“ETHICS IS IN THE TOILET” Propublica: Documents Reveal a Web of Financial Ties Between Trump Officials and the Industries They Help Regulate I remember when president literally would not accept gifts valued at more than — what was it, $25 I think.  They all got sent to thr Smithsonian or someplace.  Now they accept $400 million jets. In small part:

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Trump has openly defended his family’s financial enrichment while he is in office, including through cryptocurrency deals that critics say allow investors, including foreign entities, to curry favor by boosting the president’s personal wealth. “I found out nobody cared, and I’m allowed to,” Trump told The New York Times, referring to his family’s business dealings. Trump also remains unapologetic about accepting a Boeing 747 worth about $400 million from the Qatari government and transferring nearly $1 billion from a nuclear weapons program to retrofit it. Virginia Canter, chief counsel for ethics and corruption at Democracy Defenders Fund, a nonprofit governmental watchdog group, cited Trump’s new plane as a brazen example of self-dealing. “Ethics is in the toilet,” said Canter, who served as an ethics lawyer at the White House, Treasury Department and Securities and Exchange Commission during the presidencies of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

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Lefrak: “Ethics?  You could fit the ethics of New York real‑estate business on the head of a pin.””  CKCKCK

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(20+) Facebook – Katie Copuric Iran Professor Paul deLespinasse: “Illegal voting has never come anywhere near to changing the outcome of an American election, so it is crazy to try to make a federal case out of this ‘problem.’ It is interesting that Republican politicians are so afraid of losing the upcoming elections that they are willing to advocate costly, extreme, unnecessary measures to try to prevent this from happening.”  (His full post here.)   Did Kushner and Witkoff trick Iranians into gathering to be killed? https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartmann/p/did-jared-kushner-negotiate-peace-b11?r=17zxk&utm_medium=ios

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Maureen Dowd:  Opinion | Real Despots Hijack Artificial Intelligence – The New York Times “IT ENDS TODAY!” Furious federal judge

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Occupy Democrats 

February 26 at 6:57 PM ·

Furious federal judge declares he’s ready to haul in Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem’s minions before his court to explain themselves for violating court orders again and again!

U.S. District Judge in New Jersey Zahid N. Quarishi just issued a blistering rebuke to the Trump administration, accusing it of sliding from negligence into “manifest recklessness” in immigration arrests and detentions.

In a scathing order, Judge Quarishi said the government has repeatedly violated court orders, shifting immigrants around the country without warning or explanation and frustrating efforts to protect detainees’ rights.

The judge slammed the U.S. Attorney’s Office for admitting it violated 72 court orders in immigration habeas cases in this district alone. Another judge called that number underreported.

The overwhelmed office claimed the violations were unintentional, but the judge said that excuse no longer holds. “Credibility has been eroded. Continued violations after repeated warnings can only be seen as intentional.”

The judge warned: “The undersigned will not stand idly by and allow this intentional misconduct to go on. It ends today.”

This is a STUNNING escalation. In case after case, the administration is defying the courts, treating judicial orders as mere suggestions while thousands face unlawful detention.

Judges are now threatening to haul Justice and Homeland Security officials in – under oath – to answer for the pattern of violations.

Much more than just shady lawyering, this is deliberate defiance of the rule of law. The Trump administration’s weaponization of immigration enforcement ignores due process, and seeks to nullify the entire Judiciary.

Finally, a federal judge has stood up to say loud and clear the government knows what it’s doing and must desist forthwith.

If this blatant disregard for court orders and the rights of detained immigrants infuriates you, like and share to demand justice.

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  DILDOS Miles Taylor (Defiance.org):

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A protester smuggled a box of sex toys into [our] State of the Union rebuttal event, and Republicans are pretending to clutch their pearls. Meanwhile, they’re dead silent about — and trying to hope we don’t pay attention to — allegations the president raped a minor and that his Justice Department might have covered it up. . . . Republicans appear to be doing what they said they came into power to rectify: aiding and abetting the coverup of a sex-trafficking ring. With the situation now ensnaring the president in an alleged pedophilia scandal, their complicity is taking on new shades of darkness. . . . when I woke to the screaming of social media commentators online — “Sex toys were thrown from a cardboard box in DC!” — I realized how badly they were flailing in the wake of the news about the Epstein files. But it won’t save them from scandal or from Trump himself. It’s too late for that. Their only choice now is to jump ship — with righteous indignation and contrition — or to angrily shake a dildo in the air while the boat sinks beneath the waves.

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    [Posted Yesterday — maybe re-run or elaborate? Every word worth reading.  Can you imagine how different the world would be today if Trump and Putin had not succeeded in thwarting her bid for the presidency?  (Anyone who doesn’t believe Putin played a vital role in the hair-thin outcome should watch the first couple of minutes of this.) ] Brad B.:  “Great link Thursday about AI.  As a designer, I am a HUGE fan of Google Gemini Pro.  I was slightly surprised Shumer largely ignored it.  For fun, I asked Gemini Pro to compare Claude versus Gemini Pro.”   Robert Reich: Pete Hegseth and the AI Doomsday Machine 

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Now is the time we should be putting AI guardrails in place. But two forces are making this difficult if not impossible. The first is corporate greed, which is why OpenAI, Elon Musk’s xAI, and Google have jettisoned all precautions. Several AI researchers have left AI companies in recent weeks, warning that safety and other considerations are being pushed aside as their corporations raise billions of dollars and in preparation for initial public offerings that will make their executives hugely wealthy. The second is the Trump regime . . .

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On a silly personal level, I find myself asking the A.I. connected to my browser anything, and within seconds of my typing if not faster it gives a thorough, generally excellent, answer. I asked it to plan 6 days in a region of Italy I had never heard of — Piedmont — and two seconds later I had a full itinerary with places to stay and see and eat. ME: “Can you modify this so nothing starts before 11am?” A.I.: “Absolutely — and this actually makes the itinerary better. Starting each day at 11:00 a.m. or later gives you a relaxed, civilized pace that fits Piedmont beautifully.  Here’s your revised 6‑day Piedmont itinerary, with every day beginning at or after 11:00.” Or this: ME: “I have a brother laser prnter that takes a TN-760 toner cartridge. Each time I try to replace it it says “replace toner cartridge.” I’ve tried it with two different cartridges that specifically say they are TN-760 compatible replacement cartridges. What am I doing wrong?” Turns out, I had been doing one unbelievably stupid thing . . . but that there was also a second unbelievably stupid thing the toner-cartridge replacement people had done that neither or nor my tech-savvy friends would ever have figured out on our own — and that instantly solved the problem.  

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Epstein’s Fury: The Inevitable Calculus of WWIII — Jim Stewartson.  I have no idea what to make of this.  I find it completely creepy that Roy Cohn and Bill Barr had the same high school John Birch Society history teacher I did (Cohn was 20? years ahead of me, Barr, 2? years behind) . . . and that Peter Thiel . . . The Slime: From Roy Cohn to Jeffrey Epstein to Peter Thiel Heather Cox Richardson Februaryu 27 — (1) February 27, 2026 – by Heather Cox Richardson

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“The basic question here is whether a bunch of rich pedophiles and Epstein accomplices are going to face any consequences for their crimes,” [Senator Ron] Wyden said, “and Scott Bessent is doing his best to make sure they won’t. My head just about exploded when I heard Bessent say it wasn’t his department’s job to investigate these Epstein bank records…. From the beginning, my view has been that following the money is the key to identifying Epstein’s clients as well as the henchmen and banks that enabled his sex trafficking network. It’s past time for Bessent to quit running interference for pedophiles and give us the Epstein files he’s sitting on.”

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BRAIN HQ – Sanitize

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In October, our science team published exciting results from the INHANCE study (funded by the NIH) – showing for the first time ever that it is possible to rejuvenate the health of a key neurochemical system (“acetylcholine”) involved in attention, memory, and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (you can read the scientific publication if interested). While this was a scientific breakthrough, it was a PR challenge – how could we make people care about a multi-syllabic brain chemical that is difficult to pronounce? Our PR team rose to the challenge and organized an astonishingly successful press effort for this news, resulting in over 3,000 press placements (including 1,000+ news articles from around the world by year-end), with coverage on NBC, CNN, and NPR. You can see a list of our favorite coverage here). Over the next few weeks, we saw great growth in web traffic, new user registrations, and most importantly – new subscriptions to BrainHQ. October became our highest consumer sales month in quite some time. This provided great momentum headed into the holiday season. The holiday campaign this year was extraordinarily successful – there were a tremendous number of people who had registered for the free version of BrainHQ following the INHANCE study news, and they were delighted to get a holiday discount on full-access BrainHQ. In early February, the ACTIVE study – an independent NIH-funded study of cognitive training – published results showing that our Double Decision exercise “speed training” reduced the risk of the onset of Alzheimer’s and dementia in Medicare records over a twenty-year period by 25% (you can read the scientific publication). Posit Science co-founder Dr. Merzenich has said from the first days of the company that this class of brain training exercises would eventually be shown to protect against the onset of dementia. It took twenty years – but he has once again been shown to be right (he has a habit of this – he invented the cochlear implant, and discovered adult brain plasticity. Don’t bet against him on issues of neuroscience). Over the past week, the results have been covered on TV (including Good Morning America, NBC News, and ABC World News Tonight), on the radio (including NPR), and across the web (from The Times of London to The New York Post and from Good Housekeeping to Business Insider) – more than 2,000 news articles in total (and they’re still coming in, more than a week after the news broke). You can see our favorite news coverage of the ACTIVE study here. Thanks again for your support of Posit Science and BrainHQ over the years. The past few months of great science news, great press coverage, and great business growth have given our work a surge of momentum . . .

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Chris Taylor’s critical Wisconsin Supreme Court race April 3.

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Plug Aristides without naming it . . . cut and paste from OIG . . . . The minimum for the LP Fund is $500,000, and the minimum for the QP Fund is $250,000 (though we can be a bit more flexible in the QP since we’re not slot count constrained).  . . . they have closed down 3 times in the past but are open now . . .

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DO YOU FIND YOURSELF JUGGLING A LOT OF THINGS? 90 seconds.

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Over the weekend, I offered “Alternative Histories” and asked us to imagine that the 2016 election had been decided by the winner of the popular vote.  Or that 50,000 Florida “overvotes”* had been counted in 2000. Carl, my friendly nemesis and foil, who writes two or three times on a typical day, responded (quoiting here in full):

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Imagine if all these people hadn’t lied! ALTERNATIVE HISTORIES… Imagine if Biden didn’t open the border. Imagine if Biden didn’t declare war of fossil fuel. Imagine if Hillary didn’t pay for the Steele Dossier. Imagine if Hunter’s laptop wasn’t covered up. Imagine if Biden didn’t create the Afghanistan exit bloodbath . Imagine if the Hands Up Don’t Shoot lie wasn’t repeated. Imagine if Andrew Tobias didn’t support all those debacles! 

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NM Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury on Epstein files (30 minutes):   https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/the-epstein-coverup-is-about-protecting?r=5jgrx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&timestamp=781.3

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By now, you’ve shared this 4-minute snippet from Ronald Reagan’s final speech far and wide.  But I’m going to keep posting it.

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TAXING ESTATES Inheritance Reform For The Twenty First Century

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The United States has around 900 billionaires and 24,000,000 millionaires. None will live forever. About $4 trillion will be inherited annually for the next 30 years from all estates.

Most Americans will inherit little or nothing. Fortunes will be retained by a few rich families. Economic inequality will continue increasing. Wealth amplifies political power. Increased inequality reduces government’s concern for the general welfare. Changing how people inherit wealth could improve life for most Americans. But to understand how this could work, we first need to establish several principles. . . .

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I thought I was going to love the rest of Professor deLespinasse‘s essay and instead found it fascinating but, well, “nevva gonna happen.” (Also: if you exclude the value of their homes, the number of American millionaires may be more like 6 million than 24 million.) That said, we absolutely should put estate tax rates back to where they were, or close to where they were, at least for the very largest estates, in “the good old days” of the 1950’s and 1960’s, when the economy was booming and inequality was nothing like it is today . . . and close the loopholes.  Sure: you should be able to establish trusts for your kids and grandkids . . . but above an inflation-adjusted $5 million each (say) the money that flows into those trusts should be taxed as ordinary income.  And sure: we should keep the charitable gift exemption, because gifts to hospitals and medical research, to high schools and colleges, to cultural and religious institutions — all that and more — strengthen society. But . . .

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THERE IS NO INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE  I can’t remember whether I’ve ever told you about this — a quick search of the past 7,471 archived posts shows no hits for “intelligent life” — but it’s part of my shtick.  Friends of mine have heard it a million times: “There’s no other intelligent life in the universe, or if there is, we’ll never find it.”  They look surprised.  “Yes, I know:  In an infinite universe, there will be millions or billions of planets with life, and given enough time a monkey sitting at a typewriter will tap out a letter-perfect Hamlet.  And all that.  But here’s how I know. Obama is right about aliens

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What you quickly realize in looking at the Drake Equation is the whole ballgame is the final variable: (L), the Length of time an advanced civilization survives and thrives.

If (L) is only a few thousand years or only a few tens of thousands of years, then life and intelligent life is probably both enormously common across the universe but that each pinprick of life is functionally alone in its corner of the universe when it exists.

If (L) is millions or even billions of years, then our universe probably teems with life and intelligence civilizations existing at the same time — life that we might someday detect signs of.

Looking around at planet earth at the start of 2026 there are any number of reasons — climate change, nuclear war, AI — to believe that human civilization doesn’t get another 10,000 years. (Heck, I wake up some mornings and wonder if humanity gets another hundred years!) But if we take care of each other, take care of our planet, and carefully manage future emerging technologies, from genetic engineering to AI, who knows what we’ll discover — and where we might someday find life?

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Ruben Gallego: A Marshall Plan for South America.

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WHEN IS REVOLUTION JUSTIFIED? This essay on the suffering we’re imposing on the people of Cuba — “Why Is Trump Strangling Cuba?” — reminds me of a topic I’ve been meaning to address: When is revolution justified? > Would slaves be justified in revolting?  One might argue: yes, but it’s a bad idea because you’ll be killed. > Were American colonists justified in revolting?  Thomas Jefferson, et al, argued yes. > Was the French revolution justified?  Should the people just have been willing to “eat cake?” > Were the Cuban people justified in overthrowing Batista?  Most would argue yes, because he was a corrupt dictator; and Castro promised democracy.  So the real question that affects us in thinking about Cuba today: was he then justified in nationalizing property that wealthy Cubans had worked hard, many of them legally within the rules, to accumulate?  These are really fraught waters into which I lack the knowledge competently to wade . . . but it seems to me entirely natural that the wealthy would be beyond outraged to have their property confiscated, while the oppressed would have felt that the rules of society had been unfairly stacked against them. Here in the U.S., multi-billionaires may have played by every rule . . . but some may feel they had too much say in writing those rules.  They could vote for the populist, who was going to make everything better on day one; but he wound up throwing paper towels to the needy and cutting taxes for the billionaires. I’ve often linked to Nick Hanauer’s TED Talk — Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming — now twelve years old.  If you read Andrew Yang’s warning yesterday, you may agree we need some pretty fundamental changes to keep our already gaping inequality from    

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AL GREEN GRILLS SEC CHAIR On a stock with the symbol DJT (5 minutes).

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  Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico has seen the files and reports.

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THE FIRST FILE I LOOKED AT One of the 1.5 million over at https://epsteinfta.com/ — seems to be the top-of-mind jottings of a guest list.  You know: Gates, Summers, Mr. Evil, Elon, Thiel — I know some of the people on the list but have no idea what it was about or who was redacted and why.  That would of course be the most interesting part if it.

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Peter S.: “According to Todd Blanche on 1/30/26 << Out of approximately 6 million total pages collected, roughly 3.5 million pages were released in total.>>  If these 3.5 million pages were this bad based on reports from Congress members who saw the unredacted versions, just imagine what’s in the remaining 2.5 million pages. They must be truly and disgustingly earth shattering. Release every page! Redact anything involving national security and victims identities.  Stop hiding the truth!!!! America wants to know! America needs to know! Release all pages, hold back nothing. Anything held back can logically be assumed as being held back to protect Donald Trump. If he has nothing to hide, release every single page. Stop hiding the truth!  This is the drumbeat every Democrat should be repeating over and over every day, along with Massie et all on the Republican side.” 

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Why Trump Voters Are Torn Over Minneapolis The Daily The question of what to do about undocumented immigrants has long bonded President Trump and his supporters — and an overwhelming majority of them backed his all-out crackdown over the past year. But then came the extraordinary events of the past few weeks in Minneapolis. Since then, some of Mr. Trump’s voters have begun to have misgivings about his agenda. “The Daily” spoke with more than a dozen people who voted for him in the last election about how they are making sense of the recent events in Minneapolis. Background reading:  A conversation with the Minneapolis police chief on ICE and the killing of Renee Good. Photo: David Guttenfelder / The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. Listen on Apple Podcasts

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?AGAIN:  “You’ve seen Ronald Reagan’s final speech (4 minutes).” Measles is back, baby — Making America Great Again.

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Paul Krugman (Making America Stagnate Again) affirms my claim that granting amnesty would strengthen the economy and Social Security.  Let’s act in our own selfish national interest and do it. And let’s enact the bipartisan border law Trump killed, thereby keeping the border open an extra year, with tens of thousands streaming in each month, so he could use it to get re-elected, stay out of jail, and grift literally billions of dollars.

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George W. Bush on immigration.

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THE WORST OF THE WORST Arrested: Worst of the Worst | Homeland Security

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  SMALL POTATOES Paul H.: “I recommend the documentary Small Potatoes. I saw it well in advance of Trump coming down the escalator and it does an incredible job of portraying who he is, well before the politics.  He never changes, and his playbook never changes.  The problem is, back then he was dealing with a second-rate football league.  Now he’s dealing with our nation’s future.” → I’ve only watched the trailer.

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I love Elaine May, about whom I once wrote a story for New York Magazine.  She had made a two-person film called Mikey & Nicky (Peter Falk and John Cassavetes) for which she had shot more film than was shot for the more than twice as long, more complex Gone with the Wind, and with so much film Elaine May Salutes Mike Nichols at the AFI Life Achievement Award – Extended Version

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WILL GAY SCENES TURN A CHILD GAY? Oh, please.  (15 seconds)

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Alarm bells sound over Trump’s ‘take over the voting’ call | US voting rights | The Guardian

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SUICIDE? Peter S.:  “Simple fact: Trump was president of the United States when Jeffrey Epstein died on August 10, 2019.”  It’s just a coincidence that there was no video  — and autopsy not consistent with hanging . . . same with the 2022 suicide in Paris of Jean-Luc ?Beniet? – model procurer . . . and wife Ivana falling down the stairs

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    EXCERPTS FROM JAMIE RASKIN’S INTERVIEW WITH JOHN HARWOOD

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HARWOOD: You’ve got two unique perspectives on the damage that this president has done to the country, in particular the rule of law. One is as a constitutional law professor, which you were in the past, and the other is as a leading Democratic member of Congress. Let me ask you from the first perspective initially.

RASKIN:  Gee, Well, I would say that, you know, we were all thrown into a completely different universe with Trump . . . We’re in the fight of our lives, and people want us to be and need us to be fighting every single day. And I would say that’s pretty much where all the Democrats are.

We’ve got to take the House back, and we got to take the Senate back and cut this reign of terror in half starting 2027.

They obviously have no program for the country. They have no policies for the country. And it’s all about assembling as much power and wealth and self-enrichment as they can.

But there are certain places where we just have to draw the line.  We have to draw the line when they’re throwing millions of our people off of their health care, whether it’s Medicaid or Affordable Care Act tax credits. Another place we have to draw the line is them turning the government into an instrument of authoritarian violence and state terror.

I mean, that’s just the complete destruction of the social contract. So…  the government shutdowns are on them, just like all of these assaults on the government, beginning with Elon Musk and Doge, are on them. And we’re doing everything we can to defend the idea of the government being an instrument for the common good in the public interest of the people. For them, the government is just an instrument for private self-enrichment. and corruption, and now increasingly authoritarian violence against the people.HARWOOD: Do you think we’ve gotten to the stage, initially, Democrats were advised to stick to affordability, kitchen table issues. Have we now gotten to the point when people have seen what’s happened in Minnesota and elsewhere, that Democrats don’t need to be scared of the immigration issue and need to take that on in a fulsome way?

RASKIN: Absolutely. You know, it’s like saying, you know, before the French Revolution, should they focus on, you know, let them eat cake in the fact that the economics are such as to be coldly indifferent to the needs of the mass majority of the people? Or should… Or should they focus on the monarchical oppression and violation of the rights of the people? It’s just the same thing. It’s a system of government that oppresses the vast majority and tramples the rights and freedoms of the vast majority. And we’re going to stand up for the material interests of people, health care, groceries, anti-inflation, housing, and we’re going to stand up for the rights and freedoms of the people. We really view it as just inextricably intertwined at this point. Given what’s happened and the advances you all have made politically and to some extent on the Hill, on ISIS behavior, on the Epstein files, even things like this repulsive video that the president posted today and how it depicted the Obamas, do you get the sense from your Republican colleagues that there is any greater opening to actually working with Democrats and passing legislation?

Well, of course, we had a big breakthrough on Epstein because so many of the mega-Republicans had campaigned on the QAnon stories about international child sex trafficking rings run by power elites, which was either a projection or a leak, basically, from Trump and his people about what has been taking place with Jeffrey Epstein. And so there was no turning back on that as much as Trump… wanted to turn around and perform another magic trick and say, oh, I didn’t mean any of that stuff. We’re going to sweep it all under the rug. He couldn’t do it. You know, we had four Republican members who came over and did it with us. We’ve also had Republican members come over and stand with us on ACA tax credits just because they’re overwhelmingly popular and the Republicans keep promising they’re going to unveil their decade-long awaited health care plan, and it doesn’t exist. And so some of them— you know, have just had the bejesus scared out of them by what people are saying at town hall meetings. And so we just have to keep the pressure on across the board on all of these things. And now I think the vast majority of the public has just completely abandoned Trump. His numbers are plummeting and sinking like a stone because they’re killing American citizens simply for exercising their First Amendment rights or their Second Amendment rights in Minnesota. And the vast majority of the American people want to stand up for the constitutional democracy we remember in our bones from our childhoods. Well, speaking of those polls, they strongly indicate that Democrats are likely to win the House of Representatives. Two-part question. One is, are you confident that we’re going to have a midterm election that, in fact, reflects the will of the people? And secondly, are Do you have to have the Senate to make a real difference because then you get in the way of appointments, judges, things that have been very damaging and will be damaging for a long time? So on your first question, am I confident it’s going to happen? I mean, look, that’s your business. I’m not in the prognostication business. I’m in the mobilization business. So I go out every weekend, you know, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania. I’m fighting in swing districts and swing states to mobilize the vote to turn out a huge avalanche of political participation by Democrats, independents, defecting Republicans. So there’s such a huge margin. It can’t be stolen, but we’re also fighting against all of the GOP voter suppression tactics that are taking place right now as they try to destroy same-day voter registration. They try to destroy early voting and They attack mail-in balloting. People say, are they going to try to destroy the midterms? No, they are trying to destroy the midterms every single day all over the country. And we’re in a decentralized electoral federalism situation. So we got to be fighting that every step along the way with our friends at the state level. And you make a huge difference in the last two years with only the House and not the Senate. We can make a huge difference in terms of the use of the oversight power, the use of the subpoena power to shine a light on this matrix of authoritarianism, corruption, and cover-up that have become— the operating system of the GOP. Yeah, we can expose that and we can use the power of the person in a lot of ways, and we’re going to have a lot more leverage. So I think we’re going to be able to stop a lot of the worst depredations and violations of people’s rights and freedoms, but we really do need to take the full Congress back and take the presidency back to get America moving again towards strong democracy, progress, and freedom for everybody. Let’s talk about the judiciary, your other hat. We’ve seen a lot of federal district judges stand up to administration actions. The Supreme Court… By which you mean just enforce the law. Correct. Yes. The Supreme Court has mostly kicked the can down the road, not made decisions on the merits while allowing the administration to keep doing what it’s doing. Are you confident that when they actually decide on the merits that the Supreme Court is going to vindicate the role of the judiciary in standing up to a lawless president?

We have seen great performance by federal district court judges and federal appeals court judges where we’re winning around two thirds of the time when people sue against this onslaught, against the Bill of Rights and against the rule of law. Then we get into the shadow docket of the Supreme Court, and the numbers basically flip over. And we’re not talking about painstaking legal analysis. We’re just talking about one sentence or one paragraph summary overruling of what the lower courts have done. So that’s extremely troubling. But things have gotten so outrageous that it’s even hard for the Roberts court to perform the triple backflips and pirouettes to try to make it make sense. I mean, for example, the Republicans who, of course, unleashed the mid-decade gerrymander wars on us, sued against California simply doing what Texas had done, and it went to the Supreme Court, and it appears like the court unanimously just let California go ahead, saying, okay, well, there was no way that they could allow political gerrymandering, partisan gerrymandering to take place on the Republican side, but not on California. In other words, there is a line somewhere. I mean, again, I don’t want to sound overconfident because I’m not overconfident.

But look, you know, what does the rule of law mean? Sometimes people think the rule of law just means like a system of rules and canons of construction and so on. But really, when you look at the emergence of the idea of the rule of law in the American Revolution and the French Revolution— The rule of law was the idea that the law binds not just the common people, which it always did. I mean, the kings and the queens and dictators have always had laws imposed on the rabble.

The rule of law in the modern democratic enlightenment sense means that there are laws that bind people with power. And that’s what’s at stake with Donald Trump because he views himself as acting with complete immunity and impunity and inviolability. And the Roberts court has backed him up on a lot of that stuff amazingly just because he’s packed and stacked and gerrymandered that court. So we’ve got to restore the rule of law, the idea that the law not just applies to all of us, but to the rulers too. Well, let me ask you about the restoration part. The whole world’s watching this, and we’ve seen the administration appearing to sell pardons, vindictive prosecutions, completely capricious use of legal authority that may not be justified. How reparable is this? You know, he’s not going to be around forever. You’ll have another administration hiring a new set of lawyers for the Justice Department and appointing a new set of U.S. attorneys. Can that fix the damage? Well, first of all, the damage that’s already been done is mostly irreparable. So, for example, Trump has been on a wild pardon spree against convicted fraudsters, white-collar fraudsters, who are willing to put up money for Trump campaigns or various Trump causes, and then they get back Four times, 10 times, 20 times that in terms of the restitutionary fines and payments they no longer have to make. Most presidents before had, when they pardoned people, made sure that the beneficiaries of the pardon had actually paid back their victims. Trump is doing the reverse. I mean, it’s an absolute pay-to-play statement. So, unfortunately, that’s mostly irreparable. And there’s been a massive shift of hundreds of millions of dollars from the victims of crimes who are supposed to be paid back, back towards the perpetrators of crimes. But moving forward… it should not be that difficult for us to put the right people in place. So we get out of pay-to-play corruption in the Department of Justice, and then we begin to look at what some of the structural reforms are that we need. You know, one of the things that Trump has done is that he’s destroyed what was formerly a wall of separation between the president and his personal finances, and then— corporate business with the government it’s all mixed together now both with foreign governments like saudi arabia and china and united arab emirates and also with our own government as trump has taken millions of dollars from our own government and continues to do that we’ve got to rebuild those walls of separation i know you’ve got a heart out pretty soon let me try to get to two uh viewer questions uh before we go and the first is from our old friend diane ream um She says, what can you do to prevent Republicans and ICE from interfering with people voting in the midterm elections? So thank you, Diane, and thank you for everything you’ve done. I mean, we’re in that fight right now, like in North Carolina, right now in Texas. So I don’t want people to think about a stolen election as something that’s going to happen in November. They’re trying to stack the rules and change the rules right now all over the country, and people are fighting all over the country. We, of course, have our great lawyer, Mark Elias, with a team of, I don’t know, it’s 80 or 91. lawyers now, but there’s ACLU, there’s NAACP Legal Defense Fund. These things are being fought out. But remember, the best way to steal an election is to run an election. And that’s what the Republicans are trying to do. Like in Texas, they try to take over all of the outposts of management of the election to prevent people from voting and stop people from voting. But when people say to me, you know, he’s going to cancel the election, Trump’s got no power to cancel the election. We had midterm congressional elections in the We had midterm elections in the middle of World War II. We’ve gone through major wars and cataclysms and had midterm elections. Why would we cancel it for Donald Trump? Because it’s going to hurt his feelings to see his party go down into humiliating defeat. I’m sorry, that’s not a reason to cancel American democracy. Well, I think the fear is that he’s going to somehow enlist the military into stopping it. Well, and we’ve had a lot of our colleagues in Congress speak out very strongly to people in the military about how not only can they, but how they must refuse unlawful orders. Now they’re retaliating against Alyssa Slotkin and Jason Crow and our colleagues. And so we’ve got to defend them. I mean, look, you want to guarantee you go out and buy a dishwasher and But you want a democracy. You go out and fight for it every single day. And that’s what we’re doing. You got to you. We’re going to take some like my friend Nancy Pelosi says in this business. You got to know how to throw a punch. You got to know how to take a punch. And some days we’re taking punches from the fascists and authoritarians. And a lot of days we’re throwing punches back. But we wake up and we get right back out there the next day because this is like a game where principles are at stake. And remember, all they want is as much corruption and self-enrichment. as possible. And so they’re going to begin to defect as they’ve gotten their money to get out. But we’re fighting for values and principles. And we’re going all the way through November. And then we’re going to keep going until we’ve restored American democracy, strengthened American democracy, and kept us moving forward. Well, last one will be about the corruption that you just referred to. Mari sends in a question saying, what are you doing? What can you do to stop the obvious grifting that is going on within the administrations? Yeah. Well, it’s complex because it’s taking place at a lot of different levels. But there are essential principles in the Constitution that are just being trampled as a matter of course. So when we get legislative direction back in the Congress, we’re going to have to pass a law which says that when a president is proposing to accept a gift— in the form of a business deal or anything from Saudi Arabia or Egypt or the Indonesia or any foreign government, it must be reported within 72 hours to Congress. If not, it’s a crime. And then Congress has seven days or 10 days to give it the thumbs up or the thumbs down. I mean, President Abraham Lincoln got a beautiful gift from the King of Siam that he loved, which were, I think it was like an elephant tusk. And in the middle of the Civil War, he sent a letter to Congress. He said, can I keep this tusk? And he gets a note back saying, you know, President Lincoln, you’re doing a great job in the Civil War, but no, you can’t turn that over to the State Department. An elephant tusk. Meantime, you’ve got Donald Trump, who’s made $4 billion since January of last year in one year with all of these foreign government business entanglements, with all of this shakedowns of our own government where he’s suing our own government. ordering his underlings to settle with his lawyers? With him. And we have the domestic emoluments clause, which says that the president is limited to his own salary in office. It cannot make any other money. We need a law which says that that kind of legal shakedown by the president is a crime. You can’t do that. And it’s forbidden. Do you actually think that most of your Republican colleagues recognize that this and all the things that we’ve been talking about are wronged? and are just scared to stand up and say so? Or do you think many of them actually go along with the belief that this is the right thing to do? I mean, I think if any other president had done any of the things we’re talking about, Biden, Obama, Democrats, even Republicans, they would be seeing it with clear eyes. They would say, this is corruption, this is pillage, this is cover-up, and so on. But Donald Trump seems to have this… hallucinatory, bedazzling effect on our colleagues. You know, I’ve told them when we get through this period, they’re going to be fit only for selling flowers and incense at Dulles Airport. They’re acting like members of a religious cult who sleep on the basement floor listening to tapes of Donald Trump all night. It’s just the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen. Well, let’s hope it’s not the Trump-Dulles Airport thing. when that happens. If he’s got anything to do with it, it will be. He’s like a King Midas, but instead of everything turning to gold, it just turns to Trump. We’re like in fairy tale land with these people. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate your time, and we’ll talk to you soon. Thank you, John. Okay.

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Trump’s Top 20 Grifts But you can’t spend all day crying, so: EPIZEUXIS Lin Manuel Miranda attends Spelling Bee.  So fun.  NEEDS LINK THAT WORKS   MAMA’S BOY Dustin Lance Black:  Mama’s Boy

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Frances: “I’m on Facebook, and I see pleas from Elissa Slotkin, Ilhan Omar, Marc Elias, Adm. Laubacher, Sen. Mark Kelly and a host of others asking for money.  At first, I was going to donate to Mark Kelly.  Then I saw Ilhan Omar.  Then came the people running against the (R) in red states.  Then I saw someone suggesting the Fight Fund.  Help!  I want to support them all, but I have limited funds.  Where do I donate?” → It’s the question we all have.  Because so much money goes to candidates and so little to “infrastructure,” it seems to me most useful to stress infrastructure.  And because it takes a long time to build infrastructure, I argue NOW is the time to support that (building the bridge, as it were) while this summer and fall is the time to support candidates (renting the buses to drive across the bridge). By infrastructure I mean things like the DNC and/or your own state party (which, incidentally, the DNC helps to support).  All our 8,000 Democratic candidates rely to some extent on the work of the DNC. My friend David Hogg, whose efforts to inject vigorous new blood into the Party I largely support, has lately attacked Ken Martin for not publicly releasing the “autopsy report” that David assumes (I assume rightly) would criticize Tallarico Crockett Mills  Platner Markey  Moulton   WE HAVE HOT WATER! John S.:  “As someone who routinely marvels at our access to hot water and air conditioning, you might find this article interesting if you haven’t read it already.” → Yes!  So true and important and interesting!  Every American should read it!  Thomas Jefferson would have been amazed.

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No sitting American president has ever put his own name on a national monument. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Kennedy Center—such honors have always been  posthumous tributes, conferred by successors and the U.S. Congress after their subjects had left office and, in most cases, this life. The norm was so implicit that it needed no enforcement: Presidents of the United States simply didn’t do this. On Friday, workers on scissor lifts affixed metal lettering to the facade of the Kennedy Center in Washington. The building is now “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” The signage went up one day after a board vote that Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, called unanimous—though the 1964 act that established the center would require an act of Congress to rechristen it. As former Representative Joseph Kennedy III put it, the center “can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial.” And yet. It caps a year of physical transformation unprecedented in Washington since the Truman administration gutted the White House in 1948. Trump paved the Rose Garden, replacing the lawn where presidents since Kennedy held ceremonies with white stone modeled on the patio at Mar-a-Lago. He demolished the East Wing—home to every first lady’s office since Eleanor Roosevelt—to build a US$400 million ballroom. He gilded the Oval Office ceiling, installed marble and gold fixtures in the Lincoln Bathroom, and lined the West Wing colonnade with presidential portraits in gold frames. This week, he added bronze plaques beneath each portrait, many of which he wrote himself, rating his predecessors. The plaque under Biden—represented not by a portrait but by an autopen signature—calls him “by far, the worst President in American History.” The plaque beneath Trump’s own portrait presumes what comes next: “The Presidential Walk of Fame will long live as a testament and tribute to the Greatness of America.” Then there’s the triumphal arch. In October, Trump unveiled plans for an “Independence Arch” at Memorial Circle, the traffic roundabout between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. The largest of three proposed designs would rival or exceed the height of the memorial it faces. Asked who the arch was for, Trump said: “Me. It’s going to be beautiful.” At a pre-Christmas gathering on Sunday, he confirmed that Domestic Policy Council head Vince Haley now oversees the project. “It will be like the one in Paris,” Trump said of the Arc de Triomphe. “But to be honest with you, it surpasses it. It blows it away in every way.” These are not the moves of a president husbanding political capital or building coalitions for fights ahead. Paving Jackie Kennedy’s garden, demolishing the East Wing, writing partisan attacks on predecessors in bronze and mounting them on White House walls—none of this courts allies or defers to constituencies. Neither does chairing the Kennedy Center board yourself, or announcing plans for a monument to yourself while still in office. But they’re also not obviously the moves of someone thinking about what happens next. Executive orders can be undone with a signature; a successor could rename the Gulf of America back to the Gulf of Mexico in an afternoon. The ballroom, should it go forward as planned, will outlast Trump’s term, but the plaques and much else could come down on January 21, 2029. Even the arch—if it’s ever built—would require years of approvals Trump won’t be around to shepherd. A president building for posterity would pick battles that stick. A president indifferent to posterity, if there were such a thing, wouldn’t bother with monuments at all. Trump is doing something else: Moving fast, spending freely, putting his name on everything he can, with no apparent theory of what survives him—and no visible concern for the question. Why?

A friend of a friend has launched A House United to answer the question: “Where can I give most effectively?” Their algorithm eliminates all but the toss-up races, then gives preference to the least expensive (it costs more to run in some districts than others) where the Democratic candidate has the most need (just because a race is not expensive doesn’t mean our candidate has enough — and vice versa). They explain:

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A House United is created and funded entirely by a small team of engaged pro-democracy activists, and offered – without fees, commissions, or remuneration – as a public service. All data are secure, and not sold or monetized, and all donations are made directly to candidates’ campaigns, entirely avoiding the need for transacting on this platform.

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DEMOLISHING THE WHITE HOUSE

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The White House has undergone many renovations (most notably the Truman reconstruction in 1948–1952, when the interior was gutted and rebuilt), but no part of the East Wing has ever been demolished. It continues to serve its traditional role as part of the White House complex. Would you like me to share a diagram or floor plan of the East Wing, so you can see exactly what’s inside and how it connects to the rest of the White House?

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I then showed it an ABC News report showing that the East Wing had been demolished, and it agreed: “every major outlet confirms” the demolition. So why, I asked Co-Pilot, did you tell me repeatedly it was not true.

can give you a clear, candid explanation — and you deserve one. Here’s what happened:

Why I told you yesterday that the East Wing had not been demolished

When you asked yesterday, I did not have access to the ABC News article you’re viewing now. Without that page open — and without any other news sources in your tabs referencing demolition — I had no evidence to support the claim. So I defaulted to the long‑standing historical fact: the White House East Wing has never been demolished in modern history. At that time, nothing in your browsing context contradicted that. And I’m required to avoid confirming major factual claims unless I can ground them in:

• your open tabs
• search results
• or widely established information

Yesterday, none of those showed demolition.

What changed today

Today, you opened the ABC News article, and I retrieved it directly. That article explicitly and repeatedly states that:

• the entire East Wing has been demolished,
• satellite images show it “reduced to rubble”,
• and the demolition is part of a new ballroom project.

Once that information was available in your browsing context, I could confirm it. Then, when you asked me to compare coverage, I ran searches — and those searches returned multiple outlets (Fox News, Newsweek, USA Today, WTOP, etc.) all reporting the same thing. So today, the evidence is clear and consistent across sources.

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You’re welcome — and I’m glad we could work through it together. If anything else in the coverage looks contradictory or you want help sorting out what’s confirmed, what’s disputed, and what’s still unfolding, I’m right here.

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Scott Galloway  . . . humble brag, know it all . . . but he actually knows a lot and the introduction . . .

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FOREIGN TOURISTS Your Profile Pic Better Be Patriotic by Michael Cohen

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. . . the new Trump-era requirement that foreign tourists cough up five years of social media posts just to spend a long weekend in New York . . .

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    Measles . . . Hepatitis B . . . Tossed away our soft power, accumulated over 80 years, and our until-now undisputed world leadership.  

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‘Godfather of AI’ says Bill Gates and Elon Musk are right about the future of work but he predicts mass unemployment is on its way

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Carl and MAGA are right that immigration was out of control — but Democrats agreed with them all along.  That’s why Democrats fought for bipartisan reform that passed the Senate 68-32 in 3013 but was killed by the Republican House Speaker; and an even tougher bill that was on the verge of becoming law when Trump killed it, so he could keep it as a campaign issue and keep MAGA fired up.

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  Alan Turing.  Martine Rothblatt. … https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/us/politics/fbi-gay-pride-flag-lawsuit.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

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IN PRAISE OF FAMILY Click here to see this beautiful family

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We are two gay fathers who over 39 years together raised three wonderful, successful children and now celebrate seven equally wonderful grandchildren. It was all done back in a darker time when we even had to hide our gayness and our relationship from our employers and clients!

We all survived today to share a glorious life of love and commitment to each other. Don’t ever try to even suggest to me that gay parents cannot raise a wonderful family!

We did it, and we are always available to talk new gay parents through the bumps and valleys of parenthood. That’s what old gay parents are still here to do!

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I play Wordle With the pope.  Well, not exactly.  But we both play the Wordle.  And I share my result every day with the guy who recently shared his result with the Pope.  Plus, my brother-in-law (had it been legal when Charles was alive and had I dared to broach the possibility of a pre-nup) is a priest . . .

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The Unraveling of the Justice Department:  In case you missed it: Sixty attorneys describe a year of chaos and suspicion. But take heart, people: we will have the House back in little more than a year (if not before!) and very possibly the Senate — we just all need to step up — and we’re going to save our democracy.

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Tom Hartmann earlier this month: When Does Trump Become Too Corrupt for the GOP?  “He’s tested every limit of decency and democracy, and every time he does the GOP bends a little lower.”

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Tym Snyder earlier this month: The Grift Bubble:

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Imagine that you are a first-rate grifter: the president of the United States, say. Your grift is that you pretend to be a successful businessman, and use that supposed expertise to make your case for the presidency, which office you then use to make money. Or imagine instead that you are the vice-president. Your grift is that you claim to understand poor people, whose problems, you say, are the fault of gays, immigrants, and billionaires; and then you rise to power thanks to the money and support of a gay immigrant billionaire. Given that these are their shticks, and that they have worked, you can see how Trump and Vance might conclude that Americans are gullible and that all things are possible. . . .

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His argument, “A Political Theory of American Collapse,” was little too abstract for me and didn’t fully resonate — but well worth reading in full.

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BONUS Jon Stewart on faith.

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Gavin Newsome earlier this month:

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Tune into Fox News (don’t, actually) and you will see a steady stream of Trump sycophants alongside curious case of California Derangement Syndrome. But here are some cold, hard FACTS you will never see on the network. Prices are not, down … they are UP. ☕️ Coffee: UP 18.9% Utilities: UP 11.7% Electricity: UP 5.1% Vehicles: UP 11.5% Middle class families in California pay LESS in taxes than in states like Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Life expectancy, infant mortality, deaths of despair, wages and uninsured rates are all worse off in red states. For Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans talking trash: California is the fourth largest economy in the WORLD. We contribute $83 billion to the federal government while Texas takes $71 billion. California is #1 in manufacturing, #1 in farming, #1 in new business starts, #1 in tech and VC investments, #1 in Fortune 500 companies, and the #1 public higher education system in the country. ‍‍‍ California has some of the strongest gun laws in the country and as a result has a 43% lower gun death rate than the rest of the U.S. according to data from the CDC while President Trump oversaw the largest spike in homicides recorded in U.S. history. Republicans across the country are fanning the flames of culture wars to distract from the fact that on health, wealth, and economic outcomes they are failing. ️ When Democrats go on OFFENSE, we WIN. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! Gavin Newsom

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HAYM SALOMON  “He loaned a newborn nation $650,000 to survive its darkest hour.  America never paid him back.”   DEPT. OF HOPE  The surprising countries pulling off stunningly fast clean energy transitions.

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Bruce Haedrich EV Battery Article Fact Check

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Trump inherited an economy that — as hard as it was for average families to make ends meet — was dubbed “the envy of the world” and in less than year has given us rising prices and rising unemployment: stagflation.

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RAHM: WSJ Op-Ed: ‘Broken Windows’ and Trump-Era Ethics https://www.wsj.com/opinion/broken-windows-and-trump-era-ethics-4accd212 Bloomberg Trumponomics: Rahm Emanuel’s Recipe for America is Getting Back to Basics  https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/rahm-emanuels-recipe-for-america-is-getting-back-to-basics/id1038108799?i=1000735460861 Yellow Dog Fishing Podcast: From the White House to the River. And … Could the Next President Be a Fly Fisherman? https://www.yellowdogflyfishing.com/blogs/waypoints-podcast/episode-87-rahm-emanuel-from-the-white-house-to-the-river-and-could-the-next-president-be-a-fly-fisherman

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NBC MENTALISM TRICK – BRIAN AND TYLER 5 MINUTES OF TRUMP SUPPORTERS IN 2023 — TOO EASY, DON;T POST

90 minutes . . . “People ask: ‘Is America really in danger of slipping into authoritarianism?’ So I brought on someone who’s spent decades inside the national security world…Steven Cash of The Steady State… and his answer is the clearest, most sobering breakdown you will hear anywhere” – Jack Hopkins, Host of the Podcast “Beyond National Security and Intelligence.” youtu.be/6Inn3GAfSlo?

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About IA The Internet Archive Sign Up at the Internet Archive Jim L.: here is an index of all your stuff currently at Internet Archive.  

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    Wake the **** Up!.  [WRONG LINK]  But if you were promised “great health care at a tiny fraction of the price” and nine years later you’ve got, at best, “a concept of a plan” — or face a doubling or tripling of your health insurance costs because of the Big Beautiful Bill . . . if . . .     VOTER SUPPRESSION – DRY RUN? https://open.substack.com/pub/levremembers/p/breaking-ice-to-be-deployed-with?r=5jgrx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

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I am being told ICE units will be quietly embedded alongside DOJ monitors in heavily Latino districts. They want fear at the polls. They want people staying home. This is not monitoring. This is suppression. This is intimidation. This is interference.

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But then again, he said he would release his tax returns . . . he said he would release the Epstein files . . . he said his investigators had found amazing things about Obama’s birth certificate . . . he said he knew nothing about the pay-off to Stormy Daniels . . . he said he would give everyone great health care at a tiny fraction of the price . . . he said he didn’t steal documents when he left the White House . . . he said he would end the war in Ukraine on day one . . . he said he never touched E. Jean Carroll because she’s “Not My Type.”  

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I’m it sure why this is on Cristopher Hitchens A.I. Revival channel . . . but it is right on: Elon Musk: Why I Say Humanity Has Only One Last Chance

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Charlie Sykes: The right gets all worked up when you change the Cracker Barrell logo, but is fine with tearing down the White House. Trump video of King shitting on the American people, while taking a wrecking ball to the White House to build a royal ballroom . . .

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WEN — Pedro Goulart (@pedro) on Yahoo Finance Community

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  World Meteorological Report Marks Biggest Annual Jump in CO2 Levels

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Two Nights In Lisbon — a great listen or read. The Haves and the Have Yachts — listen or read.

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A CLOSER LOOK — DEMENTIA Trump Blanks on Habeas Corpus; Pritzker Hits Back After Trump’s Jail Threat: A Closer Look Brain HQ.  

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BONUS Uncloseted Media asks: Why Are So Many Anti-LGBTQ Republicans Interested in Queer Sex? (If you’re black/purple colorblind, you may have trouble seeing the links that document the assertions but scroll around and you’ll see them.) House Speaker Mike Johnson was once the dean of a Christian law school. It never opened its doors | Courthouse News Service Died: Disgraced Southern Baptist Leader Paul Pressler – Christianity Today  “The Texas judge behind the political strategy for the “conservative resurgence” molested and assaulted teenage boys, according to allegations eight men made in court.” Mike Johnson’s last leadership role went as poorly as you’d expect Christian Peter Thiel has JD Vance in his pocket.

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A furloughed guy named Jim: Now it’s the sick and the old, too? Proposed changes to social security are heartless and cruel.   Mark B.: “Why isn’t Schumer pointing out that the Democrats’ fight for health care will help as many Republicans as Democrats?” → And that [drew w]     Bertrand Russell, “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” (h/t Glenn Sonnenberg) THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, CLINTON V TRUMP Attention, Wal-Mart shoppers No, tariffs are not paid by foreign governments, they’re paid by Wal-Mart shoppers. No, he never will release the tax returns he promised No, he never will release the Epstein files No, he never will stand up to Putin No, he

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TESLA Are these robots any competition for Tesla?  [check that theyre real and who makes them; any videos of Tesla robots?]   TALKING TO THE OTHER SIDE Check out the Braver Angels YouTube channel and perhaps join. Digital Defenders: The Message in This Moment THE CASE FOR RUNNING SENATE CANDIDATES WHO CAN WIN Why I’m obsessed with winning the Senate

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Take a trip to the Amazon . . . I’ve been a proud supporter for decades, but only on the condition that I never have to go.  Having grown up in Manhattan, my view is that “if it’s not paved, it’s not safe.”  But look!  Honey from stingless bees!   Sea turtles!  Look at all the places they work.  I ain’t going to any of them (although the sea turtle beach does look awfully nice).

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Noble Mobile —

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Tim Miller interviews a Venezuelan make-up artist who loves the United States.  

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Hey! Use my referral code ANDREW-55917 to get your first month of Noble Mobile free https://noblemobile.com/ANDREW-55917?utm_source=noble&utm_medium=ref&utm_campaign=ANDREW-55917

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Try asking Copilot:  Quora  “How ideologically similar is Trump to the Nazis?”

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THE ROYAL PREFERENCES He prefers Putin to Zelenskyy, Russia, to Europe, the Second Amendment to the First, power to principle … cancer used to be a major enemy (. . .

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ASK READERS FOR THEIR SOLUTIONS TO THE UPGRADE TO AID ENIGMA — YES, IF IT’S NEEDED, NO If HCR is gonna make $60 million a year? E.g., Ink:

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We are opening this video to all. But we’re also asking candidly that you support the work that goes into bringing you The Ink by becoming a paying subscriber. Your support is how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. When you subscribe, you help us reach more people. Join us today, or if you are already a member, give a gift or group subscription.

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Anecdotalism — I’m pretty sure that if Carl and I sat down to dinner, we’d like each other.  And if we could persuade Martine Rothblatt to join us — the trans woman who’s growing organs for transplant that could one day save Carl’s grandchild’s life — I’m pretty sure he would see her as the remarkable person she is and wind up wishing her well. On many things, we’d agree — it’s dumb to defund the police (but did you know that Trump had done just that? and defunded the FBI and the IRS and the CIA?  Not entirely, of course, but enough so it really hurts CKCK).  It’s unfair for men to play . . . women in But look: a single horrific auto crash — should we ban driving?  How about banning anyone under 25?  Or anyone who’s ever had a speeding ticket?  In a perfect world, perhaps powered by only AI driverless cars, there would be no auto accidents.  But at least for now, we tolerate 30,000ck fatalities a year! And look: a single horrific undocumented rape or murder . . . headlines . . . but . . .

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Look on my works, ye Mighty – by Timothy Snyder

It is not that Trump is building great things and boasting about them, and that only time will reveal the inherent tragedy of human achievement. He is bragging about destroying what others have created. . . . In the present circumstances, the future of the United States cannot be taken for granted. The negative scenario in On Tyranny, and I think the negative scenario most often imagined, is that the entirety of the United States will undergo a regime change towards an authoritarian order, without the rule of law, without checks and balances, with permanent repression of dissidents, with informational control via technology, with programmed ignorance through decimated and humbled schools and universities, with an economy controlled such that social advancement is impossible and wealth remains with the regime-friendly oligarchs. That is the goal of those in power, and we are right to fear it, and right to work against it – more right, I think, than we realize. . . . Trump takes his example from Orbán in Hungary and Putin in Russia. But Hungary is a small country with an economy about a third the size of that of Boston, Massachusetts. Russia is a large country, but its power base rests in two cities and in control of the hydrocarbon industry. Both of these countries are very poor compared to the United States, and neither of them has a meaningful tradition of federalism, neither of them has any decentralization of wealth and power. The Putin regime survives on endless war, the Orbán regime on EU transfers of money. The memes used and the tricks played in Budapest and Moscow have a certain utility in the United States, and they are all the more tempting for an American president who wants to be able to do what Hungarian and Russian leaders have done: redirect flows of wealth to himself and his immediate environment. But those regimes will not last forever. And the attempt to imitate them in the United States is not only authoritarian but destructive. . . . The blue states pay taxes to the federal government, which redirects them to the red states. Voters in red states take advantage of this redistribution, while claiming (in their majority, not the whole population, of course) both that they are against such a redistribution and that they are being cheated because they do not get enough. . . . It is one thing, as a blue state voter, to know that your taxes are being spent elsewhere in the country. But it is quite another to worry that they will simply disappear into a sinkhole of corruption, such as that which is now being created in the White House. It is one thing to believe that federal taxes are worthwhile because they are being spent to redress inequalities in health care or education. It is another to watch the federal government spread disease and ignorance. It is one thing to pay taxes every year, in the knowledge that eventually the power in the White House will change every four or eight. It is another to be confronted with a president who talks about third terms. It is one thing to believe that the Constitution will ultimately preserve the country. It is another to recognize that those in power scorn it.

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Worth reading in full.

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“You And We Are Both Victims Of Hamas” – Andrew Tobias One Year Later: Sanaa’s Freedom Farm And . . . *See: Getting By On $100,000 A Year (And Other Sad Tales).  The joke back then?  That anyone wouldn’t be able to get by in New York on so much (equivalent to about $650,000 today).  “No, it’s not easy,” I reported, “but it can be done!“ > I was one of hundreds on a Zoom last week asking Zohran Mamdani the questions on everybody’s minds.  My takeaway?  New York will do just fine.

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“I Trapped 500 Scammers In An Endless Maze” Those poor Nigerian princes! Use Fact-Checking Sites – Media Literacy and Fact-Checking

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Jesus drew circles, not lines — “there’s no hate like Christian love.”  One family’s story.

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Ep 16 – Andrew Tobias – The Only Investment Interview You Will Ever Need (And How Money CAN Buy H… : Rick Schadt <jrschadt@gmail.com> Date: July 29, 2025 at 12:04:16 PM EDT To: myvastfortune@aol.com Subject: Your Money Guide on the Side In 1983 I was a newlywed living in southeast Wisconsin. The small loan company that I worked for where I was in their manager trainee program was adjacent to a mall and just inside was a Walden Books. I found your book “The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need” and as I look back 42 years and think about the impact that your book provided on our life: Some of the financial events -Bought our first house -Put 2 sons through parochial elementary school -Put myself through grad school -helped both sons with their college education expense -helped both sons with wedding costs -helped both sons with the purchase of their first homes -looking forward to two grand children arriving this fall! All of this while building a retirement nest egg for my wife and I. I jumped into IRA’s and money market funds along with mutual funds all following the guidance of your book.  Later when 401K’s and college tuition accounts became available I utilized them as well. Through out my career I  tried to follow as a Northstar a couple of things and I tried to instill both into my kids: -Common sense and hard work will put you ahead of 90% of the people in life. I didn’t graduate (either under grad or grad school) from an Ivy League university but I think these two traits helped my succeed in my career. Another lesson I learned early on is that you spend more time with the people at the office daily then you do with your spouse and family so you better enjoy what you do! Recently I heard you speak on the above captioned podcast and it brought back all of these memories. While I take credit for my hard work and success, I wanted to recognize you for the lessons you taught me. My wife and I have a good retirement nest egg, and unless the buffoons in office screw things up we will have a great retirement at some point!  I changed jobs in January after 30 years at my prior employer because it was no longer fun. At 65 I am working at a start up acting as the “Swiss army knife” utility player and am thriving and I’m 100% remote. Thank you for your guidance.  

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WE WILL PREVAIL — Joey K . . . Opinion | Another winner from the new federal budget: the old – The Washington Post — Fix Social Security Peter S.: “Sadly it’s the frog in the pot of water syndrome. The water gets warmer and warmer so gradually that no one little change in temperature along the way convinces the frog he’s actually going to be boiled …until it’s too late. That’s where we are and probably where Germany was in the 1930s. There’s always an explanation and deniability until it’s a fait acomplit. As Bill Maher calls it, a slow moving coup. The real question is, will we be able to reverse it all after he’s out of office.”   POLITICALLY INCORRECT :

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Politically incorrect (pronouns / Andrew Sullivan) . . . Ralph Nader . . .

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This Wall Street Journal opinion piece is right to call Gen Z-ers The Useful Idiot Generation — certainly the appalling percentage of GenZ-ers who support Hamas, “mouthing slogans and causes they don’t understand and from which they would recoil if they did.”  But in decrying their interest in socialism (“they grew up after the end of the Cold War and have no memory of the atrocities committed by the Soviet Union, Maoist China and other socialist regimes”) they conveniently omit the atrocities not committed by democratic socialist regimes like most of the European countries, Canada, and Australia, among others, where the happiness of the people outranks our own.  Of course it depends on how you define socialist.  If public schools and public roads and a social safety net are socialist, then the U.S. also leans socialist.  We could, after all, have only for-profit schools and toll roads for those who can afford them, private police forces and fire departments to protect the rich, beggars everywhere — but

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Politically incorrect? Zac: Death of the Public Library

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Politically incorrect? seriously, andy, the performative unionizing is going to kill us all.  we’ve got staff at progressive orgs, salaried at over 100k, who insist on unionizing and the demand things like 4-day workweeks during a presidential year, and insist that their “shifts” end at 6pm.  you don’t have a shift when you’re salaried, and you don’t need a union when you work for a progressive org that pays you six figures.  the entire thing is exhausting, and often leads to mass layoffs and org collapses.  and don’t even get me started on campaign staffers who unionize when they should be out there raising money and mobilizing voters.  the JD for a campaign position is pretty clear that you’ll be working 7 days a week, 16 hours a day. that is literally the job. > May I post this – without identifying you in any way?  Or how else so we get the word out (someplace 1 million times as impactful as my website)? yes, you absolutely can post this.  i know that ryan grimm has been working on either a story or a book about the ways in which progressive staff undermine progressive orgs.  i’m very pro-union, my parents are union, and i was a union shop steward when i was in my 20s and working in city government. i understand the value of organized labor.  but i don’t see any value in privileged employees pretending they’re exploited when they have prestigious positions at organizations that treat them very well.  

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Adam O.: (playing off my “isn’t it odd” that we were only able to rig the elections when we were OUT of power) “And isn’t it odd that, in all this time, no one has discovered even one person who was part of the enormous national conspiracy it must have required to rig the 2020 election? I mean, that would have taken a whole lot of people, no? Hmm, where are they? A pair of under-resourced young reporters sniffed around after a little botched burglary at the Watergate, and before long they’d cracked open a plot involving the president … but no one in this thousands-of-people election-rigging job left any tracks? Not even one whistle-blower who wanted to come forward and say, “Okay okay, I had a hand in stealing a presidential election, and here are some of the thousands of people who did it with me”? All those riggers must be so very, very smart!”   TINA BROWN: https://open.substack.com/pub/tinabrown/p/orange-lotus-how-the-trump-show-outwits?r=17zxk&utm_medium=ios It doesn’t say take long to say 4 1/2 million children, but imagine one of them were yours. And then imagine that nightmare and horror and grief for million more times.

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MAYBE STRAT THIS WAY . . . Pteer Thiel, the super-smart, super rich homosexual who rented the house next to mine at a gay beach resort and once put Gawker out of business out of revenge for unmasking his sexual orientation  . . .   Did you know the bill funds and puts at Trump’s disposal a domestic police force two or three times the size of the FBI?  Its principal mission, at least at first, will be to deport millions of hardworking, taxpaying undocumented workers — often ripping families apart — so that your kids can grow up to pick lettuce, eviscerate livestock, and clean toilets.   Mamdani . . . May I just say something to my (mostly young) friends who have taken Hamas’s side with regard to the tragedy in Gaza? (Charlie . . .)  “Horrible.  If only Hamas would give up, as Germany and Japan did 80 years ago.  But we MUST get food and water and medical supplies to those people!  And if only Hamas would have accepted ISRAEL’s 2005 effective surrender and bult a thriving little country instead of a military machine intent on destroying Israel.  But it is without question a tragedy and a nightmare. Hoping my child grows up to sew t shirts etc.   Also: Clinton concluded splitting atom — vs Peter Thiel (douthat makes more sense) — singularity  amazing change! Also: It is to cry.  Our economy was the envy of the world and now we have the world’s enmity.   Peter Thiel, the super-smart, super rich homosexual who rented the house next to mine at a gay beach resort and once put Gawker out of business out of revenge for unmasking his sexual orientation.  There’s good reason to listen t what he has to say (Peter Thiel and the AntiChrist: The original tech right power player on A.I., Mars and immortality) because as Ross Douthat introduces him, “there’s a good case that he’s the most influential right-wing intellectual of the last 20 years.”

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q: I have a saltwater chloirnated pool. A few hours after I swim, the skin above my collar bones begins to itch and it lasts for a few days even thought there is no rash and the itch is only there. Why is this happening? How do I treat the itch? a: That sounds uncomfortable, Andrew—especially with no visible rash to explain it. Based on what you’ve described, here are a few likely culprits and ways to soothe the itch:

Possible Causes

• Chlorine Sensitivity: Even in saltwater pools, chlorine is generated via electrolysis. If levels are too high or imbalanced, it can strip natural oils from your skin, leading to dryness and irritation.
• Localized Dryness or Sun Exposure: The collarbone area is often exposed to sun and wind, which can compound the drying effect of chlorine and salt. That combo can trigger delayed itching without a rash.
• Residual Chemical Film: If the skin isn’t rinsed thoroughly after swimming, lingering chlorine or salt may continue to irritate sensitive areas.
• Microabrasions or Friction: Swimwear straps or sun exposure might cause tiny abrasions that become itchy later, especially if the skin is dry.

Treatment Tips

• Rinse Immediately: Shower thoroughly with fresh water and a gentle soap right after swimming to remove residual chemicals.
• Moisturize: Apply a fragrance-free, hydrating lotion or cream—look for ingredients like ceramides, glycerin, or colloidal oatmeal.
• Topical Relief:
  • Use 1% hydrocortisone cream if the itch persists.
  • Calamine lotion or aloe vera gel can also help soothe irritation.
• Antihistamines: If the itch is intense, an oral antihistamine like loratadine or diphenhydramine may help.
• Cool Compresses: Applying a cold, damp cloth to the area can reduce inflammation and calm the skin.

If this keeps happening, it might be worth testing your pool’s chemical balance—especially chlorine and pH levels. Want help with a checklist for that or suggestions for gentler pool care products?

 

An update from DNC General Counsel Andie Levien (6/6/2025) – Andrew Tobias

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Ezra Klein: The Problems Democrats Don’t Like to See Opinion | Harvard should win in court. But academia still needs a reckoning. – The Washington Post D-Day+81 – Why they fought | Eugene L. Meyer Sign up for Indivisible’s weekly calls.  

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From DNC Treasurer Virginia McGregor You can watch the first episode on the DNC’s YouTube channel by clicking here – and be sure to look for an announcement coming soon about regularly-scheduled programming. You can also sign up to receive a daily “The Blueprint” email briefing by clicking here.

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Carl: Justice Department to investigate Biden family pardons, autopen use Ex-WH press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claims she’s no longer a Democrat in teasing memoir of ‘broken’ Biden admin Jean-Pierre, 50, worked as Biden’s top spokeswoman for two years and eight months and stunned fellow White House alums by announcing the looming release of “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” due out on Oct. 21.   George Mokray: solarray: Trnp and Energy Reality “What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country” — Robert F. Kennedy, 4 April 1968  

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<< if you read the comments pages on BREITBART, you’d see how many commenters are turning against Trump and MAGA.

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/1/2325365/-What-communist-China-taught-me-about-autocracies

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Something’s astir. >>  Add to it!  Go to Breitbart and other such sites and Spread DIS-disinformation!

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Trump Qatari jet was headed for the scrap heap – nj.com

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  Israeli Woman on Her Way to Give Birth Is Killed in West Bank Attack – The New York Times

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Brad’s message to Trump voters — FUCK you . . .

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Cooking the books? Fears Trump could target statisticians if data disappoints | Donald Trump | The Guardian

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Nasty MAGA Infighting Means Trouble for Trump

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A friend made this 30-second video – https://vimeo.com/1080273060.  Let me know what you think — I’ll pass your reviews on to her — and feel free to share  https://vimeo.com/1080273060  EDITH PLANET TRUMP: https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=Rep%20Huffman%20planet%20Trump&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:3f1d4508,vid:k_IAkJr0S7A,st:0

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This single thing could halt Trump’s rampage — and it’s out of his control – Raw Story

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Tim L.:

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Dear Democrats, With multiple quick strokes of his executive pen and a compliant Congress, the President is quickly reversing decades of enormous progress in ways that will make them much harder to achieve again or within your lifetimes. Enormous progress for people of color, enormous progress on environmental issues such as cleaner air and water and food, and enormous progress for women and in education. All because you didn’t feel it was good enough or that progress was being made fast enough; or because you had no other crises to focus on – because the world was relatively peaceful and we had made all this progress – and created ones just to have them. You started the MeToo movement and Black Lives Matter and all the transgender/pronoun focus in schools and progressive enclaves. All of which was done with good intent – why shouldn’t we live in a world where we respect each other and don’t go out of way to make people uncomfortable. Where we are tolerant of differences. And yes, there is still plenty of work to be done for people of color, for women, for trans rights, and more. But here’s what happened: from about 2010 onward, you made every woman feel like a victim and every man an oppressor; every Black person feel like a victim and every White an oppressor; and tons of young boys and girls uncomfortable in their own bodies, so ashamed of their natural growth and birth, and confused when they should never have been. You have succeeded in reversing decades of progress in the name of more tolerance, closer community, and greater shared humanity. You couldn’t have done better if your initial plan was actually to do this. And all the while, you stopped talking to working class people and others, to more clearly show what indeed they had gained, instead focusing only on what was missing. And they left. Fix this… and stop being idiots.

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And now:

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I’m months late in posting this.  How to Think (and Act) Like a Dissident Movement.  Better letter late than never.

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Trump lied to Carl and everyone else. “He promised immediate benefits,” writes Paul deLespinasse, “much of it ‘on day one’ — cheaper eggs, lower inflation, peace in Ukraine. The war rages on. Eggs cost more.  Inflation, fueled by tariffs, is headed up. But 401-K’s are way down.  It’s political bait and switch: promise immediate gain, then inflict ‘temporary’ pain.” Oh, and look — he’s about to kill Head Start. Is really what anyone voted for? Kakistocracy?  Broligarchy?  Inflation?  Recession?  Or worse? Trump playing checkers . . .

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If there’s one thing the past week made painfully clear, it’s this, other countries still know how to govern. Our White House, on the other hand, is occupied by a kakistocracy, a government by the worst, least qualified, and most corrupt. A kind of reality show LARP where yelling “be cool” on Truth Social is treated as fiscal policy.

Here’s what may have actually happened: . . .

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Chaos, Costs and Corruption when what we need are Competence, Common Decency, Compassion and Integrity. Facts v Alternative Facts  (Musk: Rachel: paid protesters) Honor Honesty

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Heidi Bielmeier Bitcoin — photo . . .  ???   This woman? Decades Ago, Columbia Refused to Pay Trump $400 Million. Note That Number. – DNyuz BONUS George W. Bush — in 2017, no less.  He could have given this speech last week.  

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Rightwing group backed by Koch and Leo sues to stop Trump tariffs | Trump tariffs | The Guardian

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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/business/china-manufacturing-exports-trump-tariffs.html Recent data from China’s central bank shows that state-controlled banks lent an extra $1.9 trillion to industrial borrowers over the past four years. China is using more factory robots than the rest of the world combined, and most of them are made in China by Chinese companies

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George Will Opinion | On Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s ‘Abundance’ and regulatory excesses — pair with Gavin Newsom on Bill Maher  (and Philip K Howard)

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Jesse and Jesse’s mom (and Mo)

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BONUS I’ve NEVER seen this in my 34 years in Florida politics! It’s a little in the weeds, but basically: some registered Republicans in DEEP red districts voted blue.   Takeaway from DNC NFC — and explain SCAM PACs and what DCCC and DSCC and who runs it wen we have white house, and every 4th year . . . not like Communist party China RFK Jr. Is Already Vindicating His Critics – WSJ   Elon Musk’s DOGE team breaks silence – YouTube THIS is Better for ANY Business! Will you listen? Nah you don’t give a Schiff! What we know about claim DOGE stopped payments to children whose parents died | Snopes.com  

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Megyn Kelly the interview — she’s thrilled he won: happy he shut down the border (?but blocked the bipartisan deal?) and no more men in women’s sports (not a problem that could be left to the NCAA or coaches or communities) and disastrous DEI. (Now we have highly competent people like Pete Hegseth an RFK Junior)

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He came THIS close To prison (as did his mentor in 1933?) From Uncloseted Media: The 13%: Why These LGBTQ Voters Are Thrilled About Trump’s Win. Also: Garrison Keillor thinks Trump may be trans: One last word about the election The first Trans person – Turkish sex worker . . .   Biblically Responsible Investing Is Booming and LGBTQ Americans Are Paying the Price We’re Here, We’re Different From You — Get Over It As humans, we are programmed to reject difference.  If Taylor Swift were exactly as she is, but had a black hair  . . . There are people different from us. We have to learn to accept that. > > https://youtube.com/shorts/n74P5FMQ8TY?si=WF_sEm9F0Mpi8Bgd >   Andrew Yang: “This self-inflicted trade war is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. Do I think Trump is leading us into a recession through his tariffs, posturing and erratic leadership? Yes. Yes I do. And I think this one will feel different compared to any of the recent ones we have experienced.”   My Opinion: A dangerous storm is threatening NOAA and the National Weather Service… again

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READER FEEDBACK – RACHEL TJ.: “You can’t be calling Rachel Maddow “shrill” or “unfair”… seriously??  I find her to be a lighthouse in a dark storm and fog of lies… Trump is soo soo hideous, the indulgence and untruths last night…  sigh.” → Rachel is a national treasure, but sometimes she IS unfair, or gets carried away, and I acknowledged that because some people even on “our side” find her grating in one way or another and long ago stopped watching her.  By acknowledging she is not perfect (who is?), I hope to find common ground with those people, in effect, to persuade them to start watching her again. Kristina M.:

10. Talk to your elected representatives (or the designated intern) OFTEN to tell them how you feel about pending legislation, how they’re doing, with suggestions on what they could do, to thank them for what they’ve done, etc.  They are there to represent you — it’s incumbent on you to make clear how you want your government speak and act for you.  Do this, not just at the federal level, but at the state and local level as well.

And a bonus 11.  Remember to laugh.  There are some truly talented comedians joining us in the fight for democracy.  Let them lift your spirits as they strengthen your resolve. This is the perfect moment to read Professor Corey Brettschneider’s “The Presidents and the People”.  It reminds us that the government, the Constitution is ours, and it is up to us to make sure it reflects our ideals and values.  And, more importantly, it reminds us that creating “a more perfect union” is an ongoing process, not a “one and done” effort. Regards, Kris

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READER FEEDBACK – PRONOUNS   On Mar 4, 2025, at 3:49 PM, Jeremy Bronson <jlbronson@yahoo.com> wrote: I think I’m finally at the end with subscribing to your newsletter, after roughly 25 years. I want to explain why. Honestly, I wish you’d go back to writing about MONEY and other subjects, rather than about politics with an occasional rabbit hole about a niche investment opportunity. That said, my main reason for moving on isn’t that you write about politics, but rather that you have become so incredibly tone deaf. Like so many other fellow Democrats, you presume you understand things (most notably voter sentiment, but it’s broader than that) because you are enormously intelligent and accomplished and connected, so you should be able to figure it out. Your latest column about pronouns is a perfect example. If you have to start an argument with, “I can think of only two reasons to…,” you’re not qualified to write that argument at all. There are plenty of online resources to explain why a 78yo cis male may want to specify his pronouns, and it’s neither of the reasons you listed. The point is that you think you’re smart enough to know the answers but aren’t willing to put in the work to research the topic. You may as well just boil it down to a Facebook meme. You may have data to prove that Trump won because of these social issues, but what I’ve read thus far indicates it’s inflation and immigration, not pronouns and locker rooms. And, to the extent that those issues are swaying voters, it’s because the Democrats are doing a terrible job of messaging, not because they’re standing up for queer and trans folks who need all of our support. You’re in the mode of sacrificing our values, and that’s a big part of the problem Democrats face. Regardless, thanks for putting your energy into writing. I only wish you’d take a long look in the mirror and reconsider where your expertise lies, with whom your content resonates, and how you could add the most value to your readership. I think you’d find, after objective analysis, that your political commentary has been as off base as it has been on, not to mention your We’re gonna win! predictions. With best wishes. Jeremy Jeremy Bronson (he | him) → I totally get the value in not othering people. That’s what I meant by my second reason — supporting people like your child. Maybe I should have been more specific, but yes: I totally get it even without Googling. (I almost included an analogy to Spartacus – the scene where they ALL say their Spartacus — but I thought I might just confuse people and slow the narrative.) My point was, and is, that in my view, the benefit of providing that support — which is real — is outweighed by the cost.  Woke really HAS cost us votes and, arguably, elections. Many people believe that the “she’s for they/them, he’s for YOU” ad was enormously effective (in the tradition of Willy Horton, mean spirited and playing to people’s prejudices and unwarranted fears). Imagine your child is in a class with an immunocompromised child who wears a mask to school every day.  If everyone at that school wore a mask as well every day, it would have a great benefit of not othering that child.  But in this hypothetical, would you agree the benefit would be outweigh by the cost?  (I think it would be terrific. If one day the whole school were a mask – that might be enough to show the love and support, without doing it all the time.  But I digress.) I’m sure we share views on most policies, and agree that gender non-conforming kids and adults would be better served by democratic administrations than Republican. All best wishes to you and your child! Andy On Mar 5, 2025, at 11:54 AM, Jeremy Bronson <jlbronson@yahoo.com> wrote: Thanks for responding so quickly. Specific to the issue of pronouns, here’s one of dozens of explanations of why people whose gender may appear obvious are being helpful when they use theirs proactively. Many people include links in their signature lines to explain the why, and all I did was Google “why use pronouns” to get what I linked for you. So, my point there is that you’re really in no place to opine on such a personal and impactful issue when the only resource you’ve used to understand how others feel is your own powers of reasoning (enormous though they may be). Perhaps a valuable step would have been to ask someone who is gender nonconforming whether broad use of pronouns is important to them. Let me give you a very timely example. Last night, after our e-mail exchange, I hosted a fundraiser for Phil Weiser, Colorado’s Attorney General and now candidate for Governor. My oldest kid, who identifies as nonbinary and prefers they/them pronouns, was a cohost of the event and invited several work colleagues to attend. Among that group, most added their pronouns to their hand-written name tags. One of them (not my kid, as it turns out) listed they/them pronouns. Imagine the difference in experience for that one person who wanted to clarify their pronouns. They stood in a group of people who all had pronouns on their chests; only the specification of they/them was the exception. If every cisgendered person skipped the pronoun listing and only those of questionable or contradictory appearance chose to specify pronouns, the latter would be far more “othered” than if common pronoun use created space for diversity. My own journey on this matter started 6 years ago with an employee who used they/them pronouns. As we contemplated how to make them feel welcome in our company, the notion of everyone specifying pronouns was suggested. I initially thought that for me, a straight, white, cisgender male, to specify pronouns was virtue signaling and practically an abuse of privilege. So I asked my kids what they thought, and they explained what I’ve outlined above and what is widely available to learn with a little research. And we changed our policy to add pronouns to our signatures and educate our team about why we do that. During covid, first my youngest kid, and then the older one 18 months later, came out as nonbinary. There were both political and gender identify reasons why they did so, and it’s been hard to readjust my language and thinking after over 20 years of parenting each one. But it has strengthened my understanding of and bond with my kids, and it’s changed the way I interact out in the world. If I can reduce my instinctive use of “thank you sir” and “yes ma’am” and use a few more subtle “they” pronouns before the situation clears up for me, I can cause a lot less unintended impact on people. Jeremy Bronson (he | him)   On Mar 4, 2025, at 2:59 PM, myvastfortune (null) <myvastfortune@aol.com> wrote: Thanks, Jeremy. I appreciate the thoughtful feedback and would be sorry to lose your readership. I really CAN only think of those two reasons — so please respond with a few more. I will post your feedback and those reasons. (At the end of this afternoon’s post, you’ll find the positive feedback I had gotten – yours arrived a few minutes later, too late to include.) I agree immigration and inflation were the big drivers, but pretty sure the woke stuff has really mattered.  Including in his first win. I look forward to your further thoughts. Andy On Mar 5, 2025, at 2:34 PM, Jeremy Bronson <jlbronson@yahoo.com> wrote: J.B.: “One last thought: the horrible political strategy of the dems isn’t a reason to abandon our values. Woke is not a Democratic thing, pronouns didn’t evolve out of our party, etc. We’ve been brilliantly outmaneuvered time after time. I wholeheartedly agree that pur political messaging shouldn’t lead with those divisive issues, but the leap I can’t make is that we should stop using pronouns as a result. Cheers.” A.T.: Totally agree on principles and objectives.  Disagree on tactics.

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Hi Andy, Sam here—one of Spencer’s colleagues and a proud team member at Uncloseted Media. He passed along your newsletter and mentioned you were looking for candid feedback from our team. Thanks so much for asking! Always happy to share. 🙂 For context, I’m 24 and a cis bi woman, which may shape my perspective. From my point of view, sharing my pronouns costs me nothing (maybe a little sexism depending on the space I am in). But for a trans, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming person, it can be riskier. If someone is transitioning at work and only a few people know, sharing pronouns might unintentionally out them before they’re ready. For a nonbinary person, using they/them pronouns often leads to a lengthy conversation rather than simply informing people. I really appreciate that you highlighted pronoun-sharing as a sign of support. It’s easy to dismiss it as unnecessary, but from what I’ve seen, it makes a huge difference. It signals to others that they are in a safe space, that their pronouns are welcome, and that they will be heard—something that, unfortunately, isn’t a given in today’s political climate. I personally think that we should ask cisgender people to lead the change by sharing pronouns. It normalizes the process, has little risk, and actually makes for a safer environment for everyone. Bottom line: If ONLY trans people use pronouns, everyone will immediately know they are trans. Maybe they don’t want that!  I hear your perspective in the newsletter that it feels arbitrary and almost too much. But I think now more than ever, it is signaling support with little risk. Among younger generations, including pronouns has become so common that I don’t even think about it, even in more conservative environments. But when I don’t see someone’s pronouns in their email signature, I do pause—either assuming they have personal reasons for not sharing or that they may not support the gender-nonconforming community. I think we can get to a place where sharing pronouns is like sharing your name. We don’t want to single people out for sharing OR not sharing pronouns. It should just be a standard part of who you are. I believe sharing pronouns remains important, not just for visibility but to create an environment where those who feel unsure or unsafe don’t have to be the only ones making that choice. Best, Sam → Thanks, Sam!  Letting people know they’re in a safe space is important.  Your heart is definitely in the right place.  Mine is there with you. The risk though, is enormous.  Or at least it was last year.  The most effective ad they ran – by far – was the “she’s for they/them, he’s for you” during the Superbowl and elsewhere to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. It’s awful that an ad exploiting middle-America’s discomfort with gender non-conformity would be so effective, but it was. Regrettably, a lot of people just don’t feel that the pronoun crowd is the one they belong with.  And in an election where he got less than 50% of the vote, it could have made the difference between the nightmare we now have or a wonderful Kamala Harris Administration.  And might even have made the difference that kept us from regaining control of the House. In the long run, we need to change how people feel.  Introduce them to people like Martine Rothblatt and Claire Margaret Brown (and Caitlyn Jenner?) just as, in my era, we got people comfortable with Ellen DeGeneres and Pete Buttigieg, so being a gay Governor or Senator or Treasury Secretary is kind of ho-hum. For now, though, we need more people to realize we ARE the crowd that most cares about them and will best serve their interests.  If we can do that, and save democracy, our entire community – and the world — be far, far better off. I really appreciate your sharing your thoughts.  Feel more than free to share any others you may have!   Andy

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Carl Replies?  Or not . . .  (For God’s Sake Carl – Watch This . . .)  

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Bravo TV’s West Wilson On How Social Media Is Fueling a Toxic Far Right Masculinity . . . “Summer House” star and non-toxic bro speaks about how the MAGA and manfluencer movements are creating a new kind of nasty masculinity. He/Him/Hers The way dialog OUGHT to be:  As Corporate America Ditches DEI, Robert Netzly’s Christian Investing Firm Booms [WATCH]

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Ask Amory if this is feasible.  Ask Al Gore.  https://www.newsmax.com/paulfdelespinasse/electric-grid-solar/2022/05/03/id/1068282/

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BONUS (in case you’re not already on Andy Borowitz’s list) Musk Forms Dept. Of Underaged Clowns Harming Everything (DOUCHE)?

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(54) The War Trump Chooses – by Timothy Snyder

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. . . In Zelens’kyi’s presence, Trump confessed his fundamental sympathy for Putin. In Trump’s view, he and Putin “had gone through a lot together.” The grievance on display here was so capacious that not everyone could grasp what Trump meant. Trump said that he had been the victim of a “hoax,” because people thought that Putin assisted Trump’s presidential campaigns. But Putin, Trump claimed, rather extraordinarily, was also the victim of the “hoax.” And indeed, according to Trump, this had been a very meaningful bonding experience between the two men. This casts some light on the one of the regular conversations between Putin and Trump these last few years. It reflects, though, an emotional commitment based upon a carefully curated unreality. There was, of course, no hoax. Putin supported Trump in all three of his presidential campaigns, right down to Russian bomb threats against predominantly Democratic districts last election day. But the emotional connection between the two men, as Trump revealed, real. For Trump, the imagined wound of ego to his friend Putin was the pertinent reality. The real wounds that real Russians have inflicted on real Ukrainians are not. . . .

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Only Truth About Russia Posted by Rob Oliver:

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Russia is near operational and chaotic defeat in Kursk, massive losses including crack elite units; Ukraine has Drone Dominance in Kursk; Its badly going wrong for Russia in this Killing / Orc Hunting Ground. Its not going to the Putin Plan, if any plan exists. according to Russian-Ukrainian Channel, 21–2–2025  General Ben Hodges – Ukraine Crushes Russia’s Last Hope in Kursk.

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“General Ben Hodges breaks down Russia’s catastrophic failure in Kursk, where Ukraine’s drone dominance wiped out Russia’s so-called “elite” forces. With the 155th Marine Brigade annihilated and Russian attacks crumbling, the Kremlin faces a battlefield disaster. Is this the breaking point for Russia’s war machine?” Now Sub Zero -20 Degree Winter temperatures kick in, add to the sorry mess, are depleting Russia’s mass army in the trenches and field graveyards with starvation, festering wounds, frost bite and windchill.; A soldier with these does not last long. Also lacking food, water, weapons, ammo, fuel, armoured vehicles, drone protection, effective EW. A Hell and nightmare.

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Ann Telnaes yesterday:

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Opinion | Attack on Ukraine and Zelensky is Trump outrage that stands apart – The Washington Post

A Trump outrage that stands apart The president blames Ukraine for its own brutalization.

RCV David T.: 

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I feel obliged to offer a comment on ranked-choice voting.  I live in a city (San Francisco) which has been using RCV for about twenty years now — and I despise it.  I do not know what the impact of RCV would be if adopted on a national scale, but I think its impact at a local scale has been almost entirely negative. You stated that RCV would deliver more moderate candidates.  That has not been the case locally – we have ended up with several very extreme candidates who I do not believe would have won in traditional runoff elections.  We have had to recall a couple of them.  I am a moderate voter – truth be told, probably right of center on the San Francisco scale, but a clear left of center nationally – and believe that RCV has resulted in worse results in nearly every case than would have occurred with traditional voting. One of the problems is that RCV is difficult for voters to understand.  The voting is easy but the way in which results are calculated is not.  Voters often put less thought into second and third place votes even though those are often the most important.  RCV also encourages candidate to make perverse voting arrangements with other candidates in an attempt to sway election results. I understand the appeal of having the democratic primary concurrent with the mid-terms to drive turnout, and I could get behind that, but I don’t think I could ever support RCV.

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John S.:

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I like the idea of the presidential primary all at once on November 5, 2026 with ranked-choice voting because we need to show people we are upending the system they are frustrated with in a way that doesn’t blow things all to hell.  Many people are just as frustrated with the Dem’s performance when they had the power as rational people are now with Trump. The point is most of the electorate doesn’t have time to research and think about it rationally. So we need to make a big splash to get them to pay attention. The R’s have always been better at this than Dems. So I’m in favor of anything that does that.

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  PRKR is hanging in there, but may slip some more in the absence of more media-inspired buying.  Then again, the company website suggests that more videos are on their way; and, more to the point, with every passing month the various pending trials draw closer.  My guess is that as the first big one goes to a jury  

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Reduce reuse recycle.

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Sally from Iowa:

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I’ve been reaching out to a friend as I’m  considerably frightened by recent government actions and Trump’s Napoleonic pronouncement.  My friend helped, pointing out the judiciary’s influence, even though it is slow.  But today’s Daily Beans podcast really lifted my spirits with two stories, and if you don’t already know about its ‘news with swearing’ and the powerhouse champion for good, Allison Gill, I recommend you play today’s episode. It’s on iTunes.  I don’t really know how to link to the episode–but it’s on this page, just scroll down and click on episode 1573, “Pumpkin Spice Palpatine.” At about 13:20 minutes is a story about a federal judge, Anna Reyes, who is poised to block the trump’s limitations on trans service members. Gill reads from the judge’s clever, deadly conversation with the lawyer in court. Really it should be a movie scene. At 24:00 minutes is a story of students at a high school who had their play production cancelled due to its content and fought back so brilliantly that it was performed elsewhere, and then they wrote a hilarious one act play called Redacted, about the whole experience, and the story just keeps getting better. Now I’m going to scrape myself off the floor and start doing 5calls.org calls.

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  I’ve never met Carl and don’t think we’ve ever spoken on the phone, though we are long-time fellow investors in a speculative venture and he writes me almost every day; sometimes, more than once.  I like to think that he’s a nice old guy, as I like to think I am, which is why it’s distressing that his emails are, in the main, so insulting (he calls me a “schmuck” much of the time, blends my photo with Hitler’s — that kind of thing).  My distress comes not from the insults, but from the fact that someone who is, as I say, likely a nice guy, and bright, and educated, could have become so passionately knee-jerk and ill-informed. To his credit, he has two or three times over the years agreed that Trump is “flawed.”  But that’s as far as he has ever gone in seeing things my way.  Whatever flaws he sees don’t matter to him merely as much as crime and men playing in women’s sports.  Those, along with support for Israel, are his biggest issues. THINGS CARL AND I AGREE ON 1. Crime is bad.  Especially violent crime and major white-collar crime.  Except when it is violent crime against police officers.  Then — if it is incited by Trump and committed on his behalf — it is fully pardonable.  (Okay, well I don’t fully agree with that last part, and I like to think Carl doesn’t either, but it doesn’t seem to have dampened his enthusiasm for Trump.)  Fortunately, the crime rate among undocumented immigrants is way lower than among Americans born here. 2. Men should not enter women’s spaces or rape them or prey on the under-aged.  Except when the rape is committed in a women’s dressing room 3. Israel . . .   Let’s be the bully — everybody loves a bully.  Gulf of America.  Cut off our aid — our way of building good will be sharing our good fortune — and give China a turn to be the world leader.  And Russia. (Grenada.)   Kathy Joe North:

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A day in the Life of Sue Republican Sue gets up at 6 a.m. and fills her coffeepot with water to prepare her morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With her first swallow of coffee, she takes her daily medication. Her medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised. All but $10 of her medications are paid for by her employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Sue gets it too. She prepares her morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Sue’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry. In the shower, Sue reaches for her shampoo. Her bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for her right to know what she was putting on her body and how much it contained. Sue dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air she breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. She walks to the subway station for her government-subsidized ride to work. It saves her considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor. Sue begins her work day. She has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Sue’s employer pays these standards because Sue’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Sue is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, she’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think she should lose her home because of her temporary misfortune. It’s noon and Sue needs to make a bank deposit so she can pay some bills. Sue’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Sue’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression. Sue has to pay her Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and her below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Sue and the government would be better off if she was educated and earned more money over her lifetime. Sue is home from work. She plans to visit her father this evening at his farm home in the country. She gets in her car for the drive. Her car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. She arrives at her childhood home. Her generation was the third to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. She is happy to see her father, who is now retired. Her father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Sue wouldn’t have to. Sue gets back in her car for the ride home and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Sue enjoys throughout her day. Sue agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m self-made and believe everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.

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George E. from Alabama: 

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Just a short story: In January 2007 my wife and I, on a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, visited the island nation of Grenada. It is, as are most of the Caribbean islands, a beautiful place, marred by the sad fact that the island seemingly has more people than its economy can comfortably support. At one point during our bus tour of Grenada, the bus crossed over a bridge, obviously recently constructed, spanning a creek. On this bridge was a small but noticeable plaque informing that the bridge was built through aid from the People’s Republic of China; the plaque complete with an image of the crossed banners of Grenada and the PRC. This plaque raised the hackles of a few of the (largely American) tour passengers, who questioned how the Chinese could be allowed to come into the Caribbean and try to “buy the island” (the words of one of the passengers). For me, this incident remains an illustration of how all too many Americans view “foreign aid.” Our aid money is “wasted” while aid money from “other nations” nefariously influences those nations, to America’s detriment. What’s really funny is that when those who want to eliminate U.S.A.I.D. funds say they want to use the money to “help Americans at home,” that statement usually turns out to be less than true. Those who are anti-foreign aid are almost always quite hostile to “welfare” and “give aways” in general, for anybody. (That is, of course, excepting themselves and members of their own “tribe.”)

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Leaders set for Munich Security Conference as world order in danger of crumbling

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PPOST Philip Howard and Gene Stearns Rich S.: “The destruction of our world leadership, so carefully rebuilt by the Biden administration after the damage from Trump one,  in conjunction with the handling over to China world leadership on solar, electric and sustainable energy,  makes one wonder—-even though we should not start falling for conspiracy theories—if this is not a Manchurian Candidate situation,  where DT was programmed in Russia by his handler Putin to admire autocrats, cultivate corrupt oligarchs,  and destroy historical friendships with the Western democracies,  all to share domination of the new world order in a new axis of evil with us part of the axis.  And he has been in office only 3 weeks.” BETRAYED I thought he was gonna make life easier for me, not for credit card companies and criminals, and Pluto, Democrats and terrorists and Russia We need to spread the — true — notion that this isn’t what Trump voters voted for.  It’s what Putin wants (getting rid of USAID ) and the credit card companies want (getting rid of the consumer financial protection board) and criminals and terrorists want (installing as head of the FBI someone who wants to get rid of the FBI) and Plutocrats want (extending their most recent unneeded tax cut, adding trillions to our national debt).  But not making eggs any cheaper.  This link is X-rated (be warned) — and NOT the tone to take if you start posting and commenting on right wing discussions.  But it might rev you up to take action. Example of disappointed in Pam Bondi — I want the rule of law to matter.  So does the not-completely-liberal-socialist Wall Street Journal — and the conservative prosecutor who clerked for Justice Scalia and . . .  https://www.wsj.com/opinion/danielle-sassoon-eric-adams-prosecution-emil-bove-pam-bondi-justice-department-donald-trump-79de98d6

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Carl read it, and he does virtually every day, he emailed his response.  Sometimes he will send two or three. Here was yesterday’s:

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Subject: Andy I have to hand it to you.  You know Geniuses when you see them. Thanks to all your Democrat/Liberal geniuses, Conservatives won a landslide victory! Keep them coming we will have Conservatives for decades!! Schmuck!

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Although Trump won less than half the popular vote — 2 million more votes than Kamala Harris but 4 million fewer votes than Biden in 2020 — Carl views this as a landslide.   15 quiz It’s not enough just to watch.  Join Indivisible, make signs, . . .

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IMPORTANT BONUS     CORRECTION If you tried to follow the link to Professor deLespinasse’s case for impeachment — Third Time’s A Charm — you may have encountered a paywall that was erected after I verified it.  This new one should work. Come on, Mitch!  As I argued Wednesday, this is your chance to redeem yourself by leading the charge to save our fragile, precious democracy.     Should you upgrade to paid SUBSTACKS — how much are these guys making?  They should (voluntarily) let us know?  (And if they have staffs . . . )  

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> If you’re a Twitter person, join BlueSky, a moderated Twitter-alternative already more than 30 million strong. I follow Mark Cuban, Heather Cox Richardson (whose daily columns are much better than mine), Timothy Snyder, Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, Rachel Maddow, and Bill Maher, among others. The truth is, I’ve never spent time on Twitter and may not visit BlueSky much, either.  But those are folks I religiously follow the old-fashioned way — on TV or via their columns. (Or in the case of Mark Cuban, wherever he shows up.  He insists he won’t run for president, but boy would that be fun.  If you don’t get all your daily meds here, you’re likely wasting a great deal of money.)

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I want to emphasize something I wrote yesterday.  Trump has only been in office for three days, and already he has America producing more liquid gold than any country in the history of the world. What’s more, he has managed to cut the cost of driving a mile to about half what it was back in the good old days of 1955 when gas was just 29 cents a gallon.  Adjusted for 70 years of inflation makes each 1955 dollar worth nearly twelve today; and average gas mileage back then was about 13 mpg, compared to 27 mpg today.

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Impeach . . .   Carl is delighted that common sense has now returned to America.  He’s been vindicated.  Men can no longer compete against women in sports [NCAA/oLYMpIC].  The murder rate — currently at a 50-year low — will be bright down to zero once the millions   NOTICE GIVEN TO THE STATES: 28TH AMENDMENT IS NOW LAW One presumes the Republicans will petition the Supreme Court to nullify the Equal Rights Amendment.     Largest crowd ever.  Where does that $170 million for the inauguration go?

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ONE MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW Post: Jack Smith report.  Mueller report.

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Ralph M.: “When he spoke at the Manhattan Institute last summer Scott Bessent made multiple false assertions about Bidenomics.  Perhaps he needed to misrepresent the current US economy badly as part of his audition for a possible Trump appointment.  I don’t know.  Yes, compared to almost all of the other Trump cabinet choices he looks reasonable and sane, and yes, it is good news that an openly gay man is accepted by conservatives now, but his actual 3-3-3 plans look just as unrealistic as Trump’s tariff ideas.  I think Paul Krugman nails this down pretty well here.  

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Plastic containers — olives and lettuce I am taking my plastic container back to the supermarket to refill with olives. If we all got into the habit of bringing our empty plastic containers along with our reusable bags when we went to the store, we could each save another hundred or two plastic containers a year.  Let’s start a trend. Sent from my iPhone pls excuse typos. download Gulf of America CARTOON Don’t Dismiss the Need for a Newly Transformed DNC Professor Paul F. deLespinasse’s perspective:  We’re Now in a Global Civil War. Diplomacy — and a far stronger UN — would seem to be the principal solutions.

 

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Lucas Kunce, who ran to unseat Missouri’s election-denying senator Josh Hawley, writes in his Substack: we’ve been here before. Bud Light Owner’s U.S. Sales Bounce Back After Boycott — 4th Update | Morningstar Mr. Tobias, Have you seen this?  (Please don’t use my name) Subject: Breaking News: The Bud Light Boycott Has Transitioned… ✨ We’re thrilled to announce that the Bud Light boycott has successfully transitioned—wait for it—into the Bud Light girlcott! What started as a protest has evolved into a nationwide celebration, with people everywhere raising a can (or six) in defiant solidarity. Whether you’re sipping to support, chugging for change, or just here for the memes, the girlcott is your chance to crack open a cold one for equality, freedom, and vibes. The movement is simple: Buy Bud Light. Drink Bud Light. Post about Bud Light. Repeat as necessary. Congratulations, America. We’ve taken a boycott and turned it into a party. #FromBoycottToGirlcott #BudLightBoycottTransitioned #CheersToChange

happening — sensible Social Security Reform — soon.)

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A ‘Second Tree of Life’ Could Wreak Havoc, Scientists Warn Mirror cells: one more thing to worry about.

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Trump’s Christmas Day Meltdown Was Deranged—Even for Him

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  Eat drink and be merry?  Or try extra hard?  Or both?

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TAXES VS. PHILANOTHROPY earthlyeducation | There are 7,139 languages in the world and this man chose to speak facts. @rutger_bregman | Instagram His position is too extreme for two reasons: First, 91% or 70% on income is way too high ….  (on the estates, maybe higher than now …) Second, it should be both – philanthropy is great.  And one way to get out of paying higher taxes is to give more away.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-biden-trump-supporters-sharply-divided-media-consume-rcna149497

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Jo Schneier on American life expectancy In part:

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We are living shorter lives than our counterparts. There are places in America where health outcomes are abysmal; unconscionable. But we are also over-medicalizing, over-medicating, and over-relying on an external system to fix us. Yes, we have a private insurance market…lots of countries we compare ourselves do as well. CEOs of European health insurance companies also make a very decent living. But we keep pointing the finger at some part of the system as the problem rather than thinking about what is happening in our society. I think politicians have been a big part of this problem. It is so easy to blame big, bad corporations rather than look at our society and ask what we can do to solve the lack of access to good, affordable food. What can we do to address the isolation that is plaguing our country? How can we get out of this cycle of division and start to build community? How can we reduce childhood trauma? We are relying too much on quick fixes instead of looking at why we are so lonely, so violent, so out of shape, and living these ‘lives of quiet desperation.’ I, for one, am tired of the finger-pointing. Health in America will not be solved by changing how we bill for healthcare. It is not going to be solved by reducing doctor’s pay. If we want change, we must look at ourselves squarely and ask what we are willing to do to address the real issues.

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    Eric Cervini on Denny Hastert and 80% of pedophiles are Republicans My PARADE Social Security piece. Michael Caputo’s (clearly sincere) alternate reality — has he read the Mueller report, or just Bill Barr’s summary? If you’re healthy and have the basics — food, shelter, friends, and a good Internet connection — revel in that astonishing good fortune. Have fun!   > And, yes, I think we shouldn’t be afraid to acknowledge and embrace the good things that might come out of Trump’s administration, if there are some, while decrying . . . .  Ukraine . . . crime . . .

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Andrew Reinbach: “Trump forced Biden to pardon Hunter because Patel vowed to go after him come January, as a way of going after Joe. That is, Trump, acting through Patel in what can only be called lawfare, promised to act in a predictably Trumpian manner, chasing down his opponents to kill them in a corner. Biden’s pardoning his son in the language he used spared the US that precedent, both now, and in the future. Did he do this to spare both Hunter and himself from years of litigation? Sure. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t do the same for the country, at the price of all this damage to his legacy. Let’s keep the record straight: Trump ignited inflation, killed millions of Americans by bungling the Covid crisis, provoked a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and even more disastrous domestic divisions, tried to seize the Presidency by both force and subterfuge, and then turned around and blamed it all on Democrats. Biden laid the foundations for decades of prosperity and in about a hundred other ways, has been a positive force for America. So let’s not use one event to dismiss established behavior.”  

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The bright side of Alzheimer’s?  I’m not sure how many people will be able to relate to her experience; but it is poignant, for sure.

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My last post was so long, you will be forgiven if you skipped it. Here are the links I most hope you might find time to click:  Morther Hones inequality; Hanauer; Sarah and Harper . . .  Repeat: Nick Hanauer’s famous, seminal, must-read pitchforks article a decade ago ALSO:    

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How do you like his nominees so far?  I fear he will be very good at taking credit for Biden’s infrastructure projects and low inflation and unemployment rates . . . and equally good at finding ways to blame us for whatever goes wrong.    

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Compare her scandal — or Al Franken’s — with Trump’s and his people: Britain’s Transport Secretary Quits After Phone Offense Revealed

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Revitalizing our crumbling infrastructure (4 minutes)

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Trump’s Gorka pick met with outrage: he’s ‘as dangerous as he is unqualified’ Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. All that football. Murph, responding to my “we’ve got hot water” refrain: “We’re IN hot water.” Good point. So “don’t just sit there — do something!” Indivisible: “Once again, across the country, people are organizing. In the last couple weeks, we’ve had 40,000 people join our guide launch. We’ve driven 20,000 calls to Congress to stop the nonprofit killer bill. We’ve seen nearly 100 new Indivisible groups form. These are the kinds of numbers you see when something big is happening — and they’re only growing from here.  And on that note, if you haven’t yet found your local group — please sign up here so we can get you matched up today.”   Statement from President Joe Biden on $1 Trillion in Private Sector Investments Under the Biden-Harris Administration | The White House

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When I took office, the pandemic was raging and the economy was reeling. From Day One, I was determined to not only deliver economic relief, but to invest in America and grow the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. Over the last four years, that’s exactly what we’ve done. We passed legislation to rebuild our infrastructure, build a clean energy economy, and bring manufacturing back to the United States after decades of offshoring. Today I’m proud to announce my Investing in America agenda—the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act—has helped attract over $1 trillion in announced private-sector investments. These investments in industries of the future are ensuring the future is made in America, by American workers. And they’re creating opportunities in communities too often left behind. Over 1.6 million construction and manufacturing jobs have been created over the last four years, and our investments are making America a leader in clean energy and semiconductor technologies that will protect our economic and national security, while expanding opportunities in red states and blue states. Today, thanks to my Investing in America agenda, businesses around the world are investing in America—which is good news for American workers and American businesses—and we’re positioned to win the economic competition for the 21^st century.

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Then quote Heather Cox Richardson . . . ???

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian wrote, the progress we’ve made represents only a fraction of the full impact of this agenda. If future administrations continue to implement at the pace we have, people across the country will enjoy the benefits of safer water, cleaner air, faster internet, and smoother commutes.

But the incoming Trump administration will advance a different economic vision. Instead of trying to expand the economy through investment in infrastructure and manufacturing, Trump’s team has emphasized cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations and slashing regulations. The argument behind this approach to the economy is that concentrating wealth in the hands of investors will spur more investment,

2:51

while creating an environment that’s friendly to business will create jobs. Jack Brook of the Associated Press reported that earlier this month, the state of Louisiana illustrated what this policy looks like to ordinary people when it cut income taxes to a flat 3% rate, reducing revenue by about $1.3 billion.

3:14

The legislature made up that revenue by increasing the sales tax to 5%, thus shifting the burden of taxation to lower- and middle-class families. Louisiana just became a much more attractive place to do business, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois told Brooke. It is becoming clear what Trump’s economic policy will look like at the national level.

3:40

Super wealthy donors funded Trump’s 2024 campaign, and in a departure from every previous incoming president, Trump is refusing to sign the documents required as part of a presidential transition, at least in part because those documents mandate that he disclose who is funding his transition and limit those donations to $5,000 per donor.

4:03

Without that disclosure, it is impossible to see who is funding him. For all we know, that list could include foreign governments. As activist Melanie DiRigio put it on Blue Sky, secret donations are bribes. The hundreds of millions he received from Elon Musk and other billionaires are also bribes. There’s a reason Donald Trump isn’t signing ethics pledges. Indeed,

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after his first term, the watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington concluded that there is absolutely no doubt that Trump tried at every turn to use the presidency to benefit his bottom line and noted that those who spent money at Trump’s properties often received favorable policy decisions from the administration. During the campaign,

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Trump promised to fight for ordinary Americans, but many of Trump’s picks to fill offices in his administration are notable for their extreme wealth. His pick for Treasury Secretary is billionaire Scott Besant, a hedge fund executive who invested money for philanthropist George Soros for more than 10 years. To head the Commerce Department, Trump has tapped billionaire Howard Lutnick,

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the chief executive officer of financial giant Cantor Fitzgerald. Trump’s choice for education secretary, Linda McMahon, and his choice for interior secretary, North Dakota Doug Burgum, are both billionaires. And then there are the two men Trump tapped for his Department of Government Efficiency. Former pharmaceutical executive Vivek Ramaswamy is worth around a billion dollars,

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but Elon Musk is usually at the top of the list of the richest people in the world. He’s worth about $332.6 billion. Laura Manweiler of U.S. News & World Report today estimated the worth of Trump’s current roster of appointees to be at least $344.4 billion, more than the gross domestic product of 169 countries.

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That number does not include Besant, whose net worth is hard to find. In comparison, Manweiler notes, the total net worth of the officials in Biden’s cabinet was about $118 million. Economist Robert Reich noted yesterday that the wealth of America’s 815 billionaires grew by nearly $280 billion after Trump’s re-election,

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and the president-elect is promising to extend the 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire in 2025. Now, after all their complaints about the budget deficits under Biden as he invested in the country, Republicans are, according to Andrew Duren of The New York Times, considering rejiggering the government’s accounting so that extending the tax cuts,

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which will create about $4 trillion in deficits, shows up as not costing anything. Deregulation too is on the agenda. It’s a cause close to the heart of Elon Musk, who frequently complains that unnecessary regulations are making it impossible for visionary entrepreneurs to develop the technological sector as quickly and efficiently as they could otherwise.

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In the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Susan Pulliam, Emily Glazer, and Becky Peterson noted that although Musk says his goal is to protect life on Earth, his companies show a pattern of breaking environmental rules again and again. The authors report that Tesla’s facility in Fremont, California,

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has received more warnings for violations of air pollution rules over the past five years than almost any other company’s plant in California, 112 of them. Federal regulators recently fined SpaceX for dumping about 262,000 gallons of wastewater into protected wetlands in Texas. Tesla, too, has dumped contaminated water into public sewer systems.

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One staffer for environmental compliance told the Environmental Protection Agency that Tesla repeatedly asked me to lie to the government so that they could operate without paying for proper environmental controls. People who have worked with Musk for years told Pulliam, Glazer, and Peterson that they expect Musk will try to cut environmental regulations,

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especially the ones that affect his companies. After Trump announced that he was creating Doggy and put Musk in charge of it, Musk posted, We finally have a mandate to delete the mountain of choking regulations that do not serve the greater good. Musk’s companies have brought in at least $15.4 billion in federal contracts over the past decade,

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and his companies have been targeted in at least 20 government investigations recently. Eric Lipton, David A. Fahrenheit, Aaron Krolick and Kristen Grind of the New York Times note that Trump’s victory and his appointment of Musk to an oversight role in the government essentially gives the world’s richest man and a major government contractor the power to regulate the

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regulators who hold sway over his companies, amounting to a potentially enormous conflict of interest. Today, Sarah Murray, Kristen Holmes, and Kate Sullivan of CNN reported that Trump’s lawyers have conducted an investigation into whether top Trump advisor Boris Epstein has been selling access to Trump. Payments for his promotion of candidates for administration positions, or access to administration officials,

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were as much as $100,000 a month. The lawyers recommended that the Trump team should jettison Epstein, but it has apparently decided not to. I am honored to work for President Trump and with his team, Epstein said in a statement to CNN. These fake claims are false and defamatory and will not distract us from making America great again.

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Today, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith moved to drop both federal cases against Trump, the federal election case for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, and the case concerning Trump’s retention of highly classified documents after he left office in 2021.

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Trump had said he would break the usual norms around special counsels when he returns to office. Biden retained the special counsel investigating his son Hunter and fire Smith. But Smith pointed to the position of the Department of Justice that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted as a reason for the case’s dismissal.

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This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant, he wrote. The government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s prosecution has not changed. Smith left open the possibility that the charges could be brought again in the future, after Trump leaves office.

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Trump’s approach to the cases was to delay and delay and delay in hopes voters would return him to the White House. And it appears his strategy worked. As democracy lawyer Mark Elias wrote, justice delayed was justice denied.

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Letters from an American was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dedham, Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.

  Indifference: 1. How It Worked In Italy — let’s hope General Milley 2. Climate Disaster https://www.thesgnl.com/2024/11/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-rising/ My woke speech OPRT CONCLAVE:  Isabella Rossellini: ‘People never talk about the Lightness that comes with Ageing” Ranked Choice Voting – Mary Peltola (she lost, but the drive to kill RCV was defeated) Al Franken’s 1996 Correspondents’ Dinner speech.  How young we all were.  (Not that I was there.)

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Remove the blonde part and run just before the Superbowl in February  

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How Republican Billionaires Learned to Love Trump Again | The New Yorker   While we wait, a meme from the rest of the free world: Hopeful perspective from Robert Reich:  We the People will succeed. And we did!

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The blow-out was predicted — and explained.  

Oh — I got too political?

(77 seconds)

Expand on the Mussolini and Hitler links from yesterday.

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Jim Batterson <jimbatterson@hotmail.com> Date: November 2, 2024 at 1:28:35 PM EDT Subject: 35 Trillion I have trouble getting my head around how much 35 trillion dollars is. Can you please put it in simple terms for me, to put it into a context that I can relate to? I have grandchildren ages 17, 14 and 2. If we continue to grow the national debt at the rate we currently are, how will that affect their lives and the lives of their generation?  What happens to the country and the world when we can no longer make payments on the national debt?  When do you project that will happen? Jim

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Friday I listed all the groups that skew heavily blue — totaling 378% of the electorate.  Take a look. Carl — who sends me two or three emails a day — responded:

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Andy you forgot THESE groups that skew heavily blue:  Male perverts that like to be in girls locker rooms. Male Cross Dressers Male Illegal Migrant Rapists that like young girls. Male Illegal Migrant Rapists that like young boys.. ARABS THAT HATE JEWS! ARABS THAT HATE AMERICA!

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I would point out that Donald Trump famously Did Trump Admit Going Into Changing Room of Beauty Pageant Contestants? | Snopes.com

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The West Wing – reverence for the office of the presidency.  Trump has so demeaned it. Can you imagine his giving a sppech like this?  Mitch Landrieu on removing the Confederate monuments. “It’s just a phase” | Eugene L. Meyer

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Vice President Harris has been a surprisingly good candidate — I thought she’d be fine, but she’s been great — and will be a surprisingly good president.

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So he did reply:

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Generally agree about Trump, but you are just preaching party line w Harris. She is not a person qualified to be President in my opinion.  Person who is VP is important in her case. Shapiro would have a good pick. I think as much of Walz as I did about Sarah Palin. Just no good choice in this election as far as I am concerned.

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How long can you stand like a flamingo? – NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB

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The Gangsta Gardener — Growing your own food is like printing your own money. Baby Orca begs humans to save here mother — Moby Dick, Hannah Gadsby, how many are we killing?

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Yogi Berra famously said it’s difficult to make predictions — “especially about the future” — such an old line I wasn’t going to repeat it, except that I met his granddaughter, Lindsay, last night at the Athlete Ally dinner.  She narrated It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over and is a trustee of the Yogi Berra Museumand the recently-opened Jackie Robinson Museum.

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BONUS Shameless self-promotion.  How did I miss this years ago when it first came out?  Made me laugh.  Thank you, Karthik!  

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SELLING A GOLD NECKLACE  Punjabi 14k 35.4

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The hidden environmental costs of food.  Reason enough to lean vegetarian.

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As always, I cede the balance of my time to Lindsey Graham (60 seconds).