Constitution

They Never Miss An Opportunity


POST 1230

Last March enough Democrats, wimply led by Captain Cave-In Chuck Schumer, voted to advance a 6-month government funding extension – a continuing resolution of our then-current spending. They did that because, o’ golly, stopping that funding would have shut down the government. Then the Republico-fascists passed Trump’s Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad budget bill, which reality show dweeb Trump signed on July 4.

That funding bill is the grease to the wheels of lawlessness that everyone saw coming because the undermining of our Constitution, Project 2025, was in plain sight for everyone to see. It and the Republico-fascists promised to do all the terrible, horrible, very bad things that are happening today. Trump and our congressional Republico-fascists stood up proudly and said, “We don’ care ’bout no stinkin’ We The People.” Turns out they were right. They really don’t care.

But at 12:01AM on October 1 the government officially ran out of cash because the U.S. Congress, tied into knots by stand-up-and-fight Democrats, failed to pass appropriations legislation for the 2026 fiscal year, which began that day. The federal government has been officially shut down since then.

Democrats have refused to go along with the Republico-fascists because their legislation doesn’t include an extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which would leave tens of millions of Americans without healthcare. For that moment Democrats appeared to have spine, standing up to the bullies and standing for those tens of millions of Americans.

The shut down has dragged on since then and Trump unlawfully cut SNAP (food stamp) benefits, which was especially poignant on Veterans Day because so many of our vets rely on SNAP benefits to feed their kids. He refuses to pay air traffic controllers, paralyzing air traffic. And he refuses to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which will leave (did I say this already?) tens of millions without healthcare.

Click to read Reich’s enlightening post.

Happily, the American people blamed the Republico-fascists for the shut down, as well they should. Democrats were riding high, partly because Trump was shooting himself in the foot with his cruelty and his failure to deliver on his promised prosperity for all. His approval numbers were abysmal and the Dems looked good because at last they were standing strong. But Democrats are not built for lasting success.

On November 10 seven Democratic senators and one independent joined senate Republico-fascists to extend funding and end the shutdown. It would be reasonable to expect that the 8 extracted mighty concessions for their votes, but they didn’t.

Lunch with the bully. Thanks to LR for this.

In fact, the 7 Democrats and 1 independent gave away everything earned in the shutdown for what Paul Simon called, “a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises.” They got a promise of a handful of magic beans.

They got nuthin’. They just caved. They wussed. For nuthin’. See this explainer.

The American people, bruised though they were, mostly by the willful, unnecessary cruelty of Trump, had stood with Democrats against Trump and his Republico-fascists. We The People suffered due to the shutdown and those 8 sold us out. We have nothing to show for that Republico-fascist-caused suffering. Nothing.

Do you remember TACO – “Trump Always Chickens Out?” Why are Democrats copying him?

Abba Eban, the Israeli ambassador to the United States decades ago, said of the Palestinians regarding making peace with Israel and creating a better life for themselves,

“They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”

So it is with our congressional Democrats. Oddly, they think we should vote for them.

My standing question is this:

Who will lead?
Goes fast, doesn’t it?

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The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those I deem inappropriate.
  7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Movie


POST 1189

I’m writing in the hours following the U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear and missile facilities and the Iranian response of their announced-in-advance missile attack on the vast U.S. military facility in Qatar. There will surely be more surprises to come, engineered by one of the world’s most awful regimes and more surprises from the other of the world’s most awful regimes. We wait for shoes to drop.

Let’s set aside the typical Trumpian stupidities:

“We’re not at war with Iran; we’re at war with Iran’s nuclear facilities.”

His bombastic claims: “We obliterated their nuclear facilities,” which bomb damage assessment experts have shown to be false.

The idiotic flip-flopping denials: “We’re not after regime change,” then “Make Iran Great Again” through “regime change.”

Let’s instead have a look at serious issues that serious minded leaders would commonly contemplate seriously with advice from serious minded advisors. Not that such advice might be seriously considered by Trump.

Whether you think the attack on Iran was the right thing to do or you see a blisteringly dumb move that is a probable prelude to something very bad happening, that attack will have many consequences.

It isn’t at all likely that, having taken a public drubbing, Iran will let go of its hostilities and go all golden retriever puppy with love for the twin devils, Israel and the U.S. They will want to hit back and are far more likely to be willing to make war than negotiate. It’s about venting rage and proving how tough they are.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is 86 years old and is not politically strong. He’s already offered recommendations for a successor, including his son, which further complicates the possibility of negotiations and the calculus of predicting what actions that country may take. We’ll leave that speculation to our well informed intelligence people, sadly led by second-raters who owe their suck-up jobs to Trump patronage. Trump will ignore all of them.

What we know is that saving face is critically important to this Iranian regime and to the culture of the country. Nobody reacts well to humiliation and even Khamenei’s detractors in the streets of Tehran will want to hit back, especially because for them this is a holy war. Did anyone at the White House, the Defense, State, Homeland Security or the Intelligence Departments consider what would happen on Day 2?

You know this from at least as far back as Colin Powell invoking the Pottery Barn rule about war: You break it, you own it. And now we own this one.

Here are just a few examples of how the Iranians might strike back.

  1. Physics and chemistry tell us that their 60% enriched uranium cannot be used as is to make a traditional nuclear bomb. But it can be used to make dirty bombs – common explosives laced with radiologically hot material. They could smuggle IEDs or bombs into any country and detonate them in crowded cities. Use your imagination to identify which places would be near the top of their hit list. Dirty bombs don’t have nearly the explosive power of nuclear bombs, but they can make a huge radius of land uninhabitable for hundreds of years.
  2. If they have sleeper cells in the U.S., they can be activated to do damage to us physically and psychologically. If you think we distrust one another now, just wait until Iranian sabotage has occurred in the U.S., some Americans have been killed and you’re suspecting every stranger you see of being a murderer.
  3. They can mine the Strait of Hormuz (see these maps) to shut down shipping of gas, oil and other goods. 20% of global petroleum output travels that narrow stretch of water and shutting it down will drive up oil prices globally and likely tank Trump’s economic agenda.
  4. They can attack U.S. forces in the area, as they did in their retaliatory attack in Qatar on Monday. Given that no substantial damage was done, this was likely intended solely for domestic consumption, a public beating of chests and a saving of face. That may likely prove to be a self-destructive action, but proud, angry people might dismiss the cost to themselves and approve yet more attacks.
  5. They can fire barrages of missiles and drones at Israel, assuming they still have substantial stockpiles.
  6. They can task their tech geniuses to create destructive cyber attacks that disrupt our power grids, businesses, defense capabilities and more.

If they did any of those things, what would our U.S. dictator wannabe do? He’s an amoral, irrational and self-serving narcissist whose mania requires that he be seen as strong, most strongly, and always right. He would insist that any Iranian aggression be countered massively. Bigly. Like nothing anyone has ever seen. There aren’t too many choices available for an all-about-me tyrant trying to show that he can pee higher on the fire hydrant than the other dog.

  1. He could order massive bombing of all Iranian infrastructure. “Bomb ’em back to the stone age” was a very popular phrase after 911, when our proud, angry people wanted retribution. So was Sen. John McCain’s “Bomb, bomb, bomb – bomb, bomb Iran” in 2008, wanting for us to show the world what tough guys we were.
  2. Trump could order 300,000 – maybe 500,000 – troops to invade Iran. That will be a forever war that will kill hundreds of thousands of people, including tens of thousands of our military men and women. We will build an Iran War Memorial on the National Mall. Trump will get to play wartime president to burnish his orange ego. But critically, he will ignore the flag draped caskets carrying suckers and losers, as they arrive at Dover, DE.

It doesn’t appear that anyone is considering what comes next, most dangerously, the President.

Will Russia, China and North Korea supply Iran with war matériel and scientific know how? If they do, what will we do?

If we learn that we didn’t “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities (we didn’t), will Trump order more bombings?

Given their stockpiles of enriched uranium and scientific know how, if Iran continues to refuse to negotiate, what will we do? What will Israel do? What might Iran do?

What will we do to win hearts and minds of Iranians? We weren’t too good at that in Iraq or Afghanistan.

We’ve seen this movie before. We know the plot and that it takes decades to end this bad movie. It will cost thousands of lives and massive treasure that creates trillions of dollars of debt that will never be paid off.

Trump will be long gone when the reality of his ever-expanding war dawns on us. By then there will be someone else in the White House to blame for his war folly. Just like when Dubya was gone and Obama and Biden took the heat for exiting his Iraq and Afghanistan war failures.

Like I said, we’ve seen this movie before. The question for us now is whether we remember the lessons of that movie before a lot of people get killed and whether Congress has the backbone to dial down the madness. Indeed, have we learned anything at all?

From his post on Monday, When Incompetence Goes To War, Dan Rather, with his many decades of reporting and his experience in too many wars, gets the last word.

Truth IS the first casualty of war.

The first things you hear often are untrue, and so are many of the things you hear later.

Wars are by their very nature chaotic and unpredictable. What you most expect frequently does not happen; what you least expect often does.

Up close and personal, wars are almost unbelievably savage. The television screen and the printed word do not come close to conveying their harsh realities.

Countdown to November 3, 2026
Mid-Term Election
Countdown Timer
Goes fast, doesn’t it?

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Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for length, readability, punctuation, typos and voluntary idiocy and to exclude those I deem inappropriate.
  7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Lessons


POST 1170

Good News First

I subscribe to the posts of some very insightful people and I’ve noticed something recently: their posts are getting longer. They have a lot to say, now that the shock of the last election has worn off and there is some good news happening.

Two weeks ago we had the April 5 demonstrations and over 5 million people showed up loud, strong, demanding and defiant. Roughly 1.5% of all Americans were in the streets that day. And yesterday a whole lot of people clogged the streets and sidewalks again in 700 “No Kings” rallies across the country.

After the election most heads were hung in despair and the question being asked was, “What can we do?” No answers were offered, other than pleadings from politicians to send them money. Now people are up and out and even some Republicans are making noises as though they have re-discovered that they have spines (gasp!).

Bernie and AOC are all over America with their “Fighting Oligarchy!” tour and drawing huge crowds – 12,000 in shocking red Idaho! 30,000 in ruby red Folsom, CA! 36,000 in LA! Tens of thousands in Utah – UTAH! Thousands stood in the rain to get into the venue in 95% White Iowa. 34,000 showed up in Detroit. It turns out that Bernie is right:

People are sick and tired of being sick and tired!
.

Change for the better is in the air, even in the presence of the stink of Trump’s grab for a crown.

Trump is doing us all a favor by being the very worst version of himself, lying, breaking laws, violating the Constitution and, most helpfully, doing things that impact We The People negatively so that even his voters are starting to feel the pain. Stealing money from granny and our veterans is enough to enrage anyone, so pray that he does ever-worse things. Then it won’t be 5 million people in the streets. It will be 50 million of us declaring that there is no American king, that America keeps its promises to its citizens and to the world and that the rule of law is supreme.

So, get out and do your part so that you’ll never be ruled by a brainless, Trump appointed, ass kissing tyrant; never be renditioned by Trump’s Brown Shirts wearing ski masks and sending you to a “shit-hole country;” so that you’ll never be smeared by his Eichmann, Stephen Miller; and never be attacked by his IRS.

Even President Obama is speaking out. Have a look/listen to his presentation at Hamilton College via Meidastouch network. For the full 1:14 conversation, click here. I so very much miss that man.

Lessons

From Hold Tight by Harlan Coben:

Why do humans never really learn the lessons we are supposed to? What is in our makeup, in fact, that draws us to that which should sicken us?

From Ron Fournier’s Substack post, Yes, Senator: In Trump’s America, We Are All Afraid

We feel for you, Senator Murkowski.

It must be scary to serve under a party leader capable of turning the full power of the presidency against you and unleashing waves of angry, potentially violent, supporters upon you.

“We are all afraid,” you told a conference in Anchorage. “It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before. I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.”

You’re right, senator. It’s not right. If you are scared — a member of President Trump’s own party with a family legacy in Alaska politics — can you imagine what it’s like to be a Democrat?

Or a reporter?

Or an immigrant?

Or a child of an immigrant?

Or a non-white person?

Or a woman?

Or a married gay couple?

Or a transgender man or woman?

Or a person on the autism spectrum?

Or a small business person dependent on imports?

Or a starving child dependent on U.S. assistance?

Or a Ukrainian?

Or a federal employee?

Or a college president?

Or a judge?

Or a lawyer?

Or anybody else whose lives and livelihoods our president threatens at a whim?

Yes, Senator. We should all be afraid.

Senator, you signed up for the brainless, violent threats you’re receiving and your failure to stand firm against the evil of extremists for so many years has allowed and encouraged the very threats you fear. You know right from wrong. Try doing right more often. That’s a lesson you should have learned a long time ago.

From my Jeez Puleeze! Journal:

 As Harry Truman (sort of) said, “If you can’t stand the heat, Senator Murkowski, get out of the kitchen.”

From Steve Schmidt, also singling out Murkowski:

[America’s Republican elites] are worthless in a fight over principle because the only principle that they truly care about is self-interest.

The thing is, we’ve seen this before in Stalin’s and Putin’s Russia, in Hitler’s Germany, in Orban’s Hungary and in so many more places where people failed to stand up to bad guys. Then the bad guys, the homegrown terrorists, turned their violence on We The People.

We’ve seen the hatred and violence in our own country in the Civil War, the American Bund, the KKK, in today’s White supremacists and the creeps who have threatened Sen. Murkowski and Georgia poll worker Ruby Freeman. And don’t forget the American Nazis, who are proclaiming that Hitler should have finished the job. That’s the kind of people we’ll get if we fail to stand up to the bad guys today.

We must remember the lessons.

Trump is building his authoritarianism one airplane renditioning of legal – legal! – immigrants at a time. So far most of the courts (but not those in Texas) are following the law. The Supreme Court, except for (guess who?) Thomas and Alito, seems to be able to locate the Constitution on a clear day.* We knew this hateful attack on our values (the ones we proclaim but sometimes ignore) was coming because Trump slimed us with his promises of cruelty. We were shown the lessons repeatedly and, as Coben said, “humans never really learn the lessons we are supposed to .  .  . “

.  .  .  until it’s so late that the price to restore our country is enormous. Trump told us what he was going to do, the cruelty, the meanness, the lawlessness, the violations of our Constitution, and still nearly half the voters, the people Trump fools some of the time and those he fools all of the time, voluntarily forgot the lessons. And now he’s SOLD Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and about 230 more legal immigrants to an El Salvador tyrant who stuffed them into his concentration and extermination camp.

We are all afraid. We’re monstrously pissed off, too. We know what to do to solve the problem. There are millions of us in the streets, almost ready to bring pitchforks and torches.

Yet again.

There is a major election coming up in 564 days. If you aren’t working on the solution, you’re part of the problem.

Courage – It’s Contagious!

____________________________________________

* And yet the Court recently agreed to hear a Trump case seeking to end birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment begins,

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

Is there anything unclear about that?

Yet the Court is willing to hear arguments against it!

Do you remember your civics class where you were taught that the only way to change the Constitution is through a new amendment? Yet these justices are willing to hear a case based on just an executive order that would change the Constitution with only a cockamamie extremist law, not an amendment. What lesson have these justices forgotten?

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those I deem inappropriate.
  7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

April 5: Fixin’ What’s Broke – v1


POST 1164

VOTE TUESDAY, APRIL 1 – NO EXCUSES. THIS MAY BE FOR ALL THE MARBLES.

National Security

National Security Bozo Michael Waltz

By now you know that Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor in Chief of The Atlantic, was included in an unsecured group text on Signal, originated by National Security Advisor (yes, really) Michael Waltz. That chat included top secret information about a pending attack on Houthi belligerents in Yemen.

The operation and text string discussion were led by the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and included 17 other administration incompetents, not one of whom had the sense to question who “JG” – Jeffrey Goldberg – was or insist that they use a secure communication system, rather than Signal, a public use platform. They discussed F-18 attacks, rocket and drone usage, timing, target damage assessments and more. That is to say, it was the battle plan, complete with information for when our pilots would be over their targets.

Let’s have a both sides compare-and-contrast.

First, imagine that this had happened on Barack Obama’s watch.

  1. What national security outrages and screams of fecklessness would congressional Republicans be howling at Obama and his top people, were they to have conducted secret plans on an open platform and had included a journalist who had no security clearance?
  2. How many firings of Obama’s top people would Republicans have demanded within the first 20 minutes of the news of such a breach of security being made public?
  3. Within how many seconds of news of the breach of national security going public would there be Republican calls for the impeachment of Obama?

But it didn’t happen on Obama’s watch. It happened on Trump’s, so:

  1. There has been no howling of outrage by congressional Republicans, although there have been many massively stupid things said in defense of the indefensible. How come?
  2. There have been no demands by congressional Republicans for firing any of the sloppy bozos who included that journalist on their unsecured chat. How come not even one of those 18 administration brainiacs even questioned who “JG” is, much less why the war plans discussion was being held on an unsecured chat line? What if the person presumably accidentally included in this war chat had been Putin suck-up Tucker Carlson? What if Tulsi Gabbard, the immensely unqualified, Russian useful idiot security risk, our Director of National Intelligence, had been on that chat? Oh, wait: she was.
  3. Why have there been no Republican calls for the firing of the incompetent 18 and the impeachment of Trump?

“The obvious point [about Signalgate] was made early: The people in charge of the country are buffoons and liars.” – David Corn

Bittersweet

48-Star Flag, 1912 – 1959

A long time ago my in-laws had a 48-star flag that hung on a wooden flagpole mounted in a holder next to the front door of their house. After they passed we kept the flag and my wife put it away carefully to protect it. This morning she came upon it again and brought it into my office to show it to me. It’s all cotton, of course, and the colors are still bright.

I refolded it the way the Boy Scouts taught me all those years ago, tucking in the ends to make a neat package and realized that this flag was from a day when this was America.

I don’t mean a day without Alaska and Hawaii. I mean a time when We The People had a shared reality and shared values and when attacking our democracy and our Constitution were unthinkable evils; a day when we not only made commitments, like Social Security and health benefits for our veterans, but we kept them, too; a day when we didn’t have ignorants talking parents out of protecting their kids from deadly diseases, when our officials understood the meaning of “Top Secret” and took extra care to protect our nation. Maybe you remember that America, too.

That is the America the overwhelming majority of We The People want. We have values in line with the values we had when that 48-star flag was new.

That’s what is inspiring tens of thousands of us – perhaps millions – to demonstrate on April 5. It will propel us to speak up on other days, too. We want our America back.

TAKE ACTION

There will be a huge demonstration in DC on April 5 organized by Indivisible, 50-50-1, mobilize.us, Women’s March and many more organizations, all demanding of TrumpMusk, “HANDS OFF!“

The beauty is that you don’t have to be in DC to stand and be counted. There will be rallies that day all across the nation. Stand tall. Make your voice heard. Being passive is the same as making yourself a victim and losing everything. You don’t want that to happen.

Click here or on the map to the right to find a rally near you. Then SHOW UP on April 5!

Pass this along to at least 3 others – and bring a friend to the rally.

And watch this.

Counting On the Courts

Are you thinking that Trump and his lackeys got away with defying the federal court order to return to the U.S. the so-called Venezuelan terrorist gang members they renditioned to El Salvador? Is it your notion that they were ordered to produce evidence supporting the deportations and ordered to justify refusing those men due process and that they got away with refusing the judge’s orders?

Judge James Boasberg

The judge in this case is Judge James Boasberg. His wife and daughter have been threatened by Trump-following thugs, but he’s standing firm and having none of Trump’s deceit, disorder and lawlessness. Read about it in Harry Litman’s piece, Boasberg Will Not Relent.

“But,” you say, “the courts have no army to enforce their orders and Trump has his Andrew Jackson smartass, tough guy attitude. Plus, he has his get-out-of-jail-free pass, courtesy of the poisonous, brain-free 2024 Supreme Court decision in Trump v. USA.”

All true, but Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), constitutional law professor and royal smart person in all things Constitution, has the antidote to the Constitutional poison. Read Jamie Raskin And The Way To Stop The Trump Administration. This piece is a don’t-miss for your heart health.

There’s More

To stop Trump we will need for our military to refuse illegal orders. That will be tough, since Trump has fired all the top brass who aren’t sycophants.

Just imagine if Trump had invoked martial law in 2020 during the peaceful demonstration in Lafayette Square for George Floyd. Trump wanted Gen. Milley to order his army to shoot protesters in the legs. Milley would never do that. Such an order would be illegal, but I don’t have sufficient confidence that the next general will have the same square jawed integrity.

Trump knows he’s going to be severely reprimanded by voters in the 2026 mid-term election. Expect him to do everything imaginable to stop that from happening, including cancelling the election*. Desperate people do desperate things, and Trump is desperate to be king.

All of that is why we need judges with a stiff spine, people like Jamie Raskin, generals with integrity and We The People in action.

In Case You’re Wondering . . .

. . . how badly Trump’s Project 2025 Cruelizers have damaged our country, read this.

And read this from STAT:

Peter Marks, the top FDA official who oversaw vaccines, gene therapies, and the blood supply, resigned Friday after being told by Trump administration officials he would be fired if he did not step down, according to press reports and people familiar with the situation.

In his resignation letter, which was obtained by STAT, Marks said that he had attempted to answer the concerns of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., regarding the safety of common childhood vaccinations.

“However, it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” Marks wrote.

_________________________________________

* He’s threatened to do that so that he can stay in office.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Un-American – Extra Urgent!


POST 1146

You know about the tsunami of Trump’s attacks on our government and our Constitution. His is a multi-pronged assault designed to destroy everything we care about, to “tear it all down.”

Vague policy explanations of the reasons to oppose and abhor this danger are insufficient to convey the urgency. This needs to be expressed in “This is how it affects you” terms. Heather Cox Richardson has crafted that for you  in an easy to understand, if painful to read, explanation.

So, this post is essentially hers. Read her essay. Take your time and feel the enormous drive to fascism that is advancing and taking everything away from us. You’ll see that Trump and his billionaire suck-ups are working to make this country into a monster, the likes of which we have fought against in hot wars and in a decades long cold war. This cadre of self-serving oligarchs is creating exactly what your values say are evil and un-American.

Project 2025 is the playbook Trump denied knowing about but he is following it to the letter. You can read a full, Mein Kampf-worthy version here. If instead you want a translation into truthful English of this manifesto for the destruction of our country, the ACLU has that for you.

This war on America is complex and difficult to stop. There are many brave people already fighting it, but there is no assurance that truth, justice and the American way will prevail.

Our standing on the sidelines watching others carry the fight is a losing strategy. Waiting for disaster to befall us before doing our part is nothing less than conceding defeat in advance.

Go read Richardson’s piece right now. Then get in the fight.

REBEL!

  • _______________________________
  • We’ll need a great leader for this. Coming Wednesday: Who Will Lead?

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

BOOM!


POST 1087

Definitions
IED:
An improvised explosive device (IED) attack is the use of a “homemade bomb and/or destructive device to destroy, incapacitate, harass, or distract.” IEDs are used by criminals, vandals, terrorists, suicide bombers, and insurgents.
Judicial IED:
A Judicial IED (J-IED) is a judicial decision that is a Constitutionally unmoored attack, a “court-made bomb and/or accountability ravaging decision designed to destroy, incapacitate, harass, or distract the rule of law.” J-IEDs are used by judges and justices to eliminate equal justice under law and are aided and abetted by lawyers, extremist activists, politicians, insurgents and demagogues, often to support, allow or encourage illegal activity and/or the elimination of rights and freedom.
JaxPolitix Judicial Review

Living in a Judicial Crisis

J-IEDs

Embedded in the Trump stay-out-of-jail-free Court decision guaranteeing immunity from prosecution for his breaking the law while president is a provision saying that in “dividing official from unofficial conduct, courts may not inquire into the President’s motives.” In other words, in any action against Trump for presidential criminality, like sending SEAL Team 6 to murder his opponents, Trump’s motives for his criminal action cannot be examined. Effectively, that prevents prosecution for nearly every obvious crime. Very handy for a presidential felon to make our legal constraints go

BOOM!

And there’s more.

Trump-appointed Judge  Aileen “Sitting on the Scales of Justice” Cannon dismissed the case against Trump for his refusing a subpoena, lying to federal agents, theft of classified documents, showing them to unauthorized persons and other various and obvious violations of the Espionage Act.

Lemming

Judge Cannon lemmingly agreed with Trump’s lawyers in their claim that Jack Smith was improperly appointed, saying that means that he has no power to indict. Claims like this have repeatedly been thrown out of court, but that didn’t deter plucky Judge Cannon from jabbing a stick in the spokes of justice.

BOOM!

The case is dissolved for now and Trump gets away with it – temporarily. He didn’t even need the immunity thing. Stand by for Jack Smith’s appeal and a reprise of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal’s smack down of incompetent Judge Cannon.* That will then be appealed to the Supreme Court by Trump’s lawyers, where obstructionist Chief Justice Roberts will sit on it until next summer.

That’s in follow up to the six black robed, black-hearted, Republican appointed justices conspiring to declare that Trump has immunity from justice for the crimes he committed as president. It’s great to be the king where “above the law” has real meaning. For the rest of us it’s

BOOM!

Now Trump can get away with anything and escape accountability, just as he’s done for most of his grifting life.

Do you see the pattern? Trump appoints judges. Trump commits crimes. The Trump judges stop prosecutions or delay them forever. Your country – your democracy your freedom and your rights – are being stolen from you and the crime is happening in plain sight.

The Future Looks Bright For Presidential Criminality

Trump asked for immunity via his lawsuit, Trump v. United States, his un-American bid to become The Orange Tyrant King, a despot, and he got it. That fascism generating decision will be the legal foundation for the Project 2025 authoritarian take down of our democracy (see this post) if Trump is re-elected. It will be the beginning of officially sanctioned tyranny in America. Watch Chris Hayes’ explanation of this Supreme Court July 1 take down of our democracy here.

This Court’s encouragement to Trump and his extremist right wing to pursue criminality stands and will continue to stand until Congress does something to erase it, a process which will require a Democrat in the White House and Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate and with fascists nowhere. We will all be at terrible risk if we don’t send Trump and all Republican extremists packing on November 5, because they will do the criminal things Trump has said he’ll do – and worse. Everything will go

BOOM!

We are at great risk.

IEDs blow up more than Humvees. They blow up your rights, your freedom and the Constitution. They kill people and they kill nations.

Apathy

There is a reason why I and so many others come back to a message urging voting and activist support. It is because we live in a nation beset by apathy over serious things.

We’re full of passion for our sports teams, the backyard barbecue and the next Netflix series. But for about 40% of us our eyes glaze over when the subject is how we decide to be governed and what we’ll tolerate.

Our government is legitimized only through the consent of the governed** – you and me. When we sit out the big game in November or tolerate the intolerable, we tacitly forfeit our voice, our hopes and dreams, and even our values to those who will not “protect and defend our Constitution and strengthen our Democracy.” Instead, they will steal everything from you and me and our apathy will have made us complicit in the theft.

The reason you and I will vote and get active to inspire others to vote is because we need to make sure nothing else goes

BOOM!

____________________________________________

* In a recent satire piece by Andy Borowitz he wrote,

In a positive development for Judge Cannon, a GoFindMe has been established to send her to law school.

Many thanks to JN for the pointer.

** From the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed .  .  .” [emphasis mine]

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”

  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016

Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:

  • Fire the bastards!


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

2024 Isn’t Just Another Year


POST 1084

Breaking News

At a rally last night in rural Pennsylvania former President Trump was shot, with the bullet grazing the top of his right ear. One attendee was killed and two others were injured by the gunman.

As he was being moved to a vehicle by Secret Service agents, Trump was seen pumping his fist in the air, apparently repeating the word, “Fight!” Two rally attendees were seen facing a TV camera and pumping their middle fingers sideways, yelling, “F*** you!” It was unclear who their target f**kee was, but their rage appeared to be aimed at the press.

It remains to be seen whether Trump will have an epiphany, if he will see the light, then use this moment to denounce violence, calling on his followers to put away their guns and end all threats of violence. The nation waits with low expectations.

Introduction

Today is Bastille Day, 14 juillet, la Fête nationale française. It is the anniversary of the day in 1789 when the French people declared they would tolerate no more of the brutality of despot King Louis XVI. They stormed the Bastille, a prison and place of torture, and freed prisoners. 94 men were killed in 4 hours.

It is almost King Louis’ kind of oppressive despotism that Trump seeks to establish. Some of that is exposed in this post. If we allow that to happen, the day will come when We The People rise up and say, “No more!” because people refuse to be abused or be slaves. On that day people will die.

We can prevent that sad and cruel story from happening. Read on.

The Draconian, Cruel World

From The New Republic:

[Project 2025] is a remarkably detailed guide to turning the United States into a fascist’s paradise.

Did reading that sentence send shivers up your spine? It should. These Project 2025 fascists use words like “patriotism” and “conservative” but there is nothing – nothing – patriotic about their unconstitutional declarations and cruelty and nothing that you care about that they would conserve. They would eliminate our Bill of Rights and its protections and freedoms. They would make this a Christian nationalist country, exactly what the Founders rejected. That means every non-Christian American will be a second class citizen at best, and likely worse.

They would eliminate women’s healthcare rights and would prosecute women seeking such medical help. They would imprison doctors who perform these procedures and all who help women in such need. They would fire all the people who work to keep us safe (food, drugs, transportation, etc.) and replace them with know nothing Trump loyalists. They would restrict voting rights to only those who will vote for fascists and they will deploy our military against us in violation of the Constitution. They will order live ammunition attacks by our National Guard against peaceful protesters.

And Donald Trump has promised all this and more.

If we fail to protect and defend our Constitution and our democracy we will be presented the American Carnage that Trump has talked about since January 20, 2017.

Click the pic for a more readable version. Thanks go to FL for the pointer to this.

Here is a chart (click it for a larger, more readable version) listing just some of the rights and freedom killers and personal safety assaults guaranteed by the Project 2025 authoritarian takeover traitors, the ones who formalized Trump’s promises. The conspirators who wrote this manifesto call it the Presidential Transition Project. They don’t name what they intend the presidency to be transitioned to, but it’s clear what they mean. The answer is (choose whatever sounds worst to you): Dictator; Commissar; Fuhrer; Big Brother; Dear Leader; Despot, Supreme Leader. Il Duce.

THIS NIGHTMARE STUFF IS EXACTLY WHAT TRUMP HAS PROMISED AND WHAT HE WILL DELIVER UNLESS WE STOP HIM.

Click me for The Union’s take on this. You can also find a disclosure of the ghastly provisions of this manifesto here.

The point is that while Trump is fumble mouthing around the cruelties in this manifesto in order to avoid losing votes, he stands for and has pledged this democracy ending agenda. Please read the list, or as much of it as you can stomach. These are enormously unpopular actions among We The People, but the authoritarian takeover traitors are promising these and more because they want to be dictators.

OVER YOU!

That’s right: This is personal.

Watch this short video from Rachel Maddow for clarity about the danger we face. And read Steve Schmidt’s A Gathering of Fascists about the upcoming Republican Bund conference.

More Horror

At every rally Trump promises revenge and retribution (“I am your retribution.”) and promises to imprison and/or assassinate his political opponents. The threat of violence is at the core of Trump and MAGA.

From Thom Hartmann, July 11, 2024, Trump’s “Secretary of Retribution” Has Been Appointed: Who is On His List?

Trump’s self-described “Secretary of Retribution,” Ivan Raiklin, already reportedly has a hit list of 350 “deep state” individuals he says they intend to try to assassinate by tricking police into attacking their homes with SWAT teams. [emphasis original]

“Look at my entire Deep State target list,” Raiklin said. “That is the beginning. This is the scratching of the surface of who is going to be criminalized for their treason, okay?”

Setting aside Raiklin’s obvious daddy issues and his poor social skills, he’s right: This is just the beginning.

Trump is promising that if he is re-elected he will round up and incarcerate undocumented people in our country, as well as American citizens. He will dump 11 million people into detention camps. Then he’s going to deport them, somewhere, anywhere, all without due process of law.

He’ll have a discrimination engine then, greased up and running at high speed. Who do you think will be rounded up next when he runs out of  Hispanics and Africans from “s***hole” countries?

Our MAGA domestic terrorists, the criminals Trump will pardon and make his Brownshirts (just as Hitler took criminals out of prison for that same terrorist purpose), won’t just be bashing down someone else’s front door.

THEY’RE COMING FOR YOU!

Click me

The folks at The Lincoln Project have spelled out Trump’s fascism for you. Just click the pic to the right and watch the video. I promise it will interrupt your sleep because you’ll know that it’s true and accurate. And it’s terrifying.

2024 is the moment when we must permanently reject fascism, like the French rejected a cruel despot in 1789. We’ll do that at the ballot box, because if we don’t, 2024 will be America’s last free and fair election.

The Democratic Candidate

Before considering this, I repeat the national imperative:

Protect and defend our Constitution and our democracy.
.

President Biden has been clear about staying in the race and perhaps he will. The only – and I mean the only – question is whether Biden can inspire voters to ignore his manifestations of age and elect both him and a Democratic Congress to stop the fascists. At the moment it’s looking very much instead like Biden is doing a Ruth Bader Ginsburg, staying too long.

Keeping our democracy demands November wins and I have no confidence Biden can deliver them. I called for him to remove himself from the race following the debate and sadly, have not found sufficient reason to change my opinion.

From Sheila Markin:

“When you are fighting for the survival of our democracy against Darth Vader and the storm troopers, it isn’t going to work to send granddad out with a rake to do the job.”

The point – the only point – is to

Protect and defend the Constitution and our democracy.
.

We must defeat the convicted criminal and his anti-Americans seeking to destroy our country, the ones who promise the “termination” of our Constitution. Stopping that requires an energized, inspiring, capable candidate, not grandad with his rake. It’s time for the torch to be passed to a new generation.

Because 2024 isn’t just another year.

This is where we make our stand.
.
Here’s Where This Gets Weird

President Biden held a rally in Detroit Friday evening. He was great! Alert, alive, inspiring, interactive, sharp. Can’t help but wonder  .  .  .  with event after event like this one, can that terrible debate bell can be un-rung? If he won’t quit the race, that is what we must hope for.

What we all must do is to stop imagining this election is between Biden and Trump. In reality, it is an election, a national choice, between democracy and cruel despotism.

We must vote at every level for whoever opposes the fascists, whether it’s a really strong Democrat candidate or a bucket of nails. Vote for democracy!

Last

Protecting what we hold dear and sacred will take all of us, so please pass this post along to others. They need to know.

Democracy is a participation sport, so get in the game! As Thom Hartmann says,

“Tag, you’re IT!“

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016

Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:

  • Fire the bastards!


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Let Me Simplify These For You


POST 1082

It Almost Doesn’t Matter Who It Is

Pundits, journalists, editorial boards and experts with bed wetting tendencies have put their advanced stages of hand wringing on public display since the first moments of the debate debacle on June 27.

Full disclosure: We were at a watch party that night with fellow democracy loving people and I confess that shortly after Biden made his opening statement I blurted, “He just gave the presidency to Trump.” He looked and sounded like a great uncle who spends his day staring into the unfocused distance. He’s just not a good model of a strong and vibrant leader for our fractious nation.

My thinking now is that Biden’s apparent cognitive abilities* don’t matter. Here’s why.

Righties will vote for Trump. Democrats will vote for the Democratic candidate. Undecideds and independents are counting on us to convince them to defeat the Trump monster.

In other words, it’s time for all of us to put away our amateur psychologist notions, our confirmation biases, our certainties and even that light saber you’ve kept for so long and instead focus solely on banishing the monster. It’s time for reality and it’s time for action and the light saber won’t help us.

There is only one overarching imperative: protect and defend our Constitution and our democracy.

That’s about our way of life, our rights, our freedoms and our safety. This is the sine qua non.

The only way for that to happen is for us to elect leaders dedicated to the America intended by our Founders, the one we know we can become, and send the faux patriots packing.

It almost doesn’t matter who the nominee is for the Democrats. It’s entirely about ensuring massive turnout so that Donald Trump never gets his hands on power – ever. That is the battle. That is the call to duty. That means that we must dedicate ourselves to voting even for a smear of brain cells in a Petri dish if that’s the only candidate on the ballot to oppose Trump. At least we’ll have a president capable of intelligence.

So, abandon your certainty that Biden should quit the race or that he should not. Your certainty is worth nothing if Trump wins.

So, Biden, Newsom, Harris, Whitmer, Moore, Princess Leia – it doesn’t much matter. We must get behind the nominee and we must agitate, motivate and activate literally all registered voters to vote against Trump and all other hateful MAGAs. Then we will have leaders who will take action to reverse the abhorrent Supreme Court decisions violating our rights and intended to obliterate our democracy.

It’s time to muscle up the courage to do what must be done. Abandon your notions of a perfect candidate because there isn’t one.

Any candidate standing in opposition to Trump will do. Go campaign with all the depth and breadth and height of your soul. Put on your big boy or big girl pants and march directly to the Democrat campaign office nearest you and volunteer your very best, your passion and your intellect, to beat Trump. Campaign for that smear of brain cells in a Petri dish, if need be. When we make democracy the winner, with gratitude and relief I will send you a red, white and blue “I BANISHED THE MONSTER !!!” sticker.

Perhaps all of that can give you some comfort in the midst of our national quit/don’t quit mania.

The Immunity Death Star Is Real

Regular reader, periodic contributor and boyhood pal Frank Levy wrote a speech for Joe Biden to deliver. Here’s a piece of it.

Beginning today, shielded by the immunity given to me by the Supreme Court, I will use the Insurrection and Patriot Acts to arrest and imprison in Guantanamo:

• every member of Congress who refused to certify the 2020 Presidential Election

• every citizen not already in jail, including Donald Trump, who participated in false elector schemes and/or the attempted overthrow of the United States government

• every oligarch who sought and seeks to buy influence in Congress and the Supreme Court

• every media/internet mogul who allowed and allows their network and platforms to spread lies and misinformation.

I will then order Congress to:

• pass a rule to end the filibuster

• set term limits on Supreme Court Justices

• impeach Justices Alito and Thomas

• make Roe and marriage equality the law of the land

• eliminate the Electoral College

• secure our treaties with NATO, Europe, Ukraine and other allies

• pass whatever other legislation is necessary to secure American democracy, freedom and justice at home and abroad.

I don’t think that the notorious six Heritage Foundation Supreme Court justices intended for all that to be possible, but they actually did make all that possible through their justice defying presidential immunology insanity.

To add one more log onto this raging inferno of an issue, Sheila Markin, author of The Markin Report, offered a cure.

The Supreme Court must be expanded and the current senior jurists – Thomas and Alito – must go to lower courts. The Constitution says they have lifetime appointments but does not say they must be on the Supreme Court for life.

Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution states:

The judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour . . .

Setting aside the implied not-good-behavior disqualifier, it’s a matter of interpretation whether Sheila’s notion of demotion of justices is Constitutional. If it is, too bad for Clarence Thomas. There would be no more obscenely expensive freebie vacations for him, nor a fancy million dollar RV.

To better understand this draconian presidential immunity assault on our nation, watch this video from Rachel Maddow.

Finally

Last Thursday was America’s birthday party – number 248. Perhaps you barbecued, quaffed a beverage of choice, watched a parade and went to the fireworks on a hot July day. Such things are what we do.

We stand on the shoulders of giants whose vision and courage were greater than most of us can imagine. They imbued us with certain responsibilities and the opportunity for greatness.

Read what Steve Schmidt had to say about that in his 4th of July message, Happy Birthday, America.

_____________________________________

* Be sure to check out the Cognition post this Wednesday. You can remember to do that, right? So can Joe Biden.

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”

  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016
  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

The Death Knell


POST 1081

The Supreme Court rang the death knell on our democracy on Monday, July 1, 2024. They announced the end of presidential accountability, something neither found nor implied anywhere in the Constitution, and declared the official start of American despotism. It was upon us instantly.

They could have easily decided the deplorable presidential immunity case months ago by not taking it, as the appellate court had rendered a masterful decision unmasking the villainy of it. Alternatively, having accepted the case, the Court could have decided in just a few days that it was trash and then dumped it into the burn pit it deserved.

Instead they put months of delay into both federal cases against Trump:

One is the classified documents case over his theft of secret documents, violations of the Espionage Act, his intent to impede, obstruct or influence federal government activity, his disclosure of secret documents to foreign nationals and illegal removal or destruction of federal government records.

The other is the case against Trump for instigating an insurrection against the United States, conspiracy to defraud the United States government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

And of course, the Court’s decision bollixed up the Georgia election interference case and made the hush money case, already decided against convict Trump, subject to review and more delay.

But the substance of Monday’s decision is far more impactful and lasting than the Supreme Court’s abuse of justice through wanton delay,

The Court has terminally wounded our country by declaring that presidents – and specifically Trump, the twice impeached, 4 times indicted and criminally convicted felon, defamer and sexual abuser – has immunity from prosecution for his official presidential acts while in office. I don’t know if that means that if Trump were to become president again that he could imprison or assassinate his political enemies as he’s promised to do, and then avoid prosecution for his crimes, but it sure sounds like that.

But wait a second: Joe Biden is president now, not Trump. It appears that the Supreme Court has just given Biden permission to commit illegal acts while he is still president and then avoid accountability. In light of that Court-created insanity, consider this.

Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our Constitution, our democracy and all aspects of our nation. There’s no need to elaborate reasons why that’s true because you already know. President Biden carries the charge to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Given that Trump is a domestic enemy of our Constitution, President Biden should rightly use all avenues to prevent Trump from harming our nation, whether Biden uses legal means or not.

He could use rendition of Trump to Gitmo. A few months of George W. Bush’s “enhanced interrogation methods” should end the threat of Trump.

Alternatively, Biden could have SEAL Team 6 do what they did to Osama bin Laden. Or he could invite Trump’s pal Vladimir Putin to send a hit squad armed with nerve gas to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Each of those would be an illegal act – well, maybe not Gitmo, given the official opinion of Dubya’s Deputy Attorney General John Yoo and his “torture memo.” But as president and while fulfilling his oath of office in an official presidential act of protection of our nation, Biden will retain full immunity from prosecution. The Supreme Court says he can get away with it. Note that the Court is silent on consequences for those who carry out a president’s illegal orders.

Of course those ideas are outrageous. But that is exactly the kind of thing Trump is promising to do if he’s re-elected.

Worse than that:

There will be no possibility of removing a criminal president via impeachment, because all presidents will be immune from accountability for high crimes and misdemeanors.
.

We no longer have any recourse.

Questions

– Can our democracy long endure under the great burden of our distrust of our justice system?

– How long do you think our nation can tolerate decisions like this one and also for us to remain free?

– Are you still opposed to Biden packing the Court?

Gazing Into The Crystal Ball

We are suffering terribly from minority rule. We have to give credit to the extremist authoritarian schemers of the past several decades for the success of their evil manipulation of us and of our system of self-rule. They’ve done an impressive job of taking away our rights, our freedoms and our safety and of amassing great wealth for themselves at the expense of the the rest of us. Now they’ve done far worse via this spectacularly un-American, extremist Supreme Court. They have permanently damaged our future.

This isn’t just about Trump’s unhinged, self-serving cruelties. The day will come not long from now when grease from his most recent Quarter-Pounder will fully clog a coronary artery and Trump will be gone. But this Supreme Court invitation to despotism will still be here and some other tyrant, perhaps worse than Trump, will take his place. Perhaps s/he will be an Afghan warlord type or an American version of a Serbian or Sudanese ethnic cleansing maniac or a slave plantation proponent who will find new ways to destroy everything you hold dear.

The pundits and legal experts are dissecting the implications of this deranged decision, but in the end it means that Lady Justice’s imperative of equal justice – blind justice – under law and our oft-announced claim that nobody is above the law are just so much hot air. Those proud declarations mean nothing.

Six supremely partisan justices have betrayed our rule of law, our nation and We The People.

.

The bell has been rung. What do we do now? *

Do you think I’m over-heated, hyperbolic, unglued and reactionary? Then I invite you – no, I implore you – to explain why our country isn’t terribly imperiled. Put your thoughts in the Comments section below. Please.

Quote of the Century

From Justice Sonia Sotomayor:

“In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law… with fear for our democracy, I dissent.”

Clarifying Video

Watch this from Rachel Maddow.

Last Thoughts

Given that six Supreme Court justices enshrined despotism in America and that their act is patently un-American and in violation of their oath of office, shouldn’t they be impeached and removed from office?

CLICK ME! Read David Pepper’s insightful words. Absorb his clarity and wisdom and take action. Apathy just won’t do. Many thanks to JN for pointing out this excellent piece.

_____________________________________________

* Click the pick above and read David Pepper’s post.

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”

  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016
  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

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    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Haters


POST 1078

I’m finding it ever more difficult to tolerate the haters. It went over the top long ago, when Trump first gave permission to White supremacists to  snarl and spit their real or imagined grievances; to beat up protesters; for cops to bang the heads of perps; and to vomit vitriol attacking “others.” This has often been done in ways that dare us to figure out if haters’ claims are more repugnant or more laughably stupid. Maybe both.

From 1984, by George Orwell:

“In a lucid moment Winston found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair. The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within 30 seconds any pretense was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people, like an electric current, turning one even against one’s will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic. And yet the rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp.”

Sounds much like a Trump rally.

Consider the idiocy unleashed in the wake of the cargo ship destroying the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Both the mayor of Baltimore and the governor of Maryland are foolish enough to be Black, so the racist attacks began almost immediately.

From Eugene Robinson’s post of April 1 (and no, this wasn’t an April Fools Day trick):

“This is Baltimore’s DEI mayor commenting on the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge,” one such troll [on Musk’s X platform] posted, along with a clip of [Mayor Brandon] Scott’s remarks [about this “unthinkable tragedy”] to his more than 275,000 followers. “It’s going to get so, so much worse. Prepare accordingly.”

Wait – Black mayor has his job only because of DEI and he’s responsible for the bridge collapse, plus things are going to get “so, so much worse?” That’s both hateful and boundlessly stupid, but there’s more. Another troll wrote as though addressing Baltimore Mayor Scott,

“DEI: Who cares when your city is going to sh-t because of drugs, increased crime, defunding police and poor infrastructure when you have a Mayor that ‘looks like you’, WINNING!!!!!”

I hate to interject inconvenient fact into this hater’s rant, but nothing – no, really nothing – he wrote is true. Other ranters went on to attack Maryland’s Black governor and a Black woman who sits on the Port Commission:

“This is what happens when you have Governors who prioritize diversity over the well being and security of citizens,” posted Phil Lyman, a Utah legislator who is running for governor of his state. “DEI did this,” posted Anthony Sabatini, a GOP congressional candidate in Florida’s 11th District, over a video clip of the bridge’s collapse.”

Pray that the voters in Utah and Florida have enough sense to send these guys packing.

Seeing the racism is one step in understanding our national quagmire of hatred, but there’s more.

Tom Nichols’ piece in The Atlantic on April 1, originally titled Is This Who You Are?, is a must-read essay. He calls for making moral choices, just as if we Americans still have morals and convictions.

The haters claim that this was intended to be a Christian nation. If you want to know what the Founders actually intended, read this. It will disabuse you of any notion that the Founders intended this to be a Christian theocracy. Indeed, avoiding that kind of despotism drove the Pilgrims here.

The mouth foamers want to protect Confederate statues, retain the names of Confederate traitors on schools and military bases and continue the fraud that is their “lost cause” of slavery and cruelty of every sort. Read Jennifer Rubin’s take on these people.

Today’s flamers are as traitorous as their revered Confederate ancestors. They are openly disloyal to our Constitution. In fact, they are pushing for a post-Constitutional America. Lest that sound to you like just so much MAGA conspiracy idiocy to ignore, what they want to do is:

PUT THE CONSTITUTION IN A DUMPSTER AND LIGHT IT ON FIRE!

TAKE AWAY ALL YOUR RIGHTS AND ALL YOUR FREEDOM!

MAKE THIS A NATION WHERE ALL POWER IS OWNED BY WHITE CHRISTIAN MEN ONLY!

No need to take my word for this. Read the Project 2025 document and it’s there in plain language. You might have to skim past the faux patriotic blather to find it.

Meanwhile, it’s important to remember that hating makes people feel powerful. It’s a drug. It is what Orwell said: a “hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture.  .  . “

But What About You and Me?

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves .  .  .

– Julius Caesar, Scene II, Shakespeare

So, we rail over the frustration, seeing and hearing those doing harm to others and even to themselves. But rather than hating them, I confess that I’m simply without respect for those who disrespect, somehow comfortable in my double standard. And the self-defeating part is that the sociologists tell us that the haters are the way they are largely because they feel disrespected. I think I may not be helping to calm our national turbulence and devotion to insanity.

I want to be better than that, but for now I’ll settle for defeating the immediate threat.

Best Quote

Inae Oh, writing for Mother Jones about reproductive freedom (you remember that thing, right?):

When knowledge is power, what happens when information goes dark? People, especially society’s most vulnerable, needlessly suffer. And two years after the fall of Roe, this suffering has crept into nearly every crevice of health care and straight into the GOP mainstream. We’ll see if Democrats can successfully get that message across today and every day leading to November.

Perhaps we can help spread the word of what must be done. Think about that as you watch the first presidential debate tomorrow, Thursday, June 27 at 9:00PM EDT on CNN.

Best Read

Take a look at Adm. William McRaven’s (ret’d) essay, How Do We Want America to Be? He lays before us a truth we so often refuse to see and a possibility – even a hope – for something better. That’s refreshing in this time of so many doing their best to dash our hopes.

It will take all of us. As Simon Rosenberg of The Hopium Chronicles reminds us,

“The magic pill is us.”

Just For Fun

In case you missed the craziest play in baseball ever, watch this from the Chicago Cubs.

And for more fun and some fine life lessons, watch Adm. McRaven’s commencement address to the graduates of the University of Texas in 2014. Afterward, you’ll want to make your bed.

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”

  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016
  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!


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    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

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