Homan’s “conciliatory tone” included the false claim that Minnesota was releasing (undocumented) criminals rather than turning them over to ICE. This statement is demonstrably false.
News in Minnesota suggests that ICE is escalating and increasing presence, but Homan knows he only has to say they de-escalated for the Times and CBS to spread the lie.
I'm also highly skeptical that they have placed any of the "agents" on administrative leave while the investigations proceed. We don't even know the names of the ones involved with Alex Pretti. How can we verify that they are on leave - or even where they are/what they are doing. Sorry Homan, you're going to have to do a lot better than that!
Given the extensive judicial history regarding the 2020 election, to say nothing of extensive litigation involving Fulton County GA......What was the basis for issuing a search warrant?
Wow. That's huge. They will say we can't indict anyone, because the statute has run, but *if* we could we would allegedly x,y, and z... . I think the only saving grace (maybe) would be a Democratic House making Pam Bondi come in and explain under oath.
Impeachment and conviction would fail. But it is still another issue to hang the anchor around the necks of Republicans in the mid terms. And further down the line, another to weigh JD down in 28.
If they seized hardware, could they learn more about the operations of vote counts so they could affect it for November? What can that hardware vendor do to increase security for November? How many states use it?
These are my questions.
I suspect that MAGA has slowly-- in pieces-- gathered access to hardware and software. I believe one of the hardware companies was recently purchased by a Trump donor. In Colorado/Peters case MAGA got access to passwords that would have enabled corruption of software if the passwords were entered into the hardware. There was copying of software and sensitive data in Michigan in 2023 I think. An election official in a county in a southern state gave MAGA full access to election equipment after 2020.
I would also point out that the criminal statutes of limitations (both state and federal) have run and it's probably too late for a civil suit as well. So, what is the basis for the search warrant?
Distraction. The nation has been too focused on Minnesota and state executions there. The stars have been Noem and Bovino, not poor Donald. It may be the only thing he is good at: starting new fires to distract people from the still-burning fires he started earlier. What a shitheel!
100%. I was just saying yesterday I was looking for some big distraction this week to take away from the pile of poop they're sitting in with executing citizens. I thought it would be something like pardoning Maxwell, but this is right up there.
The warrant proves a crime was committed, in MAGA-think, just as asking Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden corruption in Ukraine proves there was corruption, even if no investigation was then initiated.
Same here. Search warrants have to specify what they're looking for and if I'm not mistaken, on what grounds they believe they're likely to find it. When does all this cross the line into anarchy?
The search warrant is also referring to federal criminal offenses which have 5 year statutes of limitations - which ran out in early November of 2025. It was signed by an appointed magistrate, not the Senate-confirmed district court judge.
That any judge would sign off on this warrant is a fucking joke. That this delusion is being investigated when Trump got away with threatening Secretary of State Raffensperger in a phone call the whole world heard is a grave miscarriage of justice.
The basis? Simple. Trump said "find [me] 11,780 votes" so he can claim he won the 2020 election. What better way to do this than to STEAL the previously audited ballots (using his personal Department of Injustice and a corrupt Magistrate Judge) and manufacture the votes by eliminating 11,780 votes against him. But that won't be enough. His DOIJ will find "hundreds" or "thousands" or "millions" of votes against him that, in his [future] words, "never should have been counted." The goal is to falsely "prove" he was a victim of election-rigging before the mid-terms to manipulate voters in the mid-terms.
Yes, but to what end? Did Elon invent a time machine for him? Whether the votes were there in Georgia, or anywhere else, Biden already served his term as president. Can't undo that, no matter how many ballots he steals.
He's manipulating the Past to control the Future. In other words, it's a direct manifestation of George Orwell's warning in 1984: "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
Agreed but at the same time he and his buddy Steve Bannon are going to throw as much shit against the wall as possible just in case he can't cancel the mid-terms.
I think you are correct in regard to what use can the 2020 ballots,etc.,be put to by them in regard to trying to invalidate the results in 2020, but that has no chance of success for many reasons. But how would they be able to "manipulate" voters in future elections by making the laughable claim that the 2020 results will happen again in the future?Unless they are able to get the local election officers to completely falsify election returns, there is no way they can stop people from voting in a fairly conducted election.
They should store these ballots in the same hidey-hole as they’ve put the Epstein files. Practically impossible to get even a vending machine receipt out of there! They’ll be safe all right.
I think there is room in Mike Lindell's Pitkin County (Aspen) hidey hole. This is where Tina Peters eluded Mesa County law enforcement for a time. (Spoiler alert, they knew where she was...).
Here's the Fani Willis indictment that never went to trial. It will be interesting to compare Trump's assertions regarding what was seized with its contents.
Dan. Thanks for posting. “On what basis was the warrant issued” is THE question demanding an answer. Please share what your research reveals. What tortured legal logic could have justified the issuance? Puzzled and vexed beyond belief. … Don
Just saying - if Trump did win in 2020, that means that he was elected president twice which is the limit per the Constitution which then means that he is serving as president illegally this time around.
And needless to say, since this whole insane thing is just one more example of trump's lifelong mental derangement, Georgia's electoral votes would still not have given him enough to be legitimately elected.
He will steal the election. This whole thing about Georgia is a ruse so they can convince everyone if the federal government can prove state elections are fixed, the Federal government will have to take over state elections. Look at the big picture.
I was right about ICE being used at polling places. Bondi already announced that they are removing ICE if she gets MN election data. Why!?!
True, but his excuse would be that he was unfairly denied the presidency; which in the MAGAverse means that an authoritarian kakistocracy is not only permitted; but required!
Do you really think the rules apply to him? Do you honestly think he won't be president again after this term is over? He will be president for life. There won't be anyone to stop him since they are already trying to fix the midterm. And NO ONE is stopping him. Bondi, Miller, Voight, and the Project 2025 have been planning this for years.
As I get older I am less inclined to predict the future with any degree of definitiveness. However, my current guess is that it is most likely that Trump will not be president again after his current term is over.
Of course, it does appear likely that Trump will try to stay, but we in the pro-democracy camp do have agency. We can attempt to thwart him in variety of ways if we choose to do so . . . instead of passively assuming that all is lost.
I hope so. I believe what we are seeing is an attempt to fix the midterms. Bondi demanding voter info and probably sending ICE to guard polling places.
Congratulations, America. You elevated a malignant narcissist to the presidency for a second time. You were warned not to do it, you did it anyway, and now you've condemned us all to watching Trump's incurable sociopathy in real time. And people wonder why I'm such a misanthropic SOB.
On a side note, my wife and I watched "The Dead Zone" last night, and watching Martin Sheen play a populist senate candidate with eyes on the presidency who believed he spoke for "The People" hits differently these days. Especially when Christopher Walken could see a future where Sheen's character initiates a nuclear war.
Seeing you describe yourself as a misanthrope made me feel better about my own rising misanthropy. This counts as our support group, maybe? I go for days without seeing another person, and I find myself stretching out those intervals. Because when I go out, there’s a lurking knowledge that 38% of the people I encounter would be fine with shooting me down, over my political preferences.
I'm "locally kind, globally cynical", and I have lost patience with people who either don't understand or don't give a shit about the consequences of their actions.
I went into lockdown during COVID and never came out. When people accuse me of misogyny I always tell them that I am a misanthrope--- an equal opportunity hater.
Since lockdown, there have been a handful of testimonials from people who found it enhanced their wellbeing. I have to admit, I have fond memories. But I live alone; I think it would be much harder being cooped up with others - which is paradoxical to the urgent advice at the time to “check on your neighbors who live alone”. At the time I thought that was hilarious because I was more worried about the opportunities for domestic violence in other households.
It's funny, my wife and I got out of COVID lockdown in one piece, and being in lockdown wasn't a horrible experience. We both looked at it as a short term inconvenience and knew it was important to do social distancing to keep ourselves and those we loved safe. The fact that millions of Americans resented having to do something for the greater good confirmed for me that a lot of us are overgrown children. And the fact that millions of Americans don't hold Trump responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths also betrays their moral poverty.
Yes, I am constantly aware that the guys with Punisher stickers prefer to punish educated women (always have). That's been true since before those stickers were invented. Volunteering keeps me sane. There are really great people out there helping. Honestly, if I weren't working at the food bank / rent assistance house a few times a month, I probably would've become a paranoid hermit by now.
There was a great essay in NYT about a week ago, examining the familiarity to all women with the brief video clip of Renee Good smiling sweetly at a menacing man and saying “Hey, Dude . . .” The point being that women spend a lot of energy daily trying to defuse angry (or potentially angry) men. It really resonated with me. (It’s also called “trauma fawning”). Women are in training from childhood not to make men angry. I suppose “beta males” also have similar familiarity, but they are a few rungs up the ladder from most women.
So much energy! And then I flash on Rep. Omar charging the guy who sprayed her. Damn, that was good!
I don't know her history, but I do want to acknowledge that her experience of trauma is likely pretty horrific. I don't want to seem to make light of the likelihood. I admire her; I bow to her.
I was equally impressed with Rep Omar’s reaction - she even put her fists up! Damn, I want some of that! If she could bottle it, I’d eagerly spritz myself with it.
I walked into a store that sells off road vehicles, because they also sell a battery operated chain saw that I wanted to price. The MAGA vibe was so thick I could barely breathe, so I left quickly. The saw price was 3X the Amazon price. So I’m stuck with Bezos.
And another detail about my aborted retail experience: I anticipated that MAGA ‘vibe’, so I didn’t put on my usual mask. What a weird submission. I’ve had Covid twice, with lingering consequences, so I always mask indoors in public places. But I also knew a mask would “out” me. So I made the decision to put myself at risk, just to engage briefly with MAGA. It’s an uncomfortable admission.
One of the things that makes me MOST [insert negative emotion here] about the pandemic experience was that I REALLY hoped that one of the permanent marks it would leave on American society would be that we might normalize the idea of some people wearing masks sometimes because:
1) It's a good way to go around in society if you are sick, but not so sick you need to be at home or you have something you really need to do. A conscientious sort of act.
2) You might be immuno compromised or be around someone who is so it's a reasonable ask. A pro-inclusion or disability sort of act.
3) You have something coming up in your life that you REALLY don't want to be sick and miss
That's not an exhaustive list anyway, but you get the idea. I really hoped that 5 years later we'd have a world where everyone though that a random person you encounter wearing a mask was perfectly reasonable and not something you questioned. The fact that instead it became political and for tons of people the OPPOSITE happened makes me feel so [insert negative emotion here] I can't describe it.
Agree. To my surprise it went the other direction; it’s a political marker to some people in some settings when you wear a mask, and provokes hostility. In more benign settings, like waiting at Costco for a vaccine, people jump up and offer you their chair, assuming you are frail. It’s a mixed bag, depending on the very local demographic.
Yeah it's so strange... I was really optimistic we'd get to a place where things I personally have done (that seem like no big deal) would be unremarked upon like:
1) I went to a convention with 25000 people and so the next couple days in person at work I wore a mask because it was pretty likely I'd get "con-crud" even though I didn't have symptoms yet or
2) I'm going on a vacation in two weeks so I wear a mask beforehand when indoors with strangers so that I don't get sick and have a terrible time or miss the trip
It truly baffles me that there are people out there who would judge me negatively for BOTH of those. One of them is even selfishly motivated! Shouldn't everyone who loves Ayn Rand and says empathy is for weak soyboys be down for thinking of myself?!
Because of a small auto emergency, I walked into an AutoZone in my Indivisible t-shirt this summer. Didn't think until I was inside the door. Sobering.
I felt the usual testosterone fugue, but nothing else. Then I realized they didn't know what Indivisible is. At that point, I didn't know if I should be relieved or disappointed.
P. S. I've dealt with the testosterone fugue for a long time. At 72, I didn't have to deal with the lengthy, lingering gaze at my breasts. Which is not to say that they didn't look. There's no lost sense of safety for me to mourn.
Thank you. The validation feels reassuring. I’m 73, and I still don’t feel safe. I keep waiting to become “invisible” to the male gaze, but now I know my feminine “assets” are a car that runs and a roof over my head. That’s what they want; just like a “nurse with a purse”.
As to wearing merch; I have a great Bulwark sweatshirt that I never wear for the reasons we are discussing. I agree; the random MAGA probably doesn’t have any idea what the Bulwark is, just like Indivisible (I’m also a member of my local).
Cinema is a trove for a propos material. My MAGA friend is starting to binge old films noir, and I suggested she watch “A Face In the Crowd”, with good ol’ Sheriff Andy (Griffith) and Walter Matthau. She loves them.
When we were watching Sheen chew scenery last night, all I could think of was Umberto Eco and his description of our fascists claim to speak for "The People" and appeal to the grievances of the electorate. Sheen's character is smarter than Trump but just as megalomaniacal. It was unsettling to watch.
“Donald Trump is the kind of guy who tries to steal elections. He’s now presiding over a Justice Department that seems primed to help him try. And we cannot permit any scandal of the moment to drive this fundamental reality from our minds.”
Clearly, it’s about stealing the election, not just pettty revenge against Brad Raffensperger; he’s just the excuse.
They seized voters rolls, the same information that Noem was trying to extort from Minnesota. And we don’t know if they have access to the actual computer systems which could give them much needed data to fix voter machines.
Moreover, a Colorado republican is currently serving jail time for a similar crime, and several GA republicans were on trial for trying to do the same in a rural Georgian district after the 2020 election; the case was dropped after Trump won the election (Both federally and state).
Therefore, it’s apparently legal now to steal voter information, and if anyone still thinks that Trump won’t they to steal the election, or could possibly succeed; then they haven’t been paying attention!
The real question we need to ask ourselves is why? He won’t win any lawsuits and would open his administration up to depositions (further embarrassment), which makes me believe something more nefarious is afoot. IMHO…:)
I’m seeing regular exhortations from Democrats online to quit saying “they won’t allow elections”, because elections are run by the states. But that’s quibbling over verbiage. The big issue is that we all know they are working to undermine the next elections. A distinction without a difference, in terms of outcome and peril.
There’s a very important difference between not allowing elections and undermining integrity of elections: How much everyday people should pay attention to and engage with the electoral process. If elections aren’t going to happen, there’s no point in checking that you haven’t been purged from the voter rolls, helping others register to vote, becoming a poll worker or election observer, getting to know the names and backgrounds of the people running your local elections, or planning for rapid response protests and legal actions if election results are improperly overturned. Whereas if elections are going to be held but subversion attempted, it’s important that as many people as possible do those things.
Yes, I think that’s a valid extrapolation of the risk in saying there won’t be elections. I also think that canceling the elections outright would ignite commensurate outrage, whereas tampering with results will be much harder to fight because we’d have to find it. And that’s why they are probably scheming for undermining rather than outright canceling. The talk of activating the Insurrection Act is the foundation for canceling; I think they are keeping all options on the table.
I think we need to do some more explaining to combat the notion of state run elections as some sort of panacea. I have no doubt my own state, being cherry red, will have no problems from Trump. Blue cities in swing states will have a lot of problems in targeted precincts and districts. Same with red states trending purple...like Georgia with their Dem Senator up for re-election.
I have a memory of preparatory “war gaming” prior to a recent election involving Trump. Was it 2020? A group of professionals (bipartisan?) gathered to consider a basket of scenarios, and come up with prevention strategies and correctives. I wonder if similar exercises are ongoing now - we definitely need it.
I see where Your ex senator John Tester believes the next elections could wind up on the order of 1932. I also saw a poll where the majority of Americans feel this country is in decline. Fertile grounds for a reset.
I don't think the notion is used as a panacea. It is a tool to be used. Not a magic one that will erase all attempts at federal domination of elections, but it exists.
State legislatures can pass laws making vote by mail more available to their residents but they must do so quickly. If a successful vote from home campaign can be launched it is possible that not many people will show up at polling locations and will instead use alternative means to cast their ballots.
Working to undermine is not the same as "they are going to steal the election." One is about attempt—which we can fight to stop—the other is about them succeeding, which we can't do a thing about. One is possibility, the other fait accompli.
So no, it's not a distinction without a difference.
I see your point, and I made that distinction in a further comment. I meant that the outcome might be the same, but I agree that one is easier to fight, because it’s more overt, than the other. They both have the same end result if they succeed; tyranny.
I read your comment again, and I still think that undermining is pretty equivalent to stealing an election. My response above is comparing undermining versus canceling.
They are doing everything horrible out in the open now, which is a very concerning change. Examples are the Nazi mimicry and the open racism. The familiar phrase, “It’s not the crime; it’s the coverup that gets them”, no longer applies because they aren’t covering up their illegality.
Yes, you are 100% right. When I saw ICE beating people who are clearly not immigrants. Minneapolis is a trial baloon to see if they can get away will jack booted thugs beating and intimidating cities. Apparently they can. Expect to see ICE at your local polling place if you live in a Blue State. They will say they need to prevent illegal immigrants from voting.
Wear a MAGA hat when you go to vote. They will leave you alone.
“Wear a MAGA hat” is another version of why I have always flown flags on my remote property - I wanted those types who have hijacked our flag to leave me alone. Two days ago I took down all my flags. “Enough is enough”.
Let’s hope he doesn’t advance us from “tragedy”to “statistic”. I like your use of “hubris”. I haven’t heard much lately about American Exceptionalism. I guess it was replaced by MAGA. Basically a repackage of hubris.
In my humble opinion, DJT is fully aware that he lost in 2020. Deep down he knows and understands that the weight of evidence is overwhelming that this is the case. But there are two other, more powerful forces at work here.
One, he needs constant attention, and on topics that he thinks help him rather than hurt him. Thus every so often he brings it up to ensure that people keep talking about him, on his terms, aware that the media will reproduce nearly every burp and hiccup from him as a news story even when it clearly is not. (Memo to media: not everything that a President, especially this one, says or does is worthy of so much attention and analysis. Take a pass on this and find some other stories to share. There are plenty out there to choose from.)
Two, he knows that his base needs rocket fuel to hold their attention and keep them engaged as willful allies in keeping him out of trouble. Therefore he eagerly brings the stolen election lies out of his Greatest Hits package and performs them again on stage, his own personal Free Bird moment in front of the adoring audience. He pontificates, they listen. He demands, they comply. It's an old playbook, but sadly an effective one with low information and tribal voters, both of whom will always be there for him on demand.
Sad that it has come to this, that our nation has reached the depths of having a toddler for a leader and an electorate that largely has shut down both its objectivity and its critical thinking skills. But you know that. We can only hope that this runs its course sooner rather than later and, aided and abetted by some major mistakes such as the murderous and brutal ICE fiasco, the worm will turn and people will tire of the antics of these opponents of true democracy and give-and-take governance. Fingers crossed, but with only guarded optimism.
“In my humble opinion, DJT is fully aware that he lost in 2020. Deep down he knows and understands that the weight of evidence is overwhelming that this is the case. But there are two other, more powerful forces at work here.”
Agreed, this is nothing more than kabuki theater and meant to galvanize the base; as well as to gaslight the rest of us.
Trump learned from the best: Roy Cohn, who famously said and reinforced this idea to Trump, “if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it.”
And sadly, Mark Twain’s famous quote is equally true: “it’s easier to fool a man, than to ever convince him he’s been fooled.”
Therefore, we’re dealing with too competing ideas which complement each other, and the reason we landed in purgatory; on our way to hell! IMHO…:)
Deutschmeister - one of his advantages is, he has so many scandals to draw on. When one heats up toward the danger zone, he can push the public chatter to a different one, thus relieving pressure against the first. Keep the plates spinning, no one of them falls.
Trump may try to reroll the old playbook, but it's up against some strong head winds. His base is pissed about the Epstein files and he now has the Article Two diehards just as angry. Releasing the week old video of Pretti is an example of trying to bring back the assassination meme. Except, if Pretti was out to assassinate agents, why kick out a tail light when he could have shot them?
His base doesn't care about pedophilia. They really, really don't. It was all fun and games when they were talking about taking down Bill Clinton. But now that there's a chance actual pedophiles might be caught up, well, that's a road they don't want to travel.
1 in 9 girls and 1 in 20 boys under the age of 18 experience sexual assault. This is an issue that reaches into our Heart of Darkness. It's not just MAGA - most people really don't want to talk about it.
You have some good points there. But his base has pretty much dropped the Epstein files storyline because it hasn’t led to scenes of Bill and Hillary being frogmarched in handcuffs. And Pretti kicking out the taillight and memes of him in a tutu orders prove, to their way of thinking, he’s a dangerous pervert who deserves what he got.
Latest polling on the Epstein question does not show a significant drop in GOP support for releasing the files. It's still a very strong issue. MAGA may still get their Bill Clinton, they just won't get the libtard tears they crave.
Influencers can have all the memes they want, but the right to a gun is a separate issue that even Kyle Rittenhouse gets.
Deep inside, there is a little voice telling him he didn't win. But I believe that with his constant repetition, he has deluded himself as much as his cult. He can't admit to himself that he lost. Truly.
WashState - sometimes I consider that his "power of positive thinking" mindset ("positive" meaning in his self-interest, not objectively positive overall) really doesn't process the world in terms of truth or morality. At all.
Does a velociraptor think about truth or morality? No, it processes what can be consumed, and what is best avoided. That's about it. Not how I process the world so yes that seems alien. There's no rational discussion with such a mindset.
How to resist that without becoming that - there's my challenge
Yeah the killing of Pretti diverted attention to the actions of ICE/CBP and the administration's attempts to turn attention to the evils of protestors didn't work, so it's time to change the subject. I think it was on Mad Men where a character said "If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation."
Deutsch: I think you're missing the fundamental nature not just of Trump, but Trumpism. The base (as in subconscious) reason Trump is idolized by his base. His actual superpower:
He can reverse reality by the force of sheer will.
Your analysis projects Trump as a Machiavellian: a more or less rational schemer pulling levers inside political realities. But he's a malignantly narcissistic psychopath. His brain works different.
The key difference: knowledge is either fungible or irrelevant altogether. So he's aware in some sense there's a reality in which he lost 2020 fair and square. He does know, in his cognitive faculties such as they are, that the weight of the evidence overwhelmingly points in that direction.
But you have Trump's deep down totally backwards. The deepest bottomless trench of Trump is one Janus-faced jackal of pathological narcissism resting on another all the way down. I am hollow, but I am all.
Which is why, beyond doubt, that evidence must be wrong. There is some other explanation, because there must be. 'I lost... But I can't lose. I am after all the greatest winner of all the winners that have ever won. So I must have won. Because I must have won I did win. In Minnesota, too, three times.'
Yeah, Triumph of the Will, but at an even deeper level than Riefenstahl worked to show.
But maybe that deeper level has always been at the root of fascist movements. Because what I see when I look at MAGA is this: a hatred of reality so strong it manifests as a war against reality; it's aim not merely an escape from reality but a reversal, flipping it on it's head, a triumphal celebratory episteme of the upside-down.
But you can't have a war without knowing there's an opponent. So at some level MAGA is "aware" there's this reality that exists in some sense, but also must be reversible. Because Trump did in fact lose in reality, it is absolutely imperative to time-travel back and straighten things out.
'But that just doesn't make sense!'
To paraphrase Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, sense got nuthin to do with it.
As The Felon's Brown Shirts take the ballots from Fulton County, and then claim (as they will) that now he has proof of tampering...who's to ever see the evidence? The "Epstein Files" should be fair warning that the "declaration of innocence" will not be refuted as we might never see an unredacted file. So with the election ballots. We have to take his declaration as descending from Sinai. We're screwed!
Democrats are reportedly split over the political wisdom of demanding congress “Abolish ICE” or “Defund ICE.” Maybe the way to avoid this split and to speak with one voice is to think bigger, to demand that congress “Defund Trump” or “Abolish Trumpism.”
Those cowed coward corporate Dems just don't know how to fight on the field of language. They continually concede in advance to the terms emerging from the right-wing propaganda machine.
OK, sure, "Abolish ICE" has some definite political drawbacks as a slogan. Why? Well, it can be made to sound like "stop all policing of immigration policy" which of course, it's not. What is the case, however, is that DHS had turned the forces named 'border patrol' and 'immigration enforcement' into terror squads deployed against any perceived enemies of the regime.
Which is why you can't just say "reform ICE". Because your base has seen them execute people, knows how rotten to the core they are, that they are beyond reform, and will continue to just ignore any statutory restriction placed on them whenever they find it expedient.
So, your slogan must call for this particular army to go out of existence, an end to the actual program of violent repression, without ending the function indicated by it's no-longer-accurate names.
I was an advertising copywriter in one past life, and an academic analyst of 'the persuasive arts' in another. I can't imagine any decent ad agency, given that charge I just outlined, couldn't come up with a proposal or two that might fit the bill. If you were a corporate client launching a new campaign to sell deodorant, you'd commission three agencies to present two or three sample proposals each before picking one to ink for the final job. Why do I have no faith the Dems do anything like that?
Notwithstanding that a good anti-DHS goons campaign would likely include more than one slogan, structured hierarchically under/around a unifying concept, here's one quick take of one phrasing from this morning's thoughts of yours truly:
I have two thoughts. One, Mo Ivory stated the obvious. The truth does not matter at all in the Trump era. How can so many people either miss that fact or just ignore it? Are they brain dead? Two, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel have turned the Justice Department into a corrupt legal entity that serves Trump and only Trump!
If assertion are made about the ballots and other materials, we've got to insist that charged be presented to a grand jury. Grand juries have seemed to be their Achilles heel.
Sadly, you are 100% right. Anyone who thinks they have a shred of honesty, decency or interest in the rule if law has to get that idea right out of your head. Read project 2025. Its their play book for a US dictatorship. And they are a roll.
Mark Hertling’s review of Springsteen’s new song (which I haven’t yet listened to) is the most insightful analysis of a song I have encountered.
Tim on Piers Morgan’s show was magnificent. I wanted to jump into the fray with him, and I’m sure I’d have been arrested. At the same time, I noticed Tim’s skin tone becoming dangerously flushed. I worry. I understand. How do we draw a line to protect ourselves while still protecting our democracy? It’s the question that we wrestle with daily, now. I hate it.
Where can I catch that show? Tim is always incredible on every show and puts MAGA in its place. The Bulwark is definitely a place of reason and sanity for some of us…:)
Tim’s segment was posted by Bulwark on YouTube. I think it’s also available on the Substack app. If I can find it, I’ll be back with a link. Here it is:
I hear you! The older I get, the less my innards can tolerate alcohol. But I am well stocked with weed! My own suspicion is that Trump declassified it, so they can ‘research’ it, prior to making it illegal again. Or add on an exorbitant federal tax. Anything malevolent would be expected.
“Meanwhile, new footage emerged yesterday appearing to show an earlier interaction between Pretti and ICE about a week before his death. In this footage, taken by media outlet the News Movement, Pretti shouts and spits at agents whose vehicle is blocking a road. As the agents prepare to drive away, he kicks a taillight out of the vehicle, prompting agents to tackle and pile onto him while also deploying tear gas into the crowd. In this instance, however, they shortly let him go.”
According to MAGA this proves that Pretti is guilty as charged (no due process) because he got into a dispute (we don’t know what triggered this), and ended up breaking a taillight on an unmarked car with people who refuse to identify themselves as government agents.
And for this, he deserves to die; he kicked a car. And if it was such a crime, he should have been arrested; no one would blame ICE unless Pretti was provoked.
Actually, if this proves anything, it could suggest that ICE, using Palantir’s advanced database platform could have targeted Pretti as a dissident, and decided to end him with a extrajudicial killing.
After all, ICE has access to the best facial recognition technology available. Just saying! IMHO…:)
It’s amusing, in a dark and dystopian way, to imagine the huge warehouse where hundreds of Lilliputians are pouring through the Epstein files and then, WAIT! We have something so much more important for you to review. Ballots and election records from six years ago! We will get back to Epstein in 2029. Put everything back in the box and move over here.
Like many of you, I travel between hope and despair. The duration of my stay in each varies. Sometimes days, sometimes hours. Today I managed to travel from despair brought on by the seizure of Georgia election ballots, computers, etc. to hope in a matter of minutes. A great big thank you and a salute to Mark Hertling. His essay today has my feet firmly planted in hope. Words well written, and thoughtfully expressed. Lets see how long I stay in the sunshine of hope.
Homand says NOW he will ficus on REAL criminals! Wasn't what they were supposed to have been doing all this time? Who was in charge of the NOT crimminals part? Wasn't he CZar? Was he napping? Eating Cava take out? Count his cash? He just woke up? What a load...
So, some profanity, a bit of airborne saliva and a broken taillight a couple of weeks ago justifies cold blooded murder today....
OK. Got it. Thanks.
I guess if my teenage grandson hits a baseball through a neighbor's window from the back yard after emulating MLB players spitting while at bat and he then mutters Damn! under his breath, I'd probably better get him out of the country, eh?
Tom Homan “striking a conciliatory tone” sounds about as credible as — let’s see — Tom Homan refusing a bribe.
Homan’s “conciliatory tone” included the false claim that Minnesota was releasing (undocumented) criminals rather than turning them over to ICE. This statement is demonstrably false.
Are you saying he lied out of the gate? Imagine that!
Yep, like sending Bull Connor to mediate a race-based dispute.
Like a Bull Connor in. Chinese-American shop, eh?
News in Minnesota suggests that ICE is escalating and increasing presence, but Homan knows he only has to say they de-escalated for the Times and CBS to spread the lie.
I'm also highly skeptical that they have placed any of the "agents" on administrative leave while the investigations proceed. We don't even know the names of the ones involved with Alex Pretti. How can we verify that they are on leave - or even where they are/what they are doing. Sorry Homan, you're going to have to do a lot better than that!
"Please tone it down so we don't have to kill you."
Homan is the posterchild for "both sides are bought by the billionaires"
Straight cash Homie!
RE: FBI’s Search of Georgia Election Center
What judge issued the warrant?
Magistrate Judge Catherine Salinas
https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/01/28/fbi-raids-fulton-county-elections-warehouse-seeking-2020-ballots/
Given the extensive judicial history regarding the 2020 election, to say nothing of extensive litigation involving Fulton County GA......What was the basis for issuing a search warrant?
I am still looking.
A grand jury might not indict a ham sandwich, but a federal judge will let the FBI seize the sandwich for closer inspection.
I would add that they can't indict anyone. The federal (5 years) and state (4 years) statutes of limitations have run out.
Wow. That's huge. They will say we can't indict anyone, because the statute has run, but *if* we could we would allegedly x,y, and z... . I think the only saving grace (maybe) would be a Democratic House making Pam Bondi come in and explain under oath.
Why? She lies in her sleep and refuses to answer questions. What would we do, impeach her? Fat chance of that.
It's what impeachment is for. If a Dem House impeaches her and the Senate does not convict, then those Senators will be made to explain...etc.
Impeachment and conviction would fail. But it is still another issue to hang the anchor around the necks of Republicans in the mid terms. And further down the line, another to weigh JD down in 28.
Oh, this should be fun.
If they seized hardware, could they learn more about the operations of vote counts so they could affect it for November? What can that hardware vendor do to increase security for November? How many states use it?
These are my questions.
I suspect that MAGA has slowly-- in pieces-- gathered access to hardware and software. I believe one of the hardware companies was recently purchased by a Trump donor. In Colorado/Peters case MAGA got access to passwords that would have enabled corruption of software if the passwords were entered into the hardware. There was copying of software and sensitive data in Michigan in 2023 I think. An election official in a county in a southern state gave MAGA full access to election equipment after 2020.
I’m sure that there are loopholes the can allow this.
A MAGA sandwich is very tasty. If you are MAGA or a psychopath. Actually, in a Venn diagram, both reside within each other.
Like a Veggie Sub at Subway, a MAGA sandwich is "Nothing, with everything on it."
Sounds more like Arby s to me.
Hey, watch your mouth about Arby’s, their bbq brisket sandwich is awesome!
Arby's is to a Subway Veggie sub as an actually stolen election is to "the Steal."
There have been several Trump targets lately who have been less indictable than a ham sandwich. What does that say about the DoJ?
Or change it to turkey.
And make sure it's made with white bread.
The FBI has its orders. Fraud will be fraudulently proven. The evidence of false proof will be destroyed.
Yes, but now they know that we know that they know what they did.
Right along with the Epstein documents.
I think the basis is that now they can assert anything they want about the material seized, including that it all arrived by mule.
And it contains bamboo fibers.
Brought to you by Italian satellites
Don't forget the Jewish Space Lasers!
I hear Hugo Chavez signed them all personally.
Eternal ego agrandizement.
Yes, I'm very interested in what basis, on what evidence, this warrant was issued.
"Basis? We don't need no stinking basis!"
Latest whim of DJT.
None whatsoever.
I would also point out that the criminal statutes of limitations (both state and federal) have run and it's probably too late for a civil suit as well. So, what is the basis for the search warrant?
Distraction. The nation has been too focused on Minnesota and state executions there. The stars have been Noem and Bovino, not poor Donald. It may be the only thing he is good at: starting new fires to distract people from the still-burning fires he started earlier. What a shitheel!
100%. I was just saying yesterday I was looking for some big distraction this week to take away from the pile of poop they're sitting in with executing citizens. I thought it would be something like pardoning Maxwell, but this is right up there.
The warrant proves a crime was committed, in MAGA-think, just as asking Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden corruption in Ukraine proves there was corruption, even if no investigation was then initiated.
Yes, this is how he operates, "just say it and I'll get everyone to repeat it, thereby making it a fact"
Paging David Court! What say you?
Same here. Search warrants have to specify what they're looking for and if I'm not mistaken, on what grounds they believe they're likely to find it. When does all this cross the line into anarchy?
Here is the warrant. Questions about evidence and basis for the warrant remains unanswered.
https://x.com/bluestein/status/2016624170293956723
The search warrant is also referring to federal criminal offenses which have 5 year statutes of limitations - which ran out in early November of 2025. It was signed by an appointed magistrate, not the Senate-confirmed district court judge.
You know..."Just 'cause."
DJT s cause
I would like to read Fanny Willis' indictment of Trump in Georgia. I don't know whether that's possible.
That any judge would sign off on this warrant is a fucking joke. That this delusion is being investigated when Trump got away with threatening Secretary of State Raffensperger in a phone call the whole world heard is a grave miscarriage of justice.
The basis? Simple. Trump said "find [me] 11,780 votes" so he can claim he won the 2020 election. What better way to do this than to STEAL the previously audited ballots (using his personal Department of Injustice and a corrupt Magistrate Judge) and manufacture the votes by eliminating 11,780 votes against him. But that won't be enough. His DOIJ will find "hundreds" or "thousands" or "millions" of votes against him that, in his [future] words, "never should have been counted." The goal is to falsely "prove" he was a victim of election-rigging before the mid-terms to manipulate voters in the mid-terms.
Yes, but to what end? Did Elon invent a time machine for him? Whether the votes were there in Georgia, or anywhere else, Biden already served his term as president. Can't undo that, no matter how many ballots he steals.
He's manipulating the Past to control the Future. In other words, it's a direct manifestation of George Orwell's warning in 1984: "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
yup. He gotta come up with some insanity BS to cancel the mid-terms cause he knows hes gonna get killed.
Agreed but at the same time he and his buddy Steve Bannon are going to throw as much shit against the wall as possible just in case he can't cancel the mid-terms.
I think you are correct in regard to what use can the 2020 ballots,etc.,be put to by them in regard to trying to invalidate the results in 2020, but that has no chance of success for many reasons. But how would they be able to "manipulate" voters in future elections by making the laughable claim that the 2020 results will happen again in the future?Unless they are able to get the local election officers to completely falsify election returns, there is no way they can stop people from voting in a fairly conducted election.
but how? How can they poison the mid terms and beyond ? I'm not seeing a way. Ideas?
James, Jay Kuo just put out a Substack post that presents the issue far better than I. It's worthwhile reading.
https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/theyre-seizing-the-ballots-and-voter?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
They should store these ballots in the same hidey-hole as they’ve put the Epstein files. Practically impossible to get even a vending machine receipt out of there! They’ll be safe all right.
I think there is room in Mike Lindell's Pitkin County (Aspen) hidey hole. This is where Tina Peters eluded Mesa County law enforcement for a time. (Spoiler alert, they knew where she was...).
Here's the Fani Willis indictment that never went to trial. It will be interesting to compare Trump's assertions regarding what was seized with its contents.
https://www.fultonclerk.org/DocumentCenter/View/2108/CRIMINAL-INDICTMENT?utm_source=chatgpt.com
It should be interesting too to review the cases of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
The basis: "They're just asking questions."
Dan. Thanks for posting. “On what basis was the warrant issued” is THE question demanding an answer. Please share what your research reveals. What tortured legal logic could have justified the issuance? Puzzled and vexed beyond belief. … Don
Just saying - if Trump did win in 2020, that means that he was elected president twice which is the limit per the Constitution which then means that he is serving as president illegally this time around.
And needless to say, since this whole insane thing is just one more example of trump's lifelong mental derangement, Georgia's electoral votes would still not have given him enough to be legitimately elected.
If he can steal it here, he can steal it anywhere.
He will steal the election. This whole thing about Georgia is a ruse so they can convince everyone if the federal government can prove state elections are fixed, the Federal government will have to take over state elections. Look at the big picture.
I was right about ICE being used at polling places. Bondi already announced that they are removing ICE if she gets MN election data. Why!?!
New York, New York!
🎼😉
True, but his excuse would be that he was unfairly denied the presidency; which in the MAGAverse means that an authoritarian kakistocracy is not only permitted; but required!
I’m becoming a Trump whisperer…:)
I know how you feel. It so obvious what they are really doing under their bullshit claims.
Exactly, yet the MSM still only knows how to cover the spectacle, leaving there audience even more ignorant of what’s actually happening.
Sounds like an interesting cable TV series:
Each week you visit a "normie" Republican home and help them bring their MAGA relative back to civilized society's behavioral standards.
Becoming a Trump whisperer! Things you never imagined possible.
Touché!..:)
That's not good...;)
Do you really think the rules apply to him? Do you honestly think he won't be president again after this term is over? He will be president for life. There won't be anyone to stop him since they are already trying to fix the midterm. And NO ONE is stopping him. Bondi, Miller, Voight, and the Project 2025 have been planning this for years.
As I get older I am less inclined to predict the future with any degree of definitiveness. However, my current guess is that it is most likely that Trump will not be president again after his current term is over.
Of course, it does appear likely that Trump will try to stay, but we in the pro-democracy camp do have agency. We can attempt to thwart him in variety of ways if we choose to do so . . . instead of passively assuming that all is lost.
I hope so. I believe what we are seeing is an attempt to fix the midterms. Bondi demanding voter info and probably sending ICE to guard polling places.
So, if true, is your solution to abandon the country and move elsewhere?
Nice analysis! Hadn't thought about it that way.
Congratulations, America. You elevated a malignant narcissist to the presidency for a second time. You were warned not to do it, you did it anyway, and now you've condemned us all to watching Trump's incurable sociopathy in real time. And people wonder why I'm such a misanthropic SOB.
On a side note, my wife and I watched "The Dead Zone" last night, and watching Martin Sheen play a populist senate candidate with eyes on the presidency who believed he spoke for "The People" hits differently these days. Especially when Christopher Walken could see a future where Sheen's character initiates a nuclear war.
Seeing you describe yourself as a misanthrope made me feel better about my own rising misanthropy. This counts as our support group, maybe? I go for days without seeing another person, and I find myself stretching out those intervals. Because when I go out, there’s a lurking knowledge that 38% of the people I encounter would be fine with shooting me down, over my political preferences.
I'm "locally kind, globally cynical", and I have lost patience with people who either don't understand or don't give a shit about the consequences of their actions.
Perfectly stated.
Living in the Deep South, I am "globally kind, locally cynical."
I can only imagine, Weswolf. Yikes.
I went into lockdown during COVID and never came out. When people accuse me of misogyny I always tell them that I am a misanthrope--- an equal opportunity hater.
Since lockdown, there have been a handful of testimonials from people who found it enhanced their wellbeing. I have to admit, I have fond memories. But I live alone; I think it would be much harder being cooped up with others - which is paradoxical to the urgent advice at the time to “check on your neighbors who live alone”. At the time I thought that was hilarious because I was more worried about the opportunities for domestic violence in other households.
It's funny, my wife and I got out of COVID lockdown in one piece, and being in lockdown wasn't a horrible experience. We both looked at it as a short term inconvenience and knew it was important to do social distancing to keep ourselves and those we loved safe. The fact that millions of Americans resented having to do something for the greater good confirmed for me that a lot of us are overgrown children. And the fact that millions of Americans don't hold Trump responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths also betrays their moral poverty.
Wow. The words on this thread could have been spooled out of my own neural network.
(Mixed metaphor?)
We're on the same wavelength and very nearly in phase.
Gravity attracts like minds.
Yes, I am constantly aware that the guys with Punisher stickers prefer to punish educated women (always have). That's been true since before those stickers were invented. Volunteering keeps me sane. There are really great people out there helping. Honestly, if I weren't working at the food bank / rent assistance house a few times a month, I probably would've become a paranoid hermit by now.
There was a great essay in NYT about a week ago, examining the familiarity to all women with the brief video clip of Renee Good smiling sweetly at a menacing man and saying “Hey, Dude . . .” The point being that women spend a lot of energy daily trying to defuse angry (or potentially angry) men. It really resonated with me. (It’s also called “trauma fawning”). Women are in training from childhood not to make men angry. I suppose “beta males” also have similar familiarity, but they are a few rungs up the ladder from most women.
So much energy! And then I flash on Rep. Omar charging the guy who sprayed her. Damn, that was good!
I don't know her history, but I do want to acknowledge that her experience of trauma is likely pretty horrific. I don't want to seem to make light of the likelihood. I admire her; I bow to her.
I was equally impressed with Rep Omar’s reaction - she even put her fists up! Damn, I want some of that! If she could bottle it, I’d eagerly spritz myself with it.
JF - your last sentence: same here. Clarifying
I walked into a store that sells off road vehicles, because they also sell a battery operated chain saw that I wanted to price. The MAGA vibe was so thick I could barely breathe, so I left quickly. The saw price was 3X the Amazon price. So I’m stuck with Bezos.
And another detail about my aborted retail experience: I anticipated that MAGA ‘vibe’, so I didn’t put on my usual mask. What a weird submission. I’ve had Covid twice, with lingering consequences, so I always mask indoors in public places. But I also knew a mask would “out” me. So I made the decision to put myself at risk, just to engage briefly with MAGA. It’s an uncomfortable admission.
Safety first my friend
It’s like walking a tightrope, trying to parse where safety lies. Or, more relevant, where risk lies.
Women do this from the time they are, what. 5?
Where I live, wearing a mask is like walking around with a neon sign that blinks, "I'm a Democrat! Don't spit on me!"
One of the things that makes me MOST [insert negative emotion here] about the pandemic experience was that I REALLY hoped that one of the permanent marks it would leave on American society would be that we might normalize the idea of some people wearing masks sometimes because:
1) It's a good way to go around in society if you are sick, but not so sick you need to be at home or you have something you really need to do. A conscientious sort of act.
2) You might be immuno compromised or be around someone who is so it's a reasonable ask. A pro-inclusion or disability sort of act.
3) You have something coming up in your life that you REALLY don't want to be sick and miss
That's not an exhaustive list anyway, but you get the idea. I really hoped that 5 years later we'd have a world where everyone though that a random person you encounter wearing a mask was perfectly reasonable and not something you questioned. The fact that instead it became political and for tons of people the OPPOSITE happened makes me feel so [insert negative emotion here] I can't describe it.
Agree. To my surprise it went the other direction; it’s a political marker to some people in some settings when you wear a mask, and provokes hostility. In more benign settings, like waiting at Costco for a vaccine, people jump up and offer you their chair, assuming you are frail. It’s a mixed bag, depending on the very local demographic.
Yeah it's so strange... I was really optimistic we'd get to a place where things I personally have done (that seem like no big deal) would be unremarked upon like:
1) I went to a convention with 25000 people and so the next couple days in person at work I wore a mask because it was pretty likely I'd get "con-crud" even though I didn't have symptoms yet or
2) I'm going on a vacation in two weeks so I wear a mask beforehand when indoors with strangers so that I don't get sick and have a terrible time or miss the trip
It truly baffles me that there are people out there who would judge me negatively for BOTH of those. One of them is even selfishly motivated! Shouldn't everyone who loves Ayn Rand and says empathy is for weak soyboys be down for thinking of myself?!
Yep. Empathy went into de-evolutionary mode.
Because of a small auto emergency, I walked into an AutoZone in my Indivisible t-shirt this summer. Didn't think until I was inside the door. Sobering.
I felt the usual testosterone fugue, but nothing else. Then I realized they didn't know what Indivisible is. At that point, I didn't know if I should be relieved or disappointed.
P. S. I've dealt with the testosterone fugue for a long time. At 72, I didn't have to deal with the lengthy, lingering gaze at my breasts. Which is not to say that they didn't look. There's no lost sense of safety for me to mourn.
Thank you. The validation feels reassuring. I’m 73, and I still don’t feel safe. I keep waiting to become “invisible” to the male gaze, but now I know my feminine “assets” are a car that runs and a roof over my head. That’s what they want; just like a “nurse with a purse”.
As to wearing merch; I have a great Bulwark sweatshirt that I never wear for the reasons we are discussing. I agree; the random MAGA probably doesn’t have any idea what the Bulwark is, just like Indivisible (I’m also a member of my local).
Cinema is a trove for a propos material. My MAGA friend is starting to binge old films noir, and I suggested she watch “A Face In the Crowd”, with good ol’ Sheriff Andy (Griffith) and Walter Matthau. She loves them.
When we were watching Sheen chew scenery last night, all I could think of was Umberto Eco and his description of our fascists claim to speak for "The People" and appeal to the grievances of the electorate. Sheen's character is smarter than Trump but just as megalomaniacal. It was unsettling to watch.
“Donald Trump is the kind of guy who tries to steal elections. He’s now presiding over a Justice Department that seems primed to help him try. And we cannot permit any scandal of the moment to drive this fundamental reality from our minds.”
Clearly, it’s about stealing the election, not just pettty revenge against Brad Raffensperger; he’s just the excuse.
They seized voters rolls, the same information that Noem was trying to extort from Minnesota. And we don’t know if they have access to the actual computer systems which could give them much needed data to fix voter machines.
Moreover, a Colorado republican is currently serving jail time for a similar crime, and several GA republicans were on trial for trying to do the same in a rural Georgian district after the 2020 election; the case was dropped after Trump won the election (Both federally and state).
Therefore, it’s apparently legal now to steal voter information, and if anyone still thinks that Trump won’t they to steal the election, or could possibly succeed; then they haven’t been paying attention!
The real question we need to ask ourselves is why? He won’t win any lawsuits and would open his administration up to depositions (further embarrassment), which makes me believe something more nefarious is afoot. IMHO…:)
https://www.gpb.org/news/2022/09/20/video-shows-unauthorized-access-georgia-election-equipment
I’m seeing regular exhortations from Democrats online to quit saying “they won’t allow elections”, because elections are run by the states. But that’s quibbling over verbiage. The big issue is that we all know they are working to undermine the next elections. A distinction without a difference, in terms of outcome and peril.
There’s a very important difference between not allowing elections and undermining integrity of elections: How much everyday people should pay attention to and engage with the electoral process. If elections aren’t going to happen, there’s no point in checking that you haven’t been purged from the voter rolls, helping others register to vote, becoming a poll worker or election observer, getting to know the names and backgrounds of the people running your local elections, or planning for rapid response protests and legal actions if election results are improperly overturned. Whereas if elections are going to be held but subversion attempted, it’s important that as many people as possible do those things.
Yes, I think that’s a valid extrapolation of the risk in saying there won’t be elections. I also think that canceling the elections outright would ignite commensurate outrage, whereas tampering with results will be much harder to fight because we’d have to find it. And that’s why they are probably scheming for undermining rather than outright canceling. The talk of activating the Insurrection Act is the foundation for canceling; I think they are keeping all options on the table.
I think we need to do some more explaining to combat the notion of state run elections as some sort of panacea. I have no doubt my own state, being cherry red, will have no problems from Trump. Blue cities in swing states will have a lot of problems in targeted precincts and districts. Same with red states trending purple...like Georgia with their Dem Senator up for re-election.
I have a memory of preparatory “war gaming” prior to a recent election involving Trump. Was it 2020? A group of professionals (bipartisan?) gathered to consider a basket of scenarios, and come up with prevention strategies and correctives. I wonder if similar exercises are ongoing now - we definitely need it.
I remember that too, and think Bill Kristol was part of one. You can bet Mark Elias's group is heavily engaged in that kind of thing.
Thank you. Maybe now they are keeping it under wraps this time, as the temperature grows hotter.
It would be wise to not jabber about it. Loose lips sink free and fair elections.
I see where Your ex senator John Tester believes the next elections could wind up on the order of 1932. I also saw a poll where the majority of Americans feel this country is in decline. Fertile grounds for a reset.
I don't think the notion is used as a panacea. It is a tool to be used. Not a magic one that will erase all attempts at federal domination of elections, but it exists.
State legislatures can pass laws making vote by mail more available to their residents but they must do so quickly. If a successful vote from home campaign can be launched it is possible that not many people will show up at polling locations and will instead use alternative means to cast their ballots.
Working to undermine is not the same as "they are going to steal the election." One is about attempt—which we can fight to stop—the other is about them succeeding, which we can't do a thing about. One is possibility, the other fait accompli.
So no, it's not a distinction without a difference.
I see your point, and I made that distinction in a further comment. I meant that the outcome might be the same, but I agree that one is easier to fight, because it’s more overt, than the other. They both have the same end result if they succeed; tyranny.
I read your comment again, and I still think that undermining is pretty equivalent to stealing an election. My response above is comparing undermining versus canceling.
Yes, and they're doing it right out in the open. They learned in Minneapolis they can kill citizens with impunity.
They are doing everything horrible out in the open now, which is a very concerning change. Examples are the Nazi mimicry and the open racism. The familiar phrase, “It’s not the crime; it’s the coverup that gets them”, no longer applies because they aren’t covering up their illegality.
Exactly…:)
Yes, you are 100% right. When I saw ICE beating people who are clearly not immigrants. Minneapolis is a trial baloon to see if they can get away will jack booted thugs beating and intimidating cities. Apparently they can. Expect to see ICE at your local polling place if you live in a Blue State. They will say they need to prevent illegal immigrants from voting.
Wear a MAGA hat when you go to vote. They will leave you alone.
“Wear a MAGA hat” is another version of why I have always flown flags on my remote property - I wanted those types who have hijacked our flag to leave me alone. Two days ago I took down all my flags. “Enough is enough”.
Great advice…:)
Trump’s insatiable need to distract us from his pedophilia and his cold blooded murders of American citizens.
He distracts us from his murders, by murdering more.
Attributed to Stalin, "One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic". Trump is the tragedy visited upon the United States for our hubris.
Let’s hope he doesn’t advance us from “tragedy”to “statistic”. I like your use of “hubris”. I haven’t heard much lately about American Exceptionalism. I guess it was replaced by MAGA. Basically a repackage of hubris.
That there should no longer be elections is a view shared by more in his camp than just Trump himself.
In my humble opinion, DJT is fully aware that he lost in 2020. Deep down he knows and understands that the weight of evidence is overwhelming that this is the case. But there are two other, more powerful forces at work here.
One, he needs constant attention, and on topics that he thinks help him rather than hurt him. Thus every so often he brings it up to ensure that people keep talking about him, on his terms, aware that the media will reproduce nearly every burp and hiccup from him as a news story even when it clearly is not. (Memo to media: not everything that a President, especially this one, says or does is worthy of so much attention and analysis. Take a pass on this and find some other stories to share. There are plenty out there to choose from.)
Two, he knows that his base needs rocket fuel to hold their attention and keep them engaged as willful allies in keeping him out of trouble. Therefore he eagerly brings the stolen election lies out of his Greatest Hits package and performs them again on stage, his own personal Free Bird moment in front of the adoring audience. He pontificates, they listen. He demands, they comply. It's an old playbook, but sadly an effective one with low information and tribal voters, both of whom will always be there for him on demand.
Sad that it has come to this, that our nation has reached the depths of having a toddler for a leader and an electorate that largely has shut down both its objectivity and its critical thinking skills. But you know that. We can only hope that this runs its course sooner rather than later and, aided and abetted by some major mistakes such as the murderous and brutal ICE fiasco, the worm will turn and people will tire of the antics of these opponents of true democracy and give-and-take governance. Fingers crossed, but with only guarded optimism.
“In my humble opinion, DJT is fully aware that he lost in 2020. Deep down he knows and understands that the weight of evidence is overwhelming that this is the case. But there are two other, more powerful forces at work here.”
Agreed, this is nothing more than kabuki theater and meant to galvanize the base; as well as to gaslight the rest of us.
Trump learned from the best: Roy Cohn, who famously said and reinforced this idea to Trump, “if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it.”
And sadly, Mark Twain’s famous quote is equally true: “it’s easier to fool a man, than to ever convince him he’s been fooled.”
Therefore, we’re dealing with too competing ideas which complement each other, and the reason we landed in purgatory; on our way to hell! IMHO…:)
Deutschmeister - one of his advantages is, he has so many scandals to draw on. When one heats up toward the danger zone, he can push the public chatter to a different one, thus relieving pressure against the first. Keep the plates spinning, no one of them falls.
He is expert at manipulating a political media that seems to be very willing to be manipulated by him.
Trump may try to reroll the old playbook, but it's up against some strong head winds. His base is pissed about the Epstein files and he now has the Article Two diehards just as angry. Releasing the week old video of Pretti is an example of trying to bring back the assassination meme. Except, if Pretti was out to assassinate agents, why kick out a tail light when he could have shot them?
Stephen...Miller? Colleen has a question.
His base doesn't care about pedophilia. They really, really don't. It was all fun and games when they were talking about taking down Bill Clinton. But now that there's a chance actual pedophiles might be caught up, well, that's a road they don't want to travel.
1 in 9 girls and 1 in 20 boys under the age of 18 experience sexual assault. This is an issue that reaches into our Heart of Darkness. It's not just MAGA - most people really don't want to talk about it.
https://rainn.org/facts-statistics-the-scope-of-the-problem/statistics-children-teens/
You have some good points there. But his base has pretty much dropped the Epstein files storyline because it hasn’t led to scenes of Bill and Hillary being frogmarched in handcuffs. And Pretti kicking out the taillight and memes of him in a tutu orders prove, to their way of thinking, he’s a dangerous pervert who deserves what he got.
Latest polling on the Epstein question does not show a significant drop in GOP support for releasing the files. It's still a very strong issue. MAGA may still get their Bill Clinton, they just won't get the libtard tears they crave.
Influencers can have all the memes they want, but the right to a gun is a separate issue that even Kyle Rittenhouse gets.
Epstein files???
They may be against the Epstein files, but that doesn't mean the midterms wont be fixed. And it doesnt mean Republicans won't still vote Republican.
They may sit home.
That's a win I'm working for too
Deep inside, there is a little voice telling him he didn't win. But I believe that with his constant repetition, he has deluded himself as much as his cult. He can't admit to himself that he lost. Truly.
WashState - sometimes I consider that his "power of positive thinking" mindset ("positive" meaning in his self-interest, not objectively positive overall) really doesn't process the world in terms of truth or morality. At all.
Does a velociraptor think about truth or morality? No, it processes what can be consumed, and what is best avoided. That's about it. Not how I process the world so yes that seems alien. There's no rational discussion with such a mindset.
How to resist that without becoming that - there's my challenge
Yeah the killing of Pretti diverted attention to the actions of ICE/CBP and the administration's attempts to turn attention to the evils of protestors didn't work, so it's time to change the subject. I think it was on Mad Men where a character said "If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation."
Deutsch: I think you're missing the fundamental nature not just of Trump, but Trumpism. The base (as in subconscious) reason Trump is idolized by his base. His actual superpower:
He can reverse reality by the force of sheer will.
Your analysis projects Trump as a Machiavellian: a more or less rational schemer pulling levers inside political realities. But he's a malignantly narcissistic psychopath. His brain works different.
The key difference: knowledge is either fungible or irrelevant altogether. So he's aware in some sense there's a reality in which he lost 2020 fair and square. He does know, in his cognitive faculties such as they are, that the weight of the evidence overwhelmingly points in that direction.
But you have Trump's deep down totally backwards. The deepest bottomless trench of Trump is one Janus-faced jackal of pathological narcissism resting on another all the way down. I am hollow, but I am all.
Which is why, beyond doubt, that evidence must be wrong. There is some other explanation, because there must be. 'I lost... But I can't lose. I am after all the greatest winner of all the winners that have ever won. So I must have won. Because I must have won I did win. In Minnesota, too, three times.'
Yeah, Triumph of the Will, but at an even deeper level than Riefenstahl worked to show.
But maybe that deeper level has always been at the root of fascist movements. Because what I see when I look at MAGA is this: a hatred of reality so strong it manifests as a war against reality; it's aim not merely an escape from reality but a reversal, flipping it on it's head, a triumphal celebratory episteme of the upside-down.
But you can't have a war without knowing there's an opponent. So at some level MAGA is "aware" there's this reality that exists in some sense, but also must be reversible. Because Trump did in fact lose in reality, it is absolutely imperative to time-travel back and straighten things out.
'But that just doesn't make sense!'
To paraphrase Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, sense got nuthin to do with it.
As The Felon's Brown Shirts take the ballots from Fulton County, and then claim (as they will) that now he has proof of tampering...who's to ever see the evidence? The "Epstein Files" should be fair warning that the "declaration of innocence" will not be refuted as we might never see an unredacted file. So with the election ballots. We have to take his declaration as descending from Sinai. We're screwed!
Look how far they got without a shred of evidence.
Democrats are reportedly split over the political wisdom of demanding congress “Abolish ICE” or “Defund ICE.” Maybe the way to avoid this split and to speak with one voice is to think bigger, to demand that congress “Defund Trump” or “Abolish Trumpism.”
Those cowed coward corporate Dems just don't know how to fight on the field of language. They continually concede in advance to the terms emerging from the right-wing propaganda machine.
OK, sure, "Abolish ICE" has some definite political drawbacks as a slogan. Why? Well, it can be made to sound like "stop all policing of immigration policy" which of course, it's not. What is the case, however, is that DHS had turned the forces named 'border patrol' and 'immigration enforcement' into terror squads deployed against any perceived enemies of the regime.
Which is why you can't just say "reform ICE". Because your base has seen them execute people, knows how rotten to the core they are, that they are beyond reform, and will continue to just ignore any statutory restriction placed on them whenever they find it expedient.
So, your slogan must call for this particular army to go out of existence, an end to the actual program of violent repression, without ending the function indicated by it's no-longer-accurate names.
I was an advertising copywriter in one past life, and an academic analyst of 'the persuasive arts' in another. I can't imagine any decent ad agency, given that charge I just outlined, couldn't come up with a proposal or two that might fit the bill. If you were a corporate client launching a new campaign to sell deodorant, you'd commission three agencies to present two or three sample proposals each before picking one to ink for the final job. Why do I have no faith the Dems do anything like that?
Notwithstanding that a good anti-DHS goons campaign would likely include more than one slogan, structured hierarchically under/around a unifying concept, here's one quick take of one phrasing from this morning's thoughts of yours truly:
Disband the gICEstapo!
I have two thoughts. One, Mo Ivory stated the obvious. The truth does not matter at all in the Trump era. How can so many people either miss that fact or just ignore it? Are they brain dead? Two, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel have turned the Justice Department into a corrupt legal entity that serves Trump and only Trump!
If assertion are made about the ballots and other materials, we've got to insist that charged be presented to a grand jury. Grand juries have seemed to be their Achilles heel.
Sadly, you are 100% right. Anyone who thinks they have a shred of honesty, decency or interest in the rule if law has to get that idea right out of your head. Read project 2025. Its their play book for a US dictatorship. And they are a roll.
Minneapolis was a trial baloon.
Mark Hertling’s review of Springsteen’s new song (which I haven’t yet listened to) is the most insightful analysis of a song I have encountered.
Tim on Piers Morgan’s show was magnificent. I wanted to jump into the fray with him, and I’m sure I’d have been arrested. At the same time, I noticed Tim’s skin tone becoming dangerously flushed. I worry. I understand. How do we draw a line to protect ourselves while still protecting our democracy? It’s the question that we wrestle with daily, now. I hate it.
Where can I catch that show? Tim is always incredible on every show and puts MAGA in its place. The Bulwark is definitely a place of reason and sanity for some of us…:)
Tim’s segment was posted by Bulwark on YouTube. I think it’s also available on the Substack app. If I can find it, I’ll be back with a link. Here it is:
https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/tim-miller-federal-agents-shot-an?r=9qs5q&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
Thank you!…:)
Be prepared with tranquilizers of choice . . .
I quit drinking, and now my only vice left is weed, so I may be in over my head!…:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm8fYf53SMg
I hear you! The older I get, the less my innards can tolerate alcohol. But I am well stocked with weed! My own suspicion is that Trump declassified it, so they can ‘research’ it, prior to making it illegal again. Or add on an exorbitant federal tax. Anything malevolent would be expected.
“Meanwhile, new footage emerged yesterday appearing to show an earlier interaction between Pretti and ICE about a week before his death. In this footage, taken by media outlet the News Movement, Pretti shouts and spits at agents whose vehicle is blocking a road. As the agents prepare to drive away, he kicks a taillight out of the vehicle, prompting agents to tackle and pile onto him while also deploying tear gas into the crowd. In this instance, however, they shortly let him go.”
According to MAGA this proves that Pretti is guilty as charged (no due process) because he got into a dispute (we don’t know what triggered this), and ended up breaking a taillight on an unmarked car with people who refuse to identify themselves as government agents.
And for this, he deserves to die; he kicked a car. And if it was such a crime, he should have been arrested; no one would blame ICE unless Pretti was provoked.
Actually, if this proves anything, it could suggest that ICE, using Palantir’s advanced database platform could have targeted Pretti as a dissident, and decided to end him with a extrajudicial killing.
After all, ICE has access to the best facial recognition technology available. Just saying! IMHO…:)
Prooooobably just to kick his teeth down his throat...and then something went bad.
It’s amusing, in a dark and dystopian way, to imagine the huge warehouse where hundreds of Lilliputians are pouring through the Epstein files and then, WAIT! We have something so much more important for you to review. Ballots and election records from six years ago! We will get back to Epstein in 2029. Put everything back in the box and move over here.
Like many of you, I travel between hope and despair. The duration of my stay in each varies. Sometimes days, sometimes hours. Today I managed to travel from despair brought on by the seizure of Georgia election ballots, computers, etc. to hope in a matter of minutes. A great big thank you and a salute to Mark Hertling. His essay today has my feet firmly planted in hope. Words well written, and thoughtfully expressed. Lets see how long I stay in the sunshine of hope.
Have a great weekend everybody.
Mickey - I'm familiar with that route. Wish the distance between wasn't such a short ride these days 😉
Music has always helped my spirits in my worst times, hope you have whatever lifelines best for you. Stand strong my friend!
Homand says NOW he will ficus on REAL criminals! Wasn't what they were supposed to have been doing all this time? Who was in charge of the NOT crimminals part? Wasn't he CZar? Was he napping? Eating Cava take out? Count his cash? He just woke up? What a load...
RE: Cheap Shots
So, some profanity, a bit of airborne saliva and a broken taillight a couple of weeks ago justifies cold blooded murder today....
OK. Got it. Thanks.
I guess if my teenage grandson hits a baseball through a neighbor's window from the back yard after emulating MLB players spitting while at bat and he then mutters Damn! under his breath, I'd probably better get him out of the country, eh?
Domestic terrorist:
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/3-photos-alex-pretti-icu-nurse-killed-border-patrol-agent-minneapolis-shooting-1773533
Not domestic terrorist:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/michigan-rally-shelter-place-order-spills-capitol-building/story?id=70432928
Also, I'm pretty confident they didn't know it was the same guy or that video would have been out within minutes of the shooting.
Plus...we don't know what led up to Alex doing that. I would expect ICE was being extremely heinous.