Well, the CORRUPT justices on the SCOTUS have left nothing for the imagination regarding where they stand on the issue of JUSTICE in America. Today, they agreed to “hear” the arguments in the ABSURD claim by Donald Trump that he is “absolutely immune” from prosecution as President. Making matters worse, they will hear “arguments” on April 22nd. I pointed out recently if they decide to “slow walk” this ABSURD claim it will likely push Trump’s trial in the “January 6th” case back to after the election – EXACTLY what Trump is hoping.

Now, compare this “decision” by the court, to the speed in which they heard the Section 3 of the 14th amendment case originating in Colorado in a matter of a couple weeks. The “arguments” were heard shortly thereafter. When they will make a decision is “up in the air” – my guess is they’re “slow walking” this issue as well. They, likely, don’t want to make a decision on that one because it will require them to violate their own professions of being “texualists” and “originalists.” This court is CORRUPT beyond imagination – and, the corruption falls entirely on the “republicans” on the court.

Trump is showing his bona fides as an organized crime figure. He’s turned the Georgia investigation/indictments into somewhat (hopefully temporarily) a, in the words of Andrew Weissman, “hot mess.” The Judge in that case is “new” as is the judge in the Florida “Espionage” case, who, in addition, appears to be MAGA all the way. Trump is showing his masterful ability to push these CRIMINAL trials off as far into the future as he can. My guess is Trump either wins re-election or heads out of the country to someplace (Russia?) which doesn’t have an extradition agreement with America.

He won’t be able to put off the election interference case in Manhattan where he’s been charged with 34 FELONIES and I have to wonder if the judge in that case will follow the law as he would with anyone else should Trump be found guilty. I’ve heard reports, should that be the outcome, the sentence would be something in the neighborhood of FOUR years in prison. Trump’s “fixer,” Michael Cohen, got THREE years for his part in the scheme so, to me, it’s only FAIR Trump would get MORE jail time. He’ll likely put off any jail time via the appeal process, so I’m likely going to have to live much longer to fulfill the place on my bucket list of seeing Trump going to jail. (Where he belongs)

I’ve been writing for years comparing Trump to Benedict Arnold – regarding his place in the history books – and, just earlier today, I posted an article by Thom Hartman, which gives a “plethora” of evidence to why Trump is a TRAITOR – in Hartman’s view, worse than Arnold. I’ve also wondered where the documents are that were MISSING from the folders labeled “Top Secret SCI” and Mr. Hartman gave detailed evidence on what is actually missing which I had not learned previously – and, when you think about it, well, it’s between sobering and frightening.

Of course, I’m not one of the spies or CIA agents who’ve been murdered and who may have been outed by the information found in the documents which are missing. NARA and Jack Smith KNOW exactly which documents have not been returned and what is in them. Much of it has to do with the “Russia investigation” and includes sources and methods used to gain intelligence from Russia and China. Mr. Hartman posed the question of how much would that information be worth to Russia and China? And, of course, at the present time, Trump is desperately in need of MONEY to pay for his fraudulent business practices and his serial defamation of E. Jean Carroll. (After all the Saudi’s gave $2 BILLION to Jared Kushner for a plan he was unqualified for, Hunter Biden be damned!)

NONE of this information will “ring a bell” to those who’ve been sucked into the MAGA cult. Yesterday, as Michiganders went to the polls for the Michigan primary many of them were interviewed regarding their views on Trump. I heard several people from Michigan say they support Vladimir Putin and call Volodymyr Zelensky ugly names. They said they support Putin’s aims of “claiming” Ukraine as Russian territory and they could care less about Putin’s aims on the former Soviet Republics. I’ve called these people “willfully STUPID” on several occasions and nothing I heard from these MAGA voters caused me to think differently.

I’m constantly amazed at how ignorant so many Americans seem to be virtually anytime you hear the actual words of someone in Trump’s cult. I started making comparisons of Trump to Hitler while he was still the (TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two times popular vote LOSING) president. That, of course, was before the FOUR indictments comprising of 91 separate FELONY charges. Trump has convinced MILLIONS of Americans he’s telling them the truth when, in reality, he’s a pathological LIAR. Think I’m exaggerating, here’s the definition of “pathological LIAR.

“Pathological lying, also known as mythomania and pseudologia fantastica, is a chronic behavior characterized by the habitual or compulsive tendency to lie. It involves a pervasive pattern of intentionally making false statements with the aim of deceiving others, sometimes without a clear or apparent reason.”

We do have to consider the possibility of Trump actually purposefully using the “Big Lie Theory” of the Nazi’s. I mean, it’s hard to look the other way regarding the effectiveness of his LYING (along with his republican sycophants) and his use of another NAZI “strategy” – projection. Trump, and his republican sycophants, are constantly claiming their opponents have violated the very “norms/laws” they are trampling. I will say it again, to me, Trump is a TRAITOR. He’s all about Trump.

As much as I dislike Trump I have to give him credit for his ability to manipulate our legal system to push off his “day of reckoning” with, obviously, hoping to be able to make it all go away should “we the people” be STUPID enough to allow him back into the “White House.” He’s proving, with a “chesire cat smile” on his face, that “justice delayed is Justice denied.” Of course, he’s got the support of at least 4 right wing judges on the Supreme Court who seem to want to clear as much of a path for Trump’s re-election as they possibly can. Payback to democrats for such probing questions in their confirmation hearings?

In my mind, I can’t believe these judges can possibly be planning to approve Trump’s RIDICULOUS appeal, therefore ending the January 6th case and, likely, the Georgia RICO case. They must realize what doing so would do to their own power, unless they’re full in on the fascist takeover of America. Even if they manage to put this off until after the November election, I don’t think they’ve thought through their decision today. If this appeal is not resolved prior to the election it’s been widely understood Trump’s AG would simply make this case go away, thereby giving Trump the impression he IS “absolutely immune” from prosecution.

It’s a blackmark on the American voting public that someone this flawed has gotten to this point in the first place. He’s soon to go on trial, in a case he can’t delay, in the Manhattan election interference case where he allegedly paid off a couple women ahead of the 2016 election so “we the people” wouldn’t get confirmation of his sexual “prowess” prior to the election. (Other than the Access Hollywood tape where he admitted to being a sexual predator which didn’t seem to “move the needle” with republicans.)

The SCOTUS appears ready to “legislate from the bench” on this ABSURD claim on “absolute immunity” similar to their Citizen’s United decision back in 2010, their gutting of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and, most recently, the “Dobbs” decision where they overturned 50 years of precedent by overturning Roe v Wade. As I said above, it appears the court will slow walk this case as a favor for Trump. At this point it wouldn’t surprise me if they decide to send it back to the appeals court on some kind of technicality. (I believe they’re going to argue over what is an “official act”)

Since the day the court crowned Bush/Cheney back in 2000 I’ve believed the Court has been strategically overtaken by the republican “puppet masters” who work behind the scenes (Charles Koch, Leonard Leo, Timothy Mellon, etc. etc.) to create a stranglehold on our republic enabling “minority rule.” Mitch McConnell (more on him shortly) managed to create this right wing “super majority” on the court via the epitome of unethical behavior – why? because he could – and that has led to an oversized reality of Trump judges in our judiciary – and, McConnell made it a point to appoint YOUNG judges to these lifetime appointments. One of the three branches of our government is going to be making stunningly shocking decisions to the vast majority of Americans – who, likely won’t know “what hit them,” because most Americans don’t pay attention to the court (other than Dobbs).

That is the MAIN reason why I’ve said “we the people” MUST go to the polls in MASSIVE numbers this November to repudiate TRUMP and hopefully several republicans in Congress who’ve become supplicants of Trump. (Plus protect “we the people” from and even worse situation with the Courts) At a bare minimum, democrats MUST retain control of the House and re-elect Biden as president. If that doesn’t happen Trump will be filling at least two seats on the court (yes, it will be Thomas and Alito, probably the two worst) and Trump has promised even more radical judges. If, somehow democrats can retain control of the Senate – maybe relying on Ted Cruz being defeated in Texas – any potential Trump appointees could be blocked. Republican members of Congress have proven they’re no match for Trump and his MAGA base. Yikes!!!

Final Thought: Today, Mitch McConnell, ie “Moscow Mitch” announced in November he will step down as the republican leader in the Senate. He’s been the longest serving leader of either caucus in Senate History (18 years?) and, of course, probably the worst leader in the Senate from the standpoint of “getting things done.” He has a long list of “accomplishments” you’d have to be part of the right wing attempting to take down our republic to appreciate. And, it appears, there are enough members of his caucus who DON’T appreciate his OBSTRUCTION of the legislative process to imply his replacement will be worse. As I’ve been saying for over 20 years, this version of the republican party needs to be voted into the history books right next to Benedict Arnold. (see above)

Just looking at this issue with the court. It’s not a reach to say that BOTH Judge Gorsuch and Judge Barrett were illegitimately put on the court. McConnell is responsible in both cases. Although you could put the BLAME on “we the people” who, along with the Russians, Saudi’s, Emerati’s, Egyptians, and members of Israeli intelligence (see Seth Abramson’s “Proof of Conspiracy”) “elected” Trump back in 2016 (exactly what he’s going to be on trial for starting March 25th.) But, make no mistake, neither Gorsush OR Barrett would be on this court except for McConnell’s brazen, shameless, well, I can’t think of a better word than immorality.

McConnell got the monniker “Moscow Mitch” after it was reported he “torpedoed” sanctions against a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, because Deripaska was planning to build a large factory in Kentucky – I believe an Aluminum plant. Of course, McConnell denied the two situations were connected but there was only enough support for the sanctions in the Senate to get a 57-43 vote majority, lacking the three votes needed to overtake another of McConnell’s unending uses of the filibuster to get his way.

Speaking of the filibuster, that may end up being, other than packing the courts, McConnell’s lasting damage to our republic. During President Obama’s eight years in office McConnell used the filibuster MORE than it had been invoked in the entire history of the Senate. Now days, it’s just a routine part of the Senate’s “business” when there’s a democrat in the “White House” where ANYTHING, say, for example, President Biden and the democrats want passed will require 60 votes before it can even be brought up for a vote on the actual issue.

There’s a long list of DAMAGE McConnell has managed to accomplish over his 18 years in charge of the Senate republicans that will take at least a GENERATION of Americans committed to defending our republic from authoritarian rule as each and every election going forward will be CRITICAL. Likely the worst was refusing to vote to convict Trump after the INSURRECTION of January 6th, 2021. This issue of Trump running again would have become moot and the timing issue of the federal prosecutions wouldn’t be a key issue in the upcoming election. (If, somehow Trump prevails in November this issue will move right to the top of his dark “legacy”)

These MAGA(t) republicans will not go away on their own – they specialize in obtaining power and being unable to govern. Somehow, “we the people” MUST understand the importance of being politically aware and participating in elections (if we can keep them – meaning elections). Trump has proven he’ll CHEAT to get what he wants and McConnell proved himself to be incapable of showing COURAGE in the face of Trump’s verbal attacks. McConnell’s place in the history books will be on the same page as Trump’s!

McConnell’s list of “trespasses” against the will of the American people is much longer (Oh yes, I just remembered he tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act ie Obamacare) and I can’t bring many of them to mind, but my guess is within a few days it won’t be hard to find a LONG list of his “accomplishment” on the internet. Personally, I say “good riddance” to McConnell and pray that somehow democrats can keep control of the Senate. (I’ve sent money to Jon Tester in Montana and to Sherrod Brown in Ohio two critical races and, when I can I’ll send money to Jackie Rosen in Nevada – those will likely be three of the most challenging seats for democrats to retain) Stay tuned…..

Just as I suspected, the list of articles taking a “hard look” at McConnell’s record are coming out fast and furious. Here’s one from one of my heroes, Robert Reich.

OK, it’s true President Biden has MANY positive accomplishments to “crow” about – but, here’s my take: Democrats will LOSE if they choose to make this election about their accomplishments.

Why Won’t Our Media Say Donald Trump is America’s Modern-Day Benedict Arnold?

How much more damage are we willing to take? Garland and the DOJ need to get some answers and share them with the American people soon…

Thom Hartmann Feb 28

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“When you see Trump with Putin, as I have on a few occasions, he’s like the 12-year old boy that goes to high school and meets the captain of the football team. ‘My hero!’ It’s really creepy.”
—Malcolm Turnbull, 29th Prime Minister of Australia

Donald Trump needs money. Apparently, many of the documents Trump stole from the White House are still missing. Including the binder with raw intelligence about American spies in Moscow.

Are they his “get out of jail free” card?

It’s as if the media doesn’t want to confront the possibility that a former president and current candidate is actually a traitor. But consider the facts.

We are right now in the midst of the third presidential election featuring massive interference from Russian intelligence. Most recently, we found that they sent an agent to the FBI to claim that Biden had taken a bribe in Ukraine: James Comer and Jim Jordan have been running with it, trying to use this Russian disinformation to damage Biden in his run against Trump this fall.

Similarly, the 2020 and 2016 elections featured substantial and persistent interventions by Russian intelligence to help get and keep Trump elected. One of the first things Trump did when he became president in 2017 was to invite the Russian Foreign Minister and their ambassador to the US for a secret meeting in the White House, where he gave them a spy we and Israel ran in Syria.

He had dozens of private phone conversations with Putin while in the White House, for which no meaningful records exist, and at Helsinki took Putin’s side against American intelligence to lie about Russian involvement in the 2016 election.

He stole thousands of top-secret (and above) classified documents from the White House, transported them to Florida, and stored them in publicly-accessible locations at Mar-a-Lago. It’s the perfect way to hand off intelligence to agents of foreign governments without getting caught.

He lied to both the National Archives, the FBI, and the American people about them. And now apparently many are missing.

Did Trump sell them already? Does he now have an overseas account with the hundreds of millions he’ll need to pay off his judgements? Or is he planning to sell documents that the FBI hasn’t yet found?

Prosecutors say that roughly 48,000 people visited Mar-a-Lago between the time in 2021 when Trump brought those documents from Washington to Florida and May 2022, when the FBI finally recovered as many as they could find. Of those people, only 2,200 had any sort of identity verification done, and only 2,900 passed through magnetometers that may have detected spying or photographing equipment.

For example, a female Chinese national, Yujing Zhang, flew into the US and went to Mar-a-Lago.

When she was finally caught by the Secret Service (after having her photo taken with Trump the day before on his golf course), they discovered on her person four mobile phones, a laptop, an external hard drive, and a thumb drive that was later discovered to contain spyware. There were, back in her hotel room, an additional 9 USB drives, five SIM cards for burner phones, and a bug-tracking device that could identify hidden cameras and microphones.

She claims she’s just a tourist and is now back in China; nobody knows how much time she spent in any of the many publicly-available rooms where Trump had stored our nation’s most sensitive and secret documents, including those involving nuclear war and spying on Russia and China.

And there was the notorious Russian-speaking Ukrainian woman, Inna Yashchyshyn, who went by the pseudonym Anna de Rothschild (complete with fake passport) to gain entrance to Mar-a-Lago. She was photographed on the golf course with Trump and Lindsay Graham, before spending hours wandering around Mar-a-Lago doing nobody-knows-what.

As former CIA director John Brennan said:

“I’m sure Mar-a-Lago was being targeted by Russian intelligence and other intelligence services over the course of the last 18 or 20 months, and if they were able to get individuals into that facility, and access those rooms where those documents were and made copies of those documents, that’s what they would do.”

Most likely “Anna” and Yujing Zhang were among the least competent of the spies who visited Mar-a-Lago. The good ones we’ll probably never know about.

For example, because Trump thinks it’s “upper class” to have people working at his resort who have “European” accents, the bug-infested resort hired scores of young people from European countries, typically paying them between $11 and $12 an hour.

That would present another great opportunity for foreign governments to get their people installed there in ways that would give them plenty of time to peruse the secret documents Trump was keeping out in the open.

Most concerning, though, is a 10-inch-thick binder of raw intelligence and assessments of Russia’s efforts to help Trump become president in 2016, which included reports and details from American spies in Moscow. The binder is missing, and multiple American spies and people working for US intelligence have been murdered. CNN reported about six weeks ago:

“The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, sources tell CNN.

“The intelligence was so sensitive that lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances were able to review the material only at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where their work scrutinizing it was itself kept in a locked safe.”

How much would Putin pay for it? Or might Trump have sold it to the Saudis, who would then launder it to the Russians, in exchange for their giving $2 billion to Jared and $1 billion to Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin? How much went to Trump, but was unreported and is sitting in an overseas account?

And what were the secret documents that Senator Rand Paul took from Trump, then hopped in a first-class seat to Moscow to hand deliver to Putin’s intelligence officers? Paul, when nailed by reporters, tried to spin it as a “private letter” of some sort, but something very, very wrong is apparently going on here.

Although Trump has been charged in Florida with multiple violations of the Espionage Act, the American press insists on referring to that as the “documents case,” a nice, anodyne sounding euphemism, instead of calling it, correctly, the “espionage case.”

From his days as a teenager screening out Black rental applicants for his father’s property until today, Trump has lived his life on the edge of the law. A New York State Supreme Court justice just ruled that he’s repeatedly enriched himself through fraud.

He’s a serial criminal and a traitor to the ideals of this nation.

As Trump continues to make a mockery of our criminal justice system with his repeated appeals based on BS arguments — intended purely to delay his reckoning until he’s back in the White House and can have his tormentors arrested and imprisoned in one of the concentration camps he and Stephen Miller have planned — America’s security continues to be compromised.

At the same time, Trump is forcing Republicans like “Moscow Mike Johnson” to do Putin’s bidding: his latest project has been to block US aid to Ukraine for 13 months now, and to kneecap the US economy to hurt both America and Joe Biden.

And just the threat of a government shutdown will further degrade our nation’s credit rating and thus damage the economy, while a complete shutdown might cripple America all the way to the election this November (apparently what Trump and Putin are counting on).

Donald Trump is the antitheses of a patriot: even Benedict Arnold never tried anything as audacious as he did. As Jack Smith wrote in last week’s filings with Judge Aileen Cannon:

“[T]here has never been a case in American history in which a former official has engaged in conduct remotely similar to Trump’s. He intentionally took possession of a vast trove of some of the nation’s most sensitive documents—documents so sensitive that they were presented to the President—and stored them in unsecured locations at his heavily trafficked social club.

“When the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) initially sought their return (before learning that they contained classified national defense information), Trump delayed, obfuscated, and dissembled. Faced with the possibility of legal action, he ostensibly agreed to comply with NARA’s requests but in fact engaged in additional deception, returning only a fraction of the documents in his possession while claiming that his production was complete.

“Then, when presented with a grand jury subpoena demanding the return of the remaining documents bearing classification markings, Trump attempted to enlist his own attorney in the corrupt endeavor, suggesting that he falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that Trump did not have any documents, and suggesting that his attorney hide or destroy documents rather than produce them to the government.

“Failing in his effort to corrupt the attorney, Trump enlisted his trusted body man, codefendant Waltine Nauta, in a scheme to deceive the attorney by moving boxes to conceal his (Trump’s) continued possession of classified documents. As a result, Trump, through his attorney, again returned only a portion of the classified documents in his possession while falsely claiming that his production was complete.

“The obstructive conduct even persisted from there. In June 2022, knowing that he had arranged for Nauta to move boxes to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, and knowing that the government had subpoenaed the security video footage that would reveal that surreptitious box movement, Trump, now joined by not only Nauta but also codefendant Carlos De Oliveira, attempted to have the information-technology manager at Mar-a-Lago delete the video footage that would show the movement of boxes.

“The defendants have not identified anyone who has engaged in a remotely similar suite of willful and deceitful criminal conduct and not been prosecuted. Nor could they.”

This corrupt agent of a foreign power has already killed over a half-million Americans with his incompetent or malicious handling of the Covid crisis and damaged the reputation of our nation all over the world.

He has the democracies of Europe terrified that Putin, with Trump’s enthusiastic “do whatever the hell you want” assent, will next turn his guns and missiles on them.

And he’s radicalized millions of our people, convincing them that elections don’t matter and democracy is so corrupt it should be replaced with a Putin-style strongman authoritarian oligarchy run by Trump himself.

How much more damage are we willing to take?

Merrick Garland and his DOJ need to get some answers and share them with the American people soon. And the media should start telling the truth about Trump’s betrayal of our nation.

The Hartmann Report is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I grabbed a bite to eat today and decided to then watch a bit of “Deadline White House” on MSNBC and a clip from a Fox “town hall” from last night almost made me gag. There was Laura Ingraham questioning Trump about the $450 BILLION judgement and the $80,000 per day of interest until he pays up – or until the decision is reversed on appeal. In regard to the appeal, Trump’s lawyers are, what appears to me – a non lawyer – to be incompetent. I believe the reason Judge Engoron took so long to file his decision was to make it appeal proof. I’ve read the same thing regarding the $88.8 MILLION he owes E. Jean Carroll. Alina Hobba – yikes!!! Regarding my reference to gagging – In response to Ingraham’s question Trump first compared himself to Alexei Navalny and then said “this is communism, fascism.”

It appears obvious to me Trump doesn’t understand the meaning of the words “communist and fascism.” To me, the latter reference to fascism comes across as pure projection – but, maybe he really doesn’t understand what he’s proposing for America is to turn this nation into a fascist state. He idolized people like Putin, Kim Jong Un, Viktor Orban, MBS, and other dictators who could be described as fascists. Focusing on America I’ve been pointing out the obvious push from the “right” to turn America into a fascist state for years. This did not begin with Trump, but when you look at our history he appears to be the closest to actually pulling this off.

I always thought I had a (fairly) good idea of American history pre WW II and the Americans who were sucking up to Adolph Hitler and who were “smacked down” by FDR including members of the family of GW Bush. But, last night I began reading Rachel Maddow’s “Prequel” and I quickly realized how little I know – and, I’m anxious to learn from Rachel’s expert scholarly research. I’m only through the prologue and feel I’ve already learned a lot.

I did know Adolf Hitler had a photo of Henry Ford in his office prior to WW II and I knew Ford was part of the pre-war fascist movement in America along with people like Charles Lindbergh. But, just in the first few pages I’ve already learned about several more “traitors” and I’m questioning why some of them were allowed to, well, keep “traitoring.” I also knew the Nazi’s researched the American policy of “dealing with” African Americans as they decided how they would “deal with” the Jews who ended up in the German gas chambers. (In America, African Americans were routinely being “lynched” in the 1920’s.) I’ve also known about the Nazi’s use of propaganda and have constantly been surprised/dismayed at our “liberal media’s” failure to make the connection between the constant LYING of republicans and the Nazi’s “Big Lie Theory.”

I say all that because whether it’s on his mind and he understands he’s using “projection” when he accuses President Biden, the DOJ, the State of New York, and anyone else in the democratic party or what he refers to as RHINOS as being “fascists” the reality is what Trump is proposing for his second term, out loud, can be referred to as nothing less. I’ve given the definition before of fascism here, but here it is again:

1. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
2. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
3. Oppressive, dictatorial control.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

If you haven’t been paying attention, just open “door #1” (OK, the first sentence in the definition) and you can apply it almost totally to today’s republican party and their “wish list” for the rest of us. I’ve been saying for years we are half way there (maybe not using those exact words) because of the corporate control of our nation which has been “intensified” by the Supreme Court and rulings over the years which culminated after Barack Obama was elected president with the Citizens United v FEC decision – opening an even LARGER floodgate of corporate MONEY into the political system followed by the gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which opened the floodgate to voter suppression legislation across the nation with republicans trying to block democratic leaning constituencies from using their most basic right. (That was a “mouthful”)

But, as usual, it gets worse and it could get MUCH worse depending on what “we the people” choose to do come November 2024. Right now we’re dealing with a Congress which is purposely tying up the legislative process in “knots” in order to cause more people to throw up their arms and say it doesn’t matter who wins so “I’m not voting.” Republican members of the House openly BRAG about what their SHAM impeachment “investigation” into Joe Biden is doing to his “poll numbers.” (An investigation, by the way, which originated in the Kremlin) If you remember, a SHAM congressional investigation was how republicans torpedoed Hillary Clinton’s “numbers” during their SHAM Benghazi “investigation.” (Fool me once…………)

The new, and seemingly incompetent, Speaker of the House holds the future of Ukraine – and maybe Europe, and by extension America – in his Trump loving “hands.” I fear if the House of Representatives doesn’t pass the bipartisan legislative package which was miraculously passed by the Senate providing aid to Ukraine, Israel (more on that shortly), along with Humanitarian aid for Gaza right after returning from a questionable “vacation” maybe even THOUSANDS of Ukrainians will be killed unnecessarily. If the House follows Trump’s wishes and blocks further aid to Ukraine the devastation will be Mike Johnson’s legacy – as he will sit next to his idol, Trump, next to Benedict Arnold in the History books. That section is getting crowded!

I have to add, speaking of “thousands killed unnecessarily” – I, personally, believe any future aid to Israel SHOULD be conditioned on, at a minimum, a CEASE FIRE in Gaza with the focus going forward to save as many PALESTINIAN lives as possible via humanitarian aid. Netanyahu has GOT to go! I fully understand the importance of supporting Israel, but NOT on Netanyahu’s conditions. The Israeli’s have ventured, in my opinion, well into WAR CRIMES territory and the Biden administration needs to draw the line regarding “unconditional support.” But, I digress………..

Here’s the deal. The House returns on February 28th and, without a budget, parts of the government will shut down on March 1st. (That gives them 2 days to do what they’ve been unable to do in 13 months) I personally don’t think the House republicans are capable of creating a budget which will be acceptable to a bipartisan group of legislators without right wing House members (Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Chip Roy, Andy Biggs, Lauren Boebert, etc.) voting to “oust” Johnson as Speaker and then the “circus” begins anew. I honestly don’t believe these republicans care about how this looks to the nation because most, if not all, of the whack jobs are in totally “safe” republican districts. They’re going to get their 15 minutes of fame this year no matter the cost. Of course, what they’re counting on is the voting public blaming democrats for the lack of a budget. It could get really ugly. (OK, it’s already really ugly)

I can list a plethora of reasons why I believe any sane thinking American, especially younger Americans, should be rejecting this republican malfeasance but I’m going to start with the one which may register more with younger, and especially younger women, about why they should, despite his “age,” vote for Joe Biden, no matter what. The issue is the SUPREME COURT. The court got the attention of America’s women when they chose to go back on what they “promised” in their confirmation hearings and decided to overturn 50 years of precedent and repeal the Roe v Wade decision from back in 1973. That decision has opened the “door” to more decisions to follow which have justices Thomas and Alito almost salivating. These decisions to come will relate to “same sex marriage,” contraception/birth control, inter marriage (although, I don’t think even they have the guts to overrule that one: see Clarence Thomas) and other individual rights which will be very difficult to get back once they’re “gone.” The fights for those rights took years and it could take the court just a few months to turn back the clock decades as they did with Roe.

The judges on this court, with the exception of Thomas and Alito, are very young, considering they have “lifetime appointments.” Trump has already promised to appoint judges more extreme than during his last reign of terror on America and I believe it’s likely both Alito and Thomas will retire if Trump wins in 2024. The chances the Senate goes back into control by republicans in 2025 is extremely likely – from what I can tell by looking at the electoral “map.” There are 23 democrats up for re-election in 2024 – with three or four “toss up” races and one “for sure” loss (West Virginia) and only 11 republican held seats up for re-election. I believe the best democrats can hope for in 2024 is a 50/50 split in the Senate – and, that will require a massive mobilization of young and progressive voters.

So, if you’re thinking you’re going to vote for someone like RFK Jr. or Jill Stein, or any other “third party” candidate to register your complaint for whatever reason toward President Biden you’re falling into the traditional republican trap. Keep in mind, it’s republicans funding their campaigns – and, I’m talking about republicans who are Trump lackies. The Court already is doing MASSIVE damage to our republic – in places many of us aren’t even noticing – and, there’s some key decisions coming this year – including the 14th amendment case against Trump which I predict the SCOTUS won’t use the text of the constitution to decide, but instead they’ll “chicken” out by finding a convenient “off ramp” AND there’s the Trump claim of “absolute immunity” which is so absurd I can’t imagine the Court will even take the case – but, of course, I never thought they’d crown GW Bush president back in 2000. With this Court, nothing surprises me.

That SHOULD be enough to convince any sane (young) American about the importance of re-electing President Biden, but as I said above, there’s a lot more. The Court has already turned becoming pregnant in America into a dangerous medical condition for America’s women depending on where they live (and, of course, how much money they have). Roe will NOT be codified into law until there are enough members of Congress to overcome right wing opposition in both Houses – and, keep in mind, that would require 60 votes in the Senate unless the filibuster would somehow get repealed. (Not likely, at least in the next few years) The issue of abortion SHOULD be enough to get a massive turnout in November by the largest voting block in America – women.

I have to repeat myself because, there’s more, there’s always more – much more. If you’re a younger voter thinking of voting third party or not voting, think about the issue of Climate Change. Trump and the republicans deny it’s even an issue. President Biden miraculously, with only a 50/50 Senate and a thin House majority with only 5 votes to spare, passed the most significant Climate legislation of my lifetime and now Trump is threatening to “repeal it” once he’s back in the “White House.” (yuck, that just can’t happen!) Trump has also said on “day one” he’s going to “drill baby drill.” (And, he’ll repeal Obamacare) I don’t think he understands he can’t just “repeal Obamacare” AND America is already the leading oil and natural gas producer in the world, but I digress. To me, for young people the Climate issue is enough by itself to motivate one to go to the polls and vote democratic up and down the ticket.

I’ve stated here I’ve always considered myself an “independent” voter, but since GW Bush and DICK Cheney LIED “we the people” into Iraq back in 2002-2003 I’ve voted AGAINST republicans and will likely do so in the future not knowing how many elections I’ve got in this tired old body. Denying the Climate crisis is, to me, bonkers. But how about Civil Rights and Voting Rights. It will require Congress to overcome some of the overreach of the Supreme Court and that will be an issue for as far into the future as I can see. The Court is about to, from what I can tell, continue their assault on “progressive” Civil Rights and, they’ve already “unleashed the hounds” regarding those who wish to suppress the votes of certain groups regarding Voting Rights. Plus, they’re likely to cram THEIR “God” down the throats of the rest of us. (I say that as a Christian)

How about education. President Biden attempted to “forgive” the student loan debt of MILLIONS of Americans and was blocked by republicans who took the issue to the courts and, of course, the courts agreed he didn’t have that executive “power.” He managed to get a “chisled down” version in place, but with enough democrats in Congress BILLIONS in student debt could be forgiven PLUS (and I say this hopefully) state universities could possibly become tuition FREE. My first trip through the “college” system came from 1965 until 1969. I loved the game of basketball and played it a bit in college but wasn’t good enough to go to a school which provided athletic scholarships back then. However, as I remember it, the tuition was somewhere near (maybe a bit over) $100 per quarter and living expenses were REALLY cheap (I remember five guys sharing a house and paying $15 each per month in rent. Yes, those were the days of a $1.25/hour minimum wage, but I got out of school in 1969 owing $3000 in student loan debt which I was able to pay back. (I didn’t have a family capable of supporting me in school)

So, I’m in favor of tuition free universities (state funded universities) and any other measure which would open up “higher” education to ANY student capable of succeeding with the desire to do so. (I’m, obviously, not in favor of “book banning,” and “subject banning” like what is going on in Florida and other so-called “red states.”) How about environmental regulations and other regulations designed to make things better for the “commons.” I fear the SCOTUS is about to “knee cap” many of the regulatory agencies – why? because, when you look “under the hood” there are enough judges on this court who “owe” their position to big business that they will do what is expected of them.

There’s a prior case referred to as “Chevron” (I don’t fully understand it) which is likely to be overturned (just as Roe was overturned) taking the regulatory decision making process away from the experts in the various agencies and, apparently, giving it to judges (who have NO expertise). These are issues which will be hard to overcome once “Chevron” is overturned, if it happens – without a strong democratic Congress or a different composition on the Court – which, likely won’t happen for maybe another decade. (God help us if one of the “liberal” women on the Court retires during a republican administration)

What started this “rant” was me listening to Trump compare himself to Alexei Navalny (just writing that makes me feel like I’m going to throw up in my mouth) and then complaining that America has become a “communist, fascist” country. Why? Because the legal system he’s been “thumbing his nose at” for years has FINALLY caught up to him. I once wrote Trump would “rue the day” he decided to make a run for the presidency – and, I’m sure that day has arrived. His penchant for LYING and CHEATING (not to mention his admission to being a sexual predator in the Access Hollywood tape) led to CRIMINAL charges from before he “won” the 2016 election (The Manhattan election interference case – ie “hush money”), during his administration (he WOULD have been charged with OBSTRUCTION of Justice in the Mueller investigation but for a Justice Department policy of not indicting a sitting president), toward the end of his term – the INSURRECTION (ie coup d’etat) and AFTER his term – the Espionage case – ie STOLEN Classified documents case.

And, Oh by the way, I still wonder where the documents are that were missing from the SEVERAL empty folders found at Mar a Lago when the FBI executed the search warrant finding the over 100 CLASSIFIED documents (that were missing) and that Trump attempted to HIDE from the bureau and NARA. The FBI was called into the situation because of Trump’s REFUSAL to cooperate with the National Archives (NARA) where ALL presidential records belong (based on the Presidential Records Act which Trump routinely LIES about saying: “I had the right to keep those documents.” He just assumes his supporters are STUPID enough to believe this s@#t).

The issue with defamation regarding E. Jean Carroll is the result of Trump’s MOUTH and apparent inability to stop defaming Ms. Carroll on social media or in TV interviews until, well, he got hit with an $83 MILLION judgement. (It seems as if that was enough to get him to STOP). And, the $450 MILLION judgement in New York only came about because he couldn’t help himself from attacking Michael Cohen after his arrest – for, essentially, doing Trump’s “bidding” and then not providing Mr. Cohen help with his legal bills. The New York fraud case originated in the House of Representatives during Cohen’s testimony to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after he’d been sent to prison for something Trump initiated. Cohen explained it all and yes, you’re correct, the “Trump fraud case” began with Trump’s inability to NOT CHEAT! Trump is STUPID in so many ways.

The bottom line here is that Trump is desperate to stay out of jail, although I’ve heard enough reports suggesting, if convicted of any of these alleged CRIMES, he’ll be spared jail time. Like, for example, in New York a couple years at Rikers Island probably ain’t happening. I sadly believe he’ll get something like “home confinement” or they’ll find a prison for rich people and, avoiding even that is really the fuel to his re-election campaign.

There is a significant portion of America who would gladly trade our constitution for some kind of fascist “Christian nationalism” which requires a massive progressive voter turnout to put this rendition of American fascism to “bed.” Trump is desperate – but, so am I. I watched the return of John Stewart on “Comedy Central” and was stunned by his “ageism” attack on Joe Biden. And, then yesterday, and almost worse, in the substack I subscribe to written by Robert Reich, he (or someone he was quoting) was making the case for Biden to drop out of the race. At this point that won’t/can’t happen. Progressives need to put on their “big boy” pants and buckle down to get the anti-Trump voters to the polls. And, don’t be fooled by JFK Jr., for example, who’s major funding source, Timothy Mellon, is ALSO a major funding source for Trump! Sadly, Mellon is from one of my favorite places, Pittsburgh.

That kind of stuff (Biden and ageism) from supposed “progressives” is what has “irked” me about democrats over the years. It’s almost as if they’re afraid of their own shadows. I’ve been writing about the COWARDICE of republicans for almost eight years now – regarding Trump – and, I can’t believe all these people holding Joe Biden’s age against him when he’s been one of/maybe the best progressive president(s) in my lifetime. Apparently, it’s no longer “the economy stupid” when it comes to elections.

This post pandemic economy, so far, has been historic. Progressives should be attempting to get as many young Americans registered to vote and should be giving them the reasons why to, if nothing else, vote AGAINST Trump. The next few decades will depend on it – and, maybe more. It grieved my heart to read Professor Reich’s comments about Biden’s age. (Apparently, Dr. Reich was quoting Ezra Klein) Biden is the MOST qualified person in this nation to run our government, period full stop!

Final Thought: Yesterday, in Alabama, their Supreme Court ruled that embryos are “people” (ie children). This is the logical extension of the Dobbs SCOTUS decision overturning Roe (abortion or as the women I know – “women’s health care”). In the decision “God” was referenced repeatedly as if they don’t understand the notion “God” is not mentioned in our constitution and the founding fathers clearly wrote the constitution to embed the principle of “separation of church and state.” The Chief Justice of the Alabama Surpreme Court referred to “God” repeatedly in his opinion as if his interpretation of “God’s law” is suited for all Alabamians, like it or not – despite our Nations’ constitution prohibiting such blasphemy. They ruled that discarding an embryo (which routinely happens in “IVF”) is akin to MURDER.

There’s a bunch of right wing Christians (and I say that as, apparently, a liberal Christian) who just never got the message that America was founded on the principle of the separation of church and state. Or accepted it. In essence, that decision, in Alabama, has ended what I just referred to as “IVF” (In Vetro Fertilization) in that state which allows couples with fertility issues to have children. So, on the one hand they support forced birth (in many grave situations for women) while, on the other hand, they support preventing couples who WANT to have children but are unable to “naturally” from becoming parents – in the name of “God.” Yikes!!! Stay tuned….

My biggest mistake when I first started realizing the danger Donald Trump posed to America was believing, at some point, REPUBLICANS would understand the danger he addled to, not only America, but also to them, would cause REPUBLICANS to turn on Trump and, well, that would be the end of it. While much of the things I predicted were correct, in this regard, I couldn’t have been more wrong. My frustration with democrats used to be they seemed afraid to defend their own policies – highlighted by their running away from “Obamacare,” for example, the midterm after it was passed, leading to a solid “thrashing” at the polls, but the “kings of cowardice” has to belong to republicans in Congress as they cower from doing anything which would be considered “right” to avoid getting the nasty “tweet” (or is it now a “truth”) from Trump.

When you look back at how they really felt about Trump, prior to him “winning” the election in 2016 to what they said about him, even after he won the republican nomination, their malfeasance is almost nauseating. If you took the time to read Robert Mueller’s report after the “Russia investigation,” you realize it was Vladimir Putin who was behind the “active measusres” aimed at helping Trump “win” the election, but more importantly to Putin, was to create a divide in America helping him claim his “fevor dream” of bringing Russia back to world dominance. When you read a bit further, in other well documented books, it becomes clear Trump was targeted by Putin years before he claimed the “White House” and has become Putin’s “useful idiot.”

And, not only was Putin involved in the “active measures” (via, mostly, Facebook – sorry Mr. Zuckerberg, but maybe you should be referred to as “Suckerberg”) but so were the Saudi’s, the Emerati’s, the Egyptians, and the Israeli’s in the conspiracy to get Trump elected. (Read: Seth Abramson’s “Proof of Conspiracy: How Trump’s International Collusion is threatening American Democracy”) If you’ve read about Cambridge Analytica, the work of Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer, they (Cambridge Analytica) were not only key in providing “data” leading to “Brexit” (Great Britain exiting the EU) but their “data harvesting” from Facebook was shared with represtentatives of the Russians, the Saudi’s, the Emerati’s, and members of Israeli Intelligence, according to Abramson’s book – and Abramson has the “receipts” to back up his claims.

If you think I’m using hyperbole here, Facebook has paid OVER $5 BILLION in fines and settlements (I believe it’s approaching $6 BILLION now) for it’s reckless policies which have allowed user data to be almost routinely “harvested” from their platform. In 2016 it was reported by former Cambridge Analytica employee, Christopher Wylie, that Facebook pilfered the info of approximately 87 MILLION Americans prior to the 2016 election and that info was used to “feed” unsuspecting Americans mis/disinformation designed to destabIlize the American election in Trump’s favor. (Click HERE if you want to further check out what I’m saying)

The Trump Campaign used this information, as did the Russians and the others I mentioned above in a conspiracy to – Mr. Wylie used the term “Mindf*cked” in a book he wrote confessing his “sins” – sway the American electorate into, on the one hand, supporting Trump and, on the other, opposing Mrs. Clinton. And, of course, it worked. Plus, don’t be fooled, Mr. Bannon is at it again – pushing his neo-Nazi agenda across the right wing blogosphere and, you can be assured the other countries which are all controlled by fascist dictators are right there with him. Bannon has his “fingers” in right wing fascist movements all across Europe and, once he “pays his debt” (four months in prison for Contempt of Congress) he’ll likely be back in the next Trump administration if all these “bad actors” succeed once again. (Bannon does have a “minor” date with the authorities in New York this coming May for his phony “We Build the Wall” campaign to siphon money from MAGA faithful)

As for the American voters, I keep thinking of the saying “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Are they going to fall for this once again. Despite the “booming” economy President Biden is “sitting” with historically low “approval ratings.” His foreign policy challenges are beyond what any president in my lifetime has faced – and, to me, he’s doing an incredible job – although, the issue in Gaza is a challenge he MUST face head on or his chances of re-election are going to shrink. Benjamin Netanyahu is no friend of Biden’s – period, full stop. Personally, I don’t consider him a “friend” of Israel. He’s corrupt just like Trump is corrupt and he understands as soon as the war against Hamas ends, his reign over Israel will end.

President Biden simply can not supply military support to Israel without conditions on Netanyahu – the demand being backing off the slaughter of Palestinians – mostly women and children. Israel moved into War Crimes territory, in my view, long ago. President Biden warned them about the potential fall out if they were unable to control their rage over what happened on October 7th. The ANGER was justified. The damage caused to Palestinians in Gaza, in my view, was WAY over the top. Netanyahu actually referred to Abimelech who is referred to by some Bible scholars as “conniving and evil” as he planned out the invasion of Gaza. Abimeleche was responsible for the slaughter of “thousands” which, apparently, is how Netanyahu wants to be remembered.

President Biden has to find a way to show his support of ISRAEL but, at the same time, withdrawing support, if necessary, from Netanyahu. I was happy to hear President Biden, while in Israel shortly after October 7th, point out the ONLY solution to this conflict is the so-called “two state” solution. Netanyahu doesn’t want that and, neither does Hamas nor Iran – the funding behind Hamas. (Actually, there have been reports Netanyahu has supported Hamas in his disdain for any “two state” solution.) I have to believe Biden’s patience toward Netanyahu has become “paper thin” – but, I also believe Netanyahu could care less what President Biden thinks. Netanyahu would like nothing better than Trump back in the “White House.”

Stop and think about the Saudi’s funneling $2 BILLION to Jared Kushner shortly after Trump left office back in 2020 to set up an investment firm, “Affinity partners” – to which he had NO experience. Do you really believe that was done out of the goodness of Mohammed bin Salman’s (MBS) heart? – personally I don’t think there’s ANY “goodness” in MBS’s heart. However, one thing you can say about MBS is that he’s ambitious. He has a “2030 plan” to develop his nation and it’s getting mixed reviews. And, it involves the U.S. and Israel. Kushner is investing much of the “stake” coming from MBS in Israel which is interesting to say the least. Reports were that Iran “pushed” the events of October 7th out of fear the Saudi’s and Israeli’s were nearing some kind of diplomatic settlement. Bottom line: None of, Netanyahu, Iran, or Hamas wants/wanted anything to do with the “two state solution.”

While republicans are focused on “investigating” Hunter Biden for ???? we know they’re not interested in finding out about Kushner’s $2 BILLION (of which, Kushner pulls out a “cool” $25 MILLION annually for himself). Yes, Kushner’s firm was started almost the next day after he left the “White House,” and, yes, it didn’t take even long enough to “squeeze” the money out of the Saudi’s Private Investment Fund to, well, make it look like it was on the up and up – but, why would we expect republicans to investigate someone in Trump’s family – a family which apparently was pilfering MONEY throughout the four years in office from foreign governments. Remember, they’re inventing the “Biden Crime Family” out of pure projection! Just sayin…….

Trump recently BRAGGED about blocking the “bipartisan immigration bill,” he’s blocking the House from providing aid to Ukraine – shamelessly, he’s bragged about doing NOTHING to address gun violence in America at a recent NRA convention, he’s BRAGGED he was the president who got Roe v Wade overturned, and he’s promising, once again, to repealing “Obamacare” – which will, if he’s successful, take health insurance from roughly 30 MILLION Americans. What could possibly go wrong? Stay tuned……

Final Thought: Will Americans flock to the polls to FINALLY put Trump into the History books right where he belongs next to Benedict Arnold? Or will they “sit on their hands” or, just as badly, vote for one of the third party candidates who are being propped up by major Trump donors? Will those donors be publicly “outed?” We do KNOW that the Super Bowl add for Robert Kennedy Jr. was funded via a (something like) $7 MILLION “donation” coming from Timothy Mellon, one of the heirs to the Mellon Banking fortune. The Mellon family has been integral republican donors for generations. Timothy Mellon is a multi-billionaire so $7 MILLION is a drop in the bucket, but he’s been an integral Trump supporter, but is funding RFK Jr.’s campaign. Do I need to explain this for you?

This past weekend, once again – this time in Tennessee – we got another dose of right wing politics. It was reported as a “neo-Nazi” group marching down the streets in Nashville with hoods over their faces (jobs related?) and carrying NAZI flags emblazoned with swastikas. To me, not “neo-Nazi’s” but full blown NAZI’S. Of course, republicans immediately came out accusing Joe Biden supporters as being the culprits. I’m not kidding. Check it out HERE. Trump and his sycophants are counting on “we the people” becoming so disoriented by the constant swirl of UNBELIEVABLE crap which just keeps piling up causing voters to loose their minds between now and November – finally giving in to the crazy. I really hope they’re wrong! Yikes!!!

Oh yes! (Sorry Uncle Tony ;o) Too many paragraphs!

I heard someone refer to this photo as “The Speaker of the House and Mike Johnson.”

Since the days of Ronald Reagan republicans “hitched their wagon” to the so-called “pro life” issue, knowing it was a “winner” to suck in the “evangelical Christian” movement, among others, allowing them to pursue a right wing “trickle down” economic movement which has funneled TRILLIONS up to America’s Oligarchs over the past 40+ years. “Pro-life” was a part of their “plank” over the years and it worked for them to keep a bunch of single issue voters in line as they executed their “trickle up” plan on America – resulting in a more and more bloated national debt. (See Frank Shaeffer’s “Crazy for God”) And, of course, while pushing the debt toward the “stars” they’ve figured out how to put the blame on democrats. (And, of course, their supporters rarely check the facts on who’s the major blame for the deficit)

Then, along comes Trump and then he, with the hypocritical help of “Moscow Mitch” McConnell in the Senate, put three right wing members on the Supreme Court who, despite what they PROMISED in their conformation hearings, managed to pull off the “wet dream” of their “Christian” supporters by overturning Roe v Wade and putting the issue of abortion at the state level. Well, if you’ve been paying attention, the issue of abortion has been driving women and those who support women’s rights to the polls in state after state as initiatives to put the right to an abortion into state constitutions, including in so-called “red states,” have passed overwhelmingly.

So, the issue of abortion went from being a driving force for republicans to, in many places, a “heavy weight” on the backs of candidate after candidate. Republicans had to find an issue their sycophantic voters would latch onto and, at the same time, be able to overcome the “weight” of the abortion issue which has now turned against them. Well, one thing Trump is good at is LYING to his supporters and he chose the “border” as an issue he would use to fire up his supporters. “Biden is in favor of open borders” has been the cry of one republican after another in obedience to the TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING four times indicted (91 alleged FELONIES) ex president who apparently sprays orange coloring on his face daily. (Except when he plays golf – if you’ve seen any of the photos) Oh yes, the Biden administration has deported more people (don’t believe me, click HERE) from the border than Trump. Just sayin……..

It appears a problem arose recently when maybe the most conservative person in the Senate, James Lankford of Oklahoma, negotiated a very “conservative” immigration bill which was designed to create order at the border and, to no surprise, Trump intervened at the last moment and caused the republicans in the Senate to vote the agreement down. Trump even said, “Blame it on me.” (Sound bites to come) Republicans had said this agreement was necessary for them to vote for aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan and now that aid is hanging in the balance. Republicans and Trump are actually working to cause their supporters to put their allegiance with Vladimir Putin at the expense of Ukraine. To me, if republicans succeed in blocking aid to Ukraine EVERY one of them will end up in the darkest of pages in our nation’s history.

Will Democrats be able to get out the message that Trump and his republican sycophants in Congress don’t actually want to solve the problems at our Southern border? Will they be able to convince people republican sycophancy to Putin is, well, patriotic? YUK!? Who knows, the MAGA creatures are beyond reasoning with, but maybe the news today that Putin had Alexei Navalny MURDERED – for the capital offense of being in the opposition (reports are he didn’t fall from a hotel window – likely, the other fave of Putin’s Russia – poisoning). I saw video coming from St. Petersburg in Russia of “little old Russian ladies” attempting to lay flowers at makeshift memorials for Navalny being arrested. Yep, like Trump Putin is one tough “cookie.”

The U.S. Senate voted by a 70 – 29 total to approve aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and the Palestinians in Gaza and the response by Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, was to send everyone home until February 28th. I’m trying to keep this all appropriate for sixth graders (like Trump) so I’m watching my language. But, the evidence is EVERY day this aid is not forthcoming is resulting in unneeded DEATHS of Ukrainians. To me, I really never thought I’d live to see the U.S. act in such a “deplorable” manner. And, of course, I never thought I’d see the day when someone as “deplorable” as Trump could ever get within breathing distance of the Oval Office.

But, as usual with EVERYTHING republican, there’s always more. Republicans are planning to return on February 28th and two days later the House MUST pass the so-called “omnibus spending bill” (ie budget) to keep the government (well, much of it) open. From this vantage point, that “ain’t” happening. Especially, when one of the leaders of the House republican caucus just came out and said “no more temporary spending bills” (ie “kicking the can down the road”). These republicans have no idea what they’re doing as they attempt to act as if they have a clue how to govern. (Do you wonder how many House republicans miss Kevin McCarthy?)

Do you think ANY of this bothers the presumed republican candidate for president this year, Trump? Not likely. He boisterously said, “Blame me” when it was reported the bipartisan immigration bill was torpedoed – essentially, by Mr. Johnson saying it would be “dead on arrival” in the House. Do you think Trump’s going to make that same claim after House republicans cause the “government shutdown?” He’s incredibly STUPID, so, personally, I suspect he will. But, whether or not Trump claims responsibility for shutting down the government, we KNOW he’ll be the impetus behind it. For heaven’s sake, he’s been quoted as saying he hopes the American economy crashes between now and the election – apparently, believing that will make him look better.

Personally, at this point, there’s NOTHING Trump can do to make himself look better to me – but, wishing for an economy which has performed near miraculously since Biden took the reins of government and immediately attacked the pandemic both economically and via an incredible plan to put the vaccines in places all across the nation where anyone who wanted one had it available to them to fail is ,well, deplorable! There’s been OVER 14 MILLION jobs created, wages are up, as of the past couple of months consumer confidence is up, the stock market is up – and, inflation is down – more-so in America than in virtually any other economically advanced nation.

Yes, inflation has been a problem – but, for those of us who’ve been around since just after WW II it’s not the first time we’ve seen this phenomenon. This round of inflation was caused by pent up demand from the pandemic, a supply chain bottleneck – also due to the pandemic, higher wages for lower to middle level workers, and, of course, the previously mentioned Vladimir Putin and his brazen attack of Ukraine – as major contributing factors. It’s been impressive to me in how quickly, all things considered, inflation has come down. As usual, the Federal Reserve’s way of dealing with it is to keep raising interest rates until enough people have lost their jobs to effect demand. I actually was put out of business in 1984 by that very policy by the Fed. This time, no matter what they have done – every month – more jobs have been created and the predicted recession, at least so far, hasn’t arrived.

But, republicans in Congress may be able to accomplish what the Fed has failed to accomplish – and, that’s bring this BOOMING economy to a halt. (I certainly hope not) By shutting down the government – and, without a plan to get it up and running again, these republican House members may be able to accomplish what Trump wants – and, that’s to crater this BOOMING economy. I’m not sure how long they would need to leave the economy/government “shut down” or how extreme they’re willing to go, but, at this point in time, nothing surprises me. And, of course, as of today Trump is angrier than he’s been for quite some time and, remember, Trump is all about Trump.

This afternoon Trump was levied a fine of $355 MILLION, each of his sons were fined $4 MILLION, and his former CFO was fined $1 MILLION for what was referred to as MASSIVE fraud over an extended period of time in regard to Trump’s business centered in New York. Trump can not be an “officer” of any business in New York (that would apparently include the Trump organization) for three years, his two eldest sons are barred for two years and I believe Allen Weisselberg (and maybe one or two other “officers”) is barred for life. (Although Weisselberg is older than me so, well, who knows how long that ban will last?)

On top of the $355 MILLION Trump was levied a charge for INTEREST of $100 MILLION and when you add all that up to include the $83.3 MILLION he was awarded recently for CONTINUALLY defaming E. Jean Carroll the total is nearing $550 MILLION. Of course, Trump has said he’s going to appeal, but appealing the verdicts is not as simple as filling out the forms. As I’ve pointed out here several times, to appeal a judgement in the state of New York, you have to first put up the “dough.” Trump has a couple options, but neither looks that encouraging to me, at least from my viewpoint as a retired teacher who’s scraping by on a “fixed income.”

His first option is to deposit the money – plus the anticipated interest which will accrue during the anticipated time of the appeal process in an account overseen by the court. Most experts I’ve listened two have said that amount is usually 120% of the judgement amount. So, using the mental math skills I once had (I’m now into approximating) between the Carroll judgement (the second one) and today’s ruling Trump will need to deposit about $675 MILLION – in CASH, if he chooses “option 1.”

The second option is to find a lender or bonding company who will front him MOST of the money. The way that works is he would (likely) have to put up 20% of the judgement amount (In the Carroll case it would be about $16.5 MILLION and in the fraud case it would amount to around $100 MILLION in CASH) PLUS the usual charge for that kind of “bond” would be around another 10 – 20%. Additionally, if he chooses option 2 (and, there’s no guarantee a lender will “touch” this – plus he can not do business with ANY bank chartered in New York for the three years) he will have to put up unencumbered collateral sufficient to cover the amount of the judgement, less the cash put up front, but PLUS whatever the lender’s fee is – likely between $60 and $100 MILLION. For example, that would mean until the appeal process is completed that real estate – or however he comes up with the collateral – will be, in essence, frozen.

For someone who is more likely worth around $1 BILLION than the $10 BILLION he claims, this could be a near “death penalty” on his business. I’ve heard estimates that the total value of his real estate holdings in New York – after considering the mortgages on them (which could be an additional problem possibly forcing Trump to begin liquidating assets in order to cover these judgements) have a combined value of between $600 and $700 MILLION. (Some people I listened to today considered those numbers optimistic) If he decides to liquidate his New York assets it will be under the supervision of the Court appointed “independent monitor.” He won’t be able to abscond with the money until he’s satisfied the judgements.

Should be interesting as Trump has 22 days to post the money if he wants to appeal the Carroll judgement and 30 days with the ruling made today. (Actually, that 30 day “window” might begin at some point next week) Today is February 16 and his “election interference” TRIAL in Manhattan is scheduled to begin on March 25 – giving him a week from when the judgement is due and when the trial is scheduled to begin. And, the trial is supposed to last about 6 weeks, which would give just enough time to schedule in his “January 6th” DC trial regarding his attempt to overturn the 2020 election should the SCOTUS do what myself and MANY others believe they SHOULD do and that’s refuse to grant the “stay” of the DC Court case so Judge Chutkan could put that case back on the docket.

I’m just trying, tonight, to get into Trump’s head as he MUST be realizing the “walls” are closing in around him. And, how pissed off do you think he is thinking about who is holding him to account. Of course, he blames Joe Biden and the DOJ, but Biden has nothing to do with it and the Justice Department has nothing to do with state charges – in fact, I would argue the reason these impending trials are “up against the clock” is due to Merrick Garland’s original position to NOT investigate Trump’s CRIMINAL conduct. But Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, and Judge Chutkan all have one thing in common that likely riles Trump – they’re all African Americans. I believe the judge in the Manhattan election interference case was born in Colombia and emigrated to America at a young age as was Judge Chutkan who was born in Jamaica (which I believe Trump once referred to as a “shit hole” country) Do you get my drift? Trump is being held accountable to people he despises. Is this karma, or what?

Trump has taken IMMIGRATION off the table, maybe turning it against republicans with his brazenness, he’s again BRAGGING about getting Roe v Wade overturned, he’s been found guilty of sexual assault, serial defamation, and massive fraud, his company has been found guilty of CRIMINAL fraud, he’s likely going to take credit for republicans shutting down the government, and he’s the republican “frontrunner.” What could go “wrong?” My advice to Nikki Haley would be “stay in the race.” Trump either is imploding or it appears to me he will implode – possibly leaving Ms. Haley as the last one “standing.” Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s no way I’d vote for Ms. Haley, but my guess is there are many republicans who are “never-Trumpers” who would. The question would become, how many of the MAGA republicans would vote for her if Trump somehow is “sidelined.” Stay tuned……….

Final Thought: Do you remember when Trump claimed he would NEVER negotiate a lawsuit? Of course, shortly after saying that he paid a $25 MILLION settlement for the fraudulent “Trump University.” He said, he’d build a wall and MEXICO would pay for it – and, his cult followers believed him. He said, “I’m really rich” and don’t need anyone else’s money to run for president – only to be grifting hundreds of MILLIONS from his followers, scamming some of them into recurring payments they didn’t realize they were agreeing to – then using the money for his mounting legal bills. I could go on, but my point is his BS is so deep (and smelly) that anyone who believes a word coming from his pathological LYING mouth is, at this point, choosing to be willfully STUPID.

I point this out because I have some advice for Mr. Trump – at least regarding the two federal cases (and approximately 40 alleged FELONIES). I think he should tell his lawyers to negotiate a plea deal. I believe if he was willing to plead guilty and part of the plea agreement included him withdrawing from the upcoming election and accepting a sentence of home confinement for ???? he would be well ahead of the impending legal tsunami headed his way. He once said, “You’ll get tired of all the winning!” The question I have is he tired of all the LOSING? He’s basing everything on finding a way to “win” (cheat) in November and if that doesn’t pan out the question becomes will he be placed in jail if he’s found guilty in any of these CRIMINAL cases?

I can tell you I’m TIRED of watching all the LOSING and anticipating when the next time he LOSES will come up – apparently, starting on March 25th – and, he’s going to have to be in the courtroom EVERY day of the trial’s six weeks. Would DA Bragg or DA Willis agree to a plea agreement? It seems unlikely in the Georgia case because there are still 14 co-defendents in the case. I’ve heard the prisons in Georgia are not even a place you want to visit and I have no idea how these judges will react at sentencing for any guilty verdicts. So, maybe Trump could negotiate himself out of the remaining part of his predicament (he’s GONNA have to pay the judgements unless he wins on appeal and remember, the interest charges started accumulating TODAY), spend a few years in home confinement and “we the people” would be FINALLY through with this nightmare. I doubt he’s capable of being that level headed, but I can always hope!

I have to add: If Trump somehow withdraws, then I would hope President Biden would withdraw and maybe we could have a Governor Newsome v. former Governor Haley contest in November. That would, I believe, stimulate a lot of us “progressives” to flock to the polls! Call me a “dreamer.” Oh yes, that reminds me, the immigration bill which was torpedoed by Trump was tilted strongly to the “right.” There was NOTHING in it for “Dreamers” and I can tell you I had many of them in my classroom over the years and I pray for them regularly. Those who I knew about at the time were really outstanding students, in almost EVERY case. So, the “torpedoed” bill would have been a start, but until we address the issue of the “Dreamers” and the MILLIONS of other “illegal immigrants” who play such an important role in our economy and our communities, giving them a “pathway to citizenship” the solution will be incomplete!

The Really Big Picture

Sometimes a single very big picture is worth many thousands of words

ROBERT REICH

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Friends,

By now you know that I love to draw — not just because it’s fun, but also because I sometimes find it easier to express ideas through drawing than through words.

A while ago I decided to draw the “big picture” of how we got into the mess we’re in. It’s a kind of historical “docurama.”

I arranged to have a huge sheet of paper put up on a wall. (Thanks to everyone who helped!)

Then I drew Part 1 on the far left — representing 1946 to 1979. This was the time when America’s middle class grew, upward mobility was the norm, and America became more equal.

Part 2, the second column on my wall, depicts 1980 to 2000 — the era when neoliberalism, deregulation, privatization, globalization, Wall Street, and Ronald Reagan conspired to reverse the path we’d been on. The result was widening inequality, a shrinking middle class, and stalled mobility.

Part 3, in the middle column on my wall, represents 2008 to 2010, when the financial economy nearly collapsed, exposing the underlying rigging of the system. Banks were bailed out, but millions of people lost their homes, jobs, and savings.

Part 4, the second-to-last column, shows what happened between 2010 and 2016, when the losers of the rigged game expressed their anger through the “Tea Party” movement, the “Occupy” movement, and the sudden appearance of two populists — Bernie Sanders on the progressive left and Donald Trump on the authoritarian right.

Part 5, the final column, represents 2016 to 2050 — an era when I believe America will come to a basic decision about whether it wants authoritarian neofascism to run the country from the top down, or a robust democracy in which the gains from growth are widely shared.

I hope you not only enjoy this but also find it a useful way of framing what’s occurred and the choice ahead. (If you do, please share!)

Thanks again for joining me.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/sP0pRIBRcDk?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

The SCOTUS is about to hear the case from Colorado which says Trump is ineligible to run for President because he is an “insurrectionist” (I’ve been saying that’s a “no brainer” since January 6th, 2021) and whether the words of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution really “count.” I’ve also been saying it’s obvious to me the Court will find a way to contradict their own claims to be “originalists” and “textualists” because Section 3 leaves no doubt ANYONE who participated in the planning for and the instigation of the assault on our nation’s Capitol SHOULD be ineligible to hold office in this nation ever again.

Here’s the reality, which SHOULD be obvious to the court. The INSURRECTION is continuing as Trump threatens to discard our constitution should he manage to CHEAT his way back into the Oval Office. Thankfully, he was recently shot down in his claim of “absolute immunity” for the president by the D.C. Appeals Court. However, there’s a growing amount of noise from the MAGA cult that Trump and his sycophants should just ignore the Courts. When we get to that point, well, our democratic republic will be in the ashes. Will “we the people” vote Trump into the History books right next to Benedict Arnold which is where he belongs? In my view, the SCOTUS SHOULD make that a “moot” point by upholding the ruling of the Supreme Court of Colorado.

Of course, that’s a “pipe dream” because the Court has evolved into an arm of the republican party. They gave us GW Bush back in 2000 and they are certainly not going to knock Trump out of the race in 2024. Clarence Thomas, who by all rights SHOULD recuse from the case will be right in the middle of it. For heaven’s sake, his wife was involved in the INSURRECTION and to suggest he was unaware of what she was doing is a bit – check that, way more than a “bit” – on the naive side. After all he’s her “best friend” and that’s who she said she communicates with.

By rights if Jack Smith had thrown a RICO “web” over all of the participants in the INSURRECTION of January 6th, 2021 Ginni Thomas very well could be one of the defendents. Clearly, Mr. Smith limited the indictment to Trump in order to speed up the process of getting to a trial – before the 2024 election so voters know if they’re voting for a FELON or not. (The time issue is the result of Merrick Garland’s failure to start an investigation of Trump almost immediately after taking office. It shouldn’t have taken the J6 Committee to get the “ball rolling.”) Should Trump be aquitted in the trial I’m guessing his chances of winning the election would go up significantly. As many have said, from the progressive side of this country it’s “all hands on deck” up until the November election.

Additionally, knowing that progressives tend to sit back and simply go about their lives preferring to put politics aside, the reality is the MAGA cult will not go away in just one election. If Trump is defeated in 2024 they’ll take a hard look at why they LOST and the answer will be Trump is a deplorable person and a terrible candidate. Of course, voting to put democrats back in control of the House and hopefully increasing the majority of democrats in the Senate – which, at this point appears to be a very long shot – will be requirements of stopping this assault on our country’s foundation.

I’ve reported here about a person I used to meet every week or two for breakfast who is a life long republican and got sucked into Trump’s cult – to the point where he doesn’t even answer my periodic emails because he seems to ACTUALLY believe the “election was stolen.” He was certain Trump would win a second term (had that happened I would have owed him two steak dinners) and that “liberals” would violently react in the streets. I told him I believed the opposite would happen (not knowing at the time the plans for January 6th) and, sure enough, I was correct and we have now lost contact with each other. Republicans seem to be poor LOSERS. (I’m sure he’s fired up for Trump’s “return” after the next election)

I bring this up because one thing which sat in my mind after losing contact with him was some of the stuff he said which, at the time, I just took for nonsense. The first thing he said was he didn’t believe in “democracy” or words to that effect. I didn’t think twice about it at the time, but I have no doubt he’s in the number of (white) Americans who support Trump’s plan to evicerate the Constitution. This guy raised three African American children (I believe he adopted them) yet, when I was talking to him he said some stuff which could only be considered racist – about his own adopted daughter.

He also made the claim there was going to be another “civil war” which led me to believe he was hanging around in the darkest places on the internet. Some of the things he said mirrored things I read when I was doing a bit of research on the “Boogaloo boys” who I suspected as being some of the ringleaders in the violence which occurred during the protests over Police killing Black men after the murder of George Floyd.

I tried to get him to read the Mueller Report – offering to give him my copy – and, of course, he declined. That made it almost impossible to have a rational dialogue on what Trump was ACTUALLY doing because his information was coming from, it seemed to me at the time, Fox “news” or worse. I remember bringing up information from the Southern Poverty Law Center about extremist groups in America and he immediately attacked the character of the founder Morris Dees. I always found that hypocritical of someone supporting Trump. Of course, people like Dees are virtually hated by the MAGA faithful – a movement based on white supremacy – which never sat well with me when I looked back on our relationship.

The reason I point all this out is because it’s people like this who make up the MAGA faithful. And, there are a lot of them and they get their info from the right wing “blogosphere” which starts with Fox “news” and gets more EXTREME as you move to the right in the republican movement. I read the book “Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist” by Eli Saslow which is the story of how Derek Black pulled himself out of the “bowels” of White Supremacy as the son of Don Black, a former “Grand Wizard” of the Klan and Godson of David Duke also a former “Grand Wizard” of the Klan.

After reading that book, which was during the time of Trump’s reign on our nation, maybe in 2018, and Derek’s father was devoted to Fox “news” and Tucker Carlson – for anyone who questions why Carlson is kissing up to Vladimir Putin this should give you a major clue – and in one interview I read about Mr. Black and Mr. Duke sharing their belief that Trump was their “vehicle” into the “mainstream” of American politics. In fact Duke was one of the “Very Fine People” in Charlottesville carrying a Tike Torch and chanting (with all the others) “Jews will not replace us.” And, believe me, this group of Americans will do whatever it takes to put us “liberals” in our “place.” I don’t even like to think where that might be.

My main point is the INSURRECTION has been ongoing since BEFORE January 6th, 2021 and, if (and I’m sure they’re not) the Justices on the SCOTUS have been paying attention they should know their place as the arbiters of America’s 250 year old “experiment” is in jeopary from Trump. They have the opportunity to do what the Senate failed to do after IMPEACHMENT #2 by convicting Trump and upholding Colorado’s Supreme Court, therefore, making Trump ineligible to hold any office in America ever again.

The republicans in Congress continue to show a level of COWARDICE towards Trump which is shameful and disgusting. I don’t know what it will take to motivate democrats, disaffected republicans, and independents to put a stop to all this – but if they are not united in the effort America’s place as “leader of the free world” will have been toppled from within. I believe it was Robert F. Kennedy who warned about the “enemy within” back in the early 1960’s (and, sadly, in my view his son has joined that group) and Trump is the offshoot of that era of American History. Joseph McCarthy, J Edgar Hoover, the John Birch Society, etc. – remember Trump’s “Roy Cohn” which he is always lamenting about was the lawyer for the mafia in New York back when Trump was in his “slumlord” days. (Fined for discriminating against African Americans)

I fully expect the Court to find the most graceful way they can to overturn the Colorado ruling while “tiptoeing” around their commitment to being both “originalists” and “textualists.” Honestly, nothing this Court does surprises me – but, I can virtually guarantee you they’re not going to surprise me on the side of the Colorado Supreme Court. I’m guessing the “conservatives” on the court are also afraid of Trump – most likely it’s Trump’s followers they fear. You’d have to have your head in the sand to not be aware of the death threats, ect. “thrown” at anyone who “crosses” our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING four times indicted (91 FELONY charges) ex president. I’m sure they don’t want the “swatting,” the people in front of their houses yelling threats, etc. The easy way out is to do what Trump wants and the Constitution clearly prohibits – Trump holding office once again.

Final Thought: Well, as usual, I’ve let this rant sit and now that we’ve heard the arguments before the court it’s clear the decision will likely be 9-0 against Colorado. Even the so-called “liberals” on the court seemed to be looking for reasons to rule against the 14th amendment. And, I have to add I was no fan of the guy arguing for the State of Colorado. For example: When the issue of “insurrection” arose and whether Trump actually participated in the INSURRECTION in a way that was playing semantics with the meaning of INSURRECTION he failed to point out section 3 also says “giving aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” is also disqualifying.

He COULD have added that Trump actually admitted he participated in an attempt to overthrow a free and fair election (that would be an INSURRECTION) when he responded to Congress amending the law which says the Vice President’s role is simply ceremonial by saying “That proves Mike Pense could have overturned the election.” There was LOTS of “stuff” this lawyer could have used to prove Trump participated in an INSURRECTION the topic which SHOULD have been at the center of the argument, but was almost an afterthought.

It seemed like ALL the judges were focused on “why should Colorado” determine the outcome of the election by taking Trump off the ballot. That said to me the Judges were saying they don’t want to be responsible for doing that – which, in reality, is their purvue. It was as if the hearing wasn’t actually focused on Section 3 of the 14th amendment. This is the Supreme Court shying from public scrutiny (yep, after the Dobbs decision overturning Roe – apparently that was different!) Yikes!!

Also: Naturally, we’re in this spot as I’ve said so many times because Merrick Garland seemed so timid about starting the investigation into the people at the top of the INSURRECTION – apparently wanting to work “from the bottom up” so now Trump is hell bent on getting re-elected so he can dispense with his MANY indictments. (Of course, we’ll find out soon whether or not the court is going to slow walk Trump’s appeal of his [ridiculous] claim of absolute immunity) But, now, Garland’s obsession with appearing to be “fair” has spawned another issue which will also be “stuck” to his legacy.

The Special Counsel (Robert Hur) appointed to investigate President Biden’s possession of classified documents came out with his report stating that Biden should not and will not be prosecuted for having these documents because his lawyers discovered them and they were immediately returned to the National Archives. Naturally, Mr. Hur didn’t leave it there. He included a bunch of HIS opinions on Bident’s age and “decline” which had NO place in his report. One former justice Department Official called it “James Comey 2.0.

Mr. Hur even suggested President Biden couldn’t remember when his son, Beau, passed away. That caused the President to show as much anger in public as I’ve ever seen. He said when that question was asked he though “It’s none of your damned business.” Really, have you ever heard about Trump giving an interview to Justice Department investigators? Of course not. His lawyers would NEVER allow it – he’s a pathological LIAR. lying in an official interview is, well, a NO NO! So, President Biden sat down for interviews – on the two days following the savage attack on Israel of October 7th – and the Special Counsel is asking questions like that?

And, then Garland allows that absolutey unacceptable personal (political) garbage to be made public. I’m beginning to think Mr. Garland was a good and respected judge, but he’s using up a lot of his positive “capital” in dealing with these republicans. Mostly Trump, but this special counsel, it appears, crossed the line of Justice Department protocol and Mr. Garland let Hur’s political viewpoint into the public sphere in a Justice Department official document. Stay tuned…….

Was the GOP Plan All Along to “Break” America to Make Room for an Authoritarian Strongman?

You have to break government pretty badly before people are willing to trade in a normal democracy for a dictatorship, but it’s sure happened before…

Thom Hartmann Feb 7

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Recent reporting suggests that Trump followers, by and large, are fine with him being or becoming a dictator. It seems crazy, but there it is, irrefutable: they’d rather have Trump as a dictator than Biden or any Democrat as a “normal president.” But why?

When I was 22 years old, on the advice of an old friend, I took the Dale Carnegie Course: it was literally a life-changing experience, and I credit that course with a good bit of the successes I’ve enjoyed in business and the media in the intervening years.

In one of the early weeks of the course, we each had to get up in front of the class and act out with great emphasis this statement (almost a mantra):

“I know people in the ranks who will stay in the ranks. Why? I’ll tell you why: Simply. Because. They. Haven’t. The. Ability. To. Get. Things. Done!”

The ability to get things done is a high value for business, but it applies to politics as well. And that’s where authoritarian strongmen come in.

The most appealing thing about a dictator is that he can “get things done.”

Dictators don’t have to worry about bureaucracies hindering them, or pesky laws and regulations. They don’t care about local opposition to their projects, or their impact on the environment.

From making the trains run on time to building an autobahn and a car company to go with it, dictators famously “get things done.”

The corollary to that old nostrum is that when things are going well, when things are working smoothly, when the people are getting what they want from their government, there is little interest in putting a dictator into office.

You have to break government pretty badly before people are willing to trade in a normal democracy for a dictatorship, but it’s sure happened before.

Germany wouldn’t have embraced Hitler if it weren’t for the depression the country had slid into because they lost WWI and were hit with fierce sanctions in the Treaty of Versailles.

Mussolini stepped up to take over Italy during a time of multiple crises: the echo of the flu pandemic, WWI, and an economic crash. The existing government was so weak that when he showed up with his “army” of 20,000 or so militia volunteers, the King essentially handed the country over to him.

Pinochet was able to hold Chile in part because Nixon’s sanctions had crippled the country’s economy and thrown millions out of work.

One of the most successful ways the forces of autocracy and authoritarianism have risen to power throughout history is by creating or stepping into a crisis and promising to be the “strongman” who will fix things and fix them now. 

Which, of course, is why rightwing billionaires and the Republicans they own have been working so hard in the decades since the Reagan Revolution to break our government.

They want a series of terrible crises. And if they don’t happen organically, rightwingers are more than happy to create them, as we saw yesterday when Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to do anything about our southern border or to fund aid to Ukraine and the Palestinians.

Back before the Reagan Revolution — when things were working well, a third of America had a good union job, our schools were brand-new and well supplied and staffed, college was free, healthcare was inexpensive, and the biggest challenge America had was to put a man on the moon and bring him safely home — there was little demand for a dictator in this country.

Sure, women, Blacks, and queer people were demanding rights and their fair slice of the pie, but they wanted part of a pie that was already working (to mangle a metaphor). For the majority of white Americans to adopt a strongman authoritarian, first the country had to be broken and broken badly.

Republicans and their billionaire donors have been working on this project for decades.

It was originally proposed in a memo by Lewis Powell in 1971, the year before Nixon put him on the Supreme Court and he authored the decision legalizing corporate bribery of politicians.

Now the GOP and their billionaire backers are more than 40 years into their project:

Breaking our schools and students: Reagan began the process of breaking our educational system, which was once the pride of the world. He ended free college in California, cut federal aid to education by nearly a fifth, gutted civics, and almost singlehandedly created a nearly $2 trillion black hole of student debt that’s dragging down millions in the last few generations. And now rightwing haters are roiling school boards and threatening teachers to further break schools with their lust for banning books they don’t like.

Breaking our workers: Reagan also shattered the compact between workers and employers that had created and guaranteed a strong and stable middle class, the first and largest in the world. He started early in his presidency by crushing PATCO, one of only three unions that had endorsed his presidential candidacy, and then put an anti-union lawyer in charge of the Labor Department (a practice followed most recently by Trump, who put Antonin Scalia’s notorious union-busting son in that job).

Breaking our manufacturing base: George H.W. Bush broke our nation’s job market by executing the Trade Act that went into effect in 1989 and amplified the “free trade” powers of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which was signed by President Clinton. This began the steady migration of good American jobs to Mexico and China, causing over 15,000 factories to close and move, taking with them over 20 million good jobs.

Breaking our wallets: Pharmaceutical and insurance companies scored major victories during George W. Bush’s presidency. Not only did he begin privatizing Medicare with the Medicare Advantage scam, but he also put into law an absolute prohibition against the government negotiating drug prices with drug manufacturers. As a result, Americans pay as much as ten times more for drugs than do people in other developed countries.

Breaking our environment: Republicans and the fossil fuel billionaires who own them have known since the 1970s that their products were damaging our environment as well as causing tens of thousands of cancer, heart- and lung-disease deaths every year through their pollution. While President Jimmy Carter tried to do something about this in the late 1970s with his solar panels on the White House and his “Solar Bank” program that would have 20% of America’s energy produced by wind and solar by the year 2000, Reagan shut it all down when he came into office in 1981 in exchange for big contributions from the fossil fuel industry. Republicans are still working to break our environment: they regularly lie about global warming and promise to increase our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Breaking our society: Republicans once talked about freedom and individual responsibility, but these were always buzzwords for letting billionaires do what they want and ignoring the needs of the poor. In reality, they delight in pitting Americans against each other, demonizing minority groups (racial, religious, gender), while promoting hateful, racist tropes like the so-called Great Replacement Theory.

Breaking our institutions of democracy: Republicans spent three years promoting the lie that Trump beat Biden in 2020. This is on top of 30+ years of promoting the idea that there is massive voter fraud in America, justifying making it harder and harder for people to vote, when in fact there is no voter fraud crisis in this country and never was (in the modern era).

Breaking our stature in the world: There was a time when Republicans stood strong against dictators: now they embrace them. In a recent rally, Trump openly praised Putin, Orbán, and Xi while trash-talking our actual allies in NATO and the EU. Republicans in the House and Senate are openly opposed to helping democratic Ukraine fight off violent aggression by dictator-run Russia. Allies that long depended on the US are now publicly questioning the wisdom of relying on us for any sort of support for democracies around the world so long as the MAGA faction controls the GOP.

Breaking our public health system: According to the British medical journal Lancet, a half-million Americans died from Covid during Trump’s presidency unnecessarily, all because of the lies he told us to try to salvage the economy for his re-election. Now we’re experiencing outbreaks of measles and other infectious diseases because MAGA Republicans like DeSantis have shattered people’s faith in our public health system. From calls to prosecute Fauci to rejecting masks and vaccinations to supporting price-gouging drug manufacturers and for-profit hospitals, they’re causing widespread death and disability and appear to delight in it.

Breaking women and girls: After a 50-year campaign against Roe v Wade, Trump finally packed the Supreme Court with Catholic fanatics who, based on the writings of a 17^th century witch-burning English judge, let states again prosecute women and doctors for abortion. The GOP has now brought to the Supreme Court a case that could outlaw all birth control in America, and they’re dead serious about getting women out of the boardroom and back into the bedroom and kitchen.

Breaking our children: for the past 40 years, the GOP has led the charge to fill our schools with guns. They have been so effective at this that bullets are now the leading cause of death among our nation’s children, a horror that has not been successfully inflicted on any other nation on Earth. They’ve also fought vigorously against any effort to regulate social media, which is provoking a mental health crisis among our young people and driving an explosion of suicide.

Breaking entrepreneurs: There was a time in America when a good ticket to the American Dream was to open a small local business, grow it, and hand it down to your kids. The corner dry cleaner, pharmacy, dime store, restaurant, hotel, bank, travel agency, electronics or furniture store, etc. But ever since Reagan stopped enforcement of the Sherman Act and other anti-trust laws in 1983, it’s been all “mergers and acquisitions” all the time: every consequential sphere of American industry is now dominated by a small handful of giants who will squash anybody who tries to start a company in their sector like a bug.

Predictably, now that Republicans and the morbidly rich billionaires who own them have broken most of the social contract and systems that held the middle class together (and our middle class has gone from being almost two-thirds of us to fewer than half of us), people are looking for a change.

Politicians have been promising that change — a break with Reagan’s neoliberalism — since the 1990s.

Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama campaigned on change but missed or ignored most of their chances to stop the disintegration of the middle class, and Bush, Bush Jr., and Trump all doubled down on Reaganomics.

Finally now, many Americans — particularly “low information voters” — have reached a breaking point.

— Their kids carry hundreds of thousands of dollars of student debt.

— Forty-one percent of American families have more medical debt than they can handle.

— As Republican governors roll out voucher programs, our schools are failing and simultaneously under attack from fanatic bigots.

— Fox “News” and other hate-driven media have convinced them that the US is being “invaded” by brown-skinned people.

— They’re in a constant state of hysteria about CRT, DEI, BLM, Antifa, drag queens, Taylor Swift, and any other boogeymen they can come up with.

These are the people Republicans are counting on to support transforming America from a democratic republic into a strongman authoritarian oligarchy. The GOP’s bet is that if they can keep things broken and bad enough long enough, then people will demand a dictator “who can get things done.”

They even hatched a scheme called Project 2025 that hyper-concentrates political power in the White House, pre-positioning the next Republican president to be America’s first dictator.

The good news is that President Biden is actually doing something about each of these areas where Republicans have worked so hard for the past 43 years to break our country. And his work is producing good fruit: inflation is down, employment is up, wages are up, and consumer confidence is growing.

It’s a race against time, in a way.

If Democrats can continue to put America back together, there’s hope for a brighter, healthier future.

On the other hand, if rightwingers in Congress and the media can continue to sabotage our country (and other democracies like Ukraine and Taiwan) things may devolve to the point where we elect our first open dictator in the form of Donald Trump or some other authoritarian Republican.

Ten months from now, the choice will be ours.

This COULD be my shortest posting ever. I was paying attention today to the ruling coming down from the D.C. Court of Appeals CONFIRMING what EVERY level headed lawyer in America understood which is that NO president could possibly be “IMMUNE” from prosecution. I mean why would the courts agree to give up their own POWER to the executive to appease the MOST corrupt president in American History. There is a long line of “precedent” which would suggest even attempting to get this past the courts was absurd on its face. However, it’s been clear to virtually EVERYONE paying attention that the argument is laughable on its face. (Of course, Trump, as a pathological LIAR, very possibly – over time – just enough of a nimwit to actually start believing his own LIES)

Here’s my point tonight. In a couple days the Supreme Court is going to be hearing the case revolving around whether or not Trump can be excluded from the ballot based on section three of the 14th Amendment. I believe that is a case probably NONE of the justices wanted to be deciding in this hyperpartisan atmosphere where the court is “approved” by the LOWEST number of Americans EVER. They fully understand they are going to get “heat” no matter how they decide that one – and, I fully expect them to find a way to prove they are ONLY “textualists” when it fits their POLITICAL views. That’s sad I feel I have to write that, but I’ve listened to too many of them violate the testimony they gave in their own confirmation hearings. Suggesting they’re not political is absurd.

However, they have the opportunity to give themselves a bit of credibility when it comes time to decide whether or not to grant “cert” to Trump’s absurd “absolute immunity” claim. They can’t possibly agree to that – it would render them as subservient to every president from here on out. Makes no sense. The ONLY thing they can do (for Trump – if that’s their compulsion) is to delay this to force Trump’s trial to happen after the election – thereby preventing “we the people” from learning whether the republican nominee is a convicted FELON. Keeping in mind, there’s no guarantee he’ll be convicted although you would have to believe Trump believes he will based on all his stall tactics.

I’m suggesting the prudent course of action by the court is to refuse to hear this case because the Court of Appeals made a detailed finding which is difficult – even for someone like me who only studied constitutional law back in the 1960’s – not to understand. I’m probably wrong here, but rationally thinking, I’m guessing the Court doesn’t want to have to deal with this case AND the 14th Amendment case at the same time. These are both cases where the court is going to face HUGE criticism for when they make a decision – no matter how they decide. Refusing cert on this case and then finding a way to keep Trump on the ballot is the off-ramp, in my view. Stay tuned!!!

Recently, I’ve been posting several articles I’ve read by Thom Hartman who, along with Robert Reich, is one of my “heroes” as I attempt to participate in the IMPORTANT process of STOPPING Trump from “getting anywhere near the Oval Office ever again,” in the words of Liz Cheney. I’m really tired of writing about Trump and today, while he was breaking the rules in the defamation trial he’s LOSING (again!), the judge actually said something like “I hope I don’t have to have you removed from the court because that is exactly what you want.” Of course, just as a sixth grade brat/bully would respond, Trump said something like “go ahead” as he waved his arms in the air.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of what caught my attention regarding the words of Ms. Carroll’s lawyers in their opening statement, “How much will it take to get Trump to stop” defaming Ms. Carroll. While Trump was sitting in the courtroom on the first day, apparently thinking he could affect the jury to consider him the “victim,” he posted a reported 22 messages on his “(un)Truth Social further DEFAMING Ms. Carroll. I did some research as to what the jury might award Ms. Carroll in an attempt to SHUT him up. It could easily be in excess of $100 MILLION – maybe even “north” of the judgement against Rudy Giuliani of $148 MILLION. In order to appeal the verdict of the jury I believe Trump must put up the money (an appellate bond which includes interest and is secured, in this case, by Trump real estate) in escrow before he can do so.

If you’re a republican, are you tired of all the LOSING? I still remember Trump saying “you’ll get tired of all the winning.” As Rick Wilson so aptly stated back during Trump’s reign in the “White House” – “Everything Trump touches dies.” Of course, he was speaking metaphorically – those who joined Trump’s administration saw their careers damaged and their lawyer bills grow astronomically. Sadly, many of Trump’s “collateral damage” – like Rex Tillerson, Mark Meadows, Jim Mattis, John Kelly, etc. etc. could be more VOCALLY active in warning “we the people” about Trump’s 2024 danger to our republic, but, don’t hold your breath. (Of course, Mr. Meadows is legally vulnerable due to his going along with the attempted coup d’etat – it’s understandable why he’s reluctant to “tell the truth.” – Cassidy Hutchison did it for him!)

Well, in the next two weeks Mr. Trump is likely to take LOSING to almost unimaginable heights. Trump COULD be facing judgements, in total, exceeding $500 MILLION. Of course Trump will appeal, but, as I said above, he’s going to have to put up collateral for the full amount of the judgements PLUS anticipated interest in order to make the appeals everyone is expecting him to pursue. From my standpoint, I can’t even imagine the interest which will be accruing while he attempts to drag things out. New York, in 2022 reduced the rate of interest on an unpaid judgement from 9% to 2% – which could still exceed one MILLION dollars added to the bill each year any appeal continues.

Trump’s supporters apparently don’t even know he’s been found guilty of sexual assault by a “jury of his peers” and his company has been accused of being GUILTY of fraud – to the amount of something like $2 BILLION each year. As I followed the so-called New York Civil Fraud Trial I can’t remember any discussion of Trump allegedly reducing valuations when it came time to pay taxes but INFLATING them when it was time to get financing or insurance coverage. Both instances, it seems to me, would be fraudulent. The judge in Trump’s fraud case made a “summary judgement” saying he was obviously guilty of FRAUD. Trump’s own lawyers agreed to a “non-jury” trial putting the decision in the “hands” of the judge – who, naturally, Trump has attacked viciously during the trial.

The absurdity that Trump is the likely republican nominee for president in 2024 tells you all you need to know about Americans. There have been numerous polls lately questioning the intellectual competence of “we the people.” One poll found that “15% of Americans believe that “the government, media, and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation” – QAnon nonsense at the heart of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s belief system. But, as usual, there’s more: “Almost 30% of Americans, for example, didn’t know that the Earth takes 365 days to orbit the sun” according to a 2021 query by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Brace yourself: “A 2018 survey by the National Science Foundation found that 28% of Americans actually believe the sun orbits the Earth” (a theory debunked by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei back in the 17th century). “The Annenberg Public Policy Center found in 2022 that approximately one in four Americans could not name a single right guaranteed by the First Amendment. 25% of Americans were also unable to name any of the three branches of government, according to Annenberg. And in 2018, the Institute for Citizens & Scholars found that a full two-thirds of Americans would fail the US citizenship test, which asks basic questions about US history and the nature of the US government.” I pasted this above info from an interview in “Alter Net” with Chuck Rosenberg. Is it any wonder close to a third of our population actually believes Trump tells them the truth.

I’ve pointed out here numerous times about Trump’s proclivity to use the tactics of Hitler and the Third Reich – focusing mainly on “The Big Lie Theory” and “Projection.” Today my focus is on projection. I was watching TV today and a clip of Trump being interviewed on Fox “news” as he defended his (absurd) claim Presidents must have “total immunity.” He, of course, pivoted to Joe Biden and used the pull out from Afghanistan as an example Biden could be legally exposed for the chaos which occurred during the process. (Trump obviously forgot two things – first, he’s the one who made the deal with the Taliban setting up the withdrawal and secondly, he clearly forgets the withdrawl from Viet Nam which was even more chaotic. It’s a b@#t to remove yourself from a “war” which should never have happened)

Just as his claim of “total immunity” is something concocted by a DESPERATE defendant and is ridiculous on its face, so is his memory lapse regarding the pull out from Afghanistan. And, unfortunately, the “experts” who were on MSNBC (where I saw the clip) also either weren’t aware it was Trump who negotiated the deal with the Taliban or chose not to point out the clear hypocrisy of his comments. “Person, woman, man, camera, TV” – OMG, I forgot Trump is a “very stable genius” – you would have to be a “genius” to claim in a stump speech, “They’re (no idea who he was talking about) going to ‘debank’ you from…???? (your political beliefs?) He didn’t finish the sentence switching to “liquid gold” and then switching to “non liquid gold” – corn. Acting as if that was a brilliant observation. Yikes!!!

This is a man who mistakenly said he was running against Barack Obama, said he would keep us from WW II and that he could solve the Ukraine war in “one day.” Of course, that last one might actually be true because he’s an official “lap dog” of Vladimir Putin. Trump makes absurd claims, slurs his words, often can’t pronounce words any ordinary adult would have no issue with, constantly is showing his ignorance regarding “current events,” and does one thing only – well. He can make absurd ATTACKING comments about those who challenge him with aplomb. This is why the republican party’s members of Congress have chosen COWARDICE to truth. They fear the personal attacks they would face with a negative comment about Trump.

The question I keep asking myself is will democrats, independents, and disaffected republicans join forces in the challenge of making sure Trump never gets near the Oval Office ever again. Not only is Trump a “clear and present” danger to the functioning of a democratic republic with “checks and balances” which “we the people” support just as Americans have for nearly 250 years. Trump, in my view, is simply a product of our corporate interests who could care less about anything beside their bottom lines. It is up to us, (yes, Mr. Trump those are the same letters as in “U.S.”) the VOTERS to decide where “we the people” go in the future. Are we OK with a renegade, corrupt Supreme Court – and, believe me, the rogue decisions of this court will continue until such time as at least two of the “conservative” justices are replaced which makes EVERY election going forward “the most important” of our lives. It will take several elections to extinguish “MAGA.”

For the indefinite future, EVERY time “we the people” go to the polls the results will be more critical to the future of this nation (and the world) since the day Trump used Russian, Saudi, UAE, and Israeli intelligence help him “win” in 2016. From the eyes of the younger VOTERS in this country issues like Climate Change, Civil Rights, Individual rights – including the right of women to control their own bodies, Education, Voting Rights, etc. etc. will be on the ballot – notwithstanding who the candidates are. There is as distinct a difference between republicans and democrats in my lifetime. (Unfortunately, I’ve read younger Americans are abandoning Biden because they believe he should be able to control Netanyahu)

I have always been an “independent voter” but, since the day the Supreme Court crowned GW Bush/Dick Cheney as our president and vice president I’ve been voting AGAINST republicans. Bush/Cheney LIED “we the people” into the worst disaster, maybe, in American History (worst than Viet Nam???) by invading Iraq and they left President Obama an unimaginable mess with the financial Crisis of 2007/2008 for Obama to solve – with, of course, NO help from republicans. That mess paled in comparison to the MESS Trump left for Biden – I mean 4000 Americans were DYING each day from COVID and Trump seemed to be oblivious to the FACT he was responsible for the circumstances President Biden inherited.

The (possibly) one great accomplishment during Trump’s reign was the development of the mRNA vaccines which led the “fight” against COVID. It took a massive (and incredibly impressive) movement originating from Biden’s “White House” to get these vaccines distributed to clinics all across America. I, personally, get my Pfizer vaccine at a community medical clinic close to my semi-rural home. That vaccine required special equipment to keep it refrigerated and, somehow, this (little) clinic has been able to provide the “shot” to me each time it was appropriate. (I’ve had several “boosters” since the first shot) I’m 76 and been able to make it this far (3 years) without contracting the virus. Trump actually backed off recommending the “shot” after getting booed by a group of republican sycophants who were pushing the “anti-vaxx” campaign.

Regarding the “virus” we get a great example of Trump’s propensity for LYING. I’ve listened to him lately suggesting he protected us “all” from a nuclear holocaust – “saving millions of lives.” Apparently that LIE is in response to reports coming out once again that he was responsible for maybe 500,000 lost lives during the height of the COVID crisis – due to his lackadaisical response to the outbreak of the pandemic. I remember watching reports from Worldometer almost daily keeping track of the abysmal record of Trump as he seemed to take offense to the reality of bodies dying at a rate where they were being stored in refrigerated trucks because the morgues were full.

Final Thought: I’ve let this post sit for a couple weeks and, in that time, the Appeals Court in Washington DC made their ruling today – no surprise, Trump can NOT shoot someone on 5th avenue and avoid criminal prosecution. Not only that, he can’t participate in a coup d’etat (ie January 6th, 2021), he can’t STEAL classified documents, he can’t pay off a porn star to block negative info from an election and he can’t hide the payments as a business expense, and he can’t ask a state’s election officials to “find the ballots to give him a victory where it was proved he lost) – NONE of that is OK if a jury of his peers vote to convict him of the charges. He’s facing 4 indictments which include 91 alleged FELONIES. Will this ever cause his cult to begin to break? Well, not likely. Just this morning I brought up with the young lady who cleans our house each week (and is a die hard republican) Trump’s sexual assault (rape?)/defamation issue and $83 MILLION judgement and she immediately brought up Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Neither are the 91 FELONIES an issue for her. Yikes!

As I’ve predicted over the previous three years republicans will be fronting third party candidates in an attempt to peel off democratic leaning voters who, for various reasons don’t see President Biden in the same light I do. This country will be in dire straights if the American people fail to keep this mob boss out of the “White House.” Republicans cower in fear of his social media posts and have totally abandoned their obligation to “we the people” out of fear of this DEPLORABLE person. Sadly there are MILLIONS of Americans who are willfully IGNORANT (I didn’t say stupid – but thought about it) and even go so far as to fund Trump’s legal bills. If you remember when Trump first was running for the presidency he said he wasn’t going to fund raise because he didn’t need to – he said, “I’m really rich.” Just as Mexico was NEVER going to pay for a wall! Stay tuned…..

After Judge Engoran makes his final decision in the New York Civil Fraud Trial Trump is likely to be a LOT less “rich.” I’m speculating that between the E. Jean Carroll judgement and the Fraud trial judgement Trump could easily be out between $400 and $500 MILLION. (It could be even more because it appears Trump’s CFO has pled guilty to perjury in the trial and it doesn’t seem to be sitting well with the judge.) New York’s Attorney General is seeking Compensatory damages of $370 MILLION – I have no idea if there could be “punitive damages.” I’ve heard some estimates the final amount could be approaching $600 MILLION. Trump was operating what appears to be a wannabe organized crime “family” business.