He hasn’t grown or developed new routines; he’s just daily reliving his old hits, playing to a nostalgic and mostly elderly audience who fondly remember his glory days...
The debates or his refusal to debate is what will kill him. If he debates (no live audience), he doesn't stand a chance. If he refuses to debate or sets ridiculous conditions, he will be perceived as cowardly. The Democrats can make campaign gold out of it.
It's coming out today that his late entrance at NABJ was because he was balking at being fact-checked live. (Axios scoop) Could be why he rolled in with such a chip on his shoulder.
But interesting hint of self-awareness, if you thought he didn't know he's a liar.
With this corrupt Supreme Court, I'll believe that when I see it. We could still end up with King Donald, IMHO, even if he only gets 25% of the votes, if we don't stop these Republicans from throwing out legitimate voters and Gerry Manning the whole system!
Not going to happen, Merchan for not legal, viable, or rational reason has held off on sentencing until Septermber. Trump was not tried for anything smelling of an official act, it was all NY, all financial, and all before he became president yet Merchan caved, as has has judge Chutkan, and Jack Smith has not filed any papers, though he has plenty of cause, to remove Cannon from Jurisdiction.
This has all of the odour of the Mueller scam, where liberals were wetting their pants in anticipation that Mueller would deliver the goods and it turned out to be a nothing burger.
And a question, just as important. The E Jean Carroll defamation case, Has Trump paid $1 of the $98 million he owes, has Trump Tower been confiscated to pay the judgement, has anything?
What was scammy about the Mueller Report other than its mischaracterization by AG Barr upon its initial release? The report, when finally published, told the tale, and the Senate committee report corroborated extensive Russian influence and contacts with the campaign. Trump repeatedly calling it “The Russia Hoax” doesn’t alter the facts to the contrary if you’re willing to look.
The Mueller report did tell the story, but it was synopsized by Barr, Mueller could have released it in full to the Public, but didn't.
By the time the public got to see it, Trump was long gone, it was old news and Trump and Barr were able to spin it...as no collusion. Thus the nothing burger.
Good one, Jeffrey. Speaking of songs, I just now listened to yesterday's inspired song and read the words, "Oh voter suppression!" and would like to see it catch on at political events and on the radio if that's possible. I heard a caller object that it is AI, but it's too good not to be an educational, rally song.
I’m no longer concerned about voter turnout as the ability to have their votes counted and certified. Reports by Rolling Stone magazine and Marc Elias indicate that MAGA supporters are in key positions throughout the country to make the Big Lie scheme of 2020 look like a rehearsal for 2024.
The question is what, if anything, is being done now to insure a peaceful, fair election?
Tjhat is my real concern. Bannon said on the TV that all of the elements are in play, that the election officials are MAGGOTS, that papers have been drawn up, and there will be people sitting on the courthouse steps on election day to rush in and file objections, and slates of electors drawn up and sitting on the state house steps on election day.
And not a phucking peep, not a word from the corporate media, even the Democratic Party, nor even Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
Election fraud, a coup planned in plain side, and the "defenders of Democracy" are sitting there like the three monkeys.
The fact that the hostage release took place over two years without it becoming public unto it was a done deal gives me hope that contingency plans are being made for the upcoming coup attempt which I believe is inevitable especially now that the outcome of the election is now up for grabs.
If nothing is being done, it is negligence beyond comprehension.
I share your hope, but if the past is prologue the Democratic party has been asleep at the switch and had no contingency plans for Jan 6th,and it was not a secret. Not that they could have done much, but Pelosi and Schumer walked into Congress like it was just another day, and no one was on alert not even the Capitol Police.
Michael, does anyone have an answer to your post? Rachel meadow said that tRump has political operatives in all swing states and they do not plan to certify the election. tRump recently has been broadcasting that he has more than the number of votes to win. He no longer needs his Magats' votes. Wondering how Harris's campaign advisors will handle this?
Marc Elias and his Democracy Docket organization are one NGO who has his finger on the pulse of this. However, the government is in the position of appearing to be placing its finger on the scales of justice.
This has been Trump’s claim for any attempt to hold him accountable. He and the MAGA cult believe he has the victim of a “partisan witch hunt”.
The whole MAGA movement has revealed a major weakness in our system. How do we protect ourselves from our domestic enemies while adhering to the principle of innocent until the guilty and the right of a fair trial and proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?
Trump may not respect the law, but he certainly knows how to exploit and use the virtues of the rule of law against itself.
This is what he learned through osmosis from Roy Cohen.
Here it is. We need more lawyers doing this. Daniel Solomon
Notes from Baghdad by the Sea
Aug 2
Flash from American Oversight. Georgi on my mind.
"This week — following a lawsuit from American Oversight — the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) withdrew rules it approved in a recent illegal meeting that was held without proper notice or a quorum.
"We sued the board for violating the state’s Open Meetings Act. During the last-minute meeting on July 12, three board members considered two new rules, which — as reporting later revealed — had been suggested by the state Republican Party.
One of the rules aimed to increase the number of partisan poll monitors observing ballot counting at Georgia tabulation centers.
On Tuesday, the board voted to withdraw the illegally promulgated rules, but agreed to reconsider them at its next properly noticed meeting, scheduled for next Tuesday.
“We’re pleased that our lawsuit, along with pressure from partner organizations on the ground in Georgia, has prompted the Board to withdraw the illegally approved rules from its sham July 12 meeting,” American Oversight’s interim Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said.
“We will continue to closely monitor the Board to ensure it does not engage in additional unlawful actions while behind closed doors and unaccountable to the people of Georgia,” she added.
Still, the board’s decision to promptly revisit the problematic measures, which serve to intimidate election workers and grant partisan advantage to preferred candidates, remains deeply concerning."
My concerns, too. Reviewing the polls on Harris "catching up" to Trump, MSNBC guest named Wasserman (don't remember his affiliation) cautioned that Harris has to win the popular vote by a minimum 2% to win the E.Coll. I think the Ragin' Cajun estimated more. Also, only reference for this just me, I wonder if the Convention is going to be the smooth blissful triumph there seems to be a lot of complacency about. It's Gaza, stupid.
As a huge fan of his,the real fat Elvis just made me sad. Calling the flatulent faux orange felon that just elevates him, because he ain’t nothing but a hound dog, lying all the time. And I am an elderly (76) white guy who is an unabashed Kamalamaniac now.
I completely agree with your excoriating list of maleficence, incompetence, and weirdness. My only reservation is that I still love Elvis! I was born in ‘75 so I didn’t really see the downfall firsthand, but his voice still speaks to me across the decades. Trump on the other hand - I can’t actually listen to him speak as I find myself recoiling from a weird fearmongering cluster B personality disorder. God forbid he ruins Elvis by singing something! This “Weird Bloated Trump” stage we will soon be over, and may he take many down with him.
Now we need to address the election denying vote certifiers that Republicans have installed in 70 places. (reference Maddow and NYT recently)
Same here Ryan, but the old Elvis, not the new drug addled overweight Elvis who died on the commode, My favorite song is "Suspicous Minds"/
Elvis met the fate of so many in the industry, including Hollywood and Broadway, if they are a money maker they are played like Willie plays the guitar, plied with drugs to keep them energized and awake, then plied with drugs to make them sleep. The love the fame, the money and all it buys, and actually fool themselves into believing that they are masters of their fate, when all they are are tools to enrich the pockets of others.
The price of fame. The Pink Cadillacs aren't doing him any good, even if they were his coffin.
Living peacefully at 85, comfortable but not engorge, no real worries except my health, I am wealthier than Elvis could ever hope to be, but I don't judge wealth to be money, designer clothes,Brioni suits, Rolex watches, and a fat back account.
I am glad to see Kamala Harris using the bully pulpit!!!! "What happened to I will debate you anytime and anywhere"? She got my vote with just that one statement! She isn't perfect but maybe we can get Thom to be one of her advisors?
Bob, I sent VP Harris a request to add single-payer universal health care to her platform. Kamala was for it until recently. I don't think fear of the weird, old convicted felon should overcome our reason. Healthcare for All should be a human right. Now is the time.
I have been told that Medicare for All is only a single issue and shouldn't keep me from voting for Harris, but it is a life and death issue. The draft during the Vietnam war was also a single life and death issue, but many more people prematurely die every year due to our for profit system that takes more and provides less than died in Vietnam.
And what happened with Vietnam after the Dem convention in Chicago and Nixon was elected? Peace?
Do you think we’re going to get any closer to universal healthcare with tRump and the GQPers in office?
When two candidates are similar in terms of their commitment to democracy at least and reproductive rights, then sure, vote on one issue. In this upcoming election, there’s only one issue: democracy v. fascism. Vote your conscious or whatever when there are people in office that would actually listen. Fascists don’t care.
Trump isn't going to win. Remember that he promised a "beautiful healthcare better than the ACA" but didn't deliver? Ivanka promised a government childcare program and didn't deliver? We're being manipulated by both parties or we would have what clear majorities need and want. Why did Kamala change her mind about single-payer? We're all commodities now until we say we're not and stand up for ourselves and each other. Supply side economics has turned us into their supplies.
First things first. I support single payer…I canvassed for Donald Berwick for MA Governor in 2014, and that was his big issue. But Kamala and her supporters first have to beat back a Fascist takeover as the top priority and with a hopefully unified Congress act to restore the guardrails of democracy that our corrupt SC has been dismantling for the last 15 years.
I am an old senior. I am experiencing the health system in real time. Each day brings a host of comorbidities. I grew up under a health care system where having Blue Cross meant something. My bills were paid in full. I didn't have to stay on the phone for hours, only to get a call center robotic reply. I didn't have to wait months to get an appointment with the doctor of my choice. My doctors weren't instructed to spend a maximum of 40 minutes with me. No doctor I saw said they would see me next year. After that nurses and staff would take over my care. I also remember when doctors managed the care of their patients. Now, a bureaucracy tells doctors who they can see., and how many tests they can order. Those that go into medicine spend a minimum of 30 years in their education. You can add another 7 years to that if they specialize. They are being asked to see twice the number of patients in a day than the doctors I saw years ago, for a fraction of the reimbursement. They get a fixed salary. Our brightest students are no longer going into medicine. They are choosing investment banking and computer science. That's a tragedy! Until, the next administration solves the problems I outlined, I will not vote for Single Payer Medicare For All. Hospitals and insurance companies are laughing all the way to the bank. They will continue to cut patient services and reduce reimbursement to physicians, as long as we continue to increase the cost of health care for all. When the next administration addresses the issues that people face now, it's a fools errand to spread the wealth to more people. They must reduce the cost of healthcare, as Biden was able to do with insulin, if they want to increase the number of people receiving medicare for all.
Your comment is abusive and it's uncalled for in a civil discussion. You don't see the forest for the trees. I am more than compassionate and have fought hard over the course of my life to see that equality and equity exists in all major issues we face in our society, i.e. reproductive rights, racial equality, economic and educational opportunity. You sound like a broken record. Get off your high horse and come down to earth. Who died and declared you king?
Your comment tells me you need help understanding our US healthcare system. You feel the cutback in your quality of care as evidence that we lack resources, so we shouldn't expand healthcare to more people. We are spending much more and getting less care because we have unnecessary middlemen (primarily men) taking more profits out of the system every year.
We spend more than twice what countries with the single-payer plan spend, and we have worse outcomes because we aren't spending it all on care. Life expectancy in the US is falling behind those countries with single-payer for some of the reasons you identified. Doctors and nurses are burned out and leaving, and more are reluctant to enter the profession as the word gets around how difficult it is to deliver adequate care. It is estimated that at least 40,000 working-age people die every year because they have no insurance. How many children don't receive timely care and die because they lack health insurance? How many seniors die because they can't afford supplemental insurance on top of their Medicare and are denied or forgo expensive surgeries or cancer care? Medicare Advantage plans deny care prescribed by physicians because they are private insurance companies paid by public funds. How many people die because of their denials? I am sure the total number of people who die because of our for-profit system each year exceeds the number of our soldiers killed in the entire Vietnam War, which was over 80,000 soldiers.
An example of how funds that are supposed to be spent on healthcare but instead are diverted to excessive bureaucratic expense is what I and many other diabetics are experiencing. My doctor prescribed a continuous glucose monitor for me, which is a sensor worn on an arm patch that connects to my cell phone that tells me what my blood glucose is constant, without having to stick my fingers and express blood onto a measuring stick, which I have to do five or six times a day. My blood glucose is erratic, and I must regulate it through diet and exercise so that I don't have complications, which include blindness and heart disease. My doctor and other doctors have prescribed medications that cause severe side effects and don't work for me. Therefore, continuous monitoring is the safest way to care for me.
My Medicare Advantage plan has denied my doctor's prescription, and I have spent a long time on the phone for the denial, appeal, and now the automatic appeal to decide if the denial was appropriate. If I pay for it myself, it will cost at least $200 per month, thousands of dollars less than Medicare Advantage receives out of the Medicare fund for me. Medical complications from not having continuous monitoring will cost much more, even if I survive.
The Medicare Advantage plan contracts a company to deny the claim and the appeal. The government pays to oversee and decide if the appeal was justified. My doctor's staff has spent much time sending records and communicating with me and the insurance plan. Are you beginning to see how wasteful our system is?
I mentioned at a family gathering how stupid and expensive it was to have the hospital administrator's name in giant letters across the top of the building so that it could be seen from a great distance. A family member said, "I would want my name on top of the building if I paid to build a hospital." Then I explained that the man didn't pay for it. He works for the system and earns over $8,000,000 yearly as the CEO. He also has a bust of himself in the lobby. Twenty years ago, the system was paying 10,000 dollars a month for each of six billboards advertising their system over other hospital systems; I'm sure it costs more now.
Their board member in charge of advertising is now in prison for stealing $4,000,000 in ad kickbacks. Are you starting to understand what's wrong with our healthcare system? Take care.
Gloria, I understand one important factor regarding our healthcare system. Follow the money. I don't doubt that we spend more than any other country on healthcare. I don't doubt that there are people who should be on medicare and are not. I think you are on a crusade. Please don't tell me what I know and don't know, because you are totally off track when it comes to my belief system. I believe the money we are spending right now is not getting to the right people. As I said, insurance companies and hospitals are profit making institutions. We need to address that first, because adding more people to the roles will not give them more quality care or solve the myriad of issues you addressed. In fact, it may give them less.
Why don't you be one of the employees who decides who lives and who dies by denying claims or working as a hospital administrator and determining how many nurses we should employ while understanding that fewer nurses per patient mean more people die? Some people will do anything for money. As long as you have yours, it's alright for other people to go without. My Norwegian father taught us children that if there are only five peas to eat and five people, everybody gets one pea. That means we should grow more peas.
I don't like debating with people who use insults and inflammatory accusations to get their point across. I live on earth one, where facts count and I don't subscribe to alternate facts on earth 2 bin order to win an argument. I do believe in a wealth tax, that Robert Reich has been advocating for years, but you never bothered to ask me that. You were too busy shoving your opinion down my throat. I state again, while Biden still can in his last six months in office solve some of the issues I addressed in my previous comment, he should. Timing is critical. It's one thing to advocate for Medicare for All and another thing to do the heavy lifting. Since the corporate raiders have taken over our economy, the patients already on medicare are getting shafted. We need to address the economic incentives, before we plunge right in to untested waters.
Sarcasm and hubris will get you where you are now. You exemplify someone who has a platform that is bound and determined to shove your opinion down everyone's throat. You insist on putting the cart before the horse. You don't understand that we have time right now to begin to solve the problems that people are plagued with right now. I and not anyone I know or respect advocates children and poor people go without healthcare. It's a matter of where the gov't chooses to spend their money. We need to eliminate monopolies and fraudulent corporatists that invest their money in Advantage plans that do nothing for the patient who comes down with a serious illness. These patients are covered by insurance that you strongly advocate, but they die, because of a lack of real medical care. Give me a break and stop acting like your holier than G-d.
Kamala has the MAGGOTS running away like gas was poured on them. The question is who will she pick for VP. I go for TimWalz, he is a governor, thus knows how to governor, unlikeSenators who compromise, he is popular and well loved in his state and America will fall in love with him.
The Bulwark, conservative Never Trumpers are rooting for Josh Shapiro, I like him also, and he is from Pennyslvania which is helpful, but I am also realistic and the only thing I care about it defeating Trump and Shaprio as VP is in the opposite direction, because he Muslim and young leftists have said that the won't vote for Biden because of his military aid to Israel.
And Shapiro is Jewish, and they will make that connection. Kamala's husband is also Jewish, but he is not outspoken or the connection.
My wife likes Mark kelley, He is a Senator and Senators compromise, not govern, and a vet and an astronaut. If he resigns the Katie Hobbs, the Governor and a Democrat can appoint a Democrat to fill his seat till the next election.
Kelly or Walz are fine with me, but I lean to Walz as he is experience in Politics and governance, and Kelly isn't.
He can hit the ground running and Kelly has a steep learning curve.
I also like Josh Shapiro, but I want to win and Shapiro could cost us the crucial Swing States which have hundreds of thousands of Muslims and young black males, both of whom are disenchanted with the Democratic party and Joe Biden, because they have myopic agendas.
They think if they flex their muscles this year, then everyone will bow and scrape in 2028, but we know there won't be a 2028, but they can't see that far and are frankly oblivious.
My email didn't wasn't delivered, and my phone call was hung up on within a few seconds. I will send a letter and hope everyone who wants single-payer universal healthcare and believes that healthcare is a human right will do the same. They will probably promptly open the letters in anticipation of receiving checks.
A comma is - , followed by la pronounced comma la (the way her name is pronounced) actually rather stupid, no one will catch it, but my wife showed me that with a smile on her face, and she isn't stupid, in fact quite intelligent but always thinking.
Yes, the Donald has become all Thom describes, but we dismiss him at our peril. Two reasons:
One, while most Americans may indeed see him as he is, all that matters is that 51% of Americans that are allowed to vote in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and one or two other states -- also see this.
Two, this time he has behind him a wealthy and smart army that are committed to riding him toward a second American revolution. They are pouring billions into this election, seeing it as their best chance to finally kill the NEW DEAL social democracy established in the last century.
Whoever is to lead the opposition to DT must define clearly the battle lines and, most importantly, establish her/his alternate vision for America in the 21st Century.
And there must be an attack dog: a separate group or individual running a parallel messaging program, skillfully deconstructing the Heritage brand. They must be seen as independent of the Dem candidate, play hard ball, and must call the demon by name.
I like how you think! The Lincoln Project is doing this. And if VP Harris picks Tim Waltz as her running mate, he will do this. I have respect for the many positives Sen. Mark Kelly would bring to the ticket, but he is too cerebral and soft spoken to be the attack dog, imo, and as a Jew myself, I would not pick Shapiro, as he is too closely aligned with the toxic AIPAC crowd, given where the Democratic Party is now.
I have been trying since 2001 to get involved in applying market framing tools to Progressive messaging, with no real success. The calcified corporate Dem consultant/polling conglomerate is afraid to step out of their comfort zone.
(like) In the face of extensive voter disenfranchisement programs, ie Georgia just "accidentally" leaked personal information that their roll-purging team can use to strike registrations. And in the face of the plot Rachel Maddow reported, to sabotage key County certifications to stymie the State certification. I was talking myself into thinking Trump will quit, because he's acting like he's boring himself, lazy, getting laughed at, and, above all, would take his ball and go home before somebody else makes him a loser.
BUT the lazy and boring could also be because he FEELS THE FIX IS IN, and he doesn't need to humor a bunch of suckers and losers. That could be, too.
There is no doubt that select organizations within the Republican Party constellation have worked over-time to "adjust" voting place access, registration certifications, and final count certifications on the local, regional and state level.
It is simply a matter of whether or not the Democratic Party leadership has the stones to play hard ball, counter their activities and push back after election day with all weapons in the arsenal of the party in power.
Remember, it is essentially an issue in six or seven key states. GOP will never carry CA; Dems will never carry TX, so no need to spend resources in these places.
As for the DT's laziness. I believe your second guess is the right one. That monster will never remove himself from the limelight. Most importantly: If he losses the election, he goes to jail. As an ordinary citizen in 2025, there are numerous prosecutors who will carve him up.
"He thinks trash-talking women, calling them “nasty” and other epithets, will bond men to him; instead, they imagine him bursting in on their mothers, sisters, wives, or daughters in a Bergdorf-Goodman dressing room." does that store even exist any longer? Made me laugh, though!
i for one never pitied him, I have always abhorred him! he simply looks sleazy!
(like) I got a laugh out of "shabby golf motel." But I think your instinctive revulsion against Trump deserves credit. In the interesting early 80's book "People of the Lie," quite famous Christian psychiatrist author M. Scott Peck posited that that kind of gut reaction to someone could be a self-preservation instinct in the presence of evil.
Poor Elvis, surrounded by the sycophants and money grubbers that refused to tell him the truth or help him take time off so he could seek help.
Who the hell "let" Trump talk to the black journalists? They and the NABJ just let him self-immolate. I loved/hated it. Kamala knew just how a President should respond.
AND I learned something that makes my heart sing---Can't Help Falling In Love would a good song:
"The Multiracial population has changed considerably since 2010. It was measured at 9 million people in 2010 and is now 33.8 million people in 2020, a 276% increase. The “in combination” multiracial populations for all race groups accounted for most of the overall changes in each racial category."---Census.gov August 12, 2021
One in ten and moving in the right direction, while Trump lives in the past. As Kamala says, WE are not going back. .
This sums the situation up perfectly. Now that this analogy is out there, let's run with it. Thank you for your attention to detail and you ability to tie it all together.
What glory days? He has never had any glory days unless one believes his dissemination of lies and hate coupled with gross incompetence counts as his glory days.
I think Trump will not debate for fear Harris may perform like the black journalists- ignoring his antics and pressing on. To Trump they were rude and nasty, exactly what Trump cannot handle.
The debates or his refusal to debate is what will kill him. If he debates (no live audience), he doesn't stand a chance. If he refuses to debate or sets ridiculous conditions, he will be perceived as cowardly. The Democrats can make campaign gold out of it.
It's coming out today that his late entrance at NABJ was because he was balking at being fact-checked live. (Axios scoop) Could be why he rolled in with such a chip on his shoulder.
But interesting hint of self-awareness, if you thought he didn't know he's a liar.
Came out a couple of days ago, but as per the usual the MSM didn't report it until they were backed up against a wall.
Time for Trump to start singing "Jailhouse Rock". For real.
With this corrupt Supreme Court, I'll believe that when I see it. We could still end up with King Donald, IMHO, even if he only gets 25% of the votes, if we don't stop these Republicans from throwing out legitimate voters and Gerry Manning the whole system!
Great minds.....
Not going to happen, Merchan for not legal, viable, or rational reason has held off on sentencing until Septermber. Trump was not tried for anything smelling of an official act, it was all NY, all financial, and all before he became president yet Merchan caved, as has has judge Chutkan, and Jack Smith has not filed any papers, though he has plenty of cause, to remove Cannon from Jurisdiction.
This has all of the odour of the Mueller scam, where liberals were wetting their pants in anticipation that Mueller would deliver the goods and it turned out to be a nothing burger.
And a question, just as important. The E Jean Carroll defamation case, Has Trump paid $1 of the $98 million he owes, has Trump Tower been confiscated to pay the judgement, has anything?
No.
What was scammy about the Mueller Report other than its mischaracterization by AG Barr upon its initial release? The report, when finally published, told the tale, and the Senate committee report corroborated extensive Russian influence and contacts with the campaign. Trump repeatedly calling it “The Russia Hoax” doesn’t alter the facts to the contrary if you’re willing to look.
The Mueller report did tell the story, but it was synopsized by Barr, Mueller could have released it in full to the Public, but didn't.
By the time the public got to see it, Trump was long gone, it was old news and Trump and Barr were able to spin it...as no collusion. Thus the nothing burger.
wait till 'truth' social stock tanks.......that's gonna hurt
Good one, Jeffrey. Speaking of songs, I just now listened to yesterday's inspired song and read the words, "Oh voter suppression!" and would like to see it catch on at political events and on the radio if that's possible. I heard a caller object that it is AI, but it's too good not to be an educational, rally song.
I’m no longer concerned about voter turnout as the ability to have their votes counted and certified. Reports by Rolling Stone magazine and Marc Elias indicate that MAGA supporters are in key positions throughout the country to make the Big Lie scheme of 2020 look like a rehearsal for 2024.
The question is what, if anything, is being done now to insure a peaceful, fair election?
Tjhat is my real concern. Bannon said on the TV that all of the elements are in play, that the election officials are MAGGOTS, that papers have been drawn up, and there will be people sitting on the courthouse steps on election day to rush in and file objections, and slates of electors drawn up and sitting on the state house steps on election day.
And not a phucking peep, not a word from the corporate media, even the Democratic Party, nor even Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
Election fraud, a coup planned in plain side, and the "defenders of Democracy" are sitting there like the three monkeys.
The fact that the hostage release took place over two years without it becoming public unto it was a done deal gives me hope that contingency plans are being made for the upcoming coup attempt which I believe is inevitable especially now that the outcome of the election is now up for grabs.
If nothing is being done, it is negligence beyond comprehension.
I share your hope, but if the past is prologue the Democratic party has been asleep at the switch and had no contingency plans for Jan 6th,and it was not a secret. Not that they could have done much, but Pelosi and Schumer walked into Congress like it was just another day, and no one was on alert not even the Capitol Police.
i smell venezuela.....can maduro be endured?
Autocrats are autocrats are autocrats!
tragic!
Michael, does anyone have an answer to your post? Rachel meadow said that tRump has political operatives in all swing states and they do not plan to certify the election. tRump recently has been broadcasting that he has more than the number of votes to win. He no longer needs his Magats' votes. Wondering how Harris's campaign advisors will handle this?
Marc Elias and his Democracy Docket organization are one NGO who has his finger on the pulse of this. However, the government is in the position of appearing to be placing its finger on the scales of justice.
This has been Trump’s claim for any attempt to hold him accountable. He and the MAGA cult believe he has the victim of a “partisan witch hunt”.
The whole MAGA movement has revealed a major weakness in our system. How do we protect ourselves from our domestic enemies while adhering to the principle of innocent until the guilty and the right of a fair trial and proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?
Trump may not respect the law, but he certainly knows how to exploit and use the virtues of the rule of law against itself.
This is what he learned through osmosis from Roy Cohen.
Daniel Solomon's response to this chicanery gives me som hope. Did you see it?
Here it is. We need more lawyers doing this. Daniel Solomon
Notes from Baghdad by the Sea
Aug 2
Flash from American Oversight. Georgi on my mind.
"This week — following a lawsuit from American Oversight — the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) withdrew rules it approved in a recent illegal meeting that was held without proper notice or a quorum.
"We sued the board for violating the state’s Open Meetings Act. During the last-minute meeting on July 12, three board members considered two new rules, which — as reporting later revealed — had been suggested by the state Republican Party.
One of the rules aimed to increase the number of partisan poll monitors observing ballot counting at Georgia tabulation centers.
On Tuesday, the board voted to withdraw the illegally promulgated rules, but agreed to reconsider them at its next properly noticed meeting, scheduled for next Tuesday.
“We’re pleased that our lawsuit, along with pressure from partner organizations on the ground in Georgia, has prompted the Board to withdraw the illegally approved rules from its sham July 12 meeting,” American Oversight’s interim Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said.
“We will continue to closely monitor the Board to ensure it does not engage in additional unlawful actions while behind closed doors and unaccountable to the people of Georgia,” she added.
Still, the board’s decision to promptly revisit the problematic measures, which serve to intimidate election workers and grant partisan advantage to preferred candidates, remains deeply concerning."
https://www.americanoversight.org/georgia-election-board-withdraws-rules-approved-in-illegal-meeting-following-american-oversight-lawsuit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIp9TwSEgFg
Thanks Eddie. I appreciate fellow Substacers sharing their information.
You are very welcome.
My concerns, too. Reviewing the polls on Harris "catching up" to Trump, MSNBC guest named Wasserman (don't remember his affiliation) cautioned that Harris has to win the popular vote by a minimum 2% to win the E.Coll. I think the Ragin' Cajun estimated more. Also, only reference for this just me, I wonder if the Convention is going to be the smooth blissful triumph there seems to be a lot of complacency about. It's Gaza, stupid.
As a huge fan of his,the real fat Elvis just made me sad. Calling the flatulent faux orange felon that just elevates him, because he ain’t nothing but a hound dog, lying all the time. And I am an elderly (76) white guy who is an unabashed Kamalamaniac now.
Zing!
I completely agree with your excoriating list of maleficence, incompetence, and weirdness. My only reservation is that I still love Elvis! I was born in ‘75 so I didn’t really see the downfall firsthand, but his voice still speaks to me across the decades. Trump on the other hand - I can’t actually listen to him speak as I find myself recoiling from a weird fearmongering cluster B personality disorder. God forbid he ruins Elvis by singing something! This “Weird Bloated Trump” stage we will soon be over, and may he take many down with him.
Now we need to address the election denying vote certifiers that Republicans have installed in 70 places. (reference Maddow and NYT recently)
Same here Ryan, but the old Elvis, not the new drug addled overweight Elvis who died on the commode, My favorite song is "Suspicous Minds"/
Elvis met the fate of so many in the industry, including Hollywood and Broadway, if they are a money maker they are played like Willie plays the guitar, plied with drugs to keep them energized and awake, then plied with drugs to make them sleep. The love the fame, the money and all it buys, and actually fool themselves into believing that they are masters of their fate, when all they are are tools to enrich the pockets of others.
The price of fame. The Pink Cadillacs aren't doing him any good, even if they were his coffin.
Living peacefully at 85, comfortable but not engorge, no real worries except my health, I am wealthier than Elvis could ever hope to be, but I don't judge wealth to be money, designer clothes,Brioni suits, Rolex watches, and a fat back account.
Wealth is that which makes me happy.
I am glad to see Kamala Harris using the bully pulpit!!!! "What happened to I will debate you anytime and anywhere"? She got my vote with just that one statement! She isn't perfect but maybe we can get Thom to be one of her advisors?
Bob, I sent VP Harris a request to add single-payer universal health care to her platform. Kamala was for it until recently. I don't think fear of the weird, old convicted felon should overcome our reason. Healthcare for All should be a human right. Now is the time.
I have been told that Medicare for All is only a single issue and shouldn't keep me from voting for Harris, but it is a life and death issue. The draft during the Vietnam war was also a single life and death issue, but many more people prematurely die every year due to our for profit system that takes more and provides less than died in Vietnam.
And what happened with Vietnam after the Dem convention in Chicago and Nixon was elected? Peace?
Do you think we’re going to get any closer to universal healthcare with tRump and the GQPers in office?
When two candidates are similar in terms of their commitment to democracy at least and reproductive rights, then sure, vote on one issue. In this upcoming election, there’s only one issue: democracy v. fascism. Vote your conscious or whatever when there are people in office that would actually listen. Fascists don’t care.
Trump isn't going to win. Remember that he promised a "beautiful healthcare better than the ACA" but didn't deliver? Ivanka promised a government childcare program and didn't deliver? We're being manipulated by both parties or we would have what clear majorities need and want. Why did Kamala change her mind about single-payer? We're all commodities now until we say we're not and stand up for ourselves and each other. Supply side economics has turned us into their supplies.
First things first. I support single payer…I canvassed for Donald Berwick for MA Governor in 2014, and that was his big issue. But Kamala and her supporters first have to beat back a Fascist takeover as the top priority and with a hopefully unified Congress act to restore the guardrails of democracy that our corrupt SC has been dismantling for the last 15 years.
I am an old senior. I am experiencing the health system in real time. Each day brings a host of comorbidities. I grew up under a health care system where having Blue Cross meant something. My bills were paid in full. I didn't have to stay on the phone for hours, only to get a call center robotic reply. I didn't have to wait months to get an appointment with the doctor of my choice. My doctors weren't instructed to spend a maximum of 40 minutes with me. No doctor I saw said they would see me next year. After that nurses and staff would take over my care. I also remember when doctors managed the care of their patients. Now, a bureaucracy tells doctors who they can see., and how many tests they can order. Those that go into medicine spend a minimum of 30 years in their education. You can add another 7 years to that if they specialize. They are being asked to see twice the number of patients in a day than the doctors I saw years ago, for a fraction of the reimbursement. They get a fixed salary. Our brightest students are no longer going into medicine. They are choosing investment banking and computer science. That's a tragedy! Until, the next administration solves the problems I outlined, I will not vote for Single Payer Medicare For All. Hospitals and insurance companies are laughing all the way to the bank. They will continue to cut patient services and reduce reimbursement to physicians, as long as we continue to increase the cost of health care for all. When the next administration addresses the issues that people face now, it's a fools errand to spread the wealth to more people. They must reduce the cost of healthcare, as Biden was able to do with insulin, if they want to increase the number of people receiving medicare for all.
Your comment is abusive and it's uncalled for in a civil discussion. You don't see the forest for the trees. I am more than compassionate and have fought hard over the course of my life to see that equality and equity exists in all major issues we face in our society, i.e. reproductive rights, racial equality, economic and educational opportunity. You sound like a broken record. Get off your high horse and come down to earth. Who died and declared you king?
Your comment tells me you need help understanding our US healthcare system. You feel the cutback in your quality of care as evidence that we lack resources, so we shouldn't expand healthcare to more people. We are spending much more and getting less care because we have unnecessary middlemen (primarily men) taking more profits out of the system every year.
We spend more than twice what countries with the single-payer plan spend, and we have worse outcomes because we aren't spending it all on care. Life expectancy in the US is falling behind those countries with single-payer for some of the reasons you identified. Doctors and nurses are burned out and leaving, and more are reluctant to enter the profession as the word gets around how difficult it is to deliver adequate care. It is estimated that at least 40,000 working-age people die every year because they have no insurance. How many children don't receive timely care and die because they lack health insurance? How many seniors die because they can't afford supplemental insurance on top of their Medicare and are denied or forgo expensive surgeries or cancer care? Medicare Advantage plans deny care prescribed by physicians because they are private insurance companies paid by public funds. How many people die because of their denials? I am sure the total number of people who die because of our for-profit system each year exceeds the number of our soldiers killed in the entire Vietnam War, which was over 80,000 soldiers.
An example of how funds that are supposed to be spent on healthcare but instead are diverted to excessive bureaucratic expense is what I and many other diabetics are experiencing. My doctor prescribed a continuous glucose monitor for me, which is a sensor worn on an arm patch that connects to my cell phone that tells me what my blood glucose is constant, without having to stick my fingers and express blood onto a measuring stick, which I have to do five or six times a day. My blood glucose is erratic, and I must regulate it through diet and exercise so that I don't have complications, which include blindness and heart disease. My doctor and other doctors have prescribed medications that cause severe side effects and don't work for me. Therefore, continuous monitoring is the safest way to care for me.
My Medicare Advantage plan has denied my doctor's prescription, and I have spent a long time on the phone for the denial, appeal, and now the automatic appeal to decide if the denial was appropriate. If I pay for it myself, it will cost at least $200 per month, thousands of dollars less than Medicare Advantage receives out of the Medicare fund for me. Medical complications from not having continuous monitoring will cost much more, even if I survive.
The Medicare Advantage plan contracts a company to deny the claim and the appeal. The government pays to oversee and decide if the appeal was justified. My doctor's staff has spent much time sending records and communicating with me and the insurance plan. Are you beginning to see how wasteful our system is?
I mentioned at a family gathering how stupid and expensive it was to have the hospital administrator's name in giant letters across the top of the building so that it could be seen from a great distance. A family member said, "I would want my name on top of the building if I paid to build a hospital." Then I explained that the man didn't pay for it. He works for the system and earns over $8,000,000 yearly as the CEO. He also has a bust of himself in the lobby. Twenty years ago, the system was paying 10,000 dollars a month for each of six billboards advertising their system over other hospital systems; I'm sure it costs more now.
Their board member in charge of advertising is now in prison for stealing $4,000,000 in ad kickbacks. Are you starting to understand what's wrong with our healthcare system? Take care.
Gloria, I understand one important factor regarding our healthcare system. Follow the money. I don't doubt that we spend more than any other country on healthcare. I don't doubt that there are people who should be on medicare and are not. I think you are on a crusade. Please don't tell me what I know and don't know, because you are totally off track when it comes to my belief system. I believe the money we are spending right now is not getting to the right people. As I said, insurance companies and hospitals are profit making institutions. We need to address that first, because adding more people to the roles will not give them more quality care or solve the myriad of issues you addressed. In fact, it may give them less.
Why don't you be one of the employees who decides who lives and who dies by denying claims or working as a hospital administrator and determining how many nurses we should employ while understanding that fewer nurses per patient mean more people die? Some people will do anything for money. As long as you have yours, it's alright for other people to go without. My Norwegian father taught us children that if there are only five peas to eat and five people, everybody gets one pea. That means we should grow more peas.
I don't like debating with people who use insults and inflammatory accusations to get their point across. I live on earth one, where facts count and I don't subscribe to alternate facts on earth 2 bin order to win an argument. I do believe in a wealth tax, that Robert Reich has been advocating for years, but you never bothered to ask me that. You were too busy shoving your opinion down my throat. I state again, while Biden still can in his last six months in office solve some of the issues I addressed in my previous comment, he should. Timing is critical. It's one thing to advocate for Medicare for All and another thing to do the heavy lifting. Since the corporate raiders have taken over our economy, the patients already on medicare are getting shafted. We need to address the economic incentives, before we plunge right in to untested waters.
Sarcasm and hubris will get you where you are now. You exemplify someone who has a platform that is bound and determined to shove your opinion down everyone's throat. You insist on putting the cart before the horse. You don't understand that we have time right now to begin to solve the problems that people are plagued with right now. I and not anyone I know or respect advocates children and poor people go without healthcare. It's a matter of where the gov't chooses to spend their money. We need to eliminate monopolies and fraudulent corporatists that invest their money in Advantage plans that do nothing for the patient who comes down with a serious illness. These patients are covered by insurance that you strongly advocate, but they die, because of a lack of real medical care. Give me a break and stop acting like your holier than G-d.
Kamala has the MAGGOTS running away like gas was poured on them. The question is who will she pick for VP. I go for TimWalz, he is a governor, thus knows how to governor, unlikeSenators who compromise, he is popular and well loved in his state and America will fall in love with him.
The Bulwark, conservative Never Trumpers are rooting for Josh Shapiro, I like him also, and he is from Pennyslvania which is helpful, but I am also realistic and the only thing I care about it defeating Trump and Shaprio as VP is in the opposite direction, because he Muslim and young leftists have said that the won't vote for Biden because of his military aid to Israel.
And Shapiro is Jewish, and they will make that connection. Kamala's husband is also Jewish, but he is not outspoken or the connection.
My wife likes Mark kelley, He is a Senator and Senators compromise, not govern, and a vet and an astronaut. If he resigns the Katie Hobbs, the Governor and a Democrat can appoint a Democrat to fill his seat till the next election.
Kelly or Walz are fine with me, but I lean to Walz as he is experience in Politics and governance, and Kelly isn't.
He can hit the ground running and Kelly has a steep learning curve.
I also like Josh Shapiro, but I want to win and Shapiro could cost us the crucial Swing States which have hundreds of thousands of Muslims and young black males, both of whom are disenchanted with the Democratic party and Joe Biden, because they have myopic agendas.
They think if they flex their muscles this year, then everyone will bow and scrape in 2028, but we know there won't be a 2028, but they can't see that far and are frankly oblivious.
My email didn't wasn't delivered, and my phone call was hung up on within a few seconds. I will send a letter and hope everyone who wants single-payer universal healthcare and believes that healthcare is a human right will do the same. They will probably promptly open the letters in anticipation of receiving checks.
My wife just showed me shorthand for Kamala say it aloud (,,la Let me help, comma la) , la ,la , la , la.
I don't understand the short hand.
A comma is - , followed by la pronounced comma la (the way her name is pronounced) actually rather stupid, no one will catch it, but my wife showed me that with a smile on her face, and she isn't stupid, in fact quite intelligent but always thinking.
Yes, the Donald has become all Thom describes, but we dismiss him at our peril. Two reasons:
One, while most Americans may indeed see him as he is, all that matters is that 51% of Americans that are allowed to vote in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and one or two other states -- also see this.
Two, this time he has behind him a wealthy and smart army that are committed to riding him toward a second American revolution. They are pouring billions into this election, seeing it as their best chance to finally kill the NEW DEAL social democracy established in the last century.
Whoever is to lead the opposition to DT must define clearly the battle lines and, most importantly, establish her/his alternate vision for America in the 21st Century.
And there must be an attack dog: a separate group or individual running a parallel messaging program, skillfully deconstructing the Heritage brand. They must be seen as independent of the Dem candidate, play hard ball, and must call the demon by name.
DL
I like how you think! The Lincoln Project is doing this. And if VP Harris picks Tim Waltz as her running mate, he will do this. I have respect for the many positives Sen. Mark Kelly would bring to the ticket, but he is too cerebral and soft spoken to be the attack dog, imo, and as a Jew myself, I would not pick Shapiro, as he is too closely aligned with the toxic AIPAC crowd, given where the Democratic Party is now.
I would volunteer to be on the attack dog team.
I would, too.
I have been trying since 2001 to get involved in applying market framing tools to Progressive messaging, with no real success. The calcified corporate Dem consultant/polling conglomerate is afraid to step out of their comfort zone.
D.
(like) In the face of extensive voter disenfranchisement programs, ie Georgia just "accidentally" leaked personal information that their roll-purging team can use to strike registrations. And in the face of the plot Rachel Maddow reported, to sabotage key County certifications to stymie the State certification. I was talking myself into thinking Trump will quit, because he's acting like he's boring himself, lazy, getting laughed at, and, above all, would take his ball and go home before somebody else makes him a loser.
BUT the lazy and boring could also be because he FEELS THE FIX IS IN, and he doesn't need to humor a bunch of suckers and losers. That could be, too.
There is no doubt that select organizations within the Republican Party constellation have worked over-time to "adjust" voting place access, registration certifications, and final count certifications on the local, regional and state level.
It is simply a matter of whether or not the Democratic Party leadership has the stones to play hard ball, counter their activities and push back after election day with all weapons in the arsenal of the party in power.
Remember, it is essentially an issue in six or seven key states. GOP will never carry CA; Dems will never carry TX, so no need to spend resources in these places.
As for the DT's laziness. I believe your second guess is the right one. That monster will never remove himself from the limelight. Most importantly: If he losses the election, he goes to jail. As an ordinary citizen in 2025, there are numerous prosecutors who will carve him up.
D.
"He thinks trash-talking women, calling them “nasty” and other epithets, will bond men to him; instead, they imagine him bursting in on their mothers, sisters, wives, or daughters in a Bergdorf-Goodman dressing room." does that store even exist any longer? Made me laugh, though!
i for one never pitied him, I have always abhorred him! he simply looks sleazy!
(like) I got a laugh out of "shabby golf motel." But I think your instinctive revulsion against Trump deserves credit. In the interesting early 80's book "People of the Lie," quite famous Christian psychiatrist author M. Scott Peck posited that that kind of gut reaction to someone could be a self-preservation instinct in the presence of evil.
Elvis' pinnacle in my opinion was this very beautiful performance of "If I Can Dream" in December of 1968:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-pP_dCenJA
The recording of it changed my life a few months later, when I first heard it on the radio, and my adult political awareness was just emerging.
And so, 55 years later, last week, I played the video again, because it seemed to be as much about now as about the end of 1968.
So, thanks Thom for writing today about Elvis, because he has been on my mind too!
Poor Elvis, surrounded by the sycophants and money grubbers that refused to tell him the truth or help him take time off so he could seek help.
Who the hell "let" Trump talk to the black journalists? They and the NABJ just let him self-immolate. I loved/hated it. Kamala knew just how a President should respond.
AND I learned something that makes my heart sing---Can't Help Falling In Love would a good song:
"The Multiracial population has changed considerably since 2010. It was measured at 9 million people in 2010 and is now 33.8 million people in 2020, a 276% increase. The “in combination” multiracial populations for all race groups accounted for most of the overall changes in each racial category."---Census.gov August 12, 2021
One in ten and moving in the right direction, while Trump lives in the past. As Kamala says, WE are not going back. .
Fat Trump hits:
Heartbreak Vance
Jailhouse Jock Itch
Love Xi Tender
All Locked Up
Can't Help Falling in Polls
Suspicious Project 2025
It’s Kamala or Never
Are You Loathsome Tonight
Don’t Be Weird
In the Gitmo
Burning Ballots
This sums the situation up perfectly. Now that this analogy is out there, let's run with it. Thank you for your attention to detail and you ability to tie it all together.
First he was all shook up. https://rvat.org/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=bp-EdVb50Lc
Even Putin bailed.
I don't give financial advice....but time to sell short! https://newrepublic.com/post/184453/trump-gets-terrible-news-truth-social-slump
Thank you for the article. It's music to my ears.
What glory days? He has never had any glory days unless one believes his dissemination of lies and hate coupled with gross incompetence counts as his glory days.
I think Trump will not debate for fear Harris may perform like the black journalists- ignoring his antics and pressing on. To Trump they were rude and nasty, exactly what Trump cannot handle.
Oh this is my favorite part 🍿😁