In response to Howard L.'s question, Jill and I will be in Scotland for 8 days. We visited Scotland last year for 3 days and loved it. Jill's 70th Birthday is in early June and when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said, "Tea at Balmoral Castle." So, we are having tea at Balmoral Castle two days before her birthday. (The King denied our request to open the castle to visitors on her birthday, so we took the nearest date available.) We will stay in Edinburgh and take day trips hosted by a tour guide / private driver we met last year.
I will be writing off-cycle, my reports may miss important events-- like the refusal of Republican Senators to override the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act. While that has been the expected / predicted outcome for a year, this was the moment of truth. And it was significanct for what it says about Republcian confidence in their party's future. They need the flibuster to survive. Overriding the filibuster on voting legislation would mean the end of their minority stranglehold on purple states.
But . . . their refusal to override the filibuster today to pass the SAVE Act also means they believe that Democrats won't have the guts to override the filibuster to pass the John Lewis Freedom to Vote Act and the National Redistricting Reform Act. If we don't have the courage to do that, we are unworthy of our democracy.
Enjoy your trip and the hopefully fancy tea as well! Happiest of Birthdays to Jill!! We both share this June birthday month. Safe travels, good weather and can only imagine you will hopefully regale us with photos on your return!
We have learned to our cost that everything Trump and his goons accuse others of, they are actively doing themselves. Today Robert mentions how they are "going after election fraud." That's because they are doing it themselves. I know most of us on this thread are stable, kind, non-emotional people willing to give others the benefit of the doubt. I know many liberal commentators reassure us often about the trustworthiness and integrity of our election systems. But I am fearing more and more that these reasonable people are relying too much on ethics and not enough on the twisted, Machiavellian (if that's not redundant) genius and boundless means of people like Musk. Please, please, read the work of Nathan Taylor at Election Truth Alliance. https://electiontruthalliance.org/. He has some five-alarm fire information on election fraud--by MAGA, not immigrants!--in the 2024 elections. He has some very technical but very compelling information about how cell phone modems within the voting machines of otherwise-reputable firms like ES&S and Dominion may be being manipulated by Starlink communications through Musk's ring of satellites that orbits our earth. Please read. Please let's all wake up before it's too, too, late, and we're all sitting around shaking our heads about how Trump's candidates all surprisingly won by slim margins--1.2%?--in multiple midterms despite his approval rating hovering around 31% and despite the widespread nation-wide revulsion of feeling against him and his goons. At least let's be aware of what's happening to us.
Thank you for addressing this. I just saw Nathan Taylor speaking with Waj Ali on The Left Hook. It was compelling. This is after Ashley St Clair has made the rounds speaking to Mehdi and Waj and others, pretty much admitting that EM could/(did?) rig the 2024 election results. I know none of us want to be perceived as drinking the conspiracy Kool-Aid, but this issue seems to gain more traction lately and needs to be legitimately investigated. Voting machines have modems inside them that are not air-wrapped, contrary to what has been told. They are not safe or secure from manipulation and this is of the utmost importance in the upcoming election.
And P.S.: Please try to vote by mail. It's much harder for Trump/Musk to interfere with mail votes. Why do you think he's about to instruct the Post Office to interfere with mail-in votes?
Yes, Robert, I pray that our fellow Democrats will shed the yoke of Voter Apathy and make every effort to submit their ballots in the November election. Our goal must be 100% voter turnout. Anything less will not get the job done. EDMV!
Please try to vote by mail. There is growing evidence that Musk has interfered with election-machine results through manipulating their software by satellite communications (he has a lot of satellites at his disposal through Starlink).
Can I please also make the ASK that if you have a Democratic or Independent member in the Congress, please write them and besides asking for their continued fight against the GOP that you know they are trying their best to help us, all of us!! A little praise would help buoy them up in the face of the stupidity and greed of the people across the aisles from them who apparently do not really care. I can imagine it has to be very very frustrating to ask and hope and cajole and have them SPIT in the faces of those trying to help US while the others are always doing WRONG to help TRUMP!
We need more fighters in the Democratic party. These genteel, old-school, aged individuals (who, by the way, take a lot of money from Israel/AIPAC and AI/Big Tech--just google that) are too weak, too polite, and seemingly too tired to do much for the American people. I'd love to hear about any effective, aggressive actions any of them have taken since Mark Kelly and those folks a year or so ago.
There are some good ones who are there for the right reasons, but too many who take money from AIPAC and corporate donors/dark money. Those need to go.
Thanks for persisting and getting this out to us despite your travels, Robert. Your update is insightful and cogent as usual; the white noise background is minor baggage.
THIS is why he wants PULTE! To fire people in the Intelligence community no doubt who know more about his dastardly deeds and those of his family! FULL on despotism!
It appears they are letting him keep that immunity but not the funding. I am not sure which is worse and now with wanting PULTE to fire people in the intelligence community (probably those that have dirt of him and his family), we have not seen his worst retaliations. If only we could remove him sooner than NOW!
Tomorrow, I will be with others from my Indivisible ReSisters group supporting PRIDE month. We must hold each other up because we need one another.
Votes for governor are still being counted here in CA, as usual. Hilton is slightly ahead of Becerra but still seems it will be Hilton vs Becerra come November.
Grateful to know I’m not alone spotty internet connections. I’m going for a long dog walk with a good friend, then write to my reps. Agent Orange and his pack of loser thieves have got to go. Safe and happy travels.
You did it, Robert! Another great post notwithstanding being on the plane. My take: Robert is right on point about the gutless Republicans including Tillis and Cornyn, in voting down amendments to stop the Thug fund and the Immunity deal. Outrageous! Even those two Senators slammed by Batsby are afraid to vote against him. Shameless cowards. It is disgraceful. Pulte is there to be a retribution bulldog going after Batsby enemies. Doubly wrong for us, the people. We are less safe and he will be unjustly going after those so called enemies and spending our money doing it. What a government we have. It is such a waste. Great Protest pics, as usual.
There is so much to enchant and warm the heart in Scotland. Edinburgh is awesome. The Cairngorms, Loch Ness and Findhorn even more so. Friends there also told me that "On your next visit, take in The Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland!" Not day trips by a long shot, but one can dream. Enjoy your tea at Balmoral.
On the matter of Bill Pulte, I remind one and all that he is in league with Jensen Huang to put mini data centers in the electrical systems of his Pulte Homes units,
Americans one and all. Remember never to put the future of your country, your democracy, and your civil rights on the hands of business people ever again. You will lose every time.
There are business people with vision and morality, I firmly believe, and there are mindless, egotistical, scumbags who are also business people and, in their own minds, vindicated by their wealth. Even some despicable right wingers give some money museums, hospitals, universities, art museums and such. Have any of the Trumps ever donated any money to anything? -- just curiosity. They could give away a billion dollars and it would not lessen one iota the fear and loathing I feel for what they are doing to America.
Hi Patrick. I agree. There are decent folks everywhere and corrupt ones as well. The level of greed and lawlessness exhibited by Trump & Co. is simple staggering selfish and disgusting. As David Stockwell put it so bluntly years ago, “The hogs are really feeding.” It’s painful, heartbreaking, and infuriating. It must end.
Happy Birthday to Jill. My concern comes from a short video I watched yesterday by Timothy Snyder. Gallic says the slush fund has no real purpose other than to bribe the military to keep him in power. I hope that’s wrong now that it has passed.
I want good people in power to be considering these issues so they have a solution in mind when we learn what the true goal, beyond money and his name everywhere, becomes clear.
Your comment makes me think of something that has been haunting me -- and others I assume: barring an unconstitutional run for a third term or a dictatorial coup, Trump will not be president in January 2009. So what is he playing for here?
(This question is not an immediate one, but I would welcome any suggestions.
1) Get out of jail free card from continuing Republican majorities?
2) His fame and glory? The ballroom? The Arch?
3) His political legacy? He's already got at least one-third of the electorate thinking he is the best President in the history of the USA and can count on hagiographic honors -- face on a bill, monuments, renaming of airports, from a compliant Congress, IF the Republicans are still in power? Is that his worry? If the Democrats win he is going to be punished in some way. When so many Democrats show little appetite for fighting Trump now. It is unlikely they will pursue him later. I only hope they can have some appetite for fixing some of his damage. This will be the work of a decade or more.
I guess my questions are a character study -- What makes Donnie run? Despite reading Mary Trump's books and many other shorter analyses, I just don't get it. In 2016 and certainly in 2024, he could have tried to do just moderately good things for the people of the country and the world, but he had to bring a wrecking ball to American, literally in the case of the White House. I get it that grievance, revenge, and pathological racism and sexism are all easier actions and dispositions of mind and heart than mere goodness. But what is he after? Serving Project 2025? Serving Putin? Glory for himself? More money? All of the above.
I know we all scratch our heads over these questions and maybe the answer doesn't really matter. No matter what his reasons, he is doing incalulable damage to our country and the world -- at great cost in money and lives. We maybe don't need to understand him to fight him with all the fear and loathing we can muster.
maybe, just trying for something good here, maybe he's doing us a favor by forcing us to wake up, choose good over fear, start acting like citizens, etc., etc.
That's more than grasping at straws, Karen. That's realizing all the good people, organiations, activists who are astride logs that are floating around us connecting in democracy's life raft. I didn't plan on spending my retirement so "actively" involved in political life -- and what I am doing is nothing compared to most of you all -- but we are awake now and there's no going back. Onward!
In response to Howard L.'s question, Jill and I will be in Scotland for 8 days. We visited Scotland last year for 3 days and loved it. Jill's 70th Birthday is in early June and when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said, "Tea at Balmoral Castle." So, we are having tea at Balmoral Castle two days before her birthday. (The King denied our request to open the castle to visitors on her birthday, so we took the nearest date available.) We will stay in Edinburgh and take day trips hosted by a tour guide / private driver we met last year.
I will be writing off-cycle, my reports may miss important events-- like the refusal of Republican Senators to override the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act. While that has been the expected / predicted outcome for a year, this was the moment of truth. And it was significanct for what it says about Republcian confidence in their party's future. They need the flibuster to survive. Overriding the filibuster on voting legislation would mean the end of their minority stranglehold on purple states.
But . . . their refusal to override the filibuster today to pass the SAVE Act also means they believe that Democrats won't have the guts to override the filibuster to pass the John Lewis Freedom to Vote Act and the National Redistricting Reform Act. If we don't have the courage to do that, we are unworthy of our democracy.
Enjoy your trip and the hopefully fancy tea as well! Happiest of Birthdays to Jill!! We both share this June birthday month. Safe travels, good weather and can only imagine you will hopefully regale us with photos on your return!
Have a great time in Scotland. Happy birthday to Jill!!
Patricia Cahill who one lived in Silver Springs MD?
No. I’m from Boston area. There are many Patricia Cahills out there I’ve learned.
Thanks, I’m from Amesbury, now living in South Carolina.
Do you like it? Are you near Conway?
No, I’m in the northwest part of the state in Greenville. It’s about an hour away from Asheville, NC. I do like it but miss New England.
Amen! May the events on this side of the pond not mar Jill’s birthday and your time in beautiful Scotland. Breathe in the beauty. I trust you will.
We have learned to our cost that everything Trump and his goons accuse others of, they are actively doing themselves. Today Robert mentions how they are "going after election fraud." That's because they are doing it themselves. I know most of us on this thread are stable, kind, non-emotional people willing to give others the benefit of the doubt. I know many liberal commentators reassure us often about the trustworthiness and integrity of our election systems. But I am fearing more and more that these reasonable people are relying too much on ethics and not enough on the twisted, Machiavellian (if that's not redundant) genius and boundless means of people like Musk. Please, please, read the work of Nathan Taylor at Election Truth Alliance. https://electiontruthalliance.org/. He has some five-alarm fire information on election fraud--by MAGA, not immigrants!--in the 2024 elections. He has some very technical but very compelling information about how cell phone modems within the voting machines of otherwise-reputable firms like ES&S and Dominion may be being manipulated by Starlink communications through Musk's ring of satellites that orbits our earth. Please read. Please let's all wake up before it's too, too, late, and we're all sitting around shaking our heads about how Trump's candidates all surprisingly won by slim margins--1.2%?--in multiple midterms despite his approval rating hovering around 31% and despite the widespread nation-wide revulsion of feeling against him and his goons. At least let's be aware of what's happening to us.
Thank you for addressing this. I just saw Nathan Taylor speaking with Waj Ali on The Left Hook. It was compelling. This is after Ashley St Clair has made the rounds speaking to Mehdi and Waj and others, pretty much admitting that EM could/(did?) rig the 2024 election results. I know none of us want to be perceived as drinking the conspiracy Kool-Aid, but this issue seems to gain more traction lately and needs to be legitimately investigated. Voting machines have modems inside them that are not air-wrapped, contrary to what has been told. They are not safe or secure from manipulation and this is of the utmost importance in the upcoming election.
And P.S.: Please try to vote by mail. It's much harder for Trump/Musk to interfere with mail votes. Why do you think he's about to instruct the Post Office to interfere with mail-in votes?
Have a glorious time in Scotland. Happy Birthday, Jill.
Yes, Robert, I pray that our fellow Democrats will shed the yoke of Voter Apathy and make every effort to submit their ballots in the November election. Our goal must be 100% voter turnout. Anything less will not get the job done. EDMV!
Please try to vote by mail. There is growing evidence that Musk has interfered with election-machine results through manipulating their software by satellite communications (he has a lot of satellites at his disposal through Starlink).
Can I please also make the ASK that if you have a Democratic or Independent member in the Congress, please write them and besides asking for their continued fight against the GOP that you know they are trying their best to help us, all of us!! A little praise would help buoy them up in the face of the stupidity and greed of the people across the aisles from them who apparently do not really care. I can imagine it has to be very very frustrating to ask and hope and cajole and have them SPIT in the faces of those trying to help US while the others are always doing WRONG to help TRUMP!
We need more fighters in the Democratic party. These genteel, old-school, aged individuals (who, by the way, take a lot of money from Israel/AIPAC and AI/Big Tech--just google that) are too weak, too polite, and seemingly too tired to do much for the American people. I'd love to hear about any effective, aggressive actions any of them have taken since Mark Kelly and those folks a year or so ago.
There are some good ones who are there for the right reasons, but too many who take money from AIPAC and corporate donors/dark money. Those need to go.
Thanks for persisting and getting this out to us despite your travels, Robert. Your update is insightful and cogent as usual; the white noise background is minor baggage.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-urges-less-shackled-pulte-to-fire-intelligence-community-employees-aa62d70d?st=sZPwyk&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
THIS is why he wants PULTE! To fire people in the Intelligence community no doubt who know more about his dastardly deeds and those of his family! FULL on despotism!
So appreciate your persevering to get the newsletter out!
Don't forget the tax audit immunity is ALSO still in play and also extremely important to stop.
It appears they are letting him keep that immunity but not the funding. I am not sure which is worse and now with wanting PULTE to fire people in the intelligence community (probably those that have dirt of him and his family), we have not seen his worst retaliations. If only we could remove him sooner than NOW!
Have a lovely tea-time with Jill, Robert.
Tomorrow, I will be with others from my Indivisible ReSisters group supporting PRIDE month. We must hold each other up because we need one another.
Votes for governor are still being counted here in CA, as usual. Hilton is slightly ahead of Becerra but still seems it will be Hilton vs Becerra come November.
safe and delightful travels, to you, Robert Hubbell, and Jill! thnk you for uodates even on travels!!!👍🏼🎶🙏🏽🥰🌎
(your Indepth research and knowledge - and positives - are incredible and Necessary!!!)
Grateful to know I’m not alone spotty internet connections. I’m going for a long dog walk with a good friend, then write to my reps. Agent Orange and his pack of loser thieves have got to go. Safe and happy travels.
You did it, Robert! Another great post notwithstanding being on the plane. My take: Robert is right on point about the gutless Republicans including Tillis and Cornyn, in voting down amendments to stop the Thug fund and the Immunity deal. Outrageous! Even those two Senators slammed by Batsby are afraid to vote against him. Shameless cowards. It is disgraceful. Pulte is there to be a retribution bulldog going after Batsby enemies. Doubly wrong for us, the people. We are less safe and he will be unjustly going after those so called enemies and spending our money doing it. What a government we have. It is such a waste. Great Protest pics, as usual.
Cowards, yes, but the sickest part is that’s what they want, too.
Enjoy your trip and hope you get some time to relax!
There is so much to enchant and warm the heart in Scotland. Edinburgh is awesome. The Cairngorms, Loch Ness and Findhorn even more so. Friends there also told me that "On your next visit, take in The Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland!" Not day trips by a long shot, but one can dream. Enjoy your tea at Balmoral.
On the matter of Bill Pulte, I remind one and all that he is in league with Jensen Huang to put mini data centers in the electrical systems of his Pulte Homes units,
Americans one and all. Remember never to put the future of your country, your democracy, and your civil rights on the hands of business people ever again. You will lose every time.
There are business people with vision and morality, I firmly believe, and there are mindless, egotistical, scumbags who are also business people and, in their own minds, vindicated by their wealth. Even some despicable right wingers give some money museums, hospitals, universities, art museums and such. Have any of the Trumps ever donated any money to anything? -- just curiosity. They could give away a billion dollars and it would not lessen one iota the fear and loathing I feel for what they are doing to America.
Hi Patrick. I agree. There are decent folks everywhere and corrupt ones as well. The level of greed and lawlessness exhibited by Trump & Co. is simple staggering selfish and disgusting. As David Stockwell put it so bluntly years ago, “The hogs are really feeding.” It’s painful, heartbreaking, and infuriating. It must end.
Happy Birthday to Jill. My concern comes from a short video I watched yesterday by Timothy Snyder. Gallic says the slush fund has no real purpose other than to bribe the military to keep him in power. I hope that’s wrong now that it has passed.
I want good people in power to be considering these issues so they have a solution in mind when we learn what the true goal, beyond money and his name everywhere, becomes clear.
Your comment makes me think of something that has been haunting me -- and others I assume: barring an unconstitutional run for a third term or a dictatorial coup, Trump will not be president in January 2009. So what is he playing for here?
(This question is not an immediate one, but I would welcome any suggestions.
1) Get out of jail free card from continuing Republican majorities?
2) His fame and glory? The ballroom? The Arch?
3) His political legacy? He's already got at least one-third of the electorate thinking he is the best President in the history of the USA and can count on hagiographic honors -- face on a bill, monuments, renaming of airports, from a compliant Congress, IF the Republicans are still in power? Is that his worry? If the Democrats win he is going to be punished in some way. When so many Democrats show little appetite for fighting Trump now. It is unlikely they will pursue him later. I only hope they can have some appetite for fixing some of his damage. This will be the work of a decade or more.
I guess my questions are a character study -- What makes Donnie run? Despite reading Mary Trump's books and many other shorter analyses, I just don't get it. In 2016 and certainly in 2024, he could have tried to do just moderately good things for the people of the country and the world, but he had to bring a wrecking ball to American, literally in the case of the White House. I get it that grievance, revenge, and pathological racism and sexism are all easier actions and dispositions of mind and heart than mere goodness. But what is he after? Serving Project 2025? Serving Putin? Glory for himself? More money? All of the above.
I know we all scratch our heads over these questions and maybe the answer doesn't really matter. No matter what his reasons, he is doing incalulable damage to our country and the world -- at great cost in money and lives. We maybe don't need to understand him to fight him with all the fear and loathing we can muster.
maybe, just trying for something good here, maybe he's doing us a favor by forcing us to wake up, choose good over fear, start acting like citizens, etc., etc.
That's more than grasping at straws, Karen. That's realizing all the good people, organiations, activists who are astride logs that are floating around us connecting in democracy's life raft. I didn't plan on spending my retirement so "actively" involved in political life -- and what I am doing is nothing compared to most of you all -- but we are awake now and there's no going back. Onward!