JD Vance, now the Republican candidate for vice president, is fully supportive of every aspect of Donald Trump’s cons and nakedly anti-American and pro-dictator policies...
But without footnotes it is better described as preaching to the choir. With footnotes, it might be helpful to me to try to swing some down ticket votes. (I live in a blue state)
I've written about this previously. It's the Russians, stupid. Vance is Putin's choice for VP. "He is vehemently opposed to using more funds to help Ukraine and has blasted what he sees as Europe’s over-dependence on the United States when it comes to military investment. One senior EU official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly on the issue, said in an interview Monday that the appointment of Vance was a “disaster” for Ukraine — and by extension for the European Union, which has backed Kyiv as it defends itself against Russian aggression." https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-vice-president-nominee-jd-vance-republican-party-united-states-presidential-election-us-eu-relations-isolationism-foreign-policy/
According to the 2022 American Community Survey, about 8.2 million people in the United States, or roughly 2.5% of the population, reported Polish ancestry. This makes Polish Americans the largest Slavic ethnic group in the country, the second largest Central European group, and the eighth largest immigrant group overall. Add the Baltic states, Finland, etc.
Hopefully the word about Putin/Vance will affect the vote in WPa, MI, MI.
Thom, or anyone: Could y'all please comment on the fiery pro-labor speech by the head of the Teamsters? When that came on I was like, "Wait. What? Have I been teleported into a Democratic convention in some alternate universe?" As an old line, deep blue Democrat (not necessarily a current Democrat - we will have to see), I was like: "Gee! What's up with that?"
I appreciate all the work you put into what you publish here. It shows.😎
What I find most telling about Vance's 180, and that of many other of Trump's minions and henchmen, is the spineless lack of character among the Trump movement leadership. Vance goes from calling Trump Hitler, to volunteering to serve as his Himmler?
How can people vote for such spineless slugs? The answer is revealed in Prof. Bob Paxton's, "The Anatomy of Fascism." Bob points out, that fascists have no interest in nor competence to govern. They merely wish to rule. Thus, fascist governments always implode because nobody dares warn the fuhrer of the unintended consequences of his edicts, like Trump's corporate tax cuts which did not create jobs, nor did his stupid tariffs save any jobs - did raise the deficit a few Trillion.
I think Vance is more like Hitler's Goering, he was 2nd in command of the Nazis.
As for Himmler, I think that is Steven Miller's role. You can see the evil just exuding out from him. And Bannon is Ernst Roem, the thuggish leader of the Brown Shirts who joyfully went around beating & killing people, mostly communists & Jews. My bet is Bannon would slide handily into that position as the leader of the Proud Boys et al. I wonder if they would have new uniforms, you know, wear 2 or 3 shirts on top of each other like Bannon's fashion choice. Hey, do you think he wears 3orange jumpsuits at a time in prison? And won't he be released just in time for the election?
I agree with your take. I chose H- immler for the alliteration whith H-itler :-) I agree that Miller is the creepiest of Trump's henchmen. Trump seems to be a magnet for psychopaths and insecure males. Not sure I can see Trump exterminating his scruffy nerf-herder Bannon. He has proven to be a very useful idiot.
If the Eisenhower Republican Party were still extant, I would find myself voting for some of their candidates. Currently, if a turnip were running against a MAGA Republican I would be Voting Turnip.
defected to the Messy Democratic Coalition which definitely will get its act together, (which won’t be hard given the alternative), in time, and win by a landslide!
Have you noticed that staunchest Biden supporters on MSNBC are what I call "fallen away" republicans. Michael Steele, David Jolly, Nicole Wallace, all of them were in the Republican party. They have come out in strong support of Biden. Michael Steele (former RNC chair) and David Jolly,( former Republican congressman from Florida)in particular. I think Nicole tries to remain more neutral as she is the moderator of the show but she certainly supports Biden over trump & is very quick to point out trump's many, many, many innumerable flaws.
It's a shame Democrats are not willing to do that every time they open their mouths. Can Biden beat trump? I don't know. Can Harris beat trump? I don't know. Can anyone else the Dems choose beat trump? I don't know! AND they don't know either! They need to stop dithering, hemming & hawing & get on board & unite behind our candidate & work, fight, & prove the case that trump & the Magats are an existential threat to our democracy.
Stop waiting for Biden to make up his mind. He's told us over & over: "I'm running!" His delivery may be more subdued than in the past but he's said it often enough that at some point they need to believe him OR replace him. He is not going to "make up his mind" to not run. If that's what they want to hear from him they have a long wait!
Return: Speaking of Michael Steele, I watched his podcast early this morning,and he had an educational and enjoyable conversation with Thom Hartman. I think it was from four days ago. I recommend everyone look it up on YouTube.
Return: I do like the Never Trump former Republicans, but they are still Republicans in ideology. They are not progressive, than again neither is the DNC, DCCC, DLCC, DSCC., we have to change that, put the fear of progressives into the Democratic party like Trump has put the fear of MAGA into the Republican party.
Left wing populism, which is anti corporate, but that threatens the donors. So there is that.
Stop the BS that will fracture this party and allow Trump to win . Joe Biden has the votes he needs and more to run . These Democrats that continually second guess this plan are a completely negative bunch Who will cause enough doubt to screw this up , to put it mildly .
Why do these people think they know so much more than the rest of us. A little humility is in order.
Bernie Sanders going out of his way to support Biden .
A young candidate is not necessarily a better candidate . Joe Bidens experience in and awareness of the office is in fact a benefit .
The dug in heels of these frantic people are making a challenge into a huge challenge .
A blue wave will not bring us the outcome we think it will, I fear. They are not willing to lose and play by the rules. They have SCOTUS and several Cannons behind their coup. They will not adhere to election results. They are also very much “locked and loaded.”
Vance was not picked by Trump. He was selected by the Heritage Foundation and the billionaires that own Trump to run the country while Donny watches TV and plays golf. He makes the ticket even more dangerous to Democracy.
Maga is riding for a a fall. All the criminal attempts to steal our democracy and this election will fail. We are ready.
Democrats and Republicans are making each other better and when maga goes down this time, we will have a better system of democracy to work on improving together.
I love your optimism and hope you are right. If not, there may be a copper lining (nothing better for sure). If our worst fears are realized, we may enter a zone described by one school of Marxist thought—that conditions have to become truly desperate, to hit rock borders, before a revolution will occur. If enough of our invisible countrymen suffer enough under the boots of the neo-Fascists, that could happen here. Our country might well not survive the enormous bloodshed inherent in that, but maybe it does not deserve to survive if we who are decent, real Americans don’t go above and beyond to preserve it. For that is what it will take, as the odds against us rise by the day.
The largest group of sociopathic Trump followers seems to be coming from the crowd that have never gone hungry a day in their life to me? Like GOP government workers, and gop's that household income exceeds $40,000 a year. The group that has never experienced poverty, is very glib to the suffering of those who have. The new GOP will not care a rats behind about the fate of the cults spoiled ungrateful brats. The only good the group that makes under a million dollars a year can be to the fascist is to have more babies and bring them into an ungodly enslaved hell, so all the people the fascists dispose of can be replaced.
The impoverished who know hunger, homelessness, pain and suffering who have been overworked and underpaid in sweltering heat and freezing cold, if a vote was taken, the already abused group, would probably rather die in a nuclear holocaust than to be worked to death or have no hope. After about 2 weeks, the spoiled ungrateful cult members would also imho.
The cult members are actually on the side of the left and they are too stupid to know it, in other words, the oligarchs are manipulating this election so that we don't have too much destruction of their infrastructure because they want to rule and be treated as gods. A hell on Earth for the poor and a heaven on Earth for the rich.
There needs to be a real political party because the GOP has morphed into a terrorist organization and needs to be banned! If Trump is defeated they will just hang around, thanks to the billionaires money, until they do seize control of the government someday because they have caused so much disruption instead of making the nation stronger they have dedicated themselves to making the nation weaker which any moron could do.
To my Republican brother's and sister's, family and friends - none of us can afford a world with Trump-Vance at the helm. With all my heart, please listen to yours when you read this from Thom Hartmann - your children are counting on you:
"Vance has embraced a man who cheated on each of his three wives, who’s been credibly accused of rape by over 20 women (one 13 years old), and found to have actually raped E. Jean Carroll by a jury of his peers…twice. Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was legendary, he brags about being able to “grab them by the pussy” whenever he feels like it, and he publicly boasted about walking into the dressing rooms of teen and pre-teen girls when he owned that pageant."
Reagan was actually no help for separation of church and state. He brought the Campus Crusade for Christ to have a virtual free reign into the Pentagon to do their proselytizing, reinforcing some of the generals, and other's views about the Mideast and the "End of Days" Biblical prophecies. I think a few of these officers went on to teach at West Point. The MAGA threat may be a different kind of crazy, but still uses the evangelicals for their authoritarian aims. What they have in common is control of the people for their own power addiction, and the feeding of their personality disorders that lack conscience. and moral maturity.
Given the current state of the Republican Party, its platform, its participation in Project 2025, we are looking back somewhat fondly on Reagan. Recall there were some huge red flags starting with the site he chose to announce his candidacy. Though I consider myself a progressive and a supporter of our Constitution and what we might label an adherent to "progressive values" today, I actually withdrew from the Republican Party during Reagan's tenure as POTUS. I recall my motive was my concerns over his promotion of Christianity. I, a follower of a nonChristian spiritual path, saw Reagan as a threat to one of our most precious rights enshrined in our First Amendment: the separation of church and state. Yes, I had other concerns about Reagan, but that was the concern that prompted me to re-register myself with my registrar of voters, ending a lifetime of support for the Republican Party. Like Thom, and I am of a similar age, I was raised by Republican parents. I like to think neither of my parents would have approved of the direction their party has taken. That today we hold up RR as an example of a relatively reasonable and traditional Republican (when in his term of office he presented some pretty extreme positions) is a testament to just how far the MAGA Republican Party has strayed from its roots.
Tim: You are correct, except for one thing. Generals don't teach at West Point, they command at West Point, and there is only one commander at a time. But West Point is not the only service academy.
The Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, not sooner accepted it's first cadet, than evangelical churches moved in and set up shot, soon Colorado Springs became a hot bed of Evangelical mega churches and Dominionism.
Military trainees, enlisted and officer, are encouraged to attend church, and to that effect each flight or platoon has a chapel guide, whose job is to keep the flight or platoon apprised of services and then march them to services,which the trainees (cadets) look forward to because it gets them out of the barracks and details. They can attend church services off campus and the church has shuttles to pick them up, In 2005 there was an investigation of the Air Force Academy because of it's intolerance towards non Christians, nothing came of it, nothing changes and I am sure that the disease has spread to the other service academies.
And Reagan's trickle down, made this all possible. Turning the poor into thugs that want to steal their neighbors stuff. Humans will eat each other when there is not enough to go around! While the rich get to play God.
I have been praying for the death of the GOP for a long time. My hope is that the Green or other viable party like the Greens would take the place of these monsters. It would be a great day when the Dems have to fight to be better at the environment than the other party. God bless America.
Off topic, but two important pieces of news that is not mentioned by anyone in my substack inbox (I don't watch TV news anymore)
Growing evidence that law enforcement was made aware of the Trumpy rally shooter before gunfire has put the Secret Service under pressure to explain the security failure. According to a Washington Post analysis of video footage, witnesses warned police of the shooter, Thomas Crooks, at least 86 seconds before he opened fire. The analysis backs up reports from other witnesses who have said they tried to alert police in the moments before Crooks shot at former President Trump. Jon Swaine, Abbie Cheeseman, Jonathan Baran, Isaac Stanley-Becker, and Shawn Boburg report.
(Evidence that this was a set up, the cut on his ear were shards from the teleprompter. I qualified as expert with the M-16, . The M16 is not a sniper rifle, it is a close combat weapon, with iron sights, and to hit a head at the distance of over 150 yards (450 ft) by an untrained shooter is quite a feet, especially for a 20 year old with no military service. Who shot him, when was he shot, where was he located when shot, and how long after the shooting was he shot.)
TRUMP LEGAL MATTERS
Judge Aileen Cannon yesterday dismissed former Trump’s federal classified documents case, citing in the 93-page motion the “unlawful appointment and funding of special counsel Jack Smith.” The decision, which was based on the legality of the Justice Department’s appointment of Smith, marks another major legal win for Trump ahead of November’s election. A spokesperson for Smith’s office yesterday confirmed that the Justice Department has approved plans to appeal. Erin Doherty reports for Axios; Justin Jouvenal reports for the Washington Post. Readers may also be interested in Adam Klasfeld’s analysis of Cannon’s decision for Just Security.
(Why hasn't Jack Smith filed appeals for other rulings? Why hasn't he filed to have her dismissed?)
Thanks, I had not seen that interview, I've got so much stuff going on. The question I have, is why would the 20 year old shooter sacrifice his life if it was staged? I noticed Trump did not have any blood on his hand immediately when he put his hand up to his ear, I thought he may have added the blood himself like the wrestlers do in the ring. The only way I think they could talk a 20 year old into the shooting, is if they knew he was a loner and was picked on and bullied,then fit the psychological profile and they pretended to be his friends and talked him into it over a few beers the night before? Then started talking about all the fame a person would have for shooting Hitler before he was a dictator? Maybe he was given bullets that were fake? I have to only believe what can be proven. Maybe some others can fill in the missing information?
You are correct, I believe the kid was collateral damage as were the victims.
I still think it's FAKE and I believe Trump and his enablers capable of this so he could play the victim and become the next President. Just look at what he did in 2020. Pure Evil.
My dear fellow veteran, it was always my understanding that the M-16's were designed to make it easy for the worst "shot" to do their best. That's the saddest aspect of the gun measures we have now, these kinds of long guns facilitate the destruction of lives by people with little or no training. Guy was probably nervous, and we know he was a lousy shot in the moment.
I agree about the teleprompter and glass. You need a high-speed lens to capture a bullet on film. Could have been a fancy camera involved that got that pic of something whizzing by, but it makes more sense it was a glass shard moving at a lesser speed.
I was an MP and can speak to police/agency confusion. I think, we are going to find out that the co-ordination of all the security was the real problem. Who's this guy up there? Is he security? By the time they communicated about who was who, the twenty-year-old "lousy shot" killed an innocent victim, wounded others, traumatized many, and was "neutralized" later than he should have been.
As usual, Trump creates the atmosphere for violence and ends-up benefiting while others die. He IS a psychopath and chaos is the love of his life. Oh the damage he will do if elected......
And alis, there is the interview with the witness, a young man,blondish hair, a beard and possibly a MAGA hat that was conducted on site, minutes after Trump was shot, he said that he saw the shooter and warned the police minutes before and nothing was done, and there were other witnesses who said the same.
I expect that interview to slide into the memory hole, as well as an investigation.
I cannot support conspiracy nor can I dismiss it. I can only hope there is enough doubt to foment a thorough investigation. The end result especially disturbs me--Biden able to stage a dynamic theatrical third act by defiantly shouting with full face exposure from secret service praetorians who provided a best seat, fifth row center stage removal. Many suggest the moving out-front kept him in a vulnerable position for repeated shots. Is it secret service protocol to produce increased visual vulnerability, or is it to prohibit all target visibility immediately?
The thing about conspiracies, is that they are a fact of life, and exist at every level of society. But labeling something a conspiracy theory, has been an effective way of denigrating and ignoring it.
For instance the fake elector scheme was a conspiracy, at the highest level of government and they almost got away with it.
Sir John Harington wrote, "Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason" in his early 17th century work Epigrams.
I agree. we have reached the point where accusations of a conspiracy theory are put forth to create and implant a label that is the result of a theory conspired to put shade on its target. In other words, labelling conspiracy theory is now produced by someone intentionally creating a conspiracy.theory
Thanks, it is convoluted isn't it, but still what is happening. How about I frame it this way, call it out as a conspiracy theory, to hide the fact that it is indeed a conspiracy.
Two investment bankers meet at the 9th hole and hatch a plot to short the sale of a stock. That is a conspiracy.
Members of the Lions club meet at a bar to eliminate a competitor, that is a conspiracy. The fucking list is endless, limited only by the imagination of what two or more people can cook up, to promote their own interests.
There is even a Federal law to prosecute such called RICO.
Traditional republicans brought us to this. My parents were republicans until Reagan-then they switched. Thank you for this comparison, tho-it is mind boggling!
Vance yesterday described the United Kingdom, where I live, as the first Islamic nuclear state.
And this man could be the VP of the USA? With that level of ignorance? No thank you.
This is the perfect essay to send to anyone still clinging to the fantasy that the GOP exists. #TheGOPisDead
But without footnotes it is better described as preaching to the choir. With footnotes, it might be helpful to me to try to swing some down ticket votes. (I live in a blue state)
Oops, links
I've written about this previously. It's the Russians, stupid. Vance is Putin's choice for VP. "He is vehemently opposed to using more funds to help Ukraine and has blasted what he sees as Europe’s over-dependence on the United States when it comes to military investment. One senior EU official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly on the issue, said in an interview Monday that the appointment of Vance was a “disaster” for Ukraine — and by extension for the European Union, which has backed Kyiv as it defends itself against Russian aggression." https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-vice-president-nominee-jd-vance-republican-party-united-states-presidential-election-us-eu-relations-isolationism-foreign-policy/
IMHO the ethnic core of the Republican Party in his home state is now vulnerable. Trump won Ohio by 8% in 2020. I don't know this as a fact but I bet many of his 2020 ardent supporters were Slavic Americans. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/04/23/jd-vances-dismissive-attitude-toward-ukraine-is-an-insult-to-70000-ukrainian-americans-in-ohio/ Add to that the veterans and military, their families and friends now opposed to him due to "not suckers or losers." As of today, Democrat Sherrod Brown leads Moreno by 5% according to the polls.
According to the 2022 American Community Survey, about 8.2 million people in the United States, or roughly 2.5% of the population, reported Polish ancestry. This makes Polish Americans the largest Slavic ethnic group in the country, the second largest Central European group, and the eighth largest immigrant group overall. Add the Baltic states, Finland, etc.
Hopefully the word about Putin/Vance will affect the vote in WPa, MI, MI.
Thom, or anyone: Could y'all please comment on the fiery pro-labor speech by the head of the Teamsters? When that came on I was like, "Wait. What? Have I been teleported into a Democratic convention in some alternate universe?" As an old line, deep blue Democrat (not necessarily a current Democrat - we will have to see), I was like: "Gee! What's up with that?"
I appreciate all the work you put into what you publish here. It shows.😎
Samuel ,
Let’s make sure he is invited to
speak at the Democratic Convention as well - he could give essentially the same speech
and get a standing ovation.
Moscow Mitch was given the
Bronx Salute and the Teamsters
leader was given a polite applause by the RNC - splendid.
Paul: I would love to see O'Brien at the Democratic convention and receive a standing ovation.
Gloria ,
How ironic to have him
speak at the RNC -
which party blocks minimum wage hikes,
stands in the way of union organizing attempts and
disrupts the work of the
NLRB ( National Labor Relations Board) ?
He had to sound bipartisan in his speech last night . But he knows
the party that supports working families-
( not the party of T)
Nevertheless, he would be
among better supporters
at the DNC .
Daniel: Thanks for the links. I hope the choice of JD sinks the MAGAs.
What I find most telling about Vance's 180, and that of many other of Trump's minions and henchmen, is the spineless lack of character among the Trump movement leadership. Vance goes from calling Trump Hitler, to volunteering to serve as his Himmler?
How can people vote for such spineless slugs? The answer is revealed in Prof. Bob Paxton's, "The Anatomy of Fascism." Bob points out, that fascists have no interest in nor competence to govern. They merely wish to rule. Thus, fascist governments always implode because nobody dares warn the fuhrer of the unintended consequences of his edicts, like Trump's corporate tax cuts which did not create jobs, nor did his stupid tariffs save any jobs - did raise the deficit a few Trillion.
I think Vance is more like Hitler's Goering, he was 2nd in command of the Nazis.
As for Himmler, I think that is Steven Miller's role. You can see the evil just exuding out from him. And Bannon is Ernst Roem, the thuggish leader of the Brown Shirts who joyfully went around beating & killing people, mostly communists & Jews. My bet is Bannon would slide handily into that position as the leader of the Proud Boys et al. I wonder if they would have new uniforms, you know, wear 2 or 3 shirts on top of each other like Bannon's fashion choice. Hey, do you think he wears 3orange jumpsuits at a time in prison? And won't he be released just in time for the election?
I agree with your take. I chose H- immler for the alliteration whith H-itler :-) I agree that Miller is the creepiest of Trump's henchmen. Trump seems to be a magnet for psychopaths and insecure males. Not sure I can see Trump exterminating his scruffy nerf-herder Bannon. He has proven to be a very useful idiot.
If the Eisenhower Republican Party were still extant, I would find myself voting for some of their candidates. Currently, if a turnip were running against a MAGA Republican I would be Voting Turnip.
Totally agree -
But isn’t comparing Trump to turnips
an insult to vegetables everywhere.
lol.
Oh, Tom!
So overwhelmingly sad!
However,
There is a bright side to this!
Those wonderful Republicans have now
defected to the Messy Democratic Coalition which definitely will get its act together, (which won’t be hard given the alternative), in time, and win by a landslide!
trump even projected one! Just the wrong one!
Have you noticed that staunchest Biden supporters on MSNBC are what I call "fallen away" republicans. Michael Steele, David Jolly, Nicole Wallace, all of them were in the Republican party. They have come out in strong support of Biden. Michael Steele (former RNC chair) and David Jolly,( former Republican congressman from Florida)in particular. I think Nicole tries to remain more neutral as she is the moderator of the show but she certainly supports Biden over trump & is very quick to point out trump's many, many, many innumerable flaws.
It's a shame Democrats are not willing to do that every time they open their mouths. Can Biden beat trump? I don't know. Can Harris beat trump? I don't know. Can anyone else the Dems choose beat trump? I don't know! AND they don't know either! They need to stop dithering, hemming & hawing & get on board & unite behind our candidate & work, fight, & prove the case that trump & the Magats are an existential threat to our democracy.
Stop waiting for Biden to make up his mind. He's told us over & over: "I'm running!" His delivery may be more subdued than in the past but he's said it often enough that at some point they need to believe him OR replace him. He is not going to "make up his mind" to not run. If that's what they want to hear from him they have a long wait!
Return: Speaking of Michael Steele, I watched his podcast early this morning,and he had an educational and enjoyable conversation with Thom Hartman. I think it was from four days ago. I recommend everyone look it up on YouTube.
Return: I do like the Never Trump former Republicans, but they are still Republicans in ideology. They are not progressive, than again neither is the DNC, DCCC, DLCC, DSCC., we have to change that, put the fear of progressives into the Democratic party like Trump has put the fear of MAGA into the Republican party.
Left wing populism, which is anti corporate, but that threatens the donors. So there is that.
Absolutely right!
Biden is running .
Stop the BS that will fracture this party and allow Trump to win . Joe Biden has the votes he needs and more to run . These Democrats that continually second guess this plan are a completely negative bunch Who will cause enough doubt to screw this up , to put it mildly .
Why do these people think they know so much more than the rest of us. A little humility is in order.
Bernie Sanders going out of his way to support Biden .
A young candidate is not necessarily a better candidate . Joe Bidens experience in and awareness of the office is in fact a benefit .
The dug in heels of these frantic people are making a challenge into a huge challenge .
Let go of it .
A blue wave will not bring us the outcome we think it will, I fear. They are not willing to lose and play by the rules. They have SCOTUS and several Cannons behind their coup. They will not adhere to election results. They are also very much “locked and loaded.”
The Biden tear down by the media owning wealthy class will backfire.
Let's hope so!
Vance was not picked by Trump. He was selected by the Heritage Foundation and the billionaires that own Trump to run the country while Donny watches TV and plays golf. He makes the ticket even more dangerous to Democracy.
He was picked by Peter Thiel, who gives millions to elect trump. That was the deal.
There is even an unbelievable happy ending!
Maga is riding for a a fall. All the criminal attempts to steal our democracy and this election will fail. We are ready.
Democrats and Republicans are making each other better and when maga goes down this time, we will have a better system of democracy to work on improving together.
I love this sentiment. Something to strive for. Hope it can come true!
I love your optimism and hope you are right. If not, there may be a copper lining (nothing better for sure). If our worst fears are realized, we may enter a zone described by one school of Marxist thought—that conditions have to become truly desperate, to hit rock borders, before a revolution will occur. If enough of our invisible countrymen suffer enough under the boots of the neo-Fascists, that could happen here. Our country might well not survive the enormous bloodshed inherent in that, but maybe it does not deserve to survive if we who are decent, real Americans don’t go above and beyond to preserve it. For that is what it will take, as the odds against us rise by the day.
The largest group of sociopathic Trump followers seems to be coming from the crowd that have never gone hungry a day in their life to me? Like GOP government workers, and gop's that household income exceeds $40,000 a year. The group that has never experienced poverty, is very glib to the suffering of those who have. The new GOP will not care a rats behind about the fate of the cults spoiled ungrateful brats. The only good the group that makes under a million dollars a year can be to the fascist is to have more babies and bring them into an ungodly enslaved hell, so all the people the fascists dispose of can be replaced.
The impoverished who know hunger, homelessness, pain and suffering who have been overworked and underpaid in sweltering heat and freezing cold, if a vote was taken, the already abused group, would probably rather die in a nuclear holocaust than to be worked to death or have no hope. After about 2 weeks, the spoiled ungrateful cult members would also imho.
The cult members are actually on the side of the left and they are too stupid to know it, in other words, the oligarchs are manipulating this election so that we don't have too much destruction of their infrastructure because they want to rule and be treated as gods. A hell on Earth for the poor and a heaven on Earth for the rich.
There needs to be a real political party because the GOP has morphed into a terrorist organization and needs to be banned! If Trump is defeated they will just hang around, thanks to the billionaires money, until they do seize control of the government someday because they have caused so much disruption instead of making the nation stronger they have dedicated themselves to making the nation weaker which any moron could do.
To my Republican brother's and sister's, family and friends - none of us can afford a world with Trump-Vance at the helm. With all my heart, please listen to yours when you read this from Thom Hartmann - your children are counting on you:
"Vance has embraced a man who cheated on each of his three wives, who’s been credibly accused of rape by over 20 women (one 13 years old), and found to have actually raped E. Jean Carroll by a jury of his peers…twice. Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was legendary, he brags about being able to “grab them by the pussy” whenever he feels like it, and he publicly boasted about walking into the dressing rooms of teen and pre-teen girls when he owned that pageant."
Reagan was actually no help for separation of church and state. He brought the Campus Crusade for Christ to have a virtual free reign into the Pentagon to do their proselytizing, reinforcing some of the generals, and other's views about the Mideast and the "End of Days" Biblical prophecies. I think a few of these officers went on to teach at West Point. The MAGA threat may be a different kind of crazy, but still uses the evangelicals for their authoritarian aims. What they have in common is control of the people for their own power addiction, and the feeding of their personality disorders that lack conscience. and moral maturity.
Given the current state of the Republican Party, its platform, its participation in Project 2025, we are looking back somewhat fondly on Reagan. Recall there were some huge red flags starting with the site he chose to announce his candidacy. Though I consider myself a progressive and a supporter of our Constitution and what we might label an adherent to "progressive values" today, I actually withdrew from the Republican Party during Reagan's tenure as POTUS. I recall my motive was my concerns over his promotion of Christianity. I, a follower of a nonChristian spiritual path, saw Reagan as a threat to one of our most precious rights enshrined in our First Amendment: the separation of church and state. Yes, I had other concerns about Reagan, but that was the concern that prompted me to re-register myself with my registrar of voters, ending a lifetime of support for the Republican Party. Like Thom, and I am of a similar age, I was raised by Republican parents. I like to think neither of my parents would have approved of the direction their party has taken. That today we hold up RR as an example of a relatively reasonable and traditional Republican (when in his term of office he presented some pretty extreme positions) is a testament to just how far the MAGA Republican Party has strayed from its roots.
Tim: You are correct, except for one thing. Generals don't teach at West Point, they command at West Point, and there is only one commander at a time. But West Point is not the only service academy.
The Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, not sooner accepted it's first cadet, than evangelical churches moved in and set up shot, soon Colorado Springs became a hot bed of Evangelical mega churches and Dominionism.
Military trainees, enlisted and officer, are encouraged to attend church, and to that effect each flight or platoon has a chapel guide, whose job is to keep the flight or platoon apprised of services and then march them to services,which the trainees (cadets) look forward to because it gets them out of the barracks and details. They can attend church services off campus and the church has shuttles to pick them up, In 2005 there was an investigation of the Air Force Academy because of it's intolerance towards non Christians, nothing came of it, nothing changes and I am sure that the disease has spread to the other service academies.
https://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/03/airforce.religion/
We had "chaplain's call" every time we went to the field. Onward Christian soldiers.
I never had the experience. We operated in small independent teams, either parachuted or choppered in, mostly parachuted, no chaplains in my outfit.
And Reagan's trickle down, made this all possible. Turning the poor into thugs that want to steal their neighbors stuff. Humans will eat each other when there is not enough to go around! While the rich get to play God.
I have been praying for the death of the GOP for a long time. My hope is that the Green or other viable party like the Greens would take the place of these monsters. It would be a great day when the Dems have to fight to be better at the environment than the other party. God bless America.
Off topic, but two important pieces of news that is not mentioned by anyone in my substack inbox (I don't watch TV news anymore)
Growing evidence that law enforcement was made aware of the Trumpy rally shooter before gunfire has put the Secret Service under pressure to explain the security failure. According to a Washington Post analysis of video footage, witnesses warned police of the shooter, Thomas Crooks, at least 86 seconds before he opened fire. The analysis backs up reports from other witnesses who have said they tried to alert police in the moments before Crooks shot at former President Trump. Jon Swaine, Abbie Cheeseman, Jonathan Baran, Isaac Stanley-Becker, and Shawn Boburg report.
(Evidence that this was a set up, the cut on his ear were shards from the teleprompter. I qualified as expert with the M-16, . The M16 is not a sniper rifle, it is a close combat weapon, with iron sights, and to hit a head at the distance of over 150 yards (450 ft) by an untrained shooter is quite a feet, especially for a 20 year old with no military service. Who shot him, when was he shot, where was he located when shot, and how long after the shooting was he shot.)
TRUMP LEGAL MATTERS
Judge Aileen Cannon yesterday dismissed former Trump’s federal classified documents case, citing in the 93-page motion the “unlawful appointment and funding of special counsel Jack Smith.” The decision, which was based on the legality of the Justice Department’s appointment of Smith, marks another major legal win for Trump ahead of November’s election. A spokesperson for Smith’s office yesterday confirmed that the Justice Department has approved plans to appeal. Erin Doherty reports for Axios; Justin Jouvenal reports for the Washington Post. Readers may also be interested in Adam Klasfeld’s analysis of Cannon’s decision for Just Security.
(Why hasn't Jack Smith filed appeals for other rulings? Why hasn't he filed to have her dismissed?)
I saw the interview with the eye witness who warned the police and SS about a shooter on the roof. The SS was in on it. Totally staged.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/XyQfYhZO9mLT
Thanks, I had not seen that interview, I've got so much stuff going on. The question I have, is why would the 20 year old shooter sacrifice his life if it was staged? I noticed Trump did not have any blood on his hand immediately when he put his hand up to his ear, I thought he may have added the blood himself like the wrestlers do in the ring. The only way I think they could talk a 20 year old into the shooting, is if they knew he was a loner and was picked on and bullied,then fit the psychological profile and they pretended to be his friends and talked him into it over a few beers the night before? Then started talking about all the fame a person would have for shooting Hitler before he was a dictator? Maybe he was given bullets that were fake? I have to only believe what can be proven. Maybe some others can fill in the missing information?
IDK, but has anyone seen the dead body of the shooter?
And the guy with the beard on the video, said he saw the secret service blow his head off
You are correct, I believe the kid was collateral damage as were the victims.
I still think it's FAKE and I believe Trump and his enablers capable of this so he could play the victim and become the next President. Just look at what he did in 2020. Pure Evil.
I saw the interview as well. IRC he was a young bearded dude, blondish hair and beard. I think, not sure that he was wearing a MAGA hat.
My dear fellow veteran, it was always my understanding that the M-16's were designed to make it easy for the worst "shot" to do their best. That's the saddest aspect of the gun measures we have now, these kinds of long guns facilitate the destruction of lives by people with little or no training. Guy was probably nervous, and we know he was a lousy shot in the moment.
I agree about the teleprompter and glass. You need a high-speed lens to capture a bullet on film. Could have been a fancy camera involved that got that pic of something whizzing by, but it makes more sense it was a glass shard moving at a lesser speed.
I was an MP and can speak to police/agency confusion. I think, we are going to find out that the co-ordination of all the security was the real problem. Who's this guy up there? Is he security? By the time they communicated about who was who, the twenty-year-old "lousy shot" killed an innocent victim, wounded others, traumatized many, and was "neutralized" later than he should have been.
As usual, Trump creates the atmosphere for violence and ends-up benefiting while others die. He IS a psychopath and chaos is the love of his life. Oh the damage he will do if elected......
And alis, there is the interview with the witness, a young man,blondish hair, a beard and possibly a MAGA hat that was conducted on site, minutes after Trump was shot, he said that he saw the shooter and warned the police minutes before and nothing was done, and there were other witnesses who said the same.
I expect that interview to slide into the memory hole, as well as an investigation.
I cannot support conspiracy nor can I dismiss it. I can only hope there is enough doubt to foment a thorough investigation. The end result especially disturbs me--Biden able to stage a dynamic theatrical third act by defiantly shouting with full face exposure from secret service praetorians who provided a best seat, fifth row center stage removal. Many suggest the moving out-front kept him in a vulnerable position for repeated shots. Is it secret service protocol to produce increased visual vulnerability, or is it to prohibit all target visibility immediately?
The thing about conspiracies, is that they are a fact of life, and exist at every level of society. But labeling something a conspiracy theory, has been an effective way of denigrating and ignoring it.
For instance the fake elector scheme was a conspiracy, at the highest level of government and they almost got away with it.
Sir John Harington wrote, "Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason" in his early 17th century work Epigrams.
I agree. we have reached the point where accusations of a conspiracy theory are put forth to create and implant a label that is the result of a theory conspired to put shade on its target. In other words, labelling conspiracy theory is now produced by someone intentionally creating a conspiracy.theory
Thanks, it is convoluted isn't it, but still what is happening. How about I frame it this way, call it out as a conspiracy theory, to hide the fact that it is indeed a conspiracy.
Two investment bankers meet at the 9th hole and hatch a plot to short the sale of a stock. That is a conspiracy.
Members of the Lions club meet at a bar to eliminate a competitor, that is a conspiracy. The fucking list is endless, limited only by the imagination of what two or more people can cook up, to promote their own interests.
There is even a Federal law to prosecute such called RICO.
Dow Jones hit yet another record this morning. How can that be? I thought everything was “horrible” and a “disaster.”
Traditional republicans brought us to this. My parents were republicans until Reagan-then they switched. Thank you for this comparison, tho-it is mind boggling!