And I remember so well the screaming, yammering right wing legislators and pundits, having bloody conniption fits over Obama's "executive overreach" and calling him a would-be dictator. Ranting endlessly over the separation of powers and checks and balances. F*ck them. F*ck them all, the spineless hypocritical bastards who couldn't impeach a tyrant.
There was also the howling about Biden's efforts to forgive student loans, which was cast as the action of a dictator. The extremist so-called "unitary executive theory" applies only to Republican presidents whose policies the right wingers agree with.
Anyone notice how many FAR-RIGHT WORLD LEADERS are trying so hard to SIT in a chair in EXACTLY the same manner as Trump's example of how a three-year-old might sit, the first time "Daddy" lets him sit in a BIG CHAIR! This one is of Modi, but EVERYONE in the photo is trying to sit like Trump...
foofaraw & Chiquita, I have a theory that all autocrats are essentially toddlers, 3-year-olds whose understanding of the world and their place in it does not advance much if at all past age 3. They are greedy, whiny, blaming everyone even for things they themselves have done, and pushy, and want no challenges. They also like hurting people or getting others to hurt people they don't like. When their people are cowed, they do a variety of horrific things to keep them down as Putin, Xi, Orban, and the rest regularly do and make sure the people know that what happens to THOSE people can be done to them too. Toddlers-Trump-Musk are already at it with the firings, the deportations of peaceful working immigrants to a concentration camp with plans for more. Since the camps are not here, they know that anything can be done to those people with impunity, especially if no one knows. Our Supreme Court current toddler-6 fit that pattern. They have made rulings for the past 2 decades that are appalling, but since most rulings are released in large numbers at the end of their term, they are not really held accountable, and in reality, there is no real way to hold the SC 6 accountable. No group of 67 senators is going to convict one of them no matter how bad their crimes. We saw that with Toddler-Trump 4 years ago. And, look what we have now.
Bruce, I like the term "self-serving hypocrisy." They have also all become liars as a regular practice. There is no evidence they have any acquaintance with the truth and like it that way. Ignorance works for a lot of Republicans these days too, or pretend ignorance.
What is perhaps more concerning now is the further precedent which will be created following the the now sacking of the 12 immigrations judges in your country, with this potentially giving legitimacy to 'Citoyen Trump's' desire to finally make sure that every courtroom judge in the USA is a conservative, with him no doubt additionally wishing that all of them could be just like Judge Holden in Cormac McCathy's Blood Meridien!
There's really no conservatives in the United States. "Some semantic hygiene is useful. There's really no conservatives in the United States. The people who are called conservatives are radical statists for the most part. There are a few genuine conservatives, which means like classical liberals, but not many." --- Noam Chomsky-MIT-University of Arizona
"protect (something, especially an environmentally or culturally important place or thing) from harm or destruction.
"the funds raised will help conserve endangered meadowlands"
According to the Oxford Dictionary, you could scarcely be MORE correct. To conserve means "to protect, or leave unchanged", and that seems proof enough that there are no conservatives left in America.
While copium is used in a situation where someone needs to 'cope' with something, hopium is a term used to mock 'false hope' or irrational optimism.
We are long past kvetching over Trumps deeds and appointments, we know what he is going to do before he opens his mouth.. It is like standing in the Palisades looking at the homes burn down around you, when we should at least be doing something.
It is not my nature to be depressed, but every day is met with more depressing news, and we and our leaders are doing nothing but moaning, complaining and kvetching.
Let's concentrate on doing something, solving the problem. If anyone thinks that the judicial system will come to our rescue, they are not living on Earth 1. A lower court ruling won't hold past the Supreme Court and we know how that will turn out, they are Patriarchal Christian Theocrats.
The Supreme Court today leans heavily toward the desires of wealthy conservatives. We can hope for a "Profiles in Courage " reversal from a Justice or Two, but not likely.
I'm afraid the 'conserving' republicans wish to "protect and leave unchanged" include maintaining slavery, disenfranchisement of women, and citizenship based on property and wealth - the conditions on which the country was actually founded.
Indeed Joseph, while I utterly concur - even if they're termed conservatives in the mainstream media etc. I am on record as having previously called Trump and his cabal 'radical Jacobin's' (as in the French Revolution descriptor) while overall (despite Nazi and Fascist similarities) that is where - in my view - they far more correctly sit in terms of overall political conventions. Conservatism in the USA, by the way does not (as with the definition of liberal in your country) have 'quite' the same loaded meaning here in Australia, while conservatism in the US has also become bastardised by capitalist infusions, with the figure of Edmund Burke for example having been revisioned to fit in with the brands of 'conservatism' that the US right 're-formed' post the neoliberalism of Reagan.
Forget about wasting time on that spineless SCOTUS republican group majority band known as 'John Roberts and the Supremes' (with apologies to Diana Ross), turn instead to the MUST WATCH speech that Tilda Swinton gave a few days ago at the Berlin Biennale for her take on this bad American Pastoral sequel (as sequels always are) that is now Jaws 2, with that movie making the now 50 year old original created in the Nixon era making that age look innocent in comparison to what we've got now: https://youtu.be/Fqol-1nTp_U?si=bv6BeZKLhipw_YLX
P.S. Just to clarify: ...Although Swinton's speech is essentially a panegyric to cinema, the references she makes to the autocracy zeitgeist (in recalling Masha Gessen's book) that we all now herein inhabit act as a watchword for all of us, while her words start up more fully several minutes or so into her speech - with yes, SCOTUS being just as complicit in sanctioned cruelty and vice (further to its now Trump stacked majority) as much as T. is!
What I am getting sick and tired of are the emails from Dems and progressives telling me what is wrong (I already know!) and then saying if I will just donate they can fight back and win! Number one: I DON"T HAVE any money to donate! Number Two: The people who are supposed to be represented by these Dems and progressives are the working middle and lower classes! Don't they understand we are all trying our best to keep our heads above water?! We don't have any extra to give! What we do have is a willingness to fight for our country! We will protest, sign petitions, write letters and make phone calls. Apparently, what we can do does not seem to amount to a hill of beans to these people! It's money, money, money and I am sick and damn tired of it!
The current Democratic legislatures should be going out into the communities, asking questions and listening. This is the only way to know how voters feel and the only way to know what needs fixing.
There was a time, Ann, when politicians did get out and walk through communities and talked to the people they wanted to represent. They cared and it showed. That time is over because apparently, politicians only care about the wealthy pouring money into their pockets!
I get hoppin mad when they send me things like "You voted for Trump?" or "You're in favor of Project 2025?" Then you click on it and it says if I donate they can do away with all of it! That's just not true that my tiny donation ($5) is going to miraculously heal the country! Their messaging sucks!
Dang girl- I so appreciate you saying what we're feeling. I listened tonight to Ken Martin introduce himself a bit, "infer" a bit what he might work on first, etc.... and I found myself yelling at the TV. Please Go ready Greg Palast's post https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
Besides a new DNC plan going here and there... We know that every election they cheat, finagle, We need to clone Marc Elias and do a nation wide roll out of trained voter suppression sleuthing team for every state -Put them at the ready in the days and weeks as the votes come in and fixing ballots that are questioned as they come in. Even if they couldn't get to all of the votes at 4 pm on election day - send in the we will confirm the true vote team and then send out a confident calm Kamala Harris saying - we DO not believe all the votes for THE people ARE AS YET Properly and legally counted for the American people's election. Have Tim Walz come out and with the unrelenting tenacity of every coach I've ever know - DECLARE that will will not accept or concede until they are ALL IN! So grab your coffee and buckle up
Go balls to the wall and review these 15 states for voter suppression - Massive suppression, gerrymandering and more. Until that concludes - Do not budge, play nice, or make jokes. THIS is our beloved republic - and you jokers have messed with it long enough.
*Peggy I agree. The text's were relentless - relentless and I kept thinking... I like to give to important causes - But Is this all ya got people???? - give, give me more, more, and more, and more. For What ??? So you could put out more pithy messaging that reacts to their narrative - rather than leading with OURS!! We have to build a unstoppable movement- engage people, spark longing in people, rouse peoples' souls to walk over broken glass for the love for our ideals. Women are not going back to become JD Vance's handmaids tale wet dream- no way, no how, and the Patriarchy ain't seen nothing yet. We've raised a generation of fully empowered, superbly capable, and loving women who know they can slay dragons. The dragons should be very afraid.
I’m with you about fighting those vigilantes purging the ballots of millions so evil can win. Greg Palast is a hero! I’m also with ya about slaying the patriarchal dragons who think women are meant for Gilead and have no brains or strength to fight them! Bring it on!!
Magicgirl, as I read your comment, I had to laugh because you made me think of a plaque I had made for my granddaughter when she was still quite young. She had a really quick temper. The plaque said "Though she be but little, she be fierce". Dragons should be so very afraid of the crop of young women wading into this fight. If I could give all young girls a motto to fight by, it would be paraphrased, "Go ahead and mess in the affairs of dragons for they are crunchy and taste good with ketchup when roasted over an open fire"! These faux dragons in Washington should be very afraid!
I just wrote a very well thought out response to Peggy’s comment which I totally agree with and the f___cking phone just deleted it!!!! It was straight on and fair, no bad words . where would it have gone?
Hit one of the 3 or so figures below your keyboard. It may be behind one of those. OR -- when I delete my emails, they go into other files behind my current emails inbox. Perhaps you will find it there. All of a sudden, tons of my deleted emails are ending up classified as multiples of so-called "trash". My phone seems to be going crazy suddenly. It's hiding somewhere.
A reply from the previous discussion to some extolling the virtues of capitalism I think worth repeating today:
A distinction without a difference. You're essentially trying to sell the product that the only thing wrong with capitalism is capitalists - who don't give two whoops in hell about Adam Smith. Hot flash! Capitalism has no rules that we don't impose on it, and the current gaggle of raptor capitalists are selling the product that such rules are socialism. Imagine! To these capitalists, Adam Smith is a left-wing radical socialist. Worse, it's the world view so-called conservatives have cultivated since at least Ronald McReagan. Indeed, when confronted, the first three words out of the mouth of many such a so-called conservative who voted for the current state of play is: "I didn't think . . . . (whatever they didn't)."
You are right. Republicans would be up in arms if it was the Democrats who were doing what they are doing right now - but it is totally fine with them since they are the ones who are doing it to all of us. Hypocrisy at its finest.
I just climbed up to the roof of my home, hauling an amplifier with two huge tower speakers, and of course, a microphone. Turned the amp up to 11 (anyone remember Spinal Tap?) and read your post. Over and over. Finally stopped after 15 minutes, but left my equipment up there for daily repetition. For gullible folks - no, I didn't do that. Sure would like to, though. Thank you, Kerry.
Professor Reich: i am TRYING VERY VERY HARD not to fall into despair, but this is really depressing news indeed. the lying orange toddler is not only a king, but one might also say that, with that evil demon, muskrat at his side, he's a self-proclaimed god.
GrrlScientist, I cannot help but notice that the discussions in our group of Robert Reich’s Substack have been expressing rage and despair. It is a natural response to what we experience occurring around us. What is special about this group is the awareness among most of us and the support we give each other even though we are horrified by the current situation. We are not only Americans, but we include citizens from around the world and through the efforts of Robert Reich we have created a support community where we can converse openly and freely. The challenge we now face and will continue to face is not to give in to negativity and despair, for that giving in would be a gift we would give to Authoritarians, Dictators and the Oligarchs worldwide.
One essential quality of successful resisters worldwide has been to hold a positive vision of the future no matter how dark is the present moment. Resistance to the Viet Nam War united disparate movements into one force that ended the war, ended the draft, lowered the voting age to eighteen and caused a once powerful President to step down. Resistance inspired songs such as “The Times They Are A Changing,” “Blowin’ In The Wind,” “Imagine” and many, many more. The situation we were facing then was as dire and more deadly than our current situation, and yet there was no one person we can point to as the leader of the successful Anti-War Movement. It was an amalgam of groups and leaders. The situation became dire over a period of years before we became activists and took effective action.
The successful resistance ended the U.S. involvement in Viet Nam War after over six years of organizing resistance. In contrast, our current crisis/coup is only one month old and resistance has only begun. And remember the Democratic Party or its leaders did not end the Viet Nam war, it was… WE THE PEOPLE.
I think it's pretty obvious that the main task of these Musk Minions is to be arrested in place of Musk, once things go north. (We used to say "go South" for bad stuff, but why would ANYONE want to be here?)
The Vietnam war had the draft which caused 57,000 dead and maimed soldiers. Now it's all volunteer. By the late 1960's there were mass protests. There was a brutal protest in Madison, Wisconsin on campus over napalm. Napalm is a hideous jellied gas burning at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. It didn't just kill you, It tortured you. Kennedy started the war in 1962 when he sent the U.S. Air Force to Vietnam but changed the plane insignias to Vietnamese. The first few years of the war there was complete silence. "You couldn't get two people in a living room to talk about it." --- Noam Chomsky
Cardinal Spellman told Kennedy that they had to save the Catholics in Vietnam.
Hi Joseph. The actual number of Americans killed in VN was 58,220. I lost a cousin and a high school friend there. At least 153,329 were wounded, with 75,000 severely disabled and 23,214 classified as 100% disabled.
The French finally left VN in 1954. President Eisenhower first deployed our troops in Nov. 1955. Kennedy sent 16,000 later and of course Johnson really cranked it up in 1964 after the bogus (lie) attack on one of our ships in Tonkin Gulf.
So Noam Chomsky is wrong blaming the start of the war on Kennedy. Some folks blame Johnson. But in reality, Ike, who thought a war there was unwinnable still couldn't resist a chance at "fighting the commies" and committed us and the VN to 18 years of horror on both sides.
South VN lost between 200 & 250,00 killed. North VN reported in 1995 they lost about 1.1 million and that doesn't include the civilians.
Just goes to show we need to elect better leaders who will keep us out of these situations. Good luck to everyone with our current band of criminals, lead by the new Agent Orange trying to destroy our country.... GH
Ike did NOT send troops to Vietnam. That is false. Ike sent a small number of military advisers and economic aid. That's all. Kennedy was the first president to INVADE South Vietnam. Kennedy was an aggressor in Vietnam.
Hi Joseph. Yes, he sent a large number of troops,16,000 total before he died. Starting in 1961 with 500 Green Berets for training. JFK's troops were considered advisors and trained the SVN army and were not considered for combat.
If his deployment was an actual invasion, there would have been hundreds of thousands sent. Johnson actually did that and Nixon too.
I'm surely not defending JFK, but trying to point out the common misconception that he and/or Johnson started the war. Either could have ended it anytime but it was IKE who signed the agreement to become an ally to VN and sent 700 US advisory troops in the first place.
The US backed the French with war materials for VN starting in 1950 under Truman but no troops until 1955 under IKE. JFK & LBJ foolish followed along.
I'm only pointing this out because every time the unnecessary G.W. Bush Iraq War comes up some GOP'er tries to point out that JFK started the VN War conveniently forgetting IKE really lit the fuse. All the best... GH
Marc, we the people elected Richard Nixon as president because he claimed to know a secret on how to end the war. The secret turned out to be the carpet bombing of Cambodia, and all it did was expand the war to Cambodia and Laos. In the end it was the Communists who ended the war by expelling the US from Vietnam. It was a humiliating defeat, and to this day we are still blaming each other for what happened. Telling people what they want to hear gains you followers perhaps, but it earns you no honor.
Marc Nevas - you bring up an excellent point. Our movement needs a song, some slogans, something catchy, resolute, and hopeful to rally around. Even if people don’t absorb all the details of our dreadful national situation, they will understand a song
I heavily suspect that our notions concerning pride are different further to the pun I posted and your response to it, Victor, even if you very correctly point to 'proud-ness' (as expressed by say, 'The Proud Boys') being an instrument that dictators use to cohere and corral marginalized groups. We're currently seeing that here in Australia (albeit in its milder form) via our Opposition Leader's use of the term, "our country", while as you say, Citizen Trump just as much copies the playbook which Hitler, Mussolini, and too, the French revolutionaries used.
Trump is also an evil demon. He is no toddler; he never was.
One thing is certain. Some day he will die, like every being that was born. The problem is that his actions will continue to drag us down long after that. I mean many decades; could be even a century.
I don't think I can stand to see EVERY T-cultist on Earth wearing eyeliner, once Trump is replaced by Vance. (Unless we can go all CITIZENS ARREST on all their tacky asses for being in DRAG. (Barney Fife style!))
And, of course, 5 pounds of bad makeup to HONOR Trump's complete and total lack of self-awareness. (They just don't realize it quite yet.)
Why not? Hope you're being facetious when you say you do not wish anything bad for him. I wish it every day & every night. Not just for him but for all those trying to ruin our country! I don't want them dead necessarily, since the dead don't suffer. I definitely want something bad to happen to them so they do suffer!
We have to start out messaging the oligarchs. We have allowed them to control the conversation ever since Newt drew up his list of names to call Democrats. They have never been constrained by truth or morality but they are not smarter. I believe we can be more creative. Humor is especially effective in taking away their power. Watch Gov. Pritzker’s video renaming Lake Michigan as Lake Illinois.
Bernie is going on the road starting with Iowa. He is not ceding anything to the right. He points out that there are red districts where they only won by a couple of points. He is a perfect inequality messenger to take on the oligarchs. We should have his back and amplify his messages like we amplify Professor Reich.
Martha, I definitely agree with you but the Resistance must be above ground also. However, we will have to be in it for the long haul. It took over six years of resistance to end the Viet Nam War. There was both underground and overground resistance and the result was a whole generation of activists that have had a tremendous impact on our society.
As a student of history, I try to remember that the impact actions of the Supreme Court have is measured in generations, not months or terms or years. The undoing of independence of agencies that protect the public from what Alexander Hamilton termed “mischief” in the Federalist Papers is for a collective good, itself spanning decades and generations. Once SCOTUS puts even a small ball in motion, it follows the laws of legal physics - it stays in motion for a long time.
This holiday is not a holiday. I’ve never seen it as such. Why? Because presidents going back to the start have had major flaws, and none so major as the set of ones the current one has. In my narrow interpretation, I don’t look at this as remembering a history of all the good things that those presidents may have accomplished (because none accomplished them alone), but as considering what *could* have happened should people - and agencies - of better natures *stopped them* from doing bad things had they been allowed.
I remember Germany before WWII, The Weimar Republic saw advances in areas like cultural expression, with a flourishing arts scene including cinema, theatre, and literature.
Social Reforms:
Some progressive social reforms were implemented, including increased women's rights and greater freedom of expression.
Political Experimentation:
The Weimar Republic introduced a new democratic system with proportional representation, aiming for broader political participation.
Rise of Extremism:
The economic crisis and political instability fueled the growth of radical political parties, particularly the Nazi Party, which exploited public discontent and promised a return to national strength.
Great Depression:
The global economic downturn further exacerbated Germany's economic problems, leading to mass unemployment and increased support for extremist ideologies.
These are many of the same conditions we find ourselves in now, This has allowed this very well executed COUP to take place, We are. now under the control of a tyrannical regime
Based on historical precedent, we can guess EXACTLY what Trump’s Ukraine surrender will be like:
Trump will negotiate ONLY with Russia. Not with Ukraine, and not with ANY American partner or ally. (This is EXACTLY what Trump did in Afghanistan…at Putin’s request, of course.)
Trump will require that Ukraine release at least 5,000 captured Russian soldiers but will not require Russia to free ANYONE in exchange. (This is EXACTLY what Trump did in Afghanistan, one can imagine due to Putin’s wishes. The Taliban was never asked to release the one American they held, despite 5,000 prisoners, significantly terrorist fighters, returned to them by Trump, through Putin.)
Trump will require that BILLIONS of DOLLARS in military equipment be left behind to benefit our very dangerous enemy. (This is EXACTLY what Trump agreed to with Afghanistan, one presumes because Putin asked him nicely.)
Trump will offer to bring Putin to the most sacred of all places for American dealmaking – Camp David (This is EXACTLY what Trump tried to do with the Taliban…and on the ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11, no less.)
Trump will then blame all BAD DEALMAKING on Biden (and likely Presidents Obama, Lincoln and Arnold. (Benedict Arnold wasn’t president?! DON’T TELL Trump that!))
Europe has already met together in an emergency meeting to discuss how to adapt to the total lack of American concern for ANY NATION other than America.
Considering America's military, does it even matter what Europe and Ukraine want, as long as Putin keeps patting Trump on his wee widdle head?
Trump did EXACTLY this to Afghanistan, and the entire world stood back and watched from a safe distance. Then we did it to Gaza, and the world was afraid to speak out, even under Biden. (And NO ONE was even afraid of Biden...)
The difference is that our economy is in good shape, but the trumpers don't know it because they only get their news from Fox or rightwing social media. However, they will see the truth soon when their elders are put out on the streets because Medicaid is gone and the economy collapses.
But what we learned from Covid (at every stage) is that once Trump called Covid a HOAX, and said that "VACCINES ARE DANGEROUS", hundreds of thousands of Trump cultists were very willing to throw their elders onto the Trump/Covid pyre as human sacrifices.
And I suspect that very few have given that "choice" a second thought. (I live among these fools in the rural Deep South.)
You see, what we KNOW in the south, beyond any doubt, is that these people are very willing to pay a price, as long as those they HATE pay more. Or, as a friend put it, "They don't mind being shot in the foot, as long as some stranger they hate gets shot in the kneecap."
Are they willing to get shot in the head, so to speak.? No one knows how bad and wide the pain will be but my guess is immense. Maybe those people saw the Covid deaths as an unavoidable act of God. Will they view the removal of safety nets and its impacts the same way? Maybe so.
I have to say my belief in people's ability to act for their own self-preservation has been sorely tested.
Fear and anger are powerful emotions, and they are contagious. When combined they can turn into hate, and hate directed at "others" becomes xenophobia, a psychotic condition. Rupert Murdoch did it with the help of experts.
Yes, they are deluded and if things get worse they will blame someone other than Trump. He created a cult of himself with the help of Fox News. We have to figure out how to puncture that cult.
Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays were combined into one holiday. The day is to celebrate those two presidents. Their contributions are worth celebrating. Timothy Snyder on Rachel Maddow said we need a shadow government because of a failure of imagination. Imagine Washington and Lincoln so we know what we have to work for.
This is an example of taking things and people for granted. George Washington had the opportunity of becoming a life-long president, but he chose not to because he believed in the rule of law and constitutional government. He was instrumental in the creation of the Republic. Mexico, Argentina, Brazil were not so lucky. Abraham Lincoln could have been another Andrew Johnson, and a Britain-beholden slave country would have been the outcome. Count your blessings and honor honorable men.
Sometimes I wonder if Mitch McConnell will ever realize that he was instrumental in destroying our country? If not for him, Trump wouldn’t have the SCOTUS in his pockets. There is no law anymore that can protect us.
And we should never forget just how difficult it is to come up with A SINGLE PIECE OF LEGISLATION that the GOP has either PROPOSED or SUPPORTED that was designed to help WORKING-CLASS, MIDDLE-INCOME Americans, at any time in the past 75 YEARS!
I'VE BEEN ASKING FOR YEARS, and no one has ever come up with the ONLY correct answer I'm aware of...
Though the GOP did not propose the Americans With Disabilities Act, apparently neither did they fight it.
I suppose this may be the ONLY example where the GOP acted NOT to make rich people happy enough to donate, but make disabled constituents in red states (and there are LOTS) happy enough to vote for them.
I'm VERY sorry to say this (and especially as a non-American), but I'm still having a problem with RBG not retiring and her thereafter having died. As for McConnell (who has regrettably been alive for far too long!), he'll never have any concept of "destroying" your country (and effectively the world) following his warped view that his appalling actions were both correct and good, while that is the case with all the other GOP's on CH further to their support of T.
I get that. Meanwhile Mark Warner (VA) is 70 and plans to run again in 2026. Dick Durbin is 80, etc etc. These people in Congress of both Partys don't want to ever step down. And Biden.
I want the Dem party to force some of these people out out out!
Term limits in both the Senate and House. Members can then focus on the people’s business, not on their constant reelection bids. The regular infusion of ‘new blood’ should be a constant source of talented men and women.
Ideally he would like the Supremes to find in his favour against the ability of Congress to limit what he considers are his constituional powers of executive action and he has some reasonable expectation that five of the justices will agree with him. How far they might go is a matter of feverish speculation in legal circles.
Your “snowballs chance in hell” reminds me what circled around in my head all inauguration day…”When Hell Freezes over”. I think that was the beginning of my resistence!
I stopped counting on the supreme court to uphold and follow the Constitution when they reversed Roe V Wade. The stink of corruption permeates the court. With the exception of three justices, the remaining simply have no need or desire to serve the American people. They are being fed from the trough of greed and power.
The fetid stench of the #SupremeCourt 's corrupt, repugnant, seditious six overwhelms all of America, largely due to #DJT . Get rid of him and them! #Politics
I will (apparently) be dead soon. I can't find my original COVID VACCINATION card, but the 5 year anniversary of my first shot has to be very soon.
And, as all the EXPERTS know, while I DID NOT DIE on my 1st anniversary (as some claimed we ALL surely would), or the 2nd, or the 3rd, or the 4th...and that only leaves the VERY FATAL 5TH ANNIVERSARY DEADLINE.
So one unknown day soon, I will fall dead from my first COVID vaccination (not to mention all the following jabs!)
I suppose I'll just have to take comfort that NO ONE in this family has EVER had Covid, in any form or to any degree. But we've been VERY CAREFUL, and I still wear my mask in public to protect my very ill 93 year-old mother. (After all, living in the rural Deep South, I'm surrounded by IDIOTS!)
I find it really hard to believe that this Supreme Court, bearing witness to the lawlessness and devastation unleashed by the Trump regime so far, both in country and on the world stage, would be so reckless as to weaken the few remaining guardrails against the absolute corruption of the Constitution. If they do so, they will turn the Presidency into a kingdom, give a thumbs up to government by corruption and profoundly and cruelly betray the American people. Isn't there a name for this? And exactly what happens when a Supreme Court commits treason?
It hurts....but I agree. I think we're done. The courts won't save us because....the highest one already betrayed the people and the Constitution. Done in, we are, by STUPIDITY. Makes it even harder to bear...
If the Supremes give Trump total power over the government they will not be needed anymore. They must see this. Are they willing to give up their own power?
When a Supreme Court commits treason they can be removed by Congress. That's the theory anyway. When the GOP Congress commits treason, and the SCOTUS and President do also, it falls back to the people (or military, or both) to right things in one way or the other.
The "well regulated militia" is the National Guard which is controlled by the Governors of the State -- unless and until they are Federalized under, I believe, the Insurrection Act of 1807 and perhaps other pretexts.
Sexual predators, brazen grifter, theocracy advocates, rightwingnuts...we're doomed...by this MADNESS...by very stupid people...cruel, mean, and liars, too, during their confirmation hearings. They are shameful and nothing remotely near distinguished, dignified, thoughtful. The fascist oriented among them toss word salads to justify their unjustifiable "decisions." They are despicable, shameful....defame those visionaries who came before them. I'm embarrassed as a citizen. The best and the brightest? Yes...3 of them. Woe is we. And so it goes.
How can we have any hope when everyday there is a new crisis created by Trump, when there are no laws and the end result is always the Supreme Court siding with Trump?
Underdeveloped countries have more laws. They actually obey their laws and they don’t elect convicted felons to lead their country. If the USA is going to become a respectable country again, it is not likely to happen in my lifetime.
I will not apologize for being negative. We must face the truth that nothing can be done to constrain this monster. May be in a hundred years we can become a decent country but it won’t make a difference to me.
In a few months I am not even sure we could have an open dialogue. Dictators allow only what they want to hear.
The whole thing is based on the power of MONEY held by too few people. $$=Power. It think wealth of any kind-water, arable land, military, money=Influence of all kinds. My focus is on the 1-2% in America who have $$. I am doing my own Reistance until the rest of Americans organize massive groups of non-violent Resisters.
1. Take my money out of regular for-profit banks. Put it in non-profit Credit Unions with deposits protected by their own fund. Trump threatened FDIC so..
2. Always try to completely boycott Red State services and products. Purchase only what is necessary to survive. Cuts into profits, stock values, value of being dictators/oligarchs.
3. Speak out, inform as often as I can to encourage people that they have the ultimate power because 70% of our economy is based on We the People.
4. Encourage General Strikes, Sick-outs like the "Blue Flu," Walk-outs, Sit-ins/Car-ins to disrupt entrances, highways, airports used by trump/GOP/Musk/Coupmasters/all in business buddies-Meta, Amazon, Tesla, Wall Street, GOP Coup Buddies homes. Disrupt Business expectations of continued compliance and huge profits.
5. Call/Contact your elected officials in your town, state, DC to let them know you are "Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore." Let them know you will RESIST. Tell the DEMS to not negotiate to put a bandaid on the Coup's damage to people and allow the RICH to keep their tax cuts and give them more IRS loopholes. trump/GOP/Musk must own this COUP entirely. DEMS should very publically say they will not deal with insurrectionists of 1/6/2021 or Coupmasters of 2025. For DEMS a GREAT messaging opportunity to tell people WHY and HOW they are RESISTING obedience in advance to dictators/destroyers of our nation.
IF DEMS make deals with trump/GOP, GOP will lie, spread propaganda that the DEMS were the ones who made your lives harder, less secure-not GOP/trump.
6. Construct a strategy of IRS tax aviodance and state tax avoidance if they are all-in with trump/GOP. W-2 at work-claim the most deducions you can. Ask for 6 month extension-see rules IRS-not difficult. Make IRS chase you, write you, audit you-tie them up in paperwork. Tax Revolt-social contract with law/order/democratic Constitutional republic is breached by COUP/trump/GOP/Musk. No taxation without representation is valid RESISTER Cry again as it was until 1781 when Britain surrendered the Colonies to self-rule.
7. All these can be done under your own power and control. You will sacrifice some things but will you be able to say or write a journal to your children, friends, relatives, the next generations that you did what you could while waiting for the masses of resisters to form. I'm proud to say/write in my journal that I have volunteered during elections, voted for DEMS, been discouraged, defeated, horrified, cynical but I'm still doing my things and ready
to go when you are.
6. All the measures I have listed and accomplished so far I do from the security of my home. It requires a little effort, danger and only small sacrifices in the face of the COUP.
7. I may have left out other things I can do alone and now. Do you have any suggestions beside joining Resist Groups-locally and nationally?
Becca: thank you for this. I for one do not believe our democracy is dead, it’s not even on life support. But it has to be fought for, with everything at our disposal of which you have enumerated many.
It seems that nationally and internationally the Trump regime feels confident of their centralized power to complete this coup and take over America transforming it into an authoritarian white christian nationalist fascist form of government, I fear this is no longer a possibility but an accomplished feat. Without the courts or the Congress having any power, the decimation of government departments, and their now complete control over every private citizens data , how do we fight this?
#WeThePeople can overrule #Congresspersons flaunting their oaths of office, corrupt rulings of the #SupremeCourt and dictators! #FeetInTheStreet . Millions of them! Get ready! #Politics
Professor Reich, might it be possible to organize retired teachers to sign up to be substitute teachers in order to teach civics and critical thinking skills one class at a time all over the country? The initial focus should be on high school students who will turn 18 before the midterms.
A class on brain shortcuts that make us mistake the familiar for the true and fall prey to con artists would be valuable.
Maybe School House Rock can be revived for elementary school students. Perhaps you can make a video about who rigged the system and how to fix it. I’m concerned that the very concept of corruption will be lost.
HB 116- MEDIA LITERACY AND CRITICAL THINKING. is a bipartisan bill in MO for such in secondary education. The problem is if you don;t have people who can think critically, how will they teach it?I asked a co-sponsor to include logic as part of the instruction. As if he will.
And I remember so well the screaming, yammering right wing legislators and pundits, having bloody conniption fits over Obama's "executive overreach" and calling him a would-be dictator. Ranting endlessly over the separation of powers and checks and balances. F*ck them. F*ck them all, the spineless hypocritical bastards who couldn't impeach a tyrant.
There was also the howling about Biden's efforts to forgive student loans, which was cast as the action of a dictator. The extremist so-called "unitary executive theory" applies only to Republican presidents whose policies the right wingers agree with.
Anyone notice how many FAR-RIGHT WORLD LEADERS are trying so hard to SIT in a chair in EXACTLY the same manner as Trump's example of how a three-year-old might sit, the first time "Daddy" lets him sit in a BIG CHAIR! This one is of Modi, but EVERYONE in the photo is trying to sit like Trump...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-outside-oval-office_n_67b2f8e9e4b0c6b4a50456d9
(Also, just how PATHETIC is it to turn to the New York POST for validation?!?!)
foofaraw & Chiquita, I have a theory that all autocrats are essentially toddlers, 3-year-olds whose understanding of the world and their place in it does not advance much if at all past age 3. They are greedy, whiny, blaming everyone even for things they themselves have done, and pushy, and want no challenges. They also like hurting people or getting others to hurt people they don't like. When their people are cowed, they do a variety of horrific things to keep them down as Putin, Xi, Orban, and the rest regularly do and make sure the people know that what happens to THOSE people can be done to them too. Toddlers-Trump-Musk are already at it with the firings, the deportations of peaceful working immigrants to a concentration camp with plans for more. Since the camps are not here, they know that anything can be done to those people with impunity, especially if no one knows. Our Supreme Court current toddler-6 fit that pattern. They have made rulings for the past 2 decades that are appalling, but since most rulings are released in large numbers at the end of their term, they are not really held accountable, and in reality, there is no real way to hold the SC 6 accountable. No group of 67 senators is going to convict one of them no matter how bad their crimes. We saw that with Toddler-Trump 4 years ago. And, look what we have now.
Modi is a racist fascist as are all the participants, save Marco who is like his boyfriend Lindsey, a spineless twerp.
Nixon said Grab them by their balls and their hearts and minds will follow.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Yeah! The GOP long ago jettisoned intellectual honesty in favor of self-serving hypocrisy.
Bruce, I like the term "self-serving hypocrisy." They have also all become liars as a regular practice. There is no evidence they have any acquaintance with the truth and like it that way. Ignorance works for a lot of Republicans these days too, or pretend ignorance.
Whats new?
My sentiments...exactly...👍
What is perhaps more concerning now is the further precedent which will be created following the the now sacking of the 12 immigrations judges in your country, with this potentially giving legitimacy to 'Citoyen Trump's' desire to finally make sure that every courtroom judge in the USA is a conservative, with him no doubt additionally wishing that all of them could be just like Judge Holden in Cormac McCathy's Blood Meridien!
There's really no conservatives in the United States. "Some semantic hygiene is useful. There's really no conservatives in the United States. The people who are called conservatives are radical statists for the most part. There are a few genuine conservatives, which means like classical liberals, but not many." --- Noam Chomsky-MIT-University of Arizona
Believe it or not...
CONSERVE:
"protect (something, especially an environmentally or culturally important place or thing) from harm or destruction.
"the funds raised will help conserve endangered meadowlands"
According to the Oxford Dictionary, you could scarcely be MORE correct. To conserve means "to protect, or leave unchanged", and that seems proof enough that there are no conservatives left in America.
Only opportunists profiting from human misery.
Hope is an anesthetic
Hopium a bland of hope and opium
While copium is used in a situation where someone needs to 'cope' with something, hopium is a term used to mock 'false hope' or irrational optimism.
We are long past kvetching over Trumps deeds and appointments, we know what he is going to do before he opens his mouth.. It is like standing in the Palisades looking at the homes burn down around you, when we should at least be doing something.
It is not my nature to be depressed, but every day is met with more depressing news, and we and our leaders are doing nothing but moaning, complaining and kvetching.
Let's concentrate on doing something, solving the problem. If anyone thinks that the judicial system will come to our rescue, they are not living on Earth 1. A lower court ruling won't hold past the Supreme Court and we know how that will turn out, they are Patriarchal Christian Theocrats.
Organize, resist, sabotage
The Supreme Court today leans heavily toward the desires of wealthy conservatives. We can hope for a "Profiles in Courage " reversal from a Justice or Two, but not likely.
A way to start organizing is to start circulating petitions. Organization requires setting specific slogans and goals.
I'm afraid the 'conserving' republicans wish to "protect and leave unchanged" include maintaining slavery, disenfranchisement of women, and citizenship based on property and wealth - the conditions on which the country was actually founded.
yes it's past time to call them the rightwing radical extremists they are.
For all intents and purposes they are not Republicans anymore either. They are anti-democratic Trumpists .
So, when do you think MSM will start using different terminology.
Probably neeeever.
If we are going to call them what they are, a somewhat shorter term would be "fascists." "Nazis" would also do.
Fascists fits better. They are against everyone. Nazis are more race focused.
Ran into this guy in CO who had some kind of developmental issue. He would constantly ask, of people he knew and those he just met
"When are YOU going to be a movie star?"
Then answer his own question with a long drawn out
"Probableeee neeeeeever."
Indeed Joseph, while I utterly concur - even if they're termed conservatives in the mainstream media etc. I am on record as having previously called Trump and his cabal 'radical Jacobin's' (as in the French Revolution descriptor) while overall (despite Nazi and Fascist similarities) that is where - in my view - they far more correctly sit in terms of overall political conventions. Conservatism in the USA, by the way does not (as with the definition of liberal in your country) have 'quite' the same loaded meaning here in Australia, while conservatism in the US has also become bastardised by capitalist infusions, with the figure of Edmund Burke for example having been revisioned to fit in with the brands of 'conservatism' that the US right 're-formed' post the neoliberalism of Reagan.
Now he's up to 20, and not likely finished OBEYING Putin's LUST for power in America...
https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-court-judges-fired-firings-d35eed0f685739c4a19d4c8baf39113a
That photo IS interesting. I wonder how many did the mimic consciously. And who was the slouching guy on far right whose photo was truncated?
Forget about wasting time on that spineless SCOTUS republican group majority band known as 'John Roberts and the Supremes' (with apologies to Diana Ross), turn instead to the MUST WATCH speech that Tilda Swinton gave a few days ago at the Berlin Biennale for her take on this bad American Pastoral sequel (as sequels always are) that is now Jaws 2, with that movie making the now 50 year old original created in the Nixon era making that age look innocent in comparison to what we've got now: https://youtu.be/Fqol-1nTp_U?si=bv6BeZKLhipw_YLX
P.S. Just to clarify: ...Although Swinton's speech is essentially a panegyric to cinema, the references she makes to the autocracy zeitgeist (in recalling Masha Gessen's book) that we all now herein inhabit act as a watchword for all of us, while her words start up more fully several minutes or so into her speech - with yes, SCOTUS being just as complicit in sanctioned cruelty and vice (further to its now Trump stacked majority) as much as T. is!
A-f*ckin-men! Its congress and you just want to scream what you said in their face and hold up a mirror to them.
What I am getting sick and tired of are the emails from Dems and progressives telling me what is wrong (I already know!) and then saying if I will just donate they can fight back and win! Number one: I DON"T HAVE any money to donate! Number Two: The people who are supposed to be represented by these Dems and progressives are the working middle and lower classes! Don't they understand we are all trying our best to keep our heads above water?! We don't have any extra to give! What we do have is a willingness to fight for our country! We will protest, sign petitions, write letters and make phone calls. Apparently, what we can do does not seem to amount to a hill of beans to these people! It's money, money, money and I am sick and damn tired of it!
The current Democratic legislatures should be going out into the communities, asking questions and listening. This is the only way to know how voters feel and the only way to know what needs fixing.
There was a time, Ann, when politicians did get out and walk through communities and talked to the people they wanted to represent. They cared and it showed. That time is over because apparently, politicians only care about the wealthy pouring money into their pockets!
they could broaden their message for sure.
I get hoppin mad when they send me things like "You voted for Trump?" or "You're in favor of Project 2025?" Then you click on it and it says if I donate they can do away with all of it! That's just not true that my tiny donation ($5) is going to miraculously heal the country! Their messaging sucks!
Dang girl- I so appreciate you saying what we're feeling. I listened tonight to Ken Martin introduce himself a bit, "infer" a bit what he might work on first, etc.... and I found myself yelling at the TV. Please Go ready Greg Palast's post https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
Besides a new DNC plan going here and there... We know that every election they cheat, finagle, We need to clone Marc Elias and do a nation wide roll out of trained voter suppression sleuthing team for every state -Put them at the ready in the days and weeks as the votes come in and fixing ballots that are questioned as they come in. Even if they couldn't get to all of the votes at 4 pm on election day - send in the we will confirm the true vote team and then send out a confident calm Kamala Harris saying - we DO not believe all the votes for THE people ARE AS YET Properly and legally counted for the American people's election. Have Tim Walz come out and with the unrelenting tenacity of every coach I've ever know - DECLARE that will will not accept or concede until they are ALL IN! So grab your coffee and buckle up
Go balls to the wall and review these 15 states for voter suppression - Massive suppression, gerrymandering and more. Until that concludes - Do not budge, play nice, or make jokes. THIS is our beloved republic - and you jokers have messed with it long enough.
*Peggy I agree. The text's were relentless - relentless and I kept thinking... I like to give to important causes - But Is this all ya got people???? - give, give me more, more, and more, and more. For What ??? So you could put out more pithy messaging that reacts to their narrative - rather than leading with OURS!! We have to build a unstoppable movement- engage people, spark longing in people, rouse peoples' souls to walk over broken glass for the love for our ideals. Women are not going back to become JD Vance's handmaids tale wet dream- no way, no how, and the Patriarchy ain't seen nothing yet. We've raised a generation of fully empowered, superbly capable, and loving women who know they can slay dragons. The dragons should be very afraid.
I’m with you about fighting those vigilantes purging the ballots of millions so evil can win. Greg Palast is a hero! I’m also with ya about slaying the patriarchal dragons who think women are meant for Gilead and have no brains or strength to fight them! Bring it on!!
Magicgirl, as I read your comment, I had to laugh because you made me think of a plaque I had made for my granddaughter when she was still quite young. She had a really quick temper. The plaque said "Though she be but little, she be fierce". Dragons should be so very afraid of the crop of young women wading into this fight. If I could give all young girls a motto to fight by, it would be paraphrased, "Go ahead and mess in the affairs of dragons for they are crunchy and taste good with ketchup when roasted over an open fire"! These faux dragons in Washington should be very afraid!
I just wrote a very well thought out response to Peggy’s comment which I totally agree with and the f___cking phone just deleted it!!!! It was straight on and fair, no bad words . where would it have gone?
Hit one of the 3 or so figures below your keyboard. It may be behind one of those. OR -- when I delete my emails, they go into other files behind my current emails inbox. Perhaps you will find it there. All of a sudden, tons of my deleted emails are ending up classified as multiples of so-called "trash". My phone seems to be going crazy suddenly. It's hiding somewhere.
Klare, I have felt for awhile that this phone does exactly what it is being made to do…. Not in my control. Time to throw apple out with the trash!
The model state in our brave new right-wing world:
Mobile park evicted: https://youtu.be/WvkeipzY25Y?si=fLXdCNeAu9Ki9ddV
It's a trap: https://youtu.be/Ck9k6FKqsL8?si=c0wr1PdyqPp1DJZC
-
A reply from the previous discussion to some extolling the virtues of capitalism I think worth repeating today:
A distinction without a difference. You're essentially trying to sell the product that the only thing wrong with capitalism is capitalists - who don't give two whoops in hell about Adam Smith. Hot flash! Capitalism has no rules that we don't impose on it, and the current gaggle of raptor capitalists are selling the product that such rules are socialism. Imagine! To these capitalists, Adam Smith is a left-wing radical socialist. Worse, it's the world view so-called conservatives have cultivated since at least Ronald McReagan. Indeed, when confronted, the first three words out of the mouth of many such a so-called conservative who voted for the current state of play is: "I didn't think . . . . (whatever they didn't)."
Kerry - Every accusation is a confession.
You are right. Republicans would be up in arms if it was the Democrats who were doing what they are doing right now - but it is totally fine with them since they are the ones who are doing it to all of us. Hypocrisy at its finest.
I just climbed up to the roof of my home, hauling an amplifier with two huge tower speakers, and of course, a microphone. Turned the amp up to 11 (anyone remember Spinal Tap?) and read your post. Over and over. Finally stopped after 15 minutes, but left my equipment up there for daily repetition. For gullible folks - no, I didn't do that. Sure would like to, though. Thank you, Kerry.
You have a solution?
Perfect
Mylène Farmer - F*ck them all (Clip Officiel)
https://youtu.be/9TyqtWUTj6M?si=4n9F3Ev2Pf4LDk3U
Professor Reich: i am TRYING VERY VERY HARD not to fall into despair, but this is really depressing news indeed. the lying orange toddler is not only a king, but one might also say that, with that evil demon, muskrat at his side, he's a self-proclaimed god.
well, until he's dead.
GrrlScientist, I cannot help but notice that the discussions in our group of Robert Reich’s Substack have been expressing rage and despair. It is a natural response to what we experience occurring around us. What is special about this group is the awareness among most of us and the support we give each other even though we are horrified by the current situation. We are not only Americans, but we include citizens from around the world and through the efforts of Robert Reich we have created a support community where we can converse openly and freely. The challenge we now face and will continue to face is not to give in to negativity and despair, for that giving in would be a gift we would give to Authoritarians, Dictators and the Oligarchs worldwide.
One essential quality of successful resisters worldwide has been to hold a positive vision of the future no matter how dark is the present moment. Resistance to the Viet Nam War united disparate movements into one force that ended the war, ended the draft, lowered the voting age to eighteen and caused a once powerful President to step down. Resistance inspired songs such as “The Times They Are A Changing,” “Blowin’ In The Wind,” “Imagine” and many, many more. The situation we were facing then was as dire and more deadly than our current situation, and yet there was no one person we can point to as the leader of the successful Anti-War Movement. It was an amalgam of groups and leaders. The situation became dire over a period of years before we became activists and took effective action.
The successful resistance ended the U.S. involvement in Viet Nam War after over six years of organizing resistance. In contrast, our current crisis/coup is only one month old and resistance has only begun. And remember the Democratic Party or its leaders did not end the Viet Nam war, it was… WE THE PEOPLE.
This sounds encouraging. Well, compared to anything else I've seen...
"There’s No Way Elon Musk’s Job is Legal
“Checks and balances, at the moment, seem to be neutralized.” "
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/elon-musk-doge-special-government-employee/
I think it's pretty obvious that the main task of these Musk Minions is to be arrested in place of Musk, once things go north. (We used to say "go South" for bad stuff, but why would ANYONE want to be here?)
The Vietnam war had the draft which caused 57,000 dead and maimed soldiers. Now it's all volunteer. By the late 1960's there were mass protests. There was a brutal protest in Madison, Wisconsin on campus over napalm. Napalm is a hideous jellied gas burning at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. It didn't just kill you, It tortured you. Kennedy started the war in 1962 when he sent the U.S. Air Force to Vietnam but changed the plane insignias to Vietnamese. The first few years of the war there was complete silence. "You couldn't get two people in a living room to talk about it." --- Noam Chomsky
Cardinal Spellman told Kennedy that they had to save the Catholics in Vietnam.
Hi Joseph. The actual number of Americans killed in VN was 58,220. I lost a cousin and a high school friend there. At least 153,329 were wounded, with 75,000 severely disabled and 23,214 classified as 100% disabled.
The French finally left VN in 1954. President Eisenhower first deployed our troops in Nov. 1955. Kennedy sent 16,000 later and of course Johnson really cranked it up in 1964 after the bogus (lie) attack on one of our ships in Tonkin Gulf.
So Noam Chomsky is wrong blaming the start of the war on Kennedy. Some folks blame Johnson. But in reality, Ike, who thought a war there was unwinnable still couldn't resist a chance at "fighting the commies" and committed us and the VN to 18 years of horror on both sides.
South VN lost between 200 & 250,00 killed. North VN reported in 1995 they lost about 1.1 million and that doesn't include the civilians.
Just goes to show we need to elect better leaders who will keep us out of these situations. Good luck to everyone with our current band of criminals, lead by the new Agent Orange trying to destroy our country.... GH
Ike did NOT send troops to Vietnam. That is false. Ike sent a small number of military advisers and economic aid. That's all. Kennedy was the first president to INVADE South Vietnam. Kennedy was an aggressor in Vietnam.
Thank you for correcting the record. Ike also was responsible for Kennedy approving the Bay of Pigs debacle.
Hello Gary. Kennedy was the first president to INVADE South Vietnam. Here's a link. The Camelot stuff about Kennedy was all PR.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cMFkw9qPGD4
Hi Joseph. Yes, he sent a large number of troops,16,000 total before he died. Starting in 1961 with 500 Green Berets for training. JFK's troops were considered advisors and trained the SVN army and were not considered for combat.
If his deployment was an actual invasion, there would have been hundreds of thousands sent. Johnson actually did that and Nixon too.
I'm surely not defending JFK, but trying to point out the common misconception that he and/or Johnson started the war. Either could have ended it anytime but it was IKE who signed the agreement to become an ally to VN and sent 700 US advisory troops in the first place.
The US backed the French with war materials for VN starting in 1950 under Truman but no troops until 1955 under IKE. JFK & LBJ foolish followed along.
I'm only pointing this out because every time the unnecessary G.W. Bush Iraq War comes up some GOP'er tries to point out that JFK started the VN War conveniently forgetting IKE really lit the fuse. All the best... GH
Marc, we the people elected Richard Nixon as president because he claimed to know a secret on how to end the war. The secret turned out to be the carpet bombing of Cambodia, and all it did was expand the war to Cambodia and Laos. In the end it was the Communists who ended the war by expelling the US from Vietnam. It was a humiliating defeat, and to this day we are still blaming each other for what happened. Telling people what they want to hear gains you followers perhaps, but it earns you no honor.
I needed this today. Thank you.
Marc Nevas - you bring up an excellent point. Our movement needs a song, some slogans, something catchy, resolute, and hopeful to rally around. Even if people don’t absorb all the details of our dreadful national situation, they will understand a song
old song-how about 'revolution' by the beatles-new song-ask Bob Dylan Paul McCartney,Paul simon,or Stevie wonder to write one
Bravo Citizen (of the world) Marc!...You make one feel proud to be a Marc(us)!
Making people feel proud is what demagogues do. Trump is a prime example.
I heavily suspect that our notions concerning pride are different further to the pun I posted and your response to it, Victor, even if you very correctly point to 'proud-ness' (as expressed by say, 'The Proud Boys') being an instrument that dictators use to cohere and corral marginalized groups. We're currently seeing that here in Australia (albeit in its milder form) via our Opposition Leader's use of the term, "our country", while as you say, Citizen Trump just as much copies the playbook which Hitler, Mussolini, and too, the French revolutionaries used.
Trump is also an evil demon. He is no toddler; he never was.
One thing is certain. Some day he will die, like every being that was born. The problem is that his actions will continue to drag us down long after that. I mean many decades; could be even a century.
At my age, no chance of seeing anything improved. Hard to fight off despair when I see that. I have to fight it.
well, i use the name "toddler" in recognition of his late night temper tantrums.
I agree. This will not end until the second American Civil War ends.
Given Bunkerboy's advancing Alzheimer's, it won't be around too much longer thank God! It can barely finish complete thoughts anymore.
tis a consummation devoutly to be wished-but then we get vance-from the frying pan into the fire
I don't think I can stand to see EVERY T-cultist on Earth wearing eyeliner, once Trump is replaced by Vance. (Unless we can go all CITIZENS ARREST on all their tacky asses for being in DRAG. (Barney Fife style!))
And, of course, 5 pounds of bad makeup to HONOR Trump's complete and total lack of self-awareness. (They just don't realize it quite yet.)
Funny perspective! Thanks I needed some comic relief. 👍
If he croaks before we get him out of office, it will be President Vance, who I think will be much worse.
hope its not as bloody as the first one-then again,maybe that's what is needed
hope its not as bloody as the first one-but maybe that's what it'll take
I keep saying he may be one cheeseburger away! Not that I wish anything bad for the man.
Why not? Hope you're being facetious when you say you do not wish anything bad for him. I wish it every day & every night. Not just for him but for all those trying to ruin our country! I don't want them dead necessarily, since the dead don't suffer. I definitely want something bad to happen to them so they do suffer!
It may be time to start forming an underground resistance
We have to start out messaging the oligarchs. We have allowed them to control the conversation ever since Newt drew up his list of names to call Democrats. They have never been constrained by truth or morality but they are not smarter. I believe we can be more creative. Humor is especially effective in taking away their power. Watch Gov. Pritzker’s video renaming Lake Michigan as Lake Illinois.
Bernie is going on the road starting with Iowa. He is not ceding anything to the right. He points out that there are red districts where they only won by a couple of points. He is a perfect inequality messenger to take on the oligarchs. We should have his back and amplify his messages like we amplify Professor Reich.
Hooray for Bernie!
America First: deport Musk!
Martha, I definitely agree with you but the Resistance must be above ground also. However, we will have to be in it for the long haul. It took over six years of resistance to end the Viet Nam War. There was both underground and overground resistance and the result was a whole generation of activists that have had a tremendous impact on our society.
I believe we need to be constantly in his face. Can’t do that if you go underground.
As a student of history, I try to remember that the impact actions of the Supreme Court have is measured in generations, not months or terms or years. The undoing of independence of agencies that protect the public from what Alexander Hamilton termed “mischief” in the Federalist Papers is for a collective good, itself spanning decades and generations. Once SCOTUS puts even a small ball in motion, it follows the laws of legal physics - it stays in motion for a long time.
This holiday is not a holiday. I’ve never seen it as such. Why? Because presidents going back to the start have had major flaws, and none so major as the set of ones the current one has. In my narrow interpretation, I don’t look at this as remembering a history of all the good things that those presidents may have accomplished (because none accomplished them alone), but as considering what *could* have happened should people - and agencies - of better natures *stopped them* from doing bad things had they been allowed.
I remember Germany before WWII, The Weimar Republic saw advances in areas like cultural expression, with a flourishing arts scene including cinema, theatre, and literature.
Social Reforms:
Some progressive social reforms were implemented, including increased women's rights and greater freedom of expression.
Political Experimentation:
The Weimar Republic introduced a new democratic system with proportional representation, aiming for broader political participation.
Rise of Extremism:
The economic crisis and political instability fueled the growth of radical political parties, particularly the Nazi Party, which exploited public discontent and promised a return to national strength.
Great Depression:
The global economic downturn further exacerbated Germany's economic problems, leading to mass unemployment and increased support for extremist ideologies.
These are many of the same conditions we find ourselves in now, This has allowed this very well executed COUP to take place, We are. now under the control of a tyrannical regime
Based on historical precedent, we can guess EXACTLY what Trump’s Ukraine surrender will be like:
Trump will negotiate ONLY with Russia. Not with Ukraine, and not with ANY American partner or ally. (This is EXACTLY what Trump did in Afghanistan…at Putin’s request, of course.)
Trump will require that Ukraine release at least 5,000 captured Russian soldiers but will not require Russia to free ANYONE in exchange. (This is EXACTLY what Trump did in Afghanistan, one can imagine due to Putin’s wishes. The Taliban was never asked to release the one American they held, despite 5,000 prisoners, significantly terrorist fighters, returned to them by Trump, through Putin.)
Trump will require that BILLIONS of DOLLARS in military equipment be left behind to benefit our very dangerous enemy. (This is EXACTLY what Trump agreed to with Afghanistan, one presumes because Putin asked him nicely.)
Trump will offer to bring Putin to the most sacred of all places for American dealmaking – Camp David (This is EXACTLY what Trump tried to do with the Taliban…and on the ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11, no less.)
Trump will then blame all BAD DEALMAKING on Biden (and likely Presidents Obama, Lincoln and Arnold. (Benedict Arnold wasn’t president?! DON’T TELL Trump that!))
At least we won’t be surprised this time….
#BenedictDonald !
LOVE IT!
Thanks, John!
And HERE it is....
"U.S. Delegation Led By Marco Rubio To Hold Talks With Top Russian Officials In Saudi Arabia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country won’t take part in the talks this week, adding that they would "yield no results." "
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-russia-talks-saudi-arabia_n_67b323f7e4b0c6b4a5048ea0
Before Trump, I RARELY hated to be right. Now it's an hourly occurrence...
Do you really believe that Ukraine and other European countries will stand for that?
Europe has already met together in an emergency meeting to discuss how to adapt to the total lack of American concern for ANY NATION other than America.
Considering America's military, does it even matter what Europe and Ukraine want, as long as Putin keeps patting Trump on his wee widdle head?
Trump did EXACTLY this to Afghanistan, and the entire world stood back and watched from a safe distance. Then we did it to Gaza, and the world was afraid to speak out, even under Biden. (And NO ONE was even afraid of Biden...)
The difference is that our economy is in good shape, but the trumpers don't know it because they only get their news from Fox or rightwing social media. However, they will see the truth soon when their elders are put out on the streets because Medicaid is gone and the economy collapses.
Margaret,
I truly wish I could believe all of that.
But what we learned from Covid (at every stage) is that once Trump called Covid a HOAX, and said that "VACCINES ARE DANGEROUS", hundreds of thousands of Trump cultists were very willing to throw their elders onto the Trump/Covid pyre as human sacrifices.
And I suspect that very few have given that "choice" a second thought. (I live among these fools in the rural Deep South.)
You see, what we KNOW in the south, beyond any doubt, is that these people are very willing to pay a price, as long as those they HATE pay more. Or, as a friend put it, "They don't mind being shot in the foot, as long as some stranger they hate gets shot in the kneecap."
Are they willing to get shot in the head, so to speak.? No one knows how bad and wide the pain will be but my guess is immense. Maybe those people saw the Covid deaths as an unavoidable act of God. Will they view the removal of safety nets and its impacts the same way? Maybe so.
I have to say my belief in people's ability to act for their own self-preservation has been sorely tested.
Though I'm (sorta) sure it HAS happened, I'm not aware of any T-CULTIST actually saying:
"My (beloved family member) did NOT have to die! If I had just ignored Trump's deadly Covid lies..."
But the future is dynamic, so...who knows?
Fear and anger are powerful emotions, and they are contagious. When combined they can turn into hate, and hate directed at "others" becomes xenophobia, a psychotic condition. Rupert Murdoch did it with the help of experts.
Yes, they are deluded and if things get worse they will blame someone other than Trump. He created a cult of himself with the help of Fox News. We have to figure out how to puncture that cult.
Tyrannical not yet.
Technically this is not President's Day. Congress never officially changed the name. It's Washington's Birthday.
Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays were combined into one holiday. The day is to celebrate those two presidents. Their contributions are worth celebrating. Timothy Snyder on Rachel Maddow said we need a shadow government because of a failure of imagination. Imagine Washington and Lincoln so we know what we have to work for.
Happy Presidents Washington and Lincoln Day.
Britt has introduced a bill to make Trump’s birthday a national holiday. I believe the little Republican whisperer has gone fuller a** kisser.
This is an example of taking things and people for granted. George Washington had the opportunity of becoming a life-long president, but he chose not to because he believed in the rule of law and constitutional government. He was instrumental in the creation of the Republic. Mexico, Argentina, Brazil were not so lucky. Abraham Lincoln could have been another Andrew Johnson, and a Britain-beholden slave country would have been the outcome. Count your blessings and honor honorable men.
Sometimes I wonder if Mitch McConnell will ever realize that he was instrumental in destroying our country? If not for him, Trump wouldn’t have the SCOTUS in his pockets. There is no law anymore that can protect us.
And, most simply, he could have delivered the required impeachment votes!
And we should never forget just how difficult it is to come up with A SINGLE PIECE OF LEGISLATION that the GOP has either PROPOSED or SUPPORTED that was designed to help WORKING-CLASS, MIDDLE-INCOME Americans, at any time in the past 75 YEARS!
I'VE BEEN ASKING FOR YEARS, and no one has ever come up with the ONLY correct answer I'm aware of...
BTW,
Though the GOP did not propose the Americans With Disabilities Act, apparently neither did they fight it.
I suppose this may be the ONLY example where the GOP acted NOT to make rich people happy enough to donate, but make disabled constituents in red states (and there are LOTS) happy enough to vote for them.
It's not in the GOP job description to "aid America".
Remember the 2020 GOP platform? Basically, nothing more than "follow the (unclothed) leader". I'd suggest everyone read it, as it is QUITE the HOOT!:
https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/docs/Resolution_Platform_2020.pdf
And then McConnell has the gall to vote against the cabal, I mean cabinet picks, from Mordor!
I suspect that moment hit him the moment Trump began questioning his childhood diagnosis of POLIO.
(I suspect that Mitch now has a FAR better understanding of BIRTHERISM.)
I'm VERY sorry to say this (and especially as a non-American), but I'm still having a problem with RBG not retiring and her thereafter having died. As for McConnell (who has regrettably been alive for far too long!), he'll never have any concept of "destroying" your country (and effectively the world) following his warped view that his appalling actions were both correct and good, while that is the case with all the other GOP's on CH further to their support of T.
I get that. Meanwhile Mark Warner (VA) is 70 and plans to run again in 2026. Dick Durbin is 80, etc etc. These people in Congress of both Partys don't want to ever step down. And Biden.
I want the Dem party to force some of these people out out out!
They forced Biden out and see where it brought us.
Term limits in both the Senate and House. Members can then focus on the people’s business, not on their constant reelection bids. The regular infusion of ‘new blood’ should be a constant source of talented men and women.
Sadly, you are correct.
Will Trump abide by the court's decision? Not a snowballs chance in hell.
Ideally he would like the Supremes to find in his favour against the ability of Congress to limit what he considers are his constituional powers of executive action and he has some reasonable expectation that five of the justices will agree with him. How far they might go is a matter of feverish speculation in legal circles.
Trump will, but, only if they rule in his favor!
I don't think he's gonna have to worry about that. The decisions will be what he wants to abide by.
I disagree. He might find it strategically advantageous to go along for now.
Your “snowballs chance in hell” reminds me what circled around in my head all inauguration day…”When Hell Freezes over”. I think that was the beginning of my resistence!
I stopped counting on the supreme court to uphold and follow the Constitution when they reversed Roe V Wade. The stink of corruption permeates the court. With the exception of three justices, the remaining simply have no need or desire to serve the American people. They are being fed from the trough of greed and power.
The fetid stench of the #SupremeCourt 's corrupt, repugnant, seditious six overwhelms all of America, largely due to #DJT . Get rid of him and them! #Politics
The most corrupt #SupremeCourt in history! The #FailedRobertsCourt The #SeditionistSix #Politics
Now I am become death, the destroyer of democracies.
And on a personal note, even WORSE NEWS...
I will (apparently) be dead soon. I can't find my original COVID VACCINATION card, but the 5 year anniversary of my first shot has to be very soon.
And, as all the EXPERTS know, while I DID NOT DIE on my 1st anniversary (as some claimed we ALL surely would), or the 2nd, or the 3rd, or the 4th...and that only leaves the VERY FATAL 5TH ANNIVERSARY DEADLINE.
So one unknown day soon, I will fall dead from my first COVID vaccination (not to mention all the following jabs!)
I suppose I'll just have to take comfort that NO ONE in this family has EVER had Covid, in any form or to any degree. But we've been VERY CAREFUL, and I still wear my mask in public to protect my very ill 93 year-old mother. (After all, living in the rural Deep South, I'm surrounded by IDIOTS!)
Note that the AUMFs still have not been repealed; unconstitutional executive indeed...
I find it really hard to believe that this Supreme Court, bearing witness to the lawlessness and devastation unleashed by the Trump regime so far, both in country and on the world stage, would be so reckless as to weaken the few remaining guardrails against the absolute corruption of the Constitution. If they do so, they will turn the Presidency into a kingdom, give a thumbs up to government by corruption and profoundly and cruelly betray the American people. Isn't there a name for this? And exactly what happens when a Supreme Court commits treason?
They have already turned him into a king. Democracy is already dead. It is the present, not the future.
It hurts....but I agree. I think we're done. The courts won't save us because....the highest one already betrayed the people and the Constitution. Done in, we are, by STUPIDITY. Makes it even harder to bear...
If the Supremes give Trump total power over the government they will not be needed anymore. They must see this. Are they willing to give up their own power?
well GOP in Congress are doing that.
When a Supreme Court commits treason they can be removed by Congress. That's the theory anyway. When the GOP Congress commits treason, and the SCOTUS and President do also, it falls back to the people (or military, or both) to right things in one way or the other.
This conclusion seems inescapable
Words I never thought I'd say. Where's a well regulated militia when you need it?
The "well regulated militia" is the National Guard which is controlled by the Governors of the State -- unless and until they are Federalized under, I believe, the Insurrection Act of 1807 and perhaps other pretexts.
Thanks
It is seditious conspiracy. Up to 20 years in prison. #FeetInTheStreet ! #WeThePeople !
Sexual predators, brazen grifter, theocracy advocates, rightwingnuts...we're doomed...by this MADNESS...by very stupid people...cruel, mean, and liars, too, during their confirmation hearings. They are shameful and nothing remotely near distinguished, dignified, thoughtful. The fascist oriented among them toss word salads to justify their unjustifiable "decisions." They are despicable, shameful....defame those visionaries who came before them. I'm embarrassed as a citizen. The best and the brightest? Yes...3 of them. Woe is we. And so it goes.
How can we have any hope when everyday there is a new crisis created by Trump, when there are no laws and the end result is always the Supreme Court siding with Trump?
Underdeveloped countries have more laws. They actually obey their laws and they don’t elect convicted felons to lead their country. If the USA is going to become a respectable country again, it is not likely to happen in my lifetime.
I will not apologize for being negative. We must face the truth that nothing can be done to constrain this monster. May be in a hundred years we can become a decent country but it won’t make a difference to me.
In a few months I am not even sure we could have an open dialogue. Dictators allow only what they want to hear.
The whole thing is based on the power of MONEY held by too few people. $$=Power. It think wealth of any kind-water, arable land, military, money=Influence of all kinds. My focus is on the 1-2% in America who have $$. I am doing my own Reistance until the rest of Americans organize massive groups of non-violent Resisters.
1. Take my money out of regular for-profit banks. Put it in non-profit Credit Unions with deposits protected by their own fund. Trump threatened FDIC so..
2. Always try to completely boycott Red State services and products. Purchase only what is necessary to survive. Cuts into profits, stock values, value of being dictators/oligarchs.
3. Speak out, inform as often as I can to encourage people that they have the ultimate power because 70% of our economy is based on We the People.
4. Encourage General Strikes, Sick-outs like the "Blue Flu," Walk-outs, Sit-ins/Car-ins to disrupt entrances, highways, airports used by trump/GOP/Musk/Coupmasters/all in business buddies-Meta, Amazon, Tesla, Wall Street, GOP Coup Buddies homes. Disrupt Business expectations of continued compliance and huge profits.
5. Call/Contact your elected officials in your town, state, DC to let them know you are "Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore." Let them know you will RESIST. Tell the DEMS to not negotiate to put a bandaid on the Coup's damage to people and allow the RICH to keep their tax cuts and give them more IRS loopholes. trump/GOP/Musk must own this COUP entirely. DEMS should very publically say they will not deal with insurrectionists of 1/6/2021 or Coupmasters of 2025. For DEMS a GREAT messaging opportunity to tell people WHY and HOW they are RESISTING obedience in advance to dictators/destroyers of our nation.
IF DEMS make deals with trump/GOP, GOP will lie, spread propaganda that the DEMS were the ones who made your lives harder, less secure-not GOP/trump.
6. Construct a strategy of IRS tax aviodance and state tax avoidance if they are all-in with trump/GOP. W-2 at work-claim the most deducions you can. Ask for 6 month extension-see rules IRS-not difficult. Make IRS chase you, write you, audit you-tie them up in paperwork. Tax Revolt-social contract with law/order/democratic Constitutional republic is breached by COUP/trump/GOP/Musk. No taxation without representation is valid RESISTER Cry again as it was until 1781 when Britain surrendered the Colonies to self-rule.
7. All these can be done under your own power and control. You will sacrifice some things but will you be able to say or write a journal to your children, friends, relatives, the next generations that you did what you could while waiting for the masses of resisters to form. I'm proud to say/write in my journal that I have volunteered during elections, voted for DEMS, been discouraged, defeated, horrified, cynical but I'm still doing my things and ready
to go when you are.
6. All the measures I have listed and accomplished so far I do from the security of my home. It requires a little effort, danger and only small sacrifices in the face of the COUP.
7. I may have left out other things I can do alone and now. Do you have any suggestions beside joining Resist Groups-locally and nationally?
Becca: thank you for this. I for one do not believe our democracy is dead, it’s not even on life support. But it has to be fought for, with everything at our disposal of which you have enumerated many.
Start petitions! Organize!
I'm doing my best to tell people WE the People have so much power in our spending, our working, our voices, our printed words, our physical being.
There are too many organizations going too many different ways. I'm looking for MLK or Gandhi type of leader. As yet none have arrived nationally.
#FeetInTheStreet ! #WeThePeople !
After reading your post today and Heather Cox Richardson’s https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-16-2025?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=157297204&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=f14pb&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
It seems that nationally and internationally the Trump regime feels confident of their centralized power to complete this coup and take over America transforming it into an authoritarian white christian nationalist fascist form of government, I fear this is no longer a possibility but an accomplished feat. Without the courts or the Congress having any power, the decimation of government departments, and their now complete control over every private citizens data , how do we fight this?
By doing whatever we can to fight it! Protests, strikes, etc.
#WeThePeople can overrule #Congresspersons flaunting their oaths of office, corrupt rulings of the #SupremeCourt and dictators! #FeetInTheStreet . Millions of them! Get ready! #Politics
Start petitions, invent appealing slogans, organize.
it is not accomplished and do not declare it such
I’m afraid the best we can expect is an eloquent dissent.
No the court will not stop him
Professor Reich, might it be possible to organize retired teachers to sign up to be substitute teachers in order to teach civics and critical thinking skills one class at a time all over the country? The initial focus should be on high school students who will turn 18 before the midterms.
A class on brain shortcuts that make us mistake the familiar for the true and fall prey to con artists would be valuable.
Maybe School House Rock can be revived for elementary school students. Perhaps you can make a video about who rigged the system and how to fix it. I’m concerned that the very concept of corruption will be lost.
Wow! Great idea! Sign me up! Should we start with SCOTUS? No, seriously. I think your "treatment plan" is spot on...
HB 116- MEDIA LITERACY AND CRITICAL THINKING. is a bipartisan bill in MO for such in secondary education. The problem is if you don;t have people who can think critically, how will they teach it?I asked a co-sponsor to include logic as part of the instruction. As if he will.
"I guarantee that eventually democracy will come out stronger for it"--IF it comes out of it at all.
I wish I were as sanguine as you are, Dr. Reich.
I guess the key word is EVENTUALLY. And the key question is will this guarantee be fulfilled in our lifetimes? Our children’s lifetimes?
Or some other country?