Trump's selections, who will possibly have a say in this country's future, "must" be required to pass an FBI background check. Trump wants to forgo this process which the American people need in order to maintain a healthy level of confidence in their government. These picks are doing our country a disservice by swearing their fidelity to a man who doesn't want their expertise. Trump only wants them to agree with his personal level of ignorance when applied to a specific problem. If Trump was a man of vision he would welcome opinions that might stand in direct opposition to his own thinking. The AG should be an individual with years of experience in the field of constitutional law. The secretary of Defense should be an active member of the military holding the status of a 4 star general. The secretary of agriculture should be a person actively engaged in some field directly related to farming. The secretary of education should be devoted to the development of our children's minds through progressive learning. Presidents never possess the ability to solve every issue that presents itself without help from the experts who understand the parameters of a problem better than a novis. What Trump is proposing is an inverted nightmare. Donnie would love to follow his gut and be backed up by his cabinet unanimously, regardless of how ridiculous his position may sound. By giving valued positions to people who only possess the ability to say "Yes" does nothing to promote a sense of well-being throughout this country. Our people aren't that ignorant, they know enough to be concerned about discovering a lump in their partner's breast. As our country stands under Trump. Lady Liberty is in line for a double mastectomy with Donnie boy substituting himself as the anesthesiologist. We will need more than luck to get through this one.
Right — these positions are supposed to be for the LEADERS of these agencies, administering policy and LEADING … Trump is putting in executive secretaries who will just do whatever he says, offering no expertise or leadership. He TOLD us he wanted the deference that Kim gets in North Korea and that Putin gets in Russia. He made NO secret of it. And everyone thought he was joshin’ … Oh, yeah, ‘cause Donny is such a card!
Why are we treating Trumps cabinet picks like they were normal, like any other president elect.?
He told us that he is going to deconstruct the administrative state, and thus the constitution as Steve Bannon has said. In fact Steve is probably the grise eminence, the man behind the curtain.
I predicted that Gaetz would withdraw, the day he was nominated while everyone was kvetching about how incompetent he was. I also predict he will be Speaker of the House of the 119th Congress
Pam Bondi, at least has served as an attorney general, but she lacks the chops, the experience, the knowledge, the connections (she is not a beltway insider and unless she has a staff of 1st class, Trump loyalists lawyers, the werewithal to deconstruct the administtrative state and end run the constitution. Trump needs a Bill Barr. A loyalist Bill Barr, or a stable of lawyers around Pam Bondi, vetted by Leonard Leo. Schedule F employees.
In that case the AG had best not be hampered by an Ego, and something tells me that Pam is not. She may be Rhonda Santis AG, but when it comes to the workings of the state and how to deconstruct them she is non compus mentus.
We are engaging in self delusion, a state of denial, discussing each and everyone of Trumps nominations, as though the country will proceed as usual but with incompetence heading the cabinets and government..
The goal is clear,, voiced by Bannon and Trump, to deconstruct the "administrative state" and install an autocracy.
Trump was not merely bloviating when he told his rally that "vote for me and this the last time you will need to vote"
Why doesn't anyone take him seriously.? Afraid to look the monster in the eye.
We are acting like children who pull the covers over their head,"if we can't see the monster,the monster can't see us"
William, I think there is one factor here we have to add to the equation. The people backing the orange man that want the US destroyed are very serious and I don’t believe Trump is competent to carry out their plans. He is too old, too lazy, and too stupid. They used him to win the election, but I think he has served his purpose. It is possible they will simply leave him in place for appearances, but I believe Vance will become president sooner, rather than later. I have never been a believer in conspiracy theories, but I am uneasy.
I do not disagree Barbara. Trump is a useful idiot, and they know it, so long as people bow, scrape and flatter him, so long as he makes money and is a celebrity he is useful, when he longer serves a purpose he will retire or die.
I am sure that he thinks that he is establishing a ruling dynasty like Kim Jon Un, but he and his cult are delusional. The Christian right, the misogynists, the racists the homophobes and xenophobes are the muscle, the core of the Sturmabeitlung (S.A., Brownshirts) so to speak, but not the real powers, the real powers are the ones using the muscle to deregulate, get tax breaks, and ever more freedom to do as they please, and control the government.
Or that is what Fritz Thyssen and the financiers and industrialist of 1930's Germany thought, until that ego maniacal hater brought them to heel.
Trump is Sherlock Holmes stupid, he can't balance a check book, and doesn't know that Africa is a content, not a country, but when it comes to intimidation and manipulation and sensing danger he is as alert, wary and smart as a fox.
Clausewitz, Napoleon and Sun Tze have told us, never underestimate the enemy.
The ethics committee of teh 118thCongress will be disolved on Jan 2, Everything is brand new, and Congress will put together new committes with new representation by parties, based on election results.
So yes he will return, a different ethics committee and the work of the old committee is shelved. They will have to start anew, and that isn't going to happen with a new Republican dominated ethics committee.
All bills, all work done by committees in the 118th congress have expired and are not carried over to the 119th Congress.
Neither Gaetz nor Trump personally care about exposure. A sexual predator with 34 felony convictions will take the oath of office on Jan 21st, do you think he cares, and it is not just Gaetz,but Hegseth as well, his whole cabinet are sexual predators.
A few yes. But they aren't ALL sexual predators. And I think Gaetz may be concerned about what specific crimes might be exposed that could send him to prison. Does he think a 'get out of jail free' card is likely? Who, besides trump, has gotten one? Gaetz left Congress. And I believe he left so he won't be investigated.
One can only hope, Nancy! It seems that there are no rules or regulations for this bunch. We may think he is out based on NORMAL; however, nothing about any of this is normal.
Gaetz has already said he's not planning to return to Congress again. He is running away from the Ethics Comm. investigation. He is planning to run for a position in Florida. Good luck -- they can have him!
It is a ploy, by saying that he won'return to congress, the heat will be taken off him, and he will drop out of sight, for two months, everything will cool down, and then after Xmas he will change his mind, and since he was elected and there is no replacement for him,he will be sworn in as the rep from Florida 1st.
What do you think special elections are for, William? I don't believe Gaetz will return. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE??? You are way overstating the possibilities!! Many Republicans in office can't stand Gaetz! You are being an insufferable know-it-all! Mark my words!
Didn't Gaetz resign from Congress in order to fill the post the orange man wanted to give him? He can't go back now and rescind his resignation, can he?
Thanks, William, just one more thing for me to be depressed about! I simply cannot believe what these people do AND get away with! In my fantasies, there is this super hero (let's call him Captain Freedom) and he swoops in and takes care of all of these evil nut jobs, fixes everything they have messed up, puts the orange man and the muskrat behind really thick prison bars and our country is back! Great fantasy, huh?
Do you have any idea what this country, this society will look like in 5 years of Trump?
I will give you a clue, do some serious reseach, google will do, on Orban's Hungary and Putin's Russia., and factor in a little Kim Jong Un, and a dollop of Erdogan's Turkey,, the frosting will be the theorcacy of Saudi Arabia, or at least the influence and power of the Wahhabiyyah clerics of Saudi Arabia, but not in the name of Islam, but in the name of the other Abrahamic religion, Christianity.
Now you have a picture of the U.S. of A in five years.
I was not able to isolate a candidate from Robert's list of especially hideous yes men and women, since every single one of them is poised to wreak ruin upon humanity in their own special way. As for DOGE, it really stands for the opposite of what it claims, like every backward goal which drumpf claims to promote. Put a d before e of efficiency and take out one f and you have it.
Trump told us what he is going to do Dennis. Why doen't anyone believe him. The pundits and talking heads on TV, people on substack are going about this business as if things were normal ,except Trump has selected a bunch of criminals and incompetents.
Doesn't anyone see that is his purpose, he is going to deconstruct America and reconstruct it as a dictatorship.
He said as much, why doesn't anyone believe him. He always delivers on his promises, or tries to, he tried in 2016, but lacked the chops and support, this time it will be different.
You keep saying "Why doesn't anyone believe him." Who is this "we" you're talking about? This comments section is filled with people who believed him and who don't think any of this is normal. You should go yell at the pundits you have a problem with, not the people here.
Andrea it is not that people don't believe him or think that any of this is normal, but the conversation always precedes from the premise that it is normal, and we wind up gossiping about this or that cabinet pick, as if Trump's decisions were simply bad judgement.
No Andrea I don't have a problem. I smell the smoke in the kitchen and know it is a grease fire that will burn down the house, not just some brownies that have been burnt.
That's the difference. This is not some aberration that will be corrected in the next election, if we do a post mortem, put our heads together, and do a better job of messaging.
Trump is deconstructing the government of the United States and it's constitution will be ripped to shreds, he has assembled a destruction crew, and we are wasting out time kvetching about personalities and the ridiculousness and deficiencies of this or that cabinet member.
What do I, or we, care about RFK Jr,Hegseth, Bondi, Linda McMahon or any of the rest of them. They are all part of the wrecking crew and that is where we should have our energy focused, on the wrecking crew not the personality
Trump is the master of chaos, he wins by distracting us with chaos. if he speaks or 1 minute he will spew 100 lies, and thus creates chaos because people can't keep up with the chaos, now he is doing it with Cabinet appointments, he has us distract, kvetching over his choices and personality, while he plows away with his plan to deconstruct the country,
And you are right it isn't we, because we includes me it is 1st person plural. I was being magnanimous
Go ahead and say it is my problem. But is it. I predicted that nomination of Gaetz as AG was a feint and that he would withdraw. I also predict he will be Speaker of the Hous eand in two months I will either have mud on my face or you will owe me an apology
The most egregious thing is the legacy media, pundits and right-wing talking heads, which are most of them, talked about Trump as if he was normal. His cabinet picks are a side show.
That is why humans find themselves in such deep shit all of the time, they are unable to face reality and create their own reality,
I keep thinking back to something a Jew said in 1930's Germany, "that Hitler fellow can't be all that bad it is just political talk"
"Trump is just spouting hyperbole, he is a blow hard, the institutions will keep him in check and protect us," they say, as he goes about deconstruction those same institutions they depend on for protection.
Maybe if I pray harder, wish more, pretend better this nightmare will go away.
Already many are jumping ship, if not into the water then onto the other ship. One comment said "Give Trump a chance".
Dennis it is by design. Why can't people grasp the truth of the matter. Trump has told us over and over what he is going to do, and he told his peeps that "vote for me and you won't have to vote again" efficience, deficiency are irrelevant. The goal is to, as Steve Bannon said, to deconstruct the administrative state, Trumps Deep state, and with it the constitution.
It's over gawd dammit, our chore now is to organize a passive and active resistance, but analog not electronic or digital.. The PATRIOT act authorized the building of the NSA Data Center in Bluffdale, UT and it sweeps every bit of electronic data transmitted, irrespective of medium, and now we have AI which can instantly, at the speed of light, screen and identify all suspect communications.
Or don't you believe Trump, Kevin Roberts, Leonard Leo, Steve Bannon, or expect the institutions to hold against the onslaught.?
William, I do not deny that we are way past Animal Farm and are now facing down The Ministry of Truth. I give myself no choice but to resist, since I am the legacy voice of a WWII extended family who by their very actions brought a temporary respite from tyranny to Europe in1944-45.
Thom Hartmann's major thesis that it is about 80 years from one civilizational crisis to another. It takes that long for the memory, to literally die.
Those of my generation have mostly died out, and are occupants of nursing homes, and have care givers. The next generation, the boomers have either joined my generation or are on their way.
Vietnam to me was as fresh as yesterday, I can still smell te corpses, hear the shells explode, and bullets and shells go out and come in, although I lived during WWII and Korea, they might as well be ancient history to me, I was blithely unaware that they were happening. My own children, though born during the VN war have as much recollection of it as I do of WWII and Korea,
and of VN to my grand children it is as much ancient history as the civil war is to me.
Generations X, Y,and Z have no understanding of what it was like in the god awful glamorized 1950's 1960's 1970's and even 1980s,
You, I and others who read RR and similar subtack, have lived through the best of times, that have been and will ever be experienced, and I am grateful
When I first married, my wife could not get a credit card on her own recognizance, yet it was she that paid the bills and kept us out of debtors prison (dramatized for effect), When I bought a house and a car, it was my name on the contract not hers. Her employment options were very limited. She could have joined the WAC's or the WAF's and been a telephone operator or a clerk,with medical training a nurse, even the cooks were male.
Faulting that, a telephone operator, a seamstress, clerk, secretary, girl friday, or a salesgirl in the home furnishings or women's department of Sears, Maceys, Gimbles, Wannemaker,a waitress, or a hostess on an airplane or in a brothel.
The women, a mathematical genius, who saved the Apollo 11 astronauts, was a black women, hidden in the basement, until someone remember that she was the genius they needed, hauled out, did her job, and put back on the shelf.
And god forbid you were gay, black or Hispanic.
Today's crop of gays, black, Hispanics know nothing of the struggle for freedom, ancient interesting history to them, not relevant to today, so they think and so they turned out in large numbers to vote for the oppressor, because they feel that they are not fully recognized for the awesome people they are.
80 years is all it took and in case of civil rights, one and a half generations or less.
William, I appreciate your view of history like Thom Hartmann's, of eighty year or so timespans of relative though inequitable peace, punctuated by unimaginable violence. This relates to my commentary earlier as regards the oral history of a civilization being conveyed by its oldest able members to the subsequent generations. The timetable between the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and Trump's first inauguration on Jan. 20th, 2017 amounts to 240+1/2 years, or three lifetimes of very old people. The lesson here as you point out is that the youth again chose not to take avail of the repository of critical knowledge supplied by their wiser elders and committed a world-altering error. The degree of conflagration that results from this degree of myopia is likely to play out sooner rather than later.
I wrote the White House last week, as soon as I found out about the felon's effort to evade FBI background checks on the array of Confederates he's nominated for cabinet posts, urging Biden to order such an FBI check, reminding him of the recent SCOTUS ruling on the scope of his authority.
Ha HA! I wrote the white house, I refuse to capitalize it now, the next DAY after Bunkerboy won!;)
I urged President Biden to save us Americans before it was too late with a flurry of executive actions. As Absolute Ruler, he CAN ABSOLUTELY ban convicted felons from serving in government. I just hope he has the bill ready to go for late December like his namesake "Dark Brandon!"
Good man! 👍👍 I, too, wrote one shortly after the election urging Biden to force implementation of the ERA, which now has the number of states required signed on to make it the law of the land, but Congress has been dragging its feet on.
Me, too. I also asked Biden give a blanket pardon to all of the people who are already being threatened by Trump. Here's how we can contact Biden: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
But his commrades can change the regulations if Biden remains mute. He is not using the power he has--this seems stupid! I hope Harris et al get him to be a fighter before it's over!
Good .. hopefully all the non-profits I gave $ to will step up and send us forms to be taken to Biden to enforce the FBI background check..it's a start!
Great DZK, I think we all need to send them the same message. Who did you send yours to? Did you address Biden? Curious to know if you get a reply. Joan
Donald- he won’t have to ignore Cabinet expertise because he’s deliberately choosing people who have no expertise. Strongmen always hate people who know more than they do. Mao exiled professors and then ultimately people who wore glasses. I met a man in China whose parents and the rest of the family had to live in a cave under Mao because the father had been a university professor.
Perhaps they were clever enough to realize that smart people would dissent.
This period in American history is being called The Death of Expertise. Everyone with a Smartphone can look up information, leading them to believe that they are smarter than the experts. I am certain Mao would have outlawed smartphones in favor of a state-controlled media.
There is a "nation" within the country, and this nation wants to emerge out of the country, destroying it in the process, and Donald Trump is the leader and embodiment of this nation, which is white and Christian and authoritarian. This is what Project 2025 is all about. This is what we must prevent from happening. The birthdays of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr. are fast approaching, and in 2025 their anniversaries will have special meaning. We must celebrate the accordingly.
Donald - all good except the serving general being secretary of defense. It's normally a civilian who heads this dept. because of the civilian oversight of military.
What do you mean Paul. Hegseth is no a serving general.
For Austin to serve as Secretary of Defense he had to retire and become a civilian.
Otherwise you are saying that the Secretary of Defense should never have served in the military.
Who better to be Secretary of Defense, than someone who knows their way around the Pentagon. Do we want another Donald Rumsfeld. Special ops fields adored him, because he elevated them in stature and gave them all the toys on their wish list., he had use for them in Afghanistan.
And inevitably this is what happened. We must stand up against all of it. Let me know where I may help, I am on the front line of this shit. Living on a blue island in the sea in red in Colorado. I’d like to think I can help my friends,... They’re so enamored in they’re “right” way of thinking. Let me know…
The good of the most out weigh the good of the one or few…
Greater is God I've lived the miracles.Had a heart attack and didn't know it,here I am today.Quit smoking after many many years and never even thought of doing it again(he took the addiction),and more.
Oh Please! "He" took away your addiction, but can't/won't be bothered to stop any of the evil, pain, suffering, that's being suffered by many innocents, including children, being inflicted in the rest of world! Give me a break!
Everything to do with our National Security is a hair on fire situation! Apparently it's up to us to pull the fire alarm. Start with Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth.
Linda, when you say it is up to us to pull the fire alarm, I completely agree with you. It is up to us to become activist and not just hope that the Dems will suddenly become a strong cohesive force to change the situation. There are numerous truly progressive organizations in this country that have not yet unified into one cohesive force. Now Is the Time to transition from talking to grassroots activism. It is time for the progressives who are the true patriots to unify an act!
The book, “Blessed Unrest,” gives a good peek into just how many progressive groups there are doing good work. Hoping that the Dems jump into action and save us is rather weak. What is strong is for us to work to change the government not through the DNC who it was rightly pointed out do fundraising more than anything else, it is up to us to bring about change. Jumping into action rather than only talking will transform depression into optimism. We are not too old to actually do something, We can use our wisdom to help guide the movements of emerging young activists.
Those of us who jump into action and work for change will find our moods lifted tremendously. We can talk and talk, but actually doing something is the best dopamine rush we can get at this time. I see that the crisis we are in now has the potential to create a movement far more powerful than the anti-war movement of the sixties.
Agreed, Marc, it is past time to unite and resist. Especially, the older generations are poised more than the younger ones to submit a full life experience for their reference. There is a solid scientific basis for this view, relating to the survival of a society or a way of life in the face of a 100-year or 500-year catastrophe. For example, when the elders of some Indonesian society along the ocean shore would feel powerful earth tremors, and would witness wild animals racing to higher ground, they would follow at speed with the animals, because they knew from their oral history that a tsunami was coming. This is a 500-year tsunami of society that we are suffering, and it could have been avoided had our youth been educated properly.
Much of the problem was communication. The reporters would ask who they were voting for and why. The interviewed would reply, “I like his policies “but the reporter failed to pursue it and ask “What policies?” That would have given them the opportunity to debunk the misinformation, which didn’t happen.
Ordered ‘Blessed Unrest’. I’m searching for activist groups I can work with. Agree action will change our mood. I can’t believe Trump et al. can stop the traffic lights from working as they do now. As Bob says, he doesn’t have a mandate.
Also reading Vaclav Havel: The Power of the Powerless.
If you have lists of activist groups, please post them.
MJ, I am working with four activist groups that all have the agenda of promoting Economic Democracy. They are the Crisis and Transition Substack, Prout, Alliance, Prout Research Institute, and Prout Institute. All are working to promote a new paradigm of economics and government that will ensure proper distribution of resources and proper representation of the electorate.
Keep in mind that Blessed Unrest was published in 2007 and since then many more progressive groups have come to the fore and are working hard for progressive change.
Americans Separation of Church and State active in St Louis. Had former MO Supreme Vourt chief justice Michael Wolff speak--very good speaker.
In Missouri there is MO Voter Protection Coalition which brings dozens of groups together to fight for fair elections. Not sure what other states have as equivalent.
I am a strong believer in Separation of Church and State also.
I detest the opposition trying to push the voucher for private schools on the people with our tax money going toward the practice. In a article I read recently, Arizona was searching to the funds to fund the practice. The rich were flooding the state with requests while the poor had problems getting their children to the private facilities. I don't have a problem with private schools but I do have a problem funding them with tax funds.
I would like that list as well, MJ. There are so many of us that are ready and willing but lack the information to help us get started! A list of these groups would be a big help.
Peggy, do you read Jessica Craven's Substack Chop Wood, Carry Water? She has tons of actions we can take almost every day. She also lists groups, as does Robert Hubbell.
The problem: many progressives are fired up to act but don’t know how to act and what to do.
I have made countless phone calls & emails to many: Representatives , Senators, the President, VP, the DNC and the media, but I believe they go unheeded. It’s frustrating. We have to keep fighting! 🙋♀️
The cabinet that won't say no---
Donald Hodgins
Trump's selections, who will possibly have a say in this country's future, "must" be required to pass an FBI background check. Trump wants to forgo this process which the American people need in order to maintain a healthy level of confidence in their government. These picks are doing our country a disservice by swearing their fidelity to a man who doesn't want their expertise. Trump only wants them to agree with his personal level of ignorance when applied to a specific problem. If Trump was a man of vision he would welcome opinions that might stand in direct opposition to his own thinking. The AG should be an individual with years of experience in the field of constitutional law. The secretary of Defense should be an active member of the military holding the status of a 4 star general. The secretary of agriculture should be a person actively engaged in some field directly related to farming. The secretary of education should be devoted to the development of our children's minds through progressive learning. Presidents never possess the ability to solve every issue that presents itself without help from the experts who understand the parameters of a problem better than a novis. What Trump is proposing is an inverted nightmare. Donnie would love to follow his gut and be backed up by his cabinet unanimously, regardless of how ridiculous his position may sound. By giving valued positions to people who only possess the ability to say "Yes" does nothing to promote a sense of well-being throughout this country. Our people aren't that ignorant, they know enough to be concerned about discovering a lump in their partner's breast. As our country stands under Trump. Lady Liberty is in line for a double mastectomy with Donnie boy substituting himself as the anesthesiologist. We will need more than luck to get through this one.
Right — these positions are supposed to be for the LEADERS of these agencies, administering policy and LEADING … Trump is putting in executive secretaries who will just do whatever he says, offering no expertise or leadership. He TOLD us he wanted the deference that Kim gets in North Korea and that Putin gets in Russia. He made NO secret of it. And everyone thought he was joshin’ … Oh, yeah, ‘cause Donny is such a card!
Egad.
It's a DODGY group, as the Brits say. DOGE sounds really Dodgy too. Will it stand for: Deregulating Oil Gas and Environment?
Why are we treating Trumps cabinet picks like they were normal, like any other president elect.?
He told us that he is going to deconstruct the administrative state, and thus the constitution as Steve Bannon has said. In fact Steve is probably the grise eminence, the man behind the curtain.
I predicted that Gaetz would withdraw, the day he was nominated while everyone was kvetching about how incompetent he was. I also predict he will be Speaker of the House of the 119th Congress
Pam Bondi, at least has served as an attorney general, but she lacks the chops, the experience, the knowledge, the connections (she is not a beltway insider and unless she has a staff of 1st class, Trump loyalists lawyers, the werewithal to deconstruct the administtrative state and end run the constitution. Trump needs a Bill Barr. A loyalist Bill Barr, or a stable of lawyers around Pam Bondi, vetted by Leonard Leo. Schedule F employees.
In that case the AG had best not be hampered by an Ego, and something tells me that Pam is not. She may be Rhonda Santis AG, but when it comes to the workings of the state and how to deconstruct them she is non compus mentus.
We are engaging in self delusion, a state of denial, discussing each and everyone of Trumps nominations, as though the country will proceed as usual but with incompetence heading the cabinets and government..
The goal is clear,, voiced by Bannon and Trump, to deconstruct the "administrative state" and install an autocracy.
Trump was not merely bloviating when he told his rally that "vote for me and this the last time you will need to vote"
Why doesn't anyone take him seriously.? Afraid to look the monster in the eye.
We are acting like children who pull the covers over their head,"if we can't see the monster,the monster can't see us"
William, I think there is one factor here we have to add to the equation. The people backing the orange man that want the US destroyed are very serious and I don’t believe Trump is competent to carry out their plans. He is too old, too lazy, and too stupid. They used him to win the election, but I think he has served his purpose. It is possible they will simply leave him in place for appearances, but I believe Vance will become president sooner, rather than later. I have never been a believer in conspiracy theories, but I am uneasy.
I do not disagree Barbara. Trump is a useful idiot, and they know it, so long as people bow, scrape and flatter him, so long as he makes money and is a celebrity he is useful, when he longer serves a purpose he will retire or die.
I am sure that he thinks that he is establishing a ruling dynasty like Kim Jon Un, but he and his cult are delusional. The Christian right, the misogynists, the racists the homophobes and xenophobes are the muscle, the core of the Sturmabeitlung (S.A., Brownshirts) so to speak, but not the real powers, the real powers are the ones using the muscle to deregulate, get tax breaks, and ever more freedom to do as they please, and control the government.
Or that is what Fritz Thyssen and the financiers and industrialist of 1930's Germany thought, until that ego maniacal hater brought them to heel.
Trump is Sherlock Holmes stupid, he can't balance a check book, and doesn't know that Africa is a content, not a country, but when it comes to intimidation and manipulation and sensing danger he is as alert, wary and smart as a fox.
Clausewitz, Napoleon and Sun Tze have told us, never underestimate the enemy.
Also, I think Musk will over power Vance somehow--being the shadow President!
Gaetz can’t return to Congress. If he does, the Ethics Committee will expose everything they have on him.
The ethics committee of teh 118thCongress will be disolved on Jan 2, Everything is brand new, and Congress will put together new committes with new representation by parties, based on election results.
So yes he will return, a different ethics committee and the work of the old committee is shelved. They will have to start anew, and that isn't going to happen with a new Republican dominated ethics committee.
All bills, all work done by committees in the 118th congress have expired and are not carried over to the 119th Congress.
Foreboding for certain!
Good comments. But Gaetz is too afraid that his actions will be exposed to run for any office now. He's gone.
Neither Gaetz nor Trump personally care about exposure. A sexual predator with 34 felony convictions will take the oath of office on Jan 21st, do you think he cares, and it is not just Gaetz,but Hegseth as well, his whole cabinet are sexual predators.
A few yes. But they aren't ALL sexual predators. And I think Gaetz may be concerned about what specific crimes might be exposed that could send him to prison. Does he think a 'get out of jail free' card is likely? Who, besides trump, has gotten one? Gaetz left Congress. And I believe he left so he won't be investigated.
Well, William, maybe not all of them--yikes a few are too many!
One can only hope, Nancy! It seems that there are no rules or regulations for this bunch. We may think he is out based on NORMAL; however, nothing about any of this is normal.
Gaetz has already said he's not planning to return to Congress again. He is running away from the Ethics Comm. investigation. He is planning to run for a position in Florida. Good luck -- they can have him!
And you believe Gaetz, Klare?
It is a ploy, by saying that he won'return to congress, the heat will be taken off him, and he will drop out of sight, for two months, everything will cool down, and then after Xmas he will change his mind, and since he was elected and there is no replacement for him,he will be sworn in as the rep from Florida 1st.
What do you think special elections are for, William? I don't believe Gaetz will return. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE??? You are way overstating the possibilities!! Many Republicans in office can't stand Gaetz! You are being an insufferable know-it-all! Mark my words!
Klare, I am a Floridian and I can say for a fact that I sure as hell don't want him in any office here in Florida!
Funny! If I'm not mistaken, he's set his sights on A.G. in Florida!
Didn't Gaetz resign from Congress in order to fill the post the orange man wanted to give him? He can't go back now and rescind his resignation, can he?
Peggy, in two months the 118th Congress will be dissolved and with it, everything that they did,including the ethics committee, all will be archived.
Gaetz was re elected in 2024, he resigned from th 118th Congress and will be sworn into the 119th on Jan 3rd
Thanks, William, just one more thing for me to be depressed about! I simply cannot believe what these people do AND get away with! In my fantasies, there is this super hero (let's call him Captain Freedom) and he swoops in and takes care of all of these evil nut jobs, fixes everything they have messed up, puts the orange man and the muskrat behind really thick prison bars and our country is back! Great fantasy, huh?
He's left Congress and nobody wanted him for Attorney General, thank the Lord!
But he won reelection for the 2025 Congress….
Didn't he resign after winning the reelection? I would think it would apply to the new term.
She’ll be ready for indictment in five years if she hangs in there and gives Don tha Con-Felón want he pouts about every day.
Do you have any idea what this country, this society will look like in 5 years of Trump?
I will give you a clue, do some serious reseach, google will do, on Orban's Hungary and Putin's Russia., and factor in a little Kim Jong Un, and a dollop of Erdogan's Turkey,, the frosting will be the theorcacy of Saudi Arabia, or at least the influence and power of the Wahhabiyyah clerics of Saudi Arabia, but not in the name of Islam, but in the name of the other Abrahamic religion, Christianity.
Now you have a picture of the U.S. of A in five years.
And this is the party that kept saying Democrats would impose Sharia law! Another projection. Only their real plan is Old Testament law.
It could be. That is the trajectory we are on.
All we need now is a photo-op of trump with his pardoned Jan 6th felons.
That is extremely scary, William. Unfortunately, you may be right.
I was not able to isolate a candidate from Robert's list of especially hideous yes men and women, since every single one of them is poised to wreak ruin upon humanity in their own special way. As for DOGE, it really stands for the opposite of what it claims, like every backward goal which drumpf claims to promote. Put a d before e of efficiency and take out one f and you have it.
Trump told us what he is going to do Dennis. Why doen't anyone believe him. The pundits and talking heads on TV, people on substack are going about this business as if things were normal ,except Trump has selected a bunch of criminals and incompetents.
Doesn't anyone see that is his purpose, he is going to deconstruct America and reconstruct it as a dictatorship.
He said as much, why doesn't anyone believe him. He always delivers on his promises, or tries to, he tried in 2016, but lacked the chops and support, this time it will be different.
I am putting together my go bag.
You keep saying "Why doesn't anyone believe him." Who is this "we" you're talking about? This comments section is filled with people who believed him and who don't think any of this is normal. You should go yell at the pundits you have a problem with, not the people here.
Andrea it is not that people don't believe him or think that any of this is normal, but the conversation always precedes from the premise that it is normal, and we wind up gossiping about this or that cabinet pick, as if Trump's decisions were simply bad judgement.
No Andrea I don't have a problem. I smell the smoke in the kitchen and know it is a grease fire that will burn down the house, not just some brownies that have been burnt.
That's the difference. This is not some aberration that will be corrected in the next election, if we do a post mortem, put our heads together, and do a better job of messaging.
Trump is deconstructing the government of the United States and it's constitution will be ripped to shreds, he has assembled a destruction crew, and we are wasting out time kvetching about personalities and the ridiculousness and deficiencies of this or that cabinet member.
What do I, or we, care about RFK Jr,Hegseth, Bondi, Linda McMahon or any of the rest of them. They are all part of the wrecking crew and that is where we should have our energy focused, on the wrecking crew not the personality
Trump is the master of chaos, he wins by distracting us with chaos. if he speaks or 1 minute he will spew 100 lies, and thus creates chaos because people can't keep up with the chaos, now he is doing it with Cabinet appointments, he has us distract, kvetching over his choices and personality, while he plows away with his plan to deconstruct the country,
And you are right it isn't we, because we includes me it is 1st person plural. I was being magnanimous
Go ahead and say it is my problem. But is it. I predicted that nomination of Gaetz as AG was a feint and that he would withdraw. I also predict he will be Speaker of the Hous eand in two months I will either have mud on my face or you will owe me an apology
But Gaetz quit?
The most egregious thing is the legacy media, pundits and right-wing talking heads, which are most of them, talked about Trump as if he was normal. His cabinet picks are a side show.
Fox News show, Trump included. The billionaires behind Project 2025 are the real, staying power.
It's too awful to believe is why more don't believe it.
That is why humans find themselves in such deep shit all of the time, they are unable to face reality and create their own reality,
I keep thinking back to something a Jew said in 1930's Germany, "that Hitler fellow can't be all that bad it is just political talk"
"Trump is just spouting hyperbole, he is a blow hard, the institutions will keep him in check and protect us," they say, as he goes about deconstruction those same institutions they depend on for protection.
Maybe if I pray harder, wish more, pretend better this nightmare will go away.
Already many are jumping ship, if not into the water then onto the other ship. One comment said "Give Trump a chance".
Dennis it is by design. Why can't people grasp the truth of the matter. Trump has told us over and over what he is going to do, and he told his peeps that "vote for me and you won't have to vote again" efficience, deficiency are irrelevant. The goal is to, as Steve Bannon said, to deconstruct the administrative state, Trumps Deep state, and with it the constitution.
It's over gawd dammit, our chore now is to organize a passive and active resistance, but analog not electronic or digital.. The PATRIOT act authorized the building of the NSA Data Center in Bluffdale, UT and it sweeps every bit of electronic data transmitted, irrespective of medium, and now we have AI which can instantly, at the speed of light, screen and identify all suspect communications.
Or don't you believe Trump, Kevin Roberts, Leonard Leo, Steve Bannon, or expect the institutions to hold against the onslaught.?
William, I do not deny that we are way past Animal Farm and are now facing down The Ministry of Truth. I give myself no choice but to resist, since I am the legacy voice of a WWII extended family who by their very actions brought a temporary respite from tyranny to Europe in1944-45.
Thom Hartmann's major thesis that it is about 80 years from one civilizational crisis to another. It takes that long for the memory, to literally die.
Those of my generation have mostly died out, and are occupants of nursing homes, and have care givers. The next generation, the boomers have either joined my generation or are on their way.
Vietnam to me was as fresh as yesterday, I can still smell te corpses, hear the shells explode, and bullets and shells go out and come in, although I lived during WWII and Korea, they might as well be ancient history to me, I was blithely unaware that they were happening. My own children, though born during the VN war have as much recollection of it as I do of WWII and Korea,
and of VN to my grand children it is as much ancient history as the civil war is to me.
Generations X, Y,and Z have no understanding of what it was like in the god awful glamorized 1950's 1960's 1970's and even 1980s,
You, I and others who read RR and similar subtack, have lived through the best of times, that have been and will ever be experienced, and I am grateful
When I first married, my wife could not get a credit card on her own recognizance, yet it was she that paid the bills and kept us out of debtors prison (dramatized for effect), When I bought a house and a car, it was my name on the contract not hers. Her employment options were very limited. She could have joined the WAC's or the WAF's and been a telephone operator or a clerk,with medical training a nurse, even the cooks were male.
Faulting that, a telephone operator, a seamstress, clerk, secretary, girl friday, or a salesgirl in the home furnishings or women's department of Sears, Maceys, Gimbles, Wannemaker,a waitress, or a hostess on an airplane or in a brothel.
The women, a mathematical genius, who saved the Apollo 11 astronauts, was a black women, hidden in the basement, until someone remember that she was the genius they needed, hauled out, did her job, and put back on the shelf.
And god forbid you were gay, black or Hispanic.
Today's crop of gays, black, Hispanics know nothing of the struggle for freedom, ancient interesting history to them, not relevant to today, so they think and so they turned out in large numbers to vote for the oppressor, because they feel that they are not fully recognized for the awesome people they are.
80 years is all it took and in case of civil rights, one and a half generations or less.
Yes, William. This no doubt what Solzhenitsyn had in mind when he stated that we drown in the puddle, not the sea.
William, I appreciate your view of history like Thom Hartmann's, of eighty year or so timespans of relative though inequitable peace, punctuated by unimaginable violence. This relates to my commentary earlier as regards the oral history of a civilization being conveyed by its oldest able members to the subsequent generations. The timetable between the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and Trump's first inauguration on Jan. 20th, 2017 amounts to 240+1/2 years, or three lifetimes of very old people. The lesson here as you point out is that the youth again chose not to take avail of the repository of critical knowledge supplied by their wiser elders and committed a world-altering error. The degree of conflagration that results from this degree of myopia is likely to play out sooner rather than later.
I need not reiterate what I know drumpf to be, along with all of his pigeons.
I wrote the White House last week, as soon as I found out about the felon's effort to evade FBI background checks on the array of Confederates he's nominated for cabinet posts, urging Biden to order such an FBI check, reminding him of the recent SCOTUS ruling on the scope of his authority.
Ha HA! I wrote the white house, I refuse to capitalize it now, the next DAY after Bunkerboy won!;)
I urged President Biden to save us Americans before it was too late with a flurry of executive actions. As Absolute Ruler, he CAN ABSOLUTELY ban convicted felons from serving in government. I just hope he has the bill ready to go for late December like his namesake "Dark Brandon!"
Good man! 👍👍 I, too, wrote one shortly after the election urging Biden to force implementation of the ERA, which now has the number of states required signed on to make it the law of the land, but Congress has been dragging its feet on.
Me, too. I also asked Biden give a blanket pardon to all of the people who are already being threatened by Trump. Here's how we can contact Biden: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Gabbard is already on the "No Fly" list of possible terrorists and Russian sympathizers.
So is Bunkerboy! . . . can a convicted felon even FLY on Airforce one??? He can't leave the countryty I know that. [sic]
But his commrades can change the regulations if Biden remains mute. He is not using the power he has--this seems stupid! I hope Harris et al get him to be a fighter before it's over!
Good .. hopefully all the non-profits I gave $ to will step up and send us forms to be taken to Biden to enforce the FBI background check..it's a start!
Great DZK, I think we all need to send them the same message. Who did you send yours to? Did you address Biden? Curious to know if you get a reply. Joan
Here you go: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ , and yes, I got an ACK they received my message.
Thank you, DZK! I have sent my message to President Biden.
Yes, we all know this! We are living in another world now.
Most crucially, and in any case, there’s already no expertise or knowledge among the clowns in this car.
Donald- he won’t have to ignore Cabinet expertise because he’s deliberately choosing people who have no expertise. Strongmen always hate people who know more than they do. Mao exiled professors and then ultimately people who wore glasses. I met a man in China whose parents and the rest of the family had to live in a cave under Mao because the father had been a university professor.
Perhaps they were clever enough to realize that smart people would dissent.
This period in American history is being called The Death of Expertise. Everyone with a Smartphone can look up information, leading them to believe that they are smarter than the experts. I am certain Mao would have outlawed smartphones in favor of a state-controlled media.
There is a "nation" within the country, and this nation wants to emerge out of the country, destroying it in the process, and Donald Trump is the leader and embodiment of this nation, which is white and Christian and authoritarian. This is what Project 2025 is all about. This is what we must prevent from happening. The birthdays of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr. are fast approaching, and in 2025 their anniversaries will have special meaning. We must celebrate the accordingly.
Donald - all good except the serving general being secretary of defense. It's normally a civilian who heads this dept. because of the civilian oversight of military.
What do you mean Paul. Hegseth is no a serving general.
For Austin to serve as Secretary of Defense he had to retire and become a civilian.
Otherwise you are saying that the Secretary of Defense should never have served in the military.
Who better to be Secretary of Defense, than someone who knows their way around the Pentagon. Do we want another Donald Rumsfeld. Special ops fields adored him, because he elevated them in stature and gave them all the toys on their wish list., he had use for them in Afghanistan.
William - I was responding to what Donald wrote:
The secretary of Defense should be an active member of the military holding the status of a 4 star general.
This is not done. It is civilian control (yes a retired general is a civilian) over the military.
and no I would never advocate for someone such as Hegseth.
Well it's a dreary wet cold day in oregon so I guess i'll keep reading the comments and putting my $0.02 in. cheers!
And inevitably this is what happened. We must stand up against all of it. Let me know where I may help, I am on the front line of this shit. Living on a blue island in the sea in red in Colorado. I’d like to think I can help my friends,... They’re so enamored in they’re “right” way of thinking. Let me know…
The good of the most out weigh the good of the one or few…
How did I get here??
Letting the days go by..,
Greater is God I've lived the miracles.Had a heart attack and didn't know it,here I am today.Quit smoking after many many years and never even thought of doing it again(he took the addiction),and more.
Oh Please! "He" took away your addiction, but can't/won't be bothered to stop any of the evil, pain, suffering, that's being suffered by many innocents, including children, being inflicted in the rest of world! Give me a break!
Everything to do with our National Security is a hair on fire situation! Apparently it's up to us to pull the fire alarm. Start with Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth.
Linda, when you say it is up to us to pull the fire alarm, I completely agree with you. It is up to us to become activist and not just hope that the Dems will suddenly become a strong cohesive force to change the situation. There are numerous truly progressive organizations in this country that have not yet unified into one cohesive force. Now Is the Time to transition from talking to grassroots activism. It is time for the progressives who are the true patriots to unify an act!
The book, “Blessed Unrest,” gives a good peek into just how many progressive groups there are doing good work. Hoping that the Dems jump into action and save us is rather weak. What is strong is for us to work to change the government not through the DNC who it was rightly pointed out do fundraising more than anything else, it is up to us to bring about change. Jumping into action rather than only talking will transform depression into optimism. We are not too old to actually do something, We can use our wisdom to help guide the movements of emerging young activists.
Those of us who jump into action and work for change will find our moods lifted tremendously. We can talk and talk, but actually doing something is the best dopamine rush we can get at this time. I see that the crisis we are in now has the potential to create a movement far more powerful than the anti-war movement of the sixties.
Agreed, Marc, it is past time to unite and resist. Especially, the older generations are poised more than the younger ones to submit a full life experience for their reference. There is a solid scientific basis for this view, relating to the survival of a society or a way of life in the face of a 100-year or 500-year catastrophe. For example, when the elders of some Indonesian society along the ocean shore would feel powerful earth tremors, and would witness wild animals racing to higher ground, they would follow at speed with the animals, because they knew from their oral history that a tsunami was coming. This is a 500-year tsunami of society that we are suffering, and it could have been avoided had our youth been educated properly.
Much of the problem was communication. The reporters would ask who they were voting for and why. The interviewed would reply, “I like his policies “but the reporter failed to pursue it and ask “What policies?” That would have given them the opportunity to debunk the misinformation, which didn’t happen.
Excellent point, Marlo. So many missed opportunities!
Not only that, by the reporters NOT doing anything to counter, they were giving Trump undue support.
Well said, Dennis!
Ordered ‘Blessed Unrest’. I’m searching for activist groups I can work with. Agree action will change our mood. I can’t believe Trump et al. can stop the traffic lights from working as they do now. As Bob says, he doesn’t have a mandate.
Also reading Vaclav Havel: The Power of the Powerless.
If you have lists of activist groups, please post them.
Thank you 🙏
MJ, I am working with four activist groups that all have the agenda of promoting Economic Democracy. They are the Crisis and Transition Substack, Prout, Alliance, Prout Research Institute, and Prout Institute. All are working to promote a new paradigm of economics and government that will ensure proper distribution of resources and proper representation of the electorate.
Keep in mind that Blessed Unrest was published in 2007 and since then many more progressive groups have come to the fore and are working hard for progressive change.
https://www.startguide.org/orgs/orgs00.html
Thank you, Marc. I will search these groups and I appreciate the help.
Blessed by whom, Marc?
Indivisible is a good one. Common Cause, Color of Change, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, Move On, March for Our Lives.
Americans Separation of Church and State active in St Louis. Had former MO Supreme Vourt chief justice Michael Wolff speak--very good speaker.
In Missouri there is MO Voter Protection Coalition which brings dozens of groups together to fight for fair elections. Not sure what other states have as equivalent.
I am a strong believer in Separation of Church and State also.
I detest the opposition trying to push the voucher for private schools on the people with our tax money going toward the practice. In a article I read recently, Arizona was searching to the funds to fund the practice. The rich were flooding the state with requests while the poor had problems getting their children to the private facilities. I don't have a problem with private schools but I do have a problem funding them with tax funds.
Thanks, Paula. I am involved with a few of these. Will look into the others. I appreciate the help and information.
we are ginning up a gathering of local advocacy groups. there are many in st louis. the issue as always is how to have a greater impact.
Here is a list of mostly national level groups
https://www.startguide.org/orgs/orgs00.html
I would like that list as well, MJ. There are so many of us that are ready and willing but lack the information to help us get started! A list of these groups would be a big help.
Peggy, do you read Jessica Craven's Substack Chop Wood, Carry Water? She has tons of actions we can take almost every day. She also lists groups, as does Robert Hubbell.
Thanks, Paula, I will check it out!
How to jump into action? https://blog.voteforlove.net/2024/11/20/unhack-the-2024-presidential-election/#main
Really like your comment. Ordered
The problem: many progressives are fired up to act but don’t know how to act and what to do.
I have made countless phone calls & emails to many: Representatives , Senators, the President, VP, the DNC and the media, but I believe they go unheeded. It’s frustrating. We have to keep fighting! 🙋♀️
Here’s how:
https://blog.voteforlove.net/2024/11/20/unhack-the-2024-presidential-election/#main
Marlo, they're all corporate politicians, except Bernie.