Yesterday it was South Korea, where there was continuing news that President Yoon may be forced out of office after his attempted power grab, despite the resignation of his Defense Minister.
Chaos indeed. It's like the world is living in a badly written episode of Maxwell Smart (and KAOS). First, thanks for the photo of DeSantis in his go-go boots. That always makes me smile. Thanks also for covering so many of these stories in a nutshell. The situation in France seems complicated, but I trust the French, ironically, to deal with their chaos more swiftly than we are here. It is also heartening to see the restoration photos of Notre Dame this week, how much dirt and grime they cleaned off the artwork before restoring it, so that it was truly "built back better". That is also a sign of hope and progress, despite what happened. The courage of Olivia Troye is another remarkable boost for all of us, and I'm starting to have hope again because of people like her. Thank you, Joyce, for another excellent post.
The Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 (From my book, "Donald's Vanity Tantrums")
(It just seems like yesterday)
I am traveling to Washington DC this Saturday to participate in the Women's March on Washington. I am going because the threat of President Trump to defund Planned Parenthood. I don't need any other reasons to show my solidarity. There is no need to augment my decision with the realization that Mr. Trump has no morals or business ethics; which insures that he will make a horrible leader.
I am somewhat surprised that the overwhelming majority of marchers are in fact, women. But hey, it's a "Women’s March" right? The evening before the trip, I listened to commentators on the PBS Nightly News that a "massive March is being planned." During the table discussion, someone asks if only women are going. Another commentator answers "...and other hangers-on." That's me, the hanger-on. I have always been a hanger-on so this is not news to me.
I have anticipated the nuances of being in the middle of a huge throng of marchers. I packed four eggplant Parmesan sandwiches (made the day before) and two bottles of water. I took Imodium tablets a few hours before leaving on buses reserved for this event. I can't predict my bowel movements at my age anymore and it wouldn't be wise to get stuck in a crowd of a million women with sudden bodily needs. Ahem...
A Hartford Courant reporter sits next to me. Of all the women travelers on board, I get the chance encounter to sit next to a guy. I anticipated sitting next to a woman so I could elicit her perspective on the March.
Our four buses depart from Trinity College in Hartford and we all arrive at RFK Stadium later this morning. Most of us decide to walk the two miles to the Mall. It's a historic and ironically festive occasion. Many avenues are filled with joyful marchers as we converge near the Capital Building.
I cannot get close to the stage area. I'm now stuck in the crowd unable to move. The marchers that are close enough to the stage can hear speeches. The rest of us automatically cheer when a speaker makes a good point and this cheering is like a water wave that sweeps over the ocean of humanity. A yell is heard from the masses and it’s probably Madonna screaming something about wanting to blow up the White House (as this was later reported in the press). I slowly squish myself through sliver of openings of the throng until I reach some scaffolding remaining from the inaugural the day before when Mr. Trump was sworn to uphold the laws of the land.
I reach the scaffolding and look up at climbers scurrying through the monkey bars. I pause a moment and consider my sixty three year-old bones. I pause only for one moment. Now I too have joined the club climbing up the bars. Sixty is the new forty and I know I can make it up to the top. Besides, I need my panorama photos of the crowd.
My photographic studies are done. I have climbed to the mountain top (of the scaffolding). It nears two PM, the time at which my Connecticut Congressional delegation has opened their office reception room nearby at the Sam Rayburn Office Building for us marchers to rest, use the lavatory and enjoy a light lunch. They are kind and generous to offer this accommodation for their constituents. Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty thanks us repeatedly for making the trip. The room is quickly filled with fellow marchers sitting at tables and on the floor. We soon clean out the food. After the much needed rest, it is time to slowly walk back toward the Stadium.
This event evokes past marches to Washington DC especially President Nixon’s anti-Vietnam protests of the 1970s. And the big anti-Vietnam march of 1967 when as a child of 14, I boarded the overnight Amtrak train. My experiences have taught me that a march doesn't change anything. But an accumulation of marches and grass-roots organizing can and does change the body politic. President Trump will have his day in the sun. I haven't the slightest doubt that it will be for one term only. But a person can do a lot of damage in four years.
An announcement is made at the reception that the march through the streets has been officially canceled because of the crowd size.
On the return bus ride home, we make a rest stop in New Jersey. I need to use the men's room. But the men's room this moment is no longer for men only. It's been co-opted by hundreds of women returning from Washington. Why not? There are maybe nine women to every one man waiting in a long line at the entrance.
And now, I am waiting to go. One woman turns to me and says, "Oh, you don't need to wait. The urinals are available." I guess she thought I only needed to go pee pee. She was correct. But as I began to enter the lavatory, a voice in me said that this was an historic moment - of sorts. I yell out, "This is a fucken photo opt" as I yank out my IPad. I shoot those waiting in line. I enter the facility and continue shooting. I sense that I need to shoot quickly and get the hell out before a disgruntled male takes an issue with my camera. Before I have finished with a few different photo perspectives, and after my visit to an available urinal, a man yells me and at that moment, I exit.
It’s time for me to return to the bus and get some much needed sleep. We will have an unsettling four years ahead of us. May our nation survive.
DeSantis is trying to look like he's "on the ground" after his state was hit by 2 devastating hurricanes within one month this past fall. He wasn't. What he has REALLY done is make it more difficult for FL citizens to sue their insurance companies when they won't pay.
Thanks for the reminder of Maxwell Smart & KAOS! Haven't thought about that show in years. We have been in real life theater of the absurd & we will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Our resilience and fortitude will be tested in speaking truth to power to correct course.
I am hoping Blue Sky does not get shut down. It is platformed in the US. I hear Mastadon is not, in that it is a multiplatform site. So, people should be prepared to jump if Blue Sky gets shut down under Trump since we know authoritarian regimes like to go after media first of all.
Good thinking, Linda. I don't use X, nor have I tried Blue Sky.
I really like the world of Substack, with high-integrity newsletters like Joyce's, and how we can share our thoughts with each other in these comments sections.
I suppose even Substack is vulnerable, but it's certainly a safe haven for the time being (at least in my experience).
I like Substack too, although it is not my only news source, which are increasingly outside the US, like the US version of the Guardian, but we know the Guardian is not published in the US. I still have my local city and neighborhood papers as online subscriptions. However, if Substack goes, or the people I like are kicked off, then I will hope to find them writing elsewhere just as Meduza left Russia and publishes out of Astonia now. My friends in Democrats Abroad are preparing to have to switch platforms in all realms given that American corporations involved with tech are mostly Oligarchs. Will Musk try to buy Blue Sky if it gets too big? Can this be blocked? Don't know enough about it, but just thinking down the road about things I can control like how I will get news. Everyone should have a VPN. https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-a-vpn
Democrats and Liberal independents need to be more aggressive about getting access to media that is not right wing driven.
Nothing Elonia wants to do will be blocked. NASA is going to be given to him and who knows what else. Yet another totally unqualified nominee announced for NASA today. All you need is money and depravity to be tapped for a major role.
I agree again, Linda. As a British person, it would be easy to take The Guardian for granted, but increasingly, I value it very highly. Ditto the BBC.
And like you, I will follow people I like, respect and value from Substack to wherever they go, if they do end up having to migrate.
I can recommend Surfshark VPN: https://surfshark.club/friend/CVB6jynd It's the only one I've tried (among other top recommended alternatives) that works for the BBC from here in Europe (Spain, in my case).
I love the writers on Substack - I wish I could financially support them all, but right now supporting Joyce and Heather is as far as my budget will stretch.
We have South Korea in limbo, France in limbo and Germany in limbo. Germany is operating without a legitimate government right now. All of these Democracies in trouble just as Trump is coming in. People post covid are changed and the planet needs to recon with it. For example in the US people got the most government supports they will probably ever get under covid. For people who are struggling they saw that if there was the will, their problems could get support, they could get support. Then, afterwards when someone decided it was time to stop supporting people, they had to go back to the struggle and increased stress that their lives were, and it makes no sense to them. So, that makes them angrier and more discontent with the status quo.
And yet those who need the support voted against those who would give it. We are truly in dystopian times. No doubt Proj25 has a plan to ensure the Orwellian masses never figure out which side would help them. Meanwhile democracy slips away.
I succeeded applying for and receiving 3 PPP loans to grants. They weren’t large but based on my business income. I was grateful. Many are now forgetting the terror of 2020. Of hiding away in our homes and apartments. Walking out the door with rubber gloves on and masks and rushing to the food mart at the moment they opened. I stayed away from everyone. One acquaintance did t. She was a retired executive at a local insurance company enjoying her twilight years. She died. I have vested blood pressure, diabetes and I have bronchitis; a death combo if Covid-19 came calling. But I never caught it and the vaccines boosted my chances of survival. When I was a child, my mother recounted her youth during the Influenza epidemic of 1918 and how people who have become infected were toe tagged since it signified automatic death. How quickly we forget. Now drivers race down the expressway causing crashes.
Many are remembering how during covid they got the most support and safety net from the government ever, and that began under Trump. So, they equate that with doing better. It was after all under Biden that the covid supports were lifted, even if it was caused by Republicans in Congress. From what I can see most people in the US and outside of the US do not even know that Congress has a role to play in government.
A must see interview with a world scholar on Wiemar Germany. Around minute 38 the discussion turns to who voted for Hitler, and how he gained first steps of power in the rural areas. The parallels are clues to what we can expect from the administration. There is also stuff about legislative gridlock German parliament experienced for years. It is getting very real folks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RemQ0Ak1i0
My daughter studied the Weimer Republic last year in University in Germany in a German history class. It is interesting the difference in analysis depending on what country you are in. I am glad they point out that one must understand what has come before Weimar for it and the ensuing the appointment of Hitler by Hindenburg to make sense with Hitler's party getting 33% of the vote in that election. Prior to the Weimar Republic which lasted for 15 years. Prior to that Germans had never had democracy. They had kings and princes ruling over them, not a democratically elected government. So, there was no real understanding of democracy by most of the people while they had it.
I would say a lot of Americans don't understand democracy either, particularly those who have immigrated to the US from countries that did not have it.
Professor Thomas Zimmer points out that the US itself has only had democracy since the 1960s, so I presume he means with the voting rights act. Germany gave women the right to vote under the Weimar Republic, which means it was democratic. However, the US did not do that until 1920. Still, by preventing a lot of people from voting with all sorts of rules that are starting to be resurrected, and by preventing many US citizens from voting, is eroding the democracy.
"trump asks the court to accept his premise that “A sitting president is completely immune from indictment or any criminal process, state or federal.”' Well, he is NOT a sitting president right now, and he will not be until Jan 20th, 46 more days in which he could be sentenced and thrown into jail where he should have been since J6, 2021.
give it up, he is not going to be prosecuted people, period.
that train left the station when nothing happened to him/them Jan 7th,8th,9th,10th,11th,etc. nothing happened to sitting members of congress, no sanctions nothing.
Sadly, you are correct. The only ones locked up are the 400+ minions caught blindly following the orange monster's commands. And they might be pardoned ...
The criminal behavior in question did not occur when T was a sitting President and not in this upcoming term of Presidency either. It seems that nothing has been approved that he is forever immune. It is pathetic that he is getting away with everything. Maybe Karma will one day be at his door since the powers that be ie. SCOTUS has blocked justice here.
Per Lawrence O'Donnell tonight, President Biden has been able to appoint 12 Judges to the Federal Bench including 5 this week alone.
Personally, on 11/20/2024, I was very pleased to see that GAIL A. WEILHEIMER of Pennsylvania was approved by unanimous consent to be United States District Judge on the important Bench for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Welcome your Honor.
More good news. The final vote today confirmed Democrat ADAM GRAY has flipped the CA 13th Congressional District. Assuming Elise Stefanik will be approved in the Senate as the Ambassador to the U.N. & Michael Walz assumes the National Security Advisor position (no confirmation required) that would reduce the Republican number in the 119th Congress to 217 into the Spring of 2025. Take note that Michael Walz has also been listed as a potential replacement for the wobbly PETE HEGSETH.
And, finally the California State Bar sent me a check list of "To-Do's" to change my status from Inactive to Active. I am not going back to trial attorney work but, I'm looking for support work on any one of the mushrooming democracy dockets.
Declaring martial law can happen while you sleep. It can happen when you least expect it and it could happen in this country too. I would not put it past TFG to try something like that. I expect to be arrested for some kind of future demonstration during this coming era. I think it’s time for The Woman’s and Man’s March on January 21, 2025.
The Womans March is scheduled for Jan. 18 (or 19) in Washington DC and other cities. It’s being billed as The People’s March. Look at the Womans March website for the info.
Where is this Peoples March being promoted? I know nothing about it and I am plugged in to the resistance. If I have not heard about this until now, they are doing a very poor job of promotion. I believe marching and visible protest on the streets is more effective than individuals complaining to their congress people via calls/emails. Every time I attend one of these actions I am disappointed in the the turn out. That in itself is demoralizing. Joyce Vance and other voices on Substack should be promoting this march -- as we all should via our social networks. But whoever is organizing this needs to vastly broaden their reach-out. The action I am taking today: find out who is organizing this womens/people's march 2025 and contact them to emplore them to expand their promotion.
We all have to confront the choices in front of us. I think it was Patrick Henry who said, “I have but one life to give my country.” Can we answer the call? Or, do we forgo our country’s principles and our personal values to stand for freedom in the United States of America?
Call me a doubting Thomas. 90+ million people can't be bothered to get to the polls to cast a ballot, so why would we think they'd take to the streets to protest or resist?
I know exactly how you feel, Outdoorluvr. SO frustrating! I don't know how to get people to care about something they don't care about. But those of us who do care, we can't stop trying.
And just let them kill us without a fight? If we fight first, we might stop them. Many may die in the struggle, but that is how it always has been.If Viet Nam had been a legitimate defense of our nation, I would not have refused.
" Or, do we forgo our country’s principles " I'm not sure what you mean here, John. I've always thought of you as Patrick Henry ish.
So, why aren't we being proactive? Utilize the exact plan they are hellbent on using to destroy our democracy to instead SAVE our democracy? Biden has the same absolute immunity the Supreme Court thought they were only giving to Traitor. Use it and actually fight for our democracy the way the Greatest Generation did only for OUR democracy this time.
Can someone please explain how pardoning people will stop Trump from prosecuting them? In autocracies, people are picked up and put in jail without grounds or a hearing or anything. This belief that the rule of law will hold is not even cute anymore. Even the Supreme Court will find itself powerless if and when some of its conservative members decide they have had enough.
Yes! Everyone is living in a fantasy world and not being remotely realistic about what is to come. I am in favor of biden (or someone similar but younger and stronger!) being the fascist dictator instead of trump. He can forcibly implement Build Back Better, get rid of gerrymandering, fix all the broken stuff, then reinstate an improved constitution (second amendment, ERA). There will be violence under trump anyway, his brutal maga brownshirts are waiting eagerly for the inauguration. I have two beautiful daughters and am not looking forward to the “your body my choice” bros doing their thing. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Maybe you are right..... I was hoping that the judiciary would be slower to corrode. Patel will have agents reporting directly to him so they will jump, and ditto for Bondi will have special prosecutors reporting to her. But the judiciary is a more sluggish beast.
I concur Marilyn. The South Korean Opposition has already filed a "Motion" for Impeachment & made many calls for resignation. The SoKo Perp speaks to all South Koreans on Thursday SoKo time.
Here, we must make a hard & detailed examination of any move to use military units in anyway to control American citizens and/or any human beings.
I am not a lawyer but I have been thinking about Biden potentially using preemptive pardons to protect upper level DOJ officials, Jack Smith team members, and other named targets who are political opponents. I'm happy to hear this is possibly now under consideration. I appreciate the concerns of critics of the pardon for Hunter Biden regarding undermining the legitimacy of the pardon power. My deep concern is the potential harm to the long lists of named targets for political retribution by prosecution threatened by a president-elect & his legal attack dogs from his corrupted DOJ. To me, it seems immoral to fail to protect innocent public servants from announced plans for corrupt use of the legal system against political opponents.
No. The text of the pardon could make clear that they were being pardoned for any Federal activity that a future administration might find to have been illegal.
My question too. Do they base the preemptive pardons on what they think trump/patel would change them with or is it a blanket one that covers all potential charges during a certain period?
I saw (but haven’t read) that Adam Schiff is stating he doesn’t want one.
Olivia Troye is quite courageous. Kash Patel promises to be the evil ferocious attack dog of this administration. And look for an exodus of trans families from the states intent on trampling their civil rights. We will welcome you in California. God help us all.
It seems odd that today, the Russian state media, has applauded Donald Trump‘s cabinet nominations with a positive fervor unlike anything that is ever come out of the Russian state media in the past.
In reviewing all of trumps appointments, they all seem to have similar aspects in common. None of the people nominated to the various cabinet posts have ANY KNOWLEDGE of the inner workings of the agencies that they have been appointed to run!
Before the election, Donald Trump vowed to eliminate the FBI, the IRS, and to gut the justice department, so that it works strictly at the pleasure of the president. His appointments to these agencies, exactly what he had predicted, and further validates the fact that he’s going to simply eliminated them as necessary to achieve his criminal goals.
Again, the fact that the Russian state media, wholeheartedly, approve and applaudsHis appointments is telltale that those appointments and the predictable outcome of those appointments will serve to weaken all of those agencies, and make the United States more vulnerable to a takeover from any foreign power who can raise an army.
Dictators, like Vladimir Putin, and others around the world, are smacking their lips at the possibility that Donald Trump will weaken the United States to such a degree that they could simply walk in, with no resistance, and take over the country!
The only thing standing between that scenario, and, returning our country to some semblance of order, are the good people in the United States Senate. Allowed to continue with his insane quest for vengeance, Trump may well place the United States in the position to be taken over and becoming part of Russia, or another dictator ship.
Don’t laugh, it could happen here! Donald Trump is singularly focused on vengeance and cares not one shred about the plight of the 330 million Americans affected by his insane, immature decisions.
We must raise our voices and not allow him free will to do as he chooses in that quest.
Tulsi Gabbard's nomination as Director of National Intelligence is Moscow's favorite. On Putin's favorite TV network they refer to Gabbard as " Our girlfriend". Seriously.
If she passes the nomination process, no ally of the United States would ever share intelligence with us again.
Thank you for posting this, SPW. I had already read it, but rereading it hit me with even more of the severity of what we are up against. Dr. Timothy Synder's substack is one of my favorites, as are Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance. I rely on them daily.
We must do more than "not allow him free will to do as he chooses." We must put a full stop to Traitor and the most corrupt nominees seen in our long history from taking office. Call the Supreme Court's bluff and put that "absolute immunity" decision to use for the BETTER GOOD of our country NOT the destruction of it.
Not only are his nominations stupid, they smack of nepotism and many convicted criminals. Not surprising considering who the people elected…a convicted felon!
Where, please, does the ERA stand at this point? Have not the necessary states ratified it? I hear a lot about Biden being able to sign it now. That would cover the sex discrimination issue, as well as others too.
That was my question. I read legitimate sources calling for people to petition Biden to sign it. My poor old brain. It could have been People For or Common Cause maybe.
Whew! Trump sure takes up space in the room, doesn’t he? Already exhausted from his atrocious picks for important seats but I cannot, will not, get so weary as to lose my mind. Must stay vigilant and awake for things to come. We know that the fuel for Trump to stay alive is that he is talked about day in and day out. We must figure out how to diffuse that.
Joyce, that pic of the Pillsbury Dough Boy was priceless! I got a good laugh out of that, so thanks!
Didn't DeSantis server part of his time as a JAG at Guantanamo? I believe I read an article where a prior inmate was talking about some of the abuses and said when DeSantis arrived they had thought he had been sent to help them and viewed him (in their desperation) as a potential savior but then this particular person realized how wrong they were when DeSantis stood by as witness to some of the torments in the yard - I forget if it was waterboarding, but think it was. Wonderful guy to have in charge of our military. He'll really set the tone.
Chaos indeed. It's like the world is living in a badly written episode of Maxwell Smart (and KAOS). First, thanks for the photo of DeSantis in his go-go boots. That always makes me smile. Thanks also for covering so many of these stories in a nutshell. The situation in France seems complicated, but I trust the French, ironically, to deal with their chaos more swiftly than we are here. It is also heartening to see the restoration photos of Notre Dame this week, how much dirt and grime they cleaned off the artwork before restoring it, so that it was truly "built back better". That is also a sign of hope and progress, despite what happened. The courage of Olivia Troye is another remarkable boost for all of us, and I'm starting to have hope again because of people like her. Thank you, Joyce, for another excellent post.
Yes, those boots…😂
Think of the ominous lyrics of this Nancy Sinatra classic.
Yes, only in his case, those boots are made for talkin' (boorishly, boringly etc)...
https://youtu.be/GM1kzbAgo_E?si=fc49uEBAAGMY7umW
😂
Love it.
I like that.
Thise boots belongs to Nancy Sonatra, lol. What's he doing wearing girly boots? Opps.
The Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 (From my book, "Donald's Vanity Tantrums")
(It just seems like yesterday)
I am traveling to Washington DC this Saturday to participate in the Women's March on Washington. I am going because the threat of President Trump to defund Planned Parenthood. I don't need any other reasons to show my solidarity. There is no need to augment my decision with the realization that Mr. Trump has no morals or business ethics; which insures that he will make a horrible leader.
I am somewhat surprised that the overwhelming majority of marchers are in fact, women. But hey, it's a "Women’s March" right? The evening before the trip, I listened to commentators on the PBS Nightly News that a "massive March is being planned." During the table discussion, someone asks if only women are going. Another commentator answers "...and other hangers-on." That's me, the hanger-on. I have always been a hanger-on so this is not news to me.
I have anticipated the nuances of being in the middle of a huge throng of marchers. I packed four eggplant Parmesan sandwiches (made the day before) and two bottles of water. I took Imodium tablets a few hours before leaving on buses reserved for this event. I can't predict my bowel movements at my age anymore and it wouldn't be wise to get stuck in a crowd of a million women with sudden bodily needs. Ahem...
A Hartford Courant reporter sits next to me. Of all the women travelers on board, I get the chance encounter to sit next to a guy. I anticipated sitting next to a woman so I could elicit her perspective on the March.
Our four buses depart from Trinity College in Hartford and we all arrive at RFK Stadium later this morning. Most of us decide to walk the two miles to the Mall. It's a historic and ironically festive occasion. Many avenues are filled with joyful marchers as we converge near the Capital Building.
I cannot get close to the stage area. I'm now stuck in the crowd unable to move. The marchers that are close enough to the stage can hear speeches. The rest of us automatically cheer when a speaker makes a good point and this cheering is like a water wave that sweeps over the ocean of humanity. A yell is heard from the masses and it’s probably Madonna screaming something about wanting to blow up the White House (as this was later reported in the press). I slowly squish myself through sliver of openings of the throng until I reach some scaffolding remaining from the inaugural the day before when Mr. Trump was sworn to uphold the laws of the land.
I reach the scaffolding and look up at climbers scurrying through the monkey bars. I pause a moment and consider my sixty three year-old bones. I pause only for one moment. Now I too have joined the club climbing up the bars. Sixty is the new forty and I know I can make it up to the top. Besides, I need my panorama photos of the crowd.
My photographic studies are done. I have climbed to the mountain top (of the scaffolding). It nears two PM, the time at which my Connecticut Congressional delegation has opened their office reception room nearby at the Sam Rayburn Office Building for us marchers to rest, use the lavatory and enjoy a light lunch. They are kind and generous to offer this accommodation for their constituents. Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty thanks us repeatedly for making the trip. The room is quickly filled with fellow marchers sitting at tables and on the floor. We soon clean out the food. After the much needed rest, it is time to slowly walk back toward the Stadium.
This event evokes past marches to Washington DC especially President Nixon’s anti-Vietnam protests of the 1970s. And the big anti-Vietnam march of 1967 when as a child of 14, I boarded the overnight Amtrak train. My experiences have taught me that a march doesn't change anything. But an accumulation of marches and grass-roots organizing can and does change the body politic. President Trump will have his day in the sun. I haven't the slightest doubt that it will be for one term only. But a person can do a lot of damage in four years.
An announcement is made at the reception that the march through the streets has been officially canceled because of the crowd size.
On the return bus ride home, we make a rest stop in New Jersey. I need to use the men's room. But the men's room this moment is no longer for men only. It's been co-opted by hundreds of women returning from Washington. Why not? There are maybe nine women to every one man waiting in a long line at the entrance.
And now, I am waiting to go. One woman turns to me and says, "Oh, you don't need to wait. The urinals are available." I guess she thought I only needed to go pee pee. She was correct. But as I began to enter the lavatory, a voice in me said that this was an historic moment - of sorts. I yell out, "This is a fucken photo opt" as I yank out my IPad. I shoot those waiting in line. I enter the facility and continue shooting. I sense that I need to shoot quickly and get the hell out before a disgruntled male takes an issue with my camera. Before I have finished with a few different photo perspectives, and after my visit to an available urinal, a man yells me and at that moment, I exit.
It’s time for me to return to the bus and get some much needed sleep. We will have an unsettling four years ahead of us. May our nation survive.
What's he doing? "One of these days these boots are going to walk all over you."
Bing Bing Bing Bing Bing Bing Bing. Start walkin boots.
DeSantis is trying to look like he's "on the ground" after his state was hit by 2 devastating hurricanes within one month this past fall. He wasn't. What he has REALLY done is make it more difficult for FL citizens to sue their insurance companies when they won't pay.
Just days after J621 my Greed friend said if TFG was in Greece he would be in jail, and if he was in Italy he would be executed!
Then let’s raise funds to send TFG to Italy.
Thanks for the reminder of Maxwell Smart & KAOS! Haven't thought about that show in years. We have been in real life theater of the absurd & we will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Our resilience and fortitude will be tested in speaking truth to power to correct course.
I'd love to see a Cone of Silence lowered over TFG, Truth Social and his enablers.
I am hoping Blue Sky does not get shut down. It is platformed in the US. I hear Mastadon is not, in that it is a multiplatform site. So, people should be prepared to jump if Blue Sky gets shut down under Trump since we know authoritarian regimes like to go after media first of all.
Good thinking, Linda. I don't use X, nor have I tried Blue Sky.
I really like the world of Substack, with high-integrity newsletters like Joyce's, and how we can share our thoughts with each other in these comments sections.
I suppose even Substack is vulnerable, but it's certainly a safe haven for the time being (at least in my experience).
I like Substack too, although it is not my only news source, which are increasingly outside the US, like the US version of the Guardian, but we know the Guardian is not published in the US. I still have my local city and neighborhood papers as online subscriptions. However, if Substack goes, or the people I like are kicked off, then I will hope to find them writing elsewhere just as Meduza left Russia and publishes out of Astonia now. My friends in Democrats Abroad are preparing to have to switch platforms in all realms given that American corporations involved with tech are mostly Oligarchs. Will Musk try to buy Blue Sky if it gets too big? Can this be blocked? Don't know enough about it, but just thinking down the road about things I can control like how I will get news. Everyone should have a VPN. https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-a-vpn
Democrats and Liberal independents need to be more aggressive about getting access to media that is not right wing driven.
Nothing Elonia wants to do will be blocked. NASA is going to be given to him and who knows what else. Yet another totally unqualified nominee announced for NASA today. All you need is money and depravity to be tapped for a major role.
I agree again, Linda. As a British person, it would be easy to take The Guardian for granted, but increasingly, I value it very highly. Ditto the BBC.
And like you, I will follow people I like, respect and value from Substack to wherever they go, if they do end up having to migrate.
I can recommend Surfshark VPN: https://surfshark.club/friend/CVB6jynd It's the only one I've tried (among other top recommended alternatives) that works for the BBC from here in Europe (Spain, in my case).
I love the writers on Substack - I wish I could financially support them all, but right now supporting Joyce and Heather is as far as my budget will stretch.
Most of the writers we all love are also on Bluesky, I found....just FYI.
We have South Korea in limbo, France in limbo and Germany in limbo. Germany is operating without a legitimate government right now. All of these Democracies in trouble just as Trump is coming in. People post covid are changed and the planet needs to recon with it. For example in the US people got the most government supports they will probably ever get under covid. For people who are struggling they saw that if there was the will, their problems could get support, they could get support. Then, afterwards when someone decided it was time to stop supporting people, they had to go back to the struggle and increased stress that their lives were, and it makes no sense to them. So, that makes them angrier and more discontent with the status quo.
And yet those who need the support voted against those who would give it. We are truly in dystopian times. No doubt Proj25 has a plan to ensure the Orwellian masses never figure out which side would help them. Meanwhile democracy slips away.
I succeeded applying for and receiving 3 PPP loans to grants. They weren’t large but based on my business income. I was grateful. Many are now forgetting the terror of 2020. Of hiding away in our homes and apartments. Walking out the door with rubber gloves on and masks and rushing to the food mart at the moment they opened. I stayed away from everyone. One acquaintance did t. She was a retired executive at a local insurance company enjoying her twilight years. She died. I have vested blood pressure, diabetes and I have bronchitis; a death combo if Covid-19 came calling. But I never caught it and the vaccines boosted my chances of survival. When I was a child, my mother recounted her youth during the Influenza epidemic of 1918 and how people who have become infected were toe tagged since it signified automatic death. How quickly we forget. Now drivers race down the expressway causing crashes.
"Many are now forgetting the terror of 2020." ✅
Many are remembering how during covid they got the most support and safety net from the government ever, and that began under Trump. So, they equate that with doing better. It was after all under Biden that the covid supports were lifted, even if it was caused by Republicans in Congress. From what I can see most people in the US and outside of the US do not even know that Congress has a role to play in government.
A must see interview with a world scholar on Wiemar Germany. Around minute 38 the discussion turns to who voted for Hitler, and how he gained first steps of power in the rural areas. The parallels are clues to what we can expect from the administration. There is also stuff about legislative gridlock German parliament experienced for years. It is getting very real folks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RemQ0Ak1i0
My daughter studied the Weimer Republic last year in University in Germany in a German history class. It is interesting the difference in analysis depending on what country you are in. I am glad they point out that one must understand what has come before Weimar for it and the ensuing the appointment of Hitler by Hindenburg to make sense with Hitler's party getting 33% of the vote in that election. Prior to the Weimar Republic which lasted for 15 years. Prior to that Germans had never had democracy. They had kings and princes ruling over them, not a democratically elected government. So, there was no real understanding of democracy by most of the people while they had it.
I would say a lot of Americans don't understand democracy either, particularly those who have immigrated to the US from countries that did not have it.
Professor Thomas Zimmer points out that the US itself has only had democracy since the 1960s, so I presume he means with the voting rights act. Germany gave women the right to vote under the Weimar Republic, which means it was democratic. However, the US did not do that until 1920. Still, by preventing a lot of people from voting with all sorts of rules that are starting to be resurrected, and by preventing many US citizens from voting, is eroding the democracy.
Another reader who got a good laugh from Joyce’s revival of the classic Sourpuss-in-Boots.
I'd love to see a Cone of Silence lowered over TFG, Truth Social and his enablers.
Norte Dame, beautifully restored and renovated, will now be desecrated by the blasphemous presence of CF45. Mon Dieu!
Your go-go boots comment will keep me chuckling throughout the day!
In Louisiana, those boots are called "white shrimping boots". I have a pair for when we get those horrendous rainfalls or hurricanes!
"trump asks the court to accept his premise that “A sitting president is completely immune from indictment or any criminal process, state or federal.”' Well, he is NOT a sitting president right now, and he will not be until Jan 20th, 46 more days in which he could be sentenced and thrown into jail where he should have been since J6, 2021.
Yes!!!!! Come on Joe, where you going with those cuffs in your hands?
Joe is too respectful of “norms.“
Sady, I agree & was surprised, & glad, he had the guts to pardon his son.
Yes, boringly so and to our detriment.
Norms that have been thrown out the door by Trump and the Republicans since the day he came down his golden escalator.
If only Garland had the cajones…
I am trying very hard not to play the “Blamegame”, but if I did Garland would be at the top if my list.
Garland and SCOTUS.
What this guy has gotten away with is biblical. Read about the "beast" in Revelations. I think he's the Antichrist....
You and me both!
give it up, he is not going to be prosecuted people, period.
that train left the station when nothing happened to him/them Jan 7th,8th,9th,10th,11th,etc. nothing happened to sitting members of congress, no sanctions nothing.
Sadly, you are correct. The only ones locked up are the 400+ minions caught blindly following the orange monster's commands. And they might be pardoned ...
The criminal behavior in question did not occur when T was a sitting President and not in this upcoming term of Presidency either. It seems that nothing has been approved that he is forever immune. It is pathetic that he is getting away with everything. Maybe Karma will one day be at his door since the powers that be ie. SCOTUS has blocked justice here.
Per Lawrence O'Donnell tonight, President Biden has been able to appoint 12 Judges to the Federal Bench including 5 this week alone.
Personally, on 11/20/2024, I was very pleased to see that GAIL A. WEILHEIMER of Pennsylvania was approved by unanimous consent to be United States District Judge on the important Bench for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Welcome your Honor.
More good news. The final vote today confirmed Democrat ADAM GRAY has flipped the CA 13th Congressional District. Assuming Elise Stefanik will be approved in the Senate as the Ambassador to the U.N. & Michael Walz assumes the National Security Advisor position (no confirmation required) that would reduce the Republican number in the 119th Congress to 217 into the Spring of 2025. Take note that Michael Walz has also been listed as a potential replacement for the wobbly PETE HEGSETH.
And, finally the California State Bar sent me a check list of "To-Do's" to change my status from Inactive to Active. I am not going back to trial attorney work but, I'm looking for support work on any one of the mushrooming democracy dockets.
"We are in this Together" as the Professor says.
Good for you, Mr. McKown! Good to know outstanding minds are “on the case,” as it were.
Thank you, Bryan!
Sheila
Way to go and thank you!
⬆️👏👏 Thank you!
Courage is the best. Once you start, you can't stop.
Someone was asked , " What is the reward of courage ?" and he answered , " ti is that, it's courage."
So true
Declaring martial law can happen while you sleep. It can happen when you least expect it and it could happen in this country too. I would not put it past TFG to try something like that. I expect to be arrested for some kind of future demonstration during this coming era. I think it’s time for The Woman’s and Man’s March on January 21, 2025.
The Womans March is scheduled for Jan. 18 (or 19) in Washington DC and other cities. It’s being billed as The People’s March. Look at the Womans March website for the info.
Where is this Peoples March being promoted? I know nothing about it and I am plugged in to the resistance. If I have not heard about this until now, they are doing a very poor job of promotion. I believe marching and visible protest on the streets is more effective than individuals complaining to their congress people via calls/emails. Every time I attend one of these actions I am disappointed in the the turn out. That in itself is demoralizing. Joyce Vance and other voices on Substack should be promoting this march -- as we all should via our social networks. But whoever is organizing this needs to vastly broaden their reach-out. The action I am taking today: find out who is organizing this womens/people's march 2025 and contact them to emplore them to expand their promotion.
Thank you. I like it being days before the the swearing in.
I’m sure that’s the point!
I'll be marching in AZ
I may be joining you since there is not one in California.
I'll be marching to the Food Lion to stock up on beer and wine....
I just looked that up too!
Correction: The People’s March takes place only in Washington DC.
We all have to confront the choices in front of us. I think it was Patrick Henry who said, “I have but one life to give my country.” Can we answer the call? Or, do we forgo our country’s principles and our personal values to stand for freedom in the United States of America?
Call me a doubting Thomas. 90+ million people can't be bothered to get to the polls to cast a ballot, so why would we think they'd take to the streets to protest or resist?
I know exactly how you feel, Outdoorluvr. SO frustrating! I don't know how to get people to care about something they don't care about. But those of us who do care, we can't stop trying.
I share that extreme disappointment!
It was Nathan Hale, but I take your sentiment.
Thank you for correcting the source. A little due diligence on my part would have been the smart thing to do.
Sometimes our fingers go across the keyboard faster than our brains can keep up!
Patrick Henry said "Give me liberty or give me death"
sort of the same thing...
And just let them kill us without a fight? If we fight first, we might stop them. Many may die in the struggle, but that is how it always has been.If Viet Nam had been a legitimate defense of our nation, I would not have refused.
" Or, do we forgo our country’s principles " I'm not sure what you mean here, John. I've always thought of you as Patrick Henry ish.
Would “ignore” or “abandon” work better? We must stand up for the principles we believe in - freedom, justice for all, equality, …
THIS. Why are we just rolling over and allowing this to happen?
Interesting article from the Brennen Center on the history of martial law and why Trump should not be able to use it.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/martial-law-united-states-its-meaning-its-history-and-why-president-cant
Why not Biden? We were attacked by Russia, its agents and wiiling idiots via psy ops ops to interfere with our election.
AGREE!
We The People March
We The People should have marched to the polls. Marching now is like that closing the barn door thing....
So, why aren't we being proactive? Utilize the exact plan they are hellbent on using to destroy our democracy to instead SAVE our democracy? Biden has the same absolute immunity the Supreme Court thought they were only giving to Traitor. Use it and actually fight for our democracy the way the Greatest Generation did only for OUR democracy this time.
“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!“
Can someone please explain how pardoning people will stop Trump from prosecuting them? In autocracies, people are picked up and put in jail without grounds or a hearing or anything. This belief that the rule of law will hold is not even cute anymore. Even the Supreme Court will find itself powerless if and when some of its conservative members decide they have had enough.
Yes! Everyone is living in a fantasy world and not being remotely realistic about what is to come. I am in favor of biden (or someone similar but younger and stronger!) being the fascist dictator instead of trump. He can forcibly implement Build Back Better, get rid of gerrymandering, fix all the broken stuff, then reinstate an improved constitution (second amendment, ERA). There will be violence under trump anyway, his brutal maga brownshirts are waiting eagerly for the inauguration. I have two beautiful daughters and am not looking forward to the “your body my choice” bros doing their thing. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
AGREE!
Thank you, call it like Joyce just did: CHAOS.
They can still be arrested, but if they had a pardon then they would almost certainly be granted bail.
no, that's not how dictatoring works...
Maybe you are right..... I was hoping that the judiciary would be slower to corrode. Patel will have agents reporting directly to him so they will jump, and ditto for Bondi will have special prosecutors reporting to her. But the judiciary is a more sluggish beast.
I think we Americans should do something similar to do what the South Korean's just did.
Right on, Marilyn! Our time has come to stand up to bullying and oppression.
I concur Marilyn. The South Korean Opposition has already filed a "Motion" for Impeachment & made many calls for resignation. The SoKo Perp speaks to all South Koreans on Thursday SoKo time.
Here, we must make a hard & detailed examination of any move to use military units in anyway to control American citizens and/or any human beings.
I am not a lawyer but I have been thinking about Biden potentially using preemptive pardons to protect upper level DOJ officials, Jack Smith team members, and other named targets who are political opponents. I'm happy to hear this is possibly now under consideration. I appreciate the concerns of critics of the pardon for Hunter Biden regarding undermining the legitimacy of the pardon power. My deep concern is the potential harm to the long lists of named targets for political retribution by prosecution threatened by a president-elect & his legal attack dogs from his corrupted DOJ. To me, it seems immoral to fail to protect innocent public servants from announced plans for corrupt use of the legal system against political opponents.
But how can you be “pardoned” if you have done nothing criminal? And the “pardon” then implies that you HAVE done something criminal.
No. The text of the pardon could make clear that they were being pardoned for any Federal activity that a future administration might find to have been illegal.
My question too. Do they base the preemptive pardons on what they think trump/patel would change them with or is it a blanket one that covers all potential charges during a certain period?
I saw (but haven’t read) that Adam Schiff is stating he doesn’t want one.
I’m seeking answers too.
Anybody that can help us out?
I have asked Joyce to clarify.
I have asked Joyce to clarify this matter. Jennifer Rubin claims you are wrong on both counts.
Would receiving a pardon automatically put you on the enemies list? Why would a pardon have any force in an autocracy anyway?
Only if the courts recognize the pardons and the president abides by the courts. Both iffy.
Olivia Troye is quite courageous. Kash Patel promises to be the evil ferocious attack dog of this administration. And look for an exodus of trans families from the states intent on trampling their civil rights. We will welcome you in California. God help us all.
And if Patel sues, then there is the discovery phase. Let us see all your emails.
It's not going to matter which state you're in as we passively hand over our democracy to an avowed dictator.
Look for the migration from California to states like Texas or Florida to eventually reverse itself.
Should DeSantis get the nod, he would give new meaning to "boots on the ground."
Good one Dale! Ridicule is a pebble in the boots of the Monsters.
😂
Yes he’s already done it in Florida. He is not who we want to head the DOD!
https://www.aclufl.org/en/know-your-rights/demonstrations-and-protests
LEONARD KATZ
It seems odd that today, the Russian state media, has applauded Donald Trump‘s cabinet nominations with a positive fervor unlike anything that is ever come out of the Russian state media in the past.
In reviewing all of trumps appointments, they all seem to have similar aspects in common. None of the people nominated to the various cabinet posts have ANY KNOWLEDGE of the inner workings of the agencies that they have been appointed to run!
Before the election, Donald Trump vowed to eliminate the FBI, the IRS, and to gut the justice department, so that it works strictly at the pleasure of the president. His appointments to these agencies, exactly what he had predicted, and further validates the fact that he’s going to simply eliminated them as necessary to achieve his criminal goals.
Again, the fact that the Russian state media, wholeheartedly, approve and applaudsHis appointments is telltale that those appointments and the predictable outcome of those appointments will serve to weaken all of those agencies, and make the United States more vulnerable to a takeover from any foreign power who can raise an army.
Dictators, like Vladimir Putin, and others around the world, are smacking their lips at the possibility that Donald Trump will weaken the United States to such a degree that they could simply walk in, with no resistance, and take over the country!
The only thing standing between that scenario, and, returning our country to some semblance of order, are the good people in the United States Senate. Allowed to continue with his insane quest for vengeance, Trump may well place the United States in the position to be taken over and becoming part of Russia, or another dictator ship.
Don’t laugh, it could happen here! Donald Trump is singularly focused on vengeance and cares not one shred about the plight of the 330 million Americans affected by his insane, immature decisions.
We must raise our voices and not allow him free will to do as he chooses in that quest.
Tulsi Gabbard's nomination as Director of National Intelligence is Moscow's favorite. On Putin's favorite TV network they refer to Gabbard as " Our girlfriend". Seriously.
If she passes the nomination process, no ally of the United States would ever share intelligence with us again.
God works in mysterious ways...so does the CIA
I recommend Dr Timothy Snyder for the answer to your question.
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/decapitation-strike-december?r=np4n&utm_medium=ios
Thank you for posting this, SPW. I had already read it, but rereading it hit me with even more of the severity of what we are up against. Dr. Timothy Synder's substack is one of my favorites, as are Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance. I rely on them daily.
I believe TFG, Xi, and Putin will try and divide the world between them just like Triumvirates.
I've believed that to be the goal since trump visited Putin the very first time, when no one but an interpreter was allowed in the room.
Interesting where you went with that back then. Good work.
We must do more than "not allow him free will to do as he chooses." We must put a full stop to Traitor and the most corrupt nominees seen in our long history from taking office. Call the Supreme Court's bluff and put that "absolute immunity" decision to use for the BETTER GOOD of our country NOT the destruction of it.
Not only are his nominations stupid, they smack of nepotism and many convicted criminals. Not surprising considering who the people elected…a convicted felon!
Where, please, does the ERA stand at this point? Have not the necessary states ratified it? I hear a lot about Biden being able to sign it now. That would cover the sex discrimination issue, as well as others too.
Ransom, see Robert Hubbell’s blog post for today, 12/4/2024.
Really? Would it protect same sex marriage? If so, how best can get this done by Dec 31?
I am not sure if the required number of states have ratified the ERA?
They have with Virginia being the last state. However, it wasn’t completed within the mandated time frame.
Virginia voted in 2020. Why is this coming up today?
Arthur, see Robert Hubbell’s post for today, 12/4/2024. Today’s Edition Substack.
That was my question. I read legitimate sources calling for people to petition Biden to sign it. My poor old brain. It could have been People For or Common Cause maybe.
Whew! Trump sure takes up space in the room, doesn’t he? Already exhausted from his atrocious picks for important seats but I cannot, will not, get so weary as to lose my mind. Must stay vigilant and awake for things to come. We know that the fuel for Trump to stay alive is that he is talked about day in and day out. We must figure out how to diffuse that.
Joyce, that pic of the Pillsbury Dough Boy was priceless! I got a good laugh out of that, so thanks!
Didn't DeSantis server part of his time as a JAG at Guantanamo? I believe I read an article where a prior inmate was talking about some of the abuses and said when DeSantis arrived they had thought he had been sent to help them and viewed him (in their desperation) as a potential savior but then this particular person realized how wrong they were when DeSantis stood by as witness to some of the torments in the yard - I forget if it was waterboarding, but think it was. Wonderful guy to have in charge of our military. He'll really set the tone.
He has been a nightmare as governor here in Florida. He is not fit to serve.
Thank you so much Joyce
Thank you for cramming do much into this issue.