I'll be the first to say it today. FUCK every maga voter, congressperson, senator, political appointee and business supporter. Fuck all of you for ruining our country. A special FUCK YOU to the SCOTUS as well.
"If only a few Congressional Republicans put two and two together...." they did and their calculation told them that they're better off circling the wagons around satan
The rant is understandable, and deservedly coarse.
Now, how are we going to do something about the problems? It isn't too early to start focusing on mobilizing voters to make better decisions for the 2026 midterm elections.
User Wunsix who is clearly much smarter than the DNC, proposes the following;
Only too familiar with the begging texts, emails and snail mails. This posted piece (first posted a while ago and at one point attributed to Liz Cheney) is my response. Share it far and wide...
Dear Democratic Party,
I need more from you.
You keep sending emails begging for $15,
while we’re watching fascism consolidate power in real time.
This administration is not simply “a different ideology.”
It is a coordinated, authoritarian machine — with the Supreme Court, the House, the Senate, and the executive pen all under its control.
And you?
You’re still asking for decorum and donations. WTF.
That won’t save us.
I don’t want to hear another polite floor speech.
I want strategy.
I want fire.
I want action so bold it shifts the damn news cycle — not fits inside one.
Every time I see something from the DNC, it’s asking me for funds.
Surprise.
Those of us who donate don’t want to keep sending money just to watch you stand frozen as the Constitution goes up in flames — shaking your heads and saying,
“Well, there’s not much we can do. He has the majority.”
I call bullshit.
If you don’t know how to think outside the box…
If you don’t know how to strategize…
If you don’t know how to fight fire with fire…
what the hell are we giving you money for?
Some of us have two or three advanced degrees.
Some of us have military training.
Some of us know what coordinated resistance looks like — and this ain’t it.
Yes, the tours around the country? Nice.
The speeches? Nice.
The clever congressional clapbacks? Nice.
That was great for giving hope.
Now we need action.
You have to stop acting like this is a normal presidency that will just time out in four years.
We’re not even at Day 90, and look at the chaos.
Look at the disappearances.
Look at the erosion of the judiciary, the press, and our rights.
If you do not stop this, we will not make it 1,460 days.
So here’s what I need from you — right now:
⸻
1. Form an independent, civilian-powered investigative coalition.
Amen. What are we going to do? We're fighting right now in Texas to stop Trump cheating himself into a compliant Congress. This is not a private fight. Gov. Pritker is the man of the hour giving our Democratic legislators sanctuary, but they are accruing 500. per day fines for breaking quroum, amongst other economic hardships.
Everybody needs to donate! I have posted that link myself a few times and I have used it. Everybody needs to chip in, to this not to those begging emails from Hakeem Jeffries.
Texas Democrats are extremely appreciative of all the donations across the nation. I went to a rally this weekend in Ft. Worth with Beto O’Rourke. Our quroum breakers were present digitally via ZOOM. It really does mean the world to them that the people are behind them.
When you have been kicked around by Republicans like they have, it really, really makes a difference that we have their backs. I wish I could donate more, but as many are, I am on a fixed income which is under excessive threat from DOGE and Trump.
Gene Wu, chair of the TX Dem caucus said the small donations mean so much to them.
I made a small donation there. The only vetting is my own. It appears legitimate to me, a Texas Democrat. Please check it our yourself and let me know if you find something amiss with it.
You are right to be wary. There are a lot of PAC’s out there solicting money for the Texas Democrats. This is fine, but those PACs are taking their cut as is ActBlue if they use it. Beto O’Rourke’s PAC PoweredbyPeople was/is donating 100% of the donations for Tex Dem’s to Tex Dem’s but Ken Paxton got a restraining order to prevent that! I don’t know where that TRO stands, but I am going on the assumption that all is well to donate straight to the legislators.
Besides, if Paxton’s got a problem with that I tell him to come and get me. I’m ready. He’s not from Texas, like I am, anyway.
My opinion agrees with yours. A poorly informed, uninterested electorate brought us Trump 2. We have to find ways to educate the voting public and make sure they understand what each candidate believes and stands for. The worst thing is that we had the example of Trump's chaotic and incompetent first regime. We had the example of Trump trying to remain in office by inciting an insurrection. We had the blue print for Trump's second regime in Project 2025. In spite of all the "evidence" we reelected Trump for four more years of corruption, incompetence and chaos. We need to say, "Never again! Never again will we sleep through four years and elevate a crook and a con man to the highest office in the land". Finally, on a related subject, we should remove every Republican member of Congress who saw what was happening, saw the corruption saw the violations of the law and the Constitution - and did *Nothing*!
But this all comes back to Project 2025: the explicit goal is to tear down the U.S. governent and rebuild it under Christian Nationalists. What you are citing as defeats for the "former" structure of the United States is a victory for Project 2025, which has been declared approximately 45 percent complete! Wake up and see the picture, people.
Where can we strike them where they’re vulnerable? Does this fishtank thinktank, The Heritage Foundation, have a headquarters building? We should be picketing and acting up there every day, 24 hours a day.
Turn The Heritage Foundation into the next Tesla, or the next Muskrocket.
So? I don’t mean to be facetious with you, but there are heavier elements than $$ bills.
Don’t limit your creativity to questions like, “What can we do with our few $?”
Don’t think like some antic (antique) Marxist. Hint: -isms can’t be hurt.
Don’t settle for being a member of the “intelligentsia."
“You can talk, you can talk, you can bicker, you can talk. You can talk, talk, talk, talk, bicker, bicker, bicker…You can talk all you wanna, but it’s different than it was!
“No it ain’t, but you gotta know the territory!” - This “rap” dialog courtesy of The Music Man. (You get it where you can.)
Aaah...the Music Man...with Robert Preston's deathless "You Got Trouble"!!! This was from the age when musicals had some lasting, adult quality, unlike the cynical, money-making Disney and empty, crowd-pleasing Webberish gibberish we have now... sorry...had to digress from all the heartbreak out there...!
Yes, so much of the talk reminds me that the traveling salesman is an American archetype, practically. The alleged “marketplace of ideas” is all talk, like virtual currency. Words, words, words are the matter that you read. Trump thinks he can trounce God with talk, a real con-artist. But in 'The Music Man,' humanity steps in for the happy ending where we’re not justified by what we say or believe, which is air; rather by what has a body.
OR
‘Call the roller of big cigars, the muscular one,
and bid him whip in kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the boys bring flowers wrapped in last month’s newspapers,
And let the wenches dawdle in such dress as they are used to wear.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream.'
That’s from memory; I may have stumbled here or there. The point is, the facts of living and dying lie outside (or beside) all the talk. The emperors of -isms are naught. Wallace Stevens on what’s real and what isn’t, per usual.
AND
Remember Holden’s classmates yelling “Digression!” at him in debate? I don’t know why nobody likes that boy any more. Kid hasn’t a friend in the reading world.
There will be nothing left to rebuild. What can emerge from the smoldering ashes is something like russia, basically a gas station with nukes. But maybe that's the goal.
The battle has begun in Texas. We have been assailed by Christian Nationalists for a decade. Their victory in the legislature is almost complete. All that is stopping them are Texas Democrats denying them a quorum.
Again, names of the billionaires would be helpful in filling out the enemy’s order of battle. There is no reason their wealth should give them anonymity. We gain nothing by NOT naming them, or am I wrong there?
"The $3 billion he has grifted since he took office seems to not matter to those who were outraged at Hunter’s pickup truck payments."
Grift is grift, and abusing power for personal gain is wrong. If you're concerned about Trump you should also be concerned about Biden or anyone else, but that's not the case in this forum.
A few words to the Trump "economy" voters and those who sat out the election because they were anti-Trump but could not bring themselves to vote for a womam. Everything we told them would happen is happening. And it happened so quickly because many major players just caved to Trump. Congress, Universities, law firms, tech companies, media companies. The MSM is unwilling to challenge Trump when he lies about everything. Trump is trying to justify his takeover of Washington, DC, by saying it is rampant in crime and violence. But no one questioned him at the news conference. Where is the evidence of his claims?
No sympathy to the economy voters. No sympathy to the non-voters. You OWN this.
You left out the compliant role in the Supine Court. Their faulty decisions have done little to nothing to stem this attack on the people and democracy.
"A foreign power could not have devastated the economy this effectively ." Boy does that hit it on the head. As he and his corrupt and cruel administration devastates not only the economy but so much we here hold dear . Waking up daily to this barrage is certainly taking a toll on my mental health.
We should assume, based on our experience, that everything Trump says is a lie, it would save time. I'm no expert but I don't see Manufacturing returning, in any meaningful way, for the same reason it left in the first place, Labor costs. If it's cheaper to pack up an entire operation and move it overseas than pay American workers then increased Manufacturing is highly unlikely, even without the idiotic tariffs. IMHO
Assuming any manufacturing does return, it will be years in the making. Sites have to be found, environmental studies are often necessary along with dealing with city codes and the NIMBY crowd. Construction and staffing take time, and to beat the labor issue, more robotic automation would be applied. The job growth would in no way reflect that of what manufacturing used to provide.
Steve, I will bet that manufacturers and labor unions will say to hell with any restrictions or contracts and will just get back to work immediately. Everyone will take financial sacrifice to restore what we’ve had. Democracy requires sacrifice. We will step up. We better step up! Thank you.
With you absolutely on the last two sentences; not sure about the first two. Businesses do like their profits, and will do what they can to maintain them. Picking up a whole manufacturing process and moving it back here might be more than they would want to address, especially considering the current economic climate. Admittedly, it's difficult to predict the future.
I keep asking myself why so many otherwise intelligent elected republicans defending nonsensical rants to justify attacks on civil liberties, an economy that was the envy of the world, and science. Moral cowardice? Payoffs in secret Swiss bank accounts? Dossiers of past illicit activities? Threats to family? Loyalty to party over country? Or just some naïve belief that the government is so resilient that it can take 4 years of abuse? Whatever the truth is I view the failures of Mitch McConnell and Chief Justice Roberts to hold tRump accountable as the off ramp to government sanity!!!!
Poverty = a vulnerable and malleable populous. And poverty of the masses is a goal. Unfortunately for them, the majority of MAGA live in poverty and actually thought the Dictator would pull them out of it when his goal was to deepen it and to hell with them after he got their vote. In his first regime, media ran fact checkers about his repeated lies. In this regime, media no longer runs fact checkers because media is afraid to say Trump is a liar”. Let’s be realistic here, did anyone think he suddenly became honest? Of course he’ll “fix the numbers” or hire someone (your taxpayer dollars at work) to do it for him so he’s not held accountable. Did we really expect a 34 times convicted felon sex abuser to stop committing fraud and sex abuse? If that’s the case, Americans have become blind in addition to becoming cowardly and deaf and dumb (I am a deaf person who isn’t a coward or dumb). What kind of society have we become when we don’t unilaterally stand up against the destruction of everything good and decent and right in America and succumb to the Felon? A cheater is a cheater and will cheat on you and you and you and try to convince you you are at fault. Seems to me we are allowing the Cheater to cheat at a time when it’s more appropriate for US to threaten him and call out his lies everywhere on every social media on every podcast in every column in a massive effort to motivate Americans to action. Words may have some power but nothing supercedes action.
Jen, yes the Dear Leader's impact on the poor and middle class is having a huge impact, but I am more worried about the blatant power grab to turn this country into a police state. His “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force,” implies a far more dangerous scenario. Are they going to throw protesters in prison or kill them? The economy won't matter if most people who protest the regime end up dead or in concentration camps. Please write about this.
tRump has no capacity for strategic or critical thinking. He has surrounded himself with fanatics and yes-men who tell him exactly what he wants to hear. Of course, they would cobble together 'new numbers' for his oval office sham. We won't know which was the straw which broke the camel's back until after the poor animal is broken... and then cash will flee the US at an amazing pace. The tRumpcession or tRumppression will be breathtaking.
Nice to start off with a photo of Agent Orange wearing a yellow tie. A cowardly color that matches his TACO stance and his constant dodging of tough questions like "What territories are you planning to swap to placate Putin?" Reply "I don't know. We might not do anything. We might set up a fantastic trade. I haven't been told anything....."
That last sentence fragment is telling. Others are pulling the strings of this fat puppet. It also indicates that he's not prepared for this meeting with the war criminal from Russia.
Here are 100 protest signs. More are coming, and these are being improved every day, so sign up for more.
This moment demands protest. To each it should be unmistakable—urgent and morally unassailable. I speak for justice, duty, and shared humanity. Act now. We must protect the disadvantaged. Rise. We have many protests to do. Good trouble. Restack these 100 signs to spread the wealth. Others need to be armed.
Not only your intellectual honesty and insights burn through this piece, but also your instinctive disdain and disgust. Scientists are discovering that our innate intelligence is more widely dispersed through the body than they initially believed, and that a major node of intelligence is located 'in the gut,' as folk sayings have long told us. From the beginning, Trump has made me 'sick to my stomach,' and I've long spoken of being sick at heart as well. And as for my gut, it's been in a knot for more years than I care to count. This is all a priori to the things I've learned and continue to learn every damn day about him. And isn't that interesting? It seems Trump is making us all ill, all the time. Like a really, really bad smell--a gas leak or a rotting corpse in the woods. But he's not that, he's worse: a colorless, odorless bio-weapon in the hands of more intelligent and determined evil-doers. So keep reminding us of who he is, please.
WHAT IS the DNC and party leadership doing to extract America from the absolutely HORRIBLE position we have found ourselves in since the 2024 election.
AND, what is being done to stop him from further damaging our fragile democracy?? We need actions, not words.
Some actions begin with actions underground, Robert. We don't know a tenth of what's really going on, and never will. Have faith. It's better than whining. (Though I've done and probably will do more than my fair share of that!)
More than you might imagine. But it seems the system really is rigged, or more accurately stacked against them. If he really is a genius at anything, as he keeps insisting, tRUmp is a genius at hiring lawyers who find and exploit every hairline crack in our laws and Constitution to keep his hairy orange a** out of prison. More's the pity. Howling at the moon, here in the Burgh.
From your lips to God's ears, but in my opinion, given the record thus far, nothing but the Epstein Affair has galvanized enough voters and perhaps their congressional representatives to even initiate impeachment proceedings. And if they were initiated there is every indication that they will fail to result in a conviction. See the two prior impeachment proceedings for support of this point. If those inside the administration want him gone there is of course the 25th amendment if they can demonstrate his unfitness for office on medical grounds. I ain't counting on that, but who knows? If they think Vance will be a less buffoonish and equally compliant stooge for the Project 25ers and the broliarchs, it could happen. Stay alive and stay tuned.
Remember: the tariffs are REALLY intended to replace PROGRESSIVE taxes (cut by ~$4T) with a REGRESSIVE consumption tax! Everything else is noise and distraction. We've been HAD.
Tariffs are not regressive, but flat taxes. Progressive taxes have a positive tax-rate vs. taxpayer-income slope. Regressive taxes have a negative slope. Flat taxes have a zero slope.
Tariffs are regressive because they have the greatest impact on working class consumers; the very nature of tariffs as flat taxes ensure they will be regressive.
Technically correct, thanks for comment. However: Moving FROM progressive TO flat is moving in the direction of Regression (lessens load on wealthy). Flat/consumption taxes are MUCH more painful for lower income/wealth. These tariffs were never really implemented to bring manufacturing home (nor can they, to any large extent). They are a new source of revenue to offset some of the recent huge cuts to progressive taxes.
Make no mistake: Trump has made it clear that he believes that most/all income taxes should be replaced by tariffs and other "flat" taxes that benefit the wealthy.
I'll be the first to say it today. FUCK every maga voter, congressperson, senator, political appointee and business supporter. Fuck all of you for ruining our country. A special FUCK YOU to the SCOTUS as well.
At the same time, it detracts from his Tumpenstein problem and is red meat for the base.
As Krasnov he meets his master on Friday in Alaska, which Russia still covets.
Both are weak and vulnerable. The Trumpenstein saga probably began with and could end with Russia.
If only a few Congressional Republicans put two and two together....
"If only a few Congressional Republicans put two and two together...." they did and their calculation told them that they're better off circling the wagons around satan
Case study: Brian Fitzpatrick, R. Pa. https://whyy.org/articles/rep-brian-fitzpatrick-trump-spending-bill-bucks-county-midterm-election/
Some have put two and two together. But it takes spine to actually do something, and they have no spine.
They are just slugs
The rant is understandable, and deservedly coarse.
Now, how are we going to do something about the problems? It isn't too early to start focusing on mobilizing voters to make better decisions for the 2026 midterm elections.
User Wunsix who is clearly much smarter than the DNC, proposes the following;
Only too familiar with the begging texts, emails and snail mails. This posted piece (first posted a while ago and at one point attributed to Liz Cheney) is my response. Share it far and wide...
Dear Democratic Party,
I need more from you.
You keep sending emails begging for $15,
while we’re watching fascism consolidate power in real time.
This administration is not simply “a different ideology.”
It is a coordinated, authoritarian machine — with the Supreme Court, the House, the Senate, and the executive pen all under its control.
And you?
You’re still asking for decorum and donations. WTF.
That won’t save us.
I don’t want to hear another polite floor speech.
I want strategy.
I want fire.
I want action so bold it shifts the damn news cycle — not fits inside one.
Every time I see something from the DNC, it’s asking me for funds.
Surprise.
Those of us who donate don’t want to keep sending money just to watch you stand frozen as the Constitution goes up in flames — shaking your heads and saying,
“Well, there’s not much we can do. He has the majority.”
I call bullshit.
If you don’t know how to think outside the box…
If you don’t know how to strategize…
If you don’t know how to fight fire with fire…
what the hell are we giving you money for?
Some of us have two or three advanced degrees.
Some of us have military training.
Some of us know what coordinated resistance looks like — and this ain’t it.
Yes, the tours around the country? Nice.
The speeches? Nice.
The clever congressional clapbacks? Nice.
That was great for giving hope.
Now we need action.
You have to stop acting like this is a normal presidency that will just time out in four years.
We’re not even at Day 90, and look at the chaos.
Look at the disappearances.
Look at the erosion of the judiciary, the press, and our rights.
If you do not stop this, we will not make it 1,460 days.
So here’s what I need from you — right now:
⸻
1. Form an independent, civilian-powered investigative coalition.
I’m talking experts. Veterans. Whistleblowers. Journalists. Watchdog orgs.
Deputize the resistance. Build a real-time archive of corruption, overreach, and executive abuse.
Make it public. Make it unshakable.
Let the people drag the rot into the light.
If you can’t hold formal hearings, hold public ones.
If Congress won’t act, let the country act.
This isn’t about optics — it’s about receipts.
Because at some point, these people will be held accountable.
And when that day comes, we’ll need every name, every signature, every illegal order, every act of silence—documented.
You’re not just preserving truth — you’re preparing evidence for prosecution.
The more they vanish people and weaponize data, the more we need truth in the sunlight.
⸻
2. Join the International Criminal Court.
Yes, I said it. Call their bluff.
You cannot control what the other side does.
But you can control your own integrity.
So prove it. Prove that your party is still grounded in law, human rights, and ethical leadership.
Join.
If you’ve got nothing to hide — join.
Show the world who’s hiding bodies, bribes, and buried bank accounts.
Force the GOP to explain why they’d rather protect a war criminal than sign a treaty.
And while you’re at it, publicly invite ICC observers into U.S. borders.
Make this administration explain — on camera — why they’re terrified of international oversight.
⸻
3. Fund state-level resistance infrastructure.
Don’t just send postcards. Send resources.
Channel DNC funds into rapid-response teams, legal defense coalitions, sanctuary networks, and digital security training.
If the federal government is hijacked, build power underneath it.
If the laws become tools of oppression, help people resist them legally, locally, and boldly.
This is not campaign season — this is an authoritarian purge.
Stop campaigning.
Act like this is the end of democracy, because it is.
We WILL REMEMBER the warriors come primaries.
Fighting this regime should be your marketing strategy.
And let’s be clear:
The reason the other side always seems three steps ahead is because they ARE.
They prepared for this.
They infiltrated school boards, courts, local legislatures, and police unions.
They built a machine while you wrote press releases.
We’re reacting — they’ve been executing a plan for years.
It’s time to shift from panic to blueprint.
You should already be working with strategists and military minds on PROJECT 2029,
a coordinated, long-term plan to rebuild this country when the smoke clears.
You should be publicly laying out:
• The laws and amendments you’ll pass to ensure this never happens again
• The systems you’ll tear down and the safeguards you’ll enshrine
• The plan to hold perpetrators of human atrocities accountable
• The urgent commitment to immediately bring home those sold into slavery in El Salvador
You say you’re the party of the people?
Then show the people the plan.
⸻
4. Use your platform to educate the public on rights and resistance tactics.
If they’re going to strip us of rights and lie about it — arm the people with truth.
Text campaigns. Mass trainings. Downloadable “Know Your Rights” kits. Multilingual legal guides. Encrypted phone trees.
Give people tools, not soundbites.
We don’t need more slogans.
We need survival manuals.
⸻
5. Leverage international media and watchdogs.
Stop hoping U.S. cable news will wake up.
They’re too busy playing both sides of fascism.
Feed the real stories to BBC, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Reuters, Der Spiegel — hell, leak them to anonymous dropboxes if you have to.
Make what’s happening in America a global scandal.
And stop relying on platforms that are actively suppressing truth.
Start leveraging Substack. Use Bluesky.
That’s where the resistance is migrating. That’s where censorship hasn’t caught up.
If the mainstream won’t carry the truth — outflank them.
Get creative. Go underground. Go global.
If our democracy is being dismantled in broad daylight, make sure the whole world sees it — and make sure we’re still able to say it.
⸻
6. Create a digital safe haven for whistleblowers and defectors.
Not everyone inside this regime is loyal.
Some are scared. Some want out.
Build the channels.
Encrypted. Anonymous. Protected.
Make it easy for the cracks in the system to become gaping holes.
And while you’re at it?
Stop ostracizing MAGA defectors.
Everyone makes mistakes — even glaring, critical ones.
We are not the bullies.
We are not the ones filled with hate.
And it is not your job to shame people who finally saw the fire and chose to step out of it.
They will have to deal with that internal struggle — the guilt of putting a very dangerous and callous regime in power.
But they’re already outnumbered. Don’t push them back into the crowd.
We don’t need purity.
We need numbers.
We need people willing to burn their red hats and testify against the machine they helped build.
⸻
7. Study the collapse—and the comeback.
You should be learning from South Korea and how they managed their brief rule under dictatorship.
They didn’t waste time chasing the one man with absolute immunity.
They went after the structure.
The aides. The enforcers. The loyalists. The architects.
They knocked out the foundation one pillar at a time —
until the “strongman” had no one left to stand on.
And his power crumbled beneath him.
You should be independently investigating every author of Project 2025,
every aide who defies court orders,
every communications director repeating lies,
every policy writer enabling cruelty,
every water boy who keeps this engine running.
You can’t stop a regime by asking the king to sit down.
You dismantle the throne he’s standing on — one coward at a time.
⸻
Stop being scared to fight dirty when the other side is fighting to erase the damn Constitution.
They are threatening to disappear AMERICANS.
A M E R I C A N S.
And your biggest move can’t be another strongly worded email.
We don’t want your urgently fundraising subject lines.
We want backbone.
We want action.
We want to know you’ll stand up before we’re all ordered to sit down — permanently.
We are watching.
And I don’t just mean your base.
I mean millions of us who see exactly what’s happening.
I’ve only got 6,000 followers — but the groups I’m in? The networks I touch? Over a quarter million.
Often when I speak, it echoes.
But when we ALL
speak, it ROARS with pressure that will cause change.
We need to be deafening.
You still have a chance to do something historic.
To be remembered for courage, not caution.
To go down as the party that didn’t just watch the fall — but fought the hell back with everything they had.
But the clock is ticking.
And the deportation buses are idling.
Excellent. This is what is needed.
Feel free to spread the word
Fuck an A- Yes!!
Amen. What are we going to do? We're fighting right now in Texas to stop Trump cheating himself into a compliant Congress. This is not a private fight. Gov. Pritker is the man of the hour giving our Democratic legislators sanctuary, but they are accruing 500. per day fines for breaking quroum, amongst other economic hardships.
https://riggedredistricting.com/
Everybody needs to donate! I have posted that link myself a few times and I have used it. Everybody needs to chip in, to this not to those begging emails from Hakeem Jeffries.
Texas Democrats are extremely appreciative of all the donations across the nation. I went to a rally this weekend in Ft. Worth with Beto O’Rourke. Our quroum breakers were present digitally via ZOOM. It really does mean the world to them that the people are behind them.
When you have been kicked around by Republicans like they have, it really, really makes a difference that we have their backs. I wish I could donate more, but as many are, I am on a fixed income which is under excessive threat from DOGE and Trump.
Gene Wu, chair of the TX Dem caucus said the small donations mean so much to them.
Is there a vetted website where we can donate to the TX Dems?
This is, as far as I know, the Texas House Democratic Caucuses official website. https://riggedredistricting.com/
I made a small donation there. The only vetting is my own. It appears legitimate to me, a Texas Democrat. Please check it our yourself and let me know if you find something amiss with it.
You are right to be wary. There are a lot of PAC’s out there solicting money for the Texas Democrats. This is fine, but those PACs are taking their cut as is ActBlue if they use it. Beto O’Rourke’s PAC PoweredbyPeople was/is donating 100% of the donations for Tex Dem’s to Tex Dem’s but Ken Paxton got a restraining order to prevent that! I don’t know where that TRO stands, but I am going on the assumption that all is well to donate straight to the legislators.
Besides, if Paxton’s got a problem with that I tell him to come and get me. I’m ready. He’s not from Texas, like I am, anyway.
My opinion agrees with yours. A poorly informed, uninterested electorate brought us Trump 2. We have to find ways to educate the voting public and make sure they understand what each candidate believes and stands for. The worst thing is that we had the example of Trump's chaotic and incompetent first regime. We had the example of Trump trying to remain in office by inciting an insurrection. We had the blue print for Trump's second regime in Project 2025. In spite of all the "evidence" we reelected Trump for four more years of corruption, incompetence and chaos. We need to say, "Never again! Never again will we sleep through four years and elevate a crook and a con man to the highest office in the land". Finally, on a related subject, we should remove every Republican member of Congress who saw what was happening, saw the corruption saw the violations of the law and the Constitution - and did *Nothing*!
Also, fuck every "GeNocidE JoE" purity pony, third-party voter, and the "They're Both Bad" opt-outers.
Couldn't have said it better myself. 1,000 likes.
Totally agree. Past time to fight dirty.
Nice MAGA dump!
But this all comes back to Project 2025: the explicit goal is to tear down the U.S. governent and rebuild it under Christian Nationalists. What you are citing as defeats for the "former" structure of the United States is a victory for Project 2025, which has been declared approximately 45 percent complete! Wake up and see the picture, people.
Where can we strike them where they’re vulnerable? Does this fishtank thinktank, The Heritage Foundation, have a headquarters building? We should be picketing and acting up there every day, 24 hours a day.
Turn The Heritage Foundation into the next Tesla, or the next Muskrocket.
214 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, D.C.
There is a ton of $$ behind THF.
So? I don’t mean to be facetious with you, but there are heavier elements than $$ bills.
Don’t limit your creativity to questions like, “What can we do with our few $?”
Don’t think like some antic (antique) Marxist. Hint: -isms can’t be hurt.
Don’t settle for being a member of the “intelligentsia."
“You can talk, you can talk, you can bicker, you can talk. You can talk, talk, talk, talk, bicker, bicker, bicker…You can talk all you wanna, but it’s different than it was!
“No it ain’t, but you gotta know the territory!” - This “rap” dialog courtesy of The Music Man. (You get it where you can.)
Aaah...the Music Man...with Robert Preston's deathless "You Got Trouble"!!! This was from the age when musicals had some lasting, adult quality, unlike the cynical, money-making Disney and empty, crowd-pleasing Webberish gibberish we have now... sorry...had to digress from all the heartbreak out there...!
Yes, so much of the talk reminds me that the traveling salesman is an American archetype, practically. The alleged “marketplace of ideas” is all talk, like virtual currency. Words, words, words are the matter that you read. Trump thinks he can trounce God with talk, a real con-artist. But in 'The Music Man,' humanity steps in for the happy ending where we’re not justified by what we say or believe, which is air; rather by what has a body.
OR
‘Call the roller of big cigars, the muscular one,
and bid him whip in kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the boys bring flowers wrapped in last month’s newspapers,
And let the wenches dawdle in such dress as they are used to wear.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream.'
That’s from memory; I may have stumbled here or there. The point is, the facts of living and dying lie outside (or beside) all the talk. The emperors of -isms are naught. Wallace Stevens on what’s real and what isn’t, per usual.
AND
Remember Holden’s classmates yelling “Digression!” at him in debate? I don’t know why nobody likes that boy any more. Kid hasn’t a friend in the reading world.
There will be nothing left to rebuild. What can emerge from the smoldering ashes is something like russia, basically a gas station with nukes. But maybe that's the goal.
That is a goal they can live with, or a hilltop they can die on.
Yes. Read "Dying of Whiteness". These people are nuts.
Agreed, but saying so isn’t a strategy.
The battle has begun in Texas. We have been assailed by Christian Nationalists for a decade. Their victory in the legislature is almost complete. All that is stopping them are Texas Democrats denying them a quorum.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-christian-nationalism-epicenter/?utm_source=texasmonthly&utm_medium=webcta&utm_campaign=giftstory&gift_code=ODYzNzU4O2JkOTBiMjE2LWY3NTktNGZiNS05NDI0LTRmOTg0MmQ2YTEyYjsyMDI1MDgxMg==
https://riggedredistricting.com/
Thank you.
Again, names of the billionaires would be helpful in filling out the enemy’s order of battle. There is no reason their wealth should give them anonymity. We gain nothing by NOT naming them, or am I wrong there?
BINGO!!
The $3 billion he has grifted since he took office seems to not matter to those who were outraged at Hunter’s pickup truck payments.
That is a product of short attention spans and minds overloaded with propaganda.
"The $3 billion he has grifted since he took office seems to not matter to those who were outraged at Hunter’s pickup truck payments."
Grift is grift, and abusing power for personal gain is wrong. If you're concerned about Trump you should also be concerned about Biden or anyone else, but that's not the case in this forum.
A few words to the Trump "economy" voters and those who sat out the election because they were anti-Trump but could not bring themselves to vote for a womam. Everything we told them would happen is happening. And it happened so quickly because many major players just caved to Trump. Congress, Universities, law firms, tech companies, media companies. The MSM is unwilling to challenge Trump when he lies about everything. Trump is trying to justify his takeover of Washington, DC, by saying it is rampant in crime and violence. But no one questioned him at the news conference. Where is the evidence of his claims?
No sympathy to the economy voters. No sympathy to the non-voters. You OWN this.
You left out the compliant role in the Supine Court. Their faulty decisions have done little to nothing to stem this attack on the people and democracy.
"A foreign power could not have devastated the economy this effectively ." Boy does that hit it on the head. As he and his corrupt and cruel administration devastates not only the economy but so much we here hold dear . Waking up daily to this barrage is certainly taking a toll on my mental health.
We should assume, based on our experience, that everything Trump says is a lie, it would save time. I'm no expert but I don't see Manufacturing returning, in any meaningful way, for the same reason it left in the first place, Labor costs. If it's cheaper to pack up an entire operation and move it overseas than pay American workers then increased Manufacturing is highly unlikely, even without the idiotic tariffs. IMHO
Assuming any manufacturing does return, it will be years in the making. Sites have to be found, environmental studies are often necessary along with dealing with city codes and the NIMBY crowd. Construction and staffing take time, and to beat the labor issue, more robotic automation would be applied. The job growth would in no way reflect that of what manufacturing used to provide.
Steve, I will bet that manufacturers and labor unions will say to hell with any restrictions or contracts and will just get back to work immediately. Everyone will take financial sacrifice to restore what we’ve had. Democracy requires sacrifice. We will step up. We better step up! Thank you.
With you absolutely on the last two sentences; not sure about the first two. Businesses do like their profits, and will do what they can to maintain them. Picking up a whole manufacturing process and moving it back here might be more than they would want to address, especially considering the current economic climate. Admittedly, it's difficult to predict the future.
I keep asking myself why so many otherwise intelligent elected republicans defending nonsensical rants to justify attacks on civil liberties, an economy that was the envy of the world, and science. Moral cowardice? Payoffs in secret Swiss bank accounts? Dossiers of past illicit activities? Threats to family? Loyalty to party over country? Or just some naïve belief that the government is so resilient that it can take 4 years of abuse? Whatever the truth is I view the failures of Mitch McConnell and Chief Justice Roberts to hold tRump accountable as the off ramp to government sanity!!!!
You've captured the situation perfectly.
Sometimes bad people are just bad people. Irregardless of any intelligence they are morally deficient.
Poverty = a vulnerable and malleable populous. And poverty of the masses is a goal. Unfortunately for them, the majority of MAGA live in poverty and actually thought the Dictator would pull them out of it when his goal was to deepen it and to hell with them after he got their vote. In his first regime, media ran fact checkers about his repeated lies. In this regime, media no longer runs fact checkers because media is afraid to say Trump is a liar”. Let’s be realistic here, did anyone think he suddenly became honest? Of course he’ll “fix the numbers” or hire someone (your taxpayer dollars at work) to do it for him so he’s not held accountable. Did we really expect a 34 times convicted felon sex abuser to stop committing fraud and sex abuse? If that’s the case, Americans have become blind in addition to becoming cowardly and deaf and dumb (I am a deaf person who isn’t a coward or dumb). What kind of society have we become when we don’t unilaterally stand up against the destruction of everything good and decent and right in America and succumb to the Felon? A cheater is a cheater and will cheat on you and you and you and try to convince you you are at fault. Seems to me we are allowing the Cheater to cheat at a time when it’s more appropriate for US to threaten him and call out his lies everywhere on every social media on every podcast in every column in a massive effort to motivate Americans to action. Words may have some power but nothing supercedes action.
Jen, yes the Dear Leader's impact on the poor and middle class is having a huge impact, but I am more worried about the blatant power grab to turn this country into a police state. His “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force,” implies a far more dangerous scenario. Are they going to throw protesters in prison or kill them? The economy won't matter if most people who protest the regime end up dead or in concentration camps. Please write about this.
I never believe anything I hear coming from the regime-never have; unless it's something cruel.
tRump has no capacity for strategic or critical thinking. He has surrounded himself with fanatics and yes-men who tell him exactly what he wants to hear. Of course, they would cobble together 'new numbers' for his oval office sham. We won't know which was the straw which broke the camel's back until after the poor animal is broken... and then cash will flee the US at an amazing pace. The tRumpcession or tRumppression will be breathtaking.
Nice to start off with a photo of Agent Orange wearing a yellow tie. A cowardly color that matches his TACO stance and his constant dodging of tough questions like "What territories are you planning to swap to placate Putin?" Reply "I don't know. We might not do anything. We might set up a fantastic trade. I haven't been told anything....."
That last sentence fragment is telling. Others are pulling the strings of this fat puppet. It also indicates that he's not prepared for this meeting with the war criminal from Russia.
My bet is on Stephen Miller, the ultra-ultraconservative abhorrer of immigrants — from the past, present and future.
That is most probable. Miller shows up all too often being 'the man behind the curtain'. He is also one nasty piece of work.
Here are 100 protest signs. More are coming, and these are being improved every day, so sign up for more.
This moment demands protest. To each it should be unmistakable—urgent and morally unassailable. I speak for justice, duty, and shared humanity. Act now. We must protect the disadvantaged. Rise. We have many protests to do. Good trouble. Restack these 100 signs to spread the wealth. Others need to be armed.
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/100-free-protest-signs?r=3m1bs
Not only your intellectual honesty and insights burn through this piece, but also your instinctive disdain and disgust. Scientists are discovering that our innate intelligence is more widely dispersed through the body than they initially believed, and that a major node of intelligence is located 'in the gut,' as folk sayings have long told us. From the beginning, Trump has made me 'sick to my stomach,' and I've long spoken of being sick at heart as well. And as for my gut, it's been in a knot for more years than I care to count. This is all a priori to the things I've learned and continue to learn every damn day about him. And isn't that interesting? It seems Trump is making us all ill, all the time. Like a really, really bad smell--a gas leak or a rotting corpse in the woods. But he's not that, he's worse: a colorless, odorless bio-weapon in the hands of more intelligent and determined evil-doers. So keep reminding us of who he is, please.
We (sadly) ALL know who and what he is. The question is what should we do about it?
My solution? Take him out of office There must be many things he has done that he can be indicted for.
We need to make him run his presidency from a jail cell, NOW.
And that requires a Democratic House and Senate in 2027. What are the DNC and party leadership doing to achieve that?
VERY GOOD QUESTION, Donna.
WHAT IS the DNC and party leadership doing to extract America from the absolutely HORRIBLE position we have found ourselves in since the 2024 election.
AND, what is being done to stop him from further damaging our fragile democracy?? We need actions, not words.
Some actions begin with actions underground, Robert. We don't know a tenth of what's really going on, and never will. Have faith. It's better than whining. (Though I've done and probably will do more than my fair share of that!)
More than you might imagine. But it seems the system really is rigged, or more accurately stacked against them. If he really is a genius at anything, as he keeps insisting, tRUmp is a genius at hiring lawyers who find and exploit every hairline crack in our laws and Constitution to keep his hairy orange a** out of prison. More's the pity. Howling at the moon, here in the Burgh.
And, Leigh, as Leonard Cohen said, it is the cracks that let the light in!!!
Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir...I need the T-shirt.
From your lips to God's ears, but in my opinion, given the record thus far, nothing but the Epstein Affair has galvanized enough voters and perhaps their congressional representatives to even initiate impeachment proceedings. And if they were initiated there is every indication that they will fail to result in a conviction. See the two prior impeachment proceedings for support of this point. If those inside the administration want him gone there is of course the 25th amendment if they can demonstrate his unfitness for office on medical grounds. I ain't counting on that, but who knows? If they think Vance will be a less buffoonish and equally compliant stooge for the Project 25ers and the broliarchs, it could happen. Stay alive and stay tuned.
Remember: the tariffs are REALLY intended to replace PROGRESSIVE taxes (cut by ~$4T) with a REGRESSIVE consumption tax! Everything else is noise and distraction. We've been HAD.
Tariffs are not regressive, but flat taxes. Progressive taxes have a positive tax-rate vs. taxpayer-income slope. Regressive taxes have a negative slope. Flat taxes have a zero slope.
Tariffs are regressive because they have the greatest impact on working class consumers; the very nature of tariffs as flat taxes ensure they will be regressive.
Technically correct, thanks for comment. However: Moving FROM progressive TO flat is moving in the direction of Regression (lessens load on wealthy). Flat/consumption taxes are MUCH more painful for lower income/wealth. These tariffs were never really implemented to bring manufacturing home (nor can they, to any large extent). They are a new source of revenue to offset some of the recent huge cuts to progressive taxes.
Make no mistake: Trump has made it clear that he believes that most/all income taxes should be replaced by tariffs and other "flat" taxes that benefit the wealthy.
Have I misstated anything?
All of Trump's tariffs are illegal and should come from Congress. This should be mentioned in every conversation about tariffs.