And yet with all of it - with the lawlessness, the crypto grab, the brazenness of corruption, the pedophile club, the shooting of fishing boats, the horror of Venezuela, the killing of Rene Good - the Republican Congress sits on their hands. Mike Johnson says, don't bother me; the Republican Senate might as well be on permanent leave after voting "whatever Maga wants." Truly, their names must go on the wall of shame along with Trump and his cabinet members. How can we reach into the future to make sure that those people and those "organizations" like ICE, and the Proud Boys, which is basically the same thing now, get their reputations smeared so that their children and grandchildren must change their last name to avoid the ostracism that goes with their daddy's surname. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Trump.
all this works until the black belt legal players get to the Supreme Court and Thomas and Alito pull out a gun and shoot them, applauded by the other four spineless brainless judges.
Commenting from the UK it feels like madness that Supreme Court judges, or any judges, are appointed by the president on ideological grounds. Judges should be apolitical, judging purely on the law. That doesn't seem to be the way in the US for too many judges.
In the UK judges are appointed by the Home Secretary but on the recommendations of the judiciary. Nobody knows what their political stance is and rightly so.
Innocent and possibly naive Canadian here. I am familiar with a system that demands accountability for "professions", lawyers for example. Generally this is provided through formal, internal self-regulatory mechanisms. Why am I not seeing this happen in the Comey situation?
Because nothing is being done by the book here. The judge in the case could not believe what he was being presented. The indictment, the grand jury and its testimony, all done in sneaky ways, blaming perhaps the novice prosecutor, but really they were seeing what they could get away with. You cannot look at the Trump administration and ask relational questions. They are liars and they don't care about the truth.
Kakistocracy. First time I heard the word was from a friend that gave me a bumper sticker that said “WELCOME TO THE KAKISTOCRACY!”
I put it on our front door thinking it was a made up word celebrating our natural building compound with a play on my name, KAKI. Kaki by the way is Japanese for persimmon. Welcome to Persimmonville!
Thank you, Mary for your valuable enlightening service
Sometimes your essays (like this one) set up a dynamic rhythm that makes them feel unstoppable, like a runaway team of horses, whose cart is already tipping precariously. It is fun, as at the same time my jaw is dropping at your news. Entertainment and terror at the same time! Thank you.
Hitler was defeated 80 years ago. Even today many younger Germans carry the shame of ancestors who actively supported the Nazi regime. The evidence of collaboration and worse is abundant in documents and photos, so there’s little utility in making up a contrary narrative.
Every video, photograph, documented incident of lawless cruelty, recorded testimony, etc., is essential to holding the current regime and its enforcers accountable so they face the consequences of their inhumanity and lawlessness - even if only in the shame their families and descendants will carry because of them.
now it remains to be seen what happens next... unfortunately for a child having a temper tantrum, logic and rules and order seldom prevail. i worry that he will simply ignore the courts like they have with Epstein and other cases. even an unlikely SCOTUS decision against trump and he will wonder out loud who will enforce it? a democratic congress and senate can impeach him and some of his worst offenders such as noem, but who will remove him from office when it is clear that the dept of justice is his personal weapon and he has his own personal army in ICE... what then? this is what keeps punching holes in my stomach lining... we should know by now that he tries to do what he says, and one of the things he claimed was that we would not need elections any more and has talked openly about canceling the mid-terms. this is how he operates... the throws out these authoritarian plans as almost a quip or a joke... at first with a smile... "someone suggested that we...". then it gets repeated with increasing seriousness until it is clear that he will act on it.... what would congress and the senate do if he canceled the mid terms? clearly he has no authority to do that, but with mike johnson there to now swear in new congress people, then what? i dont see this ending well
Americans are not like Europeans in one sense. We have not been subjugated to tyranny for centuries. Two hundred fifty years ago, we sailed away, into the unknown, to escape tyranny. We are by nature, a rebellious lot, albeit, up to this point , a long suffering rebellious lot.
A bully uses threats which are fueled by fear. But, in order for this to be effective, the bully has to measure his violence. Unfortunately for the bully, this is not in his playbook. He believes if violence works to scare a community, then more violence will scare a city, even more will scare a state or even an entire country.
This is his undoing. When people get to a point where it looks hopeless; that everthing they do brings more violence, more violence will then , simply fuel their resolve.
At this point it will not matter what the bully says, or even what he does. At this point, the only thing that will matter will be the end of the bully.
And yet with all of it - with the lawlessness, the crypto grab, the brazenness of corruption, the pedophile club, the shooting of fishing boats, the horror of Venezuela, the killing of Rene Good - the Republican Congress sits on their hands. Mike Johnson says, don't bother me; the Republican Senate might as well be on permanent leave after voting "whatever Maga wants." Truly, their names must go on the wall of shame along with Trump and his cabinet members. How can we reach into the future to make sure that those people and those "organizations" like ICE, and the Proud Boys, which is basically the same thing now, get their reputations smeared so that their children and grandchildren must change their last name to avoid the ostracism that goes with their daddy's surname. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Trump.
Remember their names…infamous now
Incredible writing along with understanding these complex happenings, with a great sense of humor and irony. Thank you for your service to the nation.
all this works until the black belt legal players get to the Supreme Court and Thomas and Alito pull out a gun and shoot them, applauded by the other four spineless brainless judges.
Commenting from the UK it feels like madness that Supreme Court judges, or any judges, are appointed by the president on ideological grounds. Judges should be apolitical, judging purely on the law. That doesn't seem to be the way in the US for too many judges.
In the UK judges are appointed by the Home Secretary but on the recommendations of the judiciary. Nobody knows what their political stance is and rightly so.
Innocent and possibly naive Canadian here. I am familiar with a system that demands accountability for "professions", lawyers for example. Generally this is provided through formal, internal self-regulatory mechanisms. Why am I not seeing this happen in the Comey situation?
Because nothing is being done by the book here. The judge in the case could not believe what he was being presented. The indictment, the grand jury and its testimony, all done in sneaky ways, blaming perhaps the novice prosecutor, but really they were seeing what they could get away with. You cannot look at the Trump administration and ask relational questions. They are liars and they don't care about the truth.
Kakistocracy. First time I heard the word was from a friend that gave me a bumper sticker that said “WELCOME TO THE KAKISTOCRACY!”
I put it on our front door thinking it was a made up word celebrating our natural building compound with a play on my name, KAKI. Kaki by the way is Japanese for persimmon. Welcome to Persimmonville!
Thank you, Mary for your valuable enlightening service
Sometimes your essays (like this one) set up a dynamic rhythm that makes them feel unstoppable, like a runaway team of horses, whose cart is already tipping precariously. It is fun, as at the same time my jaw is dropping at your news. Entertainment and terror at the same time! Thank you.
Hitler was defeated 80 years ago. Even today many younger Germans carry the shame of ancestors who actively supported the Nazi regime. The evidence of collaboration and worse is abundant in documents and photos, so there’s little utility in making up a contrary narrative.
Every video, photograph, documented incident of lawless cruelty, recorded testimony, etc., is essential to holding the current regime and its enforcers accountable so they face the consequences of their inhumanity and lawlessness - even if only in the shame their families and descendants will carry because of them.
I love this Substack but I wonder how many people are turned away from commenting when you ask for the code.
now it remains to be seen what happens next... unfortunately for a child having a temper tantrum, logic and rules and order seldom prevail. i worry that he will simply ignore the courts like they have with Epstein and other cases. even an unlikely SCOTUS decision against trump and he will wonder out loud who will enforce it? a democratic congress and senate can impeach him and some of his worst offenders such as noem, but who will remove him from office when it is clear that the dept of justice is his personal weapon and he has his own personal army in ICE... what then? this is what keeps punching holes in my stomach lining... we should know by now that he tries to do what he says, and one of the things he claimed was that we would not need elections any more and has talked openly about canceling the mid-terms. this is how he operates... the throws out these authoritarian plans as almost a quip or a joke... at first with a smile... "someone suggested that we...". then it gets repeated with increasing seriousness until it is clear that he will act on it.... what would congress and the senate do if he canceled the mid terms? clearly he has no authority to do that, but with mike johnson there to now swear in new congress people, then what? i dont see this ending well
Americans are not like Europeans in one sense. We have not been subjugated to tyranny for centuries. Two hundred fifty years ago, we sailed away, into the unknown, to escape tyranny. We are by nature, a rebellious lot, albeit, up to this point , a long suffering rebellious lot.
A bully uses threats which are fueled by fear. But, in order for this to be effective, the bully has to measure his violence. Unfortunately for the bully, this is not in his playbook. He believes if violence works to scare a community, then more violence will scare a city, even more will scare a state or even an entire country.
This is his undoing. When people get to a point where it looks hopeless; that everthing they do brings more violence, more violence will then , simply fuel their resolve.
At this point it will not matter what the bully says, or even what he does. At this point, the only thing that will matter will be the end of the bully.
We are almost there...