Perhaps Delta airlines suspending special airport privileges for members of Congress a few days ago, which included expedited screening and escort services changed the minds of the Republicans. It meant they would have to stand in line with the rest of us and would love to be a fly on the wall to see people around them give them hell. It would have been great if all the airlines did it sooner to put pressure on the Republicans to do the right thing rather than let their customers and the TSA workers suffer needlessly.
Ready to show up tomorrow on my town green for my 3rd protest.
Yes I think all members of congress should experience what most Americans do. If the gov’t shuts down they should not be paid. Maybe they should have to shop around for health insurance too like most of us. I am so proud on Delta for taking that action! fly the friendly skies ……
I applauded when I saw this! I wish every American airline would suspend special Congressional privileges until Trump compromises and the Republicans end their government shutdown.
In fact, I would like to see those special privileges permanently removed. As Jane so eloquently states: “all members of congress should experience what most Americans do.”
This is truly astonishing! The AfD, a German party accused of having clear neo-Nazi sympathies, is disassociating itself from Trump because they consider Trump too toxic.
. "Unpopular Trump spurned by AfD leaders before key German elections"
BERLIN — Leaders of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) are quietly distancing themselves from U.S. President Donald Trump as backlash over the Iran war grows and important [German] elections loom.
While rank-and-file members of the AfD continue to cultivate contacts with Trump administration officials and MAGA Republicans — and see it as in their long-term interest to do so — the party’s leaders are urging lawmakers to tamp down the overt, public embrace.
Hope so. You may recall that GOP held several of its meetings in that country including on the 4th of July some years ago, so the connection was never just him. This was around the sametime Russia honeypotted the NRA
Also check out the news that Trump's $1 billion payment to TotalEnergies to stop their investment in wind farms on the East Coast will be paid for by taxpayers and is probably illegal.
Are the Democrats working on a plan to elevate public investment in everything that we have lost?
orban losing will help europe keep ukraine in the game. and also be a warning that trumpism is a dying thing. just a note on DHS funding in the BBBB bill passed last year by repubs: total dhs $191B (double its typical annual funding) and funded for 4 yrs thru 9/30/29. ice gets $75B. not being an expert on fed govt funding, i can only assume these are huge numbers and no dept is funded in advance for 4 yrs? so this is s. miller's wallet. would have been great if dems could have kept dhs funding at its normal level, if it was even possible, during the legislative process since this is satan's private army used against americans.
I wonder, though, the likelihood of Orban pulling a Maduro and just staying in power, even though he lost (in Maduro's case) or is likely to lose (as in Orban's case) an election. I haven't read much about that possibility. Has anyone else?
It really is crazy that the current goal of this war (it seems) - a war that has cost many lives already and will cost more before it is over, has cost billions and billions of dollars and has done untold damage to global economies and to the environment - is to restore the state of affairs that was in place a month ago!!
It does appear Trump and Bessent have run out of ways to prop up the stock market, at least for now. It tends to put the truth out there about how things are going, even as legacy media soft pedal some things.
I posted this on Robert Hubbell's Substack this morning...
"Tomorrow I will be joining others, including Glenn Kirschner, at Arlington Cemetery as we meet and then march across Arlington Memorial Bridge to the Lincoln Memorial and then on to the Washington Monument. My father, WWII 1st Lt, US Army (Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star) is buried in Arlington Cemetery and I will be marching for him. Will carry you, our friends, and everything we're fighting for with me as we stand up and speak out against the illegal atrocities of this regime."
I've got my signs ready to go, including wonderful artwork from one of our Substack friends, @Cris Palomino. Check her out here on Substack!
Thank you, Claire. And thanks to your father for his service and for obviously inspiring YOUR service to democracy. Excited for our No Kings in Knoxville, TN tomorrow!
Can you provide some additional analysis on last night's vote? For now, it feels like no one really "won" (Ds didn't get ICE reform; Rs didn't get SAVE; Americans got screwed; TSA employees, too). Now Thune will go to reconciliation (feels like SAVE doesn't survive Byrd, but what do I know); what does Schumer do?
I said we would have time to explore in the coming days but I don't agree that we didn't get a win here, and even Indivisible is out with posts today claiming victory for us. Republicans voted down funding for DHS without ICE in the Senate 11 times. Trump said no reopening without SAVE. So first Dems successfully cleaved off DHS approps from the broader approps; Noem and Bovino are gone; Rs are talking about "course correcting" on mass deportations; and now we have cleaved off the rest of DHS from ICE/CPB. Rs are in retreat here, and all the stories there are R Senate quotes about how hard reconciliation will be, and no one wants to do it. I realize there are balanced media reports on what happened here but Rs are clearly in retreat on what was their #1 issue, and Dems held their ground and won.
I believe the reconciliation agreement was face saving, and not something that has a high likelihood of success. They needed to look like they didn't cave, and so they floated this unrealistic thing that is not likely to happen. We live to fight another day but as I wrote in my post they head into recess is a deeply ugly place right now and head in with political momentum.
Yeah, and the Rs in the House may not even support the version that passed the Senate. Johnson is trying to jam it through with just R support and not have to ask for D votes, but the Freedom Caucus is making that tenuous. They are insisting on ICE/CBP funding AND the SAVE Act as an amendment to what the Senate did. So, this thing isn't finished yet. Rs still have more opportunities to screw it up.
Spot on! I think this is a very significant Democratic victory – and you give a great summary as to why. Senate Republicans are stuck between a rock and a hard place, with no face-saving way forward.
And by and large, their situation is due to Trump’s pig-headed obstinacy and Republican lawmakers’ inexplicable inability to find their spine and stand up to him.
Trump and the GOP are struggling with their voter-suppression SAVE Act, with FISA renewal, and with ICE and the CBP as well. On top of it, Trump and Hegseth plan to request $ 200 billion in extra funding for Trump’s ill-fated war against Iran.
Only some of those items qualify for a Reconciliation bill. And whatever the GOP succeed in pushing through with the reconciliation process will make that one of the most hated legislative acts in American history.
Translation: the Republican Party will pay a very steep price in November!
Does the SAVE act qualify for reconciliation as I don't think there is a financial part to this? In the past, my part of the DTC is new voter outreach, so it is concerning to me and to those trying to register new voters. I would suggest anyone whose kids are now voting age, register NOW!
As sad as it all is in a way, it’s also emboldening to see Trump and the GOP go home for the holiday with nothing. Meanwhile, now we have to hope ICE gets taken out of the airports sooner than later especially with TSA on the verge of coming back. Otherwise, that’ll be a whole other issue with potential protesting but hopefully, it won’t get there. Marc Elias has stressed placing ICE in airports echoes Bannon’s ‘plan’ to use it as a test run to do so at polling places. All I can say is, they can try….but look how undeterred the people have been thus far (vulnerable minority voters included). It won’t work!!! I remain cautious optimistic we will prevail!!!
Simon - I absolutely love your Hopium and the community you built. I share your view that something good can emerge from this nightmare as you so eloquently set forth in today’s post. It reminds me of a story I read my daughter when she was a toddler. It was about going on a bear hunt: you can’t go over it, you can’t go under it, you have to go through it.
Almost 70 places across the State, most for the 1st time. I went downtown for Hands Off, NoKings I and II. Tomorrow, I go to Noblesville for the first Hamilton County NoKings. Progress!
Thanks for the graphs. Those are really telling for those who think 47 is an economic genius. I will be pointing these out to my legislators, both national and state.
Sending very best wishes to everyone participating in No Kings tomorrow! I don't need to tell you that the hopes of many around the world go with you.
Here, north of the border, we are finding that the madness of your "king" and the damage wrought by his regime does in fact deflate the support for maga-associated politicians. It even happens here in the historically conservative province of Alberta if recent polls are to be believed.
Stay strong, stay safe and stay in it for the long game!
Thanks from my Canadian husband! We apologize that some in the US have inflicted The Big Orange Cheato on the world--and especially on our wonderful Canadian neighbors. Please tell everyone you know that we're working hard to fix the problem and we look forward to a better future.
Perhaps Delta airlines suspending special airport privileges for members of Congress a few days ago, which included expedited screening and escort services changed the minds of the Republicans. It meant they would have to stand in line with the rest of us and would love to be a fly on the wall to see people around them give them hell. It would have been great if all the airlines did it sooner to put pressure on the Republicans to do the right thing rather than let their customers and the TSA workers suffer needlessly.
Ready to show up tomorrow on my town green for my 3rd protest.
Yes I think all members of congress should experience what most Americans do. If the gov’t shuts down they should not be paid. Maybe they should have to shop around for health insurance too like most of us. I am so proud on Delta for taking that action! fly the friendly skies ……
I applauded when I saw this! I wish every American airline would suspend special Congressional privileges until Trump compromises and the Republicans end their government shutdown.
In fact, I would like to see those special privileges permanently removed. As Jane so eloquently states: “all members of congress should experience what most Americans do.”
I love how Thune is trying to twist the Senate decision into a win for the Republicans and a loss for the Democrats. Seriously??? Who believes him?
This is truly astonishing! The AfD, a German party accused of having clear neo-Nazi sympathies, is disassociating itself from Trump because they consider Trump too toxic.
. "Unpopular Trump spurned by AfD leaders before key German elections"
BERLIN — Leaders of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) are quietly distancing themselves from U.S. President Donald Trump as backlash over the Iran war grows and important [German] elections loom.
While rank-and-file members of the AfD continue to cultivate contacts with Trump administration officials and MAGA Republicans — and see it as in their long-term interest to do so — the party’s leaders are urging lawmakers to tamp down the overt, public embrace.
https://www.politico.eu/article/afd-leaders-want-to-keep-distance-from-unpopular-trump-before-key-eastern-elections/
When even the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) considers Trump too extreme and too much of a liability, then you’ve really got a problem!
This is my hope A/S......
By the way, and you probably know this: AfD is the party that was kicked out of the right-wing EU parliamentary group for being too right-wing!
...Speechless....
Obviously a different demographic, but this is why I wonder whether Trump's endorsement and Vance campaigning for Orban actually helps or hinders.
The sentiment across Europe is not very pro-America right now!!
I think ETTD applies. I think it hinders. I'm hoping Orban gets fucking crushed. The polls were looking terrible for his party.
Hope so. You may recall that GOP held several of its meetings in that country including on the 4th of July some years ago, so the connection was never just him. This was around the sametime Russia honeypotted the NRA
ETTD
Proof yet again that # ETTD.
I think of it as a reverse Midas touch: Everything Trump touches turns to gold-colored shit.
Ausgezeichnett
Also check out the news that Trump's $1 billion payment to TotalEnergies to stop their investment in wind farms on the East Coast will be paid for by taxpayers and is probably illegal.
Are the Democrats working on a plan to elevate public investment in everything that we have lost?
orban losing will help europe keep ukraine in the game. and also be a warning that trumpism is a dying thing. just a note on DHS funding in the BBBB bill passed last year by repubs: total dhs $191B (double its typical annual funding) and funded for 4 yrs thru 9/30/29. ice gets $75B. not being an expert on fed govt funding, i can only assume these are huge numbers and no dept is funded in advance for 4 yrs? so this is s. miller's wallet. would have been great if dems could have kept dhs funding at its normal level, if it was even possible, during the legislative process since this is satan's private army used against americans.
I wonder, though, the likelihood of Orban pulling a Maduro and just staying in power, even though he lost (in Maduro's case) or is likely to lose (as in Orban's case) an election. I haven't read much about that possibility. Has anyone else?
Good luck tomorrow everyone.
It really is crazy that the current goal of this war (it seems) - a war that has cost many lives already and will cost more before it is over, has cost billions and billions of dollars and has done untold damage to global economies and to the environment - is to restore the state of affairs that was in place a month ago!!
Truly the biggest fuck up in American history.
It does appear Trump and Bessent have run out of ways to prop up the stock market, at least for now. It tends to put the truth out there about how things are going, even as legacy media soft pedal some things.
I posted this on Robert Hubbell's Substack this morning...
"Tomorrow I will be joining others, including Glenn Kirschner, at Arlington Cemetery as we meet and then march across Arlington Memorial Bridge to the Lincoln Memorial and then on to the Washington Monument. My father, WWII 1st Lt, US Army (Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star) is buried in Arlington Cemetery and I will be marching for him. Will carry you, our friends, and everything we're fighting for with me as we stand up and speak out against the illegal atrocities of this regime."
I've got my signs ready to go, including wonderful artwork from one of our Substack friends, @Cris Palomino. Check her out here on Substack!
This was very moving, Claire. Thanks. Good weather to you (and everyone) for tomorrow.
Thank you, Claire. And thanks to your father for his service and for obviously inspiring YOUR service to democracy. Excited for our No Kings in Knoxville, TN tomorrow!
Can you provide some additional analysis on last night's vote? For now, it feels like no one really "won" (Ds didn't get ICE reform; Rs didn't get SAVE; Americans got screwed; TSA employees, too). Now Thune will go to reconciliation (feels like SAVE doesn't survive Byrd, but what do I know); what does Schumer do?
I said we would have time to explore in the coming days but I don't agree that we didn't get a win here, and even Indivisible is out with posts today claiming victory for us. Republicans voted down funding for DHS without ICE in the Senate 11 times. Trump said no reopening without SAVE. So first Dems successfully cleaved off DHS approps from the broader approps; Noem and Bovino are gone; Rs are talking about "course correcting" on mass deportations; and now we have cleaved off the rest of DHS from ICE/CPB. Rs are in retreat here, and all the stories there are R Senate quotes about how hard reconciliation will be, and no one wants to do it. I realize there are balanced media reports on what happened here but Rs are clearly in retreat on what was their #1 issue, and Dems held their ground and won.
If people and TSA people got hurt that is 100% on the Rs. We gave them 11 votes to reopen TSA. They refused.
I believe the reconciliation agreement was face saving, and not something that has a high likelihood of success. They needed to look like they didn't cave, and so they floated this unrealistic thing that is not likely to happen. We live to fight another day but as I wrote in my post they head into recess is a deeply ugly place right now and head in with political momentum.
Yeah, and the Rs in the House may not even support the version that passed the Senate. Johnson is trying to jam it through with just R support and not have to ask for D votes, but the Freedom Caucus is making that tenuous. They are insisting on ICE/CBP funding AND the SAVE Act as an amendment to what the Senate did. So, this thing isn't finished yet. Rs still have more opportunities to screw it up.
Spot on! I think this is a very significant Democratic victory – and you give a great summary as to why. Senate Republicans are stuck between a rock and a hard place, with no face-saving way forward.
And by and large, their situation is due to Trump’s pig-headed obstinacy and Republican lawmakers’ inexplicable inability to find their spine and stand up to him.
I am just worried about reconcilliation.
Trump and the GOP are struggling with their voter-suppression SAVE Act, with FISA renewal, and with ICE and the CBP as well. On top of it, Trump and Hegseth plan to request $ 200 billion in extra funding for Trump’s ill-fated war against Iran.
Only some of those items qualify for a Reconciliation bill. And whatever the GOP succeed in pushing through with the reconciliation process will make that one of the most hated legislative acts in American history.
Translation: the Republican Party will pay a very steep price in November!
Does the SAVE act qualify for reconciliation as I don't think there is a financial part to this? In the past, my part of the DTC is new voter outreach, so it is concerning to me and to those trying to register new voters. I would suggest anyone whose kids are now voting age, register NOW!
According to people far more knowledgeable than me, it does not qualify. Amen to register everyone of voting age, especially young people!
Trump's failures are the greatest ever! His unpopularity is Huge !
Failures like no one's ever seen before!
Doc Ronny even said he's never in all his years, seen such failures!
So much failing, you'll be sick of it! (Narrator: we are all sick of it.)
Senate Republicans realize that it is easier to work with Democrats than with the President.
As sad as it all is in a way, it’s also emboldening to see Trump and the GOP go home for the holiday with nothing. Meanwhile, now we have to hope ICE gets taken out of the airports sooner than later especially with TSA on the verge of coming back. Otherwise, that’ll be a whole other issue with potential protesting but hopefully, it won’t get there. Marc Elias has stressed placing ICE in airports echoes Bannon’s ‘plan’ to use it as a test run to do so at polling places. All I can say is, they can try….but look how undeterred the people have been thus far (vulnerable minority voters included). It won’t work!!! I remain cautious optimistic we will prevail!!!
Simon - I absolutely love your Hopium and the community you built. I share your view that something good can emerge from this nightmare as you so eloquently set forth in today’s post. It reminds me of a story I read my daughter when she was a toddler. It was about going on a bear hunt: you can’t go over it, you can’t go under it, you have to go through it.
With Trump's deranged signature now to be put on US currency, my credit cards and electronic banking will get more of a workout.
Getting ready for No Kings here tomorrow!
Do yourself a favor, and pan around the map of protests on NoKings.Org. So many tiny towns, so many red places!
My red rural Indiana hometown has a protest scheduled- I am astonished and delighted!!
Almost 70 places across the State, most for the 1st time. I went downtown for Hands Off, NoKings I and II. Tomorrow, I go to Noblesville for the first Hamilton County NoKings. Progress!
Thanks for the graphs. Those are really telling for those who think 47 is an economic genius. I will be pointing these out to my legislators, both national and state.
Sending very best wishes to everyone participating in No Kings tomorrow! I don't need to tell you that the hopes of many around the world go with you.
Here, north of the border, we are finding that the madness of your "king" and the damage wrought by his regime does in fact deflate the support for maga-associated politicians. It even happens here in the historically conservative province of Alberta if recent polls are to be believed.
Stay strong, stay safe and stay in it for the long game!
thx for you support neighbor!!
Thanks from my Canadian husband! We apologize that some in the US have inflicted The Big Orange Cheato on the world--and especially on our wonderful Canadian neighbors. Please tell everyone you know that we're working hard to fix the problem and we look forward to a better future.