Liz Cheney is my hero. We have to stand up for her. Thank you, Charlie, for keeping up the fight. It's demoralizing seeing our democracy taken down brick by brick.
Prior to seeing this article I had told people that the Republican party and the American people as a whole are a bunch of star****ers and that it largely explains how we got here. Gray Davis said he could never beat a movie star during his recall vote and we all ended up with Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of Cali. Nothing against Arnold but he had minimal other qualifications than being a star.
There will be plenty of narratives as to why Harris lost and they will all have grains of truth to them but I think the star****er narrative is strong and will be under reported. Perhaps if we had a better name for it that would help. Star****er is interesting though. There is a certain acknowledgement that you had the cache and moxie to pull it off. Perhaps we are just stuck with that word.
JF’s story about the Christmas tree outing the other day never fails to make me snort laugh!! And thank you for both sharing photos of your beautiful boys💜💜
In an earlier statement, Cheney mentioned the importance of Jack Smith's getting the cases summarized and published. I can easily see Merrick Garland concocting some tortured, fiddly argument why that should not take place. -We can't let that happen.
I still wake up in a state of shock every morning, as I realize that we actually elected this evil clown and his insane posse. We all need to muster up the courage of people like Liz Cheney and call bullshit, letting this regime know we will not be intimidated. Get involved in your communities, get others involved in bringing about political change. We have 2 years to prepare to turn the tide on this insanity.
Slight edit to Goldman’s moniker for Elon Musk. He is a “an unelected [foreign-born] oligarch, governing by tweet.” Our Constitution requires not only that our presidents be elected, but also that they be American born. Trump used to really care about that back when a black guy was our president, and he lied about where Obama was born. Elon was born in Africa!!!
Speaking with my wife this afternoon, I’m doing my best to hold my outrage to a limited amount of time.
Elon has a new toy called Congress. He has enough money to primary EVERY member. Every. Single. One.
So, like the power drug addicts they are, they fear this new dealer may cut them off.
So back to my conversation with my spouse. I told her about watching the Netflix doc, “A Trip to Infinity”, which explores the idea of infinity and eternity from both mathematical and philosophic viewpoints. The crux for me is that we exist as cognitive beings for a very short period. Life itself, will only exist for a blip in terms of the existence of the universe. We are all living on a spinning ball of molten rock, hurtling the universe, and a day will come when no one will have ever heard of us, or Elon, or Donald fucking Trump.
If you can’t manage that, try reading Will Durant’s, The Story of Civilization Vol. 2, The Life of Greece, or Volume 3, Caesar and Christ, and know that what we are experiencing now with a split demos, a craven congress, and a demagogue, is nothing new.
So I’m managing on one lorazepam at night, with minimal “fuck those guys” time.
Elect a clown and you get a circus. The leopard eating faces party is set for an absolute feast in the coming months.
I appreciate Charlie’s analysis and wit on current events and the gratuitous dog pics. Then I head on over to J.F. Riordan’s substack for her calming, eloquent and heart warming stories, with a double dip on the dog pics.
I stopped watching any sort of cable
News back during Trump 1.0 and won’t be watching one minute of it during this hell scape. I have pretty much abandoned typical social media sites. I read my news and limit myself to a few trusted sources on substack, such as Mr. Sykes, and my blood pressure and sanity are much better for it.
Would like to see this verified by a reputable source, but I find it interesting that Harris was recalled from California before a Christmas party this weekend and Biden from Delaware last night. She was at the WH around 6:30pm. Yes, this could be because of a Senate vote on the budget, but given the S)^@ show going on in Washington, the Tom Clancy aficionado in me tells there is more at play here, That Biden doesn't want to see the country go to hell with a non elected rich guy from South Africa running the show. Time will tell.
As a Naval Academy graduate, besides the image of President-elect Trump saluting, what truly amazed me are the pictures of Elon Musk, President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect Vance, and Speaker Johnson standing together. I want to take one of those pictures and title it "A Southern Baptist, a Catholic, a Bible Salesman, and an atheist* walk into a luxury sky box and….” There are many possible punch lines that could come after this, but the most obvious one is “in over three hours no one apparently discussed funding the federal government.” I don’t know what they discussed as they dipped their pigs in a blanket in their Grey Poupon – maybe they were exchanging tips on how to make great Christmas cookies (hint – make sure you butter is soft) or perhaps President-elect Trump was talking about how he hopes Melania will mail him a new red tie from wherever she will be enjoying Christmas away from him. You would think if a discussion about funding the budget did occur, though, Speaker Johnson, who has asked for Trump’s permission on just about every move he has made as Speaker and yet has always had to turn to the Democrats to bail him out, would have said “we have this great deal ready to go, and here it is.” That would have been the perfect time for Elon and the rest to dump all over him, but I guess that never happened, because the repeated public humiliation of the Speaker of the House is apparently more important than the business of government to these people because it ensures that if Speaker Johnson stays Speaker, there are practically no limits he will go to assuage the President (chucking separation of powers to the curb) or it ensures the next Speaker knows that absolute fealty to Elon-Trump-Vance triumvirate is the only qualification that matters.
Let’s go back to those pictures from the sky box, as they tell the truly disturbing story. Despite the fact Mike Johnson is the Speaker of the House, the only person in that picture with real, significant Constitutional and institutional power, it is obvious from the picture who the Alpha Dogs are, and Mike Johnson is not one of them. He is off to the side, looking admiringly as these great men who are about to throw him off a cliff (which they have done repeatedly). If Speaker Johnson really took his Constitutional duties seriously, he would take the semblance of a bipartisan consensus that formed around the Fiscal Responsibility Act and form a coalition of centrist politicians who would have the power to stand up to Trump and his fake mandate and do what is best for the country, because what is best for the country requires collaboration, not absolutist blame shifting maneuvers. Instead, Speaker Johnson, a man who has a monumental say in how $7 trillion is spent, a man who has more power at the moment than Musk, Trump, and Vance combined, chooses to act as their toady. It is obvious from the body language in every single picture from the Army Navy game that if someone had to get up and go make a beer run, it wasn’t going to be Musk, Trump, or Vance, it would have been Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Now that is disturbing.
“Dear Donald Trump, your malfeasance is no longer shocking, but it remains deeply revolting. You campaigned as a champion of the forgotten man, but your actions scream betrayal. You’re not a leader; you’re a masquerading fraud, content to bask in the reflected glow of Elon Musk’s wealth and influence while abandoning the very people who believed in you.”
••••
ELON MUSK’S PUPPET PRESIDENT: HOW TRUMP BECAME A BILLIONAIRE’S MARIONETTE AT AMERICA’S EXPENSE
When a ruthless tech mogul pulls the strings and a so-called populist bows down, America spirals into chaos—leaving red-state voters to pay the price.
"Weaponization" of the Justice System... This Time For Real
"...Trump and his lackeys have begun with the Orban playbook to frighten the media — and individuals who might criticize his actions — by issuing a flurry of lawsuits and threatening more."
I continue to stand outside. Dissociated from politics as a result of the elections. I look at the ignorant, entitled, and spoiled people of America who have put their freedom, safety, and health in jeopardy because of the price of eggs or worse hoping to see others suffer and paraphrase with just a hint of schenfreude the words of boss Jim Gettys to Charles Foster Kane: You're the greatest fool(s) I've ever known. If it was anybody else, I'd say what's going to happen to you would be a lesson to you. Only you're going to need more than one lesson. And you're going to get more than one lesson".
What Musk did to threaten lawmakers to get the budget he wants when he directly benefits from the budget due to his government contracts is blatantly illegal and the media and reporters like yourself should not mince words on this.
Liz Cheney is my hero. We have to stand up for her. Thank you, Charlie, for keeping up the fight. It's demoralizing seeing our democracy taken down brick by brick.
Prior to seeing this article I had told people that the Republican party and the American people as a whole are a bunch of star****ers and that it largely explains how we got here. Gray Davis said he could never beat a movie star during his recall vote and we all ended up with Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of Cali. Nothing against Arnold but he had minimal other qualifications than being a star.
There will be plenty of narratives as to why Harris lost and they will all have grains of truth to them but I think the star****er narrative is strong and will be under reported. Perhaps if we had a better name for it that would help. Star****er is interesting though. There is a certain acknowledgement that you had the cache and moxie to pull it off. Perhaps we are just stuck with that word.
Damn. Which prospect is worse? Speaker Musk, or Speaker (prolly not Johnson) third in the line of succession.
JF’s story about the Christmas tree outing the other day never fails to make me snort laugh!! And thank you for both sharing photos of your beautiful boys💜💜
Welcome to the 38 new members of the Deep State. Y'all find an empty locker and throw your stuff in it...
In an earlier statement, Cheney mentioned the importance of Jack Smith's getting the cases summarized and published. I can easily see Merrick Garland concocting some tortured, fiddly argument why that should not take place. -We can't let that happen.
I still wake up in a state of shock every morning, as I realize that we actually elected this evil clown and his insane posse. We all need to muster up the courage of people like Liz Cheney and call bullshit, letting this regime know we will not be intimidated. Get involved in your communities, get others involved in bringing about political change. We have 2 years to prepare to turn the tide on this insanity.
Slight edit to Goldman’s moniker for Elon Musk. He is a “an unelected [foreign-born] oligarch, governing by tweet.” Our Constitution requires not only that our presidents be elected, but also that they be American born. Trump used to really care about that back when a black guy was our president, and he lied about where Obama was born. Elon was born in Africa!!!
Speaking with my wife this afternoon, I’m doing my best to hold my outrage to a limited amount of time.
Elon has a new toy called Congress. He has enough money to primary EVERY member. Every. Single. One.
So, like the power drug addicts they are, they fear this new dealer may cut them off.
So back to my conversation with my spouse. I told her about watching the Netflix doc, “A Trip to Infinity”, which explores the idea of infinity and eternity from both mathematical and philosophic viewpoints. The crux for me is that we exist as cognitive beings for a very short period. Life itself, will only exist for a blip in terms of the existence of the universe. We are all living on a spinning ball of molten rock, hurtling the universe, and a day will come when no one will have ever heard of us, or Elon, or Donald fucking Trump.
If you can’t manage that, try reading Will Durant’s, The Story of Civilization Vol. 2, The Life of Greece, or Volume 3, Caesar and Christ, and know that what we are experiencing now with a split demos, a craven congress, and a demagogue, is nothing new.
So I’m managing on one lorazepam at night, with minimal “fuck those guys” time.
Good show. Every finite length of time is the same percentage of infinity: zero.
But the price of eggs, am I right? 🤷♀️
Elect a clown and you get a circus. The leopard eating faces party is set for an absolute feast in the coming months.
I appreciate Charlie’s analysis and wit on current events and the gratuitous dog pics. Then I head on over to J.F. Riordan’s substack for her calming, eloquent and heart warming stories, with a double dip on the dog pics.
I stopped watching any sort of cable
News back during Trump 1.0 and won’t be watching one minute of it during this hell scape. I have pretty much abandoned typical social media sites. I read my news and limit myself to a few trusted sources on substack, such as Mr. Sykes, and my blood pressure and sanity are much better for it.
Would like to see this verified by a reputable source, but I find it interesting that Harris was recalled from California before a Christmas party this weekend and Biden from Delaware last night. She was at the WH around 6:30pm. Yes, this could be because of a Senate vote on the budget, but given the S)^@ show going on in Washington, the Tom Clancy aficionado in me tells there is more at play here, That Biden doesn't want to see the country go to hell with a non elected rich guy from South Africa running the show. Time will tell.
14th Amendment
What would be the play?
As a Naval Academy graduate, besides the image of President-elect Trump saluting, what truly amazed me are the pictures of Elon Musk, President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect Vance, and Speaker Johnson standing together. I want to take one of those pictures and title it "A Southern Baptist, a Catholic, a Bible Salesman, and an atheist* walk into a luxury sky box and….” There are many possible punch lines that could come after this, but the most obvious one is “in over three hours no one apparently discussed funding the federal government.” I don’t know what they discussed as they dipped their pigs in a blanket in their Grey Poupon – maybe they were exchanging tips on how to make great Christmas cookies (hint – make sure you butter is soft) or perhaps President-elect Trump was talking about how he hopes Melania will mail him a new red tie from wherever she will be enjoying Christmas away from him. You would think if a discussion about funding the budget did occur, though, Speaker Johnson, who has asked for Trump’s permission on just about every move he has made as Speaker and yet has always had to turn to the Democrats to bail him out, would have said “we have this great deal ready to go, and here it is.” That would have been the perfect time for Elon and the rest to dump all over him, but I guess that never happened, because the repeated public humiliation of the Speaker of the House is apparently more important than the business of government to these people because it ensures that if Speaker Johnson stays Speaker, there are practically no limits he will go to assuage the President (chucking separation of powers to the curb) or it ensures the next Speaker knows that absolute fealty to Elon-Trump-Vance triumvirate is the only qualification that matters.
Let’s go back to those pictures from the sky box, as they tell the truly disturbing story. Despite the fact Mike Johnson is the Speaker of the House, the only person in that picture with real, significant Constitutional and institutional power, it is obvious from the picture who the Alpha Dogs are, and Mike Johnson is not one of them. He is off to the side, looking admiringly as these great men who are about to throw him off a cliff (which they have done repeatedly). If Speaker Johnson really took his Constitutional duties seriously, he would take the semblance of a bipartisan consensus that formed around the Fiscal Responsibility Act and form a coalition of centrist politicians who would have the power to stand up to Trump and his fake mandate and do what is best for the country, because what is best for the country requires collaboration, not absolutist blame shifting maneuvers. Instead, Speaker Johnson, a man who has a monumental say in how $7 trillion is spent, a man who has more power at the moment than Musk, Trump, and Vance combined, chooses to act as their toady. It is obvious from the body language in every single picture from the Army Navy game that if someone had to get up and go make a beer run, it wasn’t going to be Musk, Trump, or Vance, it would have been Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Now that is disturbing.
Mike is a purse dog, by now a RINO, Deep State POS one...
“Dear Donald Trump, your malfeasance is no longer shocking, but it remains deeply revolting. You campaigned as a champion of the forgotten man, but your actions scream betrayal. You’re not a leader; you’re a masquerading fraud, content to bask in the reflected glow of Elon Musk’s wealth and influence while abandoning the very people who believed in you.”
••••
ELON MUSK’S PUPPET PRESIDENT: HOW TRUMP BECAME A BILLIONAIRE’S MARIONETTE AT AMERICA’S EXPENSE
When a ruthless tech mogul pulls the strings and a so-called populist bows down, America spirals into chaos—leaving red-state voters to pay the price.
https://patricemersault.substack.com/p/elon-musks-puppet-president-how-trump
"Weaponization" of the Justice System... This Time For Real
"...Trump and his lackeys have begun with the Orban playbook to frighten the media — and individuals who might criticize his actions — by issuing a flurry of lawsuits and threatening more."
READ, SUBSCRIBE (free), SHARE.
https://open.substack.com/pub/kevinmcdonald/p/weaponization-of-the-justice-system?r=9qg4e&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
I continue to stand outside. Dissociated from politics as a result of the elections. I look at the ignorant, entitled, and spoiled people of America who have put their freedom, safety, and health in jeopardy because of the price of eggs or worse hoping to see others suffer and paraphrase with just a hint of schenfreude the words of boss Jim Gettys to Charles Foster Kane: You're the greatest fool(s) I've ever known. If it was anybody else, I'd say what's going to happen to you would be a lesson to you. Only you're going to need more than one lesson. And you're going to get more than one lesson".
What Musk did to threaten lawmakers to get the budget he wants when he directly benefits from the budget due to his government contracts is blatantly illegal and the media and reporters like yourself should not mince words on this.