As Trump faces the music for a small slice of his crimes against our nation & our democracy, let’s not forget that he’s not the first. He was carrying on a GOP tradition stretching back to 1968…
Thank you Thom for this reality checklist highlighting the criminal history of the hypocrisy of the “law and order” party. And please, enough of the “both sides” BS as posted by a fellow commentator and others. The comparisons aren’t even close. The crimes committed and sanctioned by the Republicans in office, advisors, RNC chairs, and voters is a clear and present danger to our democracy. They sanction and excuse the corrupt acts of top leaders in their party all to the financial benefit of the top 1% and to maintain power at any cost. Sorry, but Democrats didn’t try to strong arm a foreign leader to produce political dirt on their opponent. They didn’t pay a porn star to keep quiet about an affair. They didn’t terrorize legislators in our capital and attempt to hang a sitting VicePresident and cover up all the conspiracy perpetrated by the top operatives of Republican malfeasance. Please stop the what -aboutism and realize that there are malevolent operators in our country that are delighted to destroy our current government system and damn the rest of us who believe in the rule of law and representative government.
I tried to edit the wikipedia pages for Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon to include their treason. The edits included citations from reliable secondary sources, and were immediately reverted by right wing partisans who act as gate keepers.
Each article has a talk page, a tab on the upper left, anyone can click on the tab and see conversations between editors . Anyone can edit Wikipedia, they just need to be aware of policy and guidelines and follow them
One policy is "no revert wars", in other words I can revert and edit, and if that revert is reverted then a revert war starts. Problem is that some editors are embedded or have friends with the volunteer staff that monitors editor behavior.
The odds are in favor of the person that reverts your edit, otherwise there is a long drawn out discussion, and don't call out your antagonist(s) for what they are, you will be blocked from posting, you are suppose to assume good faith. Even though everything that they say about a subject is paltering.
"Bothsidesism" is journalistic malpractice. If what WaPo says is correct, "Democracy dies in darkness," I say democracy is in deep trouble when too much of the "responsible" media can't acknowledge existential threats to it.
Why we are even droning on about all the crimes this yoyo is responsible for instead of concentrating on that Georgia smoking gun of the "phone call," is beyond me. Convict him of that and it's curtains. He will immediately be negotiating a new reality show! And I would even watch it--AS LONG AS WE NEVER EVER EVER HAVE HIM ANYWHERE NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE!!!! Just get it done, Georgia!!!!
6/9 Hello Thom, Staff and Listeners, I just happened to listen to your episode yesterday describing the attack of one of your YouTube, assistants Ritchie Mann. Horrifying. Was on a run at night, take my chances. How terrible, returned home and made a donation right away to his GoFundMe account. I've spent thousands restoring my own teeth from wear-and-tear, cannot imagine what he's going through after a traumatic attack and injury--and cannot even eat.
Hopefully you made an announcement on your Facebook page and also the YouTube page as well as the Twitter announcement. Am sure a decent low-cost dentist with a big heart can be located in Ritchie's community. So very, very sorry about this tragedy.
It could be argued that many presidents have been engaged in criminal acts but held unaccountable. Obama, a war criminal himself for at the very least killing thousands of black and brown civilians with his drone wars (he apologized for the two white people he killed at least), failed to hold George W Bush, Dick Cheney et al accountable for their blatant war crimes. Then there was Reagan and Iran Contra, Bill Clinton and his obstruction of justice with the Monica Lewisnky debacle. Trump might be more blatant and egregious in his criminal acts, but I do consider Barack Obama's dropping of 26,000 bombs leaving failed states (with the able assistant of Kissinger-admirer Hillary Clinton) after failed state and his assistance to MBS in starving the children of Yemen to be just as horrifying and criminal. I guess we just have different priorities and I don't have a show in which I have to placate uninformed Biden liberals so they won't become offended and tune me out.
Again we hear from our resident Putinist. You certainly vented more of your spleen on Obama, but not a specific indication of Trump's criminal behavior, besides some bland, off handed comment.
All treasonous and criminal presidents need to pay for their crimes even posthumous. Their reputations should suffer. So many glorify Reagan who did nothing to help the lower and middle class. He hurt both.
Always great to read Thom’s researched analysis of the critical trends of the last 60 years. I assume we will be treated in the near future to his take on the Bush/Cheney engineering of the $3 Trillion invasion of Iraq and the possibility of the controlled demolition of the 3 World Trade towers ?
I don’t believe for one minute these two political parties care one wit about any American citizen. This “Good Cop vs Bad Cop” drama keeps them anyone from challenging them in order to end their horrendous austerity by democrats as a way to counter the GOP greed. They have stolen so much from us for far too long. I suspect if Trump gave them 8 trillion $’s to help build this economy and instead sent it offshore as the Panama Papers proved, Biden then giving them another measly 2 trillion as GOP sits backs and squawks yet will happily run back to their districts and tout their win, We the People are just as damn culpable to let them do it.
Two steps forward, one step back. A coin has two sides. We have the best government money can buy. Thom as outlined that from Madison v. Marbury, to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific, to Buckley v Velao and Citizens United.
In our system, if you don't have the money, you don't get elected, Like Thom suggests, politicians should have to wear jackets with their sponsors name, just like NASCAR drivers.
Uh huh. Bernie actually won West Virginia and those same democrat electors who believe in democracy stole those votes and gave them to HRC. Went to SCOTUS and ruled Electors must send the actual votes citizens elected. Then add insult to injury, Perez demanded Harris and Booker to have polled in a certain percentage rate, when they did not meet those requirements, put GOP Bloomberg in to replace them. And reason why Biden’s economic plans are working? He worked with Bernie on how to fix the inequities. I agree SCOTUS is a problem, another democrat named Gillinbrand helped push out Al Franken who was a bulldog on Blue Notes on the Judiciary to slow roll Trump’s judges. So yeah, tell me again how great that democratic party is.
You'll get no Bernie love from me. He ran a campaign on misogyny and double standards. "She's not fit," was a clear dog whistle to deep sexism. I've never been a fan of Gillibrand and thought what happened to Franken was wrong. Neither party is great, but to say they are both the same is to be in denial.
But these are the experts on preserving democratic principles doncha know.
And as a reminder on why anyone was so concerned with her and her husband’s obvious neoliberalism after helping GOP ship our union jobs to a Communist Socialist dictatorship who not only starved and murdered millions but were actively killing their own daughters at literally the same time. But this is what alarmed the smartest among us. “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shared a laugh with a television news reporter moments after hearing deposed Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi had been killed.
"We came, we saw, he died," she joked when told of news reports of Qaddafi's death by an aide in between formal interviews.
Clinton was in Tripoli earlier this week for talks with leaders of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC).”
Do you have any idea how Gaddafi died? He was shivved up his rectum with a sword.
You'll get no Gaddafi love from me, either. The numbers of people he tortured and murdered are beyond counting. He died a horrible death, but HRC did not thrust the sword. International politics is an ugly thing, no matter one's personal leanings. Maybe she shouldn't have laughed. It is a way to detect from the ugliness. It was not the USA, nor NATO who did killed Gadafi. It was his own people. From The Guardian:
"Thousands of documents that reveal in chilling detail orders from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's senior generals to bombard and starve the people of Misrata have been gathered by war crimes investigators and are being kept at a secret location at the besieged Libyan port.
The documents, some of which the Observer has seen, will form damning evidence in any future war crimes trial of the Libyan leader at the International Criminal Court. The court's prosecutors are expected to travel to the city to view the documents once the daily bombardments have ceased.
One document shows the commanding general of government forces instructing his units to starve Misrata's population during the four-month siege. The order, from Youssef Ahmed Basheer Abu Hajar, states bluntly: "It is absolutely forbidden for supply cars, fuel and other services to enter the city of Misrata from all gates and checkpoints." Another document instructs army units to hunt down wounded rebel fighters, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions."
A sword up the rectum is a horrible way to die (and there is some controversy surrounding this as other videos showed him shot through the head first.) So is starvation and cold blooded murder of civilians.
Well buckle-up---it's going to be a very bumpy ride!
Trump has several candidates he would like to try his "shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue" scenario on. His cult may think they would let him get away with it, but it seems the special prosecutor don't play that. The AG knew what he was doing and why. People just had no patience. Garland kept his mouth shut as he should...a skill Bill Barr never mastered.
Thanks Thom, you are determined to open eyes, and IT IS WORKING!
What were the repercussions from these stolen Republican Presidential elections?
GOP appointed SCOTUS - 16
Democratic appointed SCOTUS - 7
And no one can figure out why our democracy is failing?
Since 1960, the Supreme Court Justices have been appointed by the following Republican and Democratic presidents:
Republican Presidents:
1. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961): 2 appointments (John Marshall Harlan II in 1955 and William J. Brennan Jr. in 1956, however, these are pre-1960. Post-1960, Eisenhower did not make any appointments)
2. Richard Nixon (1969-1974): 4 appointments (Warren E. Burger in 1969, Harry Blackmun in 1970, Lewis F. Powell Jr. in 1971, and William Rehnquist in 1971)
3. Gerald Ford (1974-1977): 1 appointment (John Paul Stevens in 1975)
4. Ronald Reagan (1981-1989): 4 appointments (Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981, William Rehnquist as Chief Justice in 1986, Antonin Scalia in 1986, and Anthony Kennedy in 1988)
5. George H. W. Bush (1989-1993): 2 appointments (David Souter in 1990 and Clarence Thomas in 1991)
6. George W. Bush (2001-2009): 2 appointments (John Roberts as Chief Justice in 2005, and Samuel Alito in 2006)
7. Donald Trump (2017-2021): 3 appointments (Neil Gorsuch in 2017, Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020)
Total Republican appointments since 1960: 16
Democratic Presidents:
1. John F. Kennedy (1961-1963): 1 appointment (Byron White in 1962)
2. Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969): 2 appointments (Abe Fortas in 1965 and Thurgood Marshall in 1967, although Fortas's 1968 nomination to be Chief Justice was not confirmed)
3. Jimmy Carter (1977-1981): No appointments
4. Bill Clinton (1993-2001): 2 appointments (Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993 and Stephen Breyer in 1994)
5. Barack Obama (2009-2017): 2 appointments (Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Elena Kagan in 2010)
Total Democratic appointments since 1960: 7
Please note that this is accurate up to my knowledge cutoff in September 2021. There may have been changes or additions in the Supreme Court after this period.
Thank you Thom for this reality checklist highlighting the criminal history of the hypocrisy of the “law and order” party. And please, enough of the “both sides” BS as posted by a fellow commentator and others. The comparisons aren’t even close. The crimes committed and sanctioned by the Republicans in office, advisors, RNC chairs, and voters is a clear and present danger to our democracy. They sanction and excuse the corrupt acts of top leaders in their party all to the financial benefit of the top 1% and to maintain power at any cost. Sorry, but Democrats didn’t try to strong arm a foreign leader to produce political dirt on their opponent. They didn’t pay a porn star to keep quiet about an affair. They didn’t terrorize legislators in our capital and attempt to hang a sitting VicePresident and cover up all the conspiracy perpetrated by the top operatives of Republican malfeasance. Please stop the what -aboutism and realize that there are malevolent operators in our country that are delighted to destroy our current government system and damn the rest of us who believe in the rule of law and representative government.
I tried to edit the wikipedia pages for Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon to include their treason. The edits included citations from reliable secondary sources, and were immediately reverted by right wing partisans who act as gate keepers.
Each article has a talk page, a tab on the upper left, anyone can click on the tab and see conversations between editors . Anyone can edit Wikipedia, they just need to be aware of policy and guidelines and follow them
One policy is "no revert wars", in other words I can revert and edit, and if that revert is reverted then a revert war starts. Problem is that some editors are embedded or have friends with the volunteer staff that monitors editor behavior.
The odds are in favor of the person that reverts your edit, otherwise there is a long drawn out discussion, and don't call out your antagonist(s) for what they are, you will be blocked from posting, you are suppose to assume good faith. Even though everything that they say about a subject is paltering.
Thanks, a new concern the Judge hearing this is Aileen Cannon, the same Trump humper that appointed a special master and was finally overruled.
I hope that the 11th circuit takes igt out of her hands.
"Bothsidesism" is journalistic malpractice. If what WaPo says is correct, "Democracy dies in darkness," I say democracy is in deep trouble when too much of the "responsible" media can't acknowledge existential threats to it.
Why we are even droning on about all the crimes this yoyo is responsible for instead of concentrating on that Georgia smoking gun of the "phone call," is beyond me. Convict him of that and it's curtains. He will immediately be negotiating a new reality show! And I would even watch it--AS LONG AS WE NEVER EVER EVER HAVE HIM ANYWHERE NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE!!!! Just get it done, Georgia!!!!
"Please allow me to introduce myself...." Sympathy for the Devil.
6/9 Hello Thom, Staff and Listeners, I just happened to listen to your episode yesterday describing the attack of one of your YouTube, assistants Ritchie Mann. Horrifying. Was on a run at night, take my chances. How terrible, returned home and made a donation right away to his GoFundMe account. I've spent thousands restoring my own teeth from wear-and-tear, cannot imagine what he's going through after a traumatic attack and injury--and cannot even eat.
Hopefully you made an announcement on your Facebook page and also the YouTube page as well as the Twitter announcement. Am sure a decent low-cost dentist with a big heart can be located in Ritchie's community. So very, very sorry about this tragedy.
With any luck, Trump, who is loyal to no one, will bring his fellow conspirators down with him as the indictments proceed. The House is full of them.
It could be argued that many presidents have been engaged in criminal acts but held unaccountable. Obama, a war criminal himself for at the very least killing thousands of black and brown civilians with his drone wars (he apologized for the two white people he killed at least), failed to hold George W Bush, Dick Cheney et al accountable for their blatant war crimes. Then there was Reagan and Iran Contra, Bill Clinton and his obstruction of justice with the Monica Lewisnky debacle. Trump might be more blatant and egregious in his criminal acts, but I do consider Barack Obama's dropping of 26,000 bombs leaving failed states (with the able assistant of Kissinger-admirer Hillary Clinton) after failed state and his assistance to MBS in starving the children of Yemen to be just as horrifying and criminal. I guess we just have different priorities and I don't have a show in which I have to placate uninformed Biden liberals so they won't become offended and tune me out.
Again we hear from our resident Putinist. You certainly vented more of your spleen on Obama, but not a specific indication of Trump's criminal behavior, besides some bland, off handed comment.
Your agenda is showing.
All treasonous and criminal presidents need to pay for their crimes even posthumous. Their reputations should suffer. So many glorify Reagan who did nothing to help the lower and middle class. He hurt both.
Always great to read Thom’s researched analysis of the critical trends of the last 60 years. I assume we will be treated in the near future to his take on the Bush/Cheney engineering of the $3 Trillion invasion of Iraq and the possibility of the controlled demolition of the 3 World Trade towers ?
OMG!
I don’t believe for one minute these two political parties care one wit about any American citizen. This “Good Cop vs Bad Cop” drama keeps them anyone from challenging them in order to end their horrendous austerity by democrats as a way to counter the GOP greed. They have stolen so much from us for far too long. I suspect if Trump gave them 8 trillion $’s to help build this economy and instead sent it offshore as the Panama Papers proved, Biden then giving them another measly 2 trillion as GOP sits backs and squawks yet will happily run back to their districts and tout their win, We the People are just as damn culpable to let them do it.
Two steps forward, one step back. A coin has two sides. We have the best government money can buy. Thom as outlined that from Madison v. Marbury, to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific, to Buckley v Velao and Citizens United.
In our system, if you don't have the money, you don't get elected, Like Thom suggests, politicians should have to wear jackets with their sponsors name, just like NASCAR drivers.
Blame SCOTUS; that's where the traitors live. It's a pay for play system and the Democrats hands are often tied.
Uh huh. Bernie actually won West Virginia and those same democrat electors who believe in democracy stole those votes and gave them to HRC. Went to SCOTUS and ruled Electors must send the actual votes citizens elected. Then add insult to injury, Perez demanded Harris and Booker to have polled in a certain percentage rate, when they did not meet those requirements, put GOP Bloomberg in to replace them. And reason why Biden’s economic plans are working? He worked with Bernie on how to fix the inequities. I agree SCOTUS is a problem, another democrat named Gillinbrand helped push out Al Franken who was a bulldog on Blue Notes on the Judiciary to slow roll Trump’s judges. So yeah, tell me again how great that democratic party is.
You'll get no Bernie love from me. He ran a campaign on misogyny and double standards. "She's not fit," was a clear dog whistle to deep sexism. I've never been a fan of Gillibrand and thought what happened to Franken was wrong. Neither party is great, but to say they are both the same is to be in denial.
But these are the experts on preserving democratic principles doncha know.
And as a reminder on why anyone was so concerned with her and her husband’s obvious neoliberalism after helping GOP ship our union jobs to a Communist Socialist dictatorship who not only starved and murdered millions but were actively killing their own daughters at literally the same time. But this is what alarmed the smartest among us. “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shared a laugh with a television news reporter moments after hearing deposed Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi had been killed.
"We came, we saw, he died," she joked when told of news reports of Qaddafi's death by an aide in between formal interviews.
Clinton was in Tripoli earlier this week for talks with leaders of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC).”
Do you have any idea how Gaddafi died? He was shivved up his rectum with a sword.
You'll get no Gaddafi love from me, either. The numbers of people he tortured and murdered are beyond counting. He died a horrible death, but HRC did not thrust the sword. International politics is an ugly thing, no matter one's personal leanings. Maybe she shouldn't have laughed. It is a way to detect from the ugliness. It was not the USA, nor NATO who did killed Gadafi. It was his own people. From The Guardian:
"Thousands of documents that reveal in chilling detail orders from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's senior generals to bombard and starve the people of Misrata have been gathered by war crimes investigators and are being kept at a secret location at the besieged Libyan port.
The documents, some of which the Observer has seen, will form damning evidence in any future war crimes trial of the Libyan leader at the International Criminal Court. The court's prosecutors are expected to travel to the city to view the documents once the daily bombardments have ceased.
One document shows the commanding general of government forces instructing his units to starve Misrata's population during the four-month siege. The order, from Youssef Ahmed Basheer Abu Hajar, states bluntly: "It is absolutely forbidden for supply cars, fuel and other services to enter the city of Misrata from all gates and checkpoints." Another document instructs army units to hunt down wounded rebel fighters, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions."
A sword up the rectum is a horrible way to die (and there is some controversy surrounding this as other videos showed him shot through the head first.) So is starvation and cold blooded murder of civilians.
But yet you blamed Bernie for calling her out was your point, not mine.
Well buckle-up---it's going to be a very bumpy ride!
Trump has several candidates he would like to try his "shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue" scenario on. His cult may think they would let him get away with it, but it seems the special prosecutor don't play that. The AG knew what he was doing and why. People just had no patience. Garland kept his mouth shut as he should...a skill Bill Barr never mastered.
Thanks Thom, you are determined to open eyes, and IT IS WORKING!
What were the repercussions from these stolen Republican Presidential elections?
GOP appointed SCOTUS - 16
Democratic appointed SCOTUS - 7
And no one can figure out why our democracy is failing?
Since 1960, the Supreme Court Justices have been appointed by the following Republican and Democratic presidents:
Republican Presidents:
1. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961): 2 appointments (John Marshall Harlan II in 1955 and William J. Brennan Jr. in 1956, however, these are pre-1960. Post-1960, Eisenhower did not make any appointments)
2. Richard Nixon (1969-1974): 4 appointments (Warren E. Burger in 1969, Harry Blackmun in 1970, Lewis F. Powell Jr. in 1971, and William Rehnquist in 1971)
3. Gerald Ford (1974-1977): 1 appointment (John Paul Stevens in 1975)
4. Ronald Reagan (1981-1989): 4 appointments (Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981, William Rehnquist as Chief Justice in 1986, Antonin Scalia in 1986, and Anthony Kennedy in 1988)
5. George H. W. Bush (1989-1993): 2 appointments (David Souter in 1990 and Clarence Thomas in 1991)
6. George W. Bush (2001-2009): 2 appointments (John Roberts as Chief Justice in 2005, and Samuel Alito in 2006)
7. Donald Trump (2017-2021): 3 appointments (Neil Gorsuch in 2017, Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020)
Total Republican appointments since 1960: 16
Democratic Presidents:
1. John F. Kennedy (1961-1963): 1 appointment (Byron White in 1962)
2. Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969): 2 appointments (Abe Fortas in 1965 and Thurgood Marshall in 1967, although Fortas's 1968 nomination to be Chief Justice was not confirmed)
3. Jimmy Carter (1977-1981): No appointments
4. Bill Clinton (1993-2001): 2 appointments (Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993 and Stephen Breyer in 1994)
5. Barack Obama (2009-2017): 2 appointments (Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Elena Kagan in 2010)
Total Democratic appointments since 1960: 7
Please note that this is accurate up to my knowledge cutoff in September 2021. There may have been changes or additions in the Supreme Court after this period.