a thousand page blueprint for the overthrow our democracy on relatively short notice.
That we are living that blueprint is best evident by the fact that those architects are running our Congress, our businesses, our court system, our bureaucracy and more.
According to surveys, about 70% of the officer corps is Republican/Conservative and 30% Democrat/Liberal. They would not, in most cases, be the kind of Republicans who would take an oath to a dictator. The percentages are the same in the enlisted ranks, although a larger proportion are thought to be MAGA. https://thegunzone.com/what-percentage-of-the-us-military-is-conservative-vs-liberal/
That makeup is accurate from my own reflections of my military service in 70-72. What strikes me is not the UCMJ but rather the military lack of prudence required when gathering too much command in one location at the same time. Trump Hegseth and their handlers are asking Command to disparage military protocol that has been inviolable historically. There should come harsh push back from among military leadership. This is like building a power line across an airport landing strip. Stupider and stupider have preempted their meeting in total ignorance of what they are asking. Justifiable pushback should happen.
And now the explanation of this ultra-important ultra-urgent meeting is that one-time major Hegseth is going to give the assembled generals and admirals a talk about the "ethos" of the army and navy. In other words, it's a total waste of time.
Military commanders convene for mission specific coordination. Whoever is Trump’s backbone is a God Dammed fool. Hegseth, well enough said. But I suppose Trump needs another nationwide leadership collapse to bring him closer to the destiny awaiting him, as if the travesty in Alaska wasn’t enough. I know I know patience is a virtue and this wrecking crew will be held fully accountable. Probably die of old age before we can hang them all.
I expect the generals and Admirals to suspect a trap that may include their detention or execution. The possibility of decapitating our military leadership is surely on their radar. I imagine they are planning countermeasures. The top brass are smart and wary and patriotic.
We really need to stop using the phrase, “christian nationalism.” There is nothing christian about them. They are nationalists or populists or racists, but they are not christian.
I use nationalist Christians (nat-Cs) it describes them perfectly.
As for Christians who are offended by the fact that thier faith is being used to justify a descent into fascism, I can only remind them that the reason thier faith exists in this day and age is because they are allowed to indoctrinate impressionable children and use ingrouping to enforce belief among the vulnerable. Any set of teachings that relies on indoctrination of a vulnerable population to be advanced is associated with authoritarian fascism for good reason.
Hi Ally. I open "all the comments" instead of just opening the top of the two that show up. I don't know if that is chronologically, as responses show up.
I guess this is a happy thing: my Total Cholesterol has been creeping up since menopause, as it will. In December, my doc said 202 wasn't worthy of meds, and to attempt to reduce it my diet. I drastically cut down my beef consumption, and I started prepping overnight oatmeal with blueberries which I eat almost daily for breakfast. I had a blood test yesterday: down to 183. Even the other values in the lipid panel dropped.
So, the chest pain I'm feeling right after reading the letter 😨probably isn't an MI about to happen.
As much as I am encouraged to make calls today, I just can't. I'm going to head out to a nearby orchard, or nature preserve, or something.
At least I know, with the help of Megan, my sisters and brothers on here will let me head to the back for a bit.
Miselle, good that you are getting better numbers. I have to take pharmaceuticals to get better numbers as does my husband and now we will probably have to pay more for them thanks to the tariffs that are coming. I do encourage you to take a break and head for nature. I will be planting garlic this am. And we are actually going to get rain starting Monday. I am reading a novel set in ancient Sumer which features both gods and humans including Gilgamesh. A good escape.
Not sure that republicans & Trumpublicans are the same thing now. Many GOP are ‘along for the ride’ now more out of fear than favoring his actions b - Trump & admin may take this too far and the dominos begin to fall - we can hope.
Trump has the support of every Republican in political office at the moment. He has the support of every Republican voter. After the military overthrow he will have the support of every Republican with a meaningful amount of power. He literally will have the support of every single Republican right up until he is overthrown, after which ALL of the aforementioned will be clamoring that "they just went along with it!" or that they were "Along for the ride", or "just following orders!".
They are along for the ride, and they should all, and I do mean ALL, every single last one of them, get the same result that Trump gets, and they should all get that because they ALL KNEW what they voted for, what they supported, and what they went along with. There were plenty of opportunities to get off the Treason Train, just like Comey did (eventually) after he put Trump on the throne. Those times are PAST.
But finally, in the most important and relevant example, we've spent a hundred and fifty years after the civil war refighting it because we let the confederates off easy, and of course they resented us for their own mistakes, and blamed the "damned yankees" for everything that went wrong from the fact that they couldn't accept people who were different from them are human. If we let the rebels off easy this time, are you going to volunteer your kids, and their kids, and their kids, for FIVE generations to go through having to refight this war again in a hundred fifty years time? Nuremberg provided an abject and stark lesson to Europe and especially to Germany, and the fact that very few Nazis survived the overthrow of the Nazi regime (and the Germans never stopped hunting for them) provided an even better one.
I am referring to not only Trump admin/regime, but 🔹 voters who put him-them in their positions. Have read several articles discussing Hispanic & male youth disappointment, for example - after voting for Trump. Hispanics esp said they voted Re: ‘bread & butter’ issues, and in the first 3 yrs of Trump’s first term he was able to 🔹ride on the coattails of Obama-Biden’s restored economy - ditto for the Biden-Harris restored post-Covid economy - most Trump voters don’t SEE these details cuz they are in a ‘I want to believe’ mentation. So all I am saying is not all Trump voters voted for him for the same reasons & not all will stick with him.
* The Trump regime sees this too, hence the **gerrymandering efforts.
I’m hoping that every vote now & into 2026 will have a chance to IMPACT the horrible stuff that’s coming down … but that’s why Hegseth is making THIS move now … they’re getting desperate to consolidate their power before more elections, adverse court rulings & souring public opinion.
Anyway, you are preaching to the choir with me & the gang here, for the most part. Thanks for your intense efforts to withstand the onslaught of corruption, good luck with that, we’re all doing our bit from different perspectives.
— I’m off to watch my pre-recorded Colbert & Kimmel now! 😎
When ABC cancelled distribution my hubby went out & bought PVR software to enable our viewing - just another little way we aren’t giving up!
… plus supporting several pro-democracy SUBSTACK writers.
Respectfully suggest you read H.L. Mencken, who prophesied with chilling accuracy the (permanent) emergence of Moron Nation: "On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
That wise and witty man. Too true. When I was a young trainee typist (in Melbourne, Australia), we used to be given lots of H L Mencken texts for speed and accuracy exercises.
Loren Bliss -- Another great Mencken quote is: "“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...”
Well it may be true of some of the government especially Dump appointed lackeys but certainly not all who were serving before he took over. Mencken was a smart satirist with more piss and vinegar than Kimmel and Colbert but it seems he failed to offer any constructive suggestions to remedy the situation. I believe many government and fired government employees take/took their work seriously and do good jobs with high standards you and many of us agree with. So please don’t paint the situation and world with such a broad brush. For me what’s important now is to devise effective tactics and strategies to relieve us of the takeover horror show and initiate effective forms of widespread healing as soon as possible.
On January 20th of this year, the hoards of the moron class got their most fervent wish. And for these last 9 months said Moron has been trying to expel every single bit of experience and expertise from the US Government. It is OK to joke about the Orange Oaf creating Bizarro World or a more sinister Idiocracy, but it is all founded on the inability of people of lesser intellectual lights to be able to deal with complexity in the world and being propagandized into denying that it even exists.
The Most Important Thing Isn’t the Circus, It’s the Ringmaster
If you’re dizzy trying to keep up with Trump’s latest antics, congratulations, you’re paying attention. One day it’s tariffs on “Big Trucks,” the next it’s firing half the government, and then—because why not—declaring your grandma’s knitting circle a terrorist cell. At this rate, Monty Python is going to sue for copyright infringement.
But here’s the punchline: none of these stunts matter as much as the pattern. It’s all about power. Fire workers, control the courts, weaponize the DOJ, grab military brass like Pokémon cards, and presto—you’ve got yourself a shiny new authoritarian starter pack. The details are just glitter on the guillotine.
Timothy Snyder reminds us that autocrats always sing the same off-key tune: “Emergency! Terrorists! Invisible cabal!” It’s the greatest hits album of dictatorship, and Trump’s blasting it on repeat. If you squint, you can almost see him air-guitaring “National Security” while shredding the Bill of Rights.
So yes, laugh at the chaos, because satire keeps us sane. But don’t forget the kicker: this isn’t about tariffs or Comey or kitchen cabinets. It’s about whether we live in a country where people are judged for what they do—or one where the government just points at you and yells “terrorist.”
The joke’s only funny until the punchline lands on us.
Perhaps you will recall as well his description of political persuasion being that which creates an unreal fear put forth in order to persuade the masses to follow regardless of the “hobgoblins” from which the fear was created. I try to be mindful that what I see in the water is sometimes only a reflection.
So Lorin was it Mencken who said “Democracy is a religion of Jackals practiced by Jackasses”? Just trying to get a feel for a more comprehensive view of who he actually was in lieu of his hatred for government.
Sorry for the delay in answering. This accursed GDMFPOS computer just destroyed a response that took me four hours to research and write, and as soon as I finish boiling over with god-cursing rage and medically hazardous frustrated fury, I'll try to reconstruct it. Point is that while you are (sort of) correct -- the answer to your question is not a flat-out "yes" (as you'll see) -- the late Mencken is undoubtedly among our most personally paradoxical (and therefore perplexing) journalists, but is nevertheless one of our very best reporters ever.
Again my apology for the delay. I reconstructed my earlier work as best I could, with an additional apology for the fact all such reconstructions are unavoidably inferior to the destroyed original.
For partial (albeit IMO less-than-adequate) recognition of its context – this in response to your broader search for knowledge of his life – see “Mencken on the South,” here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26483501?seq=1
Though I checked several internet sources, I could not find attribution of the quote to any specific publication. As best as I recall from my collegiate reading of Mencken, it was part of his coverage of the Scopes trial, the criminal case that resulted from anti-evolution persecution by the state of Tennessee, already a de facto Christonazi theocracy eight decades before the term was invented.
Unfortunately the totality of that coverage is in a price-censored book, “A Religious Orgy in Tennessee: a Reporter’s Account of the Scopes Monkey Trial” (Mellville House: 2006) https://www.worldofbooks.com/products/religious-orgy-in-tennessee-book-h-l-mencken-9781933633176 The prices for this anthology -- which it enrages me I cannot afford -- start in the range of $115, with any lesser-priced copies available only from British sources, which means that with the MAGATs’ monetary-exchange and import restrictions, they are probably no longer available at all, and are therefore unlikely to ever be available in the U.S. again.
Nevertheless, Mencken’s Scopes-trial reports for “The Baltimore Sun” are available here: https://famous-trials.com/scopesmonkey/2132-menckenaccount But this is only part of the much larger body of Melville-collected reportage that included the work for “The Nation” and “The American Mercury” that is considered his best writing on the Scopes atrocity.
Wrongfully damned as a misogynist by a few less-than-literate post-modern feminists, Mencken’s core view of women is that they “decide the larger questions of life correctly and quickly, not because they are lucky guessers, not because they are divinely inspired, not because they practice a magic inherited from savagery, but simply and solely because they have sense. They see at a glance what most men could not see with searchlights and telescopes.... They are the supreme realists of the race." ~ H. L. Mencken, In Defense of Women, rev. ed., pt. 1, ch. 5 (1922), https://www.azquotes.com/author/9962-H_L_Mencken?p=3
He also observed that, "Once a woman passes a certain point in intelligence she finds it almost impossible to get a husband: she simply cannot go on listening without snickering." (ibid.)
Maliciously denounced as a racist, in recorded truth Mencken was perceptive enough – and courageous enough – to recognize a primary element of white-supremacist hatefulness is that the very existence of Black people – precisely because they survive despite white malevolence -- “is thus a standing rebuke” to all such bigotry. ~ https://www.azquotes.com/author/9962-H_L_Mencken?p=7
Hello ICTT... More Evidence that DJT is Spiraling Down in Bigger, and Faster Spirals... Each Spiral is getting more Destructive... Hegseth is getting more Vicious, and Fanatical... Maybe Both see that this Reign Of Terror will End Soon...
Call and write both your federal and state representatives ,all of them and do it every day. It takes no longer than the time required to comment on the posts here on Substack by the people you respect and trust. If you have offices of your representitives locally deliver a letter in person. Spend some time, make some signs and get out on the street at rush hour on safe spots at busy intersections. Carry big signs that can be read from passing cars. Stay for 30 minutes, dozens will see you. You are sending this message,"I am here, I care, we are rapidly losing our America.I hope you care and act too!" This is how we grab attention,this is how we wake people up. You will feel amazing, people will honk and give you the thumbs up and you will be fortified to take your sign and do it again! Show up on OCT 18TH for the day of protest and defiance with thousands of Americans across the country. check Mobilize on line for an event near you!
Thank you Lou Schmitt for all your effective political analysis & counter-action suggestions. In short, it's called democracy.
There is mountains of useful data points in pending litigation to get people riveted on their local circumstances. But, court dockets are hardly the only source of good data. A valuable source of verified information is the BRENNAN CENTER for JUSTICE.
One example, Trump-Vought & their agents are seeking "full voter registration data" from 35 states. Per 3 authors at the Brennan Center, Eileen O'Connor, Kaylie Martinez Ochoa & Patrick Berry only 1 state, INDIANA, has complied.
Folks in INDIANA can respond effectively with accurate information. Some states such as the California have powerful legal tools to STOP the misuse of personal data. In CA , we enjoy an express Right of Privacy in Article 1 of our state constitution.
Also, In CA since 1/1/2020, we have the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). A California state Agency does the work not a person like me who actually has a law license. You do not need any lawyer just common sense.
Alert: Other states are taking smart counter-actions like Colorado.
Considering this administration's personnel choices it's possible they'll collapse, and I'll gladly help them do so, but I'm not going to count on it. Portions of their machine work efficiently. Instead I'll place my confidence in the eventual awakening of the American People, including their self interest and their integrity.
Meanwhile, who is minding the store while the 800 are in DC (Quantico)
What a waste of money and time to fly everyone to DC. And why DC?
So what are Johnson, Thune and the other Republican leaders doing to prevent the shutdown? Maybe this is all about Trump declaring martial law. There is no way, the military can control the masses because there will be mass desertions.
recall that Fox 'news' plays in all the commissaries all day long. Members of the military have no idea what's actually happening in the country, all they know are threats that nobody else in the country sees. So ... they may not be able to be trusted to do the right thing.
Apache, I'm counting on the words of the Native American spiritual leaders that you mentioned several weeks ago, that Trump will have a major health event in October. The time is growing nigh.......
Trump has negotiated with the Venezuelan government to receive hundreds of its citizens as part of his mass deportation policy and to secure the release of American hostages.
Perhaps Maduro should take a leaf from the Qataris and gift Trump a plane rather than having his planes seized by the US government. He and Trump have much in common.
So far we've shot and killed occupants of 3 Venezuelan boats. We offered a bounty on Maduro since Trump# 45.
We've also withdrawn our ambassador from Colombia.
Roughly 250,000 dual Venezuela/US citizens want revenge stemming to Chavez. Many Cuban Americans also lobby for war with Cuba.
Typical Miami news: "On a December night last year in Caracas, opposition activist Jesús Armas stepped out of a café and walked toward his car. Before he could reach it, at least five hooded men dressed in black surrounded him. They asked only his name before forcing him into a gold SUV with no license plates. There was no warrant, no explanation, no indication of where he was being taken. For weeks, his family searched for him. Only later did they discover he had been transferred to El Helicoide, the notorious intelligence prison run by Venezuela’s feared Bolivarian National Intelligence Service."
Apache, the end result of this mysterious meeting between the top military and the Secretary of "War" it's a fundamental act that would define our future as a democratic nation. Pay attention and cross your figures . No other situation is as transcendent as this one is.
What seems to have been left unmentioned is his view of Christianity. That is beyond problematic and has a long history as seen in a current Mother Jones article. It has been Ann undercurrent for a long time. It also mixes in with the Russian history people have discussed. It makes me think if Boris Pasternak’s Dr Zhivago abd even more Robert and Susan Massies’s Nicholas and Alexandria. There was and is in the Russian church similar echoes of a more than not state sponsored religion and all that goes along with that. I always liked the character played by Tim Daly in Madame Secretary because he taught at one of the War Collage and was very well spoken and an intellectually interesting part of the show.
Your comment it's very painful It's Come to This. It's as painful as its possible. Kegsbreath is capable of that and mych more and yes, we elected the scumbag twice. At this point, we should put all our hopes on the military assuming they are not all fired for refusing and illegal order. After all, it's the only one of our institutions that is holding pretty much intact. Let's hope it remains like that
No matter why Hogsbreath and the orange turd are demanding this meeting, WE the taxpayers are paying for it! The GQP is cutting funding for Medicaid, SNAP, the ACA, schools, infrastructure, etc. under the guise of waste. This meeting will cost us MILLIONS! And they will probably stay in Trump hotels so he can line his pockets again with our money! This isn’t just unusual, this sounds like the makings of a military take over.
"This sudden, global, emergency recall of America’s top brass is a flashing red light to them ['friend and foe alike': Something must be wrong inside the Pentagon." 🥹 -- General Mark Hertling (Ret.).
Something is wrong inside the Pentagon? 😲
Something is wrong at the head of the Pentagon? 🤭
Something is wrong inside the head of the head of the Pentagon? 🤫
It's come to This, I am wondering what would happen if they refuse to take such an illegal oath. Will they be fired on the spot, another illegal move, but Trump, Hegseth, and their toddler pool don't care about law or just about anything else beyond the money they can accumulate and the power they can hold over others. None of the pool has quality military experience, and that particularly includes Trump, Hegseth, and Vance. They either didn't serve at all (Trump) or in a minor way (Vance and Hegseth). They gave as little as they could when they serve and for Vance it was to get a free pass to Yale. It really is disgusting and I am hoping those officers will be prepared as to what they will do if they are expected to make such an oath. We must also remember they are using our tax money to pay for this ridiculous show of power on the part of Trump and his toddler pool. So much for stopping fraud and abuse! I am guessing there has been more fraud within our government since Trump took office 8 months ago than in the decades before Trump became president.
Since nothing like this has ever happened in our history before (save for the Civil War), it feels pointless to speculate about what would happen if...Military officers are commanded not to follow orders which violate their oaths, yet scant little legal protection exists for those accused of disobeying direct orders. It's a quandary.
As one of my conservative heroes once said: "Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half-an-hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years." –Edmund Burke, ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’; 1790.
Perhaps it is just another distraction from his horrifying behavior at the U.N. and the ever closing net of Epstein.
I read this headline this morning “ US consumer spending powers ahead in August; inflation picking up” and my mind immediately wondering if spending was only up because everything costs more and has nothing to do with a recovering economy. I’ll read the article later.
Also like a spider web. The more that Trump struggles, the more ensnared he becomes. Like Watergate. But if I were the spider, I would hesitate in chowing down on Trump. Talk about an after-meal gas attack!
If this were 1942 and Germany, I'd suspect a massive purge of the insufficiently loyal among the officers. But, this is 2025 and the United States so why suspect foul play ... or accidents or ... purges?
You make a good point though your statement runs contrary to my inclination. Speculations are as prolific as they are apt to be way off. I would advocate the military preparing for the worst.
Dear god, when will this Hell on Earth ever end? I'm old and will not be around to see the way history will judge our current situation. It's tragic how this administration has purged, eliminated, rewritten, removed, ousted, and abolished people, books, records, museums, and traditions. Hopefully, the books currently being written will survive and live on, destroyed records are surreptitiously being kept, and future Heather Cox Richardsons will continue to put events into perspective with the patterns of history of our country.
Here in Washington several hundred volunteers are going into every on of the Smithsonian’s 9 museums and galleries photographing every artifact, exhibit, painting and interactive — complete with their existing commentary, identifying information, label, explanation. It will all get archived as a permanent record of our nation’s collections on art, human history, culture, sociology, music, natural and planetary history, and the like.
Scores of ordinary people are taking action to ensure the hastening of the end of this dreadful cult hastens, refusing to accommodate its censorship, cruelty, idiocy. None of us know when that day will arrive, but I hope you take heart from how much is already taking place all around. Each of us does what s/he can! Sending you good wishes from the nation’s capital.
I can’t believe the governor’s race in New Jersey is close. Why would you vote for a republican candidate after what have witnessed the last eight months. So yes, I do believe that the people on this country would elect a convicted felon.
May God help my grandchildren and the country I love. For all the good it will do, I live in a red state, my 80 year old self will be at the next protest.
Yes. But I do have faith in the military top brass. Or at least the majority of them. I think this is going to be highly embarrassing for Kegsbreath (love it!) and the Dumpster (equally smelly) - unless they decide to do a Katyn, God forbid.
What concerns me is that our military leadership is de-capitated for five to seven days. Were I Xi and really hell-bent of re-taking Taiwan, this meeting may present an opportune time.
Hegseth is planning who knows what and NATO is meeting tomorrow to discuss Russian aggression against NATO countries. According to the bureau chief of DW in Riga, Russia has also sent drones over Alaska, but Trump did not have them shot down as he is recommending Europe do.
If you read my article you will see that I talk about Al Qaeda planning an attack on the US. The former CIA reporter who said this, Sarah Adams, claims that the USA is not prepared to handle this. Is that what Hegseth wants to talk about, or is he planning an internal coup, or ramping the military up in case the public is unhappy about the imminent government shutdown. Who knows why he is doing this crazy thing. I agree we have to hope that they say no to participating in anything that is illegal.
No need for foreign terrorists, the evil, amoral, odious Trump has formed the most savage domestic terrorist group abetted by John Roberts court, all federal elected republicans and the secretaries of the cabinet groups. All orders will be enforced by the National Gestapo ICE!
Chicagoans are resisting ICE, and protesting ICE, but it is still represents one of the 3 prongs of Trump's financial priorities.
1) Billionaires, with himself first
2) the military, so he can turn it on us
3) ICE, which he is already turning on the people
still, given that Al Qaeda was plotting to attack US infrastructure, and it has now been revealed, but Sarah Adams only said we are not prepared to deal with it, not that people have been caught. Not clear on that.
Al Qaeda planning an attack on the US? That would be Trump's, Miller's and Hegseth's wet dream. That would be their definitive Reichstag fire. Watch how they spin that one on the "Radical Left", i.e. Democratic representatives and the people who voted for them!
Accelerating the process. Kicking an enemy when he's down. Scoring an easy victory to have something the 'home front' can cheer for. I can think of countless of reasons for them to unleash a terrorist attack now...
All legit reasons but I believe the worst of our worries is from the Domestic Terrorism practiced by our government all to keep a Convicted Rapist and Felon out of jail.
So true. Also, Europe is not prepared for Russia expanding their hybrid war. At least they are discussing it. Is the US discussing protecting the population. No because Trump considers most of us to be his enemy.
I agree and I do not agree. I agree that Trump is drumpfing Europe and it could be for something as petty as the city council of Marseilles, Köln, Cracow, or some other city denying a building permit thirty years ago. 🖕
Also agree that Europe and Canada (i.e., N.A.T.O.) will have to proceed without the United States and Hungary as well as, possibly, Turkey and Slovakia.✌🏼
Where I disagree is with your belief that Europe is unprepared. She is ready. What she lacks is the confidence in her emerging super-power status, her righteousness of policy, and, for lack of a better term, common sense.⚖️
Common sense because Europe should have seen through, long ago, Trump's mixed signals of U.S. action. Europe is waiting for Godot or, I should say, Dodo. Trump's calculated vacillation allows Putin to decimate Ukraine.🤢
Ned, yes and no. Germany does not feel ready. We have no civilian plan in place, unless enterprising people go it on their own. If you say Scandinavia is ready, I would agree more with that. They have shelters and civilian plan. Germany has neither. Germany is trying to get ready, but this is a transition. The military is not ready, but is beefing up. The train system is not ready, it will be needed to transport people. There are some expectations of businesses too.
At least Merz sounds like he wants Germany to do its part. Germany knows many expect it to lead, but others expect it to be an equal partner. A lot to balance with a shifting war landscape. I think European countries want to do their part, but they have not yet let go of always asking Trump when he thinks. The less we know what is in his twisted mind the better.
If you read my piece yesterday, I pointed out that Denmark is less ready than Norway which has a drone shield. Everyone needs to switch to drone warfare capabilities, and decide whether they are shooting down enemny incursions into their airspace. Not ready, that is why they are meeting these 2 days. Here is my piece from yesterday.
I was thinking the exact same thing, James. This is it: the final, violent takeover of the American government and the utter destruction of democracy. This is why they want those voter lists: the Purge will start. Everybody who has voted Democratic will be purged from the lists: disqualified, charged with crimes, swept off the streets by ICE, imprisoned or shot. This way, the Great Orange Goblin Baby Emperor will have the beautiful 100% voting score he so longs for. Expect the military to be set on the protests that ensue. Hegseth is planning a coup and will demand absolute loyalty from the military- and he will receive it. Brace yourself…
Does anyone remember the political thriller novel Seven Days In May by Fletcher Knebel? It postulated an attempt by military leaders to overthrow the elected government.
For some decades now, however, life has only been imitating testing.
You know, that whole area where students are never permitted any questions of their own, never read anything longer than four or five paragraphs, and if they write an "essay," it is formulaic so machine gradable.
Jon, remember Jules Verne's book From the Earth to the Moon? It was also just a book and now we are already on the moon. Hope the military do what's needed to be done. Of all if our institutions, it' s the only one that remains pretty mych intact. Hopefully it will remain so after this meeting.
I don't think the military is "intact" at all. He got rid of a bunch of officers who were threats and the rest are now subservient. Besides the military is supposed to obey orders and there is a lot of leeway on what is legal and what is illegal. Most of those issues are in the hands of the president. Most will do what he commands
and they fired the top military legal advisors, whose main job was to ensure that the military follow the law. There was a reason for that: nobody left to say No.
Jon, I said "pretty much intact" and they are supposed to obey orders if they are legal. Just to clarify. Under this regime, there's never a lot of leeway between what's legal or not. It's mostly illegal by default.
Well we have to disagree on that. It is my view that MOST of the orders being given these days are in fact legal. I am not saying they are good or advisable but definitely legal. Provide an example or three of illegal orders Trump has given.
For instance in one debate i had someone said "Look at what he is doing to people, deporting them without hearings." Except if you know the law anyone who enters the country illegally (ie not through immigration or a visa) can be deported immediately.
Is that a good thing? I don't think so but is it illegal? No it's quite legal.
I am not saying they haven't done illegal things but on the whole they have operated just inside the law, often badly but still legally. And the military is required to honor that. Otherwise they are just a junta executing a coup.
Yes. Terrifying. But do we have a shadow military, or whatever a General Milley could be (I pray) secretly pulling together to save the USA from what clearly will be a fascist takeover of the USA?
They had to steal Chinese technology, just like Musk had to take rover every business he ever had, because they do not have the ability to write their own. My husband worked for Oracle after they bought Sun Microsystems.
So glad that I am not the only one who sees this coming. But then I saw this coming in trump 1.0 but when I spoke if it people politely nodded & you could see the thought bubbles above their heads saying wow is she out of it!) Unfortunately I've been correct about a lot of what is happening. I looked into my magic, crystal ball 🔮, called history, & have made some pretty accurate predictions. I wish I had been wrong!
Me, too. You could see the ICE Gestapo, the concentration camps, the rounding-up of immigrants, the disposing of government officials who resist, the utter chaos and destruction wrought by Musk et al. a mile away, but people still said "naaahhhh, he won't go _that_ far..." I, too, wish I was wrong about that. And I do hope I'm wrong about this final military coup, too... But I'm afraid I'm not: this is all directly from the Dictator Handbook...
Umm, voter lists do not show how an individual voted. Boards of Elections have no way of matching a specific voter to a ballot. That’s not how it works. The BOE only has a record of those who’ve registered for a political party. Why people do that has always been a mystery to me.
A political party has records of voters in their respective primaries.
Wouldn't it be enough for them to know if a voter lives in a red or blue district? Targeted ads for the one (Musk has all the addresses and contact data), random visits by ICE for the other.
No! You can't roll over and give up. But you DO have to know what you're up against. Never underestimate your enemy - that's an important thing in the art of war.
Have I joined up for the trenches? I live in Germany. It won't be long before we'll be digging our own trenches here...
Worse-case 800 top military officers get fired for doing the right thing. Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Xi, and other dictators usually killed “unreliable” military leaders. This is all from the authoritarian playbook.
This will be a tough crowd for Pete to intimidate.
Worried he will tell them to get ready to implement martial law and restrict the movements of people. It is going to be when the government shuts down and they will want to control what people do.
Worried? You know your German history. The regime has been looking for an excuse to implement martial law. My worry is about how many will abandon their oath to the Constitution and follow the regime.
Yes. People who say the military is so trained to follow the constitution, but if it gets thrown out what do they do? We shall see in a few days what is going on, or will we know at first?
Ii doubt he will intimidate them. He will just order them and for the most part they will obey (as they are supposed to do). He won't order them to spot peyote in the streets, that might be too far, but he will order martial law and declare an emergency and what are they supposed to do then? Unless the demands are so completely off the rails they are supposed to obey.
Were I a professional gambler, which I am most assuredly not, I would bet a Musk-sized fortune that the purpose of the meeting in question is to announce the total Dumpstering of the Constitution and the permanent imposition of zero-tolerance martial law. As to the gleefully violent participation of the military, they have already broken their oath to defend the Constitution, thereby proving that they -- like all U.S. law enforcement whether local, state or federal -- have been thoroughly infiltrated and irremediably subverted by the Christonazis. (Note the MAGAstapo member -- an ICE stormtrooper as I recall -- who said the republic has already been destroyed by liberals.)
What has been suppressed and forgotten is that the (real) reason the draft was ended is the more analytical members of the ruling class realized they were making the same mistake as Tsar Nicholas made by mandating service in WW-I: they were training the revolution. (It's no accident anti-Second-Amendment efforts began at the same time.) Now I cannot but wonder if they also projected the resultant professional military would be taken over by the future Christonazis, who by 1972 were already vexed to murderously hateful counter-revolutionary fanaticism by integration, feminism and LGBTQ rights. All of which were seen as a dire threat by the co-conspirators in what Jeff Sharlet has described with properly terrifying accuracy as "the secret (Christonazi) fundamentalism at the heart of American power" -- the first public triumph by which was the declaration of theocracy implicit in 1954's addition of "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. (I wonder if anyone else here is dangerously old enough to remember with relish when Paul Krassner's magazine "The Realist" responded to the de facto nullification of the establishment clause and the forcible merger of church and state by publishing a full-page cartoon of "one nation under God" -- that is, Uncle Sam being sodomized by an Old- Testament-looking patriarchal divinity. ) And again we see proven the Jung/McLuhan notion of art as prophecy.
I hadn’t thought about it in those terms. Nicholas II sent his army to war in 1914 to fight the German Empire. His soldiers were poorly armed and clothed, the military supply structure was graft ridden, and the two army commanders hated each other personally. The Russians were prepared for fighting a 19th century cavalry based war, but the German Imperial army had a modern mechanized army, and the Russians were no match for the German army. The Russians underwent significant defeats at the First and Second Battles of the Masurian Lakes and at the Battle of Tannenberg. The Russians lost a considerable number of officers at the Battle of Tannenberg.
All you say is correct, but from the beginning, the full spectrum of revolutionary parties -- don't forget the events of 1905-06 -- were urging their members to regard the training as vital to their common cause. Revolutionary parties here began similar encouragement soon after LBJ's Tonkin-Gulf deception turned Vietnam into a major war.
Yes, revolution broke out after Russia lost the Russo-Japanese War, and Nicholas II and his PM Peter Stolypin used severe force to crush the revolution. The retaliation was severe enough that Russians referred to nooses used for execution by hanging as Stolypin’s neckties. Stolypin was shot and killed in Kiev in 1911 by a sometime police informant, and there was no one to fill his role in the 1917 February Revolution, or in the Bolsheviks’ coup in October 1917.
Kathleen Belew sees the Vietnam war as the turning point in radicalizing a lot of ex vets as White Power Militia members which she talks about in her book, "Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America" which tells how vets did not feel they were allowed to get the job done killing "communists" so they were going to kill it here. Trump uses these Leftist terms and Socialists intentionally, although his Bestie, Putin is supposedly a socialist. We all know he is an Oligarch but still, he pretends Russia is based on fairness.
True, Fox reinforces its bad takes on policy issues, and broadcasting them on military bases reinforces the lousy messaging Trump wants them to hear and believe.
I totally agree with you Loren. This is the best chance for Trump to take over.
I just spent two days with a couple of cops and their chiefs and mayors will not give in to Trump and his thugs. Most departments already refuse to help ICE in any way because they can't afford to lose the trust of the people they are policing.
I disagree. Such an order WOULD be clearly unconstitutional and the military SHOULD refuse. He won't go that far at least not at first. It will b be something less draconian that they have to follow (or be violating the law themselves).
I agree Jon. But I Imagine the response will not be uniform. The military, including brass, to some degree, reflects the polity. Political opinions vary. This is true of Vets whether officers or not. It’s true of all active duty personnel. Within that body, one can find mostly the entire spectrum of public opinion.
I see there may be a testing of the assembly to determine who can be counted on to obey. The rest will be dismissed. Then, the oaths begin.
You would have us ignore the doomsday malignancy that has slain our Constitution, destroyed our Republic and now threatens to murder any of us who dare speak out against its run-amok Evil?
There is a difference between knowing what is happening and getting so hyped up about it that you lose the ability to deal effectively, thereby losing perspective and power. In this statement alone you say how scared you are. Next step is what? Under the bed?
Four points, debatable only in terms of which you will despise the most: (1)-You duplicate the conduct of the fanatical Stalinist Zampolitiki, who suppressed months of confirmed reports of German intentions (including from GRU infiltrators inside Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) and very nearly cost the Red Army the war; (2)-You in your own fanatical effort to discredit me hurl the baseless accusation that I am so "scared" I might next cower "under the bed," but (A)-nowhere can you find any objectively conclusive evidence of such debilitating fear and (B)-you ignore -- obviously maliciously -- the innumerable times I have asserted that humanitarian honor demands we must fight on no matter what, even in the face of the very great probability we will lose (in support of which I have often cited the epic heroism exemplified by the defenders of Wake Island and Fortress Brest); (3)-You prove yourself to be of that (especially detestable) ilk who regard admission of profound concern -- fear included -- as tantamount to admission of cowardice and cowardly intent to flee when it is instead a proven precursor to disciplined solidarity and effective action, as in "hell yes this is scary, now let's mobilize accordingly"; and (4) you've absolutely no idea whom you are insulting, nor of the violent threats I've successfully stood against in my personal life, initially as a child of a profoundly dysfunctional family, then as a near-lifelong (real)-left activist (post-Sputnik education reform, Southern Civil Rights, anti-Vietnam War, alternative press, Back-to-the-Land, Gaian-Pagan, Occupy, $15 Now and Abortion- Clinic-Defense movements), and atop that as a member of the working press c. 1956-59 and 1962-1986, for a taste of which -- if you dare-- go here: https://www.dispatchesfromdystopia.net/2013/09/press-censorship-lessons-from-ralph-nader-and-a-knoxville-atrocity.html I am also an honorably discharged Regular Army veteran, active duty 1959-1962, including 16 months in Korea.
So what are you, besides a coward jeering smugly from what I must assume is a craven crouch behind the safety of a pseudonym. Perhaps, like the Christonazis you (claim to) deplore, you believe the fact I am now physically crippled and terminally ill -- that I know I'm dead regardless of who wins this war, which means you and your ilk probably demand I and my comrades be fatally silenced lest my body's "nothing-to-lose/pull-out-all-the-stops" defiance further inflames our equally revolutionary but way more generalized "nothing-to-lose/ignore-the-stops" endlessly provoked anger. That said, I'll not squander my time responding to any more of your collaborationist invective.
Well, I hope they have top level security - because this is a golden opportunity for a foe to try to kill them all. It seems crazy to have all of the military leaders in one place at the same time.
I don't think an oath to Trump/MAGA is in the offing. I think the majority of the assembled generals/admirals will be fired on the spot and a few "super generals/loyalists" will take over the running of the military - vastly weakening it. This will be probably the most dangerous and foolish move this administration will ever make and it will change the world.
Anything is possible with this administration. If they were at all competent and responsible, they would at least describe the general purpose of this meeting, but so far they haven't.
This might be the most ridiculous post on this thread. There are Woke Generals that need to be removed. Many of those have already been removed. Many Generals were promoted for bad reasons. Better War Fighters were passed over. That is a Good Thing for the Country for Red and Blue Americans.
Describe what a Woke General does in the military that terrifies you so much.
Is that anything like DEI where people against it have so little self-esteem they have to destroy anyone that is smarter or more qualified than them so they can be superior?
Thank you for responding. Does DEI tend to subjugate merit? Yes it does. Should women be in forward combat roles, 100% they should not. Nothing to do with fear. Just common sense. Defending all American Citizens is the Number One Priority of the US Military.
You didn’t answer my question but I didn’t expect you too. You did show your racism and misogyny. All men are created equal and the military has never put anyone unqualified in a position until Hegseth came along.
Sorry but just not true. The US Military had bad generals and admirals like Loveless, Franks, Westmoreland, and some would say Petraeus. It happens since the US was formed. And I did answer your question. Just because you did not like the answer, does not mean I did not answer it. I could write a 1000 word answer but that is way too much in this setting.
That is a real possibility. I suspect it would likely reduce our effective military force that remains in the hands of Hegseth to a fraction of what it is currently.
This is straight out of history, exactly what Hitler did to neutralize the loyalty of the German military toward the Constitution, leading to the refusal of many to participate in a coup. Unlike Trump and his followers most officers are duty bound to upholding their oaths.
Here is a possible template for a new Oath of Allegiance:
„Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, dass ich dem Führer des [country name] und Volkes [supreme leader name], dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen.“
The scenario in which it would be required of anyone in military leadership to take an oath ... and not to the Constitution ... occurred to me immediately. After that, let's see how long it takes to turn them against the civilian population. Bye-bye protests.
"Operation Warp Speed" was fine when we were seeking vaccines to use against COVID.
But I'm afraid it's going to look like a snail race compared to the acceleration being employed to install a fully authoritarian government in the United States, and it is gut-wrenching.
I am thinking they are planning martial law when the government shuts down. That will exacerbate the difficulties for immigrants. In Chicago Latino/a/x immigrants already have very constricted movements. It is awful.
I’d love to see them band together & arrest taco and his minions for treason. Not counting on anything good coming out of this “meeting.” RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!
My thoughts exactly. I know of junior officers that I trained that are 1 & 2 star Admirals. I hope my mentoring advice stuck in their collective memory
I have wondered why the military went along with the Venezuelan boat attacks. Those were illegal. They should have refused the orders. This does not bode well.
Amen brother, Amen. Hogsbreath, a former uniformed services member, has apparently forgotten the very oath he took along with the other millions of us. If it is his intent to up-end the world's best equipt and best trained volunteer force, well- he's going to get a slap in the face. Not just from our legal system but also from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
I can't get the history of Vlad, the Impaler out of my head when it comes to assembling ALL the heads of the military in one place at the same time. He considered them political rivals and he executed them all. I know that's a horrible, dark thought. But then, MAGA and the tRump world are horrible and dark people.
Trump hasn't delivered on ANY of his promises, except his promise of retribution against his enemies. Only the Oligarchs are better off now than they were last November and even they don't believe his BS. They got what they wanted with his OBBBA so they don't need him any more.
And when he comes after the Oligarchs and their money? If he gets rid of the Constitution, Congress and the Courts there will be nothing left to protect them from him. Get rid of elections, then he will not need their money to fund elections, influence Congress or buy lawyers.
Einstein, your horrific nightmare it's quite possible knowing the bad actors running this regime. I think they are so fanatics, so determined and so afraid to fail that they would do anything and everything to keep the power the accomplished so far.
Saddam Hussein did a similar thing. I watched a documentary video of an auditorium filled with top leaders some of whom were singled out and escorted outside to be executed. The remaining leaders completely submitted to Hussein’s dictatorship.
I saw Sadam Hussein do that too. It was chilling. Although I could only see it because the powers that be at the time wanted to justify the Iraq war. The official lie was the Iraqis had weapons of mass distruction and had something to do with 9-11. ( and I thought about the weapons. .. so what if they do, how would they get here to the U S ?) But, I thought when I saw that purge of Iraqi military people " thank God that can't happen here" Irony lives. geezus, now it is with this joke, himself a rapist, Hesgeth, in charge.
This may be a good time to offload the Gulf Coast states plus a few of their neighbors.
If Trump suspends SS, Medicare and Medicaid, there is no reason not to revolt. Without the WCNs in the South, the Republicans are severely in the minority.
Comey's indictment is an absurdity worthy of a kangaroo court.
A page and a half in length -- that's it. No signatures of anybody except the latest Barbie he managed to scrape from the bottom of the barrel to replace the senior magistrate who refused to prosecute because there was no case. No specificity whatever. A fill-in-the-blank prosecution slapdashed together with sloppiness and surliness from an administration that will one day be remembered ONLY for its criminality, cruelty, incompetence.
Whatever nonsense they produce at trial won't be convincing. If it were, it would already have been uncovered by outgoing Prosecutor Siebert, who resigned rather than participate in kangaroo proceedings. This is all about terrorization and intimidation. Not Comey -- he and his attorneys will simply wipe the floor with this new unqualified, incompetent, out-of-her-depth Barbie. It's meant for everyone lower than Comey, without deep pockets, without access to expensive lawyers, for would-be whistleblowers and congressional Republicans contemplating open rebellion. Eventually It's meant for YOU and for ME.
They seek your acquiescence. They want your silence. Do not comply...
This short indictment is in direct contrast to the libel suit against the NYTimes that Trump's lackeys presented to the court. The judge threw it out, and I'm guessing that the grand jury will find as little merit in Comey's indictment as the judge did in the libel suit.
Oops...my bad...while I was cleaning up in the kitchen, I thought that I heard the BBC announcer say that the grand jury was throwing out all three charges when it turns out that they were just throwing out the third one. Lesson learned--don't post when it's too late at night to make sense of what was reported. So let me say now that I'm looking forward to seeing Comey (and his team) defend himself in court against the two charges that remain.
The grand jury already complied. But the trial jury will not. Not even her own prosecutors took the "evidence" seriously, and told her so beforehand -- ABC News reported this just hours earlier.
Guess what Mike Biden forgot to give out one particular pardon. Ooooops probably all the witnesses to testify in this case. Under oath in public. The verdict doesn’t matter. Maybe they convict maybe they don’t like the exposure of exactly what happened bit by bit piece by piece the left is finally going to learn the truth that they keep denying
Comey already testified under oath before the Senate. The verdict obviously does matter very much to Trump because his foolish public injunction to Bondi indicates so. Comey's lawyers will have a field day in court with that stupid social media message to the hapless Bondi.
Doesn’t matter what the jury says, but you just don’t get it rhey are gonna put people on the stand Underoath. Every single person who had anything to do with the case is going to testify. . Hilary McCabe, Brennan clapper Strok, Page schiff and the country is going to learn about the Hoax. finally
Russ, you guys need to start talking to each other. You made the same mistake with Trump in 2016 and now he's back again. The whole point of this Substack is to remind Americans of their own history so that they are better able to judge what's happening now. All Rick does is repeat stuff he's seen on Fox News and other right-wing media. I don't believe he has ever bothered with serious newspapers. He doesn't always read this Substack but just comes here to vent. He claims that somewhere in cyberspace (his own Substack possibly) he is showered with 'likes'. There are millions of people like Rick in the US and they feed off the same ecosystem or mirror world of distorted news and opinions that are never exposed on the crucible of serious investigation. It's fostered by disillusionment with politics, mistrust of expertise and a rampant anti-intellectualism. It has allowed a capricious billionaire who is serving his second term as president and is supported by the most wealthy men in US history to successfully present himself as an 'oustider' and cast his political opponents as part a 'Deep State' conspiracy even as he exerts dictatorial control over the levers of government. You need to resist it whenever and wherever it manifests itself and demand that your politicians and media do the same, even it's just poor Rick Sender.
The judge threw it out, but not for its content. And guess what it’s coming back
I guess I don’t know what you meant by your last statement. How could the grand jury find little merit if they indicted him? Hmmmmm
And it’s not even the point wait till you see the witnesses They’re gonna march out on the stand Underoath it’s gonna be hysterical. It’s gonna be a thing of beauty. they win the case or not at the end of this thing even if the jury votes against it, there’s gonna be enough exposure about the Russia hoax it will die with the inventor. you know who that is don’t you?
The second I knew Comey was a Bad Cop was his press conference regarding the Pulse Nightclub massacre. He lied through that entire press conference. FBI had that guy under surveillance and let him still commit that atrocity.
You mean, just like Trump’s trial what a coincidence in fact I heard today and this is pretty hysterical one of the charges against Comey The official US numbered charge is exactly the same charge against Comey as Comey raised against General Flynn.
Yes, I am dreaming of the most wonderful, realistic dream I could’ve ever imagined that’s actually happening every single day in this country
Leslie, you’re gonna say one more thing that you haven’t seen that you need to see whether they win or lose the indictment against called me they’re going to call witnesses which we’re going to Bear Lodge every single fake issue about the Russia hoax. Piece by piece. They are going to call witnesses to testify in public, such as Brennan Clapper Strock page Adam Schiff they may even call Obama … and of course they’re gonna call. Call Ms. right hand man Who actually testified to the fact that he leaked classified information to the media or we shall see. It’s gonna be a thing of beauty
It’s easy to reply to ignorance Bill it’s easy to reply to people that are so blinded by their hate for Trump but it affects their human ability to reason
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded: “Listen Russ, you are a malignant political hack. We will not be intimidated by your threat to engage in mass firings. Get lost.”
I particularly like this response from Hakeem Jeffries to Russell Vought, a man who richly deserves our contempt.
Kathy, they're all scary because they have been enabled by Trump to think they can force people to accept their "Christian" views.
That is the basis of Vought's Project 2025, in my opinion. When I heard about it before the election, (unlike Trump), it worried me, but I thought that surely things like that can't happen in our democracy. But the one who sends terror chills down my spine is Stephen Miller. He is so impassioned in his speeches by his hatred for Democratics that his whole body seems to shake with rage, seemingly ready to jump out and put his hands around someone's neck. That's just how I see his anger overtake any compassion he would have.😡
When people clapped at his speech at Kirk's service, I got so sad, realizing that there are so many people who sanction his derangement. I never would have thought that.😮💨
Donald, I agree, but if we had a decent, " normal" adult president and decent, 'normal" Republican Congress members, they couldn't get away with what they're doing.
Ever more desperate and more dangerous 🚨. What’s in those files? Trump is willing to take down the whole system to avoid accountability of any kind. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country!!!!!!!
Whew! Quite a whirlwind we are all caught up in, at the moment. Indictment of Comey will be thrown out because Ms. Halligan is way over her pretty head without prosecutorial experience. Any wonder how much she demanded from The Convict to be made a fool of? Speaking of fools, Hegseth appears paranoid to me, but what I find alarming is that we are left vulnerable to attacks without the leaders of the Armed forces in the places they need to be. Maybe it’s me being paranoid.
The Letter from HCR and the themes suggested in the comments are nightmares!
Martial Law, military attacks on the US, consolidation of Trump's forces into Project 2025? It makes me want to hide under my desk like we used to do in school to survive the nuclear bomb.
This came from Trump acting through Pam Bondi. I hope the grand jury refuses to indict, as there isn’t much evidence of wrongdoing on Comey’s part. He’s screwed up in the past, especially in his announcement about Hillary Clinton’s server, but it’s not something that rises to the level of a crime. Trump is mad because Comey testified against him.
I know now he was indicted. I agree, there is almost nothing to charge Comey, and it’s a case where the prosecutor would likely be liable for sanctions for filing such pleadings. I hope the court finds a lack of probable cause or other reason to dismiss the case with prejudice under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
This is a great thing to call representatives about. "I am extremely worried that all military leaders are in one place, and they are not in the places they need to be."
She says of Russell Vought's plans that his Project 2025 "demolishes the modern American state and replaces it with a powerful executive."
No, much worse than mere "powerful executive."
But Heather corrects herself in the final three paragraphs, where she sums up Timothy Snyder on Donald's intentions to force himself on the nation as all-powerful, let's say, dictator, perhaps, or unquestioned head of from now on police state. And he intends to do it by continuing what Timothy S. also calls the oldest, repetitive story. Call out an imagined phantom evil, and claim that all Dems are aiding this evil, and so by emergency need Donald to avenge himself on them -- again, outside the law, in contempt of evidence, spurning due process.
It's a madness the 77 million voted for.
But these legions of white supremacists, racists, and misogynists all hate the democracy. None attended any schools where they learned any genuine human community feeling to "others" -- blacks, brown-skinned immigrants, non-traditional women, gays -- anyone not atavist tribal behind Donald's criminality, anyone not bowing to Donald's rich and powerful pals who for years raped all the underage girls Donald's criminal pals trafficked.
Phil Balla, you’ve done it again. You’ve called a spade a spade. May you grow a garden. As for those who can’t import kitchen cabinets: carpenters can build them as can prospective home owners. Isn’t anyone left who had shop in high school? Are there junk yards left where there is wood? Time to do “workarounds.”
There is nothing more dangerous than a wounded, cornered animal. Trump's poll numbers are very low (wounded) and Epstein Files will probably be released (cornered). He is preparing to wage all out war on the (large) portion of America - including, I fear, members of the military - that does not bow down to his every demand. Just my 2 cents.
Because there is so much that the administration is doing, any one piece of which is dangerous and damaging to the essence of America and Americanism and really does demand attention, we must remember all the more that there is an ultimate end game: the full and wholesale theft of the wealth of the US and of all but the extreme richest American citizens. The administration and the powerful people actively enabling it, and who have true agency to do so, are resentful of the very notions of society, social contract, and common beneficent purpose, and they are willing and eager to strip these notions from widespread existence in order to amass for themselves what all the rest of us have seen and felt slipping from our grasps. These people epitomize the evil that they so desperately and loudly project onto the rest of us.
And they don’t really bother to hide it, do they? Trump expressly came into his second term saying he wanted vengeance, and I think it’s vengeance against anyone he hates for even the pettiest of reasons.
Let me switch around parts of one of your sentences, John. So we have:
". . . they are willing and eager to strip . . . the very notions of society, social contract, and common beneficent purpose . . . from widespread existence."
But they already did this, by testing.
If schools remained centered on arts, humanities, civics, essay writing, the human individual would matter. But testing rid the schools of everything human or personal. Replaced it with the impersonal machine gradable.
The battle is joined. They know that their window is closing because the population is realizing that the government is full of chaos and incompetence. They need to consolidate power over everyone -- mostly over the people who are reading HCR. We are aware of the threats, and we can push back. The ACLU, Common Cause, and many other organizations are pushing back, and those are the ones Trump is trying to target. So far, the lower courts have been holding fast to the Constitution. If the Supreme Court allows all of this, I expect a major, peaceful uprising, such as a general strike or other kinds of "good trouble." I hope it doesn't come to that.
Dark times ahead. In the words of my favorite character from children's literature, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Percival Godric Dumbledore, "soon we must all choose between what is right and what is easy."
From what I've read, the regime has included Soros' foundation among the groups that he is claiming to be part of the network undermining our society. At least, unlike our universities, Trump can't accuse Soros of antisemitism.
L'Shanah Tovah to all. May we have a sweet year of good health and, most of all, of peace.
Even in the darkest of times, we remember the sweetness of life itself and our obligation to bless others by our thoughts and deeds.
At Russian wedding receptions, there is a moment when friends of the bride and groom suddenly start rhythmically clapping while chanting "gor'ko! gor'ko! (bitter! bitter!)" over and over again, until the couple embrace and kiss with as much lusty passion as the presence of children at the festivities will allow. The meaning? Life is bitter and short....so....give us something sweet, something to rejoice at, right this very minute!
They claim that Soros was an anti-semitic Holocaust survivor who mined gold from the teeth of his fellow victims to begin amassing his fortune. That he sold out his friends and neighbors to the Nazis in exchange for his own safety. And more along those lines.
George Soros was 14 when the war ended. He was scarcely old enough to begin schooling, much less collaborate with Nazis.
Republicans have embraced Nazi propaganda for half a century. And Rupert was imported to spew it at 90 decibels. Now we have TikTok owned by Ellison, Murdoch, Abu Dhabi, and China to make the lies more entertaining. Repubs forever is the goal
Oh yes they did, Soros helped the Nazis at age 14. The propaganda has been and is vicious and targeted, for decades. At least he has a few bucks to defend himself
The idea of our top military echelon are all off their posts and in one location is the most incredible breach of national security Imaginable. Civilian Pete, part-time Fox host is endangering our country. Relieve him from his position at once.
It is so stupid an idea that only Trump and Kegseth could have come up with it. If our enemies wanted to cause havoc for us, it would be the right time for them to do so.
We have been sitting ducks for an attack since Trump was sworn in. The on ly thing that has saved us so far is that Trump and his band of thieves are doing such a great job of destroying this country, they do not have to bother....just watch and wait.
True. Hale said that he had but one life to give for his country. The Brits weren’t especially impressed with Benedict Arnold. Arnold’s treachery caused Major John André, one of the best British spies, to venture far into American held territory. Major André was eventually captured by American soldiers, tried, convicted and sentenced to hang for espionage. George III regarded Major André’s service highly enough to grant his family a pension and to create Major André’s brother a baronet. When Arnold fled with the Loyalists into Nova Scotia, he got a small pension (much less than Arnold thought he deserved) and he and his wife lived a financially precarious life until they died. Arnold’s wife, Peggy Shippen Arnold, was from a wealthy Philadelphia family, and she convinced her husband to spy for the British.
Hoping this is a safe space to ask this somewhat naive question - If this gathering takes place and if a new oath is administered, what will happen to those who refuse either on the spot or after some grace period? Fired and find your own way back to your station? Immediate demonstration? Is anything too crazy at this juncture?
Janet, it is hard to tell. I suspect that an immediate firing of all who refuse if there are close to enough people willing to swear fealty to the felon rather than the constitution. My best hope is that these career military folks will believe that "duty, honor, country" rise above all else that could be asked of them.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. 'On social media, he claimed such tariffs were necessary “for National Security and other reasons.”' And we're supposed to believe this, why??? We already pay more for pharmaceuticals in the United States than most other Countries, kitchen and bathroom factory made cabinets are essential in subdivision housing and help to keep housing nominally affordable, heavy trucks are essential to deliver consumer goods nationwide. The only people hurt by these tariffs will be the 90% of us ordinary run of the mill people. It won't amount to a grain of sand in the pockets of Bezos, Ellison. Musk, Trump, or Zuckerberg, or any other of the 1,000 or so billionaires. And what in the hell have any of these products to do with National Security or any other reason? And I'd still like to know where the surplus in the Treasury of the United States is going, now that he has dropped so many programs. Are those impounded funds still in the treasury or has some of it accidentally wandered into the pockets of trump and friends?
I think Trump’s niece Mary accurately stated Donald regards the United States treasury as his own personal piggy bank. He’s been openly and corruptly grifting off the presidency to make money for himself and others who give him their allegiance.
If someone in a coma for the past eight months awoke today and read this, they couldn't help wondering why Trump and Vance weren't already facing removal.
Please explain how baseless fear mongering about Tylenol, despite potentially serious impacts on pregnant women with high fevers; putting 100 percent tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals; and giving billions to Argentina while prices for basic needs soar here serve the American people?
Government by chaos and corruption might serve the advocates for total destruction as a prerequisite to the New World Order - but the Trump-Miller-Vought-Tech Mogul coup is more likely to accomplish pain and damage even they won’t escape.
Insanity on steroids has taken hold in the MAGAverse, and we and the world are in greater danger because of it.
The whole deep state garbage Trump has hyped is ridiculous. The only real deep state is Trump’s attempt to have government agencies and the government itself put under his personal control and to put himself above the law. Unfortunately, the SCOTUS majority seems to forget the Constitution, not the executive branch, is the supreme law of the land, and that even Trump is subject to the Constitution whether or not he or the SCOTUS majority agree.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's order that "800 of the military’s top generals and admirals, along with their senior enlisted advisors...come to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, next week" is not just highly unusual; it is highly suspicious as well. Some well-informed sources believe that it's going to be more than just a pep rally, and a few even suggest that the assembled commanders will be required to take a new oath that focuses on the national leader, Donald Trump, and omits mention of allegiance to the Constitution and the UCMJ. Let us hope that these sources are wrong. Let us also hope that if they are right, the assembled military will remember the oath of allegiance they have already taken and will refuse to bow down to dictatorship.
I simply cannot conceive that senior military commanders in this country would ever take such an oath. I cannot believe Kegsbreath would be both that stupid and arrogant as to demand it.
Then again, I couldn't conceive of how a twice-impeached for obstruction of justice, forever-disgraced, 34-times convicted felon who stood in front of 80 million people on TV with a straight face, telling them that Haitians were eating cats and dogs in Springfield, could ever get elected to the White House, not once, but TWICE.
I'm hard pressed to imagine that, given the ongoing purge of top military brass of anyone with a Democratic persuasion, that there is anyone left in the military who would object to taking such an oath. Any such person has likely either been already removed, or sidelined, and I have no question in my mind that the presence of the FBI at this meeting is purely to arrest, execute, or detain anyone who fails to take that oath.
This is it, the first steps of the Republican overthrow of Democracy, and its literally taking place to shield the fact that the President of the United States is a pedophile. They know the only way they can continue is under the power of a military coup, and they know they can arrange it, and the entirety of the US military structure is currently under the command a drunk Fox news talking head and a traitor.
Whatever happens, don't lose sight of the fact that this is not just what Donald Trump wants, this is what Republicans want.
I imagine there are quite a few -- more than a few -- who would object to taking such an oath. No military officer I've ever heard of takes that oath lightly, especially the higher in rank s/he ascends, along with greater responsibility to one's troops, to country. And no, "they" do not "know" they can arrange a military coup (whatever that even really means). Competence has never been these people's friend. We have already seen multiple instances where their notorious absence of planning and forethought (let alone wisdom) has cost them dearly. They often behave on pure impulse, often idiotically, then play clean-up afterward.
Many posters here love to rocket themselves straight off the cliff in their feverish speculation about how everything is lost because it all will go perfectly for "them." I seriously doubt it. The 'best-laid plans o' mice and men gang aft agley' Robert Burns aphorism has great relevance right now. History is filled with examples where those with the worst intentions failed -- for want of a nail, etc. We can recognize great danger without rushing to play Cassandra, taking what steps we can to mobilize against it.
The central premise that "Donald Trump is always right" speaks volumes about his view point of reality.
Mistakes are lessons on the road to a solution.
As an engineer, I enjoy discovering mistakes I've made because they are educational, and one step closer to finding the truth..
In engineering the laws of nature are absolute, whereas in politics the laws of man are negotiable.
Donald is delusional, and everything he does is a distraction from the truth.
Lets hope our military leaders keep their oath to the Constitution, not Donald's delusions.
Well said.
I had a boss (who co-founded a $multibillion business) who coached us by saying:
"If you are not making any mistakes, you are not doing enough!"
As to the Hegseth meeting, I wonder if this could be the straw that breaks the camels back. A military split between worshipping a dictator or the Constitution. I've never been in support of a military coup. But if Hegseth asks for an oath of allegiance to Trump, the Generals and Admirals should arrest him and throw him in the brig. Enough.
Of course. I am sure there is a good reason why we are assembling ALL our top military leaders and their staffs in ONE ROOM!!! Seriously? And announcing it to the entire world days in advance? Seriously???
I thought Kegsbreath was incompetent. But isn't this just what an enemy would love to see? Talk about a stupid ass, self created target! This is nuts!
Agreed!
Requiring the flag officers to take an oath to the president would be an illegal order. To repeat my last comment, I agree that Hegseth should be arrested and jailed. The UCMJ may have a provision for this, if not, make a citizen's arrest.
In chemistry, mistakes are welcome also. Except when they blow up in your face.
I hope these fools don't take the rest of us with them.
The Donald’s assertions that the left is weak in fighting compared to the “tough” right, is delusional in itself. “It’s not the dog in the fight that counts, it’s the fight in the dog!” My belief is that many, many on the left will show their prowess for the sake of this nation than the orange moron believes will stand. I suspect many on the right will see the wisdom of taking this stand against authoritarianism. As usual, Trump et.al. will overplay their hand and then scramble back to make the usual excuses for which they are famous.
Thank you for defending the integrity of our military members.
They are not just "warfighting" automatons. Look at all the generals who have already stood up publicly to this dictator wannabe.
Many if not most of the officers and career enlisted soldiers are stoic but not pushovers, and they very much ARE committed to the oath they took.
They just don't shout about it in public because they are trained to be politically non-partisan.
Agreed. I have faith in them. Can't wait to see Kegsbreath and the Dumpster with egg all over their faces....not that with the Dumpster it will look much different from its usual orange self.
Sarah I’m not the nice guy people mistake me for. I would like to see them with Canadian bulls all over their faces.
😂😂😂: so very true Sarah; so very true.
I'm just commenting to show you my Spurs icon :) I do hope these generals will stick to their oath. COYS!
Good luck this season. Spurs are doing well so far.
If they are so committed to the oath they took, why are they still in the military? They are complicit.
We want people with integrity in the military.
I don’t believe being there is complicit with kegbreath.
They may be the last stand for the constitution silently waiting to protect our freedoms.
ICCT--THANK YOU! I am sending a virtual hug your way! I started by posting a comment this morning (which is down below, somewhere) about how if the comments vomitted more terror onto what I already feel, I'd quit reading. One up above almost did it for me, and I'm skipping quite a few others in self preservation. I'm glad I "know" you and look for your take on matters.
Virtual hug in return, Miselle. While lots of posters are legitimately angry, outright fury tends either to sharpen your wits or dissipate them altogether. Choosing to wallow in self-justified rage has never been attractive to me because crises are the one time when you need all your wits about you gathered in one place!
It's Come to This, I'm fervently hoping that your analysis is correct. Common sense tells me that it is, but given the last almost 10 years, I've become more and more panicked, realizing that this show is not the brainchild of the cretin occupying the White House, but of a much darker cabal. Hopefully, these military leaders will have enough sense, regardless of their party preference, to stand together and refuse any such command. They have seen authoritarian takeovers up close and know the horror that will follow.
Hello ICTT... I agree with your assessment of how ascending Rank tempers a Person... The Military does take their Oaths seriously.... Mark Milley is a Good Example.... Notice how DJT Fired the IGs, and first 2-Layers of Military Command?... DJT reached down for a FOX News Host, and a Retired 3-Star Reserve General to take their place... We'll see how this Works Out... I don't have great expectations for Mad-Dog Hegseth.... Cain?....
Some do take the oath lightly (e.g., Michael Flynn, albeit he had retired). They are usually smoked out pretty quickly.
I like what you say very much. Thank you.
When I once called for the good generals to save the nation by stopping the trump administration with a military coup, I was chastised. Does anybody want to chastise me now? Yes I know, a military coup violates the “constitution “ so the fuck what. It’s destroyed with the administration but now it’s thoroughly destroyed. Who are you kidding? Oh the democrats will have a majority? A majority of what? A congress with no power. A Supreme Court that has given the Thug in Chief a Tyrant’s blessing? The Goose is Cooking and it’s almost ready. As of September 30, the government ceases to exist.
Now please tell me that my good generals would have done wrong. I’m waiting.
From "Donald's Vanity Tantrums" written during the first term:
A Fireside Chat
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began a series of informal radio chats to the American public during a turbulent time in the 1930s. The radio back then was to communicating as Twitter is today. Here is an excerpt:
“My fellow Americans, it is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we rebuild our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors. …I do not share these fears.”
Trump demands a quaint, televised, fireside chat to compete with FDR. Here is a sneak preview:
“My friends, Hillary Clinton will never see the inside of the White House again as long as I live.
“You people love me so much that I know you want to keep me as your president for life. The Constitution now allows this extended appointment of the executive branch. Our blessed homeland needs me to lead it. I have authorized The Enabling Act, borrowed from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s proposal to restrict powers of the Reichstag in 1933. His SS troops made legislators give up their civil liberties and transfer state powers to the Reich government. I’m pleased to tell you that the Democrats will sign away their legislative powers while my ICE agents surround the House of Representatives. I have the power to dissolve Congress and allow my Cabinet to pass much needed laws to Make America Great Again. And I pledge to you that all fake impeachment activity to convict me has ended.
“I also pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. And we will remove all undocumented immigrants that are poisoning the blood of our country. And we will remove the portrait of African-born Barack Hussein Obama from the White House wall.
“My first act tomorrow will be to have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Shiftless Adam Schiff picked up for questioning to ascertain their patriotism for the United States.
“I know I’ve been accused of a quid pro quo with Ukraine. There is nothing wrong with finding the truth about liars and cheats like Slow Joe Biden. And there’s nothing wrong asking a nation to help with uncovering wrongdoing by a corrupt man. As your President for Life, I will always tell you the truth. When I make a promise to you, I keep it.
“This concludes the first of my fireside chats. I can’t wait to tell you what I have in store for other scum Trump haters.”
I'm with you. The top of my grievance list is why we ever allowed him the keys to the WH in January, let alone on the ballot. I knew then I would have preferred whatever consequences that brought us.
I blame every neighbor, every relative, everyone I know who voted for Trump.
After these months of horror each and every day, I have finally cut ties with those friends who still support this insanity. They call themselves Christian’s but don’t see the hypocrisy of hating their neighbors, the hate and horrible demonizing done by this administration, and the demented speeches given before the world.
And the 90ish million Americans who did not vote
I'm feeling the same, and it has cost me formerly valued friends. I'm at sixes and seven about whether to continue this behavior, as the only road to sanity will be by the power of example and the expression of logical discussion, two things that are precluded by the complete avoidance of contrasting views by others.
Same 😡
Bill, despite repeated requests, and after all this time to think about it, you still haven't told me what happens on the day after your military coup. The military doesn't do "Ready! Fire! Aim!"
If everybody in government, in Justice and in the military does his or her job in accordance with the oath they each took, there is no reason for treason. There are still people following their oath, and I have faith that We Shall Overcome.
I pray that you are right, Doug.
Me no care about day after. Me only care about ridding Donald J. Trump.
Bill, if you're not thinking or caring about what happens after a military coup, then you are plainly not thinking or caring at all.
Refusal to take an oath is not the same as a military coup...be careful what you ask for.
And be careful with what you got.
Mind warp, Bill Katz
Let me just say the men and women leading the armed forces of the United States military did not fall off the turnip truck last night.
You just made me smile. Thanks Pat!
But they are behind the eight ball. are they not?
"Now please tell me that my good generals would have done wrong. I’m waiting.”
Your good generals, right? And which ones are they? And who are you to decide who they should be? Are we looking at the Army of Katz? Should they first take an oath to you?
I’m half kidding. But Bill, for all your passion, you alone are not “We the People”. And if “We the People” are not sufficiently willing to halt what Trump and his myrmidons are doing, then no collection of generals of any stripe are going to do so.
Listen up, my man. After Trump is through with you including a stint at the Clockwork Orange (presidential facial colors) Institute for Mind Control for ole stalwarts like yourself, you will wish my ghostly good generals had taken over and stopped the direction we are most on surely course. Oh, after release from the institutd, your eyelids will be a little sore from the clothespins that were used to keep your eyes opened for the behavior modification class. 😜😜😜😜😜😜😜
Some are not fearful enough, and some are over fearful. Threading a middle course is anything but easy, but Franklin was right. “Passion rules, and she seldom rules wisely”
You forgot to mention: THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION. MAKE AMERICA 🇺🇸 GREAT AGAIN! (My belief is that he’ll throw the flag in for an imagined extra weight.)
The horror of all this !!!
Cheeto doesn't have the vocabulary or the attention span for something like this.
The Felon is surrounded by Project 2025 master minds of evil. He is not alone. If this meeting is an oath to the President or get fired come to Jesus meeting, may Jesus be the military's shining light.
Indeed. The real Jesus. Suffer the little children to come unto me. The oppressed, the poor, the sad. Christian Nationalists have NOTHING to do with Jesus, except to use his name in vain.
You have managed to frighten me with that very plausible (!) fireside chat.
What 'good generals"? They're all complicit. Why would they want to support a coup against the guy they love and is keeping them in power?
"that there is anyone left in the military who would object to taking such an oath."
You don't have friends or family in the military then.
I do. Many.
And they would never take such an oath or follow an illegal or immoral order.
Have some faith.
Thank you for sharing this. Really-you wrote words I desperately needed to read. Living in Florida, I know folks with military members who would indeed sign an oath of felon47 allegiance. Thank you!!!
Remember that Trump had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get an unqualified, incompetent alcoholic to serve as Secretary of Defense, because there are vanishingly few commanders of quality who will sacrifice their oath in order to serve a narcissistic madman.
I think he chose him BECAUSE he was an unprincipled, unqualified, incompetent alcoholic.
My Grandfathers Served in world war 2. My father served in Vietnam. All of them understood that disobeying a lawful order meant at BEST a goodly length of time in the brig and a dishonorable discharge. More likely was a bullet from the nearest officers gun.
Pretty much exactly the same choice Hegseth is offering the military flag leadership. All of those same men taught me numerous times that there were always people giving illegal orders and plenty of people who didn't stop to question them.
Anyone who thinks the military is going to "save america from itself" are the delusional ones.
Agreed.
And I know plenty who would JUMP at the chance to sign that oath. So what? Anyone who is still in command unde the Cheeto is complicit. Anyone who voluntarily sign up to serve under Trump is complicit.
This extraordinary act at a time this administration is besieged by the consequences of its own chaos, may be a desperate act in the dictators playbook: seize control of the military and the monopoly of violence. Loyalty oaths, if rejected, a mass purge and incarceration. Disband and a radical downsizing removes the source of counter coup forces. He only needs sufficient force to wield against unprepared Americans. Hegseth does not understand or care about global presence. Just creating a military of oppression for the America First regime. Who benefits? Putin & Xi by American collapse. Trump does not care if it harms America and a bonus gift to his dictator allies.
Hegseth has already purged senior leadership at the pentagon and gutted JAG. He has corrupted the Naval commanders of the Caribbean flotilla who have demonstrated their willingness to obey illegal orders and repeatedly do extrajudicial killings on any designated enemy. That was the test to normalize extrajudicial killings by corrupted military for the press and public.
America failed to stop this or hold any accountable. Now he will have loyal troops to complete Trump’s domestic urban conquest in American cities designated a Democrat “terrorists.”
The extremist forces Trump has released do not care what norms and institutions they break in order to secure power. This has all the markings of the extremist purge of any constitutionalist loyalists in the entire military command in one fell swoop. Hegseth does not have the intelligence required to pull this coup off, nor understanding of the institution he wishes to break and corrupt, but that does not mean he will not try.
While extreme, this scenario is consistent with what we know of Trump and his extremist supporters. If they are desperate enough, this command gathering of ALL military leadership may be the Hail Mary drive to complete this coup. Denial of this possibility means we will be unprepared to resist,and gives more power to a move like this. Think. Who remains in this government powerful enough to stop this? The FBI? CIA? Congress? The 800 officers and staff who will be kettled and unarmed and divided from their troops?
Expect chaos at the time of a deliberate government shut down. No Epstein files…
The only thing that bothers me is what happened at Katyn, 85 years ago.
Katyn is indeed dark history, as dark as any ever conceived in living history. We are not there in our times. Our nightmare of this regime will pass. Tommorow Will Come.
What if armed forces personnel refuse to go to this meeting? Or do whatever anti-US constitutional act is called for at this “meeting”? Don’t they have some power to stop this outrageous nonsense? How many are General Milley deep down and think like he did at that Black Lives Matter-like pseudo demonstration Dump the Bible wielding diktator called for? I have to believe these people are well educated , smart and savvy. Don’t people think many know each other and are going to try to prepare for some underhanded gang boss like Hollywood generated brainwashing or massacre-like event? I have to believe many who do go will have their eyes wide open. Military personnel may have great respect for their duty but they and their leaders are not sheep.
They must attend the meeting. The meeting in itself is not illegal. There are no adults in the room in this administration. Trump learned from Milley to only surround himself with sycophants. Hegseth has fired the senior military leadership and the JAG officers who determine the legality of orders and contain most mischief. That is not this military. This meeting is the next level of decapitation- the field officer corps. Until there are actual illegal orders, there is no grounds for disobedience.
There are many ways to destroy the existing structure/function/coherence of the military with a change of mission, massive draw downs, and redeployments, which select for Hegseth/Trump loyalists while pressuring Constitutional loyalists to resign and leave. All leave the country more vulnerable and weaker. It fits the deliberate destructive design of the civilian administrative structure.
Again, watch what they do. Hegseth has already found Naval officers willing to obey illegal orders using naval forces for extrajudicial killings of declared enemies (without proof) on international waters. Multiple times. With no pushback. Naval officers, even without JAG advice, know it is illegal to murder civilians. Yet they did. And there is no JAG or senior command to hold them accountable.
Hegseth found Marine officers willing to occupy LA against Posse Comitatus. Would they have fired live ammunition on unarmed American civilians? We do not know, yet.
Corrupt people recognize each other and Hegseth is building a personal command of extremist loyalists to Trump to create an armed force to be used against the “terrorist” opposition as defined minute by minute by Trump. It is the standard operating procedure of dictators to gain the power they need to threaten and intimidate and passify the population. We have ample evidence that this is no innocent meeting. Note he is aggressively moving to limit press coverage of the military.
This administration is testing the limits of what they can get away with and normalizing the illegal use of the US military.
In this setting, it is unwise to look at this extraordinary mandatory meeting to have a normal or sane reason or purpose. These are not normal times. This administration is doing everything necessary to consolidate power. Dictatorships must control their military in order to stay in power. This is how it is done.
Sorry if this is discouraging, but not enough attention is being paid to what Hegseth is doing to the US military. We cannot afford to allow this administration to corrupt our armed forces.
Hello Ric.... This is insightful.. Every Thing That Trump Touches Dies...
Yes and people still rob banks. There is a season and a reason justice walks deliberately slow.
Thanks for your insight. I admit to being totally naive about such matters. So can you suggest any approach to containing or stopping or mitigating what you describe? If what you wrote is true it seems "they" may have moved far and fast to consolidate power well under the radar of people like me who are looking toward some kind of peaceful resistance. I am a sort of child of the 60s when I was in college and so don't have many years left. I didn't do a lot then though my sympathies were similar. So now I've been wondering if there is anything more significant I could do to help stop this onslaught and government/national smsesteuctive take over.
This does not make sense to me. but more than that it's spreading your defeatism negativism and projection of consequences that supposes everyone else, the majority, rolling over. So you say this is about preventing the revelations in the Epstein files first and then a complete overthrow? Your imaginings are harmful deflating, despair producing, a killer, especially for the vulnerable.
And yet you get all these "likes".
I am not denying where we are- in a battle- but this comment- and I see too many- really disappoints.
We are now battling an unrelenting attempt to consolidate power and broaden it for sure. Those MAGAs fighting for this are persistent but not together and not even that smart except in their study of past methods the ultimate results of which they ignore. They are counting on your and those like your imaginings, the fear it projects, the acquiescence, resulting and what it furthers *for them".
We are not rolling over. People, individually, reach their tipping points, including Republicans and more than that the majority- the American people.
It's a little more than 8 months in.
I look forward to having what to celebrate on our 250th.
Best Wishes and thank you for your attention to this matter.
Thanks. This is not about fear mongering, but understanding risk coming from the chaos of this administration. Dictators must control the military. This looks like a move towards that. Yes, many of these fine officers will refuse illegal orders. And isolated at Quantico while surrounded by hand-picked FBI loyalists, many dictators would arrest/detain or kill those who resist to intimidate the rest. We shall find out. But is it not better to anticipate the danger of this extraordinary move and be ready to support the officers who chose to uphold the constitution if that is the choice they are given? Do you trust this administration to be reasonable or play by the rules and norms when their power is at stake? I wish you well and I hope this is just a pep talk by an incompetent drunk wanting attention.
I read what you wrote above. I don't know what your pay grade is. This particular matter and much else is above mine. I am following as best I can and learning, reading listening. Some things you say seem right enough about what is happening, the incompetence of these people, the chaos. They are actually destroying the ground they stand on- more stupidity does not exist. We have concern and there needs to be strong pushback. We need people aroused and on board. But then there is this overlay of your storytelling about it the possible worst which can lead to serious despair- when we do not know. The situation is maybe even worse than what we think or this will collapse...or it's somewhere in between that if we push back will be kicked out, rejected and have taught us to be more awake and partake if we want a democracy.
I read you as fear-mongering. After each fact or factoid you give the possible worst to come- as if you know already.
The bottom line is that they are up to no good ongoing every day something else, seemingly uncoordinated, going nowhere or nowhere good. People are feeling the effects more and more. This calls for strong resistance, not more anxiety producing suppositions, and not either denials and hiding under the bed. So we cannot trust this administration at all.. bottom line. Now we need to do everything we can and battle and to keep our spirits in tact..
Thanks for you comments, Potter. My intention is not to alarm, just to point out trends in this extraordinary time. Americans have not lived in a military dictatorship, but I have. To ignore what is happening on the ground, and not understand the implications, does not lead to realistic resistance. There is a case for vigilance to inform resistance. The chaos and uncertainty is deliberately being manufactured by this administration in order to shock and awe and pacify all opposition. To despair is to let them win.
The difficulty with what is happening in the military is very complex for civilians and even our politicians to understand or to counter. It easily goes under the radar especially with all the ongoing disorienting manufactured chaos. But, objectively these latest actions are dangerous. It means that unifying and creating a strong resistance movement now is even more important. But read the history of Chilean opposition to know we must stop this administration before this administration achieves the monopoly of violence.
These steps in the escalation to full tyranny are predictable based on the logic of power and history. I am not making predictions, just saying these moves are inherent in military coups. We will know soon whether the officer corps takes on Hegseth and his base, but that would be open rebellion. Their senior leadership has already been neutralized or eliminated. And there is no indication the military, yet, has the stomach for active opposition. We will know soon.
It would be helpful for me to hear your ideas for how to restrain Hegseth’s corruption of the military. When the US Navy kills without legal provocation or declaration of war, it demonstrates that, as much as we would like to believe in the incorruptibility of our soldiers, Hegseth has already been successful corrupting that command to the point of obeying illegal lethal orders. The only question is how and who will stop him corrupting larger segments, and destroying the rest. Your suggestions will help us ground this conversation and create a plan of resistance. Thank you again for your comments.
Potter, a man whose hands are firmly in the clay. Well grounded one might say. The sky is falling, the sky is falling. Awk! I don’t believe that fifth grade pap either. We'll wait for his next literary installment. After more than two centuries our military has suddenly soured and curdled. Ouch. Not what I found in the military as the blood actually did curdle around us. Our leadership was broad shouldered genius. I say that because when the going was hard they found the way to do it. And again they are our children our sons and daughters our neighbors and our compatriots. Do not doubt that Mr. “Suckers and losers” has left that impression nationwide.
see my above...thanks
Clayton, this is hardly the first steps of the right-wingers to overthrow our democracy, they have been plotting and implementing this coup for decades, all the gerrymandering, steps taken to eliminate voters rights by shrinking voter rolls to disenfranchise eligible voters. Right-wing organization ALEC working to pass legislation at the state level to push a Constitutional convention to rewrite the Constitution to represent the very things represented in Project 2025. The right-wing Senate's refusal to consider President Obama's Supreme Court appointment was led by Mitch McConnell. The Supreme Court went on to strip measures in the voters rights bill and rule that the ultra-rich and multinational corporations can donate unlimited, unregulated funds to politicians. All before trump declared his run for president.
They aren't just trying to shield trump from the Epstein scandal, the whole right-wing is responsible for this fascist coup.
Its not my intention to infer that this coup hasn't been building since the Reagan administration at least, and probably a great deal longer. But we are in agreement there are no innocent Republicans to be found amongst those who've lent thier allegiance, support, or vote to Trump. That this usurpatoon has been the basic goal of the Heritage foundation and those it has nominated and supported is best illustrated by thier ability to put together a thousand page blueprint for the overthrow our democracy on relatively short notice.
That we are living that blueprint is best evident by the fact that those architects are running our Congress, our businesses, our court system, our bureaucracy and more.
According to surveys, about 70% of the officer corps is Republican/Conservative and 30% Democrat/Liberal. They would not, in most cases, be the kind of Republicans who would take an oath to a dictator. The percentages are the same in the enlisted ranks, although a larger proportion are thought to be MAGA. https://thegunzone.com/what-percentage-of-the-us-military-is-conservative-vs-liberal/
That makeup is accurate from my own reflections of my military service in 70-72. What strikes me is not the UCMJ but rather the military lack of prudence required when gathering too much command in one location at the same time. Trump Hegseth and their handlers are asking Command to disparage military protocol that has been inviolable historically. There should come harsh push back from among military leadership. This is like building a power line across an airport landing strip. Stupider and stupider have preempted their meeting in total ignorance of what they are asking. Justifiable pushback should happen.
And now the explanation of this ultra-important ultra-urgent meeting is that one-time major Hegseth is going to give the assembled generals and admirals a talk about the "ethos" of the army and navy. In other words, it's a total waste of time.
Military commanders convene for mission specific coordination. Whoever is Trump’s backbone is a God Dammed fool. Hegseth, well enough said. But I suppose Trump needs another nationwide leadership collapse to bring him closer to the destiny awaiting him, as if the travesty in Alaska wasn’t enough. I know I know patience is a virtue and this wrecking crew will be held fully accountable. Probably die of old age before we can hang them all.
Hello James.... Republican, as in Old School Republican... Not MAGA...
I expect the generals and Admirals to suspect a trap that may include their detention or execution. The possibility of decapitating our military leadership is surely on their radar. I imagine they are planning countermeasures. The top brass are smart and wary and patriotic.
We really need to stop using the phrase, “christian nationalism.” There is nothing christian about them. They are nationalists or populists or racists, but they are not christian.
I use nationalist Christians (nat-Cs) it describes them perfectly.
As for Christians who are offended by the fact that thier faith is being used to justify a descent into fascism, I can only remind them that the reason thier faith exists in this day and age is because they are allowed to indoctrinate impressionable children and use ingrouping to enforce belief among the vulnerable. Any set of teachings that relies on indoctrination of a vulnerable population to be advanced is associated with authoritarian fascism for good reason.
oh geezzz...my reading of comments isn't off to a good start.........
Do you start chronologically?
Hi Ally. I open "all the comments" instead of just opening the top of the two that show up. I don't know if that is chronologically, as responses show up.
I guess this is a happy thing: my Total Cholesterol has been creeping up since menopause, as it will. In December, my doc said 202 wasn't worthy of meds, and to attempt to reduce it my diet. I drastically cut down my beef consumption, and I started prepping overnight oatmeal with blueberries which I eat almost daily for breakfast. I had a blood test yesterday: down to 183. Even the other values in the lipid panel dropped.
So, the chest pain I'm feeling right after reading the letter 😨probably isn't an MI about to happen.
As much as I am encouraged to make calls today, I just can't. I'm going to head out to a nearby orchard, or nature preserve, or something.
At least I know, with the help of Megan, my sisters and brothers on here will let me head to the back for a bit.
Miselle, good that you are getting better numbers. I have to take pharmaceuticals to get better numbers as does my husband and now we will probably have to pay more for them thanks to the tariffs that are coming. I do encourage you to take a break and head for nature. I will be planting garlic this am. And we are actually going to get rain starting Monday. I am reading a novel set in ancient Sumer which features both gods and humans including Gilgamesh. A good escape.
At the top of the comments section, you cat choose “top”, “oldest” “newest”. I choose “oldest” and read chronologically.
Congrats! Well done!
“… this is what republicans want”
Not sure that republicans & Trumpublicans are the same thing now. Many GOP are ‘along for the ride’ now more out of fear than favoring his actions b - Trump & admin may take this too far and the dominos begin to fall - we can hope.
Trump has the support of every Republican in political office at the moment. He has the support of every Republican voter. After the military overthrow he will have the support of every Republican with a meaningful amount of power. He literally will have the support of every single Republican right up until he is overthrown, after which ALL of the aforementioned will be clamoring that "they just went along with it!" or that they were "Along for the ride", or "just following orders!".
They are along for the ride, and they should all, and I do mean ALL, every single last one of them, get the same result that Trump gets, and they should all get that because they ALL KNEW what they voted for, what they supported, and what they went along with. There were plenty of opportunities to get off the Treason Train, just like Comey did (eventually) after he put Trump on the throne. Those times are PAST.
But finally, in the most important and relevant example, we've spent a hundred and fifty years after the civil war refighting it because we let the confederates off easy, and of course they resented us for their own mistakes, and blamed the "damned yankees" for everything that went wrong from the fact that they couldn't accept people who were different from them are human. If we let the rebels off easy this time, are you going to volunteer your kids, and their kids, and their kids, for FIVE generations to go through having to refight this war again in a hundred fifty years time? Nuremberg provided an abject and stark lesson to Europe and especially to Germany, and the fact that very few Nazis survived the overthrow of the Nazi regime (and the Germans never stopped hunting for them) provided an even better one.
We should do no less with the Republicans.
I'm not.
I am referring to not only Trump admin/regime, but 🔹 voters who put him-them in their positions. Have read several articles discussing Hispanic & male youth disappointment, for example - after voting for Trump. Hispanics esp said they voted Re: ‘bread & butter’ issues, and in the first 3 yrs of Trump’s first term he was able to 🔹ride on the coattails of Obama-Biden’s restored economy - ditto for the Biden-Harris restored post-Covid economy - most Trump voters don’t SEE these details cuz they are in a ‘I want to believe’ mentation. So all I am saying is not all Trump voters voted for him for the same reasons & not all will stick with him.
* The Trump regime sees this too, hence the **gerrymandering efforts.
I’m hoping that every vote now & into 2026 will have a chance to IMPACT the horrible stuff that’s coming down … but that’s why Hegseth is making THIS move now … they’re getting desperate to consolidate their power before more elections, adverse court rulings & souring public opinion.
Anyway, you are preaching to the choir with me & the gang here, for the most part. Thanks for your intense efforts to withstand the onslaught of corruption, good luck with that, we’re all doing our bit from different perspectives.
— I’m off to watch my pre-recorded Colbert & Kimmel now! 😎
When ABC cancelled distribution my hubby went out & bought PVR software to enable our viewing - just another little way we aren’t giving up!
… plus supporting several pro-democracy SUBSTACK writers.
No. I do not think they have yet to dig down that deep in to the ranks. That must be what this is about.
Respectfully suggest you read H.L. Mencken, who prophesied with chilling accuracy the (permanent) emergence of Moron Nation: "On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
That wise and witty man. Too true. When I was a young trainee typist (in Melbourne, Australia), we used to be given lots of H L Mencken texts for speed and accuracy exercises.
Loren Bliss -- Another great Mencken quote is: "“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...”
― H.L. Mencken, Prejudices: Third Series
Well it may be true of some of the government especially Dump appointed lackeys but certainly not all who were serving before he took over. Mencken was a smart satirist with more piss and vinegar than Kimmel and Colbert but it seems he failed to offer any constructive suggestions to remedy the situation. I believe many government and fired government employees take/took their work seriously and do good jobs with high standards you and many of us agree with. So please don’t paint the situation and world with such a broad brush. For me what’s important now is to devise effective tactics and strategies to relieve us of the takeover horror show and initiate effective forms of widespread healing as soon as possible.
Yes, very Orwellian too.
On January 20th of this year, the hoards of the moron class got their most fervent wish. And for these last 9 months said Moron has been trying to expel every single bit of experience and expertise from the US Government. It is OK to joke about the Orange Oaf creating Bizarro World or a more sinister Idiocracy, but it is all founded on the inability of people of lesser intellectual lights to be able to deal with complexity in the world and being propagandized into denying that it even exists.
Yes, Increasingly the wise are being silenced in order to accommodate the foolish.
Saw a cute meme to that effect, paraphrasing here.
Yes. Trump’s maladministrations have reminded me frequently of Mencken’s comment.
The living embodiment!!
The Most Important Thing Isn’t the Circus, It’s the Ringmaster
If you’re dizzy trying to keep up with Trump’s latest antics, congratulations, you’re paying attention. One day it’s tariffs on “Big Trucks,” the next it’s firing half the government, and then—because why not—declaring your grandma’s knitting circle a terrorist cell. At this rate, Monty Python is going to sue for copyright infringement.
But here’s the punchline: none of these stunts matter as much as the pattern. It’s all about power. Fire workers, control the courts, weaponize the DOJ, grab military brass like Pokémon cards, and presto—you’ve got yourself a shiny new authoritarian starter pack. The details are just glitter on the guillotine.
Timothy Snyder reminds us that autocrats always sing the same off-key tune: “Emergency! Terrorists! Invisible cabal!” It’s the greatest hits album of dictatorship, and Trump’s blasting it on repeat. If you squint, you can almost see him air-guitaring “National Security” while shredding the Bill of Rights.
So yes, laugh at the chaos, because satire keeps us sane. But don’t forget the kicker: this isn’t about tariffs or Comey or kitchen cabinets. It’s about whether we live in a country where people are judged for what they do—or one where the government just points at you and yells “terrorist.”
The joke’s only funny until the punchline lands on us.
Thank you; extremely well said.
Thank you for remembering this infamous(?) quote.
I’ve always loved Mencken. And for good reason.
Perhaps you will recall as well his description of political persuasion being that which creates an unreal fear put forth in order to persuade the masses to follow regardless of the “hobgoblins” from which the fear was created. I try to be mindful that what I see in the water is sometimes only a reflection.
So Lorin was it Mencken who said “Democracy is a religion of Jackals practiced by Jackasses”? Just trying to get a feel for a more comprehensive view of who he actually was in lieu of his hatred for government.
Sorry for the delay in answering. This accursed GDMFPOS computer just destroyed a response that took me four hours to research and write, and as soon as I finish boiling over with god-cursing rage and medically hazardous frustrated fury, I'll try to reconstruct it. Point is that while you are (sort of) correct -- the answer to your question is not a flat-out "yes" (as you'll see) -- the late Mencken is undoubtedly among our most personally paradoxical (and therefore perplexing) journalists, but is nevertheless one of our very best reporters ever.
Again my apology for the delay. I reconstructed my earlier work as best I could, with an additional apology for the fact all such reconstructions are unavoidably inferior to the destroyed original.
The quote you're remembering is this: "Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses." https://www.azquotes.com/author/9962-H_L_Mencken?p=3
For partial (albeit IMO less-than-adequate) recognition of its context – this in response to your broader search for knowledge of his life – see “Mencken on the South,” here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26483501?seq=1
Though I checked several internet sources, I could not find attribution of the quote to any specific publication. As best as I recall from my collegiate reading of Mencken, it was part of his coverage of the Scopes trial, the criminal case that resulted from anti-evolution persecution by the state of Tennessee, already a de facto Christonazi theocracy eight decades before the term was invented.
Unfortunately the totality of that coverage is in a price-censored book, “A Religious Orgy in Tennessee: a Reporter’s Account of the Scopes Monkey Trial” (Mellville House: 2006) https://www.worldofbooks.com/products/religious-orgy-in-tennessee-book-h-l-mencken-9781933633176 The prices for this anthology -- which it enrages me I cannot afford -- start in the range of $115, with any lesser-priced copies available only from British sources, which means that with the MAGATs’ monetary-exchange and import restrictions, they are probably no longer available at all, and are therefore unlikely to ever be available in the U.S. again.
Nevertheless, Mencken’s Scopes-trial reports for “The Baltimore Sun” are available here: https://famous-trials.com/scopesmonkey/2132-menckenaccount But this is only part of the much larger body of Melville-collected reportage that included the work for “The Nation” and “The American Mercury” that is considered his best writing on the Scopes atrocity.
Despite his criticisms of democracy’s every-day function, Mencken devoutly believed that, "The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy."~ https://www.azquotes.com/author/9962-H_L_Mencken?p=24
Wrongfully damned as a misogynist by a few less-than-literate post-modern feminists, Mencken’s core view of women is that they “decide the larger questions of life correctly and quickly, not because they are lucky guessers, not because they are divinely inspired, not because they practice a magic inherited from savagery, but simply and solely because they have sense. They see at a glance what most men could not see with searchlights and telescopes.... They are the supreme realists of the race." ~ H. L. Mencken, In Defense of Women, rev. ed., pt. 1, ch. 5 (1922), https://www.azquotes.com/author/9962-H_L_Mencken?p=3
He also observed that, "Once a woman passes a certain point in intelligence she finds it almost impossible to get a husband: she simply cannot go on listening without snickering." (ibid.)
Maliciously denounced as a racist, in recorded truth Mencken was perceptive enough – and courageous enough – to recognize a primary element of white-supremacist hatefulness is that the very existence of Black people – precisely because they survive despite white malevolence -- “is thus a standing rebuke” to all such bigotry. ~ https://www.azquotes.com/author/9962-H_L_Mencken?p=7
And what could be more appropriate to our present denouement than this observation: "When fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression." ~ https://www.azquotes.com/author/9962-H_L_Mencken?p=5
Hello ICTT... More Evidence that DJT is Spiraling Down in Bigger, and Faster Spirals... Each Spiral is getting more Destructive... Hegseth is getting more Vicious, and Fanatical... Maybe Both see that this Reign Of Terror will End Soon...
From your keyboard to God's ears, Apache.
AMEN!!!
Call and write both your federal and state representatives ,all of them and do it every day. It takes no longer than the time required to comment on the posts here on Substack by the people you respect and trust. If you have offices of your representitives locally deliver a letter in person. Spend some time, make some signs and get out on the street at rush hour on safe spots at busy intersections. Carry big signs that can be read from passing cars. Stay for 30 minutes, dozens will see you. You are sending this message,"I am here, I care, we are rapidly losing our America.I hope you care and act too!" This is how we grab attention,this is how we wake people up. You will feel amazing, people will honk and give you the thumbs up and you will be fortified to take your sign and do it again! Show up on OCT 18TH for the day of protest and defiance with thousands of Americans across the country. check Mobilize on line for an event near you!
NO KINGS HERE NOT SINCE 1776
Thank you Lou Schmitt for all your effective political analysis & counter-action suggestions. In short, it's called democracy.
There is mountains of useful data points in pending litigation to get people riveted on their local circumstances. But, court dockets are hardly the only source of good data. A valuable source of verified information is the BRENNAN CENTER for JUSTICE.
One example, Trump-Vought & their agents are seeking "full voter registration data" from 35 states. Per 3 authors at the Brennan Center, Eileen O'Connor, Kaylie Martinez Ochoa & Patrick Berry only 1 state, INDIANA, has complied.
Folks in INDIANA can respond effectively with accurate information. Some states such as the California have powerful legal tools to STOP the misuse of personal data. In CA , we enjoy an express Right of Privacy in Article 1 of our state constitution.
Also, In CA since 1/1/2020, we have the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). A California state Agency does the work not a person like me who actually has a law license. You do not need any lawyer just common sense.
Alert: Other states are taking smart counter-actions like Colorado.
Considering this administration's personnel choices it's possible they'll collapse, and I'll gladly help them do so, but I'm not going to count on it. Portions of their machine work efficiently. Instead I'll place my confidence in the eventual awakening of the American People, including their self interest and their integrity.
Maybe we can have a coup with the military in town.
Meanwhile, who is minding the store while the 800 are in DC (Quantico)
What a waste of money and time to fly everyone to DC. And why DC?
So what are Johnson, Thune and the other Republican leaders doing to prevent the shutdown? Maybe this is all about Trump declaring martial law. There is no way, the military can control the masses because there will be mass desertions.
Watch, GJ, the government will shut down.
But Donald will proclaim emergency, declare martial law, and issue Executive orders to keep paying ICE and the military as agents of his police state.
recall that Fox 'news' plays in all the commissaries all day long. Members of the military have no idea what's actually happening in the country, all they know are threats that nobody else in the country sees. So ... they may not be able to be trusted to do the right thing.
Hey, nice idea!
Yikes!
Apache, I'm counting on the words of the Native American spiritual leaders that you mentioned several weeks ago, that Trump will have a major health event in October. The time is growing nigh.......
Not soon enough….
So you think JD will be anything specially better?
If Trump is impeached JD goes too as well as all of the Trump advisors and cabinet.
that is, unfortunately, not true. Vance was elected VP in his own right. But he won't have the blind cult following of Trump.
Yes please.
Don't you think, then, that Hegseth has been given his orders and is obeying them? He is so extremely unfit for that job that he must be terrified.
Here in Baghdad By the Sea, erstwhile home of the Trump Presidential Library (and theme park), we expect a war with Venezuela.
US companies are still buying crude from Venezuela in spite of the tariffs.
https://en.as.com/latest_news/who-buys-oil-from-venezuela-trump-threatens-buyers-with-25-tariff-n/
Trump has negotiated with the Venezuelan government to receive hundreds of its citizens as part of his mass deportation policy and to secure the release of American hostages.
Perhaps Maduro should take a leaf from the Qataris and gift Trump a plane rather than having his planes seized by the US government. He and Trump have much in common.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250206-rubio-renews-us-hard-line-with-venezuela-plane-seizure
So far we've shot and killed occupants of 3 Venezuelan boats. We offered a bounty on Maduro since Trump# 45.
We've also withdrawn our ambassador from Colombia.
Roughly 250,000 dual Venezuela/US citizens want revenge stemming to Chavez. Many Cuban Americans also lobby for war with Cuba.
Typical Miami news: "On a December night last year in Caracas, opposition activist Jesús Armas stepped out of a café and walked toward his car. Before he could reach it, at least five hooded men dressed in black surrounded him. They asked only his name before forcing him into a gold SUV with no license plates. There was no warrant, no explanation, no indication of where he was being taken. For weeks, his family searched for him. Only later did they discover he had been transferred to El Helicoide, the notorious intelligence prison run by Venezuela’s feared Bolivarian National Intelligence Service."
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article312224076.html#storylink=cpy
Comey: "I’m not afraid, and I hope you’re not either. I hope instead you are engaged..."
Take care of yourself, do whatever you need to do to feel love instead of fear, take a walk, call your reps, protest nonviolently, rest, etc.
Apache, the end result of this mysterious meeting between the top military and the Secretary of "War" it's a fundamental act that would define our future as a democratic nation. Pay attention and cross your figures . No other situation is as transcendent as this one is.
Sounds like Russia today.....
Yes it will , they will be on the receiving end.
Crossing my fingers from here in Europe!
What seems to have been left unmentioned is his view of Christianity. That is beyond problematic and has a long history as seen in a current Mother Jones article. It has been Ann undercurrent for a long time. It also mixes in with the Russian history people have discussed. It makes me think if Boris Pasternak’s Dr Zhivago abd even more Robert and Susan Massies’s Nicholas and Alexandria. There was and is in the Russian church similar echoes of a more than not state sponsored religion and all that goes along with that. I always liked the character played by Tim Daly in Madame Secretary because he taught at one of the War Collage and was very well spoken and an intellectually interesting part of the show.
"I cannot believe Kegsbreath would be both that stupid and arrogant as to demand it."
I take it you have never had the misfortune to live with a drunk?
Good point, Lady E.
Your comment it's very painful It's Come to This. It's as painful as its possible. Kegsbreath is capable of that and mych more and yes, we elected the scumbag twice. At this point, we should put all our hopes on the military assuming they are not all fired for refusing and illegal order. After all, it's the only one of our institutions that is holding pretty much intact. Let's hope it remains like that
No matter why Hogsbreath and the orange turd are demanding this meeting, WE the taxpayers are paying for it! The GQP is cutting funding for Medicaid, SNAP, the ACA, schools, infrastructure, etc. under the guise of waste. This meeting will cost us MILLIONS! And they will probably stay in Trump hotels so he can line his pockets again with our money! This isn’t just unusual, this sounds like the makings of a military take over.
So much for the campaign against waste, fraud and abuse in our government...eh? They are spending OUR money to take away OUR rights.
And if they threaten us with OUR military, I think we have a war to fight.
It's Come To This...please add to your list adjudicated sexual assaulter. That and the convicted felon are 100% fact.
"This sudden, global, emergency recall of America’s top brass is a flashing red light to them ['friend and foe alike': Something must be wrong inside the Pentagon." 🥹 -- General Mark Hertling (Ret.).
Something is wrong inside the Pentagon? 😲
Something is wrong at the head of the Pentagon? 🤭
Something is wrong inside the head of the head of the Pentagon? 🤫
Pardon my sarcasm.🙄
It's come to This, I am wondering what would happen if they refuse to take such an illegal oath. Will they be fired on the spot, another illegal move, but Trump, Hegseth, and their toddler pool don't care about law or just about anything else beyond the money they can accumulate and the power they can hold over others. None of the pool has quality military experience, and that particularly includes Trump, Hegseth, and Vance. They either didn't serve at all (Trump) or in a minor way (Vance and Hegseth). They gave as little as they could when they serve and for Vance it was to get a free pass to Yale. It really is disgusting and I am hoping those officers will be prepared as to what they will do if they are expected to make such an oath. We must also remember they are using our tax money to pay for this ridiculous show of power on the part of Trump and his toddler pool. So much for stopping fraud and abuse! I am guessing there has been more fraud within our government since Trump took office 8 months ago than in the decades before Trump became president.
Since nothing like this has ever happened in our history before (save for the Civil War), it feels pointless to speculate about what would happen if...Military officers are commanded not to follow orders which violate their oaths, yet scant little legal protection exists for those accused of disobeying direct orders. It's a quandary.
I must confess to being a bit discouraged that the uniformed leadership did not belay the orders to blow *up those boats on the high seas.
As one of my conservative heroes once said: "Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half-an-hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years." –Edmund Burke, ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’; 1790.
Perhaps it is just another distraction from his horrifying behavior at the U.N. and the ever closing net of Epstein.
I read this headline this morning “ US consumer spending powers ahead in August; inflation picking up” and my mind immediately wondering if spending was only up because everything costs more and has nothing to do with a recovering economy. I’ll read the article later.
Also like a spider web. The more that Trump struggles, the more ensnared he becomes. Like Watergate. But if I were the spider, I would hesitate in chowing down on Trump. Talk about an after-meal gas attack!
If this were 1942 and Germany, I'd suspect a massive purge of the insufficiently loyal among the officers. But, this is 2025 and the United States so why suspect foul play ... or accidents or ... purges?
You make a good point though your statement runs contrary to my inclination. Speculations are as prolific as they are apt to be way off. I would advocate the military preparing for the worst.
Dear god, when will this Hell on Earth ever end? I'm old and will not be around to see the way history will judge our current situation. It's tragic how this administration has purged, eliminated, rewritten, removed, ousted, and abolished people, books, records, museums, and traditions. Hopefully, the books currently being written will survive and live on, destroyed records are surreptitiously being kept, and future Heather Cox Richardsons will continue to put events into perspective with the patterns of history of our country.
Here in Washington several hundred volunteers are going into every on of the Smithsonian’s 9 museums and galleries photographing every artifact, exhibit, painting and interactive — complete with their existing commentary, identifying information, label, explanation. It will all get archived as a permanent record of our nation’s collections on art, human history, culture, sociology, music, natural and planetary history, and the like.
Scores of ordinary people are taking action to ensure the hastening of the end of this dreadful cult hastens, refusing to accommodate its censorship, cruelty, idiocy. None of us know when that day will arrive, but I hope you take heart from how much is already taking place all around. Each of us does what s/he can! Sending you good wishes from the nation’s capital.
I can’t believe the governor’s race in New Jersey is close. Why would you vote for a republican candidate after what have witnessed the last eight months. So yes, I do believe that the people on this country would elect a convicted felon.
May God help my grandchildren and the country I love. For all the good it will do, I live in a red state, my 80 year old self will be at the next protest.
Yes. But I do have faith in the military top brass. Or at least the majority of them. I think this is going to be highly embarrassing for Kegsbreath (love it!) and the Dumpster (equally smelly) - unless they decide to do a Katyn, God forbid.
I must stress that there is no confirmation that this is the purpose of the meeting, but in the absence of any information, speculation is growing.
What concerns me is that our military leadership is de-capitated for five to seven days. Were I Xi and really hell-bent of re-taking Taiwan, this meeting may present an opportune time.
Hegseth is planning who knows what and NATO is meeting tomorrow to discuss Russian aggression against NATO countries. According to the bureau chief of DW in Riga, Russia has also sent drones over Alaska, but Trump did not have them shot down as he is recommending Europe do.
I wrote today about the Russian hybrid warfare.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/hybrid-warfare-what-is-it-leading?r=f0qfn
If you read my article you will see that I talk about Al Qaeda planning an attack on the US. The former CIA reporter who said this, Sarah Adams, claims that the USA is not prepared to handle this. Is that what Hegseth wants to talk about, or is he planning an internal coup, or ramping the military up in case the public is unhappy about the imminent government shutdown. Who knows why he is doing this crazy thing. I agree we have to hope that they say no to participating in anything that is illegal.
No need for foreign terrorists, the evil, amoral, odious Trump has formed the most savage domestic terrorist group abetted by John Roberts court, all federal elected republicans and the secretaries of the cabinet groups. All orders will be enforced by the National Gestapo ICE!
Louis, I have been noticing that while I have been in Chicago. This is what I wrote this week.
This is about my moving and needing immigrants to help me.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/view-from-chicago-no-ice-no-fear?r=f0qfn
Then, finding out more about the stress ICE is putting on them.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/view-from-chicago-life-with-ice-is?r=f0qfn
Also, more on how we are dealing with having ICE in Chicago.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/view-from-chicago-is-chicago-being?r=f0qfn
Chicagoans are resisting ICE, and protesting ICE, but it is still represents one of the 3 prongs of Trump's financial priorities.
1) Billionaires, with himself first
2) the military, so he can turn it on us
3) ICE, which he is already turning on the people
still, given that Al Qaeda was plotting to attack US infrastructure, and it has now been revealed, but Sarah Adams only said we are not prepared to deal with it, not that people have been caught. Not clear on that.
Al Qaeda planning an attack on the US? That would be Trump's, Miller's and Hegseth's wet dream. That would be their definitive Reichstag fire. Watch how they spin that one on the "Radical Left", i.e. Democratic representatives and the people who voted for them!
I believe Al Queda is making popcorn watching this country destroy itself. What would be the point of attacking ?
Accelerating the process. Kicking an enemy when he's down. Scoring an easy victory to have something the 'home front' can cheer for. I can think of countless of reasons for them to unleash a terrorist attack now...
All legit reasons but I believe the worst of our worries is from the Domestic Terrorism practiced by our government all to keep a Convicted Rapist and Felon out of jail.
Yep. Domestic terrorism is much worse, especially when it comes from your own government... :/
The U.S. is hardly prepared for Trump; why would the country be ready for anything else?
So true. Also, Europe is not prepared for Russia expanding their hybrid war. At least they are discussing it. Is the US discussing protecting the population. No because Trump considers most of us to be his enemy.
I agree and I do not agree. I agree that Trump is drumpfing Europe and it could be for something as petty as the city council of Marseilles, Köln, Cracow, or some other city denying a building permit thirty years ago. 🖕
Also agree that Europe and Canada (i.e., N.A.T.O.) will have to proceed without the United States and Hungary as well as, possibly, Turkey and Slovakia.✌🏼
Where I disagree is with your belief that Europe is unprepared. She is ready. What she lacks is the confidence in her emerging super-power status, her righteousness of policy, and, for lack of a better term, common sense.⚖️
Common sense because Europe should have seen through, long ago, Trump's mixed signals of U.S. action. Europe is waiting for Godot or, I should say, Dodo. Trump's calculated vacillation allows Putin to decimate Ukraine.🤢
Ned, yes and no. Germany does not feel ready. We have no civilian plan in place, unless enterprising people go it on their own. If you say Scandinavia is ready, I would agree more with that. They have shelters and civilian plan. Germany has neither. Germany is trying to get ready, but this is a transition. The military is not ready, but is beefing up. The train system is not ready, it will be needed to transport people. There are some expectations of businesses too.
At least Merz sounds like he wants Germany to do its part. Germany knows many expect it to lead, but others expect it to be an equal partner. A lot to balance with a shifting war landscape. I think European countries want to do their part, but they have not yet let go of always asking Trump when he thinks. The less we know what is in his twisted mind the better.
If you read my piece yesterday, I pointed out that Denmark is less ready than Norway which has a drone shield. Everyone needs to switch to drone warfare capabilities, and decide whether they are shooting down enemny incursions into their airspace. Not ready, that is why they are meeting these 2 days. Here is my piece from yesterday.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/hybrid-warfare-what-is-it-leading?r=f0qfn
Russia sent a normal recon package of Tu-95s and escorting fighters that violated the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone. Perhaps more interestingly, Hungary just sent drones over Ukraine. I guess they want to show Big Brother who they're rooting for. https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/hungarian-drones-breach-ukraines-airspace-zelensky-says/ar-AA1NmDUS
James that is interesting.
I was thinking the exact same thing, James. This is it: the final, violent takeover of the American government and the utter destruction of democracy. This is why they want those voter lists: the Purge will start. Everybody who has voted Democratic will be purged from the lists: disqualified, charged with crimes, swept off the streets by ICE, imprisoned or shot. This way, the Great Orange Goblin Baby Emperor will have the beautiful 100% voting score he so longs for. Expect the military to be set on the protests that ensue. Hegseth is planning a coup and will demand absolute loyalty from the military- and he will receive it. Brace yourself…
Does anyone remember the political thriller novel Seven Days In May by Fletcher Knebel? It postulated an attempt by military leaders to overthrow the elected government.
Scary book but of course JUST a book.
This is REAL.
YES. Doesn't life always imitate art?
Used to, James.
For some decades now, however, life has only been imitating testing.
You know, that whole area where students are never permitted any questions of their own, never read anything longer than four or five paragraphs, and if they write an "essay," it is formulaic so machine gradable.
Here's the trailer of the film. Look at the comments!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWL06waOAGw
Jon, remember Jules Verne's book From the Earth to the Moon? It was also just a book and now we are already on the moon. Hope the military do what's needed to be done. Of all if our institutions, it' s the only one that remains pretty mych intact. Hopefully it will remain so after this meeting.
I don't think the military is "intact" at all. He got rid of a bunch of officers who were threats and the rest are now subservient. Besides the military is supposed to obey orders and there is a lot of leeway on what is legal and what is illegal. Most of those issues are in the hands of the president. Most will do what he commands
and they fired the top military legal advisors, whose main job was to ensure that the military follow the law. There was a reason for that: nobody left to say No.
Jon, I said "pretty much intact" and they are supposed to obey orders if they are legal. Just to clarify. Under this regime, there's never a lot of leeway between what's legal or not. It's mostly illegal by default.
Well we have to disagree on that. It is my view that MOST of the orders being given these days are in fact legal. I am not saying they are good or advisable but definitely legal. Provide an example or three of illegal orders Trump has given.
For instance in one debate i had someone said "Look at what he is doing to people, deporting them without hearings." Except if you know the law anyone who enters the country illegally (ie not through immigration or a visa) can be deported immediately.
Is that a good thing? I don't think so but is it illegal? No it's quite legal.
I am not saying they haven't done illegal things but on the whole they have operated just inside the law, often badly but still legally. And the military is required to honor that. Otherwise they are just a junta executing a coup.
Yes. Terrifying. But do we have a shadow military, or whatever a General Milley could be (I pray) secretly pulling together to save the USA from what clearly will be a fascist takeover of the USA?
not with the right wing media being broadcast on all the bases.
Also, worried about this Hegseth meeting. Will Trump be implementing Martial Law? Will people no longer be able to leave?
You are so right, we are so blind. TikTok will entertain us. Ellison, Murdoch, and China are working on the algorithms as we post. It is here.
Can he really issue an executive order selling TikTok to his friends?
So the news said yesterday, so did Google.
They had to steal Chinese technology, just like Musk had to take rover every business he ever had, because they do not have the ability to write their own. My husband worked for Oracle after they bought Sun Microsystems.
Did he survive Ellison
I think the states and municipalities maintain voter lists, Dutch -- not the feds.
They could've asked Musk: he probably has all those lists after his DOGE shenanigans.
So glad that I am not the only one who sees this coming. But then I saw this coming in trump 1.0 but when I spoke if it people politely nodded & you could see the thought bubbles above their heads saying wow is she out of it!) Unfortunately I've been correct about a lot of what is happening. I looked into my magic, crystal ball 🔮, called history, & have made some pretty accurate predictions. I wish I had been wrong!
Me, too. You could see the ICE Gestapo, the concentration camps, the rounding-up of immigrants, the disposing of government officials who resist, the utter chaos and destruction wrought by Musk et al. a mile away, but people still said "naaahhhh, he won't go _that_ far..." I, too, wish I was wrong about that. And I do hope I'm wrong about this final military coup, too... But I'm afraid I'm not: this is all directly from the Dictator Handbook...
Umm, voter lists do not show how an individual voted. Boards of Elections have no way of matching a specific voter to a ballot. That’s not how it works. The BOE only has a record of those who’ve registered for a political party. Why people do that has always been a mystery to me.
A political party has records of voters in their respective primaries.
Wouldn't it be enough for them to know if a voter lives in a red or blue district? Targeted ads for the one (Musk has all the addresses and contact data), random visits by ICE for the other.
So, Dutch, what do you recommend? Do we just roll over and give up? Sorry, you don’t get off the hook that easy.
My local Indivisible group is in it for as long as it takes to win. We need you in it with us. Have you joined up for the trenches yet?
No! You can't roll over and give up. But you DO have to know what you're up against. Never underestimate your enemy - that's an important thing in the art of war.
Have I joined up for the trenches? I live in Germany. It won't be long before we'll be digging our own trenches here...
Being former military, the officers I knew would never bow down to dictatorship.
Respect to you and your colleagues! But I'm afraid these officers are already 'purged' from the military... Hegseth sure won't like 'em.
Worse-case 800 top military officers get fired for doing the right thing. Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Xi, and other dictators usually killed “unreliable” military leaders. This is all from the authoritarian playbook.
This will be a tough crowd for Pete to intimidate.
Worried he will tell them to get ready to implement martial law and restrict the movements of people. It is going to be when the government shuts down and they will want to control what people do.
Worried? You know your German history. The regime has been looking for an excuse to implement martial law. My worry is about how many will abandon their oath to the Constitution and follow the regime.
Yes. People who say the military is so trained to follow the constitution, but if it gets thrown out what do they do? We shall see in a few days what is going on, or will we know at first?
Ii doubt he will intimidate them. He will just order them and for the most part they will obey (as they are supposed to do). He won't order them to spot peyote in the streets, that might be too far, but he will order martial law and declare an emergency and what are they supposed to do then? Unless the demands are so completely off the rails they are supposed to obey.
Were I a professional gambler, which I am most assuredly not, I would bet a Musk-sized fortune that the purpose of the meeting in question is to announce the total Dumpstering of the Constitution and the permanent imposition of zero-tolerance martial law. As to the gleefully violent participation of the military, they have already broken their oath to defend the Constitution, thereby proving that they -- like all U.S. law enforcement whether local, state or federal -- have been thoroughly infiltrated and irremediably subverted by the Christonazis. (Note the MAGAstapo member -- an ICE stormtrooper as I recall -- who said the republic has already been destroyed by liberals.)
Christian Nationalists have been infiltrating the armed services for quite some time.
What has been suppressed and forgotten is that the (real) reason the draft was ended is the more analytical members of the ruling class realized they were making the same mistake as Tsar Nicholas made by mandating service in WW-I: they were training the revolution. (It's no accident anti-Second-Amendment efforts began at the same time.) Now I cannot but wonder if they also projected the resultant professional military would be taken over by the future Christonazis, who by 1972 were already vexed to murderously hateful counter-revolutionary fanaticism by integration, feminism and LGBTQ rights. All of which were seen as a dire threat by the co-conspirators in what Jeff Sharlet has described with properly terrifying accuracy as "the secret (Christonazi) fundamentalism at the heart of American power" -- the first public triumph by which was the declaration of theocracy implicit in 1954's addition of "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. (I wonder if anyone else here is dangerously old enough to remember with relish when Paul Krassner's magazine "The Realist" responded to the de facto nullification of the establishment clause and the forcible merger of church and state by publishing a full-page cartoon of "one nation under God" -- that is, Uncle Sam being sodomized by an Old- Testament-looking patriarchal divinity. ) And again we see proven the Jung/McLuhan notion of art as prophecy.
I hadn’t thought about it in those terms. Nicholas II sent his army to war in 1914 to fight the German Empire. His soldiers were poorly armed and clothed, the military supply structure was graft ridden, and the two army commanders hated each other personally. The Russians were prepared for fighting a 19th century cavalry based war, but the German Imperial army had a modern mechanized army, and the Russians were no match for the German army. The Russians underwent significant defeats at the First and Second Battles of the Masurian Lakes and at the Battle of Tannenberg. The Russians lost a considerable number of officers at the Battle of Tannenberg.
All you say is correct, but from the beginning, the full spectrum of revolutionary parties -- don't forget the events of 1905-06 -- were urging their members to regard the training as vital to their common cause. Revolutionary parties here began similar encouragement soon after LBJ's Tonkin-Gulf deception turned Vietnam into a major war.
Yes, revolution broke out after Russia lost the Russo-Japanese War, and Nicholas II and his PM Peter Stolypin used severe force to crush the revolution. The retaliation was severe enough that Russians referred to nooses used for execution by hanging as Stolypin’s neckties. Stolypin was shot and killed in Kiev in 1911 by a sometime police informant, and there was no one to fill his role in the 1917 February Revolution, or in the Bolsheviks’ coup in October 1917.
Kathleen Belew sees the Vietnam war as the turning point in radicalizing a lot of ex vets as White Power Militia members which she talks about in her book, "Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America" which tells how vets did not feel they were allowed to get the job done killing "communists" so they were going to kill it here. Trump uses these Leftist terms and Socialists intentionally, although his Bestie, Putin is supposedly a socialist. We all know he is an Oligarch but still, he pretends Russia is based on fairness.
With Fox TV playing at military sites.
True, Fox reinforces its bad takes on policy issues, and broadcasting them on military bases reinforces the lousy messaging Trump wants them to hear and believe.
Often as mandatory viewing.
I totally agree with you Loren. This is the best chance for Trump to take over.
I just spent two days with a couple of cops and their chiefs and mayors will not give in to Trump and his thugs. Most departments already refuse to help ICE in any way because they can't afford to lose the trust of the people they are policing.
I disagree. Such an order WOULD be clearly unconstitutional and the military SHOULD refuse. He won't go that far at least not at first. It will b be something less draconian that they have to follow (or be violating the law themselves).
I agree Jon. But I Imagine the response will not be uniform. The military, including brass, to some degree, reflects the polity. Political opinions vary. This is true of Vets whether officers or not. It’s true of all active duty personnel. Within that body, one can find mostly the entire spectrum of public opinion.
I see there may be a testing of the assembly to determine who can be counted on to obey. The rest will be dismissed. Then, the oaths begin.
You would lose your fortune..
This is fear mongering, negativism and despair producing-- despair is a killer.
What also will kill us is the gleeful participation in this kind of talk on these threads.
Disappointing- very. To what end? for "likes"? Spreading the commiseration, the downers?
You would have us ignore the doomsday malignancy that has slain our Constitution, destroyed our Republic and now threatens to murder any of us who dare speak out against its run-amok Evil?
There is a difference between knowing what is happening and getting so hyped up about it that you lose the ability to deal effectively, thereby losing perspective and power. In this statement alone you say how scared you are. Next step is what? Under the bed?
Four points, debatable only in terms of which you will despise the most: (1)-You duplicate the conduct of the fanatical Stalinist Zampolitiki, who suppressed months of confirmed reports of German intentions (including from GRU infiltrators inside Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) and very nearly cost the Red Army the war; (2)-You in your own fanatical effort to discredit me hurl the baseless accusation that I am so "scared" I might next cower "under the bed," but (A)-nowhere can you find any objectively conclusive evidence of such debilitating fear and (B)-you ignore -- obviously maliciously -- the innumerable times I have asserted that humanitarian honor demands we must fight on no matter what, even in the face of the very great probability we will lose (in support of which I have often cited the epic heroism exemplified by the defenders of Wake Island and Fortress Brest); (3)-You prove yourself to be of that (especially detestable) ilk who regard admission of profound concern -- fear included -- as tantamount to admission of cowardice and cowardly intent to flee when it is instead a proven precursor to disciplined solidarity and effective action, as in "hell yes this is scary, now let's mobilize accordingly"; and (4) you've absolutely no idea whom you are insulting, nor of the violent threats I've successfully stood against in my personal life, initially as a child of a profoundly dysfunctional family, then as a near-lifelong (real)-left activist (post-Sputnik education reform, Southern Civil Rights, anti-Vietnam War, alternative press, Back-to-the-Land, Gaian-Pagan, Occupy, $15 Now and Abortion- Clinic-Defense movements), and atop that as a member of the working press c. 1956-59 and 1962-1986, for a taste of which -- if you dare-- go here: https://www.dispatchesfromdystopia.net/2013/09/press-censorship-lessons-from-ralph-nader-and-a-knoxville-atrocity.html I am also an honorably discharged Regular Army veteran, active duty 1959-1962, including 16 months in Korea.
So what are you, besides a coward jeering smugly from what I must assume is a craven crouch behind the safety of a pseudonym. Perhaps, like the Christonazis you (claim to) deplore, you believe the fact I am now physically crippled and terminally ill -- that I know I'm dead regardless of who wins this war, which means you and your ilk probably demand I and my comrades be fatally silenced lest my body's "nothing-to-lose/pull-out-all-the-stops" defiance further inflames our equally revolutionary but way more generalized "nothing-to-lose/ignore-the-stops" endlessly provoked anger. That said, I'll not squander my time responding to any more of your collaborationist invective.
You started punching. I punched back. I am not up for that. Go away.
Well, I hope they have top level security - because this is a golden opportunity for a foe to try to kill them all. It seems crazy to have all of the military leaders in one place at the same time.
That is what everyone is saying.
I don't think an oath to Trump/MAGA is in the offing. I think the majority of the assembled generals/admirals will be fired on the spot and a few "super generals/loyalists" will take over the running of the military - vastly weakening it. This will be probably the most dangerous and foolish move this administration will ever make and it will change the world.
Anything is possible with this administration. If they were at all competent and responsible, they would at least describe the general purpose of this meeting, but so far they haven't.
This might be the most ridiculous post on this thread. There are Woke Generals that need to be removed. Many of those have already been removed. Many Generals were promoted for bad reasons. Better War Fighters were passed over. That is a Good Thing for the Country for Red and Blue Americans.
Describe what a Woke General does in the military that terrifies you so much.
Is that anything like DEI where people against it have so little self-esteem they have to destroy anyone that is smarter or more qualified than them so they can be superior?
Thank you for responding. Does DEI tend to subjugate merit? Yes it does. Should women be in forward combat roles, 100% they should not. Nothing to do with fear. Just common sense. Defending all American Citizens is the Number One Priority of the US Military.
Another Fascist blocked
You didn’t answer my question but I didn’t expect you too. You did show your racism and misogyny. All men are created equal and the military has never put anyone unqualified in a position until Hegseth came along.
Sorry but just not true. The US Military had bad generals and admirals like Loveless, Franks, Westmoreland, and some would say Petraeus. It happens since the US was formed. And I did answer your question. Just because you did not like the answer, does not mean I did not answer it. I could write a 1000 word answer but that is way too much in this setting.
That is a real possibility. I suspect it would likely reduce our effective military force that remains in the hands of Hegseth to a fraction of what it is currently.
This is straight out of history, exactly what Hitler did to neutralize the loyalty of the German military toward the Constitution, leading to the refusal of many to participate in a coup. Unlike Trump and his followers most officers are duty bound to upholding their oaths.
Are you referring to the Hossbach Protocol of November 10, 1937?
Here is a possible template for a new Oath of Allegiance:
„Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, dass ich dem Führer des [country name] und Volkes [supreme leader name], dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen.“
Nur ein Problem: Fast keiner spricht Deutsch. Aber vielleicht ist das kein Problem, wenn du verstehst was ich meine.
:)
The scenario in which it would be required of anyone in military leadership to take an oath ... and not to the Constitution ... occurred to me immediately. After that, let's see how long it takes to turn them against the civilian population. Bye-bye protests.
"Operation Warp Speed" was fine when we were seeking vaccines to use against COVID.
But I'm afraid it's going to look like a snail race compared to the acceleration being employed to install a fully authoritarian government in the United States, and it is gut-wrenching.
I am thinking they are planning martial law when the government shuts down. That will exacerbate the difficulties for immigrants. In Chicago Latino/a/x immigrants already have very constricted movements. It is awful.
There are many other possibilities, of course, but that was the most alarming one that occurred to me immediately.
I’d love to see them band together & arrest taco and his minions for treason. Not counting on anything good coming out of this “meeting.” RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!
My thoughts exactly. I know of junior officers that I trained that are 1 & 2 star Admirals. I hope my mentoring advice stuck in their collective memory
I have wondered why the military went along with the Venezuelan boat attacks. Those were illegal. They should have refused the orders. This does not bode well.
Good point.
This might be to prepare them for new roles when the budget fails to pass and Trump declares an emergency.
That's certainly possible.
Frightening and flailing. What happened to all the worry about waste…..?
Amen brother, Amen. Hogsbreath, a former uniformed services member, has apparently forgotten the very oath he took along with the other millions of us. If it is his intent to up-end the world's best equipt and best trained volunteer force, well- he's going to get a slap in the face. Not just from our legal system but also from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Isn't it a hell of a security risk to do this? One bomb and all our military leaders are wiped out.
One would certainly think so.
The big brass meetup is set for the same day the government will shut down if an accord is not reached.
That combination is not good. It feels like they are preparing to escalate.
If they are going to implement the rest of P-25 they need to move that pesky constitution out of the way.
We need to keep our eyes open and our powder dry.
I can't get the history of Vlad, the Impaler out of my head when it comes to assembling ALL the heads of the military in one place at the same time. He considered them political rivals and he executed them all. I know that's a horrible, dark thought. But then, MAGA and the tRump world are horrible and dark people.
Trump hasn't delivered on ANY of his promises, except his promise of retribution against his enemies. Only the Oligarchs are better off now than they were last November and even they don't believe his BS. They got what they wanted with his OBBBA so they don't need him any more.
Also tax cuts for the mega rich, GJ -- and protecting the rich who raped the underage girls trafficked by Donald's pals.
And when he comes after the Oligarchs and their money? If he gets rid of the Constitution, Congress and the Courts there will be nothing left to protect them from him. Get rid of elections, then he will not need their money to fund elections, influence Congress or buy lawyers.
Einstein, your horrific nightmare it's quite possible knowing the bad actors running this regime. I think they are so fanatics, so determined and so afraid to fail that they would do anything and everything to keep the power the accomplished so far.
I agree except to say their power was stolen more than accomplished.
I don’t know if you ever watched Game of Thrones, but all of a sudden I can hear the strains of “The Rains of Castamere.”
The red wedding?
Yep. When Einstein mentioned Vlad, that came to mind.
I know the music from GoT is really good. I could not watch that show, at all.
Saddam Hussein did a similar thing. I watched a documentary video of an auditorium filled with top leaders some of whom were singled out and escorted outside to be executed. The remaining leaders completely submitted to Hussein’s dictatorship.
I saw Sadam Hussein do that too. It was chilling. Although I could only see it because the powers that be at the time wanted to justify the Iraq war. The official lie was the Iraqis had weapons of mass distruction and had something to do with 9-11. ( and I thought about the weapons. .. so what if they do, how would they get here to the U S ?) But, I thought when I saw that purge of Iraqi military people " thank God that can't happen here" Irony lives. geezus, now it is with this joke, himself a rapist, Hesgeth, in charge.
Yes, a bit like "The Night of the Long Knives" when Hitler came to power. He did it in the open too.
This may be a good time to offload the Gulf Coast states plus a few of their neighbors.
If Trump suspends SS, Medicare and Medicaid, there is no reason not to revolt. Without the WCNs in the South, the Republicans are severely in the minority.
Comey's indictment is an absurdity worthy of a kangaroo court.
A page and a half in length -- that's it. No signatures of anybody except the latest Barbie he managed to scrape from the bottom of the barrel to replace the senior magistrate who refused to prosecute because there was no case. No specificity whatever. A fill-in-the-blank prosecution slapdashed together with sloppiness and surliness from an administration that will one day be remembered ONLY for its criminality, cruelty, incompetence.
Whatever nonsense they produce at trial won't be convincing. If it were, it would already have been uncovered by outgoing Prosecutor Siebert, who resigned rather than participate in kangaroo proceedings. This is all about terrorization and intimidation. Not Comey -- he and his attorneys will simply wipe the floor with this new unqualified, incompetent, out-of-her-depth Barbie. It's meant for everyone lower than Comey, without deep pockets, without access to expensive lawyers, for would-be whistleblowers and congressional Republicans contemplating open rebellion. Eventually It's meant for YOU and for ME.
They seek your acquiescence. They want your silence. Do not comply...
This short indictment is in direct contrast to the libel suit against the NYTimes that Trump's lackeys presented to the court. The judge threw it out, and I'm guessing that the grand jury will find as little merit in Comey's indictment as the judge did in the libel suit.
Oops...my bad...while I was cleaning up in the kitchen, I thought that I heard the BBC announcer say that the grand jury was throwing out all three charges when it turns out that they were just throwing out the third one. Lesson learned--don't post when it's too late at night to make sense of what was reported. So let me say now that I'm looking forward to seeing Comey (and his team) defend himself in court against the two charges that remain.
The grand jury already complied. But the trial jury will not. Not even her own prosecutors took the "evidence" seriously, and told her so beforehand -- ABC News reported this just hours earlier.
I am surprised the Grand Jury returned an indictment. Perhaps they lied to the GJ? My guess Barbie will be the next lawyer to lose a law license.
Guess what Mike Biden forgot to give out one particular pardon. Ooooops probably all the witnesses to testify in this case. Under oath in public. The verdict doesn’t matter. Maybe they convict maybe they don’t like the exposure of exactly what happened bit by bit piece by piece the left is finally going to learn the truth that they keep denying
Comey already testified under oath before the Senate. The verdict obviously does matter very much to Trump because his foolish public injunction to Bondi indicates so. Comey's lawyers will have a field day in court with that stupid social media message to the hapless Bondi.
Disbar any lackey foisting bogus cases on our courts and wasting precious resources and taxpayers’ dollars!
Doesn’t matter what the jury says, but you just don’t get it rhey are gonna put people on the stand Underoath. Every single person who had anything to do with the case is going to testify. . Hilary McCabe, Brennan clapper Strok, Page schiff and the country is going to learn about the Hoax. finally
Who on earth is Hilary McCabe?
Sender is a troll who will reply to his own posts ad nauseam. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
Russ, you guys need to start talking to each other. You made the same mistake with Trump in 2016 and now he's back again. The whole point of this Substack is to remind Americans of their own history so that they are better able to judge what's happening now. All Rick does is repeat stuff he's seen on Fox News and other right-wing media. I don't believe he has ever bothered with serious newspapers. He doesn't always read this Substack but just comes here to vent. He claims that somewhere in cyberspace (his own Substack possibly) he is showered with 'likes'. There are millions of people like Rick in the US and they feed off the same ecosystem or mirror world of distorted news and opinions that are never exposed on the crucible of serious investigation. It's fostered by disillusionment with politics, mistrust of expertise and a rampant anti-intellectualism. It has allowed a capricious billionaire who is serving his second term as president and is supported by the most wealthy men in US history to successfully present himself as an 'oustider' and cast his political opponents as part a 'Deep State' conspiracy even as he exerts dictatorial control over the levers of government. You need to resist it whenever and wherever it manifests itself and demand that your politicians and media do the same, even it's just poor Rick Sender.
🤞
The judge threw it out, but not for its content. And guess what it’s coming back
I guess I don’t know what you meant by your last statement. How could the grand jury find little merit if they indicted him? Hmmmmm
And it’s not even the point wait till you see the witnesses They’re gonna march out on the stand Underoath it’s gonna be hysterical. It’s gonna be a thing of beauty. they win the case or not at the end of this thing even if the jury votes against it, there’s gonna be enough exposure about the Russia hoax it will die with the inventor. you know who that is don’t you?
The second I knew Comey was a Bad Cop was his press conference regarding the Pulse Nightclub massacre. He lied through that entire press conference. FBI had that guy under surveillance and let him still commit that atrocity.
Please stop insulting Barbie!
You mean, just like Trump’s trial what a coincidence in fact I heard today and this is pretty hysterical one of the charges against Comey The official US numbered charge is exactly the same charge against Comey as Comey raised against General Flynn.
You are sick man. You are stupid. You are retired with a feeble mind. You are a traitor to the American ideals of government and life itself.
That’s the Sender I know.
Oh, Ricky, you are dreaming again. You must also walk in your sleep. Take a pill and go back to bed.
Yes, I am dreaming of the most wonderful, realistic dream I could’ve ever imagined that’s actually happening every single day in this country
Leslie, you’re gonna say one more thing that you haven’t seen that you need to see whether they win or lose the indictment against called me they’re going to call witnesses which we’re going to Bear Lodge every single fake issue about the Russia hoax. Piece by piece. They are going to call witnesses to testify in public, such as Brennan Clapper Strock page Adam Schiff they may even call Obama … and of course they’re gonna call. Call Ms. right hand man Who actually testified to the fact that he leaked classified information to the media or we shall see. It’s gonna be a thing of beauty
You are very ignorant.and you have a psychological need to write your ignorant screeds here and it gives you a good feeling.
It’s easy to reply to ignorance Bill it’s easy to reply to people that are so blinded by their hate for Trump but it affects their human ability to reason
You lack any ability to reason. Everyone knows this but you.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded: “Listen Russ, you are a malignant political hack. We will not be intimidated by your threat to engage in mass firings. Get lost.”
I particularly like this response from Hakeem Jeffries to Russell Vought, a man who richly deserves our contempt.
I can’t stand Trump or his three worst enablers, Russell Vought, Muskrat, and Stephen Miller.
Kathy, they're all scary because they have been enabled by Trump to think they can force people to accept their "Christian" views.
That is the basis of Vought's Project 2025, in my opinion. When I heard about it before the election, (unlike Trump), it worried me, but I thought that surely things like that can't happen in our democracy. But the one who sends terror chills down my spine is Stephen Miller. He is so impassioned in his speeches by his hatred for Democratics that his whole body seems to shake with rage, seemingly ready to jump out and put his hands around someone's neck. That's just how I see his anger overtake any compassion he would have.😡
When people clapped at his speech at Kirk's service, I got so sad, realizing that there are so many people who sanction his derangement. I never would have thought that.😮💨
Thank you! Day after day I read Trump, Trump, Trump, ad nauseum. Stephen Miller and Project 2025 are the problem, not that demented old man
Donald, I agree, but if we had a decent, " normal" adult president and decent, 'normal" Republican Congress members, they couldn't get away with what they're doing.
All the right-wingers in Congress and the Supreme Court are also enablers with their actions and inaction.
Bravo, Rep Jeffries. That’s why Nancy chose you. I have faith in you because I had faith in her, and these words are why.
RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!
But will they cave.
Ever more desperate and more dangerous 🚨. What’s in those files? Trump is willing to take down the whole system to avoid accountability of any kind. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country!!!!!!!
They are marked they’re supporting the president and America.
Whew! Quite a whirlwind we are all caught up in, at the moment. Indictment of Comey will be thrown out because Ms. Halligan is way over her pretty head without prosecutorial experience. Any wonder how much she demanded from The Convict to be made a fool of? Speaking of fools, Hegseth appears paranoid to me, but what I find alarming is that we are left vulnerable to attacks without the leaders of the Armed forces in the places they need to be. Maybe it’s me being paranoid.
Hegseth, like Kavanaugh, is an alcoholic which is scary given the power of both.
I thought the same thing. All military leaders in one place at the same time. How convenient for our enemies to attack.
The Letter from HCR and the themes suggested in the comments are nightmares!
Martial Law, military attacks on the US, consolidation of Trump's forces into Project 2025? It makes me want to hide under my desk like we used to do in school to survive the nuclear bomb.
This came from Trump acting through Pam Bondi. I hope the grand jury refuses to indict, as there isn’t much evidence of wrongdoing on Comey’s part. He’s screwed up in the past, especially in his announcement about Hillary Clinton’s server, but it’s not something that rises to the level of a crime. Trump is mad because Comey testified against him.
He was indicted. The charging papers are extremely thin, with no prosecutors signing on.
I know now he was indicted. I agree, there is almost nothing to charge Comey, and it’s a case where the prosecutor would likely be liable for sanctions for filing such pleadings. I hope the court finds a lack of probable cause or other reason to dismiss the case with prejudice under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Sadly, they indicted already.
This is a great thing to call representatives about. "I am extremely worried that all military leaders are in one place, and they are not in the places they need to be."
Flood the zone.
Early on here, Heather is too kind.
She says of Russell Vought's plans that his Project 2025 "demolishes the modern American state and replaces it with a powerful executive."
No, much worse than mere "powerful executive."
But Heather corrects herself in the final three paragraphs, where she sums up Timothy Snyder on Donald's intentions to force himself on the nation as all-powerful, let's say, dictator, perhaps, or unquestioned head of from now on police state. And he intends to do it by continuing what Timothy S. also calls the oldest, repetitive story. Call out an imagined phantom evil, and claim that all Dems are aiding this evil, and so by emergency need Donald to avenge himself on them -- again, outside the law, in contempt of evidence, spurning due process.
It's a madness the 77 million voted for.
But these legions of white supremacists, racists, and misogynists all hate the democracy. None attended any schools where they learned any genuine human community feeling to "others" -- blacks, brown-skinned immigrants, non-traditional women, gays -- anyone not atavist tribal behind Donald's criminality, anyone not bowing to Donald's rich and powerful pals who for years raped all the underage girls Donald's criminal pals trafficked.
Phil Balla, you’ve done it again. You’ve called a spade a spade. May you grow a garden. As for those who can’t import kitchen cabinets: carpenters can build them as can prospective home owners. Isn’t anyone left who had shop in high school? Are there junk yards left where there is wood? Time to do “workarounds.”
Very accurate, Phil!
Don't forget the christian nationalist part of their plot.
And the tech Oligarchs plan to rule the fieftoms they want to divide the nation into. That's why they financed this coup.
There is nothing more dangerous than a wounded, cornered animal. Trump's poll numbers are very low (wounded) and Epstein Files will probably be released (cornered). He is preparing to wage all out war on the (large) portion of America - including, I fear, members of the military - that does not bow down to his every demand. Just my 2 cents.
Enough will bow down that there will still be plenty left to execute his orders, and more importantly execute those that defy him.
That is what scares me.
Exactly.
Accurate assessment.
And they will
Because there is so much that the administration is doing, any one piece of which is dangerous and damaging to the essence of America and Americanism and really does demand attention, we must remember all the more that there is an ultimate end game: the full and wholesale theft of the wealth of the US and of all but the extreme richest American citizens. The administration and the powerful people actively enabling it, and who have true agency to do so, are resentful of the very notions of society, social contract, and common beneficent purpose, and they are willing and eager to strip these notions from widespread existence in order to amass for themselves what all the rest of us have seen and felt slipping from our grasps. These people epitomize the evil that they so desperately and loudly project onto the rest of us.
And they don’t really bother to hide it, do they? Trump expressly came into his second term saying he wanted vengeance, and I think it’s vengeance against anyone he hates for even the pettiest of reasons.
Let me switch around parts of one of your sentences, John. So we have:
". . . they are willing and eager to strip . . . the very notions of society, social contract, and common beneficent purpose . . . from widespread existence."
But they already did this, by testing.
If schools remained centered on arts, humanities, civics, essay writing, the human individual would matter. But testing rid the schools of everything human or personal. Replaced it with the impersonal machine gradable.
The battle is joined. They know that their window is closing because the population is realizing that the government is full of chaos and incompetence. They need to consolidate power over everyone -- mostly over the people who are reading HCR. We are aware of the threats, and we can push back. The ACLU, Common Cause, and many other organizations are pushing back, and those are the ones Trump is trying to target. So far, the lower courts have been holding fast to the Constitution. If the Supreme Court allows all of this, I expect a major, peaceful uprising, such as a general strike or other kinds of "good trouble." I hope it doesn't come to that.
Dark times ahead. In the words of my favorite character from children's literature, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Percival Godric Dumbledore, "soon we must all choose between what is right and what is easy."
Yesterday is not too soon.
We had better hope it does come to that.
Exactly
From what I've read, the regime has included Soros' foundation among the groups that he is claiming to be part of the network undermining our society. At least, unlike our universities, Trump can't accuse Soros of antisemitism.
L'Shanah Tovah to all. May we have a sweet year of good health and, most of all, of peace.
Even in the darkest of times, we remember the sweetness of life itself and our obligation to bless others by our thoughts and deeds.
At Russian wedding receptions, there is a moment when friends of the bride and groom suddenly start rhythmically clapping while chanting "gor'ko! gor'ko! (bitter! bitter!)" over and over again, until the couple embrace and kiss with as much lusty passion as the presence of children at the festivities will allow. The meaning? Life is bitter and short....so....give us something sweet, something to rejoice at, right this very minute!
Sort of sounds like a Chinese saying I heard about. first ecstasy, then laundry. Says so much in four words…
HA! first ecstasy, then laundry
I have to laugh every time I think about that…
Shanah Tovah to all celebrating the New Year.
Oh, but they do.
They claim that Soros was an anti-semitic Holocaust survivor who mined gold from the teeth of his fellow victims to begin amassing his fortune. That he sold out his friends and neighbors to the Nazis in exchange for his own safety. And more along those lines.
George Soros was 14 when the war ended. He was scarcely old enough to begin schooling, much less collaborate with Nazis.
Republicans have embraced Nazi propaganda for half a century. And Rupert was imported to spew it at 90 decibels. Now we have TikTok owned by Ellison, Murdoch, Abu Dhabi, and China to make the lies more entertaining. Repubs forever is the goal
Oh yes they did, Soros helped the Nazis at age 14. The propaganda has been and is vicious and targeted, for decades. At least he has a few bucks to defend himself
The idea of our top military echelon are all off their posts and in one location is the most incredible breach of national security Imaginable. Civilian Pete, part-time Fox host is endangering our country. Relieve him from his position at once.
It is so stupid an idea that only Trump and Kegseth could have come up with it. If our enemies wanted to cause havoc for us, it would be the right time for them to do so.
We have been sitting ducks for an attack since Trump was sworn in. The on ly thing that has saved us so far is that Trump and his band of thieves are doing such a great job of destroying this country, they do not have to bother....just watch and wait.
We need a Nathan Hale at this point.
True. Hale said that he had but one life to give for his country. The Brits weren’t especially impressed with Benedict Arnold. Arnold’s treachery caused Major John André, one of the best British spies, to venture far into American held territory. Major André was eventually captured by American soldiers, tried, convicted and sentenced to hang for espionage. George III regarded Major André’s service highly enough to grant his family a pension and to create Major André’s brother a baronet. When Arnold fled with the Loyalists into Nova Scotia, he got a small pension (much less than Arnold thought he deserved) and he and his wife lived a financially precarious life until they died. Arnold’s wife, Peggy Shippen Arnold, was from a wealthy Philadelphia family, and she convinced her husband to spy for the British.
Hoping this is a safe space to ask this somewhat naive question - If this gathering takes place and if a new oath is administered, what will happen to those who refuse either on the spot or after some grace period? Fired and find your own way back to your station? Immediate demonstration? Is anything too crazy at this juncture?
"Is anything too crazy at this juncture?" Nope
Janet, it is hard to tell. I suspect that an immediate firing of all who refuse if there are close to enough people willing to swear fealty to the felon rather than the constitution. My best hope is that these career military folks will believe that "duty, honor, country" rise above all else that could be asked of them.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. 'On social media, he claimed such tariffs were necessary “for National Security and other reasons.”' And we're supposed to believe this, why??? We already pay more for pharmaceuticals in the United States than most other Countries, kitchen and bathroom factory made cabinets are essential in subdivision housing and help to keep housing nominally affordable, heavy trucks are essential to deliver consumer goods nationwide. The only people hurt by these tariffs will be the 90% of us ordinary run of the mill people. It won't amount to a grain of sand in the pockets of Bezos, Ellison. Musk, Trump, or Zuckerberg, or any other of the 1,000 or so billionaires. And what in the hell have any of these products to do with National Security or any other reason? And I'd still like to know where the surplus in the Treasury of the United States is going, now that he has dropped so many programs. Are those impounded funds still in the treasury or has some of it accidentally wandered into the pockets of trump and friends?
I think Trump’s niece Mary accurately stated Donald regards the United States treasury as his own personal piggy bank. He’s been openly and corruptly grifting off the presidency to make money for himself and others who give him their allegiance.
accidentally on purpose
Apparently funds collected from tariffs are not controlled by the Congress, trump can spend that money anyway he wants.
He knows the corrupt Robert’s court will back him up on this.
If only the Rature HAD happened. Start with Vought.
If someone in a coma for the past eight months awoke today and read this, they couldn't help wondering why Trump and Vance weren't already facing removal.
The frog in the boiling pot is dead.
Please explain how baseless fear mongering about Tylenol, despite potentially serious impacts on pregnant women with high fevers; putting 100 percent tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals; and giving billions to Argentina while prices for basic needs soar here serve the American people?
Government by chaos and corruption might serve the advocates for total destruction as a prerequisite to the New World Order - but the Trump-Miller-Vought-Tech Mogul coup is more likely to accomplish pain and damage even they won’t escape.
Insanity on steroids has taken hold in the MAGAverse, and we and the world are in greater danger because of it.
The whole deep state garbage Trump has hyped is ridiculous. The only real deep state is Trump’s attempt to have government agencies and the government itself put under his personal control and to put himself above the law. Unfortunately, the SCOTUS majority seems to forget the Constitution, not the executive branch, is the supreme law of the land, and that even Trump is subject to the Constitution whether or not he or the SCOTUS majority agree.
That crap was ignored by Dems for decades. Think back to W/Dickie