Sorry .... with all that is happening I think we are missing the most essential points. Trump is a distraction to the essence of the catastrophe.
Musk is erasing our government and we are not noticing!! He has undermined the efficacy of ALL the departments of our government. This is a Libertarian goal!
The 1980 Libertarian Party Platform is nearly identical to the Project 2025 document.
We still have the capacity to stop him" Only takes a few Congressional Republicans.
I still think national security is the tie that binds. Hegseth is a dream opponent....
Meidas should be concentrating on the many Congressional Republicans who are unhappy with Trump. We need to get them to come to their senses and stand up with us. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/
Yes, certainly. That was also the case witih McCarthy. Once he tripped into assaulting the military, he was quickly toast.
Concentrating immense pressure on a few Rs to becoming independents and "patriots" is a focal point that needs to happen. Both chambers of Congress need to be flipped now, not in 2026, and assert themselves. Some Rs have by now realized that their careers in Congress are over and can be persuaded to do the right thing for society.
Note my post on substack today. My husband said don't post it because most people won't know what the role of eunichs was in the Chinese emperor's court and what is in the boxes they're holding.
Flash: Rep. Don Bacon, a prominent Republican and former Air Force general, has become the first GOP lawmaker to publicly call for the removal of Pete Hegseth.
I saw a discussion last night on MSNBC of Murkowski's comment, and the consensus was that it was her reason for surrender, for not doing anything. She is a afraid so she will sit back and let Trump and Project 2025 unfold.
Afraid of what? What could be worse than doing nothing in the face of this juggernaut? Being primaried? Seriously. We are not far from Congress being completely toothless.
Afraid of their person, property and for their family. MAGA has proven prone to violence, and death threats abound, with follow up. People are being swatted and stalked. Politics is not for the faint of heart, if they can be intimidated that easily they are in the wrong job.
You don't join special ops, and then beg out of dangerous assignments.
You know, this might be a long shot, but I wonder if the goal is to totally change the workings of government by the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. That is coming up in July of '26. The trappings could still exist, just as the first two centuries of the Roman Empire were nominally under a republican form of government, but how things really work would be different. (Not that they weren’t changing already, but not like this.) A "new improved republic" could be packaged with the hope that not that many would notice this bait and switch. On the other hand, if the economy has gone to hell by then it would be hard for them to put this lipstick on a pig. Some choice!
Louis Pasteur, among others, is credited with the quote "chance favors only the prepared mind." In the lead-up to the ACA, there was a multi-year process of public education about options for universal healthcare. Without it, there would have been no ACA. Obama's retreat from a change management strategy, however, is why the effort ended with far too much insurance company profiteering.
A similar process should be used with notions of durable democracy. For example,
• Maxwell Stearn's "Parliamentary America" ideas of three Constitutional amendments—1) expanding the House of Representatives, 2) having House party coalitions choose the president, and 3) letting the House end a failing presidency based on no confidence—hold out promise to produce a robust multiparty and durable democracy.
• Thinking about a radical restructuring of the presidency to be a "Federal Council" (Switzerland's model) or the Council of the Federation (Canada's model) are ideas whose ideas have come.
Dr Gilbert. The initial push during the Obama administration was single payor, led by Bernie.
However Rahm Emanuel, Nancy Pelosi and the DNC (beholden to AHIP donors), killed that idea. During the run up, the White House was an open door for AHIP reps and lobbyists, in in Congress they basically wrote the ACA, Nancy would have nothing to do with any motion for single payor and kept all such motions off the floor .
To get single payor when the Democrats controlled congress would have taken a one page bill that changed the wording in 42 U.S. Code §§ 1395w-21–1395w-29 , to eligible at birth instead of eligible at age 65.
Instead Nancy allowed AHIP lobbyists and lawyers to write a 600 page bill, which SCOTUS found at least one part unconstitutional (taxing persons who don't buy insurance), the whole scheme was a move to force everyone in the US to buy insurance.m when Nancy could have had everyone enrolled in Medicare.
Medicare is not free. I am paying $185 a month, some pay more, some less.
Entrenched interests are always a force to reckon with. The reality is that there is no single-payer healthcare system in the world. Even the best of the best have top-offs or similar systems, e.g., France. Obama was ready to walk away. Pelosi took on the politics and got something done. It certainly would have been better to have a mixed system like France or the Netherlands than what we got.
Without the five years or so of build-up on public knowledge about universal healthcare, however, the ACA would never have happened. We would be back in the dystopian world of gaming around pre-existing conditions, junk insurance, and financial healthcare scams.
We need a similar but very much accelerated education process of what makes a durable democracy. Just reacting without a plan to go forward is foolish.
I am aware of the problems of Medicare. I was a Regence Blue Shield Group plan though CalPers and when I turned 65, the insurance company changed to the Medicare minimum, as my secondary. I went from a twice annual wellness exam to an annual wellness exam, and found other restrictions, but for others, than me, something is better than nothing.
The benefits of ACA like not being able to deny on pre existing conditions would not even be a question if we had Medicare for all.
I do not subscribe to the b.s. of the perfect being the enemy of the good, a Goebellian propaganda phrase.
There are problems with Single Payor, but a lot better than the ACA, as there are still legions of uninsured and people dying daily for lack of medical care, and the ACA depends on State exchanges and let's talk about those, especially in red states.
If only Democrats were 1/2 as good at stanching the onslaught of totalitarianism BEFORE the fact, as they are at soliciting funds via email AFTER the fact.
They let this fake businessman and his not-so-crypto fascist psychos happen to America.
They spectated. They ultimately Flubbed the cussed Dub.
The DNC slops at the same trough as the RNC, only they get sloppy seconds, and worse yet they have a culture which rewards those who have proven to accumulate what the DNC values as essential credentials (like Hillary getting foreign service creds), who have stood patiently in line, proving their loyalty like race horses that have been exercising in the paddock, waiting their turn to be called to the starting gate.
This has worked out so well, hasn't it. With politicians like Hillary, Terry McAuliffe, Hakeem Jeffries, and yes even Corey Booker, who only burnished his creds by standing for 25 hours and speaking before an empty senate.His overall track record has been quite DINO. Meanwhile real democratif firebrands like AOC and Bernie are denigrated or ignored, I even saw their performance at Coachella denigrated on MSNBC, they scare the hell out of the money powers.
Yes Mr. Farrar, I agree. Cory Booker's childish show was a dangerous joke compared to what Bernie, AOC, and Senator Van Hollen are doing. I am disappointed that so many Americans believe Booker did something courageous and important. What is disappointing is that they have never heard of Hannah Arendt, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Victor Frankl, Franz Fanon; and do not know how destructive it is when the mass of people have no ability to judge fact from fiction, reality from fantasy, immorality from morality, truth from lies.
There are so many good people who have left their words for us to read. Does any one read anymore? How many can see what is real? MAGAs are a lost cause.....but Dems?
I am glad someone agreed with me. I thought I was out standing in left field all by myself.
I never thought much of Booker, I followed his career and considered him little more than a self serving pol, and even a DINO. Then this stunt. He could have filibustered some legislation, but he fasted, didn't drink water for a day, worse a Depends and stood behind a podium for public display, in front of an empty senate.
He has presidential ambitions, so does Gavin Newsom, you will see more of these stunts as 2028 draw near, provided this fascimile of a democratic Republic is still standing.
no violent coup like 2020 that almost worked but not quite...this time they promised people better which turned out to be lies and controlled the election, aided by gerrymandering and voter manipulation and got the people to vote these fascists into office....no shots fired, no violent coups...just had the keys handed over to the kingdom.....and well....that's how dictators take power in today's day and age....we let it happen....now we need to realize our mistakes and fight to take back what was, what is being taken away....our freedom and democracy.
Most of us commenting on this Report have been studying these bastards and their methods for a lifetime. Simply put, we know what we are looking at.
Too many in our nation do not learn much of anything political until it lands on their doorstep. They are busy with the good life or worse with a miserable life. They bought the bullshit and let their cynicism completely take over. I hate THAT---I don't hate THEM.
Love is the answer and I'm not being "simple" in this assessment. Love is hard when it has been 250 years in the making.
These fascists have gone too far. They have picked ridiculous leaders. There has been virtually no one counter-demonstrating.Things start to disappear from the grocery shelves. No medicine from China. Grandma tossed from the nursing home. Married women not allowed to vote. And on and on. Despite Trump and the cult, the rest will learn and join us.
Thanks Thom. You are a patriot. See you in the streets with the rest of them.
This is "Future Shock" in living color, but the future is dystopia, and the shock is imminent arrest, physical attack, death, or possibly war. The public desperately needs a crash course in fascism, authoritarianism, oligarchy, etc., etc., assuming that it isn't too late. One thing was left off the list of preconditions. The people were lulled to sleep and given the illusion that they were being educated, when in fact they were being miseducated, indoctrinated, obedience-trained, and entertained to death. An alert and aware populace could have and would have stopped the rapid increase in the wealth gap, the Supreme Court deterioration, the corruption of Congress, and the evolution toward a positive orientation to dependence on authority. Oh well. What can I say? Best of luck. And forget about praying. It's all up to us now.
If the people were lulled to sleep it was because they were too lazy or complacent to seek the truth under the barrage of forty plus years of Republican misinformation and propaganda, starting mostly with Reagan, (which the liberals and Democrats failed to call out because they thought no one would believe anyway,) and the fact that the Republicans told them that the problems were not their fault - they were the victims - which they wanted to hear anyway.
Obsessive love among the ruins. Everyone in this cabal is using each other for some narcissistic, homo-erotic fantasy. 240 years of breathing ancient sunlight and its associated poisons has absolutely addled the brains of 'leadership.'
As to history repeating itself, there is not enough lipstick to paint this new pig. Only one truly real dis-function will prevent its final installation - arrogant denial of the poly crises currently beating our brains out of our skulls. Fear, paranoia, deception, denial and oppression are rising exponentially due to the actual, real-time stressors that are HERE NOW.
Civil disobedience is not only a possibility, it is a necessity, a positive stress that may actually cleanse humans of their obsessive addictions to fantasy. Time is very short, and it will tell all. Tick, tock, tick tock.
Of all people it took a conservative to say enough and call for a National Uprising and boycott, not just demonstrations that peter out. The regime can stand demonstrations and in fact they are pressure cooker relief valves. What is needed is a national uprising
Are you talking about David Brooks? Yeah, too little, maybe too late, but better late than never. I have been calling for both, and more, for years, in any venue that would listen. Venues normally are echo chambers. Demonstrations are part of the boycott movement, and visa versa. The regime is so sensitive it cannot stand ANY obstruction, unless it decides to send the troops in to revisit Kent State or worse. Blood lust. Nor-pinepherine high. That WILL create a national uprising. But it would be better to have the uprising before the murders, do you not think?
As regards Brooks, better late than never. Daniel Solomon mentioned something about an epiphany. Well I had one in 1989, before that I was a Bill Buckley Jr plus conservative.
As regards an overthrow of the fascist regime, well 1789, if not then it is our heads to the guillotine, suffer us not Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Society, too late is too late.
Those that think that the institutions will hold, live in never never land, the institutions are a dead letter, and how anyone cannot grasp that is beyond me.
Elections in 2026, yeh like Elections in Turkey and Hungary or Russia.
Judicial system saving us. Not at all, two steps forward one step back. When a case hits the SCOTUS docket, if they agree they will let is stand without a hearing, if they disagree they hear it.
Liberals are claiming victories where there are no, so desperate are they.
SCOTUS ruled in favor of contract law and said that the regime had to pay USAID contractors, but they haven't paid a dime and won't. They ignore the court
SCOTUS in a 7-2 hit a pause (not a stop button) on deportation of men from Texas to El Salvador. That was not a victory, not by a long stretch.
Lower courts only rule on Temporary restraining orders and the such, giving the regime time to do their homework and bolster their case, and if the regime doesn't like the court ruling it ignores it, because there is means of enforcing or punishing Trump or any of it's officials.
There is only one recourse a National Uprising, a popular revolt, a national boycott, throw a monkey wrench into the gears, otherwise it will keep churning and turning us into fuel or soylent green.
I concur. As to methodology, I think ti will look stochastic, but is not. the TFG pus boil is not a reasoning entity, but is certainly a meme of biotic reaction. Problem for maga is; the biotic reality is outreageously complex, because it operates on very patterned and logical principles. Anathema and crazymaking to deviant mental abberations called maga.
Can we create a protected course of action through a class action lawsuit against the federal government? After all, our own tax dollars are being used to attack us, to enslave us. And we just go along with the scheme. Literally, friends, war is being waged against us. Protesting, fine, and far more effective if used with a sledge hammer. Also, can recall efforts against every Republican office holder be mounted effectively?
Good grief, I'm a 70 year old small business owner, over my head already. I'm not educated enough to know what is possible in a resistance, a counterrevolution in response to a coup.
But I know my mental health is plummeting. Retail traffic is WAY down, and I see it only getting worse. It could kill my business, easily.
This was written 2 days after last year's election. Still relevant now. JACK
The Aftermath
Last night was a truly jarring experience that tests and will test our ideas of who we are as people and as a nation. As a student of history, I can’t restrain myself from making historical comparisons between what is happening here now and the similarities to events that happened 90 years ago in Europe and how that might inform us of the dangers ahead. I have always wondered if I was an informed German citizen in 1930’s Germany how I would have reacted when Hitler, an individual that espoused racial hatred and employed violent thugs against his rivals, was elected and given absolute power by Conservative politicians thinking they could control his worst impulses. I probably would have felt the angst I feel now but would not have imagined the absolute disaster this individual could or would unleash on my country and the world. Now 90 years later we are confronted with a new Hitleresque want-to-be, who has regained power just as Hitler did, due to a uniformed and economically stressed electorate, political lies promulgated by mass media, by Fox News and social media and the complicity and cowardice of political figures of a former conservative party. I really don’t have to guess about who Trump is or what he is going to try to do. His former colleagues, former high level military figures who served in his administration have explicitly told us who he is and how dangerous he will be if given power again. He, himself, has explicitly told us the fascistic, racist and political policies and retributions he will visit on us if given power again. I really can’t overemphasize the danger we as a country and the world are now in. I would be a little more sanguine if the Democrats had at least held one branch of government to exercise some restraint on the would-be dictator, but it now looks as if he and his boot-licking compliant, Republican legislators will have total control over all branches. As a citizen, just as the citizens of Germany in 1934, we all have basically two choices; one is to tune out, go about life as usual and just pretend the precarious situation is not going to affect you, the other choice is to speak out against the outrages that are sure to come, try to aid the campaign to impose some restraint and reverse the damage by reclaiming one of the two legislative bodies 2 years from now in the midterms. In Germany people who followed the first course were in the end not spared from the ensuing cataclysm. People who followed the noble and courageous course were not spared either, but they had the hope, vision and possibility of what was right and what might have been. So, the message is don’t look away, don’t give up, and keep the faith that we are a democracy, that people before us have fought and paid the ultimate price to defend and we must do the same. This is not the time to or place to accept this as some usual election and choose to deny the looming danger. JACK 11/6/24
The path of violence and fear is not one based on strength but weakness. Just what kind of weakness do the members of 3 equal branches of government are exhibited? Bribery created by the Supreme Court made legal in the 70's by two decisions. The later taking over the Supreme Court by Republicans simply made the course of events a self-fulfilling prophecy. The requirements of the Equal Rights Amendment has been fulfilled but ignored because when its passage was seen as eventual a tag of unconstitutional limit of time no other amendment had ever been restricted by was placed on it in a form of legal paper. No constitutional law can be altered by regular law. It too has to go thru a constitutional process which it never did. This is bully politics and bullies always use violence as a weapon while the weak fall to its influence. How weak is man is not in debate. The question is who is strong enough to overthrow bullies and the weak? The Chosen One comes and his strength is not in debate. The weapon of fear dies at his mere gaze. The world is not the old world as the old has died. Karmics will have to leave the 4D (heaven) as there is no place on Earth for their fear based lies. Soon the Earth will shift to 5D and nothing can stop it, not even a non constitutional law and the weak karmics of hate.
Sorry, the first American dictatorship was FDR. And I don't know that we can ever recover from "Big Government." I am much more concerned about the "Shadow Government" and what the Democrats -- with RINO support -- have been doing in secret, and lying about it all along.
I didn't vote for Trump: I voted against the Socialist Democrats. If Trump breaks his promises to restore the Constitution {there is little wrong with project 2025), there will be "Civil War." In my opinion, those trying to "fundamentally change America" are guilty of Treason!
Many J6ers were unjustly prosecuted: Let ALL the Truth come out!!! NOW!
Nah. Why restore a document that cannot even protect itself from destruction? TFG has zero plans for what you say. He is not a planner, he is a grifter, a liar, a con man, an obsessive sexualizer and a thief. I defend your right to say what you do, but I absolutely disagree with your libertarian premises. You would enjoy living in Russia?
I have just as much right to be here and to express my opinions as you do. I am only seeking the truth. If anything I say is not true, please correct me.
You are not seeking truth. You believe you alone possess truth and are here to find converts. This is not a site for proselytizing, preaching, or spreading the gospel according to Tim. Your talking points give you away. You have no desire to learn, and you see everything through a right-wing propaganda lens. Get a soapbox and take it to the street corner. Volunteer at the homeless shelter. Check your library or take some courses.
I am not going to allow my Nation to be destroyed. Our Constitution works if we follow it. Anyone trying to steal our Freedom must be exposed and brought to Justice. You still have not refuted anything I have said.
If something already hidden from view is also being done in secret — something of a redundancy — lying is going to be counterproductive in that it is going to draw attention to the general area of what had previously been unknown. Better to remain totally silent.
When indeed. Some questions have remained unanswered for over 2,000 years. There is a greater urgency for answers to our current questions than having faith that they will be answered somewhere in the nebulous future. Great empires have fallen and millions have died because of war, disease and privation while waiting for answers. Currently, I see a nation tearing itself apart, brother turning against brother, and a world on fire. Even if our answers are coming, we need to work together in the interim. In order to do that we need to stand on common ground but all I see today is divisiveness.
I absolutely agree. And I can't understand why it should be so hard to determine what is actually true, and then to work together to solve our problems, in spite of our differing opinions.
How does one go about determining what is true? Even as individuals we often question our own "truths" *(and I think it's dangerous not to); how do we go about agreeing on what is universally true? Perhaps we need to set aside the question of what is true, find commonalities (no matter how seemingly trivial), and start working together from there.
Mr. Cantrell, if you think FDR was our "first American Dictatorship"; then you now nothing about Andrew Jackson [our worst president until Trump], or Abraham Lincoln, one of our best. Both acted like dictators and both had their reasons, or should we say excuses?
Andrew Jackson was a renegade, but Abe Lincoln was one of few humans who could be trusted with such (temporary) Authority. What we need now is someone we can trust.
Mr. Cantrell, I agree with your characterization of Abraham Lincoln. But the idea that we should rely upon the good character of political or economic leaders, sends chills up my spine. The system is a more important determinant than the content of mens' character. Men of good character get assassinated by men of bad character anyway: JFK, RFK, MLK. Need more?
I cannot trust the System -- such as it is. If we could restore the limits and balance of Powers delegated by the Constitution, with each Branch -- especially Congress -- DOING their job, we could get out of this mess. But We the People must hold them responsible.
You have spelled out what is happening exactly right. It looks to me as though they very much want an authoritarian oligarchy dictatorship with white Christian supremacist patriarchy overlay. We must stop them because they will not stop themselves.
Sorry .... with all that is happening I think we are missing the most essential points. Trump is a distraction to the essence of the catastrophe.
Musk is erasing our government and we are not noticing!! He has undermined the efficacy of ALL the departments of our government. This is a Libertarian goal!
The 1980 Libertarian Party Platform is nearly identical to the Project 2025 document.
Take a look: https://lpedia.org/wiki/Document:National_Platform_1980
There is an article in the New Republic (WRITTEN IN 2019) describing this and the connection to the Kochs et al. It is exactly what is happening now!!
https://newrepublic.com/article/154849/david-koch-1980-fantasy
We still have the capacity to stop him" Only takes a few Congressional Republicans.
I still think national security is the tie that binds. Hegseth is a dream opponent....
Meidas should be concentrating on the many Congressional Republicans who are unhappy with Trump. We need to get them to come to their senses and stand up with us. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/
See Keith Olbermannn today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjUmNp4kg60&t=240s
The most important thing said by a Congressional Republican. "I am afraid."
Yes, certainly. That was also the case witih McCarthy. Once he tripped into assaulting the military, he was quickly toast.
Concentrating immense pressure on a few Rs to becoming independents and "patriots" is a focal point that needs to happen. Both chambers of Congress need to be flipped now, not in 2026, and assert themselves. Some Rs have by now realized that their careers in Congress are over and can be persuaded to do the right thing for society.
IMHO she needs psychological reinfoprfcement from people just like you and me. Olbermann sujggests she join Bernie and AOC on tour.
She is one of 7 Republicans who consponsor the bill that would strip Trump of tariff authority.
Note my post on substack today. My husband said don't post it because most people won't know what the role of eunichs was in the Chinese emperor's court and what is in the boxes they're holding.
Flash: Rep. Don Bacon, a prominent Republican and former Air Force general, has become the first GOP lawmaker to publicly call for the removal of Pete Hegseth.
I saw a discussion last night on MSNBC of Murkowski's comment, and the consensus was that it was her reason for surrender, for not doing anything. She is a afraid so she will sit back and let Trump and Project 2025 unfold.
Afraid of what? What could be worse than doing nothing in the face of this juggernaut? Being primaried? Seriously. We are not far from Congress being completely toothless.
Afraid of their person, property and for their family. MAGA has proven prone to violence, and death threats abound, with follow up. People are being swatted and stalked. Politics is not for the faint of heart, if they can be intimidated that easily they are in the wrong job.
You don't join special ops, and then beg out of dangerous assignments.
Consider the source.
IMHO it's not so much antipathy to Project 2025 as it is national security. Putin may want to reverse Seward's folly.
You are correct, some of those conscious thinking republicans should get on the bandwagon to stop a complete decimation of our kids' future.
It's both and, not either or.
Joan, I recall those days. Thank you for reigniting history.
You know, this might be a long shot, but I wonder if the goal is to totally change the workings of government by the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. That is coming up in July of '26. The trappings could still exist, just as the first two centuries of the Roman Empire were nominally under a republican form of government, but how things really work would be different. (Not that they weren’t changing already, but not like this.) A "new improved republic" could be packaged with the hope that not that many would notice this bait and switch. On the other hand, if the economy has gone to hell by then it would be hard for them to put this lipstick on a pig. Some choice!
That may just happen.
Louis Pasteur, among others, is credited with the quote "chance favors only the prepared mind." In the lead-up to the ACA, there was a multi-year process of public education about options for universal healthcare. Without it, there would have been no ACA. Obama's retreat from a change management strategy, however, is why the effort ended with far too much insurance company profiteering.
A similar process should be used with notions of durable democracy. For example,
• Maxwell Stearn's "Parliamentary America" ideas of three Constitutional amendments—1) expanding the House of Representatives, 2) having House party coalitions choose the president, and 3) letting the House end a failing presidency based on no confidence—hold out promise to produce a robust multiparty and durable democracy.
• Thinking about a radical restructuring of the presidency to be a "Federal Council" (Switzerland's model) or the Council of the Federation (Canada's model) are ideas whose ideas have come.
More likely we impeach the bastards.....
Impeach AND remove.
Dr Gilbert. The initial push during the Obama administration was single payor, led by Bernie.
However Rahm Emanuel, Nancy Pelosi and the DNC (beholden to AHIP donors), killed that idea. During the run up, the White House was an open door for AHIP reps and lobbyists, in in Congress they basically wrote the ACA, Nancy would have nothing to do with any motion for single payor and kept all such motions off the floor .
To get single payor when the Democrats controlled congress would have taken a one page bill that changed the wording in 42 U.S. Code §§ 1395w-21–1395w-29 , to eligible at birth instead of eligible at age 65.
Instead Nancy allowed AHIP lobbyists and lawyers to write a 600 page bill, which SCOTUS found at least one part unconstitutional (taxing persons who don't buy insurance), the whole scheme was a move to force everyone in the US to buy insurance.m when Nancy could have had everyone enrolled in Medicare.
Medicare is not free. I am paying $185 a month, some pay more, some less.
Entrenched interests are always a force to reckon with. The reality is that there is no single-payer healthcare system in the world. Even the best of the best have top-offs or similar systems, e.g., France. Obama was ready to walk away. Pelosi took on the politics and got something done. It certainly would have been better to have a mixed system like France or the Netherlands than what we got.
Without the five years or so of build-up on public knowledge about universal healthcare, however, the ACA would never have happened. We would be back in the dystopian world of gaming around pre-existing conditions, junk insurance, and financial healthcare scams.
We need a similar but very much accelerated education process of what makes a durable democracy. Just reacting without a plan to go forward is foolish.
I am aware of the problems of Medicare. I was a Regence Blue Shield Group plan though CalPers and when I turned 65, the insurance company changed to the Medicare minimum, as my secondary. I went from a twice annual wellness exam to an annual wellness exam, and found other restrictions, but for others, than me, something is better than nothing.
The benefits of ACA like not being able to deny on pre existing conditions would not even be a question if we had Medicare for all.
I do not subscribe to the b.s. of the perfect being the enemy of the good, a Goebellian propaganda phrase.
There are problems with Single Payor, but a lot better than the ACA, as there are still legions of uninsured and people dying daily for lack of medical care, and the ACA depends on State exchanges and let's talk about those, especially in red states.
On top of this is our enlistment in an axis of evil.
If only Democrats were 1/2 as good at stanching the onslaught of totalitarianism BEFORE the fact, as they are at soliciting funds via email AFTER the fact.
They let this fake businessman and his not-so-crypto fascist psychos happen to America.
They spectated. They ultimately Flubbed the cussed Dub.
The DNC slops at the same trough as the RNC, only they get sloppy seconds, and worse yet they have a culture which rewards those who have proven to accumulate what the DNC values as essential credentials (like Hillary getting foreign service creds), who have stood patiently in line, proving their loyalty like race horses that have been exercising in the paddock, waiting their turn to be called to the starting gate.
This has worked out so well, hasn't it. With politicians like Hillary, Terry McAuliffe, Hakeem Jeffries, and yes even Corey Booker, who only burnished his creds by standing for 25 hours and speaking before an empty senate.His overall track record has been quite DINO. Meanwhile real democratif firebrands like AOC and Bernie are denigrated or ignored, I even saw their performance at Coachella denigrated on MSNBC, they scare the hell out of the money powers.
Yes Mr. Farrar, I agree. Cory Booker's childish show was a dangerous joke compared to what Bernie, AOC, and Senator Van Hollen are doing. I am disappointed that so many Americans believe Booker did something courageous and important. What is disappointing is that they have never heard of Hannah Arendt, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Victor Frankl, Franz Fanon; and do not know how destructive it is when the mass of people have no ability to judge fact from fiction, reality from fantasy, immorality from morality, truth from lies.
There are so many good people who have left their words for us to read. Does any one read anymore? How many can see what is real? MAGAs are a lost cause.....but Dems?
I am glad someone agreed with me. I thought I was out standing in left field all by myself.
I never thought much of Booker, I followed his career and considered him little more than a self serving pol, and even a DINO. Then this stunt. He could have filibustered some legislation, but he fasted, didn't drink water for a day, worse a Depends and stood behind a podium for public display, in front of an empty senate.
He has presidential ambitions, so does Gavin Newsom, you will see more of these stunts as 2028 draw near, provided this fascimile of a democratic Republic is still standing.
no violent coup like 2020 that almost worked but not quite...this time they promised people better which turned out to be lies and controlled the election, aided by gerrymandering and voter manipulation and got the people to vote these fascists into office....no shots fired, no violent coups...just had the keys handed over to the kingdom.....and well....that's how dictators take power in today's day and age....we let it happen....now we need to realize our mistakes and fight to take back what was, what is being taken away....our freedom and democracy.
THEY. WILL. LEARN.
Most of us commenting on this Report have been studying these bastards and their methods for a lifetime. Simply put, we know what we are looking at.
Too many in our nation do not learn much of anything political until it lands on their doorstep. They are busy with the good life or worse with a miserable life. They bought the bullshit and let their cynicism completely take over. I hate THAT---I don't hate THEM.
Love is the answer and I'm not being "simple" in this assessment. Love is hard when it has been 250 years in the making.
These fascists have gone too far. They have picked ridiculous leaders. There has been virtually no one counter-demonstrating.Things start to disappear from the grocery shelves. No medicine from China. Grandma tossed from the nursing home. Married women not allowed to vote. And on and on. Despite Trump and the cult, the rest will learn and join us.
Thanks Thom. You are a patriot. See you in the streets with the rest of them.
This is "Future Shock" in living color, but the future is dystopia, and the shock is imminent arrest, physical attack, death, or possibly war. The public desperately needs a crash course in fascism, authoritarianism, oligarchy, etc., etc., assuming that it isn't too late. One thing was left off the list of preconditions. The people were lulled to sleep and given the illusion that they were being educated, when in fact they were being miseducated, indoctrinated, obedience-trained, and entertained to death. An alert and aware populace could have and would have stopped the rapid increase in the wealth gap, the Supreme Court deterioration, the corruption of Congress, and the evolution toward a positive orientation to dependence on authority. Oh well. What can I say? Best of luck. And forget about praying. It's all up to us now.
If the people were lulled to sleep it was because they were too lazy or complacent to seek the truth under the barrage of forty plus years of Republican misinformation and propaganda, starting mostly with Reagan, (which the liberals and Democrats failed to call out because they thought no one would believe anyway,) and the fact that the Republicans told them that the problems were not their fault - they were the victims - which they wanted to hear anyway.
Obsessive love among the ruins. Everyone in this cabal is using each other for some narcissistic, homo-erotic fantasy. 240 years of breathing ancient sunlight and its associated poisons has absolutely addled the brains of 'leadership.'
As to history repeating itself, there is not enough lipstick to paint this new pig. Only one truly real dis-function will prevent its final installation - arrogant denial of the poly crises currently beating our brains out of our skulls. Fear, paranoia, deception, denial and oppression are rising exponentially due to the actual, real-time stressors that are HERE NOW.
Civil disobedience is not only a possibility, it is a necessity, a positive stress that may actually cleanse humans of their obsessive addictions to fantasy. Time is very short, and it will tell all. Tick, tock, tick tock.
Of all people it took a conservative to say enough and call for a National Uprising and boycott, not just demonstrations that peter out. The regime can stand demonstrations and in fact they are pressure cooker relief valves. What is needed is a national uprising
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/opinion/trump-resistance.html
Are you talking about David Brooks? Yeah, too little, maybe too late, but better late than never. I have been calling for both, and more, for years, in any venue that would listen. Venues normally are echo chambers. Demonstrations are part of the boycott movement, and visa versa. The regime is so sensitive it cannot stand ANY obstruction, unless it decides to send the troops in to revisit Kent State or worse. Blood lust. Nor-pinepherine high. That WILL create a national uprising. But it would be better to have the uprising before the murders, do you not think?
As regards Brooks, better late than never. Daniel Solomon mentioned something about an epiphany. Well I had one in 1989, before that I was a Bill Buckley Jr plus conservative.
As regards an overthrow of the fascist regime, well 1789, if not then it is our heads to the guillotine, suffer us not Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Society, too late is too late.
Those that think that the institutions will hold, live in never never land, the institutions are a dead letter, and how anyone cannot grasp that is beyond me.
Elections in 2026, yeh like Elections in Turkey and Hungary or Russia.
Judicial system saving us. Not at all, two steps forward one step back. When a case hits the SCOTUS docket, if they agree they will let is stand without a hearing, if they disagree they hear it.
Liberals are claiming victories where there are no, so desperate are they.
SCOTUS ruled in favor of contract law and said that the regime had to pay USAID contractors, but they haven't paid a dime and won't. They ignore the court
SCOTUS in a 7-2 hit a pause (not a stop button) on deportation of men from Texas to El Salvador. That was not a victory, not by a long stretch.
Lower courts only rule on Temporary restraining orders and the such, giving the regime time to do their homework and bolster their case, and if the regime doesn't like the court ruling it ignores it, because there is means of enforcing or punishing Trump or any of it's officials.
There is only one recourse a National Uprising, a popular revolt, a national boycott, throw a monkey wrench into the gears, otherwise it will keep churning and turning us into fuel or soylent green.
I concur. As to methodology, I think ti will look stochastic, but is not. the TFG pus boil is not a reasoning entity, but is certainly a meme of biotic reaction. Problem for maga is; the biotic reality is outreageously complex, because it operates on very patterned and logical principles. Anathema and crazymaking to deviant mental abberations called maga.
Can we create a protected course of action through a class action lawsuit against the federal government? After all, our own tax dollars are being used to attack us, to enslave us. And we just go along with the scheme. Literally, friends, war is being waged against us. Protesting, fine, and far more effective if used with a sledge hammer. Also, can recall efforts against every Republican office holder be mounted effectively?
Good grief, I'm a 70 year old small business owner, over my head already. I'm not educated enough to know what is possible in a resistance, a counterrevolution in response to a coup.
But I know my mental health is plummeting. Retail traffic is WAY down, and I see it only getting worse. It could kill my business, easily.
This was written 2 days after last year's election. Still relevant now. JACK
The Aftermath
Last night was a truly jarring experience that tests and will test our ideas of who we are as people and as a nation. As a student of history, I can’t restrain myself from making historical comparisons between what is happening here now and the similarities to events that happened 90 years ago in Europe and how that might inform us of the dangers ahead. I have always wondered if I was an informed German citizen in 1930’s Germany how I would have reacted when Hitler, an individual that espoused racial hatred and employed violent thugs against his rivals, was elected and given absolute power by Conservative politicians thinking they could control his worst impulses. I probably would have felt the angst I feel now but would not have imagined the absolute disaster this individual could or would unleash on my country and the world. Now 90 years later we are confronted with a new Hitleresque want-to-be, who has regained power just as Hitler did, due to a uniformed and economically stressed electorate, political lies promulgated by mass media, by Fox News and social media and the complicity and cowardice of political figures of a former conservative party. I really don’t have to guess about who Trump is or what he is going to try to do. His former colleagues, former high level military figures who served in his administration have explicitly told us who he is and how dangerous he will be if given power again. He, himself, has explicitly told us the fascistic, racist and political policies and retributions he will visit on us if given power again. I really can’t overemphasize the danger we as a country and the world are now in. I would be a little more sanguine if the Democrats had at least held one branch of government to exercise some restraint on the would-be dictator, but it now looks as if he and his boot-licking compliant, Republican legislators will have total control over all branches. As a citizen, just as the citizens of Germany in 1934, we all have basically two choices; one is to tune out, go about life as usual and just pretend the precarious situation is not going to affect you, the other choice is to speak out against the outrages that are sure to come, try to aid the campaign to impose some restraint and reverse the damage by reclaiming one of the two legislative bodies 2 years from now in the midterms. In Germany people who followed the first course were in the end not spared from the ensuing cataclysm. People who followed the noble and courageous course were not spared either, but they had the hope, vision and possibility of what was right and what might have been. So, the message is don’t look away, don’t give up, and keep the faith that we are a democracy, that people before us have fought and paid the ultimate price to defend and we must do the same. This is not the time to or place to accept this as some usual election and choose to deny the looming danger. JACK 11/6/24
I don’t think we have two years.
Great writing .. and perspective .. this is not normal. And we can not behave normal ..
The path of violence and fear is not one based on strength but weakness. Just what kind of weakness do the members of 3 equal branches of government are exhibited? Bribery created by the Supreme Court made legal in the 70's by two decisions. The later taking over the Supreme Court by Republicans simply made the course of events a self-fulfilling prophecy. The requirements of the Equal Rights Amendment has been fulfilled but ignored because when its passage was seen as eventual a tag of unconstitutional limit of time no other amendment had ever been restricted by was placed on it in a form of legal paper. No constitutional law can be altered by regular law. It too has to go thru a constitutional process which it never did. This is bully politics and bullies always use violence as a weapon while the weak fall to its influence. How weak is man is not in debate. The question is who is strong enough to overthrow bullies and the weak? The Chosen One comes and his strength is not in debate. The weapon of fear dies at his mere gaze. The world is not the old world as the old has died. Karmics will have to leave the 4D (heaven) as there is no place on Earth for their fear based lies. Soon the Earth will shift to 5D and nothing can stop it, not even a non constitutional law and the weak karmics of hate.
Sorry, the first American dictatorship was FDR. And I don't know that we can ever recover from "Big Government." I am much more concerned about the "Shadow Government" and what the Democrats -- with RINO support -- have been doing in secret, and lying about it all along.
I didn't vote for Trump: I voted against the Socialist Democrats. If Trump breaks his promises to restore the Constitution {there is little wrong with project 2025), there will be "Civil War." In my opinion, those trying to "fundamentally change America" are guilty of Treason!
Many J6ers were unjustly prosecuted: Let ALL the Truth come out!!! NOW!
Nah. Why restore a document that cannot even protect itself from destruction? TFG has zero plans for what you say. He is not a planner, he is a grifter, a liar, a con man, an obsessive sexualizer and a thief. I defend your right to say what you do, but I absolutely disagree with your libertarian premises. You would enjoy living in Russia?
Our Constitution has not been followed for years! THAT is our Problem.
Why are you against Trump, when Clinton and Biden did the same things?
My wife is from Beijing: I will not be a slave.
Go away. Just go. You have nothing to add, and you clearly know nothing and don't care to learn.
I have just as much right to be here and to express my opinions as you do. I am only seeking the truth. If anything I say is not true, please correct me.
You are not seeking truth. You believe you alone possess truth and are here to find converts. This is not a site for proselytizing, preaching, or spreading the gospel according to Tim. Your talking points give you away. You have no desire to learn, and you see everything through a right-wing propaganda lens. Get a soapbox and take it to the street corner. Volunteer at the homeless shelter. Check your library or take some courses.
I am not going to allow my Nation to be destroyed. Our Constitution works if we follow it. Anyone trying to steal our Freedom must be exposed and brought to Justice. You still have not refuted anything I have said.
Also be concerned about shadow banking.
I understand: I have never trusted the Fed -- they have been artificially propping up the Stock Market for years.
Go eff yourself, you phony SOB.
Mr. Farrar, he may be an SOB. But he is not a phony. He has tasted the Guyanese Cool Aid.
If something already hidden from view is also being done in secret — something of a redundancy — lying is going to be counterproductive in that it is going to draw attention to the general area of what had previously been unknown. Better to remain totally silent.
Iice
Jesus said, "There is nothing hidden that shall not be made known" (Mark 4:22, Luke 12:2). The only question is, when?
When indeed. Some questions have remained unanswered for over 2,000 years. There is a greater urgency for answers to our current questions than having faith that they will be answered somewhere in the nebulous future. Great empires have fallen and millions have died because of war, disease and privation while waiting for answers. Currently, I see a nation tearing itself apart, brother turning against brother, and a world on fire. Even if our answers are coming, we need to work together in the interim. In order to do that we need to stand on common ground but all I see today is divisiveness.
I absolutely agree. And I can't understand why it should be so hard to determine what is actually true, and then to work together to solve our problems, in spite of our differing opinions.
How does one go about determining what is true? Even as individuals we often question our own "truths" *(and I think it's dangerous not to); how do we go about agreeing on what is universally true? Perhaps we need to set aside the question of what is true, find commonalities (no matter how seemingly trivial), and start working together from there.
When I know something is a lie, I cannot agree with it, especially when someone is trying to deceive me.
Mr. Cantrell, if you think FDR was our "first American Dictatorship"; then you now nothing about Andrew Jackson [our worst president until Trump], or Abraham Lincoln, one of our best. Both acted like dictators and both had their reasons, or should we say excuses?
Andrew Jackson was a renegade, but Abe Lincoln was one of few humans who could be trusted with such (temporary) Authority. What we need now is someone we can trust.
Mr. Cantrell, I agree with your characterization of Abraham Lincoln. But the idea that we should rely upon the good character of political or economic leaders, sends chills up my spine. The system is a more important determinant than the content of mens' character. Men of good character get assassinated by men of bad character anyway: JFK, RFK, MLK. Need more?
I cannot trust the System -- such as it is. If we could restore the limits and balance of Powers delegated by the Constitution, with each Branch -- especially Congress -- DOING their job, we could get out of this mess. But We the People must hold them responsible.
You have spelled out what is happening exactly right. It looks to me as though they very much want an authoritarian oligarchy dictatorship with white Christian supremacist patriarchy overlay. We must stop them because they will not stop themselves.
We are paying attention to the chaos and the intensely destructive methods.
But I think some believe his lies about unintentional damage. His poll numbers should be down to zero.