The picture of trump's America is what you've written this morning ☕This is the stuff that should "Really" scare the hell out of folks, not even a Halloween 🎃 movie comes close to this ! Excellent read and will reStack ASAP( see you soon on FStv)💯👍🇺🇲💙🌊🌊🌊
Trump dreaming to attract more europeans to resettle in trump naziland? Gotcha be really joking poor lunatic demented bloke. Get rid of this wannabe dictator before it is too late. Lock him up! Vote blue
I think Trump is just dreaming to get out of prison and hates God! The ultra rich just want to play God like they did back in the dark ages! It was so much more fun being rich back then. You could even have your own little torture chambers in the dungeons.
Trump's plans are horrific and terrifying, but I am reflecting if Trump would actually pull off so much deportation of illegal immigrants. The truth is that Trump's benefactors, big business, do not in truth want illegals deported. They depend on illegals bringing down wages and working conditions because illegals cannot complain or they will be deported. So, the Republicans pretend to be against illegal immigration so that they can blame Democrats for allowing it and whip up public sentiment against it to get votes. But they block every attempt to do anything about it because they actually like it and rely on it. Yes, Republicans are really that caniving.
Very observant post.. Sorry for the length of this post but the issue is part of a bigger picture again driven by what our elites want. Here it is.
Thinking Out Loud
Abortion
By Jon R. Schulz November 4, 2022
Wow. What a contentious subject. The impetus for this article comes from the massive issues surrounding this subject. The subject, of course, is much bigger than just abortion. It is about denying women any choice about whether or not they carry any pregnancy to term. It has been described correctly as forced birth.
The big question that is neither being asked nor being answered is this, Who benefits from forcing women to have babies they don’t want and cannot afford?? Also, who benefits from families being forced to have children that they can’t afford forcing them into poverty? There is an old adage, when you want to know why something is happening, follow the money.
The push to ban abortion is part of a much larger effort to increase human population. That includes the push to ban contraceptives, birth control, eliminate family planning, and education related to same. That trend is solidly in place. Rather obvious. But why? We know that it is a fact that our massively increasing population drives massive consumption, is driving the greatest extinction of life since the dinosaurs, and is driving climate change putting human and all other life seriously at risk. It doesn’t make any sense until you dig deeper to understand the rest of the story.
How much deeper? Well, the main players who don’t want you to know or understand that are religions, large corporations needing cheap labor, and the military who needs soldiers to make the world safe for our corporations to exploit (that is cynical but true).
Let’s look at religions first.
Those who oppose abortion claim they are pro-life (and in a sense they are), HOWEVER, if their concern is for the life of that newborn baby and the sanctity of life you might be forgiven for thinking that the concern would extend to the mother who must care for that child and to the entirety of that child’s life. But it does not. Judging from the stark reality that after birth those “pro-lifers” don’t seem to give a damn about the quality of that child’s life much less that of her/his mother who is likely trying provide for herself and the child while being systematically discriminated against by pretty much our entire society. Where are the living wage jobs, child care, affordable education and favorable tax treatment? Pro-life? Not so much. This is rampant hypocrisy! What’s the real reason? Church memberships and attendance have been dropping for decades (there is a good reason for that). Religions (I am talking about church leaders not well meaning followers) want more than anything for there to be more bodies filling those pews, more children they can indoctrinate with their particular religious dogma, and, especially, more people coughing up tithes every Sunday to pay for their salaries, their buildings, and, frequently, all sorts of luxuries. Impacts to those people, their other children, their communities and impacts to the ability of nature to provide an environment where life can continue be damned, fill those pews and keep the cash flowing in.
Now, lets look at large corporations.
Why are corporations active in this issue? They desperately need (they think) a cheap, desperate labor pool (industrial agriculture, food processing and big box retail stores come immediately to mind). The government even has policies designed to maintain a certain level of unemployment adding to that desperation.
The definition of ‘professional management” is the use (that’s a euphemism -usually exploitation) of labor and resources to generate wealth (for the few). It is an absolute truth to these folks that labor is a “cost burden” on wealth generation (taking money directly out of their pockets) to be minimized or eliminated at the earliest opportunity. That is why so much attention has been given to AI and robotics. Robots don’t unionize and keep making unreasonable demands like wanting a living wage or safe working conditions. Of course, you whose jobs are being eliminated are paying for this. The question for industry has been where can they find a pool of cheap labor that won’t complain and will just do what they are told to do? For many decades that pool of labor was immigrants - preferably in the country illegally. Weak and ineffective border control became unofficial nation policy supported by Republicans and corporate Democrats (at the behest of their paymasters) - of course, they deny anything of the sort. And, now? OMG, those 11 million people might actually gain a path to citizenship and then they could vote. OMG, the sky is falling. What to do? The answer, unfortunately, was to team up with certain Religions and easily bought politicians and try to force women to have more babies, increasing the population and the pool of poor, desperate people looking for work, and willing to take whatever is offered, regardless of crappy pay, difficult working conditions, no benefits, and/or unsafe working conditions - just like illegal immigrants. Another aspect of their strategy is to simply deny many of our citizens the right to vote. E Pluribus Unum. Out of Many One. NO, no, no, Out of many a few to control and exploit the rest. Rather un- American, I’d say.
And finally, let’s address the military.
What I have to say here in no way casts aspersions on anyone in the military. They do a difficult job in an honorable way. In an era where our military is staffed with volunteers, there has to be some incentive for people to sign their lives away to serve Uncle Sam. There are, of course, other reasons to serve, many of them noble. However, no one can deny that the very real lack of opportunities for education and livelihood that many of our citizen experience and the resultant poverty they experience as a result drive many to enlist.
Apparently, a few powerful men defining women as 2nd class citizens, denying more than ½ the entire population the right to control their own bodies, forcing them to carry pregnancies to term (regardless) and being driven further into poverty, is OK with these self serving ______- sorry there are just too many negative adjectives to describe these guys.
We have a national election coming up soon. The major task facing all Americans is demanding accountability of those Republicans and Democrats that betrayed the trust of all Americans and engaged in an insurrection against the democracy of the American people. They committed and continue to commit treason. Part of that treason included packing the Supreme Count with lying, right wing, religious and political fanatics that have no clue what the constitution is about- who among other misunderstandings -have failed to keep church and state separate, committing yet another act of treason.
What else?
How about rampant misogyny? Many males don’t like having to compete with women in the marketplace, they don’t think women should be expecting to be treated as equals, men should be in charge, women should be at home serving the husbands and having children (i.e “tradwifes”). There is nothing wrong with the traditional wife role, but it should NEVER be mandatory or because there are no other options. And the thought that a woman should be forced to stay with an abusive man is an obscenity that should have everyone around him questioning his manhood and his humanity.
I expect the Republicans to kick out the unproductive illegal immigrants and American citizens. Keep the young and healthy who can be exploited. You are correct though it was them that started all this illegal immigration with Ronald Reagan!
Many decades of complaining without action have passed now, because, as Shea says, the economic advantages of having people here illegally are too delicious for many industries to relinquish. Construction, agriculture, meat packing and so much more would be affected financially. Back in the 1990s, I was bicycling around back roads in the Hudson Valley when I spied a nearly hidden factory of some sort. As I needed a bathroom, I went in - to the horror of everyone there. It was a commercial bakery staffed entirely with Hispanic people toiling away. I surmised the workers were illegal and the foreman and workers frightened that I would reveal the operation. I still recall the fear on people's faces - though they could have relaxed - not only had I no intention of harming anyone, the bosses probably weren't really going to suffer losses. With Trump, perhaps this relatively small factory would become an "example", while the $billion operations would be home free.
Tom's first point re the control of the media is key to the menace we face. Who controls the media will control the outcome. I have advocated that pressure be put upon those whose who can address this directly. First, a much stronger voice in the whole of the anti-MAGA opposition in the whole country to emphasize the media's impact, focusing more attention on this issue. Second, to demand response from the very wealthy who could finance implementation to establish media countering Fox, etc. A huge missing card in the deck. The recent suggestion (veiled demand) that Khan be removed from regulating the agency where anti-trust regs on corporations were made when contributions were voiced in support of Kamala reveals where the very wealthy's interests of the Blue are in accord with those heavy lucred in the Red. On the high levels of finance, there seems a readiness to subtle, unnoticed shape-shifting by the well-healedb foxes in the hen-house.
Well, we can’t say we weren’t warned…if you look up “Ron Cobb cartoons” you will see some bitter ones from the late 1960s. One of my favorites shows people wearing letters on their clothing and sitting on a park bench under a camera where a sign says, “B Citizens Only.” One person says that at least they don’t have to worry about anarchy anymore (in a later edition that was changed to “terrorism”). And that is the point, there is no limit where this dictatorship could go since such controls has been building for decades as people passively accepted their rights being taken away. Drug tests and citizenship papers to work, showing an ID to take an airliner within our own country, metal detectors spreading like a cancer, and indeed cameras everywhere are just some of the steps that have been implemented with little or no dissent.
Trump could easily build on a citizenry largely conditioned to accept and obey, especially given the often low quality of their knowledge of civics as well as of other cultures and religions. I would expect internal passports, sealing the borders and grossly limiting the ability of Americans to travel abroad to be just some of the steps one could expect. And any country that had a vocal minority of expats, a sort of “Government in Exile” or “Radio Free America” would have the U.S. to come down on it brutally hard.
And none of this would be new. My father-in-law (1906-86) grew up in Berlin as a completely assimilated Jew. When Hitler came to power everybody laughed and expected this ill-educated shouting joke to be quickly gone. When things started getting bad they said it couldn’t get any worse. Then when the Nuremberg Laws were passed he knew there was no hope. It took years to get an American visa, but he and his family made it out a few months before the war started. They could take almost nothing, but unlike his parents they survived. And while they waited to go they could only sit on park benches marked for them.
If you do plan to stay here, get a certified birth certificate.
I will have to take my bumper stickers off. My favorite one is "When life gets too tough to stand, Walz." Second is "Lotus for Potus." Third one is "Beware Project 2025 -- check Wikipedia." Oh wait, I have an electric car so it'll get demolished anyway.
45 will do token actions like the . . . what. . . 10 feet of wall that was built while he was prez? He will have his "new" press report that undocumenteds are being rounded up, complete with photos; health care workers and women being arrested, and so on.
For the sake of folks like Thom and prominent liberals, I hope the courts get so clogged up that cases will take forever to prosecute, and maybe by then half the nation will come to its senses.
And as ever, Thom, from a long-time fan, thank you.
Once again the Allen Enemies Act can be revoked using executive action by Biden!! All this time that Trump has threatened imprisonment of immigrants and now using military response to internal citizens proves the URGENCY of Democrats to take action before Biden leaves!!! Weak Democrats
But the 6 frackers of the Constitution are the crux of the problem - we must rip them out root and stem. The "Trump" power, currently held by Biden, more than suffices to the purpose.
Do you still -STILL - argue that Pres. Biden demanding the resignation of the treasonous 6 is too vulgar to contemplate. That plus the rescission of Precedents outside the strict confines of Judicial Review of Constitutionality is prerequisite to addressing Climate Crisis; or any of the pressing issues of social, economic, educational, or health justice. But most dramatically, as if Helene - Milton were not enough - the Guardian yesterday noted that Earth has 'paused' sequestration of CO2. One hopes it's a 'pause', more likely it's a tipping point - meaning that Carbon Neutral is cataclysmic; that a WWII level of Solar Potlatch must begin Now.
I note that you failed to mention the probability of Trump victory is near 100% with the heinous 6 ruling on election results. The decisions favoring unConstitutional state laws for vote certification, for signature matching. . . have likely already been written
I argued this in a Sept 3rd response (repeated below) to an earlier post of yours; to no response.
We're in the 4th quarter in the World Finals downed by the 6 - with 5 seconds on the Apocalypse Clock. They spike the ball before crossing the Goal Line! Biden catches it on the Bounce. What should he do?
1) Hand off to a seal team to score for Humanity and be the 2025 world's champion.
or
2) Hand it back to the Frackers (oh - you dropped this) and so politely end the Season of Humanity.
President Biden has been graced by the Court with the power to completely reform the Court; to put the psycho-6 out on the street; out of our misery. The Presidential power that they created for Trump by "Trump" v United States is best used once to extinguish that power. Note also that the psycho-6 in legitimizing Trumps insurrection joined that insurrection that action cleanly falls within the Insurrection Act as is explicitly clear in the 1827 Supreme Court Precedent Martin v. Mott. The Court ruled that "the authority to decide whether [an exigency requiring the militia to be called out] has arisen belongs exclusively to the President, and . . . his decision is conclusive upon all other persons."
7/1/24 - 'Trump' v United States: The 6 MAGA Justices of the Supreme Court crafted their opinion to give Trump immunity for inciting the J6 Coup attempt. Justice Sotomayor in dissent notes that the result gives the President the power to legally order Seal Team 6 to assassinate political rivals, to organize a military coup to hold onto power. . . 'Trump' negates the American Revolution - giving the President far more power than the King we overthrew; inverts the truly revolutionary element of the Constitution - that No One is Above the Law; and does all this with absolutely no Constitutional basis. This makes the MAGA 6 collaborators in the continuing J6 Insurrection. The next item on the Supreme agenda is to rule, regardless of fact, that Trump wins the 5 November election. There will be no phone calls to 'find' votes nor late recruiting of false electors. The MAGAs have spent 3 years on multi-tiered vote suppression and state laws mods. The Constitutionality of these is irrelevant as the treasonous 6 have already decided the cases - all they need do is fill-in the sophist arguments.
Even without this insane dictatorial power Trump's J6 Insurrection almost succeeded. The Mob failed to overturn the '20 election only because the Joint Chiefs of Staff, like all US soldiers, were trained in the Duty to Disobey Illegal Orders and understood that Trump's orders were illegal. The Court has now declared such orders legal. If this Precedent is allowed to stand, and Trump is elected, then American Democracy is dead. As dead as Putin's opponents who fall from windows.
Astonishingly 'Trump' also creates a clear opportunity for the immediate comprehensive reform of Court and restoration of Constitution. The insane Presidential powers created by 'Trump' for Trump, are presently held by President Biden. He can both clean the Court and restore the Constitution. It is best done quickly - definitely before the election; ideally by the end of September. There will be consternation and gnashing of teeth in the Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, throughout the MAGA-sphere. But Trump will remain as the Republican candidate. As we, the Democratic Party, failed in 44 months to convict him, and thus exclude his candidacy via 14A Sect 3 Insurgency, he has that right.
At this moment, early September, Harris is surging and Trump floundering. A preemptive strike must do 2 things. 1) Force retirement of the MAGA 6 that they not rig the election. 2) Remove all Precedents that are not consistent with Judicial Review (as defined below). Rescission of 'Trump' and removal of the MAGA 6 will devastate Trump and his collapse will weaken MAGAs across the board guaranteeing Democratic control of House and Senate. Rescission of all the foul Precedents noted below is a pre-condition for any real hope of addressing Climate Chaos at the Scale & Speed consistent with rational risk analysis.
A brief history of Supreme Court decisions reveals both how we came to this point and how deep we have to cut to restore the Constitution.
1803, Marbury v Madison. Chief Justice John Marshall, observing that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, asserts that the Supreme Court has the right of Judicial Review. Specifically that any part of a Federal or State Law that is in conflict with the literal meaning of the Constitution then it is void. Marshall's elegant statement: "a law repugnant to the constitution is void.” I see this as an essential check on legislation passed by Congress or State Legislatures.
All the Precedents I have encountered mock this restriction to Judicial Review. Those listed below mock the Constitution itself. And these perfidies are magnified by 'Stare Decisis'; the 'requirement' that existing Precedents be treated as sacrosanct. Facts: The Constitution that is sacrosanct. Judicial Review only allows that laws be voided that directly conflict with the amended constitution. Only Congress can create laws.
1823, Johnson v. McIntosh. This, also by John Marshal, integrates the most noxious precept of international law, the Papal Bulls of Discovery, modified to be “Civilized Discovery”, into US law. There is not space here to convey my disgust..
1886. By forgery and lies in Head Notes, it is accepted as Precedent that the word 'person' in 14A includes Corporations.
1976, Valleo…2024, Snyder Bribery is Political Speech metastasizes into universal bribery of Public Officials.
1967. Qualified Immunity of police metastasizes into 2024 'Trump' Absolute Immunity of President.
These are the intersecting threads of foul Precedents that, by design, have crushed the middle class and divided us in preparation for the overthrow of democracy that is Trump v United States. But that is not how it's working out. 99+% of the several thousand Rs, Ds, NPAs I've spoken with since 1 July are aware of and repulsed by this perversion. It is unifying the country in opposition. The preemptive strike as above implodes the Judicial Death Star. The legislative platform sketched in the sidebar becomes feasible. The corruption that has hollowed American industry, as profit obtains by monopoly rather than efficiency, innovation, and service. And “student” precedes “debt” like ''medical care” does “denial”. It restores the Constitution that produced the incredible domestic successes of FDR, JFK, LBJ. And it is ours if we convince our Congress, DNC, and of course Biden; that the alternative is untenable. Explicitly that the MAGA-6 will rule that all 5 Nov voter suppression valid and the 'election' of Trump near certain..
The Republicans have had four years to put in place mechanisms of obstruction, which will impede and corrupt the vote count in the states, and on Jan 6th Congress will be unable to certify the electoral vote, and that means that the election will be decided by Congress.
At Present there are 28 Republican state legislatures, and they could elect Trump as Rutherford B Hayes was elected in 1893.
Our saving grass is that Democrats, by a miracle, win their present elections and pick up 4 more giving the Democrats the majority as the House will be seated (sworn in) on Jan 3rd, , Jan 6th is a Monday, unless Congress is held over and they can elect a new speaker on Jan 3rd,
If Dem's take the house they have to work fast, because it is the speaker of the house that controls the floor votes, and even if the Democrats are the majority, Mike Johnson will still be the speaker of the house.
Really there is NO bigger concern than the facially unConstitutional Precedents of the Supreme Court. Almost every problem in America today has been created or exacerbated by those Precedents and their inevitable side effects. Our, the people's, culpability is in not recognizing that the Court is the root cause.
But first things first: If that Absolute Immunity is allowed to stand, the 6 will declare Trump President - regardless of the Constitutionality of the voter suppression, signature matching, ID requirments . . . Trump will began the purge of the enemy within . . . . . . (there is no end); the prospects for Biden and family are not good, nor for General Milley, Mike Pence his Judges, Prosecutors, jurors . . . The Democratic Party will likely be banned & the DNC with it [I suspect that the D Party has been promised a continuation per usual and for that reason we only see red herrings of Court Reform (term limits, court expansion, Impeachment - which can neither be done nor would in any way modify the extant toxic Precedents.
But if Biden acts as above, the Harris will likely win. (There'll likely be blow back - which can be weathered). And in the far less likely event that Trump is elected, the total removal of corporate, or ANY big money from elections (without Valeo... the last FEC Act, Ford's 1974 Amends to the 1971 Act, would be the default) could/would yield very people positive results
The picture of trump's America is what you've written this morning ☕This is the stuff that should "Really" scare the hell out of folks, not even a Halloween 🎃 movie comes close to this ! Excellent read and will reStack ASAP( see you soon on FStv)💯👍🇺🇲💙🌊🌊🌊
We must take the orange man at his word on this .. vote blue people!
And fight. https://www.mobilize.us/
Trump dreaming to attract more europeans to resettle in trump naziland? Gotcha be really joking poor lunatic demented bloke. Get rid of this wannabe dictator before it is too late. Lock him up! Vote blue
I think Trump is just dreaming to get out of prison and hates God! The ultra rich just want to play God like they did back in the dark ages! It was so much more fun being rich back then. You could even have your own little torture chambers in the dungeons.
This terrifies me. I am disabled & a senior citizen.
I barely made it through donny's last reign of terror. The next one finds me applying for sanctuary in Mexico.
I would go north to Canada except it is too cold and doesn't have enough sunshine to combat my drug resistant depression.
I hope Mexico will take me!
Costa Rica has perfect weather and no army.
I've thought about there too.
But I do love a drier climate.
I live there since dubya was re-elected right then, now I will be going full citizenship this in 2025.
Great place to live. I’ve been here since 2007 and have no desire to go back. And Costa Rica was just voted friendliest country in the world.
This is the one Thom article that needs maximum exposure in the corporate media, but I am full of wishful thinking and forlorn hope.
Maybe if it was emailed or snail mailed to every media outlet, Letters to the editor maybe.
I will start with my local paper.
Trump's plans are horrific and terrifying, but I am reflecting if Trump would actually pull off so much deportation of illegal immigrants. The truth is that Trump's benefactors, big business, do not in truth want illegals deported. They depend on illegals bringing down wages and working conditions because illegals cannot complain or they will be deported. So, the Republicans pretend to be against illegal immigration so that they can blame Democrats for allowing it and whip up public sentiment against it to get votes. But they block every attempt to do anything about it because they actually like it and rely on it. Yes, Republicans are really that caniving.
Very observant post.. Sorry for the length of this post but the issue is part of a bigger picture again driven by what our elites want. Here it is.
Thinking Out Loud
Abortion
By Jon R. Schulz November 4, 2022
Wow. What a contentious subject. The impetus for this article comes from the massive issues surrounding this subject. The subject, of course, is much bigger than just abortion. It is about denying women any choice about whether or not they carry any pregnancy to term. It has been described correctly as forced birth.
The big question that is neither being asked nor being answered is this, Who benefits from forcing women to have babies they don’t want and cannot afford?? Also, who benefits from families being forced to have children that they can’t afford forcing them into poverty? There is an old adage, when you want to know why something is happening, follow the money.
The push to ban abortion is part of a much larger effort to increase human population. That includes the push to ban contraceptives, birth control, eliminate family planning, and education related to same. That trend is solidly in place. Rather obvious. But why? We know that it is a fact that our massively increasing population drives massive consumption, is driving the greatest extinction of life since the dinosaurs, and is driving climate change putting human and all other life seriously at risk. It doesn’t make any sense until you dig deeper to understand the rest of the story.
How much deeper? Well, the main players who don’t want you to know or understand that are religions, large corporations needing cheap labor, and the military who needs soldiers to make the world safe for our corporations to exploit (that is cynical but true).
Let’s look at religions first.
Those who oppose abortion claim they are pro-life (and in a sense they are), HOWEVER, if their concern is for the life of that newborn baby and the sanctity of life you might be forgiven for thinking that the concern would extend to the mother who must care for that child and to the entirety of that child’s life. But it does not. Judging from the stark reality that after birth those “pro-lifers” don’t seem to give a damn about the quality of that child’s life much less that of her/his mother who is likely trying provide for herself and the child while being systematically discriminated against by pretty much our entire society. Where are the living wage jobs, child care, affordable education and favorable tax treatment? Pro-life? Not so much. This is rampant hypocrisy! What’s the real reason? Church memberships and attendance have been dropping for decades (there is a good reason for that). Religions (I am talking about church leaders not well meaning followers) want more than anything for there to be more bodies filling those pews, more children they can indoctrinate with their particular religious dogma, and, especially, more people coughing up tithes every Sunday to pay for their salaries, their buildings, and, frequently, all sorts of luxuries. Impacts to those people, their other children, their communities and impacts to the ability of nature to provide an environment where life can continue be damned, fill those pews and keep the cash flowing in.
Now, lets look at large corporations.
Why are corporations active in this issue? They desperately need (they think) a cheap, desperate labor pool (industrial agriculture, food processing and big box retail stores come immediately to mind). The government even has policies designed to maintain a certain level of unemployment adding to that desperation.
The definition of ‘professional management” is the use (that’s a euphemism -usually exploitation) of labor and resources to generate wealth (for the few). It is an absolute truth to these folks that labor is a “cost burden” on wealth generation (taking money directly out of their pockets) to be minimized or eliminated at the earliest opportunity. That is why so much attention has been given to AI and robotics. Robots don’t unionize and keep making unreasonable demands like wanting a living wage or safe working conditions. Of course, you whose jobs are being eliminated are paying for this. The question for industry has been where can they find a pool of cheap labor that won’t complain and will just do what they are told to do? For many decades that pool of labor was immigrants - preferably in the country illegally. Weak and ineffective border control became unofficial nation policy supported by Republicans and corporate Democrats (at the behest of their paymasters) - of course, they deny anything of the sort. And, now? OMG, those 11 million people might actually gain a path to citizenship and then they could vote. OMG, the sky is falling. What to do? The answer, unfortunately, was to team up with certain Religions and easily bought politicians and try to force women to have more babies, increasing the population and the pool of poor, desperate people looking for work, and willing to take whatever is offered, regardless of crappy pay, difficult working conditions, no benefits, and/or unsafe working conditions - just like illegal immigrants. Another aspect of their strategy is to simply deny many of our citizens the right to vote. E Pluribus Unum. Out of Many One. NO, no, no, Out of many a few to control and exploit the rest. Rather un- American, I’d say.
And finally, let’s address the military.
What I have to say here in no way casts aspersions on anyone in the military. They do a difficult job in an honorable way. In an era where our military is staffed with volunteers, there has to be some incentive for people to sign their lives away to serve Uncle Sam. There are, of course, other reasons to serve, many of them noble. However, no one can deny that the very real lack of opportunities for education and livelihood that many of our citizen experience and the resultant poverty they experience as a result drive many to enlist.
Apparently, a few powerful men defining women as 2nd class citizens, denying more than ½ the entire population the right to control their own bodies, forcing them to carry pregnancies to term (regardless) and being driven further into poverty, is OK with these self serving ______- sorry there are just too many negative adjectives to describe these guys.
We have a national election coming up soon. The major task facing all Americans is demanding accountability of those Republicans and Democrats that betrayed the trust of all Americans and engaged in an insurrection against the democracy of the American people. They committed and continue to commit treason. Part of that treason included packing the Supreme Count with lying, right wing, religious and political fanatics that have no clue what the constitution is about- who among other misunderstandings -have failed to keep church and state separate, committing yet another act of treason.
What else?
How about rampant misogyny? Many males don’t like having to compete with women in the marketplace, they don’t think women should be expecting to be treated as equals, men should be in charge, women should be at home serving the husbands and having children (i.e “tradwifes”). There is nothing wrong with the traditional wife role, but it should NEVER be mandatory or because there are no other options. And the thought that a woman should be forced to stay with an abusive man is an obscenity that should have everyone around him questioning his manhood and his humanity.
I expect the Republicans to kick out the unproductive illegal immigrants and American citizens. Keep the young and healthy who can be exploited. You are correct though it was them that started all this illegal immigration with Ronald Reagan!
Many decades of complaining without action have passed now, because, as Shea says, the economic advantages of having people here illegally are too delicious for many industries to relinquish. Construction, agriculture, meat packing and so much more would be affected financially. Back in the 1990s, I was bicycling around back roads in the Hudson Valley when I spied a nearly hidden factory of some sort. As I needed a bathroom, I went in - to the horror of everyone there. It was a commercial bakery staffed entirely with Hispanic people toiling away. I surmised the workers were illegal and the foreman and workers frightened that I would reveal the operation. I still recall the fear on people's faces - though they could have relaxed - not only had I no intention of harming anyone, the bosses probably weren't really going to suffer losses. With Trump, perhaps this relatively small factory would become an "example", while the $billion operations would be home free.
Tom's first point re the control of the media is key to the menace we face. Who controls the media will control the outcome. I have advocated that pressure be put upon those whose who can address this directly. First, a much stronger voice in the whole of the anti-MAGA opposition in the whole country to emphasize the media's impact, focusing more attention on this issue. Second, to demand response from the very wealthy who could finance implementation to establish media countering Fox, etc. A huge missing card in the deck. The recent suggestion (veiled demand) that Khan be removed from regulating the agency where anti-trust regs on corporations were made when contributions were voiced in support of Kamala reveals where the very wealthy's interests of the Blue are in accord with those heavy lucred in the Red. On the high levels of finance, there seems a readiness to subtle, unnoticed shape-shifting by the well-healedb foxes in the hen-house.
The local media has been hiding the truth for years. That why people quit following the news.
Well, we can’t say we weren’t warned…if you look up “Ron Cobb cartoons” you will see some bitter ones from the late 1960s. One of my favorites shows people wearing letters on their clothing and sitting on a park bench under a camera where a sign says, “B Citizens Only.” One person says that at least they don’t have to worry about anarchy anymore (in a later edition that was changed to “terrorism”). And that is the point, there is no limit where this dictatorship could go since such controls has been building for decades as people passively accepted their rights being taken away. Drug tests and citizenship papers to work, showing an ID to take an airliner within our own country, metal detectors spreading like a cancer, and indeed cameras everywhere are just some of the steps that have been implemented with little or no dissent.
Trump could easily build on a citizenry largely conditioned to accept and obey, especially given the often low quality of their knowledge of civics as well as of other cultures and religions. I would expect internal passports, sealing the borders and grossly limiting the ability of Americans to travel abroad to be just some of the steps one could expect. And any country that had a vocal minority of expats, a sort of “Government in Exile” or “Radio Free America” would have the U.S. to come down on it brutally hard.
And none of this would be new. My father-in-law (1906-86) grew up in Berlin as a completely assimilated Jew. When Hitler came to power everybody laughed and expected this ill-educated shouting joke to be quickly gone. When things started getting bad they said it couldn’t get any worse. Then when the Nuremberg Laws were passed he knew there was no hope. It took years to get an American visa, but he and his family made it out a few months before the war started. They could take almost nothing, but unlike his parents they survived. And while they waited to go they could only sit on park benches marked for them.
Thanks Thom for this piece, every last part of what you outlined is conceivable and I am afraid Trump's "real project 2025."
If you do plan to stay here, get a certified birth certificate.
I will have to take my bumper stickers off. My favorite one is "When life gets too tough to stand, Walz." Second is "Lotus for Potus." Third one is "Beware Project 2025 -- check Wikipedia." Oh wait, I have an electric car so it'll get demolished anyway.
45 will do token actions like the . . . what. . . 10 feet of wall that was built while he was prez? He will have his "new" press report that undocumenteds are being rounded up, complete with photos; health care workers and women being arrested, and so on.
For the sake of folks like Thom and prominent liberals, I hope the courts get so clogged up that cases will take forever to prosecute, and maybe by then half the nation will come to its senses.
And as ever, Thom, from a long-time fan, thank you.
Once again the Allen Enemies Act can be revoked using executive action by Biden!! All this time that Trump has threatened imprisonment of immigrants and now using military response to internal citizens proves the URGENCY of Democrats to take action before Biden leaves!!! Weak Democrats
But the 6 frackers of the Constitution are the crux of the problem - we must rip them out root and stem. The "Trump" power, currently held by Biden, more than suffices to the purpose.
Let’s hope that Americans will begin to neutralize the threat of Trump and his ilk on November 5 by voting Democratic across the board.
Right! Tom!
It’s a gonna get a lot worse before it gets worse!
Do you still -STILL - argue that Pres. Biden demanding the resignation of the treasonous 6 is too vulgar to contemplate. That plus the rescission of Precedents outside the strict confines of Judicial Review of Constitutionality is prerequisite to addressing Climate Crisis; or any of the pressing issues of social, economic, educational, or health justice. But most dramatically, as if Helene - Milton were not enough - the Guardian yesterday noted that Earth has 'paused' sequestration of CO2. One hopes it's a 'pause', more likely it's a tipping point - meaning that Carbon Neutral is cataclysmic; that a WWII level of Solar Potlatch must begin Now.
I note that you failed to mention the probability of Trump victory is near 100% with the heinous 6 ruling on election results. The decisions favoring unConstitutional state laws for vote certification, for signature matching. . . have likely already been written
I argued this in a Sept 3rd response (repeated below) to an earlier post of yours; to no response.
We're in the 4th quarter in the World Finals downed by the 6 - with 5 seconds on the Apocalypse Clock. They spike the ball before crossing the Goal Line! Biden catches it on the Bounce. What should he do?
1) Hand off to a seal team to score for Humanity and be the 2025 world's champion.
or
2) Hand it back to the Frackers (oh - you dropped this) and so politely end the Season of Humanity.
President Biden has been graced by the Court with the power to completely reform the Court; to put the psycho-6 out on the street; out of our misery. The Presidential power that they created for Trump by "Trump" v United States is best used once to extinguish that power. Note also that the psycho-6 in legitimizing Trumps insurrection joined that insurrection that action cleanly falls within the Insurrection Act as is explicitly clear in the 1827 Supreme Court Precedent Martin v. Mott. The Court ruled that "the authority to decide whether [an exigency requiring the militia to be called out] has arisen belongs exclusively to the President, and . . . his decision is conclusive upon all other persons."
7/1/24 - 'Trump' v United States: The 6 MAGA Justices of the Supreme Court crafted their opinion to give Trump immunity for inciting the J6 Coup attempt. Justice Sotomayor in dissent notes that the result gives the President the power to legally order Seal Team 6 to assassinate political rivals, to organize a military coup to hold onto power. . . 'Trump' negates the American Revolution - giving the President far more power than the King we overthrew; inverts the truly revolutionary element of the Constitution - that No One is Above the Law; and does all this with absolutely no Constitutional basis. This makes the MAGA 6 collaborators in the continuing J6 Insurrection. The next item on the Supreme agenda is to rule, regardless of fact, that Trump wins the 5 November election. There will be no phone calls to 'find' votes nor late recruiting of false electors. The MAGAs have spent 3 years on multi-tiered vote suppression and state laws mods. The Constitutionality of these is irrelevant as the treasonous 6 have already decided the cases - all they need do is fill-in the sophist arguments.
Even without this insane dictatorial power Trump's J6 Insurrection almost succeeded. The Mob failed to overturn the '20 election only because the Joint Chiefs of Staff, like all US soldiers, were trained in the Duty to Disobey Illegal Orders and understood that Trump's orders were illegal. The Court has now declared such orders legal. If this Precedent is allowed to stand, and Trump is elected, then American Democracy is dead. As dead as Putin's opponents who fall from windows.
Astonishingly 'Trump' also creates a clear opportunity for the immediate comprehensive reform of Court and restoration of Constitution. The insane Presidential powers created by 'Trump' for Trump, are presently held by President Biden. He can both clean the Court and restore the Constitution. It is best done quickly - definitely before the election; ideally by the end of September. There will be consternation and gnashing of teeth in the Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, throughout the MAGA-sphere. But Trump will remain as the Republican candidate. As we, the Democratic Party, failed in 44 months to convict him, and thus exclude his candidacy via 14A Sect 3 Insurgency, he has that right.
At this moment, early September, Harris is surging and Trump floundering. A preemptive strike must do 2 things. 1) Force retirement of the MAGA 6 that they not rig the election. 2) Remove all Precedents that are not consistent with Judicial Review (as defined below). Rescission of 'Trump' and removal of the MAGA 6 will devastate Trump and his collapse will weaken MAGAs across the board guaranteeing Democratic control of House and Senate. Rescission of all the foul Precedents noted below is a pre-condition for any real hope of addressing Climate Chaos at the Scale & Speed consistent with rational risk analysis.
A brief history of Supreme Court decisions reveals both how we came to this point and how deep we have to cut to restore the Constitution.
1803, Marbury v Madison. Chief Justice John Marshall, observing that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, asserts that the Supreme Court has the right of Judicial Review. Specifically that any part of a Federal or State Law that is in conflict with the literal meaning of the Constitution then it is void. Marshall's elegant statement: "a law repugnant to the constitution is void.” I see this as an essential check on legislation passed by Congress or State Legislatures.
All the Precedents I have encountered mock this restriction to Judicial Review. Those listed below mock the Constitution itself. And these perfidies are magnified by 'Stare Decisis'; the 'requirement' that existing Precedents be treated as sacrosanct. Facts: The Constitution that is sacrosanct. Judicial Review only allows that laws be voided that directly conflict with the amended constitution. Only Congress can create laws.
1823, Johnson v. McIntosh. This, also by John Marshal, integrates the most noxious precept of international law, the Papal Bulls of Discovery, modified to be “Civilized Discovery”, into US law. There is not space here to convey my disgust..
1886. By forgery and lies in Head Notes, it is accepted as Precedent that the word 'person' in 14A includes Corporations.
1976, Valleo…2024, Snyder Bribery is Political Speech metastasizes into universal bribery of Public Officials.
1967. Qualified Immunity of police metastasizes into 2024 'Trump' Absolute Immunity of President.
These are the intersecting threads of foul Precedents that, by design, have crushed the middle class and divided us in preparation for the overthrow of democracy that is Trump v United States. But that is not how it's working out. 99+% of the several thousand Rs, Ds, NPAs I've spoken with since 1 July are aware of and repulsed by this perversion. It is unifying the country in opposition. The preemptive strike as above implodes the Judicial Death Star. The legislative platform sketched in the sidebar becomes feasible. The corruption that has hollowed American industry, as profit obtains by monopoly rather than efficiency, innovation, and service. And “student” precedes “debt” like ''medical care” does “denial”. It restores the Constitution that produced the incredible domestic successes of FDR, JFK, LBJ. And it is ours if we convince our Congress, DNC, and of course Biden; that the alternative is untenable. Explicitly that the MAGA-6 will rule that all 5 Nov voter suppression valid and the 'election' of Trump near certain..
A bigger concern than the Uholy High 6 on the Perverted Court of the United States is the Contingent Election /https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R40504/7
The Republicans have had four years to put in place mechanisms of obstruction, which will impede and corrupt the vote count in the states, and on Jan 6th Congress will be unable to certify the electoral vote, and that means that the election will be decided by Congress.
At Present there are 28 Republican state legislatures, and they could elect Trump as Rutherford B Hayes was elected in 1893.
Our saving grass is that Democrats, by a miracle, win their present elections and pick up 4 more giving the Democrats the majority as the House will be seated (sworn in) on Jan 3rd, , Jan 6th is a Monday, unless Congress is held over and they can elect a new speaker on Jan 3rd,
If Dem's take the house they have to work fast, because it is the speaker of the house that controls the floor votes, and even if the Democrats are the majority, Mike Johnson will still be the speaker of the house.
Things to think about and be prepared for.
Really there is NO bigger concern than the facially unConstitutional Precedents of the Supreme Court. Almost every problem in America today has been created or exacerbated by those Precedents and their inevitable side effects. Our, the people's, culpability is in not recognizing that the Court is the root cause.
But first things first: If that Absolute Immunity is allowed to stand, the 6 will declare Trump President - regardless of the Constitutionality of the voter suppression, signature matching, ID requirments . . . Trump will began the purge of the enemy within . . . . . . (there is no end); the prospects for Biden and family are not good, nor for General Milley, Mike Pence his Judges, Prosecutors, jurors . . . The Democratic Party will likely be banned & the DNC with it [I suspect that the D Party has been promised a continuation per usual and for that reason we only see red herrings of Court Reform (term limits, court expansion, Impeachment - which can neither be done nor would in any way modify the extant toxic Precedents.
But if Biden acts as above, the Harris will likely win. (There'll likely be blow back - which can be weathered). And in the far less likely event that Trump is elected, the total removal of corporate, or ANY big money from elections (without Valeo... the last FEC Act, Ford's 1974 Amends to the 1971 Act, would be the default) could/would yield very people positive results
I totally agree with every last word in your comment.
The continued existence of the Democratic party is a necessary charade for the Kabuki circus to follow.
Doesn't Orban have an opposition party, Turkey?
The "systemic opposition" is mainly composed of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), A Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP), New People and other minor parties; these political groups, while claiming to be in opposition, generally support the government's policies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_Vladimir_Putin_in_Russia#:~:text=The%20%22systemic%20opposition%22%20is%20mainly,generally%20support%20the%20government's%20policies.
Dark days a commin!!!
Thanks Thom, I read Project 2025. This is not hyperbole.