It’s come to this: it’s time to stand. Not just against the regime, but also its enablers.
If someone is “ok” with this malign administration, and the illegal and inhumane policies that it is enacting, we must actively oppose them and what they support.
They are complicit in unwarranted pain and suffering, the denial of basic human rights, and theft and criminality by public officials. They are complicit in the destruction of our constitution, the abandonment of the rule of law, and disenfranchising millions of citizens.
They support an immoral, sociopathic monster.
Check back with when we’ve helped them come to their fucking senses. If they ever do.
I live in an incredibly red state. The quickest way to get elected is to have that R by your name on the ballot. Then it's just a matter of backing Fatman on everything he does and says. A lot of the people I know live in that MAGA bubble, and they cling desperately to their beliefs. The really hardcore ones truly believe everything he says and represents. I've lost a lot of friends over the last 10 years, people from all walks of life that I once respected and cared for. It really frightens me how deeply they have dug into the rabbit hole.
We ignore human nature at our own peril. Humans are inherently selfish (No negative connotation implied) it is how we have survived as a species. We tend to seek being comfortable and resist change. Change is the nature of the physical world we inhabit. We have the power to influence it. If we hand that power over to others they get comfortable using it and as the saying goes: "Absolute power curupts absolutely." Based on the above selfish comfort tendencies.
Democracy demands participation. 90 million registered voters did not participate in the 2024 election. With that kind of apathy we deserve the consequences of handing over our power to amoral corporations and the influence they buy over amoral people who we buy stuff from to enhance our self-esteem, which is comstanly challenged by the divisiveness and vindictiveness of those "leaders" claiming to care about us. While we fight amongst each other, they steal more and more of our freedoms.
We must examine our complicity in the process and only then can we choose a pathway forward, focusing locally on INCLUSION vs. Exclusion; DECENCY vs. Vindictiveness and a SHARED COMMON SENSE OF REALITY! vs. Reality TV nonsense that deadens our humanity.
Keep up the pressure on your congressional representatives, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike. Urge them to work harder, to utilize all the tools at their disposal to combat this scourge. The congressional recess is coming up. They should be holding town halls, taking a page from Sanders’ and Ocasio-Cortez’ book. Enough with the canned sound bites on PBS, MSNBC, or CNN about how they are fighting for the American people! The Capitol switchboard phone number, where you can ask to be connected to your members’ offices, is (202) 224-3121. Call them.
Meanwhile Trump is holding an oval office presser with the pres of El Salvador and he can't help bashing Biden at every turn. What a small disgusting person he is!
I'm not a statistician or political prognosticator. But my guess is there are upwards of 37% of Americans who will stand by their man, regardless of consequences. And they are taking large swaths of rural territory with them. This makes it difficult for me to foresee any upcoming positive outcomes. But I will continue to do my part.
And these same people attending rallies must vote and take others with them to vote. I wonder how many excited young people who attended Kamala’s rallies actually voted. We have the government we have because we put these people into office. Let’s not forget that.
My comment all day today.. I read this this morning on Robert Reich's column:: "THE AMERICAN OLIGARCHY IS PETRIFIED BY TRUMP’S ECONOMIC CHAOS BUT CAREFUL NOT TO CRITICIZE HIM DIRECTLY."...who's left then? How many oligarchs are left to change this used up lightbulb? If money doesn't talk what does? Just exactly what is the "game plan" from Heritage Foundation & Project 2025? Their money doesn't work if there is no one left but them....If the remaining concerned oligarchs are out there then pull out baby cakes and get rid of this monster, expose him. Because if you don't there is only desert here, no people to wipe your butts and clean your houses and cook your food and perform emergency medical care if you require it... am I pissed?.... damn straight I've been protesting since 1969 and I am tired.
The person elected president is just doing what the Heritage and money men want. Those are the ones hiding and need to be on the hot seat as well as the ones out front. Greed needs to be exposed and justice of our country balanced. Step one vote against Citizen's United.
There are several factors to consider here. Trump's deep and dangerous pathology leads him to be unable to back down, lest he loses his fragile sense of self and disintegrates. His flailing around and "delusion" are a result of his trying desperately to preserve his sense of self. He also knows he is untouchable now--the Supreme Court has seen to that, and his own party is too afraid and too compromised to turn against him. As recently reported, he "no longer gives a F*ck." He cannot and does not have to. And it will take a lot of pressure for the Congress and Senate to start acting, so let's start now.
After today's (Monday, April 14) hot mic interplay between Trump and Bukele regarding disappearing "home growns" (citizens) to El Salvador, everyone's hair should be on fire. Mine is. The Congress remains prostrate, never mind Trump's refusal to follow a Supreme Court ruling. He's surrounded by lawless, angry, distopian players and he intends to tear the Constitution down and all our freedoms with it. We can't count on the other braches of government to come to our rescue. We'll have to take to the streets, lift our voices high, fight the power with every ounce of being if we are going to leave anything resembling America the beautiful to our children.
I heard the ‘hot mic.’ Also afterward he confirmed it to reporters with the nebulous caveat of having “Pam” look into the legalities etc. as did his flippant press person.
This is something we should pay serious attention to because legalities are not his strong suit. The danger is real and too many people think it is far fetched. Guantanamo was the first threat. Totally impractical in many ways. It is now replaced by Bukele.
The Orange Menace did Bukele a big favor with this deportation — by including a small portion of actual gang members. It is nothing new for dictators to cut deals with criminal organizations. Of course they never want it made public. Now Bukele owes him.
Q: Based on El Faro’s reporting, I gather that some of these gang leaders potentially had a lot of dirt on Bukele.
A: That’s right. Bukele made that secret agreement with the gangs five years ago that helped his party win elections. ….
Q: Is Bukele asking for the U.S. to deport these gang leaders to El Salvador specifically to bury any information that they might have — I mean, to put them in jail so they can’t tell their secrets?.
A: That’s what we think. As you know, MS-13 is now considered a terrorist organization in the United States. If the trial in New York proves Mr. Bukele’s deals with them, it could potentially be very damaging since it would mean that he had illegal deals with a terrorist organization and also illegally freed some of the terrorist organization leaders.
I love that so many people are turning out for these rallies, but what happens after that? What do AOC and Bernie have in mind for getting action to happen?
I’m not sure of their plan but part of it is to grow engagement. To make people realize they are not alone & there is hope. Local organizations should be organizing follow up activities to get them calling and protesting at congressional & Senate offices. Should also be starting to encourage people to register to vote or check their registration.
(I know locally you can register for a rally. They use it as a base for anticipating participation — but it is also contact list.)
Just read a comment from AOC that the republicans who are backing away from cutting MediCaid have been influenced by the turnout for the rallies in their districts. I hope so!
I wonder if the WH didn’t ramp up deportations & fights with the courts to also be a distraction. They are failing on economic promises; failing on “peace in Ukraine” and so on. That was his best issue & typically a trap to set for Dems. But even Grassley got pushback in IA about Abrego Garcia. Doubling done isn’t working & SCOTUS is peeved so new lies every day.
Plus, there are more stories all the time about naturalized citizens & “natural born” citizens being detained. The worst I saw was last week. They were likely in violation of a federal judge & ignored the FL judge dismissing charges. He was being held in jail for ICE. One article said it was the local media publicizing it that got him out before ICE picked him up. (Sounds like a “work around” to grab whoever they choose.)
my nephew's wife had to forgo visiting her dying mother in another country because, while she and her son are legal residents with green cards, they've been waiting years for their citizenship interview. She was afraid to leave the country for fear of what might happen on their return. Her mother died a week ago.
I’m so sorry. It is no consolation to anyone to know it is happening to others or that it was the wisest decision under the circumstances. When the ACLU issues guidance to legal residents & citizens returning to the country you can tell things are off the rails.
Of course the ACLU’s guidance says what CBP “may do” lawfully. Not what they are often doing. It helps to know your rights but only to a certain degree if you don’t have someone to push the issue for you.
A man in Mass in the US on a work permit was taken into custody. All his possessions were returned to his mother except … the work permit. Now his family (and community) is terrified he will be sent to El Salvador. Exactly what this administration wants - fear.
Here is a guy who who became a US citizen 10 yrs ago. He lives in Mass and had visited in Canada for a weekend with his wife. He was detained, handcuffed, barefoot for about 5 hrs in a cell. He was eventually allowed to call his sister. If she wasn’t an immigration attorney I don’t know how long he would have been held.
"I really thought things would change after this administration, when we have Mr. Trump in office, things would change to the better," Atallah said. "Things actually changed to the worse."
What might have once seemed unthinkable in our country (though historians have been warning us about the potential dangers) has happened: we are living under a totalitarian regime.
Those who cling to the notion that we will be able to reverse course with the midterm elections next year are deluding themselves. The elections will either be cancelled outright under some pretext or other, or they will be stage-managed to give our dear leader the false veneer of an overwhelming victory (cf., Russia, Turkey, Hungary). I mean, does anyone still think that Trump is going to relinquish power voluntarily? The guy has already attempted a violent coup in order to reverse the outcome of an election he lost and to try to cling to power. Why on earth would he change course now when he has control of every branch of government through coercion, intimidation and corruption?
We have no choice but to bring this sordid regime to as rapid an end as possible. We must take to the streets in numbers that are large enough to force change. We need to organize strikes in businesses and factories across the nation in order to make the country ungovernable.
Let's face it, though: we do not yet have anything like the united leadership that we would need, both, to direct an effective opposition as well as to provide the infrastructure for a provisional government once the regime is overthrown. Bernie and AOC are doing stellar work in spearheading our opposition. Senators Murphy and Warren, Governors Pritzker and Beshear (among others) are you listening?
Sound stewardship of our economic promises creates the stable and strong foundation on which investors worldwide can count. Tip over the cauldron on the foundation, and uncertainty undermines that foundation.
This year may well be the beginning of another Great Depression, the fourth major economic crash in our North American history. Troublingly, every one of the prior three financial crises led to a major war. Thom Hartmann reminds me today that the U.S. embargoed oil and gasoline shipments to Japan on July 26, 1941. That “tariff” led to Japan’s striking Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941.
Panics in 1772 and 1857 also led to wars. U.S. tariffs for no plausible reason have once again upended world economic stability. There is a capital flight to gold and other countries’ bonds.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren appeared on ABC’s This Week, saying: “There is no tariff policy. It's just all chaos and corruption. That's all we have going on. And how can you believe any of these guys?” If you were an investor in U.S. bonds, that market’s stability is gone. Your fiduciary responsibility cannot count on that market now, and you are bound to the tenet of protecting your investor. You have no option.
It has begun. The next Great Depression of 2025. Tourism has collapsed. Consumers are withdrawing from the retail market. Tesla stopping shipping Model S and Y to China. $600 billion in annual trade with China has stopped.
There is a flight from U.S. Treasury bonds. Think you had promised investors a guaranteed 3.5% return on long bonds but then the principal went down 2%. What can you do? People are selling to get out while they can. That is what I think fiduciaries must now do. Run for cover, and chaos is not sound cover.
It’s come to this: it’s time to stand. Not just against the regime, but also its enablers.
If someone is “ok” with this malign administration, and the illegal and inhumane policies that it is enacting, we must actively oppose them and what they support.
They are complicit in unwarranted pain and suffering, the denial of basic human rights, and theft and criminality by public officials. They are complicit in the destruction of our constitution, the abandonment of the rule of law, and disenfranchising millions of citizens.
They support an immoral, sociopathic monster.
Check back with when we’ve helped them come to their fucking senses. If they ever do.
I live in an incredibly red state. The quickest way to get elected is to have that R by your name on the ballot. Then it's just a matter of backing Fatman on everything he does and says. A lot of the people I know live in that MAGA bubble, and they cling desperately to their beliefs. The really hardcore ones truly believe everything he says and represents. I've lost a lot of friends over the last 10 years, people from all walks of life that I once respected and cared for. It really frightens me how deeply they have dug into the rabbit hole.
I live in a red part of NY state. It really is all over.
Yes, yes, Steven. Let’s all get into the streets and protest this authoritarian regime—old and young united in defiance.
We ignore human nature at our own peril. Humans are inherently selfish (No negative connotation implied) it is how we have survived as a species. We tend to seek being comfortable and resist change. Change is the nature of the physical world we inhabit. We have the power to influence it. If we hand that power over to others they get comfortable using it and as the saying goes: "Absolute power curupts absolutely." Based on the above selfish comfort tendencies.
Democracy demands participation. 90 million registered voters did not participate in the 2024 election. With that kind of apathy we deserve the consequences of handing over our power to amoral corporations and the influence they buy over amoral people who we buy stuff from to enhance our self-esteem, which is comstanly challenged by the divisiveness and vindictiveness of those "leaders" claiming to care about us. While we fight amongst each other, they steal more and more of our freedoms.
We must examine our complicity in the process and only then can we choose a pathway forward, focusing locally on INCLUSION vs. Exclusion; DECENCY vs. Vindictiveness and a SHARED COMMON SENSE OF REALITY! vs. Reality TV nonsense that deadens our humanity.
Keep up the pressure on your congressional representatives, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike. Urge them to work harder, to utilize all the tools at their disposal to combat this scourge. The congressional recess is coming up. They should be holding town halls, taking a page from Sanders’ and Ocasio-Cortez’ book. Enough with the canned sound bites on PBS, MSNBC, or CNN about how they are fighting for the American people! The Capitol switchboard phone number, where you can ask to be connected to your members’ offices, is (202) 224-3121. Call them.
Meanwhile Trump is holding an oval office presser with the pres of El Salvador and he can't help bashing Biden at every turn. What a small disgusting person he is!
I'm not a statistician or political prognosticator. But my guess is there are upwards of 37% of Americans who will stand by their man, regardless of consequences. And they are taking large swaths of rural territory with them. This makes it difficult for me to foresee any upcoming positive outcomes. But I will continue to do my part.
And these same people attending rallies must vote and take others with them to vote. I wonder how many excited young people who attended Kamala’s rallies actually voted. We have the government we have because we put these people into office. Let’s not forget that.
My comment all day today.. I read this this morning on Robert Reich's column:: "THE AMERICAN OLIGARCHY IS PETRIFIED BY TRUMP’S ECONOMIC CHAOS BUT CAREFUL NOT TO CRITICIZE HIM DIRECTLY."...who's left then? How many oligarchs are left to change this used up lightbulb? If money doesn't talk what does? Just exactly what is the "game plan" from Heritage Foundation & Project 2025? Their money doesn't work if there is no one left but them....If the remaining concerned oligarchs are out there then pull out baby cakes and get rid of this monster, expose him. Because if you don't there is only desert here, no people to wipe your butts and clean your houses and cook your food and perform emergency medical care if you require it... am I pissed?.... damn straight I've been protesting since 1969 and I am tired.
The person elected president is just doing what the Heritage and money men want. Those are the ones hiding and need to be on the hot seat as well as the ones out front. Greed needs to be exposed and justice of our country balanced. Step one vote against Citizen's United.
Impeach Him Now, Our Lives Depend On It!
Stand up and speak out, "we the people" have the ultimate power! Join us.
There are several factors to consider here. Trump's deep and dangerous pathology leads him to be unable to back down, lest he loses his fragile sense of self and disintegrates. His flailing around and "delusion" are a result of his trying desperately to preserve his sense of self. He also knows he is untouchable now--the Supreme Court has seen to that, and his own party is too afraid and too compromised to turn against him. As recently reported, he "no longer gives a F*ck." He cannot and does not have to. And it will take a lot of pressure for the Congress and Senate to start acting, so let's start now.
Everything with him is ‘quickly’. Whenever he utters that word my right eye twitches.
After today's (Monday, April 14) hot mic interplay between Trump and Bukele regarding disappearing "home growns" (citizens) to El Salvador, everyone's hair should be on fire. Mine is. The Congress remains prostrate, never mind Trump's refusal to follow a Supreme Court ruling. He's surrounded by lawless, angry, distopian players and he intends to tear the Constitution down and all our freedoms with it. We can't count on the other braches of government to come to our rescue. We'll have to take to the streets, lift our voices high, fight the power with every ounce of being if we are going to leave anything resembling America the beautiful to our children.
I heard the ‘hot mic.’ Also afterward he confirmed it to reporters with the nebulous caveat of having “Pam” look into the legalities etc. as did his flippant press person.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5247994-trump-us-citizens-el-salvador/
This is something we should pay serious attention to because legalities are not his strong suit. The danger is real and too many people think it is far fetched. Guantanamo was the first threat. Totally impractical in many ways. It is now replaced by Bukele.
The Orange Menace did Bukele a big favor with this deportation — by including a small portion of actual gang members. It is nothing new for dictators to cut deals with criminal organizations. Of course they never want it made public. Now Bukele owes him.
Q: Based on El Faro’s reporting, I gather that some of these gang leaders potentially had a lot of dirt on Bukele.
A: That’s right. Bukele made that secret agreement with the gangs five years ago that helped his party win elections. ….
Q: Is Bukele asking for the U.S. to deport these gang leaders to El Salvador specifically to bury any information that they might have — I mean, to put them in jail so they can’t tell their secrets?.
A: That’s what we think. As you know, MS-13 is now considered a terrorist organization in the United States. If the trial in New York proves Mr. Bukele’s deals with them, it could potentially be very damaging since it would mean that he had illegal deals with a terrorist organization and also illegally freed some of the terrorist organization leaders.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/04/el-salvador-nayib-bukele-trump-deportation/
He and Bukele are 2 peas in a pod. And to mix metaphors: One hand washes the other.
I love that so many people are turning out for these rallies, but what happens after that? What do AOC and Bernie have in mind for getting action to happen?
I’m not sure of their plan but part of it is to grow engagement. To make people realize they are not alone & there is hope. Local organizations should be organizing follow up activities to get them calling and protesting at congressional & Senate offices. Should also be starting to encourage people to register to vote or check their registration.
(I know locally you can register for a rally. They use it as a base for anticipating participation — but it is also contact list.)
Just read a comment from AOC that the republicans who are backing away from cutting MediCaid have been influenced by the turnout for the rallies in their districts. I hope so!
That’s great.
I wonder if the WH didn’t ramp up deportations & fights with the courts to also be a distraction. They are failing on economic promises; failing on “peace in Ukraine” and so on. That was his best issue & typically a trap to set for Dems. But even Grassley got pushback in IA about Abrego Garcia. Doubling done isn’t working & SCOTUS is peeved so new lies every day.
Plus, there are more stories all the time about naturalized citizens & “natural born” citizens being detained. The worst I saw was last week. They were likely in violation of a federal judge & ignored the FL judge dismissing charges. He was being held in jail for ICE. One article said it was the local media publicizing it that got him out before ICE picked him up. (Sounds like a “work around” to grab whoever they choose.)
https://apnews.com/article/us-citizen-held-ice-florida-law-4b5f5d9c754b56c87d1d8b39dfedfc6c
my nephew's wife had to forgo visiting her dying mother in another country because, while she and her son are legal residents with green cards, they've been waiting years for their citizenship interview. She was afraid to leave the country for fear of what might happen on their return. Her mother died a week ago.
I’m so sorry. It is no consolation to anyone to know it is happening to others or that it was the wisest decision under the circumstances. When the ACLU issues guidance to legal residents & citizens returning to the country you can tell things are off the rails.
Of course the ACLU’s guidance says what CBP “may do” lawfully. Not what they are often doing. It helps to know your rights but only to a certain degree if you don’t have someone to push the issue for you.
A man in Mass in the US on a work permit was taken into custody. All his possessions were returned to his mother except … the work permit. Now his family (and community) is terrified he will be sent to El Salvador. Exactly what this administration wants - fear.
Here is a guy who who became a US citizen 10 yrs ago. He lives in Mass and had visited in Canada for a weekend with his wife. He was detained, handcuffed, barefoot for about 5 hrs in a cell. He was eventually allowed to call his sister. If she wasn’t an immigration attorney I don’t know how long he would have been held.
"I really thought things would change after this administration, when we have Mr. Trump in office, things would change to the better," Atallah said. "Things actually changed to the worse."
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/politics/treated-like-a-criminal-us-citizen-says-he-was-detained-returning-from-canada/3686188/
What might have once seemed unthinkable in our country (though historians have been warning us about the potential dangers) has happened: we are living under a totalitarian regime.
Those who cling to the notion that we will be able to reverse course with the midterm elections next year are deluding themselves. The elections will either be cancelled outright under some pretext or other, or they will be stage-managed to give our dear leader the false veneer of an overwhelming victory (cf., Russia, Turkey, Hungary). I mean, does anyone still think that Trump is going to relinquish power voluntarily? The guy has already attempted a violent coup in order to reverse the outcome of an election he lost and to try to cling to power. Why on earth would he change course now when he has control of every branch of government through coercion, intimidation and corruption?
We have no choice but to bring this sordid regime to as rapid an end as possible. We must take to the streets in numbers that are large enough to force change. We need to organize strikes in businesses and factories across the nation in order to make the country ungovernable.
Let's face it, though: we do not yet have anything like the united leadership that we would need, both, to direct an effective opposition as well as to provide the infrastructure for a provisional government once the regime is overthrown. Bernie and AOC are doing stellar work in spearheading our opposition. Senators Murphy and Warren, Governors Pritzker and Beshear (among others) are you listening?
Sound stewardship of our economic promises creates the stable and strong foundation on which investors worldwide can count. Tip over the cauldron on the foundation, and uncertainty undermines that foundation.
This year may well be the beginning of another Great Depression, the fourth major economic crash in our North American history. Troublingly, every one of the prior three financial crises led to a major war. Thom Hartmann reminds me today that the U.S. embargoed oil and gasoline shipments to Japan on July 26, 1941. That “tariff” led to Japan’s striking Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941.
Panics in 1772 and 1857 also led to wars. U.S. tariffs for no plausible reason have once again upended world economic stability. There is a capital flight to gold and other countries’ bonds.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren appeared on ABC’s This Week, saying: “There is no tariff policy. It's just all chaos and corruption. That's all we have going on. And how can you believe any of these guys?” If you were an investor in U.S. bonds, that market’s stability is gone. Your fiduciary responsibility cannot count on that market now, and you are bound to the tenet of protecting your investor. You have no option.
It has begun. The next Great Depression of 2025. Tourism has collapsed. Consumers are withdrawing from the retail market. Tesla stopping shipping Model S and Y to China. $600 billion in annual trade with China has stopped.
There is a flight from U.S. Treasury bonds. Think you had promised investors a guaranteed 3.5% return on long bonds but then the principal went down 2%. What can you do? People are selling to get out while they can. That is what I think fiduciaries must now do. Run for cover, and chaos is not sound cover.
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/running-for-cover?r=3m1bs