Donald Trump and his band of war-mongering cosplay Crusaders are now sending thousands of troops to the Middle East, escalating chances of a potential ground war. Everything will get worse.
Today I ate at my local pub in Abita Springs in Louisiana and I was talking to a young man sitting next to me who is an independent and is running for some local race in November. I asked him if he knew what the save act was and he didn’t have a clue and I explained it to him and told him he damn well better look it up because I would never vote for him if he didn’t understand what was really going on in this country I told him to look up Heather Cox Richardson, so you have these people who don’t have a fucking clue about what the government is doing shame shame shame
The MEDIA have totally dropped the ball on these kinds of important announcements. And not everyone is on substack where much of these things are openly discussed. Yet even on substack some people think it's only about needing to show photo ID at the polls because that's the way the WH is describing it. Polls show the majority of people are totally fine with being made to show a photo ID to vote. Yet The SAVE Act is much more burdensome than that.
He didn’t have a clue? These political offices are so attractive to certain groups and I’m glad you raised this issue because perhaps those in Washington are also clueless and tribal so we can’t expect them to fully represent us the way that they should
Because getting in government isn't necessarily about service and supporting the constitution of the Declaration and the Bill of Rights and all of that it's about doing what Marjorie Taylor green did getting a great salary getting some power and then getting your time in enough to verify that you have a lifetime of health insurance.
Patricia, your anecdote about one individual is at the root of what I consider our most serious problem -- a poorly informed, inadequately knowledgeable electorate. You point out someone with the arrogance to run for office, but who is extremely poorly informed about one of the most important issues currently facing us. An issue that will, if successful, allow Trump to rig the mid-terms. That same condition applies to many tens of millions of Americans making them a potential threat to democracy in their own right.
I'm making this up, but on a scale of 1-10 regarding how seriously I would guess Americans take voting, I would put the number at about 3 for those who actually vote and even lower if we included the millions of people who don't bother to vote. Running for office at any level should be considered serious business, unless someone is running for Town Clown or Court Jester. My number three is totally unscientific and supported by nothing more than a feeling and all the discussions I've had with countless voters over the past five to six decades. But what I think is undeniably true is that whatever number would be truly reflective of how seriously voters take voting, assuming we could quantify voter seriousness, it is very low and this country, in many ways, has made that virtually unavoidable.
Our societal organization does not prioritize voting. If it did, we would proclaim election day a holiday and probably not put it on a weekend, so that workers wouldn't lose a weekend day to voting. Not that it isn't important enough to do that, but Americans already work more hours and have less time off than Europeans, for example. Everything should be done to make election day as painless and appealing as possible to as many people as possible. We could even have voting week and every voter could formally select their best election day. No work that day. Details to combine that with mail-in voting could be arranged. We could even simply make mail-in voting the law across all the states. I live in Washington State, an early adopter of mail-in voting. Initially, I missed the physical act of going to the polls and physically casting a ballot, but the advantages are simply too great to ignore. I get my ballot 18 days before election day. Even if I have ignored the issues and candidates entirely up until then, I have 18 days to do the necessary research I need to do to be somewhat informed when I fill in the boxes. I don't recommend that as the ideal, or even a good approach, but it is better than winging it.
In 2024, one poll ranked "climate change" as the 19th most important issue of the presidential campaign. Nineteenth means it is not a priority at all among voters and if it's not a priority among voters, it won't be for politicians. (Unless "make the president king and as wealthy as possible" is nineteenth and Trump is the president. Then, we know it will be the highest priority of DJT and he will devote most of his time to accomplishing that even thought voters didn't think it was a great goal.) Of course, if someone was going to vote for Trump, climate change wasn't an issue at all, since he would do everything he could to make things worse during his term of office.
I bring that up, because climate change is an existential threat -- to some countries (islands), many human beings (who will be forced to migrate and may be, along with others, killed in the ensuing wars and violence, and without question to many -- countless -- other species, whose welfare we routinely ignore, even though they are necessary to a balanced, healthy environment.
It is fair to argue that if someone is having difficulty feeding themselves and their families, that will be a top priority in any election (which would argue emphatically against voting for Trump), but climate change, if inadequately addressed, will be a potentially catastrophic problem facing those same voters' children. Today, I am haunted by the idea that for millions of Americans the price of eggs and gas is more important than the futures' of their children. Sure, we don't have to worry about climate change now, because it's tomorrow or next week or next year or never, because maybe it will magically just go away. Do religious voters replace the biblical call for humans to be good stewards of the Earth with confidence that their god would not let something so bad happen to them? Ninety-nine point who knows how many additional more nines represent the percentage of all species that have ever lived that have gone extinct during the existence of the Earth. That looks like very poor evidence that the rules have changed and the same god who caused the "flood" and killed off every human being except Noah and his fellow passengers on the "Ark" is going to come to our rescue. Maybe "god" thinks that he gave us big brains and we should be able to take care of ourselves. A curious mind also might look at the difference between that event, "The Flood," assuming it actually occurred, which supposedly killed off almost the entirety of the human species, but saved the lives of every other animal species and the threat climate change poses where humans may be able to endure, but countless other innocent species will disappear. Did god suddenly stop caring about other species? Has our record been so exemplary since "The Flood" and, say, Sodom and Gomorrah that god has now become reluctant to kill people? (I am not capitalizing "god" in order to not give the Christian god some kind of superiority to the god or gods of other religions. I'm not being disrespectful, just not showing favoritism. Full disclosure: I don't think any of the gods of any human religions are real in the sense they are represented by their believers. Maybe someone is right and I'm wrong.)
Can someone please tell us: Are there any options by Congress, the judiciary or the 25th amendment that can possibly abort the actions of this president and his administration? The American military war dead have started coming home. We need to do something to stop the needless deaths that are sure to come.
Congress on both sides of the aisle need to invoke the War Powers Act. And on top of that the spineless MAGA folks need to understand what is at stake here.
The bulk of the Repubs still fear djtRump. That's probably just the fear reflex of the reptilian brain coming through. However, for those on the right who have followed the Orange Turd for some time, realize that a shift is happening. Many MAGAS have jumped ship in the last couple of months and are encouraging their followers to vote for Democrats. Time will tell...
They do fear him, but a large percentage simultaneously agree with him. You need only watch any of the hearings to see who genuinely wants to serve Trump as opposed to serve the People to see that's true.
Trump made certain that what you hope for could never happen; and the Repugnicans in Congress are almost entirely on his side. Passing the “Save” Act would only “Save” Trumpty’s ass (and his asinine dictatorship), and would not pass legal review: an act of total desperation, kind of like starting a hopeless war of choice that he cannot win in order to distract all of us from Katie Farmer and other survivors of Humpty’s penchant for raping young children.
What could possibly go wrong with a few thousand US Marines invading Iran, who,incidentally, has hundreds of thousands of battle proven troops ready to take on any foreign invasion? It's just part of war according to Kegsbreath and the Orange TACO. Buckle up 'Merica!!!
And still... no one has figured out that Trump is working directly for Putin. Working for Putin in order to get back at the US for attempting to jail him. His future is with Putin....Please...
He still wants more. He needs to be equal to Putin in reference to assets and dollars and only then can he dine comfortably at the table with the others he is jealous of.
He of course won't get there as the country is beyond broke although the papers have yet to be filed...running on empty and the countries credit rating although low is fictional in order to support the markets...which some experts say may implode soon. Only so much paper can be printed and facts ignored.
Already we have supply shortages around the country from drugs to food to supplies for industry and consumer goods. They are being written off for all sorts of various reasons but soon I fear they will become more and more obvious and widespread.
You are correct. So when will they have enough and then... where will they go to enjoy all that wealth? The infrastructure in the country will be untenable, poor, sick and dying people will be littering the streets, militias will be competing for control...etc. They won't be safe anywhere except within their compounds? Many Trump appointees are presently sleeping and living on military bases for their safety.
The Lebanese in Michigan is not the terrorist. Terrorist has become or always was political epithet of a projection of the person that is using it. The correct terms would be war criminal and violator of human rights. The US and Zionist are the worse violators and also the ones with the loudest voices.
Does everyone understand that WE gave Iran the Shah who was as brutal as those who followed him. The animosity of Iran grew out of US intervention and so the answer to that is more intervention? Regime change comes from within ... at least I hope that's how we will do it.
Right! This guy was a distraught family member who much of his family was killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon. Not a terrorist; but you can be sure that this is the only way that he will be portrayed on Right Wing Media (RWM) and of course in Israel.
Today I ate at my local pub in Abita Springs in Louisiana and I was talking to a young man sitting next to me who is an independent and is running for some local race in November. I asked him if he knew what the save act was and he didn’t have a clue and I explained it to him and told him he damn well better look it up because I would never vote for him if he didn’t understand what was really going on in this country I told him to look up Heather Cox Richardson, so you have these people who don’t have a fucking clue about what the government is doing shame shame shame
This is because Civics is no longer required to graduate from high school or college anymore. We need to make Civics mandatory again
This! I would only take half a semester. Seems deliberate to keep us in darkness.
Definitely
Kakistocracy from local to federal. Where is the ICE concentration camp in Louisiana?
I live 50 miles north of NO and not sure yet
The MEDIA have totally dropped the ball on these kinds of important announcements. And not everyone is on substack where much of these things are openly discussed. Yet even on substack some people think it's only about needing to show photo ID at the polls because that's the way the WH is describing it. Polls show the majority of people are totally fine with being made to show a photo ID to vote. Yet The SAVE Act is much more burdensome than that.
He's running for elected office and has no idea what the SAVE Act is??
Correct
He didn’t have a clue? These political offices are so attractive to certain groups and I’m glad you raised this issue because perhaps those in Washington are also clueless and tribal so we can’t expect them to fully represent us the way that they should
Because getting in government isn't necessarily about service and supporting the constitution of the Declaration and the Bill of Rights and all of that it's about doing what Marjorie Taylor green did getting a great salary getting some power and then getting your time in enough to verify that you have a lifetime of health insurance.
Those are the wrong reasons
I totally agree
Patricia, your anecdote about one individual is at the root of what I consider our most serious problem -- a poorly informed, inadequately knowledgeable electorate. You point out someone with the arrogance to run for office, but who is extremely poorly informed about one of the most important issues currently facing us. An issue that will, if successful, allow Trump to rig the mid-terms. That same condition applies to many tens of millions of Americans making them a potential threat to democracy in their own right.
I'm making this up, but on a scale of 1-10 regarding how seriously I would guess Americans take voting, I would put the number at about 3 for those who actually vote and even lower if we included the millions of people who don't bother to vote. Running for office at any level should be considered serious business, unless someone is running for Town Clown or Court Jester. My number three is totally unscientific and supported by nothing more than a feeling and all the discussions I've had with countless voters over the past five to six decades. But what I think is undeniably true is that whatever number would be truly reflective of how seriously voters take voting, assuming we could quantify voter seriousness, it is very low and this country, in many ways, has made that virtually unavoidable.
Our societal organization does not prioritize voting. If it did, we would proclaim election day a holiday and probably not put it on a weekend, so that workers wouldn't lose a weekend day to voting. Not that it isn't important enough to do that, but Americans already work more hours and have less time off than Europeans, for example. Everything should be done to make election day as painless and appealing as possible to as many people as possible. We could even have voting week and every voter could formally select their best election day. No work that day. Details to combine that with mail-in voting could be arranged. We could even simply make mail-in voting the law across all the states. I live in Washington State, an early adopter of mail-in voting. Initially, I missed the physical act of going to the polls and physically casting a ballot, but the advantages are simply too great to ignore. I get my ballot 18 days before election day. Even if I have ignored the issues and candidates entirely up until then, I have 18 days to do the necessary research I need to do to be somewhat informed when I fill in the boxes. I don't recommend that as the ideal, or even a good approach, but it is better than winging it.
In 2024, one poll ranked "climate change" as the 19th most important issue of the presidential campaign. Nineteenth means it is not a priority at all among voters and if it's not a priority among voters, it won't be for politicians. (Unless "make the president king and as wealthy as possible" is nineteenth and Trump is the president. Then, we know it will be the highest priority of DJT and he will devote most of his time to accomplishing that even thought voters didn't think it was a great goal.) Of course, if someone was going to vote for Trump, climate change wasn't an issue at all, since he would do everything he could to make things worse during his term of office.
I bring that up, because climate change is an existential threat -- to some countries (islands), many human beings (who will be forced to migrate and may be, along with others, killed in the ensuing wars and violence, and without question to many -- countless -- other species, whose welfare we routinely ignore, even though they are necessary to a balanced, healthy environment.
It is fair to argue that if someone is having difficulty feeding themselves and their families, that will be a top priority in any election (which would argue emphatically against voting for Trump), but climate change, if inadequately addressed, will be a potentially catastrophic problem facing those same voters' children. Today, I am haunted by the idea that for millions of Americans the price of eggs and gas is more important than the futures' of their children. Sure, we don't have to worry about climate change now, because it's tomorrow or next week or next year or never, because maybe it will magically just go away. Do religious voters replace the biblical call for humans to be good stewards of the Earth with confidence that their god would not let something so bad happen to them? Ninety-nine point who knows how many additional more nines represent the percentage of all species that have ever lived that have gone extinct during the existence of the Earth. That looks like very poor evidence that the rules have changed and the same god who caused the "flood" and killed off every human being except Noah and his fellow passengers on the "Ark" is going to come to our rescue. Maybe "god" thinks that he gave us big brains and we should be able to take care of ourselves. A curious mind also might look at the difference between that event, "The Flood," assuming it actually occurred, which supposedly killed off almost the entirety of the human species, but saved the lives of every other animal species and the threat climate change poses where humans may be able to endure, but countless other innocent species will disappear. Did god suddenly stop caring about other species? Has our record been so exemplary since "The Flood" and, say, Sodom and Gomorrah that god has now become reluctant to kill people? (I am not capitalizing "god" in order to not give the Christian god some kind of superiority to the god or gods of other religions. I'm not being disrespectful, just not showing favoritism. Full disclosure: I don't think any of the gods of any human religions are real in the sense they are represented by their believers. Maybe someone is right and I'm wrong.)
God help these poor
Young military.
Our heroes have to listen to a draft dodger ?!
A draft dodger who serves word salad as a main dish!
And who started an illegal war?
Trump must still embarrassed about being a draft dodger and is “showing”how tough he is 🏅
Then israel's troops in boots should be there to welcome them and provide cover. This is is murder. Happy now magats? We aren't great, we're Bait!!!
Can someone please tell us: Are there any options by Congress, the judiciary or the 25th amendment that can possibly abort the actions of this president and his administration? The American military war dead have started coming home. We need to do something to stop the needless deaths that are sure to come.
I wish the military would all just refuse to go. Are we witnessing a death mission?
Congress on both sides of the aisle need to invoke the War Powers Act. And on top of that the spineless MAGA folks need to understand what is at stake here.
The Republicans refused to stop Trump.
Republican-led House declines to constrain Trump's war in Iran, just as Senate did https://share.google/vVOASNvQMwZ64BdBG
The bulk of the Repubs still fear djtRump. That's probably just the fear reflex of the reptilian brain coming through. However, for those on the right who have followed the Orange Turd for some time, realize that a shift is happening. Many MAGAS have jumped ship in the last couple of months and are encouraging their followers to vote for Democrats. Time will tell...
They do fear him, but a large percentage simultaneously agree with him. You need only watch any of the hearings to see who genuinely wants to serve Trump as opposed to serve the People to see that's true.
Republican-led House declines to constrain Trump's war in Iran, just as Senate did https://share.google/vVOASNvQMwZ64BdBG
Trump made certain that what you hope for could never happen; and the Repugnicans in Congress are almost entirely on his side. Passing the “Save” Act would only “Save” Trumpty’s ass (and his asinine dictatorship), and would not pass legal review: an act of total desperation, kind of like starting a hopeless war of choice that he cannot win in order to distract all of us from Katie Farmer and other survivors of Humpty’s penchant for raping young children.
One of the main problems with the Trump admin is that his underlings are just as stubborn and stupid as he is; there is no one there to rein him in.
What could possibly go wrong with a few thousand US Marines invading Iran, who,incidentally, has hundreds of thousands of battle proven troops ready to take on any foreign invasion? It's just part of war according to Kegsbreath and the Orange TACO. Buckle up 'Merica!!!
Broken the law and lies to us yet he is able to continue his presidency
And still... no one has figured out that Trump is working directly for Putin. Working for Putin in order to get back at the US for attempting to jail him. His future is with Putin....Please...
Well, Trump has that fancy gift plane and millions in offshore accounts, so...
He still wants more. He needs to be equal to Putin in reference to assets and dollars and only then can he dine comfortably at the table with the others he is jealous of.
He of course won't get there as the country is beyond broke although the papers have yet to be filed...running on empty and the countries credit rating although low is fictional in order to support the markets...which some experts say may implode soon. Only so much paper can be printed and facts ignored.
Already we have supply shortages around the country from drugs to food to supplies for industry and consumer goods. They are being written off for all sorts of various reasons but soon I fear they will become more and more obvious and widespread.
Right! Trump is jealous of Putin; always has been.
I don't know that no one has figured it out, no one who can stop it cares. They still think they can control it and profit from it.
You are correct. So when will they have enough and then... where will they go to enjoy all that wealth? The infrastructure in the country will be untenable, poor, sick and dying people will be littering the streets, militias will be competing for control...etc. They won't be safe anywhere except within their compounds? Many Trump appointees are presently sleeping and living on military bases for their safety.
Is this anyway to run a country?
The Lebanese in Michigan is not the terrorist. Terrorist has become or always was political epithet of a projection of the person that is using it. The correct terms would be war criminal and violator of human rights. The US and Zionist are the worse violators and also the ones with the loudest voices.
Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦
Does everyone understand that WE gave Iran the Shah who was as brutal as those who followed him. The animosity of Iran grew out of US intervention and so the answer to that is more intervention? Regime change comes from within ... at least I hope that's how we will do it.
Also, worried that ICE's next focus will be our Muslim neighbors, in addition to Latinos. Ugh. This administration sucks!
Why am I thinking Gallipoli? I know Trump’s a big Churchill fan.
I'm thinking of Rome burning while Nero fiddled.
I’ve also heard that Trump is a fan of fiddling, although I think that’s more to do with finances and kiddies, but the Nero analogy still holds true.
OMG! Hahaha. I never thought of that!
I think you spelled Rommel incorrectly
David is right on it all!
Right! This guy was a distraught family member who much of his family was killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon. Not a terrorist; but you can be sure that this is the only way that he will be portrayed on Right Wing Media (RWM) and of course in Israel.
I like Mandami