I just saw this on the Alt National Park Service Facebook page and wondering if you think this has any chance of stopping the event?
"A federal lawsuit is seeking an emergency court order to stop Trump’s planned UFC event on White House grounds, arguing that it represents a blatant abuse of public property for private profit and political gain.
According to the lawsuit, the event would give UFC and its president, Dana White (a longtime Trump ally and political supporter) something no private company has ever received the use of the White House and Lincoln Memorial as the backdrop for a commercial sporting event. The complaint alleges that VIP packages are reportedly being marketed for as much as $1 million to $1.5 million per person, while corporate sponsors compete for the opportunity to associate their brands with some of America’s most recognizable national landmarks.
The lawsuit also points to the financial interests surrounding the broadcast, noting that Americans would reportedly need a paid Paramount+ subscription to watch what is being promoted as a patriotic national celebration. Taxpayers are being asked to provide the venue, security, infrastructure, and prestige of the presidency while private companies and politically connected allies collect the revenue.
At its core, the lawsuit is basically should America’s most important public spaces be used to enrich the President’s friends, business partners, and political supporters? The plaintiffs argue that turning the White House into a pay-per-view backdrop for a private sporting event crosses a line between public service and private enrichment that no president should be allowed to cross.
The case is now before a federal court, where plaintiffs are asking a judge to halt the event before it takes place."
I've heard a group is going to court to stop the UFC fight on the South Lawn. I say go ahead with the event, but have the money, like the tickets over $1m each, go a fund that pays for needed repairs to the Kennedy Center, and determined by a group not affiliated with this administration. Maybe, give it to the National Parks to replace the money DT appropriated to pay for his vanity projects.
There’s a lot to be said, today, although much of it has already been said. Several commentaries today alluded to the very low approval rating for T…p and pretty much everything he says or does. My question has to do with that 33% of the populace which does agree with him and his hooliganism. Who are these people? What makes them think that destroying our democracy is a good thing? Getting into their mindset might help us put our government back in the business of helping everyone, not just those who really don’t need it (alluding to the grifting of America by our erstwhile, sleepy, creepy president and his billionaire brothers and sisters). There’s a lot of work to be done. We simply cannot do with anything less than getting our message to everyone, let the chips fall where they may, and accept that if they choose not to come along for the ride they can find other transportation elsewhere.
i've just started reading Heather Cox Richardson's "Democracy Awakening" and I think it will answer your questions. As with all HCR, it's very readable, very well-researched, etc.
I really think that the 33% or so is unchangeable. Heather Cox Richardson has said a number of times that history shows that 30 to 35% will be the floor of the hard right. We are better off working with getting the vote out and those that are still open minded. If someone is a Triple Trumper I think they are pretty hardened. I think they are attracted to the anger and retribution and the ability of Trump to be shameless and do what normal people won't do. They are also embedded in a media culture that provides unconstrained and amplified ignorance.
I tend to agree with you on that and saw that same figure on Heather Cox RIchardson. That still leaves a positive 65-70% which would be a real tsunami! On my FB page there are people very much caught up in reporting all the negativity over and over and it is grinding on my resolve some days. I know that there are negative reports about MR Platner in Maine but to me it is up to the people of MAINE to choose who they want to represent them, and if elected and he makes bad judgments in the Senate it is up to them first and the rest of us to urge him to make changes. But until then let the people of MAINE decide. I live in Central Maryland and many of the critiques come from people who actually live in the District of Columbia but do not seem to want to get in line to make the District another state where they can have their own representatives. OK..standing down off my soapbox!
I am beyond sickened by the wins of immunity on his many illegal tax evasion and corrupt business dealings (for his family too), and the obscene additional billions granted to ICE etc through 2029. Is there any hope we can reverse these bills if we win Congress in November? I fear not. The hideous lack of accountability is such a slap to America's face. I try to remain optimistic, but it's really hard right now.
it may turn out that the only solace we can get here is to know that Trump, et al., are leading miserable lives - having $ doesn't guarantee happiness or inner peace. I try to have as much fun as I can resisting (even tho there's nothing to laugh about here)
Regarding D-Day, Heather Cox Richardson wrote: In France today, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth rejected the belief on which the United States of America was founded: that the government should act to “promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”
Instead, he perverted a commemoration of D-Day, when American soldiers fought with their Allies to defend democracy against fascism, into a call for the racial ideology on which fascism was based. Embracing the Great Replacement theory that says the culture of white Europeans and Americans is being undermined by people of color from Africa and Asia, he flipped the Allied and Nazi positions.
“Sadly, today,” he said in reference to the beaches of Normandy the Allies stormed in 1944, “different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not.”
More to the point on the anniversary of D-Day 2026, is the speech by of Prime Minister Winston Churchill on June 4, 1940, promising that those who cared about freedom and human self-determination would never stop fighting the Nazis:
“We shall fight on the beaches,” he said. “[W]e shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
Forgive me for saying this, as I know it has nothing to do with anything, but I keep wondering what it must be like to be the most hated man in the world. What a strange legacy.
His mental condition is such that, surrounded by slobbering sycophants in his gilded cage, he truly believes that he is the most loved president in history, and that we who oppose his fascistic egomania are the lunatics. The most perfect embodiment of the "Emporer's New Clothes" story we could ever imagine. And his billionaire clients will spend any amount to keep him in power, while many in his MAGA base seem willing to lay down their lives for him (though the price of gas may weaken that devotion).
Our protests, particularly the most visible ones on street corners and freeway overpasses, are how we get out the truth and wake up people who think this is all normal.
Thank you Robert for all the photos of protests going on.. There are more of us than sometimes we think…
After Hegseth made that abhorrent speech at the American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, he skipped the afternoon's main international ceremony marking the anniversary of the Allied landings, which helped herald the end of World War II.
Hegseth presence was not missed by some residents of the village hosting the ceremony, Langrune-sur-Mer, who said the US official was not welcome there.
"He has very warlike views and it seems to us that this man does not share our democratic values," Sylvie Lamy Thepaut, a member of the municipal association Langrune en commun, told BFM TV.
A message on the association's website called for Hegseth's visit to be cancelled on the grounds that the Pentagon chief "espouses values contrary to democracy, human rights and peace" and had made "numerous anti-European remarks", "warlike statements" and "American supremacist pronouncements".
"The honor of Langrune, that of France, and the memory of the young Allied soldiers - American, British, Canadian - who died on our beaches in the name of democracy would dictate canceling this individual's visit," the statement concluded.
Langrune-sur-Mer Mayor Franck Jouy declined to comment on Hegseth's visit, underscoring that the event was a memorial. Not about him.
"I'm here to remember the people who came to make sure that France was liberated." he told BFMTV. Jouy went on to say, “The people of our town and the surrounding towns take care of the solemn grounds of all those gravesites of every fallen hero everyday, no matter where they came from. He does not, nor has he have no idea why they fought against Nazism. It’s just that simple.”
He more than likely took his wife and 6 kids somewhere for the rest of the day since he took them there on OUR dime! And it was reported on FRANCE24 that the FRENCH people were very angry at this words and his presence there!
Thank you for sharing the wise words and human compassion voiced by the leaders of Langrune-sur-Mer. Their insight is couched in the words and sensibilities of patriots, thinking and feeling citizens, and grown-ups. Compare these words to any of our President's thousands of hate-filled posts and the idiotic arrogance of Pete Hegseth.
This is all the more extraordinary when we realize that the French people suffered under over four years of German occupation and the horrible warfare that led to the D-Day invasion and the eventual liberation of their country. We do well to realize the cost that the French people paid. As the great British military historian Antony Beevor writes, "Altogether 19,890 French civilians were killed during the liberation of Normandy and an even larger number seriously injured. This was on top of the 15,000 French killed and 19,000 injured in the preparatory bombing of [Operation] Overlord in the first five months of 1944." In the entire war, "over 70,000 French civilians were killed by Allied action.'' (Beevor, Antony. NY: Viking Penguin, "D-Day: The Battle for Normandy," 2009 p. 519). Note this is the number killed by ALLIED action and does not include the tens of thousands who were killed by the Germans during their invasion and occupation.
Hegseth is a veteran of the US military; Trump is famously not. But you do not have to be a veteran to have the imagination, the intelligence, and the morality, not to mention the maturity and gravitas to understand matters of importance. Nor does being a veteran necessarily make you able to understand the seriousness of war. We are governed by men who are essentially 11 year old boys, and that comment is not fair to middle school kids. Hegseth and Trump and so many other Republicans demonstrate the worst kind of adolescent hollowness -- cruel, stupid, and arrogant, and deeply committed to their ignorance and presumed superiority.
To our shame as a nation, we, the people elected Trump in 2016, then when we discovered completely who he was as a tyrant and a liar, we turned around and elected him again in 2024. This is not a failure of democracy. Trump's rise is a feature of democracy that the Founding Father warned us against and that oligarchs, racists, and
Christian Nationalists have learned to exploit.
We must continue to work to thwart Trump in every way we can, but we must realize the challenge. It was unthinkable that Trump could be elected in 2016, and we are now sure we are going to have a blue wave and take back the House and (maybe the Senate), but until we get more of our fellow Americans to understand the seriousness of the threat and join us, the 2026 elections will remain too close to call.
Wise and thoughtful words Patrick. Yes we have been warned by our founding fathers many times. Even in his 1796 Farewell Address, George Washington warned that extreme political factionalism would allow "cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men" to subvert the public will, consolidate power across government branches, and ultimately pave the way for permanent authoritarian rule and despotism. Yet we as the people of this nation have not heeded those words of over 230 years and what this nation decided upon when we declared separation from England seeking a new government dictated more by the people versus those of an authoritarian.
Maybe this is the lesson that should be learned this 250th birthday and remain ever vigil in not accepting anything less than a democratic-republic. For it is well worth keeping and voting to do so.
That “We the People" is that the government's power comes directly from the consent of its citizens rather than a divine monarch. That the emphasis is that this nation exists to serve and be guided by its people, not by a king or anyone who thinks he is one.
For all those who stand on overpasses, bridges, street corners etc with signs reminding passersby citizens what Americans fought against during WWII and the Democracy we all are fighting to preserve: THANK YOU, THANK YOU a million times THANK YOU. We will beat them with all peaceful demonstrations.
I have a comment that has absolutely nothing to do with the specific news of today but more about the general condition of the public consumption of the news. Number 1: who the hell sees what we see daily with respect to the crumbling of our government and the corruption of president nitwit? Whoever out there is depending on national or local news from either their local “newspaper” or from the totally compromised big 3 over the air stations is not seeing what we see. Certainly the folks that are wrapped up in the far right brain-warp don’t even know that their dear leader can’t even stay awake with the cameras on him in the “oval bordello” (homage to Jeff Tiedrich). So that begs Number 2: how the hell do we get around the roadblocks that have been constructed to propagandize the maga message and shield the fat pumpkin’s many deficiencies from most of the voters? I certainly don’t have the answer but it just seems like we are all talking to and agreeing with each other and I’m not sure that’s gonna be enough to remove him from our sight. Not to be an alarmist but to think that just a midterm win will carry the day is maybe somewhat naive? We have to obliterate this vote to the point where the bystanders of the press, the over-the-air stations and the businesses that depend on us to survive move with the people to begin to put an end to this freaking mess. If Hollywood made a movie of the tRump years no one would believe it and yet here we are…to all of you out there, and certainly you Robert, thanks for helping me get through each agonizing week. All the best and by the way - looking for answers . lol
I get a lot of my real NEWS, not commentary from REUTERS, FRANCE24, BBC, MEMRI (middle East) and from other newspapers around the US - those first four are available digitally on the internet for free to sample. And the GUARDIAN. SUBSTACK has a wealth of other posters too and many are free to try! If you read Heather Cox Richardson, she always cites (as does Robert Hubbell) the links to the news she cites. One of my faves on REUTERS is the LEGAL tab where current and ongoing legal issues are cited. This is not analysis, just the facts. For news of health items, CIDRAP, a valid health news site out of Minnesota and with daily news LIKE what CDC used to have. For news about DETENTION centers - SALTBOX. For those of us in Maryland, a site called Maryland Matters. And NPR still has news as does PBS NEWS. And we enjoy Sunday morning with Fareed Zakaria for his many interviews. His programs are available on YOUTUBE or CNN.com for free. Today he interviewed Ben Rhodes about the IRAN and USA JCPOA under OBAMA and under BIDEN. The Economist and the Atlantic. I could go on. I will find the Wednesday night info for the interview with people directly in UKRAINE if that is your interest. AND of course all the wonderful photos of people everywhere standing out and standing up to PROTEST!
I think this link will take you to the article titled "The Digital Counter-Offensive: How Lincoln Square Is Rewriting the Rules of Engagement - Our 5-point plan to reclaim our democracy on the digital front." If it doesn't, you might try googling that or just Lincoln Square. They are spreading real info digitally, and you can help with $ if you want to. For instance, when the TSA lines were jammed up, they sent lots of text ads so the people standing in hours-long lines scrolling on their phones would know who was responsible for the delays.
⬆️"Whoever out there is depending on national or local news from either their local “newspaper” or from the totally compromised big 3 over the air stations is not seeing what we see".
I agree 💯percent.
But we each have our own circles of influence where we can be the trusted messenger. Do not underestimate the ripple effect. The algorithms don't have the same dampening effect on person-to-person contact.
I share clips from Robert's substack (along with other trusted sources) to my network and encourage them too sign up for free Substack subscriptions. I also invite them to join me at various events - including virtual ones. I now have a good idea of who might be receptive to an invitation but who won't keep up with this stuff without a nudge.
I'm in NC and we are gearing up for a big push for voter access/protection including helping voters get their registration straightened out before the election. Then when early voting gears up I will volunteer once again as a poll observer. I'm making sure all my NC peeps have heard about the training. Two people I ran into at our monthly Indivisible social last week told me that they had attended a zoom meeting about volunteer opportunities and that someone else had told them to talk to me if they had any questions about it.
One easy action we can all take NOW is to get our friends, family, and coworkers to all update their voter registrations and make sure that they have the ID that they need to vote. If you have any young people in your life, make sure that they are registered or pre-registered to vote.
HCR's newsletter was full of ever more disappointing news from the MAGAs who passed a giant increase in the ICE budget and seemed to also approve the Thug Fund? Did I read that right? Even though it was supposedly shut down? The MAGAs voting for it are likely lining up to get some of it as they make up stories of how Biden or the Dems or the Justice Department abused them. They surely want to cash in before getting voted out, therefore don't care if it's unpopular. Leaving office a multi-millionaire is an appealing exit strategy.
so just file your own "claim" on the slush fund. Remember, this filing is to boost your morale and increase your fun and remind you not to take life (even this we're living thru right now) so seriously.
Looking at the Protest pics today is inspiring despite the disgraceful speech by Hegseth in Normandy on D-day. We have to get back to what America is supposed to be about. Kudos to all those people protesting!!
Congrats again to Jill on her birthday and your wonderful trip! I share A JUNE birthday with you! WIshing a wonderful enjoyable HIGH TEA indeed!
Here’s a CBS Sunday Morning report everyone will find insightful. (Yes. Kind of hard to believe Bari Weiss has not come after Sunday Morning yet.)
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/children-held-like-criminals-inside-ice-detention-center/?ftag=CNI-11-10aaa3i
I just saw this on the Alt National Park Service Facebook page and wondering if you think this has any chance of stopping the event?
"A federal lawsuit is seeking an emergency court order to stop Trump’s planned UFC event on White House grounds, arguing that it represents a blatant abuse of public property for private profit and political gain.
According to the lawsuit, the event would give UFC and its president, Dana White (a longtime Trump ally and political supporter) something no private company has ever received the use of the White House and Lincoln Memorial as the backdrop for a commercial sporting event. The complaint alleges that VIP packages are reportedly being marketed for as much as $1 million to $1.5 million per person, while corporate sponsors compete for the opportunity to associate their brands with some of America’s most recognizable national landmarks.
The lawsuit also points to the financial interests surrounding the broadcast, noting that Americans would reportedly need a paid Paramount+ subscription to watch what is being promoted as a patriotic national celebration. Taxpayers are being asked to provide the venue, security, infrastructure, and prestige of the presidency while private companies and politically connected allies collect the revenue.
At its core, the lawsuit is basically should America’s most important public spaces be used to enrich the President’s friends, business partners, and political supporters? The plaintiffs argue that turning the White House into a pay-per-view backdrop for a private sporting event crosses a line between public service and private enrichment that no president should be allowed to cross.
The case is now before a federal court, where plaintiffs are asking a judge to halt the event before it takes place."
I've heard a group is going to court to stop the UFC fight on the South Lawn. I say go ahead with the event, but have the money, like the tickets over $1m each, go a fund that pays for needed repairs to the Kennedy Center, and determined by a group not affiliated with this administration. Maybe, give it to the National Parks to replace the money DT appropriated to pay for his vanity projects.
Thanks for th4 pics, I love them and give me hope.
Robert, thanks for so many things but of note, I very much appreciate your voice recordings! They are so very helpful.
There’s a lot to be said, today, although much of it has already been said. Several commentaries today alluded to the very low approval rating for T…p and pretty much everything he says or does. My question has to do with that 33% of the populace which does agree with him and his hooliganism. Who are these people? What makes them think that destroying our democracy is a good thing? Getting into their mindset might help us put our government back in the business of helping everyone, not just those who really don’t need it (alluding to the grifting of America by our erstwhile, sleepy, creepy president and his billionaire brothers and sisters). There’s a lot of work to be done. We simply cannot do with anything less than getting our message to everyone, let the chips fall where they may, and accept that if they choose not to come along for the ride they can find other transportation elsewhere.
i've just started reading Heather Cox Richardson's "Democracy Awakening" and I think it will answer your questions. As with all HCR, it's very readable, very well-researched, etc.
I really think that the 33% or so is unchangeable. Heather Cox Richardson has said a number of times that history shows that 30 to 35% will be the floor of the hard right. We are better off working with getting the vote out and those that are still open minded. If someone is a Triple Trumper I think they are pretty hardened. I think they are attracted to the anger and retribution and the ability of Trump to be shameless and do what normal people won't do. They are also embedded in a media culture that provides unconstrained and amplified ignorance.
I tend to agree with you on that and saw that same figure on Heather Cox RIchardson. That still leaves a positive 65-70% which would be a real tsunami! On my FB page there are people very much caught up in reporting all the negativity over and over and it is grinding on my resolve some days. I know that there are negative reports about MR Platner in Maine but to me it is up to the people of MAINE to choose who they want to represent them, and if elected and he makes bad judgments in the Senate it is up to them first and the rest of us to urge him to make changes. But until then let the people of MAINE decide. I live in Central Maryland and many of the critiques come from people who actually live in the District of Columbia but do not seem to want to get in line to make the District another state where they can have their own representatives. OK..standing down off my soapbox!
Don’t you date step down. We need voices like yours. Thanks for your robust response.
I am beyond sickened by the wins of immunity on his many illegal tax evasion and corrupt business dealings (for his family too), and the obscene additional billions granted to ICE etc through 2029. Is there any hope we can reverse these bills if we win Congress in November? I fear not. The hideous lack of accountability is such a slap to America's face. I try to remain optimistic, but it's really hard right now.
it may turn out that the only solace we can get here is to know that Trump, et al., are leading miserable lives - having $ doesn't guarantee happiness or inner peace. I try to have as much fun as I can resisting (even tho there's nothing to laugh about here)
Regarding D-Day, Heather Cox Richardson wrote: In France today, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth rejected the belief on which the United States of America was founded: that the government should act to “promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”
Instead, he perverted a commemoration of D-Day, when American soldiers fought with their Allies to defend democracy against fascism, into a call for the racial ideology on which fascism was based. Embracing the Great Replacement theory that says the culture of white Europeans and Americans is being undermined by people of color from Africa and Asia, he flipped the Allied and Nazi positions.
“Sadly, today,” he said in reference to the beaches of Normandy the Allies stormed in 1944, “different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not.”
More to the point on the anniversary of D-Day 2026, is the speech by of Prime Minister Winston Churchill on June 4, 1940, promising that those who cared about freedom and human self-determination would never stop fighting the Nazis:
“We shall fight on the beaches,” he said. “[W]e shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
Forgive me for saying this, as I know it has nothing to do with anything, but I keep wondering what it must be like to be the most hated man in the world. What a strange legacy.
I think Putin is probably the most hated man.
Even this, he can't do?!
His mental condition is such that, surrounded by slobbering sycophants in his gilded cage, he truly believes that he is the most loved president in history, and that we who oppose his fascistic egomania are the lunatics. The most perfect embodiment of the "Emporer's New Clothes" story we could ever imagine. And his billionaire clients will spend any amount to keep him in power, while many in his MAGA base seem willing to lay down their lives for him (though the price of gas may weaken that devotion).
Our protests, particularly the most visible ones on street corners and freeway overpasses, are how we get out the truth and wake up people who think this is all normal.
Thank you Robert for all the photos of protests going on.. There are more of us than sometimes we think…
After Hegseth made that abhorrent speech at the American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, he skipped the afternoon's main international ceremony marking the anniversary of the Allied landings, which helped herald the end of World War II.
Hegseth presence was not missed by some residents of the village hosting the ceremony, Langrune-sur-Mer, who said the US official was not welcome there.
"He has very warlike views and it seems to us that this man does not share our democratic values," Sylvie Lamy Thepaut, a member of the municipal association Langrune en commun, told BFM TV.
A message on the association's website called for Hegseth's visit to be cancelled on the grounds that the Pentagon chief "espouses values contrary to democracy, human rights and peace" and had made "numerous anti-European remarks", "warlike statements" and "American supremacist pronouncements".
"The honor of Langrune, that of France, and the memory of the young Allied soldiers - American, British, Canadian - who died on our beaches in the name of democracy would dictate canceling this individual's visit," the statement concluded.
Langrune-sur-Mer Mayor Franck Jouy declined to comment on Hegseth's visit, underscoring that the event was a memorial. Not about him.
"I'm here to remember the people who came to make sure that France was liberated." he told BFMTV. Jouy went on to say, “The people of our town and the surrounding towns take care of the solemn grounds of all those gravesites of every fallen hero everyday, no matter where they came from. He does not, nor has he have no idea why they fought against Nazism. It’s just that simple.”
He more than likely took his wife and 6 kids somewhere for the rest of the day since he took them there on OUR dime! And it was reported on FRANCE24 that the FRENCH people were very angry at this words and his presence there!
Thank you for sharing the wise words and human compassion voiced by the leaders of Langrune-sur-Mer. Their insight is couched in the words and sensibilities of patriots, thinking and feeling citizens, and grown-ups. Compare these words to any of our President's thousands of hate-filled posts and the idiotic arrogance of Pete Hegseth.
This is all the more extraordinary when we realize that the French people suffered under over four years of German occupation and the horrible warfare that led to the D-Day invasion and the eventual liberation of their country. We do well to realize the cost that the French people paid. As the great British military historian Antony Beevor writes, "Altogether 19,890 French civilians were killed during the liberation of Normandy and an even larger number seriously injured. This was on top of the 15,000 French killed and 19,000 injured in the preparatory bombing of [Operation] Overlord in the first five months of 1944." In the entire war, "over 70,000 French civilians were killed by Allied action.'' (Beevor, Antony. NY: Viking Penguin, "D-Day: The Battle for Normandy," 2009 p. 519). Note this is the number killed by ALLIED action and does not include the tens of thousands who were killed by the Germans during their invasion and occupation.
Hegseth is a veteran of the US military; Trump is famously not. But you do not have to be a veteran to have the imagination, the intelligence, and the morality, not to mention the maturity and gravitas to understand matters of importance. Nor does being a veteran necessarily make you able to understand the seriousness of war. We are governed by men who are essentially 11 year old boys, and that comment is not fair to middle school kids. Hegseth and Trump and so many other Republicans demonstrate the worst kind of adolescent hollowness -- cruel, stupid, and arrogant, and deeply committed to their ignorance and presumed superiority.
To our shame as a nation, we, the people elected Trump in 2016, then when we discovered completely who he was as a tyrant and a liar, we turned around and elected him again in 2024. This is not a failure of democracy. Trump's rise is a feature of democracy that the Founding Father warned us against and that oligarchs, racists, and
Christian Nationalists have learned to exploit.
We must continue to work to thwart Trump in every way we can, but we must realize the challenge. It was unthinkable that Trump could be elected in 2016, and we are now sure we are going to have a blue wave and take back the House and (maybe the Senate), but until we get more of our fellow Americans to understand the seriousness of the threat and join us, the 2026 elections will remain too close to call.
Wise and thoughtful words Patrick. Yes we have been warned by our founding fathers many times. Even in his 1796 Farewell Address, George Washington warned that extreme political factionalism would allow "cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men" to subvert the public will, consolidate power across government branches, and ultimately pave the way for permanent authoritarian rule and despotism. Yet we as the people of this nation have not heeded those words of over 230 years and what this nation decided upon when we declared separation from England seeking a new government dictated more by the people versus those of an authoritarian.
Maybe this is the lesson that should be learned this 250th birthday and remain ever vigil in not accepting anything less than a democratic-republic. For it is well worth keeping and voting to do so.
That “We the People" is that the government's power comes directly from the consent of its citizens rather than a divine monarch. That the emphasis is that this nation exists to serve and be guided by its people, not by a king or anyone who thinks he is one.
For all those who stand on overpasses, bridges, street corners etc with signs reminding passersby citizens what Americans fought against during WWII and the Democracy we all are fighting to preserve: THANK YOU, THANK YOU a million times THANK YOU. We will beat them with all peaceful demonstrations.
Great pic!!
I have a comment that has absolutely nothing to do with the specific news of today but more about the general condition of the public consumption of the news. Number 1: who the hell sees what we see daily with respect to the crumbling of our government and the corruption of president nitwit? Whoever out there is depending on national or local news from either their local “newspaper” or from the totally compromised big 3 over the air stations is not seeing what we see. Certainly the folks that are wrapped up in the far right brain-warp don’t even know that their dear leader can’t even stay awake with the cameras on him in the “oval bordello” (homage to Jeff Tiedrich). So that begs Number 2: how the hell do we get around the roadblocks that have been constructed to propagandize the maga message and shield the fat pumpkin’s many deficiencies from most of the voters? I certainly don’t have the answer but it just seems like we are all talking to and agreeing with each other and I’m not sure that’s gonna be enough to remove him from our sight. Not to be an alarmist but to think that just a midterm win will carry the day is maybe somewhat naive? We have to obliterate this vote to the point where the bystanders of the press, the over-the-air stations and the businesses that depend on us to survive move with the people to begin to put an end to this freaking mess. If Hollywood made a movie of the tRump years no one would believe it and yet here we are…to all of you out there, and certainly you Robert, thanks for helping me get through each agonizing week. All the best and by the way - looking for answers . lol
I get a lot of my real NEWS, not commentary from REUTERS, FRANCE24, BBC, MEMRI (middle East) and from other newspapers around the US - those first four are available digitally on the internet for free to sample. And the GUARDIAN. SUBSTACK has a wealth of other posters too and many are free to try! If you read Heather Cox Richardson, she always cites (as does Robert Hubbell) the links to the news she cites. One of my faves on REUTERS is the LEGAL tab where current and ongoing legal issues are cited. This is not analysis, just the facts. For news of health items, CIDRAP, a valid health news site out of Minnesota and with daily news LIKE what CDC used to have. For news about DETENTION centers - SALTBOX. For those of us in Maryland, a site called Maryland Matters. And NPR still has news as does PBS NEWS. And we enjoy Sunday morning with Fareed Zakaria for his many interviews. His programs are available on YOUTUBE or CNN.com for free. Today he interviewed Ben Rhodes about the IRAN and USA JCPOA under OBAMA and under BIDEN. The Economist and the Atlantic. I could go on. I will find the Wednesday night info for the interview with people directly in UKRAINE if that is your interest. AND of course all the wonderful photos of people everywhere standing out and standing up to PROTEST!
https://www.france24.com/en/
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/
https://www.theguardian.com/us
https://www.memri.org/
https://kyivindependent.com/
https://marylandmatters.org/
https://www.economist.com/
I think this link will take you to the article titled "The Digital Counter-Offensive: How Lincoln Square Is Rewriting the Rules of Engagement - Our 5-point plan to reclaim our democracy on the digital front." If it doesn't, you might try googling that or just Lincoln Square. They are spreading real info digitally, and you can help with $ if you want to. For instance, when the TSA lines were jammed up, they sent lots of text ads so the people standing in hours-long lines scrolling on their phones would know who was responsible for the delays.
https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/the-digital-counter-offensive-how
⬆️"Whoever out there is depending on national or local news from either their local “newspaper” or from the totally compromised big 3 over the air stations is not seeing what we see".
I agree 💯percent.
But we each have our own circles of influence where we can be the trusted messenger. Do not underestimate the ripple effect. The algorithms don't have the same dampening effect on person-to-person contact.
I share clips from Robert's substack (along with other trusted sources) to my network and encourage them too sign up for free Substack subscriptions. I also invite them to join me at various events - including virtual ones. I now have a good idea of who might be receptive to an invitation but who won't keep up with this stuff without a nudge.
I'm in NC and we are gearing up for a big push for voter access/protection including helping voters get their registration straightened out before the election. Then when early voting gears up I will volunteer once again as a poll observer. I'm making sure all my NC peeps have heard about the training. Two people I ran into at our monthly Indivisible social last week told me that they had attended a zoom meeting about volunteer opportunities and that someone else had told them to talk to me if they had any questions about it.
One easy action we can all take NOW is to get our friends, family, and coworkers to all update their voter registrations and make sure that they have the ID that they need to vote. If you have any young people in your life, make sure that they are registered or pre-registered to vote.
Resources: www.vote.org, www.vote411.org, https://iwillvote.com, https://www.vote411.org/voting-rules, https://www.thecivicscenter.org/prereg
My apologies for drolling on and on and on…but I do feel better so there’s that
No apology needed. Press on. We must. Somehow.
HCR's newsletter was full of ever more disappointing news from the MAGAs who passed a giant increase in the ICE budget and seemed to also approve the Thug Fund? Did I read that right? Even though it was supposedly shut down? The MAGAs voting for it are likely lining up to get some of it as they make up stories of how Biden or the Dems or the Justice Department abused them. They surely want to cash in before getting voted out, therefore don't care if it's unpopular. Leaving office a multi-millionaire is an appealing exit strategy.
so just file your own "claim" on the slush fund. Remember, this filing is to boost your morale and increase your fun and remind you not to take life (even this we're living thru right now) so seriously.
https://wtaf8647.com/
Ah yes, the victimhood. Poor dears.
More like grifterhood.
Looking at the Protest pics today is inspiring despite the disgraceful speech by Hegseth in Normandy on D-day. We have to get back to what America is supposed to be about. Kudos to all those people protesting!!