And he owns the starving children who are dying daily because Trump had the audacity, thanks to the Supreme Court's support to install Musk and the DOGE crew to destroy the USAID program
I read an article about this in Reuters this morning. I didn’t see it anywhere else. Trump’s Legacy will be an international health crisis that kills thousands and thousands of people. Nobody is talking about it.
Much as he is responsible for the killing of thousands during the pandemic. And the death of those duped by his administration into believing measles vaccines are dangerous.
Gloria, if you know of any starving people -- anywhere -- let me know, and I will contact the people who can get relief to them ASAP! They are probably already there or nearby.
Gaza is the first place that comes to mind. Then there is Somalia and elsewhere in the middle east and Africa that I read about the other day. I read the Rand corporation reported that 25 per cent of our armed forces are food insecure. And don't forget the kids who get a government paid meal at school who won't be getting that during summer vacation.
Yes, there is a need in all these areas, but if you know a specific USAID or other program that has been discontinued, I can find out who has supplies available to meet that need.
Regarding the state supreme court election tampering in NC; "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed." Do we have a constitution or not? Why are there no lawsuits regarding "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, " and so much more.
I still have hope that Roberts will articulate/ delimit his immunity ruling in a way that renders a stark warning to Trump. Several of the deportation cases before the court could provide that opening; none of what Trump is doing falls within a 'core executive function,' and the sooner the court explains that to him the better.
I have a minuscule of hope that Justice Roberts knows the Supreme Court (Justices) will be completely neutered and of no absolute use in saving our Republic. He swore an oath to the constitution. Supreme Court MUST do its JOB period.
I remember how Roberts, at his nomination hearing, claimed he would be like an umpire, calling balls and strikes. As it turns out, what are balls for his team's batters are strikes for the other team's batters. And once he declares an injustice is just fine with him, the subsequent impact is cumulative. Jim Crow grows back with judicial neglect.
Can we not start a letter writing campaign to SCOTUS expressing the "whereas" clauses in this Hartmann article with "therefore" clauses outlining what SCOTUS must do? I have been thinking about this for a while, but am not tech savvy. Anyone want to help? It's possible that tens of thousands of letters could flood the Supreme Court - the 5-6 fascism-supporting "justices" need to know what that the people demand they do their jobs - i.e., uphold the Constitution!.
Thanks - I appreciate the info and it does make sense. However, I notice that free vacations, private jet travel, yacht trips and more do not go into the circular file - at least in some instances.
There isn’t much time before Dump declares martial law in response to a terrorist attack, real or manufactured. Those republicans in Congress who cower in fear of the orange bag of shit in the White House must somehow see through the miasma and realize they have the power to reverse course.
The BIG news is that Don Bacon, R NE, is the first Republican member of Congress to ask for Hegseth's removal from office.Bacon is the chair of a House Armed Services subcommittee and one of just a handful of House Republicans in districts that Kamala Harris carried last year. He first made his comments to Politico. https://www.axios.com/2025/04/21/don-bacon-pete-hegseth-signal
It’s difficult to see an upside for the Supremist Court, making themselves irrelevant? I do not see the real,logic there, it’s beyond my view. I do know they have almost always been on the side of wealthy white people in general though. Captured by business interests I imagine.
What concerns me more is that we have had a long series of justices who went to either Harvard or Yale, then their clerks did the same and some of them became the next generation of justices. (I understand that something like 10% of Congress went to Harvard too.) It is an increasingly ingrown system that has less and less to do with the real world of how people actually live. At the least the court should be expanded to bring in new people, avoid narrow decisions, and have one justice for each circuit. But Roberts, who will go down in history comparable to Taney and his expansive Dred Scott decision, is like the man who gave another a gun. And is then shot with it.
This is the narcissistic nihilism of the elite 'classes' of pampered and privileged Ids that dominate business, politics, law, academia and religion. The cabal is very large and cross-connected. Kind of like hemophilia among the royals. Most external wars are fought over these pissing contests, after the respective masses have been subjugated and terrified. They just end up trading huddled masses to re-manipulate.
Thom is overtly calling for rebellion, not resistance. He knows via his very deep mind and accuracy of history that a quisling like Roberts only pounces when he is certain of victory. Does Roberts have a Rasputin? Or some oracle or sage? Or is he just another addict to homo-erotic fantasies that some Dominatrix would enjoy? Bleary and demonic power are fascinations that entangle the cult crowd in perversions that rival necrophilia and non-human animal perversions.
What really goes on behind the oaken doors of the uber-sinister crowd of grotesque and pathetic ogres? As Dukakis once uttered - fish rot from the head down.
This is a wake up call to American citizens have been too busy in their day to day lives. We the People are the owners of our government and must be observant and involved in our state and national elections. We cannot take our democracy for granted. We are living the results of when we fail.
You are exactly right. Everything you said is exactly right. Roberts has given the monster pretty much total power and it’s not clear the Supreme Court can or will stop him. I can see them issuing some weak order that gives the monster wiggle room. So that the SC won’t be totally ignored but mostly ignored. If the monster continues to ignore due process rights and the SC continues to kind of shrug, then there we are, in the 1930s.
The one thing Americans are forgetting, is that once Trump consolidates his power over the government, the first thing that will go, will be the judiciary that disagrees with him. We see Netanyahu attempting that in Israel now. Orbán did it in Hungary. Putin did this in Russia and so on. If Roberts thinks he will be able to keep his seat after the takeover, he better rethink that. But, as we have seen, power corrupts and makes these people delusional with grandeur.
Thom is correct. The only thing left is the power of protest. Even if Trump sends out the riot police, such as the democrats in Chicago did in 1968. We may have to endure more Kent State type incidents before people truly wake up to what's going on. I sincerely hope not but I'm preparing just in case.
It's time Americans came to the realization that there is very little federal government anymore. Trump is sweeping it all away. It's time to take back the government from Trump and return it to the people. This includes the feckless congress that's enabling this disaster. A large majority of them need to be recalled and replaced with legislators who will actually represent their constituents, rather than their wealthy donors. We can only do this if enough of us stand up and make our voices heard loud and clear. We need to say very loudly, whether it's in the streets or using independent media, that enough is enough. To quote a Trump classic, "You're Fired".
I've been doing that and all I get are the standard form letters telling me how great they are and how they're working on it. How great Trump is and so on. I have lost faith in congress now. It's time to fire the really bad ones like Ron Johnson and Tim Cotton and elect better ones.
I keep expecting to see Roberts and Coney Barrett step-up and show us how much they love and respect the law. Their clerks and former students look to them to be a light that guides them as well as all the brilliant lawyers in the making.
Instead we get repression of women, encouragement for racists, claims that bribery is legal, and worst of all, allowing a psychopathic President to claim immunity. Roberts put the crown on Trump's head.
Lawrence O'Donnell thinks everyone is in a real pickle because of lawsuits filed by Trump lawyers recently on behalf of Harvard concerning the grants. It sets up a showdown of Harvard versus Harvard alumni when it comes before Roberts and his SCOTUS "gang".
Thanks, Thom. My heart goes out to all the folks they have damaged or destroyed---it's not like TV at all.
Robert's is as bad or worse as the scum twins, Alito & Thomas...he's like a parasitic stealth ninja doing his dirty work behind the scenes, lurking in the dark, where not many will notice....and that's where pure evil is at its worst.....JR is Project 2025 incarnate.
My first clue to John Robert's perfidy to our Constitution was when he swore in Senators Graham and McConnell, both of whom had publicly announced (showing their preconceived bias) that they would not consider convicting Donald Trump in his first Impeachment trial. What would have happened if he had refused to swear them in, as he should have?
Then came Citizens' United, and Voting Rights and the revelations of his wife's corporate representation, which seems very untoward for the any justice's mate.
Those who predicted the Trump dictatorship and see clearly that we are in the early stages of his cementing his rule, and a ruthless and sadistic rule, may say "I told you so" to those who naively tried to deny it and believed a few wins in court could stop it.
Could Roberts have foreseen this? Perhaps Roberts had his buried head in the sand. On the other hand, maybe he saw this coming and want to keep his head attached to his body. Maybe he was thinking of what happened to anyone in the German judiciary who defied Hitler.
Whether it is a major exercise of cruelty like sending men who may or may not be gang members who commited violent crimes (which I doubt many did) to a Salvadorian hellhole prison without due process, or comparatively minor incidents like the 18 year old German tourists to Hawaii being arrested, strip searched, and deported (which I wrote about today https://halbrown.substack.com ) we see that Trump is a modern day version of Hitler.
Third option. Roberts is in on it all, and has been from the start. A rad trad Catholic, possibly a member of Opus Dei, approved by the Federalist Society and quite apparently supportive of Kevin Roberts project 2025.
Notice his rulings, they either give Trump wiggle room, and not judicial orders, or are pauses, temporary.
"HOLLIS-BRUSKY: The Reagan Justice Department had a deep sense that since Watergate and the post-Watergate reforms that sought to really rein in and control an imperial president - right? - to prevent another Watergate, to prevent another president from abusing the trappings of their office, to prevent corruption in government, that the Congress that was elected after Nixon resigned went too far.
"CHARLES COOPER: The Reagan administration were quite animated about efforts to restore presidential authority to its true scope under Article II.
"DETROW: Charles Cooper was deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration.
"COOPER: And that's where the concept of the unitary executive kind of was born. There is only one president, one chief executive. And that chief executive, under the clear command of Article II, possesses all of the executive power of the federal government."
Do you believe that Roberts will hold Trump in contempt? Ever?
I don't, he will always give him wiggle room, Roberts has his eye on the prize, the same Prize as Kevin Roberts, Leo Leonard, Opus Dei and the Knights of Malta.
If anything two steps forward, one step back, Roberts has given Trump everything he wants so far, and even adverse rulings are only pauses, halts, telling them to go back and build a better case.
What was that case that was the predecessor to Citizen's United Basically the court told the plaintiff's to go back and refile a better case, and even gave them instructions, hint, idea as to how to do it.
And he owns the starving children who are dying daily because Trump had the audacity, thanks to the Supreme Court's support to install Musk and the DOGE crew to destroy the USAID program
I read an article about this in Reuters this morning. I didn’t see it anywhere else. Trump’s Legacy will be an international health crisis that kills thousands and thousands of people. Nobody is talking about it.
That's because their countries have few resources that we can steal. Cold.
Much as he is responsible for the killing of thousands during the pandemic. And the death of those duped by his administration into believing measles vaccines are dangerous.
Gloria, if you know of any starving people -- anywhere -- let me know, and I will contact the people who can get relief to them ASAP! They are probably already there or nearby.
Gaza is the first place that comes to mind. Then there is Somalia and elsewhere in the middle east and Africa that I read about the other day. I read the Rand corporation reported that 25 per cent of our armed forces are food insecure. And don't forget the kids who get a government paid meal at school who won't be getting that during summer vacation.
Yes, there is a need in all these areas, but if you know a specific USAID or other program that has been discontinued, I can find out who has supplies available to meet that need.
Regarding the state supreme court election tampering in NC; "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed." Do we have a constitution or not? Why are there no lawsuits regarding "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, " and so much more.
I still have hope that Roberts will articulate/ delimit his immunity ruling in a way that renders a stark warning to Trump. Several of the deportation cases before the court could provide that opening; none of what Trump is doing falls within a 'core executive function,' and the sooner the court explains that to him the better.
Actually, the key issue is contempt. Judges are supposed to have inherent contempt power. https://www.fjc.gov/history/work-courts/contempt-power-federal-courts
IMHO Trump may be in contempt in several seperate courts.
No one can hear you scream about the law in space because there is no sound or echo in space, and this applies to the space in Trump's cosmos.
I have a minuscule of hope that Justice Roberts knows the Supreme Court (Justices) will be completely neutered and of no absolute use in saving our Republic. He swore an oath to the constitution. Supreme Court MUST do its JOB period.
I remember how Roberts, at his nomination hearing, claimed he would be like an umpire, calling balls and strikes. As it turns out, what are balls for his team's batters are strikes for the other team's batters. And once he declares an injustice is just fine with him, the subsequent impact is cumulative. Jim Crow grows back with judicial neglect.
Once again - a totally brilliant and on target, timely comment. Thanks
Can we not start a letter writing campaign to SCOTUS expressing the "whereas" clauses in this Hartmann article with "therefore" clauses outlining what SCOTUS must do? I have been thinking about this for a while, but am not tech savvy. Anyone want to help? It's possible that tens of thousands of letters could flood the Supreme Court - the 5-6 fascism-supporting "justices" need to know what that the people demand they do their jobs - i.e., uphold the Constitution!.
NO. Just pisses them off. They are not permitted to hear anything not in a case before them. Mail gets tossed into the circular file.
If you want them to hear it, have to work through lawyers and parties who have an actual case filed before the court.
Thanks - I appreciate the info and it does make sense. However, I notice that free vacations, private jet travel, yacht trips and more do not go into the circular file - at least in some instances.
I blame the 3 dems for not bringing up bias.
There isn’t much time before Dump declares martial law in response to a terrorist attack, real or manufactured. Those republicans in Congress who cower in fear of the orange bag of shit in the White House must somehow see through the miasma and realize they have the power to reverse course.
A real possibility. Thom wrote about it. https://hartmannreport.com/p/trumps-hitlers-birthday-gift-the-ffc. Yesterday was supposed to be the day -- coinciding with Hitler's birthday. But we're past it....
The BIG news is that Don Bacon, R NE, is the first Republican member of Congress to ask for Hegseth's removal from office.Bacon is the chair of a House Armed Services subcommittee and one of just a handful of House Republicans in districts that Kamala Harris carried last year. He first made his comments to Politico. https://www.axios.com/2025/04/21/don-bacon-pete-hegseth-signal
Hopefully, this is the start of the Feathers of Hope scenario. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/
Where do the others on the committees stand? Roger Wicker?
Meanwhile there is pushback on tariffs, on Musk and his Muskovites, by Congressional Republicans.
It’s difficult to see an upside for the Supremist Court, making themselves irrelevant? I do not see the real,logic there, it’s beyond my view. I do know they have almost always been on the side of wealthy white people in general though. Captured by business interests I imagine.
Got to work with what we have.....
Trump wants a confrontation.....
Yup. That is the venue for confrontation, not knocking each other via Cartesian illogic.
How did we end up with 7 Catholic justices on the Supreme Court with all but one part of the Leonard Leo cabal? Are we ready for a theocracy?
What concerns me more is that we have had a long series of justices who went to either Harvard or Yale, then their clerks did the same and some of them became the next generation of justices. (I understand that something like 10% of Congress went to Harvard too.) It is an increasingly ingrown system that has less and less to do with the real world of how people actually live. At the least the court should be expanded to bring in new people, avoid narrow decisions, and have one justice for each circuit. But Roberts, who will go down in history comparable to Taney and his expansive Dred Scott decision, is like the man who gave another a gun. And is then shot with it.
This is the narcissistic nihilism of the elite 'classes' of pampered and privileged Ids that dominate business, politics, law, academia and religion. The cabal is very large and cross-connected. Kind of like hemophilia among the royals. Most external wars are fought over these pissing contests, after the respective masses have been subjugated and terrified. They just end up trading huddled masses to re-manipulate.
Thom is overtly calling for rebellion, not resistance. He knows via his very deep mind and accuracy of history that a quisling like Roberts only pounces when he is certain of victory. Does Roberts have a Rasputin? Or some oracle or sage? Or is he just another addict to homo-erotic fantasies that some Dominatrix would enjoy? Bleary and demonic power are fascinations that entangle the cult crowd in perversions that rival necrophilia and non-human animal perversions.
What really goes on behind the oaken doors of the uber-sinister crowd of grotesque and pathetic ogres? As Dukakis once uttered - fish rot from the head down.
This is a wake up call to American citizens have been too busy in their day to day lives. We the People are the owners of our government and must be observant and involved in our state and national elections. We cannot take our democracy for granted. We are living the results of when we fail.
Excellent essay again today. William is right on too. In my opinion there is no letting The Supreme’s off the hook.
You are exactly right. Everything you said is exactly right. Roberts has given the monster pretty much total power and it’s not clear the Supreme Court can or will stop him. I can see them issuing some weak order that gives the monster wiggle room. So that the SC won’t be totally ignored but mostly ignored. If the monster continues to ignore due process rights and the SC continues to kind of shrug, then there we are, in the 1930s.
The one thing Americans are forgetting, is that once Trump consolidates his power over the government, the first thing that will go, will be the judiciary that disagrees with him. We see Netanyahu attempting that in Israel now. Orbán did it in Hungary. Putin did this in Russia and so on. If Roberts thinks he will be able to keep his seat after the takeover, he better rethink that. But, as we have seen, power corrupts and makes these people delusional with grandeur.
Thom is correct. The only thing left is the power of protest. Even if Trump sends out the riot police, such as the democrats in Chicago did in 1968. We may have to endure more Kent State type incidents before people truly wake up to what's going on. I sincerely hope not but I'm preparing just in case.
It's time Americans came to the realization that there is very little federal government anymore. Trump is sweeping it all away. It's time to take back the government from Trump and return it to the people. This includes the feckless congress that's enabling this disaster. A large majority of them need to be recalled and replaced with legislators who will actually represent their constituents, rather than their wealthy donors. We can only do this if enough of us stand up and make our voices heard loud and clear. We need to say very loudly, whether it's in the streets or using independent media, that enough is enough. To quote a Trump classic, "You're Fired".
Protest to Congressional Republicans who have trhe power to stop it -- NOW.
Read Feathers of Hope.
I've been doing that and all I get are the standard form letters telling me how great they are and how they're working on it. How great Trump is and so on. I have lost faith in congress now. It's time to fire the really bad ones like Ron Johnson and Tim Cotton and elect better ones.
How? Support Don Bacon...the 7 who cosponsot the anti Trump tariff bill.
We only need a few.
BTW my brother is the author of the poetry -- Tree of Life.
Clearly I have watched WAY too much television.
I keep expecting to see Roberts and Coney Barrett step-up and show us how much they love and respect the law. Their clerks and former students look to them to be a light that guides them as well as all the brilliant lawyers in the making.
Instead we get repression of women, encouragement for racists, claims that bribery is legal, and worst of all, allowing a psychopathic President to claim immunity. Roberts put the crown on Trump's head.
Lawrence O'Donnell thinks everyone is in a real pickle because of lawsuits filed by Trump lawyers recently on behalf of Harvard concerning the grants. It sets up a showdown of Harvard versus Harvard alumni when it comes before Roberts and his SCOTUS "gang".
Thanks, Thom. My heart goes out to all the folks they have damaged or destroyed---it's not like TV at all.
With both Roberts and Coney Barrett, by their spouses you will know them.
I like Lawrence O'Donnell but there are better cases....https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/educational-activities/14th-amendment-and-evolution-title-ix/grove-city-college-v-bell-facts-and-case-summary
Robert's is as bad or worse as the scum twins, Alito & Thomas...he's like a parasitic stealth ninja doing his dirty work behind the scenes, lurking in the dark, where not many will notice....and that's where pure evil is at its worst.....JR is Project 2025 incarnate.
My first clue to John Robert's perfidy to our Constitution was when he swore in Senators Graham and McConnell, both of whom had publicly announced (showing their preconceived bias) that they would not consider convicting Donald Trump in his first Impeachment trial. What would have happened if he had refused to swear them in, as he should have?
Then came Citizens' United, and Voting Rights and the revelations of his wife's corporate representation, which seems very untoward for the any justice's mate.
Those who predicted the Trump dictatorship and see clearly that we are in the early stages of his cementing his rule, and a ruthless and sadistic rule, may say "I told you so" to those who naively tried to deny it and believed a few wins in court could stop it.
Could Roberts have foreseen this? Perhaps Roberts had his buried head in the sand. On the other hand, maybe he saw this coming and want to keep his head attached to his body. Maybe he was thinking of what happened to anyone in the German judiciary who defied Hitler.
Whether it is a major exercise of cruelty like sending men who may or may not be gang members who commited violent crimes (which I doubt many did) to a Salvadorian hellhole prison without due process, or comparatively minor incidents like the 18 year old German tourists to Hawaii being arrested, strip searched, and deported (which I wrote about today https://halbrown.substack.com ) we see that Trump is a modern day version of Hitler.
Third option. Roberts is in on it all, and has been from the start. A rad trad Catholic, possibly a member of Opus Dei, approved by the Federalist Society and quite apparently supportive of Kevin Roberts project 2025.
Notice his rulings, they either give Trump wiggle room, and not judicial orders, or are pauses, temporary.
He is one of the "fathers" of the unitary executive theory from his time in the Reagan administration. He and Alito served together:
https://www.courthousenews.com/the-roberts-court-and-the-imperial-presidency/
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/how-john-roberts-has-empowered-a-lawless-presidency
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/23/nx-s1-5208112/did-the-unitary-executive-theory-pave-the-way-for-president-trumps-second-term
"HOLLIS-BRUSKY: The Reagan Justice Department had a deep sense that since Watergate and the post-Watergate reforms that sought to really rein in and control an imperial president - right? - to prevent another Watergate, to prevent another president from abusing the trappings of their office, to prevent corruption in government, that the Congress that was elected after Nixon resigned went too far.
"CHARLES COOPER: The Reagan administration were quite animated about efforts to restore presidential authority to its true scope under Article II.
"DETROW: Charles Cooper was deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration.
"COOPER: And that's where the concept of the unitary executive kind of was born. There is only one president, one chief executive. And that chief executive, under the clear command of Article II, possesses all of the executive power of the federal government."
There you go Daniel, Roberts ruling are totally predictable.
Regardless, contempt power will be where the rubber meets the road.
Do you believe that Roberts will hold Trump in contempt? Ever?
I don't, he will always give him wiggle room, Roberts has his eye on the prize, the same Prize as Kevin Roberts, Leo Leonard, Opus Dei and the Knights of Malta.
If anything two steps forward, one step back, Roberts has given Trump everything he wants so far, and even adverse rulings are only pauses, halts, telling them to go back and build a better case.
What was that case that was the predecessor to Citizen's United Basically the court told the plaintiff's to go back and refile a better case, and even gave them instructions, hint, idea as to how to do it.
The henchmen -- DOJ --ICE-- Homeland Security -- aren't immune.
As to Trump, I think they are judges.... I read Alito's dissent the other day -- after bullshit saying SCOTUS did not have jurisdiction:
“Both the Executive and the Judiciary have an obligation to follow the law.”