Eight years ago when I warned my friends on Facebook about the latent fascism of the Trump cult, I was reprimanded as an alarmist, or derided as crazy by some. I kept insisting I was right. The signs were there for everyone to see. I was lambasted for speaking out against the appeasement branch of the Republican Party. I was told my remarks were unfair, that Republicans were "good people". Well, guess what? So were the 1930's Germans "good people". They just wanted to be proud of their country again and to rebuild their industrial and military power. And closing their eyes to bigotry and bullying was what they did. Until their country was turned into a giant ruined graveyard, their women violated wholesale by the Russians, and the truth came out. "Gee, we didn't know they were slaughtering our neighbors." "We were (helplessly) following orders." America is supposed to be better than that. We're supposed to be tolerant, welcoming, rational, and democratic. Trump is everything contrary to those characteristics. And those who have embraced him get no warm feelings of understanding or empathy from me. They're sick, infected by a political virus, and their view of Americanism has been horribly warped. I want no part of their vision for the future.
As Kamala is the daughter (a female) of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, not only is Trump attacking the current immigrants, he is utilizing these 5 fascist identifiers to personally attack his opponent, Kamala.
Trump is a sick and deranged person.
Trump needs psychiatric help.
Trump also needs to go to prison for the rest of his life to pay for his crimes and receive the medical help he so desperately needs that he won’t seek on his own behalf.
Never to late to revoke their citizenship and send them packing. We did it some German immigrants and naturalized citizens before WW 2. They were here pushing the Nazi lies and trying to overthrow our elections and government. Good by to them Biden should do this as his last act of patriotism for our country. Cheers... GH
Yes, and Peter Thiel wasn't born in the U.S. either. It's so ironic that these kleptocrats came to our beautiful democracy because it offered unlimited advancement for them and they prospered under our system. Now they want to tear it down.
Fake Americans they may be, but they came to the US to multiply their wealth and power. I don’t think they want to destroy our system as much as they want to destroy everyone who is not part of their cozy little white cabal. Racists and bullies to their very core.
Peter Thiel has said that he considers democracy incompatible with freedom. Both of these guys want to "deconstruct the administrative state". Bottom line is they want a system that allows them to rule.
The question was asked: Are all of Elon Musk's children surrogates? Answer from the business Insider:
Yes, Musk used IVF to conceive five of his children with his first wife Justine, as were Musk's twins he had last year with his Neuralink employee, Shivon Zilis. It's unclear whether Zilis' third child with Musk was conceived with IVF. His second and third children with Grimes were born through a surrogate. Jul 29, 2024
Elon Musk's Children: Meet His Kids and Their Mothers - Business Insider
Cécile, yep, just another rich white hypocrite male. Those women who had children from his sperm must have been desperate because I doubt his offspring will miss all of his bad qualities and there are many.
My reaction learning about this was a bit different: Maybe it is because I'm French., but that is just not normal. I find it quite strange that none of his kids were conceived "the normal way", by normal "jousting between the sheets".
Is he impotent ? Does he hate contact with women contact so much that he can't bring himself there? It is very odd that with 3 different women he doesn't seem to have had a normal, healthy sexual relationship from which children were born.
Was it ARA [Assisted Reproductive Arrangement]? Sometimes, the sperm quality is poor and the sperms of 2 different men is used so that the intended father can still pretend that he is indeed the real father. The male ego is soothed and unless there are inheritance problems and paternity suits, no one is ever the wiser.
The fact that the last mother was a Neurolink *employee* makes me extremely uncomfortable. Could the employee of a very rich man easily refuse to become a mother to some of his children?
He seems to be quite generous to all of them... A way to keep them quiet? NDAs, anyone?
I don't think he actually knows who she is. I think she's one of Putin's agents, sent to "marry" Trump to keep an eye on him and report back to Putin. Ivana too. It's clearly not a marriage in the American sense.
Not really. Some American men, unsure of themselves, purposefully choose wives from other countries and cultures, to establish "male dominance" over their wives and their children. (Jose Menendez is an undeniable example.)
Immigrants are needy Keith, not prone to make trouble, like filing for a divorce.
My second wife was an immigrant, I was needy, and she filled that need and I was a ticket to the land of the big B.X (Base exchange). it took 10 years to admit error, but I filed for the divorce she never would.
I tell people who denigrate immigrants that all the time. We are all the descendents of immigrants - even DJT and 2 of his wives are. 4 of his children are too! Funny he has no clue.
I agree with your sentiment Jeannie, but technically you and I and millions of others are not since we were born here. Descended from immigrants yes, and most who have 17th and 18th Century roots are descended from indentured servants and even slaves (the Irish were periodicallyenslaved, especially by Cromwell, and Scottish Romani were sent as slaves to the Carolinas, if they so much as stole a loaf of bread, that or hanging.
Yes, sending 'undesirables' to America worked out pretty well: No need for jails or an infrastructure and it was commonplace:
Purpose
Transportation to America was a form of criminal punishment that began in the 17th century as an alternative to execution. It provided a workforce for the colonies and got criminals off the streets.
Number of convicts
Between 1615 and 1699, about 2,300 convicts were sent to the colonies. In the 1700s, more than 52,200 convicts were sent.
Destination
Most convicts were sent to Maryland and Virginia, with Virginia receiving about half of those convicts.
Business
British businessmen contracted with local sheriffs to transport convicts to the colonies. They selected the convicts they wanted and sold their labor to the colonists.
Other countries
Sweden, the Dutch, and the French also transported criminals to the Americas. [Have you seen the movie "Papillon"? Henri Charrière, who wrote the story stated that it was 75% true. He was the convict, so he knows what he is talking about.]
End of transportation
The American War of Independence ended in 1783, and America refused to accept more convicts. England then began sending convicts to Australia instead.
Keith, yes, how ironic that they both despise immigrants, yet are married to immigrants. I keep wondering what Vance's wife thinks of her hubby's hatred of everyone not white and male. What about his children! It makes my brain hurt to think Vance has children. We see what the children of Trump are like. Fascists breed fascists unless they break out of the insanity. A few Germans in the 1930s did break out and made up a resistance movement in Germany, but not many; it was easier to go along and hope not to be noticed. Hitler knew how easy it is to get gullible scared people to do whatever the bully wants them to do. He surrounded himself with thugs even more willing to commit mass murder and other crimes than he himself was. Trump is and has always been a coward, but he has cultivated a pit crew that seems willing to do almost anything if they get the right kind of "permission" and guarantee that they won't face negative consequences for their crimes. They have gathered guns, gotten legislatures to OK guns almost everywhere, for white men mostly, though. They have courted police forces and turned a blind eye to the many murders police perpetrate each year, an out of proportion number of them, men of color. Trump is terrified of women, so he treats women like dirt while whining that he is women's protector; he isn't. He is a whiny toddler-man who knows how to manipulate vulnerable people, with the training of a con artist who has few other talents or abilities. It is time the American people stand up to the bullies and say "NO! We're not going to take it anymore," then Dump Trump and Kump!
Well, we know about the dysfunctional relationship between Trump and Melania but your comma just makes me wonder how JD Vance treats his wife? Is he putting on an act for the public and is really a nice guy underneath? I doubt it but we may eventually find outwhen his wife writes a book.
What's ironic is, low IQ leftists that bring it up, always miss the part where their wives entered the country legally, not by swimming across the Rio Grande then transported via cattle truck to a squat outside El Paso.
Trump is beyond psychotherapy, less than a powerful antipsychotic drug, in order to deaden the animosity he feels to anyone not in his mirror image. Should he get back in,
look for the swastika to appear on the armbands of his sycophants, as if by magic.
The eugenicist: one extremely hateful campaign ad features groups of LGBTQ persons as the worst examples of humanity, of the kind whose welfare Kamala would protect. T is an absolute fiend, and if justice existed, he would have been banished from the streets and the airwaves long ago. The most dangerous person in the hemisphere, including all the bad guys from south of the border.
I agree with everything except the swastika armbands.
They are at least smart enough to have created their own membership symbols and uniforms: the red MAGA cap and (for the leadership cadre) the blue suit and red tie.
Many of his cultists aren't that smart, Michael. Check out these neo-Nazis in full regalia, from a flotilla of drumpf-worshipers whooping it up in Florida. (from Wajahat Ali)
But those COS-play Nazis are only a tiny sub-group that gives the rest of MAGA plausible deniability (“Look, at least we’re not as bad as ‘real’ Nazis.”)
When in fact they are just as bad, and will certainly commit similar atrocities, if given the chance.
For the swastika armbands, give it time. They are not all that creative and copy a number of Hitler's 'best hits' ["poisoning the blood", Fake News, große Lüge as a propaganda tool,...The Kaiser Reich Party and soon, if he is elected, concentration camps to deport "illegal" immigrants, first for darker skinned foreigners, but after that, who knows?]
They say history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.
Mark Twain is credited with the comment, "History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme". William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature".
Dennis, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck wrote about the danger of malignant narcissists, of which Donald Trump is an archetype. Peck says that such people cannot be cured.
His niece Mary, a degreed psychologist, sees through him to his core, and I'm sure she would agree. Read some of her illuminating articles in her recent Substack columns, like 'The Bringer of Death' and 'He's Decompensating before Our Eyes'
He's a full-blown psychotic. He scores something like 33 on a test with 44 points, whereas most Americans score 4. "Malignant narcissist" is a nice way of saying full-blown psychotic. They are equivalent terms. Donald Trump and his buddy Hannibal Lechter. Cannibals and murderers united.
Actually, he isn’t psychotic, he’s a psychopath. He scored 44 on a variant of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. A psychotic is a mental illness. Trump isn’t mentally ill (well maybe a bit) he knows exactly what he is doing, he just doesn’t care, in fact, he does not have the capacity for empathy.
Right you are, they are born incomplete, they are not made incomplete. There is no conscience - it is completely missing and no Elon Musk chip that can fix it.
Trump may be psychotic but I doubt it. He is most definitely a psychopath and has been so labelled by a number of psychiatrists and psychologists who use one or more variants of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. It is important to remember that a psychopath is not “mentally ill.” Psychopaths are fully aware of what they are doing, they simply do not have the capacity to care. A psychopath has no empathy, no concerns for others, malignant narcissism, and finds joy in hurting others (“Your fired!”). All those who have applied the psychopathy checklist have found Donald John Trump at the extreme end of the psychological index.
Why waste the money? As often as he's fucked over his employees, bankers, suppliers, investors, many of who were involved with the mafia, how no one hasn't fixed his "issues" amazes me...
Let's just put him on an island in a straitjacket and use his remaining money to feed him Big Macs and well-paid prostitutes with well-funded 401k plans.
45 is NOT the one the MAGA cult wants in the Oval Office. If he were to win this election straight- up, he would be hit with the 25th amendment before he lowers his right hand on inauguration day. If he loses, the election tesults will be tied up for months, the final arbitrator? THE US SUPREME COURT!
JD Vance, while terrifying and dangerous to many, many of us, is the "logical" choice to the now obviously, undeniably deranged (possibly demented) #45. JD Vance has been groomed by MAGA's inner circle, his path cleared by the corrupt Supreme Court. Now, like the "for real" Manchurian Candidate," he lies in wait to fufill his destiny and OUR nightmare. (Hoping I'm wrong.)
I also see this as an opportunistic action by JD Vance to replace what he called "America's Hitler" with himself. All the Democrats and half of the Republicans in congressional House and the Senate would be ready to impeach or use the 25th amendment to replace Donald Trump with JD Vance. I just want to see who JD Vance would choose as his Vice president. At least Elon musk does not qualify because he is not a natural born citizen of the USA. I still do not see what Elon musk has to gain when all of his businesses go against the Republican agenda that denies climate science and hates electric vehicles.
"All the Democrats and half of the Republicans in congressional House and the Senate would be ready to impeach or use the 25th amendment to replace Donald Trump with JD Vance".
I don't think so. I do believe that Democrats, at least, would not want JD Vance, who, IMHO, would be much more dangerous: JD is a lot smarter and has the ability to listen to counsel. He is also not as lazy as Trump.
Also, this expression about "natural born citizen". That was a made up term that was used against Obama by Trump. It is not a real thing: [there is no gradation in the levels of citizenship]
Either you are a citizen or you are not, and you can become a citizen through Naturalization, lottery or birth. For birth, the *minimum* requirement is that ONE of your parents must be American. Obama's mother was American, and so he qualified hands down, in spite of all the birtherism nonsense.
As a French National with a green card, I can tell you that under Trump, the fee to become American through Naturalization has gone up... WAY up!:
As far as Elon Musk and what he has to gain, you and I may not quite comprehend it because I suspect we are both 'normal' people. but when you are so rich, the next thing you want is power: that is the only thing left, and it is the stuff of megalomania.
In that, he has found in Trump a twin brother of sorts, his "soul brother"...
That is an interesting take. I don't think that JD Vance could pull it off because he doesn't have Trump's charisma [if we can call it that].
Yet I have a feeling that JD would love for the 78 year old to just not wake up some day.
When you see what he used to think of Trump and what a complete reversal he has made to now be so obsequious toward him, that is a very disturbing thing about his character. The ability to so compartmentalize who you were and who you are,, switch from one extreme to another also indicates that something is very wrong with JD's personality. Shall I say it, WEIRD.
Trump also is showing increasing signs of dementia. His speeches about Hannibal Lecter, sharks vs boat batteries, flies, etc demonstrate his diminished capabilities.
😂😂😂😂 yet they portray Harris as a Black African American and clearly she isn’t!
But because she is a women that she couldn’t be fascist or dictator or communist that she clearly is. The immigrants coming into the USA and Canada are terrorists hiding in plain sight yet Democrats have tunnel delusional vision.
Kerry, I was born in Germany in 1946 where I grew up (left in 1970). I also warned people eight years ago (I had a blog then). But I never thought it could really happen here -- somehow, I identified Nazis with Germans, although I know there were lots of them in other countries in Europe, and also in the U.S. It's only now that I realize that fascism can happen anywhere, because a few ultra-rich, selfish, ruthless people just want more power and more money, and because many other people are blinded by a strong authority figure, by fear of "the other", by subconscious values that are propped up by their belief systems. It's sobering.
Trouble is ultra-rich fascists die and leave their corruption and barbarism behind to infect generations that follow. Witness how MAGA cult members don’t have any idea that they are dispensable brainwashed ciphers for the fascists. They have no idea that ConOld is channeling the most vicious ideology of the last 100 years. (Ignoring for the moment Mao’s China). Should Trump win they will go bewildered into gulags and continue to blame ‘others’ for their circumstances. When ConOld loses the election they will protest and whine about how much ‘better’ their sad lives would be under their Orange turd. Sad that the country once the beacon of liberty and democratic values has become the laughing stock of the free world in thrall to a carnival barker, fraudster and sexual predator (among almost all other criminal and moral failings). Taken your country back America. Vote like hell. Help Harris remove the orange stain, wash, repeat and rinse MAGA out. Reclaim your future.
But under our taxation system, they can now leave sizable wealth to their heirs and create a "Dynasty" shifting taxation onto the middle class in income taxes on wages and Social Security benefits.
Just as nepotism in business and politics is a dirty word, dynastic wealth should also be labeled as such and be subject to a 90% inheritance tax. Plain and simple.
That is what "living trusts" are for to carry the wealth past the tax man. Just tax "Capital Gains" as regular income like the rest of us hard working Americans are taxed on wages and throw in Social Security contributions up to the current limits as well. The heirs get theirs taxed every year on capital gains as well.
Please remember that the German nazis of the 1920's/30's adopted their racist values from the success of the white supremacist movements of the American south after the Civil War. Americans are exemplary, both positive and negative, and our politics reflects that fact!
Adolf Hitler was so enamored with America for destroying the Native Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries and the oppression of blacks in the south, he named the private train he would ride in "AMERICA". Now America is getting a new bunch of Fascist leaders in Donald Trump and JD Vance.
I feel the same way as you do Kerry. I, too, warned family and friends eight long years ago. It was clear as day to me then, and always has been. I passionately posted about this very thing on social media and managed to “offend” so many people, and even got into arguments with my husband because his (conservative) friends thought I was “crazy.” Even some Democratic friends said my use of the word “fascism” was hyperbolic. Yet, here we are Kerry. Hard to believe it’s been nearly a decade of enduring this horrid, horrid man, the putrid fecklessness of our justice system that so clearly favors the rich and powerful and white and the deep weakness and stupidity of my fellow Americans. As impassioned and outspoken as I have been for so long, I am so wearied by it all at this point. As we stand at the precipice, all I can do now is hope. All I can do is encourage others to vote. It’s the Twilight Zone, The Handmaids Tale, and 1984 all wrapped up together in our shared, terrifying reality.
I hope so deeply that we make it through this, that Harris wins, and that horrifying man is sent to prison along with his circle of equally awful co-conspirators. Justice served to these fascist traitors would be oh so deserved and, admittedly, rather delicious. As a country, we deserve that closure. Just as Ford should never have pardoned Nixon as it ultimately led to this nightmare, punishment for crimes committed can heal. And we desperately need healing.
I’m not the one trolling the well respected post of Robert Reich. 😑 But here you are taking time out of your busy Nazi schedule to make a useless comment on an intellectual’s post. You add nothing of value here.
It is crucial to understand that there are many people that fascism appeals to. It isn’t enough to repeat the fascist statements. In fact doing so is helping the fascist reach his audience.
What is necessary is to clearly demonstrate what happens after they take over by showing that everyone loses. Germans, Spaniards and Italians suffered greatly because of their fascist governments.
There are purges because no one is trusted. Paranoia rules.
When the roundups begin neighbors and colleagues turn on each other because they are afraid that a neighbor or colleague will turn them in and they can’t afford to wait.
When there are roundups there are quotas of the number to be picked up each day. It isn’t done carefully. Just bring in people who could be in the selected group without doing any “research”. Once brought in there is no one to appeal to. No one cares if you are actually a legal resident. There is no downside for bringing in innocent people.
This last point is an important message to anyone who is an immigrant or looks like one or has a relative that looks like one. It doesn’t matter if you are legal and have been here for years. If a person looks Latino they will be vulnerable in the future police state.
The same for any person of color. The same for those who are in neighborhoods that have homes or property that is desired.
If your neighbor desires what you have they will be incentivized to turn you in and take what they want.
Fascism is frightening because it unleashes predators and violence, not because it is immoral and undemocratic.
You are absolutely right! I am amazed by HOW so many people do NOT see Trump as a fascist. Are they ignorant? Are they insensitive toward their American compatriots? or Are they plainly fascist, exactly like Trump? We'll find out on November 5th and I hope that America does the right thing and saves our democracy
Eight years ago when I warned my friends on Facebook about the latent fascism of the Trump cult, I was reprimanded as an alarmist, or derided as crazy by some. I kept insisting I was right. The signs were there for everyone to see. I was lambasted for speaking out against the appeasement branch of the Republican Party. I was told my remarks were unfair, that Republicans were "good people". Well, guess what? So were the 1930's Germans "good people". They just wanted to be proud of their country again and to rebuild their industrial and military power. And closing their eyes to bigotry and bullying was what they did. Until their country was turned into a giant ruined graveyard, their women violated wholesale by the Russians, and the truth came out. "Gee, we didn't know they were slaughtering our neighbors." "We were (helplessly) following orders." America is supposed to be better than that. We're supposed to be tolerant, welcoming, rational, and democratic. Trump is everything contrary to those characteristics. And those who have embraced him get no warm feelings of understanding or empathy from me. They're sick, infected by a political virus, and their view of Americanism has been horribly warped. I want no part of their vision for the future.
Understand what Trump is doing.
As Kamala is the daughter (a female) of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, not only is Trump attacking the current immigrants, he is utilizing these 5 fascist identifiers to personally attack his opponent, Kamala.
Trump is a sick and deranged person.
Trump needs psychiatric help.
Trump also needs to go to prison for the rest of his life to pay for his crimes and receive the medical help he so desperately needs that he won’t seek on his own behalf.
Isn’t it ironic that the republicans nominees are both married to immigrants?
And that creep Musk is an immigrant??
So are Murdoch & Thiel. These 3 foreigners are the "immigrants that are poisoning our blood" of which Trump speaks or should be speaking.
Never to late to revoke their citizenship and send them packing. We did it some German immigrants and naturalized citizens before WW 2. They were here pushing the Nazi lies and trying to overthrow our elections and government. Good by to them Biden should do this as his last act of patriotism for our country. Cheers... GH
Jaime, yes, and those three immigrant guys are certainly not worth the trouble they have caused for the American people and our democracy.
He was referring to illegal immigrants.
Yes, and Peter Thiel wasn't born in the U.S. either. It's so ironic that these kleptocrats came to our beautiful democracy because it offered unlimited advancement for them and they prospered under our system. Now they want to tear it down.
Fake Americans they may be, but they came to the US to multiply their wealth and power. I don’t think they want to destroy our system as much as they want to destroy everyone who is not part of their cozy little white cabal. Racists and bullies to their very core.
Peter Thiel has said that he considers democracy incompatible with freedom. Both of these guys want to "deconstruct the administrative state". Bottom line is they want a system that allows them to rule.
Ilene, I think it is the same thing; it will be destroying America as we know it for something definitely not for the better.
Yes, from South Africa.
from another planet
Send them all to Mars or wherever they will just die💀
This guy is weird! Musk has fathered a large number of h children through IVF! Look at this article on the Wiki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#:~:text=Elon%20has%20a%20younger%20brother,was%20wealthy%20during%20Elon's%20youth.
You just can't make that shtuff up!
The question was asked: Are all of Elon Musk's children surrogates? Answer from the business Insider:
Yes, Musk used IVF to conceive five of his children with his first wife Justine, as were Musk's twins he had last year with his Neuralink employee, Shivon Zilis. It's unclear whether Zilis' third child with Musk was conceived with IVF. His second and third children with Grimes were born through a surrogate. Jul 29, 2024
Elon Musk's Children: Meet His Kids and Their Mothers - Business Insider
Business Insider
https://www.businessinsider.com › elon-musk-children
Cécile, yep, just another rich white hypocrite male. Those women who had children from his sperm must have been desperate because I doubt his offspring will miss all of his bad qualities and there are many.
My reaction learning about this was a bit different: Maybe it is because I'm French., but that is just not normal. I find it quite strange that none of his kids were conceived "the normal way", by normal "jousting between the sheets".
Is he impotent ? Does he hate contact with women contact so much that he can't bring himself there? It is very odd that with 3 different women he doesn't seem to have had a normal, healthy sexual relationship from which children were born.
Was it ARA [Assisted Reproductive Arrangement]? Sometimes, the sperm quality is poor and the sperms of 2 different men is used so that the intended father can still pretend that he is indeed the real father. The male ego is soothed and unless there are inheritance problems and paternity suits, no one is ever the wiser.
The fact that the last mother was a Neurolink *employee* makes me extremely uncomfortable. Could the employee of a very rich man easily refuse to become a mother to some of his children?
He seems to be quite generous to all of them... A way to keep them quiet? NDAs, anyone?
The EEK factor is strong here, icky, even. Yuck.
And, how often do they mention their wives names?
Sometimes tRump doesn’t even get his wife’s name right…
I don't think he actually knows who she is. I think she's one of Putin's agents, sent to "marry" Trump to keep an eye on him and report back to Putin. Ivana too. It's clearly not a marriage in the American sense.
Trump is a dirty old man
Baron is also an ANCHORBABY!
When Trump speaks about Baron he refers to him as “her child”instead of “our child”.
He was born in the 14th month of the marriage, so the trophy wife didn't have the excuse of being pregnant when she married him.
Not really. Some American men, unsure of themselves, purposefully choose wives from other countries and cultures, to establish "male dominance" over their wives and their children. (Jose Menendez is an undeniable example.)
Immigrants are needy Keith, not prone to make trouble, like filing for a divorce.
My second wife was an immigrant, I was needy, and she filled that need and I was a ticket to the land of the big B.X (Base exchange). it took 10 years to admit error, but I filed for the divorce she never would.
Everyone is an immigrant except the indigenous tribes!!!
I tell people who denigrate immigrants that all the time. We are all the descendents of immigrants - even DJT and 2 of his wives are. 4 of his children are too! Funny he has no clue.
I agree with your sentiment Jeannie, but technically you and I and millions of others are not since we were born here. Descended from immigrants yes, and most who have 17th and 18th Century roots are descended from indentured servants and even slaves (the Irish were periodicallyenslaved, especially by Cromwell, and Scottish Romani were sent as slaves to the Carolinas, if they so much as stole a loaf of bread, that or hanging.
Yes, sending 'undesirables' to America worked out pretty well: No need for jails or an infrastructure and it was commonplace:
Purpose
Transportation to America was a form of criminal punishment that began in the 17th century as an alternative to execution. It provided a workforce for the colonies and got criminals off the streets.
Number of convicts
Between 1615 and 1699, about 2,300 convicts were sent to the colonies. In the 1700s, more than 52,200 convicts were sent.
Destination
Most convicts were sent to Maryland and Virginia, with Virginia receiving about half of those convicts.
Business
British businessmen contracted with local sheriffs to transport convicts to the colonies. They selected the convicts they wanted and sold their labor to the colonists.
Other countries
Sweden, the Dutch, and the French also transported criminals to the Americas. [Have you seen the movie "Papillon"? Henri Charrière, who wrote the story stated that it was 75% true. He was the convict, so he knows what he is talking about.]
End of transportation
The American War of Independence ended in 1783, and America refused to accept more convicts. England then began sending convicts to Australia instead.
One is white, northern European, the other iis dark skinned but wealthy, and fascists respect wealth.
I wonder if Vance will deport Mrs (Usha-from-India) Vance if he gets elected? They can assign some 16-year-old blonde to marry him.
Everyone is an immigrant in the USA: just ask the indigenous Americans !
Keith, yes, how ironic that they both despise immigrants, yet are married to immigrants. I keep wondering what Vance's wife thinks of her hubby's hatred of everyone not white and male. What about his children! It makes my brain hurt to think Vance has children. We see what the children of Trump are like. Fascists breed fascists unless they break out of the insanity. A few Germans in the 1930s did break out and made up a resistance movement in Germany, but not many; it was easier to go along and hope not to be noticed. Hitler knew how easy it is to get gullible scared people to do whatever the bully wants them to do. He surrounded himself with thugs even more willing to commit mass murder and other crimes than he himself was. Trump is and has always been a coward, but he has cultivated a pit crew that seems willing to do almost anything if they get the right kind of "permission" and guarantee that they won't face negative consequences for their crimes. They have gathered guns, gotten legislatures to OK guns almost everywhere, for white men mostly, though. They have courted police forces and turned a blind eye to the many murders police perpetrate each year, an out of proportion number of them, men of color. Trump is terrified of women, so he treats women like dirt while whining that he is women's protector; he isn't. He is a whiny toddler-man who knows how to manipulate vulnerable people, with the training of a con artist who has few other talents or abilities. It is time the American people stand up to the bullies and say "NO! We're not going to take it anymore," then Dump Trump and Kump!
Well, we know about the dysfunctional relationship between Trump and Melania but your comma just makes me wonder how JD Vance treats his wife? Is he putting on an act for the public and is really a nice guy underneath? I doubt it but we may eventually find outwhen his wife writes a book.
What's ironic is, low IQ leftists that bring it up, always miss the part where their wives entered the country legally, not by swimming across the Rio Grande then transported via cattle truck to a squat outside El Paso.
Who happen to be legal immigrants, not drug-carrying, sex trafficking illegals. Big difference!
Trump is beyond psychotherapy, less than a powerful antipsychotic drug, in order to deaden the animosity he feels to anyone not in his mirror image. Should he get back in,
look for the swastika to appear on the armbands of his sycophants, as if by magic.
The eugenicist: one extremely hateful campaign ad features groups of LGBTQ persons as the worst examples of humanity, of the kind whose welfare Kamala would protect. T is an absolute fiend, and if justice existed, he would have been banished from the streets and the airwaves long ago. The most dangerous person in the hemisphere, including all the bad guys from south of the border.
And that's why all the leaders of democracies in the world are scared to death of him becoming President again.
I agree with everything except the swastika armbands.
They are at least smart enough to have created their own membership symbols and uniforms: the red MAGA cap and (for the leadership cadre) the blue suit and red tie.
Many of his cultists aren't that smart, Michael. Check out these neo-Nazis in full regalia, from a flotilla of drumpf-worshipers whooping it up in Florida. (from Wajahat Ali)
https://thelefthook.substack.com/p/the-enemy-from-within-are-maga-not
I agree, some aren’t that smart.
But those COS-play Nazis are only a tiny sub-group that gives the rest of MAGA plausible deniability (“Look, at least we’re not as bad as ‘real’ Nazis.”)
When in fact they are just as bad, and will certainly commit similar atrocities, if given the chance.
Until T turns on them... and he will. Cheers... GH
His closing line: There is an enemy within- its name is MAGA.
For the swastika armbands, give it time. They are not all that creative and copy a number of Hitler's 'best hits' ["poisoning the blood", Fake News, große Lüge as a propaganda tool,...The Kaiser Reich Party and soon, if he is elected, concentration camps to deport "illegal" immigrants, first for darker skinned foreigners, but after that, who knows?]
They say history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.
Beautiful, Cécile, well done, indeed! 💙💙💙💙
Mark Twain is credited with the comment, "History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme". William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature".
Dennis, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck wrote about the danger of malignant narcissists, of which Donald Trump is an archetype. Peck says that such people cannot be cured.
His niece Mary, a degreed psychologist, sees through him to his core, and I'm sure she would agree. Read some of her illuminating articles in her recent Substack columns, like 'The Bringer of Death' and 'He's Decompensating before Our Eyes'
See a book cslled: "DONT FEED THE NARCISSISTS!"
He's a full-blown psychotic. He scores something like 33 on a test with 44 points, whereas most Americans score 4. "Malignant narcissist" is a nice way of saying full-blown psychotic. They are equivalent terms. Donald Trump and his buddy Hannibal Lechter. Cannibals and murderers united.
Actually, Hannibal was a lot more likable.
Actually, he isn’t psychotic, he’s a psychopath. He scored 44 on a variant of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. A psychotic is a mental illness. Trump isn’t mentally ill (well maybe a bit) he knows exactly what he is doing, he just doesn’t care, in fact, he does not have the capacity for empathy.
Right you are, they are born incomplete, they are not made incomplete. There is no conscience - it is completely missing and no Elon Musk chip that can fix it.
Peck was just reluctant to use the socially unacceptable cure.
…and his ‘children’?
Dennis may I repost your reply.
Please!
Thank you.
Trump may be psychotic but I doubt it. He is most definitely a psychopath and has been so labelled by a number of psychiatrists and psychologists who use one or more variants of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. It is important to remember that a psychopath is not “mentally ill.” Psychopaths are fully aware of what they are doing, they simply do not have the capacity to care. A psychopath has no empathy, no concerns for others, malignant narcissism, and finds joy in hurting others (“Your fired!”). All those who have applied the psychopathy checklist have found Donald John Trump at the extreme end of the psychological index.
Forget medical help. Just get him into jail where he belongs. I don't think his malignant narcissistic sociopath can be cured.
Malignant narcissists don’t think there’s anything wrong with them, so psychotherapy doesn’t work for them. Prison would be a better place for him.
Why waste the money? As often as he's fucked over his employees, bankers, suppliers, investors, many of who were involved with the mafia, how no one hasn't fixed his "issues" amazes me...
Let's just put him on an island in a straitjacket and use his remaining money to feed him Big Macs and well-paid prostitutes with well-funded 401k plans.
Maybe Alcatraz. I hear it's available.
I meant sociopathy
not a sociopath. Way beyond that. Full-blown psychopath.
45 is NOT the one the MAGA cult wants in the Oval Office. If he were to win this election straight- up, he would be hit with the 25th amendment before he lowers his right hand on inauguration day. If he loses, the election tesults will be tied up for months, the final arbitrator? THE US SUPREME COURT!
JD Vance, while terrifying and dangerous to many, many of us, is the "logical" choice to the now obviously, undeniably deranged (possibly demented) #45. JD Vance has been groomed by MAGA's inner circle, his path cleared by the corrupt Supreme Court. Now, like the "for real" Manchurian Candidate," he lies in wait to fufill his destiny and OUR nightmare. (Hoping I'm wrong.)
I also see this as an opportunistic action by JD Vance to replace what he called "America's Hitler" with himself. All the Democrats and half of the Republicans in congressional House and the Senate would be ready to impeach or use the 25th amendment to replace Donald Trump with JD Vance. I just want to see who JD Vance would choose as his Vice president. At least Elon musk does not qualify because he is not a natural born citizen of the USA. I still do not see what Elon musk has to gain when all of his businesses go against the Republican agenda that denies climate science and hates electric vehicles.
"All the Democrats and half of the Republicans in congressional House and the Senate would be ready to impeach or use the 25th amendment to replace Donald Trump with JD Vance".
I don't think so. I do believe that Democrats, at least, would not want JD Vance, who, IMHO, would be much more dangerous: JD is a lot smarter and has the ability to listen to counsel. He is also not as lazy as Trump.
Also, this expression about "natural born citizen". That was a made up term that was used against Obama by Trump. It is not a real thing: [there is no gradation in the levels of citizenship]
Either you are a citizen or you are not, and you can become a citizen through Naturalization, lottery or birth. For birth, the *minimum* requirement is that ONE of your parents must be American. Obama's mother was American, and so he qualified hands down, in spite of all the birtherism nonsense.
As a French National with a green card, I can tell you that under Trump, the fee to become American through Naturalization has gone up... WAY up!:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/02/19/us-citizenship-application-fee-increase/72578216007/
As far as Elon Musk and what he has to gain, you and I may not quite comprehend it because I suspect we are both 'normal' people. but when you are so rich, the next thing you want is power: that is the only thing left, and it is the stuff of megalomania.
In that, he has found in Trump a twin brother of sorts, his "soul brother"...
That is an interesting take. I don't think that JD Vance could pull it off because he doesn't have Trump's charisma [if we can call it that].
Yet I have a feeling that JD would love for the 78 year old to just not wake up some day.
When you see what he used to think of Trump and what a complete reversal he has made to now be so obsequious toward him, that is a very disturbing thing about his character. The ability to so compartmentalize who you were and who you are,, switch from one extreme to another also indicates that something is very wrong with JD's personality. Shall I say it, WEIRD.
I saw a great yard sign the other day: "Trump for Prison 2024."
Trump also is showing increasing signs of dementia. His speeches about Hannibal Lecter, sharks vs boat batteries, flies, etc demonstrate his diminished capabilities.
😂😂😂😂 yet they portray Harris as a Black African American and clearly she isn’t!
But because she is a women that she couldn’t be fascist or dictator or communist that she clearly is. The immigrants coming into the USA and Canada are terrorists hiding in plain sight yet Democrats have tunnel delusional vision.
What is your favorite Kool-Aid flavor?
Apparently it’s orange but it smells like piss 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Certainly not what you’ve been drinking!
Duh!
😂😂😂
Kerry, I was born in Germany in 1946 where I grew up (left in 1970). I also warned people eight years ago (I had a blog then). But I never thought it could really happen here -- somehow, I identified Nazis with Germans, although I know there were lots of them in other countries in Europe, and also in the U.S. It's only now that I realize that fascism can happen anywhere, because a few ultra-rich, selfish, ruthless people just want more power and more money, and because many other people are blinded by a strong authority figure, by fear of "the other", by subconscious values that are propped up by their belief systems. It's sobering.
The ultra rich cannot take it with them! They are as mortal as the rest of us!!
Trouble is ultra-rich fascists die and leave their corruption and barbarism behind to infect generations that follow. Witness how MAGA cult members don’t have any idea that they are dispensable brainwashed ciphers for the fascists. They have no idea that ConOld is channeling the most vicious ideology of the last 100 years. (Ignoring for the moment Mao’s China). Should Trump win they will go bewildered into gulags and continue to blame ‘others’ for their circumstances. When ConOld loses the election they will protest and whine about how much ‘better’ their sad lives would be under their Orange turd. Sad that the country once the beacon of liberty and democratic values has become the laughing stock of the free world in thrall to a carnival barker, fraudster and sexual predator (among almost all other criminal and moral failings). Taken your country back America. Vote like hell. Help Harris remove the orange stain, wash, repeat and rinse MAGA out. Reclaim your future.
But under our taxation system, they can now leave sizable wealth to their heirs and create a "Dynasty" shifting taxation onto the middle class in income taxes on wages and Social Security benefits.
Just as nepotism in business and politics is a dirty word, dynastic wealth should also be labeled as such and be subject to a 90% inheritance tax. Plain and simple.
That is what "living trusts" are for to carry the wealth past the tax man. Just tax "Capital Gains" as regular income like the rest of us hard working Americans are taxed on wages and throw in Social Security contributions up to the current limits as well. The heirs get theirs taxed every year on capital gains as well.
No pockets in shrouds!
They are delusional. Somehow they think they can take their money with them when they die.
Please remember that the German nazis of the 1920's/30's adopted their racist values from the success of the white supremacist movements of the American south after the Civil War. Americans are exemplary, both positive and negative, and our politics reflects that fact!
Adolf Hitler was so enamored with America for destroying the Native Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries and the oppression of blacks in the south, he named the private train he would ride in "AMERICA". Now America is getting a new bunch of Fascist leaders in Donald Trump and JD Vance.
Let us name T airplane "Hitler". Cheers... GH
I feel the same way as you do Kerry. I, too, warned family and friends eight long years ago. It was clear as day to me then, and always has been. I passionately posted about this very thing on social media and managed to “offend” so many people, and even got into arguments with my husband because his (conservative) friends thought I was “crazy.” Even some Democratic friends said my use of the word “fascism” was hyperbolic. Yet, here we are Kerry. Hard to believe it’s been nearly a decade of enduring this horrid, horrid man, the putrid fecklessness of our justice system that so clearly favors the rich and powerful and white and the deep weakness and stupidity of my fellow Americans. As impassioned and outspoken as I have been for so long, I am so wearied by it all at this point. As we stand at the precipice, all I can do now is hope. All I can do is encourage others to vote. It’s the Twilight Zone, The Handmaids Tale, and 1984 all wrapped up together in our shared, terrifying reality.
I hope so deeply that we make it through this, that Harris wins, and that horrifying man is sent to prison along with his circle of equally awful co-conspirators. Justice served to these fascist traitors would be oh so deserved and, admittedly, rather delicious. As a country, we deserve that closure. Just as Ford should never have pardoned Nixon as it ultimately led to this nightmare, punishment for crimes committed can heal. And we desperately need healing.
Malignant narcissists often come to a bad end because they are destroyers, not builders. They often poison the organizations that employ them.
That’s a very accurate description of Liberal leader PM Trudeau in Canada.
Go troll someplace else, fool. This is a MAGAt free zone. 👋
😂😂😂😂 typical Democrat
I’m not the one trolling the well respected post of Robert Reich. 😑 But here you are taking time out of your busy Nazi schedule to make a useless comment on an intellectual’s post. You add nothing of value here.
Amen!
USA now seems like an episode from The X Files.☠️☠️☠️☠️
Fight Nazis. https://www.mobilize.us/
David Bautista did a good job communicating to “real men” on Kimmel. https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/dave-bautista-donald-trump-video-kimmel-1235135975/
It is crucial to understand that there are many people that fascism appeals to. It isn’t enough to repeat the fascist statements. In fact doing so is helping the fascist reach his audience.
What is necessary is to clearly demonstrate what happens after they take over by showing that everyone loses. Germans, Spaniards and Italians suffered greatly because of their fascist governments.
There are purges because no one is trusted. Paranoia rules.
When the roundups begin neighbors and colleagues turn on each other because they are afraid that a neighbor or colleague will turn them in and they can’t afford to wait.
When there are roundups there are quotas of the number to be picked up each day. It isn’t done carefully. Just bring in people who could be in the selected group without doing any “research”. Once brought in there is no one to appeal to. No one cares if you are actually a legal resident. There is no downside for bringing in innocent people.
This last point is an important message to anyone who is an immigrant or looks like one or has a relative that looks like one. It doesn’t matter if you are legal and have been here for years. If a person looks Latino they will be vulnerable in the future police state.
The same for any person of color. The same for those who are in neighborhoods that have homes or property that is desired.
If your neighbor desires what you have they will be incentivized to turn you in and take what they want.
Fascism is frightening because it unleashes predators and violence, not because it is immoral and undemocratic.
The purges of t
Well said, Kerry!
You are absolutely right! I am amazed by HOW so many people do NOT see Trump as a fascist. Are they ignorant? Are they insensitive toward their American compatriots? or Are they plainly fascist, exactly like Trump? We'll find out on November 5th and I hope that America does the right thing and saves our democracy
I too was a voice crying in the wilderness Kerry.
I will not suffer Fascism in any form.
Fortunately, I had the ways and means to expatriate to Costa Rica.
I haven't looked back !