Professor Reich and Heather Lofthouse: i don't have anything important to say, but i do want to say this: this weekly video session with both of you is so important to me as i live in isolation, living trapped alone in my desperation and horror at what is happening to the country where i grew up. watching you and your guests speak realistically and honestly about the problems, and explain what is happening nationally as well as locally, and propose methods to deal with our problems is SO IMPORTANT for people like me who tend towards despair and anxiety anyway. it's almost like meeting a friend for coffee, for me, on a weekly basis, to decompress and to begin rebuilding my psyche to meet the challenges in the week ahead. i doubt you'll see this comment (you get thousands of them in a mere few hours) but i just had to say this, i had to put this out there into the world, in the hope that others may read it and also find solace in yourefforts to help us all deal with the terrors of this lawless regime.
and whilst i'm here, let me end with my typical refrain: RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!
I'm still in the states. I use this Klatch as inexpensive weekly therapy, because I struggle constantly to try to understand how we got here, and how anyone could possibly think He (capitalized in jest) was going to make things more affordable for the 98%. How a billionaire would give a sh!t about the working class. I don't get it. Desperation and horror are excellent descriptors. Not strictly alone here, but it sure seems there are more of them than us. The wife works in an old persons home. Most people who live there are well off, because it's expensive, but surprisingly these old rich people, older and richer then I, are feeling the same way as us. Why does this surprise me, you might ask. Well, they come largely from a background of being conservative republicans, and they too are horrified. Perhaps some solace in that some unlikely groups of people are coming to see the truth and it's angering them. We may have hope. And my hope is that it is not too late. A lot of damage has been done. And some innocent people have died as a result of it all.
Rich, one thing about people over 70 is that they have an extended frame of memory to form a balance of historical events, which the youth lack just by their age. Oldsters are touched by the aftermath of WWII, the destruction of Europe and Asia, the McCarthy witch trials, the KKK and Mississippi Burning, Emmitt Till, race riots in our cities, Nixon and the Vietnam War. Society is well-served by elders who deliver their life experiences and expanded knowledge of the World to the less travelled youth struggling to make their way. Great thanks to Bob, Heather and their associates for focusing here on the grave dangers posed to us by the cabal of fascists in power.
Yep, I was little in the 60s but remember the race riots as they were called, and remember MLK, JFK getting assassinated (I was on a school bus and even the bus driver, a staunch Republican, cried all the way home), the Vietnam war, and neighborhood older boys who never came home, Nixon and his shenanigans, air raid drills in school, but no active shooter drills. The draft ended before I finished high school. I did have to register, though. Even in the 70s, dad told me the dems were for working people, and repubs were for business. He was correct. Dad served in Korea and the last half of WW2, where he was occupying Europe. And I remember CBS and all the MSM was honest and balanced, and in no way controlled by the state. Things weren't perfect, but honesty was a virtue impressed upon all of us. We also had extensive civics classes in HS. It even included mock trials.
Right, Rich, I can never forget Sen. Joseph McCarthy with his "Red Scare" of the 1950's and how Mom and Dad, staunch Democrats, muttered in disapproval of his "commie witch hunts" which resulted in ruined careers of numerous prominent people. None of his charges against them were ever proven. He was much more intelligent than drumpster and equally vicious, a true neo-Nazi in his own time. Some war hero.
My Dad and my Uncle Gordon were instrumental in defying the Nazis and crossing the Siegfried line in 1944 and lived on. Uncle on his way to liberating the "Wolf's Lair" in 1945, witnessed the aftermath of the Fascists' insufferable depredations upon humanity at Dachau.
Mom constructed wiring harnesses for B 24 Liberator bombers at the Willow Run assembly plant in Michigan, in 1942 the largest factory for war in the world (Britannica). The people in my family and like-minded souls formed my convictions of right and wrong over a lifetime, and I must profess that the illicit fascist powers under whom we suffer today will go down by our combined efforts like the ones from 80 years ago.
and in Bellevue NE we had the Martin Bomber Plant. The building still exists today, though used for entirely different purposes. I even have/had a "brick" that they awarded to employees for various accomplishments. The bricks were made of wood and creosote, and designed to mitigate static charges from damaging electronics. Most have been removed in renovations.
Joan, when I read your note I immediately remembered and broke into the tune of this song ~ 'thanks for the memories' ~ ha ... My 'long term' memory is much better than my short term post strokes ~
But it was a pleasant memory and that lifts one's spirit! Enjoy the weekend and stay as far away from the news as possible for a pleasant break:)! Joan
Rich my wife and I discussed this last night, we do need to go back to the 1950's. Not to its morality or technology, but to it's relatively moderately friendly social values .... extended beyond white families. There are a whole damn lot of us who didn't get the privileges. We have the technology, but mankind here in the Western World needs to drop the cowboy pretensions and learn critical thinking and empathy. Will we?
I don't have any answers. I'm 69 and have seen a lot as well. I've seen America's promise almost disappear as it was given away to allow others the freedom to be who they wanted to be. Some of it wasn't so good ... Let's hope there is still a few strong hearts left among us.
I think the people who remember WWII, McCarthy etc are either very old or dead. My father would be 95 and he was a kid during WWII; drafted for Korea but rejected because of his eyes. I was in HS during Watergate but am retired now. Remembering back 60 plus years as a young adult, you would be 78-80 now.
In college, we each were asked to write a research paper on events we considered important from the year we were born. Being born in 1950, McCarthy and that whole insanity provided great pickings and there I was, a burgeoning hippie demonstrating against the war in Viet Nam and for Civil Rights and Women's Rights, learning just how batsh*t crazy this country was when I was born. It feels like we are seeing that sort of insanity now, to a more ugly and threatening degree. We have a supposed president who is obviously suffering from severe narcissism and increasing dementia sending out troops of ICE agents with guns but minimal (if any) training into cities where all the seem to be truly accomplishing is threatening, injuring and killing AMERICAN CITIZENS and creating an environment that WOULD NEVER EXIST IF ICE WEREN'T THERE. The TRUTH? The Mango Manure Pile 💩 and JustaDick Vance and Puppy Killer Noem are all personally responsible for the horror show invasions by allegedly American troops into American cities for NO OTHER REASON than the 💩and the other 👹want to play at being powerful and HIDE THE EPSTEIN FILES
Right in there, Meighan! When I was in 7th grade in 1960, I bet a classmate 5 bucks from my paper route money that Kennedy would win the presidency. I thought for sure that Nixon would ruin the country, and 12 years later he came damn close.
You know, that's how I identify. When I mentioned this to my conservative neighbor, he said "no Rich, you're conservative. He knows damn well I'm pro-choice and a democrat, and believe in equality and all the things that go with it. We recently discussed some missing Mexican neighbors. He said they were probably "ICEd". He said he didn't really think that is funny. So he does have principles. My task at hand is to project myself to mainstream conservatives that there is a lot to agree on, and that we too have a set of morals and principles we live by. Liberals are not the thugs and extremists that conservatives make us out to be. The calling is to educate them, one by one, especially those who truly wear the badge of Christianity.
I think they know that the names we are called are just to make people angry. Us for being called names and them doing it. It is promoted by the great orange in the white house. Sometimes, I think his lackies make him practice what he says to get it right. I knew he would be bad the first time he was elected but he is worse than I ever thought a person could be. He has a script somewhere that we don't see.
judging by my experiences with seeing very few younger people at the polls, I believe you are correct. It also appears a majority of the protesters are older people as well. Just look at the comments on all these substacks, again dominated by older people. BTW, when I saw younger people voting, I thanked them.
I had a few discussions with younger people at work, when I was there. They are resigned to the possibility SS would not be there for them. I told them that us older people have kids too, and we do care. We're going to do our best to ensure they get back what they pay into the system. I also told them we're fully aware of the affordability crisis, how rents have gotten out of control, and housing is unaffordable. With respect to this, I always wonder why we focus as a collective in building McMansions as opposed to the old way of producing an adequate supply of so-called "starter homes". No, we do not need to focus on apartments, we need more affordable homes that are smaller, thus cheaper. After aall, families are smaller these days. Who needs a 5000 square foot mansion anymore aside from the top 1%.
What you say is so true Rich Penc. My heart goes out to the young with so many obstacles ahead for them: will there be work, housing, livable wages, healthcare coverage, the affordable basics of food and clothing, new social safety nets! Geez, it seems America is quickly morhphing into a third world country before our eyes. Sadly, I don't think the oligarchs care, including what governmental system we have. If they did care, I would think men, like Jamie Dimon, would truly speak in an honest fashion. Ouch! Joan
I'm wondering if 'the younger people' vote by mail because of their "busy busy schedules" ? ? ? so you don't see many at the poles, waiting in line ~ hmm?
i am nearly constantly bothered by (intrusive) thoughts of all those innocents who were disappeared (where are the alligator alcatraz prisoners?), who were tortured, injured (a permanently fractured skull and a lost EYE?) raped, or murdered, and who now are being publicly vilified by the MSM and others. it's outrageous and beyond belief. and to think that i once was conflicted between pursuing a career in science versus a career in journalism! to think that i once admired journalists as being the guardians of the nation's ethics. i am deeply saddened by this betrayal, by my personal loss of a dream -- a dream that probably never was, to be honest.
I join you in the struggle to understand how we got here. People who explain Trump's re-election as a vote on the cost of living, or a vote against the "system" that hasn't worked for them, simply don't make sense to me. I actually believe things ought to make sense. I know humans beings are predictably irrational but I can't help it. I think we're right on the edge of the cliff---teetering. Maybe we've always been there and I didn't notice. I do hope it's not too late.
My formal training is in the sciences, so I always use logic in approaching any problem. Logic is defied here. Truth is denied. All I can conclude is that we have a lot of evil people amongst us (present company on these substacks excluded).
Logic and science are our only hope. It's a pretty age old struggle, isn't it? Truth versus delusion. Also, I think, courage over fear. I once thought education---of any sort---would lead to enlightenment but that turned out to be a pipe dream. Evil---especially in the form of greed and the thirst for power---can trump (pardon the expression) almost anything.
Rich, I too am often surprised when I learn that a Trumper or Trumpette has decided that things have gone too far even for them. I forget that those folks see themselves as patriots as I see myself and that Trump has trampled on their faith, their values, their nation as has been done to mine. Yes, there are a bunch still who cling to the hope for a white nation where white men can rule as they have in the past, but most people want peace, a decent living, work to do that has meaning, a good family, a place to live that is of some quality and stability, and leaders who don't just pretend to care about them. We need to work a bit harder to reach more of them or maybe even the ones who have hitched their wagon to MAGA, and don't care for anything deeper than that' it's what they belong to, like their favorite sports team. The ridiculous hats are made like baseball caps. Now, each time I think of MAGA, I think of the Danish protesters whose signs say "MAGA" Make America Go Away." Maybe we need to turn "MAGA" into something less than white supremacist-sounding (Make America Green Again, MAGA Americans Ghastly, Appalling, Moral Americans Get Activated! MAGA Americans gain Adolescence? (finally), Make America Generous Again, etc.).
Sending you a tip of my mug, GrllScientist. Somehow I can't get out of my mind what Karl Rove (advisor to George W. Bush) called us —the reality-based community. As a scientist, that's your beat, and I support you. We are a community, for sure, and you are part of it.
well, indeed! it seems that removing the orange rapist's name from the files before releasing them to the public (never mind the epstein files are NOT supposed to be altered in any way) seems to make them into stacks and stacks of blackened unreadable pages. and like, how many pages in total are there? 20 MILLION?
I wonder if it will even happen in our lifetimes? The regime is actively doing things to distract from this hideous matter--they are not oblivious to this for certain.
The holdup is that, not only is Trump’s name & very likely VIDEO evidence of him raping 13-15 yr old girls, all over them, in hundreds of places; but also the names & video evidence of very wealthy & powerful people. I’m sure that those names & their actions are so deeply involved in horrific crimes throughout that mass of evidence, that there is no way to remove or redact all of them without it being blatantly obvious to even the most casual observer. I’m certain that there are CEOs & other upper management of major banks & corporations, past & present members of Congress & state govts, religious leaders, & also foreign heads of state & diplomats.
Just in case you missed it, AG Pam Bondi made the public statement that there is lots of child pornography in there that is so horrific that the public will never see it. Take a guess at how that was filmed? It is a well known fact that Epstein had pinhole cameras in every room throughout all of his many, many properties, where he brought his “guests” individually & for larger groups for parties. Homes in NYC, Palm Beach, the Island, Zorro Ranch in northern NM, & a home in Paris. Also a he had a guesthouse that was his on Les Wexner’s huge compound in New Albany, OH. Many of these places, such as Zorro Ranch & the guesthouse, were never even searched by the FBI or local authorities!!! Why do we suppose that happened?? This is such a huge issue, that LE itself should be investigated for dereliction of duty & even obstruction of justice. I’m very certain there is enough evidence to actually decimate American’s trust in govt, society & culture for decades to come. There’s likely LEO & the judiciary involved too. All of the tubs & rooms full of this evidence could be released with one word from Trump, & yet he won’t do it.
The very fact that FBI directors of both parties---since the original complaint in 1996---have never pursued this case. That tells you almost all you need to know about the people who are implicated in these files. Thanks for all of these details.
Oh, my gawd... "porn that is so horrific the public will never see it"? Where did all of this information come from? the cover-up is bigger than every imagined... evidently these people don't understand that they won't be able to cover up forever... the reality WILL surface at some point. LEO... is that Leonard Leo you're talking about? Perhaps when tRump is fully demented, he will accidently spill his guts about all of this. Ghislaine KNOWS... she knows ALL of it.
Just - Pam Bondi the current AG said that about “child pornography so horrendous the public will never see it” She said that many months ago, about the same time that she said the list of clients was on her desk.
Apparently Ghislaine considers "all of this" as normal playtime. Thus, she can live without feeling ashamed or guilty of any crime. It reminds me of the final scene in the original "Great Gatsby" movie with Redford and Farrow. F. Scott Fitzgerald knew these types well and his writing of them is honest. (The movie is my top favorite since it tells the truth of our country that has yet to transform.)
Even if ALL the files were released unredacted, it would not make the slightest difference for the MAGA population. They have already seen the faT rump's true nature, clearly visible for anyone to see. And it has made no difference to his zombie supporters. Even today, after all we have seen of this tyrannical monster, 42% of the voting age Americans still are supporting him! That number is to me truly shocking. And horrifying!
The feeling of helplessness and isolation is very reasonable, and I sympathize. But there are communities of resistance out there that we can become a part of.
There are many organizations/communities that are out there joined in their resistance and getting ready for much much more. There are resistive actions you can take EVERY DAY, and feel belonging in joint action to push back to create a better America.
For example, I’ve used resist.bot to send the DHS/ICE funding resistance suggestions made by Prof. Reich and Heather to my reps (via email - but fax and snailmail options are there too), this is what I said in my letter:
This is an emergency: Rein in ICE - America’s Gestapo America is rapidly descending into NAZI-like authoritarianism, and ICE, America’s new Gestapo, is at the head of the spear of this fascism. But you can begin to stop it with the new funding bill that you must consider in a few weeks. I urge you most strongly not to vote for the DHS spending bill unless it:
(1) disarms ICE agents,
(2) prevents them from targeting people based on their race, language, or accent, and
(3) stipulates that agents who harm civilians are liable under criminal and civil laws, and DO NOT have absolute immunity, as absurdly claimed by Vance.
Please take action to protect our precious population of citizens and guests, and save America from the fascist threat of Trump, Miller and other NAZI-like minions, and protect the essence of American liberty and freedom.
You can sign this letter (via resistbot) and have it instantly sent to your reps by texting: SIGN PNSJDL to 50409 It’s so easy! And free! (BTW, I’ve sent many other letters).
Check out the videos of the lives of Your Weirdo Friend here on Substack; she has excellent advice on what to do right now to save ourselves & our vulnerable neighbors from ICE without dangerous confrontations
Hey GrrlScientist, I’m a girl scientist (well, actually fully adult woman scientist too). I have advice. Join a community of resistance from wherever you are. Join your Indivisible chapter. If you’re able to get out and be with like-minded people, it will help. If you can; I understand there may be reasons you’re not able to do that. In the meantime, know that there are many many of us who are resisting and will continue to do so until this horrorshow ends.
Sending you a virtual hug, and to say you are not alone. I enjoy having coffee with Heather, Robert and guests. I love knowing there is a great team that brings us this Klatch. I live alone, too. It isn't easy when you feel you are up against the world with no one at your back. Just know you do have people there for you.
We're all living in isolation together I suppose. But it's become increasingly clear to an ever-wider portion of the country that Trump is indeed behaving like a Dictator and at this point he no longer cares or tries to conceal it.
I moved to red country from Portland, Oregon. The first thing they asked me here was "Are You A Republican?". 2016. We've been isolated and harrassed by MAGA for ten years now. And they are trigger happy here. We were hoping for better. At least we got a home we can afford. I hope they don't steal it from us. We can make it back to Chicago, carefully on these redneck roads. Even that is much harder to do now, for us. I'd watch your savings right now too, it's getting darker on the horizon all around us. We are almost afraid to go to the grocery here, Meijer or Kroger, it's getting so mean and stupid and selfish. Oh, and I lived through and fought in the Cold War with the USAF .... I've seen things things turn out better than expected, despite my fears.
We do not want the central bank being taken over by the President , Vice President and Mr Miller. The three Amigos.
It’s called Interest on Reserves. The Fed Chair, Jay Powell, uses US Domestic Treasury Bonds held by US citizens with the Federal Reserve to set an interest rate that returns to U.S. Citizens on the agreed interest rate.
So the Federal Reserve can reinvest in the international bond market at higher yields to stabilise the National Debt.
And that is why, Senator Tillis is protecting Mr Powell because monetary policy should be independent of the Executive.
The reason is because Mr Powell saved us from Covid, the 2021 and 2023 price surges, which he conflated through, and brought the economy back into stable inflation, through surplus injections.
That is so. We lost USAID and CPFB once DOGE decided to act against the Art 1 powers of Congress. That is why the Impoundment Control Act 1973 was introduced.
Even Congress have ensured ICE have impounded funds to finance the wrongful death case in Minnesota.
Relevantly, on 1.10.2025, the author remarked immediately they did not de-escalate a traffic stop and then shot at a vehicle driving away, in an unlawful use of the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment - Husky (1931).
We don’t need any more Scalia Unitary Executive Theorists : DJT v Trump (2024), Loper Bright (2024), & Rahimi (2024).
Because the BBB was funded by tax breaks through Medicare defunding and deprivation of ACA tax credits to stop inflation of health care insurance.
It’s called normalisation of a paramilitary force to disrupt the midterms. So that the administration can engage in voter suppression going into the mid terms to ensure favourable voting in red states against blue states.
Brace for the kind of rhetoric common in a more rustic society. (That is, pay attention to what he's saying and ignore the way he's saying it - an ability that curiously seems lacking among many of us who ought to know better, that may be a contributing factor to the reality we now face - whence the genesis of the epithet "libtard.")
There were about 40 attempts to assassinate Hitler before and during WW2.
If that happened before the war started just think how many lives would have been saved. There was no appetite for war amongst his acolytes. They knew Germany couldn't resource a long war. It's a tragedy over 60 million people had to die to prove it.
It would have been better to remove him by constitutional means, but his removal would have avoided a lot of trouble.
Colin--If Hitler had any military sense he would have invaded England, they were a beaten country. By taking GB, D-Day, as we know it, would have never happened. Then, with all of Western Europe under his control, operation Barbarossa would have a totally different outcome. Fighting a war on two fronts was Hitler's Waterloo.
If Hitler had any sense he wouldn't have started the war at all. Trying to cross the channel was a massive undertaking, as we discovered when we did it in 1944.
So he used it as a threat to try and get us to talk peace.
The Wehrmacht was a tactical force really and trying to invade us was too much for the Luftwaffe. They didn't know the the RAF was very well prepared and led and had the first integrated air defence system. They had also suffered losses during the Polish Norwegian and French campaigns. This led to defeat.
There was another factor. Hitler himself said " on land I have confidence, on the sea I am a coward."
Great military power doesn't guarantee success. I bet that at the Pentagon they know this all too well.
To Robert Reich's related point toward the end of the Klatch from MLK Jr., that injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere... this Administration is levying injustice across our nation using more than the DOJ, even, but by commandeering and vulgarizing all its Departments. For instance, with our so-called "health" policies killing and maiming our population; the EPA destroying our environment including clean water and air; the Department of the Interior raping our Public Lands; and more, collectively to truly traumatic, and worse -- nearly irreversible ends. We each MUST fight these vast injustices, however we can.
To triumph over injustice you have to win elections, and to win elections you have to convince voters that Trump is no patriot, and that his foreign and domestic policies are bad for the country. It should not be difficult to do.
I've always thought that Susie Wiles is the power behind the throne but you do wonder what she gets out of all this. I am a huge supporter and fan of Kate Manne and hope everyone reads her substack. Glad to find a fellow traveler.
Completely agree. Also wonder about Corey Lewandowski at DHS. So many possibilities. I've been wondering what I would be putting my mind to these days if Harris had been elected. I keep looking for the door to that alternate universe.
And of course there's Noem herself, Lewandowski's boss.
If Harris were president, we'd be able to go about our normal business and get regular life things done without constantly being drained by all this crap we have to attend to. If I think about it much I get awfully sad.
I keep saying "Computer, end program!" but it never works.
I heard on NPR this morning that the government is warning American pilots flying over parts of South America (I'm hazy on the details here)---warning them that the planes could be targeted by computers---to disrupt the flights, I guess. How nice. I wonder how many Americans thought they might be visiting Europe, Canada or Scandinavia this coming summer? Think again.
Trump appeals to our modern instantly-soothed generations, doesn't even have to provide that famous gratification. We have allowed ourselves to take a little at a time through mental necessity but now we're seeing some of the downside. This is planned, it is a project 2025 war tactic, I believe.
Yes! His Executive Team are traitors and should be removed en masse. Immediately. But I also don't refer to Trump as "President" or "47" because I don't believe that either election was legal.
Donald, The original people who inhabited this continent came approximately 28,000 years ago from East Asia and Siberia. America is only 250 years old.
As for Mastadon’s and Wooly Mamoths I’m not clear of when their extinction date, but let’s be a little in more precise with our history.
We have all heard of Bidenomics, now let's consider Trumpinomics. First let's set the stage. Trump complains constantly about the economic state this country was in when he took over the reins in January of 2025. What he inherited was the leftovers of the disaster he gifted to Biden in 2021. Joe's entire administration was an endeavor to rectify the damage Trump created while adding $8 trillion to our national debt in just 4 short years. Trump spends money like Niagara delivers water to the falls. Trump's Billionaire friends are the true forces driving this country's economic interests. To confuse things past insanity, Trump is drunk on tariffs. This is the underlying reason for the high prices "We the People" are suffering through. The cost of a new home today is $498,000. The price of a new car will set you back a good $50,000. The cost of a 4 year education will put the average student in debt to the sum of between $200,000 and $270,000. The cost of raising a single child from birth to adulthood, excluding college tuition, is just under $335,000. Those are some eye opening expenses few today can afford, considering the median wage is roughly $62,000 per individual. Then looking at the economic standings of the average person between the ages of 30 to 39, we find their indebtedness lingering between $85,000 and $135,000 per individual. Throw in the price of goods and services found in today's markets and our people are struggling with Trumpinomics and its affordability issues each and every day, and Donnie--it ain't no hoax. In China the cost of a new family car is between $15,000 and $25,000. Trump won't allow those cars into our country. He is protecting his car producing buddies who build cars we neither need, want, or can afford. Tariff-ic.
All he is looking at is the stock market, he's a fucking idiot. He doesn't understand how the economy works, let alone the complexities of managing a heavily state-influenced economy like the US. As for prices, he looks at inflation (which is a bullshit measure anyway) and ignores how the people who actually live in the country are impacted by his cretinous mismanagement of the economy.
2028 is looking like it's going to be remarkably similar to 2008. A cratering economic apocalypse with a manifestly incompetent leader in charge. Plus ca change.
He knows that most Americans think the stock market is the sole measure of the economy. Some of us know that is not a valid measure for us commoners. However, sadly, there are a lot of people who follow on this fallacy.
I know. But they fucked everything up for him and the Tea Party was born. There's a playbook here. Nuke the economy. Let the other side manage the social fallout and then harvest the social unrest that inevitably follows.
Don’t forget the role of the repugnant congress who is gleefully ignoring all this & allowing the orange stain to run roughshod over our rights! VOTE ‘EM OUT!!!
I think Trumps goal is for the tariffs to replace income tax - so everyone is paying the SAME TARIFF RATE - the poor pay same tariff rate as the rich.
Trump couldn’t tell you the cost of raising a child even if his life depended on it - never has been to a grocery store or bought gasoline - doesn’t understand what a family budget is. Doesn’t know what it means not to afford healthcare or ability to go to a doctor or dentist or optometrist. The main problem with Americans is not asking him “ HOW” will your plans work to make USA a better nation for all?Trumps just says SHIT and people accept it because they too are trying to get revenge on some injustice or just plain uneducated ( Trump brainwashed)
Re TJ Sabula, the autoworker who called Trump a "Pedophile Protector"...
Laura Dickerson, vice president of the United Auto Workers which represents Ford employees, told the union that it is reviewing Sabula’s suspension:
“Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone — including the President of the United States... The autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant is a proud member of a strong and fighting union—the UAW. He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.”
He thinks he's #DonaldDuce but he keeps on proving that he's really #DonaldDunce. He's taking us towards kleptocratic #RepubloFascism but it's the #Project2025Billionaires holding the rudder. They're the ones taking a jackhammer to a fairly efficient and compassionate government, squandering much of America's greatness that started with #TheNewDeal.
They are the true #DeepState, and they probably thought that Trump would flame out by now and they'd get their predictable #VanceThielPresidency.
But the Epstein files have Trump acting like an animal caught in a trap. He'll have to gnaw off a leg to get free, but his insanity demands that his job isn't done until he gnaws off one of our legs too...
Do you think that the billionaires really expected Trump to flame out by now? Such a huge risk, you'd think, but I guess they can afford to wait? Trump is not only caught in a trap, he's trapped in puberty, he never got out of his early teens and now he can't get over getting older. He can't get over losing his hair, losing is muscle tone, losing his virility. (I'm 77-- I know something about getting older.) He can't get over his own mortality. (Neither can Musk and Peter Thiel, for that matter.) He not only needs to lie, he needs to be lied to. You can bet he's willing to gnaw off a leg.
Meanwhile, I read that in one case ICE goons had lunch at a MN restaurant, then returned at closing to arrest the workers.
They do not deserve to eat with the rest of us, with that kind of behavior. Let them bring their own MREs, funded by the billions the GOP Congress gave them.
Excerpted from "How Long? Not Long" -Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. (25 March 1965):
How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?”
I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because “truth crushed to earth will rise again.”
How long? Not long, because “no lie can live forever.”
How long? Not long, because “you shall reap what you sow.”
Thank you for this. So far Trump has dodged all accountability. He's done so many terrible things and somehow it all just brushes past with no consequences to him, only to us. That arc that tends towards justice is being bent out of shape by this horrible man.
I'm not seeing a lot we can do. As long as crazy bullies sign up to become ICE agents by the thousands, as long as Republicans keep supporting his insanity, as long as military members blindly follow orders and people keep buying from Amazon, keep using Facebook, Instagram, etc. nothing will change. There is no consequence for anything he or his henchmen are doing. He did what Hitler did. He has rewritten the narrative and reality and because there is no accountability for his actions, believe believe him.
I'm currently in Germany and I'm horrified when I think about having to go back.
The people in Minneapolis are fighting back. They are trying to watch out for their neighbors, protect schools, and film everything. Filming everything is our superpower. I am a glass mostly empty kind of person but there ARE bright spots. Some businesses are refusing to serve ICE agents. A court in Minnesota issued an injunction against some ICE tactics. And the rest of the world won't take this all lying down. That doesn't mean that America won't go down the tubes but it's not over 'til it's over.
When trump gave the man the Finger he gave it to us all. Shocked gasps will not prevent further insults to us or the Body Politic. The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave needs to act if it wants to deserve the epithet.
The chaos throws the Epstein Files off the top of the news, yet it seems like the info in those files would create a much better understanding of this sh*tshow.
ORGANIZE OVER THE COMMON GOOD DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. JUST READ THE PLATFORM BULLET POINTS. ORGANIZE!!!!
ALLEGIANCE TO OUR PLATFORM AND THE CANDIDATE THAT PROMOTES OUR PLATFORM!
GOOGLE YOUR STATES DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM TO READ IT!
MAKE AMERICA GRATEFUL AGAIN!
The Democratic Platform IS the Preamble to Our Constitution
The Preamble
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The Democratic Party should be the party of Interdependent voters..
Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth (Official Audio) Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth 1967
Thank you so much for this Coffee Klatch, Professor Reich and Mrs. Lofthouse! I appreciate your specific directions for what we, the average American citizen, can do on Tuesday! I have called pretty much every day, but Tuesday I will be very specific when I speak with my representatives in Congress. I truly enjoyed Lena Kahn today. Mayor Mamdani is showing the naysayers exactly what it means to lead and I am so in awe of how he is tackling the problems "of the people" in his city. Leaders should take a lesson from him because he is actually talking and listening to the average American citizen! I can only say I am very disgusted with the orange smear. He showed his total and complete crassness when he shot a bird and said F-you to an American citizen! Never in my many years on this earth have I ever seen a president of our country sink as low as this man has! He has done absolutely nothing good for this country. On Monday, I will be celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life. He was a man that showed you can move mountains without any violence. I will once again, like I do every year, listen to his 'I Have a Dream' speech. Listening to him speak fills me with such a sense of purpose and commitment to doing every thing I possibly can to resist and fight this regime through 'civil disobedience'. I will do what that great representative from Georgia, John Lewis, told us to do. I will get in 'good trouble'. I will do these things because, for me, America is worth it. I love this country and I will fight and resist anyone or anything that threatens to destroy it. Keep fighting, America! Stay strong and stay safe!
Professor Reich and Heather Lofthouse: i don't have anything important to say, but i do want to say this: this weekly video session with both of you is so important to me as i live in isolation, living trapped alone in my desperation and horror at what is happening to the country where i grew up. watching you and your guests speak realistically and honestly about the problems, and explain what is happening nationally as well as locally, and propose methods to deal with our problems is SO IMPORTANT for people like me who tend towards despair and anxiety anyway. it's almost like meeting a friend for coffee, for me, on a weekly basis, to decompress and to begin rebuilding my psyche to meet the challenges in the week ahead. i doubt you'll see this comment (you get thousands of them in a mere few hours) but i just had to say this, i had to put this out there into the world, in the hope that others may read it and also find solace in yourefforts to help us all deal with the terrors of this lawless regime.
and whilst i'm here, let me end with my typical refrain: RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!
I'm still in the states. I use this Klatch as inexpensive weekly therapy, because I struggle constantly to try to understand how we got here, and how anyone could possibly think He (capitalized in jest) was going to make things more affordable for the 98%. How a billionaire would give a sh!t about the working class. I don't get it. Desperation and horror are excellent descriptors. Not strictly alone here, but it sure seems there are more of them than us. The wife works in an old persons home. Most people who live there are well off, because it's expensive, but surprisingly these old rich people, older and richer then I, are feeling the same way as us. Why does this surprise me, you might ask. Well, they come largely from a background of being conservative republicans, and they too are horrified. Perhaps some solace in that some unlikely groups of people are coming to see the truth and it's angering them. We may have hope. And my hope is that it is not too late. A lot of damage has been done. And some innocent people have died as a result of it all.
Rich, one thing about people over 70 is that they have an extended frame of memory to form a balance of historical events, which the youth lack just by their age. Oldsters are touched by the aftermath of WWII, the destruction of Europe and Asia, the McCarthy witch trials, the KKK and Mississippi Burning, Emmitt Till, race riots in our cities, Nixon and the Vietnam War. Society is well-served by elders who deliver their life experiences and expanded knowledge of the World to the less travelled youth struggling to make their way. Great thanks to Bob, Heather and their associates for focusing here on the grave dangers posed to us by the cabal of fascists in power.
Yep, I was little in the 60s but remember the race riots as they were called, and remember MLK, JFK getting assassinated (I was on a school bus and even the bus driver, a staunch Republican, cried all the way home), the Vietnam war, and neighborhood older boys who never came home, Nixon and his shenanigans, air raid drills in school, but no active shooter drills. The draft ended before I finished high school. I did have to register, though. Even in the 70s, dad told me the dems were for working people, and repubs were for business. He was correct. Dad served in Korea and the last half of WW2, where he was occupying Europe. And I remember CBS and all the MSM was honest and balanced, and in no way controlled by the state. Things weren't perfect, but honesty was a virtue impressed upon all of us. We also had extensive civics classes in HS. It even included mock trials.
Right, Rich, I can never forget Sen. Joseph McCarthy with his "Red Scare" of the 1950's and how Mom and Dad, staunch Democrats, muttered in disapproval of his "commie witch hunts" which resulted in ruined careers of numerous prominent people. None of his charges against them were ever proven. He was much more intelligent than drumpster and equally vicious, a true neo-Nazi in his own time. Some war hero.
My Dad and my Uncle Gordon were instrumental in defying the Nazis and crossing the Siegfried line in 1944 and lived on. Uncle on his way to liberating the "Wolf's Lair" in 1945, witnessed the aftermath of the Fascists' insufferable depredations upon humanity at Dachau.
Mom constructed wiring harnesses for B 24 Liberator bombers at the Willow Run assembly plant in Michigan, in 1942 the largest factory for war in the world (Britannica). The people in my family and like-minded souls formed my convictions of right and wrong over a lifetime, and I must profess that the illicit fascist powers under whom we suffer today will go down by our combined efforts like the ones from 80 years ago.
and in Bellevue NE we had the Martin Bomber Plant. The building still exists today, though used for entirely different purposes. I even have/had a "brick" that they awarded to employees for various accomplishments. The bricks were made of wood and creosote, and designed to mitigate static charges from damaging electronics. Most have been removed in renovations.
"Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end..." Thanks for sharing your teachable memories! Joan
Joan, when I read your note I immediately remembered and broke into the tune of this song ~ 'thanks for the memories' ~ ha ... My 'long term' memory is much better than my short term post strokes ~
But it was a pleasant memory and that lifts one's spirit! Enjoy the weekend and stay as far away from the news as possible for a pleasant break:)! Joan
Rich my wife and I discussed this last night, we do need to go back to the 1950's. Not to its morality or technology, but to it's relatively moderately friendly social values .... extended beyond white families. There are a whole damn lot of us who didn't get the privileges. We have the technology, but mankind here in the Western World needs to drop the cowboy pretensions and learn critical thinking and empathy. Will we?
I don't have any answers. I'm 69 and have seen a lot as well. I've seen America's promise almost disappear as it was given away to allow others the freedom to be who they wanted to be. Some of it wasn't so good ... Let's hope there is still a few strong hearts left among us.
I think the people who remember WWII, McCarthy etc are either very old or dead. My father would be 95 and he was a kid during WWII; drafted for Korea but rejected because of his eyes. I was in HS during Watergate but am retired now. Remembering back 60 plus years as a young adult, you would be 78-80 now.
In college, we each were asked to write a research paper on events we considered important from the year we were born. Being born in 1950, McCarthy and that whole insanity provided great pickings and there I was, a burgeoning hippie demonstrating against the war in Viet Nam and for Civil Rights and Women's Rights, learning just how batsh*t crazy this country was when I was born. It feels like we are seeing that sort of insanity now, to a more ugly and threatening degree. We have a supposed president who is obviously suffering from severe narcissism and increasing dementia sending out troops of ICE agents with guns but minimal (if any) training into cities where all the seem to be truly accomplishing is threatening, injuring and killing AMERICAN CITIZENS and creating an environment that WOULD NEVER EXIST IF ICE WEREN'T THERE. The TRUTH? The Mango Manure Pile 💩 and JustaDick Vance and Puppy Killer Noem are all personally responsible for the horror show invasions by allegedly American troops into American cities for NO OTHER REASON than the 💩and the other 👹want to play at being powerful and HIDE THE EPSTEIN FILES
Bound to repeat it self rinnce repeat
Right in there, Meighan! When I was in 7th grade in 1960, I bet a classmate 5 bucks from my paper route money that Kennedy would win the presidency. I thought for sure that Nixon would ruin the country, and 12 years later he came damn close.
But we had some premise of checks and balances back then. They have been recent;y eradicated
Rich, here is a good one from Harry Litman about drumpf's headlong demolition of the rule of law.
https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/new-depths-of-corruption-in-minnesota
As I have aged I know I have become more tolerant of people and their life styles. Now I am a very liberal Democrat.
You know, that's how I identify. When I mentioned this to my conservative neighbor, he said "no Rich, you're conservative. He knows damn well I'm pro-choice and a democrat, and believe in equality and all the things that go with it. We recently discussed some missing Mexican neighbors. He said they were probably "ICEd". He said he didn't really think that is funny. So he does have principles. My task at hand is to project myself to mainstream conservatives that there is a lot to agree on, and that we too have a set of morals and principles we live by. Liberals are not the thugs and extremists that conservatives make us out to be. The calling is to educate them, one by one, especially those who truly wear the badge of Christianity.
I think they know that the names we are called are just to make people angry. Us for being called names and them doing it. It is promoted by the great orange in the white house. Sometimes, I think his lackies make him practice what he says to get it right. I knew he would be bad the first time he was elected but he is worse than I ever thought a person could be. He has a script somewhere that we don't see.
relating to the quirks at a previous job "I think they have a school somewhere that teaches these people those things"
Old people are also reliable voters!
judging by my experiences with seeing very few younger people at the polls, I believe you are correct. It also appears a majority of the protesters are older people as well. Just look at the comments on all these substacks, again dominated by older people. BTW, when I saw younger people voting, I thanked them.
Bravo Rich Penc for thanking the young people for voting since it may help influence their friends too!
I had a few discussions with younger people at work, when I was there. They are resigned to the possibility SS would not be there for them. I told them that us older people have kids too, and we do care. We're going to do our best to ensure they get back what they pay into the system. I also told them we're fully aware of the affordability crisis, how rents have gotten out of control, and housing is unaffordable. With respect to this, I always wonder why we focus as a collective in building McMansions as opposed to the old way of producing an adequate supply of so-called "starter homes". No, we do not need to focus on apartments, we need more affordable homes that are smaller, thus cheaper. After aall, families are smaller these days. Who needs a 5000 square foot mansion anymore aside from the top 1%.
What you say is so true Rich Penc. My heart goes out to the young with so many obstacles ahead for them: will there be work, housing, livable wages, healthcare coverage, the affordable basics of food and clothing, new social safety nets! Geez, it seems America is quickly morhphing into a third world country before our eyes. Sadly, I don't think the oligarchs care, including what governmental system we have. If they did care, I would think men, like Jamie Dimon, would truly speak in an honest fashion. Ouch! Joan
I'm wondering if 'the younger people' vote by mail because of their "busy busy schedules" ? ? ? so you don't see many at the poles, waiting in line ~ hmm?
yes, indeed rich.
i am nearly constantly bothered by (intrusive) thoughts of all those innocents who were disappeared (where are the alligator alcatraz prisoners?), who were tortured, injured (a permanently fractured skull and a lost EYE?) raped, or murdered, and who now are being publicly vilified by the MSM and others. it's outrageous and beyond belief. and to think that i once was conflicted between pursuing a career in science versus a career in journalism! to think that i once admired journalists as being the guardians of the nation's ethics. i am deeply saddened by this betrayal, by my personal loss of a dream -- a dream that probably never was, to be honest.
I join you in the struggle to understand how we got here. People who explain Trump's re-election as a vote on the cost of living, or a vote against the "system" that hasn't worked for them, simply don't make sense to me. I actually believe things ought to make sense. I know humans beings are predictably irrational but I can't help it. I think we're right on the edge of the cliff---teetering. Maybe we've always been there and I didn't notice. I do hope it's not too late.
My formal training is in the sciences, so I always use logic in approaching any problem. Logic is defied here. Truth is denied. All I can conclude is that we have a lot of evil people amongst us (present company on these substacks excluded).
Logic and science are our only hope. It's a pretty age old struggle, isn't it? Truth versus delusion. Also, I think, courage over fear. I once thought education---of any sort---would lead to enlightenment but that turned out to be a pipe dream. Evil---especially in the form of greed and the thirst for power---can trump (pardon the expression) almost anything.
there's some evil people here, too. the platform owners are unapologetic nazis ...
I have so noted this as well
Thank you, Rich. You expressed many of my thoughts as well. 🇺🇲
Thank you and all the others as well, for one thing, helping to maintain sanity through the chaos and evil.
Rich, I too am often surprised when I learn that a Trumper or Trumpette has decided that things have gone too far even for them. I forget that those folks see themselves as patriots as I see myself and that Trump has trampled on their faith, their values, their nation as has been done to mine. Yes, there are a bunch still who cling to the hope for a white nation where white men can rule as they have in the past, but most people want peace, a decent living, work to do that has meaning, a good family, a place to live that is of some quality and stability, and leaders who don't just pretend to care about them. We need to work a bit harder to reach more of them or maybe even the ones who have hitched their wagon to MAGA, and don't care for anything deeper than that' it's what they belong to, like their favorite sports team. The ridiculous hats are made like baseball caps. Now, each time I think of MAGA, I think of the Danish protesters whose signs say "MAGA" Make America Go Away." Maybe we need to turn "MAGA" into something less than white supremacist-sounding (Make America Green Again, MAGA Americans Ghastly, Appalling, Moral Americans Get Activated! MAGA Americans gain Adolescence? (finally), Make America Generous Again, etc.).
Sending you a tip of my mug, GrllScientist. Somehow I can't get out of my mind what Karl Rove (advisor to George W. Bush) called us —the reality-based community. As a scientist, that's your beat, and I support you. We are a community, for sure, and you are part of it.
Where is the holdup on those files?
well, indeed! it seems that removing the orange rapist's name from the files before releasing them to the public (never mind the epstein files are NOT supposed to be altered in any way) seems to make them into stacks and stacks of blackened unreadable pages. and like, how many pages in total are there? 20 MILLION?
the cover up continues. WE WANT NAMES!!! Names of pedos.
I wonder if it will even happen in our lifetimes? The regime is actively doing things to distract from this hideous matter--they are not oblivious to this for certain.
Only the victims' names were to be redacted.
The holdup is that, not only is Trump’s name & very likely VIDEO evidence of him raping 13-15 yr old girls, all over them, in hundreds of places; but also the names & video evidence of very wealthy & powerful people. I’m sure that those names & their actions are so deeply involved in horrific crimes throughout that mass of evidence, that there is no way to remove or redact all of them without it being blatantly obvious to even the most casual observer. I’m certain that there are CEOs & other upper management of major banks & corporations, past & present members of Congress & state govts, religious leaders, & also foreign heads of state & diplomats.
Just in case you missed it, AG Pam Bondi made the public statement that there is lots of child pornography in there that is so horrific that the public will never see it. Take a guess at how that was filmed? It is a well known fact that Epstein had pinhole cameras in every room throughout all of his many, many properties, where he brought his “guests” individually & for larger groups for parties. Homes in NYC, Palm Beach, the Island, Zorro Ranch in northern NM, & a home in Paris. Also a he had a guesthouse that was his on Les Wexner’s huge compound in New Albany, OH. Many of these places, such as Zorro Ranch & the guesthouse, were never even searched by the FBI or local authorities!!! Why do we suppose that happened?? This is such a huge issue, that LE itself should be investigated for dereliction of duty & even obstruction of justice. I’m very certain there is enough evidence to actually decimate American’s trust in govt, society & culture for decades to come. There’s likely LEO & the judiciary involved too. All of the tubs & rooms full of this evidence could be released with one word from Trump, & yet he won’t do it.
The very fact that FBI directors of both parties---since the original complaint in 1996---have never pursued this case. That tells you almost all you need to know about the people who are implicated in these files. Thanks for all of these details.
Yes, party affiliation is irrelevant on this matter--it gets down to behavior.
Oh, my gawd... "porn that is so horrific the public will never see it"? Where did all of this information come from? the cover-up is bigger than every imagined... evidently these people don't understand that they won't be able to cover up forever... the reality WILL surface at some point. LEO... is that Leonard Leo you're talking about? Perhaps when tRump is fully demented, he will accidently spill his guts about all of this. Ghislaine KNOWS... she knows ALL of it.
Just - Pam Bondi the current AG said that about “child pornography so horrendous the public will never see it” She said that many months ago, about the same time that she said the list of clients was on her desk.
LEO stands for Law Enforcement Officer. But of course Leonard Leo’s money is all in this takeover of the entire American govt.
Apparently Ghislaine considers "all of this" as normal playtime. Thus, she can live without feeling ashamed or guilty of any crime. It reminds me of the final scene in the original "Great Gatsby" movie with Redford and Farrow. F. Scott Fitzgerald knew these types well and his writing of them is honest. (The movie is my top favorite since it tells the truth of our country that has yet to transform.)
at the DoJ
The K-L-I-N-T-O-N-S. geddit?
Even if ALL the files were released unredacted, it would not make the slightest difference for the MAGA population. They have already seen the faT rump's true nature, clearly visible for anyone to see. And it has made no difference to his zombie supporters. Even today, after all we have seen of this tyrannical monster, 42% of the voting age Americans still are supporting him! That number is to me truly shocking. And horrifying!
I don’t think that 42% is correct anymore
42% seems too high -
Dear GrrlScientist,
The feeling of helplessness and isolation is very reasonable, and I sympathize. But there are communities of resistance out there that we can become a part of.
There are many organizations/communities that are out there joined in their resistance and getting ready for much much more. There are resistive actions you can take EVERY DAY, and feel belonging in joint action to push back to create a better America.
Here are some communities to join: activateamerica.vote, 5calls.org, nokings.org, fiftyfifty.one/act-now, ww.mobilize.us, /indivisible.org/, and my new favorite resist.bot which is a fantastic tool for tracking and understanding issues and sending emails, texts and letters to your reps, and connecting to protests. (I highly recommend resist.bot!)
For example, I’ve used resist.bot to send the DHS/ICE funding resistance suggestions made by Prof. Reich and Heather to my reps (via email - but fax and snailmail options are there too), this is what I said in my letter:
This is an emergency: Rein in ICE - America’s Gestapo America is rapidly descending into NAZI-like authoritarianism, and ICE, America’s new Gestapo, is at the head of the spear of this fascism. But you can begin to stop it with the new funding bill that you must consider in a few weeks. I urge you most strongly not to vote for the DHS spending bill unless it:
(1) disarms ICE agents,
(2) prevents them from targeting people based on their race, language, or accent, and
(3) stipulates that agents who harm civilians are liable under criminal and civil laws, and DO NOT have absolute immunity, as absurdly claimed by Vance.
Please take action to protect our precious population of citizens and guests, and save America from the fascist threat of Trump, Miller and other NAZI-like minions, and protect the essence of American liberty and freedom.
You can sign this letter (via resistbot) and have it instantly sent to your reps by texting: SIGN PNSJDL to 50409 It’s so easy! And free! (BTW, I’ve sent many other letters).
Check out the videos of the lives of Your Weirdo Friend here on Substack; she has excellent advice on what to do right now to save ourselves & our vulnerable neighbors from ICE without dangerous confrontations
Hey GrrlScientist, I’m a girl scientist (well, actually fully adult woman scientist too). I have advice. Join a community of resistance from wherever you are. Join your Indivisible chapter. If you’re able to get out and be with like-minded people, it will help. If you can; I understand there may be reasons you’re not able to do that. In the meantime, know that there are many many of us who are resisting and will continue to do so until this horrorshow ends.
i've looked for local chapters but there isn't even a chapter in the country where i am currently trapped.
le sigh!
Sending you a virtual hug, and to say you are not alone. I enjoy having coffee with Heather, Robert and guests. I love knowing there is a great team that brings us this Klatch. I live alone, too. It isn't easy when you feel you are up against the world with no one at your back. Just know you do have people there for you.
We're all living in isolation together I suppose. But it's become increasingly clear to an ever-wider portion of the country that Trump is indeed behaving like a Dictator and at this point he no longer cares or tries to conceal it.
https://politicalperspectives2025.substack.com/p/the-ultimate-bucket-list
I moved to red country from Portland, Oregon. The first thing they asked me here was "Are You A Republican?". 2016. We've been isolated and harrassed by MAGA for ten years now. And they are trigger happy here. We were hoping for better. At least we got a home we can afford. I hope they don't steal it from us. We can make it back to Chicago, carefully on these redneck roads. Even that is much harder to do now, for us. I'd watch your savings right now too, it's getting darker on the horizon all around us. We are almost afraid to go to the grocery here, Meijer or Kroger, it's getting so mean and stupid and selfish. Oh, and I lived through and fought in the Cold War with the USAF .... I've seen things things turn out better than expected, despite my fears.
Here's to Freedom. MLK Day, 2026
The administration wants normalisation to interfere within voting booths and voting lines.
GrrlScientist--great post! Your support for our country is meaningful. Joan
We do not want the central bank being taken over by the President , Vice President and Mr Miller. The three Amigos.
It’s called Interest on Reserves. The Fed Chair, Jay Powell, uses US Domestic Treasury Bonds held by US citizens with the Federal Reserve to set an interest rate that returns to U.S. Citizens on the agreed interest rate.
So the Federal Reserve can reinvest in the international bond market at higher yields to stabilise the National Debt.
And that is why, Senator Tillis is protecting Mr Powell because monetary policy should be independent of the Executive.
The reason is because Mr Powell saved us from Covid, the 2021 and 2023 price surges, which he conflated through, and brought the economy back into stable inflation, through surplus injections.
That is so. We lost USAID and CPFB once DOGE decided to act against the Art 1 powers of Congress. That is why the Impoundment Control Act 1973 was introduced.
Even Congress have ensured ICE have impounded funds to finance the wrongful death case in Minnesota.
Relevantly, on 1.10.2025, the author remarked immediately they did not de-escalate a traffic stop and then shot at a vehicle driving away, in an unlawful use of the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment - Husky (1931).
We don’t need any more Scalia Unitary Executive Theorists : DJT v Trump (2024), Loper Bright (2024), & Rahimi (2024).
Because the BBB was funded by tax breaks through Medicare defunding and deprivation of ACA tax credits to stop inflation of health care insurance.
Thank you, Mr Reich.
They have civic and peaceful love for the rights of the neighbourhood principle.
It’s called normalisation of a paramilitary force to disrupt the midterms. So that the administration can engage in voter suppression going into the mid terms to ensure favourable voting in red states against blue states.
Do not fall for the trick. Do not even give him a chance to use the Insurrection Act to normalise violence on American streets.
He's going to try to stop the midterms, have his ICE goons at polling aces, and demanding papers, and scaring people away from the polls.
The definition of a true ass kisser is a person who Trump pardons twice.
Or a person who has too much money…
Mr. Hodgins: You may find this of interest if you haven't come across it:
https://youtu.be/XBA2jz4Y9uM?si=9curaTyQGid432he
Brace for the kind of rhetoric common in a more rustic society. (That is, pay attention to what he's saying and ignore the way he's saying it - an ability that curiously seems lacking among many of us who ought to know better, that may be a contributing factor to the reality we now face - whence the genesis of the epithet "libtard.")
Or Machado.
The "Night of the Long Knives" was Hitler's way of dealing with dissenters. Donald Trump accomplishes the same purpose through the use of "his" DOJ.
There were about 40 attempts to assassinate Hitler before and during WW2.
If that happened before the war started just think how many lives would have been saved. There was no appetite for war amongst his acolytes. They knew Germany couldn't resource a long war. It's a tragedy over 60 million people had to die to prove it.
It would have been better to remove him by constitutional means, but his removal would have avoided a lot of trouble.
Colin--42 attempts is the correct number.
Thanks for the correction. We can only hope that Trump is got rid of without doing anything like this.
Colin-- It wasn't so much of a correction as it was an adjustment.
Thanks for you consideration Donald. It's just a question of what terms are used. No problem at all.
The Black Panthers are headed to MN to protect. ???
Colin--If Hitler had any military sense he would have invaded England, they were a beaten country. By taking GB, D-Day, as we know it, would have never happened. Then, with all of Western Europe under his control, operation Barbarossa would have a totally different outcome. Fighting a war on two fronts was Hitler's Waterloo.
If Hitler had any sense he wouldn't have started the war at all. Trying to cross the channel was a massive undertaking, as we discovered when we did it in 1944.
So he used it as a threat to try and get us to talk peace.
The Wehrmacht was a tactical force really and trying to invade us was too much for the Luftwaffe. They didn't know the the RAF was very well prepared and led and had the first integrated air defence system. They had also suffered losses during the Polish Norwegian and French campaigns. This led to defeat.
There was another factor. Hitler himself said " on land I have confidence, on the sea I am a coward."
Great military power doesn't guarantee success. I bet that at the Pentagon they know this all too well.
To Robert Reich's related point toward the end of the Klatch from MLK Jr., that injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere... this Administration is levying injustice across our nation using more than the DOJ, even, but by commandeering and vulgarizing all its Departments. For instance, with our so-called "health" policies killing and maiming our population; the EPA destroying our environment including clean water and air; the Department of the Interior raping our Public Lands; and more, collectively to truly traumatic, and worse -- nearly irreversible ends. We each MUST fight these vast injustices, however we can.
To triumph over injustice you have to win elections, and to win elections you have to convince voters that Trump is no patriot, and that his foreign and domestic policies are bad for the country. It should not be difficult to do.
Imho, 47 does what he does because Susan Wiles is the wind beneath his wings. With her history as a former corporate lobbyist and casserole maker for friends and neighbors, she knows how to get things done. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/susie-wiles-trump-cabinet-chief-of-staff-net-worth-b2682925.html When I ask myself what could possibly provoke these desperate, universally-condemned acts, the only answer I can come up with is Katie Johnson and the other Epstein survivors. Repost: Katie Johnson alleges that when she was a 13 year old child, she was tied to the 4 corners of a bed and raped, with onlookers ignoring her screams for help. I spent my career as a middle school guidance counselor. In 1994, the year this allegedly took place, the most popular Christmas gifts for 13 year old girls were Furby and Polly Pocket. Here’s her testimony. https://katemanne.substack.com/p/the-actual-conspiracy-theory-surrounding. https://katemanne.substack.com/p/they-tried-to-bury-the-katie-johnson?r=2g4u&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true
I've always thought that Susie Wiles is the power behind the throne but you do wonder what she gets out of all this. I am a huge supporter and fan of Kate Manne and hope everyone reads her substack. Glad to find a fellow traveler.
It seems to me that Stephen Miller is a huge factor and likely is the person making the immigration decisions.
Completely agree. Also wonder about Corey Lewandowski at DHS. So many possibilities. I've been wondering what I would be putting my mind to these days if Harris had been elected. I keep looking for the door to that alternate universe.
And of course there's Noem herself, Lewandowski's boss.
If Harris were president, we'd be able to go about our normal business and get regular life things done without constantly being drained by all this crap we have to attend to. If I think about it much I get awfully sad.
I keep saying "Computer, end program!" but it never works.
I heard on NPR this morning that the government is warning American pilots flying over parts of South America (I'm hazy on the details here)---warning them that the planes could be targeted by computers---to disrupt the flights, I guess. How nice. I wonder how many Americans thought they might be visiting Europe, Canada or Scandinavia this coming summer? Think again.
His conduct was condemned by his childhood rabbi. https://www.timesofisrael.com/stephen-miller-slammed-by-childhood-rabbi-in-rosh-hashana-sermon/
Trump appeals to our modern instantly-soothed generations, doesn't even have to provide that famous gratification. We have allowed ourselves to take a little at a time through mental necessity but now we're seeing some of the downside. This is planned, it is a project 2025 war tactic, I believe.
Please don’t refer to Trump and his backers as Americans, they are not true Americans they are traitors.
Yes! His Executive Team are traitors and should be removed en masse. Immediately. But I also don't refer to Trump as "President" or "47" because I don't believe that either election was legal.
Turns out it wasn’t.
https://substack.com/@gregpalastinvestigates/note/p-156671315?r=a1gc1&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Susan--The only true Americans hunted Mastodons and wooly mammoths into extinction.
Donald, The original people who inhabited this continent came approximately 28,000 years ago from East Asia and Siberia. America is only 250 years old.
As for Mastadon’s and Wooly Mamoths I’m not clear of when their extinction date, but let’s be a little in more precise with our history.
I refer to Trump as our Dictator in Chief (DIC).
He’s definitely a DIC
Trumpinomics--
We have all heard of Bidenomics, now let's consider Trumpinomics. First let's set the stage. Trump complains constantly about the economic state this country was in when he took over the reins in January of 2025. What he inherited was the leftovers of the disaster he gifted to Biden in 2021. Joe's entire administration was an endeavor to rectify the damage Trump created while adding $8 trillion to our national debt in just 4 short years. Trump spends money like Niagara delivers water to the falls. Trump's Billionaire friends are the true forces driving this country's economic interests. To confuse things past insanity, Trump is drunk on tariffs. This is the underlying reason for the high prices "We the People" are suffering through. The cost of a new home today is $498,000. The price of a new car will set you back a good $50,000. The cost of a 4 year education will put the average student in debt to the sum of between $200,000 and $270,000. The cost of raising a single child from birth to adulthood, excluding college tuition, is just under $335,000. Those are some eye opening expenses few today can afford, considering the median wage is roughly $62,000 per individual. Then looking at the economic standings of the average person between the ages of 30 to 39, we find their indebtedness lingering between $85,000 and $135,000 per individual. Throw in the price of goods and services found in today's markets and our people are struggling with Trumpinomics and its affordability issues each and every day, and Donnie--it ain't no hoax. In China the cost of a new family car is between $15,000 and $25,000. Trump won't allow those cars into our country. He is protecting his car producing buddies who build cars we neither need, want, or can afford. Tariff-ic.
All he is looking at is the stock market, he's a fucking idiot. He doesn't understand how the economy works, let alone the complexities of managing a heavily state-influenced economy like the US. As for prices, he looks at inflation (which is a bullshit measure anyway) and ignores how the people who actually live in the country are impacted by his cretinous mismanagement of the economy.
2028 is looking like it's going to be remarkably similar to 2008. A cratering economic apocalypse with a manifestly incompetent leader in charge. Plus ca change.
He knows that most Americans think the stock market is the sole measure of the economy. Some of us know that is not a valid measure for us commoners. However, sadly, there are a lot of people who follow on this fallacy.
Yes - I agree - isn’t it sickening?
But Obama was finally elected 2008!
I know. But they fucked everything up for him and the Tea Party was born. There's a playbook here. Nuke the economy. Let the other side manage the social fallout and then harvest the social unrest that inevitably follows.
Don’t forget the role of the repugnant congress who is gleefully ignoring all this & allowing the orange stain to run roughshod over our rights! VOTE ‘EM OUT!!!
I think Trumps goal is for the tariffs to replace income tax - so everyone is paying the SAME TARIFF RATE - the poor pay same tariff rate as the rich.
Trump couldn’t tell you the cost of raising a child even if his life depended on it - never has been to a grocery store or bought gasoline - doesn’t understand what a family budget is. Doesn’t know what it means not to afford healthcare or ability to go to a doctor or dentist or optometrist. The main problem with Americans is not asking him “ HOW” will your plans work to make USA a better nation for all?Trumps just says SHIT and people accept it because they too are trying to get revenge on some injustice or just plain uneducated ( Trump brainwashed)
Reporters should be asking:
How does his tax plan work?
How does his tariff plan work?
How does his health plan work?
How does his immigration plan work?
How does his Venezuelan plan work?
How does his Greenland plan work ?
Trump can’t answer any of these questions.
Re TJ Sabula, the autoworker who called Trump a "Pedophile Protector"...
Laura Dickerson, vice president of the United Auto Workers which represents Ford employees, told the union that it is reviewing Sabula’s suspension:
“Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone — including the President of the United States... The autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant is a proud member of a strong and fighting union—the UAW. He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.”
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - George Orwell, 1984. #Politics
we are getting daily proof of this truth.
He thinks he's #DonaldDuce but he keeps on proving that he's really #DonaldDunce. He's taking us towards kleptocratic #RepubloFascism but it's the #Project2025Billionaires holding the rudder. They're the ones taking a jackhammer to a fairly efficient and compassionate government, squandering much of America's greatness that started with #TheNewDeal.
They are the true #DeepState, and they probably thought that Trump would flame out by now and they'd get their predictable #VanceThielPresidency.
But the Epstein files have Trump acting like an animal caught in a trap. He'll have to gnaw off a leg to get free, but his insanity demands that his job isn't done until he gnaws off one of our legs too...
Do you think that the billionaires really expected Trump to flame out by now? Such a huge risk, you'd think, but I guess they can afford to wait? Trump is not only caught in a trap, he's trapped in puberty, he never got out of his early teens and now he can't get over getting older. He can't get over losing his hair, losing is muscle tone, losing his virility. (I'm 77-- I know something about getting older.) He can't get over his own mortality. (Neither can Musk and Peter Thiel, for that matter.) He not only needs to lie, he needs to be lied to. You can bet he's willing to gnaw off a leg.
The restaurants, supermarkets. Should refuse to sell to people that want to kill them.
Absolutely. Thank you!
Meanwhile, I read that in one case ICE goons had lunch at a MN restaurant, then returned at closing to arrest the workers.
They do not deserve to eat with the rest of us, with that kind of behavior. Let them bring their own MREs, funded by the billions the GOP Congress gave them.
People need to start spitting in their food before serving it to ICE
Excerpted from "How Long? Not Long" -Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. (25 March 1965):
How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?”
I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because “truth crushed to earth will rise again.”
How long? Not long, because “no lie can live forever.”
How long? Not long, because “you shall reap what you sow.”
Thank you for this. So far Trump has dodged all accountability. He's done so many terrible things and somehow it all just brushes past with no consequences to him, only to us. That arc that tends towards justice is being bent out of shape by this horrible man.
You're welcome. Dr King's words have inspired me all my life. I hope the excerpt I posted has inspired others as well.
I'm not seeing a lot we can do. As long as crazy bullies sign up to become ICE agents by the thousands, as long as Republicans keep supporting his insanity, as long as military members blindly follow orders and people keep buying from Amazon, keep using Facebook, Instagram, etc. nothing will change. There is no consequence for anything he or his henchmen are doing. He did what Hitler did. He has rewritten the narrative and reality and because there is no accountability for his actions, believe believe him.
I'm currently in Germany and I'm horrified when I think about having to go back.
Bellavita recommendation of restaurants and grocery stores refuse to sell ICE. Brilliant!
The people in Minneapolis are fighting back. They are trying to watch out for their neighbors, protect schools, and film everything. Filming everything is our superpower. I am a glass mostly empty kind of person but there ARE bright spots. Some businesses are refusing to serve ICE agents. A court in Minnesota issued an injunction against some ICE tactics. And the rest of the world won't take this all lying down. That doesn't mean that America won't go down the tubes but it's not over 'til it's over.
Have to march in tens of thousands of people so they can see how many are coming for Trump to remove him
When trump gave the man the Finger he gave it to us all. Shocked gasps will not prevent further insults to us or the Body Politic. The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave needs to act if it wants to deserve the epithet.
The chaos throws the Epstein Files off the top of the news, yet it seems like the info in those files would create a much better understanding of this sh*tshow.
And hes giving the Venezuelan oil money to Qatar which will then give it to him. please discuss that fraud.
Project 2026 If Brazil can do it, so can we!
Win the Senate and House, Impeach and Prosecute.
ORGANIZE ORGANIZE ORGANIZE!!!!!
ORGANIZE OVER THE COMMON GOOD DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. JUST READ THE PLATFORM BULLET POINTS. ORGANIZE!!!!
ALLEGIANCE TO OUR PLATFORM AND THE CANDIDATE THAT PROMOTES OUR PLATFORM!
GOOGLE YOUR STATES DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM TO READ IT!
MAKE AMERICA GRATEFUL AGAIN!
The Democratic Platform IS the Preamble to Our Constitution
The Preamble
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The Democratic Party should be the party of Interdependent voters..
Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth (Official Audio) Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth 1967
Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth 1967
Thank you so much for this Coffee Klatch, Professor Reich and Mrs. Lofthouse! I appreciate your specific directions for what we, the average American citizen, can do on Tuesday! I have called pretty much every day, but Tuesday I will be very specific when I speak with my representatives in Congress. I truly enjoyed Lena Kahn today. Mayor Mamdani is showing the naysayers exactly what it means to lead and I am so in awe of how he is tackling the problems "of the people" in his city. Leaders should take a lesson from him because he is actually talking and listening to the average American citizen! I can only say I am very disgusted with the orange smear. He showed his total and complete crassness when he shot a bird and said F-you to an American citizen! Never in my many years on this earth have I ever seen a president of our country sink as low as this man has! He has done absolutely nothing good for this country. On Monday, I will be celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life. He was a man that showed you can move mountains without any violence. I will once again, like I do every year, listen to his 'I Have a Dream' speech. Listening to him speak fills me with such a sense of purpose and commitment to doing every thing I possibly can to resist and fight this regime through 'civil disobedience'. I will do what that great representative from Georgia, John Lewis, told us to do. I will get in 'good trouble'. I will do these things because, for me, America is worth it. I love this country and I will fight and resist anyone or anything that threatens to destroy it. Keep fighting, America! Stay strong and stay safe!