Helped: If they hadn't sat out the election, or did as Imams said and Vote for Trump, he would not have carried Wi, MI, PA and we would not have this coup, and the Muslims wouldn't be facing eviction.
Talk about stupid, talk about eat up, This is proof that when religion enters the brain, critical reasoning skills are driven out.
Any Muslim with any sense, would know that Trump was a friend of Bibi's and an enemy of Muslims. Yegads he has an anti Islam, Israel firster sitting on his right hand, by the name of Stephen Miller, advising him. Did those feckless Imam's forget the Muslim ban of Millers?
Off topic. I have individuals or robots liking my comments, sometimes 5 times on the same comment. They are flooding my email inbox. His/her Handle is 'Someone' and 'Keith Odem'. I tried to block them without success. I wrote to Substack a dozen times, asking them to block them without a response. Do you know if there is anything that can be done?
Why doesn't the FBI arrest Musk and the gang for Treason, immediately? Musk is doing more harm than any terrorist bombers have so far, including on 911. Many more people will die.
I reminded them that Miami is the de-facto financial capitol of Venezuela and that hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on our international banking industry. Yesterday, Trump sent deportees to concentration camps in Git-mo. He has plans to denaturalize US citizens and deport them. Rep Carlos Gimenez was born in Cuba. Was a Democrat until 2020, when he switched parties. Was elected as a Democratic mayor. As # 45 Trump started the process. https://immpolicytracking.org/media/documents/ACLU_Fact_Sheet_on_Denaturalization.pdf Now, they will seek to denaturalize and deport people who made errors in their initial applications. https://immigrationforum.org/article/trumps-first-100-days-potential-immigration-actions/
Hakeem Jeffries can identify about 20 House Republicans who possibly could flip.
I've been asking Thom to identify all these reps and interview them. Pressure them.
The DOJ and the FBI Gloria are now controlled by Trump. All good agents have been driven out or furloughed. The FBI will do nothing, except arrest people like you and I.
The corn has grown over our heads,Thom. What a chilling,eye opening article this morning ☕ Our Judges and representatives had better hustle up and Stop these Lawless mad men, or at least, throw some sand in the gears, or this nation is doomed. It wasn't until I heard trump yesterday, speak about his plans for Gaza, that I really got scared. Thank You, and hope you'll talk me down today, during the Thom Hartmann program 🙏 and will reStack ASAP 💯 👍 🇺🇸
What, Karen, the COURTS are going to save us? Like they so efficiently held Trump accountable for treason? Congress? There are so few left, even among the opposition, with any spine that you are dreaming. I believe our only hope for salvation is a military coup, and that can only happen if it's done before they purge the top ranks and replace them all with loyalists , like Hegseth, which means immediately! The US military is the only remauning force left with enough muscle and crefibility to take these bastards out. And when our top generals start getting replaced, it's over. I never thought I'd say something so radical, but I'm afraid it's that dire.
I'm afraid you are right, Kathleen. MAGA supporters will rise to defend their savior. The rest of us should probably buy guns now; there is no rationalizing with them. What is our alternative?
I thought that on Nov 4 th. I needed to go to purchase a weapon.
Today I remembered something that Kevin Robert's said that was reported in Politico last July. " the revolution will be bloodless if they allow it to be. "
If law enforcement is powerless to stop it then what alternative do we have?
Mass protest, preferably peaceful, but if you think Trump won't call out the Army to destroy it, and Pete Hegseth will defy him, then I think you haven't been paying attention. Look at Emil Bove at the Justice Department and his threats against the FBI leadership. Those folks are going to be imprisoned very shortly. MAGA is willing to fight and kill as J6 and Charlottesville proves. Our choice is stark: sheepishly comply and lose everything, for God knows how long; once a system is in place, it becomes exponentially more difficult to dislodge it, or we fight now, sadly, with whatever it takes. Personally, I think the situation is even worse than this. Local police departments, sheriffs, state police are filled to the brim with MAGA supporters; there is no looking to them for help, quite the contrary. Make no mistake, this is a turning point, and you can either sleep through it, or you can try to make it right--as best we can.
Sorry for the typos above. (Substack no longer provides an edit function). Just a footnote to my above post: I understand the notion of a "military coup" is distasteful to most Americans. But as a vereran I still have high esteem for our military. I took an oath to "protect and defend our constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic". If you're a vet, you did too. I trust that most members of our armed services still take that oath seriously. I hope it goes without saying that by "coup" I mean the forceful removal of the criminals that have taken over, followed by the expeditious restoration of a duly elected civillian government as outlined by the constitution, not open ended martial law. I believe our top military officer corps has the means and the moral standards to achieve this.
I absolutely love your spirit,LeMonine Surlamont, I agree with you and Stand by your analogy. Please, follow thru and help others to understand exactly what you believe is the path forward. I listened to an old Bowie tune,"This is Not America" and I was shriveled... Blessings to you 🙏
If anything, there hasn't been enough regulation of business. Private ambition, left unchecked, gobbles up everything in its path. For democracy to survive, it has to keep a firm hand on private enterprise, and never allow it the same rights as humans. Concentrate instead on giving equal rights to all actual humans.
Exactly. That is what the government is for - to regulate business so that the billionaires aren't regulating us. Regulate taxes so that the tax structure doesn't impoverish us.
I see no way out without Democratic Senators and congresspersons directly confronting their Republican counterparts and reading them the riot act. They should surround them and hold them hostage and demand that they use their power to force the billionaire bullies and especially Trump to back off and respect the will of the majority. They should be holding daily press conferences demanding that Musk be stripped of any authorization to interfere with government agencies and that the other billionaires now heading agencies or holding cabinet positions not blindly follow the irrational dictates of a fascist Trump purposefully undermining Congress and destroying established agencies performing the work designated by Congress. Deprogramming those legislators who are addicted to Fox Noise and indoctrinated with right-wing propaganda is the responsibility of the elected Democrats. AOC can hold classes to teach them how to do it.
A glass eye in a duck's ass could see this coming. There's literally a handful of Democrats and the Progressives' that will fight this. The rest are more preoccupied with their stock portfolios. Word is, they're waiting to see how this plays out. Those are the neoliberal Democrats who enabled this to occur in the first place. We have neoliberal laws that allow this. I'm disgusted with Democrats. My relatives got their heads cracked open so we could have a living wage, a 40 hr work week and that goddamn coffee everyone enjoys.
This has only shown the fact that we are a neoliberal empire of shit. And Democrats don't give a fuck. Citizens United opened up the complete corruption of our political system. We need a new party. The Progressive People's Party. Both parties are criminals in a suit. Politics is a grifter's paradise.
Wow. I cannot argue with such well-spoken truths. I love the imagery. But I just do not want to believe that the Dems are that corrupted as a whole, and it's really hard to abandon all hope that they will somehow muddle through to at least give fate a chance to save us from total annihilation. Something completely unexpected has just GOT to happen, such as some older people dying to shift the balance of power or a dramatic event that shakes people to their core. Anyone who has read my posts knows that I blame the abject ignorance of the American people for this state of affairs, and I blame traditional schooling for that ignorance. Democrats just happen to be almost equally ignorant for the most part. The large protests around the country are encouraging and the phenomenal ineptitude and stupidity of the MAGA and Heritage crowd give me a faint sense of hope. I will settle for a return to something like we had during Trump's first term and his rapid decline into senility allowing some small degree of sanity to be restored. Keep your fingers crossed and don't let it get the best of you.
We have settled for crumbs at the table. In 1935 minimum wage was 25 cents an hour. In 2025 some states minimum wage is $7.25. Seven dollars in 80 years. Only a few democrats and the Progressives showed up to this fight. The rest said, no thanks. They're covering their own ass. We're just chattel. This election was about protecting white privilege and their wealth. Period. Apparently, they agree.
You won't get any argument from me on any of that. But I think the primary driver of change and policy is perceived public opinion and what is in the popular mind and gestalt. We have stalled in our progress thanks to reactionary influences, fear, myth, and stereotypes. Ancient conceptions and beliefs regarding human nature (original sin, supposed weakness in the face of temptation, male superiority, greed and the other six, etc.) and the need for control, authority, discipline, etc. are pervasive especially because they are endemic to the thinking and training and experience of schooling and socialization. Until we get out of those ruts and get back on track to real science and free thought, we will have a steep uphill battle. Schools are bastions of conservatism, conventional thinking, conformity, and reinforcements for arbitrary authority. Compulsory attendance laws guarantee that they will remain so.
I agree. Standardized testing is a prime example of conformity in our education system. Scroll down and read Porter's comment. He describes State Capture. This got my attention and I've been reading about it. The one constant in countries like Turkey's State Capture in 2002, is Russia. This has my attention. This is us.
Lisa, the Dems are worse than you portray them as being. The Reps are outrageous and in your face. The Dems hide behind this facade of righteousness. Hypocrites!
I completely agree with you. They're worse. This moment feels like a death rattle. Everything that Thom wrote the other day lives in my head. Politicians are bought by oligarchs. The media spins their made for TV division, paid for by Leonard Leo and his billionaire thugs, to win the hearts of misogynistic bigots everywhere.
I read Project 2025. They said they were going to do this. Surprise!! They did! I'm fucking done with them. And then hitting me up for money today. Before I block them, I tell them to check their Citizens United Bank accounts and piss off forever. The Ayn Rand Republicans and the neoliberal Democrats are all first cousin grifting asshats.
At this point you are correct Robert. Our Democratic Congress critters should be standing up and in the face of the Republicans, follow them, harass them in front of cameras, call them cowards, craven sleeze bags, show some spine and stand up to Trump, but that would mean our Democratic Congress critters grow some spine, save for a few Chris Murphy's I see none, not even Jaime Raskin, when the heat is on, he backs down.
If 2 Republicans switch, Jeffries becomess speaker. Just 2.
Jeffries could offer Mike Evans, deposed by Trump as chair of the House Foreign Affais Committee, to be chair. Offer Brian Fitzpatric something similar.
House Republicans voted for Ukraine funding. Surely some are pissed over Musk, allied with Putin and China, who is a government contractor with conflicts in interest, in essence taking control of our TreaFsury. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024151 Jeffries has some choice assignemts to offer.
Some of the same 101 are minorities, women,or Hispanics who have to reject the attack on DEI.
Yes Daniel, IF and that is a big if, Republicans switch, but in todays environment with an ongoing coup, there is more chance of a Democrats switching than vice versa
I can probably count the principled politicians on my two hands, beyond that, they are self aggrandizers
They would suck a syphlitic cock to get re elected.
Politicians crave power. If Jeffries maks an offer to a position of power -- tough to reject.
Many of the minorities appointed under DEI were white women. Many were Hispanic Republicans.
One of the reasons I wasn't big on Clinton was he appointed many Republicans -- Bill Cohen, many Federal judges, like Trump's sister to the 3rd Circuit. Passed over many better qualified applicants for the sake of politics.
Let me add Medicare privatization to the grift pool targets. ABC has in fact pointed Trump to a very lucrative market where people obey in advance. Sue the media, a brand new market for the grifter. Graft is Donald Trump’s agenda and intention. Legal graft is best, but not the BIG buck$. That is a distraction from what is really in play. How about privatizing the post office? An illegal graft pipeline. How about privatizing schools? An illegal graft pipeline. How about building and operating detention centers? An illegal graft pipeline. Kickbacks that you will never see: the bitcoin exchange, the Kushner-Saudi lashup, etc. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/rape-the-us-treasury?r=3m1bs
If one looks at the history of federal government privatization, it has consistently been a list of failures. GOP "Running the government like a business" misses the point. The only metric for success among businessmen is profits. However, the government's main metric is service delivery - keeping people healthy, ensuring that the mail arrives on time, airplanes do not fall out of the sky or whack into one another, school kids learn 3 of the 4 Rs by age 18 (the 4th R - reasoning - requires paying for college), highways let you get where you are going without potholes, bridges take you across rivers without falling down, the military protects you from invasions, etc.
DeVos's "charter schools" is a great example of how improving government by privatizing it (running it like a profit-making business) is a myth. Charter schools cost more and deliver nothing superior to normal "public free" schools - according to a number of studies. MAGAs like the idea because they think one always is getting a better product if costs more. Duh. Evangelicals embrace voucher schools as a way to subsidize school$ where they can groom the next generation of MAGAs.
As of the infamous Day-1, it appears that our government is being run like a for-profit business. Shut down all regulatory agencies and federal law enforcement - and get richer.
No. It’s obvious we are in state run TV news territory now. The rapey felon and his right wing extremist spokespersons has always been the “news” draw, more than sane Dem rebuttals. Too many Americans are no longer able to distinguish lies and false promises from reality. The media only shows the protests against the rapey felon’s actions as scary, menacing mobs blocking freeways and government buildings, not the necessary constitutional rights of protesting abandonment of rule of law and democracy. We are in a state of near civil war against the enemy from within-America created this monster, groomed and fed him, never holding him accountable. I am a senior who witnessed the 60’s protests and assassinations of our leaders and I feel that we are facing something similar brewing. I hope not.
Thanks for your reply. Kathy I too am a senior. The Republicans seem to be giving us no alternative, but to get our guns and go after them because that’s what they say they’re gonna do to us. It’s really bad situation with outright racism on top of it and the DEI lies. I think it’s much worse than what we went through in the late 60s.
I strongly recommend against talking about "getting our guns and going after them." We're fighting to remain a nation of laws! In a nation of laws we don't solve our problems by getting our guns and going after them. And besides, I'd wager that "they've" got a hell of a lot more guns than "we" do, and "they," unlike most of "us," actually know how to use them. Not a smart place to go.
I totally agree with you, Mr. Smith. I don’t own a gun. I have never owned a gun. I don’t plan on owning a gun if somebody wants to shoot me, they can shoot me.
John, I think you seriously underestimate the number of folks in our camp that have quietly owned guns for years and actually know how to use them. I understand your aversion. But I, for one, do not intend to go down whimpering.
Yup, you are right. I feel that I am underestimating the rage brewing in America against POC and the blaming of immigrants for anything the modern fascists have grievances against. It’s been a systematic dumbing down of society and so many Americans parrot right wing lies regarding our institutions. So being a senior, I am staying close to home, will not fly anywhere now that the rapey felon has trashed the FAA. I am not buying anything that I don’t absolutely need and withholding buying from corporations such as Amazon, Target, Trader Joe’s, etc. that are on board with the rapey felon’s agenda. I can only say that we all need to stay healthy and sane however we can during this period of time.
Laissez faire, predatory capitalism. Anything goes, until you get caught. Then try to destroy your accuser(s). Rules were created, long ago, to deal with predatory behaviors, because without them chaos reigned supreme, and quite simply 'things fell apart.'
When there are no rules, there are only exceptions, meaning anything goes. Stealing, lying, raping, torturing and murdering are the primary behaviors of psychopaths and sadists.
Propaganda. The overwhelming nature of humans is to seek peace and calm. Not a behavior that suits sadists, who revel in the misery of others. There is a huge libido orgasm for sadists when they create pain and misery. The best way to get good people to do what you want is to lie to them, repeatedly and loudly and skillfully. Tell them they are sick, and that if they just trust you and buy your antidote, your fix, your solution, they will feel better. Trust me, the check is in the mail, and only I can fix your problems.
The lie of 'murka. The founders were good men, of and for their time. But the 'revolution' was based on the advantage of distance. A long boat ride for English soldiers, and then the numbers got to be in the favor of the colonists. The Articles of Confederation failed miserably because of everything I mentioned above. Winning a war did not change human nature. The Constitution, as well meant as it was, was very weak and hazy and inflexible.
Meanwhile, the nation was built upon genocide, slavery, pillaging, misogyny, land grabs (theft), massive exploitation of natural resources and wildlife, creeping arrogance and hegemony, religious fanaticism and white racial delusions of superiority. This is the heritage of 'murka.
MAGA et. al. is the culmination of this 400 year tug-of-war between autocratic capital monarchy and the ancient plight of the oppressed humans who were seen as chattel by sadistic rulers for 4 millennia. MAGA will fail, like all despotic madness before it. Wash, rinse, repeat.
The big difference? The planet is burning, literally. There will be NO empires after these now poisoning and scarifying the Earth. 66 million years of synchronicity among non-human biota will be mostly wiped out. Perhaps a few humans will remain, but it is unlikely. Like any other animal, when there are not enough breeding pairs, or the food and shelter to sustain them, extinction rules.
We are now witnessing and living out the last days of this epoch of planet Earth. And just like the hour-by-hour devouring of the 'murkan govt. by the parasites of MAGA, the ecological devolution of the planet will occur, at light speed.
What a quaint notion that turned out to be. Close the checkbook here, but leave it wide open for the "development" of Gaza. Not restoration---development. Just like people said during the first Trump reign of terror, Donald, Jared and their ilk want to steal Gaza for the shoreline.
Musk is a Nazi. The President is a psychopath. The United States is now their toy to share with Putin and Netanyahu.
America Last! That will be the cost of their play-date. It was the plan all along.
Thom, I remember back in the 2010’s when your radio show used to be on Air America and you’d have Bernie Sanders on every Friday as I recall. Back then Bernie used to have this speech that he would give about Social Security and the Social Security trust fund. It went something like this., back in the early 1980s Ronald Reagan for saw that more money would be needed for Social Security payments when the baby boomers started to retire. Therefore the Congress created the Social Security trust fund and Reagan signed it into law.
The idea was that Social Security taxes would have to be increased a bit in order to cover that expense that would be required in the future. And so in around 2010 the Social Security trust fund started paying out just as intended.
Bernie would end by saying that all we need to do today is to increase the amount that the top earners pay into Social Security taxes. So that anyone making over $450,000 a year would continue to pay Social Security taxes. And by doing that Social Security would be fixed into perpetuity.
As awful a president as Reagan was in many respects, at least in this one way he understood what the right thing to do was and he did it.
Trump on the other hand has no idea what he’s doing, or if he does it he sure doesn’t show it. Sending Musk in to run rip shod over all of our institutions, and his little baby Musks to rip off Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and who knows what all else is certainly not the answer.
The difference between these two ways of doing things need to be brought into bass relief for all Americans to groke. We need Bernie Sanders’ insights more than ever today and to take action against Trump and Musk in the court of public opinion.
The billionaire at the center of the billionaire takeover grew up in South Africa under something ignored by the American press, that's called State Capture. I first heard about it in 2018 after Beira, Mocambique was whacked by a cyclone (their word for what is essentially a hurricane) and I asked friends in the Republic of South Africa if the RSA military was going to assist with their helicopters, which they had in abundance, in the rescue of people stranded in Beira and the villages to the West. The answer: very uncomfortable crickets.
Then I discovered that the reason for the lack of response was State Capture, which was driven by three guys from India named Gupta, very clever and expert conmen who, through bribery primarily, managed to control the President and initially the energy and electricity sector of the country. Offer many millions of South African Rand to people high in government, most of whom grew up in poverty, and it was remarkable what could happen.
For that decade, until the uncorrupted parts of government rose up (in large measure learning just what was going on through the investigative journalism of The Daily Maverick newspaper) and the Gupta's fled to the Emirates, but not before tons of money was shifted from government coffers to the Gupta's and those in government whom they were able to buy.
Elon knows all about State Capture and it's beyond time for Americans to learn all about it and to understand that Elon is using his control of our mentally and physically impaired President to take over the government, beginning with where the big bucks are, namely the U.S. Treasury.
Educating the American people about State Capture (as opposed to waiting for them to realize what Elon is doing by watching the price of eggs) is essential. Google it, read the articles in the Daily Maverick online and understand what's actually happening. Maybe the American press will actually wake up to State Capture, as it began in South Africa and as it has been imported by our South African billionaire.
Porter, yes the world has seen what you call "State Capture." My parent's and teacher's generation had another name for it: Fascism. Thank you for your info. about So.Africa and the execrable Musk.
There are two fundamental sources of power in modern society:
1) business community
2) government.
1) The business community's source of power comes from its ability to determine wages and prices and who works and who starves. 3% of us are employers. The rest of us obey.
2)The government's source of power comes through the barrel of a gun.
The basic, the single most important ingredient in Fascism is the combining of those two sources of power into one institutionalized, unified complex. It seems South Africa is, or has been Fascist.
You are correct. At this point it might be too late for "Educating the American public about State Capture." I hope I m wrong about this. I have been an educator all my adult life.
Now I am near the end of my life. When my end comes I will face it content in the knowledge that I lived it as I wished: warning the next generation about Fascism. The world is their's now.
Gerald, you're an awfully smart fellow, partly because you see through to the heart of fascism, partly because of all the Orwell you've read, probably some of it twice over. There have been times in American history when there were surges of, let's call it proto-fascism, but all of that is dwarfed from the growth of gigantic international corporations and the power of big government. Throw in a strong dose of powerful modern media as the secret sauce and you've got a really nasty concoction. How does one fight against such a thing?
Thank you for this information. I could see this peculiar strain of privilege, State Capture, in Erroll and Elon. I didn't guess what exactly it was, but I understand it is a privileged sense they possess. I will be reading about it tonight. Everyone around Elon should obtain this knowledge to create a path to removing him.
Regulations are reactionary, seldom “willy nilly.” They are put in place in reaction to a problem or crisis (health, economic, etc). In many democracies, new chemicals are more thoroughly tested BEFORE they are approved. In the U.S., chemicals (or drugs) often ended up on the GRAS list (generally recognized as safe), only to be removed, more thoroughly tested, or banned in reaction to people becoming sick or dying later.
This whole line that all regulations are bad, is merely another Republican lie at the request of their corporate donors and benefactors.
Thanks Thom. You nailed it again. If anyone wants a primer on this topic, on how big money has hijacked our government.I highly recommend Republic Lost by Lawrence Lessig. He is not a crazed liberal wing nut. He spent his early legal career clerking for Antonin Scalia, amongst others before he started to see the light.
No we cannot. Not until the education systems are fixed. Religion belongs in religious places not in schools. Our citizens must be able to separate religion from politics.
Yep M Shontz, we need to separate religion from politics, and you are just one in a hundred million voices that have been saying the same since 1789. We need to do a lot of things.
Question is how do we achieve our goals? The democratic process hasn't worked.
Joseph Goebbels: “'The big joke on democracy,' Goebbels observed, 'is that it gives its mortal enemies the means to its own destruction
And sadly he was true, Look at us today, We are living at the end of democracy, Europe seems to be falling to. It seems that the majority of the people crave a big strong daddy and a spook in the sky.
That spook is Musk. The American government didn't act on stopping gaps in place to stop where we are now. They were not vigilant nor diligent. Religion has no place in government.
I was astounded by how presidents began to welcome religious leaders into their spheres to be elected. Those wiley Christian leaders of Kennedy's era caused him to go to their feet to prove himself a believer - for votes. I love to listen to Ron Reagan (professed atheist), who, as an outsider, clearly saw the folly in his father's embracing and giving power to the right-wing religious leaders who, using scripture (out of context), began to school their parishioners. He saw his father's language change using their favorite Christian sayings.
It is one thing for Billy Graham to come to a function at the White House and pray for our leaders and nation and another for the Jerry Falwells of this earth to act like leaders in the government. If it weren't for the Christians, I suppose the Jews would have done the same.
If someone wants to get elected that have to kiss the ring of the religious leaders, Trump did one up, he looked into their wish list and promised them everything on it, now he is their lord and savior, Their second Jesus.
Before Billy Graham went to Moscow for his revival, he stopped to meet with Donald Kendall, CEO of Pepsi. Pepsi was seeking to break Coca Colas monopoly in Russia.
Things are not as we are told, things are not as they appear.
These criminals need to be scared. We have to behave like those bullies do. In the mean time we must also laugh out loud at them every time they speak in public. We must do our best to humiliate these extremely stupid people over and over again. They do not deserve to be acknowledged. They do not deserve respect. Please be don't give in to their stupidity.
"Can the American system ever again represent the interests of average citizens? Can we ever return to democracy?”
Thom, its sad to read this from you. Id like to push back by suggesting that our democracy has been woefully imperfect all along, particularly from various constituencies' perspective. And while we are in a new technological era, every new such era relies on people who ultimately help sabotage it: The children helping Musk right now will potentially lead that revolt. Its a crisis alright, and our system nay bever look like the recent system, but I will wager something better is "busy being born."
Today’s media headlines should be screaming:
“The Illegal Ethnic Cleansing Plan for Gaza, by Donald J. Trump - Dictator”
What are they not?
Moslem Americans helped elect him.
Helped: If they hadn't sat out the election, or did as Imams said and Vote for Trump, he would not have carried Wi, MI, PA and we would not have this coup, and the Muslims wouldn't be facing eviction.
Talk about stupid, talk about eat up, This is proof that when religion enters the brain, critical reasoning skills are driven out.
Any Muslim with any sense, would know that Trump was a friend of Bibi's and an enemy of Muslims. Yegads he has an anti Islam, Israel firster sitting on his right hand, by the name of Stephen Miller, advising him. Did those feckless Imam's forget the Muslim ban of Millers?
Off topic. I have individuals or robots liking my comments, sometimes 5 times on the same comment. They are flooding my email inbox. His/her Handle is 'Someone' and 'Keith Odem'. I tried to block them without success. I wrote to Substack a dozen times, asking them to block them without a response. Do you know if there is anything that can be done?
I get someone I don't remember keith odem though. I wouldn't worry about it though, but substack will not let you like a comment more than once.
THAT'S WTF I want to know.
Amen, Nigel.
Awoman, too.
Screaming is the name of today
Why doesn't the FBI arrest Musk and the gang for Treason, immediately? Musk is doing more harm than any terrorist bombers have so far, including on 911. Many more people will die.
The FBI has been overcome by a coup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAylPjCdJh0
I've written to my reps to stop the takeover by unelected government contractor Musk, who is tied to China and Russia and has a conflict of interests.
Three are Cuban Americans from Miami. Here's a letter from a MAGAT, my rep, who represents a majority Dem district. https://files.constantcontact.com/1849eea4801/cd2e90be-43c8-4171-b3c6-a357621f7db9.pdf?_gl=1*uo1jgf*_ga*MDMwMjhjMzctZTFlNy00YzExLWE3NTEtZGUxMmY1OGY0YjEw*_ga_14T5LGLSQ3*MTczNzc0NTk1My4zLjEuMTczNzc0Njg2Ny44LjAuMA..
I reminded them that Miami is the de-facto financial capitol of Venezuela and that hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on our international banking industry. Yesterday, Trump sent deportees to concentration camps in Git-mo. He has plans to denaturalize US citizens and deport them. Rep Carlos Gimenez was born in Cuba. Was a Democrat until 2020, when he switched parties. Was elected as a Democratic mayor. As # 45 Trump started the process. https://immpolicytracking.org/media/documents/ACLU_Fact_Sheet_on_Denaturalization.pdf Now, they will seek to denaturalize and deport people who made errors in their initial applications. https://immigrationforum.org/article/trumps-first-100-days-potential-immigration-actions/
Hakeem Jeffries can identify about 20 House Republicans who possibly could flip.
I've been asking Thom to identify all these reps and interview them. Pressure them.
FBI agents haven't been jailed. It's not over.
They have asked for an injunction re Jan 6 prosecutions in USDC DC..
There are suits asking for TROs against Musk, but not criminal actions.
Many are being driven out. Pam Bondi, she who accepted a Trump bribe, is now officially USAG.
The DOJ and the FBI Gloria are now controlled by Trump. All good agents have been driven out or furloughed. The FBI will do nothing, except arrest people like you and I.
The corn has grown over our heads,Thom. What a chilling,eye opening article this morning ☕ Our Judges and representatives had better hustle up and Stop these Lawless mad men, or at least, throw some sand in the gears, or this nation is doomed. It wasn't until I heard trump yesterday, speak about his plans for Gaza, that I really got scared. Thank You, and hope you'll talk me down today, during the Thom Hartmann program 🙏 and will reStack ASAP 💯 👍 🇺🇸
What, Karen, the COURTS are going to save us? Like they so efficiently held Trump accountable for treason? Congress? There are so few left, even among the opposition, with any spine that you are dreaming. I believe our only hope for salvation is a military coup, and that can only happen if it's done before they purge the top ranks and replace them all with loyalists , like Hegseth, which means immediately! The US military is the only remauning force left with enough muscle and crefibility to take these bastards out. And when our top generals start getting replaced, it's over. I never thought I'd say something so radical, but I'm afraid it's that dire.
This is an act of war. The Civil War that some predicted is at hand.
I'm afraid you are right, Kathleen. MAGA supporters will rise to defend their savior. The rest of us should probably buy guns now; there is no rationalizing with them. What is our alternative?
I thought that on Nov 4 th. I needed to go to purchase a weapon.
Today I remembered something that Kevin Robert's said that was reported in Politico last July. " the revolution will be bloodless if they allow it to be. "
If law enforcement is powerless to stop it then what alternative do we have?
Mass protest, preferably peaceful, but if you think Trump won't call out the Army to destroy it, and Pete Hegseth will defy him, then I think you haven't been paying attention. Look at Emil Bove at the Justice Department and his threats against the FBI leadership. Those folks are going to be imprisoned very shortly. MAGA is willing to fight and kill as J6 and Charlottesville proves. Our choice is stark: sheepishly comply and lose everything, for God knows how long; once a system is in place, it becomes exponentially more difficult to dislodge it, or we fight now, sadly, with whatever it takes. Personally, I think the situation is even worse than this. Local police departments, sheriffs, state police are filled to the brim with MAGA supporters; there is no looking to them for help, quite the contrary. Make no mistake, this is a turning point, and you can either sleep through it, or you can try to make it right--as best we can.
Sorry for the typos above. (Substack no longer provides an edit function). Just a footnote to my above post: I understand the notion of a "military coup" is distasteful to most Americans. But as a vereran I still have high esteem for our military. I took an oath to "protect and defend our constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic". If you're a vet, you did too. I trust that most members of our armed services still take that oath seriously. I hope it goes without saying that by "coup" I mean the forceful removal of the criminals that have taken over, followed by the expeditious restoration of a duly elected civillian government as outlined by the constitution, not open ended martial law. I believe our top military officer corps has the means and the moral standards to achieve this.
Substack does have an edit function. They moved it.
To the extreme right of your screen name are three dot . . . click on them choose edit.
I absolutely love your spirit,LeMonine Surlamont, I agree with you and Stand by your analogy. Please, follow thru and help others to understand exactly what you believe is the path forward. I listened to an old Bowie tune,"This is Not America" and I was shriveled... Blessings to you 🙏
If anything, there hasn't been enough regulation of business. Private ambition, left unchecked, gobbles up everything in its path. For democracy to survive, it has to keep a firm hand on private enterprise, and never allow it the same rights as humans. Concentrate instead on giving equal rights to all actual humans.
True, I call it cannibal capitalism. We're living the results right now.
Exactly. That is what the government is for - to regulate business so that the billionaires aren't regulating us. Regulate taxes so that the tax structure doesn't impoverish us.
I see no way out without Democratic Senators and congresspersons directly confronting their Republican counterparts and reading them the riot act. They should surround them and hold them hostage and demand that they use their power to force the billionaire bullies and especially Trump to back off and respect the will of the majority. They should be holding daily press conferences demanding that Musk be stripped of any authorization to interfere with government agencies and that the other billionaires now heading agencies or holding cabinet positions not blindly follow the irrational dictates of a fascist Trump purposefully undermining Congress and destroying established agencies performing the work designated by Congress. Deprogramming those legislators who are addicted to Fox Noise and indoctrinated with right-wing propaganda is the responsibility of the elected Democrats. AOC can hold classes to teach them how to do it.
A glass eye in a duck's ass could see this coming. There's literally a handful of Democrats and the Progressives' that will fight this. The rest are more preoccupied with their stock portfolios. Word is, they're waiting to see how this plays out. Those are the neoliberal Democrats who enabled this to occur in the first place. We have neoliberal laws that allow this. I'm disgusted with Democrats. My relatives got their heads cracked open so we could have a living wage, a 40 hr work week and that goddamn coffee everyone enjoys.
This has only shown the fact that we are a neoliberal empire of shit. And Democrats don't give a fuck. Citizens United opened up the complete corruption of our political system. We need a new party. The Progressive People's Party. Both parties are criminals in a suit. Politics is a grifter's paradise.
Wow. I cannot argue with such well-spoken truths. I love the imagery. But I just do not want to believe that the Dems are that corrupted as a whole, and it's really hard to abandon all hope that they will somehow muddle through to at least give fate a chance to save us from total annihilation. Something completely unexpected has just GOT to happen, such as some older people dying to shift the balance of power or a dramatic event that shakes people to their core. Anyone who has read my posts knows that I blame the abject ignorance of the American people for this state of affairs, and I blame traditional schooling for that ignorance. Democrats just happen to be almost equally ignorant for the most part. The large protests around the country are encouraging and the phenomenal ineptitude and stupidity of the MAGA and Heritage crowd give me a faint sense of hope. I will settle for a return to something like we had during Trump's first term and his rapid decline into senility allowing some small degree of sanity to be restored. Keep your fingers crossed and don't let it get the best of you.
We have settled for crumbs at the table. In 1935 minimum wage was 25 cents an hour. In 2025 some states minimum wage is $7.25. Seven dollars in 80 years. Only a few democrats and the Progressives showed up to this fight. The rest said, no thanks. They're covering their own ass. We're just chattel. This election was about protecting white privilege and their wealth. Period. Apparently, they agree.
You won't get any argument from me on any of that. But I think the primary driver of change and policy is perceived public opinion and what is in the popular mind and gestalt. We have stalled in our progress thanks to reactionary influences, fear, myth, and stereotypes. Ancient conceptions and beliefs regarding human nature (original sin, supposed weakness in the face of temptation, male superiority, greed and the other six, etc.) and the need for control, authority, discipline, etc. are pervasive especially because they are endemic to the thinking and training and experience of schooling and socialization. Until we get out of those ruts and get back on track to real science and free thought, we will have a steep uphill battle. Schools are bastions of conservatism, conventional thinking, conformity, and reinforcements for arbitrary authority. Compulsory attendance laws guarantee that they will remain so.
I agree. Standardized testing is a prime example of conformity in our education system. Scroll down and read Porter's comment. He describes State Capture. This got my attention and I've been reading about it. The one constant in countries like Turkey's State Capture in 2002, is Russia. This has my attention. This is us.
Lisa, the Dems are worse than you portray them as being. The Reps are outrageous and in your face. The Dems hide behind this facade of righteousness. Hypocrites!
I completely agree with you. They're worse. This moment feels like a death rattle. Everything that Thom wrote the other day lives in my head. Politicians are bought by oligarchs. The media spins their made for TV division, paid for by Leonard Leo and his billionaire thugs, to win the hearts of misogynistic bigots everywhere.
I read Project 2025. They said they were going to do this. Surprise!! They did! I'm fucking done with them. And then hitting me up for money today. Before I block them, I tell them to check their Citizens United Bank accounts and piss off forever. The Ayn Rand Republicans and the neoliberal Democrats are all first cousin grifting asshats.
At this point you are correct Robert. Our Democratic Congress critters should be standing up and in the face of the Republicans, follow them, harass them in front of cameras, call them cowards, craven sleeze bags, show some spine and stand up to Trump, but that would mean our Democratic Congress critters grow some spine, save for a few Chris Murphy's I see none, not even Jaime Raskin, when the heat is on, he backs down.
As I say...some of those Republicans are similary situated. Got to know which.
Jamie Raskin was in front of the Treasury dep't. with other democratic leaders protesting and said he would fight this. https://youtu.be/mN1dwVi4oFo
Yet he and the other democratic leaders allowed one man to block their way.
And this guy was not a cop nor did he have any legal authority
Some leaders we have. I don't have faith in the likes of cowards like them.
You get more flies with honey....offer disgruntled Republicans sweet assignments to flip.
Democrats are not the majority party Daniel, and don't have the authority to offer anything
If 2 Republicans switch, Jeffries becomess speaker. Just 2.
Jeffries could offer Mike Evans, deposed by Trump as chair of the House Foreign Affais Committee, to be chair. Offer Brian Fitzpatric something similar.
House Republicans voted for Ukraine funding. Surely some are pissed over Musk, allied with Putin and China, who is a government contractor with conflicts in interest, in essence taking control of our TreaFsury. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024151 Jeffries has some choice assignemts to offer.
Some of the same 101 are minorities, women,or Hispanics who have to reject the attack on DEI.
Check this out. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/p/resistance-is-not-enough?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=zc69i&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
If I were Jeffries, this would be No. 1 priority.
Yes Daniel, IF and that is a big if, Republicans switch, but in todays environment with an ongoing coup, there is more chance of a Democrats switching than vice versa
I can probably count the principled politicians on my two hands, beyond that, they are self aggrandizers
They would suck a syphlitic cock to get re elected.
Don't have to be "principled." Only takes 2.
Politicians crave power. If Jeffries maks an offer to a position of power -- tough to reject.
Many of the minorities appointed under DEI were white women. Many were Hispanic Republicans.
One of the reasons I wasn't big on Clinton was he appointed many Republicans -- Bill Cohen, many Federal judges, like Trump's sister to the 3rd Circuit. Passed over many better qualified applicants for the sake of politics.
Clinton was a moderate neo liberal Republican, if truth be told. His wife the same. They know who wields real power, and they obliged.
Let me add Medicare privatization to the grift pool targets. ABC has in fact pointed Trump to a very lucrative market where people obey in advance. Sue the media, a brand new market for the grifter. Graft is Donald Trump’s agenda and intention. Legal graft is best, but not the BIG buck$. That is a distraction from what is really in play. How about privatizing the post office? An illegal graft pipeline. How about privatizing schools? An illegal graft pipeline. How about building and operating detention centers? An illegal graft pipeline. Kickbacks that you will never see: the bitcoin exchange, the Kushner-Saudi lashup, etc. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/rape-the-us-treasury?r=3m1bs
If one looks at the history of federal government privatization, it has consistently been a list of failures. GOP "Running the government like a business" misses the point. The only metric for success among businessmen is profits. However, the government's main metric is service delivery - keeping people healthy, ensuring that the mail arrives on time, airplanes do not fall out of the sky or whack into one another, school kids learn 3 of the 4 Rs by age 18 (the 4th R - reasoning - requires paying for college), highways let you get where you are going without potholes, bridges take you across rivers without falling down, the military protects you from invasions, etc.
DeVos's "charter schools" is a great example of how improving government by privatizing it (running it like a profit-making business) is a myth. Charter schools cost more and deliver nothing superior to normal "public free" schools - according to a number of studies. MAGAs like the idea because they think one always is getting a better product if costs more. Duh. Evangelicals embrace voucher schools as a way to subsidize school$ where they can groom the next generation of MAGAs.
As of the infamous Day-1, it appears that our government is being run like a for-profit business. Shut down all regulatory agencies and federal law enforcement - and get richer.
Is the mainstream news going to broadcast anything about protest against Trump in this country? I see NOTHING!
No. It’s obvious we are in state run TV news territory now. The rapey felon and his right wing extremist spokespersons has always been the “news” draw, more than sane Dem rebuttals. Too many Americans are no longer able to distinguish lies and false promises from reality. The media only shows the protests against the rapey felon’s actions as scary, menacing mobs blocking freeways and government buildings, not the necessary constitutional rights of protesting abandonment of rule of law and democracy. We are in a state of near civil war against the enemy from within-America created this monster, groomed and fed him, never holding him accountable. I am a senior who witnessed the 60’s protests and assassinations of our leaders and I feel that we are facing something similar brewing. I hope not.
Thanks for your reply. Kathy I too am a senior. The Republicans seem to be giving us no alternative, but to get our guns and go after them because that’s what they say they’re gonna do to us. It’s really bad situation with outright racism on top of it and the DEI lies. I think it’s much worse than what we went through in the late 60s.
I strongly recommend against talking about "getting our guns and going after them." We're fighting to remain a nation of laws! In a nation of laws we don't solve our problems by getting our guns and going after them. And besides, I'd wager that "they've" got a hell of a lot more guns than "we" do, and "they," unlike most of "us," actually know how to use them. Not a smart place to go.
I totally agree with you, Mr. Smith. I don’t own a gun. I have never owned a gun. I don’t plan on owning a gun if somebody wants to shoot me, they can shoot me.
Then resign yourself to servitude. The coup is already upon us.
John, I think you seriously underestimate the number of folks in our camp that have quietly owned guns for years and actually know how to use them. I understand your aversion. But I, for one, do not intend to go down whimpering.
Yup, you are right. I feel that I am underestimating the rage brewing in America against POC and the blaming of immigrants for anything the modern fascists have grievances against. It’s been a systematic dumbing down of society and so many Americans parrot right wing lies regarding our institutions. So being a senior, I am staying close to home, will not fly anywhere now that the rapey felon has trashed the FAA. I am not buying anything that I don’t absolutely need and withholding buying from corporations such as Amazon, Target, Trader Joe’s, etc. that are on board with the rapey felon’s agenda. I can only say that we all need to stay healthy and sane however we can during this period of time.
Laissez faire, predatory capitalism. Anything goes, until you get caught. Then try to destroy your accuser(s). Rules were created, long ago, to deal with predatory behaviors, because without them chaos reigned supreme, and quite simply 'things fell apart.'
When there are no rules, there are only exceptions, meaning anything goes. Stealing, lying, raping, torturing and murdering are the primary behaviors of psychopaths and sadists.
Propaganda. The overwhelming nature of humans is to seek peace and calm. Not a behavior that suits sadists, who revel in the misery of others. There is a huge libido orgasm for sadists when they create pain and misery. The best way to get good people to do what you want is to lie to them, repeatedly and loudly and skillfully. Tell them they are sick, and that if they just trust you and buy your antidote, your fix, your solution, they will feel better. Trust me, the check is in the mail, and only I can fix your problems.
The lie of 'murka. The founders were good men, of and for their time. But the 'revolution' was based on the advantage of distance. A long boat ride for English soldiers, and then the numbers got to be in the favor of the colonists. The Articles of Confederation failed miserably because of everything I mentioned above. Winning a war did not change human nature. The Constitution, as well meant as it was, was very weak and hazy and inflexible.
Meanwhile, the nation was built upon genocide, slavery, pillaging, misogyny, land grabs (theft), massive exploitation of natural resources and wildlife, creeping arrogance and hegemony, religious fanaticism and white racial delusions of superiority. This is the heritage of 'murka.
MAGA et. al. is the culmination of this 400 year tug-of-war between autocratic capital monarchy and the ancient plight of the oppressed humans who were seen as chattel by sadistic rulers for 4 millennia. MAGA will fail, like all despotic madness before it. Wash, rinse, repeat.
The big difference? The planet is burning, literally. There will be NO empires after these now poisoning and scarifying the Earth. 66 million years of synchronicity among non-human biota will be mostly wiped out. Perhaps a few humans will remain, but it is unlikely. Like any other animal, when there are not enough breeding pairs, or the food and shelter to sustain them, extinction rules.
We are now witnessing and living out the last days of this epoch of planet Earth. And just like the hour-by-hour devouring of the 'murkan govt. by the parasites of MAGA, the ecological devolution of the planet will occur, at light speed.
America First!
What a quaint notion that turned out to be. Close the checkbook here, but leave it wide open for the "development" of Gaza. Not restoration---development. Just like people said during the first Trump reign of terror, Donald, Jared and their ilk want to steal Gaza for the shoreline.
Musk is a Nazi. The President is a psychopath. The United States is now their toy to share with Putin and Netanyahu.
America Last! That will be the cost of their play-date. It was the plan all along.
Thom, I remember back in the 2010’s when your radio show used to be on Air America and you’d have Bernie Sanders on every Friday as I recall. Back then Bernie used to have this speech that he would give about Social Security and the Social Security trust fund. It went something like this., back in the early 1980s Ronald Reagan for saw that more money would be needed for Social Security payments when the baby boomers started to retire. Therefore the Congress created the Social Security trust fund and Reagan signed it into law.
The idea was that Social Security taxes would have to be increased a bit in order to cover that expense that would be required in the future. And so in around 2010 the Social Security trust fund started paying out just as intended.
Bernie would end by saying that all we need to do today is to increase the amount that the top earners pay into Social Security taxes. So that anyone making over $450,000 a year would continue to pay Social Security taxes. And by doing that Social Security would be fixed into perpetuity.
As awful a president as Reagan was in many respects, at least in this one way he understood what the right thing to do was and he did it.
Trump on the other hand has no idea what he’s doing, or if he does it he sure doesn’t show it. Sending Musk in to run rip shod over all of our institutions, and his little baby Musks to rip off Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and who knows what all else is certainly not the answer.
The difference between these two ways of doing things need to be brought into bass relief for all Americans to groke. We need Bernie Sanders’ insights more than ever today and to take action against Trump and Musk in the court of public opinion.
The billionaire at the center of the billionaire takeover grew up in South Africa under something ignored by the American press, that's called State Capture. I first heard about it in 2018 after Beira, Mocambique was whacked by a cyclone (their word for what is essentially a hurricane) and I asked friends in the Republic of South Africa if the RSA military was going to assist with their helicopters, which they had in abundance, in the rescue of people stranded in Beira and the villages to the West. The answer: very uncomfortable crickets.
Then I discovered that the reason for the lack of response was State Capture, which was driven by three guys from India named Gupta, very clever and expert conmen who, through bribery primarily, managed to control the President and initially the energy and electricity sector of the country. Offer many millions of South African Rand to people high in government, most of whom grew up in poverty, and it was remarkable what could happen.
For that decade, until the uncorrupted parts of government rose up (in large measure learning just what was going on through the investigative journalism of The Daily Maverick newspaper) and the Gupta's fled to the Emirates, but not before tons of money was shifted from government coffers to the Gupta's and those in government whom they were able to buy.
Elon knows all about State Capture and it's beyond time for Americans to learn all about it and to understand that Elon is using his control of our mentally and physically impaired President to take over the government, beginning with where the big bucks are, namely the U.S. Treasury.
Educating the American people about State Capture (as opposed to waiting for them to realize what Elon is doing by watching the price of eggs) is essential. Google it, read the articles in the Daily Maverick online and understand what's actually happening. Maybe the American press will actually wake up to State Capture, as it began in South Africa and as it has been imported by our South African billionaire.
Musk' s brother says that they obtained entry to the US on false pretenses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXwtnEHsjyk
Meanwhile beware of BRIC undermining our currency.
Hi Daniel - I always read your comments as they're always very intelligent and on-target. Thank you!
Porter, yes the world has seen what you call "State Capture." My parent's and teacher's generation had another name for it: Fascism. Thank you for your info. about So.Africa and the execrable Musk.
There are two fundamental sources of power in modern society:
1) business community
2) government.
1) The business community's source of power comes from its ability to determine wages and prices and who works and who starves. 3% of us are employers. The rest of us obey.
2)The government's source of power comes through the barrel of a gun.
The basic, the single most important ingredient in Fascism is the combining of those two sources of power into one institutionalized, unified complex. It seems South Africa is, or has been Fascist.
You are correct. At this point it might be too late for "Educating the American public about State Capture." I hope I m wrong about this. I have been an educator all my adult life.
Now I am near the end of my life. When my end comes I will face it content in the knowledge that I lived it as I wished: warning the next generation about Fascism. The world is their's now.
Gerald, you're an awfully smart fellow, partly because you see through to the heart of fascism, partly because of all the Orwell you've read, probably some of it twice over. There have been times in American history when there were surges of, let's call it proto-fascism, but all of that is dwarfed from the growth of gigantic international corporations and the power of big government. Throw in a strong dose of powerful modern media as the secret sauce and you've got a really nasty concoction. How does one fight against such a thing?
Thank you for this information. I could see this peculiar strain of privilege, State Capture, in Erroll and Elon. I didn't guess what exactly it was, but I understand it is a privileged sense they possess. I will be reading about it tonight. Everyone around Elon should obtain this knowledge to create a path to removing him.
Regulations are reactionary, seldom “willy nilly.” They are put in place in reaction to a problem or crisis (health, economic, etc). In many democracies, new chemicals are more thoroughly tested BEFORE they are approved. In the U.S., chemicals (or drugs) often ended up on the GRAS list (generally recognized as safe), only to be removed, more thoroughly tested, or banned in reaction to people becoming sick or dying later.
This whole line that all regulations are bad, is merely another Republican lie at the request of their corporate donors and benefactors.
Thanks Thom. You nailed it again. If anyone wants a primer on this topic, on how big money has hijacked our government.I highly recommend Republic Lost by Lawrence Lessig. He is not a crazed liberal wing nut. He spent his early legal career clerking for Antonin Scalia, amongst others before he started to see the light.
No we cannot. Not until the education systems are fixed. Religion belongs in religious places not in schools. Our citizens must be able to separate religion from politics.
Yep M Shontz, we need to separate religion from politics, and you are just one in a hundred million voices that have been saying the same since 1789. We need to do a lot of things.
Question is how do we achieve our goals? The democratic process hasn't worked.
Joseph Goebbels: “'The big joke on democracy,' Goebbels observed, 'is that it gives its mortal enemies the means to its own destruction
And sadly he was true, Look at us today, We are living at the end of democracy, Europe seems to be falling to. It seems that the majority of the people crave a big strong daddy and a spook in the sky.
That spook is Musk. The American government didn't act on stopping gaps in place to stop where we are now. They were not vigilant nor diligent. Religion has no place in government.
Totally agree, alas it seems that a third of the nation does not agree, and maybe more.
I was astounded by how presidents began to welcome religious leaders into their spheres to be elected. Those wiley Christian leaders of Kennedy's era caused him to go to their feet to prove himself a believer - for votes. I love to listen to Ron Reagan (professed atheist), who, as an outsider, clearly saw the folly in his father's embracing and giving power to the right-wing religious leaders who, using scripture (out of context), began to school their parishioners. He saw his father's language change using their favorite Christian sayings.
It is one thing for Billy Graham to come to a function at the White House and pray for our leaders and nation and another for the Jerry Falwells of this earth to act like leaders in the government. If it weren't for the Christians, I suppose the Jews would have done the same.
If someone wants to get elected that have to kiss the ring of the religious leaders, Trump did one up, he looked into their wish list and promised them everything on it, now he is their lord and savior, Their second Jesus.
Before Billy Graham went to Moscow for his revival, he stopped to meet with Donald Kendall, CEO of Pepsi. Pepsi was seeking to break Coca Colas monopoly in Russia.
Things are not as we are told, things are not as they appear.
These criminals need to be scared. We have to behave like those bullies do. In the mean time we must also laugh out loud at them every time they speak in public. We must do our best to humiliate these extremely stupid people over and over again. They do not deserve to be acknowledged. They do not deserve respect. Please be don't give in to their stupidity.
"Can the American system ever again represent the interests of average citizens? Can we ever return to democracy?”
Thom, its sad to read this from you. Id like to push back by suggesting that our democracy has been woefully imperfect all along, particularly from various constituencies' perspective. And while we are in a new technological era, every new such era relies on people who ultimately help sabotage it: The children helping Musk right now will potentially lead that revolt. Its a crisis alright, and our system nay bever look like the recent system, but I will wager something better is "busy being born."