I am so glad to see you describe the indictment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia as suspicious. I had all sorts of alarms going off in my brain as I listened to Pam Bondi talk about it. I personally am suspicious that the grand jury was told what to find, if indeed there was a grand jury. I remember that the photo of his hand with MS-13 on it had been photoshopped. It sounds to me like the indictment is photoshopping on steroids.
It's what happens when a deranged, demented criminal appoints know-nothing voidoids and slobbering kumquats to positions of authority, while Senate Republicans just roll over and play dead.
We may all disagree emphatically with most of Justice Robert's decisions. But his eyes don't look like Kristi Noem's, and he doesn't come across like one of Dracula's nymphs in a billowing nightie waiting for the Prince of Darkness under the moonlight in an old Hammer horror flick.
Susan Stone: I thought the same--right away. "Uh . . huh . . . "
If they don't know anything else, they should know that their modus operandi is clear to everyone by now so, even if they were telling the truth about this indictment, as a general rule for even the least thoughtful persons among us, trust in lying morons will be harder and harder to come by.
I agree. IMO the only thing they know how to do is lie. I'm hoping that the way they came up with the indictment becomes public, because I'm sure they've done something underhanded.
Now that Mr. Garcia has been brought back to America where he can rely on laws and voters, we must work on the Senate to stop this Trump's BBB. It has three destrutive features (1) inflating the deficit to a dangerous level, (2) take away Medicaid from the low income citizens and (3) a law to give president another power to make him above laws. The third one is not well publicized because major medias are afraid to do so.
I agree with you. And listening to last night's The Last Word, I learned that Medicare is also now on the chopping block, a "benefit" that I pay for on a monthly basis. I think that 47 is trying to destroy everyone in the country unless they are obscenely rich white males.
Anyone believing that Musk is aligned with Democrats is woefully mistaken.
Musk is against the Big Ugly Bill not because of the tax cuts for America's wealthiest people and corporations.
Musk is against the Big Ugly Bill because the cuts to Medicaid, education, medical research, etc., aren't large enough to offset the deficits and debt that the tax cuts will produce.
Is Musk willing to give up the tax cuts? No.
Is Musk willing to increase the pain on America's working class families to pay for those tax cuts? Yes.
On the same day as Abrego Garcia’s indictment (5/21/25), the chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville Ben Schrader resigned reportedly out of concerns that the case was being pursued for political reasons.
Elon and Donald may be engaged in a trashy celebrity breakup--in Season Two of The Donald Show, the presence of a drugged-up billionaire with a soap opera life and a surreal vision has added some spice to the melodrama--but behind this distraction there is one chilling reality: the Republicans are about to ram through this atrocity of a tax bill.
Most of them will do it out of fealty to Donald, but a few will take advantage of Elon's angry assault on the legislation to double down and make it even uglier and more destructive, zeroing in on cuts to Medicare, Social Security, the VA, and other core safety net programs along with the "safer" assaults on those that, like Medicaid and SNAP, directly serve the poor and working poor.
"We're cutting waste, fraud, and abuse," they say, spouting old Frank Luntzisms as if they were fresh and new: "we're only taking benefits away from the Able Bodied and Illegals."
No. This is a massive wealth transfer; billions of taxpayers' dollars---our dollars---ripped from the programs that sustain a democratic infrastructure and transferred to two sets of overlapping beneficiaries: to the military-industrial-Silicon Valley complex in the form of escalating spending; and to the billionaires and multi-millionaires in the form of massive, unsustainable tax cuts.
Elon and Donald may rag and rage, point and accuse, but the real story is this toxic bill, this assassins' bill that will leave tens of millions of Americans (and the republic) worse off in order to transfer our money to Republican allies and assets.
So I am in the minority that, while amused by the circus spectacle--who wouldn't be?--find it horrifying that we are so easily distracted from the spectacle of our own destruction.
With relation to Kilmar - he has spent enough time in jail.
In relation to Musk - we should focus on some of the obvious - we don't need Mars or the Golden Dome. The Congressional Budget office estimates the Golden Dome at $831B.
With regard to millionaire tax breaks - they have had the 20% tax deduction for small businesses long enough to accumulate their next million and the estate tax has been low enough for long enough.
With regard to the BBB - employers went through enough with chasing tips and changing systems; it's wrong to force software changes again and unfair to those not making tips or overtime.
I am currently rereading "Says Who?" by linguist Anne Curzan (recommended by Jennifer Rubin). It's a fun look at the evolution of modern English, in which so many of us (me included) have to pit our "inner grammando" against our "inner wordie".
To destroy 10% of a LOT of things, results in destruction; thus, decimate and destroy have become equated to many. You're being unnecessarily precise and, frankly, pedantic.
BTW, I just watched Jen on Velshi (MSNBC--my favorite). She was with Thom Hartmann and, between the three of them, they nailed it.
Three things stood out for me: First, that (from Hartmann) the Republicans record of putting people-friendly legislation through Congress and then signing it into law is ZERO ever since Reagan (and that the R's trickly trickle thing); and that oligarchs need to either return to democracy OR become (my term) political and social hardassess; so we're in for it.
And then (from Jen) it doesn't matter what Musk/Trump do in their in-fighting, the American people still lose; and (from Velshi) the connection of Musk's need for getting payback for his "electing Trump," with the Citizens' United letting loose the endless flood of money coming into elections. What makes that even more ridiculous, is that Musk doesn't seem to understand how that sounds to the American people. For him and Trump, the whole thing is self-serving and totally transactional/as the worse version of capitalism (predatory) that has ever emerged in history.
In my view, what Trump and Musk are doing is fighting over the spoils of their, the so-called Republicans, and other oligarchs' raping and pillaging of the American spirit.
KILL THE BILL: Catherine Rowland, Congressional Progressive Caucus Center explains what's next in the Budget Reconciliation process and how you can help kill the bill: PODCAST
Thanks to all you felon voters for giving the grifter king more opportunity to fleece this Country. Did you morons really think he would look out for you by deporting all these "millions" of immigrants and end the war in the Ukraine on the first day or more hilariously, bring down the price of eggs? His incompetent cabinet that will in fact make it easy for our adversaries to attack us again. When will you people see the forest through the trees? Before this bottom feeder is done, it will affect you and in fact those of us who did not vote for him. This is why it has to be essential to educate yourself about the issues and the character of the candidate before you vote. Damnit, bad choices linger for years and lead to disasters and war. I do not know if we can survive this swine for the remainder of his term unless something drastic happens to him.
Every day of the world, every time when this roundup appears, I starting reading with the hope that Gaza will be included - after all, the genocide we are all witnessing, all suffering with, is directly funded, supported, encouraged by the US. To no avail, leaving me heartbroken for the Palestine tragedy, for the future of Israel, for the American democracy, for our souls and humanity at large.
The National Guard is in LA as I write this. I believe this is the beginning of drumpf's move toward declaring martial law and ending democracy. I very much hope I'm wrong.
I am so glad to see you describe the indictment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia as suspicious. I had all sorts of alarms going off in my brain as I listened to Pam Bondi talk about it. I personally am suspicious that the grand jury was told what to find, if indeed there was a grand jury. I remember that the photo of his hand with MS-13 on it had been photoshopped. It sounds to me like the indictment is photoshopping on steroids.
It's what happens when a deranged, demented criminal appoints know-nothing voidoids and slobbering kumquats to positions of authority, while Senate Republicans just roll over and play dead.
I've never met a real kumquat that slobbered… 😇 Apart from that I agree with you completely.
It's Come To This: You mean, of course, like Roberts of SCOTUS fame.
We may all disagree emphatically with most of Justice Robert's decisions. But his eyes don't look like Kristi Noem's, and he doesn't come across like one of Dracula's nymphs in a billowing nightie waiting for the Prince of Darkness under the moonlight in an old Hammer horror flick.
yes, there was that one in 1540...
Susan Stone: I thought the same--right away. "Uh . . huh . . . "
If they don't know anything else, they should know that their modus operandi is clear to everyone by now so, even if they were telling the truth about this indictment, as a general rule for even the least thoughtful persons among us, trust in lying morons will be harder and harder to come by.
I agree. IMO the only thing they know how to do is lie. I'm hoping that the way they came up with the indictment becomes public, because I'm sure they've done something underhanded.
Now that Mr. Garcia has been brought back to America where he can rely on laws and voters, we must work on the Senate to stop this Trump's BBB. It has three destrutive features (1) inflating the deficit to a dangerous level, (2) take away Medicaid from the low income citizens and (3) a law to give president another power to make him above laws. The third one is not well publicized because major medias are afraid to do so.
I agree with you. And listening to last night's The Last Word, I learned that Medicare is also now on the chopping block, a "benefit" that I pay for on a monthly basis. I think that 47 is trying to destroy everyone in the country unless they are obscenely rich white males.
he's not a boy scout either...
The point about Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case has always been about due process.
Garcia is back in the U.S. He is now entitled to competent legal counsel.
correct
I am sure that's true. What I have come to realize is that what's wrong with the indictment is that it is a CYA exercise, pure and simple.
Anyone believing that Musk is aligned with Democrats is woefully mistaken.
Musk is against the Big Ugly Bill not because of the tax cuts for America's wealthiest people and corporations.
Musk is against the Big Ugly Bill because the cuts to Medicaid, education, medical research, etc., aren't large enough to offset the deficits and debt that the tax cuts will produce.
Is Musk willing to give up the tax cuts? No.
Is Musk willing to increase the pain on America's working class families to pay for those tax cuts? Yes.
Ain't MAGA & their BBB great? or as Elon says: "a pork filled... disgusting abomination". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8nWKiyQD5A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl0Du9KR6pU
On the same day as Abrego Garcia’s indictment (5/21/25), the chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville Ben Schrader resigned reportedly out of concerns that the case was being pursued for political reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzyRq8Z4xeo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scY8oSM-eFI
Can Mr. Schrader be called as a witness for the defense if this case reaches trial?
Elon and Donald may be engaged in a trashy celebrity breakup--in Season Two of The Donald Show, the presence of a drugged-up billionaire with a soap opera life and a surreal vision has added some spice to the melodrama--but behind this distraction there is one chilling reality: the Republicans are about to ram through this atrocity of a tax bill.
Most of them will do it out of fealty to Donald, but a few will take advantage of Elon's angry assault on the legislation to double down and make it even uglier and more destructive, zeroing in on cuts to Medicare, Social Security, the VA, and other core safety net programs along with the "safer" assaults on those that, like Medicaid and SNAP, directly serve the poor and working poor.
"We're cutting waste, fraud, and abuse," they say, spouting old Frank Luntzisms as if they were fresh and new: "we're only taking benefits away from the Able Bodied and Illegals."
No. This is a massive wealth transfer; billions of taxpayers' dollars---our dollars---ripped from the programs that sustain a democratic infrastructure and transferred to two sets of overlapping beneficiaries: to the military-industrial-Silicon Valley complex in the form of escalating spending; and to the billionaires and multi-millionaires in the form of massive, unsustainable tax cuts.
Elon and Donald may rag and rage, point and accuse, but the real story is this toxic bill, this assassins' bill that will leave tens of millions of Americans (and the republic) worse off in order to transfer our money to Republican allies and assets.
So I am in the minority that, while amused by the circus spectacle--who wouldn't be?--find it horrifying that we are so easily distracted from the spectacle of our own destruction.
A few moments of joyful Schadenfreude after all the crazy-making & fear shd NOT dishearten us — it’s a much-needed, BRIEF comic relief.
Laughter IS good medicine — partly why we enjoy cartoons.
There’s plenty of time for the unavoidable pig-in-mud wrestling that will go on seemingly forever. 🐖
Not just distracted, but enthralled! I'm not surprised in the least. I'm a bit disappointed, because until this point, I maintained a modicum of hope.
With relation to Kilmar - he has spent enough time in jail.
In relation to Musk - we should focus on some of the obvious - we don't need Mars or the Golden Dome. The Congressional Budget office estimates the Golden Dome at $831B.
With regard to millionaire tax breaks - they have had the 20% tax deduction for small businesses long enough to accumulate their next million and the estate tax has been low enough for long enough.
With regard to the BBB - employers went through enough with chasing tips and changing systems; it's wrong to force software changes again and unfair to those not making tips or overtime.
Where are my smart tax lawyers and AICPA?
Please don't say "decimate" to mean "destroy". Decimate means to take out one of ten.
Decimate also means:
kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage or part of.
"the project would decimate the fragile wetland wilderness"
I am currently rereading "Says Who?" by linguist Anne Curzan (recommended by Jennifer Rubin). It's a fun look at the evolution of modern English, in which so many of us (me included) have to pit our "inner grammando" against our "inner wordie".
To destroy 10% of a LOT of things, results in destruction; thus, decimate and destroy have become equated to many. You're being unnecessarily precise and, frankly, pedantic.
"Destroy" is different from 10%. Whatever: I'm a proud dinosaur of grammar pedantry, so thank you for the compliment!
My husband brings this point up at least once a week!
I can’t be bothered to debate the point & let him go with it — but I’m with those below who suggest that the meaning has evolved … incorrectly or not.
— a lot of language is nonsensical anyway.
BTW, I just watched Jen on Velshi (MSNBC--my favorite). She was with Thom Hartmann and, between the three of them, they nailed it.
Three things stood out for me: First, that (from Hartmann) the Republicans record of putting people-friendly legislation through Congress and then signing it into law is ZERO ever since Reagan (and that the R's trickly trickle thing); and that oligarchs need to either return to democracy OR become (my term) political and social hardassess; so we're in for it.
And then (from Jen) it doesn't matter what Musk/Trump do in their in-fighting, the American people still lose; and (from Velshi) the connection of Musk's need for getting payback for his "electing Trump," with the Citizens' United letting loose the endless flood of money coming into elections. What makes that even more ridiculous, is that Musk doesn't seem to understand how that sounds to the American people. For him and Trump, the whole thing is self-serving and totally transactional/as the worse version of capitalism (predatory) that has ever emerged in history.
In my view, what Trump and Musk are doing is fighting over the spoils of their, the so-called Republicans, and other oligarchs' raping and pillaging of the American spirit.
Top 10 reasons to KILL THE BILL
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/06/06/top-10-reasons-to-kill-the-bill/
KILL THE BILL: Catherine Rowland, Congressional Progressive Caucus Center explains what's next in the Budget Reconciliation process and how you can help kill the bill: PODCAST
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/06/05/kill-the-bill-catherine-rowland-congressional-progressive-caucus-center-explains-budget-reconciliation-process-podcast/
there are 350million reasons to kill the bill..........I believe that is the population of the US
Thanks to all you felon voters for giving the grifter king more opportunity to fleece this Country. Did you morons really think he would look out for you by deporting all these "millions" of immigrants and end the war in the Ukraine on the first day or more hilariously, bring down the price of eggs? His incompetent cabinet that will in fact make it easy for our adversaries to attack us again. When will you people see the forest through the trees? Before this bottom feeder is done, it will affect you and in fact those of us who did not vote for him. This is why it has to be essential to educate yourself about the issues and the character of the candidate before you vote. Damnit, bad choices linger for years and lead to disasters and war. I do not know if we can survive this swine for the remainder of his term unless something drastic happens to him.
I get you, but please leave swine out of it. They do not deserve the insult.
"Then there’s the fact that Musk is extremely litigious and certainly has the resources to take on Trump and his administration."
Yes. Muck with his hundreds of billions of dollars of his own money, and tRump with his unrestrained use of TAXPAYER funds.
That needs to be the headline if litigation does ensue.
The Trump-Musk breakup shows that the stage of government is not big enough to have 2 prima donnas there at the same time!
Alexander Vindman simply wrote “Girls! Girls, stop! You’re BOTH pretty!’ 🤣
Keep up the good work !
Great article
Love the alliterative title!
Go Norm!
For Trump, ‘The state is me’ somehow lacks the gravitas, the polish of L'État, c'est moi.
Every day of the world, every time when this roundup appears, I starting reading with the hope that Gaza will be included - after all, the genocide we are all witnessing, all suffering with, is directly funded, supported, encouraged by the US. To no avail, leaving me heartbroken for the Palestine tragedy, for the future of Israel, for the American democracy, for our souls and humanity at large.
The National Guard is in LA as I write this. I believe this is the beginning of drumpf's move toward declaring martial law and ending democracy. I very much hope I'm wrong.