Trump now controls the military, having fired the JAGs who rule on illegal orders. He is laying the groundwork for a military coup, and will attempt to use the Army to crush any domestic dissent. I suspect he plans to arrest Democratic members of Congress and any judges who have ruled against him. He is a tyrant and a madman and is enraged because there has been pushback. There is no one to stop him. What the hell can we do?
Actually Linda this could be Trump’s intent. I doubt it. He would have to be a bit crazier than he is to believe he could succeed and entice , much less order a self coup using the military which is 43% + minority to take total control of the Government. May be one of his appointees (toadies) would try but he or she would run into the “Long Grey Line”, of professional officers sworn to uphold the constitution. The simple answer to such an order: Sir, that’s an illegal , unconstitutional and insurrectionist order. You are under arrest.” And don’t think the officer corp hasn’t read the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich . Trump is playing with fire here. He’s making purely political appointments , a retired three star general no less, who will be watched like a hawk for any insurrectionist conduct. It won’t work! Not with the officer corps I taught. And not with their successors who were selected for leadership in merit by their peers. Not selected because they are a political toadie. You can give all the orders you like; the magic is getting your subordinates to follow you in harms way. Against the clear mandates of the Constitution? No fucking way!
Please that you are correct. I really am terrified. The more we are all disturbed the happier he becomes. “Look at me. Look at me. I’m going to have you ALL in the palm of my hand. If you’re a politician and you disagree with me, I’ll have you primaried. Blue state? I’m cutting off ALL federal funding.”
I will not remove my “NOT MY PRESIDENT” pin until he’s GONE.
I am not terrified, I am incredibly angry, and I'm doing all that I can to stay focused and fight this fascist maniac and the traitors he is surrounding himself with in government. Stay focused Christina. Stay healthy, physically and mentally. Find like-minded people and stay strong together. Find ways that work for you in fighting back against this assault on all things democratic. Finding something you can do to fight against what is terrifying you will give you strength and confidence, and ease the terror. Those causing you this terror are humans and can be stopped.
Thank you so much. I, of course, know you are correct. I am trying to do all that you suggest. Working with immigrants, who are terrified, and non-profit organizations and educational institutions who are preparing for the loss of federal funding, keeps pulling me back to a bleak reality. I will wear proudly wear that pin.
But he is so ignorant he doesn’t realize the blue states enable the red states to survive. If we pull the plug they go down the drain… gonna get interesting
How do you think Ukraine feels? I read this today in Olga Lautman's Substack Russia Watch.
"Trump’s confidential plan to put Ukraine in a stranglehold
Panic in Kyiv as US president demands higher share of GDP than Germany’s First World War reparations
Donald Trump’s demand for a $500bn (£400bn) “payback” from Ukraine goes far beyond US control over the country’s critical minerals. It covers everything from ports and infrastructure to oil and gas, and the larger resource base of the country.
The terms of the contract that landed at Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office a week ago amount to the US economic colonisation of Ukraine, in legal perpetuity. It implies a burden of reparations that cannot possibly be achieved. The document has caused consternation and panic in Kyiv.
The Telegraph has obtained a draft of the pre-decisional contract, marked “Privileged & Confidential’ and dated Feb 7 2025. It states that the US and Ukraine should form a joint investment fund to ensure that “hostile parties to the conflict do not benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine”. "
Same thing occurred to me, too. There has to be some chicanery going on. The Convicted Felon has never done one single thing out of altruism, deep belief, or for any reason other than what's in it for him. Never. Not once.
Rick Wilson, former GOP operative, now with the Lincoln Project, I believe, wrote a book a few years back titled, appropriately, "Everything Trump Touches Dies."
Betting on Trump not being crazy enough to believe he can do something particularly horrible and unconstitutional hasn't exactly worked out for us so far. He's signing executive orders that sound like he believes he can unilaterally change the Constitution. He really does believe he can do that and more with impunity. He thinks he's a King.
I hope that the professional officer class of our military is as good as you believe they are and that these people will hold to the Constitution, because it seems plain that Trump is more than crazy enough believe that he can fire his way into a compliant military who will shoot dissenters for him. I really, really hope that he can't fire all the good ones, and that there's someone in the military left to refuse illegal orders when the time comes, and it is coming, probably sooner than we think.
I always smile to myself over this armament issue of civilians and the rightwing delusion that the left doesn't have weapons or know how to use them. I have a feeling they are going to find out.
Hear, hear!!! Progressives and Liberals in rural areas have always been well-armed (you never know when you might have to shoot a rabid critter) and we know how to use 'em.
Yep, so true. I live in a very red rural county in a very red state, and I have to smile when I hear the MAGA neighbors 'practicing' with their AR-15s, often shooting at night, as if to say, "Listen to ME. I not only have the weaponry, I have the night vision goggles, and everything I need to take you out."
I wrote those exact words in an email to Dick Durbin last night. I don’t know what he or any of the Democrats and Independents can do but it made me feel less powerless
A little over a month ago you were living in a society that had laws that were followed and they were supposedly applied to everyone, but we got to see that the wealthy did not get the same justice or Trump would be behind bars. In an unlawful society will you continue to obey the laws and the rules?
To differentiate oneself from the Nazis as people assume all Germans were, with no thought that many just did not feel powerful enough to stand up to the tyrants running their country, one must now stand up and sacrifice oneself for the cause of justice. Many Germans did this and I assume there will be Americans who will do it too. This is why thinking lawfully in a system that is unlawful may not get you where you need to go. Do what you need to do to make good trouble.
His guest Anat Shenker-Osorio is an experienced campaigner. Anand has a lot of great guests. He also has a weekly podcast with noted fascism expert Prof. Ruth Ben Ghiat who always says he has great guests. Anat takes a while to get going, but she does not fail to inspire.
I think we're rolling into a Vietnam Protest era 2.0. In that era of gross governmental and political lies and malfeasance, the military was run by people, maybe brighter than Hegseth but certainly no less racist, in the name of fighting 2 bit communists who were no threat to the US.
We should never fear our own military. Regardless of what fear mongering Hegseth spews, the US military will not carry out a coup against US citizens.
We must NOT be e afraid to protest and resist Trump's initiatives in all means necessary to stop them. We are the overwhelming majority and we will prevail against Trump's Monarchy and Tyranny.
Oh dear God, will no one rid us of this turbulent tyrant! I’m 86 years old, will be doing my best to survive to see him replaced (& not by the current VP!)
Well Janet, I am a 85 (86 in June) white cisgender male, born in West Texas, retired US Army officer and retired defense contractor professional. I spent eight years of my 21 years of active service in Korea, Vietnam and two 3 year tours in West Germany as part of the NATO defense alliance. I love history and politics and I am currently living in RAGE at what Trump and the MAGA crowd are doing to our people, our nation and our world. In also in a “WTF” moment that so many “normies” are tuning out on what is happening to us now. On my timeline scale we are in late 1934 in Hitler’s takeover of the German government.
Yes, I agree Jerrol, we cannot tune out. When you're as old as we are, you have memory and knowledge of history lived through. 1934 was before we were born, but the consequences had huge impacts on our lives (mine living in the UK). "Lest we forget!"
I’ve been noticing that they have — it seems, all of a SUDDEN — put “lethality” at the top of the list of things the military is tasked with developing out there …
For many years, I have been reading about our military, and I do not remember hearing the word “lethality” spoken much at all…if ever.
But now, instead of maintaining the peace, instead of securing our safety and seeing to PEACE IN THE WORLD, our military is primarily devoted to its “lethality.”
That is {do we not realize???} an enormous change in attitude …. And I suggest a really, really, REALLY scary, bad one ..
He'd pay another quack to say he had some condition that would prevent him serving. Like all bullies everywhere, the Convicted Felon is nothing but a craven coward.
Scared me the first time I heard that word used and I think it was Biden or Harris...the most lethal fighting force in the world, or words to that effect. I could be wrong about that.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest mo********er in the valley." Latrine door, Da Nang, 1969. Our military is celebrated for its civilian-controlled use of force. Not because some king orders it around.
I have heard that, and I don’t give a shit who said it first — it is all that is said AT ALL right now, and it’s f-ing sick. Our military needs to be effective at maintaining security and ensuring peace and being EFFECTIVE … lethal is hardly at the top of the list, even if it is part of it.
Agree - I hate the use of that word, it screams evil to me! I have the image of the soldier handing out chocolate to kids in France and as liberators at the concentration camps. Call me naive.
It's always amazed me that this white boy DEI hasn't been obvious since the beginning. I mean, even if it wasn't, there have been plenty of experts in history, psychology, sociology, law and even theology who've been pointing this out for a good long while. Many men, especially the weak and impaired ones (like Hegseth, for example) want to restore a time when no matter how lame they are they could count on a woman taking care of business for them at home and not competing with them for paid employment. I am old enough to have friends who were among the first women to enter law school. One of my friends was then told by a professor that she would never make the grade and ought to go home and start keeping house. And look at us now. Is this what what men intuited would happen, that women and people of color and others might just possibly be as if not more talented than they are? AArgh! And they have the nerve to wrap this in their (patriarchal form of ) religion. OMG.
Well Professor Timothy Snyder has been writing about Tyranny for years as well as Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat. We were warned well in advance. We weren’t paying attention.
I was told by a professor in 1977 that given the choice between equally qualified applicants for law enforcement, he’d choose a an over a woman every time because “a man is the breadwinner, a woman isn’t.” Utter garbage.
A girl two years behind me in high school was the daughter of two lawyers. Her mother never practiced, reason obvious, father became a judge. Daughter—highest IQ of 3000 in our school—used a Ford fellowship after her h.s. sophomore year to skip to her Carnegie Tech freshman year. After graduating, simultaneous with raising a family, she had a full career in southern California as a rocket scientist, then took up writing historical fiction with a focus on her mother's Appalachian youth. Don't say there's no justice.
I recall an old study that showed when more than 2 women are on a corporate board the white men felt a third would be too many. Add in POC... Most women and POC need to work much harder to get what a white person is handed. And, POC should have the luxury of being occasionally mediocre . Trump appointees are worse than mediocre though.
Vance sounds certifiably crazy. in the way that I would gather small children and guide them as far as we could go from him before he starts dancing like the demented clown he is.
How does this happen?? And why aren’t these people being pointed out to the ambulance from a psychiatric facility?
Power has caused JD's head to explode with the most rancid brand of TESTOSTERONE. He and this entire current administration is completely out-of-control insane with power.
Thank you Deepak. I feel like a real moron not knowing the republicans were total stooges of Putin. I thought they might have sexual liaisons they didn't want anyone to know about, but I had no idea of the money floating around. My impressions of republicans was that they were conservatives and that Communists were bad. Well, russians are not Communists, but they make Richard Nixon look honest. And the republicans are just plain criminals and traitors.
This makes crystal clear Trump is a white, nationalist racist, above all else. Trump is a first generation American whose mother was an immigrant. Trump's children, except for Tiffany, are first generation Americans because their mothers are immigrants. So why are these kids legal while birthright citizenship should be illegal? Check out their skin color. Very, Very white. In Trumpworld, skin tone is destiny. The more groups Trump marginalizes, the weaker he become.
They had no problem discriminating against blacks and other minorities, but now they feel (or rather are being led to believe) they are being discriminated against, which is totally untrue. If the next guy gets the job or entrance into college it's usually because he's better qualified. But the Trumpists don't want them to know that because the more angry and resentful they make all these mostly young men,feel the more power the Trumpists have. It was the same in Nazi Germany, it was the Jews who were the scapegoats and got blamed for everything. Hitler built up great anger and hatred against them, a people who were mostly decent hard working people not much different than any other group, but to the general population they were the devil incarnate and needed to be destroyed.
It's the same old playbook with the MAGA crowd: "We are the good guys - the real patriots," in spite of the fact that they are the ones who are causing massive problems right now, taking the democratically governmental structure appart at an alarming pace, and replacing it with an autocratic mindset from the president on down/ Do as we say, think as we do and voice opinions like ours, , or too bad for you.
So much for free speech and freedom of thought. They talk about the enermy within: they should start looking in the mirror.
Haha,M.T. It's a magic mirror it only reflects who you think you are, not as you really are: Reminds of my fellow Scot, Robert Burns. Roughly translated from the gaelic "God give us the gift to see ourselves as others see us."Or in his Scottish dialect "O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
I certainly am not proud to be a white male today. Who would want to be aligned with all the mass shooters ( in schools, theaters, stores and at parades) shooters who were all white males. I am sure these assholes have killed way more people than illegal immigrants have. Trump, Musk, Vance and all their appointees are examples of the inferior white man.
It must be utterly humiliating to realize that you only got where you are in life because 70% of the potential competition was disqualified due to race or gender before the race even began. I don't know how white men live with the shame associated with this level of affirmative action -- everybody doubting your authority all the time because we all know your success was based on special selection.
Pathetic unfulfilled overgrown boys with issues galore who don't get that being a truly actualized man is not John Wayne (and certainly not the Mad King Rumpster) but more the Buddha or the recently-passed Jimmy Carter or Nelson Mandela or the ailing Pope Francis or even Republicans like Lincoln and even Eisenhower, to name a few. Decent souls with smarts, intergrity and honor, know they're not perfect, yet who strive to do right and make the world a better place for all, as best they can. Or the true Jesus, as best can be ascertained but pretty Godamned fucking obvious in the words in red.
If these whiny lil white boys weren't such pissy, intolerant, pigheaded and pugnacious dickweeds, I might actually pity them.
O M G!!! I should not have read this within the hour before bed! What in the actual f**k is going to happen to our country?? Vance thinks we are all becoming "androgynous idiots" if we don't think like him? That is really creepy and scary. All of it is. ALL OF IT! Trump, Musk, Vance, Hegseth.....ETC.!!It's affecting my health at this point! I know I'm not alone. I have to cut back on the news. God Help Us!! :-(
Dee, take a break from news. In the music world we have a term called “stagger breathing”; vocalists use it often. When a section has an impossible sustained note, players take turns breathing. The sound continues and no one passes out. You need to breathe, so take a break. When you come back in, someone else will catch their breath.
Yes, the word is upside down but to me an even more revolting development was the Proud Boys holding a press conference on the grounds of the Capitol where Tarrio and Rhodes announced they would be suing DOJ for wrongful imprisonement. The inmates are now , truly , running the asylum whether that be DOJ or the Pentagon.
A friend of mine, a gifted, successful writer, is of the same mystifying persuasion. His wife was raised and still is fringe right, I think a constant influence. I alway thought a similar situation drove Nat Hentoff rightward. I was bemused when my friend asked not long ago if I knew how to contact Nat's widow.
Trump now controls the military, having fired the JAGs who rule on illegal orders. He is laying the groundwork for a military coup, and will attempt to use the Army to crush any domestic dissent. I suspect he plans to arrest Democratic members of Congress and any judges who have ruled against him. He is a tyrant and a madman and is enraged because there has been pushback. There is no one to stop him. What the hell can we do?
Actually Linda this could be Trump’s intent. I doubt it. He would have to be a bit crazier than he is to believe he could succeed and entice , much less order a self coup using the military which is 43% + minority to take total control of the Government. May be one of his appointees (toadies) would try but he or she would run into the “Long Grey Line”, of professional officers sworn to uphold the constitution. The simple answer to such an order: Sir, that’s an illegal , unconstitutional and insurrectionist order. You are under arrest.” And don’t think the officer corp hasn’t read the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich . Trump is playing with fire here. He’s making purely political appointments , a retired three star general no less, who will be watched like a hawk for any insurrectionist conduct. It won’t work! Not with the officer corps I taught. And not with their successors who were selected for leadership in merit by their peers. Not selected because they are a political toadie. You can give all the orders you like; the magic is getting your subordinates to follow you in harms way. Against the clear mandates of the Constitution? No fucking way!
Please that you are correct. I really am terrified. The more we are all disturbed the happier he becomes. “Look at me. Look at me. I’m going to have you ALL in the palm of my hand. If you’re a politician and you disagree with me, I’ll have you primaried. Blue state? I’m cutting off ALL federal funding.”
I will not remove my “NOT MY PRESIDENT” pin until he’s GONE.
I am not terrified, I am incredibly angry, and I'm doing all that I can to stay focused and fight this fascist maniac and the traitors he is surrounding himself with in government. Stay focused Christina. Stay healthy, physically and mentally. Find like-minded people and stay strong together. Find ways that work for you in fighting back against this assault on all things democratic. Finding something you can do to fight against what is terrifying you will give you strength and confidence, and ease the terror. Those causing you this terror are humans and can be stopped.
And wear your pin with pride.
Thank you so much. I, of course, know you are correct. I am trying to do all that you suggest. Working with immigrants, who are terrified, and non-profit organizations and educational institutions who are preparing for the loss of federal funding, keeps pulling me back to a bleak reality. I will wear proudly wear that pin.
But he is so ignorant he doesn’t realize the blue states enable the red states to survive. If we pull the plug they go down the drain… gonna get interesting
I’ll make the popcorn.
How do you think Ukraine feels? I read this today in Olga Lautman's Substack Russia Watch.
"Trump’s confidential plan to put Ukraine in a stranglehold
Panic in Kyiv as US president demands higher share of GDP than Germany’s First World War reparations
Donald Trump’s demand for a $500bn (£400bn) “payback” from Ukraine goes far beyond US control over the country’s critical minerals. It covers everything from ports and infrastructure to oil and gas, and the larger resource base of the country.
The terms of the contract that landed at Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office a week ago amount to the US economic colonisation of Ukraine, in legal perpetuity. It implies a burden of reparations that cannot possibly be achieved. The document has caused consternation and panic in Kyiv.
The Telegraph has obtained a draft of the pre-decisional contract, marked “Privileged & Confidential’ and dated Feb 7 2025. It states that the US and Ukraine should form a joint investment fund to ensure that “hostile parties to the conflict do not benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine”. "
Here is the full text.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/7f5a76e654a5d2e8?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
It is absolutely destruction everywhere Trump goes.
I wonder what Trump has arranged with Putin to allow the US to become Ukraine’s economic master.
Same question occurred to me and I imagine many others who read that article.
Same thing occurred to me, too. There has to be some chicanery going on. The Convicted Felon has never done one single thing out of altruism, deep belief, or for any reason other than what's in it for him. Never. Not once.
Rick Wilson, former GOP operative, now with the Lincoln Project, I believe, wrote a book a few years back titled, appropriately, "Everything Trump Touches Dies."
Heartbreaking and despicable at the same time.
Just bought a T shirt on Etsy to advertise non cooperation. One that I liked but won't wear said sthg like "You can't spell hatred without red hat"
Wow! Not so subliminal is it? Do you think all MAGA supporters even get the connection? Probably not. Not the brightest bulbs on the tree.
Hope you're right. But he might try it.
I wish I had your faith in our military.
You just gave me a grain of hope.
Betting on Trump not being crazy enough to believe he can do something particularly horrible and unconstitutional hasn't exactly worked out for us so far. He's signing executive orders that sound like he believes he can unilaterally change the Constitution. He really does believe he can do that and more with impunity. He thinks he's a King.
I hope that the professional officer class of our military is as good as you believe they are and that these people will hold to the Constitution, because it seems plain that Trump is more than crazy enough believe that he can fire his way into a compliant military who will shoot dissenters for him. I really, really hope that he can't fire all the good ones, and that there's someone in the military left to refuse illegal orders when the time comes, and it is coming, probably sooner than we think.
Yes Sir. I agree
Trust the Professionals.
I hope you are right, Terrence! Thank you.
Bravo!
Exactly. And this keeps me awake at night.
Me too. He has got to be stopped! And Musk with him!
My queer friends are all gearing up to get firearms training.
I always smile to myself over this armament issue of civilians and the rightwing delusion that the left doesn't have weapons or know how to use them. I have a feeling they are going to find out.
Hear, hear!!! Progressives and Liberals in rural areas have always been well-armed (you never know when you might have to shoot a rabid critter) and we know how to use 'em.
Yep, so true. I live in a very red rural county in a very red state, and I have to smile when I hear the MAGA neighbors 'practicing' with their AR-15s, often shooting at night, as if to say, "Listen to ME. I not only have the weaponry, I have the night vision goggles, and everything I need to take you out."
Not the first time I've read that lately, Terry.
Me too. And I am terrified.
I wrote those exact words in an email to Dick Durbin last night. I don’t know what he or any of the Democrats and Independents can do but it made me feel less powerless
A little over a month ago you were living in a society that had laws that were followed and they were supposedly applied to everyone, but we got to see that the wealthy did not get the same justice or Trump would be behind bars. In an unlawful society will you continue to obey the laws and the rules?
To differentiate oneself from the Nazis as people assume all Germans were, with no thought that many just did not feel powerful enough to stand up to the tyrants running their country, one must now stand up and sacrifice oneself for the cause of justice. Many Germans did this and I assume there will be Americans who will do it too. This is why thinking lawfully in a system that is unlawful may not get you where you need to go. Do what you need to do to make good trouble.
Here is some advice on how to do this lawfully.
The video embedded in the Substack INK from Anand Giridharadas called "WATCH: An *actual* plan to beat fascism. A masterclass from political sage Anat Shenker-Osorio on how you can fight back against Trump II, create "social proof," mobilize your community, stop waiting for Democrats, and start getting it DONE" https://the.ink/p/watch-an-actual-plan-to-beat-fascism?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
His guest Anat Shenker-Osorio is an experienced campaigner. Anand has a lot of great guests. He also has a weekly podcast with noted fascism expert Prof. Ruth Ben Ghiat who always says he has great guests. Anat takes a while to get going, but she does not fail to inspire.
I think we're rolling into a Vietnam Protest era 2.0. In that era of gross governmental and political lies and malfeasance, the military was run by people, maybe brighter than Hegseth but certainly no less racist, in the name of fighting 2 bit communists who were no threat to the US.
We should never fear our own military. Regardless of what fear mongering Hegseth spews, the US military will not carry out a coup against US citizens.
We must NOT be e afraid to protest and resist Trump's initiatives in all means necessary to stop them. We are the overwhelming majority and we will prevail against Trump's Monarchy and Tyranny.
Oh dear God, will no one rid us of this turbulent tyrant! I’m 86 years old, will be doing my best to survive to see him replaced (& not by the current VP!)
I am a few years behind you and we can do it!!
But a young 86!
You’re very kind 🤣
Well Janet, I am a 85 (86 in June) white cisgender male, born in West Texas, retired US Army officer and retired defense contractor professional. I spent eight years of my 21 years of active service in Korea, Vietnam and two 3 year tours in West Germany as part of the NATO defense alliance. I love history and politics and I am currently living in RAGE at what Trump and the MAGA crowd are doing to our people, our nation and our world. In also in a “WTF” moment that so many “normies” are tuning out on what is happening to us now. On my timeline scale we are in late 1934 in Hitler’s takeover of the German government.
Yes, I agree Jerrol, we cannot tune out. When you're as old as we are, you have memory and knowledge of history lived through. 1934 was before we were born, but the consequences had huge impacts on our lives (mine living in the UK). "Lest we forget!"
Happy to be one of those feminist oppressors of sacred white male privilege.
Who do I smite next?
Those poor, delicate flowers. I'm with you: Team Smite!
I'm on Team Smite too!
Standing by for Team Smite!
Nobody deserves a good second place smitedown like Elon. Onward!
Elon
Proud member of Team Smite here. May I suggest we start with Muskrat?
Callsign Weed Whacker
I’ve been noticing that they have — it seems, all of a SUDDEN — put “lethality” at the top of the list of things the military is tasked with developing out there …
For many years, I have been reading about our military, and I do not remember hearing the word “lethality” spoken much at all…if ever.
But now, instead of maintaining the peace, instead of securing our safety and seeing to PEACE IN THE WORLD, our military is primarily devoted to its “lethality.”
That is {do we not realize???} an enormous change in attitude …. And I suggest a really, really, REALLY scary, bad one ..
Trump should be the first one to volunteer to serve. His bone spurs should be healed up by now.
He'd pay another quack to say he had some condition that would prevent him serving. Like all bullies everywhere, the Convicted Felon is nothing but a craven coward.
Yep, Somebody used that word in an article or speech and ever since every tough guy uses it in every fifth sentence. What a crock.
Your assessment is accurate; a reflection of a change in mission and focus.
Scared me the first time I heard that word used and I think it was Biden or Harris...the most lethal fighting force in the world, or words to that effect. I could be wrong about that.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest mo********er in the valley." Latrine door, Da Nang, 1969. Our military is celebrated for its civilian-controlled use of force. Not because some king orders it around.
I have heard that, and I don’t give a shit who said it first — it is all that is said AT ALL right now, and it’s f-ing sick. Our military needs to be effective at maintaining security and ensuring peace and being EFFECTIVE … lethal is hardly at the top of the list, even if it is part of it.
Agree - I hate the use of that word, it screams evil to me! I have the image of the soldier handing out chocolate to kids in France and as liberators at the concentration camps. Call me naive.
It's always amazed me that this white boy DEI hasn't been obvious since the beginning. I mean, even if it wasn't, there have been plenty of experts in history, psychology, sociology, law and even theology who've been pointing this out for a good long while. Many men, especially the weak and impaired ones (like Hegseth, for example) want to restore a time when no matter how lame they are they could count on a woman taking care of business for them at home and not competing with them for paid employment. I am old enough to have friends who were among the first women to enter law school. One of my friends was then told by a professor that she would never make the grade and ought to go home and start keeping house. And look at us now. Is this what what men intuited would happen, that women and people of color and others might just possibly be as if not more talented than they are? AArgh! And they have the nerve to wrap this in their (patriarchal form of ) religion. OMG.
Well Professor Timothy Snyder has been writing about Tyranny for years as well as Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat. We were warned well in advance. We weren’t paying attention.
I was told by a professor in 1977 that given the choice between equally qualified applicants for law enforcement, he’d choose a an over a woman every time because “a man is the breadwinner, a woman isn’t.” Utter garbage.
Especially since women cannot depend on men. Who said “ a man is not a plan” ?
A girl two years behind me in high school was the daughter of two lawyers. Her mother never practiced, reason obvious, father became a judge. Daughter—highest IQ of 3000 in our school—used a Ford fellowship after her h.s. sophomore year to skip to her Carnegie Tech freshman year. After graduating, simultaneous with raising a family, she had a full career in southern California as a rocket scientist, then took up writing historical fiction with a focus on her mother's Appalachian youth. Don't say there's no justice.
I recall an old study that showed when more than 2 women are on a corporate board the white men felt a third would be too many. Add in POC... Most women and POC need to work much harder to get what a white person is handed. And, POC should have the luxury of being occasionally mediocre . Trump appointees are worse than mediocre though.
Aren't they though? In every photo I see Petey H looks confused.
Vance sounds certifiably crazy. in the way that I would gather small children and guide them as far as we could go from him before he starts dancing like the demented clown he is.
How does this happen?? And why aren’t these people being pointed out to the ambulance from a psychiatric facility?
Power has caused JD's head to explode with the most rancid brand of TESTOSTERONE. He and this entire current administration is completely out-of-control insane with power.
As an Ohioan, I sincerely apologize for that arrogant jerk.
Yeah, me too.Ohio has its share of doozies.Think Gym Jordan.
TEAM PUTIN eliminates top American military leaders: Follow the covert operation with this map
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/02/22/team-putin-eliminates-top-american-military-leaders-in-covert-operation/
Thank you Deepak. I feel like a real moron not knowing the republicans were total stooges of Putin. I thought they might have sexual liaisons they didn't want anyone to know about, but I had no idea of the money floating around. My impressions of republicans was that they were conservatives and that Communists were bad. Well, russians are not Communists, but they make Richard Nixon look honest. And the republicans are just plain criminals and traitors.
Yoicks
This makes crystal clear Trump is a white, nationalist racist, above all else. Trump is a first generation American whose mother was an immigrant. Trump's children, except for Tiffany, are first generation Americans because their mothers are immigrants. So why are these kids legal while birthright citizenship should be illegal? Check out their skin color. Very, Very white. In Trumpworld, skin tone is destiny. The more groups Trump marginalizes, the weaker he become.
Remember the Central Park Five?
Yes
They had no problem discriminating against blacks and other minorities, but now they feel (or rather are being led to believe) they are being discriminated against, which is totally untrue. If the next guy gets the job or entrance into college it's usually because he's better qualified. But the Trumpists don't want them to know that because the more angry and resentful they make all these mostly young men,feel the more power the Trumpists have. It was the same in Nazi Germany, it was the Jews who were the scapegoats and got blamed for everything. Hitler built up great anger and hatred against them, a people who were mostly decent hard working people not much different than any other group, but to the general population they were the devil incarnate and needed to be destroyed.
It's the same old playbook with the MAGA crowd: "We are the good guys - the real patriots," in spite of the fact that they are the ones who are causing massive problems right now, taking the democratically governmental structure appart at an alarming pace, and replacing it with an autocratic mindset from the president on down/ Do as we say, think as we do and voice opinions like ours, , or too bad for you.
So much for free speech and freedom of thought. They talk about the enermy within: they should start looking in the mirror.
The mirror would shatter.
Haha,M.T. It's a magic mirror it only reflects who you think you are, not as you really are: Reminds of my fellow Scot, Robert Burns. Roughly translated from the gaelic "God give us the gift to see ourselves as others see us."Or in his Scottish dialect "O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
An’ ev’n devotion!
Oh, would some Power give us the gift
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion:
What airs in dress and gait would leave us,
And even devotion!"
I’m a fellow Scotswoman (family name MacPhail). Love your quote from Burns!
I certainly am not proud to be a white male today. Who would want to be aligned with all the mass shooters ( in schools, theaters, stores and at parades) shooters who were all white males. I am sure these assholes have killed way more people than illegal immigrants have. Trump, Musk, Vance and all their appointees are examples of the inferior white man.
It must be utterly humiliating to realize that you only got where you are in life because 70% of the potential competition was disqualified due to race or gender before the race even began. I don't know how white men live with the shame associated with this level of affirmative action -- everybody doubting your authority all the time because we all know your success was based on special selection.
I'd be ashamed, too.
The white men of Vance's ilk who complain they are discriminated against bring shame on us all.
Pathetic unfulfilled overgrown boys with issues galore who don't get that being a truly actualized man is not John Wayne (and certainly not the Mad King Rumpster) but more the Buddha or the recently-passed Jimmy Carter or Nelson Mandela or the ailing Pope Francis or even Republicans like Lincoln and even Eisenhower, to name a few. Decent souls with smarts, intergrity and honor, know they're not perfect, yet who strive to do right and make the world a better place for all, as best they can. Or the true Jesus, as best can be ascertained but pretty Godamned fucking obvious in the words in red.
If these whiny lil white boys weren't such pissy, intolerant, pigheaded and pugnacious dickweeds, I might actually pity them.
Scum rises to the top of the cesspool. It’s just that simple.
O M G!!! I should not have read this within the hour before bed! What in the actual f**k is going to happen to our country?? Vance thinks we are all becoming "androgynous idiots" if we don't think like him? That is really creepy and scary. All of it is. ALL OF IT! Trump, Musk, Vance, Hegseth.....ETC.!!It's affecting my health at this point! I know I'm not alone. I have to cut back on the news. God Help Us!! :-(
Dee, take a break from news. In the music world we have a term called “stagger breathing”; vocalists use it often. When a section has an impossible sustained note, players take turns breathing. The sound continues and no one passes out. You need to breathe, so take a break. When you come back in, someone else will catch their breath.
Dee, more advice: I love to read before bed and I choose a fun book taking place in small town involving a cat or dog.
Yes, the word is upside down but to me an even more revolting development was the Proud Boys holding a press conference on the grounds of the Capitol where Tarrio and Rhodes announced they would be suing DOJ for wrongful imprisonement. The inmates are now , truly , running the asylum whether that be DOJ or the Pentagon.
Those poor discriminated white Christian men … it’s such a shame they aren’t the President Vp, cabinets, most of senate & house. So so discriminated
Stone cold racists, that's what they are. Nothing more, nothing less.
And sexists.
A friend of mine, a gifted, successful writer, is of the same mystifying persuasion. His wife was raised and still is fringe right, I think a constant influence. I alway thought a similar situation drove Nat Hentoff rightward. I was bemused when my friend asked not long ago if I knew how to contact Nat's widow.