On top of all of this, the so called “Real Estate Developer in Chief” is so low IQ not realizing that the building he is tearing down is so old that asbestos would be present and pose a danger to anyone around it. Lawyers, line up…this should be an easy one.
EWWWW! I can NOT fathom anyone being sexually attracted to him. I just do not get it. (I had forgotten about him going on about her. Probably intentionally. Again: EWW.)
Russell, you do have Leavitt pegged! There really is no there there, well, I hear it was her appearance that got her the job and her willingness to say whatever Baby Donnie and his handlers tell her to say. She isn't even good at the latter.
The other day she hectored one of the White House press pool for asking about Trump's plans to impose further restrictions on voting. She claimed that there was widespread voter fraud in California without furnishing any evidence for this claim. "That's just a fact" she said, when it's completely untrue.
Trump's press secretaries have all been attack dogs, either verbally attacking members of the press or making pejorative, obviously unsubstantiated statements about anyone or anything the president doesn't like. They have a different job description than what we would normally expect in a press secretary.
Nevertheless, what kind of contractor would take an unpermitted job to tear down a part of a National Monument? Since the fact that tRump stiffs his contractors is common knowledge, Caveat Emptor...
I seriously doubt that he's is actually paying for anything out of his own pocket. Apparently, he had attracted so much private donations, especially from companies with large government contracts, that he has cash to spare - which is why he's extended his ballroom and thrown in a triumphal arch as well. He also continued gilding all over the place.
Love this. Saturday Night Live is “back!” No more wobblies trying to please the orange menace. Try to watch the “Property” sketch from Nov 1st. It’s about the east wing/ballroom rebuild. It’s hilarious. So glad SNL has plenty to “feed” on in its sketches for the next view months. Way to go Repugs.
He doesn’t concern himself with taking care of anything. Trashing buildings and now government is his specialty. And he doesn’t like to pay people. either.
Here in the Rochester, NY (Monroe County) area, we flipped many of the suburbs from Red to Blue. 3 town ms had supervisors that had not been held by Dems in over 100 years. They will now be held by Democrats, and so will all the other Town offices. Another Republican Town Supervisor held onto his position, but he will now be working with an entirely Democratic Board. So not only was the wipe-out national, where I live it was local, and in a big way!!
It really is. For years, Republicans and MAGA have been silently poisoning the well by securing their nominees on local legislatures and agencies and school boards. It's time to reclaim democracy on behalf of ordinary Americans.
Many Congressional Republicans privately admit Trump is nuts.
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
I hope that it starts with the Supreme Court giving short shrift to his tariffs scheme. It would mean higher borrowing and utter humiliation for Trump but it might lead to more rational policies on trade and the economy. His officials are looking for ways to get around an adverse ruling from the Court.
“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
Yes. With the warning that in electoral politics, voting is not a individual exercise in personal purity test expression. Voting is a strategic joint exercise in taking power -ie the Zohran Mamdani campaign. A year of formidable team building and strategic hard work. Door knocking, phone banking, visibility at polling places - right up to the closing of the polls on Election Day.
IMPOSSIBLE / IT’S POSSIBLE
Lyrics By Oscar Hammerstein II Music By Richard Rodgers
I plan to write as many postcards and letters as I can stand for 2026 and attend any and all protests. In the meantime I continue to hound the two worthless texas senators who have pledged their ultimate loyalty to dump with emails and phone calls when I am really pissed off about some idiotic crap the regime has done. I look forward to seeing all of them get tried for treason, among all the other crimes they have committed and go to prison for the rest of their lives.
I'm originally from Texas. I've said I could never go back because I'd soon get imprisoned for pushing Greg Abbot's wheelchair off a cliff or throwing something harder than a water at Ted Cruz. But fighting the good fight here in NC for 40 years. Elect our great former Citigovernor, Roy Cooper, to the Senate! I look harmless. Just a female Senior Citizen....
There is little excuse for most of us to not do something -even minor - at some level. Write postcards or at least donate some money for postage to those who are able/willing to do the writing. Every little bit helps/counts.
The obvious threat to me is that he will institute martial law and there will be no midterm. This would be unprecedented, illegal and unimaginably dangerous. Those are appropriate descriptions of Jan. 6, pardoning insurrectionists and, most of all, letting loose ICE. That nobody talks about that threat and that nobody has a plan leaves me with little sense of hope.
Numerous people in leadership positions (governors, state Attorneys General, state legislators, US Senators, US House members) understand this is a possibility and are preparing for such an event. I understand your and others' concerns, but, honestly, we have to stop focusing on this possibility and, instead, make sure we do everything we can as individuals to get eligible people registered to vote, remind them to vote, and educate folks in your networks know what is at stake if people don't vote for those candidates who support democracy.
Trump is NOT STRONG (though he and his admin [and some MSM] keep insisting he is). Trump is WEAK, old, tired, haggered, physically frail, has cognitive impairment and is emotionally fragile. He was increasingly unpopular BEFORE Tuesday's elections, and those sweeping DEM victories across the nation by LARGE margins was, indeed, a massive rebuke of he and his administration. People are pisssed off and done with this tyrant wanna-be!
None of us can predict the future, but continuing the narrative that "there won't be elections in 2026" is self-defeating and it actually does MAGA's work for them! When people see that line repeated over and over, they want to give up and not participate in future elections. Thus, continuing to spread this narrative is a form of voter suppression, which is exactly what MAGA wants to happen. We have to STOP helping MAGA by continuing to focus on the terrible "what ifs" about the election, and, instead, BREAK MAGA by confidently continuing to work hard doing everything we can to help those candidates who believe in democracy get elected by margins so large that the outcomes are not in doubt.
I hope you will find activities you can participate in that will help those worthy candidates get elected. Getting involved will not only change our nation's future in positive ways, but it is a great antidote to anxiety, worry, and fear. Please look for ways YOU can help preserve democracy. Another great Substack beside Joyce's which you can join and learn about actions you can take is Hopium Chronicles by Simon Rosenberg. Let's save democracy by eschewing worry about the future and, instead, taking positive actions that preserve it! I hope you have a great day, Richard.
More apologies to real poets but life really has changed. For ChatGPT: “Do a Shakespearean sonnet about the failure to indict or convict the sandwich thrower”
Sonnet on the Unpunished Hurling of the Sandwich
When bread took flight and met its tragic fate,
Cast from the hand of one with jest or spite,
The law stood mute, its judgment far too late,
And justice, starved, refused her righteous bite.
The mustard stains cried out upon the floor,
“Lo! I have witnessed wrongful, wasted rage!”
Yet courts turned blind, as if to see no more
Than crumbs of folly scattered on the stage.
Shall he who flung the feast now walk unscarred,
His crime unweighed, his hunger unconfessed?
No gavel fell, no conscience pressed him hard—
His sandwich-slinging soul remains unblessed.
So mark this truth: though laws may sleep or yawn,
Thank you for showing us the way to hope, Joyce. It's been a long, long year, and Tuesday served as confirmation that we can keep working together to put an end to this depraved regime. And we will.
Just think how much time and our money this regime is spending prosecuting people loyal to the Constitution, and paying themselves. Our schools and health care could be the best! As Patti Smith sings:
The Sandwich thrower acquitted!! There is still some sanity left in this country. I am incredulous that in a Federal court of law, a litigation was being conducted, trying to determine if throwing a sandwich at another person was considered a "felony assault". You just can't make this up. It's akin to throwing a pillow at someone, or a stack of papers, or a stuffed animal, which apparently, Dunn's lawyers included in their comments to the jury. I don't know how the jury couldn't stop laughing. I'm sure the judge was laughing his ass off during recesses, and wondered why in the hell he didn't dismiss it outright. Good question: why didn't he? Pirro, after this debacle, simply needs to disappear, back to her caves at Fox, where she can spill her venomous rants, stir her rancid pots, and pretend she used to know the law. What an idiot to ever bring this case to any courtroom.
On top of all of this, the so called “Real Estate Developer in Chief” is so low IQ not realizing that the building he is tearing down is so old that asbestos would be present and pose a danger to anyone around it. Lawyers, line up…this should be an easy one.
I have read that (as usual) Trump is not paying his contractors. Being president has not changed his business practices.
I would like to see someone in the press room bring that up with Karolyin’ Leavitt to see how she spins it.
I think 'spin' has gone out the window with her - she just deals in barefaced lies and ugly rants now.
You would think KL was his daughter. I think Ivanka may have more integrity than Leavitt.
Rumours abound.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/42uYiU9FaYY
https://www.thelist.com/1949131/donald-trump-karoline-leavitt-affair-rumors-relationship-drama/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-press-secretary-comments-leavitt-lips-b2800889.html
There's probably nothing in this but given the way Trump has spoken in the past about Ivanka one could not rule it out.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-creepiest-most-unsettling-comments-a-roundup-a7353876.html
EWWWW! I can NOT fathom anyone being sexually attracted to him. I just do not get it. (I had forgotten about him going on about her. Probably intentionally. Again: EWW.)
She could be Trump Jr.!!
You would be wrong!
Russell, you do have Leavitt pegged! There really is no there there, well, I hear it was her appearance that got her the job and her willingness to say whatever Baby Donnie and his handlers tell her to say. She isn't even good at the latter.
The other day she hectored one of the White House press pool for asking about Trump's plans to impose further restrictions on voting. She claimed that there was widespread voter fraud in California without furnishing any evidence for this claim. "That's just a fact" she said, when it's completely untrue.
An alternative "fact."
Russell, when has she ever backed up her statements with actual facts?
Russell, yep, she isn't even a good liar, but supposedly an attractive one. As a blind woman, I wouldn't know, but I have heard . . . .
Trump's press secretaries have all been attack dogs, either verbally attacking members of the press or making pejorative, obviously unsubstantiated statements about anyone or anything the president doesn't like. They have a different job description than what we would normally expect in a press secretary.
Mike, I'd like to see who has the guts to bring it up, then give them kudos!
Whoa. Wait. Where did all those donations go??
In his pocket!
Of course!
It’s what I thought from the start and wondered what contractors would take the gigs. Now those who tore it down likely have asbestos poisoning.
Where did you THINK they would go?! In his pocket of course. They’re not for construction costs…they’re for the privilege of kissing his a#*.
Nevertheless, what kind of contractor would take an unpermitted job to tear down a part of a National Monument? Since the fact that tRump stiffs his contractors is common knowledge, Caveat Emptor...
Yes indeed. Karma on those pathetic contractors. What WERE they thinking!?
Stephen, that's a very good question. Unlicensed ones? Who are also not very bright?
I seriously doubt that he's is actually paying for anything out of his own pocket. Apparently, he had attracted so much private donations, especially from companies with large government contracts, that he has cash to spare - which is why he's extended his ballroom and thrown in a triumphal arch as well. He also continued gilding all over the place.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/05/trump-oval-office-sign
Did he add a golden water slide somewhere?
He apparently likes 'golden showers'.
The only arches he deserves are the ones at McDonalds.
and fallen ones on his feet
It's quite clear he's in preparation for the coming of his mentor VP.
I don't think that Trump is completely convinced by J.D. Vance.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CCWmG3U3AtE
Vance is his Vice-President, his mentor is the murderous dictator he bows low to. I will not say name.
Sorry, it was the VP thing that confused me.
Hee Hee! I figured that would be a problem. But while it's "funny," I hate the thought of the contractors going unpaid.
Actually, his LACK of business practices.
Love this. Saturday Night Live is “back!” No more wobblies trying to please the orange menace. Try to watch the “Property” sketch from Nov 1st. It’s about the east wing/ballroom rebuild. It’s hilarious. So glad SNL has plenty to “feed” on in its sketches for the next view months. Way to go Repugs.
He doesn’t concern himself with taking care of anything. Trashing buildings and now government is his specialty. And he doesn’t like to pay people. either.
And he has not paid the contractors!!!!!!!
I now believe my statement is untrue. It was a false rumor - At least someone has paid them.
Do we know this or are we just assuming? Can anyone provide documentation?
Hope is on the horizon. I hope.
One day these thugs should be prosecuted and sent to prison for lengthy sentences.
There's a cute little prison in El Salvador that might be big enough.
Thanks for making me laugh!
It’s called Hope-Amine; the rush we get when the shadows fade away…behind bars.
Little fishing trip off the coast of Venezuela?
From your lips to God’s ears.
Here in the Rochester, NY (Monroe County) area, we flipped many of the suburbs from Red to Blue. 3 town ms had supervisors that had not been held by Dems in over 100 years. They will now be held by Democrats, and so will all the other Town offices. Another Republican Town Supervisor held onto his position, but he will now be working with an entirely Democratic Board. So not only was the wipe-out national, where I live it was local, and in a big way!!
As Robert Reich has pointed out, these down-ticket elections are hugely important to boost Democratic party chances at the coming midterms.
It is why we all need to pay attention and vote - no matter how "insignificant" the particular election may seem.
It really is. For years, Republicans and MAGA have been silently poisoning the well by securing their nominees on local legislatures and agencies and school boards. It's time to reclaim democracy on behalf of ordinary Americans.
https://www.laprogressive.com/the-media-in-the-united-states/fighting-maga
https://trumpinatortimes.com/how-local-maga-chapters-are-influencing-national-politics/
They have shown how a vocal minority can affect national politics.
Many Congressional Republicans privately admit Trump is nuts.
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
Massive Congressional visits November 18.
https://www.instagram.com/flare.usa/p/DP_mdOyjdiG/
Visit CongressionalRepublicans.
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/851451/
I think that if we play our cards right, many can be convinced by the election outcome to come forward.
I hope that it starts with the Supreme Court giving short shrift to his tariffs scheme. It would mean higher borrowing and utter humiliation for Trump but it might lead to more rational policies on trade and the economy. His officials are looking for ways to get around an adverse ruling from the Court.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/supreme-court-trump-tariffs-plan-b2858475.html
Love hearing this!
Good on yas.
“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein
Yes. With the warning that in electoral politics, voting is not a individual exercise in personal purity test expression. Voting is a strategic joint exercise in taking power -ie the Zohran Mamdani campaign. A year of formidable team building and strategic hard work. Door knocking, phone banking, visibility at polling places - right up to the closing of the polls on Election Day.
IMPOSSIBLE / IT’S POSSIBLE
Lyrics By Oscar Hammerstein II Music By Richard Rodgers
from Cinderella
But the world is full of zanies and fools
Who don’t believe in sensible rules
And won’t believe what sensible people say,
And because these daft and dewy- eyed dopes
Keep building up impossible hopes,
Impossible things are happ’ning every day!
Julie Andrews and Edith Adams
.https://youtu.be/2FWQJex02TM?si=oO0l98RR29Yev4pC.
Dale- that is one of my favorites. Thanks for reminding me.
I love this - thank you!
So well-spoken, Joyce, to express the effervescent hopefulness of this moment in our history!!
I plan to write as many postcards and letters as I can stand for 2026 and attend any and all protests. In the meantime I continue to hound the two worthless texas senators who have pledged their ultimate loyalty to dump with emails and phone calls when I am really pissed off about some idiotic crap the regime has done. I look forward to seeing all of them get tried for treason, among all the other crimes they have committed and go to prison for the rest of their lives.
I'm originally from Texas. I've said I could never go back because I'd soon get imprisoned for pushing Greg Abbot's wheelchair off a cliff or throwing something harder than a water at Ted Cruz. But fighting the good fight here in NC for 40 years. Elect our great former Citigovernor, Roy Cooper, to the Senate! I look harmless. Just a female Senior Citizen....
Heh heh, such an innocent disguise...
Thank you for all your doing. Postcard writing is so satisfying when you see the races won.
There is little excuse for most of us to not do something -even minor - at some level. Write postcards or at least donate some money for postage to those who are able/willing to do the writing. Every little bit helps/counts.
Great article once again Joyce. Thank you Joyce for continuing to break things down for all of us and for your words of encouragement.
With apologies to good poets and the Time Warp:
It's astounding
Corruption is staggering
Viciousness takes its toll
But listen closely
No presumption of regularity any longer
We’ve got to keep control
Spot on. But I broke the Hoagie Hurler story before
You did:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lionelatwill/p/these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things?r=24gsex&utm_medium=ios
I just turned 80 folks. If I can fight, you can, too.
Fight the fight!
Good for you youngster. I'll be 91 soon and touch can be I'll be in there writing and with my monthly donations.
Walter, I have not been called youngster in a while. Thank you for that. Fight the Fight, bro.
Here is why I fight: https://lionelatwill.substack.com/p/why?r=24gsex
The obvious threat to me is that he will institute martial law and there will be no midterm. This would be unprecedented, illegal and unimaginably dangerous. Those are appropriate descriptions of Jan. 6, pardoning insurrectionists and, most of all, letting loose ICE. That nobody talks about that threat and that nobody has a plan leaves me with little sense of hope.
Numerous people in leadership positions (governors, state Attorneys General, state legislators, US Senators, US House members) understand this is a possibility and are preparing for such an event. I understand your and others' concerns, but, honestly, we have to stop focusing on this possibility and, instead, make sure we do everything we can as individuals to get eligible people registered to vote, remind them to vote, and educate folks in your networks know what is at stake if people don't vote for those candidates who support democracy.
Trump is NOT STRONG (though he and his admin [and some MSM] keep insisting he is). Trump is WEAK, old, tired, haggered, physically frail, has cognitive impairment and is emotionally fragile. He was increasingly unpopular BEFORE Tuesday's elections, and those sweeping DEM victories across the nation by LARGE margins was, indeed, a massive rebuke of he and his administration. People are pisssed off and done with this tyrant wanna-be!
None of us can predict the future, but continuing the narrative that "there won't be elections in 2026" is self-defeating and it actually does MAGA's work for them! When people see that line repeated over and over, they want to give up and not participate in future elections. Thus, continuing to spread this narrative is a form of voter suppression, which is exactly what MAGA wants to happen. We have to STOP helping MAGA by continuing to focus on the terrible "what ifs" about the election, and, instead, BREAK MAGA by confidently continuing to work hard doing everything we can to help those candidates who believe in democracy get elected by margins so large that the outcomes are not in doubt.
I hope you will find activities you can participate in that will help those worthy candidates get elected. Getting involved will not only change our nation's future in positive ways, but it is a great antidote to anxiety, worry, and fear. Please look for ways YOU can help preserve democracy. Another great Substack beside Joyce's which you can join and learn about actions you can take is Hopium Chronicles by Simon Rosenberg. Let's save democracy by eschewing worry about the future and, instead, taking positive actions that preserve it! I hope you have a great day, Richard.
Many people have talked about it. Robert Hubble has talked about it. Go look at his columns!
More apologies to real poets but life really has changed. For ChatGPT: “Do a Shakespearean sonnet about the failure to indict or convict the sandwich thrower”
Sonnet on the Unpunished Hurling of the Sandwich
When bread took flight and met its tragic fate,
Cast from the hand of one with jest or spite,
The law stood mute, its judgment far too late,
And justice, starved, refused her righteous bite.
The mustard stains cried out upon the floor,
“Lo! I have witnessed wrongful, wasted rage!”
Yet courts turned blind, as if to see no more
Than crumbs of folly scattered on the stage.
Shall he who flung the feast now walk unscarred,
His crime unweighed, his hunger unconfessed?
No gavel fell, no conscience pressed him hard—
His sandwich-slinging soul remains unblessed.
So mark this truth: though laws may sleep or yawn,
The ghost of lunch remembers what was gone.
🤔Hmmmmm, should I post my monarch haiku? It’s on my profile page.
Meadow blazing star
Teeming with bumblebees—
A monarch hovers.
My GOP Representatives are unavailable! I know I called them! This is a disgrace!
Thank you for showing us the way to hope, Joyce. It's been a long, long year, and Tuesday served as confirmation that we can keep working together to put an end to this depraved regime. And we will.
Just think how much time and our money this regime is spending prosecuting people loyal to the Constitution, and paying themselves. Our schools and health care could be the best! As Patti Smith sings:
"People have the power!"
The Sandwich thrower acquitted!! There is still some sanity left in this country. I am incredulous that in a Federal court of law, a litigation was being conducted, trying to determine if throwing a sandwich at another person was considered a "felony assault". You just can't make this up. It's akin to throwing a pillow at someone, or a stack of papers, or a stuffed animal, which apparently, Dunn's lawyers included in their comments to the jury. I don't know how the jury couldn't stop laughing. I'm sure the judge was laughing his ass off during recesses, and wondered why in the hell he didn't dismiss it outright. Good question: why didn't he? Pirro, after this debacle, simply needs to disappear, back to her caves at Fox, where she can spill her venomous rants, stir her rancid pots, and pretend she used to know the law. What an idiot to ever bring this case to any courtroom.
I read that the jurors had sandwiches for lunch.
but, but, it was hard salami.