I'm sorry. It has ever been thus except for perhaps FDR, LBJ, Biden; but this is the first time that we have been attacked by a foreign power, emasculated, and pushed to the verge of a totaliarian dictatorship. Russia used psy ops. Putin expects a quid pro quo from Trump.
War. Is war an emergency?
Why is Biden not acting? Why is the MSM not reporting on this?
Lists 16 Things Biden can do before he leaves office. Biden will do none of them, except maybe pardon Trump. His only interest is in self preservation, because he knows what Trump will do on Jan 21st.
Trump is threatening to try the officer who shot Ashli Babbit for murder
Here are Biden's accomplishments and they all have benefit for Wall Street
The American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, and CHIPSThe CHIPS and Science Act.
From Jan 20, 21 to Jan 3, 23 The Democrats control the Legislature and Executive.
The Senate was 50/50 and Kamala was the the tie breaker, The Republicans had filibuster power and the Democrats, without even trying, moved the threshhold for passing a bill to 60 (required to break a filibuster), Schumer assumed a filibuster on every bill, there is nothing in the parliamentary rules that say a bill has to have 60 votes before it is brought to the floor.
Senate rules need a 2/3rds vote for them to take effect,, but there is the nuclear option which Schumer, who will live in infamy among progressives,
Schumer would not invoke the nuclear option and Biden did not pressure him to invoke the option.
In the United States Senate, the nuclear option is a parliamentary procedure that allows the Senate to override a standing rule by a simple majority, avoiding the two-thirds supermajority normally required to invoke cloture on a measure amending the Standing Rules.
I don't know about you, but I smell the three C's., Cowardice, Complicity, Corruption, and I smell them again, unless Biden shows something he hasn' shown in his time in government and that is a back bone.
There's a thread on Medium about this. My takeaway is that even if they find evidence of interference in the election, nothing will change the outcome of Trump being 47. It would only be sanctions imposed on the country that interfered. If they find Musk ornTrump were involved, my guess is that would be up to the DOJ and I doubt anything would happen.
Absolutely correct. Recounting is a day late and a dollar short, by the time they would even start, Trump will be sworn into office., and of course he DOJ would not do anything. Not just Trump's DOJ, but his DOJ under Garland (for it is still Trump's DOJ, Biden had his chance to change it, but didn't.
No way three you mentioned were autocrats, though perhaps more left-leaning than some corporatists would have liked. All followed disastrous right-leaning train-wrecks for our middle class.
As autocrats, they would have acted by now; yes, how I wish that Biden were more progressive, like the other two.
They are not just "moving into the White House" as they have been there before if for nothing but an overnight stay. More ominously, they are moving into your classroom, your bedroom, your church, mosque or temple, your healthcare, your bank account and...your mind. It's called metastasizing. Such cancers eventually kill the host.
If we are going to make changes and fight against the oligarchs I guess we have no choice but to use the Democratic Party. But the party as a whole needs to grow a pair. Aside from Bernie, Warren,AOC, Crockett and a few others most of the party needs to stop worrying about protecting their jobs and do what is right for their constituents. Who knows, they might be surprised by the positive reaction.
The "news" about the "new" administration has totally engulfed most of my waking moments. And for all I know it has infiltrated my dreams. (I don't remember my dreams but since dreaming is supposed to be a way our mind works through the problems we confront during the day I can only imagine that my dreams are dystopian at the very best!)
~~~Oligarchs running the country. Completely unqualified loyal lackeys in key positions of the cabinet, hence the age old question, 'what could possibly go wrong?'; explosive foreign stories hitting us every day; wow, what a time to be alive! What a time to witness the "Fall of the "American Empire".
~~~I keep watching knowledgeable people that I admire assure us that, "it's not in the constitution, it IS in the constitution, the courts won't allow it". I know these people are well educated, smart & knowledgeable but I can't help but think that they are naive in thinking that these last bastions of democracy will protect us from what is to come. I know that "they know" how dictatorships operate. All of us talk about it all the time but what I don't think they understand is that trump & his loyal lackeys don't care about those last bastions of democracy. Do we really think that he will care about "legality* when it comes to jailing his detractors? Somehow I doubt it.
~~~He has his militias which he will empower after he frees all the J-6 "hostages" & if you don't think that they have retribution lists in mind, well I wish I lived in that fantasy world. Once those criminals are let loose I worry for the police & law enforcement officers that protected the Capital on J-6. I'm sure you'll see the Hostage Retribution Tour in all its glory emerge very quickly.i hope we can hold back the onslaught.
Right there with ya. I have zero hope that we can turn this back. We are in for dystopia on steroids. There will be no elections in 2 years to change anything. The oligarchs have bought everyone and they will reign for at least a generation as the rest of us drift in decline.
The one thing that sustains my hope for the future is knowing that Trump is an incompetent ideologue whose worldview changes hourly. That hamstrung his last reign biggly, and it may undermine him over the next 4 years. Although journalists bemoan his lack of guardrails (no more annoying competent cabinet members), one thing guardrails do is keep you from going over the cliff to your doom.
Trump's list of appointees truly is a clown car full of incompetent opinionated business tycoons and ex-prison inmates like Bannon who foolishly think they can run DC like a business (or at least a fascist dictatorship), and it will be better and cheaper too. Moreover, many in Congress like MTG and Comer have already earned their big red noses, which is why the current House has passed fewer laws & bills than any before in modern history. That too might prove to be a bonus.
The oligarchs have the government they want and will do everything in their power to keep it this way. As it exists now, our government is a money machine for them that will keep spitting out big bucks as long as labor continues to create more wealth for them.
I'm 81. Vietnam vet when I was 23. We attempted regime change in Vietnam.
Some of my colleagues who were lifers taught regime change. The idea was that we would take over, In Vietnam we had "Vietnamization." In essence we inserted a president -- a Catholic in a sea of Budhists -- set up a government.
We replicated this later and improved on it but failed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not history courses -- theory -- a friend of mine was a member of the Kentucky National Guard, a judge at Dept. Of Agriculture, who became the military governor of Falujah province..... When Buttigieg was in Naval officer in Afghanistan, he serverd in the same type of capacity,
Drafted, I had 2 combat tours in Nam ('72 Rung Sat & '73 Central and North VN) I never viewed what I was doing as regime change. I was focused on doing what I was told and bringing back all my men alive - which I did. The war, as I saw it, was due to some automotive tycoon playing at SECDEF who was trying to win a game of dominoes measured in body-counts so the US could later exploit China for profit. Vietnam was just to keep Mao in his place.
I spoke Vietnamese and read up on the culture and history of the place. It was clear from the get-go that Chinese communism was never a true threat to SE Asia. As for Vietnamization, that was about turning over US assets to the locals so we could beat feet out of the country. Both the north & south of Vietnam seemed more interested in turning French colonial capitalism to their own national advantage - which eventually they did.
I don't even want to comment on Bush's shock-n-awe which was as dumber than Nam.
We did "search and destroy" operations in the Iron Triangle, cleared the areas of civilians and moved them to new villages. I was TDY to CIDG, ARVN, even Korean allies - White Horse Div.
Sorry, but no. It seems clear to me that the US as a democratic nation is done. We are entering a period of total plutocratic/oligarchic control of every aspect of American society. Empires rise and fall, and this one has peaked. We are grotesquely powerful in the world, but corporations and a small cadre of super rich control what the country does, Trump is a placeholder. While the socioeconomic system in the US is a plutocracy, trump's government is an absolute Kakistocracy. It will fail, and the oligarchs will replace him with another puppet.
Everything runs in cycles. Peter Turchin's theory is about 80 years, which means we have about another 30 years of this. The pendulum will swing back the other way eventually, but not in my lifetime. Fight if it makes you feel better, I am focused on protecting me and mine.
KAKISTOCRACY. This word needs to become the new trend word, Websters word of the year. Spread it far and wide. At the least we can try to make ithatt trump's time is seen in history as a debacle.
As much as we are morally obligated to fight against this, we also need something to fight for. And I'm just guessing, but I don't think we can do much of practical value without the assistance of some within positions of high power. Minus this, we are nothing more than the supporting caste of the very theater we oppose.
You’re missing this. I have been advocating for people who want to save democracy to focus on running for school boards on a save democracy platform. That way we keep the light of democracy shining. We can turn our schools into the foundation of democracy they were supposed to be but haven’t been for decades now. They are why we have so many people who thought a criminal was a good idea. Check out WhiteChalkCrime.com and learn what boards have been rubber stamping for decades when you could have controlled a board and saved us from Trump. That is something we can fix.
Boards are local. The evil ones are trying to end public schools so people like us have no power. Charter schools are a way around boards. They know if they don’t control the boards we hold power. You don’t need to have a child in your district to run. Run in groups. Overwhelm them while teaching voters why they must vote for you. Spend your energy on this not on his appointees. The crooks who’ve hijacked our schools cleverly got you to not trust teachers. When this nation stopped listening to its teachers it was the beginning of the end of democracy as called to teach teachers are the keepers of democracy and the producers of citizens. Now they’re whistleblowers at WhiteChalkCrime.com and at EndTeacherAbuse.org.
We can go back through all the court decisions, starting with Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, and correctly document the gradual diminution of actual people's rights in favor of corporate personhood. But it is not just through voting rights and campaign financing but also through lobbying that corporations have overwhelmed the political landscape with both money and disinformation. How can we build up enough momentum to overcome all their advantages? And yet we must, as a prerequisite to addressing all of our other policy objectives.
All of us - sane American citizens - need to organize into a coalition larger and stronger than MAGA - to fight against Trump and Musk and the takeover of our Democracy. We can be MASA (make America sane again). Action, not words, is what we need now - and not a minute too soon! I call upon all Democratic and Independent leaders and citizens to organize and fight back NOW!!
Who are you fooling Thom? Biden's FDA head Robert Califf has millions in equity in Google's Life Science and holds millions in pharmaceutical company stocks. Defense Secretary Austin made an estimated $8 million on the board of Raytheon and then went straight to signing off on hundreds of millions of Javelin missiles to...Raytheon. Remember Obama and Larry Summers? I could go on. The oligarchs have been in control for decades, becoming more malignant as sycophants like you make excuses for Democrats who embrace billionaires and corporate sociopaths like Brian Thompson but condemn Republicans for the same corruption. As for foreign influence, if you can't see Biden and Congress joining with Israel due to direct lobbying, prioritizing the interests of Israel over our own, then I've got some Red Scare propaganda and Russiagate paranoia for you to spread as a distraction.
The horse and the barn door. As Thom mentioned, a clearing out of the knee-deep shit in the barn . . . specifically, the barn occupied by the Democatic Party. Until the Democrats nation-wide admit (to let in) to the corruption of the top tier of the elected Democrats who are filthy rich by insider trading, passive to the transgressions that enabled Trump to shot-gun the guardposts of justice, and most succinctly the gifts given to MAGA by MAGA's chief enablers
Merrick Garrland and his puppeteer, Joe Biden. What clearer evidence is necessary to convince we-- the-now-subjected-to-Trump-tyranny we-- that the MAGAites need an energized fighting-back opposition and not a repeat of the passive, laydown, do nothing bullshit elected Democrats who threw the fight from the first tound.
Thom, I think we're simpatico. I say Biden/Harris should use the Court's "Supreme Immunity" to stop Trump by executive action.
"By promising to pardon the January 6th, 2020 insurrectionists, Trump implicitly promises to free future criminals, traitors, assassins and terrorists. And too, he encourages any malefactors who target the dutiful public servants he intends to prosecute, or any critics of his, or any groups he despises, including women.
Thus, Trump threatens not only a military crusade against migrants and their families, but also a national rampage of criminal but pardonable violence directed against Hispanics and other targeted groups, adversaries, rivals, critics and decency defenders. Our nation can now become Nazi Germany ruled by thugs.
Can Trump also pardon the crazed hammer-wielder who attacked Paul Pelosi? Likely the concurrent state sentence would keep him imprisoned. But demented criminals tend to be vague on such details. Trump wields stochastic terror.
That’s now, before he takes power, while still on his best behavior. It’s essential that he and his vengeful nihilists must not be turned loose with backing from his subservient Cabinet, military, judicial and security parasites. His entire anti-American, anti-Constitutional conspiracy must be blocked, detained and held accountable, as Self-Declared Enemies of the American State.
(That is the self-evident crime of lawless or violent individuals who conspire to obstruct and dissolve government institutions or assist harm by foreign enemies, as opposed to merely modifying or adding policies or expanding programs. Trump’s second transition cabal has already transgressed these limits by far.)
I submit that vigorous executive action will not increase threats and reactions from malcontent Americans, but rather restrain and silence them. A firm, justified government crackdown will make us all safer, if we can overcome Russian and Australian/Fox subversion as well as Sinclair Media sedition.
I'm breaking legal ground here with the "Self-Declared Enemy of the State" thing.
I'm glad to hear it. In my view the 2024 election was a tie. With dollar dumps by billionaires, Citizens United dark and foreign money, campaign lies and threats, polling place interference, provisional ballots uncounted, deepfake ads and bomb scares, Democracy was disabled.
How did North Carolina vote all down the ballot for Democrats (except the Auditor that the outgoing Republicans have now crowned King) and yet vote in Trump at the top of the ballot? Romania just voided their election after 85,000 Russian hack attacks.
In any case, this 2nd Trump Transition to Terror is not a valid outcome, it's a surrender to a foreign enemy and it must not stand.
They now worry that Trump/Musk tariffs, migrant roundups, Federal layoffs and their demolition of government programs, might have "unintended consequences" that crash the US and world economy. New Flash: That is the INTENDED consequence for Musk, Putin and the oligarchs, to bring America to its knees before Russia and China, and create a fire sale for billionaires to buy up the world. No way this "transition" devastation can be allowed.
"Can the Democratic Party unite around a working-class consensus that rejects billionaires running our country for their own gain and at the behest of foreign dictators?" Unfortunatly, he answer is "no."
A movement with sufficient size and energy to create a successful America will require simple objectives that can be embraced by all and that will result in short-term and long-term, macro and fundamental changes to our political, economic, and social systems. I propose the following:
- Eliminate employee payroll taxes. This would provide a 15% increase in income for 90% of Americans. This would be offset by a progressively applied 15% increase in effective income tax rates for the top 10% of Americans. This would partially offset forty years of increases in the share of US income unnecessarily going to those in the top 10%.
- Provide adequate and accurate information for the middle class by establishing an Informed Citizens Commission that would be an independent, SEC-type entity to ensure employees, voters, and elected representatives receive adequate and accurate information for free markets that balance upper class and middle class influence, income, and self-respect.
Of course, the main thrust of Thom's article, the dozen billionaires in Trump's cabal, vastly multiplies the threat. One can argue that the 2024 election (a TIE, statistically speaking) is invalid, bought and sold by unlimited, undemocratic campaign buyouts, including Musk's $million vote lottery. Should they now be allowed to collect benefits and tax cuts from Trump?
"Remember the historical fears of foreign influence in American politics? From the “malign French influence” XYZ Affair during John Adams’ presidency to McCarthy's witch hunts against communists in the 1950s, those worries are trivial compared to what we face today."
Easy to remember "Russiagate." It has been pushed harder and is more recent than those named.
I'm sorry. It has ever been thus except for perhaps FDR, LBJ, Biden; but this is the first time that we have been attacked by a foreign power, emasculated, and pushed to the verge of a totaliarian dictatorship. Russia used psy ops. Putin expects a quid pro quo from Trump.
War. Is war an emergency?
Why is Biden not acting? Why is the MSM not reporting on this?
IMHO first priority is national security.
Greg Olear at Prevail: https://gregolear.substack.com/p/dark-brandon-godfather-moves?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=9q8rt&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Lists 16 Things Biden can do before he leaves office. Biden will do none of them, except maybe pardon Trump. His only interest is in self preservation, because he knows what Trump will do on Jan 21st.
Trump is threatening to try the officer who shot Ashli Babbit for murder
Here are Biden's accomplishments and they all have benefit for Wall Street
The American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, and CHIPSThe CHIPS and Science Act.
From Jan 20, 21 to Jan 3, 23 The Democrats control the Legislature and Executive.
The Senate was 50/50 and Kamala was the the tie breaker, The Republicans had filibuster power and the Democrats, without even trying, moved the threshhold for passing a bill to 60 (required to break a filibuster), Schumer assumed a filibuster on every bill, there is nothing in the parliamentary rules that say a bill has to have 60 votes before it is brought to the floor.
Senate rules need a 2/3rds vote for them to take effect,, but there is the nuclear option which Schumer, who will live in infamy among progressives,
Schumer would not invoke the nuclear option and Biden did not pressure him to invoke the option.
In the United States Senate, the nuclear option is a parliamentary procedure that allows the Senate to override a standing rule by a simple majority, avoiding the two-thirds supermajority normally required to invoke cloture on a measure amending the Standing Rules.
I don't know about you, but I smell the three C's., Cowardice, Complicity, Corruption, and I smell them again, unless Biden shows something he hasn' shown in his time in government and that is a back bone.
I sure hope this is happening and not just some wish
https://medium.com/@IsabellaSutton/behind-the-scenes-harris-campaign-and-biden-harris-administrations-efforts-to-uncover-foreign-2dd052f63e82
Thanks for the link. I hope so but have heard nothing of it, otherwise.
There's a thread on Medium about this. My takeaway is that even if they find evidence of interference in the election, nothing will change the outcome of Trump being 47. It would only be sanctions imposed on the country that interfered. If they find Musk ornTrump were involved, my guess is that would be up to the DOJ and I doubt anything would happen.
Absolutely correct. Recounting is a day late and a dollar short, by the time they would even start, Trump will be sworn into office., and of course he DOJ would not do anything. Not just Trump's DOJ, but his DOJ under Garland (for it is still Trump's DOJ, Biden had his chance to change it, but didn't.
It's not so much the recount anymore. It's Section 3 of the 14th Amendment that is still in play
"10. Bring up a bill in the Senate to offer Trump amnesty"
Here's a list of potential action that could be taken, including Section 3, with details.
It's all wishful thinking at this point. It doesn't look like Dems or Biden are taking any action
https://open.substack.com/pub/gregolear/p/dark-brandon-godfather-moves?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=222kx2
No way three you mentioned were autocrats, though perhaps more left-leaning than some corporatists would have liked. All followed disastrous right-leaning train-wrecks for our middle class.
As autocrats, they would have acted by now; yes, how I wish that Biden were more progressive, like the other two.
They are not just "moving into the White House" as they have been there before if for nothing but an overnight stay. More ominously, they are moving into your classroom, your bedroom, your church, mosque or temple, your healthcare, your bank account and...your mind. It's called metastasizing. Such cancers eventually kill the host.
Truth be told.
If we are going to make changes and fight against the oligarchs I guess we have no choice but to use the Democratic Party. But the party as a whole needs to grow a pair. Aside from Bernie, Warren,AOC, Crockett and a few others most of the party needs to stop worrying about protecting their jobs and do what is right for their constituents. Who knows, they might be surprised by the positive reaction.
The Party needs a total overhaul. I'm basically done with it but have no other options.
The "news" about the "new" administration has totally engulfed most of my waking moments. And for all I know it has infiltrated my dreams. (I don't remember my dreams but since dreaming is supposed to be a way our mind works through the problems we confront during the day I can only imagine that my dreams are dystopian at the very best!)
~~~Oligarchs running the country. Completely unqualified loyal lackeys in key positions of the cabinet, hence the age old question, 'what could possibly go wrong?'; explosive foreign stories hitting us every day; wow, what a time to be alive! What a time to witness the "Fall of the "American Empire".
~~~I keep watching knowledgeable people that I admire assure us that, "it's not in the constitution, it IS in the constitution, the courts won't allow it". I know these people are well educated, smart & knowledgeable but I can't help but think that they are naive in thinking that these last bastions of democracy will protect us from what is to come. I know that "they know" how dictatorships operate. All of us talk about it all the time but what I don't think they understand is that trump & his loyal lackeys don't care about those last bastions of democracy. Do we really think that he will care about "legality* when it comes to jailing his detractors? Somehow I doubt it.
~~~He has his militias which he will empower after he frees all the J-6 "hostages" & if you don't think that they have retribution lists in mind, well I wish I lived in that fantasy world. Once those criminals are let loose I worry for the police & law enforcement officers that protected the Capital on J-6. I'm sure you'll see the Hostage Retribution Tour in all its glory emerge very quickly.i hope we can hold back the onslaught.
Right there with ya. I have zero hope that we can turn this back. We are in for dystopia on steroids. There will be no elections in 2 years to change anything. The oligarchs have bought everyone and they will reign for at least a generation as the rest of us drift in decline.
The one thing that sustains my hope for the future is knowing that Trump is an incompetent ideologue whose worldview changes hourly. That hamstrung his last reign biggly, and it may undermine him over the next 4 years. Although journalists bemoan his lack of guardrails (no more annoying competent cabinet members), one thing guardrails do is keep you from going over the cliff to your doom.
Trump's list of appointees truly is a clown car full of incompetent opinionated business tycoons and ex-prison inmates like Bannon who foolishly think they can run DC like a business (or at least a fascist dictatorship), and it will be better and cheaper too. Moreover, many in Congress like MTG and Comer have already earned their big red noses, which is why the current House has passed fewer laws & bills than any before in modern history. That too might prove to be a bonus.
The oligarchs have the government they want and will do everything in their power to keep it this way. As it exists now, our government is a money machine for them that will keep spitting out big bucks as long as labor continues to create more wealth for them.
I assume you attended war college.....
Consider "regime change," our plan..... Devalue currency, anticipate a foreign invasion.....
No, I attended war AFTER college.
I'm 81. Vietnam vet when I was 23. We attempted regime change in Vietnam.
Some of my colleagues who were lifers taught regime change. The idea was that we would take over, In Vietnam we had "Vietnamization." In essence we inserted a president -- a Catholic in a sea of Budhists -- set up a government.
We replicated this later and improved on it but failed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not history courses -- theory -- a friend of mine was a member of the Kentucky National Guard, a judge at Dept. Of Agriculture, who became the military governor of Falujah province..... When Buttigieg was in Naval officer in Afghanistan, he serverd in the same type of capacity,
The Russians have a variation....
Drafted, I had 2 combat tours in Nam ('72 Rung Sat & '73 Central and North VN) I never viewed what I was doing as regime change. I was focused on doing what I was told and bringing back all my men alive - which I did. The war, as I saw it, was due to some automotive tycoon playing at SECDEF who was trying to win a game of dominoes measured in body-counts so the US could later exploit China for profit. Vietnam was just to keep Mao in his place.
I spoke Vietnamese and read up on the culture and history of the place. It was clear from the get-go that Chinese communism was never a true threat to SE Asia. As for Vietnamization, that was about turning over US assets to the locals so we could beat feet out of the country. Both the north & south of Vietnam seemed more interested in turning French colonial capitalism to their own national advantage - which eventually they did.
I don't even want to comment on Bush's shock-n-awe which was as dumber than Nam.
Tsoi oi.
We did "search and destroy" operations in the Iron Triangle, cleared the areas of civilians and moved them to new villages. I was TDY to CIDG, ARVN, even Korean allies - White Horse Div.
Sorry, but no. It seems clear to me that the US as a democratic nation is done. We are entering a period of total plutocratic/oligarchic control of every aspect of American society. Empires rise and fall, and this one has peaked. We are grotesquely powerful in the world, but corporations and a small cadre of super rich control what the country does, Trump is a placeholder. While the socioeconomic system in the US is a plutocracy, trump's government is an absolute Kakistocracy. It will fail, and the oligarchs will replace him with another puppet.
Everything runs in cycles. Peter Turchin's theory is about 80 years, which means we have about another 30 years of this. The pendulum will swing back the other way eventually, but not in my lifetime. Fight if it makes you feel better, I am focused on protecting me and mine.
KAKISTOCRACY. This word needs to become the new trend word, Websters word of the year. Spread it far and wide. At the least we can try to make ithatt trump's time is seen in history as a debacle.
As much as we are morally obligated to fight against this, we also need something to fight for. And I'm just guessing, but I don't think we can do much of practical value without the assistance of some within positions of high power. Minus this, we are nothing more than the supporting caste of the very theater we oppose.
You’re missing this. I have been advocating for people who want to save democracy to focus on running for school boards on a save democracy platform. That way we keep the light of democracy shining. We can turn our schools into the foundation of democracy they were supposed to be but haven’t been for decades now. They are why we have so many people who thought a criminal was a good idea. Check out WhiteChalkCrime.com and learn what boards have been rubber stamping for decades when you could have controlled a board and saved us from Trump. That is something we can fix.
Boards are local. The evil ones are trying to end public schools so people like us have no power. Charter schools are a way around boards. They know if they don’t control the boards we hold power. You don’t need to have a child in your district to run. Run in groups. Overwhelm them while teaching voters why they must vote for you. Spend your energy on this not on his appointees. The crooks who’ve hijacked our schools cleverly got you to not trust teachers. When this nation stopped listening to its teachers it was the beginning of the end of democracy as called to teach teachers are the keepers of democracy and the producers of citizens. Now they’re whistleblowers at WhiteChalkCrime.com and at EndTeacherAbuse.org.
We can go back through all the court decisions, starting with Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, and correctly document the gradual diminution of actual people's rights in favor of corporate personhood. But it is not just through voting rights and campaign financing but also through lobbying that corporations have overwhelmed the political landscape with both money and disinformation. How can we build up enough momentum to overcome all their advantages? And yet we must, as a prerequisite to addressing all of our other policy objectives.
All of us - sane American citizens - need to organize into a coalition larger and stronger than MAGA - to fight against Trump and Musk and the takeover of our Democracy. We can be MASA (make America sane again). Action, not words, is what we need now - and not a minute too soon! I call upon all Democratic and Independent leaders and citizens to organize and fight back NOW!!
More like Make America Stupid Again.
MASA, boss.
MASA: I like that!
Who are you fooling Thom? Biden's FDA head Robert Califf has millions in equity in Google's Life Science and holds millions in pharmaceutical company stocks. Defense Secretary Austin made an estimated $8 million on the board of Raytheon and then went straight to signing off on hundreds of millions of Javelin missiles to...Raytheon. Remember Obama and Larry Summers? I could go on. The oligarchs have been in control for decades, becoming more malignant as sycophants like you make excuses for Democrats who embrace billionaires and corporate sociopaths like Brian Thompson but condemn Republicans for the same corruption. As for foreign influence, if you can't see Biden and Congress joining with Israel due to direct lobbying, prioritizing the interests of Israel over our own, then I've got some Red Scare propaganda and Russiagate paranoia for you to spread as a distraction.
The horse and the barn door. As Thom mentioned, a clearing out of the knee-deep shit in the barn . . . specifically, the barn occupied by the Democatic Party. Until the Democrats nation-wide admit (to let in) to the corruption of the top tier of the elected Democrats who are filthy rich by insider trading, passive to the transgressions that enabled Trump to shot-gun the guardposts of justice, and most succinctly the gifts given to MAGA by MAGA's chief enablers
Merrick Garrland and his puppeteer, Joe Biden. What clearer evidence is necessary to convince we-- the-now-subjected-to-Trump-tyranny we-- that the MAGAites need an energized fighting-back opposition and not a repeat of the passive, laydown, do nothing bullshit elected Democrats who threw the fight from the first tound.
The problem is that Garland is Pinoccio. Look ma, no strings......
The loyalist offers up the scapegoat.
Thom, I think we're simpatico. I say Biden/Harris should use the Court's "Supreme Immunity" to stop Trump by executive action.
"By promising to pardon the January 6th, 2020 insurrectionists, Trump implicitly promises to free future criminals, traitors, assassins and terrorists. And too, he encourages any malefactors who target the dutiful public servants he intends to prosecute, or any critics of his, or any groups he despises, including women.
Thus, Trump threatens not only a military crusade against migrants and their families, but also a national rampage of criminal but pardonable violence directed against Hispanics and other targeted groups, adversaries, rivals, critics and decency defenders. Our nation can now become Nazi Germany ruled by thugs.
Can Trump also pardon the crazed hammer-wielder who attacked Paul Pelosi? Likely the concurrent state sentence would keep him imprisoned. But demented criminals tend to be vague on such details. Trump wields stochastic terror.
That’s now, before he takes power, while still on his best behavior. It’s essential that he and his vengeful nihilists must not be turned loose with backing from his subservient Cabinet, military, judicial and security parasites. His entire anti-American, anti-Constitutional conspiracy must be blocked, detained and held accountable, as Self-Declared Enemies of the American State.
(That is the self-evident crime of lawless or violent individuals who conspire to obstruct and dissolve government institutions or assist harm by foreign enemies, as opposed to merely modifying or adding policies or expanding programs. Trump’s second transition cabal has already transgressed these limits by far.)
I submit that vigorous executive action will not increase threats and reactions from malcontent Americans, but rather restrain and silence them. A firm, justified government crackdown will make us all safer, if we can overcome Russian and Australian/Fox subversion as well as Sinclair Media sedition.
I'm breaking legal ground here with the "Self-Declared Enemy of the State" thing.
Something may be in motion
https://medium.com/@IsabellaSutton/behind-the-scenes-harris-campaign-and-biden-harris-administrations-efforts-to-uncover-foreign-2dd052f63e82
I'm glad to hear it. In my view the 2024 election was a tie. With dollar dumps by billionaires, Citizens United dark and foreign money, campaign lies and threats, polling place interference, provisional ballots uncounted, deepfake ads and bomb scares, Democracy was disabled.
How did North Carolina vote all down the ballot for Democrats (except the Auditor that the outgoing Republicans have now crowned King) and yet vote in Trump at the top of the ballot? Romania just voided their election after 85,000 Russian hack attacks.
In any case, this 2nd Trump Transition to Terror is not a valid outcome, it's a surrender to a foreign enemy and it must not stand.
They now worry that Trump/Musk tariffs, migrant roundups, Federal layoffs and their demolition of government programs, might have "unintended consequences" that crash the US and world economy. New Flash: That is the INTENDED consequence for Musk, Putin and the oligarchs, to bring America to its knees before Russia and China, and create a fire sale for billionaires to buy up the world. No way this "transition" devastation can be allowed.
Exactly.. And hopefully this article isn't just wishful thinking.
Many cybersecurity experts have uncovered a number of nafarious incidents, mostly from Musk, which automatically includes Russian.
"Can the Democratic Party unite around a working-class consensus that rejects billionaires running our country for their own gain and at the behest of foreign dictators?" Unfortunatly, he answer is "no."
A movement with sufficient size and energy to create a successful America will require simple objectives that can be embraced by all and that will result in short-term and long-term, macro and fundamental changes to our political, economic, and social systems. I propose the following:
- Eliminate employee payroll taxes. This would provide a 15% increase in income for 90% of Americans. This would be offset by a progressively applied 15% increase in effective income tax rates for the top 10% of Americans. This would partially offset forty years of increases in the share of US income unnecessarily going to those in the top 10%.
- Provide adequate and accurate information for the middle class by establishing an Informed Citizens Commission that would be an independent, SEC-type entity to ensure employees, voters, and elected representatives receive adequate and accurate information for free markets that balance upper class and middle class influence, income, and self-respect.
For more information on this see http://www.informedcitizens.com
Of course, the main thrust of Thom's article, the dozen billionaires in Trump's cabal, vastly multiplies the threat. One can argue that the 2024 election (a TIE, statistically speaking) is invalid, bought and sold by unlimited, undemocratic campaign buyouts, including Musk's $million vote lottery. Should they now be allowed to collect benefits and tax cuts from Trump?
"Remember the historical fears of foreign influence in American politics? From the “malign French influence” XYZ Affair during John Adams’ presidency to McCarthy's witch hunts against communists in the 1950s, those worries are trivial compared to what we face today."
Easy to remember "Russiagate." It has been pushed harder and is more recent than those named.