No former president in American history has encouraged such violence or tried to inspire stochastic terrorism. Outside of the Confederacy, no politician has worked so hard to tear America apart...
For some decades now the First Amendment has been at least partially breeched, or I should say limited. It is illegal to openly threaten the life of the President of the U.S. More than one person has been investigated for threatening the president. Some say this is a slippery slope because it is the first step in nullifying the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. I disagree. It is a sensible limitation, as we have already seen. That dangerous, potential assassin in Utah was handled properly. If you were to verbally threaten to physically harm someone, that is categorized, legally, as "assault" in most jurisdictions. If you actually, then, make physical contact, that is "battery." So, the law has long ago limited the first Amendment.
The 1st amendment is misused by everyone, left, right, the courts.
All it says is that Congress shall make no laws
Neither Trump, nor anyone has the right to say what ever they want to say, without consequences
There is no such thing as free speech. Just that congress shall make no laws.
Here it is plain and simple. It does not give Trump the right to incite violence and the overthrow of the government.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
As regards this Utah terrorist, he made direct threats to kill Biden, and threatened to do so when Biden visited Utah, the FBI found a snipers rilfe, and he knew how to use it. He pulled a gun on them, and got shot in return. Nobody pulls a gun on LEO unless they are shicidal.
Thanks for pointing this out. Speech can, and often does, have consequences. Conspiracy to commit a crime is a crime even if the planned crime was never committed. I sure as hell hope that Trump attorney John Lauro's claim that Trump's incitement was merely "aspirational" goes nowhere in the courts.
You are correct! Freedom of Speech does NOT include threats. I agree some freaks have said their Freedom of Speech does include threats. U.S.C. 10, 18, 28.
Another well-researched and written piece, Thom. Thank you.
"How long will our court and criminal justice system tolerate this ongoing assault, this open campaign to promote stochastic terror?"
Our court and criminal justice show no sign of stopping Trump or his co-conspirators - those identified in the latest round of indictments (one through five) and those in the House and Senate. In fact, if anything, the system is encouraging the insurrectionists by doing nothing. Two and a half years after an attempted coup, no one has been held accountable. I place this squarely on Merrick Garland (Merrick the Meek.). He waited until November 18, 2022, to appoint Jack Smith as Special Prosecutor - two years after the 2020 election. And the appointment of Smith was simply a way to hide behind Smith's skirts. Garland should have been fired two years ago.
A country without enforceable and enforced laws cannot prevail.
In the case of: "Trump has openly said he wants to release information which the government says could be used to target people who have investigated him, testified against him, and might serve on the jury that could condemn him."
Chances are likely that in the classified document case, the inept and corrupt Cannon will let him do just that.
Prosecuting attorneys, the Judges, and Attorney Generals from Garland down to states, have for the most party proven to be cowards or complicit.
I am sorely disappointed in Judge Chutkan. Trump violated his restraining order, and threatened the judge herself, and he is not in jail, where a citizen would be for the same behavior
WTF is going on. What is she afraid of. And then there is Trump humping DOJ, and that right wing Merrick Garland. Prediction Trump will never see the inside of a prison.
I think if you calmed down and took ten deep breaths, and then turned on what's left of your crack-addled brain, you would see that Judge Chutkan is in fact dealing with this the way the law is supposed to.
I blame the usual political behavior of the high ups for the lack of 'doing anything' in the beginning - they were all in 'wait to see if it dissipates' mode - iow - if trump settled down & behaved normally & the crowds all got over their hysteria & politics looked normal, then they could all breathe a sigh of relief & call it just a diversion of a few silly beans who make a bit of a stink, but everything's now fine & we can all go back to where we were before this happened ! trump of course was all about making the biggest stink the earth had ever witnessed, because he just loves attention, so he could not, would not behave - and here we are !
The future of the human race does not look good if these right wingers control it. There is already a very good chance that global warming is already nonstoppable, thanks to the right wingers. It would be just a matter of time, days or decades before the human race would go back to the dark ages with dungeons. The males would be made into soldiers and slaves again, and tortured and killed if they did not comply. The women will be expected to crank out more babies, so that the dictator will have plenty of workers and soldiers. Putin already uses his criminals as target practice for the Ukrainians. Only strong Democrat leadership could prevent an American dictatorship. Biden and Garland and the dem house leadership. appear to already be controlled by big money and are not up to the task, even choosing in Texas an anti-abortion Henry Cuellar over a progressive. The amount of human suffering on the planet will be immense and most living will envy the dead, including the cult. members. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Until there is a maximum wage about 10 times the minimum wage, earth is not safe for babies!
I am not a religious person, but apparently Revelations has predicted this - with similar words to yours. Well, humans are a predictable lot and, perhaps this is a cycle we endlessly repeat. Hindu mythology says so as well and Buddhists lean that way as well (though I'm not an expert.)
Susie, like you, I am not religious or claim to have any religious faith
The way I can explain it for me is, the unevolved, the instinctual and emotional thinkers (the baboons) are jealous and insecure of the rational more evolved thinkers. The less evolved continually make poor decisions and blame those who are not like them and their social identity, for their own self-inflicted misery. They can't believe in retroactive abortions and be pro-life at the same time rationally.
Strong Democratic leadership? Surely you jest. What passes for leadership grovels in fear of the opposition, and fall to their knees in supplication to mega donors.
The Republicans are the school yard bullies, the Democrats the little skinny kid with glasses, raised on the creed of turn the other cheek.
The bully is going to beat the shit out of the geek with glasses, until he gets wise and starts punching back. The curse of Ghandi, or rather the myth of Ghandi. The myth was perpetuated by Britain and the PTB, because it wasn't Ghandi that caused the Brits to leave India, it was the "spirit" of Sube Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army.
The Indian National Army had one goal, and that is to liberate India, to that effect they served as the tip of the spear for the Japananese Army. They were defeated but they lived on , with their weapons. Sube Chandra Bose served in the German foreign legion, the Waffen SS Indian battalion.. He was dead, by the time of the insurrection to depose the Brits, but his memory lived on and motivated the Indian National Army
Ghandi didn't force Britain to live, though the PTB has a vested interest in promoting non violent resistance, because that gives them stalling time, while they work to discredit, imprison, kill and disband the resistance.
They even lionize MLK, because non violence is not a threat to property, and marching with signs acts as a pressure relief valve.
Remember the million women march in DC? What did it achieve?
It seems that the Republican Party in general are following the same path when you look at the Federalist society and their other means to an authoritarian rule.
I call your attention to the fact that Merrick Garland was an employee for the Federalist Society, he served ten times as a moderator. So much for the "hero" who stonewalled, and still stonewalls, the investigation and indictment of the prominent Republicans who supported the insurrection, especially Boebert who gave the crowd the go signal of 1776, and fist pumping Josh Hawley
Thank you so much for giving words to the fear most of America is feeling now.
Trump truly is an evil man. There is a book , written by Scott Peck , MD , a psychiatrist , who wrote many books about people with a Spiritual Illness , that seeks to destroy.
The title is ‘ People of the Lie’ .
Subtitled; “ The Hope for Healing Human Evil”.
Copyright 1983.
The examples he uses are chilling.
None so bad as what Trump does every time he opens his mouth.
I daresay if he was writing at this time of the Trump nightmare, he would have had infinite examples of what these lies , promoted by Republicans are doing to our country and quality of life.
Trump is ‘ Evil Exposed’.
The fact that his followers and the whole Republican Party with few exceptions, are complicit with this lying is nothing short of amazing.
The fact that he is followed by people claiming Christianity( whites only )
Is telling of how people use Religion for evil.
The denial and overt lies of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan , Comer, etc etc . are massive.
The refusal to speak out against this evil, is overwhelmingly focussed on elected Republicans who have been ensnared by Trumps lies and refuse accountability for leading us .
Mitch McConnell, Kevin Mc Carthy, the Maga republicans seemed to be caught up in their twisted fascination for Trump.
But its the money and the power that complete their tolerance for this madness.
And unfortunately , the power they subscribe to is mercenary.
Their fondness for Putins influence is extreme. Their disgust for diversity and inclusion is obvious.
We had better, as Thom Hartman has said , see this with a deep sense of reality and move against it, anyway we can .
Thom, love your work! Has anyone looked at the rhetoric around the assassinations of the Kennedys & MLK? I was a little kid then but remember a lot of anger. Not from Presidents but from other public right-wing figures.
"How can our newspapers and other media not see this?" Good question, and it prompts another one that is certainly related: Why do so few U.S. citizens see it, or care much about it if they do?" This is not a rhetorical question, but I'm not looking for immediate answers either even though I have none myself. (I've got some theories worth exploring, but no answers.) One theory, underscored by Ohio's referendum earlier this week: Even those of us who vote regularly rarely see much connection between "government" and our daily lives, even when the candidates we vote for get elected.
*However*, take a look at the turnout and the results of the referendum elections in Kansas, Kentucky, and Ohio. Plenty of blue-state liberal types are flummoxed: "Huh?? These are Republican states. Republicans are anti-choice. How did this happen?" I suspect it happened in large part because people of many political persuasions (1) understood the issue, and (2) saw how it applied to them and people they know personally. Also the pro-choice, pro-democracy people worked like hell to get the word out. In Ohio voters blew all turnout expectations out of the water *because something that mattered to them was clearly at stake.*
Thom asks: “How can our newspapers and other media not see this? Anybody who has been in or near a country in a civil war understands the role Trump is playing.”
The answer is the same as the media ignoring global climate change. The investors, via the board of directors tell the CEO what to do and not do, and the only thing that they are interested in is profits. They are blind to the consequences of their actions and inaction's, and are like the shark who needs to keep swimming, less it suffocate, or the swimmer who knows if she or he stops swimming they will drown.
Where the media is not itself an enemy of Democracy like Rupert Murdoch, it is short sighted and short term, interested only in today and the short term effect on their status, position and wealth.
I am reluctant to put this out, But having seen pictures and diagrams of Bin Laden’s “Compound” it is my opinion that Pakistan made a deal with the Obama Administration
In a quid pro quo, and gave up bin Laden’s location.
The reason: bin Laden’s compound was only three miles from Pakistan’s Air Force Academy
There was no resistance to the raid, and bin Laden’s room was a little cubbie hole on the 2nd floor, and I doubt, but can’t prove that he had a weapon. Other than a typewriter
Essentially he was being held in the equivalent of a minimum security prison. Granted asylum. (The Taliban had it’s origin in Pakistan and still conducts acts of terrorism against religious “enemies”
The assassination of bin Laden, gave Hillary the credentials she needed to run for President, the DNC put its thumb on the scale for her, and the South Carolina, Democratic pary, put it’s thumb on the scale for her, followed by other Democratic parties in the south
Which then led to Trump becoming president. Unintended consequences thanks to the short sightedness of the DNC leadership.
And the only reason that the polls show a 50 50 split between Trump and Biden, is because the polls aren’t asking the right question.
They aren’t asking Democrats with whom Biden has fallen into disfavor, “why?”
There are legions of people like me, who are disappointed with Biden, for things that he did and did not do. But will never the less vote Democratic to keep the fascist, enemies of Democracy bigots out of office and control of the government. I am not voting for, but voting against. There is nothing to vote for.
As regards the Inflation Recovery Act and the Infrastructure act, his caving into the Republicans signing the bill to raise the debt limit, is not anything to be proud of, because he caved and refuses to use the power conferred on him by the constitution, Art II and the 14th Amendment, hence cowardice of complicity.
Thanks Thom for letting me know that Merrick Garland is keeping the unredacted Mueller report secret. That only confirms my accusation that Garland is a right wing Republican and running cover for the insurrectionists (traitors), Biden appointed him and despite the evidence has failed to remove him and appoint an Acting AG, just like Trump.
And inconceivable to me is despite the evidence that Trump and the Republican party are racists, anti Hispanic, anti woman, anti semites, anti LGB there are those in those groups who are not only Trump humpers, but support stochastic terrorism, and proudly run for office as Republicans, or play roles as donors, and supporters
Social Scientists were already claiming, back in the 1960s, that American voters vote AGAINST candidates, not FOR candidates. This sad state of affairs came about because the last two Administrations to push through programs for ordinary people(voters) were FDR and LBJ (who ruined his presidency with Viet Nam). The overblown-Kennedy, Humble-Carter, Clinton-the-Republican and Cowardly-Obama were failures in this regard. Nevertheless I still love Carter for his honor and humility. I read his books. It pops out all over the place, as do his actions in and out of office. Truman was a bloodthirsty cypher. A small, ignorant, Main-streeter with no grand view of anything beyond his own limited eyesight.
I totally agree with you. But proffer this tidbit.
My Dad was a Marine, he was adjutant of the 1st Joint Assault Signal company (fore runner of the ANGLICO (Air Naval Ground Liason Company_ that coordinates and directs air and ship support for landings. He was reduced to MSgt, because the Marines thinned out officer ranks after the war.
He was called up as cadre for Easy Company, 2nd of the 7th, 1st Marine Division for the Korean war. Landing at Pusan, he endured the advancing retreat at the Chosen Reservoir, he was wounded three times and the last was very serious at the Hwanchon Dam, that was the end of the war for him.
My Dad hated viscerally, Gen Douglas McArthur, and he praised Truman for firing him, also Truman was the first to integrate the Armed Forces.
Jimmie Carter is indeed a decent and honorable man, he even put solar panels on the White House, the first act of Reagan was to take them down.
The Iran hostage crisis, over which he had no control, had a lot to do with politics beyond his control.
He approved a bonkers plan, called Operation Eagle Claw, to rescue to the hostages.
A friend of mine, also a former team leader, of my team in Vietnam, and in the states, was one of the planners on the raid.
It involved using Navy Sea Stallion, helicopters to rescue the hostages. They were to take off from a carrier, fly to a location called Desert One, to refuel. There was a naval Lt Commander who was responsible to see that the Sea Stallions had 100ft refueling hoses, however one of them was a 60 ft hose. This is the hose that caused the accident that caused the accident that killed the crew of the choppers and C-130 (bladder bird, the name given to C-130's that carried fuel bladders as cargo.
The other choppers refueled without incident, however the 60 ft hose was reeled out for one chopper, and it was too short. The pilot then sought to reposition, as he applied power, it blew up dust, blinded the pilot and causing him to slip sideways, with his blades cutting into the C-130, puncturing the bladder and causing the fire.
In my opinion it is doubtful that Delta Force could have succeeded. I wasn't in the mission, but I knew many of the operators, some worked with me, some for me.
By the way Delta Force was created for this mission.
There were also operators in a cave overlooking Tehran, taking weather readings and intel., the location was code named Desert Two. The incident was Desert One.
Looking back on Jimmy Carter, I suspect the globalists already had a plan. Nixon after all did normalize relations with China. Carter did start on deregulation of the airlines and trucking industry but he was dragging his feet on Reaganomics. Free trade, trickle down, union busting immigration and probably even working towards a dictatorship. So the rich elite globalist had to make him a one-term president with an oil embargo, a hostage crisis and even raisedthe interest rates to 21%, in order to get rid of him so they could get back to stealing all of the middle classes wealth. They are now in uncharted territory with global warming. The fascists must figure they have the military and the money on their side and will be able to loot everybody else's stuff? And live a couple years longer?
MacArthur was a brilliant, well informed POSER. He never saw a camera he didn't like as long as it was pointed at him.
Truman did indeed have the guts to kick his ass publicly. A daring move. Truman never lacked guts. He also threatened to kick a journalist "in the ass"...in those words. A precursor of the Orange Headed One? But with real guts?
I am not old enough to have been in Korea. But, when I was in ROTC as an undergrad training to be a 2nd lieutenant in the infantry; my instructors had all previously walked across that god-awful Chosin reservoir. Every one of them suffered some permanent health problems by the time they reached the Puson perimeter, such a great distance South.
No, I never enlisted in the military. I resigned my position as a trainee. Soon after the bastards drafted me. I then became a draft dodger. It worked to keep me out of the military. But I was on the Red list of the FBI, Military intelligence and the Michigan State Police for decades after. This, I learned through the Freedom of Information Act many years later when I was fired from a faculty position as a result of being on those lists. But the sons of bitches did not stop me from finishing my PhD. and getting back in the saddle as a faculty member; thanks mainly to the local chapter of the NEA-MEA which my wife was instrumental in founding . She was twice President and three times our chief faculty negotiator in our collective bargaining with the administration. They fired her too, but an arbitrator ruled that the university must hire her back with one year back pay. We both continued on the faculty until in our late sixties when we retired. Life is sweet!
That is the first time I have heard an explanation for what went wrong on the ground with that Iran rescue plan. Reagan's henchmen were in on some skulduggery to deep six the plan right from the beginning. There must be someone still alive who knows the whole story, top to bottom. What do you think? Is it likely?
Aug 11, 2023·edited Aug 11, 2023Liked by Thom Hartmann
Not much to say my friend, except that Reagan wasn't pres at the tine of the Hostage Rescue Event. That was Jimmie Carter.
Reagan's role was to have James Baker meet with reps of the Ayatollah, and cut a deal, that they hold the hostages until after the election, and when Reagan won, release them, and Reagan would supply Iran with the weapons it needed to defend against Saddam.
Within minutes after Reagan lifted his hands off the bible the hostages were released, and thus started Operation Snowfall, which we know as Iran Contra.
Colombia would ship cocaine to Nicaragua, the CIA hired a mercenary to fly weapons into Nicaragua for the Contras, a right wing organization, whose M.O. was torture and murder, the O.G.'s of all central American death squads.
The Sandinistas' another nasty bunch, had ousted the crooked Somosa. (I drove through Nicaragua in 1975, the last gringo to make it through the Pan American higyway, after I made it through, the frontier was closed, because of the civil war.
There was not a street sign in all of Nicaragua, not even in Managua, because the people were illiterate. I had stopped at a gas station in Managua to get help reading the map, and nobody there could read.
Anyway, Congress would not go along with Reagan and send weapons to Iran, so the CIA came up with a plan, by which Cocaine would be flown into Nicaragua, and small arms would be delivered to the Contra's and he Cocaine flown back. Reagan was responsible for the cocaine addiction, and sheriffs and police love it, as it is job security, a way for the cops to make extra money, hauling part of the stash and cash
The money was then channeled through Israel who supplied the weapons.
Without Reagan, there would not be a mullahcracy in Iran. Israel had the joy of watching two enemies annihilate themselves. The war cost Iran a generation of young men, they used young boys as walking mine detectors.
Then there is Daddy, George H W Bush), himself an oilman, and friend of the oil rich Arabs, decided to make a name for himself, by setting Saddam up for war, by having his Ambassador April Glaspie, told Saddam that America had no interest in Kuwait.
Kuwait was slant drilling into Iraq's oil fields, And Bush and the Sheik were responsible for Operation Desert Storm, the 1st Iraq war, and the subsequent rise of Al Qaeda, Taliban, ISIS or DAESH.
The Saudi's consider the Peninsula (Arabia) to be sacred soil, the home of Mecca and Medina,
And bin Laden first volunteered to take out Saddam, and then objected to the infidels violating sacred Arab soil, by being stationed at Prince Sultan Air Base.
The King would hear none of it. Osama ran off to Afghanistan and formed his own army by allying with the Taliban.
When war criminal George Walker Bush (aka Dubya), demanded that the Taliban turn over Osama to him for trial. The Taliban said no, but they would turn him over to a third country in Europe.
Bush would have none of it. Dubya wanted a war, because war time presidents get re elected, and his Dad whipped Saddam's ass in 100 days. Blaming Saddam for 9/11 and using WMD's and Al Qaeda as an excuse, despite the fact that Osama was a deathly enemy of Saddam, he considered him an apostate, An apostate is called murtadd, which means 'one who turns back' from Islam.
Today's troubles were caused by Reagan, the patron Saint of the right wing Trump humpers, and exasperated by the Bush family.
M. Farrar, yes I know Carter was President. My point is that Even before he was president Reagan and his gang were messing around in foreign policy doing their best to make Carter look weak and indecisive. Isn't illegal to mess around in US foreign policy without authority and portfolio? Who ever said republicans care about legalities?
I am aware of Somoza, Ortega and the Sandinistas. My dissertation committee Chairman was a friend and advisor to Somoza on domestic issues all those years ago. My son who is a biometrician did some volunteer work in Nicaragua not long ago. I remember when Noam Chomsky used to say that the "Contra" war ruined Nicaragua's economic infrastructure so badly it might never recover. Today, although it is a poor country, it is the most advance in Central America; providing education and health care and more for the citizens. A good read on modern Nicaragua is NICURAGUA by Daniel Kovalik (Clarity Press 2023). he is an international civil rights lawyer who has spent 37 years visiting Nicaragua and knows many important people in the gov't. including President Ortega. The US gov't. is so obsessed with the possibility that Nicaragua presents a good example of Successful Democratic Socialism in Latin America that it is doing its best to destroy the country with vicious sanctions; much like Cuba.
Now I agree with that. Every time a Democratic socialist, becomes head of states, the reactionary forces of our plutocrats, wakes up and uses its financial pull to turn he media,, which they control, and the government, particularly the CIA and now FBI, an d even DoD (via special operators) into their dirty business.
What grabs my goat, is this business about Venezuela. Chavez did what Mossadegh did in Iran, and had the temerity to think that Venezulan oil belonged to Venezuela,
Mossadegh thought that Iranian oil was Iran's. The oil cartell thought different and used their power (money) to try and despose these patriots. and install a puppet in their place.
The middle and upper class of Venezuela,is like the middle class of Fulgencio Batista's Cuba, a corrupt and mafia connected , that oppressed the populace and lived high off its labor.
The mafia didn't care for being dispossessed of its ill gotten gains, so it migrated to Florida, being with them ultra religious and fascist ideas.
The response of the plutocrats was to demonize Castro, easy to do, because dumb ass Muricans don't know the difference between socialism and communism. Strange because socialism, the idea and practice was first made known as a concept by and English Priest who objected to the horror of Dickensian England, where there was a Maximum wage law, confining the population to perpetual penury.
Back to Venezuela, and the "poor migrants" that the media made so much of as they were flown to Martha's Vineyard.
These were not poor peasants. The peasants couldn't afford the trip, they certainly did get dirty, injured and killed by traipsing through Columbia, the Darian Gap (of which I know plenty, having lived three years in Panama, it is dangerous place, hostile natives, murderous thieves, and poison snakes, and even jaquars.
These people show at the border,well dressed, clean, welll shaved even wearing designer clothes, the same clothes that they were wearing stepping off the Airplane that carried them to Mexico, their kids even carry soccer balls and dolls, so much for the hazardous trip north..
1st they have to survive the Colombian jungle, the Darien Gap, then somehow find transportation to Panama City, and cross the Bridge of Americas, make their way through Panama, to Nicaragjua, then through Costa Rica, then El Salvador, Guatamala, Mexico, a 2,000 mile trip, Whereas the Hondurans, Guatemalans, and El Salvadorians, only have to reach Mexico and then hitch a ride on a freight train, riding on the top.
What the Venezuelans are fleeing is the life of the pobre's, los Indios, a fall from the privileged to the lower class. Just like the Cubanos who fled to Florida, most of whom were mafia connected or enjoyed their status and privilege because of the mafia.
Our government squeezed Castro so hard, that he had to turn to our enemies for friendship and economic help.
Our government, with the help of corporate media, has done the same to Venezuela, if it is to survive then it can only turn to America's enemies.
You might notice that so many countries in South America and Africa are turning to Russia, not because of ideology, but because they need financial assistance and industry, which China is willing to provide.
I don.t hate America. I love it, with its' blemishes and faults, but want it to do better, but it can't do better with a government that believes that money is speech, and you can literally buy a politician and a judge.
A plutocrat and corporation has as many voices, as it has money, we have only one voice and it is ignored, except when our votes are needed,then it is wham, bam, thank you Ma'am
Frankly I think his own family must be quite horrified at what he is now moving into - they do not strike me as wanting terrorism, merely wanting the most wealth they can pull into their orbits with as little repercussions & trouble as possible ! Did they have any clue what he is capable of I wonder ? It's no surprise to me that Jarvanka are moving away from him - why would any of them want to be where he is likely going ?
Reading this, I wonder if more people will realize what a fine and wavery line it is between "wanting the most wealth they can pull into their orbits" with as little bother as possible and wanting as much power as one can accrue without getting one's hands too dirty. Trump is applying to politics the strategies that worked well for him in business.. The law *seems* to be catching up with him, but it's taken so long and so much damage has been done in the meantime that I'm not all that encouraged. There are too few checks on economic power in this country -- that's always been true, but since the Reagan administration the situation has grown desperate, and too many of us still don't see it.
All of this Sturm und drang is manifesting, because at some level, the right wing, senses that the gig is up, that the climate change that they have been denying, is headed towards them, and rather admit they were wrong, and that their lives and posterity is short lived, they distract themselves with religion and the culture war.
The fools actually believe the Tenach (old testament) that their god will protect them, which is reiterated in Revelations, and they are also virulently anti semitic, believing that the Jews will perish, except for the 240,000 that convert at the end times.
With global warming heading in he direction that it is, it is too late to remediate the effects, and turn back the carbon dioxide and methane clock, especially as the billions of tons of methane, locked up in methane hydrates are being daily released into the atmosphere as the arctic ice melts (so does the tundra, and the release of hydrates o n land in the oceans.
The only question is how much time do we have left, before the end of the anthropocene.
Jarvanka is wealthy and well placed,in their own right. Despite Saudi Arabia having a law that forbids anyone with an Israeli stamp on their passport from entering the Kingdom, and the virulent antiSemitism of the Saudi's, Jared finds himself, a benefactor of Saudi largess, because of his relationship to Trump, and his father in law and they both unashamedly fellate MBS.
Don Jr, a cocaine abuser, has no such credentials, he is disposable, Daddy doesn't love him, he can't because all of his love is hoarded for his malignant narcissistic self.
Don Jr's only hope is to cling to Daddy, otherwise he becomes irrelevant.
I am waiting to see what becomes of Barron and Tiffany. Barron was a name that Trump would use to call into the news desks , spilling the beans on how rich and successful Donald Trump was.
Garland is a right wing Republican. Proof: Orrin Hatch R-UT vetted him to Obama, Obama did not care about the ideology or leanings of his nominee to the court, only that he got a win.
For those that lionize Obama, consider that he did jack squat for victimization of minorities, in fact he is remarkable for the fact that I can't think of anything he did that was helpful to blacks, women, gays, Hispanics.
Garland also served, 10 times, as moderator for the Federalist Society , despite the evidence of right wing credentials, Biden appointed him as AG. And Biden will not remove him.
Look behind the curtain, things are not as they appear to be, either Biden is not who we think he is, or he is a marionette on a string. One thing about Trump and what his cult adores,is that he is not a marionette, he is the guy that pulls the strings for the marionettes
He has the politicians, the federal government, the attorney generals, even Biden, afraid of him, and that includes prosecutors and judges. Otherwise he would already be sitting in a jail.
More proof, Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate a private citizen, totally unprecedented. Hunter Biden is not even employed by the Government. Garland has not appointed a special counsel for Jared and Ivanka, though they have committed financial crimes, benefitting off their relationship to Trump.
This act alone proves that Garland is a right winger
Thom, please allow me to help you. Credibility, show that yours is absolute. Shame too many believe otherwise with less facts. Movie, Clint Eastwood, he was a Secret Service agent said to someone you threaten the President you could go to prison even if you didn't mean it. Show the clip and show the actual law. Show you are credible while others are not. You say it then it is an absolute.
Very interesting - signing in late today, and reading all the comments. Several picked up on the same question from Thom I did: "How can our newspapers and other media not see this?" Thom was referring to Trump, who's all over the news, and others reference climate change. I'm taking a slightly different tack. Thom, I see you as part of the media, so I turn your question back on you, and wonder how you and the MSM could have missed how the WHO, and the "elite", have "played" us all with the plandemic? We're still tallying up the consequences to the health of citizens around the globe. People are awakening to the fact that we've been played, yet noone in the media wants to acknowledge it. They're all busy demonizing Robert Kennedy Jr., even when we all know that his critics altered his message and tailored it to frame him as a "conspiracy theorist". This will provoke those less-evolved humans Bob Johnson referred to, and all I can say is I hope you awaken and understand sooner rather than later.
You may see Thom as part of the media, If that is so, then everyone, including you, who posts on the interwebs is part of the media. Thoms show is not reporting the news, he is not a journalist, he is not funded by oligarchs.
So tell me why, that every turn, you take the opportunity to bash Thom? And yes you do.
As regards the pandemic, the only people who played us was Trump and the Trump humpers.
The first cases occurred in my neck of the woods, and Trump down played it because it negatively affected his poll numbers.
Thom is not our white saviour, and I am very curious as to why you, at every chance, try to discredit Thom and put him on the back foot.
Or you one of those sillies, that are looking for a saviour to come along and rescue you?
Not Thom's job, tis yours, mine and every Americans.
For some of us the best we can do is educate, and that is Thom's job, to educate and he is doing a great job.
Lay off Thom because you are doing damage to your own reputation
For some decades now the First Amendment has been at least partially breeched, or I should say limited. It is illegal to openly threaten the life of the President of the U.S. More than one person has been investigated for threatening the president. Some say this is a slippery slope because it is the first step in nullifying the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. I disagree. It is a sensible limitation, as we have already seen. That dangerous, potential assassin in Utah was handled properly. If you were to verbally threaten to physically harm someone, that is categorized, legally, as "assault" in most jurisdictions. If you actually, then, make physical contact, that is "battery." So, the law has long ago limited the first Amendment.
There is no First Amendment protection to advocate or plan a crime. Never was.
Hi Gerald.
The 1st amendment is misused by everyone, left, right, the courts.
All it says is that Congress shall make no laws
Neither Trump, nor anyone has the right to say what ever they want to say, without consequences
There is no such thing as free speech. Just that congress shall make no laws.
Here it is plain and simple. It does not give Trump the right to incite violence and the overthrow of the government.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
As regards this Utah terrorist, he made direct threats to kill Biden, and threatened to do so when Biden visited Utah, the FBI found a snipers rilfe, and he knew how to use it. He pulled a gun on them, and got shot in return. Nobody pulls a gun on LEO unless they are shicidal.
Thanks for pointing this out. Speech can, and often does, have consequences. Conspiracy to commit a crime is a crime even if the planned crime was never committed. I sure as hell hope that Trump attorney John Lauro's claim that Trump's incitement was merely "aspirational" goes nowhere in the courts.
I don't think it will in DC, but in Florida with that ho Aileen Cannon, That's a different question.l
You are correct! Freedom of Speech does NOT include threats. I agree some freaks have said their Freedom of Speech does include threats. U.S.C. 10, 18, 28.
Another well-researched and written piece, Thom. Thank you.
"How long will our court and criminal justice system tolerate this ongoing assault, this open campaign to promote stochastic terror?"
Our court and criminal justice show no sign of stopping Trump or his co-conspirators - those identified in the latest round of indictments (one through five) and those in the House and Senate. In fact, if anything, the system is encouraging the insurrectionists by doing nothing. Two and a half years after an attempted coup, no one has been held accountable. I place this squarely on Merrick Garland (Merrick the Meek.). He waited until November 18, 2022, to appoint Jack Smith as Special Prosecutor - two years after the 2020 election. And the appointment of Smith was simply a way to hide behind Smith's skirts. Garland should have been fired two years ago.
A country without enforceable and enforced laws cannot prevail.
In the case of: "Trump has openly said he wants to release information which the government says could be used to target people who have investigated him, testified against him, and might serve on the jury that could condemn him."
Chances are likely that in the classified document case, the inept and corrupt Cannon will let him do just that.
Prosecuting attorneys, the Judges, and Attorney Generals from Garland down to states, have for the most party proven to be cowards or complicit.
I am sorely disappointed in Judge Chutkan. Trump violated his restraining order, and threatened the judge herself, and he is not in jail, where a citizen would be for the same behavior
WTF is going on. What is she afraid of. And then there is Trump humping DOJ, and that right wing Merrick Garland. Prediction Trump will never see the inside of a prison.
I think if you calmed down and took ten deep breaths, and then turned on what's left of your crack-addled brain, you would see that Judge Chutkan is in fact dealing with this the way the law is supposed to.
You just made an ass out of yourself. Congrats.
What is the source of such anger? Pity.
As regards Judge Chutkan, answer one question, why is Trump still walking after violting her protection order?
An answer is needed, not some hand waving "she is dealing with it the way the law is supposed to)
If Trump as an ordinary citizen he would be in jail, for violating the terms of bail.
I blame the usual political behavior of the high ups for the lack of 'doing anything' in the beginning - they were all in 'wait to see if it dissipates' mode - iow - if trump settled down & behaved normally & the crowds all got over their hysteria & politics looked normal, then they could all breathe a sigh of relief & call it just a diversion of a few silly beans who make a bit of a stink, but everything's now fine & we can all go back to where we were before this happened ! trump of course was all about making the biggest stink the earth had ever witnessed, because he just loves attention, so he could not, would not behave - and here we are !
The future of the human race does not look good if these right wingers control it. There is already a very good chance that global warming is already nonstoppable, thanks to the right wingers. It would be just a matter of time, days or decades before the human race would go back to the dark ages with dungeons. The males would be made into soldiers and slaves again, and tortured and killed if they did not comply. The women will be expected to crank out more babies, so that the dictator will have plenty of workers and soldiers. Putin already uses his criminals as target practice for the Ukrainians. Only strong Democrat leadership could prevent an American dictatorship. Biden and Garland and the dem house leadership. appear to already be controlled by big money and are not up to the task, even choosing in Texas an anti-abortion Henry Cuellar over a progressive. The amount of human suffering on the planet will be immense and most living will envy the dead, including the cult. members. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Until there is a maximum wage about 10 times the minimum wage, earth is not safe for babies!
I am not a religious person, but apparently Revelations has predicted this - with similar words to yours. Well, humans are a predictable lot and, perhaps this is a cycle we endlessly repeat. Hindu mythology says so as well and Buddhists lean that way as well (though I'm not an expert.)
Susie, like you, I am not religious or claim to have any religious faith
The way I can explain it for me is, the unevolved, the instinctual and emotional thinkers (the baboons) are jealous and insecure of the rational more evolved thinkers. The less evolved continually make poor decisions and blame those who are not like them and their social identity, for their own self-inflicted misery. They can't believe in retroactive abortions and be pro-life at the same time rationally.
Strong Democratic leadership? Surely you jest. What passes for leadership grovels in fear of the opposition, and fall to their knees in supplication to mega donors.
The Republicans are the school yard bullies, the Democrats the little skinny kid with glasses, raised on the creed of turn the other cheek.
The bully is going to beat the shit out of the geek with glasses, until he gets wise and starts punching back. The curse of Ghandi, or rather the myth of Ghandi. The myth was perpetuated by Britain and the PTB, because it wasn't Ghandi that caused the Brits to leave India, it was the "spirit" of Sube Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army.
The Indian National Army had one goal, and that is to liberate India, to that effect they served as the tip of the spear for the Japananese Army. They were defeated but they lived on , with their weapons. Sube Chandra Bose served in the German foreign legion, the Waffen SS Indian battalion.. He was dead, by the time of the insurrection to depose the Brits, but his memory lived on and motivated the Indian National Army
Ghandi didn't force Britain to live, though the PTB has a vested interest in promoting non violent resistance, because that gives them stalling time, while they work to discredit, imprison, kill and disband the resistance.
They even lionize MLK, because non violence is not a threat to property, and marching with signs acts as a pressure relief valve.
Remember the million women march in DC? What did it achieve?
It seems that the Republican Party in general are following the same path when you look at the Federalist society and their other means to an authoritarian rule.
I call your attention to the fact that Merrick Garland was an employee for the Federalist Society, he served ten times as a moderator. So much for the "hero" who stonewalled, and still stonewalls, the investigation and indictment of the prominent Republicans who supported the insurrection, especially Boebert who gave the crowd the go signal of 1776, and fist pumping Josh Hawley
I always wondered about that myself.
Thank you so much for giving words to the fear most of America is feeling now.
Trump truly is an evil man. There is a book , written by Scott Peck , MD , a psychiatrist , who wrote many books about people with a Spiritual Illness , that seeks to destroy.
The title is ‘ People of the Lie’ .
Subtitled; “ The Hope for Healing Human Evil”.
Copyright 1983.
The examples he uses are chilling.
None so bad as what Trump does every time he opens his mouth.
I daresay if he was writing at this time of the Trump nightmare, he would have had infinite examples of what these lies , promoted by Republicans are doing to our country and quality of life.
Trump is ‘ Evil Exposed’.
The fact that his followers and the whole Republican Party with few exceptions, are complicit with this lying is nothing short of amazing.
The fact that he is followed by people claiming Christianity( whites only )
Is telling of how people use Religion for evil.
The denial and overt lies of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan , Comer, etc etc . are massive.
The refusal to speak out against this evil, is overwhelmingly focussed on elected Republicans who have been ensnared by Trumps lies and refuse accountability for leading us .
Mitch McConnell, Kevin Mc Carthy, the Maga republicans seemed to be caught up in their twisted fascination for Trump.
But its the money and the power that complete their tolerance for this madness.
And unfortunately , the power they subscribe to is mercenary.
Their fondness for Putins influence is extreme. Their disgust for diversity and inclusion is obvious.
We had better, as Thom Hartman has said , see this with a deep sense of reality and move against it, anyway we can .
Thom, love your work! Has anyone looked at the rhetoric around the assassinations of the Kennedys & MLK? I was a little kid then but remember a lot of anger. Not from Presidents but from other public right-wing figures.
"How can our newspapers and other media not see this?" Good question, and it prompts another one that is certainly related: Why do so few U.S. citizens see it, or care much about it if they do?" This is not a rhetorical question, but I'm not looking for immediate answers either even though I have none myself. (I've got some theories worth exploring, but no answers.) One theory, underscored by Ohio's referendum earlier this week: Even those of us who vote regularly rarely see much connection between "government" and our daily lives, even when the candidates we vote for get elected.
*However*, take a look at the turnout and the results of the referendum elections in Kansas, Kentucky, and Ohio. Plenty of blue-state liberal types are flummoxed: "Huh?? These are Republican states. Republicans are anti-choice. How did this happen?" I suspect it happened in large part because people of many political persuasions (1) understood the issue, and (2) saw how it applied to them and people they know personally. Also the pro-choice, pro-democracy people worked like hell to get the word out. In Ohio voters blew all turnout expectations out of the water *because something that mattered to them was clearly at stake.*
Ms. Sturgis, extremely well said. It might hold out hope for us after all.
When citizens see their interests are in danger, they act.
I am clinging to this hope with a tenacity that surprises me!
Thom asks: “How can our newspapers and other media not see this? Anybody who has been in or near a country in a civil war understands the role Trump is playing.”
The answer is the same as the media ignoring global climate change. The investors, via the board of directors tell the CEO what to do and not do, and the only thing that they are interested in is profits. They are blind to the consequences of their actions and inaction's, and are like the shark who needs to keep swimming, less it suffocate, or the swimmer who knows if she or he stops swimming they will drown.
Where the media is not itself an enemy of Democracy like Rupert Murdoch, it is short sighted and short term, interested only in today and the short term effect on their status, position and wealth.
I am reluctant to put this out, But having seen pictures and diagrams of Bin Laden’s “Compound” it is my opinion that Pakistan made a deal with the Obama Administration
In a quid pro quo, and gave up bin Laden’s location.
The reason: bin Laden’s compound was only three miles from Pakistan’s Air Force Academy
There was no resistance to the raid, and bin Laden’s room was a little cubbie hole on the 2nd floor, and I doubt, but can’t prove that he had a weapon. Other than a typewriter
Essentially he was being held in the equivalent of a minimum security prison. Granted asylum. (The Taliban had it’s origin in Pakistan and still conducts acts of terrorism against religious “enemies”
The assassination of bin Laden, gave Hillary the credentials she needed to run for President, the DNC put its thumb on the scale for her, and the South Carolina, Democratic pary, put it’s thumb on the scale for her, followed by other Democratic parties in the south
Which then led to Trump becoming president. Unintended consequences thanks to the short sightedness of the DNC leadership.
And the only reason that the polls show a 50 50 split between Trump and Biden, is because the polls aren’t asking the right question.
They aren’t asking Democrats with whom Biden has fallen into disfavor, “why?”
There are legions of people like me, who are disappointed with Biden, for things that he did and did not do. But will never the less vote Democratic to keep the fascist, enemies of Democracy bigots out of office and control of the government. I am not voting for, but voting against. There is nothing to vote for.
As regards the Inflation Recovery Act and the Infrastructure act, his caving into the Republicans signing the bill to raise the debt limit, is not anything to be proud of, because he caved and refuses to use the power conferred on him by the constitution, Art II and the 14th Amendment, hence cowardice of complicity.
Thanks Thom for letting me know that Merrick Garland is keeping the unredacted Mueller report secret. That only confirms my accusation that Garland is a right wing Republican and running cover for the insurrectionists (traitors), Biden appointed him and despite the evidence has failed to remove him and appoint an Acting AG, just like Trump.
And inconceivable to me is despite the evidence that Trump and the Republican party are racists, anti Hispanic, anti woman, anti semites, anti LGB there are those in those groups who are not only Trump humpers, but support stochastic terrorism, and proudly run for office as Republicans, or play roles as donors, and supporters
Social Scientists were already claiming, back in the 1960s, that American voters vote AGAINST candidates, not FOR candidates. This sad state of affairs came about because the last two Administrations to push through programs for ordinary people(voters) were FDR and LBJ (who ruined his presidency with Viet Nam). The overblown-Kennedy, Humble-Carter, Clinton-the-Republican and Cowardly-Obama were failures in this regard. Nevertheless I still love Carter for his honor and humility. I read his books. It pops out all over the place, as do his actions in and out of office. Truman was a bloodthirsty cypher. A small, ignorant, Main-streeter with no grand view of anything beyond his own limited eyesight.
I totally agree with you. But proffer this tidbit.
My Dad was a Marine, he was adjutant of the 1st Joint Assault Signal company (fore runner of the ANGLICO (Air Naval Ground Liason Company_ that coordinates and directs air and ship support for landings. He was reduced to MSgt, because the Marines thinned out officer ranks after the war.
He was called up as cadre for Easy Company, 2nd of the 7th, 1st Marine Division for the Korean war. Landing at Pusan, he endured the advancing retreat at the Chosen Reservoir, he was wounded three times and the last was very serious at the Hwanchon Dam, that was the end of the war for him.
My Dad hated viscerally, Gen Douglas McArthur, and he praised Truman for firing him, also Truman was the first to integrate the Armed Forces.
Jimmie Carter is indeed a decent and honorable man, he even put solar panels on the White House, the first act of Reagan was to take them down.
The Iran hostage crisis, over which he had no control, had a lot to do with politics beyond his control.
He approved a bonkers plan, called Operation Eagle Claw, to rescue to the hostages.
A friend of mine, also a former team leader, of my team in Vietnam, and in the states, was one of the planners on the raid.
It involved using Navy Sea Stallion, helicopters to rescue the hostages. They were to take off from a carrier, fly to a location called Desert One, to refuel. There was a naval Lt Commander who was responsible to see that the Sea Stallions had 100ft refueling hoses, however one of them was a 60 ft hose. This is the hose that caused the accident that caused the accident that killed the crew of the choppers and C-130 (bladder bird, the name given to C-130's that carried fuel bladders as cargo.
The other choppers refueled without incident, however the 60 ft hose was reeled out for one chopper, and it was too short. The pilot then sought to reposition, as he applied power, it blew up dust, blinded the pilot and causing him to slip sideways, with his blades cutting into the C-130, puncturing the bladder and causing the fire.
In my opinion it is doubtful that Delta Force could have succeeded. I wasn't in the mission, but I knew many of the operators, some worked with me, some for me.
By the way Delta Force was created for this mission.
There were also operators in a cave overlooking Tehran, taking weather readings and intel., the location was code named Desert Two. The incident was Desert One.
Looking back on Jimmy Carter, I suspect the globalists already had a plan. Nixon after all did normalize relations with China. Carter did start on deregulation of the airlines and trucking industry but he was dragging his feet on Reaganomics. Free trade, trickle down, union busting immigration and probably even working towards a dictatorship. So the rich elite globalist had to make him a one-term president with an oil embargo, a hostage crisis and even raisedthe interest rates to 21%, in order to get rid of him so they could get back to stealing all of the middle classes wealth. They are now in uncharted territory with global warming. The fascists must figure they have the military and the money on their side and will be able to loot everybody else's stuff? And live a couple years longer?
The oil embargo was the Arabs answer to Carter resupplying Israel with weapons and ammo in the 1973 Arab Israeli war
Mr. Farrar, as usual your words are full of gems.
MacArthur was a brilliant, well informed POSER. He never saw a camera he didn't like as long as it was pointed at him.
Truman did indeed have the guts to kick his ass publicly. A daring move. Truman never lacked guts. He also threatened to kick a journalist "in the ass"...in those words. A precursor of the Orange Headed One? But with real guts?
I am not old enough to have been in Korea. But, when I was in ROTC as an undergrad training to be a 2nd lieutenant in the infantry; my instructors had all previously walked across that god-awful Chosin reservoir. Every one of them suffered some permanent health problems by the time they reached the Puson perimeter, such a great distance South.
No, I never enlisted in the military. I resigned my position as a trainee. Soon after the bastards drafted me. I then became a draft dodger. It worked to keep me out of the military. But I was on the Red list of the FBI, Military intelligence and the Michigan State Police for decades after. This, I learned through the Freedom of Information Act many years later when I was fired from a faculty position as a result of being on those lists. But the sons of bitches did not stop me from finishing my PhD. and getting back in the saddle as a faculty member; thanks mainly to the local chapter of the NEA-MEA which my wife was instrumental in founding . She was twice President and three times our chief faculty negotiator in our collective bargaining with the administration. They fired her too, but an arbitrator ruled that the university must hire her back with one year back pay. We both continued on the faculty until in our late sixties when we retired. Life is sweet!
That is the first time I have heard an explanation for what went wrong on the ground with that Iran rescue plan. Reagan's henchmen were in on some skulduggery to deep six the plan right from the beginning. There must be someone still alive who knows the whole story, top to bottom. What do you think? Is it likely?
Not much to say my friend, except that Reagan wasn't pres at the tine of the Hostage Rescue Event. That was Jimmie Carter.
Reagan's role was to have James Baker meet with reps of the Ayatollah, and cut a deal, that they hold the hostages until after the election, and when Reagan won, release them, and Reagan would supply Iran with the weapons it needed to defend against Saddam.
Within minutes after Reagan lifted his hands off the bible the hostages were released, and thus started Operation Snowfall, which we know as Iran Contra.
Colombia would ship cocaine to Nicaragua, the CIA hired a mercenary to fly weapons into Nicaragua for the Contras, a right wing organization, whose M.O. was torture and murder, the O.G.'s of all central American death squads.
The Sandinistas' another nasty bunch, had ousted the crooked Somosa. (I drove through Nicaragua in 1975, the last gringo to make it through the Pan American higyway, after I made it through, the frontier was closed, because of the civil war.
There was not a street sign in all of Nicaragua, not even in Managua, because the people were illiterate. I had stopped at a gas station in Managua to get help reading the map, and nobody there could read.
Anyway, Congress would not go along with Reagan and send weapons to Iran, so the CIA came up with a plan, by which Cocaine would be flown into Nicaragua, and small arms would be delivered to the Contra's and he Cocaine flown back. Reagan was responsible for the cocaine addiction, and sheriffs and police love it, as it is job security, a way for the cops to make extra money, hauling part of the stash and cash
The money was then channeled through Israel who supplied the weapons.
Without Reagan, there would not be a mullahcracy in Iran. Israel had the joy of watching two enemies annihilate themselves. The war cost Iran a generation of young men, they used young boys as walking mine detectors.
Then there is Daddy, George H W Bush), himself an oilman, and friend of the oil rich Arabs, decided to make a name for himself, by setting Saddam up for war, by having his Ambassador April Glaspie, told Saddam that America had no interest in Kuwait.
Kuwait was slant drilling into Iraq's oil fields, And Bush and the Sheik were responsible for Operation Desert Storm, the 1st Iraq war, and the subsequent rise of Al Qaeda, Taliban, ISIS or DAESH.
The Saudi's consider the Peninsula (Arabia) to be sacred soil, the home of Mecca and Medina,
And bin Laden first volunteered to take out Saddam, and then objected to the infidels violating sacred Arab soil, by being stationed at Prince Sultan Air Base.
The King would hear none of it. Osama ran off to Afghanistan and formed his own army by allying with the Taliban.
When war criminal George Walker Bush (aka Dubya), demanded that the Taliban turn over Osama to him for trial. The Taliban said no, but they would turn him over to a third country in Europe.
Bush would have none of it. Dubya wanted a war, because war time presidents get re elected, and his Dad whipped Saddam's ass in 100 days. Blaming Saddam for 9/11 and using WMD's and Al Qaeda as an excuse, despite the fact that Osama was a deathly enemy of Saddam, he considered him an apostate, An apostate is called murtadd, which means 'one who turns back' from Islam.
Today's troubles were caused by Reagan, the patron Saint of the right wing Trump humpers, and exasperated by the Bush family.
M. Farrar, yes I know Carter was President. My point is that Even before he was president Reagan and his gang were messing around in foreign policy doing their best to make Carter look weak and indecisive. Isn't illegal to mess around in US foreign policy without authority and portfolio? Who ever said republicans care about legalities?
I am aware of Somoza, Ortega and the Sandinistas. My dissertation committee Chairman was a friend and advisor to Somoza on domestic issues all those years ago. My son who is a biometrician did some volunteer work in Nicaragua not long ago. I remember when Noam Chomsky used to say that the "Contra" war ruined Nicaragua's economic infrastructure so badly it might never recover. Today, although it is a poor country, it is the most advance in Central America; providing education and health care and more for the citizens. A good read on modern Nicaragua is NICURAGUA by Daniel Kovalik (Clarity Press 2023). he is an international civil rights lawyer who has spent 37 years visiting Nicaragua and knows many important people in the gov't. including President Ortega. The US gov't. is so obsessed with the possibility that Nicaragua presents a good example of Successful Democratic Socialism in Latin America that it is doing its best to destroy the country with vicious sanctions; much like Cuba.
Now I agree with that. Every time a Democratic socialist, becomes head of states, the reactionary forces of our plutocrats, wakes up and uses its financial pull to turn he media,, which they control, and the government, particularly the CIA and now FBI, an d even DoD (via special operators) into their dirty business.
What grabs my goat, is this business about Venezuela. Chavez did what Mossadegh did in Iran, and had the temerity to think that Venezulan oil belonged to Venezuela,
Mossadegh thought that Iranian oil was Iran's. The oil cartell thought different and used their power (money) to try and despose these patriots. and install a puppet in their place.
The middle and upper class of Venezuela,is like the middle class of Fulgencio Batista's Cuba, a corrupt and mafia connected , that oppressed the populace and lived high off its labor.
The mafia didn't care for being dispossessed of its ill gotten gains, so it migrated to Florida, being with them ultra religious and fascist ideas.
The response of the plutocrats was to demonize Castro, easy to do, because dumb ass Muricans don't know the difference between socialism and communism. Strange because socialism, the idea and practice was first made known as a concept by and English Priest who objected to the horror of Dickensian England, where there was a Maximum wage law, confining the population to perpetual penury.
Back to Venezuela, and the "poor migrants" that the media made so much of as they were flown to Martha's Vineyard.
These were not poor peasants. The peasants couldn't afford the trip, they certainly did get dirty, injured and killed by traipsing through Columbia, the Darian Gap (of which I know plenty, having lived three years in Panama, it is dangerous place, hostile natives, murderous thieves, and poison snakes, and even jaquars.
These people show at the border,well dressed, clean, welll shaved even wearing designer clothes, the same clothes that they were wearing stepping off the Airplane that carried them to Mexico, their kids even carry soccer balls and dolls, so much for the hazardous trip north..
1st they have to survive the Colombian jungle, the Darien Gap, then somehow find transportation to Panama City, and cross the Bridge of Americas, make their way through Panama, to Nicaragjua, then through Costa Rica, then El Salvador, Guatamala, Mexico, a 2,000 mile trip, Whereas the Hondurans, Guatemalans, and El Salvadorians, only have to reach Mexico and then hitch a ride on a freight train, riding on the top.
What the Venezuelans are fleeing is the life of the pobre's, los Indios, a fall from the privileged to the lower class. Just like the Cubanos who fled to Florida, most of whom were mafia connected or enjoyed their status and privilege because of the mafia.
Our government squeezed Castro so hard, that he had to turn to our enemies for friendship and economic help.
Our government, with the help of corporate media, has done the same to Venezuela, if it is to survive then it can only turn to America's enemies.
You might notice that so many countries in South America and Africa are turning to Russia, not because of ideology, but because they need financial assistance and industry, which China is willing to provide.
I don.t hate America. I love it, with its' blemishes and faults, but want it to do better, but it can't do better with a government that believes that money is speech, and you can literally buy a politician and a judge.
A plutocrat and corporation has as many voices, as it has money, we have only one voice and it is ignored, except when our votes are needed,then it is wham, bam, thank you Ma'am
Frankly I think his own family must be quite horrified at what he is now moving into - they do not strike me as wanting terrorism, merely wanting the most wealth they can pull into their orbits with as little repercussions & trouble as possible ! Did they have any clue what he is capable of I wonder ? It's no surprise to me that Jarvanka are moving away from him - why would any of them want to be where he is likely going ?
Reading this, I wonder if more people will realize what a fine and wavery line it is between "wanting the most wealth they can pull into their orbits" with as little bother as possible and wanting as much power as one can accrue without getting one's hands too dirty. Trump is applying to politics the strategies that worked well for him in business.. The law *seems* to be catching up with him, but it's taken so long and so much damage has been done in the meantime that I'm not all that encouraged. There are too few checks on economic power in this country -- that's always been true, but since the Reagan administration the situation has grown desperate, and too many of us still don't see it.
All of this Sturm und drang is manifesting, because at some level, the right wing, senses that the gig is up, that the climate change that they have been denying, is headed towards them, and rather admit they were wrong, and that their lives and posterity is short lived, they distract themselves with religion and the culture war.
The fools actually believe the Tenach (old testament) that their god will protect them, which is reiterated in Revelations, and they are also virulently anti semitic, believing that the Jews will perish, except for the 240,000 that convert at the end times.
With global warming heading in he direction that it is, it is too late to remediate the effects, and turn back the carbon dioxide and methane clock, especially as the billions of tons of methane, locked up in methane hydrates are being daily released into the atmosphere as the arctic ice melts (so does the tundra, and the release of hydrates o n land in the oceans.
The only question is how much time do we have left, before the end of the anthropocene.
Jarvanka is wealthy and well placed,in their own right. Despite Saudi Arabia having a law that forbids anyone with an Israeli stamp on their passport from entering the Kingdom, and the virulent antiSemitism of the Saudi's, Jared finds himself, a benefactor of Saudi largess, because of his relationship to Trump, and his father in law and they both unashamedly fellate MBS.
Don Jr, a cocaine abuser, has no such credentials, he is disposable, Daddy doesn't love him, he can't because all of his love is hoarded for his malignant narcissistic self.
Don Jr's only hope is to cling to Daddy, otherwise he becomes irrelevant.
I am waiting to see what becomes of Barron and Tiffany. Barron was a name that Trump would use to call into the news desks , spilling the beans on how rich and successful Donald Trump was.
Yeah, what is up with Garland and could Biden replace him?
Garland is a right wing Republican. Proof: Orrin Hatch R-UT vetted him to Obama, Obama did not care about the ideology or leanings of his nominee to the court, only that he got a win.
For those that lionize Obama, consider that he did jack squat for victimization of minorities, in fact he is remarkable for the fact that I can't think of anything he did that was helpful to blacks, women, gays, Hispanics.
Garland also served, 10 times, as moderator for the Federalist Society , despite the evidence of right wing credentials, Biden appointed him as AG. And Biden will not remove him.
Look behind the curtain, things are not as they appear to be, either Biden is not who we think he is, or he is a marionette on a string. One thing about Trump and what his cult adores,is that he is not a marionette, he is the guy that pulls the strings for the marionettes
He has the politicians, the federal government, the attorney generals, even Biden, afraid of him, and that includes prosecutors and judges. Otherwise he would already be sitting in a jail.
More proof, Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate a private citizen, totally unprecedented. Hunter Biden is not even employed by the Government. Garland has not appointed a special counsel for Jared and Ivanka, though they have committed financial crimes, benefitting off their relationship to Trump.
This act alone proves that Garland is a right winger
Thom, please allow me to help you. Credibility, show that yours is absolute. Shame too many believe otherwise with less facts. Movie, Clint Eastwood, he was a Secret Service agent said to someone you threaten the President you could go to prison even if you didn't mean it. Show the clip and show the actual law. Show you are credible while others are not. You say it then it is an absolute.
Very interesting - signing in late today, and reading all the comments. Several picked up on the same question from Thom I did: "How can our newspapers and other media not see this?" Thom was referring to Trump, who's all over the news, and others reference climate change. I'm taking a slightly different tack. Thom, I see you as part of the media, so I turn your question back on you, and wonder how you and the MSM could have missed how the WHO, and the "elite", have "played" us all with the plandemic? We're still tallying up the consequences to the health of citizens around the globe. People are awakening to the fact that we've been played, yet noone in the media wants to acknowledge it. They're all busy demonizing Robert Kennedy Jr., even when we all know that his critics altered his message and tailored it to frame him as a "conspiracy theorist". This will provoke those less-evolved humans Bob Johnson referred to, and all I can say is I hope you awaken and understand sooner rather than later.
You may see Thom as part of the media, If that is so, then everyone, including you, who posts on the interwebs is part of the media. Thoms show is not reporting the news, he is not a journalist, he is not funded by oligarchs.
So tell me why, that every turn, you take the opportunity to bash Thom? And yes you do.
As regards the pandemic, the only people who played us was Trump and the Trump humpers.
The first cases occurred in my neck of the woods, and Trump down played it because it negatively affected his poll numbers.
Thom is not our white saviour, and I am very curious as to why you, at every chance, try to discredit Thom and put him on the back foot.
Or you one of those sillies, that are looking for a saviour to come along and rescue you?
Not Thom's job, tis yours, mine and every Americans.
For some of us the best we can do is educate, and that is Thom's job, to educate and he is doing a great job.
Lay off Thom because you are doing damage to your own reputation