MAGA Republicans appear to have killed the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, after senators and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas spent four months writing the border security piece of the bill that the House MAGA Republicans themselves demanded. House Republicans insisted that border security be added to the supplemental national security bill that provided additional assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan and provided humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Comrade Carlson is in Moscow to interview Comrade Putin on behalf of Comrade Trump in support of the Comrade COWARDS of the Republican Party in America! The pro-life, pro-baby, pro-family party of hypocrites is prepared to refuse to help ALL the people of Ukraine and to protect them from further death and destruction (no pro-life here) from Comrade Putin. If they won't help Ukraine they sure as hell won't defend American democracy at home or anywhere.
He has been the Lynchpin behind social media’s paradigm shift to crazy land. Jack Dempsey banned me over three years ago for saying that chump used Goebbels-style propaganda (which is rarely disputed these days) so he did “lean.” But Elon has signed on to crazy and is a proud advocate of “the rich rule, get used to it.”
My husband was obsessed with WW2, knew more about it than most. Sort of jumped out at me. First time when I heard of Daniel Segreti's "dirty tricks" with the Nixon debacle.
Hmm, I'm a WWII bug, and I read Bodyguard of Lies, about the British and American deception operations in Europe at least twice, but I must admit that Segretti's dirty tricks did not remind me of that. At least, as far as I can recall after 50 years.
Segreti was a minor player as the villains go, but the gall of doing your dirty tricks using Dems stationary and political stuff to lay the blame at their doorstep really got my attention. Must have because I have remembered his name for all these years.
my laptop changed to one t. Sorry, maybe I have an aversion to the "Donald." Anyway, it was a Goebbels tactic to shift the blame to anybody but Hitler. In fact, another Donald uses the same tactic. From the Sun, September 12, 2005. "You never blame yourself. You have to blame something else. If you do something bad, never, ever blame yourself." Our Donald still subscribes to that tactic. Thank you, I'll get updated.
Because of their lack of material resources, Putin expected to quickly overrun Ukraine's defenses. But a wealth of courage and determination have sustained their resistance for two years, along with American and EU military assistance.
Now aid from the U.S. has been choked off by MAGA extremists, in defiance of the will of a clear majority in both Houses of Congress. The threat to Ukraine is dire and immediate. There's no time to waste. The aid package needs to be passed now. Every day counts.
Everyone reading this can help by calling your Representative and urge them to immediately pass the combined aid package on its own. If you don't know their number, call the U S Capitol switchboard (202) 224-3121.
For more information, and more phone numbers to call, please visit www.FeathersOfHope.net
It is curious that the Republican party, formerly such a bulwark against the creeping communism under the Soviet Union, has flipped and now supports the creeping expansion of authoritarianism under Russia. Who'd a thunk it !!!!
They support his fascist agenda because fascism allows greed and private ownership as long as the business supports the leaders. It is what Citizens United has allowed to happen here. Business put the politicians in power and the politicians then turn on the businesses.
First we have to get rid of the influence of the Supreme Court justices who were appointed because of Citizens United. Thomas should be impeachable. For the rest, expanding the Supreme Court by three or four justices should do the trick.
For that, we need a Democratic President and a veto-proof majority in the Senate. Time to get out the vote for November.
This is all so disgusting and sad. I donate to 'End Citizens United' but, honestly, I don't know if that group is accomplishing anything. I agree VOTE VOTE VOTE. But we also need to get rid of the Electoral College. So much work to do. I just hope we're not too far gone....
The party of death is all about money and power which means they support fascists and oligarchs. They do not care one whit about ordinary people, the planet, or anything else as they assume their money will save them from any dire consequences. And any of them who claim to be patriots or devote Christians are simply bigly hypocrites. Also kudos to the Appeals Court for writing such an incisive answer to the I'm immune to prosecution question. If the Supremes are smart, they will just let the decision stand and not take up the case. Yes, I know, if.
Not surprised. It’s not difficult to determine who’s helping to fund their campaigns, Citizens United makes it possible AND keeps it dark. NRA isn’t the only PAC funded directly with Russian capital and their proxies. It just sucks. It is a cancer. The GOP has willingly opened the gate for the Russians Trojan horse. The Putin interview will deliver via Twater Russian Propaganda directly into an already radicalized 35-40% of Americans.
Well, in a way the Conservative Justices have been bought. More from the likes of the oil industry oligarchs, Harlon Crow, the Koch network, as well as the Libertarian founders like Robert Mercer, Lenard Leo, etc. It’s important for us to understand how our oil industry has aligned with foreign state oil actors like Russia. Anyone in the oil biz is anti science to be anti climate change. Linking these two issues is critical to understanding g what has happened. Citizens United just took it to a whole new level. And what a waste of all that capital spent on campaigns. How much? We really don’t know the amount, so how can we accurately asses the effect of anti science, anti climate advertising from our big oil? The foreign big oil propaganda aligns with big oil’s public messaging.
Sheldon Adelson, George Birnbaum, Harlan Crow (a Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Wayne Huizenga (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Leonard Leo, Bernie Little (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, Paul “Tony” Novelly (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Dennis Prager, Steve Schwartzman, Paul Singer, David Sokol (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Peter Thiel, Anthony Welters (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer) Jeffrey Yass, Jeff Zuckerberg and families DeVos, Koch, Kushner, Mercer, Sackler, Uihlein.
As the GOP flipped to become NEO CONFEDERATES, so they have completely flipped from the Party of Joe McCarthy that convinced frightened Americans that they should falsely indict their neighbors during the Red Scare (communist dominoes theory)
The New Scare are the MAGA HATS, firmly aligned not with Communism, but rather the Worship of Putin Dictator qualities
I'm not sure how they live with this dissonance. But I'm also not sure how they are intimidated by a thrice married, serial philandering, multiply indicted liar. But they are. Starting with Mitch McConnell and Mike Johnson and going down through a long list of other former worthies like JD Vance and Lyin' Ted.
I too am confounded by the source of intimidation. It’s “almost” as if Putin Death Merchants have used the threat of Chemo Poisoning on all of them and their families, dying slow agonizing demise, but that’s an absurd conspiracy theory in the sense that Democrats aren’t being targeted as well
Perhaps it’s the Mob like threats from Boss Don? But then again, why don’t Democrats fall prey?
Perhaps its the Promise of Authoritarian Power that comes from being LOYAL to team Trump? You know, the Goebbels Effect; “if’n yer not with us, come time we vill bury you”. Opps that was Nikita’s line
I’m confounded. It’s probably just greed that sticks together for the Good of the Cult, you know Good Ol Gang Family Theory
All of them are worried they will be primaries by someone even more of a wing nut and they do get threats to themselves and their families. There are enough crazy MAGAs to do this for their cult leader, so he only has to speak out against someone. And Rona now joins the many people who have found out that kissing his rear does to save them from being thrown under the bus.
Looking for "source of intimidation," Dave, one more possibility.
Lack of humanities. If one goes through school, and gets instructors who themselves never reference humanities, it becomes so much easier for various sources of black hole inertia to grab one.
Humanities let us ground ourselves in genuine feelings for "others." Lack of them lets us just group everyone, label everyone, abstract all, dismiss all as just units in packaged categories.
Further, without language grounded in very specific human "others," we fall into slogans, cliché, all the pet fashions Diane Ravitch cites in "The Language Police," all the dead metaphors, euphemisms, and other language Orwell cites in "Politics and the English Language."
I believe he was hand picked by those that we are not sure who they are, possibly Putin. Drop a dollar in his pocket and he will do anything. His history was he hadnever been held accountable for any of his actions! I think it would have been wise of him just to have walked away quietly on January 6th and lived the comfortable life with us taking care of him and his family with the money he (didn't) earn in the four years he put us through hell. He could have played golf until he was buried on his golf course next to his first wife. Joe has worked to clean up his mess now he wants to trash it again! No thank you!
Yes, Trump should have walked away and spent the rest of his life playing golf and sleeping with porn stars. He would not have been threatening anyone, and IF he had kept his profile lower, he might have evaded much of this attention by the prosecutors.
Doing things like returning records and classified materials when he was first asked, would have been helpful in this endeavor too.
And Putin's allies are China and Iran. (Not to mention that Iran's proxy just killed US soldiers in a a drone attack.) That simple message needs to get to potential Putin supporters in the maga camp. If they embrace Putin, then they also embrace those regimes.
It's times like this that I find it especially painful and frustrating to live in the nation's capital, and HAVE NO VOICE! That's why I postcard for Dem candidates in other districts. Thanks for the link to Feathers of Hope.
You might want to double-check. Putin never had the manpower to take and hold Kyiv. Putin's early stab at kyiv was a feint, which tied up Ukrainian soldiers (includiing neo-Nazi units, which got hit hard), allowing Russian troops to romp through southern Ukraine (except Mariupol, which had to be destroyed in order to save it).
As I wrote yesterday, it turns out the border the Rs are truly interested in protecting is NOT our Southern border -- it's Russia's border expansion into Ukraine. Putin has become the de facto head of the Republican Party, directing his puppet (remember Hillary's words in '16) trompy to do his dirty work of bullying Johnson, McConnell and the rest of the Rs in Congress. And Carlson has become Putin's American PR mouthpiece.
The sad part is that it isn't cynicism that prompts me to conclude this -- it's truth (or pravda, as the Russians call it.)
Why else would Putin work so hard against HRC? She was well aware of his nasty business and he knew she knew. But no. People just had to think the worst and then pull the lever for the “businessman”. We have become so politically illiterate that we are a danger to ourselves now.
Rump and the MAGAts have orders from Moscow to stop any support for Ukraine. Now that Putin is sure that no bill supporting Ukraine will ever pass, he will double down on Ukraine, and before this year ends, he will attack Poland. He has no one to fear anymore: Rump will make sure that the US won’t come to Europe’s aid.
And we will be pulled into another war. MAGAts will be screaming from the rooftops tops about going to war whilst none of their children will be the ones putting their lives on the line. Repubs will say , “I didn’t think that it would really happen.” Just like my MAGAt friend said about women’s rights being taken away. Wake up people. This chaos has to stop.
Actually, a lot of MAGAs are working class people, whose children do join the military. So they will be condemning their own children, as well as other people's children to the meat grinder of war.
The only consolation is that it will be a very short war. Once Putin attacks Europe, the Great Orange Dictator will make sure that the American Military comes to his assistance: he will gladly lend the services of the US Army to his great idol and master. And Europe is far too weak to resist both the Russian and the US Army.
No, Dutch Mike, I don't believe tfg is taking orders from putin. tfg is is taking revenge for Zelenskiys refusal to open an investigation of the Bidens..
Tom, I don't think that Putin will attack Poland or any other country this year. His resources are too depleted. But, if the West does not continue its support of Ukraine so that Russia's military expansion can be stopped, it will happen. This is why this naked aggression has to be stopped.
Poland and the Baltics will always be on Putin's wish list. If anyone thinks otherwise about Putin's ambitions they either have never absorbed the lessons of history and/or they are propaganda puppets for Putin. Just like Carlson and Trump and Johnson.
But you are right about Russia's machine being depleted. And Putin has growing internal problems. More and more Russians are questioning the war. And support could completely collapse with a couple of symbolic incidents. Like Russian civilian jets grounded or plummeting to the Earth for lack of proper repairs (yes, sanctions are hurting). And the arrival of F-16s that Ukraine can use to gain air superiority.
We should remember that Putin's relationship with his oligarchs is complex. He fed them money, they feed him support. But there is a limit to both.
Time is not on Putin's side if we are vigilant and patient. Of course, the real battle now is right here - where Republicans have buddied up with their former enemies to help build the same sort of oligarch driven autocracy. Russia is now the role model of Republicans. Treason by another name. MAGA betrayal must be crushed.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) wrote. “They literally demanded specific policy, got it, and then killed it.” Treason. This quotation is from HCR yesterday. Bumbling idiots.
100%. Americans would be wise to google “Alexander Dugin”. Learn about what the Ultra Nationalist Russians refer to as “Eurasia”. Expanding Russian influence by wrecking the EU and NATO are Putin’s #1 foreign policy objectives. He has said so since 2007 Munich Speech and everyday since.
Richard, please don't forget that Putin still has his nuclear weapons. And he cares so little about human lives, he's definitely not above using them. It will give him the edge he needs, and will instantly break Europe's will to resist him - especially when the US won't come to our aid: Rump will make sure that doesn't happen once he retakes control of the White House.
Note that Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons post USSR collapse. Countries that give up their nukes, expose themselves to Russian invasion. Two to five years of Active Measures to prep the battlefield prior to invasion. The goal of the measures is not to prepare for a real battle. The whole goal of Active Measures is to transform the politics so that the invaders are “welcomed” as liberators. This was the false assumption with Ukraine. The Russians, in their info bubble miscalculated a Ukrainian resistence. So what have the Russians learned since? Double down on propaganda, support their guy ( like Trump), and just wait for conservatives are voted back to power, then invade.
Perhaps you have seen the film "Active Meaasures"? It chcronicles "the most successful espionalge operation in Russian history" - the election of 2016. This was a conspiracy hiding in plain sight!
Yes. I agree, while he is a thug, he is also smart, and he knows he's stretched too thin right now to attack yet another country. Attacking Poland, would probably trigger a very strong response from all of Europe, and they have all begun preparations for war. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have his eye on all of the satellite countries to Russia, to reclaim all the areas of the former USSR.
Education, Richard. Get outside the American propaganda bubble. It’s not as comfortable, but much more beneficial when trying to make sense of the world.
I bet Moldova after Ukraine. And then one of the Balkans, like Slovenia, Serbia. Then Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania. And then Poland. It is in the Russian foreign policy speeches and their DNA. To be Russian is to expand Russia by all means possible. Glorify Russia by returning its peak USSR borders and sphere of influence. They even have a term for it, “Eurasia” vs the EU, NATO.
You guys sound just like the PNAC knuckleheads that continually cheerlead for endless war. That big, bad, brown Russian bear; making Americans lose their minds since 1917.
The only deterrent to an attack on either Poland or the Baltic states is their membership in NATO and our commitment to article 5. If trump re enters the White House that commitment will undoubtedly end, thereby opening the window for the possibility of some type of coercive attack (could be economic rather than military) on these countries.
Tom High, charming as ever. Putin will at least attack Poland or another European country once Rump reenters the White House. I'll bet ya a nice bottle of whisky on that one. That ok for you?
Putin will have no interest in attacking any other European nation, regardless of who sits in the White House, unless that person is stupid enough to put offensive missiles on the Russian border. He will have his hands full securing his territorial gains along the Black Sea, and dealing with continuing unrest in Ukraine’s eastern provinces.
Pro-life Michael? They allowed our troops to fight a 20 year war in Afghanistan where 2400 American service members died and over 21,000 were wounded. Not to mention $300 million a day wasted trying to accomplish what? Taking a country without a measurable GDP up a few notches?
Gary, that doesn't matter to the pro (forced pregnancy) "life" folks. That's manly combat for other people's children until they come home with visible and invisible combat wounds whereupon they are called "weak" and cast aside.
Yes, it is beyond astonishing that we have Russian operatives in Congress who are representing constituents. I have one of them myself,Gym Jordan, representing me and my district.How can this be?How can such a small minority group of radicals hamstring our democracy and be paid taxpayer dollars to do it?
I'm not sure I agree with the pro-baby in your comment. As Jennifer Rubin of the WAPO has put it many times, they are pro-birthers. Once a baby is born they could care less if it starves, freezes, beaten or raped.
So far, in the states that have outlawed abortion there have been 26,000 pregnancies due to rape. And this is likely a gross undercount. The MAGANAZIs in TX have more or less legalized rape by not processing rape kits and/or prosecuting rapists.
Texas judge who banned abortion pills officially gets exposed for using junk science.
By Ja'Han Jones.
Check this out. Turns out the article Kacsmaryk cited in his decision were made by eight authors who were associated with an anti-abortion organization (7 of the authors were associated). The 3 articles have been withdrawn from publication by Sage magazine. And the peer reviewer was part of another anti-abortion group.
I was always puzzled by the lack of standing of those that brought the suit. None of them have the potential to be harmed by the ruling yet the Bible beating Kacsmaryk heard the case anyway.
Can't why to see what century Alito draws his legal opinions from in the hearing of this case by SCOTUS.
Benny Hill quipped, "Do unto others. Then run." That seems to be the mantra of cowards like Donald Trump who refuse to take responsibility for their immoral and illegal actions.
Pro-Life?? Pro- Family?? HaHa. They are only Pro-Birth. It is all hands off when it comes to Pro Family-Planning, Pro-Child Care, Pro Health-Care, Pro-Education, Pro-Responsibility, Pro-Democracy and Pro-America.
Here is the essential falsehood (by omission) from your source David Fishman:
"Russia has for years highlighted the activity of a marginal group of Ukrainian ultra-nationalists as a way of trying to stigmatize all of Ukraine. Yes, some members of these ultra-nationalist groups have used Nazi insignia, made Hitler salutes, and used antisemitic rhetoric, but they are politically insignificant and in no way representative of Ukraine. The political parties which the ultra-nationalists support received just over 2 percent of the vote in the 2019 elections. Ukraine is a flawed democracy, but unquestionably a democracy, and in no way a Nazi regime.”
After the right-wing extremists put the Maidan Revolution over the top in 2014, their kingpin Arsen Avakov was rewarded with the Interior Ministry, IN CHARGE OF THE POLICE STATIONS. When Zelensky was installed as Jewish window dressing for Ukraine's thuggish police state, he kept Avakov. And what does lying David Fishman day about the following expose (from 2019, but nothing changed, except Zelensky seized all the opposition TV stations) of routine far-right bigotry and atrocities?
"The DC establishment’s standard defense of Kiev is to point out that Ukraine’s far right has a smaller percentage of seats in the parliament than their counterparts in places like France. That’s a spurious argument: What Ukraine’s far right lacks in polls numbers, it makes up for with things Marine Le Pen could only dream of—paramilitary units and free rein on the streets....
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
Mike. This does not mean you are letting your subscription expire, I hope! You are such an asset to this community. I hope you mean you are just not going to waste any more time trying to educate Schmeeckle.
Substack Inc recently lost an Author CASEY Newton I have prepared 8 Exhibits today to take Substack Inc to JAMS SF for confidential Mediation under Substack's rules and choice of CA law. I cannot represent Readers as an attorney but, I can certainly advocate for my own contractual rights as a paid Subscriber. I will engage Substack"s capable counsel.
It is noted that you guys (Mike S and John Schmeeckle) are paying a subscription simply to be able to write what you write. You are paying for the audience.
I decided to pay this subscription to support the work. This woman dedicates a lot of time to this and I think she should be supported - she deserves it and her knowledge, perspective and experience are of great value.
It is noted that you are a lapdog for American Empire, and the Democratic Party, as is ‘this woman’.
Not to say I don’t respect Heather’s historical chops, but her lack of a willingness to accurately critique American foreign policy is becoming more embarrassing by the day.
If I hear one more hypocritical passage extolling the ‘international rules-based order’, I think I will hurl.
1. Israel faces an existential crisis as soon as the U.S. "aid spigot" gets cut off for whatever reason (including possible American political or economic crisis).
2. Any viable solution must enable Israel to be secure without constant infusions of American aid.
3. This requires peace with Israel’s neighbors, including Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
4. This requires undoing the Nakba terrorist atrocity and withdrawing to the U.N.-mandated pre-1948 borders (the 1947 partition).
5. This can only be done in the context of peaceful economic integration throughout the region, for the benefit of all. A lasting peace must be guaranteed individually by each permanent member of the U.N. Security council, and endorsed by Israel’s neighbors.
6. The recent Hamas atrocities were sparked by provocations (yet again) at the Dome of the Rock. The dream of rebuilding the Temple of Herod must be given up and replaced by the will to rebuild the Temple of Solomon in its correct location.
Well said! But let’s not forget Christian Nationalists are behind it all! They see Putin as one of their own. They he believes and stands “traditional family values”. Yes the hypocracy of these GOP Christian Nationalist by their support of Putin is over the top.
Question that should be asked of Putin, "Who is more popular, you or Trump?" Question to be asked of Trump, "Who is more popular, you or Putin?" It would force these egomaniacs to admit that they always see themselves as the most popular.
Thank you Heather for quoting so much of what President Biden said today about the failure of the GOP senators to support the Border security bill that they negotiated. Even the friendly mainstream media (MSNBC) that I watched this evening showed only one tiny clip of what our president said, Instead of showing all of what Biden had to say that you quoted. Stephanie Ruhl busied herself with asking Michael Steele and Bob Gibbs about what Biden needs to do to make this a win for Democrats. Their answer? Hammer home the spinelessness of the GOP. Duh. That’s what Joe just did. Cover it!
Maybe in some odd way, by Biden sacrificing the Dreamers to a bill the gop won’t pass and reveals their hypocrisy, this could be a great strategic move on his part. Biden-Harris gets to hammer the gop complicity home until Election Day as trump weakens because of his non-immunity/here-comes-accountability trials. A separate Ukraine measure could still pass. The next border deal will then have to include the Dreamers as an “F*You to gop for not passing the original bill.
You are correct. I misspoke, but Republicans fear that if the could they would most likely vote blue. In my district, they often knock on doors for Democrats even though they can't vote. Which makes sense because its Democrats who support their effort to obtain citizenship, certainly not Republicans.
They oppose dreamers, because they oppose anything that helps people who work hard to have a better life. Look at the border....the majority of people crossing the border are desperate, vulnerable and deserving of compassion, not contempt.
Also, J L, they're often coming from countries Smedley Butler cited in 1934.
He was major general, retired from overall command of the U.S. in 1931, then gave speeches and wrote of how the U.S. military had too much been propping up dictators, enabling robbery from major U.S. banks and corporations.
If he'd lived longer, he'd have seen it all get much worse, from the C.I.A. overturning Iran's democratically-elected and progressive Mossadegh in 1953, and Guatemala's Arbenz in 1954, to the U.S. School of the Americas training secret police torture and related tactics to far-right-led countries across Central America and South America, to U.S.-subsidized Industrial Ag killing off virtually all small farms in Mexico, forcing uprooting and emigration of 15 million to Mexico City and 11 million to the U.S.
My wife told me about the Progressive radio station (127 on Sirius) a few months ago.
John Fuglesang does an excellent job as do a few of the others. Thom Hartmann also is good as are others. Take a listen.
I don't mean to assume, but on Sunday mornings around 8 am EST Fuglesang has on two native Americans who enlighten the listeners with what is happening in the Native American reservations and across the US and even Canada.
MAGA is however getting hammered on Morning Joe (the morning after) for the whole works: the embarrassingly failed House impeachment effort, ffailure to provide Ukraine aide, with Mitchell McConnell too conveniently capitulating, or just too outgunned by Trump. MSNBC also cited Wall Street Journal, NYT, et al which damned the torpedoing of the border bill along with Ukraine etc funding. Remind me to take a quick look at last night's NBC national news... actually, it was pretty straight up and to the point, considering the it isn't "all about politics".
Be assured that not passing the border bill will come back to bite the Republican Potty in the ass.
But enough of negativism. A GOP-controlled House did not impeach Secretary Mayorkas and that should have Mike and MAGA extremists eating humble pie. Also yesterday, a scrupulous 3-member appellate court unanimously declared in a meticulous opinion that trump is Citizen trump, making the argument that he has immunity moot in his upcoming trials. The opinion was so impeccable that I believe that the Subprime Court won't touch his appeal lest they embarrass themselves further. trump's grasp of his party will weaken and his bullhorn will only get rustier. Just watch!
Legal experts are hailing the decision on immunity as a masterful document so legally adroit that the Supreme Court likely won’t consider an appeal. That would mean Trump’s trial for the insurrection might start in April. In other words, justice is coming - finally.
In the meantime, he’s going scorched Earth, destroying every thing he can, all in cahoots with legislative terrorists cloaked in holier-than-though un-Christian piety.
Do I hear some negotiations in the Supreme Court Chambers going on now....'Ok I agree to deny Cert. in the Immunity Decision, in return you vote in the Colorado case to keep Trump on the ballot-deal'? Pure political 'horse trading', hard struggle to find law to support the later. What a crappy court!
Today shows the very stark and clear differences between a party that works for the best interests of the people of the United States and a party that is so morally corrupt that they don’t stand for anything but themselves. Has American politics been so low since the Civil War. Thanks Heather for both for your clarity and vision!
I'm not sure that they're even standing...seems more like shuffling along, knuckles dragging the pavement. They don't appear to realize that the bear trap dangling from their *ss is the one they tried to set for the Dems on border security policy.
Yes, Christopher, you are correct: We can see the “clear and stark differences.” At least many people can see the differences. The only thing I would add is the reminder that We, the People place those people in those positions of power and influence. SOME of those people are acting responsibly and ethically. The hopeful sign is that NOT EVERY GOVERNMENT LEADER is worthless - as too many Americans believe.
The point is: We, the People must take our responsibilities seriously and get the job done. This isn’t a matter of GOTCHA or RETRIBUTION or HA HA WE WIN. It’s about continuing the process of forming a MORE PERFECT Union.
We all feel and that's what makes us human, but some feel for others beyond themselves. That makes them humane. Everyone thinks, but not everyone seeks verification beyond their own imaginings, or questions even those who tell them what they want to hear. We all have self, but so do others; and the universe in wide beyond imagining.
Oh, look everyone! The troll-who-doesn’t read valid, researched articles or books is back! I think this is the moron who likes to quote a right-wing nut Australian lacking any expertise, because, you know, an echo chamber is just so affirming when you lack skills in logic and analysis.
Republicans are in such disarray that they can’t help but shoot themselves in the foot. Today was a trifecta of failure. The silver lining being that their ineptness keeps them from doing any damage.
At times, the judicial branch is the only thing giving me hope everything below SCOTUS). Heather left out Judge Engoron’s Order issued to Trump’s attorneys to advise whether or not Weiselberg committed perjury and if they knew about it. That’s going to be fun for them. They are not Weiselberg’s attorneys - so attorney client privilege does not apply. And if they knew and allowed it to happen then they are all likely to be disciplined by the Bar for suborning perjury.
I agree with most of what you wrote, but can't hit like because of your statement " The silver lining being that their ineptness keeps them from doing any damage " They could've done more damage, but they have done more than enough! It will take many years to undo what these cowards have already done
“Disciplined by the Bar”? Haven’t they been sleeping on the job with all the violations gop lawyers have been perpetrating? I wish they would act with integrity.
Do the millions yet cheer the orange-encrusted, “bing-bing-bong” diaper guy?
U.S. appeals court has found him beyond precedent far from reality – as we know he and his MAGA mob remain in fantasy land, sunk in miasma of lies, slogans, and hatreds.
It’s time to note why anyone gets this way.
Tune to humanities, and you keep in touch with the personal, complicated realities people actually inhabit. Our best novelists, film makers, musicians and others get the sobriquet “artist” insofar as they model best being in touch.
Our schools, having vacated humanities, have turned out millions so bereft of humane reality, so deep in the waddling orange guy’s cult, that not even his diapers can halt the stench.
Thank you Phil. We have a long and demanding challenge at our feet going through and way beyond this election.
Having allowed and been swallowed by the whole 'everything for profit' and 'everything competitive' culture of opposition, we now must find out about the humanities inside us as we bring them back in all their various necessary forms, beginning in early education and reinhabiting what we have allowed so-called higher education to disembowel.
This is especially true in a time when religiosity is so rightly being questioned as a source of right behavior. It seems that there is enough waking up going on to what Civic and Service actually mean especially in a democratic context that is structured around these concepts for the most part, that there are many folks ready to step in, to get more educated, to bring forth the better parts that we were born with.
Also very important is to start supporting and helping in various ways to get younger people elected wherever they are ready to step in.
In this respect I am not suggesting to look at President Biden as simply a man of a certain age. He is competent, seasoned, thoughtful and more so than anyone else I can think of at this point. He is healthy and has the experience to guide this country further.
Please stop making age an issue. If that were actually a thing Trump would have been tossed by now, along with his obvious incompetence.
Vice President Harris has been very deeply and continuously studying acting traveling learning about what presidents actually do. Let's not forget that. She is both capable and young enough to satisfy the worriers.
You specify my name at the outset, and your initial comments are directly to those of mine, but later on you say, "Please stop making age an issue," when I've never done that.
Thanks, though, for your good remarks about humanities and education at the outset.
So Biden is thoughtful? This is about the mental competence required to do a most demanding job. This is beyond gaffes.
I said last year I thought there was a good chance neither candidate would actually be on the ballot come November. Hopefully that is the case; Trump will be jailed, and Jill, if she has any compassion at all, will convince her husband to pull an LBJ and withdraw.
Anyone watching the Biden video in the link below and saying they have confidence the guy is fit to serve for another term is suffering from tribal fantasy. I don’t care how many sit down softball interviews with Heather he does.
Biden has surrounded himself with what is likely the most competent cabinet in US history. He has an amazing National security advisor and the women on his staff aren't there to get him coffee and clean ketchup off the walls. They actually run their departments.
Trump's cabinet had one purpose -- to be bobble heads whenever he spoke. If they had a defect and shook their heads no, then they were thrown to the scrap heap.
Biden cabinet, on the foreign policy front, are a bunch of corporate whores and ideological zealots pursuing American hegemony. The only one who has even a scintilla of integrity is William Burns, and even he would capitulate to the consensus rather than resign.
“All the shitlibs you see cheering for Biden right now are on some level aware that he’s backing a genocide of unbelievable savagery that is inflicting unfathomable amounts of suffering upon our fellow human beings, but they avoid looking at this reality directly. All the information is right there right out in the open, but they cognitively squirm and twist away from it so that they see only Biden’s acts like slightly reducing America’s student loan debt and not being Donald Trump.
They do this because to really wrap their minds around the depravity of what Biden is doing would shatter their world. It would mean letting in some very scary truths about their nation, their government and their political system that they’d rather avoid noticing. It would mean a crushing deluge of cognitive dissonance until they dramatically revised their worldview into something that could allow for a Democratic president behaving like a complete monster. It would mean having to completely restructure their understanding of the world they live in.”
How is talking about Biden's cabinet deflecting. They are running the show for Biden. I think you meant the Trump cabinet were a bunch of corporate whores many of whom were big time Republican donors and some were even billionaires. One thing in common they were willing to kiss up to TFFG.
TFFG's idea of infrastructure was to sit in the cab of an 18 wheeler for a photo-op while the Democrats have already completed hundreds of infrastructure projects.
While the MAGANAZI's don't believe climate change is real the Biden administration is capping wells to reduce CO2 and methane emissions because TFFG was in bed with the fossil fuel industry and reduced clean air and water regulations on their wells.
What depravity of Biden's are you referring to? We're not going to read your Fascist conspiracy theories with made up boogeymen so save your links.
Tom, I don’t think any president can “control” Netanyahu. Netanyahu is saying the quiet part out loud; he is not going to let the United States dictate his decisions. After all, he needs a war to stay in power and out of prison…and a war they will have. Is any American President to blame for China? North Korea?
I hate what is happening in the Middle East but I believe Biden is saying the quiet part quietly to Netanyahu. He and Blinken are working behind the scenes with not only Israel but also Israel’s Arab neighbors.
Yet, that does not mean they will be able to stop Netanyahu’s overkill way in Gaza. Frankly, only the Israeli people can stop him - and the war is keeping them from changing horses mid-stream.
The far-right settlers can continue their violence, land theft, and related aggression in the West Bank so long as the U.S. provides its millions of dollars in arms every year to subsidize the far right.
We know the U.S. keeps doing this to gratify the U.S. far-right evangelicals hungering for their Rapture.
So of course you're correct when you can no U.S. president "can 'control' Netanyahu." U.S. money demands the ongoing killing, hatred, rape, and land thefts.
You throwing around all these big-concept words (hegemony, oligarchy, etc.) in an attempt to legitimize your nihilism and then accusing others of ad hominem attacks above while quoting Johnstone has me wondering what your bête noire was before October 7th.
I don’t need to worry about your intellect; Rick Wilson’s substack on your reading list lets me know you are wanting when it comes to sourcing information on the road to political awareness.
As to concepts, stay in your limited lane; I’m no more a nihilist than I am a fascist.
You, sir, seem like a miserable older incel. Everything you scrawl is meant to deceive, deflect, yet scream for attention. I feel sorry for you that you are unable to enjoy or foster a sense of community or create something honorable or humane.
Sorry if this bursts your bubble, I had blocked/muted you months ago and you did disappear for awhile (or else I didn't notice you). Unlike some here, I don't have the time to read all the comments so I scan for the names of people I respect (Ally, Sandy, Fern, Bryan, Shawn, etc) and I saw someone call you a troll. I mistakenly thought it was for Smeeckle . When I saw it was for you, I replied as I find you misinformed--sometimes approaching troll--but as least you (usually)don't copy/paste the same post over and over, or feel the need to interject yourself in every conversation. But read your comments (other than this reply to me) Nope.
Legitimate question, especially with the advent of AI. In this case, just going by the host’s assertion that he initially asked the same question, but verified that it was real.
Well done Professor! Thank you so much. Straightforward and concise, allows us to grasp that which we could not fully picture on our own. Professor Vance adds the legal pieces in a likewise understandable way. 2024 is determinative. Your writing supports every voter and every civil servant who honor the legitimacy of following and helping to carry out policies established by law. Again, thank you.
After the momentous and historic events of today, my hope, my prayer, my fervent desire, is that today will be seen from a future vantage point as the tipping point, the day that a clear and vocal majority of Americans, and a strong and decisive majority of Republicans, finally make the choice to stand up and say resoundingly: enough of this nonsense. Enough of bowing down to Trump. Enough of letting the MAGA minority dictate the future for the rest of us. From today on, we move forward. From today on, we leave the past behind. From today on, we choose America, we choose democracy, and we choose to leave Donald Trump to the miserable fate he has, by his own foolish actions, chosen for himself.
I think some may see the obvious failures as victories. They don’t want government to work. They want chaos to justify a dictatorship. But they don’t realize Trump is in serious mental decline. And if he’s convicted of felonies before the election, he will lose. A violent coup would be his only hope.
Republicans have shown themselves today to be wholly under Vladimir Putins authority…interested only in getting out of Putins way while his soldiers are killing Ukrainian men, women and children, and assisting Russia in committing the “crimes against humanity” which news outlets insist on associating *only* with Palestine. Rather than MAGA, Make America Great, they are working to make Putin great. This will mire America in the blood of the innocent Ukrainian people, staining our freedom with the blood of mass murder.
In the midst of an all too understandable hubbub of febrile jabbering, you have just proclaimed the main truth. You have made the one point that must be made today.
We have all been betrayed.
We have been trapped, we have been sold -- wholesale -- pigs in a poke.
The truth is out and you have spoken it.
Trump is Putin's catspaw. His puppet. His agent. His secret weapon. And he has been all along.
MAGA is Putin's Party, Putin's probe tunneling into our guts. And we are now Putin's plaything.
Trump has sold America, he has sold Ukraine, he has sold Europe, he has sold the West.
All... to become Putin's American Gauleiter. His psychotic tool. His weapon of mass destruction. America, Putin's Coney Island sideshow, complete with Big Orange Barker. And Tucker Would-Be-Crown-Prince Sidekick.
Trump in his raving madness has never ceased to spout the wildest, vastest, overblown boasts.
Now he is living down to them.
Perhaps some historian can think of treason comparable. But no, all the Quislings and Benedict Arnolds of history pale into insignificance.
*
Time, then, for every American to pause, consider duty -- to oneself, to the Constitution, to the Republic, to Country, to mankind and the world -- and to take a stand.
Especially all servants of the State, all officers of the Republic, both civil and military.
Time, too, for allies everywhere to do likewise.
All eyes on America, waiting, urging, demanding that she fulfill Churchill's expectation and, after trying everything else...
P.S. Trying to reread what I had written, I touched "expand the comment" but set off the "like" switch, hearting my own comment. I tried to undo this, but seconds after deleting the heart, it resurfaced.
Since I have received no notification of anyone ese "liking" this, I shall if necessary try to delete that heart.
Tragic isn’t it? Us “Dreamers” having to tolerate the perpetual “nightmare” that currently occupies one of the most treasured symbols of Democratic Government in the world.
Cicada, I hear you. My future nephew by marriage is a Dreamer. There were several Dreamers on the school soccer teams in the town where I finished out my law enforcement career. You have all been abandoned by the country that should be welcoming you and your families.
Comrade Carlson is in Moscow to interview Comrade Putin on behalf of Comrade Trump in support of the Comrade COWARDS of the Republican Party in America! The pro-life, pro-baby, pro-family party of hypocrites is prepared to refuse to help ALL the people of Ukraine and to protect them from further death and destruction (no pro-life here) from Comrade Putin. If they won't help Ukraine they sure as hell won't defend American democracy at home or anywhere.
…and don’t forget Comrad Musk, Carlson’s co-conspirator!
He has been the Lynchpin behind social media’s paradigm shift to crazy land. Jack Dempsey banned me over three years ago for saying that chump used Goebbels-style propaganda (which is rarely disputed these days) so he did “lean.” But Elon has signed on to crazy and is a proud advocate of “the rich rule, get used to it.”
You were ahead of your time.
My husband was obsessed with WW2, knew more about it than most. Sort of jumped out at me. First time when I heard of Daniel Segreti's "dirty tricks" with the Nixon debacle.
Hmm, I'm a WWII bug, and I read Bodyguard of Lies, about the British and American deception operations in Europe at least twice, but I must admit that Segretti's dirty tricks did not remind me of that. At least, as far as I can recall after 50 years.
Compared to Roger Stone and Steve Bannon, Donald Segretti was a a plopping-pigtails-in-inkwells class clown
Segreti was a minor player as the villains go, but the gall of doing your dirty tricks using Dems stationary and political stuff to lay the blame at their doorstep really got my attention. Must have because I have remembered his name for all these years.
Forgive me, Jeri, it's Donald Segretti. (I remember when he was doing his dirty tricks.) Here's his wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Segretti
my laptop changed to one t. Sorry, maybe I have an aversion to the "Donald." Anyway, it was a Goebbels tactic to shift the blame to anybody but Hitler. In fact, another Donald uses the same tactic. From the Sun, September 12, 2005. "You never blame yourself. You have to blame something else. If you do something bad, never, ever blame yourself." Our Donald still subscribes to that tactic. Thank you, I'll get updated.
"Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out,
Come and keep your comrades warm!"
Because of their lack of material resources, Putin expected to quickly overrun Ukraine's defenses. But a wealth of courage and determination have sustained their resistance for two years, along with American and EU military assistance.
Now aid from the U.S. has been choked off by MAGA extremists, in defiance of the will of a clear majority in both Houses of Congress. The threat to Ukraine is dire and immediate. There's no time to waste. The aid package needs to be passed now. Every day counts.
Everyone reading this can help by calling your Representative and urge them to immediately pass the combined aid package on its own. If you don't know their number, call the U S Capitol switchboard (202) 224-3121.
For more information, and more phone numbers to call, please visit www.FeathersOfHope.net
.
It is curious that the Republican party, formerly such a bulwark against the creeping communism under the Soviet Union, has flipped and now supports the creeping expansion of authoritarianism under Russia. Who'd a thunk it !!!!
They support his fascist agenda because fascism allows greed and private ownership as long as the business supports the leaders. It is what Citizens United has allowed to happen here. Business put the politicians in power and the politicians then turn on the businesses.
WHEN will we get rid of Citizens United??????
First we have to get rid of the influence of the Supreme Court justices who were appointed because of Citizens United. Thomas should be impeachable. For the rest, expanding the Supreme Court by three or four justices should do the trick.
For that, we need a Democratic President and a veto-proof majority in the Senate. Time to get out the vote for November.
This is all so disgusting and sad. I donate to 'End Citizens United' but, honestly, I don't know if that group is accomplishing anything. I agree VOTE VOTE VOTE. But we also need to get rid of the Electoral College. So much work to do. I just hope we're not too far gone....
The party of death is all about money and power which means they support fascists and oligarchs. They do not care one whit about ordinary people, the planet, or anything else as they assume their money will save them from any dire consequences. And any of them who claim to be patriots or devote Christians are simply bigly hypocrites. Also kudos to the Appeals Court for writing such an incisive answer to the I'm immune to prosecution question. If the Supremes are smart, they will just let the decision stand and not take up the case. Yes, I know, if.
Not surprised. It’s not difficult to determine who’s helping to fund their campaigns, Citizens United makes it possible AND keeps it dark. NRA isn’t the only PAC funded directly with Russian capital and their proxies. It just sucks. It is a cancer. The GOP has willingly opened the gate for the Russians Trojan horse. The Putin interview will deliver via Twater Russian Propaganda directly into an already radicalized 35-40% of Americans.
A very good reason for our Judiciary to be independent. Not bought and paid for by the dark money. Maybe not all, but a not small number of them
Well, in a way the Conservative Justices have been bought. More from the likes of the oil industry oligarchs, Harlon Crow, the Koch network, as well as the Libertarian founders like Robert Mercer, Lenard Leo, etc. It’s important for us to understand how our oil industry has aligned with foreign state oil actors like Russia. Anyone in the oil biz is anti science to be anti climate change. Linking these two issues is critical to understanding g what has happened. Citizens United just took it to a whole new level. And what a waste of all that capital spent on campaigns. How much? We really don’t know the amount, so how can we accurately asses the effect of anti science, anti climate advertising from our big oil? The foreign big oil propaganda aligns with big oil’s public messaging.
Here's a more full list, Ted:
Sheldon Adelson, George Birnbaum, Harlan Crow (a Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Wayne Huizenga (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Leonard Leo, Bernie Little (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, Paul “Tony” Novelly (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Dennis Prager, Steve Schwartzman, Paul Singer, David Sokol (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Peter Thiel, Anthony Welters (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer) Jeffrey Yass, Jeff Zuckerberg and families DeVos, Koch, Kushner, Mercer, Sackler, Uihlein.
😬😬😬
Bought and sold by the Russian oligarchs...
That's not a good look. But definitely one we ought to publicize.
As the GOP flipped to become NEO CONFEDERATES, so they have completely flipped from the Party of Joe McCarthy that convinced frightened Americans that they should falsely indict their neighbors during the Red Scare (communist dominoes theory)
The New Scare are the MAGA HATS, firmly aligned not with Communism, but rather the Worship of Putin Dictator qualities
The world is weird
I'm not sure how they live with this dissonance. But I'm also not sure how they are intimidated by a thrice married, serial philandering, multiply indicted liar. But they are. Starting with Mitch McConnell and Mike Johnson and going down through a long list of other former worthies like JD Vance and Lyin' Ted.
Swbv
I too am confounded by the source of intimidation. It’s “almost” as if Putin Death Merchants have used the threat of Chemo Poisoning on all of them and their families, dying slow agonizing demise, but that’s an absurd conspiracy theory in the sense that Democrats aren’t being targeted as well
Perhaps it’s the Mob like threats from Boss Don? But then again, why don’t Democrats fall prey?
Perhaps its the Promise of Authoritarian Power that comes from being LOYAL to team Trump? You know, the Goebbels Effect; “if’n yer not with us, come time we vill bury you”. Opps that was Nikita’s line
I’m confounded. It’s probably just greed that sticks together for the Good of the Cult, you know Good Ol Gang Family Theory
All of them are worried they will be primaries by someone even more of a wing nut and they do get threats to themselves and their families. There are enough crazy MAGAs to do this for their cult leader, so he only has to speak out against someone. And Rona now joins the many people who have found out that kissing his rear does to save them from being thrown under the bus.
Looking for "source of intimidation," Dave, one more possibility.
Lack of humanities. If one goes through school, and gets instructors who themselves never reference humanities, it becomes so much easier for various sources of black hole inertia to grab one.
Humanities let us ground ourselves in genuine feelings for "others." Lack of them lets us just group everyone, label everyone, abstract all, dismiss all as just units in packaged categories.
Further, without language grounded in very specific human "others," we fall into slogans, cliché, all the pet fashions Diane Ravitch cites in "The Language Police," all the dead metaphors, euphemisms, and other language Orwell cites in "Politics and the English Language."
I believe he was hand picked by those that we are not sure who they are, possibly Putin. Drop a dollar in his pocket and he will do anything. His history was he hadnever been held accountable for any of his actions! I think it would have been wise of him just to have walked away quietly on January 6th and lived the comfortable life with us taking care of him and his family with the money he (didn't) earn in the four years he put us through hell. He could have played golf until he was buried on his golf course next to his first wife. Joe has worked to clean up his mess now he wants to trash it again! No thank you!
Yes, Trump should have walked away and spent the rest of his life playing golf and sleeping with porn stars. He would not have been threatening anyone, and IF he had kept his profile lower, he might have evaded much of this attention by the prosecutors.
Doing things like returning records and classified materials when he was first asked, would have been helpful in this endeavor too.
He’s too greedy to just walk away. He’s made more money than ever possible through grifting the American People!
😬too true
And Putin's allies are China and Iran. (Not to mention that Iran's proxy just killed US soldiers in a a drone attack.) That simple message needs to get to potential Putin supporters in the maga camp. If they embrace Putin, then they also embrace those regimes.
Just called the US Capitol switcboard and left a message for Mike Johnson to pass aid for Ukraine! I got right thru to his VM. Start calling!
It's times like this that I find it especially painful and frustrating to live in the nation's capital, and HAVE NO VOICE! That's why I postcard for Dem candidates in other districts. Thanks for the link to Feathers of Hope.
THANK YOU JERRY. start calling everyone!
Done. (I called Whip Katherine Clark, my Rep)
Thank you
Done!
You might want to double-check. Putin never had the manpower to take and hold Kyiv. Putin's early stab at kyiv was a feint, which tied up Ukrainian soldiers (includiing neo-Nazi units, which got hit hard), allowing Russian troops to romp through southern Ukraine (except Mariupol, which had to be destroyed in order to save it).
As I wrote yesterday, it turns out the border the Rs are truly interested in protecting is NOT our Southern border -- it's Russia's border expansion into Ukraine. Putin has become the de facto head of the Republican Party, directing his puppet (remember Hillary's words in '16) trompy to do his dirty work of bullying Johnson, McConnell and the rest of the Rs in Congress. And Carlson has become Putin's American PR mouthpiece.
The sad part is that it isn't cynicism that prompts me to conclude this -- it's truth (or pravda, as the Russians call it.)
Why else would Putin work so hard against HRC? She was well aware of his nasty business and he knew she knew. But no. People just had to think the worst and then pull the lever for the “businessman”. We have become so politically illiterate that we are a danger to ourselves now.
Your comment is a keeper, Murray. Thanks.
Morning, Lynell. Indeed this is a "keeper".
Morning, Ally! Tuesday turned out to be a pretty good day for democracy, ya think?
Indeed!!!
Rump and the MAGAts have orders from Moscow to stop any support for Ukraine. Now that Putin is sure that no bill supporting Ukraine will ever pass, he will double down on Ukraine, and before this year ends, he will attack Poland. He has no one to fear anymore: Rump will make sure that the US won’t come to Europe’s aid.
And we will be pulled into another war. MAGAts will be screaming from the rooftops tops about going to war whilst none of their children will be the ones putting their lives on the line. Repubs will say , “I didn’t think that it would really happen.” Just like my MAGAt friend said about women’s rights being taken away. Wake up people. This chaos has to stop.
Actually, a lot of MAGAs are working class people, whose children do join the military. So they will be condemning their own children, as well as other people's children to the meat grinder of war.
The only consolation is that it will be a very short war. Once Putin attacks Europe, the Great Orange Dictator will make sure that the American Military comes to his assistance: he will gladly lend the services of the US Army to his great idol and master. And Europe is far too weak to resist both the Russian and the US Army.
No, Dutch Mike, I don't believe tfg is taking orders from putin. tfg is is taking revenge for Zelenskiys refusal to open an investigation of the Bidens..
So how much would you like to bet that Russia attacks Poland before the year ends?
Your house? Your entire asset portfolio? Or are you just regurgitating Cold War stale American propaganda domino theory BS?
Tom, I don't think that Putin will attack Poland or any other country this year. His resources are too depleted. But, if the West does not continue its support of Ukraine so that Russia's military expansion can be stopped, it will happen. This is why this naked aggression has to be stopped.
Poland and the Baltics will always be on Putin's wish list. If anyone thinks otherwise about Putin's ambitions they either have never absorbed the lessons of history and/or they are propaganda puppets for Putin. Just like Carlson and Trump and Johnson.
But you are right about Russia's machine being depleted. And Putin has growing internal problems. More and more Russians are questioning the war. And support could completely collapse with a couple of symbolic incidents. Like Russian civilian jets grounded or plummeting to the Earth for lack of proper repairs (yes, sanctions are hurting). And the arrival of F-16s that Ukraine can use to gain air superiority.
We should remember that Putin's relationship with his oligarchs is complex. He fed them money, they feed him support. But there is a limit to both.
Time is not on Putin's side if we are vigilant and patient. Of course, the real battle now is right here - where Republicans have buddied up with their former enemies to help build the same sort of oligarch driven autocracy. Russia is now the role model of Republicans. Treason by another name. MAGA betrayal must be crushed.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) wrote. “They literally demanded specific policy, got it, and then killed it.” Treason. This quotation is from HCR yesterday. Bumbling idiots.
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (EDL - Estonian Defense League) have been preparing for a Russian attack.
100%. Americans would be wise to google “Alexander Dugin”. Learn about what the Ultra Nationalist Russians refer to as “Eurasia”. Expanding Russian influence by wrecking the EU and NATO are Putin’s #1 foreign policy objectives. He has said so since 2007 Munich Speech and everyday since.
Richard, please don't forget that Putin still has his nuclear weapons. And he cares so little about human lives, he's definitely not above using them. It will give him the edge he needs, and will instantly break Europe's will to resist him - especially when the US won't come to our aid: Rump will make sure that doesn't happen once he retakes control of the White House.
Note that Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons post USSR collapse. Countries that give up their nukes, expose themselves to Russian invasion. Two to five years of Active Measures to prep the battlefield prior to invasion. The goal of the measures is not to prepare for a real battle. The whole goal of Active Measures is to transform the politics so that the invaders are “welcomed” as liberators. This was the false assumption with Ukraine. The Russians, in their info bubble miscalculated a Ukrainian resistence. So what have the Russians learned since? Double down on propaganda, support their guy ( like Trump), and just wait for conservatives are voted back to power, then invade.
Exactly this.
Perhaps you have seen the film "Active Meaasures"? It chcronicles "the most successful espionalge operation in Russian history" - the election of 2016. This was a conspiracy hiding in plain sight!
If Trump gets back in, all bets are off. Carlson for Sec State?
OMG! Perish that thought. Trump back in power!
He never left. In an odd way, the MAGA cult has been saying that all along.
Good observation. And the most devoted still think he won in 2020. Facts be damned.
Yes. I agree, while he is a thug, he is also smart, and he knows he's stretched too thin right now to attack yet another country. Attacking Poland, would probably trigger a very strong response from all of Europe, and they have all begun preparations for war. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have his eye on all of the satellite countries to Russia, to reclaim all the areas of the former USSR.
Education, Richard. Get outside the American propaganda bubble. It’s not as comfortable, but much more beneficial when trying to make sense of the world.
As an example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jj6SUrasl0&t=481s
Your fevered imagining that Russia has ambitions on Poland is simply absurd.
I bet Moldova after Ukraine. And then one of the Balkans, like Slovenia, Serbia. Then Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania. And then Poland. It is in the Russian foreign policy speeches and their DNA. To be Russian is to expand Russia by all means possible. Glorify Russia by returning its peak USSR borders and sphere of influence. They even have a term for it, “Eurasia” vs the EU, NATO.
I think you mean Slovenia.
Oh! Oh! Domino!!
You guys sound just like the PNAC knuckleheads that continually cheerlead for endless war. That big, bad, brown Russian bear; making Americans lose their minds since 1917.
The only deterrent to an attack on either Poland or the Baltic states is their membership in NATO and our commitment to article 5. If trump re enters the White House that commitment will undoubtedly end, thereby opening the window for the possibility of some type of coercive attack (could be economic rather than military) on these countries.
100%.
Economic coercive attacks? You mean like what America does all the time?
Tom High, charming as ever. Putin will at least attack Poland or another European country once Rump reenters the White House. I'll bet ya a nice bottle of whisky on that one. That ok for you?
Oxygen. Don’t give it oxygen
Maybe you're right... It's no use anyway.
Already backtracking I see. I don’t do whiskey.
Putin will have no interest in attacking any other European nation, regardless of who sits in the White House, unless that person is stupid enough to put offensive missiles on the Russian border. He will have his hands full securing his territorial gains along the Black Sea, and dealing with continuing unrest in Ukraine’s eastern provinces.
Who's backtracking? You are the one refusing the bet!
Spot on:
''The pro-life, pro-baby, pro-family party of hypocrites is prepared to refuse to help ALL the people of Ukraine..''
Or even people in the USA.
Pro-life Michael? They allowed our troops to fight a 20 year war in Afghanistan where 2400 American service members died and over 21,000 were wounded. Not to mention $300 million a day wasted trying to accomplish what? Taking a country without a measurable GDP up a few notches?
Gary, that doesn't matter to the pro (forced pregnancy) "life" folks. That's manly combat for other people's children until they come home with visible and invisible combat wounds whereupon they are called "weak" and cast aside.
Yes, it is beyond astonishing that we have Russian operatives in Congress who are representing constituents. I have one of them myself,Gym Jordan, representing me and my district.How can this be?How can such a small minority group of radicals hamstring our democracy and be paid taxpayer dollars to do it?
Please engage against him. Surely the Dems can field an opponent.
I have 3! Rosendale, Daines & Zinke! Rosendale is the worst! We need Jon Tester to stay & vote in Monica Tranel to replace Zinke
Gerrymandering, funding sources, draconian values, bullying and old school "gym" approach to "win, win, win".
Look at the shape of your district...a fine piece of gerrymandering.
Victoria, because Gerrymandering
I'm not sure I agree with the pro-baby in your comment. As Jennifer Rubin of the WAPO has put it many times, they are pro-birthers. Once a baby is born they could care less if it starves, freezes, beaten or raped.
So far, in the states that have outlawed abortion there have been 26,000 pregnancies due to rape. And this is likely a gross undercount. The MAGANAZIs in TX have more or less legalized rape by not processing rape kits and/or prosecuting rapists.
Remember Abbott said, stupidly, he was going to abolish rape.
Yes, and he pretty much has--he has abolished it as a crime.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-judge-who-banned-abortion-pills-officimsnally-gets-exposed-for-using-junk-science/ar-BB1hURCI
Texas judge who banned abortion pills officially gets exposed for using junk science.
By Ja'Han Jones.
Check this out. Turns out the article Kacsmaryk cited in his decision were made by eight authors who were associated with an anti-abortion organization (7 of the authors were associated). The 3 articles have been withdrawn from publication by Sage magazine. And the peer reviewer was part of another anti-abortion group.
I was always puzzled by the lack of standing of those that brought the suit. None of them have the potential to be harmed by the ruling yet the Bible beating Kacsmaryk heard the case anyway.
Can't why to see what century Alito draws his legal opinions from in the hearing of this case by SCOTUS.
Those who screw unto others will screw unto you
Benny Hill quipped, "Do unto others. Then run." That seems to be the mantra of cowards like Donald Trump who refuse to take responsibility for their immoral and illegal actions.
Or blame the victim.
Pro-Life?? Pro- Family?? HaHa. They are only Pro-Birth. It is all hands off when it comes to Pro Family-Planning, Pro-Child Care, Pro Health-Care, Pro-Education, Pro-Responsibility, Pro-Democracy and Pro-America.
And if anyone decides to spend the night here lobbing the tired canard about Ukraine and fascism, don't argue... I won't, don't call names... I won't -- just point them to the Anti-Defamation League interview on the subject at https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/why-putin-calling-ukrainian-government-bunch-nazis.
If it's good enough for the ADL and Dr. David Fishman it's good enough for me.
"The Ugly Truth about the ADL"
https://archive.org/details/TheUglyTruthAboutTheAdl_610
Marshall Rafferty,
Here is the essential falsehood (by omission) from your source David Fishman:
"Russia has for years highlighted the activity of a marginal group of Ukrainian ultra-nationalists as a way of trying to stigmatize all of Ukraine. Yes, some members of these ultra-nationalist groups have used Nazi insignia, made Hitler salutes, and used antisemitic rhetoric, but they are politically insignificant and in no way representative of Ukraine. The political parties which the ultra-nationalists support received just over 2 percent of the vote in the 2019 elections. Ukraine is a flawed democracy, but unquestionably a democracy, and in no way a Nazi regime.”
After the right-wing extremists put the Maidan Revolution over the top in 2014, their kingpin Arsen Avakov was rewarded with the Interior Ministry, IN CHARGE OF THE POLICE STATIONS. When Zelensky was installed as Jewish window dressing for Ukraine's thuggish police state, he kept Avakov. And what does lying David Fishman day about the following expose (from 2019, but nothing changed, except Zelensky seized all the opposition TV stations) of routine far-right bigotry and atrocities?
"The DC establishment’s standard defense of Kiev is to point out that Ukraine’s far right has a smaller percentage of seats in the parliament than their counterparts in places like France. That’s a spurious argument: What Ukraine’s far right lacks in polls numbers, it makes up for with things Marine Le Pen could only dream of—paramilitary units and free rein on the streets....
"There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and LGBT groups, book bans, and state-sponsored glorification of Nazi collaborators.
"These stories of Ukraine’s dark nationalism aren’t coming out of Moscow; they’re being filed by Western media, including US-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE); Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center; and watchdogs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House, which issued a joint report warning that Kiev is losing the monopoly on the use of force in the country as far-right gangs operate with impunity."
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine/
Good news Schmuckle.
I unsubscribed from HCR's formerly interesting and educational comments board.
You get to have it all to yourself at the end of my subscription period.
I would say it is sad, but, hey, you gotta earn a living getting paid by somebody, might as well be Putin.
Mike. This does not mean you are letting your subscription expire, I hope! You are such an asset to this community. I hope you mean you are just not going to waste any more time trying to educate Schmeeckle.
I'm gonna miss you, Mike.
Substack Inc recently lost an Author CASEY Newton I have prepared 8 Exhibits today to take Substack Inc to JAMS SF for confidential Mediation under Substack's rules and choice of CA law. I cannot represent Readers as an attorney but, I can certainly advocate for my own contractual rights as a paid Subscriber. I will engage Substack"s capable counsel.
My only source of income is my paycheck from J.B. Hunt. The absence of your McCarthyist bigotry will be welcome.
p.s. I have unsubscribed and resubscribed more than once; I'll probably be leaving again, too.
It is noted that you guys (Mike S and John Schmeeckle) are paying a subscription simply to be able to write what you write. You are paying for the audience.
I decided to pay this subscription to support the work. This woman dedicates a lot of time to this and I think she should be supported - she deserves it and her knowledge, perspective and experience are of great value.
Long may she write.
It is noted that you are a lapdog for American Empire, and the Democratic Party, as is ‘this woman’.
Not to say I don’t respect Heather’s historical chops, but her lack of a willingness to accurately critique American foreign policy is becoming more embarrassing by the day.
If I hear one more hypocritical passage extolling the ‘international rules-based order’, I think I will hurl.
Here is my peace plan for the Middle East:
1. Israel faces an existential crisis as soon as the U.S. "aid spigot" gets cut off for whatever reason (including possible American political or economic crisis).
2. Any viable solution must enable Israel to be secure without constant infusions of American aid.
3. This requires peace with Israel’s neighbors, including Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
4. This requires undoing the Nakba terrorist atrocity and withdrawing to the U.N.-mandated pre-1948 borders (the 1947 partition).
5. This can only be done in the context of peaceful economic integration throughout the region, for the benefit of all. A lasting peace must be guaranteed individually by each permanent member of the U.N. Security council, and endorsed by Israel’s neighbors.
6. The recent Hamas atrocities were sparked by provocations (yet again) at the Dome of the Rock. The dream of rebuilding the Temple of Herod must be given up and replaced by the will to rebuild the Temple of Solomon in its correct location.
Putin (and Carlson) are not trying to reestablish the Soviet Union They want to revive the Tsarist empire.
Well said! But let’s not forget Christian Nationalists are behind it all! They see Putin as one of their own. They he believes and stands “traditional family values”. Yes the hypocracy of these GOP Christian Nationalist by their support of Putin is over the top.
You got all of it right. NO pro-life on the Republican side of the barbed fence! Or should I say razor wire fence!
Question that should be asked of Putin, "Who is more popular, you or Trump?" Question to be asked of Trump, "Who is more popular, you or Putin?" It would force these egomaniacs to admit that they always see themselves as the most popular.
Amen!
Thank you Heather for quoting so much of what President Biden said today about the failure of the GOP senators to support the Border security bill that they negotiated. Even the friendly mainstream media (MSNBC) that I watched this evening showed only one tiny clip of what our president said, Instead of showing all of what Biden had to say that you quoted. Stephanie Ruhl busied herself with asking Michael Steele and Bob Gibbs about what Biden needs to do to make this a win for Democrats. Their answer? Hammer home the spinelessness of the GOP. Duh. That’s what Joe just did. Cover it!
Actually, earlier in the day, MSNBC aired the speech live!
Ah, that's more like it. And could repeat it this evening.
Good to know! Thanks!
Some immigration issues can be difficult to resolve, but why would anyone oppose the "dreamers"?
Maybe in some odd way, by Biden sacrificing the Dreamers to a bill the gop won’t pass and reveals their hypocrisy, this could be a great strategic move on his part. Biden-Harris gets to hammer the gop complicity home until Election Day as trump weakens because of his non-immunity/here-comes-accountability trials. A separate Ukraine measure could still pass. The next border deal will then have to include the Dreamers as an “F*You to gop for not passing the original bill.
Because they are not white.
And because they would be able to vote.
Because they're educated and primarily vote blue.
Dreamers don’t vote because they are not citizens
You are correct. I misspoke, but Republicans fear that if the could they would most likely vote blue. In my district, they often knock on doors for Democrats even though they can't vote. Which makes sense because its Democrats who support their effort to obtain citizenship, certainly not Republicans.
I have had my share of misspoke’s, way more than my share actually. 🙏
Same! But we own up to it, and that's what's important.
Not yet.
Tracy, you hit the nail right on the head!!
They oppose dreamers, because they oppose anything that helps people who work hard to have a better life. Look at the border....the majority of people crossing the border are desperate, vulnerable and deserving of compassion, not contempt.
Huddled masses yearning to be free.
Also, J L, they're often coming from countries Smedley Butler cited in 1934.
He was major general, retired from overall command of the U.S. in 1931, then gave speeches and wrote of how the U.S. military had too much been propping up dictators, enabling robbery from major U.S. banks and corporations.
If he'd lived longer, he'd have seen it all get much worse, from the C.I.A. overturning Iran's democratically-elected and progressive Mossadegh in 1953, and Guatemala's Arbenz in 1954, to the U.S. School of the Americas training secret police torture and related tactics to far-right-led countries across Central America and South America, to U.S.-subsidized Industrial Ag killing off virtually all small farms in Mexico, forcing uprooting and emigration of 15 million to Mexico City and 11 million to the U.S.
Don't worry, we'll take care of the dreamers when we have the House AND Senate....
Has anyone noticed how self-promoting journalists and reporters tend to be?
As if somehow they are owning the news rather than doing their actual jobs of reporting in some kind of depth? Whatever happened to complexity?
There are many honorable and dedicated journalists. Heather mentions them.
Complexity requires an educated public capable of understanding the nuances of the issue being reported upon.
NBC died with Tim Russert. Now the “personalities” only care about “access”. We are much weaker for it.
It’ll all be buried under whatever comes next.
This is why I read and listen to more in-depth sources. The Atlantic, The Scroll, Steady etc.
My wife told me about the Progressive radio station (127 on Sirius) a few months ago.
John Fuglesang does an excellent job as do a few of the others. Thom Hartmann also is good as are others. Take a listen.
I don't mean to assume, but on Sunday mornings around 8 am EST Fuglesang has on two native Americans who enlighten the listeners with what is happening in the Native American reservations and across the US and even Canada.
Yup.
MAGA is however getting hammered on Morning Joe (the morning after) for the whole works: the embarrassingly failed House impeachment effort, ffailure to provide Ukraine aide, with Mitchell McConnell too conveniently capitulating, or just too outgunned by Trump. MSNBC also cited Wall Street Journal, NYT, et al which damned the torpedoing of the border bill along with Ukraine etc funding. Remind me to take a quick look at last night's NBC national news... actually, it was pretty straight up and to the point, considering the it isn't "all about politics".
Be assured that not passing the border bill will come back to bite the Republican Potty in the ass.
But enough of negativism. A GOP-controlled House did not impeach Secretary Mayorkas and that should have Mike and MAGA extremists eating humble pie. Also yesterday, a scrupulous 3-member appellate court unanimously declared in a meticulous opinion that trump is Citizen trump, making the argument that he has immunity moot in his upcoming trials. The opinion was so impeccable that I believe that the Subprime Court won't touch his appeal lest they embarrass themselves further. trump's grasp of his party will weaken and his bullhorn will only get rustier. Just watch!
That was “citizen” with a lower case “c.” Loved it!
May Our LORD/GOD ! ...CONTINUÈ ! ...to BLESS YOU !, Heather Cox
Richardson ! !!
Your FAITH ! YOUR ZEAL
and Wisdom/ knowledge.
Gives. US ! ...the. SANE !
A FIRM ANCHOR ! To
TRUST IN !
" Let. Every Man ! Be a LIAR ! , and GOD !,
BE TRUE !!
( and THANK. YOU JESUS !,
YOU ARE !, [ The WAY,
The TRUTH !, ....AND THE
LIFE !! AMEN ! ] )
Legal experts are hailing the decision on immunity as a masterful document so legally adroit that the Supreme Court likely won’t consider an appeal. That would mean Trump’s trial for the insurrection might start in April. In other words, justice is coming - finally.
In the meantime, he’s going scorched Earth, destroying every thing he can, all in cahoots with legislative terrorists cloaked in holier-than-though un-Christian piety.
I suspect that
(1) Trump and his team knew the "immunity" argument was bogus from the beginning, and
(2) They used it to "run out the clock" so a verdict won't come in before the election.
Well, duh. Of course they did.
That is to say,, even though they lost in court, they actually won, if their calculation that delay helps them is correct. Maybe it isn't...
And that is why the TFFG team only has until Monday to appeal the ruling to SCOTUS.
Do I hear some negotiations in the Supreme Court Chambers going on now....'Ok I agree to deny Cert. in the Immunity Decision, in return you vote in the Colorado case to keep Trump on the ballot-deal'? Pure political 'horse trading', hard struggle to find law to support the later. What a crappy court!
Well said Michael
Today shows the very stark and clear differences between a party that works for the best interests of the people of the United States and a party that is so morally corrupt that they don’t stand for anything but themselves. Has American politics been so low since the Civil War. Thanks Heather for both for your clarity and vision!
Prior to WW2 things were this difficult. I'm hoping we survive this test of democracy.
Give Prequel a read or listen to ULTRA podcast. The rhyme of history is humming right along.
I'm not sure that they're even standing...seems more like shuffling along, knuckles dragging the pavement. They don't appear to realize that the bear trap dangling from their *ss is the one they tried to set for the Dems on border security policy.
They are tripping over their own lies.
As the NY Times said!
As E. Jean Carroll said recently, “He’s nothing.” Not much there to base a party or an ideology on.
Yes, Christopher, you are correct: We can see the “clear and stark differences.” At least many people can see the differences. The only thing I would add is the reminder that We, the People place those people in those positions of power and influence. SOME of those people are acting responsibly and ethically. The hopeful sign is that NOT EVERY GOVERNMENT LEADER is worthless - as too many Americans believe.
The point is: We, the People must take our responsibilities seriously and get the job done. This isn’t a matter of GOTCHA or RETRIBUTION or HA HA WE WIN. It’s about continuing the process of forming a MORE PERFECT Union.
Not entirely true, Christopher - they certainly stand strongly behind their corrupt, criminal, candidate for the Presidency, der donald.
Somebody needs to tell them about the best interests of the people of the United States, which they don't seem to have thought about.
Agreed Anne-Louise, unfortunately these are people who prefer to feel than to have to think.
We all feel and that's what makes us human, but some feel for others beyond themselves. That makes them humane. Everyone thinks, but not everyone seeks verification beyond their own imaginings, or questions even those who tell them what they want to hear. We all have self, but so do others; and the universe in wide beyond imagining.
Well, if this keeps going they're going to feel it all right. They ARE people of the United States.
Agreed
Fay, in too many cases, they vote out of fear of the people that might attack them or their families if TFG suggests it.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/14/romney-political-violence-republicans/&sa=U&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwjtlqSxoJmEAxWeHEQIHV4CCwUQFnoECDsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0U53xpbbhxhbvhCDmaXHQj
And with their leader’s loss on absolute immunity, they better have a Plan B.
Conclusion: Trump has succeeded in bringing on Congress's Lame Duck Session.
Maybe we could trade Tucker for Gershkovitch and Kermasheva.
Yes!!!! Best idea of the day!
Great idea!!!
He should not be allowed back into the country…period
The Tucker hysteria is just another chapter in the liberal class derangement coming out of Russiagate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqMO6Ckwgsg&t=367s
Oh, look everyone! The troll-who-doesn’t read valid, researched articles or books is back! I think this is the moron who likes to quote a right-wing nut Australian lacking any expertise, because, you know, an echo chamber is just so affirming when you lack skills in logic and analysis.
Republicans are in such disarray that they can’t help but shoot themselves in the foot. Today was a trifecta of failure. The silver lining being that their ineptness keeps them from doing any damage.
At times, the judicial branch is the only thing giving me hope everything below SCOTUS). Heather left out Judge Engoron’s Order issued to Trump’s attorneys to advise whether or not Weiselberg committed perjury and if they knew about it. That’s going to be fun for them. They are not Weiselberg’s attorneys - so attorney client privilege does not apply. And if they knew and allowed it to happen then they are all likely to be disciplined by the Bar for suborning perjury.
I would note that the Supreme court is inot in good standing as at least two justices have been illegally accepting
large perks from billionaires not declared on their tax returns, as reported a couple of days ago by Senator Whitehouse and Durban
And? Didn't we already know this?
Engoron's letter was very clear that he might reshuffle the deck if Wiseguyberg's testimony is tainted.
!!!!
Ann, good call, I had not heard of this until your mention. Gee, ya think this A-helps Trump case or B-hurts it and the amount he will need to pay? LMAO! How's this for the first sentence of the Judge's opinion: "The defendant defrauded his bankers, defrauded New York Tax Authority, defraud voters with his campaign violations, defrauded THE COURT with perjured testimony..." Here is the judge's demand letter. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24409648-452564_2022_people_of_the_state_of_v_people_of_the_state_of_letter_corresponden_1683?responsive=1&title=1
Read Joyce Vance on Substack. She is as brilliant as HCR.
I agree with most of what you wrote, but can't hit like because of your statement " The silver lining being that their ineptness keeps them from doing any damage " They could've done more damage, but they have done more than enough! It will take many years to undo what these cowards have already done
They wanted chaos, shock and awe—well, a circular firing squad gave them just that.
“Disciplined by the Bar”? Haven’t they been sleeping on the job with all the violations gop lawyers have been perpetrating? I wish they would act with integrity.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤️💥
Another notable quote from the opinion:
''We therefore conclude that Article III courts may hear the
charges alleged in the Indictment under the separation of
powers doctrine, as explained in Marbury and its progeny and
applied in the analogous contexts of legislative and judicial
immunity. The Indictment charges that former President
Trump violated criminal laws of general applicability. Acting
against laws enacted by the Congress, he exercised power that
was at its “lowest ebb.” Youngstown, 343 U.S. at 637 (Jackson,
J., concurring). Former President Trump lacked any lawful
discretionary authority to defy federal criminal law and he is
answerable in court for his conduct.''
We may get lucky and the SC will deny Certiorari - game over on this issue.
"We may get lucky and the SC will deny Certiorari - game over on this issue."
Fingers crossed, R. Dooley.
Having decided that he's citizen Trump, they could even drop "Former President".
Strip him of his "T".
Or restore the original "D" and final "F". (Originalism: good, no?)
Yess. Anne !! Put the orange Mangowanker, in
The " CORRECT CATAGORY ! "
he Belongs. In !
( BELOW ! , The Barrel !! )
Do the millions yet cheer the orange-encrusted, “bing-bing-bong” diaper guy?
U.S. appeals court has found him beyond precedent far from reality – as we know he and his MAGA mob remain in fantasy land, sunk in miasma of lies, slogans, and hatreds.
It’s time to note why anyone gets this way.
Tune to humanities, and you keep in touch with the personal, complicated realities people actually inhabit. Our best novelists, film makers, musicians and others get the sobriquet “artist” insofar as they model best being in touch.
Our schools, having vacated humanities, have turned out millions so bereft of humane reality, so deep in the waddling orange guy’s cult, that not even his diapers can halt the stench.
Thank you Phil. We have a long and demanding challenge at our feet going through and way beyond this election.
Having allowed and been swallowed by the whole 'everything for profit' and 'everything competitive' culture of opposition, we now must find out about the humanities inside us as we bring them back in all their various necessary forms, beginning in early education and reinhabiting what we have allowed so-called higher education to disembowel.
This is especially true in a time when religiosity is so rightly being questioned as a source of right behavior. It seems that there is enough waking up going on to what Civic and Service actually mean especially in a democratic context that is structured around these concepts for the most part, that there are many folks ready to step in, to get more educated, to bring forth the better parts that we were born with.
Also very important is to start supporting and helping in various ways to get younger people elected wherever they are ready to step in.
In this respect I am not suggesting to look at President Biden as simply a man of a certain age. He is competent, seasoned, thoughtful and more so than anyone else I can think of at this point. He is healthy and has the experience to guide this country further.
Please stop making age an issue. If that were actually a thing Trump would have been tossed by now, along with his obvious incompetence.
Vice President Harris has been very deeply and continuously studying acting traveling learning about what presidents actually do. Let's not forget that. She is both capable and young enough to satisfy the worriers.
Everybody breathe.
I'm not sure I understand, Robin.
You specify my name at the outset, and your initial comments are directly to those of mine, but later on you say, "Please stop making age an issue," when I've never done that.
Thanks, though, for your good remarks about humanities and education at the outset.
Hi Phil, I don't think Robin was referring to you specifically except for the first paragraph.
Oh I do get carried away with the general thought and was speaking generally to all us readers and writers. Thanks for catching this! Take 😌care...
So Biden is thoughtful? This is about the mental competence required to do a most demanding job. This is beyond gaffes.
I said last year I thought there was a good chance neither candidate would actually be on the ballot come November. Hopefully that is the case; Trump will be jailed, and Jill, if she has any compassion at all, will convince her husband to pull an LBJ and withdraw.
Anyone watching the Biden video in the link below and saying they have confidence the guy is fit to serve for another term is suffering from tribal fantasy. I don’t care how many sit down softball interviews with Heather he does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTp49ygrLlw
Biden has surrounded himself with what is likely the most competent cabinet in US history. He has an amazing National security advisor and the women on his staff aren't there to get him coffee and clean ketchup off the walls. They actually run their departments.
Trump's cabinet had one purpose -- to be bobble heads whenever he spoke. If they had a defect and shook their heads no, then they were thrown to the scrap heap.
This ain’t about Trump, so stop deflecting.
Biden cabinet, on the foreign policy front, are a bunch of corporate whores and ideological zealots pursuing American hegemony. The only one who has even a scintilla of integrity is William Burns, and even he would capitulate to the consensus rather than resign.
“All the shitlibs you see cheering for Biden right now are on some level aware that he’s backing a genocide of unbelievable savagery that is inflicting unfathomable amounts of suffering upon our fellow human beings, but they avoid looking at this reality directly. All the information is right there right out in the open, but they cognitively squirm and twist away from it so that they see only Biden’s acts like slightly reducing America’s student loan debt and not being Donald Trump.
They do this because to really wrap their minds around the depravity of what Biden is doing would shatter their world. It would mean letting in some very scary truths about their nation, their government and their political system that they’d rather avoid noticing. It would mean a crushing deluge of cognitive dissonance until they dramatically revised their worldview into something that could allow for a Democratic president behaving like a complete monster. It would mean having to completely restructure their understanding of the world they live in.”
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-empire-depends-on-our-unwillingness?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=141458726&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=eov1&utm_medium=email
How is talking about Biden's cabinet deflecting. They are running the show for Biden. I think you meant the Trump cabinet were a bunch of corporate whores many of whom were big time Republican donors and some were even billionaires. One thing in common they were willing to kiss up to TFFG.
TFFG's idea of infrastructure was to sit in the cab of an 18 wheeler for a photo-op while the Democrats have already completed hundreds of infrastructure projects.
While the MAGANAZI's don't believe climate change is real the Biden administration is capping wells to reduce CO2 and methane emissions because TFFG was in bed with the fossil fuel industry and reduced clean air and water regulations on their wells.
What depravity of Biden's are you referring to? We're not going to read your Fascist conspiracy theories with made up boogeymen so save your links.
You were deflecting by bringing up Trump, and you’re still doing it by bringing up climate change.
I meant what I said. Blinken/Boeing… Austin/Raytheon… Corporate whores are corporate whores, regardless of party affiliation.
As to Biden’s depravity, does a genocide work for you, or not?
Tom, I don’t think any president can “control” Netanyahu. Netanyahu is saying the quiet part out loud; he is not going to let the United States dictate his decisions. After all, he needs a war to stay in power and out of prison…and a war they will have. Is any American President to blame for China? North Korea?
I hate what is happening in the Middle East but I believe Biden is saying the quiet part quietly to Netanyahu. He and Blinken are working behind the scenes with not only Israel but also Israel’s Arab neighbors.
Yet, that does not mean they will be able to stop Netanyahu’s overkill way in Gaza. Frankly, only the Israeli people can stop him - and the war is keeping them from changing horses mid-stream.
$$$, Marge.
The far-right settlers can continue their violence, land theft, and related aggression in the West Bank so long as the U.S. provides its millions of dollars in arms every year to subsidize the far right.
We know the U.S. keeps doing this to gratify the U.S. far-right evangelicals hungering for their Rapture.
So of course you're correct when you can no U.S. president "can 'control' Netanyahu." U.S. money demands the ongoing killing, hatred, rape, and land thefts.
You throwing around all these big-concept words (hegemony, oligarchy, etc.) in an attempt to legitimize your nihilism and then accusing others of ad hominem attacks above while quoting Johnstone has me wondering what your bête noire was before October 7th.
I don’t need to worry about your intellect; Rick Wilson’s substack on your reading list lets me know you are wanting when it comes to sourcing information on the road to political awareness.
As to concepts, stay in your limited lane; I’m no more a nihilist than I am a fascist.
Troll much?
Don’t feed the troll. It just gets more noisome.
The troll police can’t help themselves. Neither can you.
Lazy much?
Either a rabid leftist or a crazed progressive. Maybe a Libertarian.
Definitely a narcissist.
Or a combination of all of those.
Please do not feed the troll
Nope. Just sane and intelligent. I see you’re still looking.
You, sir, seem like a miserable older incel. Everything you scrawl is meant to deceive, deflect, yet scream for attention. I feel sorry for you that you are unable to enjoy or foster a sense of community or create something honorable or humane.
Sorry if this bursts your bubble, I had blocked/muted you months ago and you did disappear for awhile (or else I didn't notice you). Unlike some here, I don't have the time to read all the comments so I scan for the names of people I respect (Ally, Sandy, Fern, Bryan, Shawn, etc) and I saw someone call you a troll. I mistakenly thought it was for Smeeckle . When I saw it was for you, I replied as I find you misinformed--sometimes approaching troll--but as least you (usually)don't copy/paste the same post over and over, or feel the need to interject yourself in every conversation. But read your comments (other than this reply to me) Nope.
You might consider this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W9umuNJRBk
This is Sméagol alternate personality! Same troll, different name!
Please do not feed the troll.
Hey blocker coward! How’s life in the silo?
I watched the entire speech live and was very impressed with his capability to perform the job.
Hahahahahaha
His fee fees are hurt.
Hahahahhahha.
Please do not feed the troll.
Hahahahahaha.
Her fee fees are boring.
Hahahahahaha.
How do you know it hasn’t been doctored?
Legitimate question, especially with the advent of AI. In this case, just going by the host’s assertion that he initially asked the same question, but verified that it was real.
I just do not understand that cult. At all.
Well done Professor! Thank you so much. Straightforward and concise, allows us to grasp that which we could not fully picture on our own. Professor Vance adds the legal pieces in a likewise understandable way. 2024 is determinative. Your writing supports every voter and every civil servant who honor the legitimacy of following and helping to carry out policies established by law. Again, thank you.
After the momentous and historic events of today, my hope, my prayer, my fervent desire, is that today will be seen from a future vantage point as the tipping point, the day that a clear and vocal majority of Americans, and a strong and decisive majority of Republicans, finally make the choice to stand up and say resoundingly: enough of this nonsense. Enough of bowing down to Trump. Enough of letting the MAGA minority dictate the future for the rest of us. From today on, we move forward. From today on, we leave the past behind. From today on, we choose America, we choose democracy, and we choose to leave Donald Trump to the miserable fate he has, by his own foolish actions, chosen for himself.
AMEN ! , and. AMEN !!
GARY. !!
I believe the House republicans may vote again on Mayorkas and this time with Scalise in attendance.
It looks like the MAGA have done everything they can to embarrass themselves today. Just another Tuesday.
Will the electoral have a sufficient understanding of what just happened, particularly the ways in which they have weakened national security?
The cult members don’t count. They will never understand or admit to understanding the truth. It is the independents that matter.
Is the absurdity of all this registering with them?
I think some may see the obvious failures as victories. They don’t want government to work. They want chaos to justify a dictatorship. But they don’t realize Trump is in serious mental decline. And if he’s convicted of felonies before the election, he will lose. A violent coup would be his only hope.
AND. MIchael ! ...thats EXACTLY. WHAT. THE
EXTREEMISTS. WANT !!
ALL OUT. ( WE WILL !
GET. "OUR. WAY !" )
SMOKE OUR AR-15s
Civil (CHAOS ) WAR. !!
( PLEASE. OUR. LORD !
HAVE. MERCY. !! )
MAY. Our. LORD/GOD !
Continue to BLESS,
the. SANE! MANKIND. !
Probably not! They aren’t listening anyway.
Rinse and repeat. In the end, they'll hear.
No, not as far as I can tell from a quick perusal of some Facebook posts from my cult followers.
Let me start over…
Republicans have shown themselves today to be wholly under Vladimir Putins authority…interested only in getting out of Putins way while his soldiers are killing Ukrainian men, women and children, and assisting Russia in committing the “crimes against humanity” which news outlets insist on associating *only* with Palestine. Rather than MAGA, Make America Great, they are working to make Putin great. This will mire America in the blood of the innocent Ukrainian people, staining our freedom with the blood of mass murder.
Linda Preston, thank you.
In the midst of an all too understandable hubbub of febrile jabbering, you have just proclaimed the main truth. You have made the one point that must be made today.
We have all been betrayed.
We have been trapped, we have been sold -- wholesale -- pigs in a poke.
The truth is out and you have spoken it.
Trump is Putin's catspaw. His puppet. His agent. His secret weapon. And he has been all along.
MAGA is Putin's Party, Putin's probe tunneling into our guts. And we are now Putin's plaything.
Trump has sold America, he has sold Ukraine, he has sold Europe, he has sold the West.
All... to become Putin's American Gauleiter. His psychotic tool. His weapon of mass destruction. America, Putin's Coney Island sideshow, complete with Big Orange Barker. And Tucker Would-Be-Crown-Prince Sidekick.
Trump in his raving madness has never ceased to spout the wildest, vastest, overblown boasts.
Now he is living down to them.
Perhaps some historian can think of treason comparable. But no, all the Quislings and Benedict Arnolds of history pale into insignificance.
*
Time, then, for every American to pause, consider duty -- to oneself, to the Constitution, to the Republic, to Country, to mankind and the world -- and to take a stand.
Especially all servants of the State, all officers of the Republic, both civil and military.
Time, too, for allies everywhere to do likewise.
All eyes on America, waiting, urging, demanding that she fulfill Churchill's expectation and, after trying everything else...
DO THE RIGHT THING.
P.S. Trying to reread what I had written, I touched "expand the comment" but set off the "like" switch, hearting my own comment. I tried to undo this, but seconds after deleting the heart, it resurfaced.
Since I have received no notification of anyone ese "liking" this, I shall if necessary try to delete that heart.
*
TOO LATE...
I hope you *like* your own comments! ☺️
Of course, of course!
I stand by these inadequate lines I have written, but hated having to write them.
Inadequate.
Surely. What could be up to a situation as unspeakable as this?
Hopefully, we are. By the way, I quite like your use of words. Cat’s paw, barker, gauleiter etc. Bravo.
We have to re-embroider all those red hats with MPGA.
What a week for Trump and Republicans
⁃ No Immunity for Trump
⁃ Lost vote to send $17.6 billion to Israel (no action on Ukraine!)
⁃ Flubbed Border Deal, Now responsible for Immigration mess
⁃ Failed to impeach Mayorkas
⁃ RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to resign under pressure from Trump
⁃ Comrade TuckerCarlson in Moscow to interview Comrade Putin, to tell people the “truth” of Russia’s war on Ukraine 🤣
⁃ Turned $5 million judgment into $83 million
⁃ Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg perjury plea deal
⁃ Texas Abbott lost Border Patrol case
⁃ Lastly, Wacky TaylorSwift conspiracy made them look like idiots
Also posted on my Mastodon feed: https://vmst.io/@drrjv/111888973890823417
Correction to that last bullet point: not "made them look" but "confirmed they are"
How do you like Mastodon Bob ? Pro's and con's please.
Mastodon has been great for me! Why?
1. Much more interaction with others compared with x/twitter
2. More followers in one year c/w years on x/twitter
3. No algorithms :-)
4. No ads :-)
5. Multiple very good 3rd party apps (Ice Cubes, Ivory, Mammoth, etc.)
6. Not supporting big corporations or wacky billionaires
Only minor negative (for some)
Takes a little time to set up but really not difficult.
Tragic isn’t it? Us “Dreamers” having to tolerate the perpetual “nightmare” that currently occupies one of the most treasured symbols of Democratic Government in the world.
Tragic. You can't vote, but you can work to get out the vote.
Cicada, I hear you. My future nephew by marriage is a Dreamer. There were several Dreamers on the school soccer teams in the town where I finished out my law enforcement career. You have all been abandoned by the country that should be welcoming you and your families.
Please keep your promise, President Biden, and make sure all of America knows who killed this bill. Trump and MAGA....traitors all.
I suggest it is up to all of US to do so. Post on social media, tell your friends. Hit up the comment section on Yahoo and the like.
I agree.
From this day forward let him be known as Defendant Trump. He will be in litigation long enough for it to stick. Longer than he was President.