Random thought - why do we write senators and congressmen - they never see the emails, letters, etc. We should instead realize we're talking to the cowardly staff that works for them. Staff sees our pleas and decides apparently not to share the info with the boss. They do realize that when their bosses lose in 19 months that they too will be out of a job, right?
Something big needs to happen soon or there won’t be a damn thing left of this country. I hope Europe doesn’t wuss out and bend to this fuckers will. He needs to fall and fall hard.
Me too.... re. Robinson. However you made no comment about Neal Katyal's firm bowing to
Trump. A list should be made of all those Firms and Corporations and Universities who have bowed to the regime. I do think that a call should be made to Pramila Pajayal's office thanking her for setting up Resistance Labs. Also let's encourage our Reps. to take courage and protest loudly at immigration holding Centers and some could go to El Salvador and do the same. We need daily loud action with the body actually moving. Have a nice weekend. Don't forget to join the throng of Demonstrators.
About trump and his contempt for Veterans...Remember back during the 2004 election John Kerry, a Vietnam war vet with some serious soldier creds, loses to the chicken hawk GW Bush during a time of war? That whole Bush repug administration was loaded with chicken hawks who were eager to invade Iraq and Afghanistan. Partly because of 9/11 but mostly because war(s) are good for getting elected. So the idiom "Be careful what you wish for" turns out to be a pretty powerful reality for us and another reminder for why fighting wars is mostly a mistake in the end. None of those bastards cared a whit for our military and most had never served. Both encounters ended badly. It is ironic that in the 80s the repugs claimed the high moral and patriotic ground. That "Thank You For Your Service" bullshit was their political invention. Everything about those people was politics and phony righteousness. Yeah, I am a Vietnam war vet (USMC) and would experience discomfort about that gesture, even when it was spoken sincerely. There was nothing but politics driving that gesture. But they were rounding up the voter base, the one that trump inherited in 2016, the one that mounts gigantic flags on the back of their pickup trucks and on their houses: American, Confederate...trump. Cheap, phony, in your face patriotism. I think repugs see the military as a tool, I think some are as contemptuous, more or less as trump is. trump is a product of decades of political breeding and he is just clever enough to know how to tweak these dumb asses.
It seems that Trump couldn’t pick even one competent person to lead these cabinet positions and departments! Every single one of them is a stunning frightening colossal fuck up who can’t do anything that would help our country! They want to burn it all down 😢
The former VP did, indeed, warn us of what would happen and yet on the campaign trail, Harris doubled down on her support for Israel. Almost as if it was more important to continue a genocide than beat back fascism. The Democratic establishment talked a lot about the threat of authoritarianism last fall, but have since proved those words hollow with their complicity and rubberstamping of Trump's agenda. They didn't even bother to come up with a contingency plan for stopping him or, at minimum, slowing him down.
Note 18: Elon lost $24M in Wisconsin. He dumped $250M helping get Donnie elected. He just sold Twitter for $11B less than he paid for it. And now, the EU is considering fining him $1B? The guy's got hundreds of billions of dollars. He'll never miss it if he lost 99% of it.
"What an asshole:" It's not that Donnie "hates soldiers...veterans, and...America." This is how his daddy taught him to deal with things like not being a veteran himself, and claiming to have bone spurs which prevented him from, you know, manning up.
"Here comes China:" I don't understand this. Everyone agrees that tariffs are just an extra tax on the locals. Donnie's tariffs will hurt us. So why would some other country, especially one that ALWAYS undercuts our prices, retaliate by hurting their own people?
"Today's clips," paragraph 2: I wouldn't have said Oz was confirmed. I would say that enough Senators bent way over, applied lots of Vaseline, and let Donnie have his way with them, as they always do.
Note 2. Has anyone checked on the accuracy of the jobs report. An increase of 228,000 seems a bit out of whack with DOGE cutting government programs and jobs. I recall an article that I read sometime after the god of tariffs took office and appointed Elmo, that when his young stewards of the public purse arrived at the DoL, employees feared that their survey data needed to be protected lest they be included in any of the destruction of official government documents. Imagine a country’s sensitive survey data getting into the hands of people attempting to erase historical information. Or for that matter, altering data to suit their needs. It’s unfathomable.
I have faith in the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was from a time when employers were planning for tax cuts and orosperity. TheApril jobs report will tell the tale. I predict it'll be a doozie, and not on a good way.
I am surprised Eugene Robinson didn’t leave sooner.
Good on him.
i hope he does a Substack. i have admired his writing for a while.
"Former heart surgeon and TV pitchman Dr Mehmet Oz was confirmed on Thursday to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)"
Those of us finally on Medicare are well and truly fucked. Who the hell voted for another TV head?
I'm sure we'll be fine when Medicare starts prescribing coffee & pepper enemas.
No one. Absolutely no one.
He is a slick huckster who should never be trusted. So we can add to the growing list of assholes in the farce of a government
Random thought - why do we write senators and congressmen - they never see the emails, letters, etc. We should instead realize we're talking to the cowardly staff that works for them. Staff sees our pleas and decides apparently not to share the info with the boss. They do realize that when their bosses lose in 19 months that they too will be out of a job, right?
There is an Old Cliche, 'Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned'... The New Cliche, 'Trump Golfed While America Collapsed'....
Something big needs to happen soon or there won’t be a damn thing left of this country. I hope Europe doesn’t wuss out and bend to this fuckers will. He needs to fall and fall hard.
There's a big demonstration Saturday, nation-, even world-wide.
BTW, I left WAPO when Bezos made his declaration. What a bazoo!
Me too.... re. Robinson. However you made no comment about Neal Katyal's firm bowing to
Trump. A list should be made of all those Firms and Corporations and Universities who have bowed to the regime. I do think that a call should be made to Pramila Pajayal's office thanking her for setting up Resistance Labs. Also let's encourage our Reps. to take courage and protest loudly at immigration holding Centers and some could go to El Salvador and do the same. We need daily loud action with the body actually moving. Have a nice weekend. Don't forget to join the throng of Demonstrators.
There is such a list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J_bcoMqt46L05As7GN4ZqH4j6XKeI-Dm4ytJPRFtrwo/htmlview#gid=287708862
About trump and his contempt for Veterans...Remember back during the 2004 election John Kerry, a Vietnam war vet with some serious soldier creds, loses to the chicken hawk GW Bush during a time of war? That whole Bush repug administration was loaded with chicken hawks who were eager to invade Iraq and Afghanistan. Partly because of 9/11 but mostly because war(s) are good for getting elected. So the idiom "Be careful what you wish for" turns out to be a pretty powerful reality for us and another reminder for why fighting wars is mostly a mistake in the end. None of those bastards cared a whit for our military and most had never served. Both encounters ended badly. It is ironic that in the 80s the repugs claimed the high moral and patriotic ground. That "Thank You For Your Service" bullshit was their political invention. Everything about those people was politics and phony righteousness. Yeah, I am a Vietnam war vet (USMC) and would experience discomfort about that gesture, even when it was spoken sincerely. There was nothing but politics driving that gesture. But they were rounding up the voter base, the one that trump inherited in 2016, the one that mounts gigantic flags on the back of their pickup trucks and on their houses: American, Confederate...trump. Cheap, phony, in your face patriotism. I think repugs see the military as a tool, I think some are as contemptuous, more or less as trump is. trump is a product of decades of political breeding and he is just clever enough to know how to tweak these dumb asses.
It seems that Trump couldn’t pick even one competent person to lead these cabinet positions and departments! Every single one of them is a stunning frightening colossal fuck up who can’t do anything that would help our country! They want to burn it all down 😢
It is patently obvious, after his first administration, no one of any integrity wanted anything to do with him.
That only works because the Senate approved if them. Shame on them.
How else can you build a kakistocracy?
Wow! Thanks for sharing the new Superman preview, it looks awesome 👏
Notes and all: FUCK. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck...
The former VP did, indeed, warn us of what would happen and yet on the campaign trail, Harris doubled down on her support for Israel. Almost as if it was more important to continue a genocide than beat back fascism. The Democratic establishment talked a lot about the threat of authoritarianism last fall, but have since proved those words hollow with their complicity and rubberstamping of Trump's agenda. They didn't even bother to come up with a contingency plan for stopping him or, at minimum, slowing him down.
You mean Trump's ongoing attempts to shake down the university system.
It's all about the extortion game now and not just with unis.
Plenty of reasons to get out and protest tomorrow. Whew!
You had me at the Superman movie!! We need a hero about now!! Super Booker??
Note 18: Elon lost $24M in Wisconsin. He dumped $250M helping get Donnie elected. He just sold Twitter for $11B less than he paid for it. And now, the EU is considering fining him $1B? The guy's got hundreds of billions of dollars. He'll never miss it if he lost 99% of it.
"What an asshole:" It's not that Donnie "hates soldiers...veterans, and...America." This is how his daddy taught him to deal with things like not being a veteran himself, and claiming to have bone spurs which prevented him from, you know, manning up.
"Here comes China:" I don't understand this. Everyone agrees that tariffs are just an extra tax on the locals. Donnie's tariffs will hurt us. So why would some other country, especially one that ALWAYS undercuts our prices, retaliate by hurting their own people?
"Today's clips," paragraph 2: I wouldn't have said Oz was confirmed. I would say that enough Senators bent way over, applied lots of Vaseline, and let Donnie have his way with them, as they always do.
Note 2. Has anyone checked on the accuracy of the jobs report. An increase of 228,000 seems a bit out of whack with DOGE cutting government programs and jobs. I recall an article that I read sometime after the god of tariffs took office and appointed Elmo, that when his young stewards of the public purse arrived at the DoL, employees feared that their survey data needed to be protected lest they be included in any of the destruction of official government documents. Imagine a country’s sensitive survey data getting into the hands of people attempting to erase historical information. Or for that matter, altering data to suit their needs. It’s unfathomable.
I have faith in the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was from a time when employers were planning for tax cuts and orosperity. TheApril jobs report will tell the tale. I predict it'll be a doozie, and not on a good way.
I was referring to an article that I read after Musk and his underlings started slashing government programs less than than 2 months ago.
It was inevitable that the renowned liar & cheater would have the employment statistics falsified.