Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi took her seat in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, her confirmation to be Donald Trump’s new attorney general almost a foregone conclusion.
I cannot listen to the confirmation hearings. Some of the questions and most of the answers are either lies or just going through the motions. It’s all bullsh*t.
We thought it wouldn’t happen; losing the republic. Ben Franklin did address the fragility of a republic. I won’t stay silent. I’ll probably be arrested at some event likely in front of the White House exercising my soon to be non existent 1st Amendment. Then I’ll return and do it again and again. Well maybe not I have to feed 7 cats, lol. 😝 I’ll find a sitter.
I always felt this would happen when the Court opened the door to unlimited campaign financing. That’s the second sin the first being that this nation was always a corporate state from its inception beginning with the planters and their enslaved. It never ended.
The People’s March in Washington and elsewhere around the nation is on Saturday. I’ll be performing at the Manhattan version. Come out. Although I don’t fully agree with my 1st cousins the democrats, the time for fussing has ended.
Hayden, I see EVERYTHING about our current situation as protestable. All I'm saying is I will wait for something to happen so I can protest, eg. Liz Cheney is up on charges etc. . I feel a march at this time is useless. Why ? Because half of the country feels there is nothing to protest. I say wait until we can show them there is very much to protest.
Thank you. Trump Dearrangment Syndrome is not a governing principle.
We agree to make America better and debate our differences. America is tired on my enemy is Hitler. That doesn't solve inflation, homelessness, crime, et cetera.
Whoever you are- your felon Putin puppet has no plan to solve “inflation, homelessness, crime”. Your cult members wanted divisiveness and chaos and that’s all the felon grifter is good at - while giving tax breaks for himself and his wealthy buddies.
I am puzzled by the TDS term. It seems to be used by trump supporters to speak down to Americans who are alarmed by a president who is not intelligent, is self-serving, easily swayed by bad actors who compliment him, and petty and vindictive to those who don't. This realization is not derangement! In fact, to turn a blind eye to trump's complete unfitness to serve as president and go so far as to compare him to a messiah IS derangement!
You are absolutely right. And when you protest in front of the White House, wear sin guards—that man has no problem requiring the National Guard to aim for the legs.
Bill, good for you being willing to protest the harms being done to our nation, and for no reason other than that a bunch of scared white guys can't pull in enough money to satisfy them. I blame Johnny Roberts for Citizens United. He knew better, but chose not to do better. Even Scalia knew such dark money injection to our system would be catastrophic. I guess he is glad now he died before he got to see the beginnings of the damage he helped cause. Unfortunately, We the People get to live it. How christian of those good little Catholic boys, just as one might expect, standing against what Jesus stood for!
I watched the Hegseth hearing, and it was disgraceful. Not one Republican asked him—an astonishingly unqualified man to be at the forefront of our national security—a tough question. He clearly was coached and well-rehearsed (it reminded me of Sarah Palin's prep for her debate with Biden). The chairman wouldn't allow a second round of questions, because the strategy was to get him in and out of there as quickly as possible, with minimal damage. They succeeded. The next day Senator Joni Ernst, a veteran and victim of sexual abuse, announced that she would vote for him (turning her back on millions of active-duty service members, and victims of sexual abuse). Game over. The Republicans say they have the votes.
If Hegseth can make it, then every other terrible nominee will get through. Trump and his cabinet of democracy slayers will quickly set about dismantling and plundering our republic. I'm already mourning.
He was “coached and well-rehearsed” to say nothing! It frightens me to think that we’re creating a new samurai mentality in our Armed Forces, where toxic men like Hegseth, with multiple wives and lovers, as well as tattoos for terrorist organizations (white Christian nationalists), will be able to abuse any women left in the military and make sure they never make noises about that, and never have a chance to rise through the ranks. Bondi was the same way: never, ever directly answering the questions and using some nonsense statement, “I will not respond to a hypothetical”, to cover her lack of knowledge or response. So the MAGAS will pass these people through because they never revealed who they are to the American people??? Is that now the criteria?
Hegseth, Schegseth, it doesn't matter people--integrity is a disqualifier in all of these positions. If Blondi isn't confirmed, a worst candidate will be. Speaker Mike Johnson has just dismissed Mike Turner, a highly esteemed Republican and a staunch NATO supporter, as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee while praising him. Johnson's reason? "We just need fresh horses in some of these places."
TCinDC3h, I didn't get to experience all of it but enough of the Hegseth hearing, and Bondi hearing too, to note that the Toddler-Trump playground of lapdogs and toddlers was in good form. Just as one would expect, neither they senators nor the nominees had a clue and didn't care about anything beyond their moment in the spotlight when they could prove to their toddler-chief that they were lapdog loyal. To everyone else who was listening and who cared, they proved their ignorance, their disloyalty to our nation and our Constitution, and their total subservience to a jerk with dementia who plays the role of toddler MAFIA don. How could that be of value to anyone. Republican Senators and probably House members too, will be loyal to Toddler-Trump while blaming Biden for everything Toddler-Trump does to wreck our nation on behalf of the billionaire toddlers in the playground. Ten years ago, who'd have believed it. It took only a couple of decades for Republicans to capitulate to the powers of evil while pretending they are the good guys. Hey, they lie even to themselves, and probably just as often as they lie to us, and that is all the time.
All the hearings are so very blatantly partisan. A total joke. However, the joke is on the American people. The maga element of the GOP is a disgrace to this country. Might be all that is left of the Republican Party nowadays.
Performative theatre, and bad at that...bring the fecking curtain down, the show is canceled after two weeks because of bad reviews and no ticket sales.
Absolutely not!! I would be more upset if there were no protests. I would feel no one really cares. I wish those who naysay this demonstration of people power would keep it to themselves. It's not helping. Showing up in solidarity is important... not only here but it has been in history and around the world. STFU(something I don't usually say)
It was ONLY the protests by us Baby Boomers in the 60's against the Viet Nam war that brought it to an end. It was ONLY the protests in the 60's that that brought about Civil Rights legislation. It's TIME for young people to STAND UP and protest! I'll do everything I can as an old lady....but I'm waiting to see if any of the younger generations care enough to be on the front lines of change.
Agree. This will be their world. It will be up to the younger generations to fight for the kind of America they want to live in. I'm also a Boomer. I do what I can as well.
Lance, yes it is like bad theatre. If we wanted the theatre to be better, there should be criteria set for each office candidates are nominated for with our Constitution and loyalty to that as seen through one's past activities at the center. The job requirements should be clear as for any other job, well, except for job of billionaire a-hole. That would cut out nearly every one of Toddler-Trump's picks. Bondi would probably get through, then would have to spend her time explaining her vision for DOJ. Right now, she can't because it is Toddler-Trump's vision she would have to espouse, and he is a vengeful ignoramus who knows nothing about DOJ and she'd have to fake it. Yesterday, she made her law school ashamed that they graduated such a fool or that is how they should feel.
I saw bits and pieces. I felt like Senators Padilla and Schiff bullied her not in their questions but in their manners of questioning. On the whole, the Democrats played nice; I was particularly impressed with Senators Booker, Klobuchar, and Welch. The hatchet-job on Attorney General Garland was downright ugly and untrue.
The next AG won't say who won in 2020? What did 60 judges say? Tell her to explain her answer to the American people. Ask.her if the 1000 past and present U. S. prosecutors from both parties who signed the letter stating that Rump obstructed justice in the Mueller investigation got it right. Keep making her defend indefensible positions.
Did anyone ask her who won the 2024 election? That is what they should have led with, because she'd have to say Trump. Then they should have followed up with the 2020 election, and ask her why she answered differently on identical questions.
Good point, TC! Or, include 2016 as well! Kind of an Election Sandwich! 2016, 2020, 2024. (Why would 2020 need a different - BALONEY - answer? Except that 2020 is the MEAT of the deal! Go, Joe!) Plus, when Bondi would say something like, “Well, I haven’t heard that, read that….” I was shouting at my TV - “Well, I HAVE! Where have you been for the past four years???” I mean, that’s what We, the People should be doing: keeping ourselves INFORMED. It seems like Ms Bondi should be doing the same things as little old ME & the rest of We, the People!
Several Senators (e.g., Senators Hirono, Durbin) did and Ms Bondi slid around the question by acknowledgeing the Biden presidency; she stated that there was a peaceful transfer of power in 2020 (sic).
Agreed. I sometimes say that Trump did not win due to the people who voted for him but for those who did not show up for Vice President Harris. Senator Ossoff revealed something new for me. Apparently, a series of bomb threats in a primarily African-American area in Georgia deterred voting. That is frightening.
I think Bondi bullied the Senators from CA right back; though it is hard to really get a sneer across through the layers of Botox. Good luck Pammie Jo.
They have been paying her $115,000/month. For what?
I would have directed her attention to Jan 6 defendants like the Proud Boys, some who got 20 years, and some who are members of the Republican "establishment" in Florida and find out whether she has represented any of them.
Then she should not be confirmed. Smells like a King's court or the recompense for kowtowing to an oligarchy. She is not the most qualified conservative attorney. Rod Rosenstein would be so much better.
Bondi talked over Schiff and then impugned California. She's a snippy little blonde. It only took a $25K donation from trump to make her decide not to prosecute trump for his trump university ruse. She's his girl.
I doubt if it would have gone very far. She and trump denied wrongdoing. Scott didn't bring charges. One circle of big time back scratchers makes corruption disappear into thin air.
It’s “performance tv” bowing to the biggest tv clown in America. Unfortunately, the loyalist clowns-in-training will never utter the necessary key words “you’re fired” once these “leaders” are “hired”. What guardrails can we enforce that all those in the incoming administration are accountable to their sworn oath to the constitution? Staring with the incoming, would-be, authoritarian, whose crowning achievement in getting elected was avoiding accountability?
I agree about the 💩💩. I turned the tv on while Sen Hirono asked questions. It seemed to me Bondi had an earpiece that was giving her answers when she put her finger to her ear?Anyone else see that?
She’s fake blonde .. first requirement … and apparently has the academic & other law credentials required to ‘practice’ the law in US. She’ll come out shredded after four years in the heat of T’s spotlight on billionaire boyfriends.
What I saw, especially at first, was a terrified person, in way over her depth. She had rehearsed the answers, like a starlet auditioning for a specific role. Well prepared for the queries, likely unprepared for, and unaware of the intensity which will blow her away in the real world. Another offering to the orange man behind the mirror.
Mike, I disagree that the hearings are just BS. The American people need to see just what they are getting, a bunch of pathetic Republican senators who don't even have a clue as to what questions they should be asking people who will hold powerful positions that Congress should have some say in who is leading. Then there are the Democrats with the real questions, the ones Republicans should be asking too and that the nominees should be expected to answer. Maybe the nominees can't answer all of them, but the basic one of who won the 2020 election should not have been a terribly hard one for a supposed lawyer. That should be a grounds for disbarment, but alas, Republicans get a pass on just about everything these days. The people should see that for themselves, not just hear what the media are permitted to say about it. "Well, there were hearings today for ____. The candidate spend 4 hours answering questions." That of course is a lie, but the people should have the chance to see that lie in action. Now, how do we encourage folks to want to do that or to hear at least parts of it from both sides?
Very fair point. And while we're using plain English to talk about these people and their performances, I respectfully submit we all should stop using any derivative of the word "loyal" to describe the sycophants sucking up to Trump. Those people aren't "loyal" to anything or anyone in any reasonable or respectable sense of that word. At best, they are selfish suck-ups. At worst, they are dangerous suck-ups. They will suck up to Trump not only with their own lips but ours as well.
I have to mute it when the soulless and gutless Republicans come on. The Democrats are trying to get a straight answer, and they do get revealing ones, but nothing is going to derail the oligarch train. They finally got themselves an obsequious enough transactional weak whore of a man to do their bidding while he ignores his job, playing golf and stealing.
I watched the Hegseth questioning and almost became physically ill. The hearings are all a big waste of time for everyone concerned. Republicans lob softball questions at the candidate and Democrats’ questions are typically rebuffed. I also don’t believe any of the conciliatory remarks the candidates make to appear reasonable. Democrats, I think, are not helping their cause either. Although I approve ofI their aggressive questioning, I fear they will just alienate some voters on the fence.
After the lies of Supreme Court justices on abortion during confirmation hearings, I find it hard to listen to them because all Republicans do these days is lie.
Yes, her "reassurances" that there will be no enemy list and that politics will play no part in her DOJ feel EXACTLY like Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Coney-Barrett replying that they will respect established law.
I remember Roberts’ and Alito’s confirmation hearings. They were a little more subtle, but it was essentially the same pablum. Minus the “if the president orders you to violate the law, whatcha gonna do?” Nobody even thought that could happen.
Every single thing planned by the incoming administration is a sure fire formula to turn the US into a third world nation. That would be a small super wealthy elite, a middle class that is supporting most of the country, and a huge impoverished part of the population who is suffering. So, except for the elites everyone is overextended. With no reality to any of the appointments in terms of picking the best, most qualified, we get a motley assortment of loyal losers. Just as governors running Red States generally contribute less to our economy and have a less healthy, well off population, then magnify that by our whole country.
Having also read Project 2025, I just do not see that the US will be safe or well run in any way shape or form. That will destroy what it is, and it may never be able to recover again. Biden will go down in history as the president of the end of the Empire.
According to Robert Wolff, professor and author, we’re already listening to the death rattle of the end of the Empire. The current chapter of our declining Democracy is seeing billionaires calling the shots. Molly Ivin’s warned us back in the 80s but we thought it was too far fetched to be true.
I was naive, believing my vote was my superpower. Still feeling the shock of being hit by a bus I didn’t see coming. Praying that the guardrails of the rule of law still hold. I still hold on to my optimism that we can weather the next 4 years.
I need, @Cheryl P. to find REAL GOP politicians to believe that they will speak up. Turn the course. With the threat of being “primaried” (silly word which implies none of these folks can get other jobs) where do principles and oaths matter? What are Liz Cheney’s and Adam Kinzinger’s plans?
Excellent point, Joan. Being primaried (and losing) means they will never be hired for anything ever again! They will have to write books and appear on talk shows and podcasts. Or work for law firms or think tanks. How humiliating for them!
I am not counting on it, but we can hope. Each person needs to assess whether they will be better off staying or leaving just as millions of people around the planet have to do.
Think we need to survive just 2 since there are many non MAGA Rs who are already concerned, and more will come to their senses if he either does, or doesn’t, do as he promised.
But I am afraid the coup may be complete in the first 100 days. (It took a legally elected Hitler less than 60 days to legally dismantle the Weimar Republic.)
And all us beautiful people won’t ever have to vote again.
I am about to vote in an election in Germany, where one also has to be concerned. I am hoping that the German people, like he South Koreans, recognize that what the AfD has to offer is not what we want to return to.
On Spy Talk Jeff Stein tells us that "Last week, moreover, Waltz announced a sweeping directive to immediately terminate all NSC staffers detailed from other federal government departments and agencies who serve in apolitical, non-partisan senior staff roles."
They may be concerned that they might lose their seats in Congress and are being pressured to confirm these totally unqualified people, but that might not be a problem if there are no future elections.
The guardrails of the rule of law are holding? Are you kidding? If they were, Trump would be nowhere near the oval office. Praying? That's what Republicans do for the victims of gun violence. Where does that get us?
Nowhere! In other words, those prayers have gotten us right where we are with rampant gun violence and criminals and greedy billionaires at the helm? Maybe prayers work for football players who often point to the sky when they score, seemingly suggesting a higher power supported their performance. So odd, and sad!
We have to find each other & build support to educate & encourage cooperative ventures that nurture the freedoms we have grown up with and conducted our professional lives with for past many generations. We may go underground but we are creative and resilient. Prayer may be an excellent practice right now until the dust settles.
I’m not willing to sit with this proclamation. I’m only 80 and I’m
Not well heeled but I do have a cell phone & iPad & will work with others from Indivisible Marin (IndiMarin) to educate & support spiritually & intellectually all the hundreds of thousands of us who will be interested in defending the democracy we grew up in!
How this will unfold … I’m not sure… but I know I Am Not Alone.
You echo my belief, Linda. I don’t think we can recover. There are some commenters here that think this too will end perhaps after the corrupt supreme members die off but democrats can’t seem to launch successful candidates for office. Beginning with Al Gore who would have set the nation on a brilliant path instead we elected a fool. And I thought it couldn’t get worse until Hillary lost to the worst. No, I don’t see a path out of this. It’s the whole rape and pillaging of the nation and we are to be included in the blame. We were outfoxed. I’m debating on my idea to pursue Italian citizenship. It will take two years and cost upwards of $800 unless Italy increases the fees again. But with citizenship I could access the European Union. Right now I have rehearsals for my upcoming performance at the Manhattan version of The People’s March on Saturday. Hope thousands turn out. It will be my mini Woodstock moment, lol. I’ve decided to go into a recording studio and become a recording artist initially with my political songs. What do I have to lose?
I refuse to give up or give in. I'll continue no matter what. Victory is historically in the last step. I'll be taking that step, not sitting on the sidelines wailing and moaning over a failure that hasn't yet happened.
I had been doing that. Short of a couple, there are no alternatives left. If tRump dies, Vance will be worse.The undemocratic perpetrators of Project 2925 crossed their "Ts" and dotted their "Is".
I remember working for positive dunces in many offices & businesses in many cities here in the USA as a very young woman in the 60’s & early 70’s… it was unbelievably boring and often disappointing to realize the folks were as dull as the businesses… law, medicine, educational institutions, scientific research labs, on and on… finally I took a close look in a mirror & decided the one I could change was looking back at me and I walked into an AA mtg to understand my partying behaviors. Instantly the program gave me a new frame of reference…
Weeping is fine … for a few minutes, hours, days. Then it’s time to get a shower & reconnect with the people you love and their Children. Are you really walking away leaving whole generation of children with no ADULT educational, social, etc etc teachings?!
You’re too nice, Joyce. My description would be: Pam Bondi, the closet “Off with their heads” Queen of Hearts in Injustice-land, will come roaring out of the closet if she’s confirmed, especially in Trump’s defense or at his bidding.
I know so many good, honest, and hardworking assistant US Attorneys who are being put into a horrible situation with the mess that orange tubby is bringing in. Most of them take the change of their boss, the US Attorney for that district, in stride because the change happens with every new president and subsequent Attorney General, but this time to have to swear a loyalty oath (if in fact that happens) to a person and not the constitution, contrary to the constitution itself, which puts their law licenses and their careers in great jeopardy.
Let's see if the office makes the woman. I have serious doubts. The WH did nothing for her boss-to-be. He was the same crook in and out of office --- and even worse in.
It’s not just incapable of learning, he is just plain stupid. He plans to set up a new department to collect his tariff revenue (External Revenue Service). The idiot doesn’t even know that a department already exists to do just that —Customs. All his stupidity needs to be broadcast in every direction and called out.
That's what I've concluded. People simply love him. I think think it was in the Bulwerk that I read about "moats." E.g., Apple's moat is its hardware that no one has created better. MAGA's moat is its bluster, bullying, women-controlling, faux Christianity, and racism that people are drawn to. So as the lies are rolled out, they lap them up. When you try to give people in that realm facts, and I do at times, their retort is usually to say something Biden has done. It reminds me of being five when your defense was "h/she did it first!" We're in the sandbox again although this one is filled with toxicity.
"“It's disturbing that you can't give voice to that fact,” Hirono chastised her."
Sorry, but the least proper response from Hirono would have been, "As a former prosecutor looking to be the Attorney General of the United States you should be ashamed of not giving voice to that fact."
Good for Hirono, up to a point. The Democrats in Congress still believe that scoring polite debate points has political value. Maybe that'd be true if they were barely in the minority and there were Republicans interested in good governance and not in pleasing Trump. But that's not the case, yet the Democrats continue to bring knives to a gun fight.
Trump without restraint will be terrifying. The entire government will be weaponized if the Republican majority gives him what he wants. Truly a fascist coup d’etat.
Caught some of her hearing on You Tube. Like Hegseth’s, all sham. Obfuscation, non answers; not one of these picks would know the truth if it hit them upside the head. Watching these hearings is just sickening! There is not enough bleach to whiten the lies told in the Senate chamber these last two days. By the time they’re finished, the whole place will reek from the rot.
I'll repeat what I've said elsewhere: Pam Bondi will be confirmed as the next Attorney General and will remain in that position until she doesn't do what the felon asks of her.
SUN Tzu (Art of War) said (among other related ideas), "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." ... close but not on the nose.
Napoleon (Art of War and Power) said (among other related ideas), "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
His personal lawyers are up for posts in the White House; that would seem to be part of their "payment." Also, whether or not he has actually paid them, he has the fame, the wealth and the clout to hire them on, which 99% of us surely could not.
Reminds me of some of Nixon’s lawyers after Watergate who later went on to “serve” (mostly self-serve) in government or private positions. e.g. Chuck Colson being the biggest hypocrite of all - figured out the best scam is religion and worked it into the ground.
I’m not giving up, but for those of us with little power to affect any outcome except to vote, and no real voice, all we can do is read and scream! The ones who have the power are obeying in advance: Congress, the media, the business world. We are just victims of their greed, their position, and their authoritarianism. It’s much easier for those who have a voice or a platform to tell the rest of the thinking world we are going to be ok if we just fight back than it is for most of us to do so. I’m not giving up, I promise, but I am frightened.
Balderdash and poppycock - You can write or call your Senators and Representatives from your state and tell them how you feel. Remember Timothy Snyders book “On Tyranny” … Never obey in advance. You are just going to lay down and die? Really? We have the power to affect a preferred outcome. Focus on the solution, not the lies that make you so angry. We have a lot of work ahead but in unity and collaboration for all the people we can do this and Joyce is with us all the way 🥁
I empathize with your feelings. I don’t really think that we have anyone who will listen to our voices. I email, I call, I leave voice mail, and I write letters to the editor of our local paper. It helps me feel better, but I am not sure anyone is listening. Or cares. The convicted felon is aiming for the end of our country as we know it so he can be king. The hearings are a sham! The GOP is a disgrace.
John Fetterman, a senator from PA, has NEVER answered any thing I have ever sent to him. Not once! Our new PA Senator, Dave McCormick, is a Republican. I don’t know yet if he is maga leaning or not, but he was just sworn in at the beginning of the month. He is a millionaire, though. My DC representative (from my district) is Glenn Thompson and he is an election denier and maga; he doesn’t respond to anything either. His newsletter is always filled with blame for Biden or Democrats regardless of the topic. It is very divisive.
Obedience is no guarantee of Trump's approval. He's pretty unreasonable and I'm hoping that gets in the way of a functioning administration. He likes to fire people.
Only if we give up. There is no room for Eeyores in this fight. None at all. On philanthropic boards there are the three "'Gs' - give, get, or get off" for membership on the board in terms of raising funds. We need to modify them but use the same principals.
Give - as much time and energy as you can to keep reminding people of the truth and lobbying for legislation the represents the people, not the oligarchs.
Get - get involved with those locals groups that have the influence and power at the local level keep the "faith" and where you energy and voice will make a difference.
Get off - if you can't/won't help? Get out of the way and don't obstruct- just sit by the side lines, let it happen and understand you may be part of the problem. Not the solution.
Doom is the thing the victim creates prior to the events leading up to it by refusing to defend, refute, contradict and point out every single lie and trespass, over and over again.
You may be doomed, but keep my name <by inference that I'm associated with your conclusions for yourself> out of your mouth on that score. I'm no part of your "doom".
I cannot listen to the confirmation hearings. Some of the questions and most of the answers are either lies or just going through the motions. It’s all bullsh*t.
And everyone - speakers and listeners - know it.
We thought it wouldn’t happen; losing the republic. Ben Franklin did address the fragility of a republic. I won’t stay silent. I’ll probably be arrested at some event likely in front of the White House exercising my soon to be non existent 1st Amendment. Then I’ll return and do it again and again. Well maybe not I have to feed 7 cats, lol. 😝 I’ll find a sitter.
I always felt this would happen when the Court opened the door to unlimited campaign financing. That’s the second sin the first being that this nation was always a corporate state from its inception beginning with the planters and their enslaved. It never ended.
The People’s March in Washington and elsewhere around the nation is on Saturday. I’ll be performing at the Manhattan version. Come out. Although I don’t fully agree with my 1st cousins the democrats, the time for fussing has ended.
I say wait until there is something to protest. OK we don't like the results of the election, everybody knows that.
If you think carefully you might find some things to protest.
Hayden, I see EVERYTHING about our current situation as protestable. All I'm saying is I will wait for something to happen so I can protest, eg. Liz Cheney is up on charges etc. . I feel a march at this time is useless. Why ? Because half of the country feels there is nothing to protest. I say wait until we can show them there is very much to protest.
Thank you. Trump Dearrangment Syndrome is not a governing principle.
We agree to make America better and debate our differences. America is tired on my enemy is Hitler. That doesn't solve inflation, homelessness, crime, et cetera.
James A or Troll
Whoever you are- your felon Putin puppet has no plan to solve “inflation, homelessness, crime”. Your cult members wanted divisiveness and chaos and that’s all the felon grifter is good at - while giving tax breaks for himself and his wealthy buddies.
I am puzzled by the TDS term. It seems to be used by trump supporters to speak down to Americans who are alarmed by a president who is not intelligent, is self-serving, easily swayed by bad actors who compliment him, and petty and vindictive to those who don't. This realization is not derangement! In fact, to turn a blind eye to trump's complete unfitness to serve as president and go so far as to compare him to a messiah IS derangement!
MAGA refuses to debate, because they're too stupid, and it's like talking to a brick wall.
TROLL
trump has no intention of solving any of those things james
You are absolutely right. And when you protest in front of the White House, wear sin guards—that man has no problem requiring the National Guard to aim for the legs.
Shin guards
I’ll also not stay quiet, and I’m happy to recommend an excellent cat sitter. My four furries love her!
Bill, good for you being willing to protest the harms being done to our nation, and for no reason other than that a bunch of scared white guys can't pull in enough money to satisfy them. I blame Johnny Roberts for Citizens United. He knew better, but chose not to do better. Even Scalia knew such dark money injection to our system would be catastrophic. I guess he is glad now he died before he got to see the beginnings of the damage he helped cause. Unfortunately, We the People get to live it. How christian of those good little Catholic boys, just as one might expect, standing against what Jesus stood for!
Funny, you had no problem with Biden censoring speech. Not a word.
Please cite speech President Biden censored.
Proof asshole?
stop trying to get arrested ! it will annoy your cats and subject you to some really bad food.
I watched the Hegseth hearing, and it was disgraceful. Not one Republican asked him—an astonishingly unqualified man to be at the forefront of our national security—a tough question. He clearly was coached and well-rehearsed (it reminded me of Sarah Palin's prep for her debate with Biden). The chairman wouldn't allow a second round of questions, because the strategy was to get him in and out of there as quickly as possible, with minimal damage. They succeeded. The next day Senator Joni Ernst, a veteran and victim of sexual abuse, announced that she would vote for him (turning her back on millions of active-duty service members, and victims of sexual abuse). Game over. The Republicans say they have the votes.
If Hegseth can make it, then every other terrible nominee will get through. Trump and his cabinet of democracy slayers will quickly set about dismantling and plundering our republic. I'm already mourning.
He was “coached and well-rehearsed” to say nothing! It frightens me to think that we’re creating a new samurai mentality in our Armed Forces, where toxic men like Hegseth, with multiple wives and lovers, as well as tattoos for terrorist organizations (white Christian nationalists), will be able to abuse any women left in the military and make sure they never make noises about that, and never have a chance to rise through the ranks. Bondi was the same way: never, ever directly answering the questions and using some nonsense statement, “I will not respond to a hypothetical”, to cover her lack of knowledge or response. So the MAGAS will pass these people through because they never revealed who they are to the American people??? Is that now the criteria?
Hegseth, Schegseth, it doesn't matter people--integrity is a disqualifier in all of these positions. If Blondi isn't confirmed, a worst candidate will be. Speaker Mike Johnson has just dismissed Mike Turner, a highly esteemed Republican and a staunch NATO supporter, as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee while praising him. Johnson's reason? "We just need fresh horses in some of these places."
Buckle your seatbelts folks....
TCinDC3h, I didn't get to experience all of it but enough of the Hegseth hearing, and Bondi hearing too, to note that the Toddler-Trump playground of lapdogs and toddlers was in good form. Just as one would expect, neither they senators nor the nominees had a clue and didn't care about anything beyond their moment in the spotlight when they could prove to their toddler-chief that they were lapdog loyal. To everyone else who was listening and who cared, they proved their ignorance, their disloyalty to our nation and our Constitution, and their total subservience to a jerk with dementia who plays the role of toddler MAFIA don. How could that be of value to anyone. Republican Senators and probably House members too, will be loyal to Toddler-Trump while blaming Biden for everything Toddler-Trump does to wreck our nation on behalf of the billionaire toddlers in the playground. Ten years ago, who'd have believed it. It took only a couple of decades for Republicans to capitulate to the powers of evil while pretending they are the good guys. Hey, they lie even to themselves, and probably just as often as they lie to us, and that is all the time.
All the hearings are so very blatantly partisan. A total joke. However, the joke is on the American people. The maga element of the GOP is a disgrace to this country. Might be all that is left of the Republican Party nowadays.
Performative theatre, and bad at that...bring the fecking curtain down, the show is canceled after two weeks because of bad reviews and no ticket sales.
If that were only true of the election.
Absolutely not!! I would be more upset if there were no protests. I would feel no one really cares. I wish those who naysay this demonstration of people power would keep it to themselves. It's not helping. Showing up in solidarity is important... not only here but it has been in history and around the world. STFU(something I don't usually say)
It was ONLY the protests by us Baby Boomers in the 60's against the Viet Nam war that brought it to an end. It was ONLY the protests in the 60's that that brought about Civil Rights legislation. It's TIME for young people to STAND UP and protest! I'll do everything I can as an old lady....but I'm waiting to see if any of the younger generations care enough to be on the front lines of change.
Agree. This will be their world. It will be up to the younger generations to fight for the kind of America they want to live in. I'm also a Boomer. I do what I can as well.
Lance, yes it is like bad theatre. If we wanted the theatre to be better, there should be criteria set for each office candidates are nominated for with our Constitution and loyalty to that as seen through one's past activities at the center. The job requirements should be clear as for any other job, well, except for job of billionaire a-hole. That would cut out nearly every one of Toddler-Trump's picks. Bondi would probably get through, then would have to spend her time explaining her vision for DOJ. Right now, she can't because it is Toddler-Trump's vision she would have to espouse, and he is a vengeful ignoramus who knows nothing about DOJ and she'd have to fake it. Yesterday, she made her law school ashamed that they graduated such a fool or that is how they should feel.
I saw bits and pieces. I felt like Senators Padilla and Schiff bullied her not in their questions but in their manners of questioning. On the whole, the Democrats played nice; I was particularly impressed with Senators Booker, Klobuchar, and Welch. The hatchet-job on Attorney General Garland was downright ugly and untrue.
The next AG won't say who won in 2020? What did 60 judges say? Tell her to explain her answer to the American people. Ask.her if the 1000 past and present U. S. prosecutors from both parties who signed the letter stating that Rump obstructed justice in the Mueller investigation got it right. Keep making her defend indefensible positions.
Did anyone ask her who won the 2024 election? That is what they should have led with, because she'd have to say Trump. Then they should have followed up with the 2020 election, and ask her why she answered differently on identical questions.
Good point, TC! Or, include 2016 as well! Kind of an Election Sandwich! 2016, 2020, 2024. (Why would 2020 need a different - BALONEY - answer? Except that 2020 is the MEAT of the deal! Go, Joe!) Plus, when Bondi would say something like, “Well, I haven’t heard that, read that….” I was shouting at my TV - “Well, I HAVE! Where have you been for the past four years???” I mean, that’s what We, the People should be doing: keeping ourselves INFORMED. It seems like Ms Bondi should be doing the same things as little old ME & the rest of We, the People!
Several Senators (e.g., Senators Hirono, Durbin) did and Ms Bondi slid around the question by acknowledgeing the Biden presidency; she stated that there was a peaceful transfer of power in 2020 (sic).
if they don't like it, tell the american people to vote next time
Agreed. I sometimes say that Trump did not win due to the people who voted for him but for those who did not show up for Vice President Harris. Senator Ossoff revealed something new for me. Apparently, a series of bomb threats in a primarily African-American area in Georgia deterred voting. That is frightening.
Seems optimistic to be talking about a next time. I can only hope.
OMG good point !!
I think Bondi bullied the Senators from CA right back; though it is hard to really get a sneer across through the layers of Botox. Good luck Pammie Jo.
I think the point was made very well and persistently about her sycophancy/loyalty. The requirements for a female Trumper: to be a "looker".
The issue is conflicts.
As Qatar announced the Hamas deal, their US lawyer, Pam Bondi, was testifying to be attorney general of the United States.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h05i6mJlh9Y
They have been paying her $115,000/month. For what?
I would have directed her attention to Jan 6 defendants like the Proud Boys, some who got 20 years, and some who are members of the Republican "establishment" in Florida and find out whether she has represented any of them.
Trump has appointed a Proud Boy to be Ambassador to Panama. https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-new-pick-us-ambassador-panama-matters-rcna185532
Here's an article about Tarrio. https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article298513488.html?__vfz=medium%3Dconversations_top_pages
Then she should not be confirmed. Smells like a King's court or the recompense for kowtowing to an oligarchy. She is not the most qualified conservative attorney. Rod Rosenstein would be so much better.
trump would never pick Rosenstein. He is not boot-kissy enough.
Bondi talked over Schiff and then impugned California. She's a snippy little blonde. It only took a $25K donation from trump to make her decide not to prosecute trump for his trump university ruse. She's his girl.
Donald likes his women cheap.
And blonde.
About that donation. I wonder why no one said anything about it -- at least from what I heard. That should kill her nomination dead in its tracks.
I doubt if it would have gone very far. She and trump denied wrongdoing. Scott didn't bring charges. One circle of big time back scratchers makes corruption disappear into thin air.
All the way!
How could Schiff and Padilla bully her when she is being bullied by Trump?
It’s “performance tv” bowing to the biggest tv clown in America. Unfortunately, the loyalist clowns-in-training will never utter the necessary key words “you’re fired” once these “leaders” are “hired”. What guardrails can we enforce that all those in the incoming administration are accountable to their sworn oath to the constitution? Staring with the incoming, would-be, authoritarian, whose crowning achievement in getting elected was avoiding accountability?
I agree about the 💩💩. I turned the tv on while Sen Hirono asked questions. It seemed to me Bondi had an earpiece that was giving her answers when she put her finger to her ear?Anyone else see that?
Gigi - I watched Bondi for a short time today. Just couldn’t take her brash tone and disrespect for long like she already had the job. Disgusting 🤮
She’s fake blonde .. first requirement … and apparently has the academic & other law credentials required to ‘practice’ the law in US. She’ll come out shredded after four years in the heat of T’s spotlight on billionaire boyfriends.
Thnx for your comment here and for saving me from going into the days’ videos to see her ‘in action’
What I saw, especially at first, was a terrified person, in way over her depth. She had rehearsed the answers, like a starlet auditioning for a specific role. Well prepared for the queries, likely unprepared for, and unaware of the intensity which will blow her away in the real world. Another offering to the orange man behind the mirror.
Mike, I disagree that the hearings are just BS. The American people need to see just what they are getting, a bunch of pathetic Republican senators who don't even have a clue as to what questions they should be asking people who will hold powerful positions that Congress should have some say in who is leading. Then there are the Democrats with the real questions, the ones Republicans should be asking too and that the nominees should be expected to answer. Maybe the nominees can't answer all of them, but the basic one of who won the 2020 election should not have been a terribly hard one for a supposed lawyer. That should be a grounds for disbarment, but alas, Republicans get a pass on just about everything these days. The people should see that for themselves, not just hear what the media are permitted to say about it. "Well, there were hearings today for ____. The candidate spend 4 hours answering questions." That of course is a lie, but the people should have the chance to see that lie in action. Now, how do we encourage folks to want to do that or to hear at least parts of it from both sides?
Very fair point. And while we're using plain English to talk about these people and their performances, I respectfully submit we all should stop using any derivative of the word "loyal" to describe the sycophants sucking up to Trump. Those people aren't "loyal" to anything or anyone in any reasonable or respectable sense of that word. At best, they are selfish suck-ups. At worst, they are dangerous suck-ups. They will suck up to Trump not only with their own lips but ours as well.
I have to mute it when the soulless and gutless Republicans come on. The Democrats are trying to get a straight answer, and they do get revealing ones, but nothing is going to derail the oligarch train. They finally got themselves an obsequious enough transactional weak whore of a man to do their bidding while he ignores his job, playing golf and stealing.
I watched the Hegseth questioning and almost became physically ill. The hearings are all a big waste of time for everyone concerned. Republicans lob softball questions at the candidate and Democrats’ questions are typically rebuffed. I also don’t believe any of the conciliatory remarks the candidates make to appear reasonable. Democrats, I think, are not helping their cause either. Although I approve ofI their aggressive questioning, I fear they will just alienate some voters on the fence.
If any voters at this point are on the fence, they deserve to get shoved off.
After the lies of Supreme Court justices on abortion during confirmation hearings, I find it hard to listen to them because all Republicans do these days is lie.
Yes, her "reassurances" that there will be no enemy list and that politics will play no part in her DOJ feel EXACTLY like Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Coney-Barrett replying that they will respect established law.
I remember Roberts’ and Alito’s confirmation hearings. They were a little more subtle, but it was essentially the same pablum. Minus the “if the president orders you to violate the law, whatcha gonna do?” Nobody even thought that could happen.
Coney Barrett said Roe was settled law, with her fingers crossed behind her back.
Exactly why I caught snippets and could watch it all.
Every single thing planned by the incoming administration is a sure fire formula to turn the US into a third world nation. That would be a small super wealthy elite, a middle class that is supporting most of the country, and a huge impoverished part of the population who is suffering. So, except for the elites everyone is overextended. With no reality to any of the appointments in terms of picking the best, most qualified, we get a motley assortment of loyal losers. Just as governors running Red States generally contribute less to our economy and have a less healthy, well off population, then magnify that by our whole country.
Having also read Project 2025, I just do not see that the US will be safe or well run in any way shape or form. That will destroy what it is, and it may never be able to recover again. Biden will go down in history as the president of the end of the Empire.
According to Robert Wolff, professor and author, we’re already listening to the death rattle of the end of the Empire. The current chapter of our declining Democracy is seeing billionaires calling the shots. Molly Ivin’s warned us back in the 80s but we thought it was too far fetched to be true.
I was naive, believing my vote was my superpower. Still feeling the shock of being hit by a bus I didn’t see coming. Praying that the guardrails of the rule of law still hold. I still hold on to my optimism that we can weather the next 4 years.
I see that having no chance. Trump is just a dumb puppet. He is NOT calling the shots. It will be a very rude awakening for his supporters
I did see I coming There was nothing we could do. We lost to misogynism and racism !
And we also lost to lies. Where there is no truth, what do you have? We're about to find out.
I need, @Cheryl P. to find REAL GOP politicians to believe that they will speak up. Turn the course. With the threat of being “primaried” (silly word which implies none of these folks can get other jobs) where do principles and oaths matter? What are Liz Cheney’s and Adam Kinzinger’s plans?
Excellent point, Joan. Being primaried (and losing) means they will never be hired for anything ever again! They will have to write books and appear on talk shows and podcasts. Or work for law firms or think tanks. How humiliating for them!
Run away or move to a purple district and become a democrat. That auta put more gray hairs on Dick Cheney.
I am not counting on it, but we can hope. Each person needs to assess whether they will be better off staying or leaving just as millions of people around the planet have to do.
Apparently Octavia Butler was prescient in predicting life as it is now as well in her books.
Great Author!!! Read her entire oeuvre one summer. Old enough now I can probably do it again…and enjoy it as much or more…😉😊
Think we need to survive just 2 since there are many non MAGA Rs who are already concerned, and more will come to their senses if he either does, or doesn’t, do as he promised.
But I am afraid the coup may be complete in the first 100 days. (It took a legally elected Hitler less than 60 days to legally dismantle the Weimar Republic.)
And all us beautiful people won’t ever have to vote again.
I am about to vote in an election in Germany, where one also has to be concerned. I am hoping that the German people, like he South Koreans, recognize that what the AfD has to offer is not what we want to return to.
On Spy Talk Jeff Stein tells us that "Last week, moreover, Waltz announced a sweeping directive to immediately terminate all NSC staffers detailed from other federal government departments and agencies who serve in apolitical, non-partisan senior staff roles."
https://www.spytalk.co/p/waltz-all-gas-no-brakes-on-trump?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
In the meantime, our enemies can take over.
They may be concerned that they might lose their seats in Congress and are being pressured to confirm these totally unqualified people, but that might not be a problem if there are no future elections.
The guardrails of the rule of law are holding? Are you kidding? If they were, Trump would be nowhere near the oval office. Praying? That's what Republicans do for the victims of gun violence. Where does that get us?
Nowhere! In other words, those prayers have gotten us right where we are with rampant gun violence and criminals and greedy billionaires at the helm? Maybe prayers work for football players who often point to the sky when they score, seemingly suggesting a higher power supported their performance. So odd, and sad!
We have to find each other & build support to educate & encourage cooperative ventures that nurture the freedoms we have grown up with and conducted our professional lives with for past many generations. We may go underground but we are creative and resilient. Prayer may be an excellent practice right now until the dust settles.
(Mr Rogers voice): Can you say "Kakistocracy"? I knew you could.
💕
I’m not willing to sit with this proclamation. I’m only 80 and I’m
Not well heeled but I do have a cell phone & iPad & will work with others from Indivisible Marin (IndiMarin) to educate & support spiritually & intellectually all the hundreds of thousands of us who will be interested in defending the democracy we grew up in!
How this will unfold … I’m not sure… but I know I Am Not Alone.
My local Indivisible group is going again after a period of inactivity. No, you are not alone. And there will be much to do.
You echo my belief, Linda. I don’t think we can recover. There are some commenters here that think this too will end perhaps after the corrupt supreme members die off but democrats can’t seem to launch successful candidates for office. Beginning with Al Gore who would have set the nation on a brilliant path instead we elected a fool. And I thought it couldn’t get worse until Hillary lost to the worst. No, I don’t see a path out of this. It’s the whole rape and pillaging of the nation and we are to be included in the blame. We were outfoxed. I’m debating on my idea to pursue Italian citizenship. It will take two years and cost upwards of $800 unless Italy increases the fees again. But with citizenship I could access the European Union. Right now I have rehearsals for my upcoming performance at the Manhattan version of The People’s March on Saturday. Hope thousands turn out. It will be my mini Woodstock moment, lol. I’ve decided to go into a recording studio and become a recording artist initially with my political songs. What do I have to lose?
GO AND SING & RECORD ! Bring us some new anthems we can march to!!
Don’t forget that the “small, super wealthy elite” group will have free access to the US Treasury.
Unfortunately, I have to agree, with a broken heart 💔!
Biden will be the Claudius to Trump's Nero.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
I wasn't impressed.
Election denialism, prepared non answers.
She is going to review all Jan 6 convictions - WHY? .... has she NO faith in the Justice department?
She hasn't listened to the Brad Raffensburger tape.....she is a liar and gave all the answers that should make Americans fear the next 4 years.
I refuse to give up or give in. I'll continue no matter what. Victory is historically in the last step. I'll be taking that step, not sitting on the sidelines wailing and moaning over a failure that hasn't yet happened.
Good!!
I had been doing that. Short of a couple, there are no alternatives left. If tRump dies, Vance will be worse.The undemocratic perpetrators of Project 2925 crossed their "Ts" and dotted their "Is".
I meant short of a coup d'etat
👍
Obviously. Each puppet is vomiting out their script.
I remember working for positive dunces in many offices & businesses in many cities here in the USA as a very young woman in the 60’s & early 70’s… it was unbelievably boring and often disappointing to realize the folks were as dull as the businesses… law, medicine, educational institutions, scientific research labs, on and on… finally I took a close look in a mirror & decided the one I could change was looking back at me and I walked into an AA mtg to understand my partying behaviors. Instantly the program gave me a new frame of reference…
No fear here, just hard headed determination not to fold.
Anyone who can’t say that Joe Biden received the most votes and won a free and fair election in 2020 has no right to serve as AG. Full stop.
I believe they have proven time and again they can say anything. After all they are not constrained by the truth
She is loyal to lies, dedicated to "the unraveling of the rule of law." (Joyce Vance wrote that!)
Weeping is fine … for a few minutes, hours, days. Then it’s time to get a shower & reconnect with the people you love and their Children. Are you really walking away leaving whole generation of children with no ADULT educational, social, etc etc teachings?!
You’re too nice, Joyce. My description would be: Pam Bondi, the closet “Off with their heads” Queen of Hearts in Injustice-land, will come roaring out of the closet if she’s confirmed, especially in Trump’s defense or at his bidding.
I know so many good, honest, and hardworking assistant US Attorneys who are being put into a horrible situation with the mess that orange tubby is bringing in. Most of them take the change of their boss, the US Attorney for that district, in stride because the change happens with every new president and subsequent Attorney General, but this time to have to swear a loyalty oath (if in fact that happens) to a person and not the constitution, contrary to the constitution itself, which puts their law licenses and their careers in great jeopardy.
Disingenuous, dishonest; obfuscate, obsequious.
I love the new word you suggest: obfuscate as a noun: Bondi is an obfuscate.
And not very subtle at it.
Let's see if the office makes the woman. I have serious doubts. The WH did nothing for her boss-to-be. He was the same crook in and out of office --- and even worse in.
Indeed, he is the only president who learned nothing … and chose to learn nothing.
As John Kelly said, "the most willfully-ignorant man I ever met."
And is incapable of learning. Cheetolini needs crayon drawing to understand the daily brief.
It’s not just incapable of learning, he is just plain stupid. He plans to set up a new department to collect his tariff revenue (External Revenue Service). The idiot doesn’t even know that a department already exists to do just that —Customs. All his stupidity needs to be broadcast in every direction and called out.
Absolutely! Remember the artistry of Kamala Harris: She gave one short jab and Trump went bananas! They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats …
https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1ffp36s/this_cat_wins_best_reaction_to_trumps_speech/?rdt=55960
Perfect—the cat strikes back
David - the president-elect disrespects all of us and presumes we are all stupid. If only MAGA could hear him denigrate all of them. It might help.
Nope, this is a cult. I think only one person escaped Jim Jones; MAGA idolizes the guy.
That's what I've concluded. People simply love him. I think think it was in the Bulwerk that I read about "moats." E.g., Apple's moat is its hardware that no one has created better. MAGA's moat is its bluster, bullying, women-controlling, faux Christianity, and racism that people are drawn to. So as the lies are rolled out, they lap them up. When you try to give people in that realm facts, and I do at times, their retort is usually to say something Biden has done. It reminds me of being five when your defense was "h/she did it first!" We're in the sandbox again although this one is filled with toxicity.
…all his life except to swindle and use racism and misogyny to get ahead.
Get ahead? He was a total business failure - who lets a casino go bankrupt? - until that television show … where he played a successful businessman.
Sadly, millions of fellow Americans did not learn anything either from the first term of the then 'president'.
It didn’t in Tallahassee
"“It's disturbing that you can't give voice to that fact,” Hirono chastised her."
Sorry, but the least proper response from Hirono would have been, "As a former prosecutor looking to be the Attorney General of the United States you should be ashamed of not giving voice to that fact."
Good for Hirono, up to a point. The Democrats in Congress still believe that scoring polite debate points has political value. Maybe that'd be true if they were barely in the minority and there were Republicans interested in good governance and not in pleasing Trump. But that's not the case, yet the Democrats continue to bring knives to a gun fight.
I found Hirono pretty darned great
More like pillows to a Cannon fight.
Oops sorry, unintentional pun LOL
Trump without restraint will be terrifying. The entire government will be weaponized if the Republican majority gives him what he wants. Truly a fascist coup d’etat.
The entirety of our government is not vaporized.
Section F undoes much of the traditional inertia of the deep state.
(I used to be part of the deep state, but seems the water is pretty shallow these days!)
Caught some of her hearing on You Tube. Like Hegseth’s, all sham. Obfuscation, non answers; not one of these picks would know the truth if it hit them upside the head. Watching these hearings is just sickening! There is not enough bleach to whiten the lies told in the Senate chamber these last two days. By the time they’re finished, the whole place will reek from the rot.
They do know the truth but will not tell it.
I'll repeat what I've said elsewhere: Pam Bondi will be confirmed as the next Attorney General and will remain in that position until she doesn't do what the felon asks of her.
Agree. Don’t worry though. They will, sink themselves, can’t help it.
Deirdre- I totally agree. They will all turn on each other. We must be at the ready to call them out.
Think Lao Tse (Tzu?) in Art of War said something to the effect that when one’s enemy fights with himself, don’t get in the way.
Perhaps someone out there has the quote…?
I think that's a Napoleon quote.
Ah, Thanks, Jon
SUN Tzu (Art of War) said (among other related ideas), "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." ... close but not on the nose.
Napoleon (Art of War and Power) said (among other related ideas), "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
Indeed it was Napoleon I was remembering! ;)
Bondi prevaricates before a bunch of prevaricators … slam dunk indeed
She may have learnt from tRump. He is a master at it. We have to give him that.
Oh, I don’t think anyone looks to Trump to learn from but to profit by.
“his [Trump] ability to pay for high priced lawyers”…did he though? Did he pay them? Color me shocked if they get paid in full.
In regard to Bondi: the entirety of her answers were disingenuous.
His ability to pay for high priced hookers though is unchallenged.
But the question remains, did he pay THEM?
His personal lawyers are up for posts in the White House; that would seem to be part of their "payment." Also, whether or not he has actually paid them, he has the fame, the wealth and the clout to hire them on, which 99% of us surely could not.
Reminds me of some of Nixon’s lawyers after Watergate who later went on to “serve” (mostly self-serve) in government or private positions. e.g. Chuck Colson being the biggest hypocrite of all - figured out the best scam is religion and worked it into the ground.
After reading about the hearings of Hegseth and Bondi, how are we to keep fighting? It seems the writing is in the wall. We are doomed.
It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees.
I’m not giving up, but for those of us with little power to affect any outcome except to vote, and no real voice, all we can do is read and scream! The ones who have the power are obeying in advance: Congress, the media, the business world. We are just victims of their greed, their position, and their authoritarianism. It’s much easier for those who have a voice or a platform to tell the rest of the thinking world we are going to be ok if we just fight back than it is for most of us to do so. I’m not giving up, I promise, but I am frightened.
Balderdash and poppycock - You can write or call your Senators and Representatives from your state and tell them how you feel. Remember Timothy Snyders book “On Tyranny” … Never obey in advance. You are just going to lay down and die? Really? We have the power to affect a preferred outcome. Focus on the solution, not the lies that make you so angry. We have a lot of work ahead but in unity and collaboration for all the people we can do this and Joyce is with us all the way 🥁
I empathize with your feelings. I don’t really think that we have anyone who will listen to our voices. I email, I call, I leave voice mail, and I write letters to the editor of our local paper. It helps me feel better, but I am not sure anyone is listening. Or cares. The convicted felon is aiming for the end of our country as we know it so he can be king. The hearings are a sham! The GOP is a disgrace.
John Fetterman, a senator from PA, has NEVER answered any thing I have ever sent to him. Not once! Our new PA Senator, Dave McCormick, is a Republican. I don’t know yet if he is maga leaning or not, but he was just sworn in at the beginning of the month. He is a millionaire, though. My DC representative (from my district) is Glenn Thompson and he is an election denier and maga; he doesn’t respond to anything either. His newsletter is always filled with blame for Biden or Democrats regardless of the topic. It is very divisive.
So, again, who is listening to???
I’m with you.
It sure feels that way, but if we give up, we are absolutely doomed. Let's not make it easy for them to destroy democracy.
B, we already did that with the vote
"We" in this comments thread not the same as We Americans. But I know what you mean.
correct ! we the people vs. We The People
Obedience is no guarantee of Trump's approval. He's pretty unreasonable and I'm hoping that gets in the way of a functioning administration. He likes to fire people.
Nancy - that’s true. And he doesn’t know what he’s doing and he’s in very bad health. His pics are all grifters. It can come to no good end.
No, sadly, the end it can come to is JD Vance. And that is ABSOLUTELY not a good end.
Only if we give up. There is no room for Eeyores in this fight. None at all. On philanthropic boards there are the three "'Gs' - give, get, or get off" for membership on the board in terms of raising funds. We need to modify them but use the same principals.
Give - as much time and energy as you can to keep reminding people of the truth and lobbying for legislation the represents the people, not the oligarchs.
Get - get involved with those locals groups that have the influence and power at the local level keep the "faith" and where you energy and voice will make a difference.
Get off - if you can't/won't help? Get out of the way and don't obstruct- just sit by the side lines, let it happen and understand you may be part of the problem. Not the solution.
I am fairly certain that no one here needs a “effn” lecture!
Expressing one’s feelings doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t doing the work…
Doom is the thing the victim creates prior to the events leading up to it by refusing to defend, refute, contradict and point out every single lie and trespass, over and over again.
You may be doomed, but keep my name <by inference that I'm associated with your conclusions for yourself> out of your mouth on that score. I'm no part of your "doom".
I’m with you.
Hang in there. Never say die! You know. We are on the right side of history. It the good fight. Never give up never say die. Fight.
we are duly elected doomed
just like the germans in 1933