As long as the Personalist-Dictator -- thank you Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat -- rules, ICE will commit serial murder with impunity.
Of all of Orange-Trump's crimes, the kidnapping of toddlers to lure parents into internment camps and the serial murders of ICE repel me the most.
Edgar Hoover, the lawless head of the FBI from 1919 - 1972, and was recognized by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to be one of the top five most dangerous men in America, exercized his state-sponsored terror in subversive inflitration of NAACP peaceful protest and who tried through extortion to induce Dr. Martin Luther King to commit suicide.
This Administration in its terror of good, immigrant families, and serial murder by ICE -- with impunity, note well -- competes with Edgar Hoover for lowest evil in American history.
Competing with genocide of First Nation peoples; hundreds of years of slavery; feverish and epidemic lynchings that amount to attempted genocide.
Orange-Dip-Trump competes with all these evil forces in a race to the bottom for evil.
At 78, I lose hope of seeing America recover the vision of the NAACP, Dr. King, and the Civil Rights Movement -- which was the great Moral Movement of our Epoche.
I have vivid memories of our greatest statesmen ever, Eleanor Roosevelt -- far greater than her husband, FDR -- and the great Civil Rights Movement.
I shake my head in wonder that we could descend from these great moral heights to reliving of Jim Crow and serial murder with impunity.
I join forces, but I have no hope of seeing America recover a moral compass.
Armand! You always provide the most amazing perspective and knowledge. I didn't realize how long Hoover ran the FBI. Holy shit! My FBI friends are shocked and really thought there would be more resistance to this monstrosity.
Stay strong. They want us exhausted. They will pay the price for their treason, dear friend.
"Edgar Hoover, the lawless head of the FBI from 1919 - 1972"
Lorraine Evanoff: With you, I believe FBI agents are highly professional and honest brokers.
When you are an agent of the Federal Government, it is really, really hard to actively oppose the President, the Commander in Chief.
Presidential discretion -- thank you, Chief Justice John Roberts -- makes it possible to kill careers and pull the rug from any opportunity to stay and repair the situation once the Orange King somehow rests from power.
Like you, I will not be exhausted.
At 78, my mind is more active than ever with great Continental Philosophers, learning every day, bilingually.
No, I had six, now seven grandkids, and there is too much of a stake in our Republic.
One thing: We always had times like these.
Example, in 1919, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer (under President Woodrow Wilson), was in his house when an arsonist's bomb detonated, setting the house on fire.
Thanks be to God, no Palmer family member was hurt.
But the bomb intensified the paranoia of an already chicken Palmer.
From then on grew the Palmer raids.
The first Red Scare.
Eugene Debs was imprisoned; Emma Goldman deported under Palmer and Woodrow Wilson.
All from an Administration of polar extremes. Progressivism; the League of Nations. But . . .
(1) Re-segregating the U.S Post Office.
(2) And watching "Birth of a Nation" in the White House.
All just shortly after the birth of the NAACP.
The Evil cycles round and round and round.
Right now, it seems our greatest hope is in moral leaders like Jasmine Crockett, Corey Booker, Hakeem Jeffries, and Elizabeth Warren.
They may not ring with the beauty of Dr. Martin Luther King, but they proclaim moral justice.
Back when trump was first elected in 2016 and just some of his criminality was being exposed, I wrote then that should democrats ever regain control of the government and start investigating what had come to light at that point(2017-18)it would be like cleaning the Augean stables, a task for a hero. How quaint that feels now. There is soooo much more at this point not only to investigate but to rebuild. Hunter Biden wrote today about not allowing cynicism to overtake our thinking but to stay focused instead on the task at hand which is victory in the midterms. The rest will take care of itself when we’re ready to tackle it. Every journey begins with the first step.
Absolutely SPW. What an amazing analogy, I had to Google Augean stables. Thanks for that lesson in Greek mythology.
Though the Biden admin hit the ground running (I clearly recall being blow away by how quickly they acted to rescue America) there was just so much mess and they tried to clean up in the right and most just way. GLOVES OFF this time. I cannot WAIT to witness the consequences of this psychotic treasonous Republican party.
You need my 12 year old brain then. I too was a big fan when I was in the 6th grade. I’m a long way from that now. At any rate, we need to be on the lookout for our modern day Heracles.
The ugliness of this news. The peace and beauty of nature. Hmmm…. I’ve lived on this planet for many years, have never experienced anything like the cruelty and absurdity of this adm. thanks for sharing.
It's nightmarish, Elyse. Truly, I'm in a constant state of prayer for all those suffering under this criminal regime. Stay strong. They will pay for their treason. 💪🏻🥰
Sweet dragon — I have not finished the book yet but my reading’s interrupted for this weekend. I’m having houseguests. I think I told you it is my dad’s birthday tomorrow. But I should be done by next week!
Lorraine, every time I think our situation can’t become even more dire, more embarrassing—more corrupt—we hit a new low. For me, the only bright spot would be to see Trump tried by The Hague and executed for crimes too numerous to mention here. As for Blanche, lock him up and throw away the key.
Sherry! This is a great perspective, they will absolutely pay for their utter lawlessness. This is NOT Russia. Thank you for your powerful message of resistance. 💪🏻🥰
Good explanation of how endangered We the People are with trump who now officially & knowingly exists "Above the Law."
American Justice, that system of law that applies to ALL Americans, does NOT apply to donald trump any longer, and he, using the tools of his office that he's adeptly been able to apply illegally, cruelly, & relentlessly to benefit himself alone, is now succeeding in having those laws that apply to We the Citizens NOT apply to those he chooses to remain free with him, OUTSIDE THE LAW.
There is no legal means by which to stop him now. Todd Blanche, his personal lawyer, is now Attorney General & is working as such solely for donald trump even though his actual job is the nation's top attorney for We the People. No longer. He is working full time to protect trump, his boss, from any & all legal attacks, from his past to his present while also preparing to order his Justice Department to carry out trump's vengeful orders, be it as retribution against those who ever "hurt" or attacked him in the past (journalists, of course, & politicians & business people & putlic personalities...) or as illicit, made-up attacks against Democrats running for offices in these coming mid-terms, to discredit them prior to the election, making their expected "wins" become defeats.
Blanche has made clear he will do trump's bidding only, & happily. Do not expect to EVER see the Epstein Files with him in charge. Do not expect any -- ANY -- legal action taken against trump to EVER find its way into a courtroom while he is AG. Do not expect ANY of trump's family members to be in legal jeopardy at any time while he remains AG. Do NOT imagine that Melanja Knavs trump will EVER face committee hearing questioning about her obvious inside role with Epstein & Maxwell, since she was there front & center right in that peak time off underage girls being used as freely traded sex objects, that same time she met "donald" who was Jeffrey's "bestie" hanging out in his world. One can easily imagine what she knows & what she accepted as "the price of being a billionaire's " owned-woman," something she obviously was eagerly willing to accept.
Interested in what's happening with the money being made via Venezuela's oil production, now in America's hands since trump illegally attacked that nation, kidnapped the president & his wife, put a loyalist in their place to run the country according to trump's (and billionaire energy company owner's) commands? Apparently millions are being transferred to the USA (trump often says this in his rambling "speeches") but no one knows where those millions are actually ending up. You want to know? Blanche will not let you, ordered not to by trump. We the People will not find out.
The crypto world? The "strange & suspicious deals" with the Iran crisis where huge profits were being made as trump claimed "deal" or "no deal" about the Strait of Hormuz, on the stock market, obviusly from inside trading knowledge? We the People will not know what took place.
ICE agents investigated for the shootings of Goode or Pretti in Michigan, or any of the other murders, or of the bombings of civilians in boats in the Carribean or Pacific?` Think We the People will see the evidence of what actually happened, ever?
Nope.
What's the actual deal trump has with Putin regarding Putin's war with Ukraine? trump stopped giving Zelenskyy the promised & paid for Patriot missiles Ukraine desperately needs to stop Russia's ballistic missiles, now being used more often since Russia recognized Ukraine's inability to stop them. Everyone knows trump calls Putin on his "red phone" & speaks with him for hours at a time, privately. What could they possibly be talking about, the great enemies of one another? Could it be they are making plans not as leaders of opposing nations, but as dictators agreeing about one another's territories boundaries?
Again -- We the People will NOT find out.
Why, you might ask. Because no matter what legal agency, what Congressioal Committee, what International Orgaization, what individual attempts to break into trump's private world now protected by full immunity, it MUST go through the Department of Justice to be acted upon. It is the duty of the DOJ to approve ANY legal action against an "important political or otherwise" figure. And who decides, ultimately, to approve or not?
Todd Blanche.
So you see the dead-end circle & why the only obvious answer to handling this lies out in the streets, eventually. trump himself, his loyalists & also his handlers (Project 2025 people, the Heritage Foundation, & possibly even Putin), cannot be touched by legal means any longer. And yet -- they MUST BE STOPPED.
Dorian! So great to see you here. We are keeping records over every single crime these traitors are committing. That's the important work you and I and all the resisters here and everywhere are doing. It's crucial to keep tabs. Hugs my friend 🥰
Lorraine, Armand, thanks for your thoughts. It is, indeed, exhausting to keep up the fight. It's ok to take time to maintain our mental health, as shredded spirits are part of the plan.
There are many more decent people here than idiots. My brother and SIL in the Houston area said that they haven't seen a T____ yard sign in over a year. The local school board that was overtaken by rightwing nutcases had eliminated *public school buses!!* to cut the budget. Parents of all political backgrounds were pissed and threw the bums out, overturning the school board and reinstating the buses.
This insanity is uniting us again, and backfiring. The disgusting behavior we have witnessed has surpassed party and politics for most of the country, and will continue to do so. I had a very bad week recently when I pretty much hated people in general, but came out of it. I had to give myself room to go there and patch myself up in order to surface again.
If you need a boost, go back and watch HCR's Politics Chats in which she draws parallels to the 1890s. Look at the new ideas that are being born out of this crises like Andy Kim's MediKids. Remember Mamdani is kicking butt. Wisconsin was 0.6 % from choosing Democratic Socialist and former line cook-turned state representative Francesca Hong for Governor in the primary on August 11.
Keep reading Scott Dworkin for hope, Uncle Jeff Tiedrich for constructive anger, and Andy Borowitz for humor. And remember that the Thief in Chief is 80, in failing physical health, and the MAGA Rs are shitting their pants. I am disgusted and angry as hell, but it won't last forever. 💙💙🦁🦁
Blanche is Roy Cohn 2.0. We have a fucking mob lawyer as AG. I'm not sure that working within the system will do any good, because the barbarians ARE the system. We need Robespierre. Sharpen the guillotine! 😡😡😡
Lorraine Evanoff, Louise Moscow, and the Sovereign Feline, Floofles -- meow, meow!
Everything Trump touches dies.
Todd Blanche is repulsive, like Pete Hedgsuck and the "Hillbilly Elegie" JD-Pants (see: https://www.thedailybeast.com/social-media-cant-get-over-jd-vances-tiny-little-pants/ ).
As long as the Personalist-Dictator -- thank you Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat -- rules, ICE will commit serial murder with impunity.
Of all of Orange-Trump's crimes, the kidnapping of toddlers to lure parents into internment camps and the serial murders of ICE repel me the most.
Edgar Hoover, the lawless head of the FBI from 1919 - 1972, and was recognized by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to be one of the top five most dangerous men in America, exercized his state-sponsored terror in subversive inflitration of NAACP peaceful protest and who tried through extortion to induce Dr. Martin Luther King to commit suicide.
This Administration in its terror of good, immigrant families, and serial murder by ICE -- with impunity, note well -- competes with Edgar Hoover for lowest evil in American history.
Competing with genocide of First Nation peoples; hundreds of years of slavery; feverish and epidemic lynchings that amount to attempted genocide.
Orange-Dip-Trump competes with all these evil forces in a race to the bottom for evil.
At 78, I lose hope of seeing America recover the vision of the NAACP, Dr. King, and the Civil Rights Movement -- which was the great Moral Movement of our Epoche.
I have vivid memories of our greatest statesmen ever, Eleanor Roosevelt -- far greater than her husband, FDR -- and the great Civil Rights Movement.
I shake my head in wonder that we could descend from these great moral heights to reliving of Jim Crow and serial murder with impunity.
I join forces, but I have no hope of seeing America recover a moral compass.
Armand! You always provide the most amazing perspective and knowledge. I didn't realize how long Hoover ran the FBI. Holy shit! My FBI friends are shocked and really thought there would be more resistance to this monstrosity.
Stay strong. They want us exhausted. They will pay the price for their treason, dear friend.
"Edgar Hoover, the lawless head of the FBI from 1919 - 1972"
Lorraine Evanoff: With you, I believe FBI agents are highly professional and honest brokers.
When you are an agent of the Federal Government, it is really, really hard to actively oppose the President, the Commander in Chief.
Presidential discretion -- thank you, Chief Justice John Roberts -- makes it possible to kill careers and pull the rug from any opportunity to stay and repair the situation once the Orange King somehow rests from power.
Like you, I will not be exhausted.
At 78, my mind is more active than ever with great Continental Philosophers, learning every day, bilingually.
No, I had six, now seven grandkids, and there is too much of a stake in our Republic.
One thing: We always had times like these.
Example, in 1919, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer (under President Woodrow Wilson), was in his house when an arsonist's bomb detonated, setting the house on fire.
Thanks be to God, no Palmer family member was hurt.
But the bomb intensified the paranoia of an already chicken Palmer.
From then on grew the Palmer raids.
The first Red Scare.
Eugene Debs was imprisoned; Emma Goldman deported under Palmer and Woodrow Wilson.
All from an Administration of polar extremes. Progressivism; the League of Nations. But . . .
(1) Re-segregating the U.S Post Office.
(2) And watching "Birth of a Nation" in the White House.
All just shortly after the birth of the NAACP.
The Evil cycles round and round and round.
Right now, it seems our greatest hope is in moral leaders like Jasmine Crockett, Corey Booker, Hakeem Jeffries, and Elizabeth Warren.
They may not ring with the beauty of Dr. Martin Luther King, but they proclaim moral justice.
Hoover had dirt on everybody. The FBI was his own blackmail machine.
Back when trump was first elected in 2016 and just some of his criminality was being exposed, I wrote then that should democrats ever regain control of the government and start investigating what had come to light at that point(2017-18)it would be like cleaning the Augean stables, a task for a hero. How quaint that feels now. There is soooo much more at this point not only to investigate but to rebuild. Hunter Biden wrote today about not allowing cynicism to overtake our thinking but to stay focused instead on the task at hand which is victory in the midterms. The rest will take care of itself when we’re ready to tackle it. Every journey begins with the first step.
Peace Lorraine.
Absolutely SPW. What an amazing analogy, I had to Google Augean stables. Thanks for that lesson in Greek mythology.
Though the Biden admin hit the ground running (I clearly recall being blow away by how quickly they acted to rescue America) there was just so much mess and they tried to clean up in the right and most just way. GLOVES OFF this time. I cannot WAIT to witness the consequences of this psychotic treasonous Republican party.
Greek Mythology super-fan here! Just subscribed to you as I want more Mythology!
You need my 12 year old brain then. I too was a big fan when I was in the 6th grade. I’m a long way from that now. At any rate, we need to be on the lookout for our modern day Heracles.
Absolutely haunting!
Right, Lisa? We knew this was all going to be a nightmare but we can never know in how many ways these psychos can think of.
The ugliness of this news. The peace and beauty of nature. Hmmm…. I’ve lived on this planet for many years, have never experienced anything like the cruelty and absurdity of this adm. thanks for sharing.
It's nightmarish, Elyse. Truly, I'm in a constant state of prayer for all those suffering under this criminal regime. Stay strong. They will pay for their treason. 💪🏻🥰
Great article, Lorraine!
Mwah!!😘
Sweet dragon — I have not finished the book yet but my reading’s interrupted for this weekend. I’m having houseguests. I think I told you it is my dad’s birthday tomorrow. But I should be done by next week!
Lorraine, every time I think our situation can’t become even more dire, more embarrassing—more corrupt—we hit a new low. For me, the only bright spot would be to see Trump tried by The Hague and executed for crimes too numerous to mention here. As for Blanche, lock him up and throw away the key.
Sherry! This is a great perspective, they will absolutely pay for their utter lawlessness. This is NOT Russia. Thank you for your powerful message of resistance. 💪🏻🥰
Thanks, Lorraine. Great piece.
Good explanation of how endangered We the People are with trump who now officially & knowingly exists "Above the Law."
American Justice, that system of law that applies to ALL Americans, does NOT apply to donald trump any longer, and he, using the tools of his office that he's adeptly been able to apply illegally, cruelly, & relentlessly to benefit himself alone, is now succeeding in having those laws that apply to We the Citizens NOT apply to those he chooses to remain free with him, OUTSIDE THE LAW.
There is no legal means by which to stop him now. Todd Blanche, his personal lawyer, is now Attorney General & is working as such solely for donald trump even though his actual job is the nation's top attorney for We the People. No longer. He is working full time to protect trump, his boss, from any & all legal attacks, from his past to his present while also preparing to order his Justice Department to carry out trump's vengeful orders, be it as retribution against those who ever "hurt" or attacked him in the past (journalists, of course, & politicians & business people & putlic personalities...) or as illicit, made-up attacks against Democrats running for offices in these coming mid-terms, to discredit them prior to the election, making their expected "wins" become defeats.
Blanche has made clear he will do trump's bidding only, & happily. Do not expect to EVER see the Epstein Files with him in charge. Do not expect any -- ANY -- legal action taken against trump to EVER find its way into a courtroom while he is AG. Do not expect ANY of trump's family members to be in legal jeopardy at any time while he remains AG. Do NOT imagine that Melanja Knavs trump will EVER face committee hearing questioning about her obvious inside role with Epstein & Maxwell, since she was there front & center right in that peak time off underage girls being used as freely traded sex objects, that same time she met "donald" who was Jeffrey's "bestie" hanging out in his world. One can easily imagine what she knows & what she accepted as "the price of being a billionaire's " owned-woman," something she obviously was eagerly willing to accept.
Interested in what's happening with the money being made via Venezuela's oil production, now in America's hands since trump illegally attacked that nation, kidnapped the president & his wife, put a loyalist in their place to run the country according to trump's (and billionaire energy company owner's) commands? Apparently millions are being transferred to the USA (trump often says this in his rambling "speeches") but no one knows where those millions are actually ending up. You want to know? Blanche will not let you, ordered not to by trump. We the People will not find out.
The crypto world? The "strange & suspicious deals" with the Iran crisis where huge profits were being made as trump claimed "deal" or "no deal" about the Strait of Hormuz, on the stock market, obviusly from inside trading knowledge? We the People will not know what took place.
ICE agents investigated for the shootings of Goode or Pretti in Michigan, or any of the other murders, or of the bombings of civilians in boats in the Carribean or Pacific?` Think We the People will see the evidence of what actually happened, ever?
Nope.
What's the actual deal trump has with Putin regarding Putin's war with Ukraine? trump stopped giving Zelenskyy the promised & paid for Patriot missiles Ukraine desperately needs to stop Russia's ballistic missiles, now being used more often since Russia recognized Ukraine's inability to stop them. Everyone knows trump calls Putin on his "red phone" & speaks with him for hours at a time, privately. What could they possibly be talking about, the great enemies of one another? Could it be they are making plans not as leaders of opposing nations, but as dictators agreeing about one another's territories boundaries?
Again -- We the People will NOT find out.
Why, you might ask. Because no matter what legal agency, what Congressioal Committee, what International Orgaization, what individual attempts to break into trump's private world now protected by full immunity, it MUST go through the Department of Justice to be acted upon. It is the duty of the DOJ to approve ANY legal action against an "important political or otherwise" figure. And who decides, ultimately, to approve or not?
Todd Blanche.
So you see the dead-end circle & why the only obvious answer to handling this lies out in the streets, eventually. trump himself, his loyalists & also his handlers (Project 2025 people, the Heritage Foundation, & possibly even Putin), cannot be touched by legal means any longer. And yet -- they MUST BE STOPPED.
Dorian! So great to see you here. We are keeping records over every single crime these traitors are committing. That's the important work you and I and all the resisters here and everywhere are doing. It's crucial to keep tabs. Hugs my friend 🥰
Thank you, Lorraine. Keep speaking truth to power. Our day is ahead. 🗽
Lorraine, Armand, thanks for your thoughts. It is, indeed, exhausting to keep up the fight. It's ok to take time to maintain our mental health, as shredded spirits are part of the plan.
There are many more decent people here than idiots. My brother and SIL in the Houston area said that they haven't seen a T____ yard sign in over a year. The local school board that was overtaken by rightwing nutcases had eliminated *public school buses!!* to cut the budget. Parents of all political backgrounds were pissed and threw the bums out, overturning the school board and reinstating the buses.
This insanity is uniting us again, and backfiring. The disgusting behavior we have witnessed has surpassed party and politics for most of the country, and will continue to do so. I had a very bad week recently when I pretty much hated people in general, but came out of it. I had to give myself room to go there and patch myself up in order to surface again.
If you need a boost, go back and watch HCR's Politics Chats in which she draws parallels to the 1890s. Look at the new ideas that are being born out of this crises like Andy Kim's MediKids. Remember Mamdani is kicking butt. Wisconsin was 0.6 % from choosing Democratic Socialist and former line cook-turned state representative Francesca Hong for Governor in the primary on August 11.
Keep reading Scott Dworkin for hope, Uncle Jeff Tiedrich for constructive anger, and Andy Borowitz for humor. And remember that the Thief in Chief is 80, in failing physical health, and the MAGA Rs are shitting their pants. I am disgusted and angry as hell, but it won't last forever. 💙💙🦁🦁
Blanche is Roy Cohn 2.0. We have a fucking mob lawyer as AG. I'm not sure that working within the system will do any good, because the barbarians ARE the system. We need Robespierre. Sharpen the guillotine! 😡😡😡