Please be careful; I understand that wastewater analysis data in NYC as a whole is showing increases in polio. I am a Naturalized citizen so your work is appreciated.
Prior to both the polio vaccine becoming available, I lost an uncle who was a monster-fit Army officer (3d Generation West Point) who went from monster-fit to diagnosis to iron lung to dead in a matter of months and left behind a wife and two children. This is why all major universities in the US with students from foreign lands require the kids who live in the dorms have the standard vaccinations such as MMR, TDAP, and others because as up and down as US health care is, there are many countries where it is much worse.
Nut? Anti Vax? No! How about the anti adequate testing objective? He's saying new vaccines need better testing. My own brother went into respiratory arrest 20 minutes after his booster. Died sevens months later after 33 ER visits. Maybe RFK has a point. The entire MSM campaign needs an actual overhaul starting with reporting the news and not opinion. That goes for Fox to MSNBC. It's all corrupt and engineered by money, usually people with too much money.
Unfortunately the news reporting business of Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, and those titans of WWII and the post-WWII era is long gone and has been replaced by the "pretty/handsome people" on the news who if they didn't have their earbud, couldn't remember their SSN or street address. As a strategic planner, one of my tasks is tracking infectious disease and in addition to the growth of polio in NYC, we are seeing an even greater growth in TB along the SoCal, AZ, and Texas borders. This stuff is nothing to play around with so start by listening to your family physician who knows you and your blood chemistries well, and take the shots he/she recommends. Also, everyone, please do your homework and read legitimate, peer reviewed journals and don't rely on social media for your medical care.
Lisa that sounds like good work. We here in my local Democrats Abroad group in Germany will not be watching the inauguration. Instead, we will be joining in a group countrywide video chat memorializing MLK, and then going out to an Irish Pub and playing in an English Language quiz bowl to take our minds off of what we are facing. Tomorrow, my political reading group abroad which has people from several countries, will continue with our work on supporting from abroad. Besides supporting initiatives in the US, we have picked the issue of health care to work on as a start sharing what is going on in our countries.
Immigrants or illegal aliens? I have educated and talented friends who can't easily get into the USA to work... but everyone else with an IQ of 80 or lower is able tp manage. Is it because they're actually smarter to game the system? I don't know what the JJC is, but maybe you should be supplying systems making it easy for illegal aliens to return and enter the US legally. How about that?
Glad you're feeling better and back at the keyboard! I can only hope that what I am seeing about his MAGAlydite supporters literally being left out in the cold after spending all their egg and bread money to get to DC is the first in an endless line of disappointments he will serve up to them. Maybe, just maybe, their cultish devotion will start to crack and some common sense (and decency) will seep in.
Greg, the worse he gets the harder it will be for his followers to admit they befouled their own country. Some day down the road they’ll look back. How obvious Donny’s lies will seem then. And not only his lies, also his cruelty, his bad faith, and his reasons.
Mussolini's followers finally -- and savagely-- turned on him. But that was after he dragged the country into World War II, so t-RUMP has a long way to go yet.
Yes, sadly I think we need an updated version of LBJ's statement: If you can convince the most brainwashed MAGAt that they're better than the most elite Liberal they'll let you pick their pocket forever.
I, too, loved the fact that thousands of Maggots spent lots of $$$ on travel & hotel expenses to watch their idol take over the government once again, only to have the outdoor event moved inside the Rotunda. It won't have quite the same impact on them watching it on TV in their cheap hotel rooms. Yeah, they're disappointed, but I don't think their cultist devotion to Drumpf will result in common sense & decency seeping into their pea-size brains, at least not anytime soon. Maybe after they realize he can't/won't do anything about the cost of their groceries, gas, rent, etc., will they come to the realization that he and his billionaire buddies just don't really give a damn about them.
I can see it now. So many memos not got. So much paperwork lost. Emails bounced or accidentally deleted. Server failures. Liquids spilled on electronics. The supposedly sorry, sad sack little people will be the unseen heroes placing wrenches in the workings. Viva la resistance. "OOPS!"
My chest is constricted, and I will pace when he’s spouting his doomsday speech, but yet I remain positive and focused on our future. The future of our children, grandchildren.
Gathering with my schul folks to eat, read, sing, drum and not participate in any way in the most ridiculous farcical event giving yet more attention to the most ridiculous farcical human being,,, ever.
I definitely will NOT be engaged by the LIAR and Trump Family Sinners. I will be stuck inside by the cold and snow. Constructive use of time will be employed cleaning out the basement. I’d be far more satisfied if I could clean out the Oval Office on Tuesday.
You have confirmed what I believe also: that the incompetent, ignorant, and biased idiots that Trump has nominated will not be able to do as much damage as we fear. And you know a lot more than I do! Trump and his minions also do not believe in the rule of law -- which in fact does exist and which will land on many of their plans like a ton of bricks.
Thank you. I am old and my sister and I were just visiting and I told her the same thing. Don't pay attention to the "this will happen in so many days." Pay attention when something actually happens. I am not giving up. We have so much to do from now until 2026. Let's get to it.
Let’s take a look at what is already happening. The NYT articles that if Trump pulls that tariff crap against Canada, the Canadians will apply tariffs against all imports that will hit the red states the most. See, that’s the way to do it. Don’t hurt your supporters, hurt your enemies.
And then there is the illegals deportations. Let him try this in California. Watch what happens to the price of lettuce if he does what he says since 70% of all lettuce consumed in the USA comes from California and is harvested by the very people who he is deporting. Somebody brought up the deportations in Alabama and people thought the blacks would jump at the chance of doing watermelon harvesting and were shocked when they didn’t and the crop rotted on the vine.
Half of me is going to feel extreme pleasure to see the Trumpers of this country sit and starve when food prices are too high and they can’t buy enough to eat. I’ll tell all of them: contact your Lord and Master and have him grow you a bone or two. He’s been making tons of money doing the quid pro quo dance.
I have hope not because I believe he won't try to fulfill his nihilism, but because he will and his MAGAts will suffer, they will rise up. Who is going to rebuild California and Florida? Pick crops? Serve in hotels and restaurant kitchens? My faith is in November '26 when his effrontery will have taken hold and will have turned his support. His minions will storm the Bastille. And I'll be smiling.
Rise up against him? I very much doubt that. It took being dragged into the horrors of World War II before the Italians finally turned on Mussolini. All the MAGAs want is for the people they hate to be persecuted, and that will definitely happen.
Regarding California versus Florida & North Carolina, I am bothered by the fact that the victims of Hurricane Helene have fallen off the planet according to the mainstream media. All we hear about is CA. I have colleagues who go out of their way to tell me on a recurring basis how CA has the 5th largest economy in the world (validated by the IMF). This leads to the following observation. While individuals desperately need our help (thank God for the Red Cross), why should Federal taxpayer money be used to rebuild CA's infrastructure? I am not talking about the homes of individuals who need our help because of what the insurance companies did to those folks, I am talking about bridges and roads and other infrastructure. I see that Governor Newsom wants to rebuild CA in a manner that would remind one of the old Soviet style of housing, all crammed together but at least it's affordable. North Carolina alone has over 120,000 destroyed structures yet no one seems to care anymore. The way I see it, CA's people our help, not the state. Florida and North Carolina are in dire straights, especially NC because there are people living in tents in the snow because of the lack of help from the Federal government. Let's treat everyone with the same level of compassion so we can fix everyone's problems.
California sends more tax dollars to the federal government than any other state. Do you think that Florida and North Carolina have not received any money from California? I don't think we're going to get old style Soviet style housing, although the developers will favor it, of course.
I totally concur with you about CA doing the best job of all the states in sending tax dollars to the Federal government, that is irrefutable. The issue with FL and NC right now is from the Federal perspective, they have literally dropped off the map and from my friends and colleagues in those two states, they are getting minimal "love" right now. Damage costs in CA are high because the state has done a great job in increasing home values over the decades. That $2M house is CA costs about $500-$700 (top end) in the best part of NC. Where I live in VA, we are seeing the construction of what is being termed "Prison Housing Subdivisions" because all must look exactly the same on the outside so no feelings are hurt. That may sound odd about people's feelings being hurt but that is a fact. It took me 40 years to earn my way into the community I used to live in and now, because of these Prison Housing Subdivisions, I have had to move on. People with unique homes are being blamed for all of the evils where I live. The money is being put on the inside so there will be segments in a development that are rentals only and then low, middle, and high end purchases. Any way , I am all for helping the individual folks in CA rebuild their lives but I would prefer if CA could hold back some of the tax dollars and rebuild the infrastructure themselves. It would probably get done faster and look better than waiting for the Federal government, regardless of the Party in power, to get it done.
We are just hours away from Trump's second inauguration, yet I don't think anyone is prepared for the explosion of stupidity which is about to begin with this new administration. It will begin with insults, gloating, vulgarity, and lawless repealing of things which benefit average Americans. Stupid ideological lunatics, America's worst people, will be in charge. Changing daily will be whatever may be rocketing around in Trump's calcifying brain.
The courts will be jammed with cases involving violations of the Constitution, cases which will take years to rule on by a corrupted Supreme Court.
A tsunami of stupid is gathering strength and will be upon us starting January 20, 2025. For now we are spectators looking at a placid sea, victims standing on the beach, waiting to be drowned in a sea of ineptitude and baby-talk.
Trump is enacting the Hitler playbook of purges - first the federal government, then the universities, then who knows?. I suspect that's Stephen Miller asserting his dominance. Arrogance and ignorance will reign supreme, coupled with violence if they don't get their way.
Very well stated, Rich. And don't think China isn't watching with great interest. What a great time to move against Taiwan while America is distracted by Drumpf and his moronic myrmidons.
In between despairing and being terrified, I remember that "Incoming" is full of performative bluster and deeply stupid, though cunning in a certain way. Incompetent fits in there somewhere, too. Though those accompanying "Incoming" viciously seek to upend our society and economy, they also are not known for their competence.
Tomorrow I am remembering those who have been in this battle for their lifetimes and ther ancestor's llfetimes, and taking courage from MLK: "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
It's our turn to lean into morality, decency, and justice.
Know where I'm going to be during the inauguration? At the annual MLK Jr. Day membership luncheon put on by the NAACP Branch to which I belong. I expect to enjoy both the food and the company, many of whom have been speaking truth to power for years if not decades and who aren't going to stop now. I expect to be inspired by the speakers and to lift my voice with everyone else's for "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." Connections are already being made to protect the most vulnerable among us, especially immigrants and anyone who looks like they might be an immigrant. It's going to be a tough four years, even here in blue Massachusetts, but we're as ready as we'll ever be and we're not giving up in advance. Carry on, wherever you are!
Excellent piece Lucian. Gives me hope for the next 4 years.
Lucian - Tomorrow, January 20, will be a day to celebrate, and I am going to raise a toast, because it is Martin Luther King Day!
I am doing volunteer work with the JCC in Manhattan making hygiene kits for the immigrants! My TV will be off!
Please be careful; I understand that wastewater analysis data in NYC as a whole is showing increases in polio. I am a Naturalized citizen so your work is appreciated.
!!!!! Thanks.
Yes, I heard that and I was vaccinated as a child! The current children need to be vaccinated! Don’t listen to RFK Jr. as he is a nut!
Prior to both the polio vaccine becoming available, I lost an uncle who was a monster-fit Army officer (3d Generation West Point) who went from monster-fit to diagnosis to iron lung to dead in a matter of months and left behind a wife and two children. This is why all major universities in the US with students from foreign lands require the kids who live in the dorms have the standard vaccinations such as MMR, TDAP, and others because as up and down as US health care is, there are many countries where it is much worse.
Nut? Anti Vax? No! How about the anti adequate testing objective? He's saying new vaccines need better testing. My own brother went into respiratory arrest 20 minutes after his booster. Died sevens months later after 33 ER visits. Maybe RFK has a point. The entire MSM campaign needs an actual overhaul starting with reporting the news and not opinion. That goes for Fox to MSNBC. It's all corrupt and engineered by money, usually people with too much money.
Unfortunately the news reporting business of Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, and those titans of WWII and the post-WWII era is long gone and has been replaced by the "pretty/handsome people" on the news who if they didn't have their earbud, couldn't remember their SSN or street address. As a strategic planner, one of my tasks is tracking infectious disease and in addition to the growth of polio in NYC, we are seeing an even greater growth in TB along the SoCal, AZ, and Texas borders. This stuff is nothing to play around with so start by listening to your family physician who knows you and your blood chemistries well, and take the shots he/she recommends. Also, everyone, please do your homework and read legitimate, peer reviewed journals and don't rely on social media for your medical care.
That's beautiful, Lisa!
Lisa that sounds like good work. We here in my local Democrats Abroad group in Germany will not be watching the inauguration. Instead, we will be joining in a group countrywide video chat memorializing MLK, and then going out to an Irish Pub and playing in an English Language quiz bowl to take our minds off of what we are facing. Tomorrow, my political reading group abroad which has people from several countries, will continue with our work on supporting from abroad. Besides supporting initiatives in the US, we have picked the issue of health care to work on as a start sharing what is going on in our countries.
Thanks a lot Linda and thanks for your work as well!
Immigrants or illegal aliens? I have educated and talented friends who can't easily get into the USA to work... but everyone else with an IQ of 80 or lower is able tp manage. Is it because they're actually smarter to game the system? I don't know what the JJC is, but maybe you should be supplying systems making it easy for illegal aliens to return and enter the US legally. How about that?
Yes!!!!!
Glad you're feeling better and back at the keyboard! I can only hope that what I am seeing about his MAGAlydite supporters literally being left out in the cold after spending all their egg and bread money to get to DC is the first in an endless line of disappointments he will serve up to them. Maybe, just maybe, their cultish devotion will start to crack and some common sense (and decency) will seep in.
From your lips to God’s ear.
We can only hope
Greg, the worse he gets the harder it will be for his followers to admit they befouled their own country. Some day down the road they’ll look back. How obvious Donny’s lies will seem then. And not only his lies, also his cruelty, his bad faith, and his reasons.
Mussolini's followers finally -- and savagely-- turned on him. But that was after he dragged the country into World War II, so t-RUMP has a long way to go yet.
If only Trumps demise came in Mussolini fashion… shot, hung lifeless upside down in the town square, to be sworn at, spat upon and beaten!
In my dreams...
Well, it IS possible. Mussolini was shot at two times before karma finally caught up. Trump's already been shot at two times, I find hope in that!
Yes, sadly that seems to be the case. The more evidence of his unethical, illegal behavior the more his followers dig in.
Such lovely sentiment, but they are like the Energizer Bunny and keep going and going. We must do the same. Never let them think they’ve beaten us.
Yes, sadly I think we need an updated version of LBJ's statement: If you can convince the most brainwashed MAGAt that they're better than the most elite Liberal they'll let you pick their pocket forever.
I am hoping a lot of them will freeze to death.
Many of them seem to be Darwin Award candidates
I, too, loved the fact that thousands of Maggots spent lots of $$$ on travel & hotel expenses to watch their idol take over the government once again, only to have the outdoor event moved inside the Rotunda. It won't have quite the same impact on them watching it on TV in their cheap hotel rooms. Yeah, they're disappointed, but I don't think their cultist devotion to Drumpf will result in common sense & decency seeping into their pea-size brains, at least not anytime soon. Maybe after they realize he can't/won't do anything about the cost of their groceries, gas, rent, etc., will they come to the realization that he and his billionaire buddies just don't really give a damn about them.
Their hotel rooms aren’t cheap, but otherwise, I agree with Stan Wakefield.
I can see it now. So many memos not got. So much paperwork lost. Emails bounced or accidentally deleted. Server failures. Liquids spilled on electronics. The supposedly sorry, sad sack little people will be the unseen heroes placing wrenches in the workings. Viva la resistance. "OOPS!"
The administrative pitchforks!
Such a wonderfully uplifting and (as always) brilliantly written piece today. It's good to know you're up and at it again!!!
Thank you!!
My chest is constricted, and I will pace when he’s spouting his doomsday speech, but yet I remain positive and focused on our future. The future of our children, grandchildren.
You are stronger than me. I cannot watch any of the festivities tomorrow. I don't want it in my brain.
Andrea, I will not watch the inauguration of an imbecilic moron. There’s nothing for me in doing so. Yes, it’s avoidance. I don’t care.
Check out the festivities of "The Contrarian" tomorrow at 11:30 AM ET on substack. It's sure to lift spirits!
Thank you for the reminder.
Gathering with my schul folks to eat, read, sing, drum and not participate in any way in the most ridiculous farcical event giving yet more attention to the most ridiculous farcical human being,,, ever.
I definitely will NOT be engaged by the LIAR and Trump Family Sinners. I will be stuck inside by the cold and snow. Constructive use of time will be employed cleaning out the basement. I’d be far more satisfied if I could clean out the Oval Office on Tuesday.
You mean the more sudden onset of the climate crisis?
You have confirmed what I believe also: that the incompetent, ignorant, and biased idiots that Trump has nominated will not be able to do as much damage as we fear. And you know a lot more than I do! Trump and his minions also do not believe in the rule of law -- which in fact does exist and which will land on many of their plans like a ton of bricks.
All true, but it's the enemies outside the country that I fear will pounce on the grifting incompetence of the incoming "administration."
Thank you. I am old and my sister and I were just visiting and I told her the same thing. Don't pay attention to the "this will happen in so many days." Pay attention when something actually happens. I am not giving up. We have so much to do from now until 2026. Let's get to it.
Martha, from one ol’lady to another, my sister and I will join you and yours in some good old Democratic whoop ass!
Let’s take a look at what is already happening. The NYT articles that if Trump pulls that tariff crap against Canada, the Canadians will apply tariffs against all imports that will hit the red states the most. See, that’s the way to do it. Don’t hurt your supporters, hurt your enemies.
And then there is the illegals deportations. Let him try this in California. Watch what happens to the price of lettuce if he does what he says since 70% of all lettuce consumed in the USA comes from California and is harvested by the very people who he is deporting. Somebody brought up the deportations in Alabama and people thought the blacks would jump at the chance of doing watermelon harvesting and were shocked when they didn’t and the crop rotted on the vine.
Half of me is going to feel extreme pleasure to see the Trumpers of this country sit and starve when food prices are too high and they can’t buy enough to eat. I’ll tell all of them: contact your Lord and Master and have him grow you a bone or two. He’s been making tons of money doing the quid pro quo dance.
I have hope not because I believe he won't try to fulfill his nihilism, but because he will and his MAGAts will suffer, they will rise up. Who is going to rebuild California and Florida? Pick crops? Serve in hotels and restaurant kitchens? My faith is in November '26 when his effrontery will have taken hold and will have turned his support. His minions will storm the Bastille. And I'll be smiling.
Rise up against him? I very much doubt that. It took being dragged into the horrors of World War II before the Italians finally turned on Mussolini. All the MAGAs want is for the people they hate to be persecuted, and that will definitely happen.
Regarding California versus Florida & North Carolina, I am bothered by the fact that the victims of Hurricane Helene have fallen off the planet according to the mainstream media. All we hear about is CA. I have colleagues who go out of their way to tell me on a recurring basis how CA has the 5th largest economy in the world (validated by the IMF). This leads to the following observation. While individuals desperately need our help (thank God for the Red Cross), why should Federal taxpayer money be used to rebuild CA's infrastructure? I am not talking about the homes of individuals who need our help because of what the insurance companies did to those folks, I am talking about bridges and roads and other infrastructure. I see that Governor Newsom wants to rebuild CA in a manner that would remind one of the old Soviet style of housing, all crammed together but at least it's affordable. North Carolina alone has over 120,000 destroyed structures yet no one seems to care anymore. The way I see it, CA's people our help, not the state. Florida and North Carolina are in dire straights, especially NC because there are people living in tents in the snow because of the lack of help from the Federal government. Let's treat everyone with the same level of compassion so we can fix everyone's problems.
California sends more tax dollars to the federal government than any other state. Do you think that Florida and North Carolina have not received any money from California? I don't think we're going to get old style Soviet style housing, although the developers will favor it, of course.
I totally concur with you about CA doing the best job of all the states in sending tax dollars to the Federal government, that is irrefutable. The issue with FL and NC right now is from the Federal perspective, they have literally dropped off the map and from my friends and colleagues in those two states, they are getting minimal "love" right now. Damage costs in CA are high because the state has done a great job in increasing home values over the decades. That $2M house is CA costs about $500-$700 (top end) in the best part of NC. Where I live in VA, we are seeing the construction of what is being termed "Prison Housing Subdivisions" because all must look exactly the same on the outside so no feelings are hurt. That may sound odd about people's feelings being hurt but that is a fact. It took me 40 years to earn my way into the community I used to live in and now, because of these Prison Housing Subdivisions, I have had to move on. People with unique homes are being blamed for all of the evils where I live. The money is being put on the inside so there will be segments in a development that are rentals only and then low, middle, and high end purchases. Any way , I am all for helping the individual folks in CA rebuild their lives but I would prefer if CA could hold back some of the tax dollars and rebuild the infrastructure themselves. It would probably get done faster and look better than waiting for the Federal government, regardless of the Party in power, to get it done.
We are just hours away from Trump's second inauguration, yet I don't think anyone is prepared for the explosion of stupidity which is about to begin with this new administration. It will begin with insults, gloating, vulgarity, and lawless repealing of things which benefit average Americans. Stupid ideological lunatics, America's worst people, will be in charge. Changing daily will be whatever may be rocketing around in Trump's calcifying brain.
The courts will be jammed with cases involving violations of the Constitution, cases which will take years to rule on by a corrupted Supreme Court.
A tsunami of stupid is gathering strength and will be upon us starting January 20, 2025. For now we are spectators looking at a placid sea, victims standing on the beach, waiting to be drowned in a sea of ineptitude and baby-talk.
Trump is enacting the Hitler playbook of purges - first the federal government, then the universities, then who knows?. I suspect that's Stephen Miller asserting his dominance. Arrogance and ignorance will reign supreme, coupled with violence if they don't get their way.
Very well stated, Rich. And don't think China isn't watching with great interest. What a great time to move against Taiwan while America is distracted by Drumpf and his moronic myrmidons.
In between despairing and being terrified, I remember that "Incoming" is full of performative bluster and deeply stupid, though cunning in a certain way. Incompetent fits in there somewhere, too. Though those accompanying "Incoming" viciously seek to upend our society and economy, they also are not known for their competence.
Tomorrow I am remembering those who have been in this battle for their lifetimes and ther ancestor's llfetimes, and taking courage from MLK: "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
It's our turn to lean into morality, decency, and justice.
He's a putz. Republicans are putzes. The pendulum will swing again. Normalcy will prevail. I pretty much believe that.
I'm pretty old. I hope it swings back before I have to go.
Know where I'm going to be during the inauguration? At the annual MLK Jr. Day membership luncheon put on by the NAACP Branch to which I belong. I expect to enjoy both the food and the company, many of whom have been speaking truth to power for years if not decades and who aren't going to stop now. I expect to be inspired by the speakers and to lift my voice with everyone else's for "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." Connections are already being made to protect the most vulnerable among us, especially immigrants and anyone who looks like they might be an immigrant. It's going to be a tough four years, even here in blue Massachusetts, but we're as ready as we'll ever be and we're not giving up in advance. Carry on, wherever you are!
Thank you, Lucian Truscott.
Thank you Lucian. Yes, it will be a long four years but we will survive. My new mode will be social and political resistance.
Not to forget that it's less than two years to the midterms!