As I see the 'why' of it, as in why keep bombing civilians as if they were enemy combatants in a conflict, while we are in no such conflict, it's practice. Trump has declared them terrorists, just as he's declared anyone who criticizes him at home a 'domestic terrorist.' He's killing them now to flex muscle, test commanders' resolve, and groom the media into selling murder as security, in the run up to turning the military against all major blue cities.
Just yesterday, I noted that Trump/MAGA is killing several "birds" at one time.
In an August 2025 meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump made a sarcastic remark/quip regarding the possibility of canceling U.S. elections during a time of war. He did not make a serious statement that elections would be canceled in 2026.
While we're distracted by the shutdown and by problems in CA, IL, OR and DC, at least 61 people have been killed in military interdiction strikes on civilian vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Additionally, at least 20 people have died while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody this calendar year.
This started during # 45. But it's now on steroids. The logic for Rubio et al is different than for the neo cons, but they reach the same conclusion. Rubio represents retribution and retaliation. Still fighting Fidel Castro.
The neocons see $$$$. Venezuela has more than 4x the oil than the US.
Trump has $tumbled into this to stop 2026 elections.
It is a plan. "They" want to divide the world into quadrants. The Tech-Bros and this vile Administration are following their version of a technocracy movement that is nearly a hundred years old. Musk's grandfather, Joshua N. Haldeman (WIKI) was part of it, The Technate of America. Google: Technate of America, Cornell University. It's the map (Canada-Greenland all through Venezuela-Columbia), and be sure to read the notes.
Sounds like a conspiracy theory? Damn straight. It is a conspiracy to control a quarter of the world. Resources and people.
Rachel Maddow keeps talking/writing about how we are rhyming with those times. She just talked about surveillance. I've written to her, tried to contact Spotlight, and Kyle Kulinski has mentioned it twice on his YouTube show, Secular Talk.
Seriously, 15 minutes of reading will open your eyes. You, Thom, or Rachel could open a lot of eyes.
In my experience, techies (aka nerds) have some very distorted or narrow world views. Their world does not have to cope with too many facts, as those are irrelevant to getting the software to work. Thus, they seem to be vulnerable to QAnon-type views of reality and are attracted to philosophies that often ignore unintended consequences.
This is a rich entitled group that WANT the consequences. They are building bunkers and reinforcing TRump's bunker. They are manipulating the markets. Creating more crypto-bullshit to enrich the TRump syndicate and family.
Musk is addicted to drugs and government welfare. Thiel is a religious nut that wants to live forever by becoming part of a machine. Bezos hates unions and workers, but loves the money they have made for him. Zuckerberg, is still as fucked-up as he was in college. Now he is using his platform to "rate" us instead of girls.
But Tom, as usual your premise is right in many cases.
Sometimes conspiracy theories turn out to conspiracies. And sometimes truths turn out to be lies. Were Trump to declare he shits gold, a fair number of MAGAites would believe him. The same dynamic works for "our" side as well.
Hey Sabrina, happy to see you commenting here just under my comment. We have an interesting online friendship. Finding us both here at almsot the same time seems like the modern day equivalent of running into you at an airport. As you probaby already know, I posted this in my Substack today: "Trump's storm troopers will look like clowns trying to intimidate protestors who are dressed as frogs, tacos, and unicorns. " >>> https://halbrown.substack.com/p/trumps-storm-troopers-will-look-like
I disagree with what Thom writes about Trump wanting distractions from attention to the Epstein matter. I think what Trump is doing whether it is with his immigration Gestapo/SS (in both of our cities), his Gatsby Halloween Party, his threats to go into Nigeria with "guns-a-blazing," or things like his ludicrous post saying that it is "probably illegal" to be "100% ANTI TRUMP" in a rant about late-night TV host Seth Meyers, and so many other aggressive, sadistic, and unhinged behaviors are all manifestations of his feeling he is invulnerable.
Tear-gassing trick-or-treaters while Trump redecorates bathrooms in gold feels like the perfect American horror story. Somewhere Norman Rockwell just threw up his paintbrush.
Blessed be the ones who hand out mercy instead of mace.
MTG was on Bill Maher's Real Time. She proudly professed to be a Trump humper, however she has a constituency and children, that are affected by some policies, so she treads two banks of the same river. She also said on the show that illegal aliens are being helped by Obama Care, and Maher didn't correct her, neither did the other guest.
Venezuela is easy to explain as regards Trump. There is connective tissue between his phobia of green energy, wind generators especially and Chavez nationalizing it's oil reserves. and that connective tissue is Exxon Mobil and the oil cabal.
There is another player here, not Exxon, and that are the malignant techbros.
The Technocracy movement dates back to the 1930's but it was a long term project:
Take a good look, notice Greenland, Canada, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador as part of the Technate and then consider Trump waging war on those three countries, first with the navy and boats,m he has also moved an Aircraft Carrier , the USS Gerald Ford, which includes a support group o 9 guided missile destroyers, the The USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship that carries battalion (500 troops) of Marines, the USS San Antonio an amphibious transport ship. A littoral combat ship (the littoral is the continental shelf.
He is amassing for war and as I said the connective tissue is oil, and the chief benefactor is Exxon Mobil.
I suspect they may be thinking of taking all of South America in the long run. It's not going to be nearly as easy as they think. I guess they need to learn the lessons of Vietnam all over again.
If Trump invades Venezuela, our troops are in for it, same with Colombia, they are very nationalistic, they have swamps and jungle that are almost invincible.
They remember well their history with us. It's still taught in their schools across much of Latin America. There's a lot of resentment even to this day. I was taught about it when I was a kid in Puerto Rico.
Yet there was a large shift of Hispanics to Trump in 2024, Paissiac, NJ has a population of 43% Hispanic, but went for Trump by 13%age points,not just NJ but the story is repeated all over America.
Testimony I've heard is that they thought he was going to round up and deport los hombres maliante, not tia Maria y tio Jose.
Central America learned about los gringos, via the Banana War and our patronage of fascist dictators. South America not so much, well Chile did via the Chicago boys, who were behind Pinochet's neo liberalism and murders.
The Democrats didn't fight for the Hispanics. I'm not sure they ever have. A quick peek indicated 41 interventions (what a banal word) since 1898. Why they ever voted for either party escapes me but at least the Republicans were honest while the Dems repeatedly lied.
There are two democratic parties. There is the party of the people, you and I, the voter and the party of the establishment, which uses the voter.
There is the party of Bill and Hillary Clinton and the party of AOC, Mamdani and Bernie.
It kind of looks like the party of Bill and Hillary are drifting away.
Let's hope so, fuck Rahm Emanuel, he is not and never was a Democrat, just a professional politician, now is a Trump Humper, pretending to be a populist and planning to run for President.
"Right here, right now's all we got". Both lines are from the 2013 movie version of The Great Gatsby. That was the Halloween theme for TRump's celebration at Mar-A-Lago. The cruel psychos attending apparently didn't read the book or the history to understand the outcome of the Roaring 20's.
The collapse starts this month when Republicans withhold food assistance and cause health insurance to skyrocket. They ARE killing somebody with that and their war crimes. TRump and Johnson can try to gaslight all they want. IT'S NOT WORKING!
Why Canada-Greenland all the way down to Venezuela-Columbia? A promise to the Tech-Bros. It's The Technate of America. Look it up in WIKI. The Technocracy movement also goes back to the last century and Musk's grandfather, Joshua N. Haldeman, WIKI him as well. Maddow keeps telling everyone we are rhyming with that Gatsby time. I have tried to contact her.
Let's have an accountability party as soon as we can. See you in the streets.
I think they understand how the Twenties ended, but think they'll be the ones at the very top. So did a lot of investors back then who ended up eating PBJs for years afterward or taking swan dives from the 20th floor.
Just because they are not hanging with the Nazi, doesn't mean grandpa's plan didn't stick. You can bet this is ALL the Tech-Bros. They are giving TRump money for all his fantasies for a reason, not because they are scared.
Just like any psycho would, he and his Cult are literally reveling in the luxury, while bringing pain to the poor, the workers, and deportees. Look-up the Halloween pics of Eric and his family.
As far as Venezuela goes, they have a huge deposit of oil. Crappy, almost asphalt oil, but it's still oil. I think that's the real game, and regime change is a much smaller part of it.
I don't think it will be the walkover he thinks it will be either. A decently armed military, connected to Russia and China, that knows their jungle terrain very well. Where have I heard this before? 🤔
Thune can get rid of the filibuster anytime. This is all cruelty by the RepubliCONS as an evil plan! My Republican Gov. Gianforte says blame the Dems. as response to joining to save SNAP. Throw out the old ways Democratic Leadership. Keep up the fight for increase Wages, Healthcare and Food affordability. Medicare for all can be a dream come true! Focus on saving Social safety net, Social Security and Medicare for future generations. Tax the Corporations! Vote out the evil.
1.Rand Paul and Thomas Massie are to the right of Attilla the Hun, but both oppose Trump for different reasons.
IMHO Trump and MAGA are threats to our existence and we need every ally we can get. Even those to the right of most of us. Last week several Senate Republicans bucked Trump on tariffs. we need to take advantage of it.
MTG. My space laser doesn't work. Otherwise I'd have zapped her.
2. Trump’s refugee policy: white, wealthy, and welcome is not exactly new. I remember the Bracero program under Eisenhower. White flight from Baghdad By the Sea started as soon as Batista fled in 1959. One radio commentator used to say, "will the last American leaving Miami please bring the flag."
3. I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
“And when Democrats come back into power, they could get a lot more done without the filibuster, including rolling back Citizens United and establishing an absolute right to vote”. Great column, as always, but we’ve seen precious little evidence that either of our two major political parties has any real enthusiasm for democracy. Hope springs eternal.
Krasnov is doing Putin's work and inflicting sadopopularism on America that is to make sure a portion of us get less than others which changes society into one that has no thought to our future.
The problem is that no matter what, we have a combination of Animal Farm, 1984 and Alice in Wonderland happening. No matter what the MAGAtocrats and their "celeb' "leaders" say, the MAGAts will believe it. That the government could start running immediately if the filibuster were ended (I have never favored it, despite its occasional good use) doesn't matter. If the MAGAts became dimly aware of that, their "leaders" would blame it on the "Democrat" party--and the MAGAts will believe them. If, contrary to his aggressively isolationist campaign position, we go to war with Venezuela (and maybe sub rosa China and Russia), the MAGAts will believe it is in the interest of peace in OUR country from the assaults of the drug cartels and their massive fleet of fake fishing boats that are really drug runners. If untrained Proud Boy ICE agents trash the homes of American citizens and laugh as they say "F the children", MAGAts will cheer because even if they are American citizens, they are probably brown or gay or not "Christian".
Because no MAGA flip-flop matters. No suffering, even of MAGAts matters if it is part of "owning the libs". While I emphatically do not want this, I do not believe our system will allow us to right this ship. We will be forced into the wet dream of the morbidly rich, an internal, violent cataclysm that will be a very different kind of civil war, except that it will indeed pit family members against each other, and no Phoenix will rise from the ashes. Just some horrific mutation of what was once a country worth having--from about 1933 to 1981, as many of the errors of the Founders were addressed and a more egalitarian and fairer society existed. I was privileged to live my entire life in that time period, and even the last 20 years of the 20th century were okay. A rare illness has destroyed my physical involvement in the world since 2002, so I have only been able to see it in virtual form, and not on TV, which I do not watch. In print. So I have a vivid memory of the world of possibility and, yes, hope and change. All gone now.
As you have pointed out in so many different ways, Thom, this is all because of a sustained, long game campaign by the morbidly rich. That is part of why after a half century plus of atheism I was called to the Greek Orthodox faith, though descended from Southerners including ancestors who fought for the Confederacy, and pretty much as white as they come and male. Because I see our species as not only corrupt, but irredeemable in this life. I live with the faith that there is a better life to come, and with the consolation that if there is not, the grave will give me peace, as my troubles will all be gone, along with having to see the daily disintegration, denigration and destruction of our world.
But I will keep fighting in my limits ways. With comments, small checks, encouraging people I know to do the right thing. Because my wife and grandson seem still to need me. But I do so out of duty and a rather cold love born of obligation. I find no pleasure in life at all except in helping people, and my infirmities have made that less possible for me. It will take people like you and other Bulwark folks to take the battle to the trenches and maybe save something of what America once was and could have been.
Good questions, all. At the very least, they reflect the chaotic, demented administration we have in which nobody knows why they are doing anything. The Führer asked me to do it so it does not have to make sense to me.
-------------------
One comment on the ADHD article. ADHD is not always a dis-ability. It can be a unique a-bility for those also born with high IQs - like Thom and me. Once one develops good self-discipline (usually by high school), it enables one to consider far more variables in the pursuit of making sense and solving problems. It helps one more readily see the "big picture," so to speak. It took a while to figure out why I was always the fair-haired boy throughout my very unusual career.
I probably thought that most people had that big-picture skill, so I never gave it much weight. Then in grad school, I was publishing articles in science journals and presenting papers at conferences while most peers were just trying to pass exams. I was "invited" to join a medical school faculty a year before getting my doctorate. Three years later, I was "invited to do studies for the Navy Surgeon General and wound up doing studies for the Vice President and President. It was so much fun, I never returned to academia. Contrast that life with the average ADHD victim, who is highly likely to have a police record, a history of job dismissals, divorces, and financial problems.
It is worth keeping in mind that the wealthiest man in the world is autistic as hell.
Ah, Venezuela! Just another South American country Trump couldn't find on a map. And why, Venezuela, one might ask. Surely it has nothing to do with it having the largest proven oil reserves in the world (with Iran third and Iraq fourth. Purely coincidental I am sure). Because it sure as Hell has nothing to do with fentanyl: Venezuela supplies the United States with approximately zero percent of it. We're cranking up military involvement solely to wrest oil profits from the Venezuelans iand place them nto the coffers of our plutocrats. This has nothing to do with Maduro being a dictator (I'm not sure he is): We have a long history of getting into bed with dictators, autocrats and kings. And as for the suffering people of Venezuela? We care about as much for them as we care for our own: Not at all.
Don't forget, kids: War is Peace and Ignorance is Strength.
I read that six republican senators are opposed to nuclear option. They’re either looking at the long game and want to keep the filibuster for the McConnell strategy or a short game of hoping to turn the suffering back on the Democrats.
I also used AI to show the children being teargassed only I had mine wearing gas masks. "A not so Happy Halloween: The Trickster Trump thugs have a message for kids. Eat your candy and breathe the tear gas." Here: https://halbrown.substack.com/p/a-not-so-happy-halloween-the-trickster
As I see the 'why' of it, as in why keep bombing civilians as if they were enemy combatants in a conflict, while we are in no such conflict, it's practice. Trump has declared them terrorists, just as he's declared anyone who criticizes him at home a 'domestic terrorist.' He's killing them now to flex muscle, test commanders' resolve, and groom the media into selling murder as security, in the run up to turning the military against all major blue cities.
Just yesterday, I noted that Trump/MAGA is killing several "birds" at one time.
In an August 2025 meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump made a sarcastic remark/quip regarding the possibility of canceling U.S. elections during a time of war. He did not make a serious statement that elections would be canceled in 2026.
While we're distracted by the shutdown and by problems in CA, IL, OR and DC, at least 61 people have been killed in military interdiction strikes on civilian vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Additionally, at least 20 people have died while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody this calendar year.
This started during # 45. But it's now on steroids. The logic for Rubio et al is different than for the neo cons, but they reach the same conclusion. Rubio represents retribution and retaliation. Still fighting Fidel Castro.
The neocons see $$$$. Venezuela has more than 4x the oil than the US.
Trump has $tumbled into this to stop 2026 elections.
It is a plan. "They" want to divide the world into quadrants. The Tech-Bros and this vile Administration are following their version of a technocracy movement that is nearly a hundred years old. Musk's grandfather, Joshua N. Haldeman (WIKI) was part of it, The Technate of America. Google: Technate of America, Cornell University. It's the map (Canada-Greenland all through Venezuela-Columbia), and be sure to read the notes.
Sounds like a conspiracy theory? Damn straight. It is a conspiracy to control a quarter of the world. Resources and people.
Rachel Maddow keeps talking/writing about how we are rhyming with those times. She just talked about surveillance. I've written to her, tried to contact Spotlight, and Kyle Kulinski has mentioned it twice on his YouTube show, Secular Talk.
Seriously, 15 minutes of reading will open your eyes. You, Thom, or Rachel could open a lot of eyes.
In my experience, techies (aka nerds) have some very distorted or narrow world views. Their world does not have to cope with too many facts, as those are irrelevant to getting the software to work. Thus, they seem to be vulnerable to QAnon-type views of reality and are attracted to philosophies that often ignore unintended consequences.
This is a rich entitled group that WANT the consequences. They are building bunkers and reinforcing TRump's bunker. They are manipulating the markets. Creating more crypto-bullshit to enrich the TRump syndicate and family.
Musk is addicted to drugs and government welfare. Thiel is a religious nut that wants to live forever by becoming part of a machine. Bezos hates unions and workers, but loves the money they have made for him. Zuckerberg, is still as fucked-up as he was in college. Now he is using his platform to "rate" us instead of girls.
But Tom, as usual your premise is right in many cases.
Sometimes conspiracy theories turn out to conspiracies. And sometimes truths turn out to be lies. Were Trump to declare he shits gold, a fair number of MAGAites would believe him. The same dynamic works for "our" side as well.
Hey Sabrina, happy to see you commenting here just under my comment. We have an interesting online friendship. Finding us both here at almsot the same time seems like the modern day equivalent of running into you at an airport. As you probaby already know, I posted this in my Substack today: "Trump's storm troopers will look like clowns trying to intimidate protestors who are dressed as frogs, tacos, and unicorns. " >>> https://halbrown.substack.com/p/trumps-storm-troopers-will-look-like
Good to cross paths again here on Thom's Substack, Sabrina. Today I wrote: "Last I heard murder is a more serious crime than drug smuggling." https://halbrown.substack.com/p/last-i-heard-murder-is-a-more-serious
I disagree with what Thom writes about Trump wanting distractions from attention to the Epstein matter. I think what Trump is doing whether it is with his immigration Gestapo/SS (in both of our cities), his Gatsby Halloween Party, his threats to go into Nigeria with "guns-a-blazing," or things like his ludicrous post saying that it is "probably illegal" to be "100% ANTI TRUMP" in a rant about late-night TV host Seth Meyers, and so many other aggressive, sadistic, and unhinged behaviors are all manifestations of his feeling he is invulnerable.
New motto for the trump regime:
Fuck the children.
Pass it on…
Unfortunately, "fuck the children" describes this "administration" on so many levels.
Oh, absolutely!
Maybe I should’ve said “mission” instead of motto 🤔
It's definitely accurate.
Tear-gassing trick-or-treaters while Trump redecorates bathrooms in gold feels like the perfect American horror story. Somewhere Norman Rockwell just threw up his paintbrush.
Blessed be the ones who hand out mercy instead of mace.
MTG was on Bill Maher's Real Time. She proudly professed to be a Trump humper, however she has a constituency and children, that are affected by some policies, so she treads two banks of the same river. She also said on the show that illegal aliens are being helped by Obama Care, and Maher didn't correct her, neither did the other guest.
Venezuela is easy to explain as regards Trump. There is connective tissue between his phobia of green energy, wind generators especially and Chavez nationalizing it's oil reserves. and that connective tissue is Exxon Mobil and the oil cabal.
There is another player here, not Exxon, and that are the malignant techbros.
The Technocracy movement dates back to the 1930's but it was a long term project:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement
I invite your attention the map Technate America
https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:34227574
Take a good look, notice Greenland, Canada, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador as part of the Technate and then consider Trump waging war on those three countries, first with the navy and boats,m he has also moved an Aircraft Carrier , the USS Gerald Ford, which includes a support group o 9 guided missile destroyers, the The USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship that carries battalion (500 troops) of Marines, the USS San Antonio an amphibious transport ship. A littoral combat ship (the littoral is the continental shelf.
He is amassing for war and as I said the connective tissue is oil, and the chief benefactor is Exxon Mobil.
I suspect they may be thinking of taking all of South America in the long run. It's not going to be nearly as easy as they think. I guess they need to learn the lessons of Vietnam all over again.
If Trump invades Venezuela, our troops are in for it, same with Colombia, they are very nationalistic, they have swamps and jungle that are almost invincible.
They remember well their history with us. It's still taught in their schools across much of Latin America. There's a lot of resentment even to this day. I was taught about it when I was a kid in Puerto Rico.
Yet there was a large shift of Hispanics to Trump in 2024, Paissiac, NJ has a population of 43% Hispanic, but went for Trump by 13%age points,not just NJ but the story is repeated all over America.
Testimony I've heard is that they thought he was going to round up and deport los hombres maliante, not tia Maria y tio Jose.
Central America learned about los gringos, via the Banana War and our patronage of fascist dictators. South America not so much, well Chile did via the Chicago boys, who were behind Pinochet's neo liberalism and murders.
The Democrats didn't fight for the Hispanics. I'm not sure they ever have. A quick peek indicated 41 interventions (what a banal word) since 1898. Why they ever voted for either party escapes me but at least the Republicans were honest while the Dems repeatedly lied.
There are two democratic parties. There is the party of the people, you and I, the voter and the party of the establishment, which uses the voter.
There is the party of Bill and Hillary Clinton and the party of AOC, Mamdani and Bernie.
It kind of looks like the party of Bill and Hillary are drifting away.
Let's hope so, fuck Rahm Emanuel, he is not and never was a Democrat, just a professional politician, now is a Trump Humper, pretending to be a populist and planning to run for President.
We are so fucked.
Love the spectrum of topics covered and insights provided every Saturday Report.
There's no other source doing it as well as Hartmann.
A little party never killed nobody.....
"Right here, right now's all we got". Both lines are from the 2013 movie version of The Great Gatsby. That was the Halloween theme for TRump's celebration at Mar-A-Lago. The cruel psychos attending apparently didn't read the book or the history to understand the outcome of the Roaring 20's.
The collapse starts this month when Republicans withhold food assistance and cause health insurance to skyrocket. They ARE killing somebody with that and their war crimes. TRump and Johnson can try to gaslight all they want. IT'S NOT WORKING!
Why Canada-Greenland all the way down to Venezuela-Columbia? A promise to the Tech-Bros. It's The Technate of America. Look it up in WIKI. The Technocracy movement also goes back to the last century and Musk's grandfather, Joshua N. Haldeman, WIKI him as well. Maddow keeps telling everyone we are rhyming with that Gatsby time. I have tried to contact her.
Let's have an accountability party as soon as we can. See you in the streets.
I think they understand how the Twenties ended, but think they'll be the ones at the very top. So did a lot of investors back then who ended up eating PBJs for years afterward or taking swan dives from the 20th floor.
Bunkers, money off-shore, yachts to take them to countries with no extradition. The uber-rich get it. You are probably right about the rest, Robot.
I don't know it as a fact, but I don't think Musk was invited to that Halloween Mar a Lago party.
NYT: Donald and Melania Trump Dress Up for Halloween, as Themselves
It’s a very effective costume. -- pretty fuckin' scary. And nobody reported on the odor.
Just because they are not hanging with the Nazi, doesn't mean grandpa's plan didn't stick. You can bet this is ALL the Tech-Bros. They are giving TRump money for all his fantasies for a reason, not because they are scared.
Just like any psycho would, he and his Cult are literally reveling in the luxury, while bringing pain to the poor, the workers, and deportees. Look-up the Halloween pics of Eric and his family.
Still you made me laugh.
If everybody stinks the same I wionder if anyone notices.
As far as Venezuela goes, they have a huge deposit of oil. Crappy, almost asphalt oil, but it's still oil. I think that's the real game, and regime change is a much smaller part of it.
I don't think it will be the walkover he thinks it will be either. A decently armed military, connected to Russia and China, that knows their jungle terrain very well. Where have I heard this before? 🤔
Thune can get rid of the filibuster anytime. This is all cruelty by the RepubliCONS as an evil plan! My Republican Gov. Gianforte says blame the Dems. as response to joining to save SNAP. Throw out the old ways Democratic Leadership. Keep up the fight for increase Wages, Healthcare and Food affordability. Medicare for all can be a dream come true! Focus on saving Social safety net, Social Security and Medicare for future generations. Tax the Corporations! Vote out the evil.
1.Rand Paul and Thomas Massie are to the right of Attilla the Hun, but both oppose Trump for different reasons.
IMHO Trump and MAGA are threats to our existence and we need every ally we can get. Even those to the right of most of us. Last week several Senate Republicans bucked Trump on tariffs. we need to take advantage of it.
MTG. My space laser doesn't work. Otherwise I'd have zapped her.
2. Trump’s refugee policy: white, wealthy, and welcome is not exactly new. I remember the Bracero program under Eisenhower. White flight from Baghdad By the Sea started as soon as Batista fled in 1959. One radio commentator used to say, "will the last American leaving Miami please bring the flag."
3. I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
Massive Congressional visits November 18. https://www.instagram.com/flare.usa/p/DP_mdOyjdiG/ Visit Congressional
Republicans.https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/851451/
I continue to be exasperated by the parties and lawyers with cases when justices and judges who have dispositive records of bribery and prejudice are not challenged. At SCOTUS, Roberts opened the door in November, 2023. https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/Code-of-Conduct-for-Justices_November_13_2023.pdf
https://blueprint.democrats.org/
“And when Democrats come back into power, they could get a lot more done without the filibuster, including rolling back Citizens United and establishing an absolute right to vote”. Great column, as always, but we’ve seen precious little evidence that either of our two major political parties has any real enthusiasm for democracy. Hope springs eternal.
Krasnov is doing Putin's work and inflicting sadopopularism on America that is to make sure a portion of us get less than others which changes society into one that has no thought to our future.
The problem is that no matter what, we have a combination of Animal Farm, 1984 and Alice in Wonderland happening. No matter what the MAGAtocrats and their "celeb' "leaders" say, the MAGAts will believe it. That the government could start running immediately if the filibuster were ended (I have never favored it, despite its occasional good use) doesn't matter. If the MAGAts became dimly aware of that, their "leaders" would blame it on the "Democrat" party--and the MAGAts will believe them. If, contrary to his aggressively isolationist campaign position, we go to war with Venezuela (and maybe sub rosa China and Russia), the MAGAts will believe it is in the interest of peace in OUR country from the assaults of the drug cartels and their massive fleet of fake fishing boats that are really drug runners. If untrained Proud Boy ICE agents trash the homes of American citizens and laugh as they say "F the children", MAGAts will cheer because even if they are American citizens, they are probably brown or gay or not "Christian".
Because no MAGA flip-flop matters. No suffering, even of MAGAts matters if it is part of "owning the libs". While I emphatically do not want this, I do not believe our system will allow us to right this ship. We will be forced into the wet dream of the morbidly rich, an internal, violent cataclysm that will be a very different kind of civil war, except that it will indeed pit family members against each other, and no Phoenix will rise from the ashes. Just some horrific mutation of what was once a country worth having--from about 1933 to 1981, as many of the errors of the Founders were addressed and a more egalitarian and fairer society existed. I was privileged to live my entire life in that time period, and even the last 20 years of the 20th century were okay. A rare illness has destroyed my physical involvement in the world since 2002, so I have only been able to see it in virtual form, and not on TV, which I do not watch. In print. So I have a vivid memory of the world of possibility and, yes, hope and change. All gone now.
As you have pointed out in so many different ways, Thom, this is all because of a sustained, long game campaign by the morbidly rich. That is part of why after a half century plus of atheism I was called to the Greek Orthodox faith, though descended from Southerners including ancestors who fought for the Confederacy, and pretty much as white as they come and male. Because I see our species as not only corrupt, but irredeemable in this life. I live with the faith that there is a better life to come, and with the consolation that if there is not, the grave will give me peace, as my troubles will all be gone, along with having to see the daily disintegration, denigration and destruction of our world.
But I will keep fighting in my limits ways. With comments, small checks, encouraging people I know to do the right thing. Because my wife and grandson seem still to need me. But I do so out of duty and a rather cold love born of obligation. I find no pleasure in life at all except in helping people, and my infirmities have made that less possible for me. It will take people like you and other Bulwark folks to take the battle to the trenches and maybe save something of what America once was and could have been.
It isn't the species that's corrupt: there are many people doing good work 24/7. Corruption is the domain of wealth and power.
Well said, dear Robert.
Ah shucks...
Good questions, all. At the very least, they reflect the chaotic, demented administration we have in which nobody knows why they are doing anything. The Führer asked me to do it so it does not have to make sense to me.
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One comment on the ADHD article. ADHD is not always a dis-ability. It can be a unique a-bility for those also born with high IQs - like Thom and me. Once one develops good self-discipline (usually by high school), it enables one to consider far more variables in the pursuit of making sense and solving problems. It helps one more readily see the "big picture," so to speak. It took a while to figure out why I was always the fair-haired boy throughout my very unusual career.
I probably thought that most people had that big-picture skill, so I never gave it much weight. Then in grad school, I was publishing articles in science journals and presenting papers at conferences while most peers were just trying to pass exams. I was "invited" to join a medical school faculty a year before getting my doctorate. Three years later, I was "invited to do studies for the Navy Surgeon General and wound up doing studies for the Vice President and President. It was so much fun, I never returned to academia. Contrast that life with the average ADHD victim, who is highly likely to have a police record, a history of job dismissals, divorces, and financial problems.
It is worth keeping in mind that the wealthiest man in the world is autistic as hell.
Ah, Venezuela! Just another South American country Trump couldn't find on a map. And why, Venezuela, one might ask. Surely it has nothing to do with it having the largest proven oil reserves in the world (with Iran third and Iraq fourth. Purely coincidental I am sure). Because it sure as Hell has nothing to do with fentanyl: Venezuela supplies the United States with approximately zero percent of it. We're cranking up military involvement solely to wrest oil profits from the Venezuelans iand place them nto the coffers of our plutocrats. This has nothing to do with Maduro being a dictator (I'm not sure he is): We have a long history of getting into bed with dictators, autocrats and kings. And as for the suffering people of Venezuela? We care about as much for them as we care for our own: Not at all.
Don't forget, kids: War is Peace and Ignorance is Strength.
I read that six republican senators are opposed to nuclear option. They’re either looking at the long game and want to keep the filibuster for the McConnell strategy or a short game of hoping to turn the suffering back on the Democrats.
The filibuster is the gift they give themselves. Each one an autocrat of their own making.
Thanks for the info Rick.
I also used AI to show the children being teargassed only I had mine wearing gas masks. "A not so Happy Halloween: The Trickster Trump thugs have a message for kids. Eat your candy and breathe the tear gas." Here: https://halbrown.substack.com/p/a-not-so-happy-halloween-the-trickster