The difference this time---the "victims" have figured out a few things. That vote for Mamdani is proof. He is going to educate many more. AOC and other Progressives will too.
The keys to some kind of balance are health care, housing. and wages.
Thanks Thom: Always relevant. Who walks away with what in the aftermath of a tyrannical regime is about as pertinent as it gets. Everyone can acknowledge things are rough right now and only trending worse by the day. But there is a "therefore" in all of this mayhem. There's a point. There's an end goal here. And that goal is to conquer the wealth and value of everyone and everything within reach of this killing machine. Today's atrocities are just a means to tomorrow's empires.
It's really sad how short term our memory is. I remember people committing suicide because of how bad things got in 2008. My company was blessed (I was agnostic before 2008) that we survived 2008. The only way we could keep our 100 employees was to do away with the insurance we provided. We did window coverings. In Southern California there were over 100 similar companies before 2008. After 2008, there were three. At least the Big Three auto companies survived, huh?
During the Savings and Loan scandal in the early '90s the senior partners in the largest real estate law firm here in Baghdad By the Sea went to the top of the tallest building south of Philadelphia, held hands and jumped.
That happened during the Great Depression and I expect it will happen again. Probably much worse then 2008. When the AI bubble pops, it may well throw the world into another Great Depression.
I just about swallow my tongue when I hear thieving oligarchs referred to as "job creators"; their only motivation to create jobs is when demand is expanding so quickly that they have no other choice, in order to maintain their market share. They steal more money than they earn, because their businesses are designed around supplying potential that is never fulfilled--from bitcoin to healthcare to driverless cars to nuclear energy.
Sorry Thom: Not relevant or pertinent, there are more pressing concerns today, like our freedom of speech and movement in the face of a tyrannical regime.
I would say it is relevant, William. In very bad economic times people look to a strong person with "the answers". Think Hitler in 1933 when Germany was in terrible condition, or Mussolini in the economically weak Italy of 1922. But there are many examples.
I think to a certain extent Trump got in because, although almost nobody wanted to say it, many sensed that America was economically weakening and wanted somebody who could "turn things around". We know what that promise was worth. While another severe downturn could help discredit the GOP, and him in particular, there isn't an FDR on the horizon set to be a strong leader with a coherent people-centered plan. And even before that moment comes this is what we need.
How about this. Trump is supported by a portion of the population, that prioritizes social issues, like race, male supremacy, homophobia, xenophobia, over their own well being
You make me quote LBJ again> “If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
― Lyndon B. Johnson
The corporate media default, and a lot of people are buying into it, that "it is all about the economy" however is you pay attention, the economy comes in second,
In particular the issue, which has sucked in young black and Hispanic males, as well, is male domination. The Incel and Viagra generations.
I am well aware of the 1932 situation in Germany, the worst period was 1922 - 23 The Hyperinflation.
Hitlers big drawing card was not economics and jobs, but manhood. The Germans felt humilated, their manhood had been taken by the Treaty of Versaille. Hitler's promise was to regain their testosterone, their manhood, to become"men again", and he did that by rebuilding the Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe and they loved him. Hitler was Germany's Viagra and aphrodisiac
He also employed men in labor battalions, training for the Heer.
William, manhood is defined br taking care of your family; usually by earning a living. Hyperinflation deprived the German men of earning a living wage. We were in a 20 year long war that has ended. How many veterans are unemployed or marginally employed. So Trump says, "Here's a job for veterans that is well paid with benefits that you are familiar with. You have a gun and can intimidate brown people". Trump would rather pay them to have on his side than starving in a bad economy. With no foreign war, this is Trump's best bet not to have the Whitehouse stormed.
That is how you define manhood Gloria, Manhood is defined by testosterone levels, being dominant.
Europe has been plagued with soccer riots,so they hired consultants to find out why.
Turns out, that the fans find their identity in their teams, and when their team loses, there is a plummet in the testosterone levels.
They rebuild their levels by aggression, rioting getting in fights.
ICE agents are boosting their testosterone levels, by aggression. When the military is employed to subdue the population, testosterone levels will be boosted in the ranks.
Male elephants go into musth, their testorone levels increase dramatically, they fight each other over access to females, often the loser in a fight, has an immediate drop in testosterone and becomes submsissive.
You really do think it is all about being a bread winner?
No. I don't. But I was making the connection between an economy and militarism. Our economy is not good and will soon get worse. You can't dismiss cultural expectations with testosterone levels that are always present. Sports is part of the bread and circus method of satisfying a population.
Sports is indeed part of the bread and circus act, but it is not sufficient in itself to fulfill the testosterone needs, when the game is over, the testosterone drops, and frankly just the violence say of the Coliseum, was not enough to fulfill testosterone needs.
Rome was a militaristic society, the issue was not the economy, the state provided the people with bread (their needs were simpler than ours).It too had economic problems, especially when shipments of wheat were lost, or hoarded by manipulators. Romes response in those times, was not more war, more conquest. Rome was in a perpetual state of war
Hitler didn't start WWII because of the economy. He did it to restore the manhood of Germany.
None of those guys are sole proprietors. They are accountable to their corporate boards and to their shareholders. IMHO, the tariff policy, standing alone has them by their respective gonads.
I'd love to see their respective corporate audit reports, especially the cateory CONTINGENT LIABILITIES.
A good example how to proceed is the shareholder derivitive suit against Fox.
Google: A shareholder derivative lawsuit is ongoing against certain directors and officers of Fox Corporation, including Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duties by allowing Fox News to broadcast defamatory claims about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The suit seeks to recover the significant financial losses incurred by the company, notably the $787.5 million settlement paid to Dominion Voting Systems, from the responsible individuals.
A call to action says the Contrarian. I also get their newsletter. No suggestions as to the action though. None of their actions has the capability of moving the needle.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is publishing tomorrow her ideas on resistance, I can't wait to see what they are, I hope they are more affirmative than the Contrarians
As regards Countering Ice, the people of Minnesota are doing it, blowing whistles and ICE counters with violence and has immunity. The only recourse is the road not traveled and that is having the police, the Sheriff and the State police defend the public and have the attorney general of Hennipen County, MN swear out an arrest warrant for Jonathan Ross. Her office is being besieged with phone calls, and her staff is hanging up, cowardly public servants.
Hennipen County Attorney is Mary Moriarty, she can issue an arrest warrant for Jonathan Ross, Wanna bet she does nothing.
Agreed but the question is "In what manner do we press", To date pressing by demonstrating and filing law suits has yielded no results, he just doubles down and ignores rulings.
So how do we press.
Again, constant use of "should and need" are meaningless
Yes, better yet abolish ICE, Timid Centrist Dems are arguing against that, because of the blowback from BLM's defund the police.
However abolish ICE is not the same as defunding the police, This time the majority of America is with us. Whereas that was not the case with defund the police.
The Police are necessary, so people believe, for their personal safety, but not ICE. ICE is a rogue GESTAPO like agency, a precursror a STASI,too bad Americans are not familiar with the East German secret police the STASI.
So if ICE needs to stop what it is doing, it’s Democrats in Congress who need to try to do their best to stop it. Which does not mean offering a couple of pro forma amendments that will lose. It does not mean failing to excoriate Republican senators, by name, for refusing to stand up to their dear leaders. It does not mean going on to approve government funding as usual.
The government funding deadline is two weeks away. The Senate is on break for the next week. Democrats didn’t object to this recess. After all, it’s been scheduled for a while, airplane tickets were bought, plans were made—no one wants to inconvenience anyone much. Gotta go along to get along!
But if something needs to stop, and it’s not stopping, maybe it’s not the right time to go along or to get along? Maybe it’s time to stand and fight. For the memory of Renee Good. For everyone terrorized, in Minnesota and elsewhere, by ICE and other agencies of our government. For everyone who hasn’t yet been terrorized, but will be as long as the administration isn’t checked. For the workers at a family-owned restaurant in a small town in Minnesota.
That’s where you’re incorrect. It’s far easier to shake your fist and go out in rage and call people or wave a sign in reaction to unfairness. At least it does something! It fights back, it isn’t being a victim. But we’ve already been victims, over and over. When are we going to an actually change things?
Until we truly get our arms around what the problem is AND what’s causing the problem , we are doomed to recreate this mess over and over and over again, as we have done in the past, continue to do, and very probably keep doing in the future.
Until we observe and truly understand the motivations and what is going on in these people who actually cause these immediate problems, these mis-deeds, manipulations, and, yes, crimes and focus our attention for a few minutes to truly understand the indicators before the bottom falls out, or even as it begins to slide downward, and understand or even prevent, we are doomed to merely clean up the messes after the fact.
We all contributed to this mess. Our basic Constitution only really warns us of what probably will happen if we are not aware of who we all are as a people.
This is Charlie Brown being conned to keep kicking the football—over and over again. We blindly watch as a society and only wave our hands, shout, and jump up and down after the fact, after we lose everything. When do we start preventing the inevitable?
As long as this mindset remains these morbidly rich who hoard money and manipulate our economic system to protect their way of life and particular freedoms they enjoy, will keep presenting the ball to us and convincing us everything is all right. They are giving us everything we need and its just up to us. All the while they know they are going to snatch it away and watch us fall.
We are the ones supporting them with our tax money and cheap labor, and we’re the ones who buy their manufactured goods. We are the ones dying on the battlefields killing with their manufactured armaments. We are the ones going into seemingly life-long debt at exorbitant interest. We are the ones in debt for an education that it looks like is relatively bogus for the tech and robotic age. We are the ones at the ER and chemo clinics with no way to pay for treatment. We are the one’s with the positive pregnancy tests and no support or way to raise an unwanted child. We are the ones slowly dying because of poor diet or disease because we can only afford cheap unhealthy foods. We are the ones homeless with no hope and no where to turn.
350 million people in the US alone and about 8 billion more who are slowly facing extinction and not looking at what is our biggest problem. What we believe is true. We look at immediate reasons to be angry and either swing our fists or bottle it up in rage, and point the finger at the other guy.
When are we going to do a little preventative medicine on our society and our economic system as a whole? This has been going on forever. We give our power away to a relative handful of people then rage when they screw us. It’s human against human.
All of this are signs of our spiraling into free fall as a society and so much of it can be prevented if we care enough about our whole population to start thinking in truth as a society that works for the whole instead of just number one.
What do we all have in common? What do we all need? How much can be reorganized with a little common sense, empathy, observation, and desire to make things livable for the vast majority, not merely for the sake of pacifying our immediate desires?
Reacting with the attitude of, “Yeah, yeah, that’s all well and good, but we’ve got to fight, now!” Is what we always do and say then end up right where we are on the ground and mad.
Shaking your fist, going out in a rage, marching and waving placards, May make you feel good, but that is not resistance For the simple reason it doesn't achieve anything, it doesn't alter the course of the regime. We should have learned that by now, but it appears we are dense.
As regards, divining the motivations of the regime and it's supporters. That has been done, it is the culture war, and underlying the culture war is fragile manhood, testosterone levels, the need to dominate, as epitomized by Incels and Viagra.
As for money, those who don't have enough to live well, see money as the supreme evil, the motivator, because they want and need it..
However for those that have it, it is power. Money to get the power, power to keep the money.
Musk is worth over half a trillion dollars, he can squander a billion and not lose sleep.
It isn't about the money, it is about what they can do with the money, and that means power
Musk has a dream of being theElon of Mars (see Wehrner von Brauns book, Project Mars: A tecjmocal tale.
Mark Zuckerberg is building a massive, secretive compound on Kauai, Hawaii, which includes a large underground shelter described in leaked plans as a 5,000-square-foot subterranean structure with its own energy, food supplies, and a blast-resistant door, although he dismisses it as just a "little shelter" or "basement". The complex, part of a $270 million project, features two main mansions connected by tunnels leading to this bunker, plus treehouses and guest houses, all under strict non-disclosure agreements for workers. The construction has sparked local controversy and heightened discussion about billionaires preparing for potential societal disruptions, notes WIRED.
This video provides a closer look at the reported features of Mark Zuckerberg's Hawaiian compound:
Scale: A 1,400-acre estate with multiple buildings.
Underground Shelter: 5,000 sq ft, with living space, mechanical room, escape hatch, and blast-resistant door.
Energy & Food: Self-sufficient with its own energy and food sources, including growing macadamia nuts for cattle feed.
Secrecy: Construction is highly secretive, with workers bound by strict NDAs, say Fortune and WIRED.
The project reflects a trend among some wealthy individuals to build survivalist compounds for potential future crises, according to WIRED and The Hollywood Reporter.
This video explores the reasons behind the trend of billionaires building underground bunkers:
I disagree with you William. Survival of your family is the priority. The system must radically change. Every resession enables the already wealthy to take a bigger slice of the pie, the size of it that they decided. There is enough for everyone. The distribution is the problem; and the oligarchs are in charge of that. They don't even care if they have a less, as long as the wealth gap between the greediest, wealthiest few and the rest of us continues to widen. They believe they are better than we are because of their wealth and want to keep it that way. This problem for humanity is the challenge that be solved if we are to achieve our potential and our race is to survive.
Spot on. Although the size of the economic pie expands or shrinks depending on the stage of the bubble, it basically remains a zero-sum game, where the more the top 10 percent gain, the less there is for the bottom 90 percent.
Gloria, while you are somewhat correct, you are advancing a notion that the world happens to you. Because you did not inherit wealth and influence, you seem to think that you are powerless to succeed in life. Yes, greed leverages SES. However, poverty is not a barrier to career success and financial wealth.
I grew up in an 800 sqft little house in a farming village west of Chicago. All I inherited were 2 loving parents. I learned on my own that by investing my puny income rather than spending it, I could get ahead. Investing is buying what you need (like education). Spending is accumulating toys and glitter. Investors are frugal savers, while spenders live beyond their means in debt. Investing ensures savings grow faster than inflation. Spending ensures the opposite. By age 65, investors live debt-free without working. Spenders subsist on SSA pensions and part-time jobs.
Severe economic downturns also lead to much suffering, misery, and even death when the victims of economic crashes lose everything. Drug abuse, domestic abuse, divorces, and crime, including homicides and suicides, go way up. And the sick, old, and poor die in greater numbers when they can no longer access health care. Mothers and their babies are especially vulnerable.
Which brings me to a piece I wrote yesterday but never posted:
Trump is a mass murderer.
The cold-blooded homicide in plain sight on a public street of Renee Nicole Good, who was an innocent mother of three, by one of Trump's crazed, kitted-up henchmen, could be the spark that ignites an honest-to-god (but peaceful) revolution in the US.
Let us hope so, anyway.
I mean, what will it take: one murder out of millions that will finally light the fuse? This cowardly act, committed by a rogue agent of an out-of-control government, rightfully shocked the nation's conscience, but it's only the tip of the iceberg.
And that was merely the opening volley in Trump's cruel war on life itself.
In his second term, this spawn of Satan and his death cult unleashed an unthinkable evil in his One Big Butt-ugly Billionaire Bill that will undoubtedly lead to tens of thousands of preventable deaths, with a trillion dollars of cuts to Medicaid spread out over a decade, not to mention tens of thousands more deaths when people lose their Affordable Health Care Act subsidies, and when half a trillion dollars of cuts to Medicare kick in. https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/06/26/yale-scientists-warn-medicaid-cuts-could-cause-51000-preventable-deaths/
On another front, our worthless, billionaire-owned, big-corporate media barely mentions or puts into proper perspective the heinous war crimes against Venezuela, where our capitulating military murdered over a hundred civilians on the high seas and over a hundred soldiers and civilians in Caracas during an illegal invasion and kidnapping of the leader, albeit a tyrant, of a sovereign nation.
All told, in just one year with Trump at the helm in his second term (and counting), millions upon millions of people are likely to die needlessly in the near future because of his wicked policies, making him one of the worst mass murderers in history, rivaling Putin, Stalin, and Hitler.
I'm afraid that when (not if) Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, there will be mass murder in the streets by ICE. Maybe that's what it will take to jolt "We, the People" into concerted action nationwide.
Sage advice Thom! I do whatever Warren Buffet says. He said that a housing crash is coming, that the 2008 crash hurt young people as anyone with a pulse could get a loan but when they could not afford to pay the mortgage they would go into foreclosure. The coming crash is going to hurt older people who have used their equity to procure loans. Buffet's advice is to downsize. What keeps people from downsizing are emotions. He said that you may love your house but your house does not love you back. We are preparing to sell our home and sitting on cash, waiting for the crash to buy dividend producing stock. I hope everyone is prepared....
This is a fine illustration of what Naomi Klein documented in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. This was an historical research of all types of disasters, whether natural, or deliberate as in 2008. It was published in 2007, right in time for the last Great Recession.
As felon 47 yells "fore" at his Palm Beach or New Jersey Golf course. Another game he can only win. To him we are all just Losers and he is not to blame for anything. I say give him NO Rest In Peace or Power. Epstein Epstein Epstein. Shout out to T.J. Sabula who called out "pedophile protector" this POTUS has not earned respect. IMHO Economy crash terrorism is no surprise.
That the super rich rig the system for themselves is beyond doubt. We have the best congress money can buy. If the super rich are predatory to the point that they impoverish the majority of us, how in the long run do they expect to get richer? How can we buy their goods and services if we don't have jobs and money to buy them? My guess is, it's price gouging industries such as health care that take too much in profits from us that cause imbalances and eventually recessions. I don't believe the super rich collude to cause recessions as that is not in their long term best interest. AI investment, the magnificent 7, and upper class spending can't raise GDP forever. When we little people can't buy their stuff, pop goes the bubble. Maybe then we can get rid of Trump. The lack of money should translate into votes against him. If we can vote.
As I have posted before, our Monopoly-game economy could not happen if it were not for the intentional refusal of our education system to provide a semester-long course on household financial management where students would learn how our economic system has been rigged to transfer their income to the billionaire oligarchs - if they let them.
Americans should not have to pay tuition to Harknocks University throughout their entire life. After my first few installments, I decided to read up for myself, which, despite being an underpaid federal employee (uniformed & civilian), I retired to Happilyeverafter rather than a trailer park. All I did was avoid some of their traps and force them to share some of their stocks and bonds with me.
Again had a tough time reading this article. I think the bottom line is that not enough people are hurting badly enough to want to do anything about anything. Their fascist subconscious wishes are being fulfilled and they are happy as pigs in shit.
'Bandits' is too mild a word for Trump and his cronies. Try 'brigands' or maybe 'pirates'.
How's "perps" and "defendants?"
Probably best of all!!
The difference this time---the "victims" have figured out a few things. That vote for Mamdani is proof. He is going to educate many more. AOC and other Progressives will too.
The keys to some kind of balance are health care, housing. and wages.
Well said Alis. You hit the nail on the head.
Liars, Liars, Liars, Vicious/Malicious Maniacs!
Thanks Thom: Always relevant. Who walks away with what in the aftermath of a tyrannical regime is about as pertinent as it gets. Everyone can acknowledge things are rough right now and only trending worse by the day. But there is a "therefore" in all of this mayhem. There's a point. There's an end goal here. And that goal is to conquer the wealth and value of everyone and everything within reach of this killing machine. Today's atrocities are just a means to tomorrow's empires.
It's really sad how short term our memory is. I remember people committing suicide because of how bad things got in 2008. My company was blessed (I was agnostic before 2008) that we survived 2008. The only way we could keep our 100 employees was to do away with the insurance we provided. We did window coverings. In Southern California there were over 100 similar companies before 2008. After 2008, there were three. At least the Big Three auto companies survived, huh?
During the Savings and Loan scandal in the early '90s the senior partners in the largest real estate law firm here in Baghdad By the Sea went to the top of the tallest building south of Philadelphia, held hands and jumped.
After Yougstown Seet and Tube closed in the late '70s, Youngstown, already Murdertown USA, became the depression and suicide capitol of America.
That happened during the Great Depression and I expect it will happen again. Probably much worse then 2008. When the AI bubble pops, it may well throw the world into another Great Depression.
I just about swallow my tongue when I hear thieving oligarchs referred to as "job creators"; their only motivation to create jobs is when demand is expanding so quickly that they have no other choice, in order to maintain their market share. They steal more money than they earn, because their businesses are designed around supplying potential that is never fulfilled--from bitcoin to healthcare to driverless cars to nuclear energy.
Also rent seeking for almost everything they can.
Thank God that we have Brown, Black, Jewish, and Muslim humans to scapegoat. /S
“Vermin, vermin everywhere.”
To paraphrase the "Vultures, vultures" line by Ugarte (Peter Lorre) early in the film "Casablanca."
Note well: The REAL vermin are [amongst many others] Musk, Thiel, Bezos, and Trump & Sons.
PS, Trump threatening to rape Greenland while actively raping Minnesota is a hell of a seduction.
Vote out the GOP [Grand Oligarchal Putin-esque] party. No violence.
Sorry Thom: Not relevant or pertinent, there are more pressing concerns today, like our freedom of speech and movement in the face of a tyrannical regime.
I would say it is relevant, William. In very bad economic times people look to a strong person with "the answers". Think Hitler in 1933 when Germany was in terrible condition, or Mussolini in the economically weak Italy of 1922. But there are many examples.
I think to a certain extent Trump got in because, although almost nobody wanted to say it, many sensed that America was economically weakening and wanted somebody who could "turn things around". We know what that promise was worth. While another severe downturn could help discredit the GOP, and him in particular, there isn't an FDR on the horizon set to be a strong leader with a coherent people-centered plan. And even before that moment comes this is what we need.
How about this. Trump is supported by a portion of the population, that prioritizes social issues, like race, male supremacy, homophobia, xenophobia, over their own well being
You make me quote LBJ again> “If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
― Lyndon B. Johnson
The corporate media default, and a lot of people are buying into it, that "it is all about the economy" however is you pay attention, the economy comes in second,
In particular the issue, which has sucked in young black and Hispanic males, as well, is male domination. The Incel and Viagra generations.
I am well aware of the 1932 situation in Germany, the worst period was 1922 - 23 The Hyperinflation.
Hitlers big drawing card was not economics and jobs, but manhood. The Germans felt humilated, their manhood had been taken by the Treaty of Versaille. Hitler's promise was to regain their testosterone, their manhood, to become"men again", and he did that by rebuilding the Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe and they loved him. Hitler was Germany's Viagra and aphrodisiac
He also employed men in labor battalions, training for the Heer.
William, manhood is defined br taking care of your family; usually by earning a living. Hyperinflation deprived the German men of earning a living wage. We were in a 20 year long war that has ended. How many veterans are unemployed or marginally employed. So Trump says, "Here's a job for veterans that is well paid with benefits that you are familiar with. You have a gun and can intimidate brown people". Trump would rather pay them to have on his side than starving in a bad economy. With no foreign war, this is Trump's best bet not to have the Whitehouse stormed.
That is how you define manhood Gloria, Manhood is defined by testosterone levels, being dominant.
Europe has been plagued with soccer riots,so they hired consultants to find out why.
Turns out, that the fans find their identity in their teams, and when their team loses, there is a plummet in the testosterone levels.
They rebuild their levels by aggression, rioting getting in fights.
ICE agents are boosting their testosterone levels, by aggression. When the military is employed to subdue the population, testosterone levels will be boosted in the ranks.
Male elephants go into musth, their testorone levels increase dramatically, they fight each other over access to females, often the loser in a fight, has an immediate drop in testosterone and becomes submsissive.
You really do think it is all about being a bread winner?
No. I don't. But I was making the connection between an economy and militarism. Our economy is not good and will soon get worse. You can't dismiss cultural expectations with testosterone levels that are always present. Sports is part of the bread and circus method of satisfying a population.
Sports is indeed part of the bread and circus act, but it is not sufficient in itself to fulfill the testosterone needs, when the game is over, the testosterone drops, and frankly just the violence say of the Coliseum, was not enough to fulfill testosterone needs.
Rome was a militaristic society, the issue was not the economy, the state provided the people with bread (their needs were simpler than ours).It too had economic problems, especially when shipments of wheat were lost, or hoarded by manipulators. Romes response in those times, was not more war, more conquest. Rome was in a perpetual state of war
Hitler didn't start WWII because of the economy. He did it to restore the manhood of Germany.
Note my "like." Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
IMHO besides, there's still hope we can turn this around. On Thursday, Jen Rubin, Contrarian ran:
Big Business Should Wake Up to the Trump Threat
Democrats need to engage corporate leaders
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/big-business-should-wake-up-to-the
BTW Contraian published a call to action. https://contrarian.substack.com/p/contrarian-calls-to-action
None of those guys are sole proprietors. They are accountable to their corporate boards and to their shareholders. IMHO, the tariff policy, standing alone has them by their respective gonads.
I'd love to see their respective corporate audit reports, especially the cateory CONTINGENT LIABILITIES.
A good example how to proceed is the shareholder derivitive suit against Fox.
Google: A shareholder derivative lawsuit is ongoing against certain directors and officers of Fox Corporation, including Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duties by allowing Fox News to broadcast defamatory claims about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The suit seeks to recover the significant financial losses incurred by the company, notably the $787.5 million settlement paid to Dominion Voting Systems, from the responsible individuals.
A call to action says the Contrarian. I also get their newsletter. No suggestions as to the action though. None of their actions has the capability of moving the needle.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is publishing tomorrow her ideas on resistance, I can't wait to see what they are, I hope they are more affirmative than the Contrarians
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/ruth-ben-ghiat-and-resistence
As regards Countering Ice, the people of Minnesota are doing it, blowing whistles and ICE counters with violence and has immunity. The only recourse is the road not traveled and that is having the police, the Sheriff and the State police defend the public and have the attorney general of Hennipen County, MN swear out an arrest warrant for Jonathan Ross. Her office is being besieged with phone calls, and her staff is hanging up, cowardly public servants.
Hennipen County Attorney is Mary Moriarty, she can issue an arrest warrant for Jonathan Ross, Wanna bet she does nothing.
Hennepin County Attorney
Government Center, A-1200
300 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55487
Map
Phone: 612-348-5550
Email: citizeninfo@hennepin.us
I get the Contrarian, read todays offering.
Notice the persistent use of should and need.
Should, should, should and shoulds achieve nothing, neither does constant iteration of "need".
The only thing that counts is action.
Everybody should be kind, gentle, accepting, loving their neighbor
The world needs, tolerance, acceptance, generosity
Unless we press, nothing will happen.
Agreed but the question is "In what manner do we press", To date pressing by demonstrating and filing law suits has yielded no results, he just doubles down and ignores rulings.
So how do we press.
Again, constant use of "should and need" are meaningless
We could do something, but I bet the Dem leadership will fail us once again. Defund ICE.
https://saltypolitics.substack.com/p/reforming-ice-will-never-happen-defund?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3087318&post_id=184730684&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2g7cs&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Yes, better yet abolish ICE, Timid Centrist Dems are arguing against that, because of the blowback from BLM's defund the police.
However abolish ICE is not the same as defunding the police, This time the majority of America is with us. Whereas that was not the case with defund the police.
The Police are necessary, so people believe, for their personal safety, but not ICE. ICE is a rogue GESTAPO like agency, a precursror a STASI,too bad Americans are not familiar with the East German secret police the STASI.
More: From William Kristol, Bulwark, Morning Shots https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-people-are-turning-against-ice-democrats-senate-trump-minnesota-good-machado-nobel-prize
So if ICE needs to stop what it is doing, it’s Democrats in Congress who need to try to do their best to stop it. Which does not mean offering a couple of pro forma amendments that will lose. It does not mean failing to excoriate Republican senators, by name, for refusing to stand up to their dear leaders. It does not mean going on to approve government funding as usual.
The government funding deadline is two weeks away. The Senate is on break for the next week. Democrats didn’t object to this recess. After all, it’s been scheduled for a while, airplane tickets were bought, plans were made—no one wants to inconvenience anyone much. Gotta go along to get along!
But if something needs to stop, and it’s not stopping, maybe it’s not the right time to go along or to get along? Maybe it’s time to stand and fight. For the memory of Renee Good. For everyone terrorized, in Minnesota and elsewhere, by ICE and other agencies of our government. For everyone who hasn’t yet been terrorized, but will be as long as the administration isn’t checked. For the workers at a family-owned restaurant in a small town in Minnesota.
That’s where you’re incorrect. It’s far easier to shake your fist and go out in rage and call people or wave a sign in reaction to unfairness. At least it does something! It fights back, it isn’t being a victim. But we’ve already been victims, over and over. When are we going to an actually change things?
Until we truly get our arms around what the problem is AND what’s causing the problem , we are doomed to recreate this mess over and over and over again, as we have done in the past, continue to do, and very probably keep doing in the future.
Until we observe and truly understand the motivations and what is going on in these people who actually cause these immediate problems, these mis-deeds, manipulations, and, yes, crimes and focus our attention for a few minutes to truly understand the indicators before the bottom falls out, or even as it begins to slide downward, and understand or even prevent, we are doomed to merely clean up the messes after the fact.
We all contributed to this mess. Our basic Constitution only really warns us of what probably will happen if we are not aware of who we all are as a people.
This is Charlie Brown being conned to keep kicking the football—over and over again. We blindly watch as a society and only wave our hands, shout, and jump up and down after the fact, after we lose everything. When do we start preventing the inevitable?
As long as this mindset remains these morbidly rich who hoard money and manipulate our economic system to protect their way of life and particular freedoms they enjoy, will keep presenting the ball to us and convincing us everything is all right. They are giving us everything we need and its just up to us. All the while they know they are going to snatch it away and watch us fall.
We are the ones supporting them with our tax money and cheap labor, and we’re the ones who buy their manufactured goods. We are the ones dying on the battlefields killing with their manufactured armaments. We are the ones going into seemingly life-long debt at exorbitant interest. We are the ones in debt for an education that it looks like is relatively bogus for the tech and robotic age. We are the ones at the ER and chemo clinics with no way to pay for treatment. We are the one’s with the positive pregnancy tests and no support or way to raise an unwanted child. We are the ones slowly dying because of poor diet or disease because we can only afford cheap unhealthy foods. We are the ones homeless with no hope and no where to turn.
350 million people in the US alone and about 8 billion more who are slowly facing extinction and not looking at what is our biggest problem. What we believe is true. We look at immediate reasons to be angry and either swing our fists or bottle it up in rage, and point the finger at the other guy.
When are we going to do a little preventative medicine on our society and our economic system as a whole? This has been going on forever. We give our power away to a relative handful of people then rage when they screw us. It’s human against human.
All of this are signs of our spiraling into free fall as a society and so much of it can be prevented if we care enough about our whole population to start thinking in truth as a society that works for the whole instead of just number one.
What do we all have in common? What do we all need? How much can be reorganized with a little common sense, empathy, observation, and desire to make things livable for the vast majority, not merely for the sake of pacifying our immediate desires?
Reacting with the attitude of, “Yeah, yeah, that’s all well and good, but we’ve got to fight, now!” Is what we always do and say then end up right where we are on the ground and mad.
Shaking your fist, going out in a rage, marching and waving placards, May make you feel good, but that is not resistance For the simple reason it doesn't achieve anything, it doesn't alter the course of the regime. We should have learned that by now, but it appears we are dense.
As regards, divining the motivations of the regime and it's supporters. That has been done, it is the culture war, and underlying the culture war is fragile manhood, testosterone levels, the need to dominate, as epitomized by Incels and Viagra.
As for money, those who don't have enough to live well, see money as the supreme evil, the motivator, because they want and need it..
However for those that have it, it is power. Money to get the power, power to keep the money.
Musk is worth over half a trillion dollars, he can squander a billion and not lose sleep.
It isn't about the money, it is about what they can do with the money, and that means power
Musk has a dream of being theElon of Mars (see Wehrner von Brauns book, Project Mars: A tecjmocal tale.
They are building underground mini cities, like Zuckerberg's project in Hawaii. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itVu37NNA-U
Mark Zuckerberg is building a massive, secretive compound on Kauai, Hawaii, which includes a large underground shelter described in leaked plans as a 5,000-square-foot subterranean structure with its own energy, food supplies, and a blast-resistant door, although he dismisses it as just a "little shelter" or "basement". The complex, part of a $270 million project, features two main mansions connected by tunnels leading to this bunker, plus treehouses and guest houses, all under strict non-disclosure agreements for workers. The construction has sparked local controversy and heightened discussion about billionaires preparing for potential societal disruptions, notes WIRED.
This video provides a closer look at the reported features of Mark Zuckerberg's Hawaiian compound:
Scale: A 1,400-acre estate with multiple buildings.
Underground Shelter: 5,000 sq ft, with living space, mechanical room, escape hatch, and blast-resistant door.
Energy & Food: Self-sufficient with its own energy and food sources, including growing macadamia nuts for cattle feed.
Secrecy: Construction is highly secretive, with workers bound by strict NDAs, say Fortune and WIRED.
The project reflects a trend among some wealthy individuals to build survivalist compounds for potential future crises, according to WIRED and The Hollywood Reporter.
This video explores the reasons behind the trend of billionaires building underground bunkers:
T
I disagree with you William. Survival of your family is the priority. The system must radically change. Every resession enables the already wealthy to take a bigger slice of the pie, the size of it that they decided. There is enough for everyone. The distribution is the problem; and the oligarchs are in charge of that. They don't even care if they have a less, as long as the wealth gap between the greediest, wealthiest few and the rest of us continues to widen. They believe they are better than we are because of their wealth and want to keep it that way. This problem for humanity is the challenge that be solved if we are to achieve our potential and our race is to survive.
Spot on. Although the size of the economic pie expands or shrinks depending on the stage of the bubble, it basically remains a zero-sum game, where the more the top 10 percent gain, the less there is for the bottom 90 percent.
Gloria, while you are somewhat correct, you are advancing a notion that the world happens to you. Because you did not inherit wealth and influence, you seem to think that you are powerless to succeed in life. Yes, greed leverages SES. However, poverty is not a barrier to career success and financial wealth.
I grew up in an 800 sqft little house in a farming village west of Chicago. All I inherited were 2 loving parents. I learned on my own that by investing my puny income rather than spending it, I could get ahead. Investing is buying what you need (like education). Spending is accumulating toys and glitter. Investors are frugal savers, while spenders live beyond their means in debt. Investing ensures savings grow faster than inflation. Spending ensures the opposite. By age 65, investors live debt-free without working. Spenders subsist on SSA pensions and part-time jobs.
Severe economic downturns also lead to much suffering, misery, and even death when the victims of economic crashes lose everything. Drug abuse, domestic abuse, divorces, and crime, including homicides and suicides, go way up. And the sick, old, and poor die in greater numbers when they can no longer access health care. Mothers and their babies are especially vulnerable.
Which brings me to a piece I wrote yesterday but never posted:
Trump is a mass murderer.
The cold-blooded homicide in plain sight on a public street of Renee Nicole Good, who was an innocent mother of three, by one of Trump's crazed, kitted-up henchmen, could be the spark that ignites an honest-to-god (but peaceful) revolution in the US.
Let us hope so, anyway.
I mean, what will it take: one murder out of millions that will finally light the fuse? This cowardly act, committed by a rogue agent of an out-of-control government, rightfully shocked the nation's conscience, but it's only the tip of the iceberg.
It wasn't enough that, in his first administration, through criminal negligence and dereliction of duty, Trump was credibly responsible for hundreds of thousands of unnecessary COVID deaths. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/11/new-revelations-emerge-on-how-donald-trump-killed-400000-coronavirus-pandemic/
And that was merely the opening volley in Trump's cruel war on life itself.
In his second term, this spawn of Satan and his death cult unleashed an unthinkable evil in his One Big Butt-ugly Billionaire Bill that will undoubtedly lead to tens of thousands of preventable deaths, with a trillion dollars of cuts to Medicaid spread out over a decade, not to mention tens of thousands more deaths when people lose their Affordable Health Care Act subsidies, and when half a trillion dollars of cuts to Medicare kick in. https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/06/26/yale-scientists-warn-medicaid-cuts-could-cause-51000-preventable-deaths/
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-health-care-2674900240/
On another front, our worthless, billionaire-owned, big-corporate media barely mentions or puts into proper perspective the heinous war crimes against Venezuela, where our capitulating military murdered over a hundred civilians on the high seas and over a hundred soldiers and civilians in Caracas during an illegal invasion and kidnapping of the leader, albeit a tyrant, of a sovereign nation.
And then there is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of Trump's dumbest jackbooted lieutenants who ruined his already addled brain during his formative years with heroin and every other street drug imaginable, and who is now waging a senseless war against our nation's children with his weird obsession with vaccine denial, leading to countless more pointless deaths. https://www.marytrump.org/p/endangering-lives-is-the-policy?publication_id=559646&post_id=184719846&isFreemail=false&r=69mr8o&triedRedirect=true
(Hello, RFK Jr., the former environmental lawyer.) How many people and other living things will perish in Trump's war on clean energy and the environment? https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/100-days-chaos-trump-administrations-relentless-attacks-environment
Trump's most vicious attack against humanity, though, was the evisceration of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will cause a child under five to die every forty seconds by 2030. https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/child-under-five-could-die-every-forty-seconds-2030-due-us-aid-cuts-oxfam-analysis
Counting everyone affected, another trustworthy source estimates that gutting USAID will lead to 14 million preventable deaths by 2030. https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/USAID-cuts-global-impact-14-million-deaths
All told, in just one year with Trump at the helm in his second term (and counting), millions upon millions of people are likely to die needlessly in the near future because of his wicked policies, making him one of the worst mass murderers in history, rivaling Putin, Stalin, and Hitler.
Back to the murder of Renee Nicole Good, which stands out in a sea of cynicism and complacency: "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/21/death-statistic/
Revolución! ✊
I'm afraid that when (not if) Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, there will be mass murder in the streets by ICE. Maybe that's what it will take to jolt "We, the People" into concerted action nationwide.
Sage advice Thom! I do whatever Warren Buffet says. He said that a housing crash is coming, that the 2008 crash hurt young people as anyone with a pulse could get a loan but when they could not afford to pay the mortgage they would go into foreclosure. The coming crash is going to hurt older people who have used their equity to procure loans. Buffet's advice is to downsize. What keeps people from downsizing are emotions. He said that you may love your house but your house does not love you back. We are preparing to sell our home and sitting on cash, waiting for the crash to buy dividend producing stock. I hope everyone is prepared....
Well written Thom! We are already in for the rough ride -
More such education needed......
I think the voters will not be working to help the bankers this time.
Many of us will only vote to "lock em up"!
This is a fine illustration of what Naomi Klein documented in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. This was an historical research of all types of disasters, whether natural, or deliberate as in 2008. It was published in 2007, right in time for the last Great Recession.
Yes, and that was all practice for what we see today.
As felon 47 yells "fore" at his Palm Beach or New Jersey Golf course. Another game he can only win. To him we are all just Losers and he is not to blame for anything. I say give him NO Rest In Peace or Power. Epstein Epstein Epstein. Shout out to T.J. Sabula who called out "pedophile protector" this POTUS has not earned respect. IMHO Economy crash terrorism is no surprise.
That the super rich rig the system for themselves is beyond doubt. We have the best congress money can buy. If the super rich are predatory to the point that they impoverish the majority of us, how in the long run do they expect to get richer? How can we buy their goods and services if we don't have jobs and money to buy them? My guess is, it's price gouging industries such as health care that take too much in profits from us that cause imbalances and eventually recessions. I don't believe the super rich collude to cause recessions as that is not in their long term best interest. AI investment, the magnificent 7, and upper class spending can't raise GDP forever. When we little people can't buy their stuff, pop goes the bubble. Maybe then we can get rid of Trump. The lack of money should translate into votes against him. If we can vote.
Seattle. Robbing the poor and giving to the rich. They never seem to get tired of it.
As I have posted before, our Monopoly-game economy could not happen if it were not for the intentional refusal of our education system to provide a semester-long course on household financial management where students would learn how our economic system has been rigged to transfer their income to the billionaire oligarchs - if they let them.
Americans should not have to pay tuition to Harknocks University throughout their entire life. After my first few installments, I decided to read up for myself, which, despite being an underpaid federal employee (uniformed & civilian), I retired to Happilyeverafter rather than a trailer park. All I did was avoid some of their traps and force them to share some of their stocks and bonds with me.
Again had a tough time reading this article. I think the bottom line is that not enough people are hurting badly enough to want to do anything about anything. Their fascist subconscious wishes are being fulfilled and they are happy as pigs in shit.
...the MAGA ilk anyway.