Republican Skulduggery (part gazillion)

Click here for a particularly good article by Heather Cox Richardson, from her newsletter Letters From an American, on Substack, for January 30, 2024.

House speaker Mike Johnson has told his Republican colleagues that he will not bring forward the bipartisan immigration bill senators have been working on for months, calling it “absolutely dead.” 

Although Johnson insisted in November that border security was so crucial that he wouldn’t bring up aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza until such legislation was attached to it, Trump has made it clear he wants immigration and border security left on the table for him to use as an issue in his run for the presidency.

So, now that border security is apparently no longer of any urgency, House Republicans are moving to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. 

Rather than passing the laws the country needs, the extremist Republicans appear to be determined to tee up an issue on which Trump can run for president in 2024. House speaker Johnson has demanded “ZERO” illegal crossings into the U.S., but this is a standard that no previous homeland security secretary has met because it is impossible to wall off every single means of entering this country by water, air, or land. And—despite Republicans’ false claims that Biden has established “open borders”—immigrants were more likely to be released into the country during Trump's term than during Biden’s. 

What is going on here is an attempt of the extremist Republicans to undercut the administration by attacking a key cabinet officer not for actual misbehavior but on policy grounds. 

Johnson's rejection of the immigration bill now threatens aid to Ukraine: 

Ukraine is defending itself against an invasion by Russia, but the struggle there is larger than one between two countries: it is the question of whether the rules-based international order put in place after World War II will survive, or whether the world will go back to a system in which stronger countries can gobble up less powerful ones.

This Republican chicanery should be obvious to all -- but of course, it isn't. The MAGA mob and uninformed voters won't know all this is going on and will believe the lies their Republican leaders are telling them.

The Super Bowl Is Rigged!

Click here for an article at Esquire by my favorite columnist, Charlie Pierce, entitled "The Wingnuts Have Spoken About Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift." He comments, "This is turning me into a Chiefs fan."

The Democrats have rigged the Super Bowl for the Chiefs! The happy couple will endorse Biden during the half-time show, and everybody will get vaccinated.

Scott Greer (the mook, who claims to have an IQ of 187) says the Republicans have their own version of Taylor Swift: Lauren Boebert. There've been suggestions on Twitter that he retake that IQ test.

Buckle up -- it's going to be a long time until November!

The Final Battle: Why American Capitalism Is So Rotten (Part 10)

Click here for an article by Robert Reich at Substack entitled "The Final Battle (The last installment of Why American capitalism is so rotten, Part 10)," subtitled "Where we're heading, and what we need to do."

It's the final installment of his 10-part series, "Why American capitalism is so rotten." Here's a list of the weekly installments:

0.Why is American capitalism so rotten?

1.Beyond Trump

2.What really happened to the American dream?

3.The Myth of the Market

4.Freedom and Power

5.The Pernicious Myth of Meritocracy

6.Why the hell is Trump rising in the polls?

7.How America’s oligarchy has paved the road to fascism

8.How the oligarchy shrank America’s middle class

9.Resurrecting Countervailing Power

10.The Final Battle

Reich says:

FOR THE LAST 10 WEEKS, we’ve been examining American capitalism and asking why the common good has been so difficult to achieve in recent decades.

We’ve seen that American capitalism is one of the harshest forms of capitalism on the planet. Its safety nets are in shreds. Its promise of equal opportunity has given way to deep cynicism and distrust toward all the major institutions of American society.

We’ve also examined the reason for this. The moneyed interests — large corporations, Wall Street financiers, and ultra-wealthy individuals — have taken over much of our politics and media. They want Americans to be divided, to fight each other, so we don’t look upward and see where all the wealth and power have gone.

At the same time, the countervailing powers that once balanced the moneyed interests have all but disappeared.

The article concludes:

I’m hopeful. Despite the anger, fear, and bigotry released by Trump, I believe we will come out of this stronger, more united, more sure of our ideals.

The arc of American history shows that when privilege and power conspire to pull us backward, we rally and move forward. Sometimes it takes an economic shock like the bursting of a giant speculative bubble. Sometimes we reach a tipping point where the frustrations of average Americans turn into action.

Look at the progressive reforms between 1900 and 1916; the New Deal of the 1930s; the civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s; the widening opportunities for women, minorities, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people; the environmental reforms of the 1970s and more recently under Joe Biden; and the recent resurgence of labor activism.

Look at the startling diversity of younger Americans. Most Americans now under 18 years old are Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, African American, or of more than one race. In a very few years, most Americans under 30 will be. In fewer than three decades, most of America will be.

That diversity will be a huge strength. Hopefully, it will mean a more tolerant, less racist, less xenophobic society.

Our young people are determined to make America better. I’ve taught for more than 40 years, and I’ve never taught a generation of students as dedicated to public service, as committed to improving the nation and the world, as is the current generation. Another sign of our future strength.  

Meanwhile, most college students today are women, which means even more women will be in leadership positions in coming years — in science, politics, education, nonprofits, and corporate suites. That will also be a great boon to America.

As I tell my students, we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for. The future is up to us.

 

Believe me, it's interesting reading.

 

The Trump White House Pill Mill

Click here for an article by Charlie Pierce, at Esquire, entitled "Apparently the Trump White House Medical Unit Was Handing Pills Out Like Skittles," subtitled "A Defense Department report makes the previous administration's clinic looks like a West Virginia drugstore"

From The Washington Post:

“We found that the White House Medical Unit provided a wide range of health care and pharmaceutical services to ineligible White House staff in violation of Federal law and regulation and DoD policy,” says a new report from the Defense Department’s inspector general. “Additionally, the White House Medical Unit dispensed prescription medications, including controlled substances, to ineligible White House staff.” Many of those served by the unit should not have been.

Pierce goes on to talk about disgraced medical officer Ronny Jackson -- now Congressman Ronny Jackson, D-TX) -- with the nickname Candyman.

Clandestine medical services available to Trump White House staff even included elective surgery:

Wait. What?

Aliases were used “to provide free specialty care and surgery to ineligible White House staff members at military medical treatment facilities,” according to the report. Former staffers told the inspectors that an ineligible White House employee received free elective surgery and that “the unit altered practices to cater to high‑ranking officials.” One staffer said “we bent the rules to meet this very weird, strange culture that was there, and I think it was really to just impress people.”

The "very weird, strange culture" of the previous administration* already has been demonstrated in 100 different ways, some of them criminal. But I never figured that their White House was full of people getting covert tummy tucks and running the country while hopped up on goofballs. Crazy, man. Far out.

Charlie Pierce Discusses No Labels, Bill Barr

Click here for an article at Esquire by my favorite columnist, Charlie Pierce, on that execrable Joe Lieberman-adjacent organization, No Labels, largely about a column in The Wall Street Journal by that friend of democracy, Bill Barr.

Watching Barr hopscotch around his complicity in promulgating the former administration*'s lies about voter fraud is endlessly entertaining.

Lion's-mane Jellyfish

Mesmerising beauty of the Lion’s Mane Jellyfish 🪼 pic.twitter.com/oPFKi01qbW

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) January 26, 2024

Huh? Try it!

I did Nazi that coming…😳 pic.twitter.com/Wimcdme4JL

— Annie (@AnnieForTruth) January 23, 2024

Here's a cut-and-pasted message from Quora, a question answered by Kris Harpster:

How did America get to the point where a sociopath, a criminal, a traitor, and a petty conman is commanding a major political party?

Some say it started with Ronald Reagan and his bullshit about “trickle-down economics” and the untrustworthiness of the democratic govenment. Lying congenially, with one hand in the pockets of the poor and middle class, and the other hand forking it over to corporations.

Reagan stole from the Social Security fund, and then started taxing Social Security income, setting news lows of greed and self-servingness for Republican governance.

Ronald Reagan And The Great Social Security Heist | FedSmith.com

The author says that the Social Security amendments passed under Reagan's presidency laid the foundation for 30 years of embezzlement of the trust funds.

https://www.fedsmith.com/2013/10/11/ronald-reagan-and-the-great-social-security-heist/

But really, the blatant sociopathy, the cold as death soullessness, the treachery, and the betrayal of America, and the American people, commenced with former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, who proposed a “Contract with America,” which was, in essence, a disenfranchisement of all but the wealthy. Worse, Gingrich introduced the sociopathic concept of of stonewalling into governance, the refusal of cooperation with Democratics, in fact, refusal of engagement in the democratic process. In fact, sabotage of the democratic process. Lying, cheating, sabotage, smear-campaigning—the whole toolbox of narcissists and sociopaths—became the standard of Republican governance. I am not suggesting that any of this was entirely new, but the vile sociopath, Gingrich, raised it to an evil artform. Look at this guy. Would you trust this guy with anything?

The Republican party had been drawing the less principled of the politically-inclined, and of the people, for a while by the time Gingrich reared his ugly head.

Also, in the nineties, the so-called “Christian” evangelicals, the selfish and greedy sect of “Christians,” led by the likes of this psychopathic fraudster…

…had become political, and no, not because of abortion—that was always complete bullshit—because they saw the greed and corruption taking over, in politics, in the form of the Republican Party, and they wanted their cut. Do you think that people like Pat Robertson were going to let politicians take all that money and power for themselves?

Wherever criminals see a profitable racket, they want their cut. And the Republican Party had become a racket, with the United States government their racket.

And so, why would it suprise anyone that America’s #1 career criminal conman, grifter extraordinaire, donald trump, would rear HIS ugly head, demanding HIS cut?

He is THE ONE, wih his utter malignant narcissism, his hatred and greed and contempt, to lead the Republican Party, at last, to their Promised Land of corporate power over the nation, oligarchy and Fascistic control of America, and the American people. This will be Gingrich’s “Contract with America” fulfilled.

 Here's Robert Reich, back before the 2020 elections (and I've transcribed it below):




Trump is the consequence rather than the cause of the anti-democratic surge. Here's how the Supreme Court's infamous Citizens United decision — delivered 14 years ago today — brought us to our current moment. pic.twitter.com/r4axhJs3JZ

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) January 21, 2024

We're coming to the end of what might be called the anti-democracy decade. It began January 21, 2010, with the Supreme Court's shameful decision in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, opening the floodgates to big money and politics with the absurd claim that the 1st Amendment protects corporate speech. It ends with Donald Trump in the White House, filling his administration with corporate shills and inviting foreign powers to interfere in American elections.

Trump is the consequence, rather than the cause, of the anti-democratic surge. By the 2016 election, the richest 1/100th of Americans, 24,949 extremely wealthy people, accounted for a record-breaking 40% of all campaign contributions. That same year, corporations flooded the presidential, Senate, and House elections with $3.4 billion of donations. Labor unions no longer provided any countervailing power, contributing only $213 million. That's 16 corporate dollars for every $1 from labor unions. Big corporations and the super wealthy lavished their donations on the Republican party because Republicans promised them a giant tax cut if they won. As Lindsey Graham warned his Republican colleagues: "Financial contributions will stop" if the GOP didn't come through.

The political investments paid off big. For instance, groups supported by Charles and the late David Koch and their Koch Industries spent over $20 million promoting Trump's tax cuts, which will save them and their heirs between $1 billion and $1.4 billion every year. And courtesy of the tax cut, the number of companies paying $0 in federal taxes doubled in 2018. corporate profits are now at an all-time high, but almost nothing has trickled down. Companies have spent most of their extra cash on stock buy-backs and dividends. Stock buy-backs alone hit a record-breaking $1.1 trillion in 2018. This has given the stock market a sugar high but left little for workers. Not even a sizzling economy could match these returns.

The anti-democracy decade has been hard on American workers. Despite the longest economic expansion in modern history, real wages have barely risen. The share of corporate profits going to workers still isn't back to where it was before the 2008 financial crisis. Never in the history of economic data have corporate profits outgrown employee compensation so clearly and for so long. The so-called free market has been taken over by crony capitalism, corporate bailouts, and corporate welfare. No wonder confidence in political institutions has plummeted. in 1964, just 29% of voters believed the government was run by a few big interests looking out for themselves; but by 2013, 79% of Americans believed it.

Enter Donald Trump: "Big business, elite media, and major donors are lining up behind the campaign of my opponent because they know she will keep our rigged system in place."

That was what Trump proclaimed in his acceptance speech at the Republican convention in 2016, and then he rode the rigging all the way into the Oval Office.

It doesn't have to be this way. Even if Citizens United isn't reversed by the Supreme Court or defanged by constitutional amendment, a principled Congress and decent president could still rescue our democracy. House Democrats have already begun with their "For the People Act," the first legislation introduced when they gained a majority. It expands voting rights, stops partisan gerrymandering, strengthens ethics rules, and limits the influence of private donor money, by providing $6 of public financing for every $1 of small donations, up to $200, raised by participating candidates.

A new Senate and a new president could make these reforms law. On the other hand, a second Trump term could make the anti-democracy decade a mere prelude to the wholesale destruction of American democracy.

Trump himself couldn't care less. As he said in 2016: "I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them, two years later, three years later, I call them: they are there for me. That's a broken system."

These might have been the most honest words ever to come out of his mouth.

In 2020, the choice is clear. Continue America's move toward oligarchy or kick-start a new era of people-powered democracy.

Rising Tide of MAGA Mob - Brownshirts?

Click here for a Substack article by Robert Reich entitled "Trump's Brownshirts."

I differ with Robert here (something I very rarely do), because the existence of a "Brownshirt" force is one of the signs of fascism that I've been watching for, and I don't think it has yet reached that level of organization; a splintered mob is relatively weak. 

But it's a frightening chronicle of the rising tide of Trump-incited violence. He begins: 

I apologize for the length of this letter, but the subject warrants it. Donald Trump has galvanized an army of vigilantes who are casting a fearsome shadow over the 2024 election. Please spread the word.

It’s impossible to know how large this potential army is, but last October, 41 percent of pro-Trump Americans agreed with the statement that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” (That view was shared by 22 percent of independents and 13 percent of Democrats.)

He mentions the SWATting of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. Then there are death threats to Colorado Secretary of State JenHe mentions the SWATting of Maine Secretary a Griswold; Tanya Chutkin, a judge presiding over a Trump case (she was also SWATted); Fulton County DA Fani Willis and Sheriff Patrick Labat; and Jack Smith (who also was SWATted).

These are the tip of the iceberg. Trump has used incendiary, violence-inciting rhetoric repeatedly during his rallies. There's an audio recording of Roger Stone, the liasion between the Proud Boys and the Trump campaign, saying "Either [Congressman Eric] Swalwell or [Congressman Jerry] Nadler has to die before the election."(Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 attack.)  

Reich says: 

THERE IS A DIRECT AND ALARMING CONNECTION between Trump’s political rise and and the increase in political violence and threats of such violence in America.

He gives instances such as this:

Just before the House vote on impeachment, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado said he heard firsthand from Republicans that fear was holding at least two of them back. “I had a lot of conversations with my Republican colleagues last night, and a couple of them broke down in tears — saying that they are afraid for their lives if they vote for this impeachment,” Crow said on MSNBC.

And this:

The Republican majority leader of the Pennsylvania state Senate explained why she signed a letter backing Trump’s attempt to overturn the results in that state: “If I would say to you, ‘I don’t want to do it,’ I’d get my house bombed tonight.”

There's A LOT more. Reich concludes:

As I’ve said before, America is not the Weimar Republic on the eve of 1933, and Trump is not Hitler. But it is important to understand the parallels.

That Donald Trump still has not been held accountable for encouraging the attack on the U.S. Capitol, or for provoking his followers with his blatant lie that the 2020 election was stolen, continues to galvanize an army of potentially violent Americans.

He's right when he says  "America is not the Weimar Republic on the eve of 1933, and Trump is not Hitler," but boy howdy, are there parallels -- all kinds of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anti-Far-Right Demonstrations in Germany

 Impressive.

America should be protesting here in solidarity with Germans. We must unify against fascism. https://t.co/LP8rTUfGmi

— BeFree Agency 🌊 (@BeFree_Agency) January 22, 2024

Republican Views On Immigration

 

It's hard to believe, but the Republican party was not always xenophobic. Here are some statements from Reagan and George W. Bush:

This is an excerpt from an article in The Atlantic by Peter Wehner, entitled "The Party of Malice":

And in remarks at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, in 1984, Reagan said:

We call ourselves a nation of immigrants, and that’s truly what we are. We have drawn people from every corner of the Earth. We’re composed of virtually every race and religion, and not in small numbers, but large. We have a statue in New York Harbor that speaks of this, a statue of a woman holding a torch of welcome to those who enter our country to become Americans. She has greeted millions upon millions of immigrants to our country. She welcomes them still. She represents our open door.

All of the immigrants who came to us brought their own music, literature, customs, and ideas. And the marvelous thing, a thing of which we’re proud, is they did not have to relinquish these things in order to fit in. In fact, what they brought to America became American. And this diversity has more than enriched us; it has literally shaped us.

And here's a quote from W., when he was visiting a mosque six days after the terrorist attack on 9/11:

“America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country. Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads. And they need to be treated with respect. In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect.” America’s 43rd president added this: “Women who cover their heads in this country must feel comfortable going outside their homes. Moms who wear cover must not be intimidated in America. That’s not the America I know. That’s not the America I value.” And finally there was this: “This is a great country. It’s a great country because we share the same values of respect and dignity and human worth. And it is my honor to be meeting with [Muslim] leaders who feel just the same way I do. They’re outraged; they’re sad. They love America just as much as I do.”

Those words from a Republican sound incongruous now. The Republican party has gone a long way down the wrong path after those days.

Info wars: Trudeau v. Trump

Trudeau is not a computer scientist, but he's been briefed by computer scientists and has an educated layman's understanding of what he's talking about. Trump, on the other hand ...

Yes, he did mistake Biden for Obama. Yes, he did mistake Nikki Haley for Nancy Pelosi. Yes, he did mistake E Jean Carroll for his wife. Yes, he’s earned the name #DementiaDon. And yes, #TrumpIsNotWell… but when it comes to academics, Trump was never well. pic.twitter.com/aEn9qG0ad3

— BigBlueWaveUSA® 🇺🇸🌊🇺🇦 (@BigBlueWaveUSA) January 20, 2024

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO, grovels to Trump

Click here for an article at Substack by Robert Reich (Clinton's Secretary of Labor) entitled "Why Jamie Dimon loves Trump's policies," subtitled "A frightening example of the integrity-crushing intimidation of a possible Trump administration."

Speaking at Davos, Switzerland, at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said about Trump's presidency: 

"Take a step back. Be honest. He was kind of right about NATO, kind of right on immigration. He grew the economy quite well. Tax reform worked. He was right about some of China. He wasn't wrong about some of these critical issues."

Reich proceeds to firmly rebut each of Dimon's statements.  Then he says:

Why is Jamie Dimon — the most influential CEO in America — spouting these lies in favor of Trump? Because he thinks Trump has a good chance of becoming president, and Dimon wants to be in his good graces.Asked which candidate would be better for his business, Dimon said, “I have to be prepared for both. I will be prepared for both. We will deal with both.”

Dimon supported Nikki Haley in Iowa, to which Trump responded:

“Highly overrated Globalist Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMORGAN, is quietly pushing another non-MAGA person, Nikki Haley, for President,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social in late November. “I’ve never been a big Jamie Dimon fan, but had to live with this guy when he came begging to the White House. I guess I don’t have to live with him anymore, and that’s a really good thing.”

Ouch! If Trump becomes president, Dimon doesn't want to be in his bad books, because he knows Trump will be looking for reprisal against people who did not support him. Hence Dimon's grovelling at Davos.

Three Courageous Women

Alyssa Farah Griffin, White House communications director; Cassidy Hutchinson, Mark Meadows' executive assistant; Sarah Matthews, White House deputy press secretary.

Former Trump staffers: "A second Trump term would be the end of American democracy. I’ve never voted for a Democrat in my life, but in this next election, I will put policy aside and choose democracy." pic.twitter.com/KL7cGOZ6lT

— Intellectualist Videos - Official (@Intellect_Vids) January 20, 2024

Some quotes:

A second Trump term would mean the end of democracy as we know it.

He is willing to break every barrier to get into power and to stay in power.

He is a weak and feeble man who has no sense of character or integrity and has no sense of leadership.

This is not about politics; this is not about policy; this is about the character of the man.

A lot of people won't come forward, even if privately they'll acknowledge that Trump is unfit or will privately acknowledge that the 2020 election wasn't stolen, just because they know that they will face death threats; that their families will face death threats.

He knows how to use government better this time. He can put in die-hard loyalists who can weaponize every level of government against his detractors, against the American people, against the media. It's almost too scary to fully wrap your head around what it could look like.

Our singular focus needs to be, if he is the nominee, to make sure he is not elected president again next November.

On one side there's the truth, and that is reality; on the other side is propaganda and lies.

Democracy is an experiment, and it's not guaranteed. We're extremely fragile as a country, and so it's a democratic experiment.

In response to this clip, Trump's office called the three "ungrateful grifters who used the opportunities given to them by President Trump to benefit themselves, and who have gone 'full Judas.'"

Easy Workout

Click here for an easy 10-minute stretching routine.

Be afraid; be very afraid -- if Trump wins the presidency

Click here for an article at Substack by Robert Reich entitled "What Trump's lawyer is really advocating."

Trump’s lawyer, John Sauer, argued on Tuesday (before the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit) that a precondition for a president to face criminal trial is impeachment by Congress.

In effect, John Sauer was arguing for the equivalent of the 1933 Enabling Law in Germany.

Reich explains that the 1933 Enabling Law was passed by the German parliament, giving Hitler the authority to enact new laws without interference from either the president or the Reichstag for four years.

Hitler had used this law to eliminate opposition and cement his authority.

Over the next four months, Hitler and his Nazi henchmen swept away most of the guarantees of freedom and the rule of law in the German Constitution. They did this remarkably quickly by destroying every countervailing center of power.

They took over the governments of the individual states so that no possible opposition could come from places like perennially contrary Bavaria.

They took over radio stations and newspapers, under the direction of Joseph Goebbels’s new Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

They took over the civil service. The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service allowed Hitler’s regime to dismiss from public service anyone whose political record did not “offer sufficient guarantee” that they would “at all times wholeheartedly stand up for the national state” or who were “non-Aryan.” University professors and private lawyers fell under its terms.

They outlawed other political parties. Hitler’s government issued a decree declaring the Nazis the sole political party in Germany.

They targeted Jews. A week after passage of the Enabling Act, Hitler’s government declared a boycott of Jewish businesses and professional offices.

They rounded up political opponents. Hitler said he planned to bring “ruthlessly to account” his political opponents and “the whole clique around this vermin.”

In March, the Nazis declared with great fanfare the creation of their first concentration camp, at Dachau, near Munich. The first wave of victims were Hitler’s political opponents — liberal, left-wing, or pacifist politicians, activists, journalists, writers, and lawyers. In nearly all cases, the prisoners were tortured and beaten. Many were murdered.

They took over the judiciary. After the German Supreme Court acquitted four communists against whom evidence was either nonexistent or fabricated, Hitler ordered the creation of a new court, the People’s Supreme Court, especially for political offenses. Judges were subject to dismissal for verdicts that displeased the Führer.

They took over the military and all civilian militia. Hitler put Hermann Göring in charge of the Prussian police. As early as February 17, Göring ordered all Prussian police officers to use their firearms against “enemies of the state.” On February 22, a further decree allowed members of the so-called “Patriotic Associations” — militia such as the SA, SS, and Steel Helmet — to become auxiliary police officers.

Regarding comparisons between Hitler and Trump, Reich says:

Don’t get me wrong. The United States is not the Weimar Republic on the eve of 1933. American democracy is far stronger. Our economy is much stronger. We have not been through a grueling and destructive world war. We are polarized, to be sure, but we are not on the verge of civil war.

And Donald Trump is no Adolf Hitler. Trump may be a sociopath, but he is not as cruelly and cleverly demented as was Hitler.

Life improved under Trump?

Quora post from Brad Jensen, in answer to the question: How was your life personally damaged or improved in various ways during the tenure of Donald John Trump?

My life was significantly improved during the tenure of Donald Trump. I live in a crime-free city with good public transportation, excellent public schools, and extended maternity leave for both new mothers and new fathers. I now have 30 days vacation per year including many additional holidays. I am getting paid about 30% more and only work 35 hrs per week. I have significant protection against abitrarily being fired (or laid off or “rationalized"). I have excellent affordable insurance with no deductible and almost zero paperwork or hanging on the phone for hours. The streets, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure are well maintained. My daughter will pay nothing for college tuition when she is ready (or will receive excellent vocational training if that is what she chooses). The streets are quickly cleared of snow, and trash is picked up on time. If I were to become injured or disabled, I am confident I would be taken care of.

During the tenure of Donald Trump, I moved to Germany.

Frances Perkins - Social Reformer (A Debt of Gratitude)

1911, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire -- a life-changing experience. Secretary of Labor for FDR. We all owe her a lot.

When Frances Perkins was a little girl, she asked her parents why nice people could be poor. Her father told her not to worry about those things, and that poor people were poor because they were lazy and drank. Eventually, she went to Mount Holyoke College, and majored in physics. In her final semester, she took a class in American economic history and toured the mills along the Connecticut River to see working conditions. She was horrified. Eventually, instead of teaching until she married, she earned a masters degree in social work from Columbia University. In 1910, Perkins became Executive Secretary of the New York City Consumers League. She campaigned for sanitary regulations for bakeries, fire protection for factories, and legislation to limit the working hours for women and children in factories to 54 hours per week. She worked mainly in New York State’s capital, Albany. Here, she made friends with politicians, and learned how to lobby.

On March 25th, 1911, Frances was having tea with friends when they heard fire engines. They ran to see what was happening, and witnessed one of the worst workplace disasters in US history. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was devastating, killing 146 people, mostly young women and girls. Frances watched as fire escapes collapsed and fireman ladders couldn’t reach the women trapped by the flames. She watched 47 workers leap to their deaths from the 8th and 9th floors.

Poignantly, just a year before these same women and girls had fought for and won the 54 hour work week and other benefits that Frances had championed. These women weren’t just tragic victims, they were heroes of the labor force. Frances at that moment resolved to make sure their deaths meant something.

A committee to study reforms in safety in factories was formed, and Perkins became the secretary. The group took on not only fire safety, but all other health issues they could think of. Perkins, by that time a respected expert witness, helped draft the most comprehensive set of laws regarding workplace health and safety in the country. Other states started copying New York’s new laws to protect workers.

Perkins continued to work in New York for decades, until she was asked by President Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 to serve as Secretary of Labor. She told him only if he agreed with her goals: 40-hour work week, minimum wage, unemployment and worker’s compensation, abolition of child labor, federal aid to the states for unemployment, Social Security, a revitalized federal employment service, and universal health insurance. He agreed. Similar to what she had worked for in New York, her successes became the New Deal, and changed the country and its workers forever.

So while you may not know her name, you certainly know her legacy.

This was a Quora post by Kim S.

Incredible Trump Propaganda

You might think this is unbelievable -- but believe it. The right wing is immersed in stuff like this all day long.

“GOD MADE TRUMP”
No, this is not parody. This is next level cult shit, the likes of which we have never seen before. And his followers eat this shit up all day long. Unbefuckinglievable.pic.twitter.com/DT95J1CvAC

— cαηα∂α нαтεs тя☭мρ (@Trump_Detester) January 5, 2024

Gardiner Brothers: Feliz Navidad!

This may need an Instagram account; turn on the sound.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gardiner Brothers (@gardinerbrothers)

Trump, from those who know him

This is a post on Quora from Mark Zaborowski:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! INTRODUCING THE REAL DONALD TRUMP!

I am not talking about the Trump doing the old white man dance onstage at a rally before stepping up to the podium and singing the same tired song over and over. You know, the one that goes “I am great, and everyone is mean to me”? Yeah, that one. I am not talking about the Trump that avoids debates but loves showing up for softball interviews on conservative media. And I am not talking about the Trump that grabs his phone in the middle of the night or during a long BM to spout hate and insults. Those Trumps can seem like an in-control tough guy, maybe just a bit larger-than-life.

But there is another Donald Trump, one only seen by those close to him in time and space, those who are related to him and those who work with him and for him. The man they know and describe is very different.

Maryanne Trump Barry, Trump’s late sister and a retired federal judge: “Donald is out for Donald, period.” “Donald is cruel.” “You can’t trust him.” “He has no principles. None.” “The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy sh*t.”

Mary L. Trump, Trump’s niece and a psychologist said it all in the title of her book: “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man”:

Mike Pence, Ttump’s Vice President: “The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution. … Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”

John Kelly, retired Marine General and Trump’s longest serving Chief of Staff: “A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”

Rex Tillerson, Trump’s first Secretary of State: “(Trump’s) understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of US history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.”

John Bolton, Trump’s 3rd National Security Advisor: “I believe (foreign leaders) think he is a laughing fool.”

Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s communications director: “He is the domestic terrorist of the 21st century.”

Mark Esper, Trump’s 2nd Secretary of Defense: “I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.”

Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and long-time confidante and fixer: “Donald’s an idiot.”

There are many more, but you get the idea. To those who know him best, Donld Trump is a self-serving narcissist completely lacking in intellectual curiosity, integrity, and moral character. You wouldn’t want someone like him marrying your daughter or even joining your bowling team. Why would you vote to put him back in the White House?

Yay, Louie!

Aww it’s ok Louie. pic.twitter.com/FV7nQa0Fuz

— Noble Ron (@perry_ron) January 1, 2024