Sadly, fascists do not get voted out of office very often. Bolsonaro was an exception - but he was not in full control. Hitler and Mussolini were both complete fascists and both were removed from office, coincident with removal from human life. Death is usually the only way to remove tyrants and dictators.
What is mind-boggling to me is that the GOP is abetting the demise of democracy in favor of autocracy, and, with the full support of the MAGA proletariat, who always suffer the most under dictators.
Tom the MAGA attitude is easily explained, The culture war, racism and religion, tossing in sexuality and it is all about masculine prerogative, male supremacy. It is the go to for weak men, and I don't mean physically weak, but intellectually and morally weak, they need artifices to feel in control and like men.
The story is told in the rise of INCELS and Viagra prescriptions.
Putin has hawked Russia as the epitome of Christian male domination, where gays and transfolk are not only outlawed but hunted down and dispensed with.
This is the appeal of MAGA, they don't like democracy because it gives women, gays, non whites equal opportunity and treatment.
That should be obvious because it is what eliminating DEI from the government, schools, universities and corporations is all about: White male Christian domination and control.
I keep sayin' that most of the Congressional Republicans are not cutists. They are opportunists. Maybe they can be persuaded and/or co-opted.
In order to make a sale, need to target the market. Identify common interests. Apply sales techniques, actively listening, validating concerns, reframing the problem, and providing solutions.
When I worked in DC, I got to see lobbyists up close and personal. They'd identify spouses, parents, offspring, church relations, etc to enlist them to make the sale. Most of the most effective work exclusively behind the scenes.
My impression, after 40 years of working with legislators on both sides is that they are a) ambitious, b) charming, and c) dumb as bricks (GOP esp). A few like AOC, Porter, Sanders, Hawley, Durbin, Warren, and Massie are fact-based, honor their oath of office, and try to improve life for all Americans.
My experience is that most do what their lobbyists tell them to do. Over the years, I was able to turn around some bad laws before being introduced or modified subsequently by pointing out the downsides the lobbyists failed to mention. The modifications were an easy sell. I just pointed out the downsides that might impact their re-election to get changes made.
I agree with you Daniel, but the problem I see is that the non cultist Republicans will only flip when they are convinced fully that it is safe to do so, and by the time we get to that point, they are no longer necessary, and in fact act as an anchor dragging us back into the past.
Being an opportunist can be a dangerous path to tread in an autocracy. Eventual, the opportunist is no longer allowed to seemingly fawn over the Orange King, they are required to get down on their knees and face-plant in Trump's smarmy ass.
No, we are not dealing, or not solely dealing, with Trump in the end he is a klaxon, hopefully shrill enough to warn us life-threatening danger is imminent. The guy is definitely old, he may not make it to 2028. If he does I doubt he will be in any shape to defy the Constitution.
My concern is what comes after, whether this becomes multi-generational or dissipates like a bad dream. I've mentioned before that Project 2025 would not have put in the effort, the Repubicans actively dismantling the government, if they didn't envision staying in power past 2026.
Every gerrymander, purge, and press attack tightens the screw — until the system is locked and the tyrant holds the only key…
If we can replicate Brian Fitzpatrick we might have a chance.
We have to persuade a few Congressional Republicans to see the "handwriting on the wall." On September 3, some of the Epstein/Maxwell victims will be on the hill.
Meawhile Trump has kow towed to Putin.
We watch Ukrainian TV via youtube. Not reported by MSM:
1. Moscow is burning.
2. The Russian army is getting creamed.
3. Russia is going bankrupt.
4. Russian oligharchs dying from unknown causes.
On Polsh TV - A Russian drone exploded 64 miles into Poland.
I WANT to believe everything they said about what's happening to Russia. Piss-ant nation of 146 million---down 1.2 million from their 2021 census. It's just those pesky nukes, BRICS, and their psychopathic dictator. All that land, all that money he has stolen, and nothing seems to fill the hole inside him. Sounds familiar.
What I see is that Republicans are owned by Putin via TRump. We need to tell them every damn day. I'd like to hear their answer too.
We shouldn't be afraid of the nukes. Nukes are fragile as are missiles, they require constant care, maintenance and even the nukes have components that need to be replaced and repaired, Like the Plutonium pits. a hollow sphere, and the U.S. since the end of the cold war, stopped building and maintaining their nukes and the plutonium pits degrade.
With the invasion of Ukraine a crash effort was made to maintain our nuclear arsenal, alas the knowledge and technology were abandoned and a contract had to be let with Lawrence Livermore Labs, to rediscover how to build plutonium pits, and missile crews were trained and formed to maintain the missiles that had been neglected for some 40 years.
And if we have a problem, imagine Russia's where graft is rampant, where
generals and flag officers have been siphoning off maintenance funds to support mistresses, build dachas and Mercedes limousines.
If only 1% actually work we're screwed. And we're going to retaliate as well, pretty much guaranteeing our grandchildren, at least the survivors, live as scavengers, digging around the radioactive remains of malls and markets, hoping to find a can or two of Spam in order to live another day.
I wanna hear what Congressional Republicans are sayin'.
2. We've also discovered he will not permit entry to people from Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti. "The White House issued a proclamation that “fully restricts and limits” the entry of Haitian nationals and “partially restricts and limits” the entry of Cuban and Venezuelan nationals into the United States. The travel ban has been in effect since June 9, 2025."
Most ICE arrests in San Francisco are taking place at Montgomery and Sansome - our local Immigration and Customs office. I'm curious if we're not being overrun yet because of our mayor being a little republican-lite and traveling in the same DOGE circles. My guess is that it's temporary because they just don't have enough agents to go to every city at once. Yet.
Ah, the city. my weekend refuge when I lived in Santa Cruz. Left in 1996. Was quite liberal then, alas the Tenderloin and Mission district were a mess though, I hear that it has changed quite a bit.
I remember when the Embarcadaro collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta quake. I remember that all too well, I had just got off work, stopped to light a cigarette and the ground started weaving like a blanket and concrete telephone poles swaying like palms (Aptos).
I wonder how the artichoke and berry farmers around Salinas are doing
Marilyn Monroe, when she was still Norma Jean was crowned artichoke Queen in Salinas.
Salinas made famous, of course by Kris Kristofferson, as the place where Bobby McGee drifted off.
I do miss the old San Francisco though.With the influx of Silicon Valley money, it was sure to be ruined
I left Santa Cruz, in time, just as Silicon Valley started to creep over the Santa Cruz, Mountains down Hiway 17.
About the time I left, a fellow shop steward bought a 2 BR house that was falling down for $130,000 or more (I forget the price) and thought they were getting a deal., but it was a shack, needed everything including a roof.
I am not out and about, but according to the Herald, por supuesto.
We have a House member, an immigrant himself, who ASKS El Trumpo to arrest them, as he views everyone but himself as a Marxist.
U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Cuban-American Republican from Miami, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last month requesting that her agency to deport dozens of former Cuban government officials and Cuba Communist Party members who were living in the United States. Among them is Morejón García. The names were compiled through the Represores Cubanos database and other groups. “It is unacceptable that the United States would provide sanctuary to individuals who have actively worked to oppress and persecute the Cuban people,” Gimenez wrote.
And there was this Hispanic interviewed on Free Speech TV, that had been arrested by ICE, then released because he is a US Citizen, he voted for Trump because Trump was going to get rid of all those bad dudes that were giving him and his people a bad name.. He is no longer a Trump fan, but there are still many who are.
Miami healthcare CEO Michael “Mike” B. Fernandez wrote the following open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of the Republican Cuban-American Miami-Dade congressional delegation: U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez and Maria Elvira Salazar.
"For decades, I have stood with you in defense of the freedoms we cherish, those we were denied in the country of our birth and found in the grace of this one.
"I know what it means to flee tyranny. Like you, I carry that history in my bones and that pain in my heart.
"But like a growing number in our community, I have watched with dismay as the very values we once found sanctuary in are now being attacked by a previously unthinkable threat — the sitting president of the United States."
My wife saw this coming twenty years ago during the Bush/Cheney administration. She asked rhetorically, "What if they decide they won't go when their time is up?" People said, "Nah, that'll never happen. This is America!" And yet, here we are. I thought we were safe when Biden squeaked by in 2020. Obviously not. Americans have had so many chances to avoid the mess that we're in now and just keep blowing it. And each time it gets harder to get out of the quicksand. I've said this before--I'm afraid the country will have to hit ROCK BOTTOM before there will be any serious change made. I'd love to be wrong about this, but I don't think I am. People will have to lose their jobs, their homes, their prospects, their dignity, their very humanity. They'll have to STARVE and DIE, like the people in Gaza. Only those sufficiently enraged will survive. I have no doubt that this dictatorship will fall--they all do, eventually--but the longer it takes, the higher the price to be paid by ordinary citizens.
A head of cabbage could have beat Trump in 2020, but then the Democratic party rested on it's laurels, and succumbed to the meme that "it is the economy stupid", and not paying attention to the culture war, and the social media memes that were convincing men, that they were being victimized by women, gays, non whites achieving social and economic equality. That the Muslim vote, went for Trump, well there was enough of them in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin if they had voted for Kamala she would have carried those states.
And the fiction, that it is the economy stupid, still persists. Yes people feel the pinch, yes inflation caused by corporations and tariffs are rising, and unemployment caused by DOGE and Trump are rising, but Trump now controls the statistics that would reveal the problems, just like he blamed the rise in COVID deaths on testing. If we don't know we are being screwed then we can't blame the person screwing us.
And what keeps the MAGA base solidified at 40%? The culture war
Remember what LBJ said, t if you can convince the "lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Ah yes, the culture war. To paraphrase Linda Ronstadt: "Poor, poor pitiful men." It's so hard to be a white guy these days! The Democrats have been making the mistake of assuming that they were addressing an electorate interested in policy issues and economic and societal advancement rather than in wallowing in personal grievances, real or imagined. I saw another column yesterday--sadly, I can't remember whose it was--that was instructing Democratic leaders how to modify their language and re-frame their arguments in culture-war terms, for example, discussing gun control as "FREEDOM from getting shot on the way home from school." I hope this sinks in and the Democrats learn how to work it. And perhaps once the economy collapses further and people need to take out second mortgages in order to buy hamburger meat, the MAGA folks will figure out about the screwing and begin to look for alternatives.
Two thumbs up. Absolutely correct Democrats need to reframe the argument, but not much hope on that. It seems that, in this case, you can't teach old dogs new tricks.
Oh, absolutely. And Obama, contrary to the grumbling of the rightists, was also pretty mainstream. I'm encouraged by the emerging Newsom/AOC/Crockett wing of the party. Let's hope they continue to gain traction.
If he is blameless, we should fight for Bolton just like we would fight for our own. It's difficult because he was one of them. It's VERY likely that this is retaliation for the scathing book he wrote. They blocked it after the first vetting. Some say he defied the second vett and just put it out there.
Once more we must stand for the law regardless of who is involved. This fascist regime is coming for EVERYONE. That's why we have to educate and support the other "educators" as well. Thank you so much Thom and Company!
I'll be "Takin' It To The Streets". Fighting for the First Amendment is as basic as it gets, even if it includes a-holes like John Bolton. Man, the pucker-factor just went way up for the people from TRump's former administration!
Nixon resigned when he lost the support of Republican leaders. This time around, Trump has the full allegiance of Republicans, the SCOTUS, and the top donors, all abetting his fascist impulses. The GOP has definitely changed. But the good news is the growing size and furor of the opposition, in Washington and elsewhere.
The GOP has allowed the crimes and enrichment. felon 47 is and becomes more powerful and wealthy each day. Just have to remind myself there are more of us opposing this regime every day. Independent media for the left is trying to catch up! I heard it say there is nothing illegal in the 3.4 billion but IMHO it is organized crime.
How will or could he be impeached? and if so it would take a Democratic controlled Senate to remove him.
This is putting the cart before the horse. First we have to take control of congress and Trump and his regime are hard at work to estop that.
The only chance we have no are from Democratic Governors like Newsom, and I am waiting for Pritzker, who has a sterling rep as progressive, and others to step up and strike back.
But I don't see it yet, just Gavin Newsom sticking his neck out.
Jeffrey,this is a much larger problem than you indicate.The Senate Dems are not going to solve it.The backers of Trump,Republican( Neo Nazi: party,),Neo Nazi Movement in US,White Evangelical National Movement,Churches,Synogogues all are complicit.This is not going to end peacefully,get ready.
As you might know Jerome Powell (Fed Chair) caved today to all the threats from Trump.
This is not only a "Neo Nazi" regime but one built on physical threats to those who oppose his agenda. Will anyone stand up to him?
I hope tRUMP goes down the same street that "Little BB Balls" got mugged by 2 teenage girls....but since that assault was staged and phony....just like "Little Fists of Fury's" assassination attempt (except that a person was killed and another wounded, but never hear much of that anymore)......and there is no crime in the tourist areas that the National Guard is being deployed in..... ( they are not going into the areas where there is real crime happening)......the fat orange buffoon walking down the street will declare he has saved DC from the horrible crime wave that has affected the city.......
yet another disgusting photo op....just like the one in front of the church....holding a bible he has never even opened in his entire life upside down....this has been the evolution from his fascist J6 insurrection militia to using DHS as a private military that's larger than many countries in the world ....using our taxpayer dollars to fund it with 160+B $ and recruit untrained, unqualified people that are right-wing maga racists, white supremacists, proud boys, criminals and worse to roam the streets with guns & badges of blue state cities who have female Mayors of color..... LA and DC were the test runs for what this POS plans to do across the country....attacking, kidnapping, jailing and torturing anyone they want to.......
another photo op for yet another distraction away from the Epstein files, where this vile [pedo] turd is front and center in it's pages....BTW...this GOP lead committee requesting for the Epstein files to be released to them 2 days ago but will not get them till (TODAY) from the DOJ is another obvious stall tactic by allowing the files to be released and redacted and in drips and drabs....more total republican BS to hid the facts and truth that president Donny Pedo is involved in the horrific sex trafficking with Epstein....Why was that POS Barr interviewed behind closed doors in congress and then to have the republicans come out and declare that tRUMP had nothing to do with Epstein ? WTF !!! ....Barr was the AG when Epstein was [murdered] in his cell....the guy that should be subpoenaed is Alex Acosta, the US Attorney that released Epstein with a plea agreement...the blatant hypocrisy and intentional hiding of the facts and truth by these GOP maga scum is beyond the pale.
.......the protests need to intensify 10 fold and it may even take to convince our US military to intervene against this piece of trash and his criminal fascist goons.....which by doing so I know and understand would lead us down a terrible road....but maybe a very necessary one to eliminate this GOP right wing cancer that has been slowly manifesting itself in this country for over the past 50+ years since Nixon & Reagan.....The entire Epstein Files need to be released to the American people in it's full and unredacted form (with the exception of the victim's names)....NOW !.....it's time to do whatever it takes to get rid of this malignant, less that human person masquerading as a president of our country.....he must be exterminated by any means necessary !
State whether or not Barr had a personal relationship with Epstein. With Maxwell?
Did he attend Epstein/Maxwell parties?
Did Barr know whether or not Epstein was a government agent or soiurce, when he was given the deal of the century by Alex Acosta? Was he asked to provide info to the DOJ internal investigation of Acosta/Epstein? Did he read the full report?
Was he aware that in an Oct. 23, 2007, letter, Epstein lawyer the late Jay Lefkowitz indicated to Acosta that he thought a breakfast meeting had forged a plan for bringing the Epstein matter to a close. In the letter, Lefkowitz said he wanted to “thank you for the commitment you made to me during our October 12 meeting in which you promised genuine finality with regard to this matter … .” Acosta told DOJ/OPR he didn’t remember the meeting, which has been reported on by others in addition to the Herald. In his written statement upon release of the summary?
Did Trump ever comment to Barr about Epstein? Maxwell? If so....
Great questions, Daniel. No one could figure out why Barr came back to work for 45. He has a beautiful family, he was rich, and had been in the CIA---just seems too savvy for the crazy pedo-scene.
His role has to be about the CIA and family. His dad was Jewish and he converted to Catholic. Ugh, more religious BS, spy intrigue, and daddy issues.
At one time Barr was affiliated with Kirkland and Ellis. In fact, Jay Lefkowitz and former Kirkland litigators Alexander Acosta and Kenneth Starr were affiliated with the firm at one time.
We’re seeing a firehose of outrageous moves this week, over-the-top fascism in the open. They’re provoking a response, and judging by the seething anger that’s building in so many of us, they’re gonna get one. A functional if not “official” civil war seems inevitable now. God help us.
It is my sense that the weakest link in the chain might be the Republican senators and congresspersons backing Trump and the billionaires funding them. If the attacks on them by name and in their districts and in media events are relentless and the protests and marches continue with an emphasis on wealth inequality and oligarchy, I would hope that they will begin to feel the heat and read the tea leaves. If more than just a few cave, resign, or switch sides, the tide may finally turn. It is important to keep hitting them where it hurts and not pulling any punches. Uncommitted voters need to hear what these rats have been doing behind their backs.
I don't know this as a fact, but many, if not most know he's nutsy koo koo. When he was # 45, 4 of his own cabinet members wanted to use Article 25 on the basis that he was nutsy koo koo.
Also many of them have personally lost bigly because of tariffs and arbitrary DOGE cuts.
All true. But so far, public pressure and pressure from courts and elsewhere have not caused many in Congress to mutiny. It may take a lot more public pressure on them and on media to overcome their fear or illusion of self-interest. The protests MUST increase in size and frequency. MSNBC and Thom Hartmann cannot do it without a lot more action and support. Maybe the stupidity of the cover-up they are pulling off on Trump's Epstein culpability will stir things up some.
Concise and to the point! We must not give up our protests and work to save our democracy. Despite feeling weary and overwhelmed, the movement must persist.
"We must be preparing now for the possibility that the 2026 and 2028 elections will not be free and fair. It’s time to build networks, coalitions, and organizations capable of bringing millions into the streets, of challenging illegitimate actions in courts, of protecting the few independent institutions that remain."
The only thing that surprises me - ever - is that so many people are still surprised. They're surprised every single day. Wake up fellow humans, a very obvious alarm has been blaring for a fucking decade.
The so called sane Republicans better wake up fast or they'll be cooked with the rest of us. Let's get to work, California! Yes on 50! Time to discuss it with your friends.
I LOVE what Gavin is doing, it's about time! The person on his team drafting this stuff has got it down! I hope he continues.... I read somewhere he was going to stop.
Fox news and the right wing attacked him trying to shame him into stopping, and that is where Democrats have always wimped out. Fight fire with fire, then pour gasoline on it
Maidaedianed. We are a failed state. We are a failed economy. We already have a dictator. The 26/28 elections are already fixed. We are already F**ked. A Maidan is one of the few ways for a Phoenix to rise out of the ashes. We are ashes today, just ashes. Our Congress, our legal system, and our Media have already been bought or blackmailed. That's why you are finally writing this post. You have known this was coming for years, but your audience felt no sense of urgency. The top ten percent didn't feel anything. The other 90% did, and they elected Trump! Had you or I been in the bottom 90% we might have voted for him, too. They were living in the failed economy, and we were not. You know a failed economy is part of any autocratic takeover. You've read about it in many other countries, i.e., Russia. We're gonna be either Russia or Ukraine. Neither of us knows which, but we are not gonna be the America we still think we are.
And what's happening is much bigger than Thom Hartman's wisdom. The Thom Hartmans in Russia left Russia; you will leave America. If we have a Maidan, it will be the common people, the people who elected Trump, the people who will get shot, who will do it... That's if the past can predict the future. You will be with Snyder and Stanly writing about the whole thing. I would be with you if I had the means.
Sadly, fascists do not get voted out of office very often. Bolsonaro was an exception - but he was not in full control. Hitler and Mussolini were both complete fascists and both were removed from office, coincident with removal from human life. Death is usually the only way to remove tyrants and dictators.
What is mind-boggling to me is that the GOP is abetting the demise of democracy in favor of autocracy, and, with the full support of the MAGA proletariat, who always suffer the most under dictators.
Tom the MAGA attitude is easily explained, The culture war, racism and religion, tossing in sexuality and it is all about masculine prerogative, male supremacy. It is the go to for weak men, and I don't mean physically weak, but intellectually and morally weak, they need artifices to feel in control and like men.
The story is told in the rise of INCELS and Viagra prescriptions.
Putin has hawked Russia as the epitome of Christian male domination, where gays and transfolk are not only outlawed but hunted down and dispensed with.
This is the appeal of MAGA, they don't like democracy because it gives women, gays, non whites equal opportunity and treatment.
That should be obvious because it is what eliminating DEI from the government, schools, universities and corporations is all about: White male Christian domination and control.
I keep sayin' that most of the Congressional Republicans are not cutists. They are opportunists. Maybe they can be persuaded and/or co-opted.
In order to make a sale, need to target the market. Identify common interests. Apply sales techniques, actively listening, validating concerns, reframing the problem, and providing solutions.
When I worked in DC, I got to see lobbyists up close and personal. They'd identify spouses, parents, offspring, church relations, etc to enlist them to make the sale. Most of the most effective work exclusively behind the scenes.
My impression, after 40 years of working with legislators on both sides is that they are a) ambitious, b) charming, and c) dumb as bricks (GOP esp). A few like AOC, Porter, Sanders, Hawley, Durbin, Warren, and Massie are fact-based, honor their oath of office, and try to improve life for all Americans.
My experience is that most do what their lobbyists tell them to do. Over the years, I was able to turn around some bad laws before being introduced or modified subsequently by pointing out the downsides the lobbyists failed to mention. The modifications were an easy sell. I just pointed out the downsides that might impact their re-election to get changes made.
I agree with you Daniel, but the problem I see is that the non cultist Republicans will only flip when they are convinced fully that it is safe to do so, and by the time we get to that point, they are no longer necessary, and in fact act as an anchor dragging us back into the past.
Never up, never in.
Being an opportunist can be a dangerous path to tread in an autocracy. Eventual, the opportunist is no longer allowed to seemingly fawn over the Orange King, they are required to get down on their knees and face-plant in Trump's smarmy ass.
We're not dealing with Trump.
The entire purpose of a legal education is to learn how to make the best out of a bad situation. I can't get over the negativity.
No, we are not dealing, or not solely dealing, with Trump in the end he is a klaxon, hopefully shrill enough to warn us life-threatening danger is imminent. The guy is definitely old, he may not make it to 2028. If he does I doubt he will be in any shape to defy the Constitution.
My concern is what comes after, whether this becomes multi-generational or dissipates like a bad dream. I've mentioned before that Project 2025 would not have put in the effort, the Repubicans actively dismantling the government, if they didn't envision staying in power past 2026.
Cut out the middleman.
We have to stop it, now. And why fail to use the only tool we have?
Ans. Negativity.
Every gerrymander, purge, and press attack tightens the screw — until the system is locked and the tyrant holds the only key…
If we can replicate Brian Fitzpatrick we might have a chance.
We have to persuade a few Congressional Republicans to see the "handwriting on the wall." On September 3, some of the Epstein/Maxwell victims will be on the hill.
Meawhile Trump has kow towed to Putin.
We watch Ukrainian TV via youtube. Not reported by MSM:
1. Moscow is burning.
2. The Russian army is getting creamed.
3. Russia is going bankrupt.
4. Russian oligharchs dying from unknown causes.
On Polsh TV - A Russian drone exploded 64 miles into Poland.
On Tousi TV -- Iran is in a civil war.
What do Congressional Republicans have to say?
I WANT to believe everything they said about what's happening to Russia. Piss-ant nation of 146 million---down 1.2 million from their 2021 census. It's just those pesky nukes, BRICS, and their psychopathic dictator. All that land, all that money he has stolen, and nothing seems to fill the hole inside him. Sounds familiar.
What I see is that Republicans are owned by Putin via TRump. We need to tell them every damn day. I'd like to hear their answer too.
We shouldn't be afraid of the nukes. Nukes are fragile as are missiles, they require constant care, maintenance and even the nukes have components that need to be replaced and repaired, Like the Plutonium pits. a hollow sphere, and the U.S. since the end of the cold war, stopped building and maintaining their nukes and the plutonium pits degrade.
With the invasion of Ukraine a crash effort was made to maintain our nuclear arsenal, alas the knowledge and technology were abandoned and a contract had to be let with Lawrence Livermore Labs, to rediscover how to build plutonium pits, and missile crews were trained and formed to maintain the missiles that had been neglected for some 40 years.
And if we have a problem, imagine Russia's where graft is rampant, where
generals and flag officers have been siphoning off maintenance funds to support mistresses, build dachas and Mercedes limousines.
If only 1% actually work we're screwed. And we're going to retaliate as well, pretty much guaranteeing our grandchildren, at least the survivors, live as scavengers, digging around the radioactive remains of malls and markets, hoping to find a can or two of Spam in order to live another day.
Third rate country with a first rate intelligence operation. As Don Bacon said, Mexican military/economy with nukes.
You get flies with honey. Have to show Congressional Republicans what's in it for them. Need to induce shared govenment to save democracy.
I've been posting elsewhere.
1. Here in Baghad By the Sea, we're pretty sure Trump is starting a war so he can cancel any election.
"Amphibious warships join U.S. destroyers nearing Venezuela amid crackdown on cartels By Antonio María Delgado Updated August 21, 2025 12:13 PM"
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article311788818.html#storylink=cpy
I wanna hear what Congressional Republicans are sayin'.
2. We've also discovered he will not permit entry to people from Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti. "The White House issued a proclamation that “fully restricts and limits” the entry of Haitian nationals and “partially restricts and limits” the entry of Cuban and Venezuelan nationals into the United States. The travel ban has been in effect since June 9, 2025."
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article311796325.html#storylink=cpy
3. Immigrants seeking legal work, citizenship now subject to ‘anti-American’ screening By Emily Goodin
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article311772494.html#storylink=cpy
4. Allegator Alcatraz has to close. "Judge orders Alligator Alcatraz shut down in 60 days, says no more new detainees" By Churchill Ndonwie
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article311770767.html#storylink=cpy
Daniel, have you seen any ICE agnts in your neck of the woods, and if you have, are they rounding up Cubans?
Most ICE arrests in San Francisco are taking place at Montgomery and Sansome - our local Immigration and Customs office. I'm curious if we're not being overrun yet because of our mayor being a little republican-lite and traveling in the same DOGE circles. My guess is that it's temporary because they just don't have enough agents to go to every city at once. Yet.
Ah, the city. my weekend refuge when I lived in Santa Cruz. Left in 1996. Was quite liberal then, alas the Tenderloin and Mission district were a mess though, I hear that it has changed quite a bit.
I remember when the Embarcadaro collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta quake. I remember that all too well, I had just got off work, stopped to light a cigarette and the ground started weaving like a blanket and concrete telephone poles swaying like palms (Aptos).
I wonder how the artichoke and berry farmers around Salinas are doing
Marilyn Monroe, when she was still Norma Jean was crowned artichoke Queen in Salinas.
Salinas made famous, of course by Kris Kristofferson, as the place where Bobby McGee drifted off.
I do miss the old San Francisco though.With the influx of Silicon Valley money, it was sure to be ruined
I left Santa Cruz, in time, just as Silicon Valley started to creep over the Santa Cruz, Mountains down Hiway 17.
About the time I left, a fellow shop steward bought a 2 BR house that was falling down for $130,000 or more (I forget the price) and thought they were getting a deal., but it was a shack, needed everything including a roof.
Anyway it was a great place, then.
People in San Francisco think of Santa Cruz as a weekend refuge.
I am not out and about, but according to the Herald, por supuesto.
We have a House member, an immigrant himself, who ASKS El Trumpo to arrest them, as he views everyone but himself as a Marxist.
U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Cuban-American Republican from Miami, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last month requesting that her agency to deport dozens of former Cuban government officials and Cuba Communist Party members who were living in the United States. Among them is Morejón García. The names were compiled through the Represores Cubanos database and other groups. “It is unacceptable that the United States would provide sanctuary to individuals who have actively worked to oppress and persecute the Cuban people,” Gimenez wrote.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article304205761.html#storylink=cpy
And there was this Hispanic interviewed on Free Speech TV, that had been arrested by ICE, then released because he is a US Citizen, he voted for Trump because Trump was going to get rid of all those bad dudes that were giving him and his people a bad name.. He is no longer a Trump fan, but there are still many who are.
I've posted this many times.
Miami healthcare CEO Michael “Mike” B. Fernandez wrote the following open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of the Republican Cuban-American Miami-Dade congressional delegation: U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez and Maria Elvira Salazar.
"For decades, I have stood with you in defense of the freedoms we cherish, those we were denied in the country of our birth and found in the grace of this one.
"I know what it means to flee tyranny. Like you, I carry that history in my bones and that pain in my heart.
"But like a growing number in our community, I have watched with dismay as the very values we once found sanctuary in are now being attacked by a previously unthinkable threat — the sitting president of the United States."
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article304271841.html#storylink=cpy
My wife saw this coming twenty years ago during the Bush/Cheney administration. She asked rhetorically, "What if they decide they won't go when their time is up?" People said, "Nah, that'll never happen. This is America!" And yet, here we are. I thought we were safe when Biden squeaked by in 2020. Obviously not. Americans have had so many chances to avoid the mess that we're in now and just keep blowing it. And each time it gets harder to get out of the quicksand. I've said this before--I'm afraid the country will have to hit ROCK BOTTOM before there will be any serious change made. I'd love to be wrong about this, but I don't think I am. People will have to lose their jobs, their homes, their prospects, their dignity, their very humanity. They'll have to STARVE and DIE, like the people in Gaza. Only those sufficiently enraged will survive. I have no doubt that this dictatorship will fall--they all do, eventually--but the longer it takes, the higher the price to be paid by ordinary citizens.
A head of cabbage could have beat Trump in 2020, but then the Democratic party rested on it's laurels, and succumbed to the meme that "it is the economy stupid", and not paying attention to the culture war, and the social media memes that were convincing men, that they were being victimized by women, gays, non whites achieving social and economic equality. That the Muslim vote, went for Trump, well there was enough of them in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin if they had voted for Kamala she would have carried those states.
And the fiction, that it is the economy stupid, still persists. Yes people feel the pinch, yes inflation caused by corporations and tariffs are rising, and unemployment caused by DOGE and Trump are rising, but Trump now controls the statistics that would reveal the problems, just like he blamed the rise in COVID deaths on testing. If we don't know we are being screwed then we can't blame the person screwing us.
And what keeps the MAGA base solidified at 40%? The culture war
Remember what LBJ said, t if you can convince the "lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Ah yes, the culture war. To paraphrase Linda Ronstadt: "Poor, poor pitiful men." It's so hard to be a white guy these days! The Democrats have been making the mistake of assuming that they were addressing an electorate interested in policy issues and economic and societal advancement rather than in wallowing in personal grievances, real or imagined. I saw another column yesterday--sadly, I can't remember whose it was--that was instructing Democratic leaders how to modify their language and re-frame their arguments in culture-war terms, for example, discussing gun control as "FREEDOM from getting shot on the way home from school." I hope this sinks in and the Democrats learn how to work it. And perhaps once the economy collapses further and people need to take out second mortgages in order to buy hamburger meat, the MAGA folks will figure out about the screwing and begin to look for alternatives.
Two thumbs up. Absolutely correct Democrats need to reframe the argument, but not much hope on that. It seems that, in this case, you can't teach old dogs new tricks.
Time for some new dogs to come in and start biting!!!!
That is my point, the Democratic party, under Clinton, became addicted to donor funds and centrism, and lost it's spine.
Oh, absolutely. And Obama, contrary to the grumbling of the rightists, was also pretty mainstream. I'm encouraged by the emerging Newsom/AOC/Crockett wing of the party. Let's hope they continue to gain traction.
This is the hard part
If he is blameless, we should fight for Bolton just like we would fight for our own. It's difficult because he was one of them. It's VERY likely that this is retaliation for the scathing book he wrote. They blocked it after the first vetting. Some say he defied the second vett and just put it out there.
Once more we must stand for the law regardless of who is involved. This fascist regime is coming for EVERYONE. That's why we have to educate and support the other "educators" as well. Thank you so much Thom and Company!
I'll be "Takin' It To The Streets". Fighting for the First Amendment is as basic as it gets, even if it includes a-holes like John Bolton. Man, the pucker-factor just went way up for the people from TRump's former administration!
Nixon resigned when he lost the support of Republican leaders. This time around, Trump has the full allegiance of Republicans, the SCOTUS, and the top donors, all abetting his fascist impulses. The GOP has definitely changed. But the good news is the growing size and furor of the opposition, in Washington and elsewhere.
Insiders know that Nixon also had fabricated tax deductions and had a lot of embarassing stuff he didn't want to become public. How about that he was a friggin' traitor and killed the 1968 deal to end the VietNam War? https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/this-is-treason
IMHO Trump is entirely nutsy koo koo and needs to be impeached.
From my perspective he is a blatant thief, amassing maybe $3.4 billion that by rights should escheat to the Treasury.
The GOP has allowed the crimes and enrichment. felon 47 is and becomes more powerful and wealthy each day. Just have to remind myself there are more of us opposing this regime every day. Independent media for the left is trying to catch up! I heard it say there is nothing illegal in the 3.4 billion but IMHO it is organized crime.
How will or could he be impeached? and if so it would take a Democratic controlled Senate to remove him.
This is putting the cart before the horse. First we have to take control of congress and Trump and his regime are hard at work to estop that.
The only chance we have no are from Democratic Governors like Newsom, and I am waiting for Pritzker, who has a sterling rep as progressive, and others to step up and strike back.
But I don't see it yet, just Gavin Newsom sticking his neck out.
Jeffrey,this is a much larger problem than you indicate.The Senate Dems are not going to solve it.The backers of Trump,Republican( Neo Nazi: party,),Neo Nazi Movement in US,White Evangelical National Movement,Churches,Synogogues all are complicit.This is not going to end peacefully,get ready.
As you might know Jerome Powell (Fed Chair) caved today to all the threats from Trump.
This is not only a "Neo Nazi" regime but one built on physical threats to those who oppose his agenda. Will anyone stand up to him?
I hope tRUMP goes down the same street that "Little BB Balls" got mugged by 2 teenage girls....but since that assault was staged and phony....just like "Little Fists of Fury's" assassination attempt (except that a person was killed and another wounded, but never hear much of that anymore)......and there is no crime in the tourist areas that the National Guard is being deployed in..... ( they are not going into the areas where there is real crime happening)......the fat orange buffoon walking down the street will declare he has saved DC from the horrible crime wave that has affected the city.......
yet another disgusting photo op....just like the one in front of the church....holding a bible he has never even opened in his entire life upside down....this has been the evolution from his fascist J6 insurrection militia to using DHS as a private military that's larger than many countries in the world ....using our taxpayer dollars to fund it with 160+B $ and recruit untrained, unqualified people that are right-wing maga racists, white supremacists, proud boys, criminals and worse to roam the streets with guns & badges of blue state cities who have female Mayors of color..... LA and DC were the test runs for what this POS plans to do across the country....attacking, kidnapping, jailing and torturing anyone they want to.......
another photo op for yet another distraction away from the Epstein files, where this vile [pedo] turd is front and center in it's pages....BTW...this GOP lead committee requesting for the Epstein files to be released to them 2 days ago but will not get them till (TODAY) from the DOJ is another obvious stall tactic by allowing the files to be released and redacted and in drips and drabs....more total republican BS to hid the facts and truth that president Donny Pedo is involved in the horrific sex trafficking with Epstein....Why was that POS Barr interviewed behind closed doors in congress and then to have the republicans come out and declare that tRUMP had nothing to do with Epstein ? WTF !!! ....Barr was the AG when Epstein was [murdered] in his cell....the guy that should be subpoenaed is Alex Acosta, the US Attorney that released Epstein with a plea agreement...the blatant hypocrisy and intentional hiding of the facts and truth by these GOP maga scum is beyond the pale.
.......the protests need to intensify 10 fold and it may even take to convince our US military to intervene against this piece of trash and his criminal fascist goons.....which by doing so I know and understand would lead us down a terrible road....but maybe a very necessary one to eliminate this GOP right wing cancer that has been slowly manifesting itself in this country for over the past 50+ years since Nixon & Reagan.....The entire Epstein Files need to be released to the American people in it's full and unredacted form (with the exception of the victim's names)....NOW !.....it's time to do whatever it takes to get rid of this malignant, less that human person masquerading as a president of our country.....he must be exterminated by any means necessary !
State whether or not Barr had a personal relationship with Epstein. With Maxwell?
Did he attend Epstein/Maxwell parties?
Did Barr know whether or not Epstein was a government agent or soiurce, when he was given the deal of the century by Alex Acosta? Was he asked to provide info to the DOJ internal investigation of Acosta/Epstein? Did he read the full report?
Was he aware that in an Oct. 23, 2007, letter, Epstein lawyer the late Jay Lefkowitz indicated to Acosta that he thought a breakfast meeting had forged a plan for bringing the Epstein matter to a close. In the letter, Lefkowitz said he wanted to “thank you for the commitment you made to me during our October 12 meeting in which you promised genuine finality with regard to this matter … .” Acosta told DOJ/OPR he didn’t remember the meeting, which has been reported on by others in addition to the Herald. In his written statement upon release of the summary?
Did Trump ever comment to Barr about Epstein? Maxwell? If so....
Great questions, Daniel. No one could figure out why Barr came back to work for 45. He has a beautiful family, he was rich, and had been in the CIA---just seems too savvy for the crazy pedo-scene.
His role has to be about the CIA and family. His dad was Jewish and he converted to Catholic. Ugh, more religious BS, spy intrigue, and daddy issues.
The Trump/Epstein cover-up is ongoing...Yes, what does Barr know...
Barr's father was one of Epstein's mentors.
At one time Barr was affiliated with Kirkland and Ellis. In fact, Jay Lefkowitz and former Kirkland litigators Alexander Acosta and Kenneth Starr were affiliated with the firm at one time.
There may be files.....
We’re seeing a firehose of outrageous moves this week, over-the-top fascism in the open. They’re provoking a response, and judging by the seething anger that’s building in so many of us, they’re gonna get one. A functional if not “official” civil war seems inevitable now. God help us.
It is my sense that the weakest link in the chain might be the Republican senators and congresspersons backing Trump and the billionaires funding them. If the attacks on them by name and in their districts and in media events are relentless and the protests and marches continue with an emphasis on wealth inequality and oligarchy, I would hope that they will begin to feel the heat and read the tea leaves. If more than just a few cave, resign, or switch sides, the tide may finally turn. It is important to keep hitting them where it hurts and not pulling any punches. Uncommitted voters need to hear what these rats have been doing behind their backs.
I don't know this as a fact, but many, if not most know he's nutsy koo koo. When he was # 45, 4 of his own cabinet members wanted to use Article 25 on the basis that he was nutsy koo koo.
Also many of them have personally lost bigly because of tariffs and arbitrary DOGE cuts.
All true. But so far, public pressure and pressure from courts and elsewhere have not caused many in Congress to mutiny. It may take a lot more public pressure on them and on media to overcome their fear or illusion of self-interest. The protests MUST increase in size and frequency. MSNBC and Thom Hartmann cannot do it without a lot more action and support. Maybe the stupidity of the cover-up they are pulling off on Trump's Epstein culpability will stir things up some.
8647
Concise and to the point! We must not give up our protests and work to save our democracy. Despite feeling weary and overwhelmed, the movement must persist.
This, to infinity:
"We must be preparing now for the possibility that the 2026 and 2028 elections will not be free and fair. It’s time to build networks, coalitions, and organizations capable of bringing millions into the streets, of challenging illegitimate actions in courts, of protecting the few independent institutions that remain."
The only thing that surprises me - ever - is that so many people are still surprised. They're surprised every single day. Wake up fellow humans, a very obvious alarm has been blaring for a fucking decade.
The so called sane Republicans better wake up fast or they'll be cooked with the rest of us. Let's get to work, California! Yes on 50! Time to discuss it with your friends.
I am enthused, I don't have a cell phone and am not on Shitter, but thanks to substack email like
Jim Stewardson's https://www.mind-war.com/p/how-gavin-newsoms-tweets-unzip-maga I am receiving emails showing Newsom trolling Trump on Shitter, and MAGA, writing in his style, all caps, and even Thanks for paying attention.
Also there are screenshots of Newsome in AI generated images, also mimicking Trump, hilarious
And then there is Michael Sellers, "Newsom's Trolling of Donald J. Trump" fantastic
https://michaeldsellers.substack.com/p/made-my-day-newsoms-trolling-of-trump
I LOVE what Gavin is doing, it's about time! The person on his team drafting this stuff has got it down! I hope he continues.... I read somewhere he was going to stop.
Fox news and the right wing attacked him trying to shame him into stopping, and that is where Democrats have always wimped out. Fight fire with fire, then pour gasoline on it
Exactly!
Democrats = Americans
MAGA = Amerikkklans
Aaaaaa! Screaming into the void again; sorry.
Or all of the above.
We're out here listening and screaming with you when we are not on the streets or in a meeting.
Maidaedianed. We are a failed state. We are a failed economy. We already have a dictator. The 26/28 elections are already fixed. We are already F**ked. A Maidan is one of the few ways for a Phoenix to rise out of the ashes. We are ashes today, just ashes. Our Congress, our legal system, and our Media have already been bought or blackmailed. That's why you are finally writing this post. You have known this was coming for years, but your audience felt no sense of urgency. The top ten percent didn't feel anything. The other 90% did, and they elected Trump! Had you or I been in the bottom 90% we might have voted for him, too. They were living in the failed economy, and we were not. You know a failed economy is part of any autocratic takeover. You've read about it in many other countries, i.e., Russia. We're gonna be either Russia or Ukraine. Neither of us knows which, but we are not gonna be the America we still think we are.
And what's happening is much bigger than Thom Hartman's wisdom. The Thom Hartmans in Russia left Russia; you will leave America. If we have a Maidan, it will be the common people, the people who elected Trump, the people who will get shot, who will do it... That's if the past can predict the future. You will be with Snyder and Stanly writing about the whole thing. I would be with you if I had the means.