People don't understand the stakes involved in firing the only Black member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, nor their consequences.
Cook has consistently voted with Jerome Powell to keep interest rates steady, despite a certain screaming toddler's "demand" that he lower them. She has been joined by a majority of Governors. But no White Governors have been fired. No White Governor has been the target of a cartoon witch-hunt where silly, trumped-up charges of inappropriate conduct have suddenly materialized out of nowhere. It's offensive to dignify them by noting that they come "without evidence." It's all made-up shit from start to finish. And they know it. That alone should tell you everything.
Not quite. The reason President Golf Cart wants interest rates lowered has nothing to do with the country, but EVERYTHING do with him. Since January, Greedier-than-Midas has bought at least $100 million worth of bonds. Guess what happens to bond values when interest rates fall? President Emoluments is taking care of himself, the way he always does. He's made 1600 Pennsylvania the address for the biggest extortion racket in the country. 10% from Intel here, 24-karat gifts from Apple there, tariff demands from this country and that one, bribes from Harvard and Columbia just to be left alone, interest rates moving at his command --- it's not 'about the economy, stupid.' It's certainly not about the price of eggs. It's about GRAFT. "I want you to do a little something for me first." We are all Volodymyr Zelenskyy now.
People have nearly lost their minds demanding the opening of the "Epstein Files" -- whatever that even means -- something about a dead child molester that would move the needle. But the real monster is already here -- open, transparent, direct violations of the Constitution taking place every day. Public outrage should be laser-focused on them.
The bond markets aren't going to take kindly to Trump's attack on the Reserve. For a century, an independent Reserve has been the driving force behind America's AAA bond rating. It's why the Chinese own the lion's share of Treasuries -- they're the safest investment in the world. Not any more. It's about attacking America while hiding under a stupid red MAGA hat.
I have been saying this for a long time, but you have said it best. The man is a con, a grifter, and a thief. He is robbing the country (us) blind and will do it until he dies.
The sooner we get rid of him, the better. Then , as Governor Pritzker has said, those carrying out his illegal orders will be prosecuted. All of them.
The gerrymander fight is on. There is a new playbook. The old rules have been struck down by the Supreme Court. We need to change the gears here as fast as possible for deadly preemptive strikes. Newsom has moved out on this already. Who is next? Hochul. Where are you? Pritzker. What are you doing?
Well said! I honestly hope that whatever stupid thing he does with the Fed, that the negative consequences hit the voters like a tornado right before the midterms . . . Americans need every push, shove and nudge we can muster to vote Democrat so there is at least some check on this lunatic for the rest of his term . . . I don’t want to even think about what will happen if Republicans keep both the House & Senate! 😳😥
Thanks Susan. Today my book club and I were finishing our discussion of Autocracy, Inc. A friend had shared an article earlier today that says we are now in an Autocracy, and I was questioning that because I have a definition of a hybrid democracy now. That is we appear to still be having elections, and they are reflecting the will of the people. However, there is the huge disinformation piece and discrediting piece. Does that count as unfair elections? I think it should.
Hi Linda. I'm not sure what you mean by discrediting. But I agree that disinformation changes elections. As a Texan, who lives in a wonderful, but low income city which will lose our good representative, I all too aware of how awful the latest gerrymandering map is. As I understand it, the map would unseat Jasmine Crockett, who is my other favorite rep. I'm not sure there is such a thing as a hybrid democracy. Countries like Hungary still have elections, and I believe Turkey does, too, but they are definitely autocracies. I am not entirely sure we have hit total autocracy in the US yet, but we're getting way too close for comfort.
Here is a list of the degree of freedom that countries have with that being a democracy. Then, there are countries that are considered hybrids, not authoritarian and not reaching democracy, or losing democracy. I think it is viewed as a transitional stage either way.
I thought I would share this list so you can see which countries are consider hybrids. This is from 2024. Would like to see it now.
What I mean by discrediting is that in her book "Autocracy, Inc" in chapter 5 Author Anne Applebaum talks about "Smearing the Democrats" she tells us that methods are things like:
Modern autocrats prefer to smear than kill to avoid the martyrdom of a person
They prepare their smear and legal campaigns ahead of time.
Still they do spot murdering to keep people in line, they don’t have to do mass killings to do that. A few journalists or activists.
Dictators make laws that outlaw anything that is activism, but they don’t say it is directly outlawed.
Corruption accusations against activists often makes even friends wonder and turns people against them.
Public despair comes after the crushing of a movement, especially if violence has been used.
So these methods would be discrediting. Putin and Trump use this all the time. We can see this with Trump claiming that woman at Federal Reserve did something illegal with her mortgage applications, he has used this same claim on 2 other Black officials he is going after. He discredits them by smearing them.
Is this s—t in Project 2025 too? Destroy America’s standing in every way including monetarily, so we have to depend on the crumbs the Oligarchs throw us? How about reducing the military to garbage collectors. I bet that looks good to our adversaries. This horrible person has to go.
I agree with you, except for one thing: Jeffrey Epstein was a monster, a child molester. Anyone with a life experience of being molested as a child of any age will tell you that molestation results in life-long trauma. And our "president" was involved with Epstein, including in having sex with underage girls (one of his victims has testified to this). I am a survivor of child sexual abuse who spent years working through it, and I can tell you it is NOT stupid, or a nothing burger, to want those files released and to have the perpetrators tried and convicted. And to have Ghislaine Maxwell returned the Florida prison from whence she came.
I very much respect your difficult past and what it must have cost you and others having undergone similar experiences. But whatever is in those "files" (if they exist at all), they've been scrubbed, cleansed and bowdlerized beyond recognition. Should they ever see the light of day, I doubt they will end up the silver bullet to slay the Beast. His followers have long known -- and ignored -- who he is for years now.
I take your point, and agree that anything the DOJ has is scrubbed. But I'm betting that the Epstein estate has a lot of that information, which would not have been scrubbed. It seems to me that the House went to them about the birthday book. Hope springs eternal here to see predators get their due.
I hope Trump and all of his sychophant enablers die screaming. The rage in my heart for what they have done to us in just 220 days is burning so hot. I've read testimony by a couple of his victims of the Epstein/Maxwell pediphile ring. It is grotesque and the men and woman who participated in such unspeakable, vile actions against these children, must be exposed and punished. Sadly, I think DJT is a cockroach who will survive anything, no matter how despicable it is. I'm just hoping there is a God who will hold him accountable in the afterlife. So say nothing, of the innocent military Trans people being dishonored, the civil service workers fired, our veterans forgotten, the millions being thrown off Medicaid for billionaire tax cuts, and so much more daily assault on our dignity, national security, justice system ... I am so sorry for your trauma, Susan, and thank you for for your advocacy.
Thank you, Jane. I have to agree with everything you said. DJT may be a cockroach that would survive anything, but in the end his heritage will get him - with the dementia. Just so you know, I spent a lot of years (about 40) working to figure out what was wrong with me and then dealing with it. I came out the other side about 20 years ago and life has been good since. I feel that it is very important to advocate for the victims of sexual abuse because more people need to understand how widespread it is. It gets boys, too, but not as often as girls.
I’m not entirely sure you’re right about this. I do get what you’re saying though. It appears there nothing that stops Magas devotion to him. They’re in a cult.
Someone has them, not withstanding Maxwell herself. They’d. have to be leaked. But the truth does tend to come out eventually. Sadly, maybe not in the near enough future.
I do understand the significance of all racist acts that Trump and Stephen Miller are doing! I have been watching Trump fire Black people from the military to every place that they are working in high office. As another Brown skinned woman I get it. The global economy will be tanking from the instability of our Federal Reserve under Trump's stewardship. I see every country looking at getting more trade with other countries so they can get out of relationships with the US. The pariah economy.
I agree about the Epstein files, but also see its value in keeping the MAGA riled up and perhaps not so loyal at election time.
Linda, for those of us who survived child sexual abuse, getting the information out there so perpetrators can be prosecuted is important. MAGA may not be in it for the right reasons, but I have to agree with them about releasing the files. They are important.
Took my grandsons to the National Air and Space Museum today in DC. Infuriating to see armed National Guards hanging around on the Mall and in the Metro with nothing to do. I did not feel as safe as usual. But I was very happy to hear the 9-year old explain to his 5-year-old brother that Trump is a “bad president and a bully.”
Pulte is a joke. If he wants to go after someone for mortgage fraud he should start at the top and investigate every mortgage Trump ever took out.
Plus, I don’t understand how Trump can claim he gave money for the bridge to be rebuilt when Biden was in office. Am I missing something or will no one push back.
His dementia was in full display Monday but greatly ignored.
He really thinks it’s all about him and he is never wrong. Absolutely wild.
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, and those in a committee that fits your topic. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. We deserve better ❤️🩹🤍💙
I have to say, that the "coerced plea" to go to Costa Rica a free man Joyce describes sounds familiar. Sounds like some of the drug cases in the 1970's-1980's. The defense lawyer has to communicate that offer to the defendant.
Regardless, President Golf Cart never keeps his side of the bargain. If Garcia agreed to "confess", he'd have given them their justification for doing whatever they wanted to after that. Don't make a deal with the devil.
I am really concerned that the Supreme(ly Corrupt) Court seems to keep giving Trump more power to do as he pleases. First the horrible decision to basically give him immunity. The partisan members of SCOTUS have allowed Trump to deport “illegal” immigrants to countries that are dangerous and not their home countries. They have allowed him to cancel congressionally approved grant funding. They have allowed him to fire without cause members of non-political boards and committees. They have allowed him to gut and basically eliminate congressionally established departments. They have allowed him to use phony emergency orders to issue executive orders like he has done previously and did again today. And Republican members of Congress will not check this authoritarian president. In fact, they are making it easier for him to take a wrecking ball to our government and the Constitution. We the people, and some lower courts, are all that’s left to stop Trump. So far, I don’t feel enough people are paying attention. I pray that changes, and quickly!
I was just reading about the sadness of the collapse of Surat, India's diamond cutting industry and its devastating impacts due to tariffs. At some point, people around the world WILL stop giving everyday Americans a pass for innocence because we are not overthrowing the person doing so much harm to so many people worldwide.
"Trump’s path toward authoritarianism is accelerating, and Americans need to wake up."...and Massively disobey peacefully. The population of Washington, D.C. was an estimated 678,972 as of July 2023, with the population of the wider Washington metropolitan area exceeding 6 million. What is the Problem? Go on Strike! Take your dog on a walk to Capitol Hill! Disobey! Stand around them!
Here’s what EVERY American needs to understand, including Trump’s MAGA base.
MAGA IS A LIE.
"MAGA" was a Russia funded virus that has been propagated by Trump, by right wing propaganda outlets, and even Congressional members of the Republican party. The swag for "MAGA" may have all been "Made in China", but the code was all written by Russian programmers and delivered to their asset: Donald Trump.
Trump IS the "enemy within". NONE of what he is doing is to help working Americans, especially the poor ignorant MAGA voter.
Trump and the rogue Republicans are weakening our alliances, weakening our economy, weakening our government, and weakening our influence. They are isolating US from all of our long time allies and destroying trust in the United States around the world.
Make no mistake. They aren't doing this to help America or the citizens of the US. They are doing to it to help Putin and to turn America into the Russia of the West. That is the ONLY thing that makes sense.
Farmers, manufacturers, consumers, and citizens need to wake up very quickly to the fact that Trump, Musk and the entire complicit Republican Party ARE the "enemy within".
They are working hard to dismantle our government, destroy our democracy, destroy our economy, and install a fascist dictatorship backed by oligarchs. Just like Russia.
Trump wants to BE the Putin of the West. But to do that he has to trash our Constitution and our system of government. The rich will be in power, and the rest of us will be expected to bend over and take it.
I would have doubted your allegations about Republicans being a lost cause, but look at this: 89% of Republicans still approve of Trump's job performance!!! I was quite shocked to see this.
Re: "These are mere allegations (about Ms. Cook), not yet proven."
I also read a legal scholar's opinion today that the Cause for which a President seeks to fire a Fed member must be for criminal conduct or a breach of ethics while serving on the Board. The alleged misleading mortgage application occurred before Ms. Cook's appointment to the FRB.
and all there is, is legal scholarship, because (as Ms Vance says) nobody has ever been fired from the Fed since it was founded over 100 years ago. There is a reason for that: all previous presidents have been more or less sane and subject to more or less sane advisors. Not the present incumbent, however...
In addition to Gov. Cook, Dump is accusing Adam Schiff and Letitia James of mortgage fraud as well. It’s obviously his new schtick for punishing his perceived enemies.
And armed troops in D.C. do not make me feel that my family there is safe. Some of those troops are from Ohio. We know what happens when you arm the Ohio National Guard. People die.
I, too, was a college student (Penn State) at the time of the Kent State shootings. One of my dorm mates was engaged to a Kent State student. Exhausted and horrified, he had apparently tried to get away from the campus and simply go home. The police theorized that he fell asleep at the wheel before running off the road. He died in the crash. At some point someone came to my dorm to inform his fiancee of the tragedy. I can still clearly remember her screams echoing down the hallway.
And that moment will be with you, and with her, for life. The resonance and the effect of senseless tragedy extends so much farther and deeper than we ever know. I am so sorry.
Your account is very effective and moving -- i felt i could hear those screams still echoing down the hallway, and i could feel them in my body: the shock and abandonment of a sudden, senseless death. You recreated the scene with nothing more than we need to know. Telling it makes you vulnerable, but certainly not clumsy.
Including the daughter of family friends. I will never forget when it happened.
I wondered as I read Joyce’s letter about the National Guard where they were going to get the people to serve. Will they skip basic training and just hire the 1/6 terrorists? How many of the good people will take their discharge ASAP and all we’ll be left with are sadists and terrorists? This is not the military I served in.
Seems to me that Appomattox ended the hot war, segueing into a 160 year cold war … now heating up again (with Ohio apparently joining the Confederacy this time).
I've always said when Texas seceded, they had to take Ohio with them. The combination of the noxious VP and Texas' equally noxious governor for life in one place and out of our hair? Bliss. It won't happen because, as long as the vermin surrounding the adjudicated rapist keep up the charade that the man is all there, the evil show will go on. The complicit media is going to have to come to grips with the fact that the man's mind is not on speaking terms with his body, and his body is a disintegrating hulk of decay. They will have to do something - like actually honestly report the events.
Again, I can’t help but notice that NO ONE is helping this failing creature … not family, not “friends” and certainly not his Project 2025 handlers. Sad.
Perhaps. But Our Donald is not known for sharing. So while Trump is benefiting himself under color of his office, I wonder how much is being filtered to family … except, probably, Melania as part of the transaction.
You could be right. I'm thinking that his boys are doing increasingly well with the meme coins (probably not getting the term correct), Middle East connections, and maybe more. The girls? Maybe not so much, although Ivanka's pardoned felon father-in-law got an ambassador's post.
Sad? Why would anyone help him? Who has he ever helped in his life? He is, by nature, a taker. There is no one in his life but him. Even in his madness, there is only one player. Himself. It is not sad, it's retribution.
So, because he’s a monster we should all become monsters? No thanks, I look ridiculous in a red baseball cap … and sound ridiculous throwing a tantrum.
I don't waste my sympathy and compassion on those who spend their time and energy defiling and destroying those very traits. I'm not a monster for wishing him the inner most ring of hell. Let's not forget the pandemic and his obscene actions.
Good point. Perhaps not my most eloquent response. Yes, a truly horrific man; obscene even. And my “Sad” was a bit of snark since that was a familiar trope in early Trump tweets.
I hope so. I had hoped the Access Hollywood would have stopped Trump … perhaps Epstein and the all-too-credible pedophilia charge will do it. Then again, Trump has successfully obliterated ethics too.
Who’s going to stop the treasonous, demented demagogue in the WH and his operatives and enablers? No one seems to have an answer.
Mass protests, even if mobilized, would more likely than not be ignored or used to excuse military intervention.
Even if popular sentiment overwhelmingly turned against Trump’s coup, MAGA congresspeople apparently don’t care about their constituents now that billionaire donors, gerrymandering (and troop deployments at election sites?) are securing their political futures.
The Supreme Court majority of 5 or 6 complicit, disgraceful “Justices” will almost certainly defer to Trump’s definition of “emergency” no matter how empirically ludicrous and defied by all available evidence it is.
Governor Newsom and Governor Pritzker are showing the way, but will they and others with guts gather the necessary momentum and power required to defeat the coup?
The MAGA base is beyond reach: they are reveling in the racism, hate and cruelty and can’t reason beyond spewing crude insults. Thankfully, they are a minority but one willing to do anything for their Leader and the emboldened self-images they have as his loyalists.
The fight must continue, and every voice and act matters. Still, only those with actual power to stop the coup can succeed. Who are they? Where are they?
Thx Joyce! I loved your comment about how Trump “makes it up as he goes along”! Apparently he’s been like that his entire adult life - goes to his office whenever he feels like it and then sees whatever happens from there! Yeah . . . that’s the person you want in charge of your country . . . NOT🤦♀️
Actually, i suspect he's been doing it since he was a kid.
He's a natural bully/tyrant and a useful idiot for sinister forces at work nationally and internationally. He doesn't write those EOs, he just relishes shoving them in our faces.
‘Useful idiot’ is the perfect description of him! Stephen Miller & Russell Vought sure have his number, and so do Putin & Netanyahu! It makes me SO angry - I spend most days coiled tight with anxiety, just waiting for the next shoe to drop! This country will be pushed all the way back to pre-civil rights & even pre-civil war in some respects unless the majority of this country mobilizes . . . it’s minority rule right now - that is unacceptable in a democracy . . . 🤦♀️
It is minority rule and they are running amok with it, and the harm they are creating to individuals and families, to institutions and to democracy is infuriating. But it's important to know that the pushback is growing. Some judges are standing firmly with the rule of law and refusing to cave(Paula Xinis, Royce Lamberth , for example.) Governors Newsom and Pritizker are publicly in Trumphole's face about his intended election rigging and his planned military takeovers., while modeling effective ways to fight back. And today i read in Talking Points Memo that not just one, but THREE separate grand juries have refused to indict the Black congresswoman whom Pirro charged with felony assault for that dust-up in New York. That cheered me enormously!
Thank you for the ray of hope! 🙏 I saw someone comment the other day that their actions lately appear more ‘desperate’ - they feel like they are losing control, so are overreaching further & further in attempts to desperately gain control back - this person called it ‘the last gasps of a minority who know they won’t win’! That would be great if true! 💪
Oops! In reading Joyce's posting tonight, "No Bill!" I realized that in my hurried morning reading of the story in TPM, i saw the first few lines and mistakenly assumed the 3 grand juries were related to the case of New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver over a melee in Newark, N.J. But it was instead about a woman protester in D.C. ,who was also charged with felony assault for a remarkably similar scenario. I apologize for my error, for confusing the incidents and the felony assault charges (so hard to keep up with them lately!), and for not making sure i had it right. But this does not alter the joy at what really did happen -- the 3 grand juries refusing to indict-- which is fully explained in Joyce's posting.
People don't understand the stakes involved in firing the only Black member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, nor their consequences.
Cook has consistently voted with Jerome Powell to keep interest rates steady, despite a certain screaming toddler's "demand" that he lower them. She has been joined by a majority of Governors. But no White Governors have been fired. No White Governor has been the target of a cartoon witch-hunt where silly, trumped-up charges of inappropriate conduct have suddenly materialized out of nowhere. It's offensive to dignify them by noting that they come "without evidence." It's all made-up shit from start to finish. And they know it. That alone should tell you everything.
Not quite. The reason President Golf Cart wants interest rates lowered has nothing to do with the country, but EVERYTHING do with him. Since January, Greedier-than-Midas has bought at least $100 million worth of bonds. Guess what happens to bond values when interest rates fall? President Emoluments is taking care of himself, the way he always does. He's made 1600 Pennsylvania the address for the biggest extortion racket in the country. 10% from Intel here, 24-karat gifts from Apple there, tariff demands from this country and that one, bribes from Harvard and Columbia just to be left alone, interest rates moving at his command --- it's not 'about the economy, stupid.' It's certainly not about the price of eggs. It's about GRAFT. "I want you to do a little something for me first." We are all Volodymyr Zelenskyy now.
People have nearly lost their minds demanding the opening of the "Epstein Files" -- whatever that even means -- something about a dead child molester that would move the needle. But the real monster is already here -- open, transparent, direct violations of the Constitution taking place every day. Public outrage should be laser-focused on them.
The bond markets aren't going to take kindly to Trump's attack on the Reserve. For a century, an independent Reserve has been the driving force behind America's AAA bond rating. It's why the Chinese own the lion's share of Treasuries -- they're the safest investment in the world. Not any more. It's about attacking America while hiding under a stupid red MAGA hat.
I have been saying this for a long time, but you have said it best. The man is a con, a grifter, and a thief. He is robbing the country (us) blind and will do it until he dies.
The sooner we get rid of him, the better. Then , as Governor Pritzker has said, those carrying out his illegal orders will be prosecuted. All of them.
The gerrymander fight is on. There is a new playbook. The old rules have been struck down by the Supreme Court. We need to change the gears here as fast as possible for deadly preemptive strikes. Newsom has moved out on this already. Who is next? Hochul. Where are you? Pritzker. What are you doing?
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/gerrymander-fight?r=3m1bs
Illinois is already blue. Virtually no place to gerrymander.
In some ways, he seems to be spiraling out of even his own idea of “control”. I think his health and mind are severely damaged.
Well said! I honestly hope that whatever stupid thing he does with the Fed, that the negative consequences hit the voters like a tornado right before the midterms . . . Americans need every push, shove and nudge we can muster to vote Democrat so there is at least some check on this lunatic for the rest of his term . . . I don’t want to even think about what will happen if Republicans keep both the House & Senate! 😳😥
Me too
Just a mention that the US lost its Aaa rating in May. Moody’s moved then, the last of the three major credit agencies to downgrade the federal government. https://www.csis.org/analysis/moodys-downgrade-signals-deeper-risk-us-debt-undermining-global-leadership
I remember reading about this. It should be reiterated in the news that makes it clear the danger to the US.
While the US loses its Aaa rating my pension is losing its funds thanks to crazy Donald J. Trump!
Linda, I would "like" your comment, except the I feel badly for you, having your pension losing funds.
Thanks Susan. Today my book club and I were finishing our discussion of Autocracy, Inc. A friend had shared an article earlier today that says we are now in an Autocracy, and I was questioning that because I have a definition of a hybrid democracy now. That is we appear to still be having elections, and they are reflecting the will of the people. However, there is the huge disinformation piece and discrediting piece. Does that count as unfair elections? I think it should.
Hi Linda. I'm not sure what you mean by discrediting. But I agree that disinformation changes elections. As a Texan, who lives in a wonderful, but low income city which will lose our good representative, I all too aware of how awful the latest gerrymandering map is. As I understand it, the map would unseat Jasmine Crockett, who is my other favorite rep. I'm not sure there is such a thing as a hybrid democracy. Countries like Hungary still have elections, and I believe Turkey does, too, but they are definitely autocracies. I am not entirely sure we have hit total autocracy in the US yet, but we're getting way too close for comfort.
Here is a list of the degree of freedom that countries have with that being a democracy. Then, there are countries that are considered hybrids, not authoritarian and not reaching democracy, or losing democracy. I think it is viewed as a transitional stage either way.
I thought I would share this list so you can see which countries are consider hybrids. This is from 2024. Would like to see it now.
https://freedomhouse.org/country/scores
What I mean by discrediting is that in her book "Autocracy, Inc" in chapter 5 Author Anne Applebaum talks about "Smearing the Democrats" she tells us that methods are things like:
Modern autocrats prefer to smear than kill to avoid the martyrdom of a person
They prepare their smear and legal campaigns ahead of time.
Still they do spot murdering to keep people in line, they don’t have to do mass killings to do that. A few journalists or activists.
Dictators make laws that outlaw anything that is activism, but they don’t say it is directly outlawed.
Corruption accusations against activists often makes even friends wonder and turns people against them.
Public despair comes after the crushing of a movement, especially if violence has been used.
So these methods would be discrediting. Putin and Trump use this all the time. We can see this with Trump claiming that woman at Federal Reserve did something illegal with her mortgage applications, he has used this same claim on 2 other Black officials he is going after. He discredits them by smearing them.
Is this s—t in Project 2025 too? Destroy America’s standing in every way including monetarily, so we have to depend on the crumbs the Oligarchs throw us? How about reducing the military to garbage collectors. I bet that looks good to our adversaries. This horrible person has to go.
I agree with you, except for one thing: Jeffrey Epstein was a monster, a child molester. Anyone with a life experience of being molested as a child of any age will tell you that molestation results in life-long trauma. And our "president" was involved with Epstein, including in having sex with underage girls (one of his victims has testified to this). I am a survivor of child sexual abuse who spent years working through it, and I can tell you it is NOT stupid, or a nothing burger, to want those files released and to have the perpetrators tried and convicted. And to have Ghislaine Maxwell returned the Florida prison from whence she came.
I very much respect your difficult past and what it must have cost you and others having undergone similar experiences. But whatever is in those "files" (if they exist at all), they've been scrubbed, cleansed and bowdlerized beyond recognition. Should they ever see the light of day, I doubt they will end up the silver bullet to slay the Beast. His followers have long known -- and ignored -- who he is for years now.
I take your point, and agree that anything the DOJ has is scrubbed. But I'm betting that the Epstein estate has a lot of that information, which would not have been scrubbed. It seems to me that the House went to them about the birthday book. Hope springs eternal here to see predators get their due.
I hope Trump and all of his sychophant enablers die screaming. The rage in my heart for what they have done to us in just 220 days is burning so hot. I've read testimony by a couple of his victims of the Epstein/Maxwell pediphile ring. It is grotesque and the men and woman who participated in such unspeakable, vile actions against these children, must be exposed and punished. Sadly, I think DJT is a cockroach who will survive anything, no matter how despicable it is. I'm just hoping there is a God who will hold him accountable in the afterlife. So say nothing, of the innocent military Trans people being dishonored, the civil service workers fired, our veterans forgotten, the millions being thrown off Medicaid for billionaire tax cuts, and so much more daily assault on our dignity, national security, justice system ... I am so sorry for your trauma, Susan, and thank you for for your advocacy.
Thank you, Jane. I have to agree with everything you said. DJT may be a cockroach that would survive anything, but in the end his heritage will get him - with the dementia. Just so you know, I spent a lot of years (about 40) working to figure out what was wrong with me and then dealing with it. I came out the other side about 20 years ago and life has been good since. I feel that it is very important to advocate for the victims of sexual abuse because more people need to understand how widespread it is. It gets boys, too, but not as often as girls.
Absolutely. Thank you.
Who’s in control of the Epstein estate?
I don't know specifically, but it should be the executors. That's how it's usually done.
Yes, got that. Was looking for names. Thanks for your reply.
I’m not entirely sure you’re right about this. I do get what you’re saying though. It appears there nothing that stops Magas devotion to him. They’re in a cult.
Someone has them, not withstanding Maxwell herself. They’d. have to be leaked. But the truth does tend to come out eventually. Sadly, maybe not in the near enough future.
I do understand the significance of all racist acts that Trump and Stephen Miller are doing! I have been watching Trump fire Black people from the military to every place that they are working in high office. As another Brown skinned woman I get it. The global economy will be tanking from the instability of our Federal Reserve under Trump's stewardship. I see every country looking at getting more trade with other countries so they can get out of relationships with the US. The pariah economy.
I agree about the Epstein files, but also see its value in keeping the MAGA riled up and perhaps not so loyal at election time.
Linda, for those of us who survived child sexual abuse, getting the information out there so perpetrators can be prosecuted is important. MAGA may not be in it for the right reasons, but I have to agree with them about releasing the files. They are important.
Brilliant screed, sir.
Took my grandsons to the National Air and Space Museum today in DC. Infuriating to see armed National Guards hanging around on the Mall and in the Metro with nothing to do. I did not feel as safe as usual. But I was very happy to hear the 9-year old explain to his 5-year-old brother that Trump is a “bad president and a bully.”
Pulte is a joke. If he wants to go after someone for mortgage fraud he should start at the top and investigate every mortgage Trump ever took out.
Plus, I don’t understand how Trump can claim he gave money for the bridge to be rebuilt when Biden was in office. Am I missing something or will no one push back.
His dementia was in full display Monday but greatly ignored.
So well put!!!
Well said! It’s all about bowing to the criminal sitting in the White House like a disgusting jabba the hut!
Just one clarification; it's a common misconception that the Chinese government owns the lion's share of Treasuries. The Japanese government owns a lot more, and the British government is close to the Chinese percentage. See https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/RS/PDF/RS22331/RS22331.51.pdf
Thanks for the correction...
Bravo!
Good grief Joyce. You’re just amazing. Thank you
He really thinks it’s all about him and he is never wrong. Absolutely wild.
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, and those in a committee that fits your topic. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. We deserve better ❤️🩹🤍💙
Well, he is a megalomaniac so yes. Never wrong, and everything on the planet is about him.
yes, and the creepy thing right now it kind of is...he has caused some kind of trouble in every country in the world, even those ruled by penguins...
😁
I have to say, that the "coerced plea" to go to Costa Rica a free man Joyce describes sounds familiar. Sounds like some of the drug cases in the 1970's-1980's. The defense lawyer has to communicate that offer to the defendant.
I'd expect most would take it.
According to what i read, the "offer" was to go to Costa Rica AFTER serving his time, whatever that would be, in jail for the crime he did not commit.
Regardless, President Golf Cart never keeps his side of the bargain. If Garcia agreed to "confess", he'd have given them their justification for doing whatever they wanted to after that. Don't make a deal with the devil.
Exactly.
That's just the initial offer. It's the first step in a potential plea bargain.
The counter could include stuff like relocation expenses, settlement of any pending civil litigation, seed money and or living expenses, etc.
Before or after serving time in jail? Would the jail sentence also be negotiable? Once he served it, he'd be a felon...
Everything is always negotiable.
Many courts accept variations on the theme....like withholding adjudicarion.
I have often wondered how a defense attorney girds him- or herself to take an offered plea agreement to a difficult defendant.
Malpractice insurers say get a written document and keep it in a private file -- just in case.
I am really concerned that the Supreme(ly Corrupt) Court seems to keep giving Trump more power to do as he pleases. First the horrible decision to basically give him immunity. The partisan members of SCOTUS have allowed Trump to deport “illegal” immigrants to countries that are dangerous and not their home countries. They have allowed him to cancel congressionally approved grant funding. They have allowed him to fire without cause members of non-political boards and committees. They have allowed him to gut and basically eliminate congressionally established departments. They have allowed him to use phony emergency orders to issue executive orders like he has done previously and did again today. And Republican members of Congress will not check this authoritarian president. In fact, they are making it easier for him to take a wrecking ball to our government and the Constitution. We the people, and some lower courts, are all that’s left to stop Trump. So far, I don’t feel enough people are paying attention. I pray that changes, and quickly!
The umpire who picked a side: John Roberts and the death of rule of law in America
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/aug/21/justice-john-roberts-supreme-court?CMP=share_btn_url
It is too bad I am not young enough to read the future law reviews debating whether Taney (Dred Scott) or Roberts is the worst ever.
My bet is that Roberts will win hands down and Taney can breathe a sigh of relief that he no longer inhabits the lowest rung.
Great article! What also struck me is the photo of Trump shaking hands with Roberts the same way he shook hands with Putin.
Some of them like Roberts, Johnson, and Loomer, when they shake hands with him. They look like they worship him.
because they do
Thanks for the reminder that this Chief Justice was always corporate.
The question to be asked of Roberts: "What are you going to do when he starts firing judges? or perhaps you?"
Your last three sentences stay at the forefront of my mind. Thanks for putting it in writing!
I was just reading about the sadness of the collapse of Surat, India's diamond cutting industry and its devastating impacts due to tariffs. At some point, people around the world WILL stop giving everyday Americans a pass for innocence because we are not overthrowing the person doing so much harm to so many people worldwide.
This flag business is laughable coming from someone who stains "Old Glory"daily. The flag should be flown at half-staff and half-mast in mourning.
Or flag can be flown upside down, a long time sign of distress and protest per US Flag Code.
Sam Alito’s favorite position.
MAGats have managed to even take over the flag as a symbol, 🤮
NO THEY HAVE NOT
what they have done is disrespect the flag and what it really stands for.
"Trump’s path toward authoritarianism is accelerating, and Americans need to wake up."...and Massively disobey peacefully. The population of Washington, D.C. was an estimated 678,972 as of July 2023, with the population of the wider Washington metropolitan area exceeding 6 million. What is the Problem? Go on Strike! Take your dog on a walk to Capitol Hill! Disobey! Stand around them!
See you in September in DC.
https://removalcoalition.org/
Here’s what EVERY American needs to understand, including Trump’s MAGA base.
MAGA IS A LIE.
"MAGA" was a Russia funded virus that has been propagated by Trump, by right wing propaganda outlets, and even Congressional members of the Republican party. The swag for "MAGA" may have all been "Made in China", but the code was all written by Russian programmers and delivered to their asset: Donald Trump.
Trump IS the "enemy within". NONE of what he is doing is to help working Americans, especially the poor ignorant MAGA voter.
Trump and the rogue Republicans are weakening our alliances, weakening our economy, weakening our government, and weakening our influence. They are isolating US from all of our long time allies and destroying trust in the United States around the world.
Make no mistake. They aren't doing this to help America or the citizens of the US. They are doing to it to help Putin and to turn America into the Russia of the West. That is the ONLY thing that makes sense.
Farmers, manufacturers, consumers, and citizens need to wake up very quickly to the fact that Trump, Musk and the entire complicit Republican Party ARE the "enemy within".
They are working hard to dismantle our government, destroy our democracy, destroy our economy, and install a fascist dictatorship backed by oligarchs. Just like Russia.
Trump wants to BE the Putin of the West. But to do that he has to trash our Constitution and our system of government. The rich will be in power, and the rest of us will be expected to bend over and take it.
The time for "civil discourse" is OVER.
The time for action is NOW.
I would have doubted your allegations about Republicans being a lost cause, but look at this: 89% of Republicans still approve of Trump's job performance!!! I was quite shocked to see this.
https://barrygander.substack.com/p/would-the-military-obey-the-president
Re: "These are mere allegations (about Ms. Cook), not yet proven."
I also read a legal scholar's opinion today that the Cause for which a President seeks to fire a Fed member must be for criminal conduct or a breach of ethics while serving on the Board. The alleged misleading mortgage application occurred before Ms. Cook's appointment to the FRB.
and all there is, is legal scholarship, because (as Ms Vance says) nobody has ever been fired from the Fed since it was founded over 100 years ago. There is a reason for that: all previous presidents have been more or less sane and subject to more or less sane advisors. Not the present incumbent, however...
In addition to Gov. Cook, Dump is accusing Adam Schiff and Letitia James of mortgage fraud as well. It’s obviously his new schtick for punishing his perceived enemies.
Wes Moore should sue Trump for lying about what he said... Trump must be in serious mental decline...
Long ago, Phony Donnie learned to lie easier than he breathes. It's amazing to me that anybody still gives his chickenshit the time of day.
He's a pathological liar. How does anyone decline from that?
His lies have become more and more incoherent, though never veering towards the truth.
And armed troops in D.C. do not make me feel that my family there is safe. Some of those troops are from Ohio. We know what happens when you arm the Ohio National Guard. People die.
Tin soldiers and Trump is coming
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin’
Four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?
- Neil Young
Kent State. GAHHH! That hit me so hard i dropped out of college, and didn't return for a decade.
I, too, was a college student (Penn State) at the time of the Kent State shootings. One of my dorm mates was engaged to a Kent State student. Exhausted and horrified, he had apparently tried to get away from the campus and simply go home. The police theorized that he fell asleep at the wheel before running off the road. He died in the crash. At some point someone came to my dorm to inform his fiancee of the tragedy. I can still clearly remember her screams echoing down the hallway.
And that moment will be with you, and with her, for life. The resonance and the effect of senseless tragedy extends so much farther and deeper than we ever know. I am so sorry.
Thank you, yours was the point that I was trying (clumsily) to make.
Your account is very effective and moving -- i felt i could hear those screams still echoing down the hallway, and i could feel them in my body: the shock and abandonment of a sudden, senseless death. You recreated the scene with nothing more than we need to know. Telling it makes you vulnerable, but certainly not clumsy.
Including the daughter of family friends. I will never forget when it happened.
I wondered as I read Joyce’s letter about the National Guard where they were going to get the people to serve. Will they skip basic training and just hire the 1/6 terrorists? How many of the good people will take their discharge ASAP and all we’ll be left with are sadists and terrorists? This is not the military I served in.
Seems to me that Appomattox ended the hot war, segueing into a 160 year cold war … now heating up again (with Ohio apparently joining the Confederacy this time).
I've always said when Texas seceded, they had to take Ohio with them. The combination of the noxious VP and Texas' equally noxious governor for life in one place and out of our hair? Bliss. It won't happen because, as long as the vermin surrounding the adjudicated rapist keep up the charade that the man is all there, the evil show will go on. The complicit media is going to have to come to grips with the fact that the man's mind is not on speaking terms with his body, and his body is a disintegrating hulk of decay. They will have to do something - like actually honestly report the events.
Somehow i can't blame his mind for not talking to his body...
Touché.
Again, I can’t help but notice that NO ONE is helping this failing creature … not family, not “friends” and certainly not his Project 2025 handlers. Sad.
Well, his family is just standing by getting richer and richer. Maybe they aren't helping because they think he's doing just fine by himself.
Perhaps. But Our Donald is not known for sharing. So while Trump is benefiting himself under color of his office, I wonder how much is being filtered to family … except, probably, Melania as part of the transaction.
You could be right. I'm thinking that his boys are doing increasingly well with the meme coins (probably not getting the term correct), Middle East connections, and maybe more. The girls? Maybe not so much, although Ivanka's pardoned felon father-in-law got an ambassador's post.
Oh, I don’t disagree—they get the crumbs (along with ex-felon Joseph Kushner). But Trump keeps the proceeds from his current corruptions, to himself.
(A satellite observation: What really keeps the Trumps afloat is not Donald’s “stable genius” but Fred’s Outer Burroughs properties.)
Sad? Why would anyone help him? Who has he ever helped in his life? He is, by nature, a taker. There is no one in his life but him. Even in his madness, there is only one player. Himself. It is not sad, it's retribution.
So, because he’s a monster we should all become monsters? No thanks, I look ridiculous in a red baseball cap … and sound ridiculous throwing a tantrum.
I don't waste my sympathy and compassion on those who spend their time and energy defiling and destroying those very traits. I'm not a monster for wishing him the inner most ring of hell. Let's not forget the pandemic and his obscene actions.
Good point. Perhaps not my most eloquent response. Yes, a truly horrific man; obscene even. And my “Sad” was a bit of snark since that was a familiar trope in early Trump tweets.
sad ? maybe....but they know he will bite them.
Probably just threaten … bullies don’t bite, that’s what dogs (or ICE, or the Nat’l Guard) do.
I think that more than half the voters in Ohio now want to get rid of this obnoxious greedy and dangerous felon.
I hope so. I had hoped the Access Hollywood would have stopped Trump … perhaps Epstein and the all-too-credible pedophilia charge will do it. Then again, Trump has successfully obliterated ethics too.
Who’s going to stop the treasonous, demented demagogue in the WH and his operatives and enablers? No one seems to have an answer.
Mass protests, even if mobilized, would more likely than not be ignored or used to excuse military intervention.
Even if popular sentiment overwhelmingly turned against Trump’s coup, MAGA congresspeople apparently don’t care about their constituents now that billionaire donors, gerrymandering (and troop deployments at election sites?) are securing their political futures.
The Supreme Court majority of 5 or 6 complicit, disgraceful “Justices” will almost certainly defer to Trump’s definition of “emergency” no matter how empirically ludicrous and defied by all available evidence it is.
Governor Newsom and Governor Pritzker are showing the way, but will they and others with guts gather the necessary momentum and power required to defeat the coup?
The MAGA base is beyond reach: they are reveling in the racism, hate and cruelty and can’t reason beyond spewing crude insults. Thankfully, they are a minority but one willing to do anything for their Leader and the emboldened self-images they have as his loyalists.
The fight must continue, and every voice and act matters. Still, only those with actual power to stop the coup can succeed. Who are they? Where are they?
Just need a few Congressional Republicans.
I am going to start making WTAF calls to them today.
You echo my thoughts! Thanks for saying it so well.
Thx Joyce! I loved your comment about how Trump “makes it up as he goes along”! Apparently he’s been like that his entire adult life - goes to his office whenever he feels like it and then sees whatever happens from there! Yeah . . . that’s the person you want in charge of your country . . . NOT🤦♀️
Actually, i suspect he's been doing it since he was a kid.
He's a natural bully/tyrant and a useful idiot for sinister forces at work nationally and internationally. He doesn't write those EOs, he just relishes shoving them in our faces.
yes, his sisters called him "the donald"
‘Useful idiot’ is the perfect description of him! Stephen Miller & Russell Vought sure have his number, and so do Putin & Netanyahu! It makes me SO angry - I spend most days coiled tight with anxiety, just waiting for the next shoe to drop! This country will be pushed all the way back to pre-civil rights & even pre-civil war in some respects unless the majority of this country mobilizes . . . it’s minority rule right now - that is unacceptable in a democracy . . . 🤦♀️
It is minority rule and they are running amok with it, and the harm they are creating to individuals and families, to institutions and to democracy is infuriating. But it's important to know that the pushback is growing. Some judges are standing firmly with the rule of law and refusing to cave(Paula Xinis, Royce Lamberth , for example.) Governors Newsom and Pritizker are publicly in Trumphole's face about his intended election rigging and his planned military takeovers., while modeling effective ways to fight back. And today i read in Talking Points Memo that not just one, but THREE separate grand juries have refused to indict the Black congresswoman whom Pirro charged with felony assault for that dust-up in New York. That cheered me enormously!
Thank you for the ray of hope! 🙏 I saw someone comment the other day that their actions lately appear more ‘desperate’ - they feel like they are losing control, so are overreaching further & further in attempts to desperately gain control back - this person called it ‘the last gasps of a minority who know they won’t win’! That would be great if true! 💪
Oops! In reading Joyce's posting tonight, "No Bill!" I realized that in my hurried morning reading of the story in TPM, i saw the first few lines and mistakenly assumed the 3 grand juries were related to the case of New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver over a melee in Newark, N.J. But it was instead about a woman protester in D.C. ,who was also charged with felony assault for a remarkably similar scenario. I apologize for my error, for confusing the incidents and the felony assault charges (so hard to keep up with them lately!), and for not making sure i had it right. But this does not alter the joy at what really did happen -- the 3 grand juries refusing to indict-- which is fully explained in Joyce's posting.
It’s almost impossible to keep up these days - I also thought those 3 No Bills were about the congresswoman in NJ at first - you are not alone . . .😊
Do whatever you can, we just have to get out there and get active. Engage with your neighbors. NOW. Make use of resources such as this one from Indivisible: https://indivisible.org/resource/redistricting-coup-underway and this one from NoKings: https://www.nokings.org/signs-of-solidarity-toolkit
September in DC.
Time to put all pretence, wishful thinking and hope against hope aside.
America is now in full blown crisis with a groomed and ready dictator primed to take over.
Let Chicago be the 2025 Fort Sumpter!
It's Sumter, but I kinda like your spelling.
Silly me!
I wasn't trying to be clever... I just spelled it wrongly.