Today, the House of Representatives passed the Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping bill that will invest more than $430 billion in climate change and extended subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. It will raise about $737 billion over the next ten years by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, adequately staffing the Internal Revenue Service after years of cuts so it can catch people cheating on their taxes, and raising the tax rate on rich corporations to require them to pay a minimum of 15%.
What does it say? Donald Trump & the Republican Party are engaged in a treasonous criminal conspiracy that threatens the nation in countless ways. This cannot be treated as politics as usual.
Agreed. Gone are the days of reaching out to senators and representatives who deny the election, who parrot the big lie, who cheer overturning a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, who summon racist and armed mobs to murder our Vice President and Democratic elected leaders, and who now coalesce around blatant espionage and treason while delegitimizing the FBI’s authority to protect America from internal existential threats.
At this point the rule of law MUST be brought to bear, pronouncing de facto crimes and punishment, without fear of threatened civil war, or America will have fallen already.
~
And P.S. The climate provisions are great! Insufficient, but great. The 6th mass extinction, continents burning, sea level rising, etc may purge this whole experiment yet... but the climate provisions make me happy nonetheless!
And as a doc I cheer unshackling Medicare to reduce my patients’ drug costs a bit.
We should never have let it get this bad, but better to respond to epic corruption, dishonesty, and lawlessness late than never. We are still on the brink.
Good afternoon, Jeri. Yes, I think there is still a remarkable number of perfectly sane, ordinary, bright people who somehow have the capacity to not know what they don't want to know--if that makes sense. It's been building for so long that to look back at that is harder than looking ahead.
I would rephrase it, ". . . the capacity to not know what they SHOULD know". I believe that many well-intending, "true" Patriots are simply worn out by the constant barrage of negativity coming from the right and the Republicans. They are the poison pill that keeps America fully toxified, their odious nature almost suffocating. Yet, the MEDIA deserves a lot of criticism because the MEDIA plays off Trump and his followers.
I do tend to favor the ones who fly on their own. "Neediness" gives way to resilience. Fear overcomes cowardice, cowardice the trait so prevalent in today's society and culture.
I'm still outraged whenever I see Sen. Imhoff from OK, who brought a snowball into the Senate chamber in the 90's (a DC snowfall) and saying that there's no climate change.... what a fool. And no one wanted to listen to Al Gore. Ugh, it's exhausting, but thank God/Goddess/invoke the divinity of your choice..... it's a good start. And done by the Dems!
And further, what does it matter if climate change is real or not real. The bottom line is that the air, water and land is exponentially dirtier due to how society lives right now. No one disputes that. I have never met anyone who says the want to live in a polluted environment.
I recently listened to a radio commentary featuring a Native American environmentalist. We, the "white man", should be leaning on them for knowledge and understanding of Nature.
As the ice melts, land that contains natural resources (oil) is exposed. In particular, Pompeo wanted to exploit that. And probably still does. Just think of all the riches available under what is currently ice. Trump wanted to buy Greenland, remember.
shows Bezos, Bloomberg, Gates, among others, searching for valuable materials (used for manufacture of electric cars, no less) in the parts of Greenland exposed by melting on the west coast of Greenland: "The climate crisis is melting Greenland down at an unprecedented rate, which -- in a twist of irony -- is creating an opportunity for investors and mining companies who are searching for a trove of critical minerals capable of powering the green energy transition." Aside from the "irony", we need fewer cars, electric or otherwise, not more. If we generate more traffic, we use more electricity and produce more CO2. Electricity isn't a free and infinite resource. The Jevons paradox ("It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuel is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth," from Wikipedia) is a similar phenomenon in the case of coal in 19th century Britain. Past is prologue.
Hey, Doc Ryan. Focusing on climate, Robinson Meyer of the Atlantic highlights another bill that addresses climate change, the title of which is: "Congress Just Passed a Big Climate Bill. No, Not That One. A bipartisan act is quietly about to invest billions in boosting green technology." So Biden snuck that one in for climate while every one else was focused on CHIPS. Sneaky!
Lynell, I can't keep up with this deluge of information enough to discern fact from fiction ... so, the new law invests in green tech and other needed climate related measures ... whar about concessions to Big Oil ... new contracts to proceed with operations on and offshore ... what about the Arctic Wilderness ... what about leaky pipelines moving ahead with construction, regardless of permitting restrictions (DAPL; Lines 3 & 5; Trans Mountain; Trans Canada and more) ... who or what is holding these corporations, and THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS accountable and responsible for legitimate quality control - not to mention just observance of and respect for SOVEREIGN TREATY RIGHTS OF FIRST NATIONS PEOPLES who once again are being forced to PUT UP OR SHUT UP ... as " progress in the modern world" procedes unimpeded - regardless of cost or consequence to any and all ...? If we want to address loss of values, can we start with a close look at where we never had them in the first place ...?
"Greetings from Standing Rock. It’s good to be home again after a productive week in Washington, D.C.! A couple weeks back, I led a delegation of our leaders to discuss the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) with lawmakers, congressional staffers, and environmental organizers in the nation’s capital. I encourage you to watch the new Water Wars video highlighting our meeting with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), produced in conjunction with the Lakota People’s Law Project, the Great Plains Water Alliance, and the Oceti Sakowin.
"Our “Water Wars video” series chronicles the uniting of the Tribes of the Oceti Sakowin to stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). In this chapter, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairwoman Janet Alkire leads an important delegation to Washington, D.C. to visit with Senate and congressional leaders, including Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. #NoDAPL #MniWiconi"
DAKOTA WATER WARS - CHAPTER 7 - DELEGATION TO D.C.
"By now, you’re well aware of the massive threat imposed by DAPL to our homelands and our sacred relative, the Mni Sose, known by colonizers as the Missouri River. This trip was an opportunity to make sure those inside the Beltway remember that threat, too. We live every day with the reality that low water levels have made accessing and fixing any potential leak extremely dangerous and time consuming. And every time we demand transparency on an adequate emergency response plan from the Army Corps of Engineers, we’re stonewalled.
"That’s why it’s so critical we have support from leaders like Rep. Tlaib. As a tribal chairwoman, I have tremendous respect for the next generation of female BIPOC leaders in Washington. And I’m grateful to know that the feeling is mutual, at least for Rep. Tlaib and other members of the Squad, which also includes New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. These brave women have consistently shown that they recognize the dangers of pipelines and care about what happens to us as Native People. Did you know that AOC decided to run for Congress after visiting Standing Rock to take part in the #NoDAPL resistance in 2017? And then last year, the Squad was present in Minnesota to meet with Indigenous leaders and speak out against the Line 3 tar sands pipeline.
"We have powerful allies, so we’ll keep pressing and building this movement. It’s up to all of us. DAPL’s Environmental Impact Statement, an absolute sham prepared by an oil-friendly firm, was supposed to come out for public comment months ago. Where is it? We’ve only seen a redacted copy, and the government knows that when it drops publicly, you’ll be ready and waiting with us to point out its many serious flaws. They can only delay so long. Our day is coming, and I remain hopeful that, together, we’ll achieve our mission of ending this pipeline once and for all."
Wopila tanka. Thank you for remaining in this fight with us.
Thank you for this important information, Kathleen. I am following a new podcast, The Tongue Unbroken, which features stories about restoring native languages. They describe English phrases that perpetuate negative impressions of native people like 'circling the wagons' and 'low man on the totem pole.' There are lessons everyone can benefit from.
"In this video co-produced by Standing Rock Nation, the Lakota People's Law Project, and the Great Plains Tribal Water Association, tribal leaders throughout South Dakota explain the ongoing struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) at Standing Rock. They explore the spiritual power of the NoDAPL movement and the way it brought tribes together from all over the country in support of Unci Maka (Grandmother Earth)."
*****
Dakota Water Wars, Chapter Five: Ignoring Tribes, Ignoring Laws
"Our “Water Wars” video series chronicles the uniting of the Tribes of the Oceti Sakowin to stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). In this chapter, we explore the disconnect between what’s happened with the pipeline — its illegal operation and crossing just to the north of Standing Rock under the Mni Sose, our sacred Missouri River — and what should have been done. Bottom line: DAPL should not be operating without Tribal input and consent and full compliance with the law."
*****
6/16/22 - from Chase Iron Eyes of Dakota Law:
"This is the fourth video from our “Water Wars” series, co-produced with Standing Rock, the Great Plains Water Alliance, and the Oceti Sakowin, highlighting why we resist the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). When the oil company forced DAPL through our homelands, it claimed that we, the Native People on the frontlines, had been consulted. But that term has come to mean less than nothing to us. What’s required under international law and what should be standard operating procedure with projects like DAPL is something much more substantial than “consultation” — and that’s our Free, Prior, and Informed Consent."
Watch: “Consultation” isn’t an adequate standard. We never gave our consent for DAPL to threaten our water and homelands.
Dakota Water Wars, Chapter Four: Free, Prior, & Informed Consent
"No matter what they think over at the oil company headquarters, this isn’t the wild wild west anymore. There are rules. This pipeline is operating illegally, without a federal permit. Here in the modern era, I think most of us will also agree that no means no, and gaining consent from those affected before taking action is critical. The concept of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (or FPIC) is, in fact, codified in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. And Under President Obama, the United States promised to recognize the right we hold as the Nation’s first inhabitants to have a definitive say in what happens to our homelands.
"'Consultation” is a sham. Sending us emails notifying us that a pipeline is about to be drilled under our sole source of fresh drinking water is inadequate, and expecting us to stand aside and let that happen is just plain foolish. I’m grateful that, as our partner in this movement, you’re resisting with us. Please continue to stand with the Oceti Sakowin, and together, let’s defeat DAPL once and for all."
Wopila tanka — Thank you for supporting Indigenous justice!
Chase Iron Eyes
Co-Director and Lead Counsel
The Lakota People’s Law Project
*****
Dakota Water Wars, Chapter Three: Money Against a Prayer
"For time immemorial, we have lived along and revered our sacred relative, the Mni Sose, the Missouri River. These days, as you know, the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) crosses under the Missouri — just upstream from the Standing Rock Nation — without a federal permit. And yet, unlike the oil company, we are required to have a permit just to pray in our traditional sweat ceremonies in certain, sacred spots along the river’s banks.
"This bit of disturbing cognitive dissonance is the subject of our third video in the “Water Wars” series we’re producing in partnership with Standing Rock and other tribes of the Oceti Sakowin. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch and share Dakota Water Wars, Chapter 3: Money Against a Prayer."
Dakota Water Wars, Chapter Two: Honor the Treaties
"The Tribes of the Oceti Sakowin are united in our mission to stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). Hundreds of years of colonization — forced migration, broken treaties, flooding our territory, and the refusal to return our homelands — has led us to this moment. We won’t stop fighting for what is right, for our People and for Unci Maka, our Grandmother Earth. Honor the treaties. Mni wiconi — water is life."
"In this video, you’ll hear from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairwoman Janet Alkire, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Kevin Killer, and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier. It’s the first in a planned series that will delve more deeply into the complex issues faced by the tribes in their fight to stop DAPL — a pipeline which continues to operate without a permit for its crossing under Lake Oahe just north of the Standing Rock Nation.
"Chairwoman Alkire has been actively relaying tribal concerns directly to Michael Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. She recently returned from a meeting with him, in which she discussed the lack of transparency concerning DAPL’s oil spill response plan for the Missouri River and the terrible safety track record of its parent company, Energy Transfer. As detailed in a press release from the tribe, over a recent 8-year period, nine pipelines owned and controlled by Energy Transfer and its affiliated companies experienced nearly 300 spills — including 50 large ones in vulnerable areas like Lake Oahe.
"Until this pipeline has a valid Environmental Impact Statement and federal permit, it is operating in violation of the laws designed to safeguard our people, our delicate water systems, and our sacred homelands. We must keep the pressure on U.S. leaders to do the right thing and shut DAPL down. Please watch our video, stay tuned for the next chapters, and be ready when the time comes to take action together."
"... an Army representative came to Standing Rock to meet with tribal leaders from across the Oceti Sakowin. He listened to presidents and chairpersons, elders and community members, and he told us he heard our concerns. We hope that’s true. But since that day, it’s been a game of wait and see, with no movement from the Army and no release of the EIS — which, of course, was prepared by a pro-oil firm. It’s almost as if they know we’re not going to be happy unless the pipeline is shut down, and that we have a legion of supporters ready to engage in favor of an honest process."
Excellent, Kathleen! I also, admire “The Squad” and their endeavors. They don’t give in nor do they ever give up. Powerful women and I would like to add Katie Porter in that group.
Likewise Marlene - also, Senator Mallory MeMorrow of Michigan - and, of course, Leigh McGowan (Politics Girl) ... many conscious voices ... so, some respite from the miserable grind ... got to keep on keepin' on ... carry the earth with love and care - feel the embrace of heaven holding the globe - we are the horizon - may fresh winds blow through with every breath ... one breath at a time ..., carry on ....
Boy, howdy, Kathleen. I can't keep up either. But I do follow news about climate from some very knowledgeable journalists, in my opinion, who aren't afraid to report what they see happening. I acknowledge what you are saying about the mountain of work that still needs to be done. But this week, I think you'll agree, the Congress finally got it right by passing these climate bills that are being signed into law. Sometimes to get further, I feel stopping to give a hearty high-five does more to spur people on to do more than if we just keep talking about what hasn't been done yet.
This summer I have signed several petitions regarding DAPL, Lines 3 and 5. I have donated to these causes as well, putting my trust in those organizers who know how to further the cause.
Because the earth needs a good lawyer, I have signed petitions from and donated to Earthjustice who say: "At Earthjustice, we're rewriting our planet's future — one case at a time."
I donate regularly to Lakota People's Law Project and get news from them. Though not related to climate, here is the latest I received from LPLP:
"Dear Lynell,
Good news! Here at the Cheyenne River Nation, things are on track toward our goal of creating a tribally-run Child Welfare Department. Just last week, we held our second hearing in Eagle Butte, our reservation’s largest community. We recorded powerful testimony from several families, which we will ultimately present to the Cheyenne River Tribal Council.
I encourage you to watch our new video, in which Virginia White Feather — one of my fellow grandmothers in Wasagiya Najin, our Standing Strong grandmothers’ group — and I talk about the importance of our efforts to keep Native children in Native care."
And this from Evergreen Action who partners with Evergreen Action:
The House just passed the biggest clean energy investment in U.S. history. Transformational climate action is coming to America!
Let me be very clear: This would not have been possible without the sustained advocacy of people like you. In the last 18 months, through all the highs and lows, our grassroots community showed up.
☎️ We made 5,574 calls to our representatives
📬 We sent 4,591 letters to our leaders
📝 We gathered 44,264 signatures on our petitions
No matter what, you never gave up.
And it worked. With your support, we turned hundreds of billions in climate investments from a moonshot into reality.
I cannot overstate the impact of this bill—lowering costs for American families, dramatically reducing deadly pollution, and giving the U.S. and the world a fighting chance at avoiding the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
This bill is also a compromise with provisions that could do real harm—specifically in the Gulf South and Alaska. That's why we must ensure this bill is a beginning, not an end. We are already gearing up for those fights—and this bill means we have brand new resources to help win them.
I'll be sharing more of my thoughts on this monumental achievement soon, but until then, I just want to say thank you.
For every call, every letter, every signature—thank you.
For your hope, your resolve, your dedication—thank you.
For helping make history—thank you.
Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow, the next day, and every day after, we continue working toward the future we deserve—together.
Thanks for the info, Lynell. i think you just found another donor. I want to add that having Deb Haslsnd in Congress has made a tremendous difference also.
Yes, I agree, Marlene; though, I hardly get a chance to keep up with her. Just have faith that she will do the right thing!
Plus, among my stack of emails, I did see a headline somewhere that Al Gore is very happy with what Congress has accomplished for the climate. Hope to find it again
Thank you Lynell - and all of you for your response, and concern. No time now to converse ... and so much more than I can even see to do ... a word from the cosmic heart to guide ...:
Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu – Verse 8
"The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It flows to the low places loathed by all men.
Therefore, it is like the Tao. Live in accordance with the nature of things.
In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling be just.
In action, watch the timing.
No fight: No blame.
One who lives in accordance with nature does not go against the way of things.
Oh, my. So lovely, Kathleen. The supreme good, and all that follows, along with your prayer. We of white skin stole the land from these good people. We must return at least a goodly portion back to them in the condition it was before we took it. We can do this. We must do this.
Excellent! This makes me happy too. I know I’m not cool enough to fully grasp the ironic concept of dark Brandon… but this stealth climate action is pretty 🥷
Here's my final post for you, this coming from Al Gore, no less. The headline reads: "Al Gore hails Biden’s historic climate bill as ‘a critical turning point’"
I'm just providing the link to prove I didn't make it up!
That he has the unmitigated gall to say that after announcing the "Plan" to sunset Medicare and Social Security might even rise to the "Top Ten" level of Republiqan nonsense.
They weren't nearly as bad I think, but some of the same dynamics were in play. But recall that Republicans cooperated in impeachment investigation Nixon, and Nixon started the EPA which Reagan wanted to shut down.
Nixon said "I am inaugurating a program to marshal both government and private research with the goal of producing an unconventionally powered, virtually pollution free automobile within five years.".
"If the (oil) embargo is lifted, this will ease the crisis, but it will not mean an end to the energy shortage in America. Voluntary conservation will continue to be necessary... These measures will require the oil companies and other energy producers to provide the public with the necessary information on their supplies. They will prevent the injustice of windfall profits for a few as a result of the sacrifices of the millions of Americans."
Nixon was creepy, but he wasn't Reagan and he wasn't Trump. Earlier in history, Eisenhower said "This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
You’re right that Nixon was is a different category than Reagan and Trump. My complaint against Nixon is that he got the Southern Strategy rolling. That is what made all Republican victories after 1968 possible and what has devolved to the shameless crowd of Republicans currently in office and to the racist rabble that has put them there.
More Nixon. Imagine any prominent Republican saying this today:
It results not so much from choices made, as from choices neglected; not from malign intention, but from failure to take into account the full consequences of our actions.
"Quite inadvertently, by ignoring environmental costs we have given an economic advantage to the careless polluter over his more conscientious rival. While adopting laws prohibiting injury to person or property, we have freely allowed injury to our shared surroundings. Conditioned by an expanding frontier, we came only late to a recognition of how precious and how vulnerable our resources of land, water and air really are. ... Industries, power plants, furnaces, incinerators-these and other so-called "stationary sources" add enormously to the pollution of the air. In highly industrialized areas, such pollution can quite literally make breathing hazardous to health, and can cause unforeseen atmospheric and meteorological problems as well."
The cost of drugs can be a barrier for some, yet it seems to me that healthcare is a social necessity. I'm pro free enterprise, but for that to actually be free, you need robust and real competition to keep quality up and prices moderated. When Republicans talk about the "free market" what they mean is that corporate agendas tr*#p human rights, and "freedom" for conglomerates to dominate the market and control pricing. We fought that much of the 20th Century, and were then bamboozled into welcoming back.
I also see a legitimate role for a robust public sector as well as private enterprise. Their strengths and weaknesses differ, and they can compliment each other; but the rules of commerce should be the prerogative of the public will, not vice versa.
Thanks for calling out the climate provisions; the good news for the week that was nearly overshadowed by Trump’s crimes and the threats of violence. As a doctor, you understand better than most, the public health costs of the climate crisis. Insufficient? Yes. But a tiny bit of balm for this climate warrior’s soul. When added to the additional climate legislation also passed this week (see Lynell’s comment in this thread), maybe we can head off a complete meltdown for our kids and all future generations. I’m a bit more hopeful of that if for no other reason than that the Senators that roped Manchin back into discussions about climate provisions used the economics of renewable energy to convince him of the benefits. Yep, if you offer the same level of federal incentives for solar and wind, as you do for oil and coal, renewables can compete. Imagine that!! Even better? We might be able to continue as a species. Maybe....
Is it not true that once environmentally safe technology can compete (thanks to tax credits largely?) with fossil fuels, they will gradually get cheaper and therefore outstrip fossils? This seems like the intent to me. Am I following?
You are following. Taking renewable energy “to scale” is a tough enterprise, for many reasons: it is not “centralized,” - think power plant - and because it is decentralized, the laws and regulations that regulate it can be vastly different (think state vs municipal vs federal vs interstate) depending on who owns the generation equipment (wind turbines or solar panels) and who owns the transmission (sometimes it is the energy companies; sometimes its a government entity; sometimes its a private equity company) South Dakota has vast wind resources and could power much of the Eastern US. Some of my home’s electricity is generated 250 miles away near the SD border. So how could energy generated in SD be delivered to say Chicago or east to Indiana or even to Philadelphia? Transmission. Who builds, owns and maintains that transmission system? With the feds incentivizing wind and solar, power companies can plan their design of systems and formulate internal plans that reach carbon reduction goals because they understand the need to work across political boundaries, standardize regulatory policies, and develop manufacturing and supply chains to meet the new goals. While they are switching from the old to the new, such policies can help them figure out not only how to generate and distribute power but make it economically attractive to shareholders to make the switch.
Case in point: Minnesota, where I live, has a Renewable Energy Standard - a certain percentage of all electricity generated and used here has to come from renewables. When the law was first passed in 2007, the goal was 20% by 2020. Our major utility, Xcel Energy actually hit that goal 7 years early!! Cheaper to generate when you build and maintain systems to capture renewables vs. the volatile world markets of oil, gas and coal. We are on track to hit 50% - if the Repubs don’t take over!!
I have one retirement fund composed entirely of renewable energy companies. My rate of return, in the last five years, 12% to 42%! Yes, it can be a very good investment and with the new policies passed last week, it will only get better.
Thanks, Sheila, for this detailed explanation of the complexity of planning, implementing, regulating for renewables -- so many different intities and interests invovled at several levels of government or private ownership. Very complex!! It helps me realize better the difficulty of your work. Are you getting increasing cooperation among all these players? How are they reacting to the monies?
And don't forget that the threatened ex-VP, good acolyte that he is, is right up front defending every single thug, even the thug-in-chief who was calling for his execution!
Yes, sir. This is so much more than I expected. In these hard times, I have revived an old practice. At the end of the day, I write a gratitude list. Five things, no more no less. It couldn't be simpler, takes no time. Some days I'm tempted to write "Not an effing thing" five times, but I usually resist the urge. It's what Biden is slowly, painstakingly doing in the face of the swirl of ugliness around him, that amazes me. I am grateful every morning that Dr. Richardson is here to remind me.
For Trump's part, I don't think he understands a word like "espionage." He has one compass that responds to just one lodestone: personal profit. I doubt that the thought of "harm to nation" crossed through his mind even once: I'm not sure his damaged mind can grasp the concept. What he saw was a shiny thing he could sell. Something so shiny, he could get buyers to bid against each other to get it. Trump's best defense is going to be an insanity plea, executed by his lawyers, with permanent commitment to an asylum as the outcome.
As for the rest of the Republican politicians -- I'm just left shaking my head. Wow. When are they going to retreat to "The Devil made me do it! It wasn't me! It was the Devil!"
Wherever they go, the crime is now moving toward overt espionage and treason, and I don't think even Presidents get a free pass on that.
I think he planned to be like a Confederacy President atcMar-a-Lago, and use this info to blackmail our security or the security of other nations. He certainly saw it all as ‘a stay out of jail insurance.’ He could care less about the National security of us or out Allies as long as he makes a buck and protects his own hide.
It would be nicer to be rid of him, but we cannot have him become a martyr for his cult. He has to sit and rot. It won't take very long. He will shrivel up so fast without his adoring crowds and attention. Just a little, orange, dried raisin will be found sitting on his cot in due course.
He would never simply rot away in prison. The right-wing media would lionize him as a martyr suffering because of the evil and corrupt liberal socialists who want to turn the country into a communist regime. They probably would force Twitter to give him back his account and then it would be daily screeds and pleas to get me out of this hellhole that I never should have been sent to. Blah, blah, blah and, on and on and on. It would never end, and we would never heal.
Out of sight would be a welcome relief. Could we start now? Why do news media include photos of the ogre? We know who he is and what he looks like. Photos just play into his hands: free publicity. He loves it, and it makes the news people his dupes.
The media are not dupes. They pander to anyone who will pay to subscribe which is why they traffic in false equivalencies and characterizing this as politics as usual. Trump sells big time!! Apparently, they don't believe their days are numbered if Republicans get in control of the country and put them out of business.
Trump has had possession of this material illegally since January 20, 2021, and had been mishandling it before that. Trump’s theft was dozens of boxes of documents. Anyone else would have been arrested the next day for even one page of this stuff. Every single day since January 21, 2021 has been special treatment.
Joan, I agree. I had posed the question about security briefings right after Biden was sworn in, trying to find out whether TFG was continuing to get them, but never found out. Just a few days ago, I heard that Biden had given instructions that Trump was not to receive any security briefings - ever. Without fanfare or political posturing, Sleepy Joe, the elderly, doddering person who continues to be the target of the right wing's "concerns" about his mental acuity, took care of that essential business right out of the gate. They were right to fear his abilities.
To your point, we discovered too late that we have no guardrails, and the gentlemen's agreements upon which the framers depended are simply myths. All of this must be reconsidered, and as with the Supreme Court, definitive laws must be instituted, if our democracy is to be saved.
You're saying they shouldn't have followed protocol, e.g., finding out what was actually in the boxes, requesting them back, subpoenaing them when the request didn't get a response, etc.? The ends justify the means, in other words? Not to mention -- notice how Republican "leaders" reacted even when all the i's were dotted and all the t's crossed? Can you imagine what the reaction would have been if DoJ had said "To hell with the rule of law" and just marched in?
When anyone else has been known to possess government documents illegally, the FBI gets a legitimate search warrant and retrieves them immediately (they don't wait a year and a half). Then the person faces charges in court. Reality Winner went to jail for 4 years for one single page. In most cases, a subpoena is not used to recover stolen property - a subpoena is for property that the person possesses legally. The rule of law has been taking much longer to be applied to Donald Trump than it would take to be applied to anyone else.
His threats to National Security are Many since the very beginning of his charade and illegitimate time as POTUS and yes, they were all cast aside, despite many warnings from the legitimate parts of our govt. Consider:
1. His insistence on using a Blackberry despite lack of security
2. Kushner's inability to even pass / obtain clearance
3. Actual sharing of Top Secret intel with Russians in oval
4. Refusal to allow req'd note-taking w/ Putin in Helsinki
5. Mtg w/ N Korea despite insistence otherwise by nat sec
etc, etc.
He has been a threat to not just our own US but the entire world. As has been suggested, the orchestrated plan to steal some our highest level of secure documents was to keep them as hostage for a continuation of his work to destabilize the entire system of governance. Even now, after gone and a legitimate, hard-working and honest POTUS is back in place his crimes remain an ongoing threat. That the once-legit party that sprung him has prostituted itself to lower than ever thought imaginable is additional confirmation that none of them can ever be allowed to be in positions of governance again. They are simply incapable of decision-making based on fairness and what's best for "We the People".
This is what I keep thinking about! How is it possible Trump and all his traitorous cabal (including many Republican members of Congress) are still walking free? This is insane and I would like to hear someone/anyone in the Democratic leadership ask this question and demand an answer. As the good doctor above stated, this is not politics as usual! This is an organized and planned attack on our government by people within our government. We're three months away from an election that could decide the direction this country takes, and the minority party has a good chance of winning! I know why this can happen, but I can't understand how it can happen.
It is happening because 74 million Americans, almost all with white supremacist views, think it’s a good idea. It’s their way of pursuing their top political priority, which is to preserve systemic advantages for white people.
Yes, all those top secret docs re: nuclear power have already been sold by Jared et al to the Saudis and anybody else with the cash or influence to make more cash. The LIV golf tourney - a little payback gift from the Saudis for all the top secret info.
There is another motivating factor we sometimes think of as secondary, but I see as primary, and that is his paranoid sense of grievance. He constantly feels threatened, and this propels his lying and laughable self aggrandizing as well as his demand that those around him mirror it back. When they falter or refuse, he flies into an infantile rage and seeks revenge (way too many examples to list here, but think Jim Comey for starters). The ones who stick with him the longest are those share his sense of personal grievance and feel championed by him, and those he has terrorized with actionable threats of revenge.
Maureen you're spot on. I can tell you (having been married to one for a few years) that narcissism combined with sociopathy creates this toxic combo. I suspect that all politicians are narcissists, but most are not this degree of deranged. However they are not above using the sicko psycho for their own political ends: it has suited their purposes to have him at the helm.
I hope we have not gotten to the point of overt espionage. The Republican cult is making war on the rest of us.,There is not one thought for the good of the country.
Exactly. I can’t get my head around the signs I see in rural areas near where I live: “Promises Made, Promises Kept”, “Thank You, Mr. Trump”. What exactly did he do for anyone but the wealthy? Well, there are all those judges and three radically conservative Justices, but really, cutting taxes on the wealthy helps the man on the street how?
What's interesting about Trump's lawyers in particular is how mediocre they are. It's almost as if competent lawyers don't want to work for an arrogant creep who doesn't pay his bills.
I can’t find my way around the thought that he did this exclusively in his own self-interest, holding out for the highest bidder when he needs the money. Namely the Saudi’s.
Externalization of blame has been this immature narcissist's characteristic defense. It is immature, but it has worked fabulously well. TFG successfully convinces his acolytes that the corrupt system has it in for him. Beginning in 2017 mental health professionals have periodically warned the country and Congress that DJT is mentally unfit. Such diagnosing, without ever having actually encountered the subject in a professional setting is controversial, and fairly so. But it also seems fair to affirm that this malign person is, in fact, mentally ill. The harm he causes still mounts day by day. The evidence against him serves only to galvanize his supporters in his defense, as that Ohio Navy veteran tried to do. The danger is a coordinated effort on TFG's behalf, and the Republicans feed it. Astonishing and dispiriting!
Donald Trump has been morally and spiritually ill his entire adult life. Perhaps he has also been cognitively impaired more recently; he does so much acting, it’s hard to tell. Beware of excusing one more white man from responsibility for his crimes by calling him mentally ill. That lets him off the hook, and maligns people who are actually mentally ill.
Mary Trump in 1st book suggests that, in addition to other things, he may have an as yet undiagnosed learning disability. Not a defense but it does explain some of the apparent problems in processing information.
The possible irony here is that all of us who realize Trump is mentally ill could be the ultimate defense his attorney will use. 'Our client is deemed mentally ill and therefore does not realize he has committed any crimes and therefore is not responsible for these crimes. We plead not guilty by reason of insanity."
And there's the rub. As I understand, a criterion for the insanity defense is not knowing what was done/committed is wrong. ChipsPOV, you may be frighteningly right.
DJT has given all of us arm chair diagnosticians loads of evidence/symptoms to look up in the DSM. I know I shouldn't do it, I just can't help myself sometimes. Even so, I'll withhold my thoughts on this.
Here are some pertinent facts re: mental illness: mentally ill people are far more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators of them; mentally ill people commit crimes at about the same rate as the general population, even those with antisocial personality disorders. The law only excuses someone with mental illness from committing a crime if it can be demonstrated they did not know they were doing something wrong at the time. DJT clearly knew much of what he was up to was illegal, or there would not have been so much secrecy. Indeed, the 1/6 Committee clearly demonstrated he was told point blank many times that what he was doing was illegal, by many different people.
I don't think the Flip Wilson defense will work any better than "Befehl ist befehl" did at Nurnberg. A President might get a pass but a failed insurrectionist former president, not so much.
Tfg can't even say the word "yesterday". I don't think anything, including espionage, is above this guy as long as it benefits him fiscally or strokes his ego. He better get used the word "espionage"" even if it has no meaning to him.
I just re-read your comment about SC, the right way this time. So am trying to delete what I said originally. I now see where you were going with it. Geesh.
The Republican Party was in about the same place from 1932 until 1952 when Ike ran in the direction of a partriot. Google "White House putsch 1933" The Rs thought Benito and Adolph were the Victor Orban's of that era.
During WWII, many of them did not believe that War measures applied to them. My AUSA Mother helped lock up a lot of them.
I have looked forward to todays “letter” all day. I could hardly wait to read it. I do not listen to the news as it is so much talking over each other I can’t follow it. I know you will explain things in a organized , concise manner. And I do not have to wonder if it is truth or fiction. I do very much appreciate you.
Hey, Christine. I used to be awed by the "news," thinking they were so much smarter than me. Then I got Heather and her Letter and my friends on LFAA from all over the country, where I can get the real "skinny" on what's going on; and, as you say, don't have to wonder whether it's truth or fiction. Truly something to appreciate!
I gave up on those “panels” also, Jeri. Someone else on this forum, I think, said, “My need to stay informed is directly impacted by my need to stay sane.”
Ha, back in the day, I was too cheap to go for cable, though many tried to sign us up. But there still is a lot of cable-less types out there to avoid.
I've been sending Heather's letters to a cousin who voted for T. She commented that it is so one-sided. But Truth is truth, no matter how you look at it.
I get the same response from my Fox watching husband. If I comment that what he's listening to is propaganda and fear tactics he complains that my sources are one-,sided too..Yes the Truth is the Truth but you'll never get your cousin to believe it. Their minds have been re-wired I'm convinced.
Agree, Jeanne. I have a similar issue with my two sisters.
I wonder how your cousin comes to the conclusion that "it is so one-sided." I guess more to the point, what is the "it" that she is referring to. Just being curious here.
Thank you Heather for helping all of us get through this nightmare. I can’t believe I’m living in this time in history. Whew. Your daily letters will be studied in the future and those that read them will be hopefully as shocked as we are. Get some rest this weekend. You deserve it. 💙
Uh, Jan... we ain't gots thru it yet... the loser ex-president is still walking and talking and not being indicted/sentenced/imprisioned/deported. Otherwise I agree with you totally.
Sometime in my pre-teen years I heard an adult say that "May you live in an interesting time" was a "Chinese curse", and, at that time, I thought it made no sense at all. Live and learn.
I like boring better, when I could focus my energy on animal welfare, the environment, and books for erudition. Of course, back then, I had no clue about the depth of inequality, the extent of political evil, or the extreme danger that was lurking with Mother Earth. Reminds me of Schweitzer “Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” Well Albert, it is all in our consciousness now, ostriches excluded
You mean, like, be able to focus energy on the things that we are passionate about, that feed our souls, instead of having to focus our energy on the survival of the government and on the 7 million people that intend to participate in it's destruction?
The Justice Department isn't coming for just Trump but those who helped him to decide what documents to steal and who collected them. And anyone whom Trump might have shared them with since leaving office and participated in their illegal use.
Does anyone doubt the department won't get to the bottom of this case? However, because of national security implications we may never know the true damage their misuse may have done or will do in the future.
M Bales writes: "anyone whom Trump might have shared them with".
Thought: You can lift fingerprints from paper. Bet ya FBI is dusting classified papers as we speak. Any prints not by security authorized persons in oval office visitation logs is illegal distribution.
Yes he did. Meaning, those whose fingerprints are on document will have a harder time claiming they were at the WH at that time. The lack of log is only a few hours Jan 6th. LOL, let's say there are 5 people's fingerprints on Top Secret documents, not in any other WH visitation logs. Then these people will have to claim that, during the insurrection, Trump asked me to paw these papers and hope cellphone, credit card receipts, etc. do not conflict. In sum, lack of log not really an issue.
Trump did away with the visitation log early in his presidency. Here's some clarification:
"[In an April 2017] White House briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer was questioned about the administration's decision to not release White House visitor logs ahead of schedule, as was partially done by the Obama administration. Spicer claimed, “We're following the law as both the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act prescribe it."[1]
"Visitor logs are maintained by the U.S. Secret Service through the White House Access Control System (WHACS). An initial record is created when an authorized White House employee submits information about a future visitor to the Secret Service for a background check. A second record is created when an approved visitor swipes a temporary security badge to enter the White House Complex.[2][5]"
"Upon taking office, Donald Trump's administration redesigned the White House website and included a page for “visitor access records.” However, White House communications director Michael Dubke announced on April 14, 2017, that the administration would not release visitor logs.[11][12]"
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended the administration's decision to not release White House visitor logs by claiming, "We're following the law as both the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act prescribe it."[1]
"Spicer was correct that visitor logs for the president, his advisers, and immediate staff are governed by the Presidential Records Act (PRA). As such, they need only be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration when a president leaves office. The logs (and other presidential records) may become available through the Freedom of Information Act beginning five years after the end of an administration (although the outgoing president may invoke some restrictions on public access for up to 12 years)."
White House CALL PHONE logs have 7 hour gap for Jan. 6th. Records show no calls, others had calls with him. Some say he used cell phones and other people's phones.
I did love the the end sentence to the letter, a zinger as usual. Death star as a national security risk and trying to defend that. No wonder some of them have gone dark as someone put it today.
How about defunding MTG? Not only is she selling t-shirts as described, but "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene officially filed impeachment articles against Attorney General Merrick Garland, accusing him of using the Justice Department to go after former president Donald Trump". I'm normally not a conspiracy-peddling person, but being such a loyal, 'avid' fan of TFG's makes me believe that he has something on her that should not come to the open. Besides, she obviously also likes to be in the press... front page preferred
Question: Why WHY does anyone want Top Secret materials that could imperil the nation? Forget the theft, lies, claims of declassification with a waive of the hand (impossible), ignoring subpoena, etc.. WHY does he want those documents?
Question: Why WHY did the Orange Clown print out these documents? Ben Rhodes (Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor) explained on his Pod Save the World broadcast yesterday, that confidential information was provided on a secure iPad that self erased, not paper.
Sell secrets to his buddies in North Korea and Russia, he’s not above that. Here’s the info, now let me build my next tower in your fair city. I say let’s trade mr T and his gang to Russian for the release of the basketball star!
Nice thought, unrealistic. Brittney Griner has real value. Putin would probably demand we toss in Rudy, Roger, Eastman, MTG, Gaetz, Ted Cruz and maybe Meadows. Russians drive a hard bargain! I'd do the deal.
Send them all over to their favorite authoritarian state and never let them in the USA again. Traitors all, and those that support them. Those that seem somehow able to detach their ego and power grabbing mind from actual reality (McConnell, McCarthy, et al). Did I mention that the one thing I was really happy about when my dad died in 2014 was that he never had to see the day when our country would elect a liar and cheat to the presidency.
Sylvia, I know what you mean, I'm relieved my Dad (a WWII veteran) passed away in December 2020, he voted for Biden, saw him elected, but did not have to witness the January 6th insurrection. I cannot imagine how he would have felt.
Putin doesn’t need to trade for something he already owns. It doesn’t really matter where they are located. Besides, now that he’s out of office, FBI has seized the records, and he - hopefully - will never be in office again, Putin has no use for him. Seems he’s now expendable to the Russian state, in my opinion.
Someone posted here yesterday or so that James Clapper said the most secret documents were always on paper, not stored electronically as that would be subjected to hacking.
Paper documents can easily be scanned. That couldn't be done by trump (he doesn't even know what a copy machine is!) but certainly by one of his minions. They could well be in the hands of those who can and undoubtedly will do harm. Given everything about trump and what he has gotten away with for decades, nothing should surprise us . . . . furthermore, we all should expect the very worst. The wheels of justice cannot move slowly in this case (it has already been years). trump and the criminal cabal needs to be put away in jail cells for a very long time.
Power, profit, and/ or leverage against the Federal Government to back off other investigations. Desperate people do desperate things. Haven’t seen those tax returns have we? I think he is bleeding cash and going broke, grasping for anything to prevent the inevitable.
Exactly, who abetted his treason? Oops, treason? Does it require one to first be loyal to a country? If so, trump is and has always been loyal only to himself!
Was Trump charged the standard photocopying rate at Mara Largo? Must have taken, oh 6 months, to photocopying all those pages in the 26 boxes, I would think. Just curious as he asked his followers for more $$ when he released his last personal defense against government overreach.
Many in the FBI were Trump supporters. What he has done to those agents and their families is beyond reprehensible. The Cincinnati shooter is only the beginning of what might happen. We used to refer to how he "threw people under the bus" but that now feels quaint. He's proven to be an engine of evil fueled by his evil minions.
Maybe the FBI supporters of Dump will now wake up. Wait until they start getting threats online or in person! Look at what happened to Adam Kinzinger and his family. Shameful!
Mim, you missed the threats against Adam K’s family? I think the agents who appeared on the un redacted documents to search Mar-A-Lardo, might be threatened by the Magats and their allies in Congress.
Elizabeth, Adams K isn't the only one to get hideous threats. When I was at the doctor's the other day they had MSNBC on the monitor and I heard a report that Liz Cheney is only doing small group, at people's homes "rallies" because of threats to her and her family. She and her husband have 5 children and her own Party is threatening to kill her. What a Country we live in.
I am waiting to see what my cop friends say about this. All of us have served search warrants, and know that there is a real threat of retribution from those subjects.
Notice how after the specifics of what the FBI took from Mar-a-Lago (Stephen Colbert called it "Karm-a-Lago"), which on the face of it are pretty damning, were made known, a lot of Republicans have really clammed up? It seems to have suddenly gotten vewy vewy quiet. I wonder if some folks are maybe having second thoughts? This might be the best time for many in the GOP to unhitch their cars from the "T***p Train" once and for all. Garland plays for keeps and he wouldn't be pursuing this unless there's ample reason. I wouldn't try and outmaneuver him. (T***p's niece, Mary Trump, said "Merrick Garland is playing chess. Donald is playing checkers.") Of course, Georgia's champion nut-burger MTG has filed a motion to impeach Garland, so it'll be interesting to see how many Republicans get behind THAT.
Bruce, you had me laughing. Gotta love Colbert's Karm-a-Lago. Vewy, vewr quiet indeed. The chess and checkers part, touché! They had their Let's Go Brandon thing. I want a Let's Go Garland! sticker! A quiet, scholarly, patient man taking down the Blubbering Idiot is beautiful to watch.
" (T***p's niece, Mary Trump, said 'Merrick Garland is playing chess. Donald is playing checkers')"
No, Checkers was Nixon. Trump just plays with his food, and as much as he can, with other people's lives. But yes, all those spikey, tower and horsey bits appear to be circling for the kill.
Checkers was the dog. Famous Nixon speech with Checkers mentioned. I’m too lazy to look it up. But it was talked about at home by my parents, who reviled Tricky Dicky.
“The Checkers speech or Fund speech was an address made on September 23, 1952, by California Senator Richard Nixon, six weeks before the 1952 United States presidential election, in which he was the Republican candidate for Vice President. Nixon had been accused of improprieties relating to a fund established by his backers to reimburse him for his political expenses. His place was in doubt on the Republican ticket, so he flew to Los Angeles and delivered a half-hour television address in which he defended himself, attacked his opponents, and urged the audience to contact the Republican National Committee (RNC) to tell it whether he should remain on the ticket. During the speech, he stated that he intended to keep one gift, regardless of the outcome: a black-and-white Cocker Spaniel that his children had named Checkers, thus giving the address its popular name.“
Thank you. I was showing my age by referencing it. Yes, what heartless beast would hurt young children just to keep the VP accountable to law? An object lesson in modern "GOP" slight of hand, bait and switch.
Nixon was an odd one as he was not an environmental vandal, like Republicans since, but he was never the less a manipulative opportunist.
And yet he was pretty forward thinking on environmental issues, see this for example: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-state-the-union-delivered-before-joint-session-the-congress . It is reasonable to imagine that posterity may consider environment as the most critical issue ever. That does not exonerate Nixon, and I detested Nixon, slimy Agnew, and Mitchell, and Nixon's lack of repentance for his crimes, which I think set a very bad precedent (a did the blatantly corrupt "pardon").
That said, he still held traces of "decency" or at least not, as telegenic, totally plutocratic Reagan was, willing to abandon any concern for the common weal. Reagan's Secretary of the Interior, James Watt, became embarrassing even to Republicans. Reagan was hostile to environmental protection, and I can't think of a Republican president since who wasn't. Certainly Trump. Nixon badly abused democracy, while Reagan endeavored to kill it;
Yes, I was having fun with Nixon's modern Republican ploy of playing the victim when caught misbehaving; the infamous "Checkers Speech". And while Dick was very tricky, he did strike me as a poor candidate for winning at chess.
He does have a certain skill as a swindler, and he is probably smarter in terms of neuron-ware that he sounds or behaves. I think the edge and impunity of the golden spoon in his mouth allowed him to grow up as a profoundly lazy thinker. His SES allowed him to spout whatever nonsense came (and now comes) to mind, and get away with it, at least within the "GOP". He rides his inheritance and his supported role as Putin's saboteur to the shared illusion of competence.
I emailed the Turtle (who has been quiet) and basically said, you made a HUGE mistake when you first changed your opinions on TFG, now it is time to attempt to rectify how history will judge you.
I'm reading this at 0700 PDT, and have not made my daily journey over to Facebook to see what my "law and order" cop friends and supporters are saying. Yesterday was a travel day for me, and I am grateful to my cluster of Substack writers (TC and LKT,IV in particular) for keeping me posted as I returned a 26' rental truck, was driven through Friday traffic in Seattle, and flew home to Eugene. I saved reading this Letter until this morning.
Wow! Another early night! Thank you, Heather, for your tenacity and devotion to the stories that shape our present day politics and influence those of the future. There is so much at stake...the latest revelations about the content of the papers recovered from Mar a Lago are, of course, staggering. To what end did Trump remove them from the White House? Were they copied and sold to the highest bidder? The Saudis perhaps? Does this qualify as espionage? People have been tried and convicted for far less in the past. It's time to take off the kid gloves and grapple with Trump, et al., bare handed
Daria, since this newest news, I've imagined the police arriving at tRump's door with an arrest warrant, taking him away in cuffs, and publishing his "mug shot" in orange for the whole world to see. Nice dream, huh?
I, too, have long wished to see T**** led away in bracelets by a phalanx of FBI agents, The orange striped suit would be just appropriate for his coloring. And it may come to pass.
"People have been tried and convicted for far less in the past. " I recall in the past reading a well sourced list of some of them, and it didn't take much when state secrets were involved.
No, it didn't. I am anti death penalty so I cringe at the thought but in the past the slightest whiff of espionage was enough to bring charges against someone. What Trump did when he removed those boxes full of documents was wrong. He, his counsel, and his aids knew it was wrong at the time it was done. In his capacity as President, there is ample evidence that Trump consistently acted against the best interests of the country and its people. He continues to do so today.
It should not have taken this long to retrieve those documents and with anyone else it wouldn't have. The leeway Trump has been given for decades goes beyond politics ‐ this act of potential espionage may be the thing that scrapes away the Teflon and finally brings him to his knees. One can only hope
In the cases I was speaking of it I the point seemed to be that a fairly innocent oversight, taking a few of the wrong papers home or some such thing could trigger job loss or jail time even with honorable intent. I agree that the death penalty does more harm than good, justifying, as it does, premeditated murder. Better that be a line we just don't cross, not to mention evidence of biases and errors.
Perhaps as a projection of the security of seemingly (for a while) omnipotent parents, there seems to be something in the mix of human nature that yearns for an all-powerful king. Even though publicly owned powers are technically conditional, and only on loan to our representatives, there is a tendency for us to want to see them "fix it" while we cheer from the stands. That leaves a wide opening for con-artist/despots.
Take the presidential power of pardon, for example, which is bestowed at presidential whim. The idea of revisiting and reevaluating certain convictions seems sound to me, but not the fact that it is subjective and autocratic. I believe a turning point in the path of the Republican Party occurred with the pardon of Richard Nixon. Not even really a pardon but a grant of special impunity. By no means does that explain everything, but I see it as a significant and troubling abandonment of rule of law which subsequent Republicans expanded.
We seem in general to hold celebrity politicians to far looser standards than we do less powerful people, in terms of provable dishonestly, screaming conflicts of interest, and accountability for negligent error or misfeasance, than the ordinary citizen, not equal justice at all.
This week Biden/Democrats 3 Trump/Republicans 0, and Biden/Democrats with a strong following wind backed by justice, accomplishments, evidence, and (oh yes) facts.
More hot air and bullshit from the con artists of Conservatism Inc to allow Trump to squirt squid ink. the senile old morons who live in Faux Snooze were - in my experience - morons when they were in high school, so that (as I once told one of them) at least they're consistent fools.
Trump reminds me of a man perched on the end of a stout tree limb that towers far above the ground. With each new revelation of his crimes, the limb sags more every day. Not just the crimes but the weight of endless absurd lies and prevarications, uttered in rambling incoherent sentences that makes one wonder how he graduated from junior high school much less college.
We can all hear the branch creaking louder and louder. The only question is when, not if, the branch will come crashing down.
Morning, Ally!! I trust the travel/move went smoothly? Did I ask this already? They say you don't have dementia if you question your own ability to remember things...teehee!
My thought is that he did not graduate, that his father paid Penn to give him a diploma. Someone with Trump’s learning issues would have had a seriously difficult time in college, especially given his lack of interest in learning. His records from high school and college are sealed because of privacy restrictions and the threat of lawsuits.
Dumb Donald—two years at Fordham. With daddy’s help then to Penn undergrad while, though Donnie proclaimed his academic brilliance, his lawyers forbade the release of his transcript and he never was on the honor roll. Tuff to do well academically when you can’t read.
Michael, you know how some branches crack but hang by a thread for awhile, until a good thunderstorm wind comes along and finishes the drop to the ground? I see him clinging desperately to the dangling limb......
The property receipt reveals that agents reclaimed for the United States more than 26 boxes of documents, including ones labeled “classified/TS/SCI,” which means “top secret/sensitive compartmented information.”
It is impossible for Trump to justify moving and keeping these documents at Mar a Lago.
If the Republiqans in your life are anything like the Republiqans in mine, they've already been bleating about that. I read over on Jim Wright's page today that he did eventually release the documents, not redacting the names of the Agents executing the warrant. I first learned of the Archivists' rebuttal to the Obama documents from Jim, and am formatting my responses to these "law and order" cops as we speak.
Thanks HCR for leading with the IRA---a tremendous achievement, the greatness of which has been clouded over by the noise coming from the corrupt and crazy leadership and members all the way down in the Republican Party. The drama is not over; there is a lot more to play out, slowly or rapidly, but the noose is surely tightening and the GOP leadership (and even WaPo columnist George Will--see his column yesterday---GOP lies and fantasies and refusal to see the truth---the comments were scathing) will look more and more foolish---and more than that. And now, the conservative Christian establishment --Southern Baptist Convention --- is subject to DOJ action related to sexual abuse. The chickens are really coming home to roost. Peace and Courage to All. Have a good and renewing weekend Yes: We, the People.....
Our parents and grandparents who gave their honor and their lives to protect our freedoms wouldn’t just be turning over in their graves...they’d be on spin cycle.
What if he has already shared any of this information? What about the two Billion Jared was gifted? Is there a connection? So many unknowns. This guy needs to be stopped. ENOUGH!
What is the $2 billion given to Jared? I'm only aware of the $1 billion bailout of his NYC office building. Is this in addition to that, so there is really $3 billion gifted to Jared? Thanks. Matt.
Getting paid say $20 million to invest $2 billion for the Saudis is nothing compared to his $1 billion bailout of his NYC office building. We are talking $20 million vs. $1 billion.
This is the lede paragraph from the above NYT article..
"Six months after leaving the White House, Jared Kushner secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince, a close ally during the Trump administration, despite objections from the fund’s advisers about the merits of the deal."
Thank you for keeping all of this clear and concise. I do have a question about potential for these documents to have been scanned into cell phones, tablets, laptops etc and either been disseminated or hacked. I’d there any info about this possibility. Thank you
Fran, that’s a great question and it seems to be 100% that anything of value has been copied. Maybe that’s why the boxes were removed from the WH and why TFG ignored the earlier subpoena. Who knows, there might be more boxes hiding in plain sight or in a storage unit somewhere in Florida.
What does it say? Donald Trump & the Republican Party are engaged in a treasonous criminal conspiracy that threatens the nation in countless ways. This cannot be treated as politics as usual.
Agreed. Gone are the days of reaching out to senators and representatives who deny the election, who parrot the big lie, who cheer overturning a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, who summon racist and armed mobs to murder our Vice President and Democratic elected leaders, and who now coalesce around blatant espionage and treason while delegitimizing the FBI’s authority to protect America from internal existential threats.
At this point the rule of law MUST be brought to bear, pronouncing de facto crimes and punishment, without fear of threatened civil war, or America will have fallen already.
~
And P.S. The climate provisions are great! Insufficient, but great. The 6th mass extinction, continents burning, sea level rising, etc may purge this whole experiment yet... but the climate provisions make me happy nonetheless!
And as a doc I cheer unshackling Medicare to reduce my patients’ drug costs a bit.
We should never have let it get this bad, but better to respond to epic corruption, dishonesty, and lawlessness late than never. We are still on the brink.
Truer than most have yet imagined. Deport Rupert Murdoch
Yes, to some new version of Devil's Island.
Really, the original would do.
Good afternoon, Jeri. Yes, I think there is still a remarkable number of perfectly sane, ordinary, bright people who somehow have the capacity to not know what they don't want to know--if that makes sense. It's been building for so long that to look back at that is harder than looking ahead.
I would rephrase it, ". . . the capacity to not know what they SHOULD know". I believe that many well-intending, "true" Patriots are simply worn out by the constant barrage of negativity coming from the right and the Republicans. They are the poison pill that keeps America fully toxified, their odious nature almost suffocating. Yet, the MEDIA deserves a lot of criticism because the MEDIA plays off Trump and his followers.
Yup, you nailed it. I wonder if this is the reason why I see so many ostriches walking around? LOL
Add his son Lachlan to this. He is just as vile and evil as his father.
Birds of a feather flock together. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
My own - it's a rare bird that learns to fly on their own.
I do tend to favor the ones who fly on their own. "Neediness" gives way to resilience. Fear overcomes cowardice, cowardice the trait so prevalent in today's society and culture.
I'm still outraged whenever I see Sen. Imhoff from OK, who brought a snowball into the Senate chamber in the 90's (a DC snowfall) and saying that there's no climate change.... what a fool. And no one wanted to listen to Al Gore. Ugh, it's exhausting, but thank God/Goddess/invoke the divinity of your choice..... it's a good start. And done by the Dems!
And further, what does it matter if climate change is real or not real. The bottom line is that the air, water and land is exponentially dirtier due to how society lives right now. No one disputes that. I have never met anyone who says the want to live in a polluted environment.
I recently listened to a radio commentary featuring a Native American environmentalist. We, the "white man", should be leaning on them for knowledge and understanding of Nature.
My thoughts, also, Robert. A recent study indicates that 23/26% of adults/children deaths in this countryyearly are environment related, preventable deaths. https://online.regiscollege.edu/blog/environmental-factors-that-affect-health/
I really wonder about climate change/science deniers and their perception of reality.
The only reality they care about is mucho dinero!
As the ice melts, land that contains natural resources (oil) is exposed. In particular, Pompeo wanted to exploit that. And probably still does. Just think of all the riches available under what is currently ice. Trump wanted to buy Greenland, remember.
A recent article
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/world/greenland-melting-mineral-mining-climate/index.html
shows Bezos, Bloomberg, Gates, among others, searching for valuable materials (used for manufacture of electric cars, no less) in the parts of Greenland exposed by melting on the west coast of Greenland: "The climate crisis is melting Greenland down at an unprecedented rate, which -- in a twist of irony -- is creating an opportunity for investors and mining companies who are searching for a trove of critical minerals capable of powering the green energy transition." Aside from the "irony", we need fewer cars, electric or otherwise, not more. If we generate more traffic, we use more electricity and produce more CO2. Electricity isn't a free and infinite resource. The Jevons paradox ("It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuel is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth," from Wikipedia) is a similar phenomenon in the case of coal in 19th century Britain. Past is prologue.
I really like the expression the past is prologue. You could name this newsletter the Past Is Prologue. It fits!
I’ll take goddess.
Spot on
❤️
Hey, Doc Ryan. Focusing on climate, Robinson Meyer of the Atlantic highlights another bill that addresses climate change, the title of which is: "Congress Just Passed a Big Climate Bill. No, Not That One. A bipartisan act is quietly about to invest billions in boosting green technology." So Biden snuck that one in for climate while every one else was focused on CHIPS. Sneaky!
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/08/chips-act-climate-bill-biden/671095/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-planet&utm_content=20220810&utm_term=The%20Weekly%20Planet
Lynell, I can't keep up with this deluge of information enough to discern fact from fiction ... so, the new law invests in green tech and other needed climate related measures ... whar about concessions to Big Oil ... new contracts to proceed with operations on and offshore ... what about the Arctic Wilderness ... what about leaky pipelines moving ahead with construction, regardless of permitting restrictions (DAPL; Lines 3 & 5; Trans Mountain; Trans Canada and more) ... who or what is holding these corporations, and THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS accountable and responsible for legitimate quality control - not to mention just observance of and respect for SOVEREIGN TREATY RIGHTS OF FIRST NATIONS PEOPLES who once again are being forced to PUT UP OR SHUT UP ... as " progress in the modern world" procedes unimpeded - regardless of cost or consequence to any and all ...? If we want to address loss of values, can we start with a close look at where we never had them in the first place ...?
From Janet Alkire
Chairwoman
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
"Greetings from Standing Rock. It’s good to be home again after a productive week in Washington, D.C.! A couple weeks back, I led a delegation of our leaders to discuss the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) with lawmakers, congressional staffers, and environmental organizers in the nation’s capital. I encourage you to watch the new Water Wars video highlighting our meeting with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), produced in conjunction with the Lakota People’s Law Project, the Great Plains Water Alliance, and the Oceti Sakowin.
"Our “Water Wars video” series chronicles the uniting of the Tribes of the Oceti Sakowin to stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). In this chapter, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairwoman Janet Alkire leads an important delegation to Washington, D.C. to visit with Senate and congressional leaders, including Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. #NoDAPL #MniWiconi"
DAKOTA WATER WARS - CHAPTER 7 - DELEGATION TO D.C.
https://vimeo.com/736675575?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=161995180
"By now, you’re well aware of the massive threat imposed by DAPL to our homelands and our sacred relative, the Mni Sose, known by colonizers as the Missouri River. This trip was an opportunity to make sure those inside the Beltway remember that threat, too. We live every day with the reality that low water levels have made accessing and fixing any potential leak extremely dangerous and time consuming. And every time we demand transparency on an adequate emergency response plan from the Army Corps of Engineers, we’re stonewalled.
"That’s why it’s so critical we have support from leaders like Rep. Tlaib. As a tribal chairwoman, I have tremendous respect for the next generation of female BIPOC leaders in Washington. And I’m grateful to know that the feeling is mutual, at least for Rep. Tlaib and other members of the Squad, which also includes New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. These brave women have consistently shown that they recognize the dangers of pipelines and care about what happens to us as Native People. Did you know that AOC decided to run for Congress after visiting Standing Rock to take part in the #NoDAPL resistance in 2017? And then last year, the Squad was present in Minnesota to meet with Indigenous leaders and speak out against the Line 3 tar sands pipeline.
"We have powerful allies, so we’ll keep pressing and building this movement. It’s up to all of us. DAPL’s Environmental Impact Statement, an absolute sham prepared by an oil-friendly firm, was supposed to come out for public comment months ago. Where is it? We’ve only seen a redacted copy, and the government knows that when it drops publicly, you’ll be ready and waiting with us to point out its many serious flaws. They can only delay so long. Our day is coming, and I remain hopeful that, together, we’ll achieve our mission of ending this pipeline once and for all."
Wopila tanka. Thank you for remaining in this fight with us.
Janet Alkire
Chairwoman
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Thank you for this important information, Kathleen. I am following a new podcast, The Tongue Unbroken, which features stories about restoring native languages. They describe English phrases that perpetuate negative impressions of native people like 'circling the wagons' and 'low man on the totem pole.' There are lessons everyone can benefit from.
Hey, Nancy. For sure, many changes need to happen on this front.
Thank you too Nancy ... so much to know ... eyes on the horizon, sail on!!
BACKGROUND;:
DAKOTA WATER WARS - ONGOING
Lakota People's Law Project: History and Overview
https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=34&v=qDbvWAl6Xgg
*******
7/16/22 - Dakota Water Wars, Chapter Six: I Can Still See It
https://vimeo.com/730172424
"In this video co-produced by Standing Rock Nation, the Lakota People's Law Project, and the Great Plains Tribal Water Association, tribal leaders throughout South Dakota explain the ongoing struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) at Standing Rock. They explore the spiritual power of the NoDAPL movement and the way it brought tribes together from all over the country in support of Unci Maka (Grandmother Earth)."
*****
Dakota Water Wars, Chapter Five: Ignoring Tribes, Ignoring Laws
https://vimeo.com/725831770
"Our “Water Wars” video series chronicles the uniting of the Tribes of the Oceti Sakowin to stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). In this chapter, we explore the disconnect between what’s happened with the pipeline — its illegal operation and crossing just to the north of Standing Rock under the Mni Sose, our sacred Missouri River — and what should have been done. Bottom line: DAPL should not be operating without Tribal input and consent and full compliance with the law."
*****
6/16/22 - from Chase Iron Eyes of Dakota Law:
"This is the fourth video from our “Water Wars” series, co-produced with Standing Rock, the Great Plains Water Alliance, and the Oceti Sakowin, highlighting why we resist the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). When the oil company forced DAPL through our homelands, it claimed that we, the Native People on the frontlines, had been consulted. But that term has come to mean less than nothing to us. What’s required under international law and what should be standard operating procedure with projects like DAPL is something much more substantial than “consultation” — and that’s our Free, Prior, and Informed Consent."
Watch: “Consultation” isn’t an adequate standard. We never gave our consent for DAPL to threaten our water and homelands.
Dakota Water Wars, Chapter Four: Free, Prior, & Informed Consent
https://vimeo.com/720826040
"No matter what they think over at the oil company headquarters, this isn’t the wild wild west anymore. There are rules. This pipeline is operating illegally, without a federal permit. Here in the modern era, I think most of us will also agree that no means no, and gaining consent from those affected before taking action is critical. The concept of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (or FPIC) is, in fact, codified in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. And Under President Obama, the United States promised to recognize the right we hold as the Nation’s first inhabitants to have a definitive say in what happens to our homelands.
"'Consultation” is a sham. Sending us emails notifying us that a pipeline is about to be drilled under our sole source of fresh drinking water is inadequate, and expecting us to stand aside and let that happen is just plain foolish. I’m grateful that, as our partner in this movement, you’re resisting with us. Please continue to stand with the Oceti Sakowin, and together, let’s defeat DAPL once and for all."
Wopila tanka — Thank you for supporting Indigenous justice!
Chase Iron Eyes
Co-Director and Lead Counsel
The Lakota People’s Law Project
*****
Dakota Water Wars, Chapter Three: Money Against a Prayer
"For time immemorial, we have lived along and revered our sacred relative, the Mni Sose, the Missouri River. These days, as you know, the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) crosses under the Missouri — just upstream from the Standing Rock Nation — without a federal permit. And yet, unlike the oil company, we are required to have a permit just to pray in our traditional sweat ceremonies in certain, sacred spots along the river’s banks.
"This bit of disturbing cognitive dissonance is the subject of our third video in the “Water Wars” series we’re producing in partnership with Standing Rock and other tribes of the Oceti Sakowin. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch and share Dakota Water Wars, Chapter 3: Money Against a Prayer."
https://vimeo.com/716550309
*****
Dakota Water Wars, Chapter Two: Honor the Treaties
"The Tribes of the Oceti Sakowin are united in our mission to stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). Hundreds of years of colonization — forced migration, broken treaties, flooding our territory, and the refusal to return our homelands — has led us to this moment. We won’t stop fighting for what is right, for our People and for Unci Maka, our Grandmother Earth. Honor the treaties. Mni wiconi — water is life."
https://vimeo.com/713066984
*****
Dakota Water Wars, Part One: United Against DAPL
"In this video, you’ll hear from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairwoman Janet Alkire, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Kevin Killer, and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier. It’s the first in a planned series that will delve more deeply into the complex issues faced by the tribes in their fight to stop DAPL — a pipeline which continues to operate without a permit for its crossing under Lake Oahe just north of the Standing Rock Nation.
"Chairwoman Alkire has been actively relaying tribal concerns directly to Michael Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. She recently returned from a meeting with him, in which she discussed the lack of transparency concerning DAPL’s oil spill response plan for the Missouri River and the terrible safety track record of its parent company, Energy Transfer. As detailed in a press release from the tribe, over a recent 8-year period, nine pipelines owned and controlled by Energy Transfer and its affiliated companies experienced nearly 300 spills — including 50 large ones in vulnerable areas like Lake Oahe.
"Until this pipeline has a valid Environmental Impact Statement and federal permit, it is operating in violation of the laws designed to safeguard our people, our delicate water systems, and our sacred homelands. We must keep the pressure on U.S. leaders to do the right thing and shut DAPL down. Please watch our video, stay tuned for the next chapters, and be ready when the time comes to take action together."
https://vimeo.com/709270906
*****
Standing Rock’s Dangerously Low Water Levels
"... an Army representative came to Standing Rock to meet with tribal leaders from across the Oceti Sakowin. He listened to presidents and chairpersons, elders and community members, and he told us he heard our concerns. We hope that’s true. But since that day, it’s been a game of wait and see, with no movement from the Army and no release of the EIS — which, of course, was prepared by a pro-oil firm. It’s almost as if they know we’re not going to be happy unless the pipeline is shut down, and that we have a legion of supporters ready to engage in favor of an honest process."
https://vimeo.com/699208496
*****
More videos:
DAPL: Great Sioux Nation to Meet with U.S. Government
https://vimeo.com/682074269
*****
SHUT THIS PIPELINE DOWN
https://vimeo.com/677905968
*****
Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire on DAPL’s Flawed EIS
https://vimeo.com/676434565
*****
Historic Meeting: Sec. Deb Haaland in the Black Hills
https://vimeo.com/661038959
*******
Wopila tanka — thank you, as ever, for standing with Standing Rock and the Oceti Sakowin.
Chase Iron Eyes
Co-Director and Lead Counsel
The Lakota People’s Law Project
https://action.lakotalaw.org
Lakota People's Law Project
547 South 7th Street #149
Bismarck, ND 58504-5859
The Lakota People's Law Project is part of the Romero Institute, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) law and policy center. All donations are tax-deductible.
https://action.lakotalaw.org/action/donate
Yes, Kathleen!
Excellent, Kathleen! I also, admire “The Squad” and their endeavors. They don’t give in nor do they ever give up. Powerful women and I would like to add Katie Porter in that group.
Likewise Marlene - also, Senator Mallory MeMorrow of Michigan - and, of course, Leigh McGowan (Politics Girl) ... many conscious voices ... so, some respite from the miserable grind ... got to keep on keepin' on ... carry the earth with love and care - feel the embrace of heaven holding the globe - we are the horizon - may fresh winds blow through with every breath ... one breath at a time ..., carry on ....
Me, too, Marlene!
❤️
Right there with you, Kathleen!
Boy, howdy, Kathleen. I can't keep up either. But I do follow news about climate from some very knowledgeable journalists, in my opinion, who aren't afraid to report what they see happening. I acknowledge what you are saying about the mountain of work that still needs to be done. But this week, I think you'll agree, the Congress finally got it right by passing these climate bills that are being signed into law. Sometimes to get further, I feel stopping to give a hearty high-five does more to spur people on to do more than if we just keep talking about what hasn't been done yet.
This summer I have signed several petitions regarding DAPL, Lines 3 and 5. I have donated to these causes as well, putting my trust in those organizers who know how to further the cause.
Because the earth needs a good lawyer, I have signed petitions from and donated to Earthjustice who say: "At Earthjustice, we're rewriting our planet's future — one case at a time."
https://earthjustice.org/blog/2022-july/what-does-west-virginia-v-epa-mean-for-climate-action?utm_source=crm&utm_medium=email&utm_term=newsletter&utm_campaign=220717_ForTheRecord_July2022&utm_content=ReadMore&curation=newsletter&emci=7c75c82f-d402-ed11-b47a-281878b83d8a&emdi=c9459e98-d205-ed11-b47a-281878b83d8a&ceid=2547127
I donate regularly to Lakota People's Law Project and get news from them. Though not related to climate, here is the latest I received from LPLP:
"Dear Lynell,
Good news! Here at the Cheyenne River Nation, things are on track toward our goal of creating a tribally-run Child Welfare Department. Just last week, we held our second hearing in Eagle Butte, our reservation’s largest community. We recorded powerful testimony from several families, which we will ultimately present to the Cheyenne River Tribal Council.
I encourage you to watch our new video, in which Virginia White Feather — one of my fellow grandmothers in Wasagiya Najin, our Standing Strong grandmothers’ group — and I talk about the importance of our efforts to keep Native children in Native care."
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/08/manchin-climate-bill-carbon-emissions-2030/671049/ (Another Robinson Meyer piece)
https://twitter.com/SierraClub/status/1558206637256708099?s=20&t=yMJVg3nYDtikV9Qp5lqTLQ
https://outreach.commondreams.org/index.php?action=social&chash=821fa74b50ba3f7cba1e6c53e8fa6845.477&s=deaf5751fe79a95e105246b4aca37e97
Environmental Defense Fund:
https://email.edfaction.org/q/11oHFDJ4rMQD2UgcCWNCEE5/wv
And this from Evergreen Action who partners with Evergreen Action:
The House just passed the biggest clean energy investment in U.S. history. Transformational climate action is coming to America!
Let me be very clear: This would not have been possible without the sustained advocacy of people like you. In the last 18 months, through all the highs and lows, our grassroots community showed up.
☎️ We made 5,574 calls to our representatives
📬 We sent 4,591 letters to our leaders
📝 We gathered 44,264 signatures on our petitions
No matter what, you never gave up.
And it worked. With your support, we turned hundreds of billions in climate investments from a moonshot into reality.
I cannot overstate the impact of this bill—lowering costs for American families, dramatically reducing deadly pollution, and giving the U.S. and the world a fighting chance at avoiding the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
This bill is also a compromise with provisions that could do real harm—specifically in the Gulf South and Alaska. That's why we must ensure this bill is a beginning, not an end. We are already gearing up for those fights—and this bill means we have brand new resources to help win them.
I'll be sharing more of my thoughts on this monumental achievement soon, but until then, I just want to say thank you.
For every call, every letter, every signature—thank you.
For your hope, your resolve, your dedication—thank you.
For helping make history—thank you.
Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow, the next day, and every day after, we continue working toward the future we deserve—together.
Onward,
Jamal Raad
Executive Director, Evergreen Action
Audobon:
https://audubon.stagecoachdigital.com/web-view/1617384?emci=47cb61e3-8d1a-ed11-bd6e-281878b83d8a&emdi=5ac9cb66-fd1a-ed11-bd6e-281878b83d8a&ceid=4395626
Oh, my goodness, there is so much more to do!
Thanks for the info, Lynell. i think you just found another donor. I want to add that having Deb Haslsnd in Congress has made a tremendous difference also.
Yes, I agree, Marlene; though, I hardly get a chance to keep up with her. Just have faith that she will do the right thing!
Plus, among my stack of emails, I did see a headline somewhere that Al Gore is very happy with what Congress has accomplished for the climate. Hope to find it again
🙋🏻🙋🏼🙋🏽🙋🏾🙋🏿🗽💜
Thank you Lynell - and all of you for your response, and concern. No time now to converse ... and so much more than I can even see to do ... a word from the cosmic heart to guide ...:
Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu – Verse 8
"The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It flows to the low places loathed by all men.
Therefore, it is like the Tao. Live in accordance with the nature of things.
In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling be just.
In action, watch the timing.
No fight: No blame.
One who lives in accordance with nature does not go against the way of things.
They move in harmony with the present moment,
always knowing the truth of just what to do."
*******
Compliments of Nick Polizzi:
https://www.thesacredscience.com
Nick Polizzi
The Sacred Science, LLC
1250 Addison Street. Suite 211-A
Berkeley, California 94530
*******
... peace and love through it all - otherwise, what are we living for ...?
https://tahomahome.weebly.com/prayer-for-america.html
Oh, my. So lovely, Kathleen. The supreme good, and all that follows, along with your prayer. We of white skin stole the land from these good people. We must return at least a goodly portion back to them in the condition it was before we took it. We can do this. We must do this.
I know. So sneaky, that smart legislation.
Have a great weekend, Lynell. It’s been quite the week.
🗽💜
Same to you, also Loyal Fan of Merrick Garland! ⚖️ (I was gonna say "fellow fan" but that was too manly)
Sister Fan. 😀
I knew you would come up with the right word. Getting late in the day for my little grey cells!
Thank you Lynell. Great article.
I like the Atlantic, though their columns can run rather long. Oh, well. I suppose that's what good journalism commands.
Excellent! This makes me happy too. I know I’m not cool enough to fully grasp the ironic concept of dark Brandon… but this stealth climate action is pretty 🥷
Here's my final post for you, this coming from Al Gore, no less. The headline reads: "Al Gore hails Biden’s historic climate bill as ‘a critical turning point’"
I'm just providing the link to prove I didn't make it up!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/12/al-gore-climate-turning-point-inflation-reduction-act
Needed an optimistic article like that, thanks! A win is a win, and it's a win for the planet and its life.
All of this, so well said! And so right on. Thank you.
Thanks, Dr Ryan !“ And as a doc I cheer unshackling Medicare to reduce my patients’ drug costs a bit.” 👏
Love Dr. Heather’s “sense of humor”….
From a guy who plead the fifth 75 times in the HCA/Medicare fraud scandal !
“Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) has called it a “war on seniors” because he says it cuts Medicare spending.”
That he has the unmitigated gall to say that after announcing the "Plan" to sunset Medicare and Social Security might even rise to the "Top Ten" level of Republiqan nonsense.
They have no shame. That’s the difference between now and 1968. They were just as bad at that time but tried to keep up appearances.
They weren't nearly as bad I think, but some of the same dynamics were in play. But recall that Republicans cooperated in impeachment investigation Nixon, and Nixon started the EPA which Reagan wanted to shut down.
Nixon said "I am inaugurating a program to marshal both government and private research with the goal of producing an unconventionally powered, virtually pollution free automobile within five years.".
"If the (oil) embargo is lifted, this will ease the crisis, but it will not mean an end to the energy shortage in America. Voluntary conservation will continue to be necessary... These measures will require the oil companies and other energy producers to provide the public with the necessary information on their supplies. They will prevent the injustice of windfall profits for a few as a result of the sacrifices of the millions of Americans."
Nixon was creepy, but he wasn't Reagan and he wasn't Trump. Earlier in history, Eisenhower said "This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
You’re right that Nixon was is a different category than Reagan and Trump. My complaint against Nixon is that he got the Southern Strategy rolling. That is what made all Republican victories after 1968 possible and what has devolved to the shameless crowd of Republicans currently in office and to the racist rabble that has put them there.
More Nixon. Imagine any prominent Republican saying this today:
It results not so much from choices made, as from choices neglected; not from malign intention, but from failure to take into account the full consequences of our actions.
"Quite inadvertently, by ignoring environmental costs we have given an economic advantage to the careless polluter over his more conscientious rival. While adopting laws prohibiting injury to person or property, we have freely allowed injury to our shared surroundings. Conditioned by an expanding frontier, we came only late to a recognition of how precious and how vulnerable our resources of land, water and air really are. ... Industries, power plants, furnaces, incinerators-these and other so-called "stationary sources" add enormously to the pollution of the air. In highly industrialized areas, such pollution can quite literally make breathing hazardous to health, and can cause unforeseen atmospheric and meteorological problems as well."
Agreed
Typical Republicon hypocrisy.
The cost of drugs can be a barrier for some, yet it seems to me that healthcare is a social necessity. I'm pro free enterprise, but for that to actually be free, you need robust and real competition to keep quality up and prices moderated. When Republicans talk about the "free market" what they mean is that corporate agendas tr*#p human rights, and "freedom" for conglomerates to dominate the market and control pricing. We fought that much of the 20th Century, and were then bamboozled into welcoming back.
I also see a legitimate role for a robust public sector as well as private enterprise. Their strengths and weaknesses differ, and they can compliment each other; but the rules of commerce should be the prerogative of the public will, not vice versa.
Thanks for calling out the climate provisions; the good news for the week that was nearly overshadowed by Trump’s crimes and the threats of violence. As a doctor, you understand better than most, the public health costs of the climate crisis. Insufficient? Yes. But a tiny bit of balm for this climate warrior’s soul. When added to the additional climate legislation also passed this week (see Lynell’s comment in this thread), maybe we can head off a complete meltdown for our kids and all future generations. I’m a bit more hopeful of that if for no other reason than that the Senators that roped Manchin back into discussions about climate provisions used the economics of renewable energy to convince him of the benefits. Yep, if you offer the same level of federal incentives for solar and wind, as you do for oil and coal, renewables can compete. Imagine that!! Even better? We might be able to continue as a species. Maybe....
Is it not true that once environmentally safe technology can compete (thanks to tax credits largely?) with fossil fuels, they will gradually get cheaper and therefore outstrip fossils? This seems like the intent to me. Am I following?
You are following. Taking renewable energy “to scale” is a tough enterprise, for many reasons: it is not “centralized,” - think power plant - and because it is decentralized, the laws and regulations that regulate it can be vastly different (think state vs municipal vs federal vs interstate) depending on who owns the generation equipment (wind turbines or solar panels) and who owns the transmission (sometimes it is the energy companies; sometimes its a government entity; sometimes its a private equity company) South Dakota has vast wind resources and could power much of the Eastern US. Some of my home’s electricity is generated 250 miles away near the SD border. So how could energy generated in SD be delivered to say Chicago or east to Indiana or even to Philadelphia? Transmission. Who builds, owns and maintains that transmission system? With the feds incentivizing wind and solar, power companies can plan their design of systems and formulate internal plans that reach carbon reduction goals because they understand the need to work across political boundaries, standardize regulatory policies, and develop manufacturing and supply chains to meet the new goals. While they are switching from the old to the new, such policies can help them figure out not only how to generate and distribute power but make it economically attractive to shareholders to make the switch.
Case in point: Minnesota, where I live, has a Renewable Energy Standard - a certain percentage of all electricity generated and used here has to come from renewables. When the law was first passed in 2007, the goal was 20% by 2020. Our major utility, Xcel Energy actually hit that goal 7 years early!! Cheaper to generate when you build and maintain systems to capture renewables vs. the volatile world markets of oil, gas and coal. We are on track to hit 50% - if the Repubs don’t take over!!
I have one retirement fund composed entirely of renewable energy companies. My rate of return, in the last five years, 12% to 42%! Yes, it can be a very good investment and with the new policies passed last week, it will only get better.
Thanks, Sheila, for this detailed explanation of the complexity of planning, implementing, regulating for renewables -- so many different intities and interests invovled at several levels of government or private ownership. Very complex!! It helps me realize better the difficulty of your work. Are you getting increasing cooperation among all these players? How are they reacting to the monies?
Three ❤️❤️❤️for you, Sheila, and fellow climate warrior!
😘right back at ya, Lynell. Thanks for posting the link!!! You are so good about doing that and I appreciate it.
There is very little legislation that does not get watered down by moneyed interest.
And don't forget that the threatened ex-VP, good acolyte that he is, is right up front defending every single thug, even the thug-in-chief who was calling for his execution!
Yes, sir. This is so much more than I expected. In these hard times, I have revived an old practice. At the end of the day, I write a gratitude list. Five things, no more no less. It couldn't be simpler, takes no time. Some days I'm tempted to write "Not an effing thing" five times, but I usually resist the urge. It's what Biden is slowly, painstakingly doing in the face of the swirl of ugliness around him, that amazes me. I am grateful every morning that Dr. Richardson is here to remind me.
Grateful for your perspective, Dean.
All I can say is that DJT has quite a bit of carbon (mostly in the form of lipids) that needs sequestering. :)
🤣🤣🤣!
But! But! It's all a hoax. Right. God in Heaven, I never would have believed when a much younger man that I would see this day in our history.
Thank you for your reasoned comments.
For Trump's part, I don't think he understands a word like "espionage." He has one compass that responds to just one lodestone: personal profit. I doubt that the thought of "harm to nation" crossed through his mind even once: I'm not sure his damaged mind can grasp the concept. What he saw was a shiny thing he could sell. Something so shiny, he could get buyers to bid against each other to get it. Trump's best defense is going to be an insanity plea, executed by his lawyers, with permanent commitment to an asylum as the outcome.
As for the rest of the Republican politicians -- I'm just left shaking my head. Wow. When are they going to retreat to "The Devil made me do it! It wasn't me! It was the Devil!"
Wherever they go, the crime is now moving toward overt espionage and treason, and I don't think even Presidents get a free pass on that.
I think he planned to be like a Confederacy President atcMar-a-Lago, and use this info to blackmail our security or the security of other nations. He certainly saw it all as ‘a stay out of jail insurance.’ He could care less about the National security of us or out Allies as long as he makes a buck and protects his own hide.
He could not care less. He cares not at all except for nurturing his sick ego.
Rosalind, and his wallet.
Is that not his ego?
So close to his fat arse, indistinguishable
Point taken.
Instead of a get out of jail card it should be a ticket to hi own hanging or firing squad - let him make that choice.
It would be nicer to be rid of him, but we cannot have him become a martyr for his cult. He has to sit and rot. It won't take very long. He will shrivel up so fast without his adoring crowds and attention. Just a little, orange, dried raisin will be found sitting on his cot in due course.
Still laughing at this one. Your last sentence just cracked me up. Will have to save that one if it's OK with you.
Please save and use to your heart's content, Jeanne. We deserve a ton of humor. I love to visualize--it helps me stay sane!
Oh no - that would be too swift. I'd rather go for life in a cell.
I agree - out of sight, out of mind.
He would never simply rot away in prison. The right-wing media would lionize him as a martyr suffering because of the evil and corrupt liberal socialists who want to turn the country into a communist regime. They probably would force Twitter to give him back his account and then it would be daily screeds and pleas to get me out of this hellhole that I never should have been sent to. Blah, blah, blah and, on and on and on. It would never end, and we would never heal.
Out of sight would be a welcome relief. Could we start now? Why do news media include photos of the ogre? We know who he is and what he looks like. Photos just play into his hands: free publicity. He loves it, and it makes the news people his dupes.
The media are not dupes. They pander to anyone who will pay to subscribe which is why they traffic in false equivalencies and characterizing this as politics as usual. Trump sells big time!! Apparently, they don't believe their days are numbered if Republicans get in control of the country and put them out of business.
Trump has had possession of this material illegally since January 20, 2021, and had been mishandling it before that. Trump’s theft was dozens of boxes of documents. Anyone else would have been arrested the next day for even one page of this stuff. Every single day since January 21, 2021 has been special treatment.
Joan, I agree. I had posed the question about security briefings right after Biden was sworn in, trying to find out whether TFG was continuing to get them, but never found out. Just a few days ago, I heard that Biden had given instructions that Trump was not to receive any security briefings - ever. Without fanfare or political posturing, Sleepy Joe, the elderly, doddering person who continues to be the target of the right wing's "concerns" about his mental acuity, took care of that essential business right out of the gate. They were right to fear his abilities.
To your point, we discovered too late that we have no guardrails, and the gentlemen's agreements upon which the framers depended are simply myths. All of this must be reconsidered, and as with the Supreme Court, definitive laws must be instituted, if our democracy is to be saved.
You're saying they shouldn't have followed protocol, e.g., finding out what was actually in the boxes, requesting them back, subpoenaing them when the request didn't get a response, etc.? The ends justify the means, in other words? Not to mention -- notice how Republican "leaders" reacted even when all the i's were dotted and all the t's crossed? Can you imagine what the reaction would have been if DoJ had said "To hell with the rule of law" and just marched in?
When anyone else has been known to possess government documents illegally, the FBI gets a legitimate search warrant and retrieves them immediately (they don't wait a year and a half). Then the person faces charges in court. Reality Winner went to jail for 4 years for one single page. In most cases, a subpoena is not used to recover stolen property - a subpoena is for property that the person possesses legally. The rule of law has been taking much longer to be applied to Donald Trump than it would take to be applied to anyone else.
His threats to National Security are Many since the very beginning of his charade and illegitimate time as POTUS and yes, they were all cast aside, despite many warnings from the legitimate parts of our govt. Consider:
1. His insistence on using a Blackberry despite lack of security
2. Kushner's inability to even pass / obtain clearance
3. Actual sharing of Top Secret intel with Russians in oval
4. Refusal to allow req'd note-taking w/ Putin in Helsinki
5. Mtg w/ N Korea despite insistence otherwise by nat sec
etc, etc.
He has been a threat to not just our own US but the entire world. As has been suggested, the orchestrated plan to steal some our highest level of secure documents was to keep them as hostage for a continuation of his work to destabilize the entire system of governance. Even now, after gone and a legitimate, hard-working and honest POTUS is back in place his crimes remain an ongoing threat. That the once-legit party that sprung him has prostituted itself to lower than ever thought imaginable is additional confirmation that none of them can ever be allowed to be in positions of governance again. They are simply incapable of decision-making based on fairness and what's best for "We the People".
‘Like’ is inadequate. I agree with you fully.
This is what I keep thinking about! How is it possible Trump and all his traitorous cabal (including many Republican members of Congress) are still walking free? This is insane and I would like to hear someone/anyone in the Democratic leadership ask this question and demand an answer. As the good doctor above stated, this is not politics as usual! This is an organized and planned attack on our government by people within our government. We're three months away from an election that could decide the direction this country takes, and the minority party has a good chance of winning! I know why this can happen, but I can't understand how it can happen.
It is happening because 74 million Americans, almost all with white supremacist views, think it’s a good idea. It’s their way of pursuing their top political priority, which is to preserve systemic advantages for white people.
Trump would not hold out for a month and certainly not a year if he had anything of value to sell.
Yes, all those top secret docs re: nuclear power have already been sold by Jared et al to the Saudis and anybody else with the cash or influence to make more cash. The LIV golf tourney - a little payback gift from the Saudis for all the top secret info.
That reflects my concern. How much sensitive information has already been sold? How much damage has “D. T.”, Deranged Traitor, inflicted on America?
Someone made the connection between Jarred K and the $2b the Saudis invested with him. Guess who bought some secrets?
Likely right on
I am afraid you are right.
Me too
There is another motivating factor we sometimes think of as secondary, but I see as primary, and that is his paranoid sense of grievance. He constantly feels threatened, and this propels his lying and laughable self aggrandizing as well as his demand that those around him mirror it back. When they falter or refuse, he flies into an infantile rage and seeks revenge (way too many examples to list here, but think Jim Comey for starters). The ones who stick with him the longest are those share his sense of personal grievance and feel championed by him, and those he has terrorized with actionable threats of revenge.
Maureen you're spot on. I can tell you (having been married to one for a few years) that narcissism combined with sociopathy creates this toxic combo. I suspect that all politicians are narcissists, but most are not this degree of deranged. However they are not above using the sicko psycho for their own political ends: it has suited their purposes to have him at the helm.
Glad you got out!
Me too!
the Lincoln Project made a great ad about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcVSC-BgTww
I love the whispering voice in the background.
The following political cartoon says it all. How tRump has stolen the souls of soooo many. https://wapo.st/3JVGmB0
We’ll said.
Well
I hope we have not gotten to the point of overt espionage. The Republican cult is making war on the rest of us.,There is not one thought for the good of the country.
In Trump's four years did he or Republicans propose, vote for or pass anything that was for the good of anyone other than millionaires?
Trump and the Republicans lawyers have seen the need to hire lawyers. This was unheard of in the Obama administration.
Exactly. I can’t get my head around the signs I see in rural areas near where I live: “Promises Made, Promises Kept”, “Thank You, Mr. Trump”. What exactly did he do for anyone but the wealthy? Well, there are all those judges and three radically conservative Justices, but really, cutting taxes on the wealthy helps the man on the street how?
The right-wing media manage to convince so many people that up is down, down is up, and white people gotta stick together. :-(
What's interesting about Trump's lawyers in particular is how mediocre they are. It's almost as if competent lawyers don't want to work for an arrogant creep who doesn't pay his bills.
I can’t find my way around the thought that he did this exclusively in his own self-interest, holding out for the highest bidder when he needs the money. Namely the Saudi’s.
But Rupert’s take on this is still in the hopper. So far, the evil persists…. He and chump have the same goal. $
Externalization of blame has been this immature narcissist's characteristic defense. It is immature, but it has worked fabulously well. TFG successfully convinces his acolytes that the corrupt system has it in for him. Beginning in 2017 mental health professionals have periodically warned the country and Congress that DJT is mentally unfit. Such diagnosing, without ever having actually encountered the subject in a professional setting is controversial, and fairly so. But it also seems fair to affirm that this malign person is, in fact, mentally ill. The harm he causes still mounts day by day. The evidence against him serves only to galvanize his supporters in his defense, as that Ohio Navy veteran tried to do. The danger is a coordinated effort on TFG's behalf, and the Republicans feed it. Astonishing and dispiriting!
Donald Trump has been morally and spiritually ill his entire adult life. Perhaps he has also been cognitively impaired more recently; he does so much acting, it’s hard to tell. Beware of excusing one more white man from responsibility for his crimes by calling him mentally ill. That lets him off the hook, and maligns people who are actually mentally ill.
Thank you for your important caveat about the unfair maligning of those who are mentally ill.
Mary Trump in 1st book suggests that, in addition to other things, he may have an as yet undiagnosed learning disability. Not a defense but it does explain some of the apparent problems in processing information.
The possible irony here is that all of us who realize Trump is mentally ill could be the ultimate defense his attorney will use. 'Our client is deemed mentally ill and therefore does not realize he has committed any crimes and therefore is not responsible for these crimes. We plead not guilty by reason of insanity."
And there's the rub. As I understand, a criterion for the insanity defense is not knowing what was done/committed is wrong. ChipsPOV, you may be frighteningly right.
How many times has Trump proclaimed that he's not doing anything wrong or criminal??
DJT has given all of us arm chair diagnosticians loads of evidence/symptoms to look up in the DSM. I know I shouldn't do it, I just can't help myself sometimes. Even so, I'll withhold my thoughts on this.
Here are some pertinent facts re: mental illness: mentally ill people are far more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators of them; mentally ill people commit crimes at about the same rate as the general population, even those with antisocial personality disorders. The law only excuses someone with mental illness from committing a crime if it can be demonstrated they did not know they were doing something wrong at the time. DJT clearly knew much of what he was up to was illegal, or there would not have been so much secrecy. Indeed, the 1/6 Committee clearly demonstrated he was told point blank many times that what he was doing was illegal, by many different people.
“They say I’m guilty of Escargot. I don’t eat snails. Snails are losers and I like food that is a winner. Sad. Covfefe.”
I don't think the Flip Wilson defense will work any better than "Befehl ist befehl" did at Nurnberg. A President might get a pass but a failed insurrectionist former president, not so much.
Tfg can't even say the word "yesterday". I don't think anything, including espionage, is above this guy as long as it benefits him fiscally or strokes his ego. He better get used the word "espionage"" even if it has no meaning to him.
Putin must be thrilled with the monster he created.
He is waiting for Nov and 2024. The SC will have to do in the interim
I just re-read your comment about SC, the right way this time. So am trying to delete what I said originally. I now see where you were going with it. Geesh.
The Republican Party was in about the same place from 1932 until 1952 when Ike ran in the direction of a partriot. Google "White House putsch 1933" The Rs thought Benito and Adolph were the Victor Orban's of that era.
During WWII, many of them did not believe that War measures applied to them. My AUSA Mother helped lock up a lot of them.
Or should not be treated as politics as usual. We’ve been in unchartered waters for well over 18 months ….
What was the date of The Descent on the Escalator? ;)
I have looked forward to todays “letter” all day. I could hardly wait to read it. I do not listen to the news as it is so much talking over each other I can’t follow it. I know you will explain things in a organized , concise manner. And I do not have to wonder if it is truth or fiction. I do very much appreciate you.
Hey, Christine. I used to be awed by the "news," thinking they were so much smarter than me. Then I got Heather and her Letter and my friends on LFAA from all over the country, where I can get the real "skinny" on what's going on; and, as you say, don't have to wonder whether it's truth or fiction. Truly something to appreciate!
The “panels” of cable news make me crazy. Gave up on that, just tell it like it is, Walter…
I gave up on those “panels” also, Jeri. Someone else on this forum, I think, said, “My need to stay informed is directly impacted by my need to stay sane.”
Ha, back in the day, I was too cheap to go for cable, though many tried to sign us up. But there still is a lot of cable-less types out there to avoid.
That proves how smart you are, Lynell. Good morning from California!
I'll buy that, MaryB! Afternoon now for you and for me.
I've been sending Heather's letters to a cousin who voted for T. She commented that it is so one-sided. But Truth is truth, no matter how you look at it.
I get the same response from my Fox watching husband. If I comment that what he's listening to is propaganda and fear tactics he complains that my sources are one-,sided too..Yes the Truth is the Truth but you'll never get your cousin to believe it. Their minds have been re-wired I'm convinced.
Agree, Jeanne. I have a similar issue with my two sisters.
I wonder how your cousin comes to the conclusion that "it is so one-sided." I guess more to the point, what is the "it" that she is referring to. Just being curious here.
The "it" she's referring to is our comments
Hmm. Very interesting! Thanks, Jeanne. Good luck with your journey.
Thank you Heather for helping all of us get through this nightmare. I can’t believe I’m living in this time in history. Whew. Your daily letters will be studied in the future and those that read them will be hopefully as shocked as we are. Get some rest this weekend. You deserve it. 💙
Uh, Jan... we ain't gots thru it yet... the loser ex-president is still walking and talking and not being indicted/sentenced/imprisioned/deported. Otherwise I agree with you totally.
I think Jan means Heather is ongoing in her "helping all of us."
I think we have to be patient. Things are really starting to stir up
We are indeed living in interesting times!
Terry Pratchett thought me that is basically a curse.
Sometime in my pre-teen years I heard an adult say that "May you live in an interesting time" was a "Chinese curse", and, at that time, I thought it made no sense at all. Live and learn.
I like boring better, when I could focus my energy on animal welfare, the environment, and books for erudition. Of course, back then, I had no clue about the depth of inequality, the extent of political evil, or the extreme danger that was lurking with Mother Earth. Reminds me of Schweitzer “Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” Well Albert, it is all in our consciousness now, ostriches excluded
You mean, like, be able to focus energy on the things that we are passionate about, that feed our souls, instead of having to focus our energy on the survival of the government and on the 7 million people that intend to participate in it's destruction?
Well, since you put it that way, Ally...yes!
Those "books for erudition" sure rubbed off on you, Jeri. Energy well spent in that department!
Add the UFO mystery and we are all set for interesting times.
Doctor, My Eyes
❤️
The Justice Department isn't coming for just Trump but those who helped him to decide what documents to steal and who collected them. And anyone whom Trump might have shared them with since leaving office and participated in their illegal use.
Does anyone doubt the department won't get to the bottom of this case? However, because of national security implications we may never know the true damage their misuse may have done or will do in the future.
M Bales writes: "anyone whom Trump might have shared them with".
Thought: You can lift fingerprints from paper. Bet ya FBI is dusting classified papers as we speak. Any prints not by security authorized persons in oval office visitation logs is illegal distribution.
100Panthers, it was reported on MSNBC that the FBI is dusting the SCI documents for fingerprints.
And telltale smears of ketchup.
Laugh for the early morning
🤣
Wonder if they got intelligence that Trump was marketing secrets and thus the need for immediate seizure and immediate dusting?
LOL really! Ha ha ha...that didn't take long! Thanks for update. 26 boxes. What company makes the fingerprint dust?!?!
I haven't seen it on the list yet but, am hoping they also searched Malaria's room where they found the curtains, china and flatware,....
😂
Note to self: Buy their stock!
Oh analysis of paper documents now goes way beyond 'dusting' for finger prints.
100, he fucked with the WH ‘visitation log”, remember? What a slime ball. Gets worser and worser…
Yes he did. Meaning, those whose fingerprints are on document will have a harder time claiming they were at the WH at that time. The lack of log is only a few hours Jan 6th. LOL, let's say there are 5 people's fingerprints on Top Secret documents, not in any other WH visitation logs. Then these people will have to claim that, during the insurrection, Trump asked me to paw these papers and hope cellphone, credit card receipts, etc. do not conflict. In sum, lack of log not really an issue.
Trump did away with the visitation log early in his presidency. Here's some clarification:
"[In an April 2017] White House briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer was questioned about the administration's decision to not release White House visitor logs ahead of schedule, as was partially done by the Obama administration. Spicer claimed, “We're following the law as both the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act prescribe it."[1]
"Visitor logs are maintained by the U.S. Secret Service through the White House Access Control System (WHACS). An initial record is created when an authorized White House employee submits information about a future visitor to the Secret Service for a background check. A second record is created when an approved visitor swipes a temporary security badge to enter the White House Complex.[2][5]"
"Upon taking office, Donald Trump's administration redesigned the White House website and included a page for “visitor access records.” However, White House communications director Michael Dubke announced on April 14, 2017, that the administration would not release visitor logs.[11][12]"
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended the administration's decision to not release White House visitor logs by claiming, "We're following the law as both the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act prescribe it."[1]
"Spicer was correct that visitor logs for the president, his advisers, and immediate staff are governed by the Presidential Records Act (PRA). As such, they need only be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration when a president leaves office. The logs (and other presidential records) may become available through the Freedom of Information Act beginning five years after the end of an administration (although the outgoing president may invoke some restrictions on public access for up to 12 years)."
https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/Sean_Spicer_on_Trump_White_House_visitor_logs
Another one of those disturbing revelations soon eclipsed by a worse disturbing revelation
Flooding you with hearts today, Jeri...when they work.
"The lack of log is only a few hours Jan 6th. "
No. It was standard practice. The record is entirely incomplete.
Both wrong. Visitor logs obtained by Jan. 6th committee. Helpful.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/very-fruitful-trump-visitor-logs-bennie-thompson-capitol-riot-committee_n_6226b979e4b0a7d5b8ba15d8
White House CALL PHONE logs have 7 hour gap for Jan. 6th. Records show no calls, others had calls with him. Some say he used cell phones and other people's phones.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-logs-show-over-7-hr-gap-trump-calls-jan-6-report-2022-03-29/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/politics/mystery-call-gap-trump-jan-6-white-house-phone-logs/index.html
Unfortunately, Oval office security had been an oxymoron while trump occupied the wh!
I did love the the end sentence to the letter, a zinger as usual. Death star as a national security risk and trying to defend that. No wonder some of them have gone dark as someone put it today.
Who went dark, Fox was still at 90 decibels
Major nut case MTG was already selling t-shirts saying “Defund the FBI.”
That woman is wacko. That is a very technical term that may substitute for others that are much more vulgar.
How about defunding MTG? Not only is she selling t-shirts as described, but "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene officially filed impeachment articles against Attorney General Merrick Garland, accusing him of using the Justice Department to go after former president Donald Trump". I'm normally not a conspiracy-peddling person, but being such a loyal, 'avid' fan of TFG's makes me believe that he has something on her that should not come to the open. Besides, she obviously also likes to be in the press... front page preferred
Some of the R pols and not the nut cases we see front and center. I don't think the person meant Fox and other noise makers.
Question: Why WHY does anyone want Top Secret materials that could imperil the nation? Forget the theft, lies, claims of declassification with a waive of the hand (impossible), ignoring subpoena, etc.. WHY does he want those documents?
Question: Why WHY did the Orange Clown print out these documents? Ben Rhodes (Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor) explained on his Pod Save the World broadcast yesterday, that confidential information was provided on a secure iPad that self erased, not paper.
Sell secrets to his buddies in North Korea and Russia, he’s not above that. Here’s the info, now let me build my next tower in your fair city. I say let’s trade mr T and his gang to Russian for the release of the basketball star!
Nice thought, unrealistic. Brittney Griner has real value. Putin would probably demand we toss in Rudy, Roger, Eastman, MTG, Gaetz, Ted Cruz and maybe Meadows. Russians drive a hard bargain! I'd do the deal.
Send them all over to their favorite authoritarian state and never let them in the USA again. Traitors all, and those that support them. Those that seem somehow able to detach their ego and power grabbing mind from actual reality (McConnell, McCarthy, et al). Did I mention that the one thing I was really happy about when my dad died in 2014 was that he never had to see the day when our country would elect a liar and cheat to the presidency.
Ah, there were liars and cheats along the way, but no one who compares with the nightmare we live in now.
Sylvia, I know what you mean, I'm relieved my Dad (a WWII veteran) passed away in December 2020, he voted for Biden, saw him elected, but did not have to witness the January 6th insurrection. I cannot imagine how he would have felt.
I had the same feeling about my parents having died in the early '00s.
They might find a use for fleet-footed Josh Hawley as well.
Looks like we will violate the embargo and have to toss in some gold bars if we are really going to clean house.
In a heartbeat
Putin doesn’t need to trade for something he already owns. It doesn’t really matter where they are located. Besides, now that he’s out of office, FBI has seized the records, and he - hopefully - will never be in office again, Putin has no use for him. Seems he’s now expendable to the Russian state, in my opinion.
Someone posted here yesterday or so that James Clapper said the most secret documents were always on paper, not stored electronically as that would be subjected to hacking.
Somewhere I heard today that Top Secret info was on paper so that there was no fear of digital hacking. Perhaps classified documents also.
Paper documents can easily be scanned. That couldn't be done by trump (he doesn't even know what a copy machine is!) but certainly by one of his minions. They could well be in the hands of those who can and undoubtedly will do harm. Given everything about trump and what he has gotten away with for decades, nothing should surprise us . . . . furthermore, we all should expect the very worst. The wheels of justice cannot move slowly in this case (it has already been years). trump and the criminal cabal needs to be put away in jail cells for a very long time.
💙 x 1000
Power, profit, and/ or leverage against the Federal Government to back off other investigations. Desperate people do desperate things. Haven’t seen those tax returns have we? I think he is bleeding cash and going broke, grasping for anything to prevent the inevitable.
$$$$$$$$
So hope the hammer is coming down. So far, the tip of the ice berg
Exactly, who abetted his treason? Oops, treason? Does it require one to first be loyal to a country? If so, trump is and has always been loyal only to himself!
Was Trump charged the standard photocopying rate at Mara Largo? Must have taken, oh 6 months, to photocopying all those pages in the 26 boxes, I would think. Just curious as he asked his followers for more $$ when he released his last personal defense against government overreach.
By not redacting the agents’ names, and thus exposing them and their families to harm, Trump again proves how evil and cruel he is.
I’m so sorry to those agents and their families. TFG is a total disgrace, he has put the entire agency and their families at risk!
Many in the FBI were Trump supporters. What he has done to those agents and their families is beyond reprehensible. The Cincinnati shooter is only the beginning of what might happen. We used to refer to how he "threw people under the bus" but that now feels quaint. He's proven to be an engine of evil fueled by his evil minions.
Maybe the FBI supporters of Dump will now wake up. Wait until they start getting threats online or in person! Look at what happened to Adam Kinzinger and his family. Shameful!
I missed that. What happened?
Mim, you missed the threats against Adam K’s family? I think the agents who appeared on the un redacted documents to search Mar-A-Lardo, might be threatened by the Magats and their allies in Congress.
Elizabeth, Adams K isn't the only one to get hideous threats. When I was at the doctor's the other day they had MSNBC on the monitor and I heard a report that Liz Cheney is only doing small group, at people's homes "rallies" because of threats to her and her family. She and her husband have 5 children and her own Party is threatening to kill her. What a Country we live in.
It is truly sickening. That’s what 400 million high powered weapons gets you: reap what we sow. Very depressing and ominous.
Yes, I did.
Here's a link through the NY Post that may explain for you, Mim:
https://nypost.com/2022/06/20/gop-rep-kinzinger-receives-chilling-threat-against-him-and-his-family/
Nothing should be spared to run down those who threaten.
He is an official Menace to society.
It is a continuation of GOP attacks on government workers.
AND we hope guilty! Of something that will put his huge ass in a small, cold steel celll….
Mim, yes. That is such a thug move. He knew exactly what he was doing.
He keeps surpassing himself.
Evil, cruel, ... and childish! That was an obvious passive-aggressive act.
Over, and over, and over again. True for the puppet master as well.
I am waiting to see what my cop friends say about this. All of us have served search warrants, and know that there is a real threat of retribution from those subjects.
The cruelty is the point.
Notice how after the specifics of what the FBI took from Mar-a-Lago (Stephen Colbert called it "Karm-a-Lago"), which on the face of it are pretty damning, were made known, a lot of Republicans have really clammed up? It seems to have suddenly gotten vewy vewy quiet. I wonder if some folks are maybe having second thoughts? This might be the best time for many in the GOP to unhitch their cars from the "T***p Train" once and for all. Garland plays for keeps and he wouldn't be pursuing this unless there's ample reason. I wouldn't try and outmaneuver him. (T***p's niece, Mary Trump, said "Merrick Garland is playing chess. Donald is playing checkers.") Of course, Georgia's champion nut-burger MTG has filed a motion to impeach Garland, so it'll be interesting to see how many Republicans get behind THAT.
Bruce, you had me laughing. Gotta love Colbert's Karm-a-Lago. Vewy, vewr quiet indeed. The chess and checkers part, touché! They had their Let's Go Brandon thing. I want a Let's Go Garland! sticker! A quiet, scholarly, patient man taking down the Blubbering Idiot is beautiful to watch.
!
" (T***p's niece, Mary Trump, said 'Merrick Garland is playing chess. Donald is playing checkers')"
No, Checkers was Nixon. Trump just plays with his food, and as much as he can, with other people's lives. But yes, all those spikey, tower and horsey bits appear to be circling for the kill.
Checkers was the dog. Famous Nixon speech with Checkers mentioned. I’m too lazy to look it up. But it was talked about at home by my parents, who reviled Tricky Dicky.
I looked it up just for you JL Graham:
“The Checkers speech or Fund speech was an address made on September 23, 1952, by California Senator Richard Nixon, six weeks before the 1952 United States presidential election, in which he was the Republican candidate for Vice President. Nixon had been accused of improprieties relating to a fund established by his backers to reimburse him for his political expenses. His place was in doubt on the Republican ticket, so he flew to Los Angeles and delivered a half-hour television address in which he defended himself, attacked his opponents, and urged the audience to contact the Republican National Committee (RNC) to tell it whether he should remain on the ticket. During the speech, he stated that he intended to keep one gift, regardless of the outcome: a black-and-white Cocker Spaniel that his children had named Checkers, thus giving the address its popular name.“
I read that Ike wanted to dump him before he made that speech, but apparently he made it to force Ike to keep him. No source, just fallible memory
I have the same vague impression.
Thank you. I was showing my age by referencing it. Yes, what heartless beast would hurt young children just to keep the VP accountable to law? An object lesson in modern "GOP" slight of hand, bait and switch.
Nixon was an odd one as he was not an environmental vandal, like Republicans since, but he was never the less a manipulative opportunist.
JL, Nixon was just an ordinary vandal….and we decided after that speech that we could never name a pet “Checkers”. And we never did….
And yet he was pretty forward thinking on environmental issues, see this for example: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-state-the-union-delivered-before-joint-session-the-congress . It is reasonable to imagine that posterity may consider environment as the most critical issue ever. That does not exonerate Nixon, and I detested Nixon, slimy Agnew, and Mitchell, and Nixon's lack of repentance for his crimes, which I think set a very bad precedent (a did the blatantly corrupt "pardon").
That said, he still held traces of "decency" or at least not, as telegenic, totally plutocratic Reagan was, willing to abandon any concern for the common weal. Reagan's Secretary of the Interior, James Watt, became embarrassing even to Republicans. Reagan was hostile to environmental protection, and I can't think of a Republican president since who wasn't. Certainly Trump. Nixon badly abused democracy, while Reagan endeavored to kill it;
Yes, I was having fun with Nixon's modern Republican ploy of playing the victim when caught misbehaving; the infamous "Checkers Speech". And while Dick was very tricky, he did strike me as a poor candidate for winning at chess.
Trump not at checkers level but tic tac toe!
Do you think he has the discipline?
Discipline! The very meaning of the word is, for the most part, foreign to him. His verbal utterances lack any sense of cohesion nor intelligence!
One might conclude that his maniacal pursuit of personal greed is an example of discipline, but it appears to be hard wired in his robotic dna!
He does have a certain skill as a swindler, and he is probably smarter in terms of neuron-ware that he sounds or behaves. I think the edge and impunity of the golden spoon in his mouth allowed him to grow up as a profoundly lazy thinker. His SES allowed him to spout whatever nonsense came (and now comes) to mind, and get away with it, at least within the "GOP". He rides his inheritance and his supported role as Putin's saboteur to the shared illusion of competence.
"just plays with his food" 🤣🤣🤣
Mary Trump: some of us don’t think your uncle can play checkers, even….just sayin’!
Apart form being practiced at saying "king me".
You are funny, J L! He would say that whether he won or not….as with everything else he lies about.
❤️🤣
Man, is THAT ever true!
How about "Clue"? ....as in he doesn't have one.
I emailed the Turtle (who has been quiet) and basically said, you made a HUGE mistake when you first changed your opinions on TFG, now it is time to attempt to rectify how history will judge you.
Turtle is a dirtbag…plain and simple. I couldn’t care less about how history will judge him.We are judging him now. Omg.
She has unusual talents to match a fine mind, that woman.
Having escaped the curse being chief among them.
I'm reading this at 0700 PDT, and have not made my daily journey over to Facebook to see what my "law and order" cop friends and supporters are saying. Yesterday was a travel day for me, and I am grateful to my cluster of Substack writers (TC and LKT,IV in particular) for keeping me posted as I returned a 26' rental truck, was driven through Friday traffic in Seattle, and flew home to Eugene. I saved reading this Letter until this morning.
What delivers more volume than a firehose??
Wow! Another early night! Thank you, Heather, for your tenacity and devotion to the stories that shape our present day politics and influence those of the future. There is so much at stake...the latest revelations about the content of the papers recovered from Mar a Lago are, of course, staggering. To what end did Trump remove them from the White House? Were they copied and sold to the highest bidder? The Saudis perhaps? Does this qualify as espionage? People have been tried and convicted for far less in the past. It's time to take off the kid gloves and grapple with Trump, et al., bare handed
Tried, convicted and electrocuted.
Yes, sadly.
Reality Winner took a single document. Spent 4 years in prison.
US politicians save there most virulent outrage, not for those who sell their secrets to Russia, but for those who rat them out to the voters.
!
Daria, since this newest news, I've imagined the police arriving at tRump's door with an arrest warrant, taking him away in cuffs, and publishing his "mug shot" in orange for the whole world to see. Nice dream, huh?
I, too, have long wished to see T**** led away in bracelets by a phalanx of FBI agents, The orange striped suit would be just appropriate for his coloring. And it may come to pass.
It would make my day, (year), Pam!
"People have been tried and convicted for far less in the past. " I recall in the past reading a well sourced list of some of them, and it didn't take much when state secrets were involved.
No, it didn't. I am anti death penalty so I cringe at the thought but in the past the slightest whiff of espionage was enough to bring charges against someone. What Trump did when he removed those boxes full of documents was wrong. He, his counsel, and his aids knew it was wrong at the time it was done. In his capacity as President, there is ample evidence that Trump consistently acted against the best interests of the country and its people. He continues to do so today.
It should not have taken this long to retrieve those documents and with anyone else it wouldn't have. The leeway Trump has been given for decades goes beyond politics ‐ this act of potential espionage may be the thing that scrapes away the Teflon and finally brings him to his knees. One can only hope
Trying prayer again
Hope with fingers and toes crossed.
In the cases I was speaking of it I the point seemed to be that a fairly innocent oversight, taking a few of the wrong papers home or some such thing could trigger job loss or jail time even with honorable intent. I agree that the death penalty does more harm than good, justifying, as it does, premeditated murder. Better that be a line we just don't cross, not to mention evidence of biases and errors.
Perhaps as a projection of the security of seemingly (for a while) omnipotent parents, there seems to be something in the mix of human nature that yearns for an all-powerful king. Even though publicly owned powers are technically conditional, and only on loan to our representatives, there is a tendency for us to want to see them "fix it" while we cheer from the stands. That leaves a wide opening for con-artist/despots.
Take the presidential power of pardon, for example, which is bestowed at presidential whim. The idea of revisiting and reevaluating certain convictions seems sound to me, but not the fact that it is subjective and autocratic. I believe a turning point in the path of the Republican Party occurred with the pardon of Richard Nixon. Not even really a pardon but a grant of special impunity. By no means does that explain everything, but I see it as a significant and troubling abandonment of rule of law which subsequent Republicans expanded.
We seem in general to hold celebrity politicians to far looser standards than we do less powerful people, in terms of provable dishonestly, screaming conflicts of interest, and accountability for negligent error or misfeasance, than the ordinary citizen, not equal justice at all.
Petraeus ??
Back in the day he no doubt he would have been executed.
This week Biden/Democrats 3 Trump/Republicans 0, and Biden/Democrats with a strong following wind backed by justice, accomplishments, evidence, and (oh yes) facts.
Oh, yeah.....facts! Funny things those 🤔 They do make life better.
More hot air and bullshit from the con artists of Conservatism Inc to allow Trump to squirt squid ink. the senile old morons who live in Faux Snooze were - in my experience - morons when they were in high school, so that (as I once told one of them) at least they're consistent fools.
So true, knew some when I worked in high school. But more dangerous were the smart, disturbed ones who could influence the morons.
Yep
Trump reminds me of a man perched on the end of a stout tree limb that towers far above the ground. With each new revelation of his crimes, the limb sags more every day. Not just the crimes but the weight of endless absurd lies and prevarications, uttered in rambling incoherent sentences that makes one wonder how he graduated from junior high school much less college.
We can all hear the branch creaking louder and louder. The only question is when, not if, the branch will come crashing down.
To mix metaphors, he's toast — and knows it.
We hope!
I'm kind of picturing the chainsaw in his hand as he cuts off that branch at its base.
"You've seen one Redwood, you've seen 'em Aaaaaaaa.......
You're on a roll today, J L! Been smiling and chortling all along the page off your cogent, witty, punditry!
Morning, Lynell!
Morning, Ally!! I trust the travel/move went smoothly? Did I ask this already? They say you don't have dementia if you question your own ability to remember things...teehee!
I got home yesterday at about 6. My friends now have 2 full truckloads of boxes to unpack.
OUTSTANDING!!!
Jeez Michael, I like the tree image so much. Put a rope in there somewhere and add a dirge.
My thought is that he did not graduate, that his father paid Penn to give him a diploma. Someone with Trump’s learning issues would have had a seriously difficult time in college, especially given his lack of interest in learning. His records from high school and college are sealed because of privacy restrictions and the threat of lawsuits.
Dumb Donald—two years at Fordham. With daddy’s help then to Penn undergrad while, though Donnie proclaimed his academic brilliance, his lawyers forbade the release of his transcript and he never was on the honor roll. Tuff to do well academically when you can’t read.
Michael, you know how some branches crack but hang by a thread for awhile, until a good thunderstorm wind comes along and finishes the drop to the ground? I see him clinging desperately to the dangling limb......
There is a meme circulating of him with a fork in his back.
The property receipt reveals that agents reclaimed for the United States more than 26 boxes of documents, including ones labeled “classified/TS/SCI,” which means “top secret/sensitive compartmented information.”
It is impossible for Trump to justify moving and keeping these documents at Mar a Lago.
And his legal representative signed for them.
So an important next question has to do with the motivation underlying the act of taking those particular documents.
Enough. Lock him up and lose the key.
*sigh* lemme make another cup of coffee in my “but her emails” mug.
Hahaha... Love that!
If the Republiqans in your life are anything like the Republiqans in mine, they've already been bleating about that. I read over on Jim Wright's page today that he did eventually release the documents, not redacting the names of the Agents executing the warrant. I first learned of the Archivists' rebuttal to the Obama documents from Jim, and am formatting my responses to these "law and order" cops as we speak.
Thanks HCR for leading with the IRA---a tremendous achievement, the greatness of which has been clouded over by the noise coming from the corrupt and crazy leadership and members all the way down in the Republican Party. The drama is not over; there is a lot more to play out, slowly or rapidly, but the noose is surely tightening and the GOP leadership (and even WaPo columnist George Will--see his column yesterday---GOP lies and fantasies and refusal to see the truth---the comments were scathing) will look more and more foolish---and more than that. And now, the conservative Christian establishment --Southern Baptist Convention --- is subject to DOJ action related to sexual abuse. The chickens are really coming home to roost. Peace and Courage to All. Have a good and renewing weekend Yes: We, the People.....
George Will can still adhere to evil republican orthodoxy while blathering about this or that. Has the worm turned, for longer than a nanosecond
G. Are you related to Howard Zinn, the great progressive historian?
Unfortunately no. But my first Honors student at Oberlin was HZ’s assistant on his last book.
Great! Not a common name.
Our parents and grandparents who gave their honor and their lives to protect our freedoms wouldn’t just be turning over in their graves...they’d be on spin cycle.
Lincoln spins like a jet turbine.
What if he has already shared any of this information? What about the two Billion Jared was gifted? Is there a connection? So many unknowns. This guy needs to be stopped. ENOUGH!
What is the $2 billion given to Jared? I'm only aware of the $1 billion bailout of his NYC office building. Is this in addition to that, so there is really $3 billion gifted to Jared? Thanks. Matt.
Grifters….all of them. Jared Bin Lying is a great meme on the net.
Love the name!
$2 billion was given to Jared to invest for the Saudis even though he has very little experience.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/us/jared-kushner-saudi-investment-fund.amp.html
Getting paid say $20 million to invest $2 billion for the Saudis is nothing compared to his $1 billion bailout of his NYC office building. We are talking $20 million vs. $1 billion.
Given Jared’s record of needing bailouts, that $2 billion is at risk of being invested in ways that disappear it.
This is the lede paragraph from the above NYT article..
"Six months after leaving the White House, Jared Kushner secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince, a close ally during the Trump administration, despite objections from the fund’s advisers about the merits of the deal."
Search for "Kushner 666 Fifth Avenue".
And MBS’s investment advisors advised against the $2B.
Exactly!
Thank you for keeping all of this clear and concise. I do have a question about potential for these documents to have been scanned into cell phones, tablets, laptops etc and either been disseminated or hacked. I’d there any info about this possibility. Thank you
I'd say probable. What a nightmarish thought.
Fran, that’s a great question and it seems to be 100% that anything of value has been copied. Maybe that’s why the boxes were removed from the WH and why TFG ignored the earlier subpoena. Who knows, there might be more boxes hiding in plain sight or in a storage unit somewhere in Florida.
I'm guessing there are a ton of "digital copies" of this information.
Therein lies the problem...