Absolutely. I agree with every word. And we all have to start adjusting to the fact that we will have President Vance before we are four years older – which for me will be 81. I am the same age as Trump minus a few months and much healthierand there’s no way I could be president even if I had been born here. Either he will be taken out by his own staff because he’s a senile ignorant fake or he will stroke out or something similar. And then things will get really bad!
hence, Tone, you should renew your British passport. if I had that option, the mere fact of HAVING it would make me considerably less anxious.
the notion of Vance--a grifting whore with what looks like a rented life--being "in charge" of anything beyond the contents of his pockets is a pretty terrifying prospect but is one we'll have to get used to. having said that, I have no idea how to accomplish it. and right now, I feel like I'm allowed a few weeks to get my bearings. having said THAT, I have no idea where to find said bearings...
In 2018, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, 10 years after surviving breast cancer. At the time, I had various goals, one being living long enough to see my non-binary child graduate college in 2019, get married in 2020 (delayed to 2021) AND to see that horrible man out of office, and ultimately incarcerated. I miraculously achieved (most of) those goals, and more -- I'm now in good health. Once again, I have new goals (with the ever-present possibility of a recurrence) - to see my kid graduate from PA school, and to see that horrible man, and all his crazy friends turned out and incarcerated. I believe I'll see the graduation, the rest I'm not so sure about. But I will do anything I can to make it a reality.
At the root are the truly historic... is Citizens United decision; emasculating Voter Rights law by roberts stench court; gerrymandering; 3 hacks appointed to court for 6-3 takeover by leo leo and the federalists; trump immunity based on no parts of our constitution... as well as Garland playing nice!
in terms of ongoing impact on the everyday functioning (or malfunctioning) of government (and, therefore, of everyday life), the Roberts Court has Taney beaten by quite a bit. the Dred Scott decision was so unsustainable that it led directly to a war that was already inevitable. these Roberts Court decisions guarantee chaos at the end, but it'll take a whole lot longer to get there.
in other words, as of less than a week after the election, things are fucked.
While all Americans, including those who voted for Trump, will suffer, it’s not certain they will blame Trump. Right wing media will continue to blame Democrats, even while Republicans hold all the power. Because FOX, ONAN, etc are all most Republicans watch, they will believe the propaganda. How we can break free from this closed circuit of disinformation is a necessary conversation.
oh they'll NEVER blame TFF. that whole thing about killing someone on Fifth Avenue and never being called to account for it was possibly the most prescient thing the motherfucker ever said.
Every word. And given what happened to Garland when Obama tried to appoint him to the Supreme Court, for him not to be aware of the treason that animates the republican party is a sign of incredible stupidity.
AMEN! And Brilliant. Biden, Garland, et al are totally culpable. They knew the dangers. They had the power and responsibility. But they failed to act responsibly and diligent. They LET people, bad people, be totally above the law. And now millions will suffer the consequences. IMHO.
I agree with every word of this. When Biden was elected I didn't fully expect but I certainly hoped that he would put together a committee to take all of the harms Trump had done this country one by one, from day one through to the end, and address each one with some careful remedy. I did not hope, but wished that Biden, while he had the House and Senate, would expand the SCOTUS. I grew increasingly exasperated while a certain opinion writer I subscribed to counseled us to be patient because Merrick G was about to do something any day now... he's just being canny about this... he's waiting for this or that condition and that's for the best in the long run... ad nauseam. Eventually exasperation became disgust and I chopped the writer off my reading list. When Jack Smith came along, we had renewed hope. Here was a real go-getter. Then the case was assigned "randomly" (hm... we were assured that was entirely possible...) to Judge Cannon and didn't attempt to claim she should have recused. We were frequently counseled to wait patiently because (over and over again) the next clearly biased action on her part would be the one that provided the Guaranteed adequate proof needed to request the case be reassigned.
It is not engaging in a conspiracy theory to note there is a network or layer of those with power, money, friendships and favors and other avenues of influence who cheat and take bribes and lie and steal with impunity because every time someone finally gets into a position to bring them to justice, the legal system suddenly becomes torturously slow and encumbered with hurdles, hearings, and the need for levels of proof (Did he Know? Can we prove it?) unnecessary when sentencing one's cousin Benny for probably having been one of those who robbed that chain store. Those on the prosecuting side slow down and begin to lose interest and eventually fold and retire. "I left it for the next guy in this office to complete. For some reason I'm no longer feeling it, but it's almost all right there"...
When I read "The immediate fate of Trump’s criminal case in Georgia largely hinges on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, is disqualified from prosecuting the matter after her prior romantic relationship with a fellow prosecutor" I think of Clarence Thomas who not only was not disqualified due to a legally binding (marriage) romantic relationship with Gini Thomas, a proven though not charged (gee, I wonder why) insurrectionist, but was not even required to recuse himself from cases in which she was involved. It pays to be one of the in crowd.
An excellent comment, I agree with everything. I know who the opinion writer you mention is, personally. Unfortunately, I am not expecting to see a notice about the sale on fricasseed crow over there anytime soon. After a conversation this week, probably never.
TCinLA Thank you, but also maybe not you guys. You may be talking about where I got shadow banned for questioning the Gaza response early on. Me - whose every word is gold (or at least respectful?) and I'm still on that one because I'm thick skinned, understanding, and think good work has to carry on. I just don't seem to need the head pets that, as a ghost person, I no longer get. Here's a thing: I sometimes ignore someone, I often respond at least once in case someone just needs to hear things phrased differently, and if someone wants to bring new perspectives to me I at least am willing to listen and question or counter so the only point in shadow banning is to preserve one's own sanity and emotional health and I doubt I really challenge that for anyone. I certainly try to bolster those, along with sound thinking, instead of bring harm. BTW, my grandfather brought a crow to my mother-in-law to cook so he could eat it when he needed to do so, and they claim it was decent, but then again she always Could cook.
I agree to your point of view, Tom. And I am not asking you to name the writer. But frankly, to some of us, or maybe just me because I am dumb, It is not crystal clear who the writer is. Even so, please no names. I can live with the mystery.
America has been running on willful ignorance for some time now and it was primed for Trump who is a one man invasion of the body snatchers who exploited that flaw well beyond the limits of credulity. We can blame the media, or the Democrats, or, more plausibly, his Republican enablers, but anyone with half an eye to see can see this guy for exactly what he is.
Well done Tom. I wish I could find something to disagree with, but I, like you, was one of those who argued that Garland was fiddling while the Republic was being incinerated. Possibly Judge Marchan will suspend sentencing for 4 years and at least give the failed insurrectionist something to think about while he turns the White House a moldy and decrepit green.
Oh, what a great day it would be if Marchan showed the guts of an Alvin Bragg or Fani Willis and actually sentenced him to even community service where he could empty trash cans in the courthouse. In the absence of any sentencing the message is clear: There is no two-tiered justice system, just one for people of little means.
The travesties will continue & be painful as we endure immunity , pardons, & a POTUS who probably never even read our constitution little less protect it. Bannon is going to lead the weakening of State's defenses after being pardoned for his build the wall con,for one. No rest for the weary. Excellent writing as always. The Ukrainian flag in my window is tear stained.
TC, I had the oddest dream last night - odd, because I almost never dream about anything political. However, I guess I must have been mulling over one of your posts from this past week in which you offered the idea of fighting back by SLOWING THINGS DOWN for the next four years. I dreamed about Garland. Truth. It occurred to me (in my dream) that we have been played by an AG who SLOWED THINGS DOWN deliberately during these past four years. Could we have been played by a mole in plain sight? That was my dream. The whole judiciary system, when looked at in retrospect, appears to have been creeping along at a pace even slower than usual. I'm not into conspiracy thinking, but this reminds me of the plot of an action film, albeit perhaps the slowest "action" conceivable. Maybe we'll look back on these past four years as the "years of the turtle."
Garland wasthe wrong guy. He might have prosecuted McVeigh, but he had become comfortable as an appeals court judge. That stuff runs slow. Whatever else he was, traitor is not one of them and we need to step away from conspiratorial BS that makes us look like left wing MAGAts.
a few years back, I had dinner with a very old friend I hadn't seen in forty-some years. his kid was there and he's an extremely well-thought-of legal historian who clerked for both Garland and Breyer. he said that Garland was scrupulously honest and very competent. going right for the most Le Carre-type scenario benefits us not at all.
that Garland wasn't the man for the moment strikes me as a lot more plausible.
the one significant mistake Joe Biden made (and kept making) during his excellent term was to give his opponents too much credit for being the sort of Men of Honor envisioned by the guys who wrote the Constitution. it's also the mistake that Biden was bound to make, based on everything we know about the kid of guy he was.
it not too many years, the historians are going to get this story right. we might not have a functional government at that time, but we WILL have historians. thank God for these little blessings.
Do not despair, my friend. All those who think Trump will "fix everything" are sadly mistaken and will be as damaged by him as we will be. I say "reap your rewards for voting as you did".
Dems must stop being so conciliatory and playing nice. The payoff has been poor for decades. Merrick Garland was Obama's effort to be centrist in his judicial nominations. There's not much quarter to yield going forward, but what there is must not be ceded. We must be the gravel in the gears to the GOP's sand. Anything less? Then we learn to love our peonage.
I think that the perfect example of Garland and Sons slow-rolling the investigations can be turned on its head. We now can use the courts to slow-roll any nasty thing Trump and his minions try to do in the next four years. When he starts whacking at the 50,000 civil servant officials, there will be 50,000 wrongful termination lawsuits to run up many months of time, and stays to prevent replacements. The killing of the "Chevron deference" means we can file lawsuits every time Trump tries to kill or butcher a regulation he doesn't like, if Congress does not approve the changes. And that does not include any civil disobedience activities by the general public or by the states. Trump has threatened to cut off all government funding from states that do not support the mass deportations, but while that might work with a red state that needed those government funds, most of the blue states actually send money to the feds and they could simply keep it at home to cover their costs. Yes, there would be lawsuits - with endless appeals, just as we saw Trump use to avoid justice. He has only four years - how much could he really get done if the full weight and sloth of the US justice system was visited upon his wishes.....?
Absolutely. I agree with every word. And we all have to start adjusting to the fact that we will have President Vance before we are four years older – which for me will be 81. I am the same age as Trump minus a few months and much healthierand there’s no way I could be president even if I had been born here. Either he will be taken out by his own staff because he’s a senile ignorant fake or he will stroke out or something similar. And then things will get really bad!
I fear you're right.
Right there with you, Tony. Age, health, and fears included.
hence, Tone, you should renew your British passport. if I had that option, the mere fact of HAVING it would make me considerably less anxious.
the notion of Vance--a grifting whore with what looks like a rented life--being "in charge" of anything beyond the contents of his pockets is a pretty terrifying prospect but is one we'll have to get used to. having said that, I have no idea how to accomplish it. and right now, I feel like I'm allowed a few weeks to get my bearings. having said THAT, I have no idea where to find said bearings...
Well, for one thing, we have to stay alive until the next election.
In 2018, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, 10 years after surviving breast cancer. At the time, I had various goals, one being living long enough to see my non-binary child graduate college in 2019, get married in 2020 (delayed to 2021) AND to see that horrible man out of office, and ultimately incarcerated. I miraculously achieved (most of) those goals, and more -- I'm now in good health. Once again, I have new goals (with the ever-present possibility of a recurrence) - to see my kid graduate from PA school, and to see that horrible man, and all his crazy friends turned out and incarcerated. I believe I'll see the graduation, the rest I'm not so sure about. But I will do anything I can to make it a reality.
another two-time cancer survivor! it's the best club I've ever belonged to, given the alternative.
I suppose a worthy goal might be to live in order to see him making spit balloons and/or paper clip necklaces.
jeez, that was soooo unkind, wasn't it?
I just successively overcame my impulse to take it back. already my heart hardens...
well there's THAT.
in your case, of course, you have kids and grand kids, which make the prospect a lot more appealing.
At the root are the truly historic... is Citizens United decision; emasculating Voter Rights law by roberts stench court; gerrymandering; 3 hacks appointed to court for 6-3 takeover by leo leo and the federalists; trump immunity based on no parts of our constitution... as well as Garland playing nice!
Absolutely. The Roberts Court is the single worst iteration of the court in history. They beat Taney.
Hands down. Dred Scott was one man. This was an insurrection against our government.
And the body of the Roberts decisions, as Louis points out with the founding worst one, have been blows from which we may never recover.
America b.1776 — d.2024.
Kids and grands, I’m so sorry.
Maybe on life support 2024.
One can only hope
in terms of ongoing impact on the everyday functioning (or malfunctioning) of government (and, therefore, of everyday life), the Roberts Court has Taney beaten by quite a bit. the Dred Scott decision was so unsustainable that it led directly to a war that was already inevitable. these Roberts Court decisions guarantee chaos at the end, but it'll take a whole lot longer to get there.
in other words, as of less than a week after the election, things are fucked.
Louis, Neville Merick. Such a disappointment. The Manchurian AG
While all Americans, including those who voted for Trump, will suffer, it’s not certain they will blame Trump. Right wing media will continue to blame Democrats, even while Republicans hold all the power. Because FOX, ONAN, etc are all most Republicans watch, they will believe the propaganda. How we can break free from this closed circuit of disinformation is a necessary conversation.
oh they'll NEVER blame TFF. that whole thing about killing someone on Fifth Avenue and never being called to account for it was possibly the most prescient thing the motherfucker ever said.
Every word. And given what happened to Garland when Obama tried to appoint him to the Supreme Court, for him not to be aware of the treason that animates the republican party is a sign of incredible stupidity.
AMEN! And Brilliant. Biden, Garland, et al are totally culpable. They knew the dangers. They had the power and responsibility. But they failed to act responsibly and diligent. They LET people, bad people, be totally above the law. And now millions will suffer the consequences. IMHO.
I agree with every word of this. When Biden was elected I didn't fully expect but I certainly hoped that he would put together a committee to take all of the harms Trump had done this country one by one, from day one through to the end, and address each one with some careful remedy. I did not hope, but wished that Biden, while he had the House and Senate, would expand the SCOTUS. I grew increasingly exasperated while a certain opinion writer I subscribed to counseled us to be patient because Merrick G was about to do something any day now... he's just being canny about this... he's waiting for this or that condition and that's for the best in the long run... ad nauseam. Eventually exasperation became disgust and I chopped the writer off my reading list. When Jack Smith came along, we had renewed hope. Here was a real go-getter. Then the case was assigned "randomly" (hm... we were assured that was entirely possible...) to Judge Cannon and didn't attempt to claim she should have recused. We were frequently counseled to wait patiently because (over and over again) the next clearly biased action on her part would be the one that provided the Guaranteed adequate proof needed to request the case be reassigned.
It is not engaging in a conspiracy theory to note there is a network or layer of those with power, money, friendships and favors and other avenues of influence who cheat and take bribes and lie and steal with impunity because every time someone finally gets into a position to bring them to justice, the legal system suddenly becomes torturously slow and encumbered with hurdles, hearings, and the need for levels of proof (Did he Know? Can we prove it?) unnecessary when sentencing one's cousin Benny for probably having been one of those who robbed that chain store. Those on the prosecuting side slow down and begin to lose interest and eventually fold and retire. "I left it for the next guy in this office to complete. For some reason I'm no longer feeling it, but it's almost all right there"...
When I read "The immediate fate of Trump’s criminal case in Georgia largely hinges on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, is disqualified from prosecuting the matter after her prior romantic relationship with a fellow prosecutor" I think of Clarence Thomas who not only was not disqualified due to a legally binding (marriage) romantic relationship with Gini Thomas, a proven though not charged (gee, I wonder why) insurrectionist, but was not even required to recuse himself from cases in which she was involved. It pays to be one of the in crowd.
An excellent comment, I agree with everything. I know who the opinion writer you mention is, personally. Unfortunately, I am not expecting to see a notice about the sale on fricasseed crow over there anytime soon. After a conversation this week, probably never.
TCinLA Thank you, but also maybe not you guys. You may be talking about where I got shadow banned for questioning the Gaza response early on. Me - whose every word is gold (or at least respectful?) and I'm still on that one because I'm thick skinned, understanding, and think good work has to carry on. I just don't seem to need the head pets that, as a ghost person, I no longer get. Here's a thing: I sometimes ignore someone, I often respond at least once in case someone just needs to hear things phrased differently, and if someone wants to bring new perspectives to me I at least am willing to listen and question or counter so the only point in shadow banning is to preserve one's own sanity and emotional health and I doubt I really challenge that for anyone. I certainly try to bolster those, along with sound thinking, instead of bring harm. BTW, my grandfather brought a crow to my mother-in-law to cook so he could eat it when he needed to do so, and they claim it was decent, but then again she always Could cook.
Scant doubt about who the writer is. There may be a decline in readership, possibly subscriptions as well.
Shouldn’t one name this mystery writer? It’s not libel. And shame is cathartic. One would be doing this writer a favor.
Not from me, I have enough ego minefields to navigate.
I agree to your point of view, Tom. And I am not asking you to name the writer. But frankly, to some of us, or maybe just me because I am dumb, It is not crystal clear who the writer is. Even so, please no names. I can live with the mystery.
Intercourse him
Merrick Garland is a disgrace. Period.
Neville Timidity Garland
He failed
He failed us
As always, a very astute and well organized and presented analysis. Thank you. It’s all so … sordid.
America has been running on willful ignorance for some time now and it was primed for Trump who is a one man invasion of the body snatchers who exploited that flaw well beyond the limits of credulity. We can blame the media, or the Democrats, or, more plausibly, his Republican enablers, but anyone with half an eye to see can see this guy for exactly what he is.
Well done Tom. I wish I could find something to disagree with, but I, like you, was one of those who argued that Garland was fiddling while the Republic was being incinerated. Possibly Judge Marchan will suspend sentencing for 4 years and at least give the failed insurrectionist something to think about while he turns the White House a moldy and decrepit green.
Oh, what a great day it would be if Marchan showed the guts of an Alvin Bragg or Fani Willis and actually sentenced him to even community service where he could empty trash cans in the courthouse. In the absence of any sentencing the message is clear: There is no two-tiered justice system, just one for people of little means.
It's not a justice system at all, just an organized set of punishments and the wealthy and powerful are only on rare occasions held to account.
Not a justice system, a legal system with all kinds of rules and punishments for the little guys.
The travesties will continue & be painful as we endure immunity , pardons, & a POTUS who probably never even read our constitution little less protect it. Bannon is going to lead the weakening of State's defenses after being pardoned for his build the wall con,for one. No rest for the weary. Excellent writing as always. The Ukrainian flag in my window is tear stained.
TC, I had the oddest dream last night - odd, because I almost never dream about anything political. However, I guess I must have been mulling over one of your posts from this past week in which you offered the idea of fighting back by SLOWING THINGS DOWN for the next four years. I dreamed about Garland. Truth. It occurred to me (in my dream) that we have been played by an AG who SLOWED THINGS DOWN deliberately during these past four years. Could we have been played by a mole in plain sight? That was my dream. The whole judiciary system, when looked at in retrospect, appears to have been creeping along at a pace even slower than usual. I'm not into conspiracy thinking, but this reminds me of the plot of an action film, albeit perhaps the slowest "action" conceivable. Maybe we'll look back on these past four years as the "years of the turtle."
Garland wasthe wrong guy. He might have prosecuted McVeigh, but he had become comfortable as an appeals court judge. That stuff runs slow. Whatever else he was, traitor is not one of them and we need to step away from conspiratorial BS that makes us look like left wing MAGAts.
a few years back, I had dinner with a very old friend I hadn't seen in forty-some years. his kid was there and he's an extremely well-thought-of legal historian who clerked for both Garland and Breyer. he said that Garland was scrupulously honest and very competent. going right for the most Le Carre-type scenario benefits us not at all.
that Garland wasn't the man for the moment strikes me as a lot more plausible.
the one significant mistake Joe Biden made (and kept making) during his excellent term was to give his opponents too much credit for being the sort of Men of Honor envisioned by the guys who wrote the Constitution. it's also the mistake that Biden was bound to make, based on everything we know about the kid of guy he was.
it not too many years, the historians are going to get this story right. we might not have a functional government at that time, but we WILL have historians. thank God for these little blessings.
Do not despair, my friend. All those who think Trump will "fix everything" are sadly mistaken and will be as damaged by him as we will be. I say "reap your rewards for voting as you did".
Yes. Fuck'm.
All true. And we beat the Romans in how long it took to destroy our own Republic. Aren’t we exceptional.
Dems must stop being so conciliatory and playing nice. The payoff has been poor for decades. Merrick Garland was Obama's effort to be centrist in his judicial nominations. There's not much quarter to yield going forward, but what there is must not be ceded. We must be the gravel in the gears to the GOP's sand. Anything less? Then we learn to love our peonage.
I think that the perfect example of Garland and Sons slow-rolling the investigations can be turned on its head. We now can use the courts to slow-roll any nasty thing Trump and his minions try to do in the next four years. When he starts whacking at the 50,000 civil servant officials, there will be 50,000 wrongful termination lawsuits to run up many months of time, and stays to prevent replacements. The killing of the "Chevron deference" means we can file lawsuits every time Trump tries to kill or butcher a regulation he doesn't like, if Congress does not approve the changes. And that does not include any civil disobedience activities by the general public or by the states. Trump has threatened to cut off all government funding from states that do not support the mass deportations, but while that might work with a red state that needed those government funds, most of the blue states actually send money to the feds and they could simply keep it at home to cover their costs. Yes, there would be lawsuits - with endless appeals, just as we saw Trump use to avoid justice. He has only four years - how much could he really get done if the full weight and sloth of the US justice system was visited upon his wishes.....?
And yet, we won’t play the game with their rules. All the money is in Free Parking