What I find most significant about this investigation on the harassment of protesters is that the most devastating complete report so far has been published in the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal? Yes, the Wall Street Journal.
What does it mean when the preeminent and very conservative financial paper investigates someone who we would expect them to be supporting? Possibly it means that Donald Trump is now seen as the greatest threat to the wealth of the wealthiest in this country.
America did not "lose its soul" because Donald Trump was elected. Donald Trump was elected because America was "losing its soul."
Trump is an archetype of the leadership that has always appeared in a declining Empire. The biblical term is "man of lawlessness" -- a dictator who considers him/her self totally "above the law."
Shortly after Donald Trump won reelection, I had an hour-long conversation in a cafe with a pleasant man who came into the U.S. illegally 25 years ago from Mexico. He became a citizen, owns a successful business and volunteered that he voted twice for Trump. I asked him why. He admitted that he wanted to clear “illegals” out because, by working for less, they compete with his business. His motivation simply was money and status. Did this man sell his soul? If so, how many Republicans sitting in Congress to safeguard their wallets and protect their prestige are daily selling their souls, along with our country? Perhaps the Congressional Chaplain should hold special prayer sessions for
It has reported often enough that in the coatroom congressional members demean trump and dislike him intensely. Then they go out on the floor of congress and laud him and vote for anything he proposes in order to protect their seat and their pocketbook. They are no honorable men and should never be addressed as such (i.e. the honorable representative (fill in the name) from the great state of (fill it in). No honor for those who only think of themselves when they are elected to think of their constituents--all of their constituents--and vote for sanity not $
Republicans are worse than dishonorable, they are criminal felons as insurrectionists. Reich posted an excellent WSJ report that confirms Trump and his administration have policies that directly and intentionally support the abuse by ICE and demand rejection of the Constitution and the laws of the United States to implement a lawless, cruel autocracy which is an insurrection. Federal law defines insurrection as a criminal felony with imprisonment and fines. See 18 U.S.C. § 2383 entitled Rebellion or insurrection.
Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, and six justices on the Supreme Court are violators of the federal law against insurrection. Trump is an insurrectionist who violated the federal law by supporting the insurrection of January 6, 2021, and the Supreme Court also violated the federal law on insurrection by supporting Trump, the insurrectionist, in 2024 with the refusal to enforce section 3 of the 14th Amendment which would have blocked Trump from holding office again. In 2026, Trump, members of his Cabinet, Republicans in Congress, and six justices on the Supreme Court are criminal felons who violated the federal law on insurrection.
The Republican party supports the insurrection implemented as a cruel, lawless, fascist autocracy that has massively rejects decency and disobeys the laws and authority of courts of the United States which is a violation of the federal law on insurrection, 18 U.S. Code § 2383 which states “whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the united states.”
Federal law defines membership in groups that advocate the overthrow of government such as supporting an insurrection with force or violence as a criminal felony. See 18 U.S.C. § 2385 entitled Advocating overthrow of government. The law applies registered members of the Republican party.
The law was violated in the insurrection on January 6, 2021, and continues with ICE agents in the streets. The Republican party is supporting the ongoing insurrection in 2026. Trump was elected president in 2024 with support of the Republican party and voters who were registered members of the Republican party. Therefore, the 37.4 million registered members of the Republican party in 2025 which supported the election of Trump in 2024, are criminal felons according to the law 18 U.S.C. § 2385.
The penalties under 18 U.S.C. § 2385 are fines up to $250,000 or imprisonment of not more than twenty years, or both, with convicted felons being ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof.
How must this massive cruel destruction of America be stopped? Elect Democrats who commit to finally enforce the laws and defend the Constitution.
When the Democrats come to power in 2028 by winning the presidency, while retaining control of the House and the Senate that they will win in 2026, they must enforce 18 U.S.C. § 2383 and 18 U.S.C. § 2385 to arrest, prosecute, convict and imprison Trump, his Cabinet, Republicans in Congress and the six justices on the Supreme Cour who all violated 18 U.S.C. § 2383. Then Democrats can pass multiple new laws that fix all the damage caused by Trump, Republicans in Congress and six justices on the Supreme Court including ending Citizens United, protecting voting rights, and regulating voting for those registered Republicans that attacked democracy, public safety, and supported an insurrection by defining all registered Republicans in 2025 to be convicted criminal felons under law who will be ineligible to vote in all future federal elections and ineligible to own or possess guns.
If the 37.4 million registered Republicans in 2025 are fined $100,000, the new federal revenue would be $ 3.7 trillion which would fund many progressive programs that would improve affordability of food, energy, healthcare, housing, education and childcare.
The critical question for me is why American citizens don't do the jobs that migrants are willing to do for less money? It's rather hypocritical isn't it? Also, let me say that all work (except criminal) is good work, and should be paid adequately, with enough left over for little fun and relaxation.
Ms. King: Do you see hundreds of thousands of American citizens picking fruit in the hot sun? How about standing all day cleaning and packagiing chicken parts or food? How about sorting trash? How about working all the other "invisible" jobs that are done by those who must, so an educated middle class can go about their usually white collar lives and yet go to a grocery store and simply buy what they need. The real shame of the USA is that those who do the ugly jobs are usually exploited in poor conditiions and not paid what they are really worth because they cannot bargain since Unions that would protect them were long ago destroyed in this country. Therefore, it is the undocumented who take those jobs because they will do whatever job is there so they can manage to live.
Amen, Margo, and until American citizens are willing to confront that fact, nothing will change on the immigration front. Money simply does not equate to justice.
My grandmother immigrated to the US in1917 legally. She did not have an education and worked a housekeeper to doctors, or at various retail stores. I don't even know what the income was back then. Probably pennies.
But this problem of using immigrants to do jobs that our own people don't want to do is not just in this country. Try the Middle East, where they bring in immigrants to do all the construction and grunt work there as well. I'm sure if you start looking around Europe, you will see it there as well. And while this needs to change everywhere, I won't hold my breath till that happens.
It will be interesting to see what happens when AI takes over soooo many jobs and the only people left working are in the fields, etc. (And to your point, will field and other workers' compensation and general work environments improve now that we see the impact made when so many left or were forced to leave? -- And will end purchasers of the results of their labor be willing to pay the associated higher prices? These are the questions this country's "leaders" should be addressing instead of having to worry about the behavior of ICE, certain Congressional members and right on up the line.)
I fear that if the only jobs are the lowest level ones the owners will have no impetus to improve wages. Unions and organized workers are the only ones with any power to bargain for benefits. I make the point, in reply to Beth's comment above, that the Middle Eastern countries surely don't allow unions, and in the US Unions were destroyed in various ways, attacked as communistic. I think Beth is incorrect when she writes that Europe is like the Middle East. In fact, Unions are strong in France and Italy, for example, so workers are not only paid properly but have health benefits and other protections. Imagine what protections would be available to workers in all areas if they were in powerful unions representing the workers' needs. The very idea would make the blood of Bezos, Zuckerberg, Ellison, et. al. run cold.
Some evolutionary economists are suggesting a universal minimum wage that guarantees a subsistence level of existence for everyone rather than a minimum wage.
Our geographical economic diversity made that an impossibility, but with our advanced computing technology it just might work.
Having to work two, sometimes three, jobs merely to survive is inhumane.
Dorothy, I think I can help, at least in many instances...
When immigrants cross the MEXICO/USA border north, it's often alone or with other men, "stripped down" of distractions and possessions, and prepared to focus on the work that will support their loved ones back home.
Or they sometimes come as families, including children and those to look after those children.
But how about minimum-wage earning Americans with small children and no personal support system? The cost of paying for childcare can be as much as their minimum wage, after-tax income for 40-60 (or more!) hours each week. For Americans w/o a system of support (grandparents, spouse, arrangements with neighbors, churches or employers), they will basically be handing their entire paychecks over to whoever looks after their child. A single mother can work full-time for little more than to be separated from their kids for every hour spend at work.
Unfortunately, not many low-income Americans can afford to work for free, and maybe not so many will have to soon (in at least one state):
"New Mexico Opens the Door to Free Child Care for Every Family"
the illigals accept miserly pay, because they are willing to live in substandard, crowded conditions, with no health insurance, no unemployment compensation, even dangerous working conditions. This tells us something about the countries they come from. Republicans think that American workers are pampered.
probably because they don't pay enough to be worth the effort, and immigrants see the pay as generous considering what their pay was in other countries. If they could unionize and raise the pay, I'm sure there would be a lot more american competition for those jobs.
But then you'd have the secondary issue of more pay = more cost at the grocery store, which may cancel out more pay.
Great you shared this. Yes, so many Latinos can favor authoritative leaders. When you study different cultures you become aware of a hidden class within different Latin Americans cultures. You would never see this unless you either spoke the language or lived in other countries. El Salvador is another good example.
Might help if you expand your comment. I spent a little time in El Salvador when the right wing party was in control after the bloody civil war and the paramilitary killings , a conflict the US fomented to "fight communism."
that businessman sold his country the same way Judas supposedly sold Jesus. He betrayed his oath to uphold the Constitution, and he knew what he was doing.
America hasn’t been “losing its soul”; it has been taking its democracy for granted! Democracy is not a spectator sport, or as the great John Lewis put it, ““Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part.”
It is now our turn to take back our democracy . . . the heart & soul of our nation! Everyone needs to find & attend a “No Kings Day” event this Saturday, 3/28!!!🙋🏼♀️🌊💙🐬🦋💦👩🏻🦳
Long as I've gone this far, I may as well fill the back as well! I think I'm going with this from today's Robert Reich Substack:
"“Arrest as many people that touch you as you want to. Those are the general orders all the way to the top, everybody f**king gets it if they touch you. You hear what I’m saying?”
Greg Bovino's instructions to ICE "
Both are a bit wordy, but it's a small-town rally (and this deep south town's first in the Trump Era), so I need to occupy as much space as possible.
My 'biggliest' concern here is that "NO KINGS DAY" will be used by 'them' as an excuse to declare "Martial Law" on the whole country, especially IF ? tens of millions of - protesters - show up and march because WE THE PEOPLE are domestic terrorists and marching - 'against the law' i.e. Trumps Law as he and them re-write it to their absolute advantage ~ ~ : (
💯 Agreed. This country has sustained a total moral collapse and I can prove it. Previously an able-bodied clincial social worker, a castastrophic injury during a routine medical procedure in 2016 changed my life forever. I was left permanently disabled and now require electronic communication with a transcript (email, chat, text) as an ADA reasonable accommodation. But legal teams don’t like written records. More than 50 organizations hindered my access by refusing to honor my accommodations. This happened across virtually all domains: healthcare, academia, insurance, banking, nonprofit safety nets, federal-level services, state-level services, media, publishing, entertainment, retail, and organized religion. I spend my productive hours advocating for disability access but the outcome is always the same: false hope, empty promises, disdain for the spirit of ADA, and ignoring correspondence. As a result, I have to surrender agency and assign a proxy to manage a credit card issue or schedule a mammogram. Disney sent me an email stating that their offices were “phones only.” What’s next? Telling guests in wheelchairs they’re “stairs only?”
💯 Agreed. And all of this is happening in a country where “strategic deception” is legal. We’re the only Western nation that permits strategic deception in any form and one of the only countries in the world (the others are Russia, China and Iran). It’s not just law enforcement trying to catch serial killers like BTK. Strategic deception is also legal in the military, politics, and private industry. Without truthfulness and transparency, there is no trust. Our global friends and neighbors have learned that the hard way. Strategic deception is fundamentally incompatible with “good faith and fair dealing” and must be criminalized, imho.
Donald Trump may be really incompetent at managing the operations of real things like the Presidency or foreign policy, but what he is clearly VERY competent at is corruptly making money through innuendo and propaganda. When insider trading investigations begin, let's start at the top.
This is the business model that Corporate America and its imitators are trying to establish globally.
How many times have you heard people say, "What we need is a business man as President"?
The skill set needed to run a business and the skill set needed to govern a country are two different skill sets.
“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world.” ~President Calvin Coolidge
"In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe , where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America where it became an enterprise." --Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate
"Don’t forget until too late that the business of life is not business, but living." --Bertie Charles Forbes, Publisher
"You've probably heard the famous quote from Albert Einstein: "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it." For many of us who care about changing the world, those words make a lot of sense.
You may also have discovered, however, that finding and living from "another level of thinking" isn't as simple as it sounds. Trying to figure out how to move forward in the midst of the pressures of our conflicted, globalizing world can make your head spin.
But what if there was a perspective that could allow us to discern a clear direction beyond all of the complexity? What if there was a new way of seeing the world—a new worldview—that could change the way we think about changing the world?
The truth is that Einstein was right. We are stuck in ways of understanding our society and ourselves that limit our potential and constrain our capacity to create change. Our "worldview" is outdated. Worldviews are the invisible windows through which we comprehend reality. We need a radical new view on life, a way of thinking that will provide us with fresh perspectives on old problems. We need to liberate our hearts and minds to become more effective agents of change in a troubled world." ~Morgan Dix for EnlightenNext
As awful as this war is, it will bring about change: the diminishing value of fossil fuels as the dominant energy source. Many countries will increase their use of renewable energy sources, aiming to achieve self-sufficiency. Too bad that the USA, once a leader in environmental alternatives, continues to peddle "backward".
Is it possible that ‘trying to change the world’ is the consciousness that has created the problems. The new way may be an older way that found harmony with the world. How many sustainable cultures/belief systems, species, and local enviroments have we destroyed because we thought we were smart enough to change the world to solve our past problems.
There are some transcendent Absolutes that are always valid, but their application is almost always relative to current socioeconomic/political realities.
The American middle class family had the option of a stay-at-home mom that was part of our rigid cultural gender roles; but, like poorer families where two incomes were required to survive, it is no longer an option for most middle and lower middle class families today.
The stay-at-home moms were not merely the keepers of the "nest," they were the sustainers of the neighborhoods.
There is no going back, the 50's were the "calm before the storm." We don't get a "do-over," but we do get a "do-better" if we stop expecting what used to work to fix things rather than engage in some creative thinking in light of our new knowledge and the technology that has made the "old ways" obsolete.
"The old maps of reality, into which spiritual traditions have been integrated, often do not inspire people to be loyal to their tradition. Between the advances of both quantum physics and transpersonal psychology, we can no longer be at home in the old time religion." ~Rabbi Michael Lerner
“Core moral concepts, such as freedom, conscience, obedience, and fidelity, can have very different meanings and importance. These differing meanings depend on if our concern is with conformity, fulfilling norms, and subordination, or instead if our focus is radical thinking infused with the spirit of God blowing as it wills and marked by grown-up, freely affirmed responsibility.” --Bernard Haering, The Virtues of an Authentic Life
"The moral challenge of our day is to put a human face on our technology."
--Bernard Haering, C.Ss.R., Redemptorist Moral Theologian
Carol, I don't think Jim is talking about the 1950s. I think he is talking about pre-capitalist indigenous societies.
I think humans need humility. Many have taken the wrong idea about being in God's image. Too many religious leaders claim to know the mind of God and use those claims for control and power. What if we are in God the creator's image when we are being creative? But we need humility and awareness of our limitations in considering the consequences of our creations to the natural world of which we are an integral part. Harmony with the universe is the path to the change we seek.
In the Iroquois or Six Nations Confederacy women were included in consensus decisions and had the power to veto treaties and declarations of war.
ISO - I am experiencing much the same (albeit in a much smaller capacity) dealing with buerocracy (sp?) getting help with financial issues like occasional rent subsidies, due to the strokes I experienced post bi-lateral knee replacement surgery 5 years ago. Which is partly why I volunteer at my local food bank as 'dishwasher' in a small room where I don't have to stumble around the warehouse ~ and to 'shop' at their grocery store to augment my pantry. & making friends there helps to ~ But the 'red tape' to obtain additional help or get $ recompensed for my work at the F B is daunting. Luckily my bestie is helping me deal with the techie aspect of all this ~ sighhhhhh ~
🙏Commiserations on a system designed to fail us. The priorities in this country are appalling. You can’t get services. Half a million US families lack running water. But we can spend 1B per day on a war? And there’s still a bulldozer on the WH lawn, right? Losers.
Good point. A pizza parlor where I like to have lunch always has an early 1960s sitcom called "Leave It to Beaver" playing on their big TV set. The episodes are very corny & dated, but the idealistic way the parents and the teachers behave makes me sad for those old lost values of calmness and civility that the show promoted way back then. Not that everyone was "polite" in 1960, "Leave It to Beaver" also presented some very rude and foolish kids, neighbors, and co-workers to contrast with the Cleaver family. It seems US society has gone the way of those bad examples. Oh, well: time passes and things change.
I have posted this excerpt from the Second Letter to the church in Thessalonica more times than I can count over the past decade… most often to Trump supporters who present as Christians. I think what it says about *them* is just as important as what it clearly says about someone like Trump.
Now we do implore you, by the very certainty of Christ’s coming and of our meeting him together, to keep your heads and not be thrown off balance by any prediction or message or letter purporting to come from us, and saying that the day of Christ is almost here. Don’t let anyone deceive you by any means whatsoever. That day will not come before there arises a definite rejection of God and the appearance of the lawless man. He is the product of all that leads to death, and he sets himself up in opposition to every religion. He himself takes his seat in the temple of God, to show that he really claims to be God.
I expect you remember now how I talked about this when I was with you. You will probably also remember how I used to talk about a “restraining power” which would operate until the time should come for the emergence of this man. Evil is already insidiously at work but its activities are restricted until what I have called the “restraining power” (of God) is removed. When that happens the lawless man will be plainly seen—though the truth of the Lord Jesus spells his doom, and the radiance of the coming of the Lord Jesus will be his utter destruction. The lawless man is produced by the spirit of evil and armed with all the force, wonders and signs that falsehood can devise. To those involved in this dying world he will come with evil’s undiluted power to deceive, for they have refused to love the truth which could have saved them. God sends upon them, therefore, the full force of evil’s delusion, so that they put their faith in an utter fraud and meet the inevitable judgment of all who have refused to believe the truth and who have made evil their play-fellow. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)
"Christian" is more of an ego tribal identity than it is a way of life in America.
Sacrificing one's own unjust advantages to the sake of justice for others never occurs to most professing middle class or wealthy "Christians."
Jesus upped the bar for moral choices by stating the Golden Rule positively (Do Unto Others . . .) rather than negatively (Don't Do Unto Others . . .). Jesus followers not only have to strive to avoid "sins of commission," there are now "sins of OMMISSION!"
Carol, Years ago I heard a parody of 'do unto others~' = "Do unto others BEFORE they do unto you" hence tRump's war 'on' Iran = preemptive (they have nukes and will use them when/if ~ ~ ~ 'because they are a horrible regime' ~
I agree, but I wish someone had given me a heads up so I could have applied for dual citizenship a lot sooner. To quote the Rolling Stones " I gotta get out of this place if it's the last thing I ever do".
A "soul" is individual, but tribalists don't think like individuals. For them the tribe is the embodiment of the group's "soul," and the tribal chief is the manifestation of this "soul." Their Jesus is a tribal god, who is the very antithesis of the Biblical Jesus. This is why our religious leaders must denounce Trump and Trumpism.
I suppose that is why the Pauline teaching that Jesus is the Second Adam, which is the basis for Christian inclusiveness, is rarely, if ever, taught in formal Western "Christian" institutions.
Other institutions usually don't recognize the uniqueness of individual's either.
We share a common humanity, but we are each *uniquely* human. It is our uniqueness that makes us special and, since every one is unique, then every one is also special and a "one size fits all" approach to problems often fails to satisfy peoples' unrealistic expectations and/or seems to unjustly favor those on the margins by those *making it* in the mainstream.
Good point. A pizza parlor where I like to have lunch always has an early 1960s sitcom called "Leave It to Beaver" playing on their big TV set. The episodes are very corny & dated, but the idealistic way the parents and the teachers behave makes me sad for those old lost values of calmness and civility that the show promoted way back then. Not that everyone was "polite" in 1960, "Leave It to Beaver" also presented some very rude and foolish kids, neighbors, and co-workers to contrast with the Cleaver family. It seems US society has gone the way of those bad examples. Oh, well: time passes and things change.
While we can celebrate the fact that the editors of the Wall Street Journal have permitted and encouraged this piece of excellent investigative reporting to be published, we must not forget to keep our vision for the future as expansive and inclusive as possible. How much more proof do we need to accept that capitalism and the greed that supports it, can no longer be the best economic system for the operation of our country.
We must embrace and implement a new system tailored to the current needs of all our citizens as we look to the future. ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY is certainly one such system. Below is a link to an excellent explanation of what the system is and how it would operate.
Marc, I'm reading Kate Pickett, "The good society"; she was co-author of "The Spirit Level" of 2012, with Wilkinson. The books have the same subject: a moderate social democratic policy brings the good society closer.
There is a lot of empirical research to confirm it: see the position of the Scandinavian countries and my country. Good reading!
Spot on Marc. Accumulating wealth is the best protection against the day when you realise you are going to die because you can't afford the care you need.
That's why some form of social medicine is so widespread, it's a barrier against political extremism that exploits survival instinct.
Thanks, Tina! (The reality is that there will soon be SO MANY right-wing news sources, it won't be US they'll be fighting with, but each other! Sorry I can't find the source article right now.)
When the preeminent conservative financial paper documents systematic government fabrication of assault charges, intimidation of citizens, and agents literally workshopping their narrative while the phone records them, that’s not left-wing hysteria. That’s documentation.
It means Trump’s chaos has become a threat to the stable extraction the wealthy class depends on. You can’t run a sophisticated financial system when federal agents are arresting veterinary assistants for videotaping, trying three grand juries to indict her, then posting her mugshot online before conviction.
From the behavioral side:
this is textbook authoritarian intimidation. The strategy isn’t law enforcement, it’s deterrence through public humiliation. Post mugshots and names before trial. Charge felonies that won’t stick but cost defendants tens of thousands in legal fees. Make the process the punishment so people stop documenting government action.
DOJ kept pushing until they got a misdemeanor charge that didn’t require grand jury approval.
The costs are the point: bail, attorneys, time off work, death threats, doxing. Even acquittal doesn’t undo the damage. Reid says she’s more hesitant about political speech now, yeah, that’s the goal.
Chill dissent through selective prosecution and public shaming.
This isn’t protesters claiming persecution. This is the financial establishment’s paper of record showing systematic government abuse with video evidence.
When the oligarchs’ preferred outlet starts investigating you, you’ve become a threat to the system that usually protects you.
Murdoch's Trumpenstein monster has slipped his chains and escaped the lab. He's now running amok and destroying the US. Murdoch knows that the retribution against the people who destroyed the US will be savage, and is trying to buy some claim to not being responsible for the carnage. Don't fall for it.
Murdoch was accused of being the guy who chose our Prime ministers in the UK.
He now realises he has been screwing himself as much as us. If big money just stuck to business and didn't interfere it would be better. What he and the others have done is like playing with bat viruses in a lab.....
Was it Murdoch, or some other corporate "biggie" who was "missing" for awhile and, when he turned up, the wags claimed he was found circling the sharks?
I can imagine that the journal of American Business doesn't really care so much who is in charge, since business never cared terribly much about humanity.
Now they may mostly just be curious to see if reality sells. (Though, it is WONDERFUL to see the typically far-right WSJ editorial page doing the right thing after such a drought.)
Foof, NPR, or maybe it was the NYTimes "The Daily" program, which airs every evening on NPR, and on Saturday afternoon, just did a whole piece on the Murdochs and the changes Rupert has made. I think the report was called something like, "How one man created an empire to bring a family together, but instead tore them apart." As you may know, he and his son Lachlan run Fox and the WSJ, while his other son, James, and his daughter want pretty much nothing to do with it.
Foof, I did not mean for them to be only "hints," it's just that I am always doing something else while the news is on, so my brain divides on how much I can take in!
Being dyslexic, I need to ALWAYS re-read to fully get what the words mean. (Words tend to "scoot around" the page sometimes, and the meaning can be compromised. I apologize for having to wait for my coffee to cool before I take the first sip, yet not being willing to wait to read posts on RR's Substack!)
The damage tRump's ICE goons can do is now multiplied a thousand times with them careening about major airports where they can harass ever more US Citizens every day. If you are flying, make sure your phone is charged. Make sure you have upload links to independent journalism sites. It is going to take great courage to face off with and face down The New Gestapo.
Yes, Marc, and this is why Charles Koch has refused to endorse Trump. His backers are naive. Kevin Roberts and Russ Vought, at the Heritage foundation, are naive. They hope that Trump will exercise self control; it's like hopping that the tornado will spare your house, a gamble Their Project 2025 has no safeguards, and Republicans in Congress have entrusted the country to a man they recognizes as dangerous back in 2016. As President Lincoln warned a long time ago, the country is committing suicide.
David, I appreciate your feedback. I think it depends on who you're trying to reach. If your preaching to the choir, NAZI might work. The message I'm using is meant to reach people on the fence and who are starting to wake up. And it also brings on a wry smile. ;-)
It IS indeed Nazi Germany all over again, but far worse, given the technology that supports it. The USA must be the envy of lesser would-be totalitarian states (Russia, China) because it has the wealth, technical resources, and know-how to "perfect" its repressive measures. And it will eventually require a far larger cataclysm to bring about its end.
John,the end will come only we decide that " Non Violent rallies are not working" and people get trained in other more aggressive actions. Trump is " America's Hitler".
I found what I believe to be the most important immigration story in 2025 in the wsj. Trust me I get wanting to hate them, I strongly question the ethics of people who still use amazon or chat. Based on that story last spring, that no one else ever mentioned, I decided to resubscribe. Yes I had previously cancelled on principle. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, especially not today. Newspapers are still important; if we don’t feed them, others will feed us.
Please refrain from castigating the entire country as "being sick". It is eminently clear who is sick. . . .Donald Trump and his blind-to-history-and-to-the-law supporters.
You can also throw in Mike Johnson and John Thune, who are spineless and have turned their backs on the country and their oath to the Constitution. Together, they could end this fairly quickly if they followed the investigative tools available to them.
THE LESSON: Do not vote for any Republican, at any level of government, in November.
One bad apple spoils the bunch, but when you have millions of bad apples in a country, the entire thing is ruined. I agree that not everyone caused the sickness, but all, good and bad, are now sick. If I was younger, I would get out and become well again, but I am old, and will parish with all the rest.
I appreciate your thoughts, Richard, but I can't accept that the entire country is sick because of The Con. This Saturday's No Kings Rally will show that there is great resistance to the current administration and that many are inspired to confront this virus. November's vote is crucial.
We will not give in to the people who are truly sick/uninformed/racist/lazy.
I appreciate your spirit Jim, but I know this entire country is sick. It isn't because of Trump, he is simply the culmination of what started years ago with Reagan. As a whole, the human beast is too damn stupid to survive on this planet - in ten more years, no decent person will want to be alive here.
Richard,"nazi Germany" all over again is 100%. The Republican party is now the "Neo Nazi" party,they have decied Demcracy is for losers. The "NO KINGS " rally Saturday should have a decent turnout. However after the comments today and previous days,I do not think this is going to end peacefully.
I hope people are taking photos of ICE agents without their masks at the airports for face recognition at a later date. They need to know that we are watching and there will be accountability.
Trump has sent ICE agents to Hartsfield in Atlanta…and aren’t really helping according to travelers. This an Atlanta News First story, March 23rd. I’m flying out the 27th. 😬😵💫🤬
We have a government operating under the aegis of a president with a long history of harassing opponents through spurious lawsuits, of lying and denying, of committing actions that leave lasting or irreversible damage before being specifically told they're illegal oops.
He brings these innovative businessman skills to the federal government.
As Professor Reich says, we need to publicize these acts and techniques and systems, to cultivate the myriads of Nos we need to stop the death machine.
Donald Trump may be really incompetent at managing the operations of real things like the Presidency or foreign policy, but what he is clearly VERY competent at is corruptly making money through innuendo and propaganda. When insider trading investigations begin, let's start at the top.
Trump is a lousy businessman. He can only issue threats because he can't control himself. If you can't control yourself they won't do business with you.
If you doubt what I say just look at his business record, which is well documented here and elsewhere
“Arrest as many people that touch you as you want to. Those are the general orders all the way to the top, everybody fucking gets it if they touch you. You hear what I’m saying?”
This Greg Bovino quote will be the 2nd side of my NO KINGS sign...
Professor Riech: and how long will it be before the orange rapist tries to shut down the wall street journal due to reporting such as this?
nonetheless, it's refreshing to know that ONE newspaper is still out there that is doing real investigative reporting. your summary of this report fills me with dread that our airports will be the site of yet more mass attacks and shooting deaths carried out by ICE-gestapo. air travel is rapidly transforming into an unbearable torture. i wonder how long people will travel by air? i wonder how long air travel will take to recover after all this hell?
If only there was a congress, then this sort of BS would end. The US showed promise, but the post Citizens United capture of the government by the oligarchs pretty much ended the experiment in democracy. Government agencies with agents running around in masks filing charges against protesters is so "gestapo" it's astounding that the citizens put up with it, but apparently the bulk of the citizens only care about gas prices.
There is a congress, just not the one the people voted for. I believe most Americans are not happy with the duplicitous republican lawmakers, who have blocked their ears, taped their mouths and are hiding under their chairs until.....? Yes, gas prices are pretty important when can't feed your children.
People can' t feed their children because of the policies the GOP have implemented over the past decades. If they would pay more attention, the current fiasco would not have occurred.
Chris,unfortunately a very a large swatch of Americans are stupid,non confrontational,and as the " nazis" like to call the DEMS "pussies" .Where are the 67 million Dems and Independents who voted for Harris.?
Can ICE function in the sand? Because I can see a practical use for them in Iran.
The department's goal has been lost while ignorance has become the driving force behind its intent.
Trump can't live from day to day without contradicting himself. He makes a statement supporting a position he wishes the country to follow. Then twenty-four hours later we find ourselves on the other side of the river without a paddle. A wishy washy attitude is a sign of indecision from our leadership. From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, sadly the lyrics fit the endeavor. It's a shame the words of that song don't address the idea of peace at some point. We have from the beginning fought our way to the top, and it looks like in order to stay there we will have to bleed yet again..
Donald, love it! Yeah, send them to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and every other country in the Middle East who readily commit genocidal murder and/or executions of their own citizens! Or how about North Korea?? Maybe Kim Jong-un will have a special place for the ICE gestapo in his black heart!!!
It's called doublespeak, isn't it? The barrage of lies upon lies scripted into a grandiose fabrication, with false associations, photos, and more lies. It was Bill Barr's strategy, too, to spin the conclusions of the Mueller report 180⁰. But the Wall Street Journal has caught on??? Why this sudden shift?
We are encountering ICE agents here in Ingram, TX. They are deporting workers, day laborers, long time residents. We film from across the street when we see this happening. ICE agents do all they can to harass us. Local law enforcement acting as immigration under 287g and Task Force model are decimating this small town in red county Texas. I suppose the lure of racism to these thugs will be the death of small town America. MAGA folks are really not smart about how the economy runs. Their deep seated racism will be the death of our democracy. 287g is an evil program, Hitler-esque and cedes local law enforcement power to the Feds. Police state happening now, everywhere. Cameras up!
The increasing presence of ICE is simply to terrorise the American people into submission to the Trump regime through fear and intimidation....it is not difficult to imagine that a further escalation will be during the elections.
Thank you for highlighting this wsj report. They have a paywall, so those of us who don't subscribe can't access its reports. I'm grateful for your taking the time to relay it to us.
Trump laid the groundwork for this strategy in his executive order of September 22, 2025, "Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization" and his presidential memoranda "Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence" issued September 25. As a result, anti-ICE protesters are now being referred to as "Antifa cell operatives" and accused of attempting to destroy the government. Nine anti-ICE protesters were convicted March 13, 2026, and face prison sentences of between 10 and 60 years. One faces a life sentence for shooting and wounding a police officer who drew his firearm on the protesters first.
If the were going to jail him for that long, he should learn to shoot straight. Yet when then goons shoot 2 ordinary people dead in Minneapolis nothing is done.
What I find most significant about this investigation on the harassment of protesters is that the most devastating complete report so far has been published in the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal? Yes, the Wall Street Journal.
What does it mean when the preeminent and very conservative financial paper investigates someone who we would expect them to be supporting? Possibly it means that Donald Trump is now seen as the greatest threat to the wealth of the wealthiest in this country.
America did not "lose its soul" because Donald Trump was elected. Donald Trump was elected because America was "losing its soul."
Trump is an archetype of the leadership that has always appeared in a declining Empire. The biblical term is "man of lawlessness" -- a dictator who considers him/her self totally "above the law."
Shortly after Donald Trump won reelection, I had an hour-long conversation in a cafe with a pleasant man who came into the U.S. illegally 25 years ago from Mexico. He became a citizen, owns a successful business and volunteered that he voted twice for Trump. I asked him why. He admitted that he wanted to clear “illegals” out because, by working for less, they compete with his business. His motivation simply was money and status. Did this man sell his soul? If so, how many Republicans sitting in Congress to safeguard their wallets and protect their prestige are daily selling their souls, along with our country? Perhaps the Congressional Chaplain should hold special prayer sessions for
office holders in the business of
peddling themselves so cheaply.
It has reported often enough that in the coatroom congressional members demean trump and dislike him intensely. Then they go out on the floor of congress and laud him and vote for anything he proposes in order to protect their seat and their pocketbook. They are no honorable men and should never be addressed as such (i.e. the honorable representative (fill in the name) from the great state of (fill it in). No honor for those who only think of themselves when they are elected to think of their constituents--all of their constituents--and vote for sanity not $
These "honorable" men (and women) are dedicated Public Servants--they serve the public like a bull serves a cow.
Yes. They screw the public.
Beryl
Republicans are worse than dishonorable, they are criminal felons as insurrectionists. Reich posted an excellent WSJ report that confirms Trump and his administration have policies that directly and intentionally support the abuse by ICE and demand rejection of the Constitution and the laws of the United States to implement a lawless, cruel autocracy which is an insurrection. Federal law defines insurrection as a criminal felony with imprisonment and fines. See 18 U.S.C. § 2383 entitled Rebellion or insurrection.
Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, and six justices on the Supreme Court are violators of the federal law against insurrection. Trump is an insurrectionist who violated the federal law by supporting the insurrection of January 6, 2021, and the Supreme Court also violated the federal law on insurrection by supporting Trump, the insurrectionist, in 2024 with the refusal to enforce section 3 of the 14th Amendment which would have blocked Trump from holding office again. In 2026, Trump, members of his Cabinet, Republicans in Congress, and six justices on the Supreme Court are criminal felons who violated the federal law on insurrection.
The Republican party supports the insurrection implemented as a cruel, lawless, fascist autocracy that has massively rejects decency and disobeys the laws and authority of courts of the United States which is a violation of the federal law on insurrection, 18 U.S. Code § 2383 which states “whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the united states.”
Federal law defines membership in groups that advocate the overthrow of government such as supporting an insurrection with force or violence as a criminal felony. See 18 U.S.C. § 2385 entitled Advocating overthrow of government. The law applies registered members of the Republican party.
The law was violated in the insurrection on January 6, 2021, and continues with ICE agents in the streets. The Republican party is supporting the ongoing insurrection in 2026. Trump was elected president in 2024 with support of the Republican party and voters who were registered members of the Republican party. Therefore, the 37.4 million registered members of the Republican party in 2025 which supported the election of Trump in 2024, are criminal felons according to the law 18 U.S.C. § 2385.
The penalties under 18 U.S.C. § 2385 are fines up to $250,000 or imprisonment of not more than twenty years, or both, with convicted felons being ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof.
How must this massive cruel destruction of America be stopped? Elect Democrats who commit to finally enforce the laws and defend the Constitution.
When the Democrats come to power in 2028 by winning the presidency, while retaining control of the House and the Senate that they will win in 2026, they must enforce 18 U.S.C. § 2383 and 18 U.S.C. § 2385 to arrest, prosecute, convict and imprison Trump, his Cabinet, Republicans in Congress and the six justices on the Supreme Cour who all violated 18 U.S.C. § 2383. Then Democrats can pass multiple new laws that fix all the damage caused by Trump, Republicans in Congress and six justices on the Supreme Court including ending Citizens United, protecting voting rights, and regulating voting for those registered Republicans that attacked democracy, public safety, and supported an insurrection by defining all registered Republicans in 2025 to be convicted criminal felons under law who will be ineligible to vote in all future federal elections and ineligible to own or possess guns.
If the 37.4 million registered Republicans in 2025 are fined $100,000, the new federal revenue would be $ 3.7 trillion which would fund many progressive programs that would improve affordability of food, energy, healthcare, housing, education and childcare.
The critical question for me is why American citizens don't do the jobs that migrants are willing to do for less money? It's rather hypocritical isn't it? Also, let me say that all work (except criminal) is good work, and should be paid adequately, with enough left over for little fun and relaxation.
Ms. King: Do you see hundreds of thousands of American citizens picking fruit in the hot sun? How about standing all day cleaning and packagiing chicken parts or food? How about sorting trash? How about working all the other "invisible" jobs that are done by those who must, so an educated middle class can go about their usually white collar lives and yet go to a grocery store and simply buy what they need. The real shame of the USA is that those who do the ugly jobs are usually exploited in poor conditiions and not paid what they are really worth because they cannot bargain since Unions that would protect them were long ago destroyed in this country. Therefore, it is the undocumented who take those jobs because they will do whatever job is there so they can manage to live.
Amen, Margo, and until American citizens are willing to confront that fact, nothing will change on the immigration front. Money simply does not equate to justice.
Money doesn't equate to the level of work required to do the job.
How many of the big shot CEOs who make millions and billions would be able to do the jobs that make them that wealthy?
They don't think it's necessary to reward the people lower on the food chain who help them achieve their wealth. They think they deserve it.
This has not changed in a hundred years.
My grandmother immigrated to the US in1917 legally. She did not have an education and worked a housekeeper to doctors, or at various retail stores. I don't even know what the income was back then. Probably pennies.
It could change, but it would take a revolution in thinking. As a species we've become incredibly lazy and "dumbed down."
But this problem of using immigrants to do jobs that our own people don't want to do is not just in this country. Try the Middle East, where they bring in immigrants to do all the construction and grunt work there as well. I'm sure if you start looking around Europe, you will see it there as well. And while this needs to change everywhere, I won't hold my breath till that happens.
It will be interesting to see what happens when AI takes over soooo many jobs and the only people left working are in the fields, etc. (And to your point, will field and other workers' compensation and general work environments improve now that we see the impact made when so many left or were forced to leave? -- And will end purchasers of the results of their labor be willing to pay the associated higher prices? These are the questions this country's "leaders" should be addressing instead of having to worry about the behavior of ICE, certain Congressional members and right on up the line.)
I fear that if the only jobs are the lowest level ones the owners will have no impetus to improve wages. Unions and organized workers are the only ones with any power to bargain for benefits. I make the point, in reply to Beth's comment above, that the Middle Eastern countries surely don't allow unions, and in the US Unions were destroyed in various ways, attacked as communistic. I think Beth is incorrect when she writes that Europe is like the Middle East. In fact, Unions are strong in France and Italy, for example, so workers are not only paid properly but have health benefits and other protections. Imagine what protections would be available to workers in all areas if they were in powerful unions representing the workers' needs. The very idea would make the blood of Bezos, Zuckerberg, Ellison, et. al. run cold.
Some evolutionary economists are suggesting a universal minimum wage that guarantees a subsistence level of existence for everyone rather than a minimum wage.
Our geographical economic diversity made that an impossibility, but with our advanced computing technology it just might work.
Having to work two, sometimes three, jobs merely to survive is inhumane.
Watch out where you express that opinion! You might be called a communist.
yeah, jesus was a commie buddhist monk. early christians were definitely commie, read acts of the apostles.
Dorothy, I think I can help, at least in many instances...
When immigrants cross the MEXICO/USA border north, it's often alone or with other men, "stripped down" of distractions and possessions, and prepared to focus on the work that will support their loved ones back home.
Or they sometimes come as families, including children and those to look after those children.
But how about minimum-wage earning Americans with small children and no personal support system? The cost of paying for childcare can be as much as their minimum wage, after-tax income for 40-60 (or more!) hours each week. For Americans w/o a system of support (grandparents, spouse, arrangements with neighbors, churches or employers), they will basically be handing their entire paychecks over to whoever looks after their child. A single mother can work full-time for little more than to be separated from their kids for every hour spend at work.
Unfortunately, not many low-income Americans can afford to work for free, and maybe not so many will have to soon (in at least one state):
"New Mexico Opens the Door to Free Child Care for Every Family"
https://www.family-compassion.org/post/new-mexico-opens-the-door-to-free-child-care-for-every-family?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23032912469&gbraid=0AAAAApwp-WWXrbbWaEkF3OWqMfEQ88OXF&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7IjOBhDyARIsAFzrWQxtkV8IJYzSpN5h9Z_JzImVDOoyiDYfe1srsxVON8bOmpAcOX9-bHkaAuiTEALw_wcB
I hope this helps a bit, Dorothy. Stay safe!
the illigals accept miserly pay, because they are willing to live in substandard, crowded conditions, with no health insurance, no unemployment compensation, even dangerous working conditions. This tells us something about the countries they come from. Republicans think that American workers are pampered.
probably because they don't pay enough to be worth the effort, and immigrants see the pay as generous considering what their pay was in other countries. If they could unionize and raise the pay, I'm sure there would be a lot more american competition for those jobs.
But then you'd have the secondary issue of more pay = more cost at the grocery store, which may cancel out more pay.
It's complicated.
Great you shared this. Yes, so many Latinos can favor authoritative leaders. When you study different cultures you become aware of a hidden class within different Latin Americans cultures. You would never see this unless you either spoke the language or lived in other countries. El Salvador is another good example.
Might help if you expand your comment. I spent a little time in El Salvador when the right wing party was in control after the bloody civil war and the paramilitary killings , a conflict the US fomented to "fight communism."
that businessman sold his country the same way Judas supposedly sold Jesus. He betrayed his oath to uphold the Constitution, and he knew what he was doing.
"America did not "lose its soul" because Donald Trump was elected. Donald Trump was elected because America was "losing its soul." "
Thank you, Carol.
That's truly a critical difference, and a very important one.
America hasn’t been “losing its soul”; it has been taking its democracy for granted! Democracy is not a spectator sport, or as the great John Lewis put it, ““Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part.”
It is now our turn to take back our democracy . . . the heart & soul of our nation! Everyone needs to find & attend a “No Kings Day” event this Saturday, 3/28!!!🙋🏼♀️🌊💙🐬🦋💦👩🏻🦳
Thank you, Kim.
You make a great point, "It's impossible to "take" something if you're sitting on your hands."
------------------------------------------------------
(Got my sign! 30"x20" poster board filled by:
"STOP…..
BUMPY, JUMPY, RUMPY, DUMPY,
HUMPY, GRUMPY, LUMPY, CLUMPY, PLUMPY, STUMPY, SCHLUMPY,
CHUMPY, THUMPY, FRUMPY…..
TRUMP - NOW!!!
Long as I've gone this far, I may as well fill the back as well! I think I'm going with this from today's Robert Reich Substack:
"“Arrest as many people that touch you as you want to. Those are the general orders all the way to the top, everybody f**king gets it if they touch you. You hear what I’m saying?”
Greg Bovino's instructions to ICE "
Both are a bit wordy, but it's a small-town rally (and this deep south town's first in the Trump Era), so I need to occupy as much space as possible.
Be safe!
You,too, be safe and enjoy.
My 'biggliest' concern here is that "NO KINGS DAY" will be used by 'them' as an excuse to declare "Martial Law" on the whole country, especially IF ? tens of millions of - protesters - show up and march because WE THE PEOPLE are domestic terrorists and marching - 'against the law' i.e. Trumps Law as he and them re-write it to their absolute advantage ~ ~ : (
Amen and Right On!
💯 Agreed. This country has sustained a total moral collapse and I can prove it. Previously an able-bodied clincial social worker, a castastrophic injury during a routine medical procedure in 2016 changed my life forever. I was left permanently disabled and now require electronic communication with a transcript (email, chat, text) as an ADA reasonable accommodation. But legal teams don’t like written records. More than 50 organizations hindered my access by refusing to honor my accommodations. This happened across virtually all domains: healthcare, academia, insurance, banking, nonprofit safety nets, federal-level services, state-level services, media, publishing, entertainment, retail, and organized religion. I spend my productive hours advocating for disability access but the outcome is always the same: false hope, empty promises, disdain for the spirit of ADA, and ignoring correspondence. As a result, I have to surrender agency and assign a proxy to manage a credit card issue or schedule a mammogram. Disney sent me an email stating that their offices were “phones only.” What’s next? Telling guests in wheelchairs they’re “stairs only?”
This is horrible and devastating to hear.
💯 Agreed. And all of this is happening in a country where “strategic deception” is legal. We’re the only Western nation that permits strategic deception in any form and one of the only countries in the world (the others are Russia, China and Iran). It’s not just law enforcement trying to catch serial killers like BTK. Strategic deception is also legal in the military, politics, and private industry. Without truthfulness and transparency, there is no trust. Our global friends and neighbors have learned that the hard way. Strategic deception is fundamentally incompatible with “good faith and fair dealing” and must be criminalized, imho.
Donald Trump may be really incompetent at managing the operations of real things like the Presidency or foreign policy, but what he is clearly VERY competent at is corruptly making money through innuendo and propaganda. When insider trading investigations begin, let's start at the top.
Elon Musk pretty much summed it up: Anyone who receives money from the government without providing anything in return is a parasite.
People are valued for their productivity, not for their shared humanity or their virtues.
See https://product.sustainability-directory.com/term/extractive-business-models/
This is the business model that Corporate America and its imitators are trying to establish globally.
How many times have you heard people say, "What we need is a business man as President"?
The skill set needed to run a business and the skill set needed to govern a country are two different skill sets.
“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world.” ~President Calvin Coolidge
"In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe , where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America where it became an enterprise." --Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate
"Don’t forget until too late that the business of life is not business, but living." --Bertie Charles Forbes, Publisher
"You've probably heard the famous quote from Albert Einstein: "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it." For many of us who care about changing the world, those words make a lot of sense.
You may also have discovered, however, that finding and living from "another level of thinking" isn't as simple as it sounds. Trying to figure out how to move forward in the midst of the pressures of our conflicted, globalizing world can make your head spin.
But what if there was a perspective that could allow us to discern a clear direction beyond all of the complexity? What if there was a new way of seeing the world—a new worldview—that could change the way we think about changing the world?
The truth is that Einstein was right. We are stuck in ways of understanding our society and ourselves that limit our potential and constrain our capacity to create change. Our "worldview" is outdated. Worldviews are the invisible windows through which we comprehend reality. We need a radical new view on life, a way of thinking that will provide us with fresh perspectives on old problems. We need to liberate our hearts and minds to become more effective agents of change in a troubled world." ~Morgan Dix for EnlightenNext
As awful as this war is, it will bring about change: the diminishing value of fossil fuels as the dominant energy source. Many countries will increase their use of renewable energy sources, aiming to achieve self-sufficiency. Too bad that the USA, once a leader in environmental alternatives, continues to peddle "backward".
For now! Please don’t give up on us, faithful Canadian friend!
Is it possible that ‘trying to change the world’ is the consciousness that has created the problems. The new way may be an older way that found harmony with the world. How many sustainable cultures/belief systems, species, and local enviroments have we destroyed because we thought we were smart enough to change the world to solve our past problems.
Context is important.
There are some transcendent Absolutes that are always valid, but their application is almost always relative to current socioeconomic/political realities.
The American middle class family had the option of a stay-at-home mom that was part of our rigid cultural gender roles; but, like poorer families where two incomes were required to survive, it is no longer an option for most middle and lower middle class families today.
The stay-at-home moms were not merely the keepers of the "nest," they were the sustainers of the neighborhoods.
There is no going back, the 50's were the "calm before the storm." We don't get a "do-over," but we do get a "do-better" if we stop expecting what used to work to fix things rather than engage in some creative thinking in light of our new knowledge and the technology that has made the "old ways" obsolete.
"The old maps of reality, into which spiritual traditions have been integrated, often do not inspire people to be loyal to their tradition. Between the advances of both quantum physics and transpersonal psychology, we can no longer be at home in the old time religion." ~Rabbi Michael Lerner
“Core moral concepts, such as freedom, conscience, obedience, and fidelity, can have very different meanings and importance. These differing meanings depend on if our concern is with conformity, fulfilling norms, and subordination, or instead if our focus is radical thinking infused with the spirit of God blowing as it wills and marked by grown-up, freely affirmed responsibility.” --Bernard Haering, The Virtues of an Authentic Life
"The moral challenge of our day is to put a human face on our technology."
--Bernard Haering, C.Ss.R., Redemptorist Moral Theologian
Carol, I don't think Jim is talking about the 1950s. I think he is talking about pre-capitalist indigenous societies.
I think humans need humility. Many have taken the wrong idea about being in God's image. Too many religious leaders claim to know the mind of God and use those claims for control and power. What if we are in God the creator's image when we are being creative? But we need humility and awareness of our limitations in considering the consequences of our creations to the natural world of which we are an integral part. Harmony with the universe is the path to the change we seek.
In the Iroquois or Six Nations Confederacy women were included in consensus decisions and had the power to veto treaties and declarations of war.
Good question
ISO - I am experiencing much the same (albeit in a much smaller capacity) dealing with buerocracy (sp?) getting help with financial issues like occasional rent subsidies, due to the strokes I experienced post bi-lateral knee replacement surgery 5 years ago. Which is partly why I volunteer at my local food bank as 'dishwasher' in a small room where I don't have to stumble around the warehouse ~ and to 'shop' at their grocery store to augment my pantry. & making friends there helps to ~ But the 'red tape' to obtain additional help or get $ recompensed for my work at the F B is daunting. Luckily my bestie is helping me deal with the techie aspect of all this ~ sighhhhhh ~
🙏Commiserations on a system designed to fail us. The priorities in this country are appalling. You can’t get services. Half a million US families lack running water. But we can spend 1B per day on a war? And there’s still a bulldozer on the WH lawn, right? Losers.
Good point. A pizza parlor where I like to have lunch always has an early 1960s sitcom called "Leave It to Beaver" playing on their big TV set. The episodes are very corny & dated, but the idealistic way the parents and the teachers behave makes me sad for those old lost values of calmness and civility that the show promoted way back then. Not that everyone was "polite" in 1960, "Leave It to Beaver" also presented some very rude and foolish kids, neighbors, and co-workers to contrast with the Cleaver family. It seems US society has gone the way of those bad examples. Oh, well: time passes and things change.
I have posted this excerpt from the Second Letter to the church in Thessalonica more times than I can count over the past decade… most often to Trump supporters who present as Christians. I think what it says about *them* is just as important as what it clearly says about someone like Trump.
Now we do implore you, by the very certainty of Christ’s coming and of our meeting him together, to keep your heads and not be thrown off balance by any prediction or message or letter purporting to come from us, and saying that the day of Christ is almost here. Don’t let anyone deceive you by any means whatsoever. That day will not come before there arises a definite rejection of God and the appearance of the lawless man. He is the product of all that leads to death, and he sets himself up in opposition to every religion. He himself takes his seat in the temple of God, to show that he really claims to be God.
I expect you remember now how I talked about this when I was with you. You will probably also remember how I used to talk about a “restraining power” which would operate until the time should come for the emergence of this man. Evil is already insidiously at work but its activities are restricted until what I have called the “restraining power” (of God) is removed. When that happens the lawless man will be plainly seen—though the truth of the Lord Jesus spells his doom, and the radiance of the coming of the Lord Jesus will be his utter destruction. The lawless man is produced by the spirit of evil and armed with all the force, wonders and signs that falsehood can devise. To those involved in this dying world he will come with evil’s undiluted power to deceive, for they have refused to love the truth which could have saved them. God sends upon them, therefore, the full force of evil’s delusion, so that they put their faith in an utter fraud and meet the inevitable judgment of all who have refused to believe the truth and who have made evil their play-fellow. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)
"Christian" is more of an ego tribal identity than it is a way of life in America.
Sacrificing one's own unjust advantages to the sake of justice for others never occurs to most professing middle class or wealthy "Christians."
Jesus upped the bar for moral choices by stating the Golden Rule positively (Do Unto Others . . .) rather than negatively (Don't Do Unto Others . . .). Jesus followers not only have to strive to avoid "sins of commission," there are now "sins of OMMISSION!"
Carol, Years ago I heard a parody of 'do unto others~' = "Do unto others BEFORE they do unto you" hence tRump's war 'on' Iran = preemptive (they have nukes and will use them when/if ~ ~ ~ 'because they are a horrible regime' ~
That sounds a lot like what someone told me was the "Salesman's Creed":
"If you've got a buddy good and true, you screw him before he screws you."
I guess that's why I always applied for jobs in service. I'm beta-dominant and prefer cooperation to competition in my relationships.
I agree, but I wish someone had given me a heads up so I could have applied for dual citizenship a lot sooner. To quote the Rolling Stones " I gotta get out of this place if it's the last thing I ever do".
👍
A "soul" is individual, but tribalists don't think like individuals. For them the tribe is the embodiment of the group's "soul," and the tribal chief is the manifestation of this "soul." Their Jesus is a tribal god, who is the very antithesis of the Biblical Jesus. This is why our religious leaders must denounce Trump and Trumpism.
I suppose that is why the Pauline teaching that Jesus is the Second Adam, which is the basis for Christian inclusiveness, is rarely, if ever, taught in formal Western "Christian" institutions.
Other institutions usually don't recognize the uniqueness of individual's either.
We share a common humanity, but we are each *uniquely* human. It is our uniqueness that makes us special and, since every one is unique, then every one is also special and a "one size fits all" approach to problems often fails to satisfy peoples' unrealistic expectations and/or seems to unjustly favor those on the margins by those *making it* in the mainstream.
Good point. A pizza parlor where I like to have lunch always has an early 1960s sitcom called "Leave It to Beaver" playing on their big TV set. The episodes are very corny & dated, but the idealistic way the parents and the teachers behave makes me sad for those old lost values of calmness and civility that the show promoted way back then. Not that everyone was "polite" in 1960, "Leave It to Beaver" also presented some very rude and foolish kids, neighbors, and co-workers to contrast with the Cleaver family. It seems US society has gone the way of those bad examples. Oh, well: time passes and things change.
Reid was witnessing. Just witnessing. Possibly The Wall Street Journal sees this administration as the greatest threat to journalism.
While I am definitely concerned about the free press. Right now, for me, the issue is our democracy and freedom.
I think they are related. We need both.
It goes waaaaaaaay beyond journalism.
Listen to this man: https://youtu.be/g__jF-jnU0Q?si=9KZjI7E_hae0tRVN
also: https://youtu.be/9e18NQiXUrg?si=kLCVSCBgsoswUYx2
Journalism is only the tip of the spear. We're losing this kind of analysis.
While we can celebrate the fact that the editors of the Wall Street Journal have permitted and encouraged this piece of excellent investigative reporting to be published, we must not forget to keep our vision for the future as expansive and inclusive as possible. How much more proof do we need to accept that capitalism and the greed that supports it, can no longer be the best economic system for the operation of our country.
We must embrace and implement a new system tailored to the current needs of all our citizens as we look to the future. ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY is certainly one such system. Below is a link to an excellent explanation of what the system is and how it would operate.
https://crisistransition.substack.com/p/a-programmatic-agenda-for-economic?triedRedirect=true
Marc, I'm reading Kate Pickett, "The good society"; she was co-author of "The Spirit Level" of 2012, with Wilkinson. The books have the same subject: a moderate social democratic policy brings the good society closer.
There is a lot of empirical research to confirm it: see the position of the Scandinavian countries and my country. Good reading!
Spot on Marc. Accumulating wealth is the best protection against the day when you realise you are going to die because you can't afford the care you need.
That's why some form of social medicine is so widespread, it's a barrier against political extremism that exploits survival instinct.
Sorta surprised that WSJ has more ethics concerning printing news than the National Enquirer.
But then, the WSJ may not even have a Department for Buying/Killing News.
Just imagine if Fox followed suit. :-O
I'll need some time to consider that scenario...
Thanks, Tina! (The reality is that there will soon be SO MANY right-wing news sources, it won't be US they'll be fighting with, but each other! Sorry I can't find the source article right now.)
FOX makes money for Murdoch. The WSJ protects the capitalist status quo for Murdoch.
When the preeminent conservative financial paper documents systematic government fabrication of assault charges, intimidation of citizens, and agents literally workshopping their narrative while the phone records them, that’s not left-wing hysteria. That’s documentation.
It means Trump’s chaos has become a threat to the stable extraction the wealthy class depends on. You can’t run a sophisticated financial system when federal agents are arresting veterinary assistants for videotaping, trying three grand juries to indict her, then posting her mugshot online before conviction.
From the behavioral side:
this is textbook authoritarian intimidation. The strategy isn’t law enforcement, it’s deterrence through public humiliation. Post mugshots and names before trial. Charge felonies that won’t stick but cost defendants tens of thousands in legal fees. Make the process the punishment so people stop documenting government action.
DOJ kept pushing until they got a misdemeanor charge that didn’t require grand jury approval.
The costs are the point: bail, attorneys, time off work, death threats, doxing. Even acquittal doesn’t undo the damage. Reid says she’s more hesitant about political speech now, yeah, that’s the goal.
Chill dissent through selective prosecution and public shaming.
This isn’t protesters claiming persecution. This is the financial establishment’s paper of record showing systematic government abuse with video evidence.
When the oligarchs’ preferred outlet starts investigating you, you’ve become a threat to the system that usually protects you.
—Johan
Is it Trump's chaos or is just a catalyst in an already unsustainable society
Owned by Murdoch no less
Murdoch's Trumpenstein monster has slipped his chains and escaped the lab. He's now running amok and destroying the US. Murdoch knows that the retribution against the people who destroyed the US will be savage, and is trying to buy some claim to not being responsible for the carnage. Don't fall for it.
Murdoch was accused of being the guy who chose our Prime ministers in the UK.
He now realises he has been screwing himself as much as us. If big money just stuck to business and didn't interfere it would be better. What he and the others have done is like playing with bat viruses in a lab.....
Don’t fall for it only works when others are also doing their job. In the meantime I will simply be thankful.
Was it Murdoch, or some other corporate "biggie" who was "missing" for awhile and, when he turned up, the wags claimed he was found circling the sharks?
And it's making him $$$!!!
Kinda like Snoop Dog loving Trumpo now because he smells money (through the rest of the smoke.)
We are done with Snoop. We cringed his appearance during the Olympics, too. He knows people hate him now.
They are right. It means that the rich are backing off, now their stupidity has been revealed for all to see.
There is no excuse for them. They knew what he was like.so why did they put him there?
Obama said "Most of the world's troubles are caused by old guys trying to stay out of jail."
Never has a truer word been spoken in jest.
Marc, I read not too long ago that Rupert Murdoch is NOT siding with Trump any longer. (As I am sure you know, Murdoch is Fox and owner of the WSJ.)
I can imagine that the journal of American Business doesn't really care so much who is in charge, since business never cared terribly much about humanity.
Now they may mostly just be curious to see if reality sells. (Though, it is WONDERFUL to see the typically far-right WSJ editorial page doing the right thing after such a drought.)
Thanks, Klare!
Foof, NPR, or maybe it was the NYTimes "The Daily" program, which airs every evening on NPR, and on Saturday afternoon, just did a whole piece on the Murdochs and the changes Rupert has made. I think the report was called something like, "How one man created an empire to bring a family together, but instead tore them apart." As you may know, he and his son Lachlan run Fox and the WSJ, while his other son, James, and his daughter want pretty much nothing to do with it.
Thank you, Klare.
It should be easy to find with all your "hints". SOunds very worthwhile.
Foof, I did not mean for them to be only "hints," it's just that I am always doing something else while the news is on, so my brain divides on how much I can take in!
Sorry, Klare.
Being dyslexic, I need to ALWAYS re-read to fully get what the words mean. (Words tend to "scoot around" the page sometimes, and the meaning can be compromised. I apologize for having to wait for my coffee to cool before I take the first sip, yet not being willing to wait to read posts on RR's Substack!)
You are right Here in the UK we had child labour, no unions, and starvation wages. Until people voted for politicians that made the above illegal.
The whole far right movement is devoted to bringing it back.
The damage tRump's ICE goons can do is now multiplied a thousand times with them careening about major airports where they can harass ever more US Citizens every day. If you are flying, make sure your phone is charged. Make sure you have upload links to independent journalism sites. It is going to take great courage to face off with and face down The New Gestapo.
Here are 2 you can put in your phones right now: submit@contrariannews.org and agparnasbusiness@gmail.com.
Not sure. But Murdoch has been one of the biggest cheerleaders for the bombing of Iran. As much as Netanyahu. Maybe this isn't Ruper's doing?
It's worth mentioning that the WSJ has won many independent awards for investigative journalism -- like the Pulitzer in 2023.
Yes, Marc, and this is why Charles Koch has refused to endorse Trump. His backers are naive. Kevin Roberts and Russ Vought, at the Heritage foundation, are naive. They hope that Trump will exercise self control; it's like hopping that the tornado will spare your house, a gamble Their Project 2025 has no safeguards, and Republicans in Congress have entrusted the country to a man they recognizes as dangerous back in 2016. As President Lincoln warned a long time ago, the country is committing suicide.
It means that we are in deep sh*t.
I think it's more interesting that an investigation like this was not the New York Times.
It certainly wouldn't make the Washington Post.
interesting.
I truly hope so.
Sounds like Nazi Germany all over again, and the Republican Party is just fine with it. This country is sick.
Hence my protest sign this weekend:
OMG
GOP
WTF
Is that enough? How about :Let's end the "nazi" takeover.
David, I appreciate your feedback. I think it depends on who you're trying to reach. If your preaching to the choir, NAZI might work. The message I'm using is meant to reach people on the fence and who are starting to wake up. And it also brings on a wry smile. ;-)
It IS indeed Nazi Germany all over again, but far worse, given the technology that supports it. The USA must be the envy of lesser would-be totalitarian states (Russia, China) because it has the wealth, technical resources, and know-how to "perfect" its repressive measures. And it will eventually require a far larger cataclysm to bring about its end.
John,the end will come only we decide that " Non Violent rallies are not working" and people get trained in other more aggressive actions. Trump is " America's Hitler".
I found what I believe to be the most important immigration story in 2025 in the wsj. Trust me I get wanting to hate them, I strongly question the ethics of people who still use amazon or chat. Based on that story last spring, that no one else ever mentioned, I decided to resubscribe. Yes I had previously cancelled on principle. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, especially not today. Newspapers are still important; if we don’t feed them, others will feed us.
There is certainly something (comforting?) to be said for, "the devil you know..."
Thank you, Emma.
💯 Agreed. The gaslighting and victim blaming we’re witnessing has a formal name —“Accusation in a Mirror”— and it wasn’t invented by Roy Cohn. It’s a strategic tactic that’s been used in the past to incite hate speech and genocide. https://brandeiscenter.com/the-thin-line-between-condemnation-and-incitement-to-genocide-times-of-israel/
That has been a feature of the Trump machine since the beginning.
Another way I’ve heard it expressed is “Every accusation is a confession.”
Which raises questions about Q anon, given what we’re learning about Epstein.
ISOequanimity,
Since you raise the point...
This is the (satirical?) "reality" of QAnon. Like most things MAGA, it was always purest projection...
"QAnon Exists To PROTECT Evil Trump?"
https://medium.com/@foofaraw/qanon-exists-to-protect-evil-trump-7acffbfe5aaa
I'd say it has aged reasonably well...
Respectfully, richard.
Instead of "fine", I'd consider going with with something somewhere between "gleeful". and "orgasmic".
(Joking. You did GREAT!)
wtf This is just
Please refrain from castigating the entire country as "being sick". It is eminently clear who is sick. . . .Donald Trump and his blind-to-history-and-to-the-law supporters.
You can also throw in Mike Johnson and John Thune, who are spineless and have turned their backs on the country and their oath to the Constitution. Together, they could end this fairly quickly if they followed the investigative tools available to them.
THE LESSON: Do not vote for any Republican, at any level of government, in November.
One bad apple spoils the bunch, but when you have millions of bad apples in a country, the entire thing is ruined. I agree that not everyone caused the sickness, but all, good and bad, are now sick. If I was younger, I would get out and become well again, but I am old, and will parish with all the rest.
I appreciate your thoughts, Richard, but I can't accept that the entire country is sick because of The Con. This Saturday's No Kings Rally will show that there is great resistance to the current administration and that many are inspired to confront this virus. November's vote is crucial.
We will not give in to the people who are truly sick/uninformed/racist/lazy.
I appreciate your spirit Jim, but I know this entire country is sick. It isn't because of Trump, he is simply the culmination of what started years ago with Reagan. As a whole, the human beast is too damn stupid to survive on this planet - in ten more years, no decent person will want to be alive here.
Richard,"nazi Germany" all over again is 100%. The Republican party is now the "Neo Nazi" party,they have decied Demcracy is for losers. The "NO KINGS " rally Saturday should have a decent turnout. However after the comments today and previous days,I do not think this is going to end peacefully.
I hope people are taking photos of ICE agents without their masks at the airports for face recognition at a later date. They need to know that we are watching and there will be accountability.
Amen
Good idea to find out where they live too.
Trump has sent ICE agents to Hartsfield in Atlanta…and aren’t really helping according to travelers. This an Atlanta News First story, March 23rd. I’m flying out the 27th. 😬😵💫🤬
https://youtu.be/SgKAlaHp0GM?si=dzI5d4gbeEtgHfCF
We have a government operating under the aegis of a president with a long history of harassing opponents through spurious lawsuits, of lying and denying, of committing actions that leave lasting or irreversible damage before being specifically told they're illegal oops.
He brings these innovative businessman skills to the federal government.
As Professor Reich says, we need to publicize these acts and techniques and systems, to cultivate the myriads of Nos we need to stop the death machine.
Donald Trump may be really incompetent at managing the operations of real things like the Presidency or foreign policy, but what he is clearly VERY competent at is corruptly making money through innuendo and propaganda. When insider trading investigations begin, let's start at the top.
Trump is a lousy businessman. He can only issue threats because he can't control himself. If you can't control yourself they won't do business with you.
If you doubt what I say just look at his business record, which is well documented here and elsewhere
I hope 90 million patriotic Americans come out Saturday to protest against this inept government and its lunkhead leader!
Be there or be complicit ❗
“Arrest as many people that touch you as you want to. Those are the general orders all the way to the top, everybody fucking gets it if they touch you. You hear what I’m saying?”
This Greg Bovino quote will be the 2nd side of my NO KINGS sign...
Professor Riech: and how long will it be before the orange rapist tries to shut down the wall street journal due to reporting such as this?
nonetheless, it's refreshing to know that ONE newspaper is still out there that is doing real investigative reporting. your summary of this report fills me with dread that our airports will be the site of yet more mass attacks and shooting deaths carried out by ICE-gestapo. air travel is rapidly transforming into an unbearable torture. i wonder how long people will travel by air? i wonder how long air travel will take to recover after all this hell?
FYI, in case you missed it, Murdoch Sr was one of the folks heartily in favor of bombing Iran
as if i could not despise Murdoch Sr any more, but guess what?
I am a frequent flyer. My children live far away. We are doing virtual visits until ....
If only there was a congress, then this sort of BS would end. The US showed promise, but the post Citizens United capture of the government by the oligarchs pretty much ended the experiment in democracy. Government agencies with agents running around in masks filing charges against protesters is so "gestapo" it's astounding that the citizens put up with it, but apparently the bulk of the citizens only care about gas prices.
Chris, I think a lot of people are just not newshounds like we are!
There is a congress, just not the one the people voted for. I believe most Americans are not happy with the duplicitous republican lawmakers, who have blocked their ears, taped their mouths and are hiding under their chairs until.....? Yes, gas prices are pretty important when can't feed your children.
People can' t feed their children because of the policies the GOP have implemented over the past decades. If they would pay more attention, the current fiasco would not have occurred.
Chris,unfortunately a very a large swatch of Americans are stupid,non confrontational,and as the " nazis" like to call the DEMS "pussies" .Where are the 67 million Dems and Independents who voted for Harris.?
Can ICE function in the sand? Because I can see a practical use for them in Iran.
The department's goal has been lost while ignorance has become the driving force behind its intent.
Trump can't live from day to day without contradicting himself. He makes a statement supporting a position he wishes the country to follow. Then twenty-four hours later we find ourselves on the other side of the river without a paddle. A wishy washy attitude is a sign of indecision from our leadership. From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, sadly the lyrics fit the endeavor. It's a shame the words of that song don't address the idea of peace at some point. We have from the beginning fought our way to the top, and it looks like in order to stay there we will have to bleed yet again..
Donald, love it! Yeah, send them to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and every other country in the Middle East who readily commit genocidal murder and/or executions of their own citizens! Or how about North Korea?? Maybe Kim Jong-un will have a special place for the ICE gestapo in his black heart!!!
It's called doublespeak, isn't it? The barrage of lies upon lies scripted into a grandiose fabrication, with false associations, photos, and more lies. It was Bill Barr's strategy, too, to spin the conclusions of the Mueller report 180⁰. But the Wall Street Journal has caught on??? Why this sudden shift?
they want to continue to sell papers?
We are encountering ICE agents here in Ingram, TX. They are deporting workers, day laborers, long time residents. We film from across the street when we see this happening. ICE agents do all they can to harass us. Local law enforcement acting as immigration under 287g and Task Force model are decimating this small town in red county Texas. I suppose the lure of racism to these thugs will be the death of small town America. MAGA folks are really not smart about how the economy runs. Their deep seated racism will be the death of our democracy. 287g is an evil program, Hitler-esque and cedes local law enforcement power to the Feds. Police state happening now, everywhere. Cameras up!
They will, be killing the local economy.
The increasing presence of ICE is simply to terrorise the American people into submission to the Trump regime through fear and intimidation....it is not difficult to imagine that a further escalation will be during the elections.
Bingo!
Thank you for highlighting this wsj report. They have a paywall, so those of us who don't subscribe can't access its reports. I'm grateful for your taking the time to relay it to us.
Trump laid the groundwork for this strategy in his executive order of September 22, 2025, "Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization" and his presidential memoranda "Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence" issued September 25. As a result, anti-ICE protesters are now being referred to as "Antifa cell operatives" and accused of attempting to destroy the government. Nine anti-ICE protesters were convicted March 13, 2026, and face prison sentences of between 10 and 60 years. One faces a life sentence for shooting and wounding a police officer who drew his firearm on the protesters first.
"Antifa" -- Trump is such a FUCKING DOLT, HE WILL NEVER "GET IT" THAT Antifa means "Antifascist"!!!
If the were going to jail him for that long, he should learn to shoot straight. Yet when then goons shoot 2 ordinary people dead in Minneapolis nothing is done.
Have fun at "No Kings III". Obey the law and exercise free speech. Cameras up!
The MAGA Billionaires created this mess and now it’s backfiring on them. I guess they never learned that what goes around comes around.
they own it all, after tRUMP was installed. Will they learn anything?