From the Department of Here’s The News From Earth II, Where the Sky Is Green And the Grass Is Blue: Yesterday, another AP reporter was barred from attending the swearing-in of “Putin’s Girl” Tulsi Gabbard as DNI.
Thank you so much for all the work and research you put into your column! I know it must take a lot of effort. I also love your entertaining introductions to each new topic, and your hilarious and raunchy sobriquets. Substack is a wonderful source of real and timely information thanks to people like you.
Here's my Christian/Judeo prayer for Rep. Ingram: "Dear Lord, spare us all indoctrination distractions from our central mission, that of basic literacy and mathematical skills, history, the arts, and understanding of human nature. And please have our religious institutions withdraw from politics and return to spreading the word and saving souls."
As for canceling funding for scientific research, may grave afflictions land on the retrogrades who now have control of our country. I will save my sympathy for those who will be innocent victims of these sadists.
Finally, Tom and all here, keep an eye on Libertarian leaning Mark Cuban who seems to be raising his profile, possibly for a run in 2028. We need to be cautious in glomming onto him just because we're desperate for leadership and he already has a notable business record. We need to be sending messages of encouragement to local leaders who should bump their statuses up a notch. I will continue to encourage/nag our county executive to run for House rep in his district.
Any bets on the estimated per-hour charge that Elmo is using for his dodgy stooges? $500/hr? More? You know that is what his is doing for his "department of government efficiency".
Don't forget about traitor-in-waiting John Fetterman, who thinks we should "cool the rhetoric" on all this talk about coups and such.
LOOOOOVE this format. I’ve been looking for Walter Cronkite-type news that is a list of things that happened vs spending 30 god damn minutes listening to someone or a group discuss 1 thing that happened and then 2 things that MIGHT happen. Plus your hysterical humor keeps me from slitting my wrists when hearing the list of horrors! You’re our Shecky Cronkite! HOL
Tom, I love you to the moon and back. You have helped to keep me sane these many dreadful years but PLEASE when you write about polls, tell the sampling up front. It’s 3 little words. In this case after poll just add of 1595 people. Every time columnists write a “poll of Americans,” my heart sinks until I remember that 1595 people compared to over 161,000,000 registered voters (in 2022) is like a grain of sand on a beach or a drop of water in a golden toilet or a truthful statement from donthecon.
The methodology is at the end of these reports. Of course they hide it.
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,595 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3.5%.
Happy to be back and listening to your ever so succinct comments, TC. I kept wondering when the cavalry was going to come rescue us and then, of course, realized WE are the cavalry. I don't care how gargantuan the effort needed to tank these no good SOBs is, I just know it's going to happen because WE are driven and committed and have truth on our side. Keeping the faith here.
I wish these Christian nationalist g-d botherers would keep Judaism out of their grubby hands. Judeo-Christian as a concept doesn’t actually exist and they don’t understand a single thing about Judaism and it’s exasperating frankly.
Yes, Judaism as a religion being more concerned with how to live a moral life of integrity in the here and now, morality and integrity being things they know nothing of.
On the AP reporter: We are getting very close to something I've worried about for some time: is the president bound by the First Amendment? He isn't, y'know, actually mentioned in it. Just Congress (and via the 14th, the states). He isn't a state, either. though one can arguably call him a State of Confusion. I hate to THINK what our Extremes will do with this issue. If he isn't bound by it, think what he can do with an Executive Action--make the US a White Christian nation.
Reed Ingram will just come back with "year of our Lord" as proof that the Constitution is Christian.
Yeah, there is a special circle in Hell for people like Vought, who now works to ensure that other people's kids can't be helped like his daughter, or Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, who collected a $multi-million settlement when a tree fell on him while he was jogging, then worked as Texas Attorney General to limit damage awards so no one else could collect the way he did.....
Thanks for the link, Kathy - I read several of the articles - including the interview with Elizabeth Warren re: CFPB - shes continuing to fight the good fight!
Let me be perfectly clear: I do not care. I do not care that the very people who voted for this regime of bigotry and destruction are now shocked—shocked!—to find themselves in the crosshairs. I do not care that the farmers who gave 78% of their votes to the orange fascist and his sanctimonious little henchman are about to lose their livelihoods because their beloved GOP decided that feeding people is just a little too socialist for their taste.
What I do care about? My wife. My family. My friends. The people I love and the community I belong to—the one that this regime has very explicitly targeted. They are coming for us. They have said so, loudly and proudly. They have laid out their plans in broad daylight, and yet, 78% of these people still lined up like cattle to the slaughter and handed them power. And now, as their world starts to crumble, as their farms face ruin and their towns empty out, I am supposed to wring my hands? To feel some deep well of compassion for them?
No. I will not.
I am going to protect the people I love. I am going to fight for the communities they are trying to erase. I will support my friends, my chosen family, the people who are fighting against this nightmare—not the ones who voted for it. And if the rest of Red America crumbles into dust? So be it. They made their choice.
And I mean this with every fiber of my being: I do ask people who they voted for. If they say Trump, I turn and walk away. They are dead to me. Because they have made it clear that my life, my marriage, my family—none of it matters to them. And if my existence is disposable to them, then so is theirs to me.
So let them rot. Let their crops fail and their towns vanish. I’ll pay more for groceries. I’ll tighten my belt. But I will not waste a single second mourning people who gleefully voted to destroy my rights, my safety, and my future.
I have more important things to care about. Like surviving. Like making sure the people I love survive. The rest of them? They can lie in the bed they made.
Thank you so much for all the work and research you put into your column! I know it must take a lot of effort. I also love your entertaining introductions to each new topic, and your hilarious and raunchy sobriquets. Substack is a wonderful source of real and timely information thanks to people like you.
Here's my Christian/Judeo prayer for Rep. Ingram: "Dear Lord, spare us all indoctrination distractions from our central mission, that of basic literacy and mathematical skills, history, the arts, and understanding of human nature. And please have our religious institutions withdraw from politics and return to spreading the word and saving souls."
As for canceling funding for scientific research, may grave afflictions land on the retrogrades who now have control of our country. I will save my sympathy for those who will be innocent victims of these sadists.
Finally, Tom and all here, keep an eye on Libertarian leaning Mark Cuban who seems to be raising his profile, possibly for a run in 2028. We need to be cautious in glomming onto him just because we're desperate for leadership and he already has a notable business record. We need to be sending messages of encouragement to local leaders who should bump their statuses up a notch. I will continue to encourage/nag our county executive to run for House rep in his district.
Wonderful prayer! 🙏 Thank you, Judith.
Any bets on the estimated per-hour charge that Elmo is using for his dodgy stooges? $500/hr? More? You know that is what his is doing for his "department of government efficiency".
Don't forget about traitor-in-waiting John Fetterman, who thinks we should "cool the rhetoric" on all this talk about coups and such.
The word is “dodgy” not “doggy”. Please do not malign our canine companions!
No. DOGE can also be pronounced DOG-E. I was using "doggy" in the slur sense of a stupid idea, not our canine friends.
LOOOOOVE this format. I’ve been looking for Walter Cronkite-type news that is a list of things that happened vs spending 30 god damn minutes listening to someone or a group discuss 1 thing that happened and then 2 things that MIGHT happen. Plus your hysterical humor keeps me from slitting my wrists when hearing the list of horrors! You’re our Shecky Cronkite! HOL
Thanks!
Tom, I love you to the moon and back. You have helped to keep me sane these many dreadful years but PLEASE when you write about polls, tell the sampling up front. It’s 3 little words. In this case after poll just add of 1595 people. Every time columnists write a “poll of Americans,” my heart sinks until I remember that 1595 people compared to over 161,000,000 registered voters (in 2022) is like a grain of sand on a beach or a drop of water in a golden toilet or a truthful statement from donthecon.
The methodology is at the end of these reports. Of course they hide it.
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 1,595 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3.5%.
Be the first TC and let’s roll! ❤️🙏🏼🙏🏻💙
Happy to be back and listening to your ever so succinct comments, TC. I kept wondering when the cavalry was going to come rescue us and then, of course, realized WE are the cavalry. I don't care how gargantuan the effort needed to tank these no good SOBs is, I just know it's going to happen because WE are driven and committed and have truth on our side. Keeping the faith here.
I wish these Christian nationalist g-d botherers would keep Judaism out of their grubby hands. Judeo-Christian as a concept doesn’t actually exist and they don’t understand a single thing about Judaism and it’s exasperating frankly.
Yes, Judaism as a religion being more concerned with how to live a moral life of integrity in the here and now, morality and integrity being things they know nothing of.
I don’t think they know anything about Christianity either. Just bigots.
Well written. Why do I feel we’re rushing headlong into economic disaster?
Because we have the guy who bankrupted two casinos in charge.
Thanks, Tom, I especially admire your new name for the Florida version of the white house. 'Motel-A-Lardass.' a perfect nomenclature.
On the AP reporter: We are getting very close to something I've worried about for some time: is the president bound by the First Amendment? He isn't, y'know, actually mentioned in it. Just Congress (and via the 14th, the states). He isn't a state, either. though one can arguably call him a State of Confusion. I hate to THINK what our Extremes will do with this issue. If he isn't bound by it, think what he can do with an Executive Action--make the US a White Christian nation.
Reed Ingram will just come back with "year of our Lord" as proof that the Constitution is Christian.
“Project 2025 Is Gutting Medical Funding That Helped Russell Vought’s Own Kid
Its architect’s daughter has cystic fibrosis—and benefits from a “miracle drug” backed by an agency he’s attacking.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/project-2025-vought-medical-funding/
Yeah, there is a special circle in Hell for people like Vought, who now works to ensure that other people's kids can't be helped like his daughter, or Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, who collected a $multi-million settlement when a tree fell on him while he was jogging, then worked as Texas Attorney General to limit damage awards so no one else could collect the way he did.....
Thanks for the link, Kathy - I read several of the articles - including the interview with Elizabeth Warren re: CFPB - shes continuing to fight the good fight!
Geezus, three weeks in and my ass hurts, fascism sucks! but I already knew it would because I can read.
Well said, Tom.
MAGAMorons are screaming that egg prices are skyrocketing "because Biden killed all the chickens!" I am not making this up.
Let me be perfectly clear: I do not care. I do not care that the very people who voted for this regime of bigotry and destruction are now shocked—shocked!—to find themselves in the crosshairs. I do not care that the farmers who gave 78% of their votes to the orange fascist and his sanctimonious little henchman are about to lose their livelihoods because their beloved GOP decided that feeding people is just a little too socialist for their taste.
What I do care about? My wife. My family. My friends. The people I love and the community I belong to—the one that this regime has very explicitly targeted. They are coming for us. They have said so, loudly and proudly. They have laid out their plans in broad daylight, and yet, 78% of these people still lined up like cattle to the slaughter and handed them power. And now, as their world starts to crumble, as their farms face ruin and their towns empty out, I am supposed to wring my hands? To feel some deep well of compassion for them?
No. I will not.
I am going to protect the people I love. I am going to fight for the communities they are trying to erase. I will support my friends, my chosen family, the people who are fighting against this nightmare—not the ones who voted for it. And if the rest of Red America crumbles into dust? So be it. They made their choice.
And I mean this with every fiber of my being: I do ask people who they voted for. If they say Trump, I turn and walk away. They are dead to me. Because they have made it clear that my life, my marriage, my family—none of it matters to them. And if my existence is disposable to them, then so is theirs to me.
So let them rot. Let their crops fail and their towns vanish. I’ll pay more for groceries. I’ll tighten my belt. But I will not waste a single second mourning people who gleefully voted to destroy my rights, my safety, and my future.
I have more important things to care about. Like surviving. Like making sure the people I love survive. The rest of them? They can lie in the bed they made.
Considering his diet, I don't think Dilbert has any taste in his mouth, either.